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Wednesday, December 24, 2025

12/24 Links Pt2: David Mamet: Jews Face Horrors With Humor; Concert of former captive Alon Ohel sells out in hours; Abbas: Marwan Barghouti’s release a top priority

From Ian:

David Mamet: Jews Face Horrors With Humor
That the sun revolves around the Earth explains dawn but renders astronomy impossible. Similarly, of antisemitism, we are the victim of an error in logic: mistaking the effect for the cause.

It is a heartbreaking but understandable Jewish fantasy that antisemitism can be addressed by changing others’ opinions or our own behavior. Which is to say, by becoming more understanding of our oppressor’s need to be placated.

Jew-hatred exploded after the Oct. 7 massacre in response to Israeli “forgetfulness” of our historic status as beggars—existing only on the gracious sufferance of others. (Note that even the supposedly humane term “tolerance” means the ability to abide the noxious.)

Current antisemitic savagery echoes the South’s fear of and responses to slave revolts. The enslaved asserted the truth the oppressors feared above all: that they were actual human beings. The worried insistence on the contrary was found not only in law but, even more revealingly, in humor, where the punchline of any “joke” could be a dehumanization of blacks, demanding the complicity of laughter. One can’t take back a laugh.

Antisemitism has nothing to do with Jews. It is equivalent to child sacrifice: the offering to pagan gods of the lives of the unprotected. It emerges, historically, when a sufficient mass of the populace has become terrified into unreason and ceded control into the hands of the evil but assured. Pagan societies fearing the wrath of unknowable gods fed them innocent lives. The fearful of our age, unsettled by unassimilable change, seek security in mass thought and relief in violence. That’s all.

How can we know that one thing is truer than another? If it is sadder. I conclude not with a joke but with a proverb at the essence of most Jewish jokes: What is as whole as a Jew with a broken heart?
Slain journalist Daniel Pearl’s father charts recent ‘Zionophobia’ rise in new book
In 2002, Judea Pearl’s son, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan while reporting on religious extremist groups in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. A video showed the captive journalist making coerced statements before he was killed. In one, Daniel Pearl said that he was Jewish, as were his parents.

Judea Pearl has not stopped thinking about that message. With his late wife Ruth Pearl and their two daughters, he established the Daniel Pearl Foundation to honor his son, including through a dialogue program with Muslim journalists. More recently, the Israeli-American scholar has also been contemplating what it means to be Jewish in the post-October 7, 2023, landscape.

A professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles and a frequent op-ed contributor to Jewish media outlets, Pearl has had a front-row seat to witness changing attitudes toward Israel among American university students, especially after the bloody October 7 Hamas onslaught on Israel that killed 1,200 and kidnapped 251, and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Now Pearl has compiled some of his columns into a book, titled “Coexistence and Other Fighting Words: Selected Writings of Judea Pearl 2002-2025.”

Released on December 10, the book shows Pearl is as creative a thinker on the op-ed page as he is in the science lab. He coins multiple terms and phrases — notably “Zionophobia,” which he distinguishes from antisemitism.

“In one breath, it’s the denial of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination anywhere in the Middle East,” Pearl told The Times of Israel regarding Zionophobia. “It’s a simple definition.”

And, he argues, it’s what university administrators should be focusing on instead of antisemitism.

“We have been constantly speaking against antisemitism, not against anti-Zionism,” Pearl said. “The minute you mention antisemitism, you lose the game. Because someone will rush to appoint a task force, the task force will invite philosophers, the philosophers will climb Mt. Olympus, and you’ve lost 10 years of philosophical discussion in which nothing is being done. Antisemitism thus becomes a license for inaction — if not worse.”

Throughout the book, Pearl is unafraid to make similarly counterintuitive claims.

He mines primary sources for evidence that early Zionists such as Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky and David Ben-Gurion sought a measure of accommodation with the native Arab population of Palestine. In defending Jewish ties to the land of Israel, he contends that indigeneity doesn’t have to stem from physical connection to a place — it can also derive from cultural attachment, such as the many mentions of Zion in the birkat hamazon prayer after eating bread, or the Jewish pilgrimage holiday of Sukkot. He compares today’s anti-Zionist Jews to coreligionists of the past who rebelled against mainstream thinking and were eventually forgotten by history — such as the Karaites, or the Sabateans.

Readers of the book will also learn about Pearl’s family background, which contains a significant amount of tragedy. In addition to the loss of his son in 2002, the author’s grandfather was murdered at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

Yet, Pearl added, “I know that his last thoughts were about his grandson [me] growing up free in Israel.”

Pearl criticizes Holocaust museums, which he says do not include Israel in their narrative: “You see death and suffering, you don’t see Jewish revival. It’s a shame.”


Concert of former captive Alon Ohel sells out in hours
It took just a few hours for tickets to sell out for a show featuring piano-playing former hostage Alon Ohel with nine major Israeli singers.

The February 9 concert at Tel Aviv’s Hangar 11, called “Alon Ohel, Playing for Life,” will joins the released captive with household names such as Eviatar Banai, Idan Amedi, Shlomi Shaban, Karolina, Guy Mazig, Alon Eder, Gal Toren, Marina Maximilian and the band Monica Sex.

Tickets, at NIS 250 ($80) to NIS 1,000 ($310), sold out after Ohel posted a link to the show on his Instagram and Facebook accounts.

All participating musicians are appearing for free, with proceeds from the concert benefiting Ohel’s rehabilitation fund.

Ohel, who was taken captive from a field shelter on October 7, 2023, after trying to flee the Hamas terrorist attack on the Nova rave, had shrapnel embedded in his body, including his shoulder, arm, and left eye, throughout his two-year captivity in Gaza.

“It means the world to me to share the stage with the artists whose songs accompanied me throughout my time in captivity,” wrote Ohel. “It’s important for me to show everyone that light triumphs over darkness.”

“I’m coming to embrace you, to say thank you to everyone who supported me and my family, and to celebrate life together,” said Ohel, adding “See you,” with a piano key emoji and a link to the ticket site in his bio.

Ohel had intended to begin his studies in autumn 2023 at the Rimon School of Music. He has reported that he would sing to himself until his captors told him to stop. When he told them he played piano, the Hamas terrorists didn’t know what the instrument was. Ohel said their religious beliefs prevented them from listening to music or dancing.


Police chiefs recalled after bogus intelligence used against Maccabi TLV fans
Three West Midlands police officers have been called to re-testify before Parliament over their decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from an Aston Villa match – a move that could also trigger a police watchdog investigation after errors in their intelligence reports were revealed.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford, Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara, and Chief Inspector Mick Wilkison were called to provide oral testimony to the Home Affairs Committee on December 1.

During the hearing into the decision to ban Maccabi fans from attending an away match against Villa on November 6, it transpired that some of the intelligence in the police’s report was bogus.

This included dramatically incorrect statements, such as Maccabi’s last match in the UK being against West Ham – which never happened – and the claim that during a match between Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam in 2024, Maccabi fans threw “innocent members of the public into the river,” that between 500 and 600 fans “intentionally targeted Muslim communities,” and that 5,000 police officers were deployed in response.

However, despite rigorous questioning from the committee and evidence from Lord John Mann – the independent antisemitism adviser to the UK government – Guilford and assistant O’Hara stood by the intelligence assessment.

When asked about the fictitious statements about the West Ham match, Guildford simply admitted that his “preparation was wrong, but that doesn’t mean the document was wrong.”

O’Hara later had to apologize to Birmingham’s Jewish community after he falsely claimed during the hearing that the community backed the decision.

It is now confirmed that the three are again being called to provide oral evidence on January 6, which MP Nick Timothy called “unprecedented for a chief constable.”

Additionally, on December 12, over a hundred MPs and peers wrote to the Independent Office of Police Complaints asking them to investigate West Midlands Police over its decision. The letter was signed by members of all the major parties, current and former front-benchers, and parliamentarians from the West Midlands.
Lutheran Christian leaders praised Hamas violence against Israel, investigation finds
As Christians around the world prepare to mark Christmas, a holiday centered on peace and reconciliation, a special investigation by The Press Service of Israel has found that prominent Christian leaders in the Holy Land and abroad publicly justified acts of terrorism against Israel, including Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023, massacre.

The findings reveal a network of church figures and affiliated organizations whose rhetoric, critics say, reframes violence against Israeli civilians as legitimate resistance and erodes Jewish-Christian relations.

The investigation highlights the roles of two Palestinian Christian clerics and a senior international church leader. These figures are affiliated with major Christian bodies, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and the World Council of Churches (WCC), a global ecumenical organization.

Around 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. The remains of Israeli Police St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili are the last remaining in Gaza.

Asked to comment on the revelations, Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Centre in Jerusalem and a prominent US Evangelical leader, told The Press Service of Israel that Christians who justify violence are “fake Christians.”

“You can’t love Jesus without loving the Jewish people because Jesus was Jewish. Professing Christians who excuse or justify active terror are not real Christians; they are fake Christians,” he said.

Rev. Sally Azar: ‘Resistance is justified’
Rev. Sally Azar is the first female Palestinian pastor in the Holy Land, ordained by the ELCJHL in January 2023, and serves as a pastor at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem’s Old City. She shared content on social media that framed the October 7 attack as justified resistance.

Her posts caught the eye of Gerald Hetzel, a member of the Protestant Lutheran Church in Germany, who shared them with TPS-IL. Hetzel regularly visits Israel and attends church events through his involvement in German-Israeli friendship initiatives.

Another post Azar shared that day was a tweet by Egyptian politician Mohammed ElBaradei. He argued that it was “naive and self deceiving” to expect Gazans not to “resort to violence” as a last option.

Another post shared by Azar weeks later came from the Instagram account of Gazangirl, stating “This resistance is 100 percent predictable and justified if you are someone who is paying attention.” This post expired after 24 hours, but Hetzel shared his screengrab with TPS-IL.

In 2024, Azar would go on to further criticize German church institutions for altering programs in ways that she said “removed Israel as the perpetrator.”
Andrew Fox: There is no ceasefire in Gaza
Taken together, these trends suggest a future in which Israel could find itself increasingly constrained by an American political environment that is less sympathetic, less reliable, and more transactional than at any point in recent history. Losing the US would not happen overnight, but it could happen far faster than Jerusalem is comfortable admitting. I have written about this extensively elsewhere.

That makes the task of repairing Israel’s international reputation an existential one through disciplined statecraft. Israel must diversify its alliances, rebuild credibility with the silent majorities in Western societies, and reduce its reliance on single-patron dependency. Strategic autonomy does not mean abandoning the US; it means ensuring Israel is not paralysed if Washington wobbles. As Europe has recently learned the hard way, the most dangerous moment in any alliance is not when it ends, but when one side still believes it is guaranteed, and the other no longer does.

If there is a single thread running through this analysis, it is that Israel has reached the end of comforting illusions. There is no ceasefire, only managed violence. There is no decisive victory on offer, only sustained pressure and denial of enemy momentum. Furthermore, there is no benevolent international system waiting to intervene once Israel shows sufficient restraint. What exists instead is a fragmented, self-interested global environment in which Israel’s enemies are persistent, adaptive, and patient; their major ally is wobbly; and in which some of those claiming to mediate are, in fact, actively working against Israeli interests.

That reality calls for a colder, more disciplined approach to statecraft. Israel must maintain its military achievements and ruthlessly safeguard freedom of action. Simultaneously, it must reduce strategic reliance, diminish the influence of nearby hostile actors, and begin the gradual process of rebuilding legitimacy with key audiences in the West. Rather than sentiment or apologies, this is about survival in a system that is becoming less forgiving each year.

What lies ahead will be more difficult, slower, and less emotionally gratifying, but ultimately more significant. Strategic autonomy is no longer an abstract idea; it has become essential. Recognising this sooner rather than later could mean the difference between managing this conflict indefinitely or becoming gradually constrained by allies, adversaries, and “mediators” alike.


Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: Five likely scenarios for Gaza in 2026
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign For Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

This week, we dive into the five likely scenarios that could play out in Gaza during 2026 that Alkhatib recently proposed on his social media channels.



According to Alkhatib, the five proposals all “undermine Hamas severely and massively change the calculus and geostrategic landscape following the Trump-sponsored ceasefire in October, which has temporarily halted the war.”

The five proposals include: A mutiny from Hamas’s ranks within Gaza due to economic and cost-of-living pressures; a significant rise and empowerment of anti-Hamas militias in different areas of the Gaza Strip; mass protests and large-scale uprisings against Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip by civilians; a mass exodus of civilians, from the Red Zone controlled by Hamas behind the “yellow line” into the Israeli-controlled Green Zone; and a successful international stabilization force (ISF) deployment with the mandate of battling and demilitarizing Hamas.

We go through each scenario point-by-point throughout the conversation, leaving time for a reader’s question or two.
Israel vows response to Hamas ‘violations’ after officer injured in Gaza blast
Israel vowed on Wednesday to respond to an incident in southern Gaza’s Rafah in which a bomb exploded against an Israeli armored personnel carrier, lightly injuring an IDF officer.

The officer, who serves in the Golani Brigade, was taken to a hospital, and his family was notified, the army said.

“The Hamas terror organization continues to violate the ceasefire and President Trump’s 20-point plan,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement published in English.

“Their ongoing and continuing public refusal to disarm is an ongoing flagrant violation, and again today their violent intentions and violations were confirmed by their detonation of an IED that wounded an IDF officer,” the PMO continued.

It was unclear whether the bomb was recently planted in the area by terror operatives or it was an old explosive device from before the ceasefire.

The incident came days before Netanyahu is set to fly to Florida to meet with US President Donald Trump to discuss the next steps in the fragile Gaza ceasefire.

“Hamas must be held to the agreement that they signed on [sic], which includes removal from governance, demilitarization, and de-radicalization,” concluded the PMO, adding that “Israel will respond accordingly.”
12-Year-Old Child Recruited as Terrorist Combatant for Gaza's Mujahideen Brigades
A 12-year-old boy identified as a “Little Mujahideen” for Gaza’s Mujahideen Brigades was killed during December 2024, according to verification published on social media by researcher Gabriel Epstein. The child, Suhaib Talal Nafiz al-Jundia (ID#: 432315653), was confirmed both by his father and on terrorist obituary pages, suggesting he had been recruited and exploited by the terrorist organization.

Photographs from the father’s Facebook accounts show al-Jundia posing with weapons and wearing a vest emblazoned with the Mujahideen Brigades logo—a heartbreaking image of a child denied the chance at a normal childhood.

The Brigades constitute the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and the fourth-largest terror group operating in Gaza. Additional images depict what appear to be deceased relatives who served in the same organization. Another disturbing photograph reportedly shows al-Jundia’s sister Rafif—who died in June 2024 at approximately seven or eight years old—holding an assault rifle.

Al-Jundia appears in the July 31 iteration of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty list, where his age is recorded as 12. According to Epstein, this makes him the youngest identified child soldier documented throughout the current conflict—”a tragedy by any measure.”

The loss of a child so young represents not only an individual tragedy but a damning indictment of the terrorist organizations that recruit children and the systems that enable this abuse.

The Mujahideen Brigades: From Kidnapping Infants to Deploying Children
The U.S-designated Mujahideen Brigades has been directly implicated in some of the October 7, 2023, massacre’s most heinous atrocities. On April 4, 2025, Israel announced it had eliminated Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Awad, a senior commander who “commanded the kidnappings of Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas” and was “likely personally involved” in their murders. Awad also orchestrated the kidnappings of American citizens Gad Haggai and Judi Weinstein, along with several Thai nationals.


UN report on malnutrition ‘crisis’ in Gaza ‘doesn’t reflect reality,’ experts say
Displaced Palestinians receive food, distributed by a charity organization in Khan Younis, Gaza, December 6, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib / Anadolu)

The United Nations’ famine monitoring organization issued its latest report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Friday, and once again made dire assertions about severe food insecurity in the territory.

It also stood by a determination it made in August that a full-blown famine had broken out in Gaza, despite hard data demonstrating that malnutrition levels never reached the famine threshold, and again failed to provide mortality data anywhere in the vicinity of famine levels.

Several analysts have argued that the new study repeats previous flaws and has failed to use appropriate data, and that this erroneous factual basis has again led the IPC to conclusions about the food security situation in Gaza that are not reflective of reality.

The IPC, or the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification organization, is a department of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and is considered an authoritative monitor of malnutrition and famine around the world.

Its reports on Gaza have been cited by the International Court of Justice in the genocide suit filed by South Africa against Israel, and by the UN and human rights organizations as supposed evidence of Israeli genocide against Gazans during the war.

It has on several occasions predicted famine that never transpired, and even acknowledged one of those errors in June 2024.

In response to a request for comment by The Times of Israel, the IPC insisted that its analysts used the available data appropriately and in accordance with IPC guidelines.

The organization maintained its famine determinations were based on segmented data which it said showed famine levels had been breached, and claimed that non-trauma mortality data from Gaza used to evaluate famine was underestimated and that “trends” not “absolute numbers” also justified its famine determination.


IDF targets Hezbollah launch sites in Southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday night carried out strikes against several Hezbollah missile launch sites in Southern Lebanon.

“The presence of these launching sites constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat against the State of Israel and to prevent attempts by Hezbollah to reestablish capabilities, the statement added.

On Monday, Israeli forces eliminated three Hezbollah operatives involved in advancing attacks against troops and in reestablishing terrorist infrastructure in the Sidon area of Southern Lebanon, according to the IDF.

An initial review found that one of the terrorists killed in the strike also served in a Lebanese military intelligence unit.

One of the two other operatives killed was involved in Hezbollah’s aerial defense network, according to the IDF.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Dec. 20 that Hezbollah terrorists south of the Litani River would soon be disarmed, a key requirement of Beirut’s ceasefire with Israel.​

Yisrael Beiteinu Party chief Avigdor Liberman dismissed the statement on Monday. “This is simply nonsense, just fiction. [We’re] not even close to dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal, not even in Southern Lebanon,” he told JNS.

“I don’t know what intelligence [information] Lebanon’s prime minister has, but I trust the assessments of [Israel’s] defense establishment,” he added, speaking at a faction meeting of his party at the Knesset in Jerusalem.


Undercover Zionist Asks Students To Help Attack Jews, Their Responses Will STUN You..

73 former, current Bay Area officials decry mayor’s Jew-hatred
Seventy-three current and former elected officials from across the Bay Area signed a joint letter condemning antisemitic posts that Eduardo Martinez, mayor of Richmond, Calif., shared on LinkedIn.

Signatories stated that they are “deeply troubled” by the mayor’s recent statements that “have harmed local residents and undermined public trust.”

The list of signatories appeared to include mayors, council members, trustees and community leaders from cities including Brentwood, El Cerrito, Martinez, Walnut Creek, and Berkeley.

Martinez previously told JNS that he intended to blame the Israeli government for the rise in Jew-hatred since Oct. 7 and not to say in general that Jews are responsible for antisemitism.

Those who signed the letter called for a city resolution saying that hate has no place in Richmond. If Martinez cannot or won’t do the right thing, he ought to resign, they said.
Pennsylvania school board votes unanimously to fire principal for alleged Jew-hatred
The school board of the Wissahickon School District, which educates 5,135 students in six schools in the Philadelphia area, voted unanimously on Tuesday to fire the principal of an elementary school who allegedly referred to “Jew money” and to Jews controlling banks, among other slurs, in a voice message that he left for a Jewish parent.

Philip Leddy, then principal of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School, appeared to be unaware that the message was still recording when he spoke of “Jew camp” and said that the odds were “probably good” that the Jewish parent was a lawyer, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

“What is most concerning is not only the language itself, but the mindset it reflects,” the Federation said on Dec. 19. “The comments rely on well-known antisemitic stereotypes that reduce a parent to caricature and signal hostility rather than respect.”

“For a family entrusting their child to a school community, hearing this kind of language, particularly from a principal, is profoundly unsettling,” it said.

The Federation added that the incident didn’t “occur in a vacuum.”

“It follows a series of troubling events that have left Jewish families in the Wissahickon School District feeling unsafe, unwelcome or unheard,” it said.
UKLFI: Complaint against City St George’s Israel Society dismissed
A formal complaint made to City St George’s Students’ Union against its Israel Society has been dismissed following an investigation.

Earlier this year, the Israel Society was informed by the Students’ Union that it had received a complaint relating to incidents and social-media posts from the previous academic year. The complaint alleged potential breaches of Students’ Union policies on equality, inclusivity, safeguarding and external speaker procedures.

The Students’ Union invited the President of the Israel Society to attend a meeting and submit a written response to the allegations. UKLFI Charitable Trust (“UKLFI CT”) supported the Society throughout the investigation, assisting with the preparation of its response and ensuring that the wider and relevant context was properly brought to the Union’s attention.

In particular, UKLFI CT highlighted the challenging environment in which the Society is operating, drawing attention to the well-documented and escalating pattern of antisemitism on UK university campuses since 7 October 2023, including the recently published Voice of Students 2024/25 report by StandWithUs UK.

UKLFI CT also highlighted supporting data from other surveys. Research by the University Jewish Chaplaincy earlier this year found that 89% of Jewish students surveyed had experienced antisemitism on campus since 7 October 2023, with only 24% feeling supported by their institution. Further survey evidence from mid-2024 showed that 70% of Jewish students felt uncomfortable being open about their Jewish identity, and 63% avoided certain campus buildings or areas for fear of harassment or demonisation.

Following an investigation, the Students’ Union’s investigator confirmed that the case would be closed with no action taken.


Abbas: Terrorist kingpin Marwan Barghouti’s release a top priority
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas met on Tuesday with the spouse of Marwan Barghouti as part of a Palestinian campaign for his release. Barghouti was sentenced to five life terms for the murder of five Israelis and other crimes.

Abbas and Fadwa Barghouti met at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, with the former issuing a statement that Barghouti’s release “has always been at the top of President Abbas’s agenda and that of the Fatah movement,” the P.A.-run news agency Wafa reported.

In August, P.A. deputy leader Hussein al-Sheikh said that every effort was being made to secure Barghouti’s release.

The statement came during a visit with other Palestinian officials to the home of Barghouti’s family, with al-Sheikh adding that the former head of the Tanzim terrorist group “represents a symbol of the Palestinian struggle” and that all Palestinian detainees inside Israel should be freed, according to Wafa.

Barghouti, 66, one of the most notorious figures of the Second Intifada, was arrested and convicted in 2002 for orchestrating a series of terrorist attacks against Israelis. In 2004, he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms plus 40 years.
Palestinian Authority promotes terrorists freed in hostage deal
The Palestinian Authority has promoted two convicted terrorists released from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages held by Hamas, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Alaa Al-Din Al-Bazian, convicted of planning the murder of Israeli civilian Zehava Ben-Ovadia, was freed as part of a deal to secure the release of hostages and has since been granted the rank of major general by the P.A., ensuring him a top salary. Naji Arar, another released terrorist, was promoted to the rank of colonel under the same policy.



Tuesday’s X post cited Palestinian Media Watch, which first exposed the promotions of the two terrorists and provided further details regarding the two men, who were released in 2025.

Al-Bazian’s release was his third; he has spent a total of 40 years in prison, according to PMW. Arar served 18 years for his participation in the Second Intifada, a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks from 2000 to about 2005 that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians.

The ministry said the move reflects the P.A.’s ongoing “pay-for-slay” practice—financially rewarding terrorists and their families—despite past claims by Ramallah that it had suspended the program to satisfy Western critics.


Turkey's Erdogan denounces Israel-Greece-Cyprus trilateral summit, affirms support for Gaza
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday denounced the trilateral meeting between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus earlier this week, discussing issues concerning security in the eastern Mediterranean, including the Gaza Strip.

Erdogan, speaking at a meeting of delegates from his Justice and Development Party (AKP) affirmed that Turkey "will not allow violations of its rights in the Aegean and the Mediterranean."

"I am stating this very clearly and plainly… Whether in the eastern Mediterranean, in the Aegean, or anywhere else, we will neither accept injustice nor allow our rights to be trampled," Erdogan wrote on X/Twitter, summarizing his speech.

"Agreements can be made, signatures can be signed, orders can be placed, and various messages can be conveyed. None of these binds us or changes our policy. We did not fall for the game, and we will not. We did not succumb to provocations, and we will not," he added.

"We will not permit the violation of the rights and interests of Turkish Cypriots either," he continued.

"In our eyes, the insolence of those with the blood of more than 70,000 Palestinian brothers and sisters on their hands is no different from the rattling of tin cans," he said, accusing Israel of being responsible for the deaths of all Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas War began, not differentiating between terrorists, civilians, and collateral damage.

"Even though a ceasefire has been established in Gaza, the hardships continue in the settlements that Israel has turned into ruins," Erdogan wrote in a second X post.
Libya’s military chief and 7 others killed in plane crash after takeoff from Turkey
A private jet carrying Libya’s military chief, four other officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after takeoff from Turkey’s capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

The Libyan delegation was in Ankara for high-level defense talks aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries, Turkish officials said.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the death of Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad and the four officers, saying in a statement on Facebook that the “tragic accident” took place as the delegation was returning home. The prime minister called it a “great loss” for Libya.

Al-Haddad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s institutions.

The four other officers who died in the crash were Gen. Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya’s ground forces, Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, advisor to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff’s office.

The identities of the three crew members were not immediately known.

Turkish officials said the wreckage of the Falcon 50 type business jet had been found near the village of Kesikkavak, in Haymana, a district some 70 kilometers (about 43.5 miles) south of Ankara.


China Supplying Technology for Iran's Ballistic Missile Program: DoD Report
The U.S. Department of Defense released its 2025 China Military Power Report on December 23, revealing troubling details about Beijing’s increasingly sophisticated support for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military capabilities, a relationship the Pentagon warns directly threatens U.S. interests and regional stability.

According to the report, Chinese companies are selling “dual-use components” for Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs, providing Tehran with critical technology to enhance weapons systems that have targeted American forces and allies across the Middle East. The assessment marks one of the Pentagon’s most detailed public disclosures about the military-technical relationship between the two nations.

Chinese Components Enable Red Sea Attacks
Perhaps most alarming, the report documents that since November 2023, China-based companies have sold components that Houthi rebels, Iranian proxies in Yemen, have directly used in attacks in the Red Sea. These attacks have disrupted a vital maritime corridor handling over $1 trillion in annual global trade, forcing military intervention by U.S. and allied forces.

“Beijing has privately engaged the Huthis since the start of the Huthi attack campaign to secure the safety of Chinese commercial shipping,” the report states, while noting that Chinese officials deny responsibility for the weapons transfers enabling those same attacks.

Satellite Cooperation with IRGC Raises Intelligence Concerns
The Pentagon also revealed that as of August 2024, Chinese commercial satellite companies have participated in business exchanges with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. This cooperation could potentially provide Iran with enhanced intelligence, surveillance, and targeting capabilities against American assets.

Beijing’s Strategy of Plausible Deniability
Despite these concerning activities, the report characterizes China’s official defense relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran as “modest,” consisting primarily of annual trilateral naval exercises with Russia and reciprocal ministerial visits every two years. The Pentagon assesses that Beijing remains “reluctant to deepen” overt military ties due to fears of diplomatic blowback and international sanctions.

This careful calibration allows China to support Iran through commercial channels while maintaining plausible deniability, a strategy that advances Beijing’s strategic interests without triggering the full consequences of a formal military alliance.
My IRGC sources say fearful Iran are waiting for Bibi’s exit – so Israel should strike now
Israel must strike Iran’s regime in the next year while Bibi Netanyahu remains in power. This is the conclusion from the recent conversations I have been having with sources inside Iran including those in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Ayatollah’s ideological army.   

Why the deadline? The Iranian regime’s entire strategy for its next stage of escalation against Israel hinges on Prime Minister Bibi Netenyahu’s anticipated ouster in Israel’s October 2026 elections. Put simply: a wounded IRGC is preparing to come back with greater ideological vengeance against the world’s only Jewish state – but only after the departure of the current Israeli prime minister. And this, of course, is far from guaranteed.

The reality is the Ayatollah and the IRGC fear Bibi more than any other world leader – even more so than US President Donald Trump. The perception in Tehran, which is prone to making major miscalculations, is that Trump and the US can be managed and kept at bay for the next three years. The regime’s persistent efforts to influence the Trump administration’s policy on Iran through a charm offensive, despite the unprecedented US strikes on its nuclear facilities, speaks to this somewhat naive conviction.

But, in the mind of the Ayatollah, the same cannot be said about Bibi. There is a deep-rooted and inescapable paranoia that exists in the regime’s psyche when it comes to Bibi, something even the Israelis have yet to fully appreciate.

“The kind of attack we witnessed wouldn’t have taken place without Netenyahu,” a source within the IRGC tells me. This view is not in the minority. Rightly or wrongly, there is a firm belief that the spectacular scale of Israel’s strikes in June – which saw the elimination of senior IRGC commanders and the decimation of much of Iran’s critical nuclear and military infrastructure – simply would not have occurred had Bibi not been in office.

Now, in the aftermath of the conflict, the regime is deeply anxious that the Israeli prime minister has both the personal determination and risk appetite for attack that could go even further. Such a scenario would not only dismantle the IRGC’s rush to bounce back but – if executed correctly – could pose a genuine risk to the existence of the regime. It is precisely for this reason that Tehran’s current post-war strategy is to run down the clock until Israel’s elections in October, whilst it simultaneously uses this inward facing period to recover and strengthen its capabilities for an escalation should Bibi be ousted.    

And its efforts to rebuild and prepare for this moment are in full swing. A recent report submitted by the Israeli Defense Forces to the Knesset detailed how Iran’s regime has rapidly resumed large-scale production of its ballistic missiles, effectively recovering its stockpile from the 12-day-war. Ironically, however, the thrust to rapidly bolster its ballistic missile programme is not borne out of defeatism as many outside observers may think. In the delusional but dangerous mindset of the constituency which makes up members of the IRGC, not least the younger ranks I spoke with, an indication of the regime’s “triumph” over Israel in the June war was the success of its ballistic missiles. “Our homemade missiles penetrated the so-called best defence system in the world,” a member of the IRGC’s Basij militia tells me.      

This is not to say Tehran is completely delusional and detached from reality. The IRGC is desperately trying to learn the lessons from the 12-day war to make up for any shortcomings. This is indicative of its actions in the post-war phase. Recognising its vulnerability to Israel’s superior air capabilities, for example, there has been a concerted effort by the IRGC to move its military infrastructure deep-underground. Likewise, replacing and upgrade the regime’s air defense systems, through both homegrown production and foreign acquisition, has been described by the chief of the general staff of the armed forces as the most important priority. Beyond this, the IRGC has also simultaneously begun the process of decentralising its military command structures from its central leadership to its Provincial Guard in an attempt to make it harder for Israel to collectively eliminate key decision makers during times of conflict.


Crown Heights stabber who wanted to 'kill a Jew' arrested
A Brooklyn man was arrested on Monday for stabbing a Jewish man after making anti-Jewish statements, according to the New York Police Department.

Twenty-three-year-old Armani Charles was charged with attempted assault, assault, and menacing with hate crime modifiers, and aggravated harassment for stabbing a Jewish man in a street altercation.

Charles had allegedly spouted antisemitic statements before stabbing the victim in the chest, according to the NYPD and footage published by Crown Heights Shmira. The attacker left the scene on foot.

The incident occurred outside Lubavitch Chabad headquarters, and according to the New York Post, the attacker had declared that he was “going to kill a Jew today.”

Chabad public relations official Yaacov Behrman said on X/Twitter last Wednesday that the assault was unprovoked, and the attacker had also said “F*** these Jews” and it would be acceptable if the Holocaust occurred today. The victim had to be hospitalized but was expected to recover.

“Hateful rhetoric always leads to violence. After losing friends in Australia on Sunday, it is painfully clear that the world is once again dangerous for Jews,” wrote Berhrman, referencing last Sunday’s Bondi Beach massacre.


Israel’s Christian population approaches 185,000
Israel’s Christian population is about 185,000, accounting for just under 2% of the country’s total population, according to data published Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics on the eve of Christmas 2025.

Nearly 80% of the Christians in Israel are Arab, comprising 6.8% of the nation’s overall Arab population.

Most Arab Christians reside in the Northern District (68.3%) and Haifa District (14.7%).

Non-Arab Christians are more concentrated in the Tel Aviv and Central Districts (42 %), with 34% living in the Northern and Haifa Districts.

The cities with the largest Arab Christian populations include Nazareth (18,900), Haifa (18,800), Jerusalem (13,400) and Nof HaGalil (10,800).




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