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Friday, November 21, 2025

11/21 Links Pt1: ‘Weaponized empathy’: Hamas exploits Western ignorance of war, military expert says; Trump Admin Revokes Visa From SA Official Involved in anti-Israel ICJ Case; Arab Group’s ‘Advocate of the Year’ Organizes Blood Libel Display at DC’s Union Station

From Ian:

Andrew Fox: ‘Weaponized empathy’: Hamas exploits Western ignorance of war, military expert says
Social media has amplified this lack of understanding. Images can reach people’s pockets even as the dust on the ground still settles from an airstrike; and people reach emotional conclusions based on mere seconds of uncorroborated, curated propaganda.

The past two years on social media have been a peculiar mixture of gaslighting and relentless abuse. People deny what I have seen in person, with my own eyes, based on things they themselves have only seen on social media. And because I represent the rational narrative, I am told that I, as with Israel, am uniquely evil – with all the death threats and insults that come as part of that designation.

The bot swarms are also a factor: Mention the rapes of October 7, of which I have seen firsthand evidence, and notifications will swarm with bots denying them. This cumulative effect has one goal: to make it an unpleasant place to defend Israel’s conduct and to deter allies from speaking up.

So why bother? After all, I am neither Jewish nor Israeli. I have no dog in this fight.

However, I do believe, as an academic, that truth has meaning. Simply because social media exemplifies epistemic collapse, this does not mean that the truth loses importance.

I will continue to share what I believe to be true because when the dust settles from Gaza, a just outcome needs the truth in its corner. When this war is over, without the truth there will be no justice and no peace for either Palestinians or Israelis.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: The Palestinian dilemma: Why Hamas continues to fail the Palestinian people
Ideological dissonance
Many in Gaza still promote ideas that reject Israel, denounce peace, and prioritize “resistance” over nation-building. Yet most who hold these views are not seeking war; they want stability and prosperity. What they fail to recognize is that Gaza’s well-being and prosperity depend on peace and coexistence with its neighbors.

This creates a striking dissonance: Many want the pride of “resistance” while expecting prosperity and a high standard of living.

This was evident after the massacre on October 7, 2023, when some who had initially celebrated Hamas’s attack quickly changed their tone as Gaza plunged into its deadliest chapter in modern Palestinian history.

For some, opposition to Hamas is partly motivated by the failure of the terror group to advance its nihilistic project over the past 30 years.

Whether it was the sabotaging of the Oslo process, the militarization of the Second Intifada, the blockade of Gaza, or a host of useless wars – especially after October 7 – Hamas has delivered continued and sustained misery, failure, death, devastation, and regression to the Palestinian cause and people.

Instead of fundamentally shifting course and realizing the futility of the ideological, nationalistic, and religious narratives and manipulations that underpin Hamas and elements of the Palestinian national project, many are only willing to see Hamas as a failure and shun the group for its lack of effectiveness rather than what it stands for.
Trump Admin Revokes Visa From South African Official Who Spearheaded 'Genocide' Case Against Israel
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked the visa of Naledi Pandor, the South African official who spearheaded a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), spoke by phone with former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, and repeatedly offered support for terrorism, a senior State Department official exclusively confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.

"Pandor's visa has been revoked," the official said. "Pandor has openly supported terrorism and endorsed violent jihads. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. government will no longer tolerate dangerous foreigners traveling into our country to spread their violent policies."

Pandor, who served as South African foreign minister from 2019 to 2024, just concluded a trip to the United States for the Milwaukee premiere of Muslim Network Television. A senior State Department official told the Free Beacon ahead of Pandor's visit that the department was "aware of this individual's pro-terrorism background" and that the matter was "under review."

The former diplomat, a convert to Islam, has professed her support for terrorism on numerous occasions. She said in September that Muslims "are permitted to engage in jihad when necessary" and told an audience in October that "armed struggle may become a necessity if there is no movement toward fundamental change."

During her time in South African government, Pandor led the country's lawfare campaign against Israel, ultimately filing a formal accusation of genocide against the Jewish state in December 2023. Just 10 days after Hamas attacked Israel, Pandor spoke on the phone with Haniyeh and, according to Hamas, offered her congratulations for the "Al-Aqsa Flood," the terror group's name for its October 7 operation. While Pandor initially claimed the conversation had to do with humanitarian aid, her office eventually admitted that she called to reiterate "South Africa's solidarity and support" for Palestinians.


Trump welcomes freed Israeli hostages to White House: ‘You’re heroes’
President Trump met with more than a dozen freed Israeli hostages and their family members Thursday at the White House, where he celebrated them as “heroes.”

“You’re not a hostage anymore,” Trump said in remarks from the State Dining Room. “Today, you’re heroes.”

The last living hostages in Gaza were released by the Hamas terror group last month, following the implementation of a historic cease-fire deal spearheaded by Trump.

Many of the survivors at the White House were among the last to be freed, having spent 738 days in captivity.

“It’s an honor to get to know all of you,” the president said at the closed press event, according to clips posted by White House official Margo Martin.

“We love you all, and our country loves you all,” he added.

The former hostages who met with Trump and other administration officials included Matan Angrest, Omri Miran, Bar Kuperstein, Nimrod Cohen, Ziv and Gali Berman, Ariel and David Kunio, Matan Zangauker, Ilana Gritzewsky, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Segev Kalfon, Evyatar David, Eitan and Iair Horn, Yosef-Chaim Ohana, Avinatan Or, Noa Argamani, Eitan Mor and Elkana Bohbot, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The “toughness” of Angrest, who was subjected to savage beatings because of his service in the Israel Defense Forces, was pointed out by the president.

“He went through hell,” Trump said of the freed soldier.

“Matan never broke, and today he’s a living testimony to the toughness, heart, and faith of the Jewish people,” the president added. “You’re a great inspiration to everybody, whether you’re Jewish or not.”


Terrorist who attempted stabbing near Gaza left Canadian army only 12 days prior
Canadian Zachareah Quraishi had only been released from the Canadian Army Reserves 12 days before he flew to Israel and attempted a stabbing attack at a Gaza periphery town.

The terrorist's military past, which was first reported by The National Post, was confirmed to The Jerusalem Post by the Department of National Defence on Thursday. Antisemitism is at a record high. We're keeping our eyes on it >>

Zachareah had enlisted in July 2023, completed basic military qualification in December of that year, and was released from the Canadian Armed Forces on July 10. The department's spokesperson said that the nature of Quraishi's release was protected as personal information. The 21-year-old's father, Adam Quraishi, also shared that his son had served in the Canadian military in a Remembrance Day Facebook post. The elder Quraishi also shared that his grandfather and great-grandfather had fought in the Second and First World Wars.

Adam Quraishi explained in a July 23 video that he believed that videos of his son conducting the attack were faked, and the person in them didn't even look like Zachareah. He indicated in the video and the November 11 post that he believed that his son was killed because he looked Arabic.

"Zachareah, who dedicated his life to saving lives, humanitarian work, and was tragically murdered by a country that perpetuates unimaginable violence and disinformation/gaslighting. Never again was supposed to mean to anyone by anyone. Such evil," wrote Quraishi. "Perhaps my son resembled our Irish-French heritage, and he would have been sent back to Canada."
IDF kills Palestinian Authority police officer who shot, wounded soldier
The IDF killed a Palestinian Authority police officer who shot and wounded a reservist in the West Bank on Thursday, the military announced on Friday evening, while confirming other terrorists had been arrested.

The arrests came as part of operational activities across three areas in the Menashe and Samaria Regional Brigades, the military confirmed.

In Tell, near Nablus, Yamam forces killed a terrorist who fired at and injured a reserve combat soldier during operational activity on Thursday. The terrorist was later confirmed to be an operative in the Palestinian Authority’s police force.

Palestinian terrorists fire at IDF in West Bank attacks
While carrying out the operational activity, the IDF killed a terrorist who fired at them with a long-range weapon. The military also arrested a terrorist, another member of the Palestinian Authority’s police force, who surrendered during the operation.


IAF kills five terrorists who emerged from underground in Rafah
The Israeli Air Force on Friday killed five Palestinian terrorists who emerged from underground infrastructure in Rafah, east of the Yellow Line.

The cell advanced toward IDF troops operating in southern Gaza, “posing an immediate threat to them,” the army said.

The Air Force subsequently struck and killed the terrorists.

“IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the military added.

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

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 Real Story Of October 7th & How Hamas Won Over College Students | Donna Robinson Divine
How did supporters of Hamas and others who want Israel destroyed win over so many young people since Oct. 7? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the answer lies in large measure in the ability of progressives to redefine words in such a way as to normalize Jew-hatred and help create a surge of antisemitism.

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by scholar Donna Robinson Divine, co-editor of the new book, October 7: The Wars Over Words and Deeds, a collection of essays exploring issues relating to the war on Israel and how the Jewish state’s opponents have helped turn truth on its head to demonize Israel.

According to Divine, on college campuses across the country, “feelings replaced thinking” as many young persons who know little or nothing about the Middle East, were convinced to believe that supporting a genocidal and antisemitic cause was the right thing to do. The veteran scholar of the Middle East said she was shocked not merely at the distorted nature of the discussion about the post-Oct. 7 war but also because not a single head of an elite university told their students to “go and study” the subject of their protests. She says that compared to student protest movements of the past, the pro-Hamas activists don’t seem to know what they’re talking about or have a clear idea of what they want. Other, that is, than wanting Israel to disappear, though even there they don’t seem to realize that doing so would involve Jewish genocide.

Divine points out that a study of the history of the conflict quickly reveals that the goal of the Palestinian movement isn’t about statehood, it’s the principle of not sharing any part of the land with the Jews.

Redefining terms is also important to the cause of delegitimizing Israel. Divine points out that by changing the meaning of the word “genocide”—coined in the aftermath of the Holocaust to mean an attempt to wipe out an entire people—to merely meaning “depriving them of agency,” the pro-Palestinians have smeared the Jewish state as guilty of genocide. Though she also notes that if the Palestinians have lost the ability to determine their own future, it’s because of their own decisions.

Just as sinister is the way Palestinian employed “extreme violence” and rape on Oct. 7, only to see their supporters deny these crimes happened, despite abundant evidence for them provided by the perpetrators.


Israel Develops New Weaponry & Strategy The World Has Never Seen (w/Jonathan Conricus)
Yesterday, the Middle East quietly crossed a red line: President Trump greenlit F-35 stealth jets for Saudi Arabia and pushed a UN-backed “stabilization force” into Gaza. Both are moves that could shatter Israel’s long-guarded qualitative military edge overnight. In this conversation, Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus, one of Israel’s most respected strategic minds, breaks down how Saudi F-35s could affect a future strike on Iran, why Turkey’s ambitions may be even more dangerous and why the new Gaza plan might drag Israel back into war if Hamas isn’t truly disarmed.

CHAPTERS
00:00 – A Tectonic Shift in the Middle East
02:35 – Trump, MBS & the Saudi F-35 Bombshell
07:10 – Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge Under Threat
11:45 – Turkey’s Ambitions & a New Regional Arms Race
16:20 – UN Adopts Trump’s 20-Point Gaza Plan
21:05 – Can an International Gaza Force Really Fight Hamas?
27:40 – Campus Protests, Media Bias & the War on Israel’s Image
34:15 – Sweden, the Silent Majority & Western Pushback
41:30 – Gaza “Berlin Wall” Idea & Why It’s Dangerous
49:55 – Israeli Youth, National Resilience & What Comes Next


Comedy Cellar USA: Former Spokesman for the State of Israel Eylon Levy
Noam Dworman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by former spokesman for the State of Israel, Eylon Levy. They discuss anti Zionism, anti Semitism, what Hamas really wants and Levy's hope for the future of Israel and Gaza.


Hugh Hewitt: “If you are not a Zionist, there is something wrong with you” - Eli Lake expands on the thought



Sydney University under fire for becoming a ‘cesspool of wokeness and cultural neo-Marxism’
Sky News host Rowan Dean slams the University of Sydney among other “woke” universities for becoming “cesspools of wokeness and cultural neo-Marxism”.

“It is the universities that first adopted the pro-Palestinian cause … with Sydney University hosting an event at which young children were chanting 'from the river to the sea',” Mr Dean said.

“Whether you agree with me or not is nonetheless simply a call for the expulsion of all Jews from Israel, i.e., ethnic cleansing, or the mass killing of Jews, i.e., genocide.

“Feel free to send me an alternative or more benign meaning if you happen to have one handy.”




Arab Civil Rights Group’s ‘Advocate of the Year’ Organizes Blood Libel Display at DC’s Union Station
An anti-Israel activist who received the "Advocate of the Year" award from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a prominent Arab civil rights group, organized an anti-Semitic protest at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station on Thursday that Jewish groups are calling a shocking display of blood libel.

Hazami Barmada, a former U.N. official, organized the "Friendsgiving Event" alongside members of Code Pink and Teachers Against Genocide, according to social media posts.

Participants wearing masks of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others held a mock dinner in which they drank fake blood and ate fake body parts. A "menu" for the mock dinner lists main courses and dessert as "stolen organs" and "illegally harvested skin," videos show.

The American Jewish Committee wrote the stunt was "nothing less than the revival of one of the oldest and most dangerous antisemitic tropes in history."

"Blood libel was on full display today at Union Station in Washington, D.C.," the group wrote. "At a time of rising antisemitism, leaders and authorities must condemn this display and ensure that public spaces are not used to spread dangerous hate."

According to the Anti-Defamation League, allegations that Israel harvests the organs of Palestinians are "a modern iteration of the age-old antisemitic blood libel," and have spiked in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack.




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