Tuesday, February 17, 2026

02/17 Links Pt1: The End of the Palestinian Authority; BHL: Francesca Albanese Must Go; Melanie Phillips: The Unholy Alliance - Why the Left Loves Jihad; The Child Soldiers of Gaza

From Ian:

Netanyahu: "Gaza Will Not Pose a Threat Ever Again to the State of Israel"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem on Sunday:
In his recent meeting with President Trump, "I expressed my skepticism of any deal with Iran, because, frankly, Iran is reliable on one thing, they lie and they cheat. But I said that if a deal is to be reached, it should have several components that we believe are important."

"The first is that all enriched material has to leave Iran. The second is that there shall be no enrichment capability - not stopping the enrichment process, but dismantling the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place. And the third is to deal also with the questions of ballistic missiles....The fourth is, dismantle the axis of terror that Iran has built....The last thing is...distrust and always verify. So there has to be real inspections, substantive inspections."

"We also spoke about Gaza....Hamas must first be disarmed and then Gaza must be demilitarized. Disarmed means that it must give up weapons....They did the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust with AK-47 [assault rifles], 60,000 of them. They have to go....Gaza will not pose a threat ever again to the State of Israel."

"The first requirement to defeat antisemitism is to fight antisemitism. It's the only way. There's no other way....In front of these vilifications, do not cower. Do not bend. Do not bow your head. Fight back, because people respect those who respect themselves....Silence will not help. Looking askance will not help, fight back."
Seth Mandel: The End of the Palestinian Authority
Every so often, Israel takes actions that the Palestinians object to on specious grounds. Recently, for example, Israel repealed a Jordanian regulation that prohibited Jews from buying private land in Judea and Samaria, and proposed an extension of Jerusalem-adjacent construction. These, we are told, endanger the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. But since the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected an offer of sovereignty over that land, we know that objection is a lie meant for public consumption.

Whatever the Palestinian leadership is after, it sure isn’t statehood on the West Bank. And that is why Bandar wanted to cry. That is why Clinton never forgave Arafat and never wavered from the truth of Camp David, despite the fact that his party became so hostile to hearing it.

What the spurned leaders realized at Camp David was not that the Palestinian leadership drives a hard bargain, but that the Palestinian leadership isn’t bargaining. It isn’t negotiating at all. It’s for show.

Looking back, among the most ridiculous excuses for Arafat’s rejection of the deal is that the deal itself was lacking. It wasn’t, but once Israel signed on, Arafat would’ve been in the driver’s seat until his dying day anyway. The world would consider Israel to be locked in, and there is no way the deal would be allowed to collapse over a square kilometer here or there. Not single person on earth believes otherwise.

The reason the Palestinian leadership turned down the offer was not because the offer was worth turning down statehood for. It was because the Palestinians would not sign a permanent record that said they had agreed to end the conflict and live in peace with Israel.

The Palestinian leadership doesn’t want a little more land here and there. It wants to be in a state of perpetual conflict in which Israel’s erasure remains on the table. Which means not only that, yes, Oslo is dead. It also means the Palestinian Authority exists in name only.
NYPost: Trump’s Board of Peace and Hamas cannot co-exist
One huge question hangs over Thursday’s meeting of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace: What’s the plan to de-Hamas-ify Gaza?

The president tells The Post the gathering will focus on how to direct the $5 billion that board members have so far committed to spend to rebuild the war-torn strip, with the full bill estimated to hit $70 billion.

Gaza is just the first test; Trump hopes the Board of Peace can play a role in resolving all manner of global crises where the United Nations simply flounders.

But first it’ll have to succeed in moving the prez’s Gaza peace plan to its next stage.

Nickolay Mladenov, the board’s director-general, cites three priorities: effective government, weapons decommissioned and Israeli withdrawal.

None of that’s possible if armed and organized terrorists remain; all Hamas’ fighters (and those of smaller terror groups) must disarm in exchange for amnesty, or accept exile.

Right now, they’re not just sticking around, they’re controlling the half of Gaza that Israel has pulled out of, and regularly attacking the IDF across the yellow line.

If they’re not defanged, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza will be a thin fiction, unable to stop the terrorists from continuing to call the shots.

And diverting much, maybe most, “rebuilding” money to re-arming for a larger assault on Israelis, as ever with a preference for raping, killing and otherwise terrorizing civilians.


Bernard-Henri Lévy: Francesca Albanese Must Go
Ms. Albanese’s denial—documented by UN Watch and the Anti-Defamation League—of the rapes of women in the kibbutzim and later in Gaza, which she presented as “fabrications”? Her tweet of May 30, 2025, relaying an article accusing “Zionists” of “staging” antisemitic attacks in the United States and concluding: “Pathetic. How far can an ideology go?”

Or that embarrassing scene, filmed on September 28, 2025, in Italy: the mayor of Reggio Emilia is about to present her with an award; he has the misfortune to mention the fate of the Israeli hostages — Ms. Albanese rolls her eyes, grimaces, and when it is her turn to speak, says that she forgives him — but on the condition that he promises he won’t say it again…

Today, I myself discover a text by journalist Chris Hedges reproaching the “Israel lobby” for having “bought and paid for Congress and the two ruling parties,” and for “influence of the war industry buttressed by hundreds of millions of dollars spent on political campaigns by the Zionists” — a text that Ms. Albanese, on October 17, 2024, described as “a must-read for the ages.”

I discover a grotesque article from the obscure New York–based site Mondoweiss claiming that the fires at Los Angeles and the fires in Gaza are “symptoms of the same disease” — which Ms. Albanese shared on January 12, 2025, with a comment worthy of the crudest conspiracy thinking: “On our small planet, all injustices are connected.”

I discover a monstrous tweet in which, on May 11, 2025, Ms. Albanese accuses the Israeli army of abducting Palestinians and having them raped by dogs. And then another, in July 2024, in which she writes that it is “time to #UNseatIsrael from the UN.”

All of this, this time indeed, constitutes a real “context.” There is a coherence here, a vehemence, a relentlessness that makes this United Nations official a rabid antisemite, completely out of control.

The world, after so many years, is apparently beginning to understand. As early as 2024, former special envoy for combating antisemitism under President Biden, Deborah Lipstadt, described Ms. Albanese’s remarks as “openly antisemitic.”

Today it is France, Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom that are grasping the magnitude of the scandal and calling for her dismissal. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who has just, on February 13, distanced himself from her.

It is now time to act.

This activist must go.

Francesca Albanese as a “United Nations Special Rapporteur” is like Pakistan, Cuba, or Russia sitting, not so long ago, on the UN Human Rights Council. It is like Iran parading today at the Commission on the Status of Women. It is an affront to international law, to the rights of victims, to basic decency.

It must stop.


Seth Frantzman: Rubio’s Munich speech offers glimpse into Trump-era rethink of global order
There is much to be learned from the speech. What matters is how it frames the current struggle for the world order.

If the “new world order” of the 1990s is indeed seeing a curtain fall, then what is the new “new world order” proposed today?

At the moment, it is the Trump doctrine, and that doctrine has many facets. Trump has pushed for a new US commitment to the Western hemisphere, something that has been compared to the Monroe Doctrine of the 19th century.

He has also been willing to use US military power to achieve goals, but he is reticent about endless wars and committing US troops as “boots on the ground.”

Other aspects of Trump’s foreign policy have been anchored in transactional agreements: essentially, the US providing support in exchange for something. Another aspect is his push for peace in various regions, including the Congo in Africa and South Asia.

It remains to be seen how Rubio’s speech will play out in the long run. European leaders have become accustomed to the Trump administration’s views by now.

They know that the White House is skeptical about the United Nations and international organizations. They also know Trump has pushed for a Board of Peace to work on issues in Gaza and other places.

Most European powers have been skeptical of this approach.

It also remains to be seen how the concepts sketched out by Rubio will play out, regarding a possible new Iran deal and other issues in the Middle East.
Europe Looks to Israeli Tech to Defend Tanks
Drones and ground-launched munitions have decimated Russian and Ukrainian tank fleets, and U.S. allies are looking to Israeli technology to ensure their tanks aren’t next.

EuroTrophy GmbH signed a contract in January for approximately $380 million to outfit Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks ordered by Lithuania, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Croatia with the Trophy Active Protection System (APS). EuroTrophy GmbH is the German subsidiary of Israeli defense manufacturer Rafael and a joint venture of General Dynamics European Land Systems and KNDS Deutschland.

This purchase is just the latest example in which Israeli technology is helping increase European defense capabilities and advance U.S. and transatlantic interests. In December 2025, Germany deployed the Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense system, Israel’s largest single defense export to date.

The Trophy configuration is mounted on a vehicle exterior and includes radars, launchers, and countermeasures to detect and intercept incoming projectiles, such as anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. In Israel, Trophy has been officially in operation on Merkava tanks and Namer armored vehicles for at least 10 years. Trophy has been deployed on American M1 Abrams tanks since 2019.

Trophy proved itself in the 2014 war, where Hamas fighters repeatedly, and with a variety of anti-tank weapons, fired on Israeli tanks with little success. More recently, following the October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Trophy reportedly intercepted thousands of Kornet missiles and other anti-armor munitions launched by Hamas and Hezbollah. The Israeli military reportedly says that Trophy systems have had an estimated 85 percent interception rate during the most recent war.

In 2024, Rafael announced an upgrade to Trophy that enables increased defense against top attacks from drones, instead of just ground attacks.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper: AOC’s ‘genocide’ libel in Munich stokes Jew-hatred in California
Make no mistake: AOC will long be remembered in Munich. She will be remembered for her historical illiteracy and antisemitism, wrapped in a fraying shroud of Hamas-fed statistics.

Not far from where Hitler launched his rise to power on lurid antisemitic tropes, AOC chose to accuse the Jewish state of genocide.

For the record, the United States and Germany both rejected that new “big lie” campaign — but not AOC. The global elite at the Munich Conference were left to scratch their heads — who constitutes her base, and who exactly was she pandering to?

AOC’s decision to spread the “genocide” slander against Israel at the very birthplace of Nazism will have an impact back in the US, including right here in California. Here, the “genocide” blood libel has spread into the mainstream of our media, culture, universities, and even our K-12 classrooms.

We have seen mobs march against synagogues, and even schools, repeating the same rhetoric AOC deployed in Munich in service of her political ambitions.

Anti-Israel campaigners will surely redouble their efforts, inspired by AOC. Likewise, pundits and influencers will measure whether her claim helps or hurts her political ambitions.

Last Saturday, incredibly, a quarter of million protesters surged into Munich — not demonstrating against Israel, but against the Iranian regime.

Similar, massive protests would soon fill the streets of London, Toronto, Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles.

Too bad AOC could not be bothered to speak out at Munich against an Iranian regime guilty of crimes against humanity against tens of thousands of its own citizens.

Too bad AOC didn’t use a nanosecond of her 15 minutes of Munich fame to signal her concern for the the suffering of the Uigurs, the Christians, or the Falon Gong in China; for Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong; or for the untold millions elsewhere who yearn for the very thing she arrogantly and cluelessly takes for granted: freedom.


How Israel’s High Court Reigns Supreme
Those of us who spend some of our lives defending Israel in the public discourse are accustomed to being told, even mocked, that we are incapable of finding any fault in the Jewish state at all—that we instinctively hear criticism of Israel and cry "anti-Semitism!"

I would like to put an end to this calumny by offering a strident criticism of Israel. To the so-called critics' dismay, it will not imply that Israel must cease to defend itself against its annihilationist neighbors or disavow the millennia-old connection between the Jewish people and the Holy Land. In other words, it is a criticism, not a thinly veiled call for the elimination of a sovereign state. But (and surely this will curry favor with those principled critics) it is a criticism amply backed up by painstaking research and comprehensive legal and historical analysis, courtesy of scholar Yonatan Green.

Here goes: Israel's judicial system is insane. It is bat-guano crazy. Green's recently released magnum opus, Rogue Justice, permits no conclusion other than that the current structure, powers, and methodologies of the Israeli Supreme Court render the state a juristocracy, rule by judges, at best. At worst, there is a colorable argument that the Supreme Court operates as an enlightened monarchy, selecting its heirs, arrogating powers, and ruling according to its own unimpeachable sense of benevolence.

Rogue Justice is a long book set in small typeface, and every single page contains a scandal. It usually takes the form of showing how Israel's judiciary behaved reasonably until the 1980s, when activist judges incepted some revolutionary concept out of nowhere, before the concept took on a life of its own and revealed itself to be completely out of control. Readers who have studied judicial structure or constitutional theory could be forgiven for gasping audibly throughout.

A good entry point for understanding the extent of Israel's journey from judicial activism to judicial supremacy is legal interpretation, a debate somewhat familiar to American audiences. In the United States, textualism is the prevailing interpretive theory: Legal texts should be interpreted according to the public meaning of their words at the time of enactment. Some competing theories emphasize the broader aims or intentions behind legislation, while others view legal meaning as evolving with changing societal values and norms.

The Israeli analog would be comical if it did not flout the rule of law so flagrantly. Israeli judges generally adopted normal methodologies until the 1980s. But as Green details, legendary chief justice Aharon Barak—the source of so much mischief, to whom Green's book's title could easily refer—invented the whimsical "objective purposive interpretation," a license for judicial aggrandizement unparalleled in the world.
Inside Israel’s Sde Teiman Scandal: Gadi Taub on Media, Leaks, and the Deep State
In this wide-ranging interview, Israeli historian and public intellectual Gadi Taub joins Quillette’s Pamela Paresky to discuss the controversy surrounding the Sde Teiman detention facility, the leaked surveillance footage that went viral worldwide, and the legal and political fallout inside Israel.

Taub argues that the release of the footage triggered one of the most damaging international narratives of the war—and that the real story involves internal power struggles, media institutions, and Israel’s legal establishment.

0:00 — Introduction
0:36 —Interview begins: The Ronen Bergman Lawsuit
3:45 — The ‘Beeper Operation’ Leak
5:38 — How Military Censorship Works in Israel
8:45 — Ali Rosenfeld and Selective Enforcement
10:14 — The Arrest of Force 100
13:19 — The Rape Allegation
15:03 — Who Triggered the Complaint?
19:15 — The Released Detainee
20:17 — A “Show Arrest” and the Riot
22:07 — Channel 12 and the Global Narrative
23:19 — Was It a Frame-Up?
26:46 — The International Court Argument
27:41 — Was the Video Manipulated?
29:36 — Why No Leak Investigation?
31:40 — The Attorney General Intervenes
33:18 — The Shin Bet Shakeup
34:03 — The Lie Detector Revelation
35:32 — The Resignation Letter
37:15 — The Phone in the Sea
39:19 — The Blocked Special Investigator
41:30 — Pegasus and Police Surveillance
43:21 — Public Backlash
45:29 — Israel’s Media Divide
47:08 — “Truth Has Lost Its Monopoly”
49:01 — Orwell and the Ministry of Truth
50:15 — Being Sued and Crowdfunded


IAF kills Gaza terrorist who threatened ground forces
The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday eliminated a terrorist in Gaza who posed a threat to ground troops in the northern Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Soldiers operating under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire “identified a terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the troops, posing an imminent threat to their safety,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The Yellow Line is a boundary established by the IDF under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.

Concrete barriers topped with yellow-painted posts mark the area to which the IDF has withdrawn. The Yellow Line leaves Israel in control of roughly half of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

“Following the identification, the IAF eliminated the terrorist to neutralize the threat,” the military said Tuesday. “IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed under the ceasefire agreement and continue to operate to address any immediate threats.”

In a separate statement Tuesday, the military said troops in the southern Strip discovered a Hamas weapons depot containing a “large amount” of firearms, an RPG, and explosives.

“IDF troops will continue to operate to eliminate the terrorists hiding in the tunnels,” the statement added.
Jonathan Sacerdoti: Hamas breaks Gaza ceasefire AGAIN – Jonathan Sacerdoti reports from inside Gaza
Jonathan Sacerdoti travels into the Gaza Strip, embedding with the IDF along the new front line that now divides the territory.

Months into the Trump brokered ceasefire, Israel holds 58 per cent of Gaza behind what they call the 'yellow line'. Hamas remains in control of the rest and declares it will not disarm. Sniper fire, tunnel discoveries and daily ceasefire violations continue, even as aid enters through Israeli controlled crossings.

From fortified positions overlooking the central refugee camps to staging areas where humanitarian supplies are transferred, this on the ground report examines how Israel is enforcing its security doctrine just a kilometre from its own civilian communities.

Speaking with the IDF’s international spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, Jonathan explores Hamas’s continued tunnel building, guerrilla attacks during the ceasefire, disputed casualty figures, and the strategic calculation behind holding a majority of the Strip.

The question hanging over the quiet landscape is whether this is containment, or simply the interval before renewed war.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how a ceasefire operates when territory is divided, weapons remain in place, and both sides prepare for what may come next.

💬 We Discuss:
🟡 Why Israel is holding 58 per cent of Gaza and what the yellow line represents in practice
🔫 How Hamas continues sniper attacks and guerrilla operations during the ceasefire
🕳️ The scale and persistence of the tunnel network beneath Gaza
📦 How humanitarian aid is transferred across the border under Israeli control
🏘️ The strategic importance of Gaza’s central refugee camps
⚖️ The dispute over casualty figures and the politics of wartime information
🛡️ Whether demilitarisation is achievable under the current agreement
🌍 The prospects for international forces replacing the IDF presence


IDF, police nab four ISIS-linked jihadists in West Bank said to plan terror attack
Islamic State-affiliated jihadists who were suspected of planning a terror attack were captured by Israeli troops and police officers during two separate operations in the West Bank city of Jericho over the past week, security forces said on Tuesday.

Troops of the Lions of the Valley Battalion last week captured three members of the cell in Jericho, and in a separate raid on Monday carried out by Border Police officers, another member was nabbed, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police said.

“The terrorists were advancing terror activity and were suspected of intending to carry out an attack,” the joint statement said.

All four were handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning.

Also, IDF commandos captured a Palestinian arms dealer during a raid on Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the military said.

The IDF said soldiers of the Duvdevan commando unit operated in Ramallah, following intelligence provided by the Shin Bet security agency, and “apprehended a terrorist who served as a weapons dealer in a terror network” in the area.
Terrorist freed in 2011 Shalit deal nabbed at Israeli mall
A Palestinian convicted of terrorism and released to the Gaza Strip in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap was arrested last week at a mall in the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba, according to indictments filed Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear when Mohammed Abu Ataya—convicted of attempted murder, planting explosives, arms trafficking and membership in a terrorist organization—entered Israel from the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel’s Channel 14, Abu Ataya was re-arrested after a security guard grew suspicious when he repeatedly tried to enter Kfar Saba’s G Mall, including by using a fake Israeli ID.

Police were called, and the suspect was detained after a brief chase.

Israel Police Superintendent Yoram Cohen, deputy commander of the Kfar Saba station, told the Hebrew-language outlet: “From our perspective, he is a terrorist in every respect, and an attack was prevented here.”

On Tuesday, charges were filed against Abu Ataya and a Kfar Saba resident in his 50s who allegedly drove him to the mall.


Hezbollah rejects Lebanese government’s four-month plan for phase 2 of disarmament
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group rejected on Tuesday the Lebanese government’s decision to grant the army at least four months to advance the second phase of a nationwide disarmament plan, saying it would not accept what it sees as a move serving Israel.

Lebanon’s government last year committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was badly weakened in a recent war with Israel, and tasked the army with drawing up a plan to do so.

The military announced last month that it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) farther south.

The second phase concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Beirut.

Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos said during a press conference late on Monday after a cabinet meeting that the government had taken note of the army’s monthly report on its arms control plan that includes restricting weapons in areas north of the Litani River up to the Awali River in Sidon, and granted it four months.

“The required time frame is four months, renewable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks and field obstacles,” he said.


The Child Soldiers of Gaza
Fatality figures, both civilian and combatant, have become a central feature of how the war in Gaza is understood, cited, and debated. Yet one category of combatant is almost never discussed: children. The long-standing use of child soldiers by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups is absent from mainstream discourse. A search for news coverage on child soldiers in Gaza since 10/7 yields no results from major media outlets. While the deaths of thousands of children in the Gaza war are tragic and deserve acknowledgment, many of those recorded as “child civilians,” particularly teenage males, were active participants in the fighting. Recognizing this reality fundamentally changes what is meant by “civilian casualties” in Gaza and exposes a critical dimension of the war that has been entirely ignored.

The widespread use of child soldiers by Palestinian militant groups over the past decade is well documented. In June 2015, a UN report on children and armed conflict verified multiple cases of child recruitment and use in combat by Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas. That same year, a Washington Post article titled “Here’s What a Hamas Training Camp for Teens Looks Like” provided a detailed account of military-style training camps for children as young as 12. These camps teach combat skills using live fire, RPGs, IEDs. This is not general physical conditioning or preparatory training for future service, but direct instruction for participation in combat. A 2017 Reuters report similarly documented Hamas-run military “summer camps” for minors. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also operated youth training programs, publishing recruitment posters explicitly targeting boys aged 14 to 17. In 2014, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh addressed a graduation ceremony for child recruits, praising what he called a “jihadi education” and celebrating the next “generation of tunnels” and “martyrdom operations.”

This militarization of Gaza’s youth should come as no surprise, as Palestinian children are systematically indoctrinated into concepts of martyrdom and armed struggle. Several schools are named after Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 bus hijacking and massacre that killed 38 Israelis, including 13 children. Her elevation as a national hero generated such revulsion that Belgium halted funding for these schools. From an early age, children are taught to glorify suicide bombings and attacks on Jews, creating a pipeline in which indoctrination leads naturally to recruitment and participation in combat.

NGOs and the UN have largely ignored or excused this practice since 10/7 because information that assigns responsibility to Hamas for the death and destruction in Gaza is routinely downplayed or dismissed. This pattern reflects a broader reluctance to highlight abuses by Palestinian armed groups when doing so is perceived to complicate or dilute accusations against Israel. This dynamic was acknowledged recently by a former CEO of Oxfam. As a result, even the exploitation of child soldiers is ignored when discussing it is seen as politically inconvenient.
One more “Journalist” Who Wasn’t: The Case of Issam Bahar
In summary, All available indications show that Issam Mohamed Sobhi Bahar was not an active journalist at the time of his death and was not targeted for journalistic work. There is no evidence that he was employed by Al-Aqsa TV when he was killed, while his own public record aligns with the IDF’s assessment that he was a Hamas member, including posts suggesting advance knowledge of the October 7 attack. In addition, members of his immediate and extended family appear to have had ties to Hamas.

What is also clear is that the narratives claiming the IDF “targets journalists, women, and children” rely on incomplete reporting and no comprehensive research by those who make the claims. These conclusions assume both that the individuals labeled as journalists were in fact working journalists, that a “journalist” label automatically excludes them from having ties to Hamas. Not to mention, assumptions that casualty reporting, particularly the repeated exclusion or omission of adult male victims, is comprehensive and accurate.


Saudi & UAE: The Cold Gulf War - with Yonatan Adiri and Yael Wissner-Levy
For years, normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel was seen as the ultimate goal of the Abraham Accords and the final step towards unlocking regional stability. But a sharp rivalry is heating up between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed. Dan is joined by Yonatan Adiri and Yael Wissner-Levy to unpack the economic, political, and personal dynamics driving this feud, what it means for Israel, and why India and global energy corridors may matter more than most people realize.

In this episode:
00:18 - MBS’s Vision 2030 under pressure and the internal Saudi recalibration
10:40 - Mentor turned rival: How MBS and MBZ went from alignment to confrontation
18:45 - The Yemen flashpoint that ruptured the Saudi–UAE relationship
24:00 - Energy corridors, IMEC, and the India factor
28:30 - Is Israel collateral damage or strategically positioned?
34:50 - Why UAE’s “infrastructure diplomacy” may be winning quietly
38:45 - The future of normalization versus regional integration


Melanie Phillips: The Unholy Alliance - Why the Left Loves Jihad
The West is not just under attack; it is actively aiding its own executioners.
Melanie Phillips delivers a searing indictment of a civilisational "death wish" that treats Israel as the problem and the enemies of the West as the victims.

Melanie Phillips is a world-renowned columnist for The Times, broadcaster, and author of Londonistan. For decades, she has been a "prophet in the wilderness," warning of the erosion of Western values and the rise of a radical Islamo-leftist alliance that seeks to dismantle the Judeo-Christian foundation of our society.

Recorded at Battle for the Soul of Europe 2025, Phillips argues that the global hysteria following October 7th was not a protest, but a "delirious assertion of Islamic power" over Western streets. She exposes how the "educated classes" have turned venomously against the very culture that gave them birth, using the Palestinian cause as a Trojan horse to smuggle antisemitism into the heart of our institutions.

Phillips argues:
The Umbilical Connection: You cannot understand the attack on the West without understanding the attack on the Jews. Phillips asserts that Judaism is the "moral scaffolding" of Western civilisation. By abandoning the Hebrew Bible's principles of objective truth and moral duty, the West has replaced reason with "feelings" and facts with power dynamics.

The Pathology of the Liberal Mind: She skewers the "victimhood" hierarchy of the modern liberal, which dictates that anyone from the developing world is inherently oppressed and therefore incapable of wrong. In this inverted world, Jews are cast as "victimizers" because they are successful, while genocidal terrorists are rebranded as "freedom fighters."

Choosing Life over the Death Cult: The Islamists understand the West better than the West understands itself; they know that once you kill a culture's faith, the culture collapses. Phillips concludes that Israel's message is the only one that can save us: a culture that values itself will live, but a culture that despises its own identity is already dead.


Jesse Jackson, American civil-rights leader and activist, 84
Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil-rights leader, former aide to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a two-time Democratic Party presidential candidate, whose relationship with American Jews was marked by both cooperation and controversy, died on Feb. 17. He was 84 years old.

Jackson rose to national prominence as a protégé of King during the civil-rights movement, and later founded Operation PUSH in 1971 and the Rainbow Coalition during his first presidential campaign in 1984. The nonprofits merged in 1996.

His political influence grew through his vision of a “rainbow coalition” uniting minorities and disadvantaged Americans. During his 1988 presidential campaign, Jackson urged Democrats to “build a quilt” like his grandmother’s to unite the country, invoking Jerusalem and its Jewish, Christian and Muslim roots as an example of shared heritage.

Jackson’s relationship with the Jewish community, however, was often strained.

Weeks into his first presidential campaign in 1984, Jackson came under intense criticism after referring to New York as “Hymietown” in remarks to reporters that were later published in The Washington Post. Jackson initially denied the comment, but then apologized publicly, including during a visit to a New Hampshire synagogue. The controversy damaged his campaign.

He also faced criticism for initially refusing to distance himself from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who had made repeated antisemitic and anti-Israel statements, during his 1984 campaign. Jackson later called some of Farrakhan’s remarks about Israel “reprehensible,” but Farrakhan continued to express support for Jackson through his second presidential run, causing further rifts with the Jewish community.


Restricted Video:
Zach Sage Fox: I took a Palestinan to the Nova Exhibit
In my most daring social experiment yet, I went on the streets to find strangers who hadn’t heard about October 7th and asked them to bravely bare witness to the Nova Exhibit. Almost no one said yes… which is why when a Palestinian from the West Bank and a GenZ dancer were the only ones to agree, I knew my gut was right… Gods guiding hand was the biggest producer for this video.

I hope you are as moved as I was making this one 🙏

Please share it with the world so they too can bare witness and have hope 💙


Mamdani to appoint former CAIR official as chief immigration officer
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to appoint Faiza Ali, a member of the City Council and former staffer for advocacy organizations, as the city’s chief immigration officer, according to Gothamist.

Ali previously worked as the community affairs director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which blamed Israel for Oct. 7 and has a long history of anti-Israel statements. She also served as the advocacy director at the Arab American Association of New York and chief of staff to former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.

Ali was also the first Muslim woman to serve as the City Council’s first deputy chief of staff and has long been involved in Muslim-American organizations, including service on the Muslim Democratic Club of New York board alongside Mamdani.

“At a time when immigrants are facing escalated and unprecedented attacks, we will prioritize strengthening protections, expanding access to legal and language services, and building real pathways to stability for New York City’s diverse immigrant communities,” Ali said in a statement to the Gothamist.


Jeremy Corbyn backed anti-Israel group going door to door to push boycott in Sheffield
Jeremy Corbyn backed a Sheffield campaign group that has been filmed going door-to-door urging residents to boycott Israeli goods and recording their responses.

The former Labour leader supported the “Sheffield Apartheid Free Zone” (SAFZ), which encouraged households not to purchase produce from the Jewish state and pressed shops to remove goods from Israel from their shelves.

In May 2025, Corbyn was filmed in a video on Instagram holding up a SAFZ poster declaring that a household would not buy Israeli goods.

Endorsing the campaign, he said: “It is about consumer boycott, this was very important about the campaign against apartheid South Africa.”




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



AddToAny

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Search2

Hasbys!

Hasbys!

2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

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.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Show All

Blog Archive

Copyright © Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News | Powered by Blogger
Blogger Templates