Tuesday, January 06, 2026

01/06 Links Pt2: The Question of Jewish Armed Self-Defense; The Maccabi Tel Aviv ban was a sop to Islamic sectarians; Ireland proves you don’t need Jews for anti-Semitism to take hold

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Question of Jewish Armed Self-Defense
A full investigation into the Bondi Beach failure, he said, might tell us which of several potential solutions, including arming the CSG, should be implemented: “It’s one of the reasons why we need a royal commission, to get the information [and] to provide it to government, so that we can make the changes to keep the community safe.”

Minns’s wording here is important. He called for a “royal commission,” which is the highest-level state inquest that Australia can initiate, and the one with the most far-reaching powers to gather evidence.

The very same day that Minns made these comments, a group representing families of 11 Bondi Beach victims released an open letter asking for a royal commission. Such a commission would not just investigate the attack but the overarching issue of Australia’s approach to combating anti-Semitism.

“We demand answers and solutions,” the families wrote. “We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes must be made to protect all Australians going forward. Announcements made so far by the federal government in response to the Bondi massacre are not nearly enough.”

Hard to argue with any of that. Unless, of course, you are Anthony Albanese. The prime minister announced that the investigation will be limited to the Australian security agencies and what was known about the suspects in the shootings. Valuable in its own right, surely, but as the Guardian’s chief political correspondent—yes, even the Guardian appeared disappointed in Albanese’s refusal to examine the question of anti-Semitism—wrote: “such a narrow inquiry is not a substitute for a commonwealth royal commission, with the powers it has to compel evidence and, just as crucially, the national public spotlight it commands to ensure accountability.”

This is a very important point. It is not only that there is very good reason for a royal commission here, but also that the very fact of an extended “public spotlight” on the problem would make it much more difficult for Australia’s political establishment to ignore. There is transparency that comes with any inquest conducted publicly into the state and its failings. The process itself would be part—only a minor part, to be sure—of the solution.

Albanese is plainly interested in avoiding full accountability. That, in itself, should answer Chris Minns’s question about arming the main Jewish security group. There are murmurings that Albanese can still be pressured into a royal commission. If he cannot, and if the national government refuses to protect its Jewish citizens, then the next best thing would surely be to enable the Jewish community, in partnership with the regional state government, to at least attempt to protect itself.
Understanding and Defeating the Assault on Jewish Moral Self-Confidence
A false conception based on underestimating and downplaying the enemy's intentions is the natural temptation of a peaceful people. The Jews of Poland, the most peaceable population imaginable, could not have imagined that the Germans intended to wipe them out. Yet Jews do ultimately respond to reality.

When it became too obvious to deny that they were marked for extermination, two Jewish underground organizations formed in the Warsaw ghetto. When the Germans entered the ghetto in 1943 to begin rounding up the remaining Jews and sending them to their deaths, the two organizations fought in an uprising that lasted from April 19 until May 16, the first urban anti-German uprising in Europe. They fought like lions.

The present war against Israel resembles the Nazi one in its aims and methods, and makes us realize how much the fate of the Jews remains subject to the depravity of others. Jews expected coexistence with the people around them. Jews do not aspire to expand territorially through conquest or demographically by evangelizing. But the nations they lived among were constituted very differently.

Coexistence requires reciprocity which cannot be willed into being. Ascribed where it does not exist, it invites escalating aggression of which the Hamas attack of October 7 is but the most recent demonstration. Hamas entrapped Israelis into the war they had done everything to avoid by surrendering Gaza in 2005.

Israel's enemies are the same forces that threaten America. This creates a congruence of loyalties. We are not in the position of American Muslims who may feel torn between the priorities of Mecca and Washington. The Hebraic roots and deepest values of America and Israel are one and the same.

All of America should be behind us, and the best already are. It is now our task to help reorient the rest. To keep being Jews in the world means to overcome our disappointment in the failings of our enemies, the cowardice of some of our friends, and the difficulties of resistance. To mobilize is the best way to overcome despair.
What Jews keep getting wrong about defending themselves
The British Broadcasting Corporation recently asked British Jews whether Israel’s actions in Gaza were responsible for the terrorist attack in Bondi, Australia. The watchdog organization CAMERA rightly criticized this absurd line of questioning. How could random Jews in London possibly bear responsibility for the tactical decisions of a government thousands of miles away, let alone for the heinous actions of a terrorist in yet another country?

Yet in our rush to defend ourselves against this inappropriate premise, the Jewish community often misses a deeper truth that lies at the heart of our identity: Jews around the world are responsible for one another.

This is the paradox that modern media discourse consistently fails to grasp, and one we as Jews sometimes struggle to articulate ourselves. The BBC’s question was wrong because it implicitly blamed Jews for terrorism. But the underlying assumption—that Jews in the United Kingdom are connected to Jews in Israel and Australia, or anywhere else, for that matter—is fundamentally correct, according to our own tradition.

The Talmud teaches us Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, “All of Israel are responsible for one another.” Jews don’t have the luxury of claiming we can simply wash our hands of each other’s welfare, even if we live in separate communities.

This doesn’t mean that British Jews are responsible for terrorist attacks or Israeli military strategy; it means that we’re called to care deeply about our fellow Jews everywhere, to feel their pain and share their struggles. The distinction matters, though it’s routinely lost in shallow social-media debates and cable-news soundbites.

This confusion extends to another common refrain heard from Jewish communities worldwide—that we just want to be left alone to live in peace and quiet. It’s a reasonable desire, even an understandable one. Yet history keeps proving it’s not an option available to us.

The book of Judges offers a haunting pattern: Whenever the text speaks of Jews living peacefully, “each person sitting under their fig tree or vine,” without unified purpose or centralized leadership, enemies inevitably rise up against us. Amalek first demonstrated this in the desert, attacking the newly freed Israelites not because of anything they had done, but because of who they were called to be.


Albanese govt Ministers avoiding royal commission ‘at all costs’, former Labor MP claims
Former Labor MP Michael Danby has claimed senior members of the Albanese government are seeking to avoid a Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack "at all costs".

After weeks of refusing calls to establish a Commonwealth probe, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared to soften his stance on Tuesday as he declined to rule out a backflip on the issue.

The shift came after a group of former Labor MPs party officials and unionists sent an open letter to Mr Albanese demanding he change course, adding to the groundswell of public support for a federal inquiry.

Mr Danby was among those who signed onto the letter and told Sky News others were following suit.

"I'm very pleased to tell you that it's now up to 25 (signatories) and more former members are putting their names to that petition calling for the government to do the Royal Commission," he said.

The former MP said pressure from inside the Labor Party was helping push the Prime Minister closer to announcing a Commonwealth probe.

"It ain't over till it's over," Mr Danby said.

"He hasn't shifted to agreeing to a royal commission yet, but the trend is in the right place.

“You saw some comments by (Jim) Chalmers and Mark Butler that would be ominous if I were in Albo's position, the public mood, that speech by Dawn Fraser cut to the heart.”

However, the former MP claimed "socialist left" members of Mr Albanese's cabinet still posed a major hurdle for those pushing for an inquiry.

Mr Danby noted the government had been slow to address the rising threat of antisemitism, singling out Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and arguing certain Ministers were "afraid" of what a royal commission could uncover about their approach to the issue.

"I understand there are some very bitter enders in the Cabinet who are in the socialist left who want to avoid this royal commission at all costs because of things that might come out," he said.

"This is a very different government than a normal Labor government. It's a socialist-left dominated Labor government.
The government ‘misunderstands terrorism’ in recent argument
Former Labor minister Mike Kelly argues that the government’s reasoning for not having a Royal Commission demonstrates they don’t understand the basic principles of terrorism.

“Comments like that really show that there is a lack of understanding,” Mr Kelly said.

“That to me signals a misunderstanding of how terrorism operates these days and the disaggregated nature of terrorism. How people are groomed, how people are recruited, how they’re given the ability to acquire weapons, how they’re empowered and able to develop improvised explosive devices.”


‘Should’ve been his first reaction’: Albanese torched for late Royal Commission U-turn
Sky News contributor Karalee Katsambanis discusses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent backflip on the potential for a Royal Commission into the Bondi Beach terror attack.

“This should have been amongst the first reactions of the prime minister, but as you say, he has now left, he’s not actually leading,” Ms Katsambanis told Sky News host James Morrow.

“How many more open letters need to be written for him to actually listen? He’s not interested.”




Police investigate anti-Israel artist over article attacking Bondi victims
New South Wales Police are investigating an anti-Israel artist after he published an article downplaying the Bondi terror attack and challenging the “innocence” of victims.

Children’s book author and illustrator Matt Chun’s January 1 newsletter and subsequent social media post, which shared excerpts of the lengthy piece, are now under review by authorities.

Sky News can also reveal the federal government agency which awarded Chun – whose real name is Matthew Jones - a lucrative taxpayer-funded grant in 2023 is currently seeking legal advice about whether that can be rescinded.

In the New Year’s diatribe titled: “We don’t mourn fascists”, NSW-based Chun describes the Chanukah celebration targeted in the December 14 attack as “an event hosted by the Zionist Jewish-supremacist organisation”.

He attacks the first victim identified in the massacre, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, as a “Zionist zealot”, and denigrates those who “impulsively mourned the loss of ‘innocent lives’.”

“Whiteness, Jewishness, and the backdrop of Bondi Beach were enough to bestow every person killed with default innocence and virtue,” Chun writes.

“This played directly into the hands of Zionists and their calculated media. As a result, few people would have known that the targeted event was the broad-daylight celebration of a violent supremacist organisation deeply complicit in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.”

An Instagram post sharing excerpts of the article was reshared 427 times and liked by more than 4000 accounts.


Suspect arrested in Melbourne arson of vehicle with Hanukkah billboard
A suspect in the arson of a Melbourne vehicle with a Hanukkah billboard was arrested by the Victoria Police on Tuesday, law enforcement announced.

Suspect John Argento was arrested on a Richmond street without incident following the identification of the 47-year-old as a person of interest a day after the December 25 fire.

Argento was charged with six counts of arson, six counts of theft, two counts of attempted theft from a vehicle, one count of theft from a vehicle, three counts of obtaining property by deception, burglary, and theft. He was set to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Police had previously described Argento as a man believed to be living a “transient lifestyle” in the inner southern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. Suspect in arson had outstanding warrant

Argento was known to the police, having an outstanding warrant for deception-related offenses. He was also wanted for breaching another vehicle several minutes prior to the arson.

No one was inside the vehicle when it was set ablaze, but a woman and three children were evacuated from the residence as a precaution.

The incident has raised fear among the Australian Jewish community, following in the heels of the December 14 Bondi Beach massacre.

“This is a continuation of the daily fear the Jewish community has had to live in for the past two years, and even more so after Bondi,” The Jewish Community Council of Victoria said in a statement in the aftermath of the arson.
Government faces mounting pressure from peers to proscribe Muslim Brotherhood
The leading Conservative peer Lord Godson has challenged the government to follow in the footsteps of the United States and other key allies by starting steps to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood organisation.

Godson, an influential voice on security and foreign affairs, known for his work at the helm of the Policy Exchange think tank, questioned in the Lords whether the UK Government had assessed the White House’s statement last November about designating certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist organisations, and asked if the UK would adopt a similar policy.

Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Jewish News that his government is keeping the Muslim Brotherhood under “very close review” amid mounting calls for it to be banned in this country.Keir Starmer vows to confront the Islamist extremist threat to UK Jews

In Monday’s debate Home Office minister Lord Flint emphasised that all threats are kept under review and that the Government works with relevant partners to ensure national security, while the long-standing position of not commenting on intelligence or specific proscription considerations remained.

During the debate, Tory peer Baroness Cash noted that the Prime Minister himself has made a statement to lawyers Adam Wagner KC and Adam Rose over his “absolute commitment” to expand the UK’s sanctions regime, as reported by Jewish News.Starmer gave ‘absolute’ pledge to widen Hamas-linked sanctions, lawyers reveal

“The disclosure has gone beyond the public statements from that Minister and referred to targeting organisations around Hamas and organisations like Hamas. Of course, we know that Hamas has described itself as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood,” added Cash.


Jake Simons: The Maccabi Tel Aviv ban was a sop to Islamic sectarians
For me, one clip says it all. There sat a clammy-looking Craig Guildford, beleaguered chief constable of West Midlands Police, addressing the camera with all the joie de vivre of a hostage appearing in a proof-of-life video.

‘Salam alaikum’, he said, addressing Birmingham’s Muslim community in August 2024, his nerves – or else his general dimwittery – showing in his mangled pronunciation. ‘Thank you to the leaders and elders [who] have afforded me this opportunity to speak to you personally.’

Wait, what? Who’s in charge here? It shouldn’t be for the chief constable to grovel before ‘leaders and elders’ for allowing him to address the citizens who pay his wages. We are a liberal democracy, not a tribal society. Or at least we used to be.

Welcome to the results of Britain’s decades-long experiment with the benighted doctrine of multiculturalism, which has led to the Balkanisation of great swathes of the country along sectarian lines.

In the old days, every citizen was equal in the eyes of the law, to be policed even-handedly, without fear or favour. Today, however, especially in parts of the land dominated by Muslim populations, officers must engage with self-appointed ‘leaders and elders’, who tend to show all the hallmarks of insularity and fundamentalism. In fact, they often act remarkably like members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that in Birmingham, Yorkshire and elsewhere, the mullahs now call the shots. Consider, for instance, the municipal Christmas tree that was erected in the centre of Bradford last year. Well, I say Christmas tree: the authorities saw fit to rename it a ‘multicultural tree’, which was supposedly a ‘symbol of the amazing way in which the city of Bradford and district positively embrace diversity’.

The tone of the (badly punctuated) apologia pegged to the side of the fern was nothing short of emetic. The tree ‘stands for the many communities and businesses that live and work together’, it pleaded. ‘In a world often divided, the tree symbolises our united city of Bradford, the baubles represent our people and businesses and shows the true power of an inclusive city’ (sic).

I think I just did a little sick. The thing felt like one long grovel, seemingly designed to beg the local Muslim population to indulge the presence of a non-Islamic tradition – shorn of all its Christian significance – on their territory. (Ironically, Bradford is 33.4 per cent Christian, according to the last Census, and only 30.5 per cent Muslim, yet the smaller of those groups seems to wear the trousers.)

Could you imagine the boys in blue striking such a subservient position towards any other minority in Britain? Sikhs, maybe? Jews? Buddhists? Me neither. Which brings us back to the West Midlands, the dysfunctional societal soup in which bobs the obsequious and flaccid dumpling of Craig Guildford, who surely cannot possibly hang on to his position much longer.
Police knew of local community plan to ‘arm themselves’ for Maccabi Tel Aviv game, MPs are told
West Midlands Police chiefs have infuriated a parliamentary committee by failing to disclose to MPs that intelligence gained in September last year showed that “elements” of the local community in the region wanted to “arm themselves” and target visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

After being recalled to face questions from the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday, police chiefs were asked why they had not previously revealed that fear of attacks on Israeli fans had influenced the decision to ban Maccabi fans from the Europa League game against Aston Villa last November.

Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara said: “We got a lot of information, intelligence to suggest that people were going to actively seek out Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and would seek violence towards them.

“So we had sort of like a bubbling position locally.”

Minutes and documents, previously denied a public airing, were published under Freedom of Information and via MPs in the past few days.

Among them was a rapid review of the West Midlands force’s recommendation by another force’s chief constable.

It confirmed that from as early as September, 5 police had picked up intelligence that “elements of the community in the West Midlands (were) wanting to ‘arm’ themselves” in connection to the match.

By September 18, they had ‘high confidence intelligence regarding a serious threat’. Neither threat is detailed in the publicly released documents.

As police were grilled again by MPs, “vigilante groups” from the local community posed a threat to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans when it decided to ban them from an away game at Aston Villa in Birmingham, the committee was told.


Ireland proves you don’t need Jews for anti-Semitism to take hold
This whole interchange is instructive because it is typical of those – not only in in Ireland but elsewhere – who claim not to be anti-Semitic and yet have a singular fixation on Israel, accusing it, uniquely, of the worst crimes known to humanity. This dissonance is partly explained by people having very different definitions of what anti-Semitism actually is. But that is only part of the explanation.

An essential feature of anti-Semitism is its shape-shifting nature over time. False accusations of collective guilt against Jews, have been central to anti-Semitism for centuries. The first was simple anti-Judaism, based on antipathy to the Jews as “Christ killers”. The second was “classical” anti-Semitism, a race-based hatred exemplified by the Nazis.

More recently, Israelis are characterised as settler-colonialists who, like earlier American and Australian settlers, are charged with an innate compulsion to eliminate indigenous peoples. This has a particular sectarian significance in Ireland – where the descendants of Protestant settlers who arrived in Ireland in the 17th century are still sometimes dismissed contemptuously as “planters”.

The iterations may be different, but the underlying impulse is the same – casting Jews as the enemy and using the moral language of the time, whether it is religion, race, or human rights, to justify the accusation. For these reasons, anti-Semitism is the hatred that never dies.

A century ago, James Joyce exposed Ireland’s unconvincing disavowal of anti-Semitism in his masterpiece, Ulysses. In Leopold Bloom, Joyce, an Irish Catholic, created one of the most enduring Jewish characters in modern English literature.

In Ulysses, anti-Semitism is a recurring motif that is woven into the fabric of the novel which, as the novelist Howard Jacobson has pithily observed, erupts with “unexpected savagery from time to time”.

One such instance is where the schoolteacher and anti-Semite Mr Deasy explains; “Ireland, they say, has the honour of being the only country which never persecuted the Jews … and do you know why? She never let them in. That’s why.”

The implications of Joyce’s words are obvious. It wasn’t the absence of motivation that made Ireland a non-persecutor of the Jews, it was the absence of opportunity.

In a similar manner, the existence of fewer than 2,000 Jews in Ireland today hasn’t deterred the anti-Semitic paint-daubers of “bandit country”.


Guess who allegedly taught that Zionism is a mental illness? A leader in America’s top psychology body
Dr. Julie Ancis, Distinguished Professor of Informatics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and President of Psychologists Against Antisemitism, recalled 2016, when her counselling psychology division at APA “adopted the original Black Lives Matter statement, which included . . . characterising Israel as an ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocidal state’ while promoting BDS.” Jewish members’ concerns “were dismissed,” and it became clear that “Jewish perspectives within the organisation’s leadership were effectively marginalised, save for those who agreed with an anti-Israel viewpoint.”

“Since then, antisemitism and the dismissal of Jewish concerns have become more embedded within APA, manifesting both overtly and subtly in everything from official statements to conference presentations to official Continuing Education credits,” Ancis told me. “Post-October 7th, things have only gotten worse with statements accusing Israel of colonialism, apartheid, and genocide and no sympathy whatsoever to the victims of October 7th. . . Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, statements, and actions have been normalised.”

“We are no longer talking about isolated ideological disagreements,” Bar-Halpern observed. “We’re talking about real clinical harms playing out in training, practice, and scholarship. Jewish clinicians and clients are reporting traumatic invalidation,” meaning “Jewish pain and fear are minimised, dismissed, or erased rather than held with empathy and care. For Jewish therapists, this has meant colleagues reacting with silence, denial, or even scorn when they share their own trauma or research . . . because of who they are. Jewish clients describing fear of antisemitism have been met with comments like ‘you can always leave’ or have their distress reframed through political lenses instead of being validated, and in some situations they were actually fired. . . . Some clinicians have lost patients and referrals due to being named as Zionists.”

“This moment is driven by the collapse of boundaries between activism and clinical science,” Bar-Halpern continued. “When a field dedicated to healing cannot clearly name antisemitism, it risks losing its ethical compass: trading evidence and care for ideology, and compassion for silence.”

Ancis hopes Congress’ investigation inspires at least these six changes: 1. Enforce APA’s “inclusive language” standards “for all minoriticed groups.” 2. “Return to the science of psychology.” 3. “Address antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric in APA-affiliated forums and official communications.” 4. “Monitor professional training,” so “material harmful to Jewish people” isn’t used. 5. “Investigate and implement clear consequences for substantiated violations of APA’s ethical principles regarding discrimination.” 6. Provide “sound leadership training on Jews, Jewish history, antisemitism, and culturally responsive approaches to working with Jewish clients.”

Important work awaits Congress in 2026. APA faces serious allegations. The organisation was due to submit to Congress relevant documentation by January 2, and that will inform Congress’ response. However the Committee proceeds, a functional, non-discriminatory health care system, including mental health care, is a must. And right now, it’s not so clear that America has that.
Rector of Glasgow University denies antisemitism accusations
The Rector of the University of Glasgow has denied at a hearing before medical watchdogs accusations of antisemitism and supporting Hamas in social media posts and a newspaper article.

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic surgeon and prominent Palestinian activist, appeared on Tuesday before a Fitness to Practice panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in Manchester.

The Kuwaiti-born medic, who did medical training at the University of Glasgow, and lives in London with his wife and three sons, claimed he had been racially profiled as “inherently violent” because he is a Palestinian and Arab and blamed a Jewish group for trying to “destroy” his life.

He also appeared to suggest his appearance on misconduct charges was politically motivated.

Dr Abu-Sitta suggested anyone who knew the “nuance” of Arabic language and culture would understand he was not being antisemitic or advocating for violence or terrorism.

The tribunal was told the doctor was attending after flying in from Lebanon where he was treating “war wounded,” his lawyer Zac Sammour, told the hearing.

Dr Abu-Sitta denies all the allegations.

The hearing was told about two tweets from the medic in 2023 and an article he wrote for a Lebanese newspaper, Al Akhbar, in March 2018.

In the article, the medic wrote about the “martyrdom” of Ahmad Nasr Jarrar, a “hero” of the Nablus operation, saying: “The people have no weapon left but revolutionary violence.”

Jarra was believed to be a member of Hamas and suspected of orchestrating an operation where a rabbi was killed in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank city of Nablus.


Preliminary police probe finds bus driver was attacked before fatally running over Haredi teen
A preliminary police investigation found that the bus driver in Jerusalem was attacked by rioters who were blocking the road before he fatally ran over an ultra-Orthodox teenager and wounded several others, according to the force.

The driver was arrested at the scene by officers, according to a police statement, which says he was brought in for questioning to determine “the circumstances of the incident.”

“The Israel Police stresses that violent rioting, blocking traffic arteries and attacking vehicles cross a red line, endanger lives and could end in great tragedy,” says the statement.


Palestinian embassy opens in London
The Palestinian embassy in London was officially inaugurated Monday, with envoy Husam Zomlot calling its establishment a “profound milestone in the British-Palestinian relations” as the former Palestinian Mission gained full embassy status with diplomatic privileges.

The United Kingdom recognized the “State of Palestine” in September 2025, joining Australia and Canada.

“This is not merely a change of name … it is a change of direction” toward Palestinian statehood, Zomlot said at a ceremony in the Hammersmith district of West London.

U.K. diplomatic representative Alistair Harrison called it “the beginning of a step change in our bilateral relationship.”

The British Foreign Ministry did not immediately say whether it would open an embassy in Ramallah, which serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian Authority.


Not for Gaza, but for Iran: Protesters reject regime’s global proxy wars
For a week, the Islamic Republic has tried to tell itself, and the world, that the protests in Iran are merely about the price of the dollar. They are wrong.

As the shutters rolled down in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar in protest, a different sound rose up from the universities and the streets of Isfahan, Mashhad, Qom, Kermanshah, and Hamadan. It was not a cry for subsidies. It was a chant for the death of the Islamic Republic and the return of Pahlavi.

Cautious Western observers are mislabeling the protests rocking Iran today as "economic riots." While the trigger was indeed the rial’s catastrophic freefall, decimating the life savings of millions overnight, the fuel is something far more combustible: a decade of accumulated revolutionary demand.

The distinction between "economic grievances" and "political demands" in Iran has been dead for a decade now. When protesters in Delijan set fire to the statue of Qasem Soleimani on the very anniversary of his death, chanting “This is the final battle, Pahlavi will return,” they are not negotiating for lower bread prices.

They are burning the regime’s most sacred icons and rejecting its right to exist.

This uprising marks a critical evolution from the protests of 2017, 2019, and 2022. Today, the merchant and the student are marching in lockstep, joined by Iranians from diverse backgrounds across 100 cities and towns so far.


'They chose the wrong person': German antisemitism commissioner speaks out after arson attack
An overnight arson attack that happened this weekend, on the private home of the State of Brandenburg’s Commissioner for Combating Antisemitism, Andreas Büttner, marks a chilling escalation in Germany’s ongoing struggle against rising antisemitism.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Büttner recounted how he awoke shortly after 3:20 a.m. to the sound of shattering glass. He had fallen asleep in a chair downstairs rather than in his bedroom - a coincidence he now describes as lifesaving.

“I saw damage to the front door and an unusual light,” Büttner said. Moving to another room, he realized that a second building on his property, just meters from the family home, had been set ablaze. “From that moment on, I knew something was very wrong.”

With his children asleep in the house, Büttner ordered them to stay in their rooms while he contacted the police and the fire department. His eldest son attempted to contain the flames until firefighters arrived minutes later.

“Five minutes later, it could have been a completely different story,” he said. “If the fire had reached the main building, we may not have been able to leave through the door. We would have had to escape through windows - if we could escape at all.”
Putin establishes Soviet genocide memorial day, erasing Jewish victims of Nazis

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week establishing April 19 as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People perpetrated by the Nazis and their accomplices during World War II – without ever mentioning Jews or Jewish victims.

The draft law for the Day of Remembrance was developed by Russia’s State Duma Committee on Defence in November 2025. April 19 was proposed as the date as on April 19, 1943, the first legal act was issued that officially documented the Nazis’ policy of exterminating civilians in Nazi-occupied territories (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 39).

Decree No. 39 went on to form the legal foundation for bringing to justice Nazi criminals and their accomplices, including Italian, Romanian, Hungarian, and Finnish military personnel.

Russian erasure of Jewish Holocaust victims
State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, who proposed the bill, said it is Russia’s duty to preserve the memory of the “feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who saved the whole world from the Nazis” and not “let others forget the truth about the atrocities of the Nazis and the heroism of the Soviet people.”

“Millions of civilians were killed, burned alive, tortured in concentration camps by the occupation. Not a single country during the Second World War suffered such sacrifices that fell to the lot of the Soviet people,” he added.

“April 19 serves as a reminder to the whole world of the need to do everything to ensure that genocide never and nowhere is repeated,” the explanatory note published on the website of the lower house of parliament says.
‘Neo-Nazi’ group ‘targeting Jewish areas’ as members prepare for ‘race war’
A “neo-Nazi” group that is preparing for a “race war” unfurled anti-Zionist banners above British roads while training its members across the UK in combat, the JC can reveal.

Vanguard Britannica, an antisemitic fascist organisation, has been using slickly edited videos to recruit members – some of whom campaigners say go on to target Jewish areas.

In promotional footage shared by the group, masked men can be seen brawling in fields and taking part in topless kickboxing. Other clips set to dramatic music show masked men in combat gear, stamped with the group’s nationalist insignia.

Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, which has been monitoring Vanguard Britannica, characterised the group as a “Neo-Nazi” organisation, saying: “The group uses overtly fascist imagery, including sticker campaigns featuring an axe and fasces, or a bundle of rods, the same symbolism evoked by Italian fascists in the 1920s.

The group has held sessions in London, East Anglia, the Midlands and Scotland.

Campaigners say Vanguard Britannica has deliberately targeted areas with large Jewish communities.

One message shared to its channel shows members hoisting a Saint George's Cross onto a lamppost in Barnet.

“Nationalist youth affiliated with Vanguard Britannica have been spotted,” the message reads, before stating in capital letter: “Our blood, our nation, start reimigration! [sic]”

Information about the group’s activities have also been shared in the National Socialist Youth group, an antisemitic organisation that uses a swastika for its group’s profile picture on Telegram.

A pinned message in the Vanguard Britannica Telegram group titled “Brotherhood shall break our chains!” described a training session in Cambridge.

Members are seen learning how to fight on Jesus Green in central Cambridge. Afterwards, the group said it completed “banner drops”, which included a banner stretched across a main road declaring: “Britons reject Zionist wars.”
Apprentice contestant sent racist social media posts, medical tribunal hears
A former contestant on TV show The Apprentice sent a string of antisemitic, racist and sexist posts on social media, a medical tribunal has heard.

Dr Asif Munaf is said to have posted and reposted the “seriously offensive” comments from his X account @DrAsifOfficial on various dates between October 2023 and last July.

He appeared on the 2024 edition of the BBC series fronted by business tycoon Lord Sugar.

On Monday the General Medical Council (GMC) outlined the misconduct allegations against the doctor who is registered under his full name Mohammed Asif Munaf.

Among the antisemitic posts, said the GMC, was one in which he wrote: “You only have to go to North London to see the Jewish love for a bakery. Lots of bagel shops and many of them very nice with great coffee. Does the obsession with baking and ovens explain the uncontested and unproven claims of 6 million Jews and 40 beheaded babies in ovens?”

Dr Munaf also posted: “9/11 wasn’t an inside job. Let’s call it for what it really is. A Jewish job.”

Another message from his account read: “Zionists are extremely strong. They have strong media, military and banking. They are godless satanic cult…”, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing was told.

He is also said to have reposted a comment which stated: “Israel is not a Jewish state, Israel is a Nazi state. Zionism is not Judaism, Zionism is Nazism. Zionists are not Jews. Zionists are today’s Nazis.”

Harriet Tighe, lawyer for the GMC, said the original posting was accompanied by an image of a flag which showed the Star of David above a swastika.


Israeli fencers win gold in Abu Dhabi and Switzerland
Israel hailed a double gold in international fencing after its women’s team won in Abu Dhabi and its men’s squad captured gold in Switzerland, the Jewish state’s official X account said on Monday.​

The social media post praised the results as a landmark for the national program and an inspiring start to 2026 for the country’s fencers.

“So proud of our athletes and their remarkable achievements!” the post read.

Team Israel also congratulated Noa Szőllős on Monday after she earned Israel’s first-ever World Cup points in alpine skiing, in the slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, calling it “history made on the slopes” and praising her breakthrough achievement.​

The Jewish state is excelling at fencing, securing an 11th place finish out of 46 in the men’s team épée at last summer’s World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Israel’s under-23 fencing team won the gold medal at the European Fencing Championship in Estonia in April.
Ancient ritual bath uncovered beneath Western Wall Plaza
A mikveh bearing ash remains testifying to the destruction of the Second Temple has been discovered during excavations conducted beneath the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem, with archaeologists heralding the discovery as a reminder of the religious focus of the city dating back millennia.

The ritual bath was discovered as part of work undertaken by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation beneath the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem. Rectangular in shape, it measures 3.05 meters in length, 1.35 meters in width, and 1.85 meters in height. Hewn into the bedrock with plastered walls, four steps lead down into the mikveh, found sealed beneath a layer dated to the year 70 CE, together with numerous pottery and stone vessels.

Researchers believe the mikveh served the Jews who lived in the area as well as the many pilgrims who frequented the site and the Temple.

The ritual purification bath (mikveh) from the Second Temple period. Photo – Ari Levy – Israel Antiquities Authority.

Ari Levy, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: “Jerusalem should be remembered as a Temple city. Many aspects of daily life were adapted to this reality, and this is reflected especially in the meticulous observance of the laws of ritual impurity and purity by the city’s residents and leaders.”

Referring to the newly discovered carriers, he adds: “The reasons for using stone vessels are halakhic, rooted in the recognition that stone, unlike pottery and metal vessels, does not contract ritual impurity. As a result, stone vessels could be used over long periods and repeatedly.”


travelingisrael.com: Israel Travel Guide - Your trip to Israel starts here!
If you’re planning a trip to Israel, this is the place to start. In this video, I explain everything you need to know — money, how to plan your trip, essential tips, and more.


Here I Am Being Jewish | Actor, Singer and Podcast Host Jonah Platt
In this episode, host Shai Davidai sits down with actor, advocate, and podcast host Jonah Platt for a heartfelt conversation about Jewish identity, community, and advocacy. Jonah shares his personal journey growing up in a deeply Jewish family, the importance of intentionality in passing down Jewish values, and how he fosters a sense of belonging and pride in his own children. The discussion explores generational shifts in Jewish identity, the challenges young Jews face in balancing tradition with modern social circles, and the complexities of supporting Israel in today’s climate. Jonah also reflects on his experiences hosting the “Being Jewish” podcast, memorable guests, and the lessons he’s learned about celebrating Jewish diversity and humanity. The episode wraps up with rapid-fire questions, touching on family, hope, and the importance of giving back. This is an inspiring and thoughtful episode about embracing identity, fostering community, and leading with curiosity and compassion

Guest: Jonah Platt
00:00 - Introduction
00:57 - What kind of a Jew are you?
04:58 - Did October 7th change how you present being Jewish in your home?
06:52 - What role did being Jeiwhs play in your childhood?
09:38 - Have you ever felt a need to push away from Judaism?
11:24 - Why do young Jews push away from Judaism?
17:55 - What does the future for these young Jews look like?
22:53 - How would you respond to push back on your baises?
24:38 - When do you get angry?
27:49 - Why did you start your podcast?
34:16 - What are some memorable moments from your podcast?
37:33 - Who would be your dream guest?
38:10 - Being raised in "Jewish Hollywood"
40:06 - What are obstacles for Jews in the entertainment industry when being outwardly Jewish
41:31 - Is there any guest you wouldn't have on your show?
46:40 - Would you publicly call someone out for going against their own family?
49:35 - What lessons have you learnt about being Jewish?
54:39 - Lightning Round






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PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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