Wednesday, February 18, 2026

02/18 Links Pt1: Israeli soldier killed by friendly fire in Gaza; Israel, US envoy reject Tucker Carlson’s claim he was detained and interrogated at airport; Spike Lee’s ‘Upper Class Habits’

From Ian:

Pierre Rehov: The 'Other Side' Turns Against the Jews
This chill is often dressed up as "just asking questions" or "anti-globalism". How come there never seem to be similar "questions" about Qatar, China, Turkey, Nigeria or Pakistan?

The problem is not about failing to tolerate "free speech." The problem is about failing to examine what is said with follow-up questions. The great Edward R. Murrow invited Senator Joseph McCarthy on CBS television's See It Now not to give him the run of the corral but to challenge his remarks. The problem is a pattern of tolerating an intolerance that would not be accepted if it were aimed at any ethnic group other than Jews.

There is a gulf between arguing to cut foreign aid and amplifying blood-libel smears.

Criticism is not censorship, decency is not "consensus" and the Jewish people are not "clicks."

Contrast the fringe to actual governance. Under President Donald J. Trump, the U.S. moved its Embassy to Jerusalem (2018), recognized Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights (2019), and brokered the Abraham Accords — historic normalization agreements reshaping the strategic map. These facts remain the gold standard for a pro-ally foreign policy grounded in U.S. interests.

Whenever Washington projected resolve rather than courting applause in European salons, anti-terror alignment, economic growth and Western values have advanced.

The newly vocal antisemitic "Right" seems to represent regress masquerading as rebellion. They do not actually speak for the "Right;" they speak for themselves and for the social media algorithms that reward outrage and sounding outrageous.

Many – maybe most -- prominent members of the "Right" — from Trump to Pastor John Hagee, Thomas Sowell and Marco Rubio — stand with Israel because they stand with the West, with victims of jihad, and with a commitment to preserve the values of individual freedom, economic opportunity, quality education, freedom of expression and equal justice under the law. The "Right" would do well say so — clearly, repeatedly, and without apology — and should quarantine the grifters who would trade civilization for "clicks."
Melanie Phillips: The plot against the British mind
The British government is determined to introduce a measure outlawing “Islamophobia”. Since this nonsensical neologism was coined by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood to suppress any criticism of Islam or the Muslim world, this is causing justifiable alarm in many quarters.

Last week, three Muslims were jailed for a planned terrorist attack that would have killed hundreds of Jews in Manchester in what would have been one of the worst ever such atrocities on British soil.

Despite the potential enormity of this attack and its chilling implications about the nature and extent of Islamist extremism in Britain, it’s given rise to virtually no anxious analysis or impassioned commentary in the mainstream media following the ending of the trial last December. That relative silence would be muted even further by the proposed outlawing of “Islamophobia”.

Prejudice against any group is to be condemned. But the informal use of “Islamophobia” as a smear inflicting reputational damage has long acted as an effective tool to stifle essential public discourse.

Defining it and formalising it as a form of banned speech would censor vital information and comment about political jihadi Islam — the attempt by Islamists to conquer the west by terrorism, an expanding birthrate and cultural encroachment through weaponising the democratic process. It would also silence all-too necessary discussion about the Jew-hatred that’s a staple of the Islamic world.

In February last year, the Labour government set up a working group to deliver a definition of “anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia”. As the Free Speech Union (FSU) has noted, the group is believed to have reached a conclusion in October, although its report hasn’t seen the light of day.

Leaks confirmed by one group member suggest that, instead of using the term “Islamophobia,” it’s trying to deflect the hostility against that word by defining instead “anti-Muslim hostility”. Since that would capture in the same trap much if not most of the necessary discourse about the Islamic world, it would scarcely represent any improvement.

Alarm is also being generated by the attempt to use the definition to invest Muslims with the status of a people in order to provide them with even more impunity, even though Islam is merely a religion and not an ethnicity or a nation.
New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman Plays His Readers for Fools—Again
"Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools—Again" is the headline over Thomas Friedman's latest column in the New York Times. I read the "again" part as an admission by Friedman that he's been writing the same column for decades. It's been consistently wrong, so the real "fools" are any remaining readers who take what he says seriously.

A decade or so ago, when Friedman was less washed-up than he is now, someone built a computer program that would auto-generate a Tom Friedman column. This latest one reads like Friedman had his news assistant train an artificial intelligence model on a bunch of old Tom Friedman columns, then fed in the latest Times front-page headlines and Harvard-PLO-Al Jazeera-Rockefeller Brothers press releases to generate a new column so that Friedman could spend his time golfing or giving honorarium-generating speeches.

Friedman begins the column by saying, "I cannot put it any more succinctly than Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, did." That could have been a good signal to Friedman's editors to spike the Friedman column and ask for a piece from Olmert instead. Or to tell Friedman, "Hey, you already quoted Olmert in a Nov. 13, 2024, column, in a May 27, 2025, column, and mentioned him, describing him as one of 'two friends of mine,' in a Sept. 24, 2025, column. Maybe give Olmert a rest?" The May 27, 2025, Friedman column includes a correction: "A correction was made on June 12, 2025: An earlier version of this article misquoted an opinion essay by Ehud Olmert in Haaretz. It reads, 'What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians,' not 'What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of extermination.'"

In not a single one of the columns reliant on Olmert does Friedman mention that his source spent 16 months in prison after being convicted in a bribery and corruption scandal in which he pocketed cash to promote a Jerusalem construction project. Olmert's cash-strapped brother got in on the bonanza too. Tom Friedman is serving as a one-man prisoner-reentry rehabilitation program for Ehud Olmert, and the Times is all-in, or at least reluctant to exercise any editorial control over Friedman that would involve asking him to disclose to readers that Friedman's "friend" is a discredited figure in Israel.

The column proceeds to another hoary Friedman move, the comparison of Israel and apartheid-era South Africa. He warns that Israel's government will "make today's Israel permanently indistinguishable from apartheid South Africa," writing of "an apartheidlike Israel" and asserting, "Israel is becoming an apartheid state."


Israel, US envoy reject Tucker Carlson’s claim he was detained and interrogated at airport
Popular American right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson briefly arrived in Israel on Wednesday to interview US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, later asserting that he was detained by Israeli security staff in a claim that was denied by both Israel and Huckabee.

After landing in the country, Carlson posted a picture from Ben Gurion Airport with the caption, “Greetings from Israel.” He departed without leaving the airport’s VIP terminal.

Carlson’s arrival came after last week on his podcast, “The Tucker Carlson Show” — in which the host regularly blasts Israel in terms that many describe as evoking classic antisemitic tropes — he accused Huckabee of not doing enough to ensure proper treatment of Christians in Israel, prompting Huckabee to respond on X, “Instead of talking about me, why don’t you come talk to me?”

Carlson later welcomed the invitation, and both figures posted that they were working to set up an interview.

In a separate clash last month, Huckabee slammed Carlson on X for comments he made last year denying that Hamas is a terrorist group and saying it “seems more like a political organization.” Last year, in a highly controversial interview with Holocaust denier and avowed antisemite Nick Fuentes that exposed a growing rift on the American right over Jew hatred and anti-Zionism, Carlson claimed Huckabee and other Christian Zionist conservatives have been “seized by this brain virus.”

Israel initially considered barring Carlson from entering the country for the expected visit, but decided against the move so as not to cause a “diplomatic incident,” according to a Channel 13 news report.

Huckabee, who has known Carlson for over 30 years, had invited him to spend a few days in Israel, but Carlson declined, The Times of Israel learned.

“Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Carlson told the Daily Mail on Wednesday after his quick stop in the country. “It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”

The Israel Airports Authority said it “firmly rejects” the claim.

“Contrary to the reports, Tucker Carlson and his entourage were not detained, delayed, or interrogated,” the IAA said in a statement shared by the Foreign Ministry. “Mr. Carlson and his party were politely asked a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers.

“The conversation took place in a separate room within the VIP lounge solely to protect their privacy and to avoid conducting such a discussion in public.”


Trump behind Carlson's Israel visit to reduce heat in conservative antisemitism debate
US President Donald Trump has directly urged Tucker Carlson to ease the internal conservative fight over Israel, telling him and others to “turn down the temperature,” according to Melissa Francis, a former Fox News and Fox Business anchor who has been active in pro-Israel advocacy since October 7.

Francis spoke on Wednesday with The Jerusalem Post at the paper’s studio in Jerusalem in a conversation with editor-in-chief Zvika Klein. The interview took place as Carlson prepared to sit down with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in a widely watched public interview in Jerusalem.

“Everybody’s looking for a way to turn down the temperature,” Francis said. “President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, ‘Let’s take this down.’”

Francis described the Carlson-Huckabee event as more than a media spectacle. In her telling, it is an attempt to prevent Israel from becoming the issue that breaks the Republican coalition into hostile camps at a time when “America First” arguments about foreign entanglements have grown louder and social media rewards confrontation.

“The division in the Republican Party right now has to end,” she said, arguing that the infighting is “causing endless problems.” She framed Trump as focused on keeping conservatives aligned, even when they disagree. “The enemy wins when those that are on the side of God are divided,” she added, using language that reflects the faith-based framing common among many pro-Israel conservatives.
Tucker Carlson 'totally wrong' about Christian mistreatment in Israel, NGO founder says - interview
Tucker Carlson is “totally wrong” about the experience of Christians living in Israel, Shadi Khalloul, founder of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association NGO and a former Knesset candidate, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

Khalloul extended an invitation to the right-wing American commentator in early February, hoping to shed light on the true experience of Christians in Israel, but he told the Post that Carlson had failed to respond to the invitation.

Khalloul had offered to bring Carlson to his home in the Galilee to meet with his brother-in-law, the head of the Maronite Church of Israel, and hear directly from Christian leaders as well as visit holy sites.

Carlson has been vocal about Israel, regularly criticizing the support the Jewish state receives from its closest allies in Washington, and has repeatedly made claims of widespread mistreatment of Christians in Israel.

The media personality briefly visited Israel on Wednesday for a filmed sit-down with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, focused on claims about the treatment of Christians in Israel and the wider region, sources earlier told the Post.

“I wanted to take him to different locations in the Galilee, to take him to different villages of Christian communities, and let him hear the truth,” Khalloul explained.

“I wanted to see if he will write about this truth if he would hear it in his own ears, but he didn’t respond… It’s not the first time I sent him invitations; every time on Twitter I’m tagging him and sending him letters by email.”

This time, “I said, ‘Okay, he’s coming. It’s a good opportunity. Let’s invite him officially,’” Khalloul said, adding that the lack of response showed him that Carlson “doesn’t want to know the truth.”

Carlson conducted the conversation with Huckabee inside Ben-Gurion Airport and did not travel beyond the airport complex, the sources said. He departed Israel at around 3 p.m., ending a trip that lasted only a few hours.


On Shakir-y Ground
Omar Shakir and Milena Ansari, responsible for the Palestinian section at Human Rights Watch (HRW), have stepped down from their positions due to HRW blocking the release of a report calling Israel’s denial of the supposed Palestinian rights of return “a crime against humanity”. HRW’s former executive director, Kenneth Roth, who is not known to be a friend of Israel, called Shakir’s report “an extreme interpretation of the law that was indefensible.” That should give one an idea of how absurd Shakir’s pseudo-legal position was.

While the report has not yet been released, Shakir has shared some of its content in various interviews. Shakir’s departure will likely herald the aggressive promotion of his “right of return” thesis in other forums. As such, it is necessary to repeat that there is literally not one shred of evidence in treaty law or state practice supporting the right of unfettered migration of millions of descendants of Palestinian Arabs displaced in the 1948 War to move to Israel.

Palestinians and their supporters rely on several documents:
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13(2): “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”.

The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 12(4): “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country”.

Of course, the Universal Declaration is largely an aspirational document, devoid of binding force. In any case, as Ruth Lapidoth pointed out, the Universal Declaration provides the right of return to State nationals and potentially permanent residents. Palestinian Arab refugees were never nationals or permanent residents of Israel, having fled before the establishment of the State in 1948. As Stig Jagerskiold, an expert on freedom of movement, has written, the right of return:
is intended to apply to individuals asserting an individual right. There was no intention here to address the claims of masses of people who have been displaced as a by-product of war or by political transfers of territory or population, such as the relocation of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe during and after the Second World War, the flight of the Palestinians from what became Israel, or the movement of Jews from the Arab countries. (in Lapidoth, p.30)

Furthermore, Article 29 of the Universal Declaration allows for the derogation of these rights for the protection of “the rights and freedoms of others”, “morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society”. Allowing the mass migration of millions of hostile Palestinians would certainly violate the general freedom of the majority of Israeli citizens.


UN Security Council discusses Gaza, West Bank moves ahead of Board of Peace meeting
The UN Security Council held a high-level meeting on Wednesday on the Gaza ceasefire deal and Israel’s efforts to expand control in the West Bank before world leaders head to Washington to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories at the first gathering of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

The UN session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board’s meeting for that same date, and it became clear that it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both. It was a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the United Nations’ most powerful body and Trump’s new initiative, whose broader ambitions to broker global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries that it may attempt to rival the UN Security Council.

Pakistan, the only country on the 15-member council that also accepted an invitation to join the Board of Peace, denounced Israel’s contentious West Bank settlement project during the meeting as “null and void” and said it constitutes a “clear violation of international law.”

“Israel’s recent illegal decisions to expand its control over the West Bank are gravely disturbing,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said.

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia also attended the Security Council’s monthly Mideast meeting after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that it discuss Gaza and the West Bank before some of them head to Washington.

“Annexation is a breach of the UN Charter and of the most fundamental rules of international law,” Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said. “It is a breach of President Trump’s plan, and constitutes an existential threat to ongoing peace efforts.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that attention was not on the UN session and that the focus of the international world would be on the Board of Peace meeting.
Anti-Israel ‘obsession,’ Sa’ar says before UN Security Council Meeting
Moments before the United Nations Security Council met on Wednesday to discuss peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar strongly criticized the international body as “unfortunately infected with an anti-Israeli obsession.”

Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Sa’ar said that on Tuesday, “85 countries stood here and denied the Jewish people’s right to live in the same places recognized as belonging to a Jewish national home.”

“Amazingly, so many countries say that Jewish presence in our ancient homeland violates international law,” he said. “The opposite is true. No other nation in any other place in the world has a stronger right than our historical and documented right to the land of the Bible.”

The minister’s remarks made clear that the Israeli government opposes a two-state solution, which is backed by most countries. That resolution of the deadly, decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict would result in an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.

On Tuesday, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian “permanent observer” to the global body, made a statement while standing in front of dozens of envoys from other countries.

Mansour did not deny the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state but said that “we strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israelis’ unlawful presence in the West Bank.”

Referring to the Israeli government’s recent decision to designate large parts of Judea and Samaria as official government property, he said that “we underline our strong opposition to any form of annexation.”


Israeli soldier killed by friendly fire in Gaza
An Israeli soldier was killed in the southern Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Staff Sgt. Ofri Yafe, 21, from HaYogev, a moshav in northern Israel, served in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed earlier media reports that he was killed by friendly fire. He was reportedly killed during fighting in the Khan Yunis area on Tuesday night.

“My wife Sara and I send our heartfelt condolences and share in the deep sorrow of the family of Staff Sergeant Ofri Yaffe, of blessed memory, a fighter in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit, who fell from friendly fire in the painful incident in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said.

“The entire nation of Israel bows its head over the fall of Ofri, of blessed memory, who went out to fight bravely in order to protect Israel’s security,” the premier continued. “May his memory be blessed and forever cherished.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz expressed condolences, saying he was grieving Yafe’s death and that “the entire State of Israel mourns and bows its head.”

The fatality raises the total number of IDF soldiers killed to 925 since the war began with the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.


Former Police Director of the Kerem Shalom Crossing Exposed as Hamas Commander
In December 2023, an Israeli airstrike killed the director of Gaza’s Kerem Shalom border crossing, prompting international condemnation. Al Jazeera reported that the man — identified at the time as Bassem Ghaben — “was working to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza.” The New Arab described the strike as evidence that Israel “was targeting routes relied on for the entry of much-needed aid into the enclave.” More than a year later, Hamas’ own records tell a different story.

New posts on popular Gazan militant obituary channels, identified by analyst Gabriel Epstein (@GabrielEpsteinX), reveal that the crossing’s police director — listed under his full name, Bassem Salah Mohammed Ghubn — was a longstanding member of Hamas’ military wing.

Hamas has catalogued him under ID #900657131, age 45. The martyr notice confirms that Ghubn joined the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and subsequently assumed command roles within the organization before being appointed a police colonel and placed in charge of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

A Lifelong Hamas Partnership
The obituary channels describe Ghubn as a lifelong friend of Alaa al-Hadidi, who served as the head of supply in Hamas’ weapons manufacturing headquarters. Both men joined Hamas’ military wing according to the notices, and later took on command positions in different branches of the organization.

The Israeli Defense Forces and Shin Bet confirmed in November 2025 that they eliminated Hadidi in an airstrike in Gaza on November 22, 2025. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center documented that Hamas confirmed Hadidi’s death, identifying him as “Abu al-Mua’man,” who “commanded supply and armament and was one of the heads of the military production department.”

According to Epstein’s findings, Hadidi was killed in the same strike that also killed Khalil Amr al-Serry, the head of the Patient Affairs Department at Al-Shifa Hospital — further illustrating the overlap between civilian administrative positions in Gaza and Hamas’ military apparatus.


Ask Haviv: Episode 91: Is the Iran war about China? A conversation with Melissa Chen
In this episode, we confront a critical "blind spot" in the Israeli (and too often broader Western) consciousness: The role of the People’s Republic of China as the silent architect behind the Middle East’s most volatile threats. Guest Melissa Chen, managing director at Strategy Risks, pulls back the curtain on a sobering reality where China acts as the sole guarantor of Iran’s survival, bypassing global sanctions to fuel a regime that mirrors its own anti-Western ambitions.

From the export of advanced repression technologies that stifle domestic dissent in Tehran to the algorithmic amplification of antisemitism on platforms like TikTok, Chen argues that the "Axis of Resistance" is increasingly powered by Chinese infrastructure. Our conversation is a reflective warning on the nature of "unrestricted warfare," where the battlefield has shifted from kinetic borders to the granular data in our electric vehicles and the hearts and minds of a polarized West. It is a necessary, albeit chilling, look at how a regime thousands of miles away has become a central, malign actor in the survival of the Jewish state and the stability of the liberal world order.

Chapters
00:00 China's Influence on Israel's Security Landscape
06:18 The Iran-China Connection: A Strategic Alliance
13:32 China's Technological Support for Iran
17:35 The Role of China in the Israeli-Iranian Conflict
22:03 China's Position on the Palestinian Issue
28:46 China's Role in Amplifying Anti-Semitism
31:40 The Rise of Online Anti-Semitism
42:49 China's Role in Global Propaganda
48:12 The West's Response to Chinese Influence
54:46 The Future of Jewish-Chinese Relations


Erin Molan: INSIDE TRUMP’S WAR ROOM: The Iran Decision | Amb. David Friedman
Episode 103 of The Erin Molan Show with Ambassador David Friedman is one of the most important and revealing conversations we’ve ever had.

Before we get to former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Erin breaks down the latest global developments — including 48 U.S. fighter jets heading to the Middle East, the Ayatollah’s latest threats against America, the Savannah Guthrie case update, and the backlash against LeBron James for simply saying he’s heard “great things” about Israel.

Then we go inside the Oval Office.

Ambassador David Friedman gives a blow-by-blow account of how President Donald Trump makes critical decisions — including decisions about war, Iran, and the Middle East. He explains what it was like standing in the room while senior officials argued opposing sides on the historic move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and how Trump ultimately made the call.

⏱ CHAPTERS
00:00 48 U.S. Fighter Jets Head to the Middle East — What It Signals
01:20 Ayatollah Threats & Why a Deal May Be Impossible
02:55 Savannah Guthrie Case + Morgan Wright Teaser
03:45 LeBron, Israel & The Mob Tactic of Silencing Celebrities
06:45 Inside Trump’s War Room — David Friedman on How Trump Makes War Decisions
45:00 Fan Feedback — Why Confronting Candace Owens Matters


travelingisrael.com: Hitler Saved Jews. That’s the Terrifying Part.
Hitler personally protected the only three Jews he actually knew — because his hatred was never about individuals, but about what “the Jew” symbolized in a sick and obsessive mind.

Nothing has changed.




Mamdani Hires Three Founders of Muslim Group that Blamed Oct. 7 on 'Israeli Apartheid Regime'
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani (D.) has appointed three officials who cofounded a Muslim group that blamed Israel for Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack to prominent roles in his administration. One of them is serving as Mamdani's head of faith-based partnerships, another as his chief of immigrant affairs, and the third as the leader of his judiciary advisory committee.

"Many NYers are feeling pain, fear, and anger after the horrific events in the Holy Land this weekend," the Muslim Democratic Club of New York (MDCNY) posted on X two days after the attack. "Especially as the Israeli apartheid regime have forced millions of Palestinians in Gaza to live under occupation for decades and an open air prison since 2007."

The group continued, bemoaning messages of compassion for the 1,200 civilians Hamas killed and 451 hostages it took back to Gaza.

"For NYers who believe in justice, these feelings are deepened by witnessing too many elected officials offering support for Israeli occupation's rampant violence as it openly declares & enacts its intent to engage in mass violence and genocide against Palestinians," the organization wrote as the Jewish state was still identifying its dead.

The club took the massacre as an opportunity to state that "75 years of Israeli occupation and oppression" had "led us to this moment" and argue that "we must achieve true justice and peace in the region, starting with ending the illegal, Israeli occupation immediately."

The group also shared the hashtag #NotOnOurDime, a reference to a bill Mamdani championed during his time as a state legislator that would prohibit nonprofits in the state from working with Israel.

MDCNY was founded in 2012 by Faiza Ali, Aliya Latif, Ali Najmi, and notorious anti-Semite Linda Sarsour. So far, all but Sarsour have found their way into prominent roles in Mamdani's administration.

Latif became the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Faith-Based Partnerships earlier this month, with the mayor announcing her appointment at an interfaith breakfast at which she urged city clergy to resist immigration enforcement. Latif has reposted accusations that Israel has committed a "genocide" on X, as well as reposting support for Marcellus Williams, a Muslim convicted murderer who was executed in September 2024. Williams was found guilty of stabbing a reporter with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 43 times.

Latif appears to have maintained her close relationship with Sarsour—who has compared Zionism to white supremacy, supported Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh, and helped foster a culture of anti-Semitism within the Women's March organization—according to her social media activity. Latif has described Sarsour as her "right hand," "sister," and "seeker-mother" in posts on X.
Seth Mandel: Spike Lee’s ‘Upper Class Habits’
Lee thought it would be fun to come to the game wearing a flag, too. Not the flag of his own home country, of course. Nor did Lee wear the flag of his favorite player. Instead, he dressed like a Palestinian flag, just to stick it to Deni and the Jews.

People noticed, of course—it was hard to miss. But then something interesting happened: Spike Lee denied that his getup had anything to do with Avdija.

Now, I don’t think most people are stupid enough to believe that. But it’s interesting that Lee felt the need to pretend he wasn’t doing what everyone knows he was doing.

Spike Lee’s a coward and a fool. But his cowardice here suggests something important: Spike Lee knows what he did was spiteful and bigoted, that it cannot be defended on its merits. Wealthy celebrities who live their politics, like Spike Lee does, exist in a bubble of their own making. They have the empathy and maturity of internet trolls. The basic standards of human decency that normal people try to live by are entirely absent from the world of Spike Lee.

But they are not absent from the basketball fans who tuned in just to watch a game. Spike Lee was on their turf—the land of normal people.

There is a wonderful moment in the fourth season of The Crown, the Netflix dramatization of the modern history of the English royals. Margaret Thatcher and her husband are guests of the royal family, and the hosts have set up two bedrooms for the couple so that they may sleep in separate rooms. With a “when in Rome” spirit, Denis Thatcher suggests following this tradition. “Don’t you dare,” snaps the Iron Lady. “We don’t want to catch any upper-class habits.”

In America, our royals are our cultural icons. Any senior U.S. senator would give the world to spend a day with Taylor Swift’s power. Some supporters of Joe Biden still blame George Clooney for bringing down the president of the United States.

Spike Lee’s behavior was America’s version of tasteless upper-class habits. Most normal people still recoil from the dehumanizing politics of the wealthy, elite hivemind, at least for now. Which is why Lee had to pretend he wasn’t practicing those habits. He had to pretend he was a decent fellow.




Parliament must have the final say on Palestine Action
This is certainly true in the case of Palestine Action. The statutory test for proscription has two elements: the organisation must be concerned in terrorism, and the home secretary must decide that proscription is appropriate. The Home Office even created its own detailed proscription policy, which lists the criteria for ‘What determines whether proscription is proportionate?’. In the case of Palestine Action, the High Court used the government’s own policy against it, claiming that the activists’ activities do not reach the required threshold. And so we have the spectacle of a minister and parliament being prevented by a court from making a decision on national security.

It seems that politicians, through detailed policies like that for proscription, are creating more and more opportunities for legal challenges. As the High Court noted, the detailed proscription policy was designed to ‘limit use of the discretionary power to proscribe’ by requiring particular factors to be taken into account. The government’s failure to to tick every one of its own boxes paved the way for the overturning of the Palestine Action ban.

If we are serious about parliamentary sovereignty, we must reduce the fetters on political decision-making. Of course, there is a theoretical danger of executive overreach. But that is not our present reality. Instead we face a system in which almost every controversial decision can be paralysed by litigation, with judges drawn ever deeper into political territory.

The Palestine Action ban is misguided. But if it is to be finally undone, it should be undone by ministers and MPs – not by the High Court.
Palestine Action activists face criminal damage retrial over Elbit factory raid
Palestine Action activists will face a retrial on criminal damage and violence charges over a break-in at the UK base of an Israel-based defence firm, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced.

Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, are all accused of the raid on the Elbit Systems site near Bristol on 6 August 2024.

At a trial which concluded on 4 February, all six defendants were cleared of aggravated burglary, after a jury deliberated for more than 36-and-a-half hours.

Rajwani, Rogers, and Devlin were also acquitted of violent disorder.

But the jury could not decide on criminal damage charges against the six defendants, as well as allegations of violent disorder against Head, Corner, and Kamio.

Jurors also failed to reach a verdict on a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm against Corner.

At Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said a retrial would be pursued on all the charges which had not ended in verdicts.

She told Mr Justice Johnson: “As we indicated at the end of the trial, we now confirm the prosecution intention to seek a retrial in respect of all those allegations which no verdict was returned by the jury.

“That is criminal damage against all defendants, the three defendants on the allegation of violent disorder, and with Mr Corner on the allegation of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.”

Ms Heer also told the court that aggravated burglary charges against 18 further defendants who are accused of involvement in the Elbit raid are also now being dropped.

“The prosecution has reconsidered the sufficiency of the evidence,” she said, “and for all the defendants the prosecution offers no evidence on the count of aggravated burglary.”
Doorstep Israel boycott groups face data law scrutiny over recording political views
Anti-Israel activists accused of going “Jew hunting” in Sheffield are facing mounting scrutiny after Britain’s data watchdog warned that collecting residents’ political views without a clear legal basis may breach UK law.

The development follows widely shared footage showing campaigners linked to Sheffield Apartheid Free Zone (SAFZ) knocking on doors in the Woodseats area and urging residents to boycott Israeli goods. In the video, one activist confirms that the group records the doors they knock on and categorises responses, including whether households are supportive, not interested, or give no answer.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed they are investigating an altercation linked to the incident. In a statement, the force said: “At 11.52am on Sunday 15 February, we were called to reports of an altercation at Woodseats House Road, Sheffield. It is reported that a group were door-knocking in the area and handing out leaflets when they were approached by two individuals. Officers attended the location following the incident and are carrying out enquiries.”

Guidance provided to Jewish News from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) makes clear that organisations collecting personal information must comply with UK GDPR. Personal data revealing political opinions is classified as its own special category data, carrying enhanced legal protections and can only be processed when strict conditions are met.

The guidance also places a strong emphasis on transparency, requiring individuals to understand how their information is being collected, recorded and then used – including during door-to-door campaigning.




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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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