Pages

▼

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

02/25 Links Pt1: The UN’s ‘Never Again’ is becoming ‘Never Mind’; PA paid $160 Mil to terrorists in pay-for-slay scheme; Will Trump cement his place in history as a redeemer – or legitimise Iran’s regime?

From Ian:

The UN’s ‘Never Again’ is becoming ‘Never Mind’
Institutions do not collapse overnight. They erode. They lose authority step by step, each time they tolerate what they were established to prevent.

Meanwhile, antisemitic incidents are rising worldwide, on university campuses, in major cities, and outside synagogues. Jewish communities are on edge. In that climate, a UN official labeling the Jewish state as “humanity’s enemy” is not an abstract flourish. It reinforces a narrative that treats Jewish self-determination as uniquely illegitimate.

Supporters will say this is passionate advocacy. They will argue that it reflects frustration or moral urgency.

But human rights language carries force because it is meant to be principled and universal. Once it becomes a tool for branding one nation as the embodiment of evil, it stops protecting the vulnerable and starts isolating them.

Germany, France, and Italy have spoken. That is a start. But if condemnation is the end of the story, the message is clear. The guardrails are optional. The standards are flexible. The slogan remains, but the substance fades.

“Never Again” was supposed to mean that no people would be placed outside the circle of protection. If the UN cannot recognize the danger in calling the Jewish state “the common enemy of humanity,” then the promise forged in 1945 is being hollowed out from within.

Silence is not neutrality. At some point, condemnation without action becomes complicity.

The question is straightforward. Will the United Nations enforce its own standards, or will it continue to let them dissolve, one incendiary phrase at a time?
Three months after it shuttered, what was the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
The first executive director of the foundation, Jake Wood, resigned days later, saying that he agreed with the criticism from the United Nations and international aid groups that “it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.”

“The day GHF was launched, the U.N. went after the founding CEO. He resigned,” Moore told JNS. “It’s just the worst, and I don’t judge him after the attacks I received from the U.N. I lived under 24/7 protection for months this summer.” His house was graffitied, he added.

“I don’t judge him for resigning, but when he did resign, I got a call from the State Department asking if I would do it,” Moore said. “I said, ‘Of course, I’ll do it.’ How can I not do it? And so I stepped into the role.”

The foundation named Moore its executive chairman on June 3.

Moore was frequently criticized during his tenure for lacking the experience of executives of incumbent aid groups like the Red Cross and UNRWA, a charge that he denied.

“I’ve done stuff in 100 countries,” Moore said, citing his work as an advocate for persecuted minorities around the world with a focus on Christians in the Middle East.

“I’ve met with all the heads of state in the region on multiple occasions,” he told JNS. “I know my way around the Middle East.”

GHF too was criticized for not having a track record of delivering humanitarian aid and for not “abiding by humanitarian principles,” criticism that Moore said ignored what the foundation was actually doing.

“The whole system was designed by veterans of the humanitarian community,” he said. “The guy who ran it on the ground was a 30-year veteran of USAID and other agencies. The veterans on the ground spent time in every single war zone for the last 25 years. These are incredibly, incredibly experienced people.”

“It was all designed from the ground up to comply with these standards, but these other organizations were the ones that were not neutral,” he said. “They were the ones that were partial, and they were politicizing everything.”

The scale of the problems at the United Nations and at UNRWA, which Israel has accused of employing members of Hamas, was revealed to Moore when U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres refused to condemn Hamas’s killing of Palestinian GHF aid workers in June.

“Where my naïveté crashed was that day early on, when Hamas killed 12 of our local Gazans,” Moore told JNS. “These were Gazan volunteers that were helping us feed their own people, and Hamas killed 12 of them and piled them out of the Nasser Hospital, controlled by the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, and doctors didn’t even try to help them.”

“I wrote a letter to the secretary-general of the United Nations, and I asked the secretary-general if he would condemn Hamas for killing our 12 Gazan aid workers, and the secretary-general of the United Nations refused to do it,” Moore said.

“That was the moment when I realized all of these organizations say they exist for one purpose, but they’re actually politicians under a different name,” he said. “I realized this is something between a mafia and a system corrupt on a scale that was just incomprehensible, and then they tried to shut us down.”
PA paid half a billion shekels to terrorists in pay-for-slay scheme, sources reveal -exclusive
The Palestinian Authority transferred approximately half a billion shekels to terrorists in 2025 under its “pay-for-slay” mechanism, which provides payments to imprisoned terrorists and to the families of attackers, The Jerusalem Post learned on Wednesday.

The information was disclosed during a cabinet meeting convened on Sunday. Of the total amount, NIS 395 million was paid to terrorists currently in prison, while NIS 92 million was transferred to the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks.

Ministers were also informed that terrorists released as part of the most recent hostage deals received a “special grant” from the Palestinian Authority.

Since October 7, international criticism has intensified over the Palestinian Authority’s continued payments to terrorists and their families.

PA continues pay-for-slay scheme despite Israeli, US measures to stop it
The Trump administration reportedly threatened last year to impose sanctions on the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority and other senior PA officials if the payments continued.

In an apparent effort to avert such measures, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) dismissed the Palestinian finance minister who had signed off on the transfers. However, it was revealed during the cabinet meeting that the newly appointed finance minister has continued to authorize payments to terrorists.

“All the Palestinian Authority’s theatrics will not help, Abu Mazen himself has said that the Authority will continue paying terrorists’ families down to the last shekel," Minister Avi Dichter said during the meeting.

“Just as Mordechai exposed Haman as a foe and enemy before Ahasuerus, and the great challenge was convincing Ahasuerus, Netanyahu must convince President Trump that Abu Mazen is a foe and enemy," Minister Orit Strock said.

Senior security officials further told ministers that in recent months, salaries of Palestinian Authority employees, including teachers, doctors, and nurses, have been reduced to ensure that payments to terrorists remain unaffected.


Will Trump cement his place in history as a redeemer – or legitimise Iran’s regime?
Tomorrow sees negotiations in Geneva over Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, a last-ditch effort to reach a deal in the region. The stress on diplomacy is a marked contrast to Trump’s position last month when he called on Iran’s protestors to continue their uprising, adding that the US was ‘locked and loaded’ and ready to take on the Islamic Republic.

Those who think an agreement is likely point to recent Iranian concessions in response to US demands. In return for sanctions relief, Iran has reportedly offered to send half its highly enriched uranium abroad, dilute the rest and help create a regional enrichment consortium.

But it looks increasingly likely that the current gaps between the two sides may be unbridgeable, leading to a series of US-led military strikes. However, even if Trump resorts to force, it is probable that it will be a means of extracting further concessions from Iran, with a definite endgame in mind: a limited deal on the country’s nuclear programme, akin to an upgrade on the JCPOA.

All of this would fit the Trump playbook: carrying out a short, decisive operation with a clear-sighted but short-term goal and then declaring victory, preferably with the incentive of a major economic reward for the US.

The President is aware that the midterms are coming in June, and any protracted Middle East conflict risks significant political fallout. The President’s approach is reflected in his choice of interlocutors: two pragmatic businessmen, Jared Kushner and his real estate buddy, Steve Witkoff.

But a short-term nuclear deal alone would be a historic mistake, one which risks defining success too narrowly. For starters, the Iranian regime cannot be trusted not to rebuild its nuclear programme, given its history of deception, evasion and concealment. This remains the major problem in any agreement that does not dismantle Iran’s enrichment programme in its entirety, just one of the many problems that bedevilled the JCPOA.

Any such deal will likely be silent on Iran’s expanding ballistic and cruise missile programme, given that Iranian officials have already stated that this issue is a red line for the regime.

Iran’s short-term missile arsenal poses an active threat to American military bases, as well as vital energy supplies in the region, and must be dismantled. The longer-range missiles still pose a major threat to Israel, despite the country’s multi-layered air defence system. In some ways, the Iranian missile threat is as grave a concern for Jerusalem as the Iranian nuclear programme.

Then there is Iran’s support for its proxy network in the region, which has been weakened but not decimated by two years of regional war. The Houthis’ sustained attack on commercial and military vessels has had a major economic impact on Western shipping, and their infrastructure of missiles and UAVs has required Iranian supply chains. Failing to break that chain, a vital component of making the region safer, would be a missed opportunity.

Above all, any agreement with the ayatollahs would be a slap in the face for the brave Iranian people who have been through a catastrophe in the last two months. Many thousands were slaughtered by the IRGC and Iran’s proxy militias in January, with countless stories testifying to the savagery meted out to protestors.
Witkoff: US demanding Iran agrees to nuclear deal that lasts indefinitely
The Trump administration is demanding that Iran agree to a nuclear deal that would remain in effect indefinitely, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told a recent private meeting of donors, according to a Wednesday Axios report.

Witkoff reportedly told a private gathering of AIPAC donors on Tuesday that the administration aims to avoid a "sunset clause" to ensure there is no limit on the deal's duration, two sources familiar with his remarks told Axios.

"We start with the Iranians with the premise that there is no sunset provision. Whether we get a deal or not, our premise is: you have to behave for the rest of your lives," the report quoted Witkoff as saying.

This type of clause was present in the 2015 nuclear agreement signed by the Obama administration, and was heavily criticized by US President Donald Trump.

In that instance, most of the limitations imposed in the Islamic Republic were scrapped after 25 years in exchange for Iran pledging never to pursue the development of nuclear weapons.

According to the report, which also cited a US official and two other sources with knowledge of Witkoff's remarks, Trump aims to use the absence of a "sunset clause" to sell the deal domestically.

Trump on Tuesday stated that he will never allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon during his annual State of the Union address delivered to the US Congress.

"We wiped [Iran's nuclear program] out, and they want to start all over again, and at this moment are pursuing their sinister ambitions," Trump said. "We are in negotiations, and they want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words: 'we will never have a nuclear weapon.' My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon - can't let that happen."

"As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America where I must," he affirmed, adding that the "Iranian regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism, death, and hate" for the past 47 years.


Bureau chief of Japanese public broadcaster reportedly arrested in Iran
Iran has arrested the Tehran bureau chief of Japanese public broadcaster NHK and sent him to a prison known for holding political inmates, according to media reports.

US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Radio Farda named the journalist as Shinnosuke Kawashima, reporting on Tuesday that he had been transferred to Evin Prison a day earlier.

Kawashima was being held in Ward 7 of the jail, where political prisoners are usually incarcerated, a source told the radio.

Iran International, a Persian-language TV channel based outside of Iran, did not name the journalist but also said that he was moved to Evin.

The exact date of the journalist’s arrest and the charges against him remain unclear, Iran International reported on its website.

NHK did not confirm the reports.

“We at NHK always act with the safety of our staff as our top priority. At this time, we are unable to comment further,” an NHK spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.

Japanese government spokesman Masanao Ozaki told reporters that a Japanese citizen had been detained on January 20 but declined to give more details.

“The Japanese government has confirmed that one Japanese national was detained by the local authorities in Tehran, Iran, on January 20,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Ozaki said.

“Since this detention case came to light, the government has been strongly urging the Iranian side to secure the early release of the individual concerned,” Ozaki said.

“We are also in contact with the person and their family and other related parties, and are providing whatever assistance is necessary,” he added. Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on February 25, 2026. (JIJI PRESS / AFP)

Japan and Iran have historically had relatively friendly relations, with former premier Shinzo Abe visiting the Islamic Republic in 2019. Then-president Hassan Rouhani of Iran made a return visit to Japan the same year.

But more recently, close US ally Japan has drastically reduced its once-substantial imports of Iranian oil as part of international pressure over Tehran’s nuclear activities.


Australia tells families of diplomats in Israel, Lebanon to leave amid Iran tensions
The Australian government has told dependants of its diplomats in Israel and Lebanon to leave the two Middle East countries, citing a deteriorating security situation in the region, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The government also offered voluntary departures to the family members of Australian diplomats in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar, it said on an official ministry X account. It made no mention of Iran, however, as the Australian embassy there has been shuttered since August 2025.

The Australian government also continued to advise citizens in Israel and Lebanon to consider leaving while commercial options are still available, the foreign ministry said.

“The Australian Government has directed the departure of dependents of Australian officials posted to Israel in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “If you’re in Israel, we continue to advise you consider leaving while commercial options to depart are still available.”

“The security situation in the Middle East is unpredictable. Regional tensions remain high and there continues to be a risk of military conflict,” the statement added. “Conflicts in the Middle East could result in airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions.”

It posted an identical message about Lebanon.

The warning, made on the foreign ministry’s Smartraveller X account, came hours after US President Donald Trump laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon.


Sa’ar praises Ecuador for withdrawing from UN committee against Israel
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Wednesday praised Ecuador’s leaders for showing “moral clarity” by exiting an anti-Israel United Nations committee.

Sa’ar thanked Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa and Foreign Minister Gabi Sommerfeld for their decision “to withdraw from the so-called ‘Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.'”

He described the body as a “primary example of the inherent bias against Israel” within the United Nations.

“By withdrawing, Ecuador chooses truth and moral clarity over political theater. I call on all other member states who value integrity to follow suit and exit this biased committee,” Sa’ar tweeted.

The Committee takes an across-the-board anti-Israel line, demanding an end to the “occupation” and condemning all “settlement activity.”

Founded in 1975, it acts as a platform for those seeking to condemn the Jewish state, which is accused in its hearings of starving Gazans, committing genocide, terrorism, “racializing Palestinians” and “crushing the skulls of infants and shedding the blood of children.”

These smears are then broadcast by the Committee on the U.N.’s website.

“It is the only General Assembly human rights committee devoted to a single cause,” said UN Watch, a pro-Israel NGO.

“The Committee’s mandate concerns Israeli actions only and is inherently prejudiced and one-sided. Its reports systematically turn a blind eye to Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians,” according to the NGO.


Israeli forces arrest Arab terrorists in overnight raid near Jericho
Israeli security forces arrested several Palestinian terrorist suspects in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp, located two miles from Jericho in the Jordan Valley, during an overnight raid on Tuesday, police stated.

Undercover Border Police operatives operated alongside Israel Defense Forces soldiers in what police described as a targeted operation based on intelligence uncovered by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

“The undercover unit operated under cover of darkness,” police said. “In precise operational coordination, they simultaneously raided two safe houses where the suspects were hiding and carried out their arrest.”

The suspects were transferred to the Shin Bet for further questioning.

The Jewish state’s security agencies will continue to operate “decisively, day and night, using advanced operational capabilities to thwart terror and safeguard the citizens of the State of Israel,” the statement added.

On Monday, the IDF launched a multi-day counter-terrorism operation in the Binyamin region of Samaria. The operations in Turmus Aya, Sinjil, and Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya were said to be part of a “proactive and planned operation aimed at restoring security and order in the area.”

Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 5,051 times in 2025, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO this month.

Twenty-four Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2025, and more than 400 others were wounded, the NGO said in its annual report.

The data, which were cross-checked against official data from the Jewish state’s security agencies, included 3,299 instances of rock-throwing, 458 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 655 attempts to blind drivers with laser pointers, 286 explosive charges and 19 terrorist shooting assaults.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 93: How to win Iran's forever war
The conflict with Iran isn’t just about nukes. It's about a revolutionary martyrdom ideology hiding in plain sight. In this explosive deep dive, we uncover the ideological engine behind the “Muqawama,” the Iran-led "resistance axis" — a fusion of Marx, Mao, martyrdom, and Shiite theology that teaches its followers that suffering is strength and devastation is victory. From Hamas to Hezbollah to Tehran itself, this doctrine explains why bombs don’t deter the regime — and why its greatest threat may not be Israel or America, but its own young people. If you want to understand what’s really driving the Middle East’s endless wars — and how it might finally unravel — this is the episode you can’t afford to miss.

Chapters
00:00 Understanding the Iranian Regime's Resilience
07:15 The Influence of Palestinian Resistance Literature
15:48 Lessons from Mao and the Algerian Revolution
29:54 Hamas and the Cult of Martyrdom
34:46 Kanafani and the Intersectionality of Imperialism
39:23 The Shift from Revolution to Resistance in Arab Politics
46:52 The Evolution of Resistance in Iran
56:02 Khomeini's Rise and the Fusion of Ideologies
01:04:53 The Role of Martyrdom in Revolutionary Strategy
01:18:49 Understanding the Muqawamah Concept
01:26:09 The Shift in Perception of Hezbollah
01:35:30 The Mukawama's Role in Regional Protests
01:42:56 Strategies for Countering the Mukawama
01:52:36 The New Thawra: A Call for Life Over Martyrdom


Military Expert Now WARNS Iran War Cannot Be Stopped - After This One Move!
Those Gaza numbers the world's been obsessing over? You’ve been played. Military analyst Andrew Fox pulls back the curtain on how Hamas weaponized casualty figures, how Israel fell into the trap of fighting emotion with facts and why the real battlefield isn’t just Gaza, it’s your brain. From the psychology of disinformation to the seven-front war against Iran’s proxies, from secret strategic miscalculations on October 7 to the terrifying realities of what it would actually take to topple Tehran’s regime, this episode forces you to rethink everything you thought you understood about modern war. You’ll learn why narrative warfare may matter more than rockets, how social media can delay military operations, what “convergent warfare” really means and why the next Middle East war could be decided as much in Washington and Doha as in Jerusalem. Watch this before the next headline drops—because once you see the strategy behind the chaos, you can’t unsee it.


‘Brought VIOLENCE To Our Streets’ | Eylon Levy EXPOSES Radical Anti-Israel Plot To Sabotage West
Harry Cole is joined by former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy.

Two years on from October 7th, Levy reckons Israel dodged a bullet. The “circle of fire” plan—where Iran’s proxies would invade from all sides—never fully materialised. Hamas is battered, Hezbollah’s in tatters, and the Houthis are at arm’s length. Iran’s nuclear dreams? “Seriously degraded,” says Levy.

But while Israel’s neighbours might finally appreciate its strategic value, many Western allies are now suffering from what Levy blames a “poisonous PR campaign” by Hamas that managed to radicalise Western public opinion. “The information war was fought as fiercely as the one in Gaza,” he says.

Iran is expected to submit a written proposal on how to avoid its standoff with the United States in the wake of U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva on Tuesday, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Top national security advisers met in the White House Situation Room to discuss Iran and were told all U.S. forces deployed to the region should be in place by mid-March, the official said.

Harry Cole Saves The West: From Washington DC comes an unflinching, no-apology show confronting the crises shaking the US and UK - open borders, cultural collapse, economic chaos, and threats to our security. Here, American grit meets British backbone to defend faith, family, freedom, and the future of the West.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: Israel can wait as long as it needs to finish the job — Yaakov Amidror explains the strategic shift
Major General Yaakov Amidror argues that wars in the Middle East are never truly concluded. They are managed, suppressed, and deferred. Born on the day Israel declared independence and shaped by decades at the heart of its security establishment, he views October 7 not as an aberration but as the cost of strategic hesitation. The dismantling of Iran’s crescent, the degradation of Hamas, and the weakening of Hezbollah mark a significant shift in Israel’s position. None of it is final. Each front remains unfinished. Each contains the seeds of the next confrontation.

In this conversation, Amidror lays out a doctrine grounded in vigilance, pre-emption and strength. Israel cannot transform the political culture of the region or impose a permanent settlement on its enemies. It can only ensure that when one war ends, preparation for the next is already under way. The question is whether the post–October 7 strategy has internalised that lesson, and whether coordination with the United States will reinforce Israeli security or restrain it at a decisive moment.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how Israel’s post–October 7 strategy is being recalibrated around pre-emption, American coordination, and the permanent management of existential threats.

We Discuss:
🛡️ Why dismantling Iran’s “ring of fire” has changed the strategic map, yet left unfinished fronts in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond
🎯 The case for restoring pre-emptive war as a legitimate and necessary Israeli tool after years of strategic hesitation
🇺🇸 How far Israel should defer to the United States on Gaza, Iran and Hezbollah, and when it must ultimately act alone
🔥 Whether Hamas can ever be disarmed without direct IDF force, and what happens if American diplomacy fails
🚀 The military lessons of October 7, from munitions stockpiles to manoeuvre divisions and long-range strike capacity
🌍 The emerging Turkish–Qatari–Saudi alignment and what it means for Syria and the regional balance of power
⚖️ Why Israeli resilience rests on necessity, mobilisation rates, and a cultural understanding that survival has no substitute
📉 The limits of international legitimacy, European reliability, and Israel’s ability to influence rising antisemitism abroad
🔄 What a “visible victory” truly means in a region where threats regenerate unless actively suppressed


Jonathan Sacerdoti: Iran’s negotiators are stalling, but pressure at home could change everything – Beni Sabti
Benny Sabti, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, joins me at a moment of acute strain for the Islamic Republic. He argues that Tehran’s diplomatic posture follows a familiar pattern: delay, repackage old positions, concede nothing essential, preserve enrichment capability and the infrastructure of coercion. This time, Washington appears less willing to indulge the ritual, framing negotiations as a final test before more forceful options are considered.

Are the renewed student protests, including at the Sharif University of Technology, a sign of genuine internal fracture or another uprising destined to be crushed? Does the re-emergence of figures such as Ali Larijani signal consolidation, desperation, or preparation for succession? Could someone like Hassan Rouhani serve as a transitional figure if pressure intensifies? And if confrontation comes, would it accelerate regime collapse or entrench it through violence? These are the questions Sabti addresses as we assess how narrow Tehran’s room for manoeuvre has become.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand whether Iran stands at the brink of war, internal upheaval, or a managed transformation that reshapes the Middle East.

💬 We Discuss:
⚖️ Why Tehran’s negotiating pattern reflects a long institutional culture of delay without substantive concession
🧭 How the Trump administration’s approach seeks legitimacy before escalation
🎯 The erosion of Iran’s regional terror network and what that means for deterrence
📉 The regime’s domestic crisis, from inflation shocks to collapsing public trust
🎓 Why renewed campus protests at Sharif and beyond matter strategically
🛡️ Whether elements of the IRGC could favour controlled transition over ideological collapse
👑 The symbolism of exiled opposition figures and the limits of monarchical nostalgia
🔄 Regime change versus regime management, and what history suggests about transitions from revolutionary states
🌍 What retaliation against Israel or US allies would mean for the regime’s survival
📊 How internal legitimacy and external pressure now converge on Tehran’s future


Peter Boghossian: HEATED DEBATE On Islam, Immigration, and Israel: Shabbos Kestenbaum vs Cameraman
Shabbos Kestenbaum is a 26-year-old Orthodox Jewish Harvard graduate who sued his university for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and violence on campus.

A week earlier, we’d had Raymond Ibrahim on the show. During that taping, our cameraman, a young man, got heated enough about what he was hearing that he interrupted the recording to challenge Raymond’s claims (Watch it here: • Cameraman Has MELTDOWN Over Conversation A... ). So when Shabbos came on the following week, I decided to give the cameraman a proper seat at the table. No ambush, no gotcha—just an open invitation to make his case.

Chapters
0:00 Trailer
1:08 Why Gen Z isn’t having s*x
5:10 Shabbos’s background
7:04 Muslims & Jews
17:20 Islam vs Islamism
23:50 Far right
29:32 Islamic immigration
46:15 Predictions
48:40 Religion in society
53:10 What Shabbos would say to Trump
58:40 Closing topics / transition
1:07:40 Cameraman asks questions to Shabbos
1:09:02 Muslims and crime
1:16:00 Religious freedom debate
1:20:10 Violence & terrorism
1:31:10 Constitutional rights
1:43:13 Israel
1:47:55 Universities protecting students
2:02:40 Importance of conversations


Jonathan Tobin: What’s the real point of Tucker Carlson’s obsession with Israel?
Does the GOP agree with Tucker?
Carlson did, after all, get a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in 2024. More importantly, Vance took a stance of neutrality about the debate over Carlson’s antisemitism last December at a Turning Point USA gathering.

That Carlson has a large audience of viewers and listeners can’t be denied. So, too, have fellow Jew-haters like far-right commentator and podcaster Candace Owens, and even Fuentes. The question is whether their followings are considerable enough for the administration or Vance to think that they don’t wish to alienate them, even if this association is damaging them with evangelicals and working-class Republicans who put Trump back into the White House in 2024.

Even as polls have shown a steep decline in support for the Jewish state among Democrats and even among some Republicans, and especially among young people, the vast majority of Republicans remain pro-Israel. That is demonstrated by the fact that the GOP caucuses in the House and Senate are almost unanimous in their backing for Israel, with only libertarian outliers like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) or Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) being the exception, now that the loony former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green has left Capitol Hill, to the relief of her former colleagues.

It is possible to imagine a scenario where the groypers take over Turning Point USA in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and use it to create a political movement that will, as the progressives have done with the Democrats, change the composition of the GOP congressional caucuses to reflect their anti-Israel and antisemitic views. Indeed, some have estimated that up to 40% of those young people now working for the administration in Washington are influenced by Carlson, Owens and Fuentes. As the Carrie Prejean Boller debacle showed this month, some of them have wormed their way into Trump’s appointments to various federal commissions. While that can’t be entirely ruled out as something that might happen in the future, so far, there is little evidence that the Republican Party is changing direction on Israel.

Just as crucial is the decision facing Vance.

He may owe Carlson a lot—both for his crucial support for his Senate primary campaign in 2022 and for helping to convince Trump to tap him as his running mate only two years after he first won electoral office. And, to date, he’s been stubbornly reluctant to cut him loose, despite the increasing evidence of his extremism, antisemitism and determination to undermine the administration he ostensibly supports.

Vance must decide
Still, Vance, a rare intellectual in the world of politics, is not unaware that this friendship is now costing him dearly in terms of his ability to widen his base of support in advance of an expected presidential run in 2028. The vice president may currently be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination to succeed Trump by a wide margin. But he has to understand that Carlson is an albatross that could hurt among Republicans and eventually sink him in a general election.

Trump and Vance would have preferred not to have been put in this position. All winning electoral coalitions, whether led by Republicans or Democrats, are inevitably diverse and include some people not in the mainstream for one way or another. Part of the reason why Democrats lost in 2024 was the way former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris seemed in thrall to woke left-wing extremists, though their party has concluded that her defeat at the hands of Trump reportedly claimed that she lost because she was insufficiently anti-Israel to please the Democrats’ intersectional left-wing base.

As for Carlson, his over-the-top antisemitism and willingness to attack Trump administration policy have gotten to the point where it is more than an embarrassment to Trump and Vance.

Simply put, their association with him has become political poison. The notion of continuing in their confidence at this point isn’t just offensive to Jews and the majority of Americans who support Israel. It’s a clear threat to their ability to govern effectively, as well as to hold onto Congress and secure another GOP victory in 2028.

At some point—and it can’t be too far into the future—they need to cut him off and make it clear to the public that they have done so. If they don’t, it will be a decision that will come back to haunt their party in 2026, 2028 and beyond.
36 Falsehoods in One Huckabee Interview: Tucker Carlson Fact-Checked
Tucker Carlson’s appearance with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee was not an interview in any meaningful sense of the word. Carlson spoke for 60% of the runtime and interrupted Huckabee more than 500 times. The format was not designed to elicit answers but to deliver a sustained series of hostile talking points, many of them factually false. As the discussion unfolded, Carlson repeatedly made specific, testable claims about Israel, its leaders, policies and practices, history and current events, the Gaza war, and U.S. policy toward Israel, along with allegations of misconduct. Carlson was well prepared; he cited purported documents, invoked historical events, and asserted specific knowledge of people and events. While some false statements might be attributed to error, the volume, specificity, and repetition of these claims, particularly when corrected or challenged in real time, cannot reasonably be understood as isolated or accidental. What follows is a catalog of 36 distinct falsehoods made by Carlson during the interview and its 24-minute introductory monologue, which functioned as an integral part of the overall presentation. Each entry identifies the claim, explains why it is false, and provides references. This is not a critique of Carlson’s worldview or motivations, which have been widely discussed elsewhere. It is a documentation of repeated, verifiable factual errors. The entries are not presented in the order delivered. A brief summary of each falsehood is numbered and bolded.


Gay and bisexual Sydney teenagers lured and bashed on camera in IS-inspired attacks
James*, 16, screams as a pack of black-clad teenagers drag him to the ground and stomp on his head while an attacker films on his phone in Sydney's Strathfield Park.

In another video, the gang forces a different 16-year-old into a toilet block and repeatedly punches him while calling him a "f*****" and a "kafir", or nonbeliever. Blood runs down his face as he begs, "I'll do anything."

A third clip shows a boy in a cropped top lying silent on the grass, his hands shielding his face as he is repeatedly stomped on and called a "gay dog", while one attacker shouts "Dawlatul Islam" — Arabic for Islamic State (IS).

"I'll f***ing shoot you, you little dog," one attacker says, before the victim finally emits a single high-pitched cry, and the video cuts out.

The footage is among recordings played in Sydney courts or circulated in chat groups, and obtained by ABC Investigations from court files, victims and members of the public.

It documents a surge of violence against gay and bisexual young people in Sydney at the hands of a resurgent IS terrorist network in the two years before the Bondi attack.

A two-year ABC investigation into the reawakening of IS can reveal the attackers in the videos were linked to the same terrorist network as Naveed and Sajid Akram, the father and son responsible for the Hanukkah massacre that killed 15 people at Bondi Beach in December.


NYC Council sees showdown over watered-down buffer zone bill for houses of worship
A New York City bill that would create protective zones around houses of worship drew supporters and opponents to City Hall on Wednesday, highlighting the ongoing split over the proposal, despite legislators attenuating its language before the hearing.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin last month proposed the measure to mandate a police-enforced buffer zone of up to 100 feet (30.5 meters) around houses of worship and medical facilities, part of her broader plan to combat antisemitism in the city, where Jews are targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined.

After NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch expressed “concerns” about the bill, the legislation’s text was revised, removing mention of a specific distance, instead requesting that Tisch propose a plan for buffer zones to “contain the risk of injury, intimidation, and interference, while preserving and protecting protest rights, at places of religious worship.”

The legislation came after anti-Zionist protests outside two synagogues in the city that saw demonstrators chant in support of Hamas terrorists, harass Jews, use discriminatory epithets and make threats. The protesters said the demonstrations were political rallies targeting Israel-related events.

The proposed buffer zones are a thorny issue due to conflicts between civil rights protections for free speech, free assembly, and freedom of religion, as well as Jewish community security.

Anti-Zionist activist groups and leftist civil rights organizations are campaigning against the measures, calling them an attack on free speech, while mainstream Jewish groups are in support.

Before the hearing, activists protested on the steps of City Hall, holding signs that said, “Protect our right to protest,” and chanting, “Free Palestine.”

“The tactics that they test on colonized land always come home to suppress us here,” one speaker said, accusing lawmakers of “prioritizing Zionist interests over the needs of the city.”

“These bills are not about protecting worshipers or students. They are about making sure the machinery of empire runs without interruption,” he said.
Court allows UK government to appeal ruling that Palestine Action ban was unlawful
The British government was on Wednesday given permission to appeal against a ruling that its ban on pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful.

The UK government proscribed Palestine Action after activists in June 2025 broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized two planes, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage, in protest of Britain’s military support for Israel amid the war in Gaza, an action described by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “disgraceful.”

The move grouped the organization with the likes of al-Qaeda and Hamas, making membership in or support for Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, more than 2,700 people have been arrested at protests for holding signs saying “I support Palestine Action.” More than 250 have been charged under the Terrorism Act.

Lawyers representing Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action in 2020, argued at a hearing last year that the move was an authoritarian restriction on the right to protest.

London’s High Court ruled this month that the ban was unlawful, ruling that it was a disproportionate interference with free speech rights.

Judges Victoria Sharp, Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn said that “the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities” did not meet the “level, scale and persistence” that would justify proscription, and said they were “satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.” Supporters of anti-Israel group Palestine Action stage a protest outside the Royal Court of Justice in London, Britain, February 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The ruling earlier this month threw into question the prosecution of hundreds of people who had been charged for holding signs in support of the group, and prompted London’s Metropolitan Police to say it would not arrest people expressing support for Palestine Action, but would continue to gather evidence of offenses “to provide opportunities for enforcement at a later date.”
Peers dine at Israeli restaurant targeted by pro-Palestine mobs in ‘heartwarming’ show of solidarity
A group of peers dined at an Israeli restaurant in defiance of calls for a boycott by pro-Palestine activists.

Erev, in Notting Hill, was recently targeted by demonstrators calling calling for “intifada” and chanting about “genocide”.

However, the cross-party group of 15 peers was undeterred and last night, in a show of solidarity, enjoyed a dinner there organised by Lord Leigh, a Conservative Peer.

The peers included former cabinet minister Lord Pickles, Baroness Berger, Baroness Deech, Lord Leigh and Baroness Cash.

Lord Polak, president of Conservative Friends of Israel, who also attended, told the JC he was “grateful that colleagues and friends in the House of Lords from all parties and cross benchers enjoyed dinner at Erev”, adding: “It was heartening to see the restaurant full of diners and drinkers”.

Lord Walney, who also attended the dinner, added: “We would always look to support people on the receiving end of vile political intimidation – it is an added bonus that we can selflessly do so by eating delicious food in a wonderful restaurant.”

He added that it was “so good to see the attempt from moronic far-left activists to scare people away from Erev is backfiring spectacularly. I hope many more people will stop by to show their solidarity in the weeks ahead.”

Lord Leigh said: “As soon as we heard about the protest, a group of peers from all parties and denomination wanted to show their support for this Israeli restaurant. It was heartwarming to see them all there.”




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

at