Pages

▼

Thursday, December 04, 2025

12/04 Links Pt2: Israel WILL participate in Eurovision 2026 – Netherlands, Spain and Ireland to boycott; I Want a Democratic Party that Believes Jewish Lives Matter; What the Celebrity Crusade for Barghouti Says about Our "Elites"

From Ian:

Prof. Gerald Steinberg and Anne Herzberg: UK Funding for Hamas-Linked Groups
Since 2007, Hamas has amassed power and resources in no small part by diverting international aid and developing an unprecedented terror infrastructure. Billions of dollars in Western taxpayer funding were funneled into Gaza ostensibly for humanitarian projects via 13 UN agencies and dozens of NGOs.

Internal British and Hamas documents reveal multiple ways in which London was aware of Hamas involvement in its aid pipeline, and in some instances even cooperated with that organization. In May 2025, NGO Monitor published a detailed report, using information and documents obtained through Freedom of Information proceedings, which demonstrated that UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials were fully aware of Hamas involvement in certain Gaza cash assistance programs they funded. As of mid-2025, UK and UN databases revealed that this support was still ongoing.

These programs were implemented through UNICEF in coordination with Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Social Development, which was responsible for providing the lists of aid beneficiaries for cash assistance. Hamas was able to determine just who would receive British taxpayer funds, and NGOs linked to other terrorist groups (such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) would be among those recipients.

In addition, the evidence indicates that Hamas skims exorbitant sums from cash transfers in Gaza. According to Eyal Ofer, an expert on Gaza's economy, "People are getting aid via banking apps, but to turn that into real currency, they must go through brokers. They withdraw funds from these digital wallets and charge outrageous fees - anywhere between 20% and 40%. This is one of the ways Hamas is making a profit."

The events of Oct. 7 and the regional war it precipitated were made possible in large part due to the diversion of billions of dollars in aid by Hamas and its pressure campaign on UN agencies, international NGOs, and foreign diplomats to facilitate the terror organization's activity and control.

The detailed record discussed here demonstrates complicity, if not close cooperation, between the UK FCDO, officials of the NGOs that receive millions in taxpayer funds, and Hamas. It also shows how the humanitarian aid industry knowingly operates outside of and in contradiction to the legal conditions and requirements established by the British Parliament. In November 2021, London fully proscribed Hamas as a terror organization. Funding or supporting it is a crime.

The glaring absence of oversight and due diligence in British funding enabled the potential transfer of millions of pounds to Hamas terror infrastructure and personnel under the guise of humanitarian aid. When presented with concrete evidence, British government officials have thus far chosen to deflect and deny rather than reform the way in which aid pipelines operate, to ensure they help Gazans, not Hamas.
I Want a Democratic Party that Believes Jewish Lives Matter
I was an intern in the Clinton White House. I went on to work in senior positions for the campaigns of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy, and for President Joe Biden's Super PAC. I helped elect Democrats up and down the ballot, staunchly defending them in public and in private. I attended almost every Democratic National Convention, as a professional and as part of a community of friends who were my political family. In 2020 I proudly served as a delegate for Joe Biden.

For decades I championed women's rights, reproductive choice, civil rights and equality. As a Jew, I was especially drawn to the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., for whom Zionism - the Jewish longing for self-determination - was inseparable from the universal struggle for human rights. That was the Democratic Party I believed in.

Then came Oct. 7, 2023, and the massacre of Israelis and Jewish Americans. It forced me to confront the reality that members of my own party responded not with grief or solidarity with the victims but with protests that framed the attack as "resistance." It horrified me. There was no denying that under the banner of a "big tent," Democratic leaders were making room to shelter and legitimize extremism. Voices once on the margin suddenly dominated the narrative.

Then came the breaking point. The term "genocide" - reserved for the worst crimes in human history, like the Holocaust - was weaponized as a political slogan and hurled at Israel and Jews with ease. It was suddenly applied to a nation defending itself after an actual genocidal terrorist organization slaughtered families in their beds and hunted down and killed teenagers at a music festival.

Genocide is a ruse, a malicious inversion of reality. Yet few Democrats pushed back. Many embraced it. In November, 20 Democratic lawmakers introduced a measure in the House accusing Israel of genocide. The North Carolina Democratic Party and the Young Democrats of America adopted official positions accusing Israel of genocide. What we're seeing among Democrats is a broad, networked, antisemitic movement with cultural power and political influence.

The Democratic Party has allowed and lately encouraged the normalization of rhetoric that dehumanizes Jews and distorts history. It has become acceptable to be an antisemite who hates Israel. I cannot be affiliated with a party that espouses that message. Democratic leaders must speak clearly: Terrorism is terrorism, Jewish lives matter, moral consistency matters. Only after my community's safety is secure, and the party recognizes it not as a favor but as a fundamental principle, will I consider coming home.
The non-Jewish Israel supporters who have lost friends over Gaza
GEOFF Baker was always rather proud that his dad helped fight against the fascists targeting Jews in the East End of London in the 1930s.

As a journalist, and then PR to Paul McCartney, he also had many Jewish friends. One of his abiding memories of post-Holocaust trauma was when the former Beatle discovered a German venue he was playing in had been a favourite of Hitler: Geoff witnessed the deep discomfort of Paul’s Jewish wife Linda.

And so when October 7 happened, he wrote of his shock on Facebook and put a “I stand with Israel” banner around his photograph.

Two of his friends in particular took objection to this. The online rows became ever more bitter. “I’d write about my horror after reading an article about a woman who was decapitated by Hamas after she tried to fight off being raped and they would be saying things like ‘What about 1948?’ or ‘Did you see what the settlers have done?’” says Geoff, 69. “And I’d argue, ‘If you don’t want Hiroshima, don’t do Pearl Harbor.’

“This went on for weeks, all the rows were happening on my Facebook page. I realised I was inadvertently giving a platform to their views. So I blocked them and we no longer speak. One of them had been my friend since we were at school. I look around and I fear this new normal where it has become acceptable to be antisemitic and I don’t understand why no one is doing anything about it.”

Geoff, an old friend, was one of scores of people to get in touch with me after I put a call out on Facebook asking if any non-Jews had fallen out with friends over the Israel-Hamas conflict. I’d seen it reported in a More in Common poll that around four out of every ten Brits who were either firmly pro-Israel or pro-Palestine would consider dropping a friendship because of the war.

While I barely know a Jew who hasn’t fallen out with at least one person over the war, I was curious about how this issue had become so toxic for people who had no skin in the game – as it were – that they would fall out with friends. This is a conflict that is 2,000 miles away but its impact on our lives, our politics, has taken on a life of its own.

My post attracted 350 comments and was shared dozens of times. The comments read like a confession of pain. Person after person described how they had fallen out with friends, siblings, children and how sometimes the damage might be irreparable.

The direct messages also came in from people too frightened to say how they were feeling publicly. For many, the pain is abiding, yet they are also terrified about being further cancelled in this world of binaries.

In some ways, the messages were a balm: it has felt lonely being a Jew in this increasingly hostile atmosphere. These are people, strangers, who have our backs and have paid the price for their conviction in the most awful of ways. Sometimes that conviction has even involved them arguing with anti-Zionist Jews.

But also, they exposed me to a world of antisemitism that lingers beneath the surface – the way that non-Jews talk to each other when Jews aren’t in the room.

Let’s start with the left.


Israel WILL participate in Eurovision 2026 – Netherlands, Spain and Ireland to boycott
Israel will participate in the 2026 Eurovision song contest despite attempts by the broadcasting authorities of some countries to call for their exclusion, with Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands announcing that they will boycott the competition as a result.

In a meeting which took place this afternoon, member countries of the European Broadcasting Union voted to adopt a series of reforms proposed by the organisation last month, designed to address concerns aired by certain broadcasters after Israel’s highly successful showing in the 2025 competition. Israel, represented by 7 October survivor Yuval Raphael, did extremely well in the public vote, and was only beaten into second place after Austria scored highly with the jury vote. As a result of the new rules being accepted, a separate vote on Israel’s participation was not held, despite calls by a number of broadcasting authorities for Israel to be banned.

As a result, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, Spain’s RTVE and Ireland’s RTE have announced that they will not be taking part in the 2026 competition, and will not broadcast it.

RTE said: “Following today’s EBU winter general assembly in Geneva at which Israel’s participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest was confirmed, RTE’s position remains unchanged.

“RTE will not participate in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, nor will RTE broadcast the competition.”


Stephen Pollard: Israeli Lives Don't Count: What the Celebrity Crusade for Barghouti Says about Our "Elites"
Imagine there was a prisoner serving time in a British prison over five counts of murder relating to his involvement in three separate terrorist attacks in England. In one attack, a monk was killed. In another a petrol station was targeted. And in the third, three people were murdered in a seafood restaurant. These were specific and clear convictions over which the court carefully deliberated. In his sentencing remarks, the judge said the terrorist was "responsible for providing the field units with money and arms."

Then imagine that after he had served 23 years of his sentence, a group of cultural icons and celebrities signed an open letter demanding his release. The signatories included writers, actors, and musicians. I doubt any of them would ever work again if, for example, they had signed a letter demanding the release of the Manchester Arena bombers, Salman and Hashem Abedi. The very idea is mad.

The only difference is that Marwan Barghouti, the terrorist in question, was convicted of those exact murders detailed above in an Israeli court. And the victims were all Israelis. All the signatories are, of course, entitled to their opinion. And we are equally entitled to point out the grotesque warped morality of their demand that because Barghouti's victims were Israeli, he should be treated as some sort of saint rather than as a cold-bloodied murderer.
Jonathan Sacerdoti: Marwan Barghouti isn't the 'Palestinian Mandela'
The answer is sobering. Barghouti retains his appeal not in spite of his record, but because of it. He commands loyalty within Palestinian society precisely because he embodies the strategy of terrorism as ‘resistance’. His political cachet derives from his status as a commander, not a conciliator. His image is built on the foundation that he is a man of action, not of compromise. And that, it seems, is what the movement demands.

Barghouti’s own rhetoric contributed powerfully to the impression of direct orchestration. He repeatedly called for ‘broader resistance’ and an ‘escalation of the Intifada,’ language that made it politically plausible to attribute almost any Tanzim attack to his leadership. But responsible courts cannot operate on the logic of command responsibility. The judges remained bound by the stricter discipline of law, requiring individualised proof of specific acts, not inference, association, or political symbolism.

This is the uncomfortable truth that Western petitioners refuse to admit. Their image of Barghouti as a peace-seeking statesman is not only unmoored from reality, but also profoundly insulting to the victims of his actions, and to the concept of justice itself.

Thankfully, even in these bewildering times, we have not yet turned to Delia Smith for a recipe for dealing with Hamas, nor asked Gary Lineker to draw up the game plan for peace with men who slaughter families in their homes. Perhaps next they will call for the release of Hashem Abedi, convicted for the Manchester Arena bombing, Michael Adebolajo, the murderer of Lee Rigby, or Ahmed Hassan, jailed for the Parsons Green attack, so they can enter British politics. The day we do, we’ll deserve the outcome.


Melanie Phillips: The canonization of Marwan Barghouti
Celebrity narcissists looking for another virtue to signal have alighted upon a fresh cause appropriate to their moral stature: freedom for a notorious mass murderer of the innocent.

Some 200 high-profile actors and musicians, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Simon, Sting and Brian Eno, have called for pressure on Israel to release the former Fatah terrorist leader, Marwan Barghouti, from prison.

Barghouti, 66, consistently comes top of opinion polls asking Palestinian Arabs who they want to replace 90-year-old Mahmoud Abbas as head of the Palestinian Authority.

Now these celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon, describing Barghouti as a “powerful symbol of unity and a longtime advocate for freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people” and claiming that he has been “illegally held by Israel” for more than two decades.

The petition and its signatories are listed on a campaign website under the slogan “Free Marwan.” The site presents Barghouti as “a husband and a father” and a “nation-builder” who has “consistently believed in a future rooted in international law.”

Even by the standards of today’s morally degenerate celebrity followers of the Palestinian cause, this is jaw-dropping.

Barghouti was properly convicted in 2002, with overwhelming evidence, for orchestrating multiple deadly terror attacks during the years of the Second Intifada, in which he murdered five people, including four Israelis and a Greek monk. The court determined that Barghouti also bore moral responsibility for numerous other terror attacks in which many more Israelis were murdered.

On entering the courtroom before being found guilty, Barghouti flashed a victory sign with his shackled hands and declared to all: “So long as occupation continues, the intifada will not stop. As long as Palestinian mothers are weeping, Israeli mothers will also weep.”

This is the man who these celebrities have described as “a longtime advocate for freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people” and have likened to Nelson Mandela, the South African leader who, for the West, is the nearest thing to a secular saint.
Guy Pearce’s wild anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
It gets worse. In another post, Pearce shared a monologue by Nick Fuentes, an American far-right white nationalist, in which he claims that ‘there’s an Israeli Jewish historian named Israel Shahak, he is considered the Thomas Aquinas of Judaism, the greatest scholar of Jewish law… He said that every Jew should pray for the death of every Christian every day.’ Pearce added his own caption: ‘We are ruled by monsters.’

Many of Pearce’s most toxic rants were about Israel. Whichever came first, his jaundiced view of the Jewish State or his jaundiced view of Jews, hardly matters at this point. On the anniversary of 9/11, Pearce shared a post claiming that there are ‘too many unanswered questions’ about al-Qaeda’s 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre. He posted another video that quotes an interview with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the accompanying text:

‘Here’s what 9/11 really was. Most will call the terrorists Arabs. But this isn’t even close to the truth. Because they were the Israelis!’

According to Pearce, the supposed Jewish / Israeli plot to topple the Twin Towers was just the beginning. He also alleged that Israel was responsible for the murder of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot while speaking at a university in Utah in September. Pearce shared a post that claimed Netanyahu ‘offered Charlie Kirk more than $150million in cash to adopt a more supportive stance on Israel, but Kirk refused the offer so as not to be associated with the genocide in Gaza’. Pearce then added his own caption: ‘Gosh, what a surprise.’

This can hardly be brushed off as a slip of the tongue. Pearce is openly endorsing opinions that someone with even the most cursory knowledge of the 20th century ought to find repugnant. As an actor who has just starred in a film about a Holocaust survivor, he presumably has some knowledge of what that was and how it came about. Claiming that Jews are sexually debased and seek to kill Christians is, to borrow a favourite phrase of the millennial left, ‘literally’ fascism.

Strangely, Pearce’s views have attracted barely a murmur of interest in the notoriously woke world of culture. Yet replace ‘Jew’ with ‘Muslim’ or ‘Hindu’ in the posts he approvingly reshared, and ask yourself what the reaction would be in Hollywood. At best, he would be persona non grata, resigned to minor roles, probably relegated to some waning sitcom like Neighbours, where he started his career. At worst, he would never work again.

Indeed, perhaps the most disturbing thing about Guy Pearce’s twitterings is the collective silence and indifference. If views like those aren’t enough to cause shock and outrage, then we really are in a very dark place.
Ireland is hardly bothering to hide its anti-Semitism anymore
In the ensuing debate, however, it transpired that the Taoiseach’s charge of anti-Semitism may have had a more solid foundation. Councillor Pat Dunne of the United Left party, said: “I’m further convinced that whatever phone calls was (sic) made to our CEO and to other officials probably emanated from Israeli intelligence attached to the Israeli Defence Force because they’re active in every issue in relation to Palestine.”

Another suggested: “The optics will appear to show these senior Irish politicians carrying out the instructions of the Israeli lobby, and it’s very hard to argue with that view when we see the actual result.”

But it was Sinn Féin’s Ciarán Ó Meachair who outshone all his colleagues by making the wild and unsubstantiated claim that Chaim Herzog, who joined the British Army to fight Nazism, had commanded troops who “raped, murdered and pillaged innocent civilians”.

In the light of much of what transpired during the hour-long debate, it is difficult to find fault with the observations of Ed Abrahamson, an Irish Jew who viewed the livestream of the council debate. He wrote on social media: “Watching the @DubCityCouncil meeting – feeling utterly sick and despondent. There is palpable hatred in that room.”

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, rebuked Sonya McGuinness, the Irish ambassador to Israel in person over the Herzog re-naming affair saying: “There is nothing in your system right now that can protect you from the virus of anti-Semitism, except external pressure and exposing the anti-Semitic nature of the government of Ireland”.

Meanwhile, the anti-Israeli bandwagon moves on to Geneva on Thursday, where European Broadcasting Union members are scheduled to debate Israel’s participation in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. If Israel isn’t barred from participating, then countries like Spain and Ireland might make good on their previously announced threat to boycott next year’s Eurovision in Vienna.

It could be a while, it seems, before the beast of anti-Jewish prejudice in Ireland returns to hibernation.
Jake Wallis Simons: The Herzog Park scandal taps into a deep well of anti-Semitism
Although officially neutral, Ireland covered itself in ignominy during the Second World War, particularly when its president, Éamon de Valera, notoriously offered his condolences to Germany after Hitler’s suicide. Charles Bewley, the Irish envoy to Germany in the 1930s, was a well-known anti-Semite. He expended great efforts ingratiating himself with the Nazi regime, minimised its ill treatment of the Jews and even praised Hitler as representing the ‘national rebirth of Germany’.

Other Irish officials, such as the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, Joseph P Walshe, were also early supporters of Nazism. This sympathy was particularly evident in Republican circles, where revolutionaries saw Germany as a bulwark against British influence and a prospective ally in their struggle for independence.

It is in this context that Ireland’s reputation as the most Israelophobic country in Europe should be viewed. Indeed, last year, Israel closed its embassy there after Dublin supported South Africa’s dubious legal action against the Jewish State at the International Court of Justice and unilaterally recognised a Palestinian state.

On Holocaust Memorial Day in January, the hard-left Irish president, Michael Higgins, who has since stepped down, caused outrage when he brought the Gaza war into a speech at a ceremony of remembrance for the dead of the Shoah. Higgins had been requested not to attend the event – pleas he ignored. As he spoke, several Jewish members of the audience stood up and silently turned their backs. They were then violently dragged out by security.

One of the burdens of being Jewish in 2025 is that of being a cipher in somebody else’s politics. Wherever you turn, somebody hates you – not because of your personhood, but because of what you represent in their political self-fashioning.

The Irish elites have no more interest in learning the names of the ‘river’ and the ‘sea’ than any of the other cretins who take to the streets of London or New York dressed in keffiyehs and crop tops. They have no interest in the Holocaust aside from appropriating it as a metaphor to suit their own political ends. Their loathing of Israel is really a sublimation of their loathing of the British, upon which so much of their identity is still built.


Seth Mandel: The Intifada Turns Its Violent Mobs on America’s Synagogues
Mamdani’s response is a big part of the reason that a buffer zone has now been deemed necessary, because a normal human being with a shred of decency would have looked at that mob’s actions and statements and said “Not in my city,” full stop, and he would have walked to the Park East Synagogue himself and stood outside its doors.

Instead, he suggested the mob had a point. This type of insanity can get normalized at lightning speed. And right on cue, pro-Palestinian protesters turned violent inside and outside the Wilshire Boulevard Synagogue in Los Angeles yesterday. The shul was hosting an event for the Korean community (it is located in Koreatown), and it was disrupted by anti-Semitic protesters. As the Jewish Journal reports, some were shouting outside, and some had signed up as attendees only to stand up during the program and start threatening the others in the room and destroying property. All this was done while nursery-school children were downstairs.

One Jewish activist asked a protester why she was there, and the protester responded: “We are protesting in front of a site that holds genocide supporters, and they are trying to bring it to K-town.”

In other words, synagogues and the Jews inside them are fair game because Jews are “genocide supporters.” Suddenly everyone’s an “international law” enforcer. The Mamdani logic makes every Jew a valid target.

I recently spent a week in Greece, and traveling to Jewish establishments in Europe is always eye-opening. The level of security required to, for example, eat in a kosher restaurant or pray in a synagogue is a reminder of Europe’s dark past and the dark future many there seek to bring about. Mamdani is in the process of nudging New York City in that direction: Now, apparently, Jews seeking to worship in Gotham need a buffer zone.

It should be noted that it is a violation of civil-rights law to prevent people from entering a house of worship. That is because such behavior is a direct assault on the First Amendment.

Though Mamdani has exacerbated the problem, he did not create it. Even before his lies about “international law,” the protest itself shattered civic norms. The result is a proposed law on top of a law. And that law might pass and it might make going to shul safer. But what kind of society needs such a law?
Anti-Israel activists disrupt Israeli consulate event at LA synagogue; two arrested
The mayor of Los Angeles has denounced as “abhorrent” and antisemitic a protest that disrupted an event held Wednesday on the campus of the historic Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of the largest synagogues in the city.

Two people were arrested during the incident, which took place after activists who were protesting outside the synagogue entered an event featuring Jewish security professionals and disrupted it.

Video from the scene showed a handful of activists shouting inside the event, which was organized by the Consulate General of Israel to teach Koreans in the neighborhood, known as Koreatown, about security strategies, with a focus on AI innovations.

The group Koreatown 4 Palestine, an organizer of the protest, posted videos showing that they had displayed a banner reading “Elbit Out of LA,” a reference to the Israeli technology company Elbit Systems that is a prime target for Israel’s critics because of its role in developing tools used by the Israeli military. Goni Saar, an AI researcher for Elbit Systems, was speaking at the event.

Eliana Jolkovsky, a pro-Israel activist who posts under the handle @ThatKoreanJew, said she heard protesters outside shout anti-Israel epithets. She posted a video of herself asking a protester why they chose to demonstrate outside of a synagogue. The women responded, “We’re protesting in front of a site that’s hosting genocide supporters and trying to bring that to KTown.”

The incident adds to a string in which activists have targeted events at synagogues that are hosted by Israeli entities or that promote Israel.


Adams signs executive orders targeting BDS, harassment at NYC houses of worship
Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, announced two new executive orders—one barring city officials from boycotting Israel and the other protecting New Yorkers from harassment at houses of worship—at the concluding dinner of the 2025 North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in New Orleans on Dec 3.

“New York City has always been this nation’s melting pot, but, too often, over the last few years, we’ve seen those of Jewish ancestry be singled out and targeted,” Adams said.

“Today, we are ensuring our city government doesn’t participate in that type of behavior and are putting in safeguards that protect New Yorkers’ tax dollars and protect their right to practice their religion without harassment,” he added.

The summit, organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, drew nearly 200 city leaders and community stakeholders from across the United States and Canada to discuss modern-day Jew-hatred, develop practical and innovative city-oriented strategies and policies to address it and bolster cooperation between municipalities.

“I say to my Jewish brothers and sisters, your legacy in this generation is to say we run no more. We stand and fight. We don’t live in fear, hoping that it goes away,” Adams said. “We must stop antisemitism because we are all connected, and we’re all involved in this together.”

The first executive order the mayor announced was Executive Order 60, which prohibits “agency heads, agency chief contracting officers, and any other Mayoral appointees with discretion over contracting” from procurements that discriminate “against the State of Israel, Israeli citizens based on their national origin or individuals or entities based on their association with Israel.”

The order notes that the city’s pension systems have “over $300 million invested in Israel Bonds and Israeli Assets.”

The second order, Executive Order 61, directs the commissioner of the New York City Police Department to work with the city’s Law Department to review existing federal, state, and local laws governing demonstrations and large gatherings, and to evaluate new proposals to regulate protest activity near houses of worship.

“We are proud to sign an executive order to evaluate additional ways to ensure New Yorkers’ right to peacefully and safely practice their religion at houses of worship, while protecting the First Amendment rights to protest, to which all Americans are entitled,” Adams said.
BBC Director-General announces training course on antisemitism for all staff
Outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie has announced that all BBC staff must complete a new training course on antisemitism within the next six months, as part of a drive to combat “discrimination, prejudice, and intolerance” within the organisation.

The initiative comes after more than 200 Jewish BBC staff, contractors, suppliers, and contributors accused the broadcaster’s board of ignoring calls for an investigation into alleged antisemitism at the corporation.

Announcing the programme in a message to staff, Davie stated: “The BBC is for everyone, and we are clear that everyone working here should feel they belong. As an organisation, we stand united against any form of discrimination, prejudice, or intolerance.”

The course was developed in partnership with the Jewish Staff Network, the Antisemitism Policy Trust, and the Community Security Trust, and includes real-world examples of antisemitism in society.

Staff have six months to complete the training, with completion status shared with managers. New joiners will have 28 days after being assigned the module.

Davie explained that the BBC Academy had spent several months developing new anti-discrimination training, beginning with e-learning modules on antisemitism and Islamophobia.

The antisemitism module is available immediately, while the Islamophobia module will launch in February.
University of Manchester Warned Against Unlawful Academic Boycott
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) have warned Manchester University that it must take pro-active steps to ensure that its staff do not give effect to its recent Students’ Union’s vote to cut all ties with Tel Aviv University.

UKLFI’s letter to the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Ivison, points out that the motion could lead to unlawful discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students and staff.

A spokesperson for the University had already confirmed to the student newspaper, The Mancunion, that the motion is non-binding and that the University believes collaboration with international partners is important. However, UKLFI considers the University needs to counter the motion more pro-actively.

UKLFI has pointed out that if any of its academics refuse to work with Israeli scholars, the University could itself be in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

The letter states that boycotting academics because they are Israeli or associate with Israelis or are from Israeli institutions amounts to direct discrimination in breach of this Act, while any boycott that disproportionately harms Jewish or Zionist staff and students could be indirect discrimination. Israeli nationality, Jewish ethnicity and Zionism are all protected characteristics under the legislation.

UKLFI explains that the University could be held legally responsible for staff who interpret the Union motion as approval to boycott Israeli colleagues, unless the University shows it took all reasonable steps to prevent such conduct.

The warning comes amid a surge in antisemitic incidents at UK universities since October 2023. A recent report cited in the House of Lords found that anti-Zionist campaigning is increasingly creating an atmosphere of intimidation for Jewish students.
UKLFI Calls for Withdrawal of Children’s Book Containing Antisemitic Illustration
A children’s book on human rights containing an antisemitic illustration is likely to stir up racial hatred, and should be withdrawn, according to UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).

Illustration by Luis Demano from Human Rights by Yayo Herrero

UKLFI has written to a publisher, book distributors, and a London local authority after discovering that a newly-published children’s book contains an illustration that appears to be antisemitic, harmful, and likely to foster division among young readers.

The book, Human Rights by Yayo Herrero, published in 2025 by Square Triangle / Seven Stories Press, includes an extremely concerning illustration accompanying a section on “Right to Self-Determination of Peoples”. A discussion about the Palestinians’ rights features a depiction of a soldier with a large Star of David on his uniform, heavily armed, wearing spiked boots, and shown with an aggressive expression, while a child behind him holds a Palestinian flag above his head. UKLFI argues that the soldier is clearly intended to represent an Israeli figure, portrayed in a menacing, demonised manner.

In its letter to Seven Stories Press, UKLFI stated that the image “presents a complex and painful conflict in a one-sided, harmful way that demonizes Jews and Israelis”, stressing that a book aimed at children aged 9–12 should encourage empathy and understanding rather than “visuals that spread hate or make one group into villains.”

UKLFI pointed out that the illustration is antisemitic under multiple criteria, including the IHRA working definition and the Jerusalem Declaration. UKLFI has asked the publisher to remove and replace the illustration.

UKLFI has also written to the UK and US distributors of the book to request that they halt distribution until the offending image is removed, noting that one member of the public who viewed the book in a London library described it as “something truly horrific” and expressed concern that many copies may already be in UK schools and libraries.
When Hezbollah Welcomes the Pope, the Media Follows the Script
Pope Leo XIV’s first visit to the Middle East was met with excitement and applause. When he touched down in Lebanon, supporters from all walks of life lined the streets to cheer him on – including, surprisingly, Hezbollah and its supporters.

In fact, Hezbollah’s Imam Al-Mahdi Scouts Association, a pro-terror youth movement that primes children and teenagers to become engaged with Hezbollah from a young age, was also present. These are the same scouts that filled a stadium in commemoration of Hassan Nasrallah.

That did not stop the Irish Times from glancing over Hezbollah’s grooming of children, reducing the scouts’ role in its coverage to the benign description that the scouts were “assembling to perform,” portraying them as an innocent, ordinary youth movement, rather than an organization indoctrinating children into a terrorist movement.

Hezbollah itself released a warm statement discussing Lebanon’s “diverse composition,” and the hardships the Lebanese were facing “as a result of the Zionist occupation of parts of their land, and the continuation of its attacks against them and the threat to their security and stability in their country.”

What was striking was how unsurprised many in the media seemed by Hezbollah’s enthusiastic embrace of the Pope. This, despite the fact that Lebanon’s Christian population has steadily declined since Hezbollah’s rise to power. A country that once had a Christian majority has since become majority Muslim, in large part due to Hezbollah’s growing influence and the resulting sense of insecurity that has pushed many Christians to leave. The Christian community in Lebanon has specifically been the target of Hezbollah and Hezbollah-affiliated attacks throughout the years.

When the media did manage to acknowledge the declining Christian population and the broader deterioration of the country, it was frequently mentioned in the context of the war between Hezbollah and Israel, with the blame falling on Israel alone.


Iraq backtracks after listing Hezbollah and Houthis as terror groups
Iraq’s Committee for Freezing Terrorists’ Funds said Thursday that it would correct an official list of designated terrorist organizations following furor from pro-Iran figures in the country over the inclusion of Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Both groups, based in Lebanon and Yemen, respectively, are backed by Iran and seek Israel’s destruction. Iran has vast influence over policies in neighboring Iraq.

The committee said in a statement carried by Iraq’s state news agency that Baghdad had approved a list of “entities and individuals associated with ISIS and Al-Qaeda” that will have their funds frozen following a request by the government of Malaysia. Most of the groups and people on the list were from Southeast Asia.

“Other entities’ names were included due to the list being published before undergoing revision,” the statement said, without naming either Hezbollah or the Houthis. “The Iraqi Gazette will be corrected with the removal of entities and parties from the list of entities associated with the terrorist organizations ISIS and Al-Qaeda.”

Afterward, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani repeated those claims in its own statement on the state news agency. The premier’s office also announced an investigation “to determine responsibility and hold accountable those responsible for the error.”

The premier’s statement also affirmed that Iraq’s position “on the aggression against our people in Lebanon or in Palestine are matters of principle which are non-negotiable and reflect the will of the Iraqi people,” referring to the wars between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon that were launched after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre and subsequent Hezbollah attack in Israel.

Sudani’s statement comes amid reports in Arabic media that he faces an uphill battle to hold onto the leadership of his parliamentary bloc — which includes pro-Iranian elements — despite its victory in last month’s elections.


Australian city defers approval for menorah, angering Jews
The Stonnington City Council in Australia has delayed approval for a public menorah just weeks before the start of Chanukah, drawing sharp criticism from Jewish community leaders and residents.

At a heated meeting on Monday, the council voted to defer a motion to install a large public menorah (chanukiyah), meaning it will not be erected in time for the Jewish holiday, which begins on Dec. 14. Stonnington, a municipality which is part of greater Melbourne, is home to almost 5,000 Jews, the second-largest Jewish population in the state of Victoria.

The proposal to install the menorah, put forward by Councillor Tom Humphries and supported by more than 130 community submissions, descended into chaos when Councillor Steve Stefanopoulos moved to defer the motion. The council split 4–4 on the vote, with Mayor Melina Sehr using her casting vote to delay the installation.

Following the vote, the chamber erupted into shouting, with Humphries accusing Stefanopoulos of antisemitism, describing the deferral as a “ploy to shut it down.”

Members of the Jewish community who attended in support of the menorah were left visibly distressed by the proceedings. According to a statement by Council Watch, cries of “antisemitism is alive and well” rang out as frustrated residents walked out of the chamber in disbelief.


Man jailed in UK for sending antisemitic, abusive messages to Jewish lawmaker
A man who sent hundreds of abusive messages to a Jewish lawmaker in Britain, including references to “killing Jews,” has been jailed for eight weeks, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Kevin Smith, 61, sent roughly 300 text messages and three voicemails to the office of Labour lawmaker Alex Sobel, who said the messages were deeply disturbing and left him fearing for his and his family’s safety.

Smith, who pleaded guilty to the offence of sending offensive messages last month, was also given a five-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting Sobel.

“The right to freedom of expression does not extend to sending grossly offensive and menacing messages,” senior prosecutor Claire MacDonald said.

“Criminal offences committed against MPs (Members of Parliament) imperil both the democratic process and our public service, and the antisemitic abuse subjected to Mr Sobel and his staff was simply unacceptable.”

The number of reported antisemitic acts across Britain last year was the second highest in modern times. An attack on a synagogue in northern England in October prompted heightened security concerns among local Jewish communities.


‘Pro-Bible is pro-Israel,’ Huckabee tells 1,000 US pastors in Jerusalem
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Wednesday urged more than a thousand visiting American pastors and Christian leaders to “light the pulpits of America” with the truth about Israel, and to quash criticism of the Jewish state from both the left and the right with the facts and the Bible.

“We need the pulpits of America to be on fire with the truth,” Huckabee said in a fiery address. “I pray that you don’t just go back home and say, ‘Oh, I had wonderful trip. I took some good pictures. I saw some wonderful sites.’ I hope you will go back to the U.S. with the fire of God burning in your bones and say it is time to be pro-biblical, because then you will find your voice to be pro-Israel.”

The Baptist minister turned ambassador urged his fellow pastors to speak out against criticism of Israel that is clouding American support among young people, singling out The New York Times and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. The boisterous audience loudly booed Carlson’s name amid chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” and “amen.”

“Those who are saying things about Israel that are not true they have the right to free speech,” Huckabee said. “But you have the free speech possibility to push back, stand up, speak up, and say not in this country. America will not stand silent,” he added to a thunderous standing ovation.

The weeklong visit, which was organized by American evangelical leader Mike Evans with the Israeli Foreign Ministry, was the single largest gathering of pastors in Israel since the establishment of the state in 1948. It included a tour of the southern communities that came under attack during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre as well as meetings with survivors and former hostages.
Eisenhower’s great-grandson walks alongside survivors at March of the Living
In April 1945, General Dwight D Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, visited the recently liberated Ohrdruff concentration camp. Eisenhower, who had served in the military for three decades and had been in control of the army which stormed the beaches at Normandy, fought their way through France and had now penetrated deep into the heart of Germany, was so horrified at what he saw that he would subsequently telegraph the US Army’s Chief of Staff, requesting that members of Congress and editors of prominent papers be flown to Germany to see the horrors in person.

Now, in the 80th anniversary year since the end of the Holocaust, a direct descendant of the General who went on to become America’s 34th President joined the 2025 March of the Living, from Auschwitz to the Birkenau death camp three kilometres away. Merrill Eisenhower walked alongside Holocaust survivor Eva Olga Clarke, one of only three babies born in Mauthausen concentration camp who survived the Shoah. She told Jewish News: “When I was told that I would be meeting a real, live Eisenhower, that was wonderful. That first time was in March and the second time was in Auschwitz with March of the Living, and that was very moving. I can tell you that Merrill was being interviewed and there were all these survivors sitting around. I don’t think I’m exaggerating in saying every single one had to give him a hug and they were all saying ‘Thank you’.”

Born on 29 April 1945, (her mother Anka Kaudrová was pregnant when sent to the first of several concentration camps) and now a passionate Holocaust educator, Clarke has formed a unique and profound friendship with Eisenhower, based on mutual respect and a determination by both the Eisenhower family and March of the Living to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are preserved for future generations.

Merrill Eisenhower, 44, is clearly humbled by the significance his family name carries and the intense emotional legacy it symbolises at Holocaust memorial events.


‘God chose to save me that day’, says father injured in Manchester synagogue attack
A man injured when he was shot during the October attack on a synagogue in Manchester has said “what happened to me was a miracle” as “God chose to save me on that day”.

Yoni Finlay is believed to have been hit by a police bullet at Heaton Park Hebrew Synagogue in Crumpsall on October 2.

He is reported to have been helping to barricade the doors as Jihad Al-Shamie targeted the place of worship.

Asked how he is processing what happened on podcast Ready To Talk With Emma Barnett, in a clip played on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “It’s incredibly difficult. People have asked me how my faith is now after what happened, and the only answer is it’s stronger than ever.

“And I think the only way I can get through this is by faith. I know that what happened to me was a miracle. I know that for whatever reason, God chose to save me on that day, which gives me responsibility as well.”

He added: “Because I was centimetres, millimetres, whatever it was, you know, if I’d be one step to the left or one step to the… who knows, I wouldn’t be here now. So again, it’s dealing with that.

“But then that’s where my faith comes in. For whatever reason, I’ve been given more time.”

Asked what it was like being so close to the attacker, he said: “It’s a very shocking thing to be in the presence of somebody who just wanted to kill Jews. That’s all he wanted to do, and he was prepared to die for that.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

at