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Saturday, January 03, 2026

01/03 Links: After Caracas, Tehran trembles; Israeli accuses BBC of ignoring Iran protests while ‘obsessing’ over Gaza; Australian sporting heroes call for Bondi Royal Commission

From Ian:

Israeli embassy accuses BBC of ignoring Iran protests while ‘obsessing’ over Gaza
The BBC is embroiled in a row with the Israeli embassy after the broadcaster was accused of obsessing over Gaza while “largely ignoring” the ongoing protests in Iran.

Alex Gandler, the embassy’s official spokesman, said on X that there had been “near-total silence” on BBC news bulletins about the demonstrations against Tehran’s Islamic theocratic leaders.

He questioned the BBC’s impartiality, claiming it continued to devote huge resources to its coverage of events in Gaza.

The corporation criticised Mr Gandler’s claims as “factually incorrect”, but the spat amounts to the latest evidence of a worsening relationship between the Israeli government and Britain’s national broadcaster over its coverage of the Middle East since the Oct 7 attacks.

At least seven people have been killed during clashes between protesters and security forces that have spread across Iran since they first started in the capital on Dec 28.

Mr Gandler took to X to respond to John Simpson, the BBC’s veteran foreign correspondent, who had said it was difficult to get reporters into Iran.

The embassy spokesman said: “This is not a good take. The scale of BBC coverage devoted to Gaza, including over the past few days, vastly exceeds that given to wars and humanitarian crises elsewhere in the world.

“At the same time, the near-total silence on Iran is striking. A broadcaster that claims global impartiality cannot obsess over one theatre of conflict while largely ignoring the regime that destabilises the entire region.”
The logic behind Kazakhstan’s Abraham Accords move
When Kazakhstan announced on Nov. 6, during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to Washington, that it would join the Abraham Accords, the decision raised a more interesting question than the move itself: Why did Astana take this step before Azerbaijan, despite Baku’s far deeper and longer-standing strategic ties with Israel?

For years, Azerbaijan had been widely viewed as the natural candidate to lead Central Asia and the Turkic world into the Accords framework. Its close cooperation with Israel in energy, defense and intelligence, combined with shared concerns about Iran, made Baku the obvious frontrunner. Yet when the moment arrived, it was Kazakhstan—not Azerbaijan—that moved first.

The explanation lies less in bilateral relations with Israel than in how the Abraham Accords are currently being deployed.

Reactivating and expanding the Abraham Accords has become a priority of the Trump administration. While the Accords formalize normalization between Israel and Muslim states that were never at war with it—and therefore differ fundamentally from classic peace treaties—their current strategic significance extends well beyond Israel.

They function as a framework for advancing American influence in regions contested by Iran, China and Russia. From this perspective, Kazakhstan’s decision was driven not by the state of its relations with Israel, which have long been stable, but by Astana’s broader geopolitical weight and signaling value.

Kazakhstan’s move was therefore not ideological and only marginally symbolic, it was a calculated signal to Washington, one that Astana could afford to send, and Baku could not, as its relations with Moscow remain strained. As a result, it cannot discard Turkey, whose stance on the Abraham Accords remains highly critical.
Hind Rajab Foundation files criminal complaint against IDF soldier in Czech Republic
The Hind Rajab Foundation recently filed a criminal complaint to Czech authorities against an Israeli soldier who is visiting the country, the group announced Friday, accusing the soldier of war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza.

The foundation, a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel legal group based in Belgium and named for a 6-year-old Gazan girl killed in January 2024, has filed dozens of criminal complaints against Israeli soldiers and officials who are visiting or stationed in European countries over the past two years.

According to the group, the IDF soldier in question is currently a tourist in Prague.

The group’s complaint alleges that the soldier, as a member of the Givati Brigade, took part in “genocide, war crimes, and persecution of civilians committed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.”

Givati has been deployed extensively during the war in Gaza, which began when the Hamas terror group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel vehemently denies it has committed war crimes or genocide in Gaza, and says it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities, stressing that that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Since the soldier is currently in the Czech Republic, the group claims that Prague must prosecute the soldier due to its “obligations under international and domestic law”

“These crimes fall under universal jurisdiction. Where a suspect is present on Czech territory, prosecutors are not merely empowered to act — they are legally obliged to do so,” the complaint alleges.

There was no immediate response from Czech authorities.


After Caracas, Tehran trembles
After the U.S. bombing of Caracas over the weekend, eyes in Tehran, Moscow and Beijing are now fixed on the skies. As Venezuela’s captured president, Nicolás Maduro, edges toward judgment, the intercontinental battlefield between the West and its enemies is being fully exposed.

The most intricate web runs between Tehran and Caracas: a jihadist axis intertwined with drug trafficking, generating enormous revenues and securing strategic positions for a war against democratic societies. This is not conjecture. It has been built methodically for some two decades.

The timing of U.S. President Donald Trump’s strike—on the anniversary of the killing of Qasem Soleimani—was deliberate. Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s transoceanic Shiite strategy, with Hezbollah as its spearhead. Historian David Wurmser is right: this marks a revival of a Monroe Doctrine logic—defense through decisive action.

The poles today are Maduro’s Venezuela and Ali Khamenei’s Iran. Trump’s warning (Shoot protesters and the U.S. “will come to their rescue”) was unprecedented— and today its meaning is clear.

The alliance dates back to 2005, when Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela at the invitation of its president, Hugo Chávez. From that moment, Venezuela became a hub where jihadist politics merged with narcotrafficking. Hezbollah embedded itself across Latin America, from money laundering to antisemitic terror and paramilitary training, including on Margarita Island.

In 2022, as Iranian women were being slaughtered during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, Venezuela secretly allocated one million hectares of land to Iran. Officially agricultural. Strategically, a forward operating base at America’s doorstep.
Intentionally or not, the US's capture of Maduro is a threat to Iran's regime
Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli also said in a statement that the operation delivered a blow to the "global axis of evil" and sent a "clear message" to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

"Maduro did not run a country, he ran a crime and drug empire that directly fueled Hezbollah and Iran," Chikli said Saturday night. "The president's decisive steps have proven once again that strong leaders are the only way to defeat dictators."

According to Maariv, Commanders for Israel's Security, an NGO composed of more than 550 retired senior officials, also assessed that "The American action in Venezuela is a warning to the regime in Iran."

The flurry of statements by Iranian officials on Saturday may indicate increased concern, seeing a reminder that Trump is not all bluster when it comes to dealing with his enemies.

The Iranian MFA issued a statement criticizing the US military operation in Venezuela as a " blatant violation of the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity," and called on the United Nations to condemn Washington.

Following the Saturday raid capturing Maduro, Khamenei's X account posted a series of remarks, after silence for several days.

"What’s important is when one realizes an enemy wants to force something on one's govt. [sic] or nation with false claims, they must stand firmly against that enemy. We won’t give in to them. With reliance on God & confidence in the people’s support, we’ll bring the enemy to its knees," wrote Khamenei's account. "That ranting American sits there talking about the Iranian nation, spewing a combination of slander and promises. False promises! Deception!"

Khamenei reminded that the US had prepared for war with his country while negotiating on its nuclear program, and described how "soft warfare" could be used to demoralize populations.

Even if Trump had never made any of his statements regarding Iran, and the attack were on a different day, the decapitation of an ally still spells trouble for the Islamic Regime. Iran had invested military infrastructure in Venezuela, with a drone manufacturing facility and a Hezbollah training base. The Iranian proxy has also used the South American country as a hub for its illicit financial network. Iran and Venezuela saw almost three billion dollars in trade in 2023. Tehran exported petroleum to Caracas and supported its own oil industry, particularly in evading sanctions. With Maduro gone, those investments are now in question, and when a country is in financial dire straits, hope and despair alone can chart courses.

With such investments into Venezuela by Iran, the US's removal of an important asset is, as Chikli noted, a blow to the "axis of resistance." Regardless if a message was meant for Iran by capturing Maduro, Iran is already feeling the sting.
Netanyahu salutes Trump’s stand for ‘freedom and justice’ in Venezuela
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his decision to strike Venezuela and capture its dictator, President Nicolás Maduro, the previous night.

“Congratulations, President Donald Trump for your bold and historic leadership on behalf of freedom and justice. I salute your decisive resolve and the brilliant action of your brave soldiers,” the Prime Minister’s Office said on X.

The U.S. military carried out a “large scale strike” against Venezuela overnight Friday and captured Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, Trump announced on Truth Social.

The couple was flown out of the Latin American country, Trump added.

Speaking to the press at Mar-a-Lago, Fla., on Saturday, the American leader said that the U.S. “will run [Venezuela] until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition [of power]. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”

He warned that the American military was prepared to carry out a second and “much larger” attack if necessary. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” Trump continued, as U.S. forces had “boots on the ground last night at a very high level.”


Israel expresses hope for resumption of Venezuela ties after Maduro’s deposal
Israel congratulated US President Donald Trump on Saturday for his successful operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar declaring that the United States “acted as the leader of the free world,” while expressing hope that Jerusalem and Caracas can reestablish ties.

Earlier Saturday, the US carried out a large-scale military operation in and around Caracas, bombing military sites and sending special forces to abduct the Venezuelan strongman and prosecute him in the US for narco-terrorism charges.

“At this historic moment, Israel stands alongside the freedom-loving Venezuelan people, who have suffered under Maduro’s illegal tyranny,” Sa’ar said hours later in a statement.

“Israel welcomes the removal of the dictator who led a network of drugs and terror and hopes for the return of democracy to the country and for friendly relations between the states,” he said.

“The people of Venezuela deserve to exercise their democratic rights. South America deserves a future free from the axis of terror and drugs,” Sa’ar added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also implied support for the operation, congratulating Trump on X for his “bold and historic leadership on behalf of freedom and justice.”

Netanyahu conspicuously did not mention the operation, Venezuela or Maduro in his post by name.

Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with Israel over Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008-2009, and under Maduro, it has been one of the world’s most vocal countries in its opposition to Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror invasion.

Also weighing in on the events in Venezuela was Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who issued an apparent threat to Iran, saying it should take note of Maduro’s fate amid major protests within the Islamic Republic over the country’s failing economy over the past week.

“The regime in Iran should pay close attention to what is happening in Venezuela,” he wrote on X.


The Free Press: “It’s Long Overdue.” Niall Ferguson on Why Maduro Had to Go
Historian and Free Press columnist Niall Ferguson joins Rafaela Siewert to break down President Trump’s decision to remove Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro—and why he believes the move was “long overdue.” Drawing on the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, Ferguson explains the logic behind what he calls the new “Trump Corollary,” responds to media claims that the operation was reckless or illegal, and assesses the risks of regime change, the role of covert force, and the global implications for China, Iran, and the balance of power in the Western Hemisphere.


Commentary Podcast: EMERGENCY POD: Venezuela!
Donald Trump's decision to arrest Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a massive and brilliant kinetic military action may prove to have long-lasting political, ideological, and strategic ramifications of an almost unprecedented scale. That's what we talk about on this rare emergency edition.




'Pity the people of NY': Ambassador Huckabee slams Mamdani for criticism of US strikes on Venezuela
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee slammed newly-elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his criticism of the United States' operation in Venezuela in a scathing post to X/Twitter on Saturday.

"I pity ppl of NY for electing a mayor who sides with a drug trafficker & ally of Iran & Hezbollah rather than his constituents," Huckabee wrote. "Will he & Sen. Van Hollen go to Maduro's jail cell to sip margaritas for solidarity?"

Mamdani had earlier condemned the operation on X, saying that "unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law."

"This blatant pursuit of regime change doesn’t just affect those abroad, it directly impacts New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home."

DSA calls for an end to 'Trump administration's illegal war'
The Democratic Socialists of America, the political movement Mamdani is affiliated with, on Saturday released a statement condemning the US operation, including a list of demands for the Trump administration.

"The Trump administration has started an illegal war against Venezuela," the statement reads, explaining that the operation is nothing more than a "nakedly imperialist war to install a US puppet government that will give Venezuela’s oil resources over to US corporations and to force US hegemony over Latin America."

"This war is illegal both under international law and the laws governing the declaration of war within the United States."


Australian sporting heroes call for Bondi Royal Commission in open letter
A long list of Australian sporting greats have called for a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack in a powerful open letter to the Prime Minister.

The statement, signed by a total of 62 of the nation’s top sporting names, adds to the ever-growing pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to show “decisive national leadership”.

Among the signatories are horse racing legend Gai Waterhouse, Olympic gold medallist swimmers Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, former Olympian and senator Nova Peris, former surfing world champion Mick Fanning, former national cricket captain Michael Clarke, grand slam tennis champions Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt, Winter Olympic speed skating gold medallist Steven Bradbury and Australian Olympic legends Dawn Fraser and Raelene Boyle.

Prominent sporting coaches are also among the notable names, such as the Sydney Swans’ longtime former coach John Longmire and Brisbane lions’ two-time Premiership winning head coach Chris Fagan.

The non-partisan statement extended the “deepest sympathy” to the families who lost loved ones on December 14, including 10-year-old Matilda “whose smile we will never forget”.

“This attack did not occur in isolation. It followed more than two years of escalating extremism, intimidation and unchecked radicalisation within Australia,” the letter read.

“What unfolded at Bondi was an act of terrorism driven by violent extremist ideology, and its consequences have shaken the foundations of our national safety and social cohesion.”

As sporting leaders, the signatories said they witnessed firsthand the power sport has to unite Australians from every background and community.

The sports leaders, of ranging ages and professions, said they were united by “fairness, respect, equality” and the principle every Australian deserves to “live without fear”.

“Today, we cannot remain silent. This is not who we are. This is not the Australia we represented,” they said.

“We call on the Prime Minister and the Australian Government to show decisive national leadership by confronting extremism and terrorism in all its forms, without fear or hesitation.”


Holocaust survivor shares his story imprisoned in a ‘death camp’
Holocaust survivor Eddy Boad describes the rise of the Nazi Party and his experience being imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen’s “death camp” for 14 months.

“60,000 people were murdered there, and my father had a job of picking up all the bodies,” Mr Boad told Sky News Australia.

“We survived miraculously.”


Zohran Mamdani and wife dressed for inauguration by controversial ‘anti-Israel’ stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji were dressed for inauguration day by controversial celebrity stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson — a former Vogue contributing editor-at-large who resigned after unleashing a virulent anti-Israel rant.

Karefa-Johnson, 34, wrote in a Substack post that Hizzoner wore a “handwoven silk” tie made by the New Delhi–based designer Kartik Kumra to his swearing-in ceremony while Duwaji sported $630 leather boots on loan from Miista along with a rented vintage Balenciaga coat.

“This look is honest. Real. Regal in the punkest way,” wrote Karefa-Johnson, adding that the Big Apple’s first lady also rocked rented earrings from New York Vintage.

Karefa-Johnson, who resigned after a fiery clash with the magazine in 2023, added that the mayor’s look was more, “shall we say… simple.”

Karefa-Johnson sparked outrage when she went on a rant that compared Israel to an “apartheid state” committing “genocide” and likened the Israeli Defense Forces to a “terrorist organization” in October 2023.

“I cannot believe that the world is watching in silence as a GENOCIDE — a mass Palestinian extinction plan — is happening before our very eyes,” she wrote on Instagram after the bombing of Gaza, following the Hamas attack on Israel.
How the politics of Mamdani’s parents, both longtime BDS supporters, shaped NYC’s new mayor
When he sat down for an interview in November with the Chronicle of Higher Education, Mahmood Mamdani offered one parameter: “Let’s not talk about the mayor thing.”

It was just two days after the Columbia University professor had taken the stage alongside his wife and daughter-in-law after his son Zohran had been elected mayor of New York City, winning more than 50% of the vote in a three-way race.

Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist with a long track record of pro-Palestinian activism, has said he counts his father as one of his political inspirations.

But Mahmood Mamdani preferred to talk about his own record, as a professor of anthropology and international affairs and a longstanding pro-Palestinian activist who was the first faculty member to address the Gaza war encampment on his campus.

His wife, filmmaker Mira Nair, and Zohran’s wife, the artist Rama Duwaji, likewise are respected in their fields and well known for their pro-Palestinian advocacy and adherence to the movement to boycott Israel.

Zohran Mamdani has described the BDS movement as “consistent with the core of my politics,” and in 2023 introduced a bill while serving as an assemblymember that sought to block nonprofits from funding Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

While it is unclear the extent to which Mamdani will pursue BDS policies during his upcoming mayoral term, his politics and those of his parents reflect a shared alignment with pro-Palestinian causes.

“When you’re the kid of two parents who are very involved in social justice, a lot of times what you remember as a playdate was you being at some rally or some march,” Mamdani recalled in an interview with City & State in April 2023.

Now, after Zohran took the city’s reins on January 1, here’s what you need to know about his immediate family.


At least 10 said killed in Iran unrest; official threatens to respond ‘without leniency’
State-affiliated media and rights groups in Iran reported Friday that at least 10 people had been killed in the nationwide protests against the regime since Wednesday, including one man who authorities said was a member of the Basij paramilitary force affiliated with the elite Revolutionary Guards.

The demonstrations were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds call for the downfall of the regime, posing the biggest internal threat to Iranian authorities in years.

A local official in western Iran, where several deaths were reported, was cited by state media as warning that any unrest or illegal gatherings would be met “decisively and without leniency.”

The deadly unrest prompted US President Donald Trump to warn Friday that the United States was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, which Iranian officials responded to with their own threats.

“Trump’s message today, likely influenced by those who fear diplomacy or mistakenly believe it is unnecessary, is reckless and dangerous,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, insisting the protests were mostly peaceful and pointing to the US leader’s own deployment of the National Guard in US cities.

In a letter to the UN secretary-general and president of the Security Council, Iranian UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani called for the Security Council to condemn Trump’s statements, while citing the Islamic Republic’s “inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security, and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”

“Iran will exercise its rights decisively and proportionately. The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation,” he said in the letter.


‘No indication’ menorah vandalism was hate crime, Los Angeles mayor says
Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, said on Saturday that she learned of a vandalism attack at City Hall on the evening of New Year’s Day.

The attacker “damaged a number of items on the second and third floors of City Hall, including windows, a glass display case, computer equipment and the Katowicz menorah, which was displayed in the third floor rotunda.”

“While there is no indication that the vandalism to the menorah was a hate crime, I was deeply disturbed that this historic menorah was damaged,” she said. “I personally called the Cunin family, who each year generously loan the menorah to City Hall and the people of Los Angeles, to inform them of the incident.”

Bass said that Los Angeles police officers arrested a suspect, who “is being evaluated for mental health concerns.”

The Los Angeles Police Department stated on Friday that its detectives arrested a suspect as part of its investigation of a felony vandalism at City Hall. Officers responded to reports of “extensive damage” to both the building’s interior and exterior at about 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 1, it stated.

“The suspect gained entry through the 1st Street entrance by breaking a locked glass door and proceeded to the third floor, where multiple areas—including the hallway and rotunda—were vandalized,” it said.

Officers took Jose Gonzalez Chavez into custody without incident after he had left the facility and booked him for felony vandalism, police said. Asked for more information about the degree to which the menorah was damaged, the LAPD told JNS that it couldn’t share more information “pending the filing of the case with the DA’s office.”




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