Friday, December 19, 2025

12/19 Links Pt2: Chanukah Is Relevant for Everyone—but Not in the Way You Might Think; At TPUSA Ben Shapiro completely dismantles Tucker Carlson; Hezbollah’s Secret Maritime Plot Exposed

From Ian:

Josh Hammer: Chanukah Is Relevant for Everyone—but Not in the Way You Might Think
The core message of Chanukah, then, is one of traditionalism and cultural preservation in the face of menacing and assimilationist forces, both within and without. That's the real meaning of the holiday—not exchanging gifts or waxing poetic about universalist platitudes.

Yet paradoxically, especially in light of tragic recent events, something occurred to me for the first time: This stridently particularist Jewish holiday does have broader—indeed, global—relevance. It's just not the relevance liberal politicians have ascribed to Chanukah. Indeed, it's the exact opposite.

The Maccabees were able to prevail and thereby preserve Judaism, against the odds, because they had purpose and conviction. They believed that Judaism stood for something important: They believed that ethical monotheism was important, the Hebrew Scriptures were true, and the Land of Israel belonged to the Children of Israel. In short, the Maccabees had national and civilizational pride, and it was because of that pride that they fought so valiantly and refused to bend the knee to Hellenistic assimilation. They rejected the universalist cri de coeur that all cultures and peoples are equal—and perhaps interchangeable.

In recent decades, and even more acutely in recent years, Western civilization has had to learn that lesson anew. Human beings, while all made in God's image and thus all deserving of dignity and moral worth, are immensely complicated. We are not reducible to widgets on an economics chalkboard. Our inherited cultural traditions and learned customs and mannerisms are often very different from one another. We don't all value the same things, pursue the same goals, hold the same social standards, or believe in the same political institutions.

We are, in short, different.

The Maccabees understood that there was something special about the truths, values, and principles that Judaism introduced to the world. They were not willing to sacrifice those truths, values, and principles to the siren song of Hellenistic universalism. Western nations today must learn that same lesson anew. The modern Maccabee martyrs senselessly slain last Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach are yet the latest victims of Hellenism gone awry, as one culture tries to replace and erase another.

It doesn't have to be this way. A culture can be proud without being chauvinistic. And a people can be self-confident without being imperious. If there are going to be fewer Bondi Beach-style massacres, moving forward, Western cultures and nations are going to have to rediscover and reprioritize what made them great in the first place. They're going to have to remember that human beings, and the specific societies they constitute, are unique. They cannot, and should not, be swapped or frivolously bartered like goods in a marketplace. We have our traditions, values, and ways of life that are worth cherishing and preserving from one generation to the next.

It might not be politically correct, but that is how we can apply the true lesson of Chanukah.
Antisemitism Is Thriving Because Schadenfreude Makes People Happy
One reason our fight against antisemitism is so complicated is that Jew-haters won’t allow Jews to be victims. Victimhood today confers both status and power. Don’t Jews already have more than enough?

I like to study faces and body language. In the hundreds of clips I’ve seen of anti-Israel demonstrators since Oct. 7, I rarely noticed any sadness for the plight of Palestinians. What I saw instead was swagger and bravado, a sense of owning justice and sticking it to those who deserved it.

Because the Gaza war provided so much anti-Israel ammunition for so long, there was a sense of liberation among protesters; a chance to unleash resentment that had built up for years.

The fact that this venom is still being unleashed after the end of the war tells us all we need to know. It’s not about creating a better future for the Palestinians. It’s about creating a terrible future for a people that had it coming. We can only imagine the schadenfreude Jew-haters experienced when Jews were murdered in Australia at the start of that highly visible and joyful holiday of Hanukkah.

I know that hatred for Jews is famously elastic, that haters find a way to hate Jews whether they’re rich, poor, weak, strong, left, right, capitalist, socialist, and so on. Today, maybe because of the extraordinary success of the Jewish state, the dominant reputation of Jews is strong, influential and successful.

A year ago, I quoted British philosopher Eve Garrard who argued that “There are (at least) three principal sources of pleasure which anti-Semitism provides. First, the pleasure of hatred; second, the pleasure of tradition, and third, the pleasure of displaying moral purity.” After seeing the post-war glee on the faces of Jew-haters, I’m suggesting today that we add the pleasure of schadenfreude.

It’s not pleasant, of course, to consider that the more successful one becomes, the more one is likely to be attacked. It’s also not pleasant to think that after all the complex explanations we read about Jew-hatred, a sentiment as primordial as shadenfreude can drive some of that hatred.

But human nature dies hard.

We can only hope for the day when “success” reclaims its place as something to be admired and emulated, not something to be embarrassed about because it’s twisted as “white privilege.”

Until then, we’ll have to settle for the consolation prize that we’re hated for doing great things– even if that ends up bringing temporary pleasure to Jew-haters.

Happy Hanukkah.
X’s Transparency Rules Expose a Synthetic Gaza Disinformation Network
X’s new location-transparency requirement has reshaped the information environment surrounding the Gaza war. After the platform introduced the policy, accounts that had long claimed to report from Gaza displayed locations in Europe, North America, and Turkey. These accounts produced much of the imagery and narrative framing that circulated widely after October 7, 2023. Western journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers often treated them as front line observers, which gave fraudulent accounts disproportionate influence over public perception and policy debates.

Open Source Intelligence analyst Eitan Fischberger’s November 22, 2025, thread highlighted how X’s new “About This Account” panel first exposed prominent accounts posing as American or local Gaza/Palestinian voices. Fischberger notes that he captured the screenshots himself and urged others to share only accurate examples.

The Gaza information space is target for actors seeking to influence foreign audiences. Accounts that presented themselves as civilians in Gaza posted emotive casualty claims and siege narratives. The new transparency rule revealed that many operated from cities such as Warsaw, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Istanbul. These accounts maintained credibility by repeating familiar themes and amplifying one another to create the appearance of consensus. Several shared identical videos or images from unrelated conflicts, and the repetition increased engagement and reach.

Western media outlets accelerated the impact of this ecosystem. Journalists cited these accounts as eyewitness sources during breaking-news cycles. Nongovernmental organizations incorporated and echoed posts from them in emergency situational reports. These narratives didn’t stay on fringe accounts. Members of Congress amplified them—for example, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) reshared a miscaptioned Syria photo as “Gaza genocide” before deleting it—and then carried casualty figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry into House speeches, hearings, and ceasefire proposals. The result was a commentary environment in which unverified accounts—sometimes operating thousands of miles from Gaza—shaped the discourse more than professional reporting.

Open-source analysis reveals several recurring patterns. One account that frequently announced broadcasts from Rafah displayed a European location tag immediately after the transparency change. Another that described Israeli operations in real time was posting from different foreign locations, suggesting the use of obfuscation tools. Several videos that circulated as evidence of Israeli strikes originated from Syria or earlier conflicts. These recycled images spread because audiences reacted to their emotional framing rather than their metadata or provenance.

The structure of this network aligns with broader features of the modern media environment. Newsrooms seek rapid content during crises and often draw material from social-media sources before verification. Non-governmental organizations fill information gaps with viral posts that appear to support long-standing narratives. Policymakers respond to perceived public pressure rather than confirmed reporting. Synthetic accounts understand these incentives and produce content designed to meet them. The result is an information space in which misleading claims gain traction before correction mechanisms engage.

The power of synthetic Gaza accounts also reflects Western cognitive vulnerabilities. These accounts focus on themes—hunger, displacement, bombardment—that provoke immediate moral reactions. The framing encourages audiences to assume authenticity even when indicators point elsewhere. Once a claim enters mainstream conversation, corrections rarely reverse its influence. Narratives take hold when they align with preexisting expectations in Western institutions.


Comedy Cellar USA: Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism? with Adam Louis-Klein
Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by Adam Louis-Klein. Louis-Klein is a PhD candidate in anthropology at McGill University and has a BA in philosophy from Yale. He is a journalist for The Free Press and writes on Jewish peoplehood, antisemitism, and anti-Zionism.


Oct. 7 survivor Omer Shem Tov to warn TPUSA conference ‘evil is spreading’ after 505 days in captivity
A former Oct. 7 hostage who survived more than 16 months of Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip will warn attendees of Turning Point USA’s America Fest conference Friday that “radical terrorist violence” has spread across the globe since that tragic day, The Post can reveal.

“This fight is bigger than Israel. It is a fight for Western civilization itself,” Omer Shem Tov, who spent 505 days in captivity before his release this past Feb. 22, is expected to say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.

The address will note that the same evil he encountered in Gaza’s tunnels is “spreading in Africa, in Europe, and yes, even here in America.”

“What I experienced was not just a personal tragedy. It is part of a much larger fight,” Shem Tov plans to say. “We have seen these same radical terrorists commit violence in Israel, in Europe, in Australia, and even here in the United States, including the recent [Nov. 26] attack in Washington, DC, where two National Guardsmen were shot.“

“This is the evil we are fighting,” the prepared remarks add. “And that is why Turning Point USA matters. Because you see the truth. And you stand for freedom.”

“Charlie Kirk once said, ‘Israel is a civilized country. Hamas are savage animals,’” Shem Tov also plans to say. “Take it from someone who spent 505 days as their hostage. Charlie was right.”

The 2025 conference will host some of the most influential political figures and pundits on the right, including Vice President JD Vance, podcasters Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson, and current and former federal officials, lawmakers, entertainers and pastors.

It comes as some right-wing pundits and Republican lawmakers have criticized Israel and its conduct in the war against Hamas, driving a wedge between the US and its lone ally in the Middle East.


Ben Shapiro: Time for ‘Ideological Border Control’ in the Conservative Movement
The podcast host Ben Shapiro appeared at the Heritage Foundation on Monday to sound an alarm about the direction of the conservative movement and call on its leaders to enforce "clear intellectual boundaries."

He likened the task to policing the country’s borders and stamping out illegal immigration. "If America does not protect its borders, America ends," he said. "Conservatism requires ideological border control."

But with the movement in flux, Shapiro argued that movement leaders have failed to "do what any good leader must do: define and maintain the foundations of that movement"—and called on them to "stand against those who would pervert and twist the conservative movement into a movement without principles."

While he did not call out Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts by name, it was clear his remarks were aimed in his direction. Shapiro’s comments came amid ongoing turmoil at Heritage, where three board members have resigned in recent weeks—continuing fallout from an admittedly clumsy video Roberts posted defending the podcaster Tucker Carlson as critics assailed him for conducting a chummy interview with the neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.

"If, as Heritage Foundation proclaims, our goal ought to be to ‘formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense,’ then we must stand against those who would pervert and twist the conservative movement into a movement without principles," Shapiro said. "Or worse, a movement that promotes the very opposite of the principles that conservatives hold dear."


Ben Shapiro's Full Speech at AmericaFest 2025 by Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona



Yair Rosenberg: ‘The More I’m Around Young People, the More Panicked I Am’
In other words, the research collectively suggests that America is becoming more anti-Semitic because its young people are becoming more anti-Semitic. This finding flies in the face of the folk wisdom that prejudice is the province of the old and will die out with them. That maxim may be true of some bigotries, but anti-Semitism is not one of them. Instead, in the United States, the opposite is happening: Anti-Jewish prejudice is growing precisely because it is the domain of the next generation, not the previous one. As this young cohort takes its place in American society, that society becomes more anti-Semitic, because politicians, influencers, and tastemakers are trying to reflect youth sensibilities and cater to them.

Any generational shift this dramatic has more than one cause. In the 20th century, the Holocaust and World War II profoundly and positively reshaped American attitudes toward Jews, but young people today have no first- or secondhand memory of that experience. Americans who are middle-aged or older tend to get their information from legacy media outlets, which, for all their flaws, normally have editorial processes that eschew explicitly racist material. Younger Americans, by contrast, are likely to trust and get their news from lightly moderated social-media platforms, which often advantage the extreme opinions, conspiracy theories, and conflict-stoking content that drive engagement. This bifurcation of information has consequences. Figuring out who was responsible for a national calamity, for instance, takes time and investigation. Blaming that calamity on the Jews does not. The kinds of media that reach for the latter explanation are the ones that hold sway with the younger audience.

Young people also tend to be more critical of Israel than their elders, leading a minority to excuse or even perpetrate anti-Jewish acts in America in the name of Palestine. These critics are likely to consume anti-Israel content on their social-media apps of choice. The platforms then funnel some of those users toward anti-Semitic material—a sort of algorithmic escalator that ends up radicalizing a percentage of them.

The implications of these data are undeniably depressing, but the findings actually provide grounds for pragmatic optimism as well. Survey after survey shows that anti-Semitism remains a minority prejudice even among young people, who are a minority of Americans. The Yale Youth Poll found that 43 percent of voters younger than 22 agreed with at least one statement commonly considered anti-Semitic, but that 57 percent of their same-age peers did not. Indeed, in nearly every scenario surveyed, the poll found that most young people—not just most people—rejected anti-Jewish propositions.

America may have a generational divide on anti-Semitism, but the country also has a broad consensus against it. Anti-Semitic ideologues have grown louder in the public discourse, but the upset they still evoke demonstrates that the American majority rejects the tenets of anti-Jewish ideology. This reality is just obscured by opportunistic partisans and influencers who dominate discourse and constantly shift the conversation away from the consensus views and toward the contentious ones.

Rather than falling into this trap, Americans should look for leaders—political, cultural, and religious—who cater to the consensus and seek to strengthen it, rather than empowering those who pander to extreme constituencies. Trend lines are not finish lines. The numbers are a call to action, not despair.
A Generational Divide on Antisemitism
Yair Rosenberg, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of its newsletter Deep Shtetl, about the intersection of politics, culture, and religion, offers analysis of anecdotal and survey data that show a generational divide on antisemitism.


Yair Rosenberg: What J. D. Vance—And Many Others—Miss About American Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism among foreign-born Americans, like anti-Semitism among other Americans, is certainly real. I’ve reported on it. But the notion that it is somehow the prime driver of American anti-Semitism does not add up—literally. That’s because there are many more young people in America—and in the ANES survey—than foreign-born people. As Peter Ganong, an economist at the University of Chicago, who fact-checked Vance’s dispute with my work on X, told me, “Immigrants and their children are indeed colder towards Jews than native-born Americans, but they are only 15 percent of voters.” That’s just a small part of the picture, however. “Young voters are also colder toward Jews on a per-person basis than older voters,” Ganong continued, and “the most important thing to know is that they account for 40 percent of voters in this survey.”

The vice president wasn’t the only one who took issue with my argument about the anti-Semitic age divide. When I joined MS NOW to discuss the article’s findings, one co-panelist countered that the data they’d seen showed that younger conservatives were the chief source of the problem. The liberal polling analyst G. Elliott Morris made a similar point on X, recommending the article but arguing that “the claim that there is no partisan divide in rates of anti-Semitism is wrong.”

Now, I cited a lot of surveys in my article. Some of them, such as the Democratic pollster David Shor’s canvass of nearly 130,000 voters, found no noticeable partisan split overall. Others found some measure of partisan divide in their small subsamples of younger voters. In the case of the Yale Youth Poll, young conservatives were more anti-Semitic than young liberals. And some surveys, as Vance noted, found splits between foreign-born Americans and the rest. All of these sources of anti-Semitism deserve further study, and all of them matter. But the one thing that all the surveys agreed on was an age divide underlying anti-Semitism. My argument was simply that focusing attention on this phenomenon and figuring out why it is happening would help us better combat the prejudice.

A broader point of disagreement is worth spelling out here. It is easy to cherry-pick and train all of one’s fire and attention on an ideologically convenient source of anti-Semitism, while giving short shrift to other, less congenial vectors of the prejudice—and missing entirely any anti-Semitism that doesn’t fit a prefabricated partisan narrative. But decades of such discourse have not made a dent in the problem.

Convenient narratives have coalesced to explain contemporary anti-Semitism. For some, it’s a story about neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the far right. Others point to anti-Israel sentiment on the left that shades into anti-Jewish prejudice. Both of these origin stories contain truth. But both also allow partisans to lay the problem at the feet of their ideological opponents. This is why many liberals are more comfortable calling out conservative anti-Semitism, and Vance appears most comfortable focusing on anti-Jewish sentiments among immigrants, while sidestepping the same problem on the American right (unless I somehow missed his call to denaturalize and deport Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens).

Like many others, I’ve spilled countless words covering anti-Semitism on the right, the left, and beyond. But analysis confined to these tired ideological frames has utterly failed to impede the ascent of anti-Jewish prejudice. Uncovering the ways in which anti-Semitism operates outside them can yield better insight into how we might combat anti-Jewish ideas.

Yair Rosenberg: ‘The more I’m around young people, the more panicked I am’

Anti-Semitism predates our present political and religious divides. Before there were capitalists, Communists, Republicans, Democrats, or even Christians or Muslims, there was anti-Jewish prejudice. Which means that although such bigotry is expressed by all of these communities, it has roots in more fundamental forces.

The effort to identify and understand these forces is what drew me to explore the age divide in American anti-Semitism—and to investigate how anti-Semitism operates as a conspiracy theory that appeals to actors across the political and religious spectrum. At their best, foundational approaches like these can offer new ways to attack an ancient prejudice that most Americans—including younger ones—abhor, but that is growing in influence and body count. They do not exclude other explanations; they complement them, while avoiding the political traps that too often turn the public conversation about anti-Semitism into a debate over who can be blamed for it, rather than a discussion of how to stop it.

Because this way of thinking scrambles people’s partisan radars, it often evokes resistance from those wedded to older approaches, who see it as a threat rather than an asset. But the opposite is the case: Those who reason backward from prior ideological commitments when analyzing anti-Semitism are less likely to arrive at correct conclusions. That may not matter very much to the most hard-core partisans, who are less interested in understanding and confronting anti-Semitism than in using it to advance a preexisting ideological agenda or settle scores. But it should matter to everyone else. After all, if that way of talking about anti-Semitism worked, the problem would not be getting worse.
spiked: 2025: Civilisation, barbarism and censorship | spiked podcast
Simon Evans, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss the Bondi Beach attack and the scourge of Islamist anti-Semitism, and the battle for free speech after the murder of Charlie Kirk.


Can the right unite against antisemitic hate?
Will the failure of leading conservatives to disassociate themselves from the increasingly antisemitic former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and even more extreme figures like Candace Owens lead to the movement being hijacked by hatemongers? That’s the question posed by JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin in the wake of the shocking defense of Carlson by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts in November.

Roberts walked back his denunciation of those who criticized Carlson’s platforming of Holocaust denial as well as neo-Nazi groyper leader Nick Fuentes as being part of a “venomous coalition.” But questions remain about Heritage’s future with many of those involved with the institution leaving as a result of the controversy. But according to Heritage Vice President Victoria Coates, the think tank remains committed to the fight against Jew-hatred and support for Israel.

Coates, who joins Tobin in this week’s episode of Think Twice, credits Roberts for the fact that Heritage has played a leading role on the issue. Its Project Esther helped provide the inspiration for President Donald Trump’s efforts to hold colleges and universities accountable for their toleration and encouragement of Jew-hatred on their campuses. But she admits that Roberts’ initial video expressing solidarity with Carlson was a mistake and that the think tank head understands that too and that he is determined for Heritage to continue to work against the spread of Jew-hatred. As troubling as the growth of hate on the right may be, she says the Bondi Bay Chanukah massacre of Jews is a reminder that the most potent threat to Jews and the West remains Islamist and leftist terror.

Coates, who, like Roberts, knows Carlson well, says she can’t explain his turn toward antisemitism as well as his bizarre willingness to deny that Islamists are persecuting and murdering Christians in Africa. But she says there’s no denying the growth of antisemitic attitudes among younger conservatives which she fears has become widespread. She says that’s a product of the crisis induced by leftist indoctrination in the schools as well as the Covid pandemic, not to mention the misinformation about Israel and the Middle East that is ubiquitous on social media. Coates believes what happened at Heritage will help to focus minds on the right on the threat from antisemitic extremism.

CHAPTERS
00:00 – Can conservatives confront antisemitism on the right?
01:55 – Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and the new fault lines
04:30 – How the Heritage Foundation was pulled into the storm
07:20 – Who is Victoria Coates—and why her voice matters
10:45 – The leaked Heritage town hall and its fallout
14:30 – Is there a future without “gatekeeping” on the right?
18:40 – Why younger conservatives are drifting toward extremism
23:50 – When policy debate becomes antisemitic conspiracy
28:40 – Drawing the line: criticism of Israel vs. Jew-hatred
33:50 – Can the conservative movement survive this divide?




"They Will KILL Me!" Son of Hamas Founder Turned Israeli Agent on Islam 'Identity Crisis'
Details are still emerging about the father and son who wrought terror on Bondi Beach - but what’s clear is that they were driven by extremist ideology and antisemitic hatred.

Extremism will be a key concern even if the Gaza ceasefire holds, with many thousands of young people now grieving incalculable loss.

Mosab Hasan Yousef knows a lot about radicalization - he’s the son of the Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef and was an Islamist militant until his defection to Israel. He joins Piers Morgan to discuss his journey and the ‘identity problem’ he believes Muslims are now facing.

00:00 Introduction
01:40 Mosab Hassan Yousef interview begins
04:35 'What do they mean when they say globalise the intifada?'
08:05 Mosab says his father wanted him to join Hamas
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16:56 “Anyone who criticizes Islam gets accused of Islamophobia”
21:04 'Jihad is a fundamental pillar in the Islamic belief system'
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28:42 Mosab explains his viewpoint on Muslim identity versus individual identity
32:14 Piers asks Mosab if he is now a Christian
33:03 'It was a symbolic thing!' Mosab on his baptism
34:58 Piers asks Mosab if he will celebrate Christmas
35:14 ‘When I wake up in the morning it's like a new birth!'


Mike Huckabee: 'I hope there won’t be a war, Iran will come to its senses'
Above Mike Huckabee’s desk at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood, a colorful guitar hangs beside a banjo. The instruments are not symbolic props. The American ambassador plays them whenever he finds the time and has even found a church in Jerusalem where he volunteers as part of the church band. The sight is disarming, a reminder that the former Arkansas governor and longtime political figure brings a personal presence to one of Washington’s most demanding diplomatic assignments.

Over the past year, Huckabee says, his understanding of Israel has deepened not through briefing papers but through daily exposure to its people. He speaks with admiration about Israelis’ resilience under pressure and their determination to defend their country. He also talks with genuine enthusiasm about Israeli food, especially fruits and vegetables.

“The tomatoes, the watermelon,” he says. “Fresh mango, incredible.”

“I don’t know anywhere in the world where I’ve tasted produce like this,” he adds.

But the rhythms of embassy life are defined far less by music or markets than by diplomacy at a moment of extraordinary strain. In a wide-ranging interview, Huckabee addressed nearly every fault line shaping Israel’s strategic reality: the Gaza ceasefire and its next phase, negotiations with Syria, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, tensions with Turkey, settler violence in Judea and Samaria, rising antisemitism in the United States, and the future of American military aid as the current security agreement approaches its 2028 expiration.

Throughout, Huckabee returned to one central claim: that despite persistent reports of crisis, tension and erosion, the U.S.-Israel relationship is functioning with what he repeatedly called an “extraordinary level of cooperation.”
Rubio: US must clarify mandate of Gaza force before we can expect countries to send troops
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the Trump administration will have to clarify the mandate of the International Stabilization Force before it can expect to secure troop commitments from participating countries, as it struggles to find countries willing to contribute troops to the force.

“In fairness to all the countries we’ve talked to about having a presence on the ground, I think they want to know specifically what the mandate will be and what the funding mechanism,” Rubio said during a press conference when asked whether the US has secured a commitment from Pakistan, which is reportedly under American pressure to contribute soldiers to the foreign force that will be tasked with gradually phasing the IDF out of Gaza and securing the enclave.

“We’re very grateful to Pakistan for their offer to consider being a part of it, [but] I think we owe them a few more answers before we can ask anybody to firmly commit,” Rubio added.

“I feel very confident that we have a number of nation states acceptable to all sides [that] are willing to step forward and be a part of that stabilization force,” he declared.

Two Western diplomats familiar with the situation told The Times of Israel on Friday that among those Rubio has asked to contribute troops to the force is Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.

“We’re trying to make a lot of progress here. The next step is announcing the Board of Peace, announcing the Palestinian technocratic [committee] that will help provide daily governance,” Rubio said at the press conference.

“Once that’s in place, that will allow us to firm up the stabilization force, including how it’s going to be paid for, what the rules of engagement are, what their role will be in demilitarization and so forth,” he said.


IPC monitor says ‘famine conditions’ over but Gaza food security still ‘critical’; Israel rejects findings
The IPC famine monitoring organization stated on Friday that food security conditions in the entire Gaza Strip “remain critical,” in a new report covering the second half of October and all of November that classified the territory as being in its “Emergency” Phase 4 category — the fourth highest of its five levels of food insecurity.

The organization said, however, that the situation has improved since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on October 10 due to increased volumes of aid going into the territory, and changed its determination of Gaza from Phase 5 — Catastrophe — in July and August to Phase 4.

In the IPC’s August report, it said “famine” had broken out in Gaza during the second half of July and throughout August. But its new report found that “famine conditions” were no longer prevailing in that district, or anywhere else in the territory. Israel’s COGAT agency, which coordinates the entry of aid into Gaza, strongly rejected the IPC’s findings that the humanitarian situation in the Strip remained critical.

It described the IPC report as a “distorted, biased and unfounded picture of the humanitarian situation,” which suffered from “severe gaps in data collection” and relies on “sources that do not reflect the full scope of humanitarian assistance.”

COGAT also stated that some 500,000 metric tons of food have entered the territory since October 10, far outweighing the needs of the Gaza population according to metrics from the World Food Programme, and as accepted by the IPC itself.

According to the new study, some one million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity ranking as IPC Phase 3 between 16 October and 30 November 2025, while 500,000 people were still in Emergency Phase 4 levels of food insecurity, and 100,000 people were still in Phase 5 — Catastrophe. The organization projected that these conditions would improve in the period from December to April however.

“Despite the improved situation, the population of the Gaza Strip still faces high levels of acute food insecurity and acute malnutrition. Although humanitarian assistance, including food aid, has increased, only basic survival needs are being met,” the organization claimed.

“While humanitarian aid is ongoing, it barely meets people’s survival needs,” the IPC study said, adding “People’s diets remain poor” and that while “more nutritious foods, such as fresh vegetables and fruits are available in markets, most families cannot afford to buy them.”
It also stated that hygiene and sanitation conditions “continue to be very poor, accelerating the spread of acute respiratory infections (ARIs), diarrhea and skin infections, especially among children.”


UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff explains the Law of Armed Conflict
In this video Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, explains key elements of the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) in the context of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

00:00 — Intro
01:00 — Natasha reflects on Bondi Beach massacre
04:20 — Purpose of Law of Armed Conflict
06:50 — Two key sources and four principles
08:20 — Principle 1: Military necessity
09:32 — Principle 2: Distinction
10:34 — Principle 3: Proportionality
18:14 — Principle 4: Precaution
22:16 — Ceasefires and violations
26:24 — Wider legal narrative
30:10 — Final thoughts


Natasha Hausdorff discusses proposed special tribunal for 7/10/23 crimes on i24
Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, discusses Israeli proposal to establish a special tribunal to try alleged crimes of Nukhba terrorists of 7 October 2023 with Emily Frances on I24


IDF reveals details of Shayetet 13 op. that foiled Hezbollah maritime network run by Nasrallah
The IDF on Friday revealed details of the operation to capture Imad Amahz, a key terrorist from Hezbollah's covert maritime terror network, which operated under civilian cover and with direct supervision from former Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.

"Amahz revealed that he played a key role in Hezbollah’s covert maritime framework and disclosed details about some of the organization’s most sensitive and tightly compartmentalized programs," the military said in a statement.

The operation was conducted one year ago in the coastal town of Al-Batroun in northern Lebanon by the Shayetet 13 special naval operations unit, marking a ground mission in a city almost 140 km from the Israeli border, according to Army Radio.

"The operation enabled the IDF to disrupt the advancement of the covert maritime portfolio at a critical juncture, preventing its consolidation within Hezbollah," the military said.

Nasrallah's maritime terror network
The IDF also shared a video of the interrogation of Amahz, where the terrorist shares the names of the Hezbollah leaders involved in the operation (all of which were eliminated during the war) and how Nasrallah was involved in the network.

He also explained that the main objective was using "transfers in commercial vessels for operations against the State of Israel," with them being centered on transferring military personnel, assets, weapons, and equipment, among others.

He also said that these operations might target both Israeli and international objectives. "As long as you had people, money, and a ship its possible to do an operation," said Amahz.

The captured terrorist had extensive naval experience and also underwent training at the Lebanese Civil Naval Institute, according to Army Radio.


Israel Defense Forces: Hezbollah’s Secret Maritime Plot Exposed
EXPOSED: Hezbollah’s covert maritime terror network operating under civilian cover, overseen by Hassan Nasrallah

Approx. one year ago, during IDF Operation “Behind the Back”, terrorist Imad Amahz was detained. During his interrogation, Amahz revealed that he played a key role in Hezbollah’s covert maritime framework and disclosed details about some of the organization’s most sensitive and tightly compartmentalized programs.

The operation enabled the IDF to disrupt the advancement of the covert maritime portfolio at a critical juncture, preventing its consolidation within Hezbollah.


The Gaza War: The Lament of the Foreign Journalists and Why Hamas Suddenly Wants Them There
Since 2007, Hamas had been imposing restrictions on foreign journalists. In 2011, the BBC reported that foreign journalists "must now apply [to Hamas] five days in advance in order to work" in the Gaza Strip.

According to the report, Hamas asked some foreign journalists to sign forms saying that if they published any items critical of the terror group, then local Palestinian journalists they worked with would be held responsible.

"The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza are arresting, abusing, and criminally charging journalists and activists who express peaceful criticism of the authorities. The crackdown directly violates obligations that Palestine recently assumed in ratifying international treaties protecting free speech." — Human Rights Watch, August 29, 2016.

The journalists who did visit were not able to see how Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups were transforming the beautiful Gaza Strip into one of the largest bases for Jihad and terrorism in the Middle East.

Even if they had seen such activities, they would not have filed reports about them, thanks to Hamas's restrictions and threats.

The foreign journalists who are presently crying that they want to enter the Gaza Strip will face exactly the same threats, restrictions, and harassment by Hamas. They will be permitted to write only stories that depict the Palestinians as victims of Israel, not of the terrorist group Hamas. They will probably comply, telling themselves that lying-by-omission will at least grant them "access."

Journalists who allow themselves to be intimidated by Hamas or any other party will never be able to report with any credibility.


US says it struck over 70 ISIS targets across central Syria
US fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery hit more than 70 targets across central Syria, the Pentagon says, in a major military operation against the Islamic State group.

“We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region,” says Admiral Brad Cooper in a statement after strikes that US President Donald Trump described as “very serious retaliation” for a recent attack that killed three Americans.


Oscars international shortlist features 4 films on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Four films related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict made Oscar shortlists this year, while another — Israeli-made “The Sea,” about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank trying to travel to the ocean for the first time — was left in the cold.

“Palestine 36,” a controversial historical drama about the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt against the British mandate government, was selected as the Palestinian entry for the Best International Feature Film.

The two-hour epic follows a young boy from the countryside who gets a job in Jerusalem for a centrist newspaper, and is radicalized by the attitude of the British colonial administration. With Jewish immigration from Europe increasing and Palestinian villagers concerned about further loss of land, Arab support for armed revolt against the British surges. The film details the British crackdown launched to contain the violence.

The film was shot primarily in Jordan and the West Bank in the year immediately following the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

It has advertised itself as “the only film shot in Palestine in the last two years.”

It received a 20-minute standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival.

Also on the international shortlist is Tunisia’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which tells the story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed amid the current Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The film, which dramatizes the effort by Palestinian Red Crescent dispatchers in the central West Bank to send Rajab assistance within Gaza, uses real audio from the girl’s phone call, in which she — surrounded by dead family members — pleads for help.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has accused Israel of deliberately targeting an ambulance it sent to rescue Rajab.

Israel has rejected that claim, saying a probe found there were no Israeli troops present in the vicinity of the vehicle where Rajab’s body was found, nor was there a need for specific coordination of the ambulance to pick her up.
US Jewish legal group accuses Guinness records of consumer fraud for hiding ban on Israel
A US Jewish legal advocacy group accused Guinness World Records Limited (GWR) of deceiving consumers by blocking submissions from Israel, in a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission on Thursday.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law accused Guinness of deceiving consumers by claiming that its world records are “for everyone, everywhere,” without disclosing that it had blocked applications from Israel, making the claim misleading.

Guinness, which is based in the UK, said earlier this month that it had blocked submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories since November 2023, weeks after Hamas’s October 2023 invasion of Israel, due to the “sensitive” situation amid the war in Gaza.

“For more than two years, GWR has excluded entries from Israel without informing American consumers that it has ceased publishing ‘world’ records and instead publishes records that only represent a portion of the world. This materially misrepresents the core claim of the product that Guinness ‘World’ Records advertises and sells in the US,” the letter to the Federal Trade Commission read.

“GWR may publish whatever ‘records’ it wishes. But under US law, GWR may not mislead American consumers by hiding that its ‘world’ records actually consist of the greatest achievements only in the non-Israeli part of the world,” the letter said, citing Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, which bans “deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”

The Brandeis Center noted that Guinness, which is world-renowned for its annual book and website documenting record-breaking facts and achievements, still accepts submissions from countries with poor human rights records, such as North Korea, Syria, and Iran.

“Guinness has a right to exclude Israeli records and publish anything they want, but they don’t have a right to deceive their readership and customer base by claiming that [they are] publishing ‘world records,’” said Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center. “Any so-called ‘world record’ excluding such talented challengers must, at a minimum, carry an asterisk to disclose that it is not truly a record for the entire world. Without any asterisks on their so-called ‘world records,’ GWR has falsely presented its findings.”
Northwestern Says Its Qatar Campus Gives Middle Eastern Women a Quality Education. Nearly 40 Percent of Its 2020 Graduates Came From Elite Qatari Families.
Northwestern University has defended its campus in Hamas-friendly Qatar by arguing that it provides Middle Eastern women access to an "elite" education. An outsized share of the campus's graduates, however, are themselves members of the Qatari elite, including the ruling Al Thani family, a new report shared exclusively with the Washington Free Beacon shows.

Northwestern Qatar, known as NU-Q, has graduated 729 students since 2014, according to the report from watchdog group Middle East Forum. Roughly 9 percent of them come from some of the most powerful families in Qatari business and politics, all of which have close ties to the Al Thanis. More than 10 percent, meanwhile, bear the Al Thani surname, meaning that about one in five of all NU-Q graduates since 2014 represent the Qatari elite.

The phenomenon hit its peak in 2020, the report states, when 35 percent of that year's graduating class was composed of royals or members of other elite families. Qatar, the report notes, places strict legal restrictions on changing either surnames or tribal names, making it all but impossible for someone with the last name "Al Thani" not to be a member of the royal family.

The findings contradict Northwestern's portrayal of the campus. When the school faced criticism for its presence in Qatar earlier this year, its media relations department released a statement arguing that the campus provides the kind of elite education people in the region—especially women—would not be able to otherwise access.

"Northwestern University in Qatar has provided international students—over 70 percent of whom are women—access to an elite, western education and helped further the foreign policy interests of the United States government," the statement read.

The report tells a different story, one in which the campus exists more to provide Western legitimacy to Qatari elites than to educate the country's marginalized.

"Taken together, the data suggests a systematic admissions pattern in which NU-Q has enrolled a disproportionately high number of students from the same ruling families who fund, govern, and benefit from the institution," the Middle East Forum report states.

"The Al-Thani royal family has placed at least one graduate in every graduating class from 2014 through 2025, with no gaps," the report goes on. "In essence, NU-Q acts as a training center for Qatar's next generation of leadership, and many of its alumni later assume influential roles in the country's business and politics sectors."


Why Are Greek Media Erasing Father Germanos from the Barghouti Coverage?
Father Germanos, born Georgios Tsibouktzakis in Greece, was a Greek Orthodox monk-priest who moved to Israel in the early 1990s to serve at the St. George Monastery in the Judean Desert. He was widely respected and known for maintaining warm relations with the local community.

On June 12, 2001, while returning to the monastery from Jerusalem, Father Germanos was ambushed and murdered by Palestinian terrorists. The attack was carried out by Fatah-affiliated gunmen, making him one of more than 1,000 Israelis and foreign nationals killed in Palestinian terror attacks during the Second Intifada.

In 2004, arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti was convicted in a Tel Aviv court and sentenced to five life sentences for orchestrating a series of attacks that killed five civilians, including Father Germanos.

Since 2004, calls for Marwan Barghouti’s release have become a cause célèbre among those willing to overlook terrorism and murder, clinging to the idea that he could somehow emerge as a unifying figure in Palestinian politics or even a partner for peace with Israel.

Support for Barghouti has ebbed and flowed over the past two decades, but the past few months have seen a marked resurgence in articles, commentary, and sympathetic profiles of the Palestinian terror leader. His release was floated in the lead-up to the most recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and more recently, 200 artists and celebrities publicly endorsed freeing him.

This renewed wave of attention has not been limited to English-language media. Coverage of Barghouti has been widespread, appearing in news outlets across the world.

The Greek media has been no exception to the renewed global interest in Marwan Barghouti. Over the past few months, several Greek outlets have published pieces spotlighting the imprisoned Palestinian leader.

Yet one striking omission appears across these articles: none of them mention Father Germanos. The last time a mainstream Greek news outlet referenced his murder in connection with Barghouti was in November 2023.

A review of recent Greek-language coverage shows that these articles devote minimal attention to the actual reasons for Barghouti’s imprisonment. Instead, they focus largely on the arguments being advanced for his release, while entirely overlooking Father Germanos and the other victims whose deaths led to Barghouti’s conviction.


Israeli woman rescued by police after abduction in Jericho
An Israeli woman was abducted from the Jericho area, the IDF announced on Friday.

Israeli forces rescued the woman unharmed after the IDF was dispatched to the scene.

The Israeli Civil Administration worked to contact the woman while security forces worked to rescue her.

The Palestinian Authority's security mechanisms assisted in locating the woman and "took her to a safe place," KAN, Israel's public broadcaster, reported.

Suspect of kidnapping is an acquaintance of the victim
KAN also reported that it obtained information that the suspect in the kidnapping is an acquaintance of hers from work who traveled with her to Jericho for a social gathering.

When she realized she was in Jericho, she escaped and called the police early Friday evening.

The victim of the kidnapping is a new immigrant with difficulty speaking Hebrew, which reportedly made it difficult for Israeli security forces to understand where she was, according to KAN.
Hasidic cult members illegally enter Nablus, ram Palestinian with their car
Members of an ultra-Orthodox cult, led by convicted sex offender Rabbi Eliezer Berland, illegally entered the West Bank city of Nablus overnight between Thursday and Friday and rammed their car into a Palestinian, security officials said and footage showed.

The Hasidim had been attempting to reach Joseph’s Tomb in the Palestinian city, security officials said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, after ramming the Palestinian — who was reportedly moderately injured — the Israeli citizens abandoned their car and fled on foot.

Several suspects were detained by IDF troops in the area and handed over to the police, the military said. Their vehicle was to be transferred by Palestinian authorities to the Civil Administration, a body in the Defense Ministry, the IDF added.

In security camera footage published by Palestinian media, with a timestamp shortly past 2:20 a.m., the young man can be seen running down the road when a large white car zooms toward him, causing him to swerve right, where a silver car runs into him and sends him flying. A third car pulls up, and people get out to help him.

Further footage published by Palestinian media showed an overturned vehicle with an Israeli license plate, identified as the silver car from the first video, as men in Hasidic garb flee the scene.


Man charged after allegedly chanting ‘I love October 7’
A pro-Palestinian activist who allegedly chanted “I love the 7th of October” has been charged with voicing support for the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Mohammed Hassn, also known as Mohammed al-Mail, has been charged with intentionally causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress during a demonstration at Swiss Cottage, in north-west London, in September last year.

This January, the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after footage of the incident was shared online.

Videos allegedly showed Mr Hassn saying “I love the 7th of October” and “I like an organisation that starts with H” during a pro-Palestinian protest.

Speaking on the High Hand Authority, an Arabic-language podcast, Mr Hassn later claimed the “H” referred to the Home Office.

In the same podcast he said: “Not every day is like October 7. If an opportunity arises, we must fully exploit it. If you strike, make it hurt.”

Police challenged CPS decision
Mr Hassn, 27, from Stanmore, also in north-west London, was arrested after the protest and later bailed.

A file of evidence was sent by Scotland Yard to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which twice determined that no further action should be taken.

Police challenged the CPS decision, leading to charges being brought against Mr Hassn under Section 4A of the Public Order Act 1998 and Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

The Met said on Thursday: “Officers continued to engage with the CPS to ensure all available avenues to challenge the decision not to bring charges were pursued, ultimately succeeding in securing a charge as set out above.”

Mr Hassn, a Kuwaiti national who was given refugee status in 2017, is set to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Jan 19.


Canadian police arrest 3 men for attempted kidnappings targeting women and Jews
Canadian police on Friday announced the arrest of three men for attempted kidnappings targeting Jews and women, and terrorism.

The suspects were named as Waleed Khan, 26, Osman Azizov, 18, and Fahad Sadaat, 19. The suspects are all from Toronto.

The arrests stemmed from two incidents earlier this year.

In Toronto, in May, three men, one armed with a handgun and another with a knife, approached a woman and attempted to force her into a vehicle. The assailants fled when the attempted kidnapping was interrupted by a passing driver, police said in a statement.

In June, in the nearby city of Mississauga, three men with a handgun, a rifle, and a knife exited a vehicle and chased two women. They also fled the scene after a passing motorist intervened, police said.

The individuals were “targeting women and members of the Jewish community,” Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw said, without providing further details.

The suspects’ residences were searched, uncovering firearms, ammunition, and high-capacity magazines, as well as other evidence that indicated hate motivation.

“Investigators also uncovered links to terrorism,” a police statement said.
Man arrested for assault on Jews in New York City subway
A suspect was arrested on Thursday for assaulting Jews on a New York City subway earlier this week in an incident caught on video.

Xeryus Mack, from Brooklyn, was charged with attempted assault, menacing and attempted harassment, the NYPD said.

Mack, 28, was arrested on Thursday afternoon in northwest Brooklyn.

In footage of the Monday night incident, two men approach a group of Hasidic men, hurl insults at them, grab a Jewish man’s neck and threaten to kill him.

The incident took place Monday at around 8:40 p.m. on a southbound 3 train near the Nostrand Avenue station in Brooklyn. There were no injuries, the NYPD said.

A man identified as Xeryus Mack has been arrested three other times in the past year for charges including intent to damage property, burglary, trespassing, larceny, resisting arrest, assault and harassment, court records showed.

COL Live, a news outlet based in Crown Heights, the home base of the Chabad Hasidic movement, said the targets of the attack were a group of Chabad members who were returning to Brooklyn from Jewish outreach activities in Manhattan’s Union Square.


Menorahs damaged in London as police hate crime probe launched
A damaged public menorah in London’s Notting Hill is under investigation by police as a religiously-aggravated hate crime, with reports of further incidents of damage to menorahs in Muswell Hill and West Hampstead.

Officers received reports at 4.03pm on Tuesday of white paint on the picture at Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, west London.

Less than an hour later, police were told a menorah close to the nearby Holland Park roundabout could no longer light up.

The force said the suspected vandalism “will cause further hurt and distress” to the Jewish community in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney.

Inquiries are in their early stages and the Metropolitan Police is “keeping an open mind” as to whether the London incidents are linked.

The menorah by the roundabout was first displayed at around 4pm on December 13 and the exact date and time it was damaged is not known.

Superintendent Owen Renowden, the Met’s hate crime lead, said: “This has been a tremendously difficult week for the Jewish community following the terror attack in Australia at the weekend, and I appreciate how these hate crime incidents will cause further hurt and distress.

“We’re working closely with local partners including religious leaders and have put in place additional visible patrols.

“We are treating these reports extremely seriously and will update further when we can.

“I encourage anyone with any information, who may have witnessed suspicious behaviour in the Holland Park area this week, to contact us and assist with our investigation.”




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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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