Wednesday, January 14, 2026

01/14 Links Pt1: How the Islamic Republic terrorised Iran – and the world; Why do they march for Gaza, but not Iran?; Witkoff announces start of Phase 2 of Gaza peace plan

From Ian:

How the Islamic Republic terrorised Iran – and the world
For all the phoney ‘anti-imperialists’ who have occasionally simped for the Islamic Republic, seeing it as some exotic bulwark against Western hegemony, it has long pursued its own Islamist imperialism across the Middle East. Hezbollah was founded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard following Israel’s incursion into Lebanon in 1982, and has been charged with menacing the Jewish State ever since. In the late-1980s, Iran courted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Their full genocidal ambitions burst into the open on 7 October 2023, when they raped and murdered their way through southern Israel, to the rapturous approval of Tehran. Shia militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen complete Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, pitted against America and the Jews – now brought low by Israeli and American bombs during the Gaza War, and by the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, who had hosted its militants.

Beyond Tehran’s direct sponsorship of terror – which has extended into the West, too – the success of the Iranian Revolution became a symbol that the future belonged to political Islam. That another, barbaric world was possible. The Islamic Republic may have been a Shiite state, but insurgent Sunni groups took much inspiration from it, too. Ten months after the revolution, Sunni Islamists occupied the Grand Mosque of Mecca, hoping to unseat a Saudi monarchy they saw as corrupted by the West and a Saudi clergy they saw as quietist and insufficiently Islamic. In turn, as Ali Ansari and Kasra Aarabi have noted, Khomeini’s efforts to spread the revolution, to stake a claim as the leader of a new global, Islamic vanguard, accelerated Saudi efforts to export its own Wahhabi ideology, ‘nurtur[ing] the rise of Sunni fundamentalism from Africa to the Far East’. We can also credit the ayatollah with effectively globalising anti-blasphemy violence, when he issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie on Valentine’s Day 1989, calling on Muslims the world over to murder the offending author.

Over five decades of infamy, the Islamic Republic has been a menace to life, limb and liberty far beyond Iran’s borders. What a moment for the world it would be if it were to fall.
Seth Mandel: Anti-America, Anti-Israel, and Anti-Knowledge
Jewish Insider has a fun scoop today that illustrates one of the iron laws of Western debate over the Middle East: The more knowledgeable one is on the subject, the more supportive of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship one is likely to be.

For example, U.S. aid to Israel is actually an economic stimulus program for American domestic manufacturers in defense-related industries. As a bonus, some hardware gets field tested in scenarios in which all of the risk is borne by Israel.

As a result, some of the maintenance of the U..S-led world order is offloaded to a capable ally while creating jobs here at home and keeping research and development humming along.

You can support this or you can oppose it, but this is what is meant by “U.S. aid to Israel.”

Yet opponents of U.S. military aid to Israel usually say things like “Americans are poor because the Zionist Occupied Government is sending their money to Jews abroad” rather than discuss the merits of actual policy, which is the opposite of sending Americans’ money away.

But because the arrangement is so beneficial to America, President Trump was shocked by the suggestion that U.S. policy would be influenced by these idiots. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to base defense manufacturing in Israel so as to defang the “aid” talking point among pundits who are far more influential in this debate than their range of knowledge would suggest they should be.

“When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed winding down U.S. military aid late last year,” Jewish Insider reports, “President Donald Trump was bewildered and did not immediately support the move.”

The president’s attitude seems to be: If a bunch of so-called America-first illiterates want to sabotage American defense manufacturing, they should just be ignored. To wit: “Trump could not understand why Netanyahu would propose ending American military aid to Israel and disagrees that the move would improve U.S. public opinion on the Jewish state, one source familiar with the president’s perspective told JI. He is skeptical that the plan would benefit either country, but is also not dismissing it out of hand, they said.”
From aid to alliance: Why Israeli leaders say ending US military assistance is long overdue
The Heritage plan calls for a 19-year phaseout, but Flesch said he wasn’t surprised to learn of the 10-year timeframe proposed by Netanyahu. “There were people on the Israeli side who were saying, ‘You’re being much too generous. Let’s end it sooner,” he said.

Partly driving the timing of the push are changing attitudes among Americans, including conservatives, regarding Israel. Harvard-Harris and Pew Research Center Polls show declining support for the Jewish state among younger Americans.

“We did this largely recognizing that on the U.S. side of the ledger, there were issues with U.S. support toward Israel, largely on the Democratic side, but obviously a little bit on the Republican side,” said Flesch. “Our assessment was it is time now with the renegotiation on the MOU to take into account these shifting domestic political dynamics and concerns.”

Despite supporting an end to military aid, Gideon Israel, of the Jerusalem-Washington Center, stressed that the growing American opposition to aid, including among young conservatives, can only be described as a “colossal Israeli public relations failure.”

“The fact that in America it’s seen as a charity is a failure by multiple prime ministers to explain that this is a great deal for America. All they’ve done is say, ‘Thank you,’ reinforcing the impression that it’s a handout,” he said. “And so we shouldn’t be surprised by a situation where everybody thinks it’s a waste of money and that Israel is a parasite.”

He described Israel as both a marketing and R&D department for American weaponry, boosting U.S. arms sales globally while also improving them. When Israel buys and successfully uses advanced U.S. weapons, such as the F-35, and takes out Russian and Chinese-made equipment, it proves their superiority, prompting other countries to buy them, he said.

“What they call ‘aid’ is pumped back into the America economy many times over,” he continued. “Yet, the only one who over the years has really talked about the benefits the U.S. received was Yoram Ettinger. He was an island in the sea.”

Ettinger said, “It’s true that I don’t hear anyone among Israel’s top policy makers or top diplomats in the U.S. educating Americans on the fact that this is the best-ever investment made by the United States, with a return on investment well over 1,000% year in and year out.”

When Israel first received the F-35 in 2018, it was a troubled aircraft with technical deficiencies, he noted. Israel quickly resolved those issues, “not because we are so smart, but because of the challenges facing Israel, which force us to upgrade any system which we receive from the United States.” Israeli F-35I Adir jets fly in formation. Photo by 1st Lt. Erik D. Anthony/U.S. Air Force.

It is well documented that Israel’s version of the F-35, called the “Adir,” includes extended range and significantly upgraded capabilities, including electronic warfare systems to counter Russian and Iranian air defense systems, which Israel has shared with the United States.

According to Defense.Info, in its June 14, 2025 issue: “Pentagon officials have acknowledged that Israel’s experience provides valuable insights into sustaining F-35 operations during high-intensity conflict.”

On Jan. 7, Lockheed Martin reported a record-breaking year for the F-35 program, delivering 191 F-35s, beating the previous delivery record of 142.


The West’s activists love tyrants – as long as they hate America and Israel
There is something obscene about watching the reaction in the West to the fall of Nicolás Maduro. As soon as the regime collapsed and the tyrant was apprehended, the usual suspects, far removed from the consequences of his brutal and oppressive rule, reached for the same, sadly predictable language. Sovereignty, imperialism, colonialism, U.S. aggression, international law. The response was automatic, confident, and entirely detached from the criminal reality Venezuelans had lived with for decades.

Ordinary Venezuelans responded differently. For many, Maduro’s removal marked the end of a regime that had delivered economic collapse, repression, violence and mass poverty. In stark contrast to reactions from Western so-called “activists”, relief was visible. There were celebrations, albeit tempered by caution and shaped by exhaustion. After years of ruin, what mattered was not abstract legal theory or procedural argument, but the possibility of change.

Venezuela was once the wealthiest country in South America. But the country was taken apart piece by piece. Under Hugo Chávez, power tightened, institutions bent, and loyalty replaced competence. Nicolás Maduro upped the ante. Repression became open and unapologetic. Corruption became the organising principle of the state. Violence and intimidation seeped into daily life. Wages lost all meaning, public services collapsed, food and medicine became scarce, and families were torn apart as millions left in search of survival. Today, roughly seventy per cent of Venezuelans live in poverty.

A “Better Way”

The Bolivarian Revolution was sold to the world as a socialist project for the poor and a defiant stand against American power and arrogance. In practice, Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, seized control of the state, removed every obstacle in their way, crushed political rivals, and turned courts, media and elections into tools of power.

They gutted the economy through corruption, incompetence and criminal activity, ruled through intimidation and violence, and drove Venezuela into collapse. Shortages of food and medicine became normal, poverty spread, and millions felt forced to flee. What emerged bore no resemblance to people-power or democracy, only the familiar architecture of authoritarian rule wrapped in revolutionary language.

Yet that language proved irresistible to much of the Western left, who embraced the revolution with the same zeal earlier generations once reserved for the Soviet Union.
Jonathan Tobin: Why do they march for Gaza, but not Iran? Still, there’s more to it than just that stale and intellectually vapid ideological construct. The “horseshoe” effect, in which the far left and the far right unite in their antisemitism, is at play when it comes to Iran as much as it is about Gaza.

Anti-Israel extremists on both the left and right are speaking out against any help for the protest movement in Iran. The likes of journalists Max Blumenthal, Glenn Greenwald and Ali Abunimah say they oppose the protests because the demonstrators’ foreign sympathizers just want a pro-Israel government in Tehran. That misses the point. Of course, many people in the West would prefer a government that wasn’t the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. But apologists ignore the fact that one of the reasons why Iranians want to overthrow their Islamist tyrants is because the regime has squandered its country’s resources in its frenzy to build a nuclear bomb to obliterate the Jewish state. And that’s despite the fact that Israel and Iran have no real reason to be in conflict other than because of the mullahs’ antisemitic obsessions.

As seen in recent months, the obsessive hatred for Israel on the part of a certain segment of right-wing opinion also leads those who take this position to be supportive of anyone who claims to be an anti-Zionist, even if that leads them to back some of the most anti-American regimes and people in the world.

It’s no accident that former Fox News host and current podcaster Tucker Carlson has been adamant about opposing American efforts to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon or efforts on the part of the Trump administration to support anti-regime protesters. The same is true of former Trump staffer turned extremist podcaster Steve Bannon and neo-Nazi “groyper” leader Nick Fuentes.

Though these people claim to be American patriots and believers in an “America First” or “America Only” foreign policy, they oppose efforts by the Trump administration to rein in and stop a regime that has killed Americans and views the United States as the “great Satan,” regardless of its position on Israel.

The only thing that brings them into agreement with the left on Iran is the fact that the Tehran theocrats hate Israel.

There’s no way to look at this issue that doesn’t inevitably lead back to an age-old hatred.

As with other global struggles, antisemites on both ends of the political spectrum are never going to care about a conflict in which neither side is Jewish. As for Iran, its radical oppressors not only support efforts at Jewish genocide but spend enormous sums on terrorist groups and a nuclear program with which that evil objective could be accomplished—money its population never sees.

Under those circumstances, it is to be expected that the same crowd who write, rally and virtue-signal their anguish about Palestinians will be utterly indifferent to the plight of Iranian victims at the hands of Islamists. The explanation isn’t merely ideology or hypocrisy. It can be summed up on one basis: Jew-hatred.

Iran temporarily closes airspace, Western military official says signals show US attack 'imminent'
Iran closed its airspace early on Thursday morning, issuing a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission, as Western military officials say US military action in the country is "imminent."

Flight tracker websites showed the airspace over Iran and Iraq emptying rapidly prior to the NOTAM's issuing. The prohibition was scheduled to last a little over two hours and end at around 2:30 a.m. Israel time, but was later extended to 5:30 a.m. Israel time.

India's largest airline, IndiGo, said some of its international flights were impacted by Iran's sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia's Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.

"All the signals are that a US attack is imminent, but that is also how this administration behaves to keep everyone on their toes. Unpredictability is part of the strategy," a Western military official told Reuters later on Wednesday.

Shortly before the NOTAM was issued, US President Donald Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office, in which he said he was told that the killings in Iran were "stopping."

When asked if the US was still considering military action, Trump answered, "We're going to watch and see what the process is."


Witkoff announces start of Phase 2 of Gaza peace plan
Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, announced the start of Phase 2 of the Trump administration’s 20-point Gaza peace plan on Wednesday.

This phase is intended to shift “from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance and reconstruction” of Hamas and Gaza.

“Phase 2 establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, and begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel,” Witkoff said.

“The United States expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations, including the immediate return of the final deceased hostage,” he said. “Failure to do so will bring serious consequences.”

The text of the 20-point plan called for all living and deceased hostages to be released within 72 hours of its announcement in September and an amnesty for all “Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons” once “all hostages are returned.”

The body of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old staff sergeant in an Israel Police special patrol unit who was killed in action on Oct. 7, is still being held in Gaza, reportedly by Islamic Jihad.

The transition plan for Gaza includes the creation of a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” that will be “responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza” and a Board of Peace, chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump, which will supervise the committee.

The Palestinian Authority announced its support for the technocratic committee on Wednesday.


Israel’s 53% victory in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly declared that the war’s objective was to eliminate Hamas. Israel failed. Whether one believes it was always unrealistic or was cut short by U.S. pressure, the result is undeniable—Hamas survives, governs and is rebuilding.

By late summer, Israel had launched what was billed as the decisive campaign to capture Gaza City. Sone 60,000 reservists were mobilized. The Israel Defense Forces warned that the operation could take a year, given Hamas’s vast tunnel network, booby traps and the presence of Israeli hostages. Roughly 800,000 civilians were expected to evacuate, even as Hamas urged them to defy Israeli orders and remain in place.

By the 699th day of the war, Israel controlled roughly 40% of Gaza City, and on Sept. 16 launched a major ground offensive to capture the rest. But a week earlier, a botched Israeli attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar had infuriated U.S. President Donald Trump and set in motion negotiations that resulted in his 20-point peace plan. Trump then compelled Netanyahu to halt the offensive to implement the plan’s first phase—an immediate ceasefire and the release of all remaining living hostages. In an extraordinary step, the president personally assured Hamas that Israel would not be permitted to resume fighting, as it had after the March ceasefire.

In accordance with the plan, Israel withdrew to a “yellow line” that left Hamas in control of roughly 47% of Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later disclosed that 60% of Hamas’s tunnel network remained intact. Israeli intelligence estimates that roughly 20,000 Hamas fighters are still active.

Assessments of Hamas’s condition diverge sharply. Former Mossad counterterrorism chief Oded Ailam argued that by mid-September 2025, the terror group’s centralized rule had collapsed. When Israel ordered evacuations from northern Gaza, some 350,000 civilians complied—openly defying Hamas threats. Senior commanders were dead, finances depleted, governance shattered. Power was fragmented among clans, and Hamas appeared reduced to scattered cells carrying out sporadic attacks reflecting desperation rather than strategy.

Other reporting paints a far darker picture. The Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported that Hamas redeployed its police and Al-Qassam Brigades across areas outside Israeli control. It resumed taxing aid, auditing international agencies, summoning employees and running civilian life. With no rival authority, Hamas restored order, reduced looting and reasserted its grip.
IDF chief preparing multi-year plan that marks major shift
Israel Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir is heading up preparations to unveil a new multi-year plan designated “Hoshen” (Hebrew for the breastplate of the High Priest), marking a pivotal shift in the military’s strategic direction following two years of intense warfare.

The plan, being prepared by the IDF Planning Branch, is designed to steer the Israeli military’s development from 2026 to 2030.

The specific vision of the chief of staff regarding the dual efforts required by the military in the coming years: Activation of forces in all sectors and a significant buildup of forces.

The Hoshen plan will be built based on a series of IDF reviews of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel and will implement lessons learned, in a process that will be led by Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai.

Simultaneously with the assimilation of lessons, the multi-year plan will be built with a future outlook, based on near, medium, and long-term time slots.

For the purpose of planning the multi-year plan, the IDF chief defined a period of time for performing the staff work so that it will be concluded by the Passover holiday on April 1, and will subsequently be implemented.

The Hoshen plan derived its name from the breastplate worn by the High Priest in the Jerusalem Temples, which carried 12 stones representing the tribes of Israel, symbolizing a unified entity.

At the heart of the plan are 12 core themes, or “stones,” each led by a dedicated team headed by a major general. The symbolism of the name also relates to the critical asset of human personnel, who are seen as the heart of military command.
IDF confirms six terrorists killed in ‘serious’ Gaza ceasefire violation
Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Tuesday evening eliminated six armed terrorists during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military confirmed on Wednesday morning.

“Following searches conducted in the area, it can now be confirmed that the 7th Brigade’s combat team eliminated all six terrorists during the exchange of fire,” the IDF said, adding that various weapons were discovered on the bodies of the terrorists.

The military said it considered the assault on its soldiers a “serious violation” of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal with Hamas and vowed to “continue to act against any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terror attacks against soldiers and civilians.”

On Tuesday night, the IDF said that troops had opened fire after observers identified the six terrorists approaching soldiers in the western Rafah area.

“Immediately following the identification, tanks arrived in the area and fired at the terrorists. The terrorists fired toward the forces in one of the tanks and an exchange of fire began that included airstrikes,” read the initial statement, which only confirmed the deaths of two terrorists.

“The forces are continuing searches in the area for the terrorists and the incident is still ongoing,” the military stated at the time, adding: “This is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.”

Tuesday’s incident marked the latest in a string of near-daily flare-ups. On Monday, the military stated it killed three armed terrorists who had crossed the truce-instituted Yellow Line in southern Gaza, saying they had attempted to gather intelligence on troop movements in the area.

In addition, Israeli troops found two rocket launchers during operations in northern and southern Gaza, the military announced on Wednesday.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 79: Breaking Iran's machinery of oppression
Iran is burning. The streets are full of marchers demanding an end to the regime. Thousands of protesters have been murdered by the regime in recent days — we may never know exactly how many. President Trump is threatening military action. But is all this enough to bring down the regime?

How do you dismantle a revolutionary Islamist government that has proven impervious to domestic protest and international pressure?

Here’s how.

Chapters
00:00 Understanding the Iranian Regime's Resilience
07:19 The Ideological Foundations of the Iranian Regime
13:40 The Suicidal Capacity of the Iranian Regime
19:00 Understanding Revolutionary Islamist Regimes
20:12 The Durability of the Iranian Regime
20:43 Strategies for Western Intervention
28:09 Leveraging Internal Divisions
31:37 The Cost of Catastrophe in Conflict


Erin Molan: TRUMP Escalates on Iran— But Notice Who’s VERY Quiet...
Trump just escalated on Iran — “no deals, no talks” — as Iran faces a nationwide internet blackout and reports of a brutal crackdown. In this special on-the-road episode from Florida, Erin breaks down what’s changing right now and why this moment could be the turning point.

🎙️ Guest 1: Behnam Ben Taleblu (FDD) explains why this is a historic pivot — and what effective U.S. action would actually look like (beyond slogans).
🎬 Guest 2: Yuval David exposes the hypocrisy of Hollywood’s “activism” — and why the Golden Globes silence matters when people are risking their lives for freedom.

Chapters
0:00 – On the Road in Florida (Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast)
1:31 – Trump escalates: “No talks, no deals”
3:35 – Golden Globes silence vs Iran’s uprising
6:10 – Behnam Ben Taleblu (FDD) joins Erin
7:00 – Iran internet blackout + crackdown reports
11:15 – Why Iran’s reach hits the West (bigger than “their borders”)
14:05 – What U.S. action should actually target
18:10 – China/Iran oil linkage + why it matters strategically
21:05 – Reza Pahlavi: why chants inside Iran matter
27:05 – Yuval David: Hollywood hypocrisy & “performative activism”
32:00 – “Selective outrage isn’t activism”
36:10 – Red–Green alliance explained (why the far-left gets played)
43:10 – “Don’t thank me. Join me.” (mic-drop closer)
45:10 – Erin wraps: why this matters to everyone


Erin Molan: Inside Iran’s Most Suppressed Minority: “They Took Our Land, Oil, and Water”
Iran is at a crossroads — and while the world watches protests in Tehran, almost no one is talking about what’s happening in Ahwaz.

In this episode of The Erin Molan Show, Erin speaks with Shaffeq Sharhani, a man who calls himself a voice for the Ahwazi Arab people — an Arab minority living in southwestern Iran, in one of the most oil- and gas-rich regions in the Middle East.

He says his people have lived under occupation, forced assimilation, and systematic repression for over 100 years — and that as Iran’s regime weakens, suppressed nations inside Iran are preparing for what comes next.

In the second half of the show, Erin is joined by Kevin Cohen, a national security and cyber-intelligence expert, for a sobering conversation about lone-wolf terrorism, unvetted immigration, and why governments are struggling to identify threats before attacks occur — particularly in the wake of tragedies like the Bondi massacre.

This is not a comforting episode — but it is a necessary one.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 – Iran at a Crossroads
02:10 – The Forgotten Ahwazi Arabs of Iran
08:40 – “They Took Our Land, Oil, and Water”
11:55 – Lone-Wolf Terrorism & Unvetted Immigration
18:30 – Why Governments Can’t Stop the Next Attack




Betar founder to 'Post': NY order a 'chilling decision' that should 'terrify' Zionists and Jews
"This is a very chilling decision which should terrify every Zionist and every Jew in New York," head of Betar US Ronn Torossian told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. This comes after the New York Attorney General ordered the Zionist activist group to cease its campaign "of violence" in the city or face paying a $50,000 fine.

While labeled "far right" by many figures and groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, Torossian said that Betar is a mainstream Zionist organization, following the vision of Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He stressed that Betar is headquartered in the Likud building, and many prominent Likud figures (such as Ofir Akunis and Danny Danon) were raised in the Betar movement.

He stressed that, despite the settlement with the AG (who accused Betar of "bias-motivated harassment and violence designed to terrorize communities"), Betar never signed any confession of guilt, and denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Torossian told the Post that Betar was served a cease and desist letter in March 2025, after which it "voluntarily agreed to halt operations in NY, as we are active in Delaware.

Torossian said the "whole idea that we targeted random Palestinians and Muslims [is wrong]," adding "what they are saying is you can't counter people who attack synagogues."

He also pointed out that Betar US was established after October 7 as a response to the growing threat to the Diaspora Jewish community. "What they are saying is that the most active group physically helping Zionists in NYC can't operate in NYC."


Tucker’s house in Qatar
Qatar is practically a slave state. Slave labor, infamously, built the grandiose soccer stadium and facilities for the 2022 FIFA World Cup games. The Qatari government’s own records show that 15,799 laborers died across the whole country between 2011 and 2020.

Migrant workers make up an astonishing 91% of the total population of Qatar, with the number of laborers estimated at perhaps 2 million. How can Carlson not know that the country is a prison bulging with slaves?

While this system exploits workers from across Asia and Africa, African workers—from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda, among other countries—are among the groups facing racialized discrimination layered atop the same coercion.

African men working in construction, security and cleaning. Women employed as domestic workers. Both sectors are routinely subjected to some of the harshest conditions: unpaid wages, overcrowded or uninhabitable housing, confiscated documents and retaliation for speaking out. One documented case concerns 17 East African men trafficked to Qatar and left without pay or food. They were then taken to a government “shelter,” where they were interrogated as to their associations, had their passports stolen, and were later deported.

One rare African voice pierced this apartheid-like system: Malcolm Bidali, a Christian migrant from Kenya who wrote anonymously about life inside Qatar’s labor regime. He described what thousands of African workers experience in Qatar, but few can safely articulate. Excessive working hours, restricted movement, fear of punishment and the knowledge that one’s legal existence depends entirely on employer approval. When his identity became known, Bidali was arrested and detained. His offense was his testimony. His case matters precisely because it is traceable; most victims remain invisible.

This is the reality behind Qatar’s polished image as a modern, tolerant state—an image amplified by paid lobbyists, Western universities, think tanks, and, more recently, prominent media figures willing to repeat regime talking points. Even, as in this case, if it means covering up the crime of human bondage.

Christians do not live as free men and women in Qatar, as Carlson has implied. Indeed, he should not be surprised to find that the person who will be cleaning his new house there is a black Christian slave woman.
I’m A Christian Living In Israel. Tucker Carlson Is Wrong About Qatar
There are exactly six government-sanctioned churches in Qatar. Six churches serving hundreds of thousands of people. And to make it even worse, they are all right next to each other under the close supervision of the government.

To be clear, it is illegal for Qatari citizens to convert from Islam to Christianity, and Qataris are not allowed to enter Christian churches. In fact, every person entering a church in Qatar must submit an ID.

The migrant workers who do attend often live and work under conditions that have been widely condemned as modern-day slavery.

Contrast that with Israel, a country where Christians are fully recognized citizens, including my community of indigenous Aramean Maronite Christians. We vote, we serve in the military, and we even hold elected office in the Knesset. Israel’s Christians are not confined to a single gated area or monitored by state authorities. We are free to worship openly, participate in society, and contribute to the nation’s cultural and political life.

There are more Baptist churches in Israel (17) than there are total churches in Qatar. In fact, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the native Christian communities are growing. Carlson took the only possible data points to show anything positive about Christian existence in Qatar and still got it all wrong.

As a Christian Israeli working to inspire the next generation of believers in our homeland, I can say with confidence: Israel protects religious freedom in ways that Qatar can only dream of.

Qatari Christians live in fear, are under constant surveillance, and have no path to citizenship or full participation in society.

Christians must understand where true freedom exists and where it is merely an illusion sold by regimes with an agenda and their influencer mouthpieces.

For Israel’s Christians, faith and citizenship go hand in hand. For Christians in Qatar, faith comes at the price of subjugation, invisibility, and in many cases, abuse.

We must call out lies like this, not just for Israel’s sake, but for the safety and understanding of Christians worldwide. Truth matters, and it will set you free.
South Africa uncovers covert Qatari attempt to shape anti-Israel narrative at major Italian exhibit
The Venice Biennale is widely regarded as the most important and prestigious art event in the world. The work selected to represent South Africa in its national pavilion focuses on "mourning, memory and repair," linking the killing of women by colonial forces in Namibia, hate crimes against the LGBTQ community in South Africa, and what the curators describe as "the killing of tens of thousands of women and children in Gaza since October 2023." The exhibition also includes a tribute to Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed in an Israeli strike during the war in Gaza.

McKenzie, who served a prison sentence in his youth for robbery before rebuilding his life and becoming a prominent public figure, is considered one of the few pro-Israel voices in South Africa’s government. The administration is widely seen as hostile to Israel and initiated legal proceedings against it at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

In an unusual and sharply worded official statement, McKenzie said he not only canceled the contract with the exhibition’s producing body but concluded that a foreign state had attempted to use South Africa’s pavilion as an indirect vehicle for advancing a political agenda against Israel.

According to McKenzie, Qatar did not appear as an official funder of the exhibition but committed to purchasing South Africa’s artworks at the conclusion of the Biennale. He said this arrangement created an incentive to produce art aligned with the Palestinian and anti-Israel narrative, including claims of genocide in Gaza.

In his statement, the minister warned that the effort amounted to an attempt to turn South Africa into a proxy for delivering another country’s political message on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "If that country has a position and the resources, why not rent its own pavilion and state its views openly?" he asked.

David Saranga, head of the Digital Diplomacy Division at Israel’s Foreign Ministry and Israel’s visiting ambassador to South Africa, sent a message to ministry headquarters following McKenzie’s remarks. "This case best illustrates how influence operations against Israel are carried out in the cultural sphere by states with significant resources," Saranga wrote. "If the culture minister were not a friend of ours, it could have been dismissed as yet another ‘organic’ anti-Israel initiative by South Africa’s cultural community."


Kasky drops out of NYC congressional race, aims to stop ‘settler violence’
Cameron Kasky, a Jewish Democrat and student survivor of a mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018, who was running for Congress in New York’s 12th Congressional District on an anti-Israel platform, announced on Wednesday that he has dropped out of the Democratic primary.

While the 25-year-old’s fundraising numbers are not yet publicly available, prediction market Polymarket has tracked the NY-12 Democratic nomination as a competitive multi-candidate race, predicting his odds at 13%.

In an announcement posted to X on Jan. 14, Kasky wrote: “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Columbia University. Folks, I’m so sorry. I have to drop out of one more thing,” adding that he “returned from Palestine with one concern: What can we do to stop the settler violence in the West Bank?”

JNS previously reported on his Palestinian-led trip to Israel.

“It’s the honor of my life to be talking out of this race with the chance to do what must be done,” he wrote, followed by a post noting that he is now working on a “West Bank human-rights emergency plan” with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

“Beyond a return to activism, more specifically, my focus is on introducing comprehensive West Bank human-rights legislation, which Rep. Khanna’s office is working on as we speak,” Kasky said.

Khanna stated that “we will work together to bring justice and peace.”




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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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