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Wednesday, October 29, 2025

10/29 Links Pt2: The Cinema of October 7th; Media Complicity: Hamas Breaks the Ceasefire, Israel Gets the Blame; Ben & Jerry’s co-founder making his own ‘Palestine flavour’

From Ian:

Mini-Series "Red Alert" Chronicles the Hamas Oct. 7 Attack from the View of Four Families
Hollywood producer Lawrence Bender, 68, from a Jewish family in the Bronx, has produced a taut, gut-wrenching four-part drama series, "Red Alert," which chronicles the Hamas terror attack from the perspective of four families caught up in the horror.

"We just wanted people to see what it's like to be an ordinary, everyday person and be woken up by a terrorist in your house," says Bender.

We meet a family taking refuge in their safe room in Kibbutz Nir Oz; an Arab man driving near Gaza with his family; a husband and wife from the security forces separated in the chaos; and a mother evacuating the wounded as she searches for her son.

"They're basically all family stories," says Bender, who was nominated for an Oscar three times. "We wanted to show real heroes."

The purpose of "Red Alert," says Bender, is to expand the audience that is aware of the events of the day, rather than relay them blow for blow. "It's just too triggering. It's too much."

He felt a drama would be the most appropriate vehicle to convey a message instead of a documentary.

"I thought, the people who would not normally go see a documentary might see this. You know, it's called 'Red Alert.' In a sense, it's a thriller. But when you watch it, it actually becomes very emotional, and you realize it's the truth."
The Cinema of October 7th
It is no surprise that the first artistic response to the events of the Seventh of October, put in cinematic context and sufficiently sublimated, was a film by Nadav Lapid. Yes!, Lapid’s fifth feature film, and in some ways his most sophisticated and radical to date, is a macabre, grotesque morality tale about a young couple with a baby, trying to survive in a monstrosity of a country, a near-future or current Israel. Lapid’s alternative Israel is an oligarchy of sorts, in which the young are ruled by the elderly who consume them for sexual pleasure and entertainment. The young must sell themselves to servitude or else be doomed to bankruptcy.

It is also no surprise that Lapid was able to accommodate this colossal event, a catastrophe, in his unique brand of cinema. That’s because Lapid’s films, politically, were there long before any of this happened. His first film, Policeman (2011), starts as a group portrait of a small team in an anti-terrorist police unit. Most of the time, the officers are seen hanging out in barbecues, tackling extreme sport challenges, or at home going about their respective romantic lives. Though the premise is that of an action film, Lapid’s camera seems more intent on examining their rituals and rites, watching how they bond and how they deceive one another.

Most of the time, we see them faking it, though the feeling of the film is not that of a satire or a parody. Instead, there is a kind of overriding strained ambivalence, wherein it is hard to judge what might be the right attitude on the part of the viewer toward the subject matter and characters. The perverse is ever present in Lapid’s filmmaking, which makes it harder on the audience to tell right from wrong. The director also has a way of cutting shots together that is more reminiscent of French Nouvelle Vague than Hollywood’s version of realism, which further complicates the relation between space and time.

‘Yes!’ is an explosive, taboo-crushing novelty of a film that explores how we drag on with our lives in the wake of catastrophe.

At times, the film lends itself to some extreme oddities; the commander of the anti-terrorist crew is trying to hone his skill at vaginal massage on his pregnant wife. Maybe the best scene in the entire film takes place in one of those get-togethers, wherein the main character, the team commander, “snatches” a baby from one of the sleeping wives of his buddies, to check out in front of the mirror how to hold the baby right so as to best accentuate his muscle tone.

We are bound to ask, what could that baby-holding-in-front-of-the-mirror scene mean, strange as it is, both to the movie and to our better senses? Obviously, Israeli machismo is being ridiculed, exposed as narcissistic and false. The scene has an eerie feel to it, like something that should have been cut out of the movie and never seen. Yet it is these very insertions that make his films interesting, both as political critique and as a form of grotesque art. These moments undermine the plot, which is probably what Lapid was aiming at in the first place: to foil our self-indulgences, to wipe out our heroes.
Seth Mandel: Tarek Bazrouk and American Domestic Extremism
In 2024, he was arrested for attacking pro-Israel protesters and in fact assaulted another one as he was being arrested. This lovely ball of hate was at it again later in the year, ambushing a Jew near a Columbia protest. Then in January of this year, he got his hat trick.

All of the episodes were uncontrovertibly violent; not only was Bazrouk not protesting peacefully, but in all cases he physically assaulted peaceful protesters. Nevertheless, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the hate group at the center of other high-profile pro-Hamas incidents, posted that Bazrouk “has been locked up for over five months for speaking out against genocide,” and they claimed it an example of “political repression.”

The Palestinian Youth Movement unsurprisingly filed a petition for leniency, announcing it “stands in solidarity with Tarek.” Students for Justice in Palestine, probably the most extreme collection of Hamas boosters, “demands his immediate liberation.” (Note the word choice: liberation being the euphemism du jour for spilling Jewish blood.)

SJP says Bazrouk “has been targeted by the United States government for his activism.” Which in a way is true: Pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S. is indeed marked by its violence and incitement.

It’s no surprise, then, to see at the courthouse 200 supporters of a man who admitted to a string of assaults. And it is important for us all to acknowledge this support. These “pro-Palestinian” groups conflate violence with speech, and have been fooling free-speech groups for years with the ruse.

Now, however, they are using Bazrouk’s case to make plain what everybody should have seen all along: They do not support free expression but rather respond to free expression with violence, just as their heroes in Gaza do. The movement has one main organizing goal: attacking Jews’ freedom of speech, expression, and association.

Additionally, they reject their naïve defenders’ claims of nonviolence. The Palestinian advocacy groups in the U.S., and the wider progressive movement in which they are now fully embedded and integrated, do not believe they are being targeted for mere speech. They simply believe that speech and violence are equally legitimate forms of expression. And, considering their welcome reception in American political culture, why wouldn’t they?
Seth Mandel: Why Some Academics Are Told Not To Acknowledge Jewish Holidays
A lot of effort goes into finding creative ways to discriminate against Jews on college campuses, but this is a new one. The Telegraph has interviewed several Jewish professors in Britain, and one of them tells the paper that her school’s diversity team sends out greetings on Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh holidays, but not Jewish ones. When she asked them to include Jewish holidays as well, she got a pretty incredible response:

“I was told that Jews could only be mentioned when marking a religious festival that makes no reference to the land of Israel—which possibly leaves one, a minor festival called Purim.”

The article chronicles several other recent incidents, most notably the ongoing harassment of Michael Ben-Gad, an economics professor at a University of London-affiliated school, including activists storming his class and threatening to behead him for the crime of being Israeli.

Ben-Gad is standing his ground quite well and keeping his sense of humor throughout this ordeal. But it is an illustration of a counterintuitive new reality: The pro-Hamas demonstrations have been much reduced (though not eliminated entirely) but the bigotry itself has accelerated.

Take for example what happened recently at Pomona College in California. Pro-Hamas protesters stormed an event commemorating the October 7 attacks featuring a survivor of those attacks, Yoni Viloga. A group calling itself Claremont Undercurrents then took credit for the attack with an open letter that, the Algemeiner reports, appears to threaten Viloga with murder.

Unsurprisingly, the letter accuses Viloga of being “a settler on stolen land” and says his “fictitious ‘state’ destroyed 92% of Gaza.”

Viloga, of course, lives in Israel. To the pro-Hamasniks in the West, it remains a crime to be a Jew living in the Holy Land.

This is no mere land dispute. It’s an argument over whether the educational institutions of the West will persist within established reality—Israel exists, the Jewish holidays mention Israel because the people of Israel are indigenous to that land—or within a bubble of genocidal science fiction.

One can’t help but notice just how much the truth of history bothers these zombies. Their concerns have nothing to do with the lives and the rights of anyone living there now; they simply can’t handle that the people of Israel are living in the Land of Israel, as they have for thousands of years.


‘I need to learn to be free’: Ex-hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana adapting to life after captivity
Ex-hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana, who was freed on October 13 after more than two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, described in his first interview since being released the challenges he faces in adapting to freedom and recounted how he would sometimes think that death was preferable to a lifetime of the harsh conditions in the terror group’s tunnels.

Ohana spoke in a wide-ranging interview with Channel 12 broadcast Tuesday evening in which he described his capture from the Nova music festival on the morning of October 7, 2023, his experiences as a hostage for two years, and his release.

“The release isn’t complete, it’s still happening,” he told Channel 12’s Amit Segal. “You don’t go back to being a free man in a day after they took everything from you, including thinking logically and clearly. I need to learn to be free, I need to learn to make my own decisions.”

He added that he had dreamed of being released throughout his captivity, but when the moment came, he “didn’t know how to be really happy. The soul doesn’t adjust so quickly after two years of blocking your emotions. I was happy mentally but not emotionally.”

Another recurring thought he had during his captivity, he said, was whether he preferred “to be a prisoner there for the rest of my life with all that torture, or for the nightmare to end. I never had an answer, but I had moments when I wanted it to be over.”

In a preview of the interview that was aired on Monday, Ohana talked about convincing Hamas terrorists not to kill him in captivity by telling them he was “an important card” and reminding them they would get fewer Palestinian prisoners released for him if he were dead.


Jonathan Tobin: Is Tucker Carlson normalizing antisemitism on the right?
The far left and far right agree
Listen closely to their exchanges, and it becomes clear that there is little difference between that and the positions of Mamdani. While the New York mayoral candidate’s opposition to Israel and the Jews is dressed up in different language, Fuentes, Carlson and Mamdani all believe that Israel is at the center of a conspiracy against their vision of justice.

Jew-hatred isn’t just being unkind to Jews or prejudiced against them. It’s an idea rooted in politics which alleges that the Jews are the obstacle to all that is good, in much the same way that some religions depict Satan.

For Mamdani and others among the intersectional left, Israel is the lynchpin of international settler-colonialism and racism, such as when—in the course of supporting the defunding of police in 2023—he said “that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”

For Carlson and Fuentes, Israel is the obstacle to a true “America First,” or rather, “America only” foreign policy in which the United States will achieve freedom from the foreign influences that they think are dragging it under and suborning white Christian dominance.

Whether you lean left or right, if your guiding principle is that all of the evil in the world always leads back to Jews and/or Israel, then you are a textbook example of antisemitism.

Barring a turnabout in the next few days, Mamdani is about to become mayor of New York, and his allies are entrenched as the leaders of the Democratic Party with a real chance of attaining power in the coming years, while Carlson, Fuentes and fellow antisemite Candace Owens are merely prattling away on podcasts.

But that is no reason for conservatives to dismiss Carlson as insignificant.

Just as the intersectional left slowly gained traction during the “progressives” long march through educational, cultural and political institutions, so, too, could right-wing antisemites do the same—or at least make major inroads among conservatives if left unchecked.

A line must be drawn
More to the point, so long as Carlson is welcome at the White House and other conservative pundits like Megyn Kelly not only won’t condemn him, but take umbrage at the suggestion that they are morally obligated to do so, his attitude toward antisemitism will become normalized on the right.

Trump blundered back in 2022 when he publicly dined with rapper/antisemite Kanye West and Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He subsequently disavowed the former’s hate and said he had no idea who Fuentes was. And he characteristically refused to apologize.

Since then, he’s stayed away from that pair, but he also set an example by which others on the right have been able to continue associating with people like Carlson. In opposing calls to isolate or condemn him, some conservatives have said that they are supporting free speech and don’t want to mimic the left’s attempts to “cancel” people whose views they don’t like.

Nevertheless, unless a line in the sand is drawn between the Trump administration and other leading conservatives and such open antisemites, it isn’t going to be possible to go on pretending that there is a tangible difference between the attitudes of the right and the left when it comes to antisemitism. Anyone who isn’t willing to do that, no matter where they are on the political spectrum, must stand accused of complicity in the normalization of Jew-hatred.
Nick + Tucker: A Two-Man Unite The Right Rally
At one point in the interview, Tucker says he hates “Christian Zionists” more than anybody else in the world, and declares “Christian Zionism” a “heresy.” Well, gosh. For one thing, Tucker is by his own admission an inactive Episcopalian who doesn’t go to church regularly, so I’m not sure how he knows what a heresy is, or who gets to define it. For another, I don’t know what he means by “Christian Zionism”. Is it the belief that Israel has a right to exist, that the Jews have a right to live in their ancestral homeland, given to them by God? Then I’m a Christian Zionist, even though I certainly do not agree with everything this or any Israeli government does. I have been friends for years with Tucker, but I guess he hates me more even than he hates a Hamas terrorist. I don’t understand any of this, but it makes me very sad.

As I’ve long said: Jews are canaries in the civilizational coal mine. As the gatekeepers and authorities are collapsing everywhere, we are going to see horrible things. I am thinking this morning about my warning from twenty years ago to the Left that if they accepted anti-white identity politics, they were going to legitimize pro-white, anti-everybody else identity politics among a younger generation that lacks the taboos. And it has happened. It is a howling absurdity that Fuentes, Candace, et al. claim to be Christians while promoting this stuff, but you should know that outside the US, the connection between Jew-hating and Christianity is historically well-established.

So, by the same logic, if the Right legitimizes Fuentes-style identitarianism, it is going to push normie liberals (what few there are left) further into radicalism. This is the Weimar dynamic: the feeble and discredited center could not hold against the growing strength of left-wing and right-wing radicals. I think somebody normal and patriotic like J.D. Vance could easily win without the Groyper brigades. But if he does not distance himself from them at some point, it’s going to cost him. Fuentes has for years openly hated Vance, but he also openly hated Tucker Carlson, and now look.

One of you readers wrote to me this morning saying you’re never going to vote Left, but if the 2028 Right includes Groypers, you won’t vote. I think the Groypers only matter today among the Very Online. But ten, twenty years from now? All bets are off.

J.D. Vance needs to make a clear, unambiguous, definitive denunciation of these people, these weirdos from the fringe who are rapidly moving towards respectability (and there’s nothing that could have done more to make that happen than Tucker bringing Fuentes onto his show, and presenting him as a normal figure). Many of us on the Right have wondered for years why decent liberals in authority kept their mouths shut about the left-wing anti-white bigots. And then the crazies took over the party. It’s happening to the Right now. I don’t know where this is going, but it’s nowhere good — and it’s getting there with accelerating speed.

A frightening thought: what if there are no gatekeepers at all anymore? What if anybody can say anything, and do not risk political exile or irrelevance? I remind you that among Hannah Arendt’s signs that a society is susceptible to totalitarianism is when it celebrates transgression for the pleasure of seeing authorities hurt, and when it no longer cares about truth, only narratives that give it pleasure. In that regard, I believe Nick Fuentes being normalized by Tucker Carlson is a Rubicon. Many such cases these days.

Another one — a far more significant one — is coming in a few days, when the voters of America’s most important city will likely hand over the mayoralty to a far-left woke Muslim who believes in communism. Interesting times… .


UK mosque suspends imam after acknowledging Jewish history in Israel in Tommy Robinson interview
UK-based Imam Umayr Mulla was suspended from Masjid Khazra in Nottingham after stating he “had no issue with Israel,” and recognized Israelis’ history in the Middle East while appearing in an interview in Jerusalem with British anti-immigration campaigner Tommy Robinson last week.

“I have no issue with Israel, as long as people are living in peace, I believe both sides should have their own countries,” Mulla said. “The Palestinians should have their own safe space, where they can live freely without oppression or injustice. I think this is the solution for peace in the Middle East."

Masjid Khazra released a statement apologizing for the imam’s “personal views that are deeply offensive and are wholly inconsistent with the values of our institute.”

“Our institute is founded on a commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion. We appreciate and respect all parts of the Muslim community and the wider community we serve, and we are dedicated to maintaining a respectful and supportive environment for pupils, staff, and families,” the mosque wrote.

The imam claimed all religions lived in peace under Muslim rule
In the interview, Mulla stated that Israel’s Muslim population wants to live without oppression or injustice, stating that historically, all religions lived in peace when Muslims ruled the region.

“As long as [non-Muslims] paid the Jizya tax, which is like a protection money. It’s no different from the taxes we pay in Britain,” Mulla said, adding that this wasn’t a form of oppression against non-Muslims.

“If you read history, there was no oppression or occupation. They paid taxes like we do. Muslims, however, had to pay Zakat, which is charity,” he explained.
Charity watchdog launches statutory inquiry into Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust
The Charity Commission has confirmed it has launched a statutory inquiry into the Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust over its funding of a non-charitable company.

In a statement, the Commission confirmed it is “escalating its engagement” with the organisation, which is widely known for its involvement with the annual Quds Day rallies in support of Palestinian rights in London and elsewhere.

The regulator said it had received complaints about the charity’s funding of an event where inflammatory statements were allegedly made. The inquiry will determine whether supporting this event aligned with the charity’s objectives.

Since May 2025, the Commission has engaged with the charity over concerns regarding its involvement in publications and events organised by a non-charitable company that receives funding from the Trust.

Trustees were asked to answer a range of questions about the charity’s involvement in these matters and its relationship with the non-charitable company.


Ben & Jerry’s co-founder says Unilever blocked ‘Palestine flavour’ – so he’s making it himself
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has claimed that parent company Unilever prevented the ice cream brand from creating a pro-Palestinian flavour – prompting him to pursue the idea on his own and crowdsource recipe suggestions from the public.

In a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Cohen said the proposed watermelon-based flavour – referencing a widely used symbol of the Palestinian cause – was stopped at corporate level. “Unilever / Magnum stopped Ben & Jerry’s from creating a flavour for Palestine – so I’m doing it myself,” he wrote. A mock-up design for Ben & Jerry’s proposed “Freedom Fruit” flavour featuring a watermelon theme. Credit: The Palestine Project

Holding a watermelon and empty pint container, he told followers: “The scale of the suffering of the Palestinian people over the last two years has been unimaginable… Palestinian children deserve dignity, safety and the same rights that every human being should have.” He added that the project’s purpose was to “shine a light” on the need for “peace, justice, and dignity for everyone”.

Cohen, who is Jewish, remains involved with Ben & Jerry’s, though fellow co-founder Jerry Greenfield stepped down last month after reported disagreements with Unilever over the brand’s activism. Ben & Jerry’s has long tied its marketing to political and social campaigns, but there have been persistent tensions with the multinational since its 2000 acquisition – including a failed attempt to halt sales in parts of the West Bank, which Cohen also said was blocked.

Earlier this year, Cohen was arrested after interrupting a US congressional hearing with slogans about the Gaza war.

Unilever has not publicly responded to Cohen’s latest claims.


‘Gratitude is an important Jewish value’ – targeted Israeli professor thanks supporters
An Israeli professor targeted by a direct harassment campaign from a pro-Palestinian student group at the university he lectures at has told Jewish News he is grateful for the “enormous outpouring of support” he has received in response.

Professor Michael Ben Gad, who teaches economics at City St George’s, University of London, has been targeted by a group calling itself “City Action for Palestine”, who have falsely described him as a “terrorist” and called for him to be fired from his job.

Last week, members of the group invaded his lecture theatre during a class, with Ben Gad stating that one of them “made a threat about having my head chopped off.”

But Ben Gad has been clear that he will continue to teach, turning down an offer of paid leave from the university, which he has continuously stressed has been completely supportive of him. He told Jewish News that this campaign against him, launched a couple of weeks ago, was first time he had ever been targeted in such a fashion.

“Never, in my entire career at City University – I’ve been the head of the department, I’ve been on Senate [the university’s academic authority] – Never have I ever had a single issue, not from a student, and certainly not from a member of staff.

“We have people of every possible heritage in the department, and I consider every single one of them personal friends.” An Instagram post from “City Action for Palestine”, falsely describing Ben-Gad as a “terrorist”

More than 1,500 academics, from a wide variety of countries and religious backgrounds, publicly supported Ben Gad in an open letter – support he does not take lightly.

“I think a very important Jewish value is gratitude; it’s something I try to express as often as I can”, he says.

“People are sticking their necks out on my behalf. That’s not something I take for granted.”


Anti-Israel mob blocks students from attending UCL event
Several students were blocked from attending a University College London (UCL) event on Jewish history after an anti-Israel mob “besieged a campus building”.

A group of activists wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags stormed the building last Friday afternoon, chanting “Zionism off campus” and “Crush the Zionist settler state”.

Masked demonstrators gathered in the entryway of the venue, shouting “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” and preventing several students from entering the event, where an Israeli guest was speaking.

UCL’s president issued an apology to affected students following a police intervention at the scene.

The demonstration came days after anti-Israel protesters “invaded” a lecture at City St George’s University, where Economics Professor Michael Ben-Gad was branded a “terrorist” over his service in the IDF.

UCL president and provost Dr Michael Spence said he was “utterly appalled by reports of antisemitic comments and chants during the protest”.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that protestors obstructed access to a scheduled UCL event, causing distress to those attending, and seeking to suppress the views and opinions of the invited speaker and audience.

"As part of our ongoing liaison with the Police, local officers attended. I sincerely apologise that this happened at UCL and to those affected,” Dr Spence told the JC.

The talk on Friday was organised by the UCL Friends of Israel Society and Camera (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting & Analysis) on Campus UK, and featured Yemenite-Israeli influencer Adiel Cohen, who spoke about his family’s flight from antisemitic violence in Yemen.


Artist behind Hamas-obsessed NYC installation had virtual love affair with Palestinian dentist in Gaza
Her love story bites.

The artist behind an antisemitic and Hamas-obsessed installation on taxpayer-funded Governors Island had a virtual love affair with a Palestinian dentist in Gaza — bonding over bizarre “vampire dentist jokes,” she acknowledged online.

Rebecca Goyette, whose art sparked outrage when it appeared at a Halloween event over the weekend, had a strange online romance with a pediatric dentist she identified as Mo’min Zahar, starting in April of last year, she wrote in an online article.

“We built a genuine connection with trust and humor, and over time, lots of romantic emojis, silly fiery redhead flirtings, and vampire dentist jokes like, ‘I’m gonna bite you,’” Rebecca Goyette wrote in the arts publication Hyperallergic in September 2024.

“After a recent attack, he said, ‘You are my soul,’ and now I say back, ‘You are my heartbeat,’ wrote Goyette — whose art features a mock street sign reading, “F–k Israel Ln” and a “Hamas Lover” poster.


Media Complicity: Hamas Breaks the Ceasefire, Israel Gets the Blame
The pattern is unmistakable. When Hamas violates the ceasefire, the media look away. When Israel defends its citizens, the headlines thunder.

This isn’t mere bias — it’s complicity. By burying the facts of Hamas’ deception and aggression, major news outlets protect a terror organization from scrutiny and shift moral and journalistic responsibility onto the democracy fighting to defend its people.

If the press won’t call out Hamas’ war crimes — from fake burials to fatal ceasefire breaches — it has not just abandoned impartiality, but the very truth it claims to serve.


The United Nations stopped delivering aid to millions of Yemenis nine months ago. No one seems to care.
News that the terrorist group Ansar Allah (widely known as the Houthis) kidnapped another 20 United Nations employees in Yemen last week wasn’t just horrific for the individuals being held against their will – it was devastating for millions of hungry Yemeni civilians.

In February, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) began suspending the delivery of essential humanitarian aid – including food, water and medical supplies – to areas under Houthi control, which is where some 70% of Yemen’s population lives. That’s at least 24 million men, women and children who have been left without any food aid.

The reason for the WFP’s decision is unfortunate but understandable: the Iran-backed Houthis had already kidnapped 40 UN workers (who remain in arbitrary detention), plus one staffer who passed away whilst in detention in February. The Houthis had also raided UN premises, and routinely seized UN property, including cars, furniture, and documents.

The WFP said the Houthis’ actions made delivering and distributing aid too difficult and, in February, suspended aid in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. In April, WFP extended its aid suspension to all areas controlled by the Houthis, after the WFP claimed the Houthis had looted a UN facility and stolen US$1.6 million in supplies.

At the time of publication, it has been at least nine months since vital humanitarian aid was last delivered to the overwhelming majority of Yemen’s civilians. The Houthis’ latest abduction of UN staffers on October 19, when Houthi terrorists raided a UN facility in Sanaa, occurred just one month after the European Union made an appeal for “all parties to the conflict” to end all impediments to aid being delivered. This latest development all but guarantees the UN’s ban on aid to Houthi-controlled areas will continue indefinitely. This is despite the fact that on Oct. 21, two days after the latest kidnapping, five of the detained UN employees were released, and the other 15 were said to be “free to move” and contact their families and colleagues.

Sadly, it is the Yemeni people who bear the cost of this decision. While UN staff cannot be faulted for not wanting to work in areas where their safety is constantly hostage to Houthi extremism and demands, and the UN is right to want to put pressure on the Houthis to release its employees, the consequence is that more than 10 million civilians will continue to go without vital access to food, water, and medical supplies for the foreseeable future.
On Hizbullah's Disarmament, Israel Will Not Compromise
Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire to end the Hizbullah-Israel war in November 2024. In the deal, Beirut committed to disarm Hizbullah.

Today, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is collecting weapons and dismantling Hizbullah infrastructure in the south of the country, but Beirut is balking about undertaking its obligations in the north.

Fearing civil war, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun started talking about "containing" Hizbullah's weapons north of the Litani.

Yet there will be no peace, no sovereignty, and no reconstruction for postwar Lebanon absent the confiscation of Hizbullah weapons.

Hizbullah is currently at its weakest point, but left intact, it will certainly reconstitute.
2 men sentenced in regime plot to kill Iranian-American journalist
Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad wins applause in a New York City federal courtroom as two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars for hiring a hitman to kill her at her Brooklyn home three years ago, on behalf of the Iranian government.

“I crossed an ocean to come to America and have a normal life and I don’t have a normal life,” she says just before Judge Colleen McMahon announces the sentences in Manhattan federal court for Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 41.

“I’m a brave woman. I’m a strong woman. They couldn’t break me. But they brought fear to my life. These criminals turned my life upside down,” she says as she spoke at a lectern near the men, who sat in prison uniforms with their hands folded before them.

McMahon says the men had committed a “terrible, terrible crime.”

Assistant US Attorney Michael D. Lockard had urged McMahon to dispense 55-year prison terms to the men. He said they were willing to carry out the desires of Iran to silence Alinejad, who has an online following of millions of people, more than the supreme leader of Iran.

He said the intended target of the assassination plot was not just Alinejad, “but those millions of people who look to Masih Alinejad to be their voice, to promote their cause and to shine a light on the corrupt and deadly tactics of the government of Iran.”


Heaton Park synagogue attack: Inquest opens into deaths of two worshippers
Manchester Coroner’s Court has heard that Melvin Cravitz, 66, died from multiple knife wounds inflicted by Jihad Al-Shamie during the terror attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.

A second victim, Adrian Daulby, 53, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, fired by an armed police officer who responded to the scene.

The court was told these details as inquests into both men’s deaths were opened and then adjourned.

Daulby, described by mourners as a “quiet hero,” had leapt from his seat to block the synagogue’s doors as the attack unfolded during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

He held the main doors shut as Al-Shamie attempted to force his way inside to continue his rampage.

Daulby was fatally shot in the chest by an officer while behind the door, and was pronounced dead at 10:15am, according to Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes of Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

Moments before, Cravitz had been stabbed by Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old Syrian-born UK citizen, who began his attack by driving his Kia Picanto at security staff and the synagogue’s external gates around 9:30am.

Al-Shamie then exited the vehicle, armed with a knife and wearing a fake suicide belt, and began stabbing worshippers.
Alleged IS fanatic told undercover operative he wanted to 'cluster bomb' a pro-Israel march in Manchester, jury told
An alleged Islamic State devotee told an undercover operative his 'primary target' was a pro-Israel march in Manchester and he suggested he wanted to 'cluster bomb' the gathering before attacking Jews in north Manchester, a jury was told.

Tunisia-born Walid Saadaoui, who was unaware his conversation with an agent posing as a jihadi named only 'Farouk' was being recorded, took the operative on a tour of Higher Broughton, Cheetham Hill and Prestwich on March 17, 2024, where they walked by synagogues and schools where children were playing.

But the jury heard the former restaurateur told the operative Jews here were merely 'appetisers' and that the 'primary target' was to attack a pro-Israel march in Manchester, an attack he said he wanted to broadcast live.

When counter terror cops arrested him in May 2024, Mr Saadaoui tried to flee but officers found two assault rifles, a semi-automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition in his car, the court has been told.

He was awaiting delivery of a further two assault rifles, another pistol and more ammunition to launch a terror attack to kill 'as many Jews as possible' in Prestwich, Higher Broughton and Cheetham Hill in the summer of 2024, according to the Crown.

As the trial of Mr Saadaoui and his co-defendant Amar Hussein - who deny terror charges - continued today, an undercover operative named only 'Farouk' began his eighth day in the witness box.
Man arrested with guns, suitcase of ammo for alleged threats to attack Alabama synagogues
The Clarke County Sheriff’s Office in Grove Hill, Ala., stated on Tuesday that it arrested Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker the prior night in connection to “credible threats of violence made against multiple synagogues throughout Alabama and surrounding states.”

“Likely acts of violence were averted before they happened,” the sheriff’s office stated, noting that a search warrant was executed and Shoemaker was arrested at his residence in Needham, Ala.

“The subject was taken into custody along with weapons, more than a suitcase full of ammo, body armor and other items related to the plans of violence,” it said. “Further investigation revealed that the subject had intentions of not being taken alive and was possibly planning attacks on public figures as well.”

The sheriff’s office noted that “numerous” federal agencies are investigating and “multiple federal charges are likely.” It added that “local charges include resisting arrest and certain persons forbidden.”


German neo-Nazi rappers push hate speech and antisemitism on TikTok, Instagram, Spotify
Far-right German-language rappers are flouting hate speech rules by spreading extremist rhetoric and disinformation on platforms such as TikTok, an AFP investigation found.

In one video, a rapper named MaKss Damage cited Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and suggested Adolf Hitler was right to claim the Jews caused destruction, with the artist’s face morphing into an antisemitic demonic silhouette.

“Back then it was Germany, today it’s Palestine,” MaKss Damage, whose real name is Julian Fritsch, rapped in the video he posted on TikTok, displaying a Germanic triangle tattoo synonymous with the far right.

“This time, people are questioning and are disgusted. They listen to old painters talk and understand history,” he added in a reference to Hitler, who aspired to be an artist.

In the same song, he referred to the false antisemitic conspiracy theory about September 11, 2001, according to which the Jewish owner of the World Trade Center stayed at home because of prior knowledge of the attacks.

TikTok took down all the rapper’s accounts after being contacted by AFP, but did not respond to specific questions about enforcing its policies on hate speech.


NHS trials Israeli-founded blood test to spot deadly infections in children
An Israeli-US health-tech company that has developed a rapid blood test capable of diagnosing life-threatening conditions in children in just 15 minutes is being trialled by the NHS.

Based in Haifa and Andover in the US, MeMed’s BV test is being used in Liverpool, London and Newcastle to help doctors decide whether a patient is suffering from a bacterial or viral infection, speeding up the diagnosis of serious conditions such as sepsis or meningitis in children.

Instead of waiting hours for regular blood test results, MeMed’s test can quickly determine whether to administer antibiotics to children with an bacterial infection— potentially saving lives, while reducing unnecessary treatment when the cause is viral.

Dr Eran Eden, co-founder and CEO of MeMed, said: “It took more than a decade of relentless work by clinicians, engineers, and scientists from around the world to develop and bring this pioneering technology to patients.

“True impact, however, depends on how innovation is implemented in real-world clinical practice. Implementation trials like this are essential to defining best practices and ensuring that the technology delivers its full potential to patients. We are deeply grateful to NHS England and the network of clinicians leading this effort for bringing innovative technologies to the front line and advancing the boundaries of paediatric care.”


New film revives little-known legacy of Mormon teen executed for opposing Hitler
The year is 1942 and 17-year-old Helmuth Hubener is standing before a red-robed Nazi judge, accused of committing high treason against the Third Reich. The judge marvels that a religious youth like Hubener — a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — could be responsible for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets in his hometown of Hamburg and other German municipalities.

Hubener’s lawyer presents the teen with a way out, advising him to falsely denounce his friend Karl-Heinz Schnibbe as the real mastermind of the plot. He presents Hubener with a statement he has already drafted to read in court.

But rather than frame his friend, Hubener puts down the statement and gives dramatic testimony, stating that Germany is ruled by a lunatic, fighting an unwinnable war. The judge remonstrates with him, but the teenager gets the better of the argument: “Hitler will stop at nothing. The people deserve the truth.”

Infuriated, the judge orders Hubener physically silenced. A harsh sentencing awaits.

The scene marks a pivotal moment in the new feature film “Truth and Treason,” which debuted in nearly 2,000 theaters across the United States on October 17. The drama in the faith-based film comes from the real-life story of Hubener, described by the production as “the youngest resistance fighter Nazi Germany sentenced to death for taking a stand against Hitler.”

Distributor Angel Studios is no stranger to World War II dramas or films with religious messages, having combined both in 2024’s “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin.” Hubener’s story is less well-known than that the anti-Hitler clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer, despite his selfless acts and ultimate sacrifice.

“I was fortunate to discover one of the most powerful stories to come out of WWII, and almost no one has heard of it,” director Matt Whitaker said in a press release. “I can’t wait for the world to experience this incredible story of heroism.”


German government pledges record $1 billion in funding for Holocaust survivor home care
The German government has agreed to allocate $1.08 billion in funds for home care for survivors for 2026, marking the largest budget for home care in its history of Holocaust reparations, reflecting the growing needs of an aging survivor population.

The funding, which was secured following negotiations with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, will now enable all Holocaust survivors currently on waitlists for home care to receive it, according to Stuart E. Eizenstat, who leads negotiations on behalf of the Claims Conference.

“We really believe now that, with the largest home care budget in the history of the Claims Conference’s negotiations with Germany, which go back to 1952, that we will be able to cover all those on waiting lists,” Eizenstat said in an interview.

Last year, Germany also set a record for Holocaust reparations, spending $1.5 billion overall. But as the survivor population ages, with the median age now at 87, the need for home care has become the dominant expense.

Nearly all of the Holocaust survivors who are alive today will be dead within 15 years and half will die by 2031, according to a demographic analysis published by the Claims Conference in April.

“As we’re in the last phase now of survivors — in 10 years, half of the survivors, and there’s about 200,000 now, will be gone — so we’re dealing with people in the very last stages of their life and and it’s very rewarding to provide a measure of dignity, both through these payments, but again, through home care,” Eizenstat said.
Remarkable documentary about ‘the Jewish James Bond’ tells story of a spy
“I’ve wanted to write about my life for some time now”, says Peter Sichel, a scarcely believable 100 years old. When he consulted his former employer, America’s Central Intelligence Agency, he was told: “If a journalist writes about it, it’s speculation. If you write about it, it’s confirmation.”

But Sichel, who died in February 2025 aged 102, was well past the stage of caring by the time he spoke to the director and writer Katharina Otto-Bernstein. In her remarkable documentary, The Last Spy, Sichel reviews his extraordinary career with the CIA, gleefully settling old scores, and even surprising his two daughters with some stories they had never heard before.

Towards the end of the film we see Sichel, billed as “the Jewish James Bond”, relaying some of his wartime and Cold War experiences to a Jewish friendship club in the Hamptons, in upstate New York. Despite the fact that he parted company with the CIA in the 1960s, there is the sense that Sichel has not forgotten any of his tradecraft. Once a spy, perhaps, always a spy.

Sichel ended his career with the CIA as head of station in Hong Kong; previously he had run the Agency’s operation in Berlin, steering it skilfully between the two powerful Dulles brothers: Allen Dulles, the CIA’s director, and his brother John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959.

But Sichel’s story begins in 1922 in Mainz, Germany, where his family was three things: Jewish, not very observant, and prominent in the city. (They did go to synagogue on Yom Kippur but once his father offered him a choice between school and shul, Peter chose school.)

His great-grandfather had established a highly profitable wine business and there were branches in Bordeaux, in New York and in London. The family home, pictured in the film, is plainly a building owned by wealthy people.

His parents were Franziska and Eugen and Sichel is clear-eyed about the difference between them: his whip-smart mother closely followed political discourse and wanted to leave Germany as soon as Hitler came to power. His father did not agree until 1935 when the Nuremberg laws were imposed, restricting the lives of Jews whether they were religiously observant or not.


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