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Thursday, November 20, 2025

11/20 Links Pt1: Resolution 2803: A restatement of international law; ‘We need to make them scared’: NYC synagogue protest crosses new red lines; Confessions of a Former Pro-Palestine Activist

From Ian:

Resolution 2803: A restatement of international law
The resolution effectively negates any recognition of a Palestinian state at present or otherwise outside of the terms of the resolution. This includes the misguided efforts to recognize the P.A. as a state by the United Kingdom and France, as well as other U.N. members, such as Canada and Australia, all of whom are bound by the resolution. Interestingly, there is no explicit legal obligation to create a Palestinian state under this resolution; it merely recites the threshold conditions that must be satisfied to have a pathway for self-determination and statehood.

The resolution also does not recognize that there is or ever was any so-called “occupation,” “right of return,” “genocide,” “starvation,” “apartheid” or “justifiable resistance.” Hamas and its cohorts are the wrongdoers and the resolution is directed against them and in support of Israel’s just defensive war. Indeed, the resolution explicitly notes that Gaza threatens the security of neighboring states. It can well be asserted that all the libels against Israel relating to Gaza and the Palestinians have effectively been debunked as a matter of international law by the resolution. The Resolution is effectively a restatement of international law that exonerates Israel and casts Hamas and its cohorts as the wrongdoers.

Hamas has been defeated militarily and politically. The board and ISF have the clean-up job, with Israel there on-site until the job is fully completed. Thereafter, Israel is entitled to remain with a security perimeter presence until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.

Israel fought a just, defensive war against belligerent, vicious, murderous and terrorist Hamas and its cohorts. The UNSC and those supporting the plan recognize this and, by virtue thereof, the resolution is designed to eliminate Hamas and its cohorts—as the wrongdoers—from having any role in the governance of Gaza, as well as to destroy their capacity to do any more harm to Israel and the neighboring countries.

May the blessings of peace prevail.
Jake Wallis Simons: President Trump has made a mockery of Europe's Gaza posturing
That is not all. Resolution 2803 also included language that exposed the UN’s claim of “genocide” in Gaza as unfounded and absurd. The International Stabilisation Force, it said, shall enforce security by “ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure… until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.”

Shamefully, here was the first official recognition from the Security Council that Israel’s campaign in the Strip did not aim to destroy the Palestinian people but to vanquish those jihadi armies who had spent decades turning their territory into a network of subterranean garrisons protected by more than two million human shields.

This statement – passed with 13 votes in favour, including those of Britain and France, and abstentions from China and Russia – directly contradicted the official ruling by the United Nations commission of inquiry that Israel had conducted a “genocide” in Gaza, released in September as part of the lamentable international drive to force an Israeli defeat. What a difference three months make, eh?

Of course, anybody of sound mind who had bothered to read September’s “genocide” report was bound to conclude that it was a deplorable piece of Israelophobic propaganda in the first place. It brazenly airbrushed Hamas from the conflict almost entirely, showcasing the tragic destruction as evidence of a campaign targeting civilians rather than the jihadis hiding behind them. It was like a biased account of the Second World War in which the Nazis had been conveniently forgotten.

All of which is to say: thank God for President Trump! In many ways, not least his attitude towards Vladimir Putin, I’m no fan of the man. But without his intervention at the UN, which has so rudely jolted the West – and the world – out of its inexplicable infatuation with the jihadi agenda, the collapse of liberal democracy would have been all but assured.

But Trump cannot forever be relied upon to save Britain from itself. Israel may be the first domino, but Ukraine is the second. Sooner or later, we must learn to defend ourselves.
Hamas’ Rejection of Peace and the Media’s Convenient Silence
On Monday, November 17, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2803, approving the implementation of the 20-point Peace Plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The resolution outlines how the two parties can advance to the next phase of the ceasefire and begin shifting the focus toward rebuilding the Gaza Strip.

A “Board of Peace,” led by President Trump and authorized by an International Stabilization Force (ISF), would be implemented to disarm terrorist organizations in Gaza and assist in delivering humanitarian aid, among other responsibilities.

Thirteen votes were cast in favor, zero against, and China and Russia both abstained. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas’ patrons Qatar and Turkey also welcomed the resolution.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad reacted to the vote with a statement vowing to treat any international force as a “party to the conflict,” meaning more violence. But Hamas’ opposition is hardly surprising given their insistence on portraying themselves as the victors of the war. The dissonance that the media cannot seem to reconcile is that Hamas claims to be the group that represents and governs over the people the plan is meant to help.

Less surprisingly, but certainly more disappointingly, is the international media’s failure to delve into the details of Hamas’ rejection and what it means more broadly for the future of the peace plan.

The New York Times, for instance, spent an entire article discussing the countries – including several Muslim and Arab nations – that welcomed the adoption of the resolution and its implications in the broader context of peace.

But similar to how Hamas stood alone in rejecting the agreement, The New York Times also chose to gloss over that critical fact. While it’s encouraging that the international community wants to see an end to the war, shouldn’t it be headline news that the party actually waging the war has no real interest in ending it? Shouldn’t Hamas’ absolute rejection of any form of peace deserve, at the bare minimum, one paragraph?

After years of Hamas openly declaring its goals, the media continues to conceal this reality, seeking to portray the terrorist organization instead as peacemakers while shifting the blame for the continued conflict onto Israel. But as the saying goes, when someone – or in this case, a terrorist organization – shows you who they are, believe them.


Netanyahu: ‘There will not be a Palestinian state,’ even at cost of ties with Saudis
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that there will not be a Palestinian state, even at the cost of normalization with Saudi Arabia, during an interview aired on Thursday evening.

“There will not be a Palestinian state. It’s very simple: it will not be established,” the premier said in the wide-ranging interview with Abu Ali Express, a popular local Telegram channel.

Asked by the interviewer if his opposition holds even if it jeopardizes normalization with Riyadh — which insists on a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood in exchange for such ties – Netanyahu said: “The answer is: a Palestinian state will not be established. It is an existential threat to Israel.”

Asked about what has prevented normalization with the Saudis, Netanyahu said the war in Gaza strained progress, but that “the conditions could develop” now that the war is winding down.

“But the conditions must be acceptable to both sides – terms that are good for both sides,” he said. “I know how to stand firm on our essential conditions and not endanger our security. And if this process ripens later on, excellent. And if not, we will safeguard our vital interests.”

Earlier in the week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Riyadh wants to join the Abraham Accords, but called for the need to secure a path toward a two-state solution, while meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Arab-Israelis, and not UN resolutions, will be central to Israel’s, Gaza’s future, Yoseph Haddad says
Haddad’s family has supported his activism despite threats to them, he told JNS. His mother was hospitalized with a broken hand after being assaulted, he said.

Support from the Israeli public, including letters, flowers and gifts sent to her home in Nazareth, “helped her recover” and strengthened his determination to continue being one of the few Arab-Israeli voices publicly challenging extremists, he said.

“People ask, ‘Why are they scared?’ Look what happens to me the second I speak,” he said. “I’m one of the most threatened people in Israel. Since Oct. 7, Hamas even issued a fatwa on my head.”

“Many people like me are scared to speak because of extremists,” he said. “The only reason I can keep talking is the support of my family and the majority of Israelis.”

Haddad founded Together Vouch for Each Other in 2018. Much of his work involves speaking to audiences that have never encountered anyone who identifies openly and proudly as both Arab and Israeli.

“What the international media and social media say about our country, especially about minorities, is 180 degrees opposite of our reality,” he told JNS. “Our country isn’t perfect, but the picture people abroad have is a lie.”

“Just by being there and speaking about our personal reality,” he added, “we expose the lie of those who define Israel as an apartheid state.”

Through in-person debates and discussions, Haddad has changed the minds of those who accused Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, he told JNS.

He recalled an incident in Johannesburg, where he lectured 120 students, mostly Black, during “apartheid week.” (South Africa has accused Israel of war crimes, including in international court.)

“When I spoke, I made comparisons between my life and the life of those who suffered from real apartheid,” he said. He cited Salim Joubran, a former Arab-Israeli justice of the Israeli Supreme Court who served on the panels that upheld the prison sentences of Ehud Olmert and Moshe Katsav, former Israeli prime minister and former president, respectively.

“The second I said that, some students started shouting that I was a liar,” he told JNS.

He gave them 10 minutes to prove him wrong. None could. One student cursed at him and stormed out, he said.

At that point, Haddad said he told those in the room that “anyone who compares the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the real apartheid in South Africa is doing injustice to your parents and grandparents, who suffered from real apartheid.”

Most of the students nodded in agreement, he said.
John Spencer: Will the Gaza International Security Force Enforce Peace or Merely Observe It?
The UN Security Council resolution proposing the establishment of an International Security Force (ISF) in Gaza empowers the force "to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate." The ISF is to "stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of military, terror and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups."

When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 1982, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was never equipped or mandated to disarm the militia that later evolved into Hizbullah, which entrenched itself across southern Lebanon and built formidable capabilities, even within sight of UN positions.

According to its mandate, UNIFIL could monitor but not prevent, record but not eliminate. It became a spectator in the conflict. If the ISF observes but does not enforce, it will replicate the same failure.

For the Gaza mission to succeed, it needs certain guiding principles: The mission must have the legal and operational ability to compel demilitarization if armed groups refuse. Without that, it will share UNIFIL's fate.

Aid and materials must be tied to verified disarmament and must not be diverted to re-arming. No aid without oversight. A new Palestinian police force must be properly vetted, trained, and mentored over an extended timeline.

Equally important is the narrative. Israel and its partners must now show that what is happening in Gaza is liberation from militant rule, not occupation. The most credible narrative will be visible results: security, opportunity and respect for civilians.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Terrorists Threaten to Target International Stabilization Force
Hamas claims it agreed only to the first phase of Trump's plan, which calls for an end to the war and the release of all the hostages – alive and deceased – within 72 hours. That was on October 9, 2025; by now, weeks have passed.

The only reason the terror groups agreed to the first phase of Trump's plan was so that the war would end and they could maintain their rule over the Gaza Strip.

The main reason the terror groups oppose the presence of international forces or an international governing body inside the Gaza Strip is evidently that they fear this coalition would obstruct their plan to pursue Jihad (holy war) against Israel. For them, the October 7 massacre was just another phase in their Jihad to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.

The only plan the Palestinian terror groups apparently will accept is one that legitimizes their Jihad and allows them to rearm, regroup and prepare for another October 7-style attack on Israel. To that end, just this year, Iran, despite sanctions, has already managed to smuggle $1 billion to Hamas.

The last part of the PIJ statement is actually a direct threat to launch terror attacks against members of the proposed International Stabilization Force in the Gaza Strip.

That is why, even if the international troops sent to the Gaza Strip are granted a clear mandate to use force to disarm the terror groups and dismantle their military infrastructure, not one of them will use it. No one, after all, wants to get shot at, especially when, as the world has seen for years with UN forces in Lebanon, it is so much easier to look the other way, or even be rewarded for helping a terror group reconstruct its power.

Even with such a mandate, Hamas and its captive subjects in the Gaza Strip will steadfastly continue to serve as one of the largest bases for Iranian-backed Islamist terrorists in the Middle East.
Updated Gaza data shows famine claims likely inflated by UN-backed monitor
Data released by an authoritative global malnutrition tracking organization has demonstrated that a crucial hunger threshold was never breached in Gaza during a period in which a famine declaration in the territory fueled intense criticism of Israel and played a key role in the country’s isolation on the world stage.

The figures released last month by the Global Nutrition Cluster’s State of Palestine department, along with mortality statistics from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, raise serious doubts about the findings of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system (IPC) famine monitoring organization over the summer, though experts say devastating malnutrition was still rampant in the Strip, even if not at levels previously claimed.

The October data from the nutrition cluster shows that malnutrition levels in Gaza in July and August were some 23 percent lower than figures used by the IPC to underpin a declaration of famine. At the same time, while figures on “malnutrition-related deaths” spiked in that period, the level of excess mortality appears to have been greatly below what would be expected during a famine.

Israeli analysts acknowledge that even if the strict parameters of famine were not breached, the humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely difficult and remains so, with hundreds of thousands of people suffering from deprivation of food, poor sanitary conditions, and limited access to healthcare, not to mention the traumas of a two-year war.

But the experts also underlined that establishing precisely whether or not there was a real famine in Gaza is critical in addressing the grave allegations made against Israel in international legal forums and in the international community more broadly, which seized on the famine claims to undergird charges that Israel was committing genocide through a policy of deliberate starvation and other means.

“The whole famine narrative is used to accuse Israel of deliberate starvation,” said Mark Zlochin, an independent data analyst who has closely monitored the IPC’s reports and drew attention to the new data when it was published in mid-October.

“No one serious would argue that there was not hunger in Gaza. If that hunger is a result of the war then it is serious, but something which happens all around the world… But the claim is that Israel deliberately starved a civilian population not involved in war,” said Zlochin.
The Palestinian Authority Continues to Foment Hatred of Israel
On Nov. 18, two Palestinian terrorists rammed their car into Israelis standing at a bus stop at the Gush Etzion junction and then exited the vehicle with knives to stab more victims. Aharon Cohen, 70, was murdered in the attack. Three other Israelis were wounded.

An integral part of the Palestinian Authority's policy to foment hatred against Israel and Israelis is to present an alternative reality in which Israel is a mindless aggressor against Palestinian victims. This policy is used to create an environment of incitement, constantly emotionally charging the Palestinians in preparation for direct incitement to terror and murder.

WAFA, the official PA news agency, described the deadly terror attack as Palestinian victimhood. "Two Palestinian youths from the occupied West Bank district of Hebron were killed this evening by Israeli forces' gunfire south of Bethlehem." According to WAFA, there was no terror attack. No Israelis were murdered or injured.

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs conducted a study of WAFA's English-language coverage for the month of July 2025, and found that 99.9% of articles related to Israel were explicitly negative, spreading false narratives. WAFA content in Arabic is no better than its English content.
Palestinian textbooks still glorify attacks against Israel, violating EU accord
Palestinian textbooks remain filled with incitement against Jews and are rife with antisemitism and the promotion of martyrdom, in violation of past pledges of reform made to the European Union, a new study released Wednesday found.

The review of the Palestinian Authority’s 2025-2026 national school curriculum by the London-based IMPACT-se research institute finds that the schoolbooks remain unchanged from previous years in violation of an E.U. accord signed last year for continued funding.

The study of some 290 Palestinian textbooks and 71 teacher guides used to teach 1.3 million pupils finds that antisemitism remains a “central feature” of the curriculum, with Jews depicted as deceitful, manipulative or inherently corrupt enemies of Islam.

A 7th-grade teacher guide cited in the report describes Israelis bashing Palestinian children’s heads in front of their mothers and mutilating women for jewelry while instructing students to visually recreate the events with drawings.

Violence and terrorism are directly glorified, the review found, with Palestinians who killed Israelis lauded as “martyrs” and role models for youth.

A grade 12 textbook includes a poem urging students to return to Israeli cities, using emotive verse reminiscent of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Even first-grade children learn the Arabic word for “martyr” as one of their very first spelling terms.

The study also found that the State of Israel has been erased from both maps and texts, its existence described as “incompatible with justice,” while Israelis are routinely dehumanized.

“Even science, math and grammar exercises used in the curriculum are designed to normalize violence and promote dehumanization,” the report states.
UN's Broken Chair: How Geneva became ground zero for global antisemitism
A devastating chain
The chain of devastating influence is clear: An accusation born in Geneva is eagerly amplified by media, sanctified by organizations claiming to speak for human rights, and then it spreads like wildfire across social media and the streets of our cities.

There is an important lesson to be learned for all who care about combating antisemitism. To confront Jew-hatred effectively, one must engage it where it begins, at the institutions that convert hostility into virtuous moral wisdom. Simply walking away from the United Nations as hopelessly antisemitic would be an abdication of responsibility, as the distortion that fuels this hatred shapes global discourse and, most importantly, corrupts the moral vocabulary of an entire generation.

At the UN, far too many democratic governments equate silence with balance and consensus with principle. Yet neutrality in the face of such moral corruption is not diplomacy. It is complicity.

This is why I chose now to join UN Watch in Geneva. It is the one organization confronting this dreadful apparatus head-on, swiftly, and unwaveringly. Operating in the belly of the beast, UN Watch has led the efforts to expose Francesca Albanese’s antisemitic record, support for terrorists, and abuse of UN mandate, leading to her condemnation and sanctioning by the United States.

Its findings on the UN Relief and Works Agency prompted the United States, Sweden, and the Netherlands to cut $468 million in funding after evidence revealed the unholy alliance between UNRWA officials and Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders. UN Watch has been the leading voice challenging the Commission of Inquiry on Israel, documenting its bias, confronting its members over antisemitic remarks, and pressing governments to act until all three commissioners resigned.

The fight against Jew-hatred
At this critical moment for the Jewish people, when words shape realities and good intentions are often paralyzed by caution and procedure, the fight against Jew-hatred must be fought precisely in this manner: proactively, fearlessly, and with data-driven precision.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, warned that when people defend the rights of some while denying them to others, they destroy the foundation of rights themselves. We saw this clearly on the very day of the Manchester synagogue attack, at rallies professing compassion and human rights, where not a single voice paused to acknowledge the Jewish lives brutally taken. That silence spoke louder than any chant.

The Broken Chair still stands at the entrance to the Palais des Nations (Palace of Nations), its missing leg reflecting the moral imbalance of the system behind it, as Jews are again forced to hide their identities out of fear. What starts in Geneva does not end there. It spreads, it corrupts, and it kills.

The fight against antisemitism will not be won through appeasement or compromise but by directly confronting the institutions that lend it credibility and the totalitarian partners who sustain them. That is where the struggle must be fought and where it must be won.


How Israel Is Rewriting Urban Warfare
A military exercise on Tuesday viewed by foreign military officials displayed the IDF's new battle tactics. The IDF used four different drones. A large one gave the forces a bird's eye view of the entire wider battle zone, before, during, and after the assault.

A medium-sized drone was used to drop grenades to destroy IEDS or Hamas fighters. Another medium drone flew straight into the second-floor position of a Hamas enemy fighter in kamikaze style. A small drone the size of a human hand snuck into a multi-story, six-room structure to scan and locate enemy forces and boobytraps, returning to the structure repeatedly.

The drill showed how the IDF brought in a group of tanks along with a D9 bulldozer on one flank of the village to draw the Hamas defenders' attention, and then sent in other tanks with a different D9 bulldozer from another direction for the main assault. The D9s clear out potential IEDs before the infantry comes in.

At one point, an F-35 dropped a one-ton bomb on an enemy position with IDF forces only 130 meters away in a stunning show of joint army-air force precision.
Israeli officials say only a major operation can dismantle Hezbollah
Nearly a year has passed since the ceasefire in Lebanon, yet the IDF has not paused its operations. In recent days, the IDF has struck Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist infrastructure across Lebanon, as both terrorist organizations continue trying to rebuild.

A senior Israeli official said the IDF has little choice because Lebanon’s military is simply not doing enough to block Hezbollah.

On Sunday, the IDF struck a series of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The attacks followed an Arabic-language warning by Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic spokesman, who urged residents of southern Lebanon and the village of Deir Qifa to distance themselves from areas and buildings that the army had marked on maps it distributed.

Later, the IDF reported that it had destroyed several weapons depots belonging to Hezbollah’s rocket unit, located in the heart of a civilian population. Earlier that day, the military announced that it had struck and killed two Hezbollah operatives in the Bint Jbeil and Blida areas of southern Lebanon.

The IDF is currently operating in Lebanon with near-complete freedom of action, aiming to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding, despite its attempts to do so and despite Iranian efforts to arm the terrorist organization. According to a senior official who spoke with Israel Hayom, Hezbollah has not disappeared.

He said it is rebuilding faster than Israel’s ability to dismantle it, and Lebanon’s military is not doing enough. He added that he does not see the Lebanese Armed Forces disarming Hezbollah and that only the IDF could dismantle the terrorist organization.
IDF: Inside Beit Hanoun: Hamas’ Terror Stronghold Revealed
New Intelligence From the City of Beit Hanoun: Armed Hamas terrorists inside an elementary school, and beneath it a tunnel shaft leading to an underground tunnel—terror hiding behind a civilian population.

We are the IDF. Our purpose is to preserve the State of Israel, to protect its independence, and to stop its enemies from disrupting everyday life for Israel's citizens and residents.


IDF uncovers 7 km.-long Gaza terror tunnel where Hamas held Hadar Goldin
The IDF on Thursday uncovered an underground tunnel route more than 7 kilometers long and around 25 meters deep in Rafah, Gaza, where the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin were held by Hamas.

The route runs beneath a dense residential area near the Philadelphi Corridor and continues under sensitive civilian sites, including a UNRWA compound, mosques, clinics, kindergartens, and schools, the IDF said.

Inside, troops located roughly 80 hideouts and command-and-control rooms that senior Hamas operatives used to store weapons, live long term, and plan attacks.

Among the senior Hamas figures who used the complex was Mohammad Shabaneh, commander of the Rafah Brigade, the IDF stated.


IDF finds rocket launcher aimed at Israel in Yellow Line area
Infantrymen from the IDF’s Kfir Brigade discovered an eight-tube rocket launcher loaded with four rockets and aimed toward Israeli territory during operations near the Yellow Line area in Gaza, the military said on Thursday.

The troops located the launcher during area-clearing activities conducted in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.

The Yellow Line demarcates the areas of Gaza currently under Israeli military control per the terms of last month’s U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Jerusalem and the Hamas terrorist organization.

In a separate operation, brigade forces uncovered additional weapons including Kalashnikov rifles, fragmentation grenades, explosives, ammunition magazines and military uniforms, the military said.

The Kfir Brigade has been tasked with defending the Yellow Line area and dismantling infrastructure used by terrorist organizations to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians, according to the statement.

Troops under the IDF Southern Command will continue clearing operations to remove immediate threats and destroy terrorist infrastructure that could endanger military personnel, residents of the northwestern Negev and other Israeli citizens, the army said.

Hamas has consistently violated the truce since it went into effect on Oct. 10, including several terrorists firing on Israeli troops in the Khan Yunis area on Wednesday, prompting Israeli retaliatory strikes against Hamas terrorists that killed at least two senior officers.


Call me Back Podcast: MBS in DC - with Amit Segal and Nadav Eyal
On Monday, the United Nations Security Council voted to adopt the US-proposed resolution authorizing the establishment of an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, as outlined by President Trump’s 20-point peace plan. The resolution allows for Trump’s “board of peace” to oversee multinational peacekeeping forces, Palestinian technocrats, and a local police force that would govern Gaza for a period of two years.

On Tuesday, President Trump met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman at the White House. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, MBS stated that Riyadh would like to join the Abraham Accords but must see a pathway toward a two-state solution. Also, Trump confirmed that the United States will sell F-35 “stealth” jets to Saudi Arabia, prompting concern from Israel’s defense establishment, with the Israeli Air Force saying the deal jeopardizes Israel’s air superiority.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 62: Hard times make strong Jews. Live in London with Daniel Schwammenthal.
Today's episode is a very special show which was recorded live on November 10, 2025 at the Finchley United Synagogue - Kinloss in London. Haviv had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Jewish Chronicle Editor Daniel Schwammenthal. We had a great discussion about growing antisemitism in England, the war in Gaza, the possibility of upcoming elections in Israel and the many challenges facing Israelis and Jews today.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Context of the Conversation
04:14 The Current State of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
10:36 Hamas and Gaza: Control and Future Prospects
15:22 The Impact of the War on Israeli Society
24:14 Political Landscape and Future Elections in Israel
38:12 The Rise of Political Discontent in Israel
39:22 The Palestinian Authority's Role in Gaza
43:00 Cultural Identity and Multiculturalism in the West
52:04 The Future of Haredi Society in Israel
01:01:57 Historical Perspectives on Jewish Migration and Identity
01:05:56 The Dynamics of Arab-Israeli Relations and the Abraham Accords
01:12:53 Moral Entrepreneurs and Societal Change
01:14:37 The Power Dynamics of Israel and America
01:17:32 The Complexity of U.S.-Israel Relations
01:20:18 The Language of Genocide and Its Implications
01:23:02 The Global Perception of Israel
01:24:55 The Double Standards in Criticism
01:26:55 The Jewish Identity and Its Challenges
01:29:04 The Role of Anti-Zionism in Modern Discourse
01:32:25 The Historical Context of Anti-Semitism
01:34:51 Reforming Israeli Politics for Cohesion


Commentary Podcast: How the Culture Promotes Anti-Semitism
As a genocidal protest breaks out in front of an Orthodox synagogue in New York City, elsewhere in the cultural capital, a books-awards group hands out garlands to explicitly anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic work. This continues a trend that is alienating readers and movie audiences and others—the wild politicization of forms of education and entertainment.


spiked: The myth of ‘Palestinian liberation’, with Rabbi Daniel Rowe | The Brendan O’Neill Show
Rabbi Daniel Rowe – senior educator of Aish UK – is the latest guest on _The Brendan O’Neill Show_. Daniel and Brendan discuss the Islamist threat to Jews, the rise of MAGA anti-Semitism, and why Israel remains resilient.


The Free Press: Confessions of a Former Pro-Palestine Activist
When I saw a viral video of Taryn Thomas speaking at an October 7, 2025, vigil at Stanford, I knew she was unique. That’s because only two years before, she was a part of the pro-Palestine movement on her campus.

After Hamas’s attack on Israel, Thomas took part in the first encampments that appeared on campuses across the country and fully submitted to the groupthink that Hamas was a legitimate resistance group. She marched with people who wouldn’t dare associate with Zionists, and accepted an invitation to see the Nova exhibit in Los Angeles only so she could report back to her friends about the “Zionist propaganda.”

But that’s not what happened. Thomas says seeing evidence of the Nova festival and what truly happened on October 7 opened her eyes. In the months that followed, she took a trip to Israel, listened to the firsthand experiences of Israelis and Palestinians, and made friends from the Jewish community on her campus.

Those experiences gave Thomas the fortitude to do something truly courageous: risk her friendships, face her misconceptions, and change her mind.

This is our conversation about how a well-meaning, highly educated young person can fall into a destructive movement and what it took to find her way out.

I’ve covered the anti-Israel movement on college campuses since October 7, and this is one of the most moving interviews I’ve ever done.

I was able to ask Thomas the questions that have been on my mind since October 7 yet could never have answered, because most members of the anti-Israel movement refused to speak to me. We speak about how the anti-Israel cause has captured so many young people, what the Jewish community fails to understand about the movement, and how we might win the information war online.




Jonathan Sacerdoti: "They're protecting the wrong side" — Patrick Lee on being silenced for criticising Islam
A landmark tribunal has ruled that Islam critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act, and the man at the centre of that historic decision, Patrick Lee, sits down with Jonathan Sacerdoti for his first full, unfiltered interview since the judgment shook Britain’s institutions.

Patrick Lee is an actuary who never sought public attention, yet found himself monitored, censured and threatened by his own professional body for simply quoting Islamic scripture and raising concerns about extremism, women’s rights and child protection. His case exposed a troubling truth: Britain has become far more comfortable policing offence than confronting doctrines that harm the vulnerable.

In this powerful conversation, Lee explains how he went from a quiet private citizen to the unlikely figurehead of a legal battle about free speech, Islam and the limits of criticism in a supposedly liberal democracy. He details how the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries secretly scrutinised his tweets, why the tribunal finally defended his right to speak, and what his victory means for every citizen who refuses to lie about reality.

This is not just a story about one man. It is a warning about what happens when fear governs public life, when institutions appease extremism, and when silence becomes a national reflex.

๐Ÿ‘‍๐Ÿ—จ Watch if you want to understand why Britain is losing its moral courage — and why this ruling may be a turning point.

๐Ÿ’ฌ We Discuss:
๐Ÿ“œ The tribunal decision protecting Islam critical beliefs in UK law
๐Ÿ•Œ Why Lee began scrutinising Islamic doctrine post 11 September
๐Ÿ“š The violent Qur’anic and hadith texts he publicly highlighted
๐Ÿง• How teachings on women, girls and child marriage shaped his concerns
๐Ÿš” The grooming gangs scandal and the culture of enforced silence
๐Ÿ›️ His regulator’s secret monitoring of his social media
๐Ÿงฉ The critical distinction between attacking ideas and attacking people
⚖️ How sensitivity culture now outranks child safety and women’s rights
๐Ÿ”ฅ The reach of cancel culture inside British institutions
๐Ÿ•Š️ Why free speech is the essential foundation of democracy
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท The role of Masih Alinejad’s warnings about Iran in the context of his tweets
๐Ÿง  The moral duty to speak when everyone else is afraid




Irish Jews face extinction: Confronting antisemitism and Ireland’s fading Jewish life
From there, we went straight to the airport. My heart is sinking deeper by the minute. How did a centuries-old community, once numbered in the thousands, burn out? How is it possible that in this day and age, a modern “Western democracy” is facing the prospect that within a decade, it may have no Jews left at all? Reduced to a small museum, a memory. The Jewish people have gone extinct on Irish soil.

It left me with a deeply painful question: Is the multicultural experiment of the West inclusive of everyone except the Jew?

I am not sure who to blame. Fate, perhaps. Or the Israeli government’s actions, combined with its long-standing policy of presenting itself as the representative of world Jewry, something that leaves Jews everywhere answerable for the actions of a directorate they did not choose and do not control.

Or perhaps the failure of the Irish to distinguish between Middle Eastern politics and conflict to its own centuries-old Jewish community, and its government's deep failure to protect and preserve its Jewish community with the mere basics. Or maybe it is simply the tribal “us-versus-them” instinct that becomes visible in trying times.

I don’t know. It is probably a mix of all of these.

What I am certain of is: Coming home from Ireland, I am worried about my continuity as an American Jew, more than ever before. It is our responsibility, as American Jews, to ensure that what happened in Ireland does not happen in America
Ryanair wipes Tel Aviv from route map as Israel dispute deepens
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has removed Tel Aviv from its online destination map, after previously announcing it would not operate flights to Israel in the 2025–2026 winter season, Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported on Wednesday.

The move leaves the future of the carrier’s operations in Israel unclear and comes with no formal announcement from the airline on whether flights might resume.

According to Maariv, Tel Aviv has been completely removed from the list of destinations on Ryanair’s website, rather than simply marked as suspended.

The change reinforces the company’s earlier decision to freeze all Israeli operations until at least summer 2026, and strengthens concerns in the Israeli aviation market that Ryanair has no concrete plans to resume service.

The company has not issued any new public statement about a permanent withdrawal from Israel, beyond its earlier notifications about suspending flights for the coming winter season. For now, Israeli passengers searching the site will not find Tel Aviv among Ryanair’s destinations at all.


‘We need to make them scared’: NYC synagogue protest crosses new red lines
At a protest on Wednesday night at the entrance to a New York City synagogue, a masked demonstrator stood above the crowd and urged attendees to intimidate Jews.

“It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events,” he said, referring to a gathering held inside the synagogue by Nefesh B’nefesh, a group that helps Jews immigrate to Israel.

“We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared,” he shouted, the roughly 200 protesters in the crowd repeating each sentence in unison, a tactic the activists use to amplify their speeches without the use of a loudspeaker, which requires an additional permit.

There have been more than 3,000 protests in New York City since the October 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, but the Wednesday night demonstration at the Park East Synagogue was an escalation, highlighting the new normal for the city’s Jews, despite the ceasefire in Gaza.

Protests erupted in the city on October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas invasion, as activists gathered to celebrate the slaughter, provoking shock and outrage in the Jewish community. While anti-Zionist protests were already common, the demonstrations at the start of the war set a new tenor in their celebration of violence.

In the following months, the activists kept crossing red lines as the death toll climbed in Gaza, targeting cancer patients, vandalizing museums and libraries, disrupting holiday events, and demonstrating against memorials to the dead. The leading activist groups make clear that they do not seek coexistence, two states, or a halt to the conflict, but the annihilation of the Jewish state.

Demonstrations at synagogues have been relatively rare, though. There were scattered protests at synagogues in New York and nearby towns in New Jersey after the start of the war to demonstrate against events marketing real estate in Israel. The synagogues do not organize the events; organizers rent out space in the buildings. The synagogue protests tend to be especially vitriolic, as are demonstrations in heavily Jewish neighborhoods.

The Wednesday night rally marked an escalation in that it was the first to target such a prominent synagogue, in the heart of Manhattan, that was not selling real estate, and was marked by more ugly, threatening and violent rhetoric than usual.

Chants at the protest included:
“Death, death to the IDF”
“From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada”
“Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here”
“Resistance, you make us proud, take another settler out”
“We don’t want no two states, we want ’48”
“Resistance is justified”
“No peace on stolen land”
“Settlers, settlers, go back home, Palestine is ours alone”

Demonstrators had not previously chanted “death to the IDF,” or for death to anyone, at the dozens of protests The Times of Israel has covered in recent years, but the chant broke out repeatedly on Wednesday night. The “take another settler out” slogan was also new.




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