Wednesday, March 04, 2026

03/03 Links Pt2: Antizionism fuels the hatred of Jews; The Politics of the 'Good Jew'; This Purim, think of the 10,000 Jews who cannot celebrate

From Ian:

The holocaust that wasn’t
Persia is now Iran, and they have been plotting to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth for decades. They built an empire of proxies across the Middle East, from Iraq and Yemen to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza — planning to circle the Jewish Nation in a ring of fire that would be our ultimate destruction.

And then came October 7. For one day, the Gazan invasion brought the Holocaust to Israel. With deep understanding of history, the invasion was methodically planned to recreate the deepest Jewish horror in modern history — using fire, torture, and terror to rip families apart and not only slaughter but break the spirit of the Nation of Israel.

But we did not break.

The Nation of Israel fought back. And the nations of the world expressed horror at the death toll of the enemy who had tried to destroy us. And even some Jews joined the cries of pity for those who wished to slaughter Jewish men, women, and children.

We retrieved all of our hostages, dealt debilitating blows to all the proxies, and even struck the head of the snake — Iran.

But we were stopped before the job was completed.

And today we know that the ayatollahs of Iran are trying to reignite their ring of fire — their nuclear program, ballistic missiles, and their proxies.

And they slaughtered thousands of their own people who rebelled against the evil regime.

President Trump, like the king of ancient Persia, made decrees. He promised the demonstrators of Iran, “Help is on the way.” He told the world that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles that threaten other nations. And he built up unprecedented military might, ready to be unleashed on Iran.

But the ideologues of Iran will not — cannot — change their murderous ideology, because to do so would mean rejecting their identity. Like Haman, their one true desire is to destroy all of the Jews.

And they will never stop unless they are made to stop.

And now the world is waiting. What will President Trump decide? And what is he waiting for?

Iran is an existential threat to the Nation of Israel, a danger to the people of Iran, and the cause of enormous suffering around the world.

And now, as I write, the first siren goes off — not because there are incoming missiles, but because the attack has begun on Iran and we are to be ready for whatever might come next.

It is almost as if President Trump was waiting for Purim. Perhaps the man who writes his name in gold on towers he built knows that the stories of the Jews last longer than any building.

Happy Purim. There will be no celebrations now, but hopefully, when this is over, there will be. It is time for the horror Iran has inflicted on the world to be turned upside down and become a time of rejoicing and freedom — an opportunity for a better future for Israel, the Middle East, and the world.
Antizionism fuels the hatred of Jews
Denying Jews the rights afforded to all other peoples is not criticism, it is bigotry. Allowing Israel to be defined by libels rather than to be appraised along the same lines as all other states is not a political opinion, it is discrimination. And this discrimination is causing clear and present harm.

Indeed, the ideology responsible for this harm continues to not only be treated as legitimate political expression but applauded as brave dissent against a conspiratorial conception of Jewish power. This is how antizionism functions as a mask: by wrapping anti-Jewish hostility in the moral language of the day, it transforms prejudice into principle. As it has been throughout history, the targeting of Jews is repackaged as moral necessity.

For the overwhelming majority of Jews, Zionism is not a political position but an expression of peoplehood and self-determination – an indispensable and inextricable part of our Jewish identity. Targeting “Zionists” is a socially permissible way to target Jews, while offering plausible deniability.

Most institutions still refuse to make this connection.

Naming antizionism would require institutions to confront a belief system they have treated as morally legitimate, despite its discriminatory outcomes. Until they do, universities will continue to enforce anti-racism codes while tolerating antizionist “activism” that systematically marginalises Jewish students. Legal institutions will affirm equality before the law while permitting rhetoric that casts Jewish collective identity as inherently criminal. Politicians will condemn antisemitism in principle while remaining silent about Its contemporary permutation.

The upcoming Royal Commission has an opportunity to change this, and that must start with naming antizionism as the key driver of the anti-Jewish hostility now gripping Australia.

This “elephant in the room” will not disappear through silence. It must be named. And once named, it must be confronted. Otherwise, Jewish Australians will continue to hear solemn assurances that antisemitism is unacceptable — while watching the extremist and bigoted ideology that fuels it remain comfortably within the bounds of respectable debate.
The Politics of the 'Good Jew'
Historically, rulers could say: “I am not anti-Jewish; I employ one.” Today, movements can say: “We are not antisemitic; Jews support us.” The structure may be different, but the function looks strikingly similar. Just as in the past, this arrangement does not necessarily protect the broader Jewish community.

After the October 7th pogrom, when antisemitic incidents surged globally, it did not matter whether a Jew was Zionist, anti-Zionist, Left-wing, Right-wing, religious, or secular. Synagogues required security. Jewish schools increased guards. Students hid their Stars of David. The mob does not distinguish between court factions.

The medieval Court Jew believed that his access to power insulated him from the prejudices of the street. That turned out to be dead wrong — and deadly. The modern Jewish figure who aligns with dominant anti-Israel narratives may believe that proximity to cultural legitimacy offers similar insulation. They will learn, soon enough, that antisemitism is never that discriminating. Movements that chant “From the river to the sea” do not append footnotes clarifying which Jews are exempt. Conspiracy theories about “Zionist influence” do not pause to verify individual ideological credentials.

When Jewish identity itself is framed as structurally powerful, morally suspect, or politically malignant, internal Jewish disagreements offer little shield. There is a difficult tension here: Jewish tradition values debate, the Talmud is built on dissent, Zionism itself emerged from fierce ideological argument.

The problem is not that Jews disagree. It is that non-Jewish institutions selectively reward Jewish dissent that undermines Jewish collective security, while dismissing Jewish concerns about antisemitism as self-serving. That dynamic replicates something deeply old: Jews are most welcome when they reassure power, least welcome when they assert communal vulnerability.

One of Zionism’s central promises was the end of court politics. It would see Jewish policemen put Jewish criminals in Jewish jails. No more pleading before princes or dependence on elite favor. Sovereignty meant self-definition. Security meant self-defense. In the Diaspora, of course, Jews remain minorities. Engagement with broader society is inevitable and necessary. But the temptation to seek validation through disavowal is not new.

History shows that the court is never permanent. Legitimacy borrowed from power is conditional, and acceptance predicated on denunciation is fragile. The court will recalculate when the winds shift. The question for our moment is not whether Jews may criticize Israel, but whether Jewish identity itself is becoming contingent on ideological compliance — rewarded when it serves dominant narratives, suspect when it resists them.

We have seen this movie before, and many remakes. None have been good.


Butterfly effect: How Russia's Ukraine war enabled Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre - opinion
The Ukrainian laboratory: Decapitating technological superiority

Beyond high-level diplomacy, the battlefields of Ukraine served as a live-fire laboratory for asymmetric warfare. Millions of hours of combat footage demonstrated a terrifying new reality: inexpensive, off-the-shelf technology can blind and paralyze a hi-tech military.

The systematic use of commercial drones to neutralize multi-million dollar surveillance systems became a blueprint.

The core lesson was conceptual: qualitative military superiority is inherently brittle if it can be decapitated in the opening seconds. The October 7 assault was a direct application of this principle, using low-tech precision to induce systemic shock and blinding the IDF’s sensors before the first fence was even breached.

The twilight of deterrence
The post 1991 era was built on the assumption that large-scale wars were unprofitable and therefore obsolete. Russia’s invasion ended that consensus. When the boundaries of the possible are redrawn in one hemisphere, the shockwaves are felt in the other.

Sinwar acted in a world where global powers were actively challenging maps, where alliances were in flux, and where international focus was a scarce commodity. In this chaotic ecosystem, an attack once dismissed as unthinkable was reassessed as a tactical necessity.

The path from Kyiv to Gaza is not a straight line, but a series of butterfly wings that destabilized a fragile global system until it reached its breaking point.

Four years into the conflict in Europe, it is clear that the tremors did not stop at the border. October 7 was not just a local tragedy; it was one of the most violent symptoms of a world where the old rules have ceased to exist.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Still Committed to Aligning with Enemies of the West
Shortly after airstrikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, several Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), issued strong condemnations of Israel and the U.S. and voiced support for the Iranian regime, which has provided significant financial and military support to both for decades.

In 2003, Palestinians took to the streets to voice support for Saddam Hussein against the U.S. invasion.

The Palestinian terror groups that continue to control Gaza, led by Hamas, seem determined to pursue their Jihad against Israel, notwithstanding the death and destruction they inflict on the Palestinians.

President Trump's "Board of Peace" will never be able to bring security and stability as long as these groups continue to maintain a civilian and military presence in Gaza.

The Palestinians have again shown that they do not hesitate to side with the enemies of Israel and the U.S.

Removing Iran's mullahs from power is not enough. The Israeli-U.S. military operation should be expanded to include the Iranian regime's proxies.
‘Britain is uncomfortable for Jews’: UK billionaire seeks German passport amid antisemitism fears
Sir Michael Moritz speaking to the BBC, where he said Britain has become an “uncomfortable place for Jews”.

Britain has become an “uncomfortable place for Jews”, according to Cardiff-born billionaire Sir Michael Moritz, who has revealed he is applying for German citizenship as concern over antisemitism in the UK continues to grow.

Moritz, one of the UK’s wealthiest figures and a leading Silicon Valley investor, said Britain now feels “far more hostile than the US” for Jewish people, citing violent attacks on synagogues and the everyday precautions increasingly taken by Jewish families.

“Britain is an uncomfortable place for Jews today,” he said.

Speaking to the BBC, Moritz described his decision to seek a German passport as an “insurance policy” – a safeguard his family once lacked when fleeing Nazi persecution. He said the move was shaped by both historical memory and present-day fears.

Referring to the deadly Yom Kippur attack on Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue in October 2025, Moritz said the incident had struck close to home. “I have cousins who live less than half a mile from the Heaton Park synagogue,” he said. “They knew a whole bunch of people who were there.”

He added that antisemitism is often felt most sharply through daily experiences rather than headline events, pointing to Jewish children in north-west London who avoid wearing school blazers in public. “It’s all these anecdotes that strike home more than anything else,” he said.

Moritz, 71, holds both British and US citizenship and made his fortune through early investments in technology companies, including Google and Yahoo. But he has increasingly spoken publicly about Jewish vulnerability, drawing on his own family history.
Irish Jews report 143 antisemitic incidents in 6 months through a new reporting system
Jews in Ireland reported over 100 antisemitic incidents through a communal reporting system within six months after it launched, according to a new report.

The findings published early Monday by the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland constitute the first attempt to document antisemitic incidents in Ireland.

Irish Jews, a small community of about 2,200, reported 143 incidents between July 2025 and January 2026. These were dominated by verbal abuse, vandalism, threats, exclusion or discrimination and direct digital hate messages. Physical assault was less common, with only three instances reported.

All incidents were self-reported to the JRCI, which cannot independently investigate or adjudicate them. Ireland does not have an official state mechanism for recording antisemitic incidents, the group said. And while the police record hate crimes based on nationality, ethnicity or religion, they do not isolate crimes motivated by antisemitism.

The JRCI said that 30% of incidents were triggered by cues of Jewish identity or Israeli origin, such as a Jewish symbol, an accent or speaking Hebrew in public. Such patterns often crossed the boundaries of hate driven by nationality, ethnicity and religion.

“These dynamics cannot be adequately addressed through generalised anti-racism frameworks alone,” JRCI chair Maurice Cohen said in a statement. “Antisemitism presents distinct characteristics requiring targeted policy responses.”

Cohen called for “a dedicated, standalone national plan to combat antisemitism in Ireland.”

Of the reported incidents, 25 included “Holocaust distortion” or antisemitic conspiracy theories. These findings add to a Claims Conference survey in January, which said that 9% of Irish adults believed the Holocaust was a myth, while another 17% believed the number of Jews killed had been greatly exaggerated. Half of Irish adults did not know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

At the same time, a November 2025 survey by the European Commission surfaced broad recognition of antisemitism in Ireland. 41% of respondents said that antisemitism was a problem in the country and 47% said it had increased over the past five years.
Anti-Israel curriculum is becoming mandatory in Canadian schools.
In April 2022, the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association published a report called “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Naming, Framing and Manifestations.“ It was the first formal attempt to define so-called “anti-Palestinian racism” as a distinct category of discrimination. The report was allegedly produced in consultation with Palestinian community organizations, so-called “anti-racism” academics, and activists across Canada.

Within two years, the concept had been adopted by the Toronto District School Board, mandated in training for over 8,000 teachers in Hamilton, a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario, and embedded in equity frameworks across Ontario.

That is remarkable institutional velocity for a concept that didn’t really exist before 2022. It is worth understanding how that happened, because the speed of adoption tells you something important about the machinery that was already in place.

But first, let’s read it.

The Arab Canadian Lawyers Association’s description of “anti-Palestinian racism” is “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives.” On its face, that sounds like something most decent people could get behind. Nobody should be silenced for who they are. Nobody should be dehumanized.

But the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association report lists specific forms that “anti-Palestinian racism” apparently takes. These are the categories that matter, because these are the categories that get operationalized in school board policies, equity training, and complaint mechanisms. These are the categories that determine what a teacher in Hamilton or Toronto can and cannot say in a classroom. So let’s walk through them carefully.

First is “Nakba denial.” This includes “claims that there are no such people called Palestinians,” “denial of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to establish the state of Israel,” and “rejecting the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees including the Palestinian right of return.”

Notice what’s packed into that last reference. The Palestinian “right of return” is one of the most contested political demands in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It refers to the claim that descendants of Palestinians who left or were expelled in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (which the Arabs started) have the right to return to their ancestors’ homes inside what is now the State of Israel.

If implemented, it would fundamentally alter the demographic composition of the Jewish state. This is obviously a non-starter for Israelis. Entire peace processes have collapsed over it. But under this framework, if you even question the right of return as a practical policy matter (which it is very much not), you are apparently engaging in “Nakba denial.” You are an anti-Palestinian racist.

Next is failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people. This includes “denying the settler-colonization of Palestine” and “erasing Palestinian ancestral and present-day ties to their land.”

Here the framework does something clever: It adopts the settler-colonial analytical lens not as one way of understanding the conflict, but as the correct or only way. If you believe the conflict is better understood as a clash between two peoples with legitimate historical claims to the same land, you are wrong, and you can just stand there in your wrongness and be racist. If you believe that Jews are indigenous to Israel, which is the mainstream position of Jewish theology, history, archaeology, identity, and reality, and you believe this complicates the claim that Israel is a “settler-colonial” project, you are “failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people.” You are an anti-Palestinian racist.
Antisemitism emerges as a defining issue in California gubernatorial race
In a state where housing costs, wildfires and water shortages usually dominate campaign rhetoric, the 2026 race for California governor is being shaped to a significant extent around a different flashpoint: antisemitism.

At a packed gubernatorial forum Thursday night at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, five leading candidates — Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, entrepreneur Tom Steyer and Republican businessman Steve Hilton — competed to present themselves as the strongest defenders of Jewish safety.

Three other candidates who met the forum’s viability criteria — former US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Rep. Katie Porter — were invited but did not attend.

The event, organized by a coalition of major Jewish groups including Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area and Jewish California (formerly The Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California), drew more than 1,000 attendees and was livestreamed on YouTube. With Gov. Gavin Newsom term-limited and widely seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate, the contest to succeed him is one of the most closely watched gubernatorial races in the country.

California is home to an estimated 1.2 million Jews — second only to New York among US states — and its public schools and universities have become central battlegrounds in the national debate over Israel and antisemitism since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

That tension was on vivid display this week. The forum coincided with three major antisemitism lawsuits filed in rapid succession against California educational institutions.

On Thursday, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights and StandWithUs sued the state of California, its Department of Education and several school districts, alleging that officials allowed antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students to “fester” in K-12 schools. The lawsuit seeks court-ordered oversight of campus antisemitism and limits on funding for districts that fail to enforce nondiscrimination policies.
Chris Van Hollen, in J Street address, calls AIPAC anti-American
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) took aim at the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC during an address on Sunday morning at the opening plenary of J Street’s convention in Washington and accused it of being un-American.

Van Hollen elicited a loud chorus of boos in response to his description of AIPAC’s opposition to legislation he had sponsored seeking to place conditions on U.S. military assistance to Israel.

“I put forward months and months ago a proposal that said, with respect to any country, any country that receives U.S. military assistance — has to agree to, No. 1, comply by American law and by international law. You know who came out against that? AIPAC came out against that,” Van Hollen said.

“AIPAC came out against a proposal that says American taxpayer dollars that are used for military assistance — it’s OK to give them to any country in the world, even if that country doesn’t agree to abide by American law or international law,” said Van Hollen. “I will tell you that AIPAC may call itself pro-American. They may call themselves pro-Israel. But they are neither.”

Van Hollen accused Israel of violating American and international law during its war against Hamas in Gaza, and earned cheers for saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions should be reined in.

“There can’t be a continuing blank check when the Netanyahu government is operating in violation of American law, which they have repeatedly, or in violation of international law,” he said.
Platner sat for lengthy interview with antisemitic conspiracy theorist, said he was ‘longtime fan’ of his show
Weeks before Graham Platner promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theorist in a now-deleted social media post on Thursday, the controversial Maine Senate candidate appeared on a popular YouTube show whose host has spread specious claims about Jews and Israel.

Platner faced blowback this week for boosting a social media comment about a looming war with Iran by Stew Peters, a neo-Nazi influencer who has frequently espoused antisemitic tropes and engaged in Holocaust denial. Platner’s team said the post was made in error and “immediately” removed it after learning it elevated a “despicable account.”

In late January, however, Platner sat for a lengthy online interview with Nate Cornacchia, a retired Green Beret who has also promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. Near the end of their hour-long conversation, Platner, a fellow military veteran, called himself “a longtime fan” of Cornacchia’s YouTube channel, “Valhalla VFT,” and said it was “an absolute pleasure being” on the show.

Cornacchia, whose show claims nearly 500,000 YouTube subscribers, has in recent months helped stoke a burgeoning far-right conspiracy theory alleging that Israel was involved in the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Two days before speaking with Platner, for instance, Cornacchia went on a podcast hosted by Jake Shields, a former mixed martial arts fighter who is now a prominent Holocaust denier, and pointed to what he described as “huge links” connecting Israel to Kirk’s killing. “The biggest one, the way I look at it, is because he was basically so important from the Zionist side to the young right wing, sort of that counter Nick Fuentes audience” that “Israel needs desperately,” he said.

“Charlie Kirk said that he was tired of being bullied by his Jewish donors” and that he “no longer could support the pro-Israel cause, and he was dead 48 hours later,” Cornacchia added on the show, where he also agreed with Shields’ assertion that President John F. Kennedy had “probably” been assassinated in a covert “venture between the CIA and Mossad,” the Israeli intelligence agency. “100%,” he replied.

In addition, Cornacchia has suggested that the global war on terror was conducted “on behest of Israel” and claimed Israel would benefit if another 9/11-style attack were carried out during the tenure of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying it would help to drum up Islamophobic sentiment and lead to another foreign military entanglement in the Middle East.


UKLFI: THE BOARD OF PEACE: LEGAL FRAMEWORK
This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar, THE BOARD OF PEACE: LEGAL FRAMEWORK, with Anne Herzberg and Natasha Hausdorff, which took place on Sunday, 1 March 2026.

This webinar examines the legal framework of the “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” unveiled by President Trump on 29 September 2025, and further documents which have since been adopted to implement it.

The plan provides that Gaza will be temporarily governed by a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee under the supervision of a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” chaired by Trump.

On 17 November 2025, UN Security Council Resolution 2803 endorsed the plan, welcomed the creation of the Board of Peace as a transitional administration with international legal personality, and authorized the establishment of operational entities and a temporary “International Stabilization Force” (ISF) until 31 December 2027.

The Charter of the Board of Peace, ratified on 22 January 2026 and signed by leaders of 25 countries, provides for an “Executive Board” appointed by its Chairman. The first resolution of the Board of Peace, adopted on the same date, designated the members of the Executive Board and also provided for the constitution of an additional “Gaza Executive Board” to advise the Executive Board, a “High Representative for Gaza” responsible for implementation of the Peace Plan under the general supervision of the Executive Board, the ISF, and a “National Committee for the Administration of Gaza” authorized, directed, and supervised by the Office of the High Representative for Gaza.

Anne Herzberg and Natasha Hausdorff analyse these documents and their legal consequences.




Push for Palestine Studies at Cambridge led by academic who celebrated the ‘heroism’ of the October 7 attack
An academic who praised the “heroism” of the October 7 attack is leading a high-profile drive to establish a Palestine Studies course at Cambridge.

The campaign by Makram Khoury-Machool, founding director of the Cambridge Centre for Palestine Studies (CCPS), is backed by the university’s chancellor, Lord Smith of Finsbury, and former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams, both of whom joined him for an event on Tuesday to argue the case for the course.

Machool, who regularly writes for Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah-aligned publication based in Beirut, has also previously appeared to blame the Manchester terror attack on British Jews’ support for Israel.

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said his involvement in the campaign was “utterly appalling”.

The initiative, which is not officially endorsed by the university, is also supported by Baroness Warsi and Baroness Kennedy.

At Tuesday’s panel event in the city, titled “Why Palestine studies at Cambridge?”, Khoury-Machool was joined by Lord Smith, Lord Williams and Soas Professor Stefan Sperl.

Introducing Lord Williams, who is a CCPS patron, Khoury-Machool described him as “one of the bravest people on earth” when he went “to visit the late Yasser Arafat in his besieged compound”.

Sperl said that Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust centre, should acknowledge the “Nakba”, and claimed that the Shoah has been used to “muffle criticism of Israel’s policies towards [Palestinians] or reject any such criticism as antisemitism”.

He argued that there are “unquestionable parallels between what happened in Palestine and what has been a pattern of European history for the last 500 years.

“A group of people sets out from Europe, conquers a distant territory, declares it to be its property, and subjugates, enslaves, or exterminates its indigenous inhabitants.”

Khoury-Machool attracted controversy following the Manchester terror attack in October last year, when he appeared on BBC Arabic and appeared to blame Jews in the UK for the attack, which left two members of the community dead.

He said at the time: “The Jewish community and the British government cannot treat such an incident in Britain as though it fell from the sky, and suddenly the perpetrator carried out the attack and assaulted a Jewish synagogue.

“The British government must inquire on its own police and statements.”

The academic, who also described the war in Gaza as “cleansocide” or ethnic cleansing and genocide, went on: “When we listen to the Jewish leadership, they either support the Israeli occupation, and most of them do – it is not possible for a British Jewish leader to endorse Netanyahu's crimes and not expect there to be reactions on the British street.”
My union says it protects immigrants. Israelis like me know better
As a Jewish Israeli international student conducting postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, I am exactly the kind of person my union, the United Auto Workers Local 4811, claims to champion. In its ongoing contract negotiations for many UC employees, now clouded by the threat of an imminent strike, the union has declared “protect[ing] immigrants’ rights” to be one of its top priorities for all international workers.

If only that had been true for me.

I came to the United States in 2022 to continue my scientific work on bacterial resistance to antibiotics. I wanted to build on my Ph.D. research and other work with the Israeli Ministry of Health, where I helped with advanced detection of COVID-19. But my own union has made it increasingly difficult for me to work and feel safe, simply because I’m an Israeli Jew.

Days after the Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, UAW Local 4811, which represents nearly 50,000 UC employees, including me, released a statement blaming Israel for the “escalation” of violence. For Israelis at Berkeley—some who were mourning murdered or kidnapped friends and family members—it felt like a knife in the back at a moment of national trauma.

As I recently testified before Congress, UAW officials soon put actions to their words. They promoted anti-Israel protests and walkouts, and took part in a “Union Village” inside an anti-Israel encampment.

It is difficult enough to uproot your life and build a new one in a foreign country. But then, the organization that claims to defend immigrant workers instead fuels what I see as hostility to Israelis, it becomes clear which immigrants it values and which it does not.

Hoping to ease tensions, I joined the union, naively believing that my voice would finally be heard.

I was wrong. Israelis who spoke in meetings were mocked. One colleague, whose relatives were kidnapped by Hamas, was openly ridiculed for objecting to the union’s actions. The hostility became so constant that I stopped showing my face during Zoom meetings.
Columbia Anti-Israel Organizer, Now a New York City Social Worker, Calls For Zionists To ‘Burn In Hell’
An anti-Israel activist at Columbia University who now works as a social worker for New York City's municipal health system called for Zionists "to burn in hell."

"In case there was ever any doubt before: if u ever make an excuse or express sympathy for isr[ael], I rlly don’t care what happens to u!! Like at all! I wish for u whatever it is u wish for Gaza … plz take that in the worst possible way," Zainab Khan posted to Instagram on Sunday. "Every zio and every sympathizer can burn in hell."

Khan deleted her Instagram account after the Washington Free Beacon contacted her. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Khan started receiving a taxpayer-funded salary in August when she began working for NYC Health + Hospitals, according to her LinkedIn profile, which she also deleted. Her role providing "assistance and counseling to clients and their families who are dealing with social, emotional and environmental problems" likely involves assisting Zionists, considering the New York metropolitan area has the largest population of Jews in the country.

NYC Health + Hospitals also did not respond to requests for comment.

Khan's remarks echo a broader wave of anti-Israel activists condemning the joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran that began over the weekend. Following the announcement that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) posted "death to America" in Persian on X.

As a Columbia University graduate student, Khan became a prominent member of CUAD. She has boasted about "the first protest we had" after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, just five days following the assault. It was part of a nationwide "day of resistance" organized by National Students for Justice in Palestine, which praised the attack as "a historic win for the Palestinian resistance."


MPs call for ban on London’s Al Quds Day march amid extremism concerns
MPs and peers are calling for the annual Al Quds Day march, which has long seen displays of support for the Iranian regime, to be banned over extremism fears.

The demo is scheduled to take place on March 15 and is organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which is under investigation by the Charity Commission over funding concerns.

It has previously seen attendees carrying Hezbollah flags, before the group was proscribed, and a video promoting this year’s demonstration showed protesters holding signs bearing the IHRC logo, which said the late Ayatollah Khamenei was on the “right side of history”.

In a statement on Sunday, the IHRC said Khamenei was a “rare role model”, and his “legacy will be etched into history as someone who resisted oppression and stood on the right side of history”.

The Al Quds demonstration, held in London each year during Ramadan, is part of an international day of demonstrations established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini after the Iranian revolution.

At the centre of the messaging is hatred of Israel.

David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, said: “The police must stop this march from going ahead. We cannot allow hundreds of supporters of Iran’s hardline regime to march through London calling for strikes on Israel and death to the West.

“The march is organised by a charity with a history of support for the ayatollahs and Islamist terrorism. In the past, we have seen open support for terrorist organisations at these demonstrations. These are people who clearly hate Britain. Why should we be OK with them marching on our streets?”
Alleged Hamas supporter said 7 October attacks were ‘inspiring’, court told
A woman accused of expressing support for Hamas a day after its terrorists entered Israel told a crowd that the attacks on 7 October were “a victory” and “inspiring to see”, a court has heard.

Hanin Barghouthi, 24, is alleged to have reacted with “joy” and “support” to the news that the banned organisation had attacked Israel.

Barghouthi is accused of expressing an “opinion or belief” in support of Hamas during a speech she made at a rally in Brighton, East Sussex, on October 8 2023.

This came a day after members of Hamas attacked Israel, prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told jurors at Kingston Crown Court on Monday.

“We may all remember something of our reactions as the news unfolded over the next 24 hours,” Mr Bisgrove said.

“The reaction of Ms Barghouthi, the defendant in this case, was one of joy, of support for the actions carried out by Hamas.”

Mr Bisgrove said that Barghouthi had been “prepared to make a speech” when she attended the rally in the city centre.

Jurors heard that in her speech, Barghouthi told the crowd that “yesterday was a victory” and was “beautiful and inspiring to see”.

The court heard that Barghouthi said: “We need to celebrate these acts of resistance because this is a success.”

Mr Bisgrove said the defendant “encouraged the audience to share her support and the audience applauded and cheered”.

He said that Hamas is a “proscribed organisation”, adding: “It is a criminal offence to express support for a proscribed organisation.”

During the trial’s opening, jurors were shown a video of the rally, in which a crowd gathered around various people making speeches.

In her speech, Barghouthi can be heard telling the crowd that she is Palestinian, adding: “For me, yesterday was a victory.”

She further claims: “Revolutionary violence initiated by Palestinians is not terrorism. It is self defence.”

Concluding her speech, she can be heard saying: “I’m going to leave you with this.

“This is not a Muslim issue, this is not an Arab issue, it’s not a Palestinian issue, this is a human rights issue.”
Man to face court on Monday after Churchill statue defaced with graffiti
A man will face court on Monday after graffiti was sprayed on a statue of Sir Winston Churchill, branding the former prime minister a “Zionist war criminal”.

The bronze monument in Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, was defaced with phrases including “Stop the Genocide” and “Free Palestine”.

Further graffiti read “Never again is Now” and “Globalise the Intifada” sprayed in red paint.

The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, of no fixed address, was arrested shortly after 4am on Friday following the incident and was charged with criminal damage in the early hours of Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, the 38-year-old appeared briefly at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video-link but did not confirm his identity when asked.

The case was adjourned to Monday at the same court so a Dutch interpreter can be provided.


New York judge vacates Columbia sanctions on anti-Israel students who occupied Hamilton Hall
A New York judge has vacated disciplinary sanctions imposed by Columbia University against 22 students who occupied Hamilton Hall in April 2024, ruling that the school improperly relied on sealed arrest records.

In a Feb. 27 decision, Justice Gerald Lebovits, of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, wrote that Columbia’s internal hearing panel was “statutorily barred from taking into account the fact that petitioners had been arrested in Hamilton Hall.” He added that the sealed arrests were “the only evidence before the hearing panel that petitioners were in Hamilton Hall while it was occupied.”

“As a result,” the court wrote, “the panel’s determinations that petitioners committed most of the charged disciplinary violations (as affirmed on administrative appeal) are arbitrary and capricious.”

The takeover, which lasted from April 29-30, 2024, involved a mob of anti-Israel protesters barricading themselves inside Hamilton Hall and briefly holding two university staff members hostage, according to authorities. The New York City Police Department ultimately removed the occupiers from the building. The ruling notes that participants masked themselves, spread throughout the hall, covered interior security cameras and set up barricades to block entrances and exits.

Students arrested during the incident were arraigned on misdemeanor trespass charges, but prosecutors later dismissed the cases, and the records were sealed under New York law. Prosecutors cited insufficient evidence tying individuals to property damage or injuries.


Labour suspends Leeds mosque chairman over alleged ‘abhorrent views’
Labour has suspended the chairman of a Leeds mosque from the party over allegations about his “abhorrent views”.

Arshad Khatana has been administratively suspended from Labour pending an investigation, according to the Press Association. Khatana has allegedly shared conspiracy theories about 9/11 and has spoken about an “international lending mafia” run by “Zionist Rothschild criminals”.

It came after Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick posted on X criticising Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ ties to Mr Khatana.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “These abhorrent views are clearly not shared by the chancellor. She was not aware of these allegations.”

Mr Jenrick said Ms Reeves had referred to Mr Khatana as a “friend” and had gone to his house for lunch during her time as Chancellor.

The Newark MP said Mr Khatana had “abhorrent and shocking views” and claimed he had shared conspiracy theories and made antisemitic comments.


EXCLUSIVE: Green Party rocked by leader’s former ‘Herzl’ identity
Consternation has broken out within the Green Party after a Jewish News expose revealed its leader used to go by a different name.

Based on conversations with members of the Manchester Jewish community, including local leader Esther McGiller, we can reveal the former actor and hypnotist known as Zack Polanski grew up rejoicing in the full name of ‘David Theodor Herzl Paulden’.

“For years, we’ve been told that Zack Polanski changed his name from David Paulden in order to reclaim his Jewish heritage – which makes perfect sense, as everyone knows the name ‘David’ is basically unheard of in Judaism’, said Asa Uwesfull-Idyotte, who identified himself as the founder of Young Greens at Eton.

“But this new information about his former middle names is hard to take. Our party needs to be above suspicion – which is why I’ve tabled an amendment to the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion due to be debated at party conference. My change would make it mandatory for all Zionists to wear an identifying badge if we win power at the next election.”

Others in the party took a different view.

“At first, I thought it was concerning”, said Moishe Pipick – a longstanding Green Party member of several months and founder of the Jewish Voice for Tokens group together with his wife Shanda. Theodore Herzl

“But then I remembered that the average anti-Zionist doesn’t know which river and sea are being referred to with regards to the chant ‘from the river to the sea’, so the chances they would have heard of Herzl are extremely slim.”
NJ man charged after ‘intentionally damaging’ Chabad headquarters in car-ramming attack
Federal prosecutors unsealed a complaint on March 2 charging Dan Sohail, 36, with intentionally damaging religious property at Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Sohail, of Carteret, N.J., was taken into custody earlier in the day and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Clay Kaminsky in Brooklyn federal court.

Prosecutors allege that on Jan. 28, Sohail drove to a side entrance of the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters complex, exited his vehicle and removed barriers set up to protect the site. After motioning for passersby to move away, he allegedly returned to his car and rammed the entrance. He then reversed and drove into the doorway four more times, knocking the door off its hinges. No injuries were reported.

“Americans should be free to practice their faith without fearing defacement of their sacred places,” Harmeet Dhillon, U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights, stated. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate attacks on houses of worship, and will vigorously prosecute those who carry them out.”

James Barnacle, assistant director in charge of the FBI New York Field Office, stated that “Sohail allegedly jeopardized dozens of lives and damaged one of our city’s sacred synagogues.”
Man aged 60 in court over alleged antisemitic and racist posts
A 60-year-old man has appeared at the Old Bailey accused of making a series of racist and antisemitic posts on social media.

Wayne Munden is charged with eight counts of publishing material to stir up racial hatred.

He is also charged with three counts of distributing terrorist material including a video of the Christchurch extreme right-wing terrorist attack.

Summarising the case, prosecutor Ben Isaacs said: “The alleged offending related to Mr Munden’s activities on social media.

“He is alleged to have posted a series of memes, messages and other messages which demonstrate extreme right-wing ideology.

“His particular ire is directed towards Jewish people and black people.”

As well as allegedly posting video of the Christchurch attack, it is alleged Munden distributed posters describing the London nail bomber David Copeland as a “saint”.

The alleged offences took place between January 2023 and May 2024.
Sussex man arrested after post urged targeting of synagogues
A 44-year-old man has been arrested in Sussex after an online post appeared to call for Jewish businesses and synagogues to be targeted, prompting alarm among Jewish groups and police intervention.

Sussex Police said officers attended an address in Newhaven on Sunday afternoon after receiving reports of threatening and antisemitic comments posted on a social media account of “Michael James Brown”.

The post, which circulated widely online, appeared as a comment linked to the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign and included references to attacking Jewish premises using “stink bombs” as well as throwing “ripe fruit and eggs” at synagogues.

Police confirmed the man was arrested on suspicion of sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages, using threatening words to stir up religious hatred; making threats to damage or destroy property; and possessing a class B drug. He remained in custody as of Sunday evening.

Detective Chief Superintendent Richard McDonagh acknowledged the impact of such language on targeted communities.
Toronto police probing shots fired at synagogue as possible hate crime
The Toronto Police Service is increasing patrols in the area around Temple Emanu-El, an egalitarian Reform congregation in North York, after shots were fired on Monday night.

“In relation to last night’s incident, I can confirm this involved a synagogue in the area. This is being investigated as a targeted incident,” Stephanie Miceli, a police spokeswoman, told JNS.

The department’s integrated gun and gang task force is working with the hate crimes unit on the investigation, according to Miceli.

“We understand that incidents like this are deeply concerning for members of the Jewish community,” she told JNS. “Our investigators are actively working to determine the circumstances surrounding the firearm discharge, and we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness.”

The police department “has maintained an increased presence in Jewish neighbourhoods and around places of worship and community institutions since Oct. 7, 2023,” according to Miceli. It has also “further enhanced our visibility and patrols to provide reassurance and support community safety” after U.S. and Israeli military operations began in Iran on Saturday, she said.

“We will continue working with our partners to assess and adjust our response as needed,” she told JNS. “The safety of communities in Toronto remains our priority, and we will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure people can live, worship and gather safely.”


Roddie Edmonds awarded posthumous Medal of Honor for saving Jewish POWs during WWII
U.S. Army Master Sgt. Roderick (“Roddie”) Edmonds, who saved roughly 200 Jewish American soldiers from certain death during World War II and is the only U.S. soldier recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations,” was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on Monday.

Edmonds’ son, Pastor Chris Edmonds, accepted the medal on his father’s behalf. U.S. President Donald Trump presented the award and shook his hand as the audience, including family members, other medal recipients, Cabinet officials and lawmakers, stood and applauded.

“Today, your father gets the honor he so courageously merited,” Trump said, outlining Edmonds’ wartime actions.

Chris Edmonds told JNS that the experience of meeting the president and seeing his father honored was “surreal.”

“It’s almost like a dream we were dropped into the middle of and then whisked out,” he said.

“He was always a great father,” he said. “Everybody loved him, and he loved everybody. I guess that’s the best way to describe him. But he took it to a whole other level when I discovered this story.”

“I just wish he’d have been around to accept the medal himself,” Chris Edmonds said of his father, who died in 1985.
This Purim, think of the 10,000 Jews who cannot celebrate
In late June last year, a group of Jews – both men and women – gathered together at a local synagogue for a special event. The Chief Rabbi spoke of the community’s strong allegiance to the country – a Jewish Member of Parliament heartily concurred. Jewish soldiers, dressed in their military fatigues, were in the audience. Photographers took pictures of those assembled.

And then the attendees – at Tehran’s Abrishami Synagogue – went home.

After all, they had not wanted to be there. The word had gone out that local Jews should attend, “in support of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” You can decide for yourselves whether you believe this was an optional invitation.

For many years, the remaining 10,000 or so members of the Iranian Jewish community were effectively showcased by the Ayatollahs as proof that their deep seated hatred was merely of Israel, rather than of Jews themselves. Iran’s remaining Jews served as a useful tool of regime – for example, in late October 2023, Jews – again led by the Chief Rabbi of Iran, rallied to condemn “Zionist brutality”, in pictures shared by one of the regime’s news agencies.

But last year, the regime was comprehensively humiliated, its intelligence and military weakness laid bare by Israel for the world to see. For days on end, fighter jets proudly emblazoned with the Star of David enjoyed total control of Iranian airspace, wreaking havoc on sites associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s nuclear programme.

The response to that was perhaps inevitable. The Jewish Association of Iran, the community’s leading body, was coerced by the regime into sending out messages warning Iranian Jews that contact with people abroad was off limits, and that any discussion of what had taken place during the 12-day war earlier that month would be closely monitored. At the Abrishami synagogue event, the Chief Rabbi of Iran told those listening – his Jewish audience and the inevitable regime handlers – that “Iran’s Jewish community not only supports its nation and sovereignty, but stands in a united front alongside the Iranian nation in support of Iranian soil.” The token Jewish representative in Parliament claimed in his speech that Israeli strikes on Iran had destroyed Iranian Jewish homes (no proof of this was provided).

And those Jews in the synagogue were the lucky ones. Dozens of members of the community were seized and interrogated by the regime in the wake of the 12 day war, reportedly including rabbis and cantors. Late last year, the regime imprisoned an Iranian-American Jewish man, Kamran Hekmati. His ‘crime’? Visiting Israel 13 years ago, for his son’s bar mitzvah. The chief rabbi of Iran speaks at last June’s event, arranged to show support for the regime and photographed by state news agencies

Tonight and tomorrow, Jews around the world will gather together to read the story of Purim – Megillat Esther. It tells of the triumph of the Jewish people over those who wished to destroy them – and its setting is the Achaemenid Persian Empire – with modern Iran as its heartland. The ruins of the city of Shushan – Susa, one of the Imperial capitals, lies in the West of Iran, south of the modern-day city of Dezful. The Jews of Iran are the modern day descendants of those most directly impacted by that story.




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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.

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