Friday, October 31, 2025

10/31 Links Pt1: IDF to recieve three slain hostages to return tonight; Paddystine’s new president; FBI Thwarts Jihadist Terrorist Attack in Dearborn, Michigan

From Ian:

Andrew Fox: The Numbers Game
Here is my one regret from the last two years of commentary on the 7th October War: we let ourselves get sucked into arguing the running death toll coming out of Hamas’s Health Ministry in Gaza.

In some ways, it was inevitable. Global outlets put those figures in every headline and chyron, so someone had to meet them on the field. Nevertheless, it was still a strategic mistake. We allowed Hamas’s daily ticker to become the global yardstick for morality in this conflict.

Start with a simple truth about war reporting: immediate casualty numbers after explosions are guaranteed to be wrong. These are not fog-of-war errors from Hamas; they are straight-up lies. The Al‑Ahli explosion is a case study. Within minutes, the “500 dead” claim circled the world. Subsequent assessments from Western intelligence agencies put the likely death toll in the low hundreds, yet the first number did its work; it framed the narrative for days. We have seen this ruse time and again, and we fall for it each time it happens.

I am not saying the numbers do not matter at all; every innocent death matters infinitely to the people who loved them. But the “numbers game”, the breathless, running tally, turns a legal and moral analysis into a horse race graphic. It incentivises speed over verification, from a single unverified source with a clear propaganda motive, and it collapses complex questions into a single, unreliable metric. Even organisations and reporters who regard Gaza Health Ministry figures as broadly useful acknowledge the limits of instant counts and the likelihood of later revisions when conditions improve or bodies are recovered from rubble.

Here is the broader point. If the tally is 40,000, 68,000, or 100,000, the fundamental question remains unchanged. In no other conflict do we treat a running counter as the dispositive test of conduct. Afghanistan’s war killed roughly 176,000 people through direct violence by 2021: civilians, Afghan forces, insurgents, and others, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project. Iraq’s direct-war deaths from 2003 to 2021 total 275,000–306,000, including 185,000–209,000 civilians. Those wars are debated on strategy, aims, and legality, not by a daily, decontextualised ticker. Nobody alleges those wars were genocides.

Look around the world right now. Amidst the ongoing slaughter of innocents in Sudan, famine has been formally identified, with the UN-backed IPC system projecting expansion absent major relief. In the worst-case scenario, up to one million people could die in Sudan through war, famine, and pestilence. There are no mass marches in Western capitals keyed to that potential number and no live tickers on cable news.
FBI Thwarts Jihadist Terrorist Attack in Dearborn, Michigan, Planned for Halloween Weekend
The FBI on Friday foiled a jihadist terrorist plot in Dearborn, Mich., arresting multiple suspects for plotting an ISIS-inspired attack over Halloween weekend.

Authorities "thwarted a Jihadist terror plot stemming from Dearborn earlier this morning—reportedly timed to coincide with children trick-or-treating later tonight," journalist Eitan Fischberger wrote in an X post. FBI director Kash Patel confirmed in a statement on X that officials "thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend."

"The plot was inspired by ISIS," CNN reported, citing two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.

The suspects discussed the plot in online chatrooms where an undercover FBI agent was present, the officials told CNN. Authorities have arrested two of the participants and are questioning three others.

This is far from the only ISIS-linked terrorist plot on U.S. soil this year. In June, an Afghan national who had pledged allegiance to ISIS pleaded guilty to two terrorism-related offenses. In January, U.S. citizen Shamsud-Din Jabbar killed 15 people and injured dozens more when he drove a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans. Jabbar, who died in a shootout with police, had an ISIS flag in his vehicle and pledged allegiance to the group in Facebook videos posted just hours before the attack.
Paddystine’s new president
Describing Hamas as “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people,” she is not averse to issuing her own “Paddystinian” statements. “I come from Ireland, which has a history of colonization,” she told the BBC earlier this year. “I would be very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country.”

One of the core doctrines of Palestinianism is that “Palestine” is the only issue that matters and that other international crises—from Ukraine to Kurdistan to Sudan—are either politically suspect or simply irrelevant. As Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinians, expressed it at an Oct. 30 briefing organized by the U.N.’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, “Palestine today is the stage to prove whether or not we will live in a truly decolonized world.” The message sent to the residents of the city of El-Fasher in Sudan, who last week were driven from their homes amid bestial atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as well as to the thousands of Ukrainian children illegally abducted by the Russian invaders, is that they don’t count.

In fact, Russian imperialism is not just exempted. In Connolly’s case, it receives a full-throated endorsement. An uncompromising backer of Irish neutrality that was famously on display during World War II, she opposes greater Irish contributions to the defense of Europe. She has additionally criticized NATO’s eastward expansion, accusing the alliance of playing “a despicable role in moving forward to the border and engaging in war-mongering,” believing that the greatest threat posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the “militarization” of Europe.

As Rachelle Moiselle, a keen observer of the Irish scene, has observed, Connolly also has a nasty habit of referring to Ukraine as “the Ukraine,” as if the country is a geographical feature rather than an independent state allied with the West. So much, then, for not telling “a sovereign people how to run their country,” unless you believe, as Connolly clearly does, that Ukraine is a province of a Greater Russia.

Perhaps Connolly’s greatest offense was her homage to the now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2018. Standing in the rubble of Aleppo, relentlessly bombed by the Russian forces supporting Assad during the civil war, she offered her solidarity to this exemplar of Arab dictators, despite Assad reducing the Palestinian neighborhood of Yarmouk on the outskirts of Damascus from—as one Palestinian witness memorably put it—“a thriving neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of people into a desperate population of 18,000 waiting to die.”

Connolly is unlikely to stick to the traditional role of the Irish president as a figurehead, opting instead for the activist profile adopted by Higgins and first pioneered during the 1990s by Mary Robinson. While the current crop of Western leaders is unlikely to heed her warnings and complaints, she is set to be a major component of the global movement to isolate and weaken the State of Israel.

She will not be alone. Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, sits in her camp, as will—assuming he wins New York City’s mayoral election—the Hamas shill Zohran Mamdani, to name just two of her erstwhile comrades.

As Israel’s main ally on the world stage, the United States needs to tighten political and economic pressure on Ireland, which, in the estimation of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, “runs a trade surplus at our expense.” As for the American Jewish community, they should steer clear of vacations in Ireland and refrain from buying Irish products. For one thing, it’s not safe to be a Jew there. For another, with Ireland pushing a boycott of Israel, we should have no qualms about urging a boycott of Ireland in response.


EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: PM Netanyahu Reveals "Here's How We End Hamas Forever"
What does it take to withstand a global storm and emerge stronger than ever? In this historic episode of "Standpoint with Gabe Groisman", former Mayor of Bal Harbour and Jewish community leader Gabe Groisman sits down in Jerusalem with none other than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just days after the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal and hostage release reshaped the Middle East. With candid insight, Netanyahu explains why the 20-point Gaza peace plan was the right deal at the right time and carefully lays out what it means for Israel’s future and the shifting balance of power across the region.

This wide-ranging conversation covers it all: the emotional return of Israeli hostages, the strength of the U.S.-Israel alliance under President Trump, the Abraham Accords and the controversial role of Qatar and Turkey in the negotiations. Netanyahu also addresses the proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza and outlines the necessity of a Hamas-free future. Viewers also get a rare glimpse into the personal toll of leadership, from Netanyahu’s reflections on his brother Yoni’s heroism to the unwavering support of his wife and soldiers on the frontlines. Don’t miss this powerful conversation packed with geopolitical insight.




IDF to recieve three slain hostages to return tonight
The IDF is preparing for the return of the partial remains of three slain Gaza hostages on Friday night, Israeli media reported.

The Red Cross reportedly will hand over the remains of three hostages to IDF troops overnight on Friday. Hamas did not specify which remains it was handing over.

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), acting as a neutral intermediary, assisted this evening, at the request and with the approval of both parties, in returning the remains of three bodies to Israeli authorities. The identification process is the responsibility of the relevant authorities in Israel and will be carried out by them," the ICRC statement reads.

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) does not take part in locating the remains. In accordance with international humanitarian law, it is the responsibility of the parties to locate, collect, and return the dead. The parties must act to assist in returning them to their families. The ICRC can fulfill its role as a neutral intermediary only through the cooperation of all relevant parties and within the framework of the current agreement.”

This comes after slain hostages Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch were returned to Israel on Thursday night.


IDF probe credits Ein Habesor residents with repelling Oct. 7 attack on moshav
An internal probe has concluded that the military failed to defend the Gaza border community of Ein Habesor during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, leaving the moshav’s residents to fend off an armed onslaught largely on their own.

The Israel Defense Forces investigation, cleared for publication Friday, found that the community’s standby squad and other residents fought courageously, repelling the attackers and sparing the community from the onslaught, as the army struggled to form a clear picture of events or mount a response of its own.

In all, only two residents were injured during the attack and the moshav suffered little damage, avoiding the fate of other communities that saw dozens of residents killed, kidnapped or subjected to other atrocities by the invading terrorists.

The investigation found that roughly 16 Gazan gunmen attacked Ein Habesor, but were forced to retreat by the community’s local security team. The report commended residents for independently organizing rescue and evacuation efforts under fire.

Investigators determined that the moshav, located some 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the Gaza border, was not among Hamas’s planned targets and that the assailants arrived there by mistake after losing their map en route to IDF bases near Urim.

The findings are the latest in a series of detailed investigations into some 40 battles and massacres that took place during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when about 5,600 terrorists stormed across the border, killed some 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages into Gaza.

The inquiry into Ein Habesor, led by Col. (res.) Ziv Beit Or and approved by former Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, examined months of testimony, battlefield reconstructions, surveillance video, social media posts, investigative material, and a range of intelligence.
IDF’s top lawyer quits, admits guilt amid brewing video scandal
Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi submitted her letter of resignation to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir at a meeting on Friday in which she admitted guilt for a leaked video.

In July of last year, IDF Military Police arrested nine reservists guarding the Sde Teiman detention center in the Negev as part of a probe into an incident of alleged sexual abuse of an imprisoned Hamas terrorist.

Protesters on Israel’s Right, including Knesset members, accused the IDF’s advocate general of falsely accusing innocent Israeli soldiers.

Tomer Yerushalmi acknowledged in the letter that she had approved the leak of the video, claiming that she did so to “fend off false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities,” Maariv reported.

The security camera footage from inside the Sde Teiman facility purporting to prove misconduct by five IDF reservists was leaked to Israel’s Channel 12 News.

The accused reservists rejected the allegations, claiming in court that the recording had been doctored using footage from two separate days and that they used proportionate force to subdue the terrorist.

In August 2024, a medical opinion submitted to the court suggested the soldiers could be innocent. Professor Alon Pikarsky, director of general surgery at Jerusalem’s Hadassah-University Medical Center, said the terrorist had possibly injured himself by inserting a foreign body.

Police said they would summon Tomer-Yerushalmi, along with other members of her office, for questioning in the coming days.

Her resignation came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he intended to fire her.

“In light of the severity of the suspicions and the sensitivity of the role of the [Military Advocate General] in charge of enforcing the law and setting legal norms throughout the IDF, the Minister of Defense intends to begin the process of appointing a new Military Advocate General as soon as possible,” Katz said in a statement earlier on Friday.

On Wednesday, Tomer Yerushalmi went on leave when the IDF announced that a criminal probe had been opened into the leak, adding “elements in the Military Advocate General’s Office” were being investigated.

Katz said on Wednesday that the leak gave rise to “one of the most serious blood libels ever made” against the Israeli military, exposing soldiers “to persecution and lawsuits around the world.”
Seth Frantzman: Gaza “Stabilization Force” Has a Problem: No One Wants to Go First
Key Points and Summary – The October 8 Gaza deal envisioned phased progress: hostages returned, stabilization, and an international force.
-But momentum is stalling.
-Jordan’s King Abdullah warns that a “peace-enforcing” mission is a non-starter; nations might train Palestinian police, yet few will deploy into firefights. Merkava Tank Israel
-The U.S. has opened a Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel to synchronize aid and security support—but won’t send troops into Gaza, and partners are hesitant.
-Meanwhile, Israel holds roughly half the Strip behind a “Yellow Line,” while Hamas reasserts control elsewhere.
-The longer deployment lags, the more facts on the ground harden—jeopardizing stabilization, governance, and the chance to rebuild daily life.

The Gaza Deal Is Stuck on Step One—Here’s Why
The agreed-upon Gaza deal, set on October 8, is facing several challenges. This has occurred around twenty days after the cease-fire helped end the fighting in Gaza. The agreement is supposed to proceed in phases. Hamas must return all the hostages.

Additionally, the goal is to stabilize the Gaza Strip. A key to that process is the deployment of an international stabilization force. Personnel from Other Nations Wanted

However, as recent comments by the King of Jordan suggest, it will be difficult to get countries actually to agree to send personnel into Gaza. Many countries have expressed interest in the US-backed plan for Gaza.

However, many of them also seem to want to either pass the buck to someone else or see who will be the first to act. In essence, this means that until one country is willing to jump in, most will wait and see.

This creates a complex process in the future.

King Abdullah of Jordan spelled out the reason for the problem in comments to the BBC. “What is the mandate of security forces inside of Gaza? And we hope that it is peacekeeping, because if it’s peace enforcing, nobody will want to touch that,” the monarch said to BBC Panorama.

“Peacekeeping is that you’re sitting there supporting the local police force, the Palestinians, which Jordan and Egypt are willing to train in large numbers, but that takes time. If we’re running around Gaza on patrol with weapons, that’s not a situation that any country would like to get involved in.”


In video filmed next to bound prisoners, Ben Gvir urges ‘death penalty for terrorists’
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Friday posted a video of himself standing over a row of Palestinian prisoners lying prone with their hands tied, while calling for the “death penalty for terrorists.”

In footage shared on his personal Telegram channel, the far-right minister and chairman of the Otzma Yehudit party addressed the camera while pointing at a dozen detainees face down in front of an Israeli flag.

“These guys, the Nukhba who came to kill children, women, our babies. Look at them today,” the far-right minister said, referring to the elite unit of Hamas’s military wing which led the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacres on southern Israel.

“But there’s still something that must be done: the death penalty for the terrorists,” he added.

Ben Gvir, who is known for his inflammatory remarks, has threatened to stop voting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition if his bill calling for a death penalty for terrorists is not put to a parliamentary vote soon.

In a lengthy caption posted alongside the video on Friday, Ben Gvir said that after Israel killed Hamas’s leaders, the Islamist terror group “tortured the hostages” abducted to Gaza after its bloody cross-border attack on October 7, 2023. He went on to boast about the harsh detention conditions he had imposed on Palestinian prisoners, something he has bragged about repeatedly in recent months.


Gaza Lies Exposed: New Report Destroys Genocide and Starvation Theater
Gazaland vs. Gaza Riviera: who writes the next chapter? On this week’s "True East," IDF Spokesperson (Res.) Doron Spielman warns that Hamas is scripting a propaganda theme park, “Gazaland”, to turn October 7’s perpetrators into victims as global media surge back into the Strip. Spielman breaks down how staged tours, mass-grave narratives and recycled famine/genocide claims could dominate headlines, and he challenges the numbers by walking through data analyses that sharply undercut those claims. He lays out a counter-blueprint: clear ~500 miles of tunnels, remove unexploded ordnance, and build a jobs-driven “Gaza Riviera” paired with strict press guardrails, de-radicalization benchmarks (“deradicalize or leave”), education reform vetted by a pro-Western coalition and a “peace corps” of teachers from moderate Muslim countries. With the window still open before cameras roll, Spielman argues that seizing the future, not just a ceasefire, requires destroying Hamas’s apparatus while fast-tracking reconstruction for civilians who reject its ideology. The stakes: prevent a media theater of the absurd, stop Hamas from monetizing tragedy, and give Gazans a real path to stability, trade and hope.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Gazaland vs. Gaza Riviera — opening
01:20 Media floodgates: how Hamas will script the tours
03:05 Debunking “famine” & “genocide” claims with data
05:12 Civilian vs. combatant numbers — what the stats show
07:10 Lessons from Japan: truth, accountability, rebuild
09:00 Blueprint: clearing tunnels & unexploded ordnance
11:18 The Gaza Riviera plan — jobs, trade, housing
13:25 Press guardrails & coordinated U.S.–Israel access
15:32 “Deradicalize or leave” — education reform & peace corps
17:45 Seize the future, not just a ceasefire — action steps & wrap-up


'Qatar Embraces the Martyr': Former Qatari Ambassador to US Praises Hamas Honcho and Vilifies 'Enemy of Humanity' Israel
A top Qatari official who served as ambassador to the United States has repeatedly praised slain Hamas leaders as "martyrs," called on the terror group to pursue "resistance until victory," and denounced Israel as the "enemy of humanity."

Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari—Qatar's state minister who bears the cabinet-level rank of deputy prime minister—served as the Gulf state's ambassador to the United States, France, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization before assuming his current position. He has repeatedly used his X account to glorify Hamas and vilify Israel.

Days after Israel assassinated former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July 2024, Al-Kawari wrote on X that "Qatar embraces the martyr Ismail Haniyeh as a fighter" and praised Qatar for "embracing the oppressed and supporting the wronged." Haniyeh had been living in Qatar before his death.

"Whoever saw or knew the late Haniyeh knew him to be a man of pure faith, simple and approachable, a leader who was close to the people, kind-hearted, and with a smile of contentment that never left his face, even in the darkest of circumstances," the deputy prime minister continued.

Al-Kawari also issued a statement on his X account after Israeli forces killed another former Hamas leader and the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Yahya Sinwar, in October 2024.

"The occupier is mistaken if he imagines that the absence of a leader will weaken the Palestinian people or lead them to surrender their destiny," he wrote. "A leader is martyred, another takes his place, and the resistance continues until victory."

In April 2024, when Iran launched ballistic missile attacks against Israel, Al-Kawari offered his support.

"Israel is certainly the number one enemy of humanity and it seeks to eliminate a people from existence," he wrote. "With the current war of extermination that is taking place under the eyes of the world in all its details, it has reached a level of tyranny, arrogance and contempt for values and principles of international conventions that exceeds all description."

He framed the strike as an opportunity for Iran and the Arab world to become closer.

"By restoring Iran's credibility in the Arab world, it would make it a true ally in our unified stance against Israel," he continued.


Hamas makes wild bid to have Australia remove the Palestinian militant group from its terror list, claims designation 'unlawful’
Hamas has made the astonishing argument that Australia should remove the Palestinian militant group from its terror list claiming the designation is “unlawful”.

The interlocutory application lodged with the Federal Court was brought by Indigenous activist Robbie Thorpe, Senator Lidia Thorpe’s uncle.

The terror group responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023 lodged the interlocutory application this month.

An estimated 1,200 people were killed that day with 251 taken hostage.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the documents were filed as part of a case brought by Mr Thorpe, who argued the designation limited freedom of political communication in Australia.

The application was lodged on October 15, five days after the US-backed ceasefire came into effect.

In the documents, Hamas demanded procedural fairness because it was an “interested party” and was the governing authority in Gaza.

The terror group argued the ongoing proscription had “impeded negotiations” and even exposed negotiators to assassination.

Hamas reasoned the terror proscription impeded the “maintenance of any ceasefire agreement” and that Israel could engage in “extrajudicial killing” of Hamas members and their families.

In article eight of the interlocutory orders, Hamas argued the proscription incites Israel to “commit genocide” against Palestine.

“The ongoing proscription purports to declare as unlawful the armed struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation from unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, contrary to international law,” Hamas said in the application.

“Hamas was deprived of the opportunity to rebut the allegations made against Hamas, made against the late Ismail Haniyeh, and against the late Mohammed Deif.”


Ethiopian Jewish Leader Shatters Global Lies about Israel and Zionism
Shmuel Legesse, Ethiopian-Israeli educator and proud Zionist shares his remarkable journey from Addis Ababa to Jerusalem. As a Black Jew and descendant of generations who prayed for Zion, Legesse offers a stirring defense of Israel’s legitimacy, counters false narratives of colonialism and makes a passionate call for “moral diplomacy”—a values-driven approach to educating the world about Jewish identity, history, and humanity.

Speaking from lived experience, Legesse urges inclusion of Ethiopian Jews in global Jewish advocacy, criticizes the erasure of Black Jewish voices in media portrayals of Israel and calls on Prime Minister Netanyahu to empower diverse Israeli voices in shaping public diplomacy. With emotional reflections on the trauma of October 7, praise for President Trump’s regional peace efforts and a bold invitation to Black Lives Matter and others for honest, respectful dialogue, this is a must-watch conversation about identity, history and healing.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction: From Ethiopia to Jerusalem
02:15 - Embracing Identity: Black, Jewish, Zionist
05:10 - Defining Israel Beyond War
08:40 - Educating Through Moral Diplomacy
12:20 - Combatting Antisemitism with Empathy and Truth
16:00 - Life in New York and Rising Extremism
19:35 - Thoughts on President Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan
23:00 - Ethiopian Jewish Heritage and the Spirit of Fano
26:45 - A Plea to Prime Minister Netanyahu
30:10 - Invitation to Dialogue with BLM and South Africa


travelingisrael.com: Islamization Is a One-Way Street | The TRUTH No One Dares to Say
Islamization is a one-way street. No place in the world has ever become less Islamic — only the opposite: more and more Islamic...


Warning! Muslim Separatism Could Be Coming To England Next (w/Ridvan Aydemir)
Ex-Muslim commentator Ridvan Aydemir (‪@ApostateProphet‬) returns to Jerusalem after converting to Christianity, debunking claims that Christians are mistreated in Israel and blasting Western media narratives. He argues the core doctrines of Islam—not just “radicals”—drive extremism, cites the Hamas charter, urges Muslims to leave Islam and warns Europe could face separatist Muslim autonomy movements. He calls Turkey's Erdogan a bluffer, says he feels safer in Israel than in London and urges “peace through strength.”

ChAPTERS
00:00 – Opening & Ridwan’s conversion to Christianity
01:12 – Walking Jerusalem with a cross: debunking “Christians mistreated” claims
02:28 – Media propaganda & calling out Tucker Carlson
03:40 – “Israel doesn’t oppress Christians” vs. regional realities
05:02 – Islam: doctrine vs. individuals; why “reform” may empower extremists
06:26 – Hamas charter and the genocide accusation (Article 7)
07:45 – “Leave Islam, choose better beliefs” – Ridwan’s appeal
09:01 – Erdogan & Turkey: Islamization, bluffing, and youth pushback
10:18 – Europe’s trajectory: guilt, migration, and separatist autonomy risks
12:00 – Safer in Jerusalem than London; message to Israelis: peace through strength


The Horrors Inside Iran the Mainstream Media Refuses to Show You…

NYC mayor slams ‘Hamas lover’ art exhibit
New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivered an address to the city condemning antisemitism on Thursday after an art exhibit that included praise for Hamas and Hezbollah appeared at a city-controlled site on Governors Island.

Adams said that the exhibition in Building 11 of Nolan Park on the island was “unsanctioned” and “removed within hours of going up.”

“This was a vile, antisemitic exhibit,” Adams said. “I share this story because it reveals the dark underbelly of hate, and it exposes just how deep hate has seeped into our institutions, as installations like this somehow go up in the first place.”

Drawings in the exhibit included the flag of Hezbollah overlaid with the words “the resistance is justified,” an image of a Klansman with a hood topped with a Star of David and the words “Hamas lover” over a red triangle, a symbol that the terrorist group has used in its propaganda videos to indicate targets for attack.

Building 11 is owned by New York City and managed by the Trust for Governors Island, a nonprofit that the city created in 2010. Swale, a food access nonprofit that is a subsidiary of the New York Foundation for the Arts, which grants the space for artist residencies, uses the building for part of the year.

The New York Post reported that the exhibit was created by the activist Rebecca Goyette, who was given access to the house by the site’s current artist-in-residence.

Swale condemned the exhibition in a statement on its website.

“The individual responsible was not part of our programming,” it stated. “A current artist-in-residence invited this unauthorized person into a back studio and allowed them to display work without approval. We had no prior knowledge of this display and view this as a deliberate violation.”

The intended artist-in-residence, Sarah Olson, told the Post that she had also been tricked by Goyette, believing that she would use the space to focus “on the struggles of Palestinian children in Gaza during the war between Hamas and Israel,” but not to exhibit “offensive material.”
NYC mayor warns antisemitism spreading ‘like a cancer’ across city
New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned Thursday that antisemitism was spreading “like a cancer” across the city and the US, speaking out against anti-Israel rhetoric days before a city-wide vote that could see a strident critic of Israel replace him in office.

Adams is a staunch supporter of Israel with deep ties to the city’s Jewish communities. He has often spoken out against antisemitism and has taken a series of measures to combat hatred against Jews as mayor.

The speech came at a time when much of the city’s attention is focused on Tuesday’s vote for mayor. Polls have far-left anti-Israel State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, as the frontrunner, trailed by pro-Israel former governor Andrew Cuomo, an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani’s anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed Jewish leaders in the city and beyond, who fear that the statements could fuel backlash against Jews.

In the speech, Adams highlighted an art exhibit on Governor’s Island this week that included images that said “Hamas lover,” “F**k Israel,” “‘Beyond the pale’: Israel’s existence,” and showed a Star of David on a Ku Klux Klan hood.

“A shocking number of people were afraid to call this out for what it is, but I am not one of those people. This was a vile, antisemitic exhibit,” Adams said, adding that the exhibit was unsanctioned and swiftly removed. “Disagreeing with the policies of Israel’s government does not make someone antisemitic, but to openly praise Hamas at an exhibit in a government facility sends a message of institutionalizing hatred.”

“History shows us how hatred begins on the fringes. It starts small, with a few artists trying to make a statement,” Adams said. “Before we know it, hate moves to the mainstream, and once it is in the mainstream, it becomes much harder to mobilize against.”

Adams took a shot at Mamdani, a Democrat who earlier this year defended the phrase “Globalize the intifada,” then later, after coming under massive pressure, said he would “discourage” the slogan.

“We will never surrender our city to hate or to those who want to say they want to globalize the intifada,” Adams said, “because it is literally a phrase that means, ‘Death to Jews all over the world.”

Adams said that Jews are targeted in 57 percent of all hate crimes in the city, pointing to an attack on an Israeli this week in Manhattan, saying, “If this was a stat for any group, we would respond accordingly.”
Top Michigan Dems Headline Fundraiser for Arab-American PAC Whose Leader Wants Jews Sent ‘Back to Poland’
Democratic candidates in Michigan who reject American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) donations over the Israel-Hamas war spoke at a fundraiser this week for an Arab-American PAC whose leader praises Hamas and called for Israeli Jews to be sent "back to Poland."

Lieutenant governor Garlin Gilchrist, running for Michigan governor, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud headlined the event, hosted by the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) in Dearborn on Wednesday.

The PAC is led by Osama Siblani, a prominent Arab-American community leader who owns the Arab American News. Siblani cofounded the AAPAC in 1998 with a mission to elect Arab-American candidates and "lobby on behalf of the Arab American political causes which are of concern to the majority of the community as approved by the members of the organization."

In recent years, those causes included the demonization of Israel and support for terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. Siblani has praised the terrorist groups as "freedom fighters." At a rally last September alongside Hammoud, Siblani called late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a "hero." Siblani, whose speech was interrupted by chants of "death to Israel," called for Israeli Jews to be sent "back to Poland."

Siblani’s anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed Jewish groups and some Democratic lawmakers, though others, like Gilchrist and El-Sayed, have cozied up to him over the years thanks to Siblani’s influence in Michigan’s sizable Arab and Muslim communities.

The Anti-Defamation League condemned the Biden administration last year after White House officials met with Siblani in Dearborn to discuss the Israel-Hamas war. Rep. Haley Stevens (D., Mich.), who is running against El-Sayed for Senate, condemned Siblani’s statements last year and said she would refuse to meet with him.

"I will not condone or associate with this kind of relationship," said Stevens. "A grown man should not be saying, 'All Jews should go back to Poland.'"

Gilchrist, El-Sayed, and Hammoud all spoke at the AAPAC event, which appeared to have a couple hundred attendees. Gilchrist was photographed seated at a table sponsored by the Arab American News. Also at the table was Hassan al-Qazwini, an imam in Dearborn Heights, Mich., who last year called supporters of a bill to oppose anti-Semitism "stooges of Israel" who should "be indicted and convicted of treason."

Gilchrist and El-Sayed have embraced anti-Israel positions in their campaigns. They spoke last month at ArabCon alongside multiple speakers who defended Hamas. One speaker, Rabab Abdulhadi, refused to condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, stating, "I never ever condemn Palestinian resistance and anyone’s resistance around the world." Another speaker, Lara Sheehi, praised the "Al-Aqsa Flood," a reference to Oct. 7, for its "disruption" of Israel’s "oppressive system" of "psychological warfare," the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Ilhan Omar's Daughter Fundraises for Self-Described 'Jew Hater' Who Assaulted Jewish Counter-Protesters
The daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) this week shared defenses of and fundraisers for a Hamas-supporting thug who pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge and another rioter charged with setting police vehicles on fire.

Isra Hirsi, who graduated from Barnard College earlier this year, posted two Instagram stories in support of Tarek Bazrouk—a self-described "Jew hater" responsible for a string of assaults against pro-Israel counter-protesters in New York City since 2024—and pro-Hamas activist Jakhi McCray, who allegedly caused $800,000 in damage through torching cop cars.

Bazrouk, sentenced to 17 months in prison earlier this week, attacked Jewish counter-protesters at three different anti-Israel demonstrations in late 2024 and early 2025. The Instagram post Hirsi shared frames his sentencing as an effort to silence "resistance."

"We reject Tarek's sentencing as anything more than political theatre where extreme sentences are imposed as a method to suppress pro-Palestine activism," the post Hirsi shared reads. "We reject the notion that his actions were a hate crime—Palestinians have the right to fight back against their oppressors ... Tarek is only guilty of resisting his oppressors. His sentence of 17 months in prison and three years probation serves no purpose beyond crushing dissent and resistance under the leveraged language of so-called 'hate crimes.'"

The post Hirsi shared also displays a link to a Bazrouk fan page that includes a letter to Judge Richard M. Berman demanding Bazrouk's release and a fundraiser that has already collected almost $8,000.

Bazrouk had initially faced up to 30 years for his string of crimes before striking a plea deal. He apologized to some of his victims while in court, saying, "I'm sorry, guys, and I hope that you forgive me for my actions."




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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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