Thursday, January 29, 2026

01/29 Links Pt1: Palestinians Offered Prosperity for Giving Up Dream of Israel's Destruction See It as Humiliating Bribery; Hamas official: We did not discuss disarmament ‘for a single moment’

From Ian:

Palestinians Offered Prosperity for Giving Up Dream of Israel's Destruction See It as Humiliating Bribery
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Donald Trump's former senior advisor Jared Kushner presented a vision for what Gaza would look like, under the title "Empowering Gazans with Jobs, Training, and Services." This vision is based on real estate deal logic: property improvement, value creation, and bringing prosperity.

Its foundational assumption, held also by Israel before Oct. 7, is that humans are, first and foremost, rational economic creatures. If we just provide Gazans good livelihoods, luxury hotels, a port, and factories, the motivation for terror will decrease until it disappears.

But Middle Eastern reality and Palestinian reality proves again and again that the struggle is not about quality of life. The critical mistake of the Trump-Kushner approach is the attempt to reduce a deep national, religious, and identity conflict to a cash-flow and urban-development problem.

The Palestinian national movement, and especially its extremist branches controlling Gaza, have never placed economic welfare at the top of their priorities. If they had wanted that, Gaza could have become the Singapore of the Middle East a decade ago, with the billions of dollars that flowed to it.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are driven by an ideology that sees eliminating Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel as a lofty goal, sanctifying any sacrifice including poverty and hunger of their own people. For them, the land is not real estate waiting for a developer, but waqf land that must be liberated. When offered prosperity in exchange for giving up the dream of Israel's destruction, they see it as humiliating bribery.

The thought that money will buy quiet is an optical illusion. This is a national struggle. The other side is not seeking a business partnership, but historical victory. A discourse about economic development, without first neutralizing the nationalist-religious aspiration to destroy Israel, is a recipe for repeated disaster.
Hamas Intends to Control Gaza from Behind the Scenes
According to the IDF, Hamas will accept the Palestinian technocrat committee - the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) - with the goal of controlling it from behind the scenes, as Hizbullah has done in Lebanon.

Handing over civilian functions to the NCAG makes Hamas's life easier, as they do not need to invest in civilian issues.

The IDF noted that even though the NCAG will not be formally controlled by Hamas, it will still need to rely on local administrators in the field who are under Hamas control.

This would not truly dislodge Hamas from power absent an additional round of military pressure.
Seth Mandel: Mansour Abbas’s Dilemma and the Israeli Election
One can better understand the phrase “two Jews, three opinions” by looking at Israeli elections, where there is rarely much strength in numbers and where splitting a party can provide more Knesset seats than unifying parties together.

And like everything else in Israel, it doesn’t just apply to Jews. In 2021, the Ra’am party, led by Mansour Abbas, made history by becoming the first Arab party to establish itself as a formal member of a governing coalition. Though Ra’am had won only four seats in the election, those four seats made the difference by giving the “change government,” led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, a Knesset majority. For first time in a dozen years, Benjamin Netanyahu would not be prime minister.

This time around, Ra’am has agreed to be part of a joint Arab slate, in which the Arab parties all run together. Some polls suggest this Joint List could garner as many as 13 seats. Abbas, however, isn’t thrilled.

Wouldn’t 13 seats—theoretically—be better than four? Not exactly. A joint Arab slate means Ra’am is tying its fortunes to parties that wouldn’t sit in a government. Abbas is pragmatic, the rest of the Arab party leaders much less so. Which means those 13 seats wouldn’t be added to a coalition of Zionist parties that might replace the Likud-led government.

Abbas would rather have four seats and be part of the government than have 13 seats in opposition. Joining a coalition means winning concessions for Abbas’s Arab constituents. Remaining in opposition with more seats would make the Arab coalition louder but mostly irrelevant.

Ra’am has been working to improve its image as a pragmatic party that wants to give Arab voters a stake in the Israeli governing majority, not just its opposition. Abbas has reportedly been seeking a Jewish candidate to join its slate, and a few weeks ago Ra’am announced it was separating from the Shura Council, the religious body of the wider Islamist movement of which Ra’am is part. A technically secular Arab party, perhaps even one with a Jewish candidate, would be another major step toward the normalization of Arab politics on a national level.

But running with the other Arab parties on one giant slate essentially erases all that distinguishes Ra’am ideologically from the other parties. So why would Mansour Abbas agree to the Joint List?


IDF confirms some 70,000 Gazans died in Israel-Hamas war, none from starvation
The IDF, for the first time on Wednesday, confirmed that approximately 70,000 Gazans were killed during the Israel-Hamas War, while disputing the percentage of civilian deaths claimed by the UN and declaring that no healthy persons died from starvation.

While various international groups have claimed that the overwhelming majority of those who died were civilians, the IDF continues to contest that number and has said that around 25,000 were Hamas terrorists. Further, the IDF has presented evidence that, through early 2024 – the period when Hamas was firing large daily rocket salvos – around 13% of their rockets were misfires, leading to the killing of many Palestinians.

There have also been other periods of time where Hamas executed large numbers of Palestinians whom it viewed as political opponents or civilians whom it was trying to prevent from fleeing an area that the IDF said needed to be evacuated. While the IDF said on Thursday that it is working on a fuller evaluation of the breakdown of civilians to combatants and estimates of those killed by Hamas, no Israeli official has provided a set estimate on that to date.

No date was given for when this breakdown will be publicized, suggesting that it will not be in the near future.

Estimates by international organizations and some media have said that as many as around 450 Palestinians have died of starvation, but the IDF on Thursday said these numbers are a mix of fake statistics or include persons who suffered from dangerous health conditions prior to the war.

IDF sources noted cases where they spoke to humanitarian aid officials who claimed that two specific children had died, but the military was able to quickly establish that they were actually still alive.

There were also multiple other cases in which the global media graphically documented children whose bodies appeared contorted and who eventually died, with the military later clarifying that they had serious pre-war health conditions that had already caused their distorted-looking appearance.

IDF: UN officials exaggerated claims of Gazan starvation
The IDF has not given a more detailed, comprehensive counter-claim regarding the list of persons the UN claims starved to death, but is expected to give significant information confidentially to the International Court of Justice on March 12.

More broadly, the IDF has said that UN aid officials in the field have admitted that their headquarters political bosses invented or exaggerated the food insecurity in Gaza in order to pressure Israel into ending the war earlier. IDF officials have also admitted that there was a food insecurity crisis in July-August 2025, but said they acted rapidly enough at the time in increasing the volume of food aid trucks to avoid a starvation crisis.

According to the IDF, throughout the war, 112,000 aid trucks were brought into Gaza, including 1,700,000 tons of food, as well as 1,800,000 tents and tarpaulin covers. During this time, 600,000 children received polio vaccinations.


How to Achieve Hamas's Disarmament and Gaza's Demilitarization
As the U.S. launches the second stage of the Trump plan, the core of the president's vision is turning Gaza into an area free of terrorist activity. After the proven ability of President Trump and his team to extract the hostages from Hamas tunnels "against all odds," Israel is right to grant the U.S. president room to operate.

There is a need to coordinate with the White House a detailed timetable for Hamas's disarmament and for the demilitarization of Gaza. Disarmament means the transfer of all weapons held by Hamas and smaller organizations to a body agreed upon by the U.S. and Israel and their removal from Gaza. This includes all components related to rocket arrays, all anti-tank weapons, all explosives and materials that are part of their production process, and all small arms.

Demilitarizing Gaza means destruction of military infrastructure, including an extensive tunnel network, most of which is still operational, and weapons production facilities, now concentrated mainly in areas where the IDF did not operate systematically, such as the central camps.

Reconstruction for Gaza's residents should take place only in areas under IDF control. Only there will construction materials be brought in, rubble cleared, and temporary housing installed. In areas under Hamas control, reconstruction will not begin as long as the condition requiring the removal of all weapons from the area has not been fulfilled.

The IDF has for some time been formulating operational plans to achieve the war's unfulfilled objectives: the destruction of the military and governing capabilities of the terrorist organizations to ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israeli citizens. If Trump's vision is realized, as it was with the hostages, the gain is entirely ours. And if Hamas undermines Trump, the decision of when and how to act rests entirely in our hands.


IDF Rejects Hamas Disarmament that Exempts Kalashnikov Rifles
IDF sources predicted on Thursday that there is a high probability that eventually a sizable military operation will be required against Hamas to ensure its disarmament.

The IDF rejected ideas leaked by U.S. officials for disarming Hamas that focus on collecting Hamas's "heavy" weapons, such as rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, for storage.

Placing these and any other Hamas weapons in storage would essentially allow them to keep their weapons but just change their address.

Hamas would either control the storage guards or would easily overpower them.

Moreover, merely collecting heavy weapons would be insufficient.

Seizing Hamas's Kalashnikov rifles would be crucial to limiting its lethal capacity. A large number of Oct. 7 victims were killed by these rifles.


Senior Hamas official: We did not discuss disarmament ‘for a single moment’
Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the terrorist organization never agreed to disarmament as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip.

“Not for a single moment did we talk about surrender the weapons, or any formula about destroying, surrendering or disarmament,” Abu Marzouk claimed in an interview with the Qatari state broadcaster.

According to him, Hamas gunmen have already moved to”restore order” across parts of the Strip from which the Israeli military has withdrawn.

The United States, United Nations and Israel “want international peacekeeping forces, but these forces say it’s not their job to disarm any Palestinian [terrorist] faction in the Gaza Strip,” Abu Marzouk continued.

Disarmament “was never even presented to us,” the Hamas official said, “because after a battle of this magnitude, with such steadfastness, and with the inability of Israel, America and the West to disarm or destroy Hamas’s weapons, did they think they could obtain it through talks?”

Asked about its commitment to cede control of the Strip to the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which Washington has described as a transitional technocratic body meant to exclude the terror group, Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that “nobody can enter Gaza without understandings with Hamas.”

“If Hamas doesn’t agree to the administrative committee, it cannot enter the Gaza Strip,” he said, claiming to have veto power over its members.

“We had no objection to the people coming in, except for two. Through the mediators—especially the Egyptian mediator, our brothers in Egypt—we stated this clearly. One was removed from the committee, and the other was barred from crossing and will be replaced,” said Abu Marzouk.

The U.S. State Department told JNS on Wednesday that demilitarizing Hamas remains “a central challenge” to implementing its peace plan.


Palestinian indicted over deadly Beit She’an ramming, stabbing attack
Israel’s Northern District Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday indicted a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Israelis and wounded two others in a series of attacks involving ramming and stabbing in the country’s Gilboa region, the Israel Police said in a statement.

Indictments were also filed against two of the terrorist’s siblings, who entered Israel illegally, and against the terrorist’s employer, an Israeli resident of Arraba in the Lower Galilee.

The charges were submitted to the Nazareth District Court.

Ahmad al-Rub, 37, from the city of Qabatiya near Jenin in northern Samaria, murdered Shimshon Mordechai, 68, and Aviv Maor, 19, in attacks carried out in and around the northern Israeli city of Beit She’an on Dec. 26.

According to the indictment, al-Rub left Arraba around 5:30 a.m. together with his employer and another Palestinian to perform renovation work at a private residence in Kibbutz Mesilot.

At a certain point, the terrorist stole his employer’s vehicle and went on a killing spree, armed with a knife and a screwdriver that he took from the construction site.

In Beit She’an, he ran over and killed Mordechai and wounded a 16-year-old boy in another ramming incident, the police’s statement read.

From Beit She’an, al-Rub headed toward Route 71, and at the Tel Yosef Junction he hit a stationary vehicle, next proceeding toward two young people who were at the location. Catching 18-year-old Maor, he stabbed her numerous times; her death was later pronounced by a medical team that arrived at the scene.


Suspect in car ramming at Chabad headquarters faces multiple hate crime charges
Dan Sohail, 36, is suspected of driving a car into the doors to a synagogue at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights, Queens, five times on Wednesday evening, Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives at the New York City Police Department, said at a press conference.

The suspect, of Carteret, N.J., “had recently connected with the Lubavitch community,” and removed blockades from the same site the prior day, Kenney said.

“This incident is being investigated as a hate crime, and the NYPD’s hate crime task force took the lead on this case,” Kenny said. “We are collaborating with our state and federal partners.”

He added that Sohail has been charged with “attempted assault one and two as a hate crime, reckless endangerment two as a hate crime, criminal mischief two and three as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.”

The suspect claimed he lost control of the car because he was wearing clunky boots, the chief of detectives said. “It’s a hate crime based on his attack of the synagogue,” Kenny said, noting that the suspect knew it was a synagogue.

Ofir Akunis, Israeli consul general in New York, stated that “this is the new reality in New York for Jews.”

“We are seeing one antisemitic attack followed by the next on houses of worship, targeting Jews simply because they are Jewish,” he stated. “The attacks are only intensifying in New York, and the response requires more than a statement. We warned that changing the definition of antisemitism and lifting the ban on boycott initiatives against Israel could lead to an increase in attacks, and regrettably, that is what is happening.”

Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, axed all of his predecessors recent executive orders, including those designed to protect Jews in the city, within hours of taking over control of City Hall. Mamdani, who has said he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York, has also said that he is interested in divesting the city with the largest Jewish population outside of the Jewish state from Israel Bonds.

“This attack is part of a growing wave of antisemitic incidents driven by an organized, long-running campaign to dehumanize Jews and delegitimize the existence of the Jewish state,” Akunis stated. “Toxic and violent rhetoric is a central component of this propaganda. Antisemitism must be confronted decisively.”

Yaacov Behrman, a Chabad spokesman, stated that the driver had trespassed previously at a Chabad house in New Jersey. CBS News reported that Sohail told people at that Chabad that he was homeless and wanted to convert to Judaism. Counselors called to the scene reportedly recommended that he seek mental health counseling.

Additional media reports suggested that Sohail was denied access to a yeshiva in the Garden State.

Motti Seligson, a Chabad spokesman, stated that the site where the ramming took place is “perhaps the most replicated building in the world because of the light, joy, Torah and a confident Judaism that emanates from it to all corners of the world.”


Zvika K panel with Eli David, Natasha Hausdorff, Sam van Rooy, Dominik Tarczynski & David Bernstein
Zvika Klein panel with Dr Eli David, Natasha Hausdorff, MP Sam van Rooy, MEP Dominik Tarczynski & David Bernstein @ the 2nd International Conference on Combating Antisemitism




Coleman Hughes: Why Liberal Religion Is Losing Ground
Rabbi David Wolpe has spent his career thinking seriously about belief. He debated the New Atheists at the height of their influence, led one of the largest synagogues in the country, taught at Harvard Divinity School, and has written widely about theology in the modern age. Along the way, Newsweek once named him the most influential rabbi in America, and The Jerusalem Post listed him among the 50 most influential Jews in the world.

Wolpe now sees liberal religion in clear decline, and argues that a vast and often neglected space exists between believing in an old man in the sky who dispenses rewards and punishments, and dismissing religion as absurd.

I sat down with Wolpe to talk about the challenge modernity poses to faith, and his case for religion without literalism. Without a religious foundation, he argues, societies begin to drift toward anomie and meaninglessness. When we see these trends emerging in America, we’re really seeing a society that has absorbed religious moral norms while abandoning the beliefs behind them.

In our conversation, we also discussed rising antisemitism, what he saw on Harvard’s campus after October 7, and whether Zionism is still a useful concept.

0:00-Intro
1:10- Who Are You—and What Does Being a Rabbi Mean Now?
4:17- The New Atheists: What They Nailed, What They Missed
6:45- Why Judaism “Belief” Doesn’t Look Like Christianity’s
12:13- Why Judaism Modernized (and Islam Didn’t, at Scale)
15:50- Trump, Musk, and “Paganism”: What Wolpe Actually Meant
19:48- When Politics Turns Religious: Activism, Faith, and Moral Certainty
34:28- Defining Antisemitism: How It’s Different From Other Bigotry
36:43- Campus Antisemitism vs. Free Speech: Where’s the Line?
42:21- Slogans as Weapons: “River to Sea” and “Globalize the Intifada”
49:16- Zionism: Why the Word Still Exists (and Why It’s a PR Disaster)
53:51- Enlightenment Values vs. Religious Values: Friends or Enemies?
56:23- Cancer, Brain Surgery, and the Medical System (Not God)
1:00:50- Wrap-Up + Where to Find Wolpe


Call Me Back: The Story of American Antizionism - with Shaul Kelner
Is Antizionism a Soviet invention for persecuting Jews?

Dan is joined by Shaul Kelner, professor of Jewish studies and sociology at Vanderbilt University, to examine the rarely-told history of Antizionism. Kelner explains how a framework designed to deny Jewish life under Soviet rule has resurfaced in the West long before October 7 and why many American Jews were unprepared for its scale and intensity.

In this episode...
08:00: The Soviet roots of Antizionism
15:00: How Antizionism entered the West
21:00 Marxism and ideological monoculture in American universities
28:00 Why American Jews are seduced by Antizionism
32:00: Stop debating semantics


Triggernometry: Jeremy Boreing On Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes
Jeremy Boreing is an American filmmaker, entrepreneur, and co‑founder of The Daily Wire, known for building influential media brands and producing original films and commentary.

00:00 - Introduction
05:07 - The Civil War On The Right
21:28 - The Mix Of Charisma And Mental Illness
30:08 - Is Being Angry About Things Productive?
35:54 - JD Vance And The MAGA Movement
41:17 - The Religious Element
57:00 - Is Liberalism In Trouble?
01:08:37 - The Creation Of Culture And The Pendragon Cycle
01:15:37 - What's The One Thing We're Not Talking About That We Really Should Be?


‘Final Hostages Are Home’ Palestinian Who Escaped from Hamas Speaks Out About Gaza’s Future
In this episode of The Brink, we are joined by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza-born analyst and one of the most prominent moderate Palestinian voices. Drawing on his upbringing in Gaza and his work today as a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Ahmed offers a rare and deeply personal account of life under Hamas.

Ahmed describes how Hamas systematically groomed children through schools, mosques, and summer camps, recounting his own childhood experiences of indoctrination, intimidation, and early encounters with Hamas leadership. He explains how the group transformed religious spaces into propaganda hubs, used violence to impose social control, and built a generational system of radicalisation that many in the West still fail to understand.

The conversation turns to Gaza today. Ahmed outlines the existence of two parallel societies, one living in extreme deprivation and another protected by access to salaries, aid networks, and Hamas-controlled taxation systems. He exposes how aid is diverted, how hospitals are used as centres of repression and torture, and how Hamas has rebuilt its finances since the ceasefire through taxation and intimidation.

We also examine the Muslim Brotherhood playbook, its influence in the UK and across the West, and why moderate Palestinian voices are often silenced by intimidation from Islamist networks. Finally, Ahmed sets out a stark assessment of Gaza’s future, the failure of the so-called peace mechanisms currently being proposed, and what would actually be required to dismantle Hamas and give Palestinians a genuine chance at a different future.

This is a sobering, courageous, and essential conversation about extremism, truth, and the human cost of allowing ideology to triumph over reality.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
03:18 Early Indoctrination & Life in UNRWA Schools
06:35 The Second Intifada & Radicalisation of Children
10:12 Personal Encounters with Hamas Leaders
14:50 Mosques, Schools & the Indoctrination Pipeline
16:53 The Muslim Brotherhood Playbook Explained
21:06 Groomed by Hamas & the Road to Asylum
24:03 Exporting Radicalisation to the West
27:07 Why Moderate Muslims Are Silenced
29:00 The UK’s Blind Spot on Islamist Networks
30:02 Saudi Arabia, Abraham Accords & Regional Power
32:04 Why Gaza Must Reject the “Resistance Narrative”
35:12 A Pragmatic Path Forward for Palestinians


On CNBC, Jewish Rights Are a Discretionary “Moral Gift”
CNBC World billed Sir Bob Geldof, member of the Irish ‘70s band “The Boomtown Rats,” an entrepreneur, author, and activist “continuing to use his voice for good.” CNBC sat down to speak with him at the Young World Summit for the “next generation of leaders,” which aired on Jan. 23, 2026, and on subsequent replays thereafter. Geldof, who has one Jewish grandparent, had previously been bestowed an honorary doctoral degree from Ben-Gurion University, during which time he called for both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to expand their minds. Why then, when the CNBC host explained Geldof was there “to talk about delivering lasting peace” and “supporting young peace builders,” did Geldof call the Jews’ right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland a “gift” the Jews were lucky to be given?

Sitting down with Geldof, the CNBC host raised the conflicts in the Middle East and in Ukraine as some of the many “going on in the world right now” and asked Geldof what he wanted to see leaders doing. Geldof had harsh words for Vladimir Putin, stating, “I want to see thugs [ ] like Putin chastened. I want to see him beaten.”

He then pivoted and described what was happening in Gaza as both “appalling” and “sickening,” and told the CNBC host that “we are sort of compromised by our insistence upon the right of the State of Israel to exist.” While adding he “wholeheartedly goes along with [Israel’s right to exist],” he described Israel as “a great moral gift that has been squandered by the activity there.”

Was Geldof suggesting Israel was a gift from the West that should be returned?

The “activity” Geldof refers to, of course, is Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, which was started by Hamas when it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people, injuring many more, and kidnapping more than 250. What exactly did Geldof mean when he said Israel was “a . . . gift that has been squandered?” CNBC did not ask him; instead, it just let the statement hang.

Have other countries engaged in “activity” that squandered “gifts” in Geldof’s opinion? CNBC had apparently run out of curiosity, as it also did not ask Geldof this question. Of all the other conflict-ridden countries in the world – such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, or Iran, particularly given the horrific reports of thousands dead at the hands of a murderous regime in the last few weeks – why did Geldof suggest the one and only Jewish State was a gift that had been squandered? CNBC forgot what it meant to engage in an interview; it did not ask.

Geldof’s western lenses apparently made him feel uniquely qualified to determine that Jewish rights are not actually rights, but mere “gifts.” The same perspective emboldened him to dictate when Israel should have moved on from the events of Oct. 7, 2023.


America's No. 2 App Erases Israel
UpScrolled, a fast-rising social media app billing itself as a “no censorship” alternative to Instagram and TikTok, has rocketed to No. 2 among free apps in Apple’s U.S. App Store in recent days. But the platform’s sudden ascent is now colliding with a more controversial reality. In its location and discovery systems, UpScrolled erases Israel, labeling searches for Israel and Israeli cities under “Occupied Palestine” or “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” according to tests run by Jewish Onliner. Screenshots from the UpScrolled app, taken by Jewish Onliner

Critics note that the labeling choice is significant because it is not merely about user content. On most platforms, geopolitical arguments play out in posts and comments. On UpScrolled, the dispute appears embedded into the product itself, pushing an anti-Israel viewpoint through taxonomy, topic clustering, and authoritative labels. Those choices shape which communities surface, which posts trend, and how information is organized.

Tech for Palestine Incubator Helped Build UpScrolled
UpScrolled was built by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Australian technologist, and is operated by an Australian company called Recursive Methods Pty Ltd. The app’s website states that it is privately funded by Hijazi with a small group of unnamed investors. “There is no corporate, government, or VC ownership today,” it continues.

However, the app was “supported” by Tech for Palestine, a pro-Palestinian advocacy incubator, according to its website. Anti-Israel influencer Guy Christensen similarly posted in September 2025 that “We are building UpScrolled, an app not dominated by a billionaire that protects your free speech. Issam Hijazi built it himself from scratch with help from Tom Hall with Tech 4 Palestine.” UpScrolled is live. The Instagram alternative that’s actually on your side.

That connection matters because it challenges UpScrolled’s pitch of political neutrality. A platform can claim impartiality while still being shaped organizationally, culturally, and strategically by advocacy infrastructure. The Israel-labeling issue, critics argue, is the most tangible proof point. A Founder on an Al Jazeera Stage With Hamas and Iran Hijazi’s network and public positioning are now drawing scrutiny. As Jewish Onliner previously reported, Hijazi is listed as a speaker at the 17th Al Jazeera Forum, scheduled for February 7 through 9, 2026, a conference run under the Al Jazeera Media Network umbrella.

The Forum’s published program includes a keynote speech by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and lists Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal as a featured speaker. Hijazi is scheduled on a panel focused on platforms and funding in the influencer ecosystem.

For critics, the optics are difficult to ignore. A “no censorship” app that is rapidly climbing Western app charts is being led by an entrepreneur simultaneously appearing at an Al Jazeera event where the official program features senior Iranian regime and Hamas leaders.


Pro-Palestine march organisers should pay for policing of protests, says MP
Senior Conservative MP Bob Blackman has intensified criticism of pro-Palestine protest organisers, arguing they should be responsible for the costs of policing their demonstrations.

As chair of the influential 1922 Committee, Blackman described anti-Israel activism as a “Trojan horse for antisemitism,” claiming that such protests and accusations of genocide against Israel amount to “antisemitism, pure and simple.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, Blackman revealed he had received antisemitic abuse online after raising concerns about the protests.

He called on Ofcom to address hate speech and emphasised Parliament’s responsibility to prevent it.

The MP for Harrow East said: “It’s a disgrace, and Ofcom have to take action, and indeed it is our duty to ensure that hate speech is never allowed to continue.”

Blackman highlighted the financial burden these protests have placed on London, noting that since October 2023, policing the demonstrations has cost the Metropolitan Police £82 million.

He argued that council taxpayers should not bear these costs and urged the Government to make protest organisers pay for policing.

Responding, Commons leader Sir Alan Campbell pointed out increased government funding for London’s police.

During a debate on Holocaust Memorial Day, Blackman further condemned the protests, warning that contemporary antisemitism often hides behind anti-Israel activism.


Police arrest Palestine protester dressed in mock Holocaust victim pyjamas
Police have arrested a protester dressed in mock Holocaust victim garb who reportedly heckled the new shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, while demonstrating outside parliament.

The MP for West Suffolk posted on X: "This morning, as I left Parliament, an anti-Israel protestor shouted at me.

"I turned and saw she was wearing the striped outfit the Nazis made Jews in concentration camps wear. You can argue about whether this should be illegal or not.

"But when others are arrested and charged using public order legislation for causing offence to followers of Islam - like in the case of Hamit Coskun [who was fined for publicly burning a Quran] - why is this deemed ok?"

Timothy posted a picture of the same woman, dressed in striped pyjamas bearing a yellow star and crescent – an Islamic twist on the yellow Star of David used by the Nazis to mark out Jewish prisoners –and the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it was indeed the same individual.

"She appears to make a habit of her disgusting behaviour," Timothy continued.

The Metropolitan Police wrote: "We can confirm this woman was arrested outside Parliament earlier today on suspicion of a racially/religiously aggravated public order offence. She remains in custody."

Last month, it was reported that the last year saw arrests for terrorism-related offences rise 660 per cent compared to 2024, largely due to large protests against the proscription of Palestine Action at which activists attempted to be arrested en masse by holding signs bearing the slogan “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.

Official figures released by the government showed that 86 per cent of the 1,886 arrests for terrorism-related activity in the year to the end of September were linked to the group.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 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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