Friday, January 23, 2026

01/23 Links Pt2: Don’t Legitimize ‘Anti-Zionism.’ Defeat It; The infantile Israelophobia of Ms Rachel; Shul Runnings: Israeli bobsleigh team makes Olympic history

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Don’t Legitimize ‘Anti-Zionism.’ Defeat It
I admit I winced when I read that last line. I had just been reading the Guardian’s coverage of Australia’s efforts to crack down on incitement. Initially the bill, set forth by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party, was reportedly far too restrictive of plain speech to the point of being unsalvageable. But Liberal Party MPs were able to “gut” the overreach and pare down the bill.

Still, the Guardian made sure to quote the Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive group called upon to As-a-Jew the issue into oblivion. The legislation, they said, represented “an attempt to slander and intimidate hundreds of 1000s of Australians who have been protesting against Israel’s genocide and egregious human rights abuses.”

Of course, a publication like the Guardian would quote an organization like this, despite anti-Israel lunacy being a distinct minority opinion among Jews. It’s useful to them. But besides the political tokenization angle, it’s also a reminder that the Jewish community contains within it organizations whose entire purpose appears to be to enable state suppression of Jewish rights and Jewish security.

The Jewish Council of Australia, it turns out, was founded in the spring of 2024—meaning it was launched after the October 7 attacks in order to join the global anti-Israel pile-on.

The Jewish community has an obligation to battle, not coddle, the anti-Zionism within its ranks. It has the same obligation to mount a full-scale fight against anti-Zionism in mainstream discourse. The movement of anti-Jewish assault shutting down Jewish shops and restaurants calls its worldview anti-Zionism. So the proper response is clear: That which calls itself anti-Zionism must be defeated.
How the Internet Fell for a Supposed Condemnation of Christian Zionism
Despite the unanswered questions, or perhaps because of them, a fight soon erupted. Evangelical Christian Zionists defended their theology. “It’s hard for me to understand why every one who takes on the moniker ‘Christian’ would not also be a Zionist,” wrote US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Meanwhile, Catholic critics of Israel promoted the statement on X, declaring that the top Catholic figure in the Holy Land, Latin patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, had definitively rejected Christian Zionism.

Unfortunately for them, he did nothing of the sort.

Pizzaballa is a fluent Hebrew speaker who is well regarded by Jewish leaders. Though he is not afraid to speak out about pressures on Christians in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, he is not looking to make headlines attacking the Jewish state or Zionism.

What’s more, breaking with its usual practice, the Latin Patriarchate did not publish the Christian Zionism statement or share it on social media. Pizzaballa’s name does not appear on the statement. Neither does his signature.

Custodia Terrae Sancte, a Catholic body that oversees Christian sites in the Holy Land, removed the statement from its website as well.

Even more tellingly, when asked if the Patriarchate supports the statement, an official from the Patriarchate said only, “No comment.”

So how and why did a statement go out that ostensibly speaks in the Latin Patriarch’s name?

Many assume that since Pizzaballa is part of the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches group, he must have personally signed off on the statement. But the group doesn’t work in such an orderly fashion. The group’s secretariat sends out a draft, and says that if there are no objections by a certain time—last week it was 5 p.m.—then it will assume that all the church leaders agree with the statement.

Needless to say, if a patriarch is traveling that day, the first time he sees a message may be when it is published.

The main impetus for the statement, according to sources from two churches, is a fight led by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate against a group of Israeli Christians calling themselves the Israeli Christian Voice and the Eagles of Christ Movement.

The movement leader, Ihab Shilyan, was a career officer in the IDF and actively encourages young Christians to enlist as well. He was recently welcomed at Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s annual reception for Christian leaders, and has met multiple times with Huckabee.

It is no coincidence that last Saturday’s statement was posted on the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate website and shared with local journalists by a figure closely affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church. The leader of Israeli Christian Voice boasted in response to the statement: “It appears that my meetings with senior and influential figures … have placed significant pressure on vested interests.”

What some touted as a clear rejection of Christian Zionism by the top Catholic official in the Holy Land was instead an episode in which one church rather disingenuously used a joint forum to drag other institutions into its fight. Far from expressing a unified Christian voice, the statement undermined the shaky trust between the historical churches in Jerusalem.
Why are the celebrities I used to love suddenly so anti, well… me?
So why have these stars all jumped on the bandwagon? “Different actor/ activists have different motivations,” says Jeremy. “Some are animated by prejudice against Jews (hi, Roger!), but fortunately I don’t think that’s many of them. And while it’s possible some performers are paid, others are terribly vulnerable to the anti-Zionism hate movement because, as an actor, you have to need to be “seen” and the publicity can help your career. Add to that the charge you get when the major news organisation asks you your opinions about world affairs, and anti-Zionism is positively addictive.”

For me, it’s the hypocrisy that grates. That old double standard of holding Israel (hence, Jews, and hence me) to a far higher standard than any other country or ethnicity. It’s been said many times before, but where are these performers on China, Sudan, North Korea, Iran?

The Iran case is particularly topical. Iranian stand-up comic Omid Djalili is – quite rightly – being feted by the mainstream press as a voice of the uprising in that country. Where were the corresponding Israeli voices in autumn 2023?

Of course, there are some pro-Israeli (hence, pro-Jewish, and pro-me) voices: Gal Gadot, Jerry Seinfeld, Pink, Jamie Lee Curtis – all of these have stood up in support. But all these actors are Jewish – or have Jewish heritage – and so it’s somehow less meaningful. There’s an irony in how Jews historically have always stood up for civil rights causes, but when the table are turned, no-one seems to stand up for us.

With hope in my heart, I started to Google. Tom Cruise? Nope, he supported his agent when she was sacked for anti-Israel commentary. Paul Mescal participated in the Cinema for Gaza auction, donating items to raise funds for Palestinian humanitarian aid. Brad Pitt is a producer on pro-Gaza film, The Voice of Hind Rajab.

There is, perhaps, a silver lining in the post. Jeremy feels there may be a backlash down the line. “Despite what Sam Goldwyn once said, there is such a thing as bad publicity,” he says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some actors have done long-term damage to their careers and legacy as they cross the line between responsible empathy into antisemitism.”

That aside, there are signs of hope. Quentin Tarantino recently gave an interview where he declared he would "die a Zionist". And just today, I came across an X post of actress Sydney Sweeney posing with released hostages, Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or.

As a final word, we probably should remember those who have said nothing at all. There is, after all, no constitutional duty to proclaim ones political alignments. It’s a small field, but let’s keep our fingers crossed for Leonardo di Caprio, Zendaya, and Taylor Swift. As long as Taylor is (implicitly) on our team, we should be ok.


Sydney Opera House memorial reclaims a national symbol after Bondi attack
Flags above the Sydney Harbour Bridge flew at half-mast last night as families of the victims, Jewish leaders and political figures gathered at the Sydney Opera House for a national memorial service marking the deaths of 15 people in the Bondi Beach antisemitic terror attack.

The theme for the night, ‘Light Will Win’, underscored a clear message that even after profound loss, decency, unity and humanity would prevail.

The ceremony, held on the first National Day of Mourning since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, formed the centrepiece of a day of remembrance observed across the country.

Speaking outside the Opera House before the service, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of Chabad of Bondi said the grief within the community remained profound, but its resolve remained unbroken. Rabbi Ulman lost his son-in-law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, in the attack.

“It was the most difficult time of my life. I’ve lost friends, I’ve lost members of my community, losing parents and spouses, losing a child. It is devastating,” he said.

“Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is unbroken.”

Rabbi Ulman said holding the memorial at the Opera House was about reclaiming a national symbol after violent, antisemitic scenes on the forecourt on October 9, 2023.

“We are reclaiming this Australian icon which became a venue for darkness, a venue for hate, a venue for promoting violence,” he said.

“Today we’re coming with the opposite message.”

Several of the speakers returned to the theme of “reclaiming the Opera House” and were met with thunderous applause from the audience.

As the ceremony began, the audience paused for a minute’s silence at 7:01pm, and 15 buildings across the country were illuminated as symbols of light. These included the Bondi Pavillion as NSW’s pillar. The Opera House itself was flooded in white light, joined by landmarks such as Sydney Tower, the Maritime Museum and Sydney Olympic Park.

Among those attending were the families of victims, members of the Chabad community, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, former prime ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull, senior Jewish community figures and first responders.

The service was hosted by Sky journalist Sharri Markson and opened in prayer by Rabbi Pinchas Feldman, head of Chabad NSW. Governor-General Sam Mostyn then read Psalm 23, telling the crowd it had been personally chosen by King Charles III for the occasion.

Members of the victims’ families lit 15 candles on stage, one for each victim. Bondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed, wearing a kippah, lit a candle on behalf of the family of Edith Brutman, who could not attend, while NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna lit a candle for the family of Adam Smyth.


Brendan O'Neill: The infantile Israelophobia of Ms Rachel
It started when Ms Rachel posted a note on Instagram that said: ‘Free Palestine, Free Sudan, Free Congo, Free Iran.’ For me, that’s the most shocking part of the story. A preening, virtue-hoarding celeb mentioning countries that are not Palestine or Israel? Blow me down. Then someone replied with the following: ‘Free America from the Jews.’ And Ms Rachel gave it the thumbs up. After spotting her error she sobbed on camera, because of course she’s the real victim here. ‘Horrible!’, she said. I’ll say.

Look, I believe her. I don’t think she wants to ‘free’ America of its Jews. And I don’t think that even if she did think that, that she would go around liking such brutish Jewphobic sentiments on a public forum. Nevertheless, I have questions. Prime among them is this: how many times does a celebrity get to ‘accidentally’ say or share or associate with disgusting commentary about Jews before the rest of us are allowed to ask if something is up?

For this isn’t the first time Ms Rachel has committed a blunder regarding Jews. Last year she filmed a ‘Letter of the Day’ video with Palestinian journalist, Motaz Azaiza. This is someone who praised Hamas’s fascist pogrom of 7 October 2023. He has said openly anti-Semitic things. ‘May God curse the Jews themselves’, he once posted online. Hosting a man who cursed all Jews and then liking a post calling for all Jews to get out of America… To mangle Wilde: to make one such slip-up looks like misfortune; to make two looks like carelessness.

My main question, though, is less for Ms Rachel than for ‘the culture’. We live in unforgiving times, especially where issues of racism are concerned. Who can forget poor old Lady Susan Hussey, banished from Buckingham Palace for the crime of asking someone, ‘Where are you from?’. The Damocles sword of cancellation dangles precariously over all of us for such trifling speechcrimes as wondering if the Koran is bollocks (Islamophobia) or thinking immigration should be curtailed (racism). And yet you can openly rub shoulders with anti-Semitic people or anti-Semitic posts and the cancellers will look the other way.

Be honest: what fate would befall a kids’ entertainer if they hosted on their show a man who had once said ‘Fuck all black people’? And if they then liked a post on Instagram that said ‘Get all blacks out of America’? We know exactly what would happen. They would be savagely cancelled. The only time we’d ever see them again would be in a Netflix documentary 20 years hence about the much-loved kids’ clown who lost it all by chumming about with racist scum.

The exact opposite has happened with Ms Rachel. She may have exposed the kids who follow her to a man who once said ‘Curse the Jews’, and she may have liked a post calling for the mass expulsion of Jews from the US, but she will survive. And thrive. Cancel culture will lay not one finger on her. And we all know why: because Jews enjoy none of the protections of ‘political correctness’. Jews have not been granted access to the kingdom of liberal concern. Offending Jews is seen as a lesser crime than offending any other group. Ms Rachel will suffer no consequences so long as her blunders only touch on the lives and feelings of Jews.

The real problem is not Ms Rachel, who’s fundamentally just another celeb building a virtuous self-image from the rubble of Gaza. It’s the politics of identity. It’s that ideology’s ruthless demotion of Jews to the bottom of the league of identities. Scuff a page of the Koran and you’ll be had up for Islamophobia. Film a kids’ video with a man who said ‘Curse the Jews’ and you’re grand. There it is: the merciless neo-racialism of the woke era.

For me, the most striking thing about Ms Rachel is that she’s always in ‘kid’ mode. Whether she’s strumming her guitar for toddlers on YouTube or posting pained monologues about the ‘genocide’ in Gaza, she has that same hip-teacher demeanour. Which makes sense, because in both instances she’s pushing childish things – whether it’s a nursery rhyme for literal kids or a fairytale about evil Israel for the overgrown kids who swell the ranks of bourgeois Israelophobia. It’s logical that a playtime lady has become one of the main voices against Israel, because the whole anti-Israel schtick is a black-and-white fantasy best suited to the morally immature. The key blunder is not Ms Rachel’s – it’s everyone else’s for paying attention to her infantile moral posturing.


Sky News criticised after platforming ‘Gaza flood’ extremist
Sky News has been criticised after one of its leading presenters carried out an interview with a Palestinian activist who previously said that “a single Palestinian is more important than a thousand Israeli[s]” and posted in the wake of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that he “didn’t want a beautiful mourning from you, nor to mention his effects in written poems. He wanted you in the field: were you in the field?”

On Thursday, Yalda Hakim, the lead world news presenter for the UK TV channel, conducted an interview with “Palestinian photojournalist Moataz Azaiza”, discussing the formulation of Donald Trump’s Gaza Executive Board.

Last year, as reported by Jewish News at the time, popular children’s YouTube entertainer Ms Rachel withdrew a video she had created with Azaiza, a former UNRWA employee after his previous comments had come to light.

Furthermore, the official Sky News Twitter account shared the video of the interview, along with the Twitter handle of an account it linked to Azaiza titled “Gaza Flood”, which was set up in October 2023. “Al Aqsa Flood” was the name Hamas gave to its mass terror attack on 7 October 2023, in which it murdered 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostage.

Alex Gandler, spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in the UK, responded on social media by describing the channel interviewing Azaiza “without disclosing his previous statements” as “a new low”, calling on both the channel and Hakim herself to apologise.

Sky News subsequently deleted their tweet promoting the interview. However, this is not the first time that the channel – and Hakim herself – have interviewed Azaiza. A May 2025 interview with him – again, tagging the “Gaza flood” Twitter account – is still visible on the Sky News Twitter account.


Schools are ignoring Holocaust Memorial Day. But making it about Gaza is worse
School librarian Jo* does a HMD exhibition every year at her large comprehensive in north London and noticed an immediate difference after October 7. “In accordance with the charity that does HMD, I include material on the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur, but the bulk of it was about the Holocaust,” she says. “For the first time, some colleagues responded saying we should include Gaza, and then others chimed in with other historical events that have not been classified as genocide.

“It felt like an attempt to totally undermine the Jewish centrality to HMD and explicitly to turn Jewish victimhood into Jewish guilt re Gaza. I responded with a strongly worded email openly accusing those concerned of anti-Semitism. On the positive side, I got numerous private messages of support but the whole thing left a very nasty taste in my mouth. I am dreading it this year.”

There are signs of light – of a kind. The pressure is off a little with the shaky ceasefire in Gaza still holding. Since the Manchester synagogue attack last year, at least some Holocaust education charities are seeing an uptick in bookings, which may mean that the figures will go up again this year.

Hannah Goldstone, who works in the senior management team at Holocaust Centre North in Huddersfield and is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, says she has seen increased interest since October.

“What happened in Manchester really affected the wider community, not just the Jewish community,” she says. “I think people want to show solidarity, show support and they want to learn. We find that when schoolchildren come in with their parents and grandparents, we are teaching all of them things they didn’t know. This year’s HMD theme is ‘bridging generations’ and that is about Holocaust survivors passing the baton to their children and grandchildren but also for the children we are teaching to explain it to their parents and grandparents.”

While, in the wake of October 7, Holocaust survivors and their descendants found themselves being challenged on Israel’s actions in Gaza, that seems to have quietened down too. “You would walk into a few places and know that the Gaza question was going to come up,” Goldstone says. “Sometimes, if you said you just wanted to talk about the Holocaust, you would get an eye roll. But I think because of what happened in Manchester on Yom Kippur and the ceasefire, things have changed slightly.”

However, that slight improvement offers little comfort to those who study the issue closely.

Delivering the keynote speech for the Holocaust Education Trust in Westminster on Monday night, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore described how the Holocaust is increasingly being used as a weapon against Jews.

He described how Soviets, in an attempt to attack Israel, an American ally, started calling the country’s war against Arabs “a genocide” in 1969. Now the Holocaust, instead of being used to explain the perils of anti-Semitism, is instead being used to stir it up. “With slogans like ‘globalise the intifada’, Holocaust inversion is so damning that it justifies and encourages murder. The moral power of the Holocaust, a sacred pillar of the West’s rules-based order that made the accusation of genocide the polite world’s very definition of evil, so poisonous and diabolical, now commandeers the six million to justify boycotts and the ultimate murder of Israelis and Jews.”
Jews vanish from Holocaust Memorial Day committee amid claims of ‘marginalisation’
The only two Jews on a Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) committee have been ejected or quit after they accused its organisers of framing the solemn occasion as “a celebration” and marginalising the Jewish approach to the event.

Harry Sassoon, 32, a descendant of Holocaust survivors and a Shoah educator, was removed from the Derby HMD group after he wrote to one of its members to say that a discussion on “entertainment”, combined with photographs of past events showing singing and dancing, was offensive and insensitive.

“HMD is not and should not be framed as a celebration,” he wrote in the letter to committee member Russell Pollard, an independent journalist.

Sassoon also raised concerns that, in his view, some participants were involved as part a “self-righteous tick-box exercise”.

Days after he sent the email, Sassoon received a message from Pollard - sent on Erev Yom Kippur - saying he had been “naive, disrespectful, arrogant and rude” was removed from the committee.

The Jewish woman who had originally invited Sassoon to join the committee said she was excluded from an internal email thread discussing his removal and she resigned after she learned of the episode.

She told the JC that she had often felt like the “token Jew” on the committee and cited the scheduling of meetings on Rosh Hashanah, Sassoon’s removal on Yom Kippur and what she described as a wider lack of sensitivity around Jewish issues.

“He lacks the sensitivity and depth of understanding about Jewish people’s lived experience,” she said of Pollard.

While acknowledging that “there are some good people” on the committee and that important work had been done over the past two decades, she said it had always “felt off” commemorating the Holocaust in a cathedral.

She also described what she saw as a recurring sense of competition between different genocides.

“It felt sadly like we were having to vie for attention between different genocides including the Holocaust,” she said.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv scandal exposes the rot within the police
When it boils down to it, West Midlands Police invented a threat that did not exist. They reverse-engineered an outcome. Even more extraordinarily, when the truth emerged, there were very few consequences for all those involved in this scandal.

WMP chief Guildford did eventually ‘retire’ last week, but his resignation statement featured no real apology, let alone a mea culpa. He has since been referred to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, by West Midlands police and crime commissioner Simon Foster – the very same Simon Foster who also praised Guildford last week for acting ‘with honour’.

For ordinary citizens of the UK, justice looks very different indeed. It is usually dispensed automatically, thanks to a camera on the motorway, via letter through the door, or through a fixed penalty imposed with zero appetite for context. Justice arrives with ruthless efficiency in the morning post, often before you even know you’ve been caught. Yet when the quest for justice travels upwards, something strange happens. Urgency evaporates, rules are contextualised and accountability becomes abstract. Senior figures are excused, with perhaps one or two individuals carrying the can.

The WMP’s Maccabi debacle has only further exacerbated existing tensions between the police and the public, highlighting the ‘rules for thee, none for me’ mentality at play. Viewed alongside the spate of theatrical arrests and early morning raids over social-media posts and private WhatsApp groups – experiences which routinely ruin lives even when the victim is acquitted – it is not difficult to see why trust in the UK authorities is at an all-time low.

Scandals like this one seem to disappear into endless bureaucracy, inquiries change nothing and no one of significance is ever punished properly. Even Guildford has taken retirement on a full police pension.

A state that polices its people instead of policing for its people is failing. So too is one that capitulates to the exclusionary and undemocratic demands of a small, vocal group of people it has grown to fear. The British people are fast growing tired of a police force that seems to be acting against them.
Metropolitan Police apologise for ‘fear’ caused by Notting Hill protest outside Israeli restaurant
The Metropolitan Police have apologised for the "distress", "fear" and "disruption" caused when anti-Zionist protesters targeted an Israeli restaurant in London earlier this month.

Erev in Notting Hill was the scene of a 50-strong demonstration by protesters on January 9, where chants of "genocide" and "intifada" were reportedly heard.

Protesters were stationed just outside the restaurant until being moved onto the other side of the road.

Video footage showed one demonstrator addressing the crowd, speaking of "standing with the resistance," before adding: "We believe in the right to resist by any and all means necessary, for the full liberation and from the river to the sea!"

An arrest was made for the alleged use of the word "intifada" after the Met confirmed it would use new police powers to detain those who make the call under public order legislation.

Now, after receiving complaints about the police response, James Harman, the deputy assistant commissioner at Met Operations, said: "The Metropolitan Police Service has received numerous emails expressing concern regarding a protest which took place outside a restaurant in Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill on January 9.

"As the deputy assistant commissioner for Met Operations, which includes overall responsibility for the policing of protest, I am writing to acknowledge those concerns and to apologise for what took place that evening.

"As we stated publicly, officers were present as part of a policing plan to ensure people could exercise their right to protest while ensuring that those in the wider community could go about their lives without serious disruption. The protesters were required to remain in an area not immediately outside the restaurant, and officers were present to enforce this.

"However, it is now clear that the arrangements and the resources that we put in place in Elgin Crescent that evening did not in fact prevent disruption and intimidation of members of the community – and indeed a man was arrested during the protest on suspicion of chants that constituted acts intended to stir up religious hatred."
Treasury Sanctions Hamas' Hidden Network of Charities and Flotilla Organizers
When it boils down to it, West Midlands Police invented a threat that did not exist. They reverse-engineered an outcome. Even more extraordinarily, when the truth emerged, there were very few consequences for all those involved in this scandal.

WMP chief Guildford did eventually ‘retire’ last week, but his resignation statement featured no real apology, let alone a mea culpa. He has since been referred to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, by West Midlands police and crime commissioner Simon Foster – the very same Simon Foster who also praised Guildford last week for acting ‘with honour’.

For ordinary citizens of the UK, justice looks very different indeed. It is usually dispensed automatically, thanks to a camera on the motorway, via letter through the door, or through a fixed penalty imposed with zero appetite for context. Justice arrives with ruthless efficiency in the morning post, often before you even know you’ve been caught. Yet when the quest for justice travels upwards, something strange happens. Urgency evaporates, rules are contextualised and accountability becomes abstract. Senior figures are excused, with perhaps one or two individuals carrying the can.

The WMP’s Maccabi debacle has only further exacerbated existing tensions between the police and the public, highlighting the ‘rules for thee, none for me’ mentality at play. Viewed alongside the spate of theatrical arrests and early morning raids over social-media posts and private WhatsApp groups – experiences which routinely ruin lives even when the victim is acquitted – it is not difficult to see why trust in the UK authorities is at an all-time low.

Scandals like this one seem to disappear into endless bureaucracy, inquiries change nothing and no one of significance is ever punished properly. Even Guildford has taken retirement on a full police pension.

A state that polices its people instead of policing for its people is failing. So too is one that capitulates to the exclusionary and undemocratic demands of a small, vocal group of people it has grown to fear. The British people are fast growing tired of a police force that seems to be acting against them.
British-Palestinian activist sanctioned by the US over alleged Hamas ties
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Zaher Birawi, a UK-based alleged Hamas operative, who supported the flotilla campaign to Gaza that was joined by Greta Thunberg.

According to OFAC’s press release on Tuesday, Birawi, who describes himself on his X account as a journalist and broadcaster, is a senior official of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), a Turkey and Lebanon-based organisation that it described as “purport[ing] to broadly represent Palestinians but is clandestinely controlled by Hamas and has been a key backer of several so-called flotillas attempting to access Gaza.”

OFAC stated that Birawi is a member of PCPA’s general secretariat, and one of its founding members, saying that “PCPA does not only work with, and in support of, Hamas—it operates at Hamas’s behest. The strategic and tactical aspects of the PCPA’s activity are controlled by Hamas through the placement of key Hamas-linked figures in major positions throughout the organisation.”

PCPA was further described by OFAC as a main organiser of recent flotillas to Gaza and “a front organisation for Hamas”, established and managed by operatives from Hamas’s Bureau of International Relations, which at the time was led by Mussa Abu Marzouq.

OFAC listed findings such as a 19 April 2018 letter, signed by the slain Ismail Haniyeh, then the chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, that outlined his guidance for how Hamas should take control over the Palestinian political process: One element was to escalate violence against Israel, and the second was to boost Hamas’s international outreach, naming PCPA as a core part of this strategy. Additionally, prior the letter, Hamas also helped fund the inaugural meeting of the PCPA, which was established in 2017, and provided $100,000 for this conference.

“Hamas continues to show a callous disregard for the welfare of the Palestinian people”, said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. “The Trump Administration will not look the other way while Hamas leadership and enablers exploit the financial system to fund terrorist operations.”

On 7 October 2024, OFAC sanctioned another British individual, Majed al-Zeer, who served, according to the current press release, as the Chairman and President of the PCPA, whom it said “plays a central role” in Hamas’s fundraising efforts in Europe and was the senior Hamas representative in Germany.

Last December, the Telegraph reported that the UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) was allegedly assessing whether to designate Birawi under the Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) Regulations 2019 due to his ties to Hamas. The newspaper claimed that Birawi has been labelled as ‘serious security risk’.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign accused of intimidating councillors after mass BDS email
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has been accused of using intimidation tactics, after reportedly emailing every local councillor in the UK, urging them to sign a “Pledge for Palestine” to divest from Israeli companies.

Councillors reported feeling pressured to comply, after being told that the list of signatories would be published “so voters know if their representatives have made this commitment to uphold the rights of Palestinian people”, according to The Times.

The emails, which were sent out earlier this month, asked councillors to make a three-point commitment to “uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people”.

This included supporting efforts to “prevent, and ensure accountability for Israel’s crimes of genocide, military occupation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid” and ensuring their council was “not complicit and does not help to normalise Israel’s violations of international law”.

Ultimately, the PSC email called for councillors to employ “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) tactics against the Jewish state by “divesting pensions and any other funds it administers from complicit companies and through its procurement policies.”

Speaking out against the PSC’s tactics, Stuart Fawcett, a Labour councillor in North East Derbyshire district council (NEDDC), told The Times: “I urge all councillors, as I have at NEDDC, to educate themselves of the facts on the world’s only Jewish state before passing scrutiny or comment – especially if it could impact the safety of British Jews. Hyper-criticism of Middle East affairs has no mandate in local politics.”

He went on: “I have seen firsthand the intimidation by the malign forces of militant PSC activism. The action they advocate for does not belong in the legitimate discourse of local government politics but is often insurgent through the culture of pressure and fear that they exert on local councillors who get involved in politics to improve their local communities.”
Plan for 300 US jobs pulled amid concern over Sinn Féin stance on Israel
A major US multinational pulled plans to create 300 jobs in Northern Ireland amid concerns linked to Sinn Féin’s political positions on Israel, a Stormont committee has heard.

Sinn Féin Economy minister Caoimhe Archibald declined to be drawn on the claim that global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald had been preparing to invest in the region, but halted that plan amid concern about her and the party’s stances on certain issues.

DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley made the claim as the minister appeared before members of her Assembly scrutiny committee.

It is understood Mr Buckley was referring to Sinn Féin’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Later in the committee hearing, Department for Economy permanent secretary Ian Snowden confirmed that Cantor Fitzgerald had been planning to create up to 300 jobs in Northern Ireland but “unexpectedly” told Ms Archibald it had shelved the idea during a “quite short” meeting in the United States last March.

Sinn Féin is a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, and last year the party boycotted traditional St Patrick’s Day events at the White House in protest at President Donald Trump’s support for Israel.

Mr Trump’s secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick is the former chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.

Mr Buckley put it to Ms Archibald that positions adopted by her and her party had torpedoed the deal.

“On 9/11, Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 employees who died in the World Trade Centre,” he said.

“There’s a serious concern that has been brought to me that the positions taken by you and your party may have impacted that decision not to invest.
Magnum accuses former Ben & Jerry's board chair of 'serious misconduct' as more directors squeezed out
Ben & Jerry’s years‑long struggle to defend its progressive social mission from parent‑company pressure escalated this week, as The Magnum Ice Cream Company (MICCT.AS), opens new tab accused the brand’s former board chair of misconduct and said its once eight‑member board had been reduced to just two directors. Magnum is Ben & Jerry's new parent after Unilever (ULVR.L), opens new tab , which acquired the socially conscious Ben & Jerry's in 2000, spun off its ice cream unit into Magnum in December and retains a 19.9% stake.

Since 2024, Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's and its independent board have fought Unilever, and now Magnum, in a U.S. District Court in New York over what they said were efforts to undermine the brand's social mission and the board's autonomy.

In a filing dated January 20 in that U.S. District Court case in New York, Magnum said that Ben & Jerry's CEO and a Unilever appointee were now the only members on Ben & Jerry's board.

Ben & Jerry's Board Chair Anuradha Mittal was ousted in mid-December after Magnum deemed her unfit to serve, and two long-serving directors left as Magnum introduced nine-year term limits.

In the filing, Magnum said Mittal "had engaged in serious misconduct that rendered her ineligible to serve on the board" and that an Ernst & Young audit of the Ben & Jerry's Foundation, a separate U.S. non-profit funded by the brand, led to concerns of conflicts of interest.

Magnum said none of the three remaining independent directors had agreed to certify compliance with Magnum's code of business integrity and undergo compliance training, meaning they had left the board as of January 1.

Mittal has accused Magnum and Unilever of trying to discredit her and undermine the board's authority.

"Magnum’s midnight purge of independent directors who provide oversight authority and holding hostage charitable funds— all while they continue to conceal the audit report and scope of work — speak for themselves," Mittal said in a statement on Thursday.

Magnum shared key findings with the foundation in September, it said in the filing.
Canadian gallery sees resignations after it refuses to acquire Nan Goldin’s photos
An art gallery in Canada has been roiled by resignations after it narrowly voted not to acquire work by Jewish photographer and outspoken pro-Palestinian activist Nan Goldin over accusations that she holds antisemitic views.

The resignations of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s modern and contemporary curator and two members of its modern and contemporary collections committee were first reported by The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper.

Goldin, who is widely acclaimed for her documentary-style photography of marginalized communities, has faced controversy in recent years over her outspoken pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activism.

In the weeks following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught, Goldin signed onto a letter calling for “Palestinian liberation.” In April 2024, she also signed another letter calling for Israel’s exclusion from the Venice Biennale art festival. In December 2023, Goldin told n+1 Magazine that she had “been on a cultural boycott of Israel for my whole life.”

German leaders criticized her after a November 2024 speech at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, where she said, “I decided to use this exhibition as a platform to amplify my position of moral outrage at the genocide in Gaza and Lebanon.” She added, “Anti-Zionism has nothing to do with antisemitism.”

Last week, Goldin donated one of her artworks to a fundraiser for Palestinian children curated by children’s YouTube star Ms. Rachel, who has faced criticism for her pro-Palestinian advocacy.
Jewish K-12 teachers in US report widespread antisemitism at work, from teachers' union - survey
More than half of participants in a US survey of Jewish K-12 educators working in public and non-Jewish private schools reported experiencing or witnessing antisemitism at work, according to a Thursday release from StandWithUs.

The nationwide study surveyed 584 self-identified Jewish teachers across the United States and found that 61.6% had personally experienced or witnessed antisemitism in their professional environments. Moreover, 45.5% of teachers reported antisemitism from teachers' unions.

Notably, among the 65% of survey participants who were required to take anti-bias training in their school or district, only 10% reported that the training included information about antisemitism.

"As a Jewish public school educator, these findings, while disturbing, do not come as a shock," said Alyson Brauning, Interim Chair of the National Education Association (NEA) Jewish Affairs Caucus. "They reveal a serious disconnect between stated commitments to equity and the lived realities of Jewish educators."

Brauning added that "antisemitism, whether overt or subtle, continues to shape workplace environments in ways that undermine safety, belonging, and professional participation. This data makes clear that meaningful change is long overdue.”
Terror Supporters Are Influencing Students at the University of Washington
One of the most persistent myths since October 7, 2023, is that college students organically gravitated toward militant pro-Palestinian activism. On those campuses that saw the most aggressive demonstrations, in fact, radical elements may have seeded the ground for disruptive protests.

One such radical group has embedded itself at the University of Washington: the Tariq El-Tahrir Student Network, which presents itself as “an international network of Palestinian, Arab, and Internationalist youth, students and organizations,” and which is linked to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Tariq El-Tahrir is the youth arm of Masar Badil, a Canada-based political group with close ties to the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and to Samidoun, the “sham charity” that fundraises on the PFLP’s behalf.

Tariq El-Tahrir is also closely tied to SUPER UW (Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return at University of Washington), the campus activist group responsible for doing $1 million in damage during a building occupation last May and, separately, laying siege to Microsoft’s offices later that year. Together, the groups organized an online seminar featuring a reported Hamas terrorist, among other notables.

The connection between a student protest organization (SUPER UW) and the youth wing of a terrorist proxy (Tariq El-Tahrir) gives a glimpse into the extreme edge of campus activism—and potentially provides a hook for legal action.

Tariq El-Tahrir is active around the globe, acting alternately as a proxy for and supporter to Samidoun and Masar Badil. In places where Samidoun is banned—like Israel, Germany, Canada, and the United States—Tariq El-Tahrir works to connect young people to its broader operation. In nations like Brazil, Greece, Italy, Belgium, and Spain, where Samidoun can operate freely, Tariq El-Tahrir amplifies its efforts.

In the United States, the group has fostered connections between activists and hostile foreign powers. For example, it has sent multiple delegations to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations. One of these events featured the prominent radical Calla Walsh, who three weeks later appeared in Iran at the Sobh Festival, where she publicly chanted, “Death to America, Death to Israel.”


Wikipedia, Qatar, and the Future of Knowledge
Imagine a world in which facts can be erased from one of the society’s key sources of information.

A world where foreign governments and terror-supporters have a say in whether you should know something or not.

A world where truth is malleable and facts are twisted to fit pre-determined narratives.

No, this isn’t an Orwellian dystopia. It’s Wikipedia as it currently operates: one of the world’s most influential websites and a primary information source for millions.

Due to its crowd-sourcing of information, Wikipedia is one of the most extensive sources of knowledge on the internet (and possibly in the entire world). However, this same strength is also Wikipedia’s biggest weakness, leaving it vulnerable to manipulation by autocracies, terror supporters, and other bad actors.

From recently-uncovered Qatari influence to a secret network of anti-Israel activists, we’ll take a look at how the truth is being manipulated on Wikipedia and what this means for our understanding of the world.

One Edit at a Time: Qatar’s Polished Image on Wikipedia
In Qatar’s case, the PR firm Portland Communications was hired after the country was selected to host the 2022 World Cup to edit Wikipedia articles related to human rights and to suppress other unflattering facts that threatened the state’s international image.

According to the report, between 2013 and 2024 Portland Communications directed a network of subcontractors to edit Wikipedia articles on human rights in Qatar, as well as entries on Qatari politicians and businessmen accused of corrupt or unethical conduct.

The edits were deliberately small and incremental, designed to evade detection and slip past the scrutiny of other Wikipedia editors.

In short, anyone researching Qatar on Wikipedia has not been presented with a full or nuanced picture of the Gulf state. Instead, they encountered paid-for reputation management designed to polish its image and suppress unflattering facts. In the process, Wikipedia shifted from an information resource to a vehicle for indoctrination.


Arab Knesset parties sign deal to revive Joint List
The four Arab-Israeli parties in the Knesset have signed an agreement to re-establish the Joint List ahead of the next set of Israeli elections.

The leaders of Hadash, Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad made the deal on Thursday during a meeting in Sakhnin, per the Times of Israel.

They were in the northern Israeli city to attend a general strike called by communal leadership due to a recent crime wave that has beset Arab areas.

A spate of gang-related violence in the Negev has set off an epidemic of crime across the country, with 20 Arab citizens murdered since the start of 2026.

Nearly all Arab-majority towns across Israel shut down on Thursday in a major strike, inspired by a protest in Sakhnin after criminals attempted to extort local shopkeepers.

Footage circulating on social media showed the party leaders cheering after signing a deal, written on a piece of paper bearing the Sakhnin Municipality’s letterhead.

The four parties have reportedly been negotiating the deal for some time, but were divided over the nature of the alliance until pressure from the Arab-Israeli community to address the crime wave expedited the announcement.

The original Joint List was established in 2015, becoming the third-largest faction in the Knesset before being dissolved in 2019. It was then recreated later that year and increased its seat tally, but ideological disagreements saw it break up once again in 2022.
Restricted Video
Western anti-Israeli activists: Hamas is a resistance group, they fight IDF and their goal is to create a liberal democracy in Palestine

Meanwhile Hamas to anyone who opposes or criticizes their regime:


Irish government urged to act on Dublin-based Muslim Brotherhood-linked group
The Chair of the Muslims Against Antisemitism group has called on the Irish government to act against a Muslim Brotherhood-linked organisation based in their country, asking how they could ban the group’s spiritual leader from entering, yet allow an institution promoting his teachings to operate there.

Ghanem Nuseibeh, Chairman of MAAS, which is based in the UK, wrote to Jim O’Callaghan, Ireland’s Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, regarding a group called the “European Council for Fatwa and Research”, which is based in Dublin.

The council was founded by Yusuf Qaradawi, the former spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mr Qaradawi himself was banned from entering Ireland in 2011, as well as the UK and USA and a number of other countries, due to his extremism, which included significant antisemitism and homophobia.

“As Muslims, we believe that antisemitism should be challenged on all fronts, including limiting incitement”, Nusseibeh wrote.

“Much of the antisemitism that has sadly become rampant in some sectors of the Muslim communities in Britain and Europe, including Ireland, is a result of extremist teachings and grossly inappropriate interpretations of Islam.”

Examples of Qaradawi’s antisemitism include describing Jews as worthy of “annihilation”, on a regular show he hosted on Al Jazeera, stating: “Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.” He described the Holocaust as “divine punishment” on Jews, and saying that it had “put Jews in their place.” In his work Fatawa on Palestine, Qaradawi cited an infamous Hadith which says: “The last day will not come unless you fight Jews. A Jew will hide himself behind stones and trees and stones and trees will say, ‘O servant of Allah, O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
Woman who launched hate rant at Reubens diners gets suspended jail sentence
A woman who smashed up a kosher deli, hurled antisemitic abuse at diners and shouted “free Palestine” has received a suspended sentence of 25 weeks in prison.

Footage showed jobless mum Mary Clarke, 32, attacking diners at Reubens Café and Bakery on Baker Street, central London.

She spouted her vile rant after asking the diners whether the café was kosher on July 17 last year.

Drunken Clarke accused the families of “killing babies” before screaming in their faces and yelling “Free Palestine”.

A diner can be heard saying that Clarke broke their phone by throwing it on the floor, and “said something about Jewish”.

In the clip, Clarke, wearing a baseball cap and gym wear, brazenly screams: “I’m from f**king Ireland” before she throws food over the diners including hurling a bowl of chips onto the floor.

She then walks off and continues to shout incoherently before turning her attention to a group of men drinking on a table next door to the cafe.

Rhianne Neil, prosecuting, said: “The defendant walked by and approached the table. Clarke started shouting ‘free Palestine’ and walked away before returning to the table.”

Neil said she then shouted: “‘I’m Irish this is my country, I’m the only one saving babies these Jews are killing’.”

The prosecutor read from a witness statement from Ruebens manager Simmy Grover, who described the incident as “abusive, alarming and distressing”. He said: “I find this behaviour disgusting and unacceptable.”

Clarke, of Camden, earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of racially aggravated harassment and one count of racially aggravated criminal damage.

She also pleaded guilty to one count of racially aggravated common assault.

Clarke appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court today wearing a black belted coat over a white shirt, with her hair tied back in a pony tail.

Jacqui Joseph, defending Clarke, said: “She is totally mortified by her behaviour, she totally accepts her responsibility. She’d lost her mother who she’s very close to a year prior to that.

“She was in essence binge drinking, she was under the influence of alcohol.”

Clarke “resides alone with her four year old son” and is in receipt of benefits but is “actively seeking work”.

District Judge Sam Gozee told Clarke: “You targeted the cafe clearly knowing that it was part of the Jewish community and making comments of a distressing nature to those who were simply enjoying the cafe.

“This was a sustained attack. You caused distress to multiple persons who were present at the cafe and as I’ve said there was clearly an element of targeting.


Shul Runnings: Israeli bobsleigh team makes Olympic history
Israel will make history at next month’s Winter Olympics after its men’s bobsleigh team clinched a first-ever Olympic qualification, boosting the country’s delegation to nine athletes for the Milano Cortina Games.

The four-man crew secured their place on Thursday after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification at the end of the season, before being informed that a higher-ranked nation had declined to use its full quota of athlete places – freeing up a spot for Israel.

The breakthrough marks a major milestone for Israeli winter sports and for a programme built over two decades.

Pilot and team captain AJ Edelman announced the news on Instagram, writing: “Dreams do come true. For this dream, that day is today.

“The Israeli Bobsled Team is now ‘The Israeli Olympic Bobsled Team.’ We are headed to Milan.

“[Thank you all for] being a part of this journey… let’s go make more history.”

The Olympic Committee of Israel described the qualification as a “historic achievement”.


Film of Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller’s incredible wartime story at cinemas nationwide on Tuesday
A gripping drama based on the life of Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller is being shown at cinemas nationwide for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD).

Desperate Journey is based on the late Holocaust Education Trust ambassador’s extraordinary memoir of survival in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Knoller’s family have welcomed the film being shown to mark HMD on Tuesday, which is also the anniversary of his funeral four years ago after his death at the age of 100.

The film has been rereleased for the single day and is being exhibited by the Odeon cinema chain.

As the trailer shows, it tells the stranger-than-fiction tale of Knoller’s adventures after his escape from Vienna following the Anschluss.

After making it to wartime Paris, he found employment in the city’s glamorous nightclubs where he eked out a precarious existence.

His life was at risk every day should his identity as Jew have been exposed by the German officers who were his customers.

Eventually Knoller was discovered and interned at Auschwitz.

He survived a death march to Bergen-Belsen, where he was freed when the camp was liberated by Allied forces in May 1945.

Knoller later settled in Britain where he and his wife raised a family. He died in 2022.






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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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