Monday, November 24, 2025

11/24 Links Pt1: Should Jews Be Alarmed Yet? - with Ben Shapiro, Bari Weiss, and Dan Senor; Douglas Murray: Saving the West from Its Death Wish

From Ian:

David Harsanyi: Israel should phase out US aid for its own good
These days, Israel has no territorial ambitions. It’s been trying to get rid of Gaza for 30 years, at least. Moreover, American presidents have often pressured Israel to act in ways that undermine its security. Before Donald Trump became president, every successive administration constrained Israel in its battle with the Islamists in Iran, hoping to strike a deal with the mullahs. This isn’t new. Henry Kissinger bailed out the defeated Egyptians in 1973. Back in 1981, Ronald Reagan rebuked and penalized Israel for bombing Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear facility, which was being built with the help of the French government. The Biden administration helped to prolong the Gaza war by continually undermining Israel due to domestic political pressures.

Worse, before Trump, every president in memory has exerted pressure on Israel to accept deals that would have created a terrorist state on two of its borders, even though a Palestinian state doesn’t further American interests in any conceivable way. Each effort only sparked more terrorism, suffering, and radicalization.

Ironically, pro-Palestinian activists advocating that the U.S. drop aid to Israel don’t seem to comprehend that their efforts only make a Palestinian state far less likely. No sane Western nation would create an Islamic state brimming with a radicalized population next door. The end of American aid would likely mean the end of any two-state solution. Which is good news. There is already a 23-state solution in place.

Anyway, with the rise of the pro-intifada progressive faction in the U.S., Israel shouldn’t expect Democrats to be allies for very long. And with the prospects of paleo-isolationists such as Vice President JD Vance being nominated by the GOP, American aid might be on its last legs anyway. Even if I’m wrong about the parties, Israel would do best to be autonomous, relying on the mutual military benefits and merits of its cause to continue its relationship with the U.S.

Finally, I know it might be difficult to believe that with all its space lasers and Rothschild cash, Israel could only extract a lousy $3.8 billion for its troubles. So, rest assured, cutting aid won’t stop paranoiacs from obsessing about Jews. But one of the most popular accusations of the Israel-hater is that tax-funded aid makes the U.S. complicit in the imagined genocides perpetrated by the Israeli military. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a modest and milquetoast bipartisan American lobbying concern, has become the rallying cry for most conspiracists who claim Israel has a grip on American politicians. They have it backward, of course. AIPAC only exists because millions of Americans support Israel and want American foreign policy to reflect their views. Paranoiacs focus on the strawman of AIPAC rather than American Jews or Christian Zionists for the same reasons leftists focus on the National Rifle Association rather than gun owners: They’re too cowardly to say what they mean.

In the end, Israel is a small nation of 10 million people, the size of New Jersey, so it will always need allies. For instance, it lacked the heavy bombers to hit Iranian nuclear sites buried deep in the earth. Only China, Russia, and the U.S. have them. But Israel is also a nuclear power with a high-tech economy and world-class armed forces. “Anti-Zionists” are just spinning their wheels. Israel would be fine standing completely on its own ingenuity and toughness.
Douglas Murray: Saving the West from Its Death Wish
The facts are raw, documented – and unbearable. On the morning of October 7, 2023, while some were just waking up, others were recording – and live-streaming – the glee they took in the massacre. One world watched. Another rejoiced. In New York, Douglas Murray absorbed the words and images, then immediately set off for Israel. From that journey – and the abyss it laid bare – the British journalist and intellectual drew a furious yet lucid essay, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West. But the book is not merely a cry of anger; it is also a meditation on what it means to defend the West when it no longer knows what it stands for – or whether it still deserves to be defended, let alone saved.

Le Point - From your neoconservative beginnings to your current reflections on civilisation's decline, your thinking has shifted gradually from a strategic defence of the West to a cultural and symbolic one. Does 7 October 2023 represent a new phase in this intellectual evolution ?
Douglas Murray – Yes, I think so. I felt on October 7th the same way as Evelyn Waugh, in Unconditional Surrender, depicts one of his characters feeling at the moment of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: "The enemy at last was plain in view; huge and hateful, all disguise cast off.” The moment I saw what Hamas was doing on the morning of the 7th, thousands of terrorists raping and slaughtering and kidnapping their way through the south of Israel, live-streaming it all for the world, glorying in death, expressing such ecstasy for death that is something of how I felt.

In your new book, the role of the image is central, and the iconography of horror is considered not as a consequence of violence, but as a driver of it. In your opinion, is this the hallmark of our era: aesthetic terrorism ?
No - that is (in the worst way) such a French way to look at something. The horror of Hamas is not principally about aesthetics or interpretation. It is about evil. Evil in its purest form – from a cult that literally worships death. The challenge for us is not just whether we can recognize and call out evil where we see it, but to dwell on what its opposite might be. What the good is. I met a couple in Canada the other week whose son was at the Nova party on the morning of October 7th. He protected a group of party-goers who were hiding from the terrorists in a shelter. He threw back grenade after grenade before being murdered himself. But as I told his parents, their son exemplified perhaps one of the greatest goods any human being can perform – he gave his life protecting life.

But you refer to images disseminated by terrorists themselves in a paradoxical gesture of exhibitionism. How does this 'perverse modernity' — 'barbarism 2.0' — make democracies even more vulnerable ?
As after Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan, Samuel Paty and many other attacks, we have to decide whether we will indeed be terrorized by the terrorists: people who use the power of modern technology to broadcast their pre-medieval barbarism. I understand why many people feel fear, but I believe we should raise ourselves to the moment and not show fear but heroism.
Trump signs order to advance labeling Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists
US President Donald Trump on Monday began the process of designating certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists, a move that would bring sanctions against one of the Arab world's oldest and most influential Islamist movements.

Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to submit a report on whether to designate any Muslim Brotherhood chapters, such as those in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan, according to a White House fact sheet.

It orders the secretaries to move forward with any designations within 45 days of the report.

The Trump administration has accused Muslim Brotherhood factions in those countries of supporting or encouraging violent attacks against Israel and US partners, or of providing material support to Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East," according to the fact sheet.


Call me Back Podcast: Should Jews Be Alarmed Yet? - with Ben Shapiro, Bari Weiss, and Dan Senor
Last week, Dan was awarded the Tikvah Fund’s 2025 Herzl Prize alongside Bari Weiss, founder and CEO of The Free Press and editor-in-chief of CBS news, and Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the Daily Wire and host of The Ben Shapiro Show. The three of them sat down for a conversation moderated by Dr. Jonathan Silver, the Chief Programming Officer of Tikvah and editor of Mosaic. They discussed a wide range of issues affecting the Jewish world, with a specific focus on the American political landscape.


Israeli forces in Nablus kill Palestinian behind deadly car-ramming attack last year
A Palestinian assailant accused of being behind a deadly car-ramming attack in May 2024 was killed by counterterrorism police in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday evening, the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet, and Israel Police said.

On May 29, 2024, Abdel-Raouf Shatyeh rammed his vehicle into an Israeli army post just outside Nablus, killing two soldiers: Staff Sgt. Eliya Hilel, and Staff Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj, both 20-year-old infantrymen in the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion.

During a raid on Monday night, officers of the police’s elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit closed in on a building in eastern Nablus where Shatyeh was holed up.

After it emerged that he was armed, the troops opened fire on the building, and later, using a drone, identified that he had been killed, police said.

The IDF and Shin Bet said that they had been working to track down Shatyeh since he fled the scene of the attack in 2024.

After the attack, Shatyeh fled to Nablus and initially turned himself over to the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. However, instead of being handed over to Israel, he was freed from the PA’s custody, and he had been wanted ever since.

In addition, several “accomplices” who were working with Shatyeh were detained by IDF soldiers in Nablus, the military added.
Report: IDF unit sent dramatic warning before Oct. 7, but no one read it
The Israel Defense Forces’ Unit 8200 issued a warning a day before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel that, according to protocol, should have put the entire Gaza border sector on high alert, Hebrew media reported on Monday.

But the vaunted intelligence unit, stationed at the Home Front Command’s Southern District base, about 10 miles away from the Gaza border, sent the warning via email instead of making a call, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.

The report did not specify the content of the warning, but noted it involved the activation of a component related to a “certain, highly significant type of weaponry in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Unit 8200 moreover had noticed that Hamas was emptying warehouses and that operatives were moving around the area in operational activity—the sort of development that suggests the possibility of a surprise attack, according to Channel 12.

A similar warning issued a month and a half before the Hamas-led onslaught did not fall on deaf ears, and resulted in the entire sector being put on high alert, the report continued.

In contrast, the email sent on Oct. 6, 2023, was apparently not opened by anyone.

Additional “indicative signs” were detected on Friday night, but the situational assessments of the local division, Southern Command and the chief of staff did not incorporate the email warning, according to Channel 12.

The report added that senior IDF officers believe that the attack would not have been launched on that day had the sector been put on high alert.

In addition, intelligence reports gathered earlier that week identified some Hamas weaponry activity, but the Gaza Division’s intelligence officer chose to classify it as “inventory-taking and preparation for a Hamas propaganda video,” according to Channel 12.

This officer has since been relieved of duty.
Ryan McBeth: The Insane Logistics of Peacekeeping in Gaza
Did the UN just approve Trump’s Gaza peace plan… and now nobody’s sure who’s actually going to keep the peace?

In this video, I break down what almost nobody talks about: the logistics of putting a multinational peacekeeping force into Gaza. We’ll look at which countries are most likely to send troops (Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Rwanda, Jordan, Egypt, and more), how UN peacekeeping actually works behind the scenes, and why this mission is less “send in the blue helmets” and more “deploy an entire floating Costco into a warzone.”

I’ll walk through:
How UN peacekeeping forces are selected and certified
Why poor countries love peacekeeping (hint: reimbursements)
How 20,000+ peacekeepers would physically move into Gaza
The real bottlenecks: ports, staging areas, fuel, water, power, and political will


Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ends emergency aid mission
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced on Monday that it is formally ending its emergency aid mission to the coastal enclave.

John Acree, the foundation’s executive director, said that creating the U.S.-led Civil-Military Coordination Center under the Trump administration’s 20-point Israel-Hamas ceasefire plan reduced the need for the foundation to continue operating.

“GHF’s goal was to meet an urgent need, prove that a new approach could succeed where others had failed and ultimately hand off that success to the broader international community,” Acree stated. “GHF believes that moment has now arrived.”

The foundation was created in February 2025 and claims that it has distributed 187 million meals to Gazans at a time when nearly 90% of aid from more established organizations, like the United Nations, was diverted by Hamas or looted. According to the foundation, “not a single GHF aid truck was looted” during its four-and-half months of aid delivery operations.

Throughout its existence, GHF faced criticism and questions about its independence and efficacy, including the extent to which it enjoyed the support of the U.S. and Israeli governments, Hamas’s killing of GHF’s local staff and reports of mass shootings at or near GHF sites.

Israel has denied claims that it was responsible for firing on Gazans seeking aid at GHF distribution centers.

The U.S. State Department thanked GHF for its efforts on Monday.

“GHF’s model, in which Hamas could no longer loot and profit from stealing aid, played a huge role in getting Hamas to the table and achieving a ceasefire,” wrote Tommy Pigott, the department’s deputy spokesman.

Acree said on Monday that the foundation’s model of aid distribution should be emulated in other parts of the world and in future Gaza aid plans.

“I am hopeful the Civil-Military Coordination Center and the international community writ large will learn from our success, understand the process we implemented and replicate it throughout Gaza in order that the safe delivery of food and other humanitarian aid will continue,” he said.

The group said that it will “maintain readiness to reconstitute if new humanitarian needs are identified and will not dissolve as a registered NGO.”


Erin Molan: A Muslim Doctor Returns From Syria… And Her Perspective Changes Everything | Dr. Qanta Ahmed
The Erin Molan Show Episode 52 | Muslim physician and Middle East expert Dr. Qanta A. Ahmed joins Erin for a powerful deep-dive into Syria, Iraq, ISIS, and the shifting geopolitics reshaping the region. Fresh from visiting Iraqi Kurdistan, Northeast Syria, and the al-Hol ISIS camp, Dr. Ahmed explains what she saw on the ground, why minorities remain in danger, and how Iran, Turkey, and the United States are positioning themselves for what comes next.

Erin and Dr. Ahmed also break down the future of the Abraham Accords, why Indonesia may be the real “crown jewel,” and the growing influence of China behind the scenes. One of the most important regional briefings you’ll hear this year.

👉 Like, share, subscribe — and never miss an episode. YouTube • Spotify • Apple Podcasts • Salem

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
02:00 Muslim Brotherhood designated as a terrorist organization
03:20 Trump–Mamdani meeting at the White House
05:20 Russia–Ukraine “peace plan”
07:15 Erin Molan monolgue on Israel and Gaza
14:00 Full Interview: Dr. Qanta Ahmed
38:05 – Fan Feedback & Outro




'We Pray That God Rewards Him With Paradise': CAIR Mourns the Loss of Convicted Cop Killer
The Council on American-Islamic Relations on Sunday eulogized convicted cop-killer Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, who died over the weekend while serving a life sentence in federal prison.

"To God we belong and to Him we return. Imam Jamil Al-Amin was a hero of the civil rights movement and a victim of injustice who passed away in a prison, jailed for a crime he did not commit. We pray that God rewards him with paradise for his good deeds and the injustices he suffered," CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

Al-Amin, whose birth name was Hubert Gerold Brown and who was best known as H. Rap Brown, was a Black Panther who rose to notoriety as riots swept the United States in the 1960s. Among other comments, he said that violence is "as American as cherry pie," threatened to "burn America down," and told rioters, "If you're going to loot, loot yourself a gun store," the New York Times noted in its obituary. After facing charges for inciting a riot, he disappeared in 1970, making the FBI's Most Wanted List. He resurfaced one year later, was convicted on robbery and assault charges, and ended up serving five years in prison, during which he converted to Islam and took the name Jamil Abdullah al-Amin.

Following his release, al-Amin made news again in 2002, when he was convicted of killing Fulton County, Ga., deputy sheriff Ricky Kinchen in a shootout. While the former Black Panther denied being the killer, saying the FBI feared "a character coming up among African Americans who could galvanize support," Kinchen's partner identified al-Amin as the shooter, and a majority-black jury agreed, sentencing him to life in prison without parole, the Times noted.

CAIR claimed in its statement that al-Amin was "wrongly convicted" of the murder.


X Account for CAIR's 501(c)(4) Arm Exposed to Be Operating from Turkey
When X launched its account location feature on November 22, CAIR Action’s Twitter account revealed an unexpected origin: Turkey. The disclosure raises legal questions about a 501(c)(4) political lobbying organization engaged in U.S. election activities operating from a country that openly harbors Hamas leadership.

CAIR Action, the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, directly engages in candidate endorsements, voter mobilization, and lobbying. According to its website, the organization works to “mobilize the nation’s 2 million+ Muslim voters” and support candidates in federal, state, and local elections. Federal election law prohibits foreign nationals from participating in decision-making for any organization involved in U.S. election activities.

Two Organizations, One Network
CAIR Action serves as the 501(c)(4) political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This structure allows the paired organizations to engage in distinct but coordinated activities. While CAIR handles civil rights advocacy and education with tax-deductible donations, CAIR Action mobilizes voters, endorses candidates, and lobbies elected officials. The political arm’s website states it works to “engage, educate, and mobilize Muslim voters” and “champion policy priorities” in federal, state, and local elections.

The two organizations coordinate on policy campaigns. A recent joint action alert opposing military action against Iran was signed “In solidarity, CAIR Action and CAIR,” urging Congress to “denounce Israel’s attacks on Iran” and “reject U.S. military aid or involvement.”

According to FrontPage Magazine, “CAIR Action is the 501(c)(4) arm of the Islamist group. What that means in English is that it gets involved in elections, advocates and endorses candidates.” The outlet noted that CAIR is “a Muslim Brotherhood front group which has supported Islamic terrorism so it’s innately foreign, but the Turkish location for its Twitter account suggests foreign links and raises questions about foreign election interference.”

Social media observers connected the Turkey revelation to recent state actions. Ahmed Quraishi posted on X: “Governor Abbott designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization last week. Now we find out they’re operating out of Turkey.”
Founder of 'America First' AIPAC Tracker Is Self-Proclaimed Marxist Who Lives in Germany
A founder of Track AIPAC, a group that accuses pro-Israel U.S. politicians of being "foreign agents," is a self-proclaimed Marxist who lives in Germany.

Cory Archibald, who founded the Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption political action committee behind the Track AIPAC X account in 2024, describes herself in numerous social media posts and a website biography she published this year as a "long-time American expat" and an "American cat lady living in Germany" who has spent the past "20 years" living abroad in the Middle East and Europe. Though Archibald went public as one of Track AIPAC's founders in a podcast interview earlier this month, she did not mention that she has lived outside the United States for such a significant amount of time.

The news raises many questions for Track AIPAC, which has gained popularity with anti-Semites and anti-Israel radicals on both the right and left in recent months. The group publishes lists of political donations from pro-Israel Americans and accuses politicians who accept these donations of being "Israel First traitor[s] to America." It frames itself on social media as a supporter of the "America First" movement, arguing that U.S.-based pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—which has no relationship to the Israeli government—should register as foreign agents or "get out of our country."

"You can't be claim to be America First while pledging allegiance to Israel," Track AIPAC said in an X post in May.

Track AIPAC has denied allegations that its leadership has worked from outside the United States in the past, maintaining that it is simply a group of concerned Americans.

"We're Americans fed up with AIPAC's stranglehold on our government," the group said in a post on X in May. "This lie that we are operating from outside the US started spreading directly from the Israel lobby's Eyal Yakoby."

But records, news reports, and social media posts show that Archibald has spent at least the past two decades living outside the United States, including in Kuwait, the Philippines, and Germany. During this time, she has volunteered with various left-wing U.S. electioneering groups and political campaigns. She also took several leadership roles with Brand New Congress, a now-defunct political action committee formed in the aftermath of Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I., Vt.) unsuccessful presidential primary campaign in 2016, while living abroad.

"I've been an expat for 20 years," she wrote on her X account—located in Germany—in May 2024. "It's a weird life and not without its challenges but I have no regrets … I continue to work for political change 'back home.'"
X Just Exposed the Gaza Faker Network and the Receipts Are Devastating
It began as a trickle something curious in the corner of the screen. A “Gaza based” account whose posts sounded like dispatches from a war correspondent, yet the new transparency feature on X identified it as operating from Poland. Then another, “from the heart of Gaza,” traced to the Netherlands. A child pleading for help from beneath the rubble appeared instead to be posting from Qatar, through a United Kingdom app store. A weeping mother, begging viewers for milk for her infant, was actually based in India. A teenager describing Israeli strikes “right next to our tent” appeared in the system as posting from Nigeria.

Individually, anomalies can be forgiven. At scale, they form a pattern. And patterns tell stories that individual accounts can never confess.

When X quietly released “About this account,” it did not intend to redraw the informational map of the Gaza war. But that is exactly what happened. Almost overnight, a sprawling digital ecosystem that had been accepted even by major newsrooms as “voices from Gaza” began revealing itself as something else entirely a decentralized influence operation scattered across continents, unified only by a borrowed identity.

The emotional authority of these accounts was based on one claim: proximity. They were posting from the rubble, from the tents, from the shelters, from the hospitals, from the ruins of northern Gaza. Their captions were written in the urgent present: “We are starving.” “My house fell today.” “Bombs above my head.” “Pray for us, Gaza.”

But X’s own system shows many were posting from places not merely outside Gaza, but thousands of miles away: Africa, Europe, South Asia, the Gulf, the Pacific. The war being described on your screen was not the war being experienced by the person behind the account.


Germany’s antisemitism czar says slogans like ‘From the river to the sea’ should be illegal
Germany’s antisemitism czar has urged a law to ban pro-Palestinian slogans such as “From the river to the sea,” renewing a fraught debate over the country’s historic allegiance to Israel and freedom of speech.

Felix Klein’s initiative would ban chants that could be interpreted as calling for Israel’s destruction. His proposal has the support of German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and is now being reviewed by the Justice Ministry, he told Haaretz on Wednesday.

“Before 7 October, you could have said that ‘From the river to the sea’ doesn’t necessarily mean kicking Israelis off the land, and I could accept that,” said Klein. “But since then, Israel has really been facing existential threats, and unfortunately, it has become necessary here to limit freedom of speech in this regard.”

Klein, the first holder of an office titled “Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism” since 2018, added that he believed the law must be passed even if it is challenged in court for violating free speech.

Hamas’ 7 October 2023, attacks and the subsequent and devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza tore at the seams of Germany’s national doctrines. The war triggered a sharp rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents across the country. It also exposed charged questions about when Germany prioritises its responsibility toward the Jewish state, which became central to German national identity after the Holocaust, and when it upholds democratic principles.
How was this allowed? Fury as anti-Zionist mob targets St John’s Wood synagogue
Jewish community groups have reacted with barely concealed anger after ‘anti-Zionist’ protestors were permitted to rally outside St John’s Wood synagogue on Sunday evening, with some thanking the police for their support while others questioned why the Met was unable to prevent the demonstration from taking place altogether.

The protest outside the synagogue was supposedly in response to a series of pro-Israel events taking place on Sunday, including an aliyah fair – which provides advice and guidance to Jewish people considering emigrating to Israel. Led by two groups: “Jewish Anti-Zionist Action” and “Palestine Pulse”, the protestors chanted calls for the complete destruction of Israel (including “from the water to the water, Palestine is Arab” in Arabic), as well as calling for destruction of “f***ing Zionism”.

The Metropolitan police had responded by saying that “there is no legal mechanism to ban the protest from taking place”, but that Public Order Act conditions had been imposed to prevent protestors entering a specific section of the area in the immediate vicinity of the Synagogue.

However, pro-Palestinian protesters conspicuously failed to abide by the conditions in question. In one video posted on social media, the anti-Zionist protesters can be seen protesting in an area which the police had specifically specified as off-limits. When questioned about their presence, a police officer confirmed that conditions were in place and that the anti-Zionists were not supposed to be there, “but we don’t want to antagonise the situation”. Subsequently, anti-Zionist protesters who had breached the conditions set out by police shone the message “stolen land sold here” onto the synagogue itself.” Inversely, some members of the synagogue were halted by the police and unable to access the site to pray.

Saul Taylor, president of the United Synagogue, said: “It cannot be that in modern Britain it is seen as acceptable to protest outside a place of worship, where Jews come together to pray and to attend community events.
British Jews should not feel they are being penalised for being law-abiding
Last month, the Metropolitan Police made an announcement. The ragtag remnant of the United Kingdom Independence Party had declared its intention to march through Tower Hamlets, calling on attendees to “reclaim Whitechapel from the Islamists”. When the police banned the march, UKIP attempted to announce an “assembly” – a static, non-moving protest in the borough, which in theory the police are far less capable of blocking than a procession. Yet, somehow, the police prevented that as well, on the grounds of “concerns of serious disorder”. UKIP, the police announced, “cannot hold their protest in Whitechapel or anywhere else in the borough of Tower Hamlets”.

The police were right to do so. As they pointed out, UKIP had described such events as parts of a “mass deportation tour” and organisers had described this as a “crusade”. It was clearly and obviously targeted at Muslims within Tower Hamlets. But it’s important to note that the police did not give that as the reason for the sweeping ban. They noted that “a significant counter-protest was also expected”, and that the reason for the ban was “to prevent serious disorder”. The Met determined that there was the serious risk of violence, and so it stepped in and stopped it.

Contrast that with the scenes that took place yesterday evening in St John’s Wood. The local United Synagogue was holding a series of Israel-related events, including an aliyah fair – providing information and advice for Jews who might be interested in moving to Israel. An increasing number of Jews are at least considering the prospect, given the rise in antisemitism here over the last few years.

In response, there was an announcement of a protest outside the synagogue. It was ostensibly organised by anti-Zionist Jews, but the real push for attendees appears to have come from an organisation calling itself Palestine Pulse. Chants included the far less ambiguous Arabic version of the call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel – “min el-maiyeh lel mayieh, Falastin arabieh” “from water to water, Palestine is Arab”.

It has been less than two months since a terror attack was carried out against a synagogue in this country. Two Jewish congregants attending Yom Kippur services were murdered, by someone citing the Palestinian cause as a motive as he carried out his attack. You might think that in such an atmosphere, the police would conclude that allowing a protest to go ahead outside one of the largest synagogues in London raised the possibility of “serious disorder”. You would be wrong.

The Met’s response was to say that “there is no legal mechanism to ban the protest from taking place”. Instead, they designated a few nearby streets to be off limits – both to the protesters and those who had turned out to counter-protest. And when the ‘anti-Zionist’ protesters flagrantly breached the conditions the police had set out, the response from one officer was to acknowledge that breach, but to say that “we don’t want to antagonise the situation”. In the meantime, synagogue attendees were left to argue with police as to why they should be allowed to enter their own place of worship for services.


I was racially abused at anti-Israel protest – as activists insisted they're not racist
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I didn’t expect to spend my Sunday travelling across London to defend a synagogue against masked racists while the police looked on. In St John’s Wood which has a substantial Jewish population, a demonstration at a synagogue was allowed to go ahead. Senior politicians and police clearly don’t care, because when there is the political will we see action.

When right-wing nationalists planned a rally through an area with a substantial Muslim population, it was excluded from the entire borough of Tower Hamlets. But in St John’s wood when conditions were finally set, the exclusion zone was tiny — demonstrators were only moved a short distance down the road.

In Tower Hamlets they still allowed counter-protesters, whereas in St John’s Wood they also banned Jewish counter-protesters. I witnessed and filmed police blocking one Jewish man from attending an event at his own synagogue, and saw video of another incident, suggesting this wasn't isolated.

Upon arriving at the protest, I was told “go away zio” several times. “Zio” is a racist slur for Jew, coined by US neo-Nazis.

Their banners denied that anti-Zionism was antisemitic, while I heard Jews called “child killers” and “rapists”. Chants called to destroy Israel, which contains half of the world’s Jews.

Anti-Zionism doesn’t harm Israel — it creates a climate of hate that drives Jews to leave Britain for Israel. This is happening in Britain, as rates of Jews leaving for Israel have spiked.


Alleged Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Group Files Lawsuit Against California Antisemitism Law
A lawsuit challenging California’s recently enacted antisemitism protections has inadvertently exposed how educators are incorporating biased political views into their classrooms, according to an investigation by K-12 Extremism Tracker. The case is being brought by an organization with alleged financial ties to a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated entity. The Muslim Brotherhood was recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond on behalf of several California educators and parents.

The litigation contests Assembly Bill 715, signed into law on October 7, 2025, which aims to shield students from antisemitic discrimination. The plaintiffs contend the measure infringes on teachers’ free speech rights and due process, arguing its definitions are overly broad and vague.

Funding Connections Raise Questions
According to K-12 Extremism Tracker’s findings, the ADC received $8,000 between 2013 and 2016 from the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). The Middle East Forum has characterized IIIT as a prominent Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organization.

IIIT was referenced in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood strategic memorandum and designated as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing case. Former and current board members have been identified as having Muslim Brotherhood ties. Furthermore, IIIT is part of the SAFA network, which was linked to suspected financing of the U.S.-designated terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) during federal investigations.

Teachers’ Classroom Activities Under Scrutiny
The complaint’s details reveal the teaching practices at the center of the controversy:

Andrea Prichett, a Berkeley middle school history teacher, who teaches about “settlement, colonization, and genocide, including in Palestine.” She runs a student club called the “Watermelon Society” to learn about “the history and culture of Palestine.” Following the October 7 Hamas attacks, Prichett posted social media commentary expressing skepticism that Hamas targeted civilians.

Jonah Olsen, an Adelanto middle school science teacher, characterizes Zionism as based on Jewish superiority and describes it as an occupation of land “inhabited primarily by Palestinians for hundreds of years,” according to the lawsuit documentation.

Dunia Hassan, a high school Spanish teacher who advises the Muslim Students Association, arranged for a Palestinian speaker at her school the month after Hamas’ October 7 massacre. A separate complaint filed by StandWithUS alleged the speaker made inflammatory statements about Zionism, while MSA students distributed stickers reading “F*ck Zionism.” At least one staff member reportedly offered extra credit for attendance.




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

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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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