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Saturday, December 20, 2025

12/20 Links: ISIS kills Jews while Australian politicians blame guns; The Progressive Takeover of Jewish Campus Life; A Son’s Eulogy for Norman Podhoretz (1930-2025)

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: A Son’s Eulogy for Norman Podhoretz (1930-2025)
So many nice things have been said about him the past couple of days that my sister Naomi pointed out it was a genuine shame he wasn’t here to read them and hear them, because you just cannot imagine how much he would have enjoyed it. How much he would have enjoyed the tributes from Senator Cotton, and Ruth Wisse, and Jonathan Tobin, and Abe Greenwald, and Noah Rothman, and Matthew Continetti, and Elliot Kaufman, and Barton Swaim, and Yuval Levin, and Kathryn Jean Lopez, and Tevi Troy, and Seth Mandel, and Meir Soloveichik. He. Loved. Praise. But there was something in him, some iron in him, some deep well in him, that did not allow him to trim his sails or maintain the reputation that meant so much to him by acting with a careerist’s prudence.

That’s why his greatest flaw, or at least the quality that caused him the most unnecessary pain, was how much he continued to value or judge himself by the cultural settings established by the same fashionable folk who had rejected him for holding fast to his love of country and love of tradition and love of his faith—in Billy Joel’s words, “the people that he knew at Elaine’s.” I once told him that he didn’t know who he was, by which I meant, he had no idea how many people had been influenced by him, who viewed him as a titanic figure, who saw him as one of the great men of our time. He had no idea, really, because while he had contempt for the New York City bubble, he remained inside it for most of his life, and couldn’t find his way out, even after the bubble itself lost control of things.

But not always. In 2004, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his room at the Hay-Adams Hotel the morning of the ceremony, he sat on his bed as he began to get dressed and began to sob and could not stop sobbing. He was 74 years old at the time. His father had been a milkman. He had shared a pullout couch with a very young uncle in the living room of the family tenement flat until he was 18. His magazine never had more than 30,000 real subscribers. He hadn’t published a bestseller. But there he was, a first-generation Jew whose parents were never fully fluent in English, who never took the easy path, and in a matter of hours the president of the United States would be garlanding his neck with the nation’s highest civilian honor. He wept with gratitude. As he said in his book, My Love Affair with America, “What America has done for me could not have been done for me alone, and could not have been done at all if the institutions, ideas, and attitudes that grew out of its founding assumption had not been in place and applicable to all who were lucky enough to live under them.”

What was this, really, but humility in its highest form? It was the humility that said what has happened to me in my life, the greatest gifts of my life, were gifts—gifts from the Almighty, gifts from the founder, things he did not do for himself but that America “has done for me.”

But there are things he did for himself, and by himself, that marked him as a great-souled person, and they are matters he did not write about, nor did he seek celebration for. If I am a good man, and I hope I am, it is because of the gift he gave me of showing me what it truly means to be a man. Not because he was tough, or intellectually honest, or brave, or possessed of good views. It’s because of what he did for my sisters.

I have three sisters. Ruthie and I are his issue. Rachel and Naomi were not. They were the children of our mother’s first marriage. Norman married Midge when Rachel was 5 and Naomi was 4. Rachel and Naomi had a father. Norman was determined not to interfere with the parental rights or paternal connection between Rachel and Naomi and their biological father. And yet. That man would miss his child-support payments. And that man would skip out on some of his time with them. And when they did have time with him, the girls would often come home from their visits sad or upset or gloomy. A lot of this took place before I was born. Rachel was 10 when I was born and Naomi was nine. And I swear to you. I swear to you. This is my truth, as they say. I never, ever, ever, ever, felt that he was any more of a father to me than he was a father to Rachel and Naomi. Whom he at some point determined he was simply going to have to raise, and care for, and succor, and support, and love.

He became their father. This was a choice he made. It was a choice that, in some fundamental sense, he did not have to make. What he was obliged to do was to be kind to Rachel and Naomi, and be friendly to them, and treat them well. He was a nice guy, so of course he’d be nice and friendly to his wife’s daughters. And they were smart and charming and cute, I assure you, and so, that being nice and friendly to them would not have been hard duty. Besides which, he was a kid. He was 27, 28, 29 when this challenge was presented to him. The challenge to stand up and man up and take responsibility.

So he clasped them to his heart. In a million ways great and small, he made certain that Ruthie and I knew we were not to view ourselves as different from them in his eyes. More important, we felt it. It was inhered in us. The only difference I could discern is that Ruthie and I called him Daddy and Rachel and Naomi called him Normie.

Of course the psychological story for all concerned was more complex than this, as I have come to understand as we all grew and we all aged and we lived through crises and disappointments and then through the horror and heartbreak of our Rachel’s passing 13 years ago, which tore a hole in our family that could never be mended, and then through the final years of our mother’s life. Through it all, we have always been close, closer than most, and more than our mother, more than our shared love for all our children and nieces and nephews and grandchildren and grand nieces and grand nephews, all 29 of them, this was possible because of what he did. He made that happen. He made Ruthie and me feel that Rachel and Naomi belonged to us and we belonged to them, because it could have been otherwise. But it wasn’t otherwise, because he looked at these two girls and he said, “You are mine too.”

On her deathbed, Rachel told Norman that he had made her feel safe. That phrase has been poisoned over the past decade or so, made political and false, but what she meant by it was that he had made the world under her feet feel steady. And what greater tribute could there be to his actions than the fact that it has been Naomi, whom he did not even meet until she was 3, who has been the primary provider of his care and attention these past three years? Ruthie and I owe her a great debt—but then, Naomi and Rachel alike were the greatest rewards we received from him in any case. They were ours because he made sure they became his.

So yes, he was a wonderful writer. And yes, he was a brilliant editor. And yes, he changed the world for the better. And I hope the world will remember him for all of that.

But the man I hope my children will emulate, and that their children will emulate, and all his grandchildren and great grandchildren here in this room—that man is the one who said I will be the father that my God and my wife and my honor demand that I be for these two little girls.

That is the greatest moral success story I have ever known.

That is making it.
Mark Levin: Tolerance, rational discourse are being smothered
The following is a transcript of Fox News commentator Mark Levin’s opening statement from the Dec. 14 episode of “Life, Liberty & Levin.”

The shooting at Brown, two dead students, others wounded. Terrible, terrible, terrible, and our soldiers murdered in Syria. I mean this is serious stuff, and I know our president will deal with what took place in Syria.

We are going to have to figure out how to deal with these colleges and universities. I am not sure but that we do need to figure out. And also this slaughter that took place in Australia.

You know, ladies and gentlemen, people have written books, Hitler’s American Friends, The Abandonment of the Jews, Beyond Belief, Buried by the Times, Stalin’s Apologist. People say that history repeats itself. Is that going to happen now? I fear it damn well might. You have two men slaughtering Jews on Chanukah. You know what it reminded me of? When I watch Schindler’s List, and that colonel goes on the balcony with a rifle. There are Jews in the field and they are working in the camp and he takes his riffle and he starts picking them off one by one as if he is shooting at deer or hogs or something like that.

With a United Nations that is nothing but a cesspool of Jew-hatred, the vast majority of European governments, left-wing governments, are appeasers of Islamists. You have Communist regimes such as China that arm our enemies and arm the enemies of Israel, stoking antisemitism in our own country. You have fascist regimes that are doing exactly the same thing. Monarchies in the Middle East. We have a Western press that is essentially a voice for Marxists and sympathetic toward Islamism, spreading blood libels, accusing Israel of committing genocide knowing they are using false information that Israel is creating famines, executing innocent civilians blowing up hospitals, schools and mosques.

Everybody knows exactly what is going on. Israel is not going in and doing these things. Israel is defending itself for the zillionth time against enemies that surround her trying to obliterate her and destroy all of its people. The Marxist paradigm of Israel the oppressor and its enemies the oppressed. A lie that Israel is occupying lands that are in fact the ancient, indigenous lands of the Jewish people. Do you have a Bible on your night table? If you read it, it will tell you right there, as will the rest of history.
Hamas operative behind group leading anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian marches in UK – report
A man said to be an operative for the Hamas terror group is at the head of an organization leading anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests in the United Kingdom, The Times reports.

Zaher Birawi serves as the chair of the Palestine Forum in Britain (PFB), one of six groups that make up the Palestine Coalition which has organized at least 20 rallies this year, including one this week to support detained hunger strikers from Palestine Action, proscribed as a terror group.

Israel said in September that Birawi is one of a number of “high-ranking, well-known Hamas operatives” involved in the Gaza flotilla movement. He is described on the pro-Palestinian outlet Middle East Monitor as a journalist, the chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, and a founding member of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

In October 2023, Labour MP Christian Wakeford used parliamentary privilege to name Birawi as one of four “senior Hamas operatives” active in Britain, The Times reports.

“This house rightly voted to proscribe Hamas in its entirety in November 2021,” he said. “It is therefore a serious national security risk for Hamas operatives to be living here in London.”

One of the other three individuals named by Wakeford was Ziad El Aloul, who is also connected with PFB, The Times says.
ISIS kills Jews while Australian politicians blame guns
Albanese’s response sends a chilling message to Australia’s Jews: We will protect you symbolically, but we will not confront those who want you dead. We will light candles, hold vigils and issue statements, but when it comes to naming the ideology that made the massacre possible, we will avert our eyes and purse our lips.

This pattern is not new. Jews have seen it across Europe, North America, Britain, Canada and Australia. When jihadists attack Jews, the authorities’ response is always curiously oblique. Leaders speak of “hate,” “extremism” or “violence,” as though these were free-floating abstractions. The word antisemitism is often whispered. Islamism almost never is.

This is because acknowledging Islamist antisemitism shatters too many illusions and upsets too many powerful constituencies. It would force governments to confront the limits of multiculturalism, to debate immigration honestly and to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that some belief systems are not merely “different,” but actively hostile to liberal democracy and minority safety.

It also complicates the preferred narrative—a superb piece of inverted fiction in which Jews are cast as powerful oppressors rather than perpetual targets. In progressive moral hierarchies, Jews are rarely granted the status of innocent victims. Naming Islamism as the enemy would force a reckoning that many Western elites are desperate to avoid.

So instead, governments regulate objects.

Every time a leader responds this way, extremists learn that their ideology will not be challenged, that their networks will not be named and that their religious justifications will be handled delicately, if at all. The state will busy itself rearranging furniture while jihadists plan their next attack.

Here is what I want Australia’s leaders to say: Australia has a problem with Islamist extremism, and Jews are being targeted because they are Jews. There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? I didn’t even need to issue a press release or hold a media event.

Solving the Islamism problem will require acknowledging its scale and severity; deploying extensive intelligence resources against radical networks; and embracing deportations, surveillance and prosecutions where necessary.

Above all, it will require the courage to say that these ideas and beliefs do not belong—and cannot belong—in a liberal democracy.


'Name check antisemitism, bracket with Islamophobia': Albanese's clueless handling of anti-Jewish violence before Bondi Beach terror attack has finally caught up with him
The smiling face of a 10-year-old child in Bondi’s Archer Park, enjoying her final afternoon on Earth, offers a sobering glimpse into the mind virus of antisemitism.

Matilda was not murdered because of anything she had done or believed, but because she represented the future existence of Jews as a people.

If the Prime Minister had attended Matilda’s funeral on Thursday, he might have taken the opportunity to ponder that truth, evidence frequently cited by historians to point to the genocidal nature of the Holocaust.

Children are not merely innocent victims caught in the crossfire but hunted down as enemies.

The PM might care to put Saul Friedländer’s ‘The Years of Extermination’ at the top of his summer reading list.

Friedländer’s detailed history offers an insight into the twisted ideology that persuades someone it is not just OK, but heroic, to line up small children on the edge of an open pit in southern Ukraine and shoot them.

Among the many mea culpas Anthony Albanese owes Jewish Australians is an acknowledgment that it is not only wrong but deeply offensive to link the words antisemitism and Islamophobia in the same sentence.

History shows that antisemitism rarely announces itself at full volume.

It advances by degrees: first tolerated, then normalised before erupting in violence.

Over the space of 25 months, we’ve watched that process unfold in Australia.

Hundreds of ugly marches in our cities, anti-Zionist hatred on open display in our Senate, and thousands of reported incidents of antisemitism, roughly five a day.

Each time, the PM responds with the same anodyne talking points as if he’d been scouring the thesaurus for the mildest words of rebuke.

For Jewish parents to have to hide their children’s school uniforms in public is “not acceptable”; the vandalism of Jewish property in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is “deeply troubling”; the torching of a synagogue in Ripponlea is “shocking”.

His descriptors do not begin to capture the horror of what was unfolding, culminating in the slaughter of 15 Jews last Sunday night, the attempted slaughter of 40 more and the terrorising of Jews worldwide.
PM Albanese reflects on ‘darkest week’ in Australia’s recent history
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reflects on the “darkest week” in Australia’s recent history, following the Bondi massacre.

“Australia will not allow these evil anti-Semitic terrorists to divide us, no matter how dark things were and continue to be,” Mr Albanese said.

“Light will triumph, and that's what Hannukkah is about.”




Prime Minister Anthony Albanese leaves it to Josh Frydenberg, heroic Bondi victim to show him what leadership actually looks like
It was a curious thing this week to watch Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admit that “of course more could have always been done”.

“Governments aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect,” he said after the massacre of 15 innocent Australians at a Jewish celebration in Bondi last Sunday.

It was offered as humility.

But it should be interpreted for what it really is. An indictment.

No one was demanding perfection.

Australians were not asking for sainthood but the most basic responsibility of government which is to protect its own people.

Leadership. The characteristic unlikely to trouble the “achievements” section of Mr Albanese’s biography.

It has taken a devastated former Treasurer and a 14-year-old girl who took a bullet in her leg for thinking of others on that awful day to show our national leader what leadership actually looks like.

The deep-rooted cost of hesitation on antisemitism in Australia has been stated in plain, sensible language again and again via lived experience and ASIO briefings.

The government’s own antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal warned that institutional and cultural hatred for Jewish Australians was festering and emboldened.

Those warnings sat unanswered.

Breathtaking still, isn’t it?

The global narrative meanwhile was: what the hell has happened to Australia?

The land of surf and smiles has become the antisemitic’s stomping ground and hate factory of choice because those who abhor us can act with impunity while senior politicians equivocate and pander to Palestine.

Recognising a “state” with no agreed borders or authority and certainly no capacity to neutralise terrorists was reckless.

It rewarded dysfunction and broadcast confusion at a moment when clarity, love and support for our under siege Jewish community was critical.

Mr Albanese and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong pressed on regardless, seduced by virtue signalling as they were.

How indefensible that decision now appears.


Media outlets that fuelled hatred against Jews should apologise
Reading the newspapers and watching the news at the moment is a surreal experience.

Columnists who have never cared enough to write a word about antisemitism for two years – and instead wrote column after column attacking Israel and demanding it be sanctioned, only encouraging hatred of Zionists – are suddenly calling for action on antisemitism.

Media outlets that have literally attacked Israel every single day for more than two years, and barely raised the issue of antisemitism, except to argue that it’s separate from Zionism, are now complaining about government inaction antisemitism.

They’ve platformed and given a voice to Jews who are against Israel rather than share the perspective of the vast majority of Jews who are proud of Israel and care passionately about its right to exist as the only Jewish nation in the world, free from terror.

I’m thinking about The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the ABC.

Don’t these media outlets owe us an apology for fuelling the hatred against us?We have been telling you, loudly, that demonisation of Israel, perpetuating blood libels and denying Israel’s right to exist leads to an increase in attacks on Australian jews.There’s a direct and undeniable correlation.

Yet, for clicks, these media outlets irresponsibly continued to fan the flames of antisemitism instead of reporting on Australia’s crisis of Jew hatred properly and carefully.

Sky News and News Corp newspapers have stood alone in covering the crisis and in campaigning for strong and decisive action.


Australian state to ban ‘Globalize the intifada’ chant in wake of Bondi terror attack
The Australian state of New South Wales is planning to ban “Globalize the intifada” chants, according to a Saturday BBC report, amid a crackdown on “hateful” rhetoric and slogans in the wake of Sunday’s devastating terror attack at a Bondi Beach Hanukkah event.

New South Wales is home to Sydney and its iconic Bondi Beach, where 15 people were killed and dozens wounded by two gunmen who opened fire on a crowd celebrating the Jewish holiday.

The elder gunman, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was shot and killed by police. His 24-year-old son, Naveed, survived and remains in the hospital under police guard, facing charges including terrorism and 15 murders.

The mass shooting was Australia’s worst in nearly 30 years and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting Jews. Authorities have ramped up patrols and policing across the country to prevent further antisemitic violence.

Since the attack, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has said he plans to convene the state’s parliament and pass stricter hate speech and incitement laws.

According to the BBC, Minns is looking to classify the “Globalize the intifada” chant, popular among anti-Israel activists, as illegal hate speech, and aims to encourage a “summer of calm,” without mass anti-Israel demonstrations.

Critics point in particular to a now-infamous protest in Sydney held a few days after October 7, 2023, where video footage appeared to show demonstrators celebrating the attack and chanting “gas the Jews” and “f— the Jews,” rhetoric they say foreshadowed later acts of violence.

However, New South Wales police later claimed there was no evidence of the chant. The pro-Palestinian rally, which gathered over 1,000 people, also included the burning of an Israeli flag and the firing of several flares.
Jewish leaders warn of Melbourne protest ‘against measures to counter antisemitism’
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg says it’s “unthinkable” the Vic government would allow a “demonstration against strong measures to counter antisemitism” to go ahead.

“Tell me in any way does this enhance our social cohesion?” Mr Frydenberg told Sky News Australia.

“All it does is pour petrol on the fire of hate.”


‘History will remember this’: Radical leftists’ tone-deaf vigil days after Bondi attack
Spiked Chief Political Writer Brendan O’Neill claims “history will remember” radical leftists who held a vigil in London for Palestine Action days after the Bondi attack.

Mr O’Neill told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio that leftists “claim to be anti-racist, they claim to be anti-fascist.”

“Yet they have nothing to say.”




Surf lifesavers honour Bondi victims with two minutes of silence
Surf lifesavers have lined Bondi Beach to remember the 15 innocent lives lost in last week’s attack.

Some lifeguards were first on the scene, providing shelter and medical care to those injured.

Lifesavers took two minutes of silence, thinking about all the lives lost.




US said to pitch ‘Project Sunrise’ — $112B plan to rebuild Gaza as luxury destination
A US proposal to rebuild war-torn Gaza into a high-tech, luxurious coastal destination over the next two decades has been pitched to possible donor countries, according to a report on Friday.

The project, which would cost $112 billion over the first 10 years, was developed by a team led by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff over the past 45 days, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.

Initially, the US would commit to “anchor” the program by providing $60 billion, while envisioning Gaza being able to self-fund parts of the proposal as it gets underway, according to the report.

The 32 pages of PowerPoint slides, labeled “sensitive but unclassified” and detailing a four-stage vision to clear the rubble, rebuild the Strip, and take Gazans out of poverty, has been shown to wealthy Gulf countries, Turkey, and Egypt, the Journal reported.

Earlier this year, Trump floated an idea for the US to take over and rebuild the Strip to create “the Riviera of the Middle East,” while Palestinian residents were permanently relocated. His announcement in February was rebuked by several countries but was welcomed by Israel’s government. Trump has since walked back the provision for Gazans to be permanently removed.

The 20-year-long roadmap would be completed in four stages, beginning in the south with Rafah and Khan Younis, then the central camps, before finishing with Gaza City, the report said.


'No Alternative' to the IDF: Israel Privately Presses Trump To Give International Troops Deadline To Disarm Hamas
Israel's government is privately pressing President Donald Trump's administration to set a deadline for international troops to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to three Israeli officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israeli leaders expect the International Stabilization Force to begin deploying to Gaza early next year as part of the second phase of Trump's peace plan for the strip, which began with an Oct. 10 ceasefire in the more than two-year-long Gaza war. But the leaders believe the force is unlikely to fulfill its mandate to disarm Hamas and are seeking a date from the Trump administration after which the Israeli military would be free to resume fighting the Palestinian terrorist group.

"We are pushing the United States for a deadline. So if the ISF doesn't do its job within two months, three months, whatever it is, then we will say, 'OK, enough. ISF, you go out or at least don't disturb us,' and then the IDF goes in," an Israeli official said, referring to the military by its initials.

Ohad Tal, a lawmaker from Israel's governing Religious Zionism party and a member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Israel and the United States must agree to such a deadline based on an understanding that Hamas will not voluntarily give up its weapons and the ISF will not force the group to do so.

"Israel is prepared to allow the Trump administration to move forward with its phase two approach, but we will need to set a deadline if the ISF fails in its mission," he said. "Hamas must be disarmed. But Hamas will not give up its weapons voluntarily, and we are seriously doubtful that any international force would succeed at this. There is no alternative but to allow the IDF to finish the job in Gaza."

According to a senior Israeli official, "There will be a deadline, and when that deadline hits, either the ISF will disarm Hamas or the IDF will do it."

"We're giving it a chance. We obviously want this thing to work," he said of phase two. "But we have no illusions. We're not going to give this endless time."


‘Operation Hawkeye Strike’: US hits over 70 ISIS terror targets in Syria
U.S. Central Command launched “Operation Hawkeye Strike” against ISIS in Syria on Friday in response to last week’s deadly attack on American and partner forces in Palmyra.

CENTCOM forces struck more than 70 targets across central Syria using fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery, according to a statement. The operation used over 100 precision munitions to target known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites.

The Jordanian Armed Forces supported the operation with fighter aircraft.

“This operation is critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the U.S. homeland,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”

On Dec. 13, a “lone ISIS gunman” ambushed and killed two U.S. service members and an American interpreter in Palmyra, Syria.

Noureddine el-Baba, a Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman, told the state-run Syrian News Channel (Al-Ikhbariya) that the terrorist, who was part of the government security forces, was already being investigated, Time magazine reported.

After the attack, U.S. and partner forces carried out 10 operations in Syria and Iraq, resulting in the deaths or detention of 23 terrorists, CENTCOM said on Friday.

Over the past six months, U.S.-led forces in Syria have conducted more than 80 operations targeting terrorists who pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security, it added.


IDF says it nabbed suspected ISIS jihadist in southern Syria operation
The Israel Defense Forces captured a suspected Islamic State jihadist in an overnight raid earlier this week in southern Syria, the military said in a Saturday statement.

The announcement came after the United States and Jordan conducted airstrikes overnight Friday against Islamic State targets in Syria, in response to a December 13 attack in the Syrian desert that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter.

The US-led strikes killed at least five ISIS operatives, including the leader of a drone cell, according to Syrian and monitoring sources.

The Israeli military said that the suspected ISIS operative was detained in the village of al-Rafid, which is located within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border that the IDF captured last year.

The operation was carried out by troops of the 52nd Armored Battalion and field interrogators of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 — which specializes in human intelligence — under the command of the 474th “Golan” Regional Brigade.

The alleged ISIS member was brought to Israel for further interrogation, the IDF said.

The military added that it captured several weapons during the raid.


The Progressive Takeover of Jewish Campus Life | Josh Tolle on the Tikvah Podcast
Josh Tolle, Tikvah's associate director of university programs and former Krauthammer fellow, joins Jonathan Silver to discuss his Commentary essay "If Hillel Is Not for Jews, Who Will Be?"

Tolle worked at Hillel for three years and witnessed firsthand how the organization responded to October 7 and the campus upheaval that followed. He examines how progressive ideology has weakened Jewish campus institutions' ability to serve their own students precisely when they were most needed.

After October 7, Jewish students turned to their campus organizations for clarity, community, and strength—but encountered what Tolle calls "muddled objectives and self-defeating strategies." He explores the tension between pluralistic ideals and Jewish particularism, the organizational structures that prevented decisive action, and the competition from groups like Chabad. Tolle argues that Hillel's crisis reflects a broader condition in American Jewish institutional life, and that unless these organizations recover their founding mission to prioritize Jewish students' needs, they risk becoming irrelevant to the rising generation.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:55 The Emergency at Hillel
05:25 Why Hillel Couldn’t Meet Jewish Students’ Post-Oct. 7 Needs
12:51 Progressive Pluralism and the Hollowing Out of Jewish Identity
16:04 Open Hillel and Ideological Infiltration
18:38 Chabad’s Model: Conviction Over Confusion
22:57 Generational Change: October 8th Jews
29:42 The Politics of Accommodation
33:37 Liberal Jews Mugged by Reality
38:01 How Professionalization Creates Institutional Drift
45:37 Pathways to Reform: Donors, Students, and Leadership
49:19 Why Hillel Should Not Be Abandoned


MAGA civil war over Israel erupts into the open at Turning Point USA conference
The first major gathering of Turning Point USA since the murder of its influential founder Charlie Kirk laid bare divisions over Israel and the embrace of antisemitic figures.

Key figures in the Make America Great Again movement took to the stage in Phoenix on Thursday and Friday to tear into each other, blasting opponents for cozying up to fascists or accusing them of besmirching the memory of Kirk.

Influential podcaster Ben Shapiro came straight out of the gate, attacking former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for an uncritical interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

Shapiro sharply criticized Carlson for interviewing the outspoken antisemite on his podcast, calling it “an act of moral imbecility.”

The Jewish podcaster, attacking Carlson for a second time within days, said the former Fox News host should never have given publicity to Fuentes, whom he called “a Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse.”

Kirk had “despised” Fuentes, Shapiro added. “He knew that Nick Fuentes is an evil troll and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility, and that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did.”

Shapiro also hit out at Carlson and other leaders within the conservative movement, including broadcaster Megyn Kelly, over what he said was their failure to call out figures such as Candace Owens, who often spreads conspiracy theories, many of them antisemitic.

Owens has alleged without evidence that Israeli spies were involved in Kirk’s death and that he was betrayed by people close to him. Authorities say his killer acted alone.
Noam Dworman: Hold the presses!
My schpidey-sense told me to look into the book, "The Talmudic Jew," by August Rohling, that Candace is holding up in her latest video.
It tells us a tremendous amount about Candace Owens. Let's just start with the author's obituary, from the NYTimes, January 28, 1931.

He was discredited as an anti-Semite in his own time (no easy feat in his time)

There is much written about him in Robert Wistrich's book, "The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph," where he is described as a a "forger" and a "charlatan," and the writer of many anti-Jewish works:

"Using Talmud quotations torn out of context, his appearance as an expert witness in the ritual-murder trial of Tiszaeszlár in 1882 became a scandal when the Protestant theologian Franz Delitzsch proved that he had committed perjury and falsification. Rohling’s writings were rejected by the official Church as obscene, and his license to teach was revoked. Through the promotion of antisemitism in Austria by Karl Lueger and Georg Heinrich Ritter von Schönerer, and by the Boniface Association in Germany, Rohling succeeded in reaching many Catholics. His writings were widely disseminated and influential; Rohling’s antisemitic agitation was still cited by Julius Streicher [Der Sturmer, Nazi Newspaper]"

In Rholing's book “Five Letters on Talmudism and the Blood Ritual of the Jews” Rohling claimed:
Jews kidnap and murder Christian children for religious purposes.
Christian blood is mixed into matzoh dough to sanctify Passover rituals.
Judaism obligates Jews to murder non-Jews when advantageous.
Mock crucifixion - Jewish perpetrators reenact Jesus’s crucifixion during ritual killings.
Secret global Jewish conspiracy - Jews worldwide coordinate to conceal crimes through bribery, intimidation, and falsified records.
Sanctioned lying, fraud, and perjury against non-Jews — the allegation that Jewish law permits deception toward Christians, even in court.
Jewish doctors poisoning or experimenting on Christian patients for religious or racial reasons.

You get the point...
The book Candace holds up is VERY hard to find, but every AI immediately identifies it as a discredited source (embraced by the Nazis).


Israel Advocacy Movement: Candace Owens’ Makes Wild Claim About the Star of David



Israel Advocacy Movement: I Asked European Muslims About Christians… Their Honesty Shocked Me

Anti-Zionist Mamdani celebrates Hanukkah with Jewish actor Mandy Patinkin
Happy Hanukkah from NYC’s anti-Israel, mayor-elect.

Zohran Mamdani released a staged, three-plus minute video Saturday of him celebrating the “Festival of Lights” with famed Jewish actor Mandy Patinkin and “The Princess Bride” star’s family.

The pro-Palestine socialist — who has a polarizing relationship with the Big Apple’s Jewish community because of his staunch anti-Zionist views — is seen smiling throughout the segment at Patinkin’s New York home, celebrating with the actor, his wife Kathryn Grody and other family members. The footage was taken last week on the first day of Hanukkah.

“It’s the mayor! What are you doing here?” shouts Patinkin, trying to pull off an Emmy-winning performance by acting surprised while staring directly into a camera as it captures Mamdani arriving at the residence.

Mamdani is then filmed helping cook latkes, participating in Hebrew prayer and lighting candles.

“Here’s to more light,” says Mamdani.

“You’re mayoral tenure or whatever it’s called has now been blessed,” Patinkin later tells Mamdani before they dig in to eat.

“It was such a joy to celebrate Hanukkah with Mandy, Kathryn and their son, Gideon,” Mamdani said on X in a post Saturday highlighting the segment.


Police force at centre of anti-Semitism row won’t commit to ‘intifada’ arrests
A police force that banned Israeli fans from attending a football match has refused to commit to arresting all protesters who chant “globalise the intifada”.

West Midlands Police (WMP) officers will not routinely detain activists who use the phrase, which has been widely adopted by pro-Palestinian protesters since the Oct 7 terrorist attack of 2023.

The force was embroiled in an anti-Semitism row last month after concluding it was too “high risk” for Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to attend a fixture against Aston Villa.

WMP’s stance on “globalise the intifada” arrests is at odds with the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police (GMP), both of which have said that anyone shouting such slogans would face arrests following the Bondi Beach massacre.

A WMP spokesman said: “If this occurred, where actions appeared intended or likely to incite violence, racial hatred or cause harassment, alarm and distress, we would take positive action, which may include making arrests, as each incident is always approached on a case by case basis.

“We reiterate our commitment to taking positive action in circumstances where any protester is breaking the law.”

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “West Midlands Police should follow the Met and Greater Manchester Police in making clear that chants for jihad and intifada are calls for violence and will always lead to arrest.

“West Midlands Police has already apparently engineered the ban of fans from an Israeli team based on fabricated evidence, so they should now be doing everything possible to restore confidence in their ability to protect the Jewish community.

“With anti-Semitism on the rise and the murder committed at a Manchester synagogue by an Islamist extremist, every police force must stand up to calls for violence.”


Primal Scream’s Star of David swastikas were a grotesque bid for attention
A common defence of the swastika eyes I’ve seen online is that being able to feel outraged by a symbol is a ‘privilege’ at a time when tens of thousands of people are dying in the Middle East.

The other defence is free speech. As Primal Scream have rightly reminded us in the statement they posted to Instagram, ‘In a free, pluralistic and liberal society, freedom of expression is a right which we choose to exercise’. If the imagery was intended to provoke debate, then it has clearly succeeded in doing just that.

But debate also includes criticism, and this is surely warranted given what the imagery says about Jewish people. Although Primal Scream will insist it’s not aimed at Jews, this image will nonetheless cause enormous pain to Jewish people – not only to ‘Zionists’ or the Israeli government. While some might claim that Israel is hiding behind the Jewish symbol to commit atrocities, and is therefore responsible for the Star of David being treated like a ‘hate symbol’, this line of thinking does not hold. Jewish people are already hiding their Star of David necklaces on British streets for fear of being attacked. I will certainly be watching to see how long it takes for the Star of David / swastika symbol to make the rounds among the activist groups responsible for terrorising Jewish students on my campus.

As depressing as this may be, as British citizens we have very little influence over events in the Middle East. We do, however, have agency over the attitudes we instil within our culture, and our culture shapes the way minority groups are treated by British society. Why would we willingly put Jews at risk in this country, in associating Judaism with fascism, because activists are looking to sell their views (and merchandise) in the currency of shock value?

Perhaps times were simpler in the 1980s and 1990s for bands like Primal Scream. Back then, alternative artists had clear enemies to rally the people against – Margaret Thatcher, the Tories, the police, corporate greed. But Thatcher is dead, the Tories are out and these musicians are now part of the corporate world they claim to rail against. Besides, it will never be ‘counter-cultural’ to regurgitate what 99 per cent of your peers already spew. The real counter-culture today exists among the people expelled from universities or jobs, forming underground organisations to protect their rights, while being heckled on their way to classes or meetings for sticking to their beliefs.

Unless musicians start to understand this, their attempts at edginess will fall flat. The imagery used by Primal Scream last week was not inspiring or thought-provoking – it was vulgar and exploitative. It trivialised the plight of Palestinians and put a target on Jews’ backs. All for a cheap bid for shock value.
Jake Wallis Simons: Swastika-chic is making a comeback
When it comes to the Israelophobic Left, however, things are more complicated. Following old Soviet propaganda, they are convinced that they are the anti-fascists, standing against Israeli “Nazis”. But it is untrue.

Israel is no totalitarian state. It is a flawed liberal democracy, provoked into an appalling conflict. If genocide had been the goal, Jerusalem could have done it in an afternoon with the indiscriminate bombing used by the RAF on Dresden, let alone the gas chambers and Einsatzgruppen. Instead, it sacrificed its own soldiers by fighting around civilians.

Demonisation is the first step towards destruction; anyone convinced that the Jews are evil makes himself morally obliged to erase them. This was the argument of the Medieval pogroms, who saw Jews as the killers of God, and it was the argument of Nazism, who saw them as “unser Unglück” (“our misfortune”). It is becoming the argument of “anti-fascists” today.

Thus, it is not the Jews but progressives who are becoming that which they most despise. As Leo Strauss observed: “It would not be the first time that a nation, defeated on the battlefield and, as it were, annihilated as a political being, has deprived its conquerors of the most sublime fruit of victory by imposing on them the yoke of its own thought.”


Over 100 peers demand probe into police ban on Maccabi fans
More than 100 MPs and members of the Lords have written to the police watchdog demanding action over West Midlands Police’s (WMP) decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the club’s Europa League match against Aston Villa in Birmingham last month.

The cross-party group includes former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, ex Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and Baroness Luciana Berger.

In their letter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the parliamentarians expressed concern that WMP’s decision was made “to appease significant local political pressure from anti-Israel MPs, councillors and activists who had launched a campaign to get the match cancelled.”

The group argued that, given these concerns, the IOPC “has no alternative but to exercise its powers to investigate West Midlands Police’s conduct, decision-making process, and intelligence assessments in relation to the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.”

“Faced with the serious charge of misleading Parliament, we do not have confidence in West Midlands Police’s ability to investigate its own actions,” they continued, urging the IOPC to initiate an investigation “at the earliest opportunity.”
Lawmakers urge Treasury to add Spain to federal blacklist over Israel boycott
In a Dec. 17 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 18 Republican members of Congress, led by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), wrote that the administration was raising “serious concerns regarding the recent decision by the government of Spain to boycott Israel.”

She called on the department to review the move under American law for reasons that include protecting U.S. business from legal exposure.

“Spain’s actions go beyond rhetoric and cross into formal economic discrimination against one of America’s closest allies,” she stated.

The letter references Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code, known as the Ribicoff Amendment, which requires Treasury to maintain a list of countries that condition commercial participation on compliance with an unsanctioned international boycott. It noted that “if the criteria are met, Spain should be added to the boycott list to ensure that U.S. companies are informed of their reporting obligations and protected from unintended legal exposure.”

The provision, the lawmakers wrote, reflects the bipartisan commitment of the United States to oppose “foreign boycotts against friendly nations, particularly those aimed at Israel.”

Spain enacted a sweeping embargo on Israel in October, banning exports and imports of defense equipment and dual-use technology, as well as the transit of fuel or military materials through Spanish ports and airspace. The lawmakers cited reports that a U.S. arms shipment to Israel was blocked from transiting Spanish bases.

They also said the legislation bans advertising of products from the Gaza Strip, in addition to Judea and Samaria, and described the measure as part of a broader effort aligned with the international anti-Israel BDS movement.
Open University Agrees to Change Use of “Ancient Palestine” Following UKLFI Intervention
The Open University has agreed that it will no longer use the term “ancient Palestine” in future course materials, following a complaint by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) highlighting historical inaccuracies.

In a letter dated 18 December 2025, the University confirmed that it accepts the term has become problematic, particularly given its associations with Roman colonial rule and contemporary political sensitivities, and that it will not be used again in future learning materials

Historically inaccurate terminology
The issue arose in relation to the Open University’s entry-level humanities module A111: Discovering the Arts and Humanities, which includes teaching materials about the Virgin Mary. The course repeatedly referred to Mary as having been born in “ancient Palestine” and described Aramaic as “a language widely spoken in ancient Palestine,” including on a map labelled “Map of ancient Palestine”.

UKLFI wrote to the Vice-Chancellor on 30 November 2025, explaining that these references are historically inaccurate. The Virgin Mary is widely believed to have been born in the late first century BCE in Galilee, a predominantly Jewish region under Roman rule. The term “Palestine” was not applied to Judea, Samaria and Galilee until after the Bar Kokhba revolt, when the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed the province “Syria Palaestina” in around 135 CE, more than a century after Mary’s lifetime

UKLFI provided photographic evidence from the course textbook and online learning platform demonstrating the repeated use of the disputed terminology

Equality Act concerns
UKLFI warned that retroactively imposing the term “Palestine” on a period when it did not apply risks misleading students and may contribute to the erasure of Jewish historical identity. UKLFI further raised concerns that such terminology could create a hostile or offensive learning environment for Jewish and Israeli students, potentially engaging the Equality Act 2010, including the University’s duties in relation to harassment and the public sector equality duty.
Liverpool World Museum considers changes to Ancient Egypt gallery
Liverpool’s World Museum has said it will review exhibition wording in its Ancient Egypt gallery following a complaint by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), indicating that changes may be considered as part of future exhibition maintenance.

In a letter dated 24 November 2025, the museum acknowledged concerns raised by UKLFI about the historical accuracy of several display labels and confirmed that the issues raised would be “taken into consideration as part of our ongoing maintenance of exhibitions.” The response, signed by the museum’s head, was copied to the director of National Museums Liverpool, suggesting the matter has been escalated within the organisation

The complaint, submitted on 18 November 2025, calls for revisions to three labels in the Ancient Egypt gallery that use the term “Palestine” when describing events from the third and second millennia BC. UKLFI argues that the terminology is historically inaccurate for the periods in question and has asked the museum to use contemporary or neutral terms such as “Canaan” or “the Levant”.

Photographs supplied with the complaint show the disputed labels, including references to “Palestinian wine” in a description of King Scorpion’s burial around 3250 BC, the Hyksos originating from “ancient Palestine” during the Second Intermediate Period, and military campaigns by Thutmose I in “Syria-Palestine”

While the museum’s response does not commit to specific amendments or provide a timetable for changes, its reference to “ongoing maintenance” suggests that the wording may be reviewed as part of future curatorial updates rather than through immediate alterations.


Lebanese PM says country close to completing Hezbollah disarmament south of Litani River
Lebanon is close to completing the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday, as the country races to fulfill a key demand of its ceasefire with Israel before a year-end deadline.

The US-backed ceasefire, agreed to in November 2024, ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and required the disarmament of the Iran-aligned terror group, starting in areas south of the river adjacent to Israel.

Lebanese authorities, led by Salam and President Joseph Aoun, tasked the US-backed Lebanese army on August 5 with devising a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year.

“Prime Minister Salam affirmed that the first phase of the weapons consolidation plan related to the area south of the Litani River is only days away from completion,” a statement from his office said.

“The state is ready to move on to the second phase — namely [confiscating weapons] north of the Litani River — based on the plan prepared by the Lebanese army pursuant to a mandate from the government,” Salam added.

The statement came after Salam held talks with Simon Karam, Lebanon’s top civilian negotiator on a committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce. Hezbollah members raise the terror group’s flags and chant slogans as they attend the funeral procession of Hezbollah’s military chief of staff, Haytham Tabatabai, and two other Hezbollah members who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, November 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

However, Israel has questioned the effectiveness of the Lebanese military, and Hezbollah itself has repeatedly rejected calls to surrender its arms.

Amid those concerns, the head of Lebanon’s army agreed earlier this week to document progress in disarming Hezbollah during talks Thursday with international envoys in Paris, the French foreign ministry said, as Beirut seeks to avert expanded Israeli strikes.


Iran’s New Nuclear Weapon Attempt
It began quietly, these things usually do, with what Israeli officials described to me as “troubling signs.” At the start of the war, a few months after October 7, 2023, signals came from Iran - fragmentary and easy to dismiss - that did not fit the familiar patterns of uranium enrichment or weaponization. They pointed somewhere stranger. More ambitious. Almost fantastical.

The assessment that took shape was unsettling: Iran was exploring a new kind of nuclear weapon. Not a bomb based on enrichment, and not even a thermonuclear device in the classic sense - but something no country has ever built. The professional expression is a ‘fourth-generation weapon’. Pure fusion.

To understand why this matters, here’s a brief detour. Conventional nuclear weapons are based on fission: split the atom and release enormous energy. Thermonuclear weapons add another layer - using a small fission bomb to ignite hydrogen atoms, whose fusion releases even greater power. Iran, however, appeared to be examining an extremely hard challenge: fusion without fission. No uranium. No plutonium. Minimal radiation. Little fallout. In theory, a smaller, cleaner, and far harder-to-regulate nuclear weapon.

It is, by any measure, a megalomaniacal ambition. Fusion is highly complex even under laboratory conditions. No army or research institute anywhere - so far as is known - has produced a fusion bomb. The assessments were blunt: Iran’s ability to actually build such a weapon is close to zero. And yet, according to a position paper published a few months ago by Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, the effort was real - to design a fusion-based nuclear warhead. CIA sources were also quoted recently at the Washington Post.

Why would Iran go there, after investing billions - likely tens of billions - into a conventional nuclear program built around uranium enrichment?

Several explanations were made.

*One was deception: a smokescreen intended to conceal a renewed dash toward a standard nuclear bomb.

*Another took Iran’s religious edicts at face value- the fatwa attributed to Khomeini against nuclear weapons- and suggested a legal workaround of sorts: fusion, Tehran could argue, falls outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the relgious ban. Or maybe, Western security sources speculated, the Iranian nuclear scientists are trying to decieve their own leaders?

A third explanation combined the two. Iran wanted to learn. By attempting military fusion, it would be well prepared for a future breakout to a bomb, having confronted (even with no success) one of the hardest technological challenges.


Thousands of Israelis receive text messages from Tehran’s spies
Thousands of Israelis received a suspicious text message on their mobile phones on Thursday, apparently originating from the Islamic Republic, inviting them to work with Iranian intelligence agencies.

The message, written in English, read: “Iranian intelligence agencies are ready to receive your intelligence cooperation. To cooperate, contact one of the Iranian embassies via the internet.”

Israel’s National Cyber Directorate said it was aware of the message and issued clear instructions to the public.

Against the backdrop of more than 30 espionage-related cases exposed by the Shin Bet security agency over the past two-and-a-half years, Israeli security officials say Tehran has been carrying out widespread “spray and pray” recruitment efforts online. These attempts target normative citizens and span a broad range of sectors across Israeli society.

Investigations and indictments show that the overwhelming majority of Israelis involved were aware they were cooperating with Iran. In many cases, the initial approach was made directly through social media platforms, with messages such as: “Hello, this is Iranian intelligence. You can help us and we will help you in return for money.”

According to the indictments, Israelis who established contact with Iranian handlers often began with tasks they perceived as harmless, such as photographing streets and signs or vandalizing vehicles. Over time, however, they were directed to carry out serious security-related missions. These included photographing the streets near the homes of public figures, reaching hospitals where prominent individuals were being treated, and attempts to obtain weapons.


Anger over 'antisemitic' leaflets in Reading town centre
A woman has expressed anger over her claim that 'antisemitic' leaflets were being handed out in Reading town centre.

An elderly woman from Caversham has expressed shock after what she called 'antisemitic propaganda' was distributed in Broad Street a few weeks ago.

The incident was reported to Reading Borough Council.

She said: “It was in our town centre, outside M&S, they were preaching antisemitism.

“It was awful, my Jewish friend walked off crying. They had leaflets and boards up on a table.

“Luckily, we haven't seen them since, but it was so shocking, I've been to Belsen and Dachau concentration camps, it was awful to see it. It broke my heart.

“They had quite a large table - I'm a Christian, as soon as I started reading, all they needed to do was put 'Juden' and a rat under it to cap what they were saying off.

Antisemitism is a threat to us here in Britain: Rabbi reacts to Sydney attack

“The [Holocaust] burial chambers were bigger than the town centre, it was appalling to see it in a Christian country, you can't do that.

“We were so shocked. The council told us that sometimes these people have tables but are deceptive about what material they distribute.”

The woman subsequently reported the incident that occurred on Saturday, November 22.

She said: “I was told the council does not do 1-to-1s, it's a joke.

“Too many people let things slide, whatever religion you are, you don't try to stir up hate against a race, it's wrong. An awful lot of people were distressed; English people don't complain.

“But it's a criminal offence to preach anti-semitism. We were so shocked, my Jewish friend burst into tears.

“Everyone knows how it started in 1939 to 1942, this is how it started.”




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

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