Friday, March 06, 2026

03/05 Links Pt2: Hamas's Oct. 7 Attack Launched a Historic Reordering in the Middle East; Trump kicks Tucker Carlson out of MAGA movement; Israel’s Unfinished Business in Lebanon

From Ian:

Palestine’s draft constitution is a manifesto for permanent war
In a sane world, human-rights organisations would be incandescent. A constitution that makes Sharia a primary legislative source, sidelines women’s genuine equality, erases gay rights and rewards terrorism ought to trigger every alarm bell. But these NGOs have long ago abandoned moral principles in favour of a hierarchy of oppression. To them, Palestinians are sacred victims and Israel is the eternal villain. They are blind to the authoritarianism and festering anti-Semitism of Palestinian society, reserving their outrage instead for the Jewish State, which dares to defend itself against this. Peace and human dignity come secondary to the goal of seeing the Middle East’s only democracy dismantled.

Put simply, the PA’s constitution is a manifesto for permanent war. By codifying the total rejection of Israeli legitimacy, it has ensured that a peace deal based on mutual recognition is an impossibility. For any future Palestinian leader, recognising Israel would now be, quite literally, a violation of the state’s supreme law.

The silence from the British government following the release of this document is a tacit endorsement of its principles. If Starmer is so determined to recognise Palestine, he should at least have the courage to tell the public what kind of state he is backing. Why is he prepared to endorse a framework that prioritises Sharia over secular rights, canonises martyrdom, erases Jewish history and perpetuates the conflict by legal means? Is this really the ‘better future’ he was hoping for in the Middle East?

If Britain continues to recognise Palestinian statehood without demanding fundamental constitutional change, it can no longer do so under the pretence of advancing peace. The PA does not care about peace. For the UK to endorse it is not diplomacy, but a moral abdication.
Hamas's Oct. 7 Attack Launched a Historic Reordering in the Middle East
In 2023, from a tunnel beneath Gaza, Yahya Sinwar gave an order that sent thousands of Hamas fighters through the fence separating the territory from Israel. That green light has reordered the Middle East on a scale comparable to the Arab Spring or the carving up of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century - but not remotely in the ways Sinwar had in mind. 29 months later, the Middle East is almost unrecognizable. Israel stands indisputably as the military hegemon, its enemies demolished or decapitated. Sinwar is dead and the network he hoped would ride to his rescue is in ruins.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was blown up in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on Saturday. The regime that bankrolled and armed the "axis of resistance" for four decades is on the edge of collapse - perhaps taking with it Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis. Tehran is making enemies of the entire region - firing drones and missiles haphazardly, and often including civilian targets.

On Oct. 6, 2023, it was all different. Iran's proxy network was at the peak of its power. Hamas governed Gaza. Hizbullah held Lebanon hostage with 100,000 rockets. Assad sat in Damascus, reintegrating into the Arab League after years of isolation. The Houthis controlled the Yemeni coast and menaced shipping lanes with near-impunity.

Behind them all stood Iran, with a nuclear program viewed as an imminent threat in Jerusalem and the West, backed by a missile arsenal regarded as a strong deterrent against direct Israeli or American attack. Gulf nations were quietly reestablishing ties with the Islamic republic. "Two years later, none of those pillars are standing, and the Islamic republic is never going to be the same," said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group.

What Sinwar set off was an unraveling of everything he and his sponsors yearned for - a defeated Israel, Palestinian hopes for statehood, a Middle East rid of Western influence. "Talk about a colossal miscalculation leading to catastrophic consequences," said Bilal Saab, a Chatham House fellow and former Pentagon official. "That cataclysmic event single-handedly changed the face of the Middle East."

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has neutralized every major threat on its borders. A former senior Israel Defense Forces official said, "There is still war, but I can tell you that no one but the biggest dreamers ever thought we would be in the position we are in now. Israel is not untouchable, but we have made it very expensive to touch us."
AIJAC welcomes decision to list Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) welcomes the decision to list Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group under the new legislation introduced following the Bondi terror attack. AIJAC has long called for Hizb ut-Tahrir to be formally proscribed, given its well-documented record of extreme Islamist ideology, antisemitic incitement and hostility to Australia’s democratic values.

This designation, the first of its kind under the new hate group legislation, is an important and necessary step in confronting the spread of extremist ideology that threatens social cohesion, public safety and the fundamental values of Australian society. Under the listing, individuals who are members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, recruit for it, or provide training, funding or material support to the organisation, will now be in breach of the law.

By formally designating Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group, authorities are sending a clear message that organisations which promote intolerance, division and extremism have no place in Australia.

AIJAC commends the Government and law-enforcement authorities for taking this important step and urges continued vigilance to ensure that extremist groups and those who support them are held fully accountable under the law.
Actress asks 'where are the college campuses' protesting Iranian regime
British Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi called out progressive activists for their lack of outrage over the regime's human rights violations before President Donald Trump conducted military strikes against the nation.

The "Rings of Power" actress appeared on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" Wednesday to discuss the ongoing war against Iran and concerns over the vacuum of leadership in the nation after the U.S. eliminated its leaders.

She agreed with concerns that an ISIS-level threat could take over the country but noted that several human rights activists and organizations did not acknowledge civilian deaths until after the U.S. targeted Iran.

"For people who care about international law as I do, I'm getting plenty of messages from colleagues in entertainment and saying, ‘I’m so sorry in this moment, what's happening to your people.' Thank you, but where were you a few weeks ago, when tens of thousands of Iranians were being killed by their own regime?" Boniadi asked. "This is a regime that has been violating international law for decades."

Tapper remarked that he also hadn't "really heard a ton" from international progressive activists regarding Iran's human rights violations, even after the nation launched hundreds of missile and drone strikes against other Muslim-majority countries in retaliation.

"I mean, if any other country did that, I think there'd be a huge hue and cry and huge marches in the streets. Iran does it, and there really isn't that result in the progressive community. What do you make of that?" Tapper asked.

"Look, in 1979, progressives world over, including in Iran, were all too willing to sacrifice women‘s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and every other basic human rights at the altar of anti-imperialism. Are we going to do the same in this moment? Are we really caring more about whose hands are on the trigger, or are we going to care about human lives, civilian lives?" Boniadi answered.

"This is a regime that has violated human rights," she continued. "International law has wreaked havoc on the region, domestic oppression, transnational repression, hostage diplomacy, destabilizing the region. And now, it's killing fellow Muslims in neighboring countries. Where is your outrage? Where are the college campuses?"

Boniadi, whose family fled Tehran for England following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been a longtime supporter of Iranian protesters and has previously used her career to highlight atrocities conducted by the Iranian regime.


Seth Mandel: Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the ‘Just Anti-Zionist’ Walk Into a Bar
Goy and Goyim are almost exclusively used by paranoid anti-Semites. It is a way of defining one’s identity as “not a Jew.” It is, to those who use the term, the single most important aspect of their identity. They want you to know that, far more personal to them than any other racial, ethnic, religious or geographic detail of their life is the fact that they are not a Jew, and they consider this a blessing.

It is used mostly in a political context as well. Social media influencers on both left and right embrace the term goy as an ideological statement. Defeating the Jews is a key plank in their political project.

Perhaps most important of all: goy has nothing to do with Israel. In the world of alternative media, being simply “anti-Israel” is a currency as worthless as the Iranian rial. Anybody can be anti-Israel—indeed, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom demonstrates, being just anti-Israel makes you an establishment squish. No one needs to go looking for your podcast on Rumble if they can just listen to all the prospective Democratic candidates for president.

No, if you want to be a truth-teller and really fill a market demand, you moderate nothing. You’ve got to be the person who tells unpopular truths, the stuff they don’t want you to know. You must brave the Mossad death squads you tell your audience are after you, which is why your listeners must buy into your new crypto coin so you can afford to reinforce the bunker.

The lesson is this: We should grow up already and end our childish search for the Just Anti-Zionist. Mythical creatures are for storybooks, but they tell us nothing about politics in 2026.
Trump kicks Tucker Carlson out of MAGA movement after talker’s Iran war criticism: ‘Lost his way’
President Trump cast Tucker Carlson out of his Make America Great Again movement following the conservative talking head’s loud criticism of the US and Israeli assault on Iran.

“Tucker has lost his way,” the commander-in-chief told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Thursday. “I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”

The comments came after Carlson recently called the strikes on Iran “absolutely disgusting and evil.”

The ex-Fox News host, now a podcaster, has also been outspoken in criticizing the Trump administration on issues like the Epstein files, the war in Ukraine and more.

Carlson’s previous MAGA creds include meeting with Trump at the White House many times. He was also a primetime speaker at the Republican National Convention in 2024.


The DNA evidence Tucker Carlson ignores
A long-debunked antisemitic conspiracy theory is back—turbocharged by social media—and it’s helping to fuel a sharp rise in anti-Jewish sentiment. A crackpot theory that once lived on the fringes of the Internet now widely circulates on major platforms, repackaged to delegitimize Israel, erase Jewish history, and dress ancient prejudices in the language of “science.”

Last week offered a vivid example. In his interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Tucker Carlson demanded that Israeli Jews take genetic tests to prove their descent from the ancient Jews who governed Israel thousands of years ago. Carlson was invoking the Khazar myth—the claim that the “real” Jews died out after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, and that modern European (Ashkenazi) Jews instead descend from a Turkic people who converted to Judaism in 805 CE. Once propagated by David Duke, the former head of the KKK, the theory has found new life online. But here’s the thing: The DNA testing Carlson calls for has already been done—and it conclusively refutes the Khazar conspiracy.

In a 2010 peer-reviewed study, Dr. Gil Atzmon and his colleagues found that the genetic proximity betweenEuropean (Ashkenazi) and Syrian Jewish populations is “incompatible” with the theory that Ashkenazi Jews descend from converted Khazars or Slavs. And Atzmon’s findings have been repeatedly confirmed by different sets of scientists across many decades. These genetic studies uniformly show that all the major Jewish populations in the world—the Ashkenazim of Europe, the Sephardim of Spain and North Africa, the Mizrahim of the Middle East—share a common ancestry that spread from the Middle East approximately two-thousand years ago.

This genetic record aligns with well-known history too. In 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem and exiled many Jews to Babylon. When Cyrus II, the Persian king, conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539BCE, he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their Second Temple—which stood for six-hundred years. These “returned” Jews then dispersed all over the world—forming the Jewish communities of Europe (the Ashkenazim), Spain and North Africa (Sephardim), Syria (Mizrahim), and later the Americas.

DNA evidence has now corroborated this history. Dr. Atzmon’s study found that Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Syrian Jews are genetically closer to one another than to Iranian and Iraqi Jews—with the “split” in their DNA dating back roughly 2,500 years, “compatible” with the period when part of the Jewish population remained in Persia while the rest returned to Israel.

That alone should put the conspiracy theory to rest. Still, there are two additional problems with the Khazar myth. First, the archeological record reveals a continuous Jewish presence in Israel—Jewish cemeteries, synagogues, and artifacts, even a full-blown Jewish war against the Romans—from the fall ofthe Second Temple in 70 CE to the foundation of the modern state. These native Israeli communities obviously don’tdescend from the Khazars of the Central Asian steppe. And the vast majority of Israeli Jews don’t come from Europe anyway: They’re from the Middle East and North Africa—where even the conspiracy theorists concede the Khazarsnever lived.
Tucker Carlson’s “Religious War” Echoes a Century-Old Anti-Jewish Conspiracy
This week, Tucker Carlson released a video arguing that the war involving Israel and Iran may ultimately be driven by a religious agenda centered on Jerusalem.

According to Carlson’s theory, the conflict is not primarily geopolitical but theological. Beneath the surface of international politics, he suggests, lies a hidden project connected to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The war, he implies, may ultimately be intended to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuild the Jewish Temple.

Carlson frames this idea as speculation. Yet the video repeatedly returns to the same premise: that powerful actors are seeking to provoke a religious war over Jerusalem.

This is not a new argument. The idea that Jews secretly plan to destroy Al-Aqsa and rebuild the Temple has circulated for more than a century and has repeatedly been used to incite violence against Jews. What Carlson presents as a provocative theory is in fact one of the most enduring anti-Jewish conspiracy narratives in modern political history.

The Claim That Israel Seeks a Religious War
Carlson’s argument begins with the suggestion that Western societies fail to recognize the religious dimension of global politics. Because the United States has become, in his words, a “godless society,” Americans supposedly cannot see that conflicts in the Middle East may be driven by theology rather than strategy.

From there, he turns to Jerusalem. The Temple Mount, known in Jewish tradition as Mount Moriah, once held the ancient Jewish Temples. Today, the same site contains the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Carlson then introduces the central claim of the video: that some people wish to destroy the mosque and rebuild the Temple, and that the current war may ultimately be connected to that goal.

At one point, he points to a “Temple” patch worn on an Israeli military uniform as supposed evidence that such a plan exists. In reality, the patch is an unofficial novelty item that can be purchased online and has no connection to Israeli government policy.

Elsewhere, Carlson quotes isolated statements from fringe figures, including an extremist rabbi and an evangelical preacher who has spoken in apocalyptic terms about rebuilding the Temple. These individuals hold no role in Israeli policymaking, yet their views are presented as if they reveal a hidden political agenda.

The theory expands further. Carlson speculates that Western governments may be participating in a religious project they do not fully understand. He suggests that American soldiers may believe they are fighting for Christian prophecy. At one point, he even claims that Jewish religious groups such as Chabad-Lubavitch are somehow connected to the effort to push the United States into conflict.
Latest Tucker Carlson conspiracy targets Chabad, sparking outrage
Carlson specifically called out the Chabad movement, saying the group’s goal is the rebuilding of the Temple — and he argued that Jews who seek to see the Temple rebuilt are at odds with Christians.

“Christians have a way of dying disproportionately in these wars, which tells you something about their real motives,” Carlson said. Rebuilding the Temple, which was destroyed in the first century by the Romans on the site that is now home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, “is totally anathema to Christianity,” said Carlson.

It is true that Orthodox Jews believe that the Temple will be rebuilt when the Messiah comes, a prophetic vision that has been a part of daily Jewish prayer for two millennia. But no mainstream Jewish denomination advocates for the destruction of the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, in order to hasten the rebuilding of the Temple, and current Israeli policy forbids Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

“​​It’s not so subtle that the building of the Third Temple and the Messianic era is central not just to Chabad, but to all of Judaism as one of the 13 Principles of Faith,” Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, Chabad’s social media director, wrote on X on Thursday. “Acts of destruction or the subjugation of other nations are an anathema to a time when good will flow in abundance and the occupation of the entire world, Jew and non-Jew alike, will be to know the divine.”

Carlson’s remarks prompted outrage among Chabad’s backers, who pointed out that Chabad emissaries have for decades played a crucial role in connecting American Jews to their faith and to each other.

“This is so absurd. So ridiculously absurd. If you know anything about Chabad, they have one mission: encouraging Jewish people to practice Judaism,” Punchbowl News founder Jack Sherman posted on X.

Karol Markowicz, a New York Post columnist, criticized Carlson for targeting “the warmest, kindest, most welcoming organization ever that does nonstop charity work.”

The rhetoric also sparked concern about the physical safety of sites associated with Chabad, particularly after a man repeatedly drove his car into Chabad’s Brooklyn headquarters in January. The NYPD said it would increase patrols at Jewish locations amid fears of antisemitism after the Iran attacks began last weekend.
Carlson draws criticism, ridicule for claim Chabad fueling Iran war to build third Temple
At issue, apparently, in the monologue was some patches that Carlson said Israeli soldiers wear with an image of the Jewish Temple. (It wasn’t clear how Carlson thought that anyone wanted to rebuild a structure that wasn’t yet built.)

In the description of the episode, Carlson wrote, “Could this be a religious war designed to rebuild the third Temple on the ashes of Al Aqsa? Hope not.”

Yaacov Behrman, a Chabad spokesman, stated that Carlson’s “claim about Chabad and the Temple Mount is a slanderous lie.”

“His implication that Chabad is behind the war in Iran is a dangerous blood libel,” Behrman said. “Chabad’s focus is on encouraging mitzvos, good deeds, to bring more goodness into the world and hasten the coming of the messiah, while living responsibly in the present. The messianic vision is one of peace and harmony for all.”

Behrman also said the patches in question “did not come from Chabad.”

“Had he done even basic research, that would be clear. It would also show that many who wear the temple patches see them as symbols of faith and hope for peace, and a yearning for the day when there will be no more war,” he said. “Reckless rhetoric like this is dangerous and irresponsible. He should correct the record and apologize immediately.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition shared a photo of U.S. President Donald Trump visiting the grave site of the former Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

“Tucker Carlson’s opprobrious comments against Chabad are disgusting,” the RJC said. “President Trump and his administration reject this nonsense.”

“Chabad? Really?” wrote the prominent, Nashville-based Catholic commentator Emily Zanotti. “Where do we go from here? Are the Jews putting mind-control drugs in your bagels, Tucker?”


Candace Owens Accuses Israel of Perpetrating 9/11
On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, conservative commentator Candace Owens posted a direct accusation on X targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, writing “You murdered 3,000 Americans on 9/11. For starters.”

The comment was posted in reply to what appears to be a selectively edited news clip of Netanyahu speaking at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh, Israel. The post, which drew immediate and widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum, marks the brazen rehashing of an antisemitic 9/11 conspiracy narrative Owens has been advancing across multiple posts over several days.

The video Owens responded to was captioned: “Netanyahu: You see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians. We target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians.” That is a direct quote from Netanyahu’s March 2 statement at Beit Shemesh, a residential area struck by an Iranian missile that killed nine civilians, delivered on the third day of Operation Roaring Lion, the joint U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure.

The shared clip, however, omitted the surrounding remarks in which Netanyahu explicitly described the operation as a joint endeavor with the United States, framed Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat to multiple continents, and thanked President Trump by name for American participation.

The full statement read in part: “This is the third day of Operation Roaring Lion, the operation the Israeli army and the State of Israel set out, with our great friends in the United States of America and President Trump, to thwart existential threats to Israel, and great threats to America and the entire world.” Netanyahu also warned that an Iran armed with nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles would “threaten all of humanity.”

By stripping out that context and presenting only Netanyahu’s contrast between Iranian and Israeli targeting doctrine, the circulated clip provided the visual and rhetorical premise for Owens’ accusation.
The Man Who Speaks in Prompts By Abe Greenwald
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During the 2012 presidential race, Charles Krauthammer observed that Mitt Romney “spoke conservatism as a second language.” Newsom speaks everything as a second language, because he has no mother tongue. Like AI, he responds to prompts by spitting out whatever he thinks the user wants to hear. The user, in this case, is liberal America. If transgenderism were still ascendant, he’d be announcing his new pronouns by now.

Newsom is artificial, but unlike AI, he’s not intelligent. Artificial Stupidity is literally what he’s trying to get across to liberal voters. He’s bragging about his poor test scores, his inability to read, and his animus toward Israel. Ask Gavin Newsom anything, and his answer will be indistinguishable from that of a human moron.

You can learn a lot by watching people who live by the lights of the latest trends. They let you know when a new slang term is in common circulation or when your eyewear is suddenly not as up to date as you had thought. They can also give you a sense of what people are thinking about. Newsom will fail in his bid to be the left’s leading voice because the field is flooded with a parade of radicals who are authentically stupid and genuinely anti-Semitic. But as a gauge of left-liberal Americans’ thinking, he’s made himself indispensable. If Newsom says it, it’s because that’s where the base is.

And far from pitiable, he’s a joy to laugh at. When someone makes a fool of himself for all the wrong reasons, you’re permitted to mock him with an easy conscience. In his desperation to be the left’s beloved village idiot, he’s become a clown for the whole country to enjoy.
Why did 53 Democrats vote against describing Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism?
In a surprise vote on Thursday afternoon that baffled some observers in Washington, 53 House Democrats voted against a resolution “reaffirming Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism.” For some, their opposition traces to a desire not to give President Donald Trump rhetorical, or potentially legal, justification for continuing the Iran war, lawmakers said.

The resolution passed by a vote of 372-53, with two members voting “present.”

Most of the lawmakers voting against the resolution — like Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) — are progressives, many of them frequent critics of Israel.

But a handful of others who ended up voting against the resolution are relative moderates who have taken more hawkish stances on Iran, such as Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and Steve Cohen (D-TN), who also voted against the resolution.

Many of the more moderate lawmakers who voted against the resolution are facing either competitive reelection races with challengers from their left or, in Krishnamoorthi’s case, running for higher office.

Newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), who had thus far not encountered any House votes on Middle East policy and faces Rep. Al Green (D-TX) in a member-on-member primary runoff, also voted no, as did Green.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), a Democratic rising star who is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told Jewish Insider he felt the legislation was meant to provide additional support for the war.

“Right now there’s an active situation that I oppose,” Garcia said. “That [resolution is] just meant to provide more pressure on that action. I think that right now, it’s a purely political stunt, and something that I won’t agree with.”

Another House Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that they were concerned about two clauses in the legislation, which they said could provide Trump with legal justifications for continuing the war.
Ruben Gallego transforms from pro-Israel moderate to face of antiwar opposition
Arizona state Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Jewish Democrat and outspoken supporter of Israel, said she was surprised and disappointed by Gallego’s endorsement of Platner.

“It is a really hard one to justify. I, quite frankly, do not care if they are both veterans. There are plenty of veterans who are not complete bigots and jerks who you could endorse,” Hernandez told JI. “There is a woman who’s running, who is the governor, who has not had any history of being a bigot like this individual. I mean, for God’s sake, he has a Nazi tattoo.”

She added, “you can’t excuse and pretend that there is no pattern of bigotry and, quite frankly, just a real disregard for Democratic values” from Platner, pointing to offensive comments about people of color and women that the Maine candidate has made.

“I’m disappointed as an Arizonan, as a woman and as a Jewish woman,” Hernandez continued. “I think it says a lot about a person who’s willing to put their name behind someone like him.”

Hernandez said that, in response to Gallego’s support for Platner and his shifting stance and recent comments on Israel, she’s heard from other Jewish Democrats in Arizona who say they won’t support Gallego going forward.

In the House, Gallego was generally a supporter of Israel — and voted against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — within what was at the time the mainstream of the Democratic Party, but was not particularly active on the issue.

The then-congressman appeared to take a more hawkish position during and immediately after his Senate race in 2024, leading an effort to expand U.S.-Israel counter-tunneling cooperation, supporting efforts to sanction the International Criminal Court, backing the redesignation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, strongly condemning Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for including the phrase “from the river to the sea” in a video she posted and quickly urging the administration to freeze Iranian assets shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, when other Democrats were slower to endorse that position.

He also said, through a spokesperson, that he would have opposed efforts earlier this year to block certain U.S. aid shipments to Israel that were supported by a majority of Senate Democrats. Gallego himself was absent for the vote, citing family duties as a new father.

But Gallego’s recent statements, particularly since the start of the Iran war, indicate a sharp tack in the opposite direction as he eyes a potential national campaign. Other potential 2028 Democratic candidates, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, appear to be making a similar calculation.
Contender to succeed Jasmine Crockett blasted Israeli ‘apartheid’ in sermon on Oct. 8
Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III, the longtime pastor at the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas who is running to replace Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) in her Dallas-area House seat, delivered an anti-Israel polemic from the pulpit on Oct. 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Haynes, a progressive Democrat who has never held elective office, is a prominent and well-connected pastor — serving briefly as the leader of the Rev. Jesse Jackson-founded Rainbow PUSH Coalition — and Crockett, who is running for Senate, has attended his church.

In a brief clip shared on his Facebook page from his Oct. 8 sermon, Haynes was dismissive of the notion that he would be pro-Israel in the wake of the attack. The sermon was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

Citing former President Jimmy Carter, Haynes declared that Israel was engaging in apartheid.

“The Palestinians, who don’t have the weaponry of Israel, the Palestinians don’t have the financial backing from the United States that Israel has, and so they throw their rocks and shoot their arrows, and Israel is able to bomb them and kill them,” Haynes said.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza had not begun as of Oct. 8, when Hamas militants were still present in several southern Israeli communities.

“Watch in the news a disparity between Palestinians being killed and Israelis being killed,” he continued. “It is totally unfair, but this country is going to stand on the side of apartheid because that’s its track record. It stood by apartheid in South Africa, because it created apartheid in this country.”
Mamdani Donor Attack on Democratic Incumbent Fails
A small group of deep-pocketed donors to New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, emboldened by his victory and seeking to capitalize on growing anti-Israel sentiment in the Democratic base, has funnelled millions of dollars into a new super PAC aimed at countering the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The money was not enough to take down the PAC's first target, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D., N.C.). Sometimes it's not always about the Benjamins.

The American Priorities PAC launched in February and quickly flooded the airwaves in North Carolina with $1.1 million in ads attacking Foushee for her ties to AIPAC. But the spending wasn't enough to tip the scales in favor of Foushee's challenger, Durham County commissioner Nida Allam, who has accused the United States of financing an Israeli "genocide of Palestinians." Foushee declared victory in her primary early Wednesday morning after early results showed her with a 1 percent lead over Allam. A recount is likely.

Still, American Priorities says it will be a major player in left-wing politics this cycle. The group said in a press release that the 2026 midterms represent a "generational inflection point for the Democratic Party" with 80 percent of the party's young primary voters in favor of restricting military aid to Israel. The group plans to spend eight figures in at least a dozen House races in 2026 in partnership with several left-wing groups, including the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, an anti-Israel activist group; Justice Democrats, the PAC that spearheaded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) 2018 campaign; and Leaders We Deserve, a group cofounded by activist David Hogg that supports far-left candidates in deep-blue House districts.

The group also invested $100,000 in ads supporting the Rev. Frederick Haynes III in his campaign to replace Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas). Haynes, who is best known for his praise of Louis Farrakhan and sermons denouncing Israel, won his primary Tuesday in a 50-point landslide.
Anti-AIPAC group loses first primary test as Rep. Valerie Foushee hangs on
Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee held on in her deep-blue North Carolina seat, surviving roughly $1 million in attack ads from a new group launched to oppose the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Foushee beat Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive and the first Muslim woman to hold political office in the state, by a razor-thin margin in Tuesday’s primary. Allam, who had previously indicated that she plans to call for a recount, conceded the race Wednesday evening.

The race had been consumed by various tensions rippling through the Democratic Party — generational change versus institutional experience, battles over Big Tech and the influence of dark money. But Israel was the political issue that fueled the most spending against Foushee.

Allam and a progressive super PAC launched to counter AIPAC spending have leaned heavily into the fact that the pro-Israel group — which Foushee has since disavowed — helped support the representative in her 2022 campaign.

But Foushee had friends of her own to counter their ads. The Anthropic-aligned Jobs and Democracy PAC and mystery super PAC called Article One both flooded the airwaves in support of Foushee.

Her win is also a loss for Leaders We Deserve, the David Hogg-founded group that has promised to primary “asleep at the wheel” Democrats, which backed Allam.
Israel’s Unfinished Business in Lebanon
The question now is how far Israel will go in this second round. Three obvious scenarios come to mind: one, an intensified version of the campaign of precise targeting, aimed at degrading capabilities and preventing any serious threat to the home front, while the Israeli Air Force continues its operation in Iran; two, a limited ground operation to create a de facto buffer zone near the border in order to protect northern communities in Israel and prevent their mass evacuation, while clearing the area in south Lebanon of any remaining, or newly rebuilt, Hezbollah infrastructure; three, a full-scale operation to inflict a decisive defeat on the group.

As things currently stand, Israel appears to be implementing a combination of the first two scenarios—with high-profile targeted assassinations, which in recent days have included the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, Hussein Makled, and, more significantly, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force’s commander in Lebanon, Daoud Ali Zadeh. Reportedly, the United States has sent reassurances to the Lebanese that Israel would not attack Beirut’s airport or seaport—a long-standing American request to the Israelis.

Both these scenarios, however—provided they don’t change—are more of a variation on the existing theme and appear to be pegged to other developments, be they the fate of the regime in Iran, or any U.S.-backed plan with the Lebanese government and army. The IDF’s Chief of the General Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir’s statement on Tuesday—“We are determined to eliminate the threat Hezbollah poses and will not stop until this organization is disarmed”—could also be understood in line with a more limited scenario. That is, the IDF would apply increased pressure and then bet on the option of the Lebanese government, under a U.S. umbrella, disarming the group. Given that this option is without historical precedent, the likelihood of it going nowhere is high. Which would then mean that Israel would have to settle, once again, for a holding pattern.

The underlying problem remains: Hezbollah’s disarmament will not result from persuasion or internal Lebanese pressure. As in the case of Iran, the issue is not the terms of negotiation, but the continued existence of a heavily armed militia operating outside state control. Hezbollah will not voluntarily relinquish its weapons. What is needed is a decisive military campaign that will lead to its defeat.

The opportunity missed in November 2024 should not be missed again.
Time for Lebanon’s De-Hezbollahfication
Lebanon’s Shia community appears tragically blind to its own vital interests. Last Sunday morning, many took to the streets in grief over Khamenei’s death. By early Monday, the same people sat trapped in choking traffic jams, desperately fleeing their homes after Hezbollah fired six rockets into Israel. This humiliation could not be farther from the dignity Hezbollah promised them.

True dignity does not mean midnight evacuations to nowhere, gridlock at 4 a.m., and pleading with wary non-Shia neighbors to rent empty apartments. All the while, those neighbors rightly fear that any Shia tenant could harbor Hezbollah operatives, inviting Israeli strikes that might obliterate entire buildings.

Islamist Iran’s poisonous model has proven catastrophic for Iran, the Middle East, and the world. It is now crumbling in Tehran itself. Lebanon must consign it to the ash heap of history. If Lebanese Shia lack the will or vision to reject it, the state must act decisively on their behalf, dismantling Hezbollah, severing Iranian strings, and shattering the cult of perpetual “resistance.”

One day, perhaps, the Lebanese Shia will awaken from their power trip and recognize that their true interests lie not in an armed sect waging endless war. True security comes from genuine peace, guaranteed by a sovereign state they help elect and share equally with fellow Lebanese.

If the above has not yet made it crystal clear, the only realistic, liberating path forward for Lebanon’s Shia and the nation as a whole is immediate peace with Israel. Only then can reconstruction begin in earnest: rebuilding devastated Shia neighborhoods, reviving a shattered economy, investing in education and opportunity, and forging a future free from the shadow of rockets and ruin.

Anything less condemns Lebanon to more cycles of suffering, more lost generations, and more graves. De‑Hezbollahfication is Lebanon’s only path to survival. The Lebanese state should lead this effort, while Lebanese Shia should follow.
Jerusalem’s top diplomat applauds exit of Honduras, Bolivia from anti-Israel Hague Group
Two members of a coalition of countries formed solely to punish Israel have withdrawn.

Honduras and Bolivia announced on Wednesday their departures from the Hague Group. Both nations recently came under new leadership and have established warmer ties with Israel than their predecessors.

Neither nation specifically cited Israel in their respective withdrawal announcement, instead pointing to their decisions as stressing the sovereignty and autonomy of their countries, in addition to channeling international issues through the proper forums.

Nevertheless, Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, praised the moves.

On X, he commended Nasry (“Tito”) Asfura, the new president of Honduras, for taking “a principled step against evil in the international arena. Israel values this moral stance and its strong friendship with Honduras.”

Sa’ar also applauded Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira “for his moral decision to withdraw from the Hague Group. This is a necessary, principled move confronting evil,” adding “Thank you, Bolivia, for standing on the right side of history.”

Israel and Bolivia re-established diplomatic ties in December. They were severed two years earlier under a leftist government amid a rupture coming about during the Israel-Hamas war.
The UN’s "Counterterrorism" Black Hole
The United Nations’ “counterterrorism” money empire has been expanding at breakneck speed, quietly, bureaucratically, and with remarkably little scrutiny.

Over the last three years alone, regular budget funding for the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism has exploded by 700 percent. Seven hundred percent. While other UN bodies brace for austerity, layoffs, and “efficiency reforms,” counterterrorism funding has ballooned.

And yet, for all that growth, one basic question remains nearly impossible to answer:

Where does the money actually go?

A new report, Behind Closed Ledgers: The Transparency Gap Affecting the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Programming, exposes what many suspected but few could fully document: UNOCT is one of the darkest money pits under the UN’s Secretariat.

UNOCT was created in 2017 to unify the UN’s counterterrorism work under the umbrella of the United Nations. It sits inside the Secretariat, operating as the central coordinating body for global counterterrorism efforts.

But here is the reality: only about 20 percent of its funding comes from the UN’s general budget. The remaining 80 percent comes from voluntary contributions.

A handful of states dominate the voluntary funding landscape, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In fact, Qatar alone accounts for roughly two-thirds of all voluntary contributions over time.

The report’s most damning finding is painfully simple: it is almost impossible to determine who funds what. UNOCT does not publish a comprehensive list pairing all funders with the programs they support. Some information exists, but it is scattered across hundreds of PDFs, webpages, event announcements, and partial annual reports. It is poorly organized. It is fragmented. It is inaccessible to the ordinary observer. Even member states have voiced frustration over the lack of transparency.

Extra-budgetary contributions for UNOCT are channeled through the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism (“Trust Fund”). The Secretary-General established the Trust Fund in 2009 and granted responsibility for its management to UNOCT when it was created in 2017. From its inception through to 31 March 2025, US$388.3 million has been contributed or pledged to the Trust Fund by 46 funding partners.For seven years, from 2017 to 2023, the only publicly available annual reports detailing voluntary contributions focused on funds from Qatar, the largest donor. Since Qatar represents roughly two-thirds of voluntary contributions, the remaining third was effectively underreported at the office-wide level. The first comprehensive office-wide voluntary funding report did not appear until 2024.

Last year, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services evaluated UNOCT and found a significant imbalance in how the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is implemented by the office.

And this is where the financial opacity collides with something even more disturbing: narrative opacity.

This is the same office that releases flagship reports on global terrorism without naming a single terrorist organization. Not Hamas. Not Hezbollah. Not ISIS. Not Al-Qaeda. Not Boko Haram.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: The Palestinian journalist Israelis watch for truth: Suleiman Maswadeh on inequality & opportunity
Suleiman Maswadeh is Israel’s most visible Palestinian Arab television correspondent, a regular presence on the national news, speaking fluent Hebrew to a country that rarely hears an Arab accent in that role. His career sits inside one of Israel’s deepest contradictions, two communities living side by side, sharing streets and history, yet separated by language, schooling, and fear, with the public story of the conflict often shaped by the absence of ordinary contact.

Jonathan Sacerdoti meets Suleiman Maswadeh in person to trace how a Palestinian Arab man raised in an observant Muslim family taught himself Hebrew as an adult and entered Israel’s mainstream media. He describes the practical mechanics of East Jerusalem’s isolation, the misinformation that flourishes when people cannot speak, and the personal cost of crossing over, including ostracism, threats, and the dislocation of being trusted by Hebrew speaking viewers while remaining contested at home.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how language, media, and intimidation shape the conflict more quietly than slogans ever will.

💬 We Discuss:
🧭 What it means to grow up minutes from Jewish neighbourhoods and still live in a different world
🗣️ How learning Hebrew became a route into work, citizenship, and a wider reality
🪪 The lived politics of taxes, representation, residency status, and unequal civic investment
🧠 How misinformation about history takes hold when education and contact collapse
🪖 Why the only “relationship” many Palestinians have with Israelis is through soldiers and raids
📺 How Arab and Israeli media each fail audiences, especially under the pressures of war
🧩 The psychological strain of living between identities, languages, and public expectations
🕯️ October 7 as personal grief, public rupture, and a harder test for anyone arguing for contact
🗳️ How fear polices civic participation, including threats against Palestinians who try to run locally
🌱 Why change driven by ordinary people, language learning, and education may outlast leadership cycles


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 95: The idea that broke the Middle East, with Dr. Micah Goodman
In the middle of war sirens and missile attacks, Haviv Gur sits down with Israeli philosopher Micah Goodman for a sweeping conversation about one of the biggest questions of our time: Why have some societies declined while others thrive? They trace the ideological roots of modern Islamist movements, the “politics of blame” that has hollowed out regimes like Iran, and the deep miscalculation that led Israel’s enemies to believe a liberal democracy would collapse under pressure. Instead, Israel revealed a strange and powerful formula—combining fierce individualism with tribal solidarity—that produced both technological strength and extraordinary willingness to sacrifice. The result, they argue, may be more than a military victory: It could be the collapse of an entire ideology.

Chapters
00:00 The Hybrid Identity of Israel
01:42 Understanding the Current Conflict
04:21 The Ideological Landscape of the Middle East
06:50 Historical Context of Islamic Civilization
09:38 The Diverging Paths of Islamism and Secularism
12:23 The Politics of Blame in the Middle East
15:22 The Role of Israel in Islamic Narratives
18:24 The Consequences of Revolutionary Ideologies
21:20 The Future of Political Islam
24:12 Lessons from Iran's Political Landscape
26:59 The Clash of Ideas in the Middle East
37:55 The Strength and Weakness of Israel
42:07 Misunderstanding Power Dynamics
46:20 The Hybrid Identity of Israel
49:03 Iran's Struggle with Hybridity
54:46 The Complexity of Jewish Identity
58:40 Intellectual Humility and Problem Solving




Who Is Fundraising for Brian McGinnis?
The Capitol hearing disruption by Brian McGinnis was only the most visible moment in a larger, highly coordinated activist ecosystem. Behind him appears to be a network of organizers, fundraisers, and events that connect to high‑profile, controversial figures linked to terror organizations.

Within hours of McGinnis’ Senate disruption, multiple GoFundMe campaigns appeared online tied to him, raising over $100,000 in less than 24 hours. One major fundraiser was created by someone named Nadia Ali, whom McGinnis once referred to as “a dear friend” and who shares the same last name as his wife. Previously, she ran a campaign to allegedly raise money for a Gazan friend seeking asylum in the United States after the Gaza war began. Her latest fundraiser, for McGinnis’ medical and legal expenses after the Capitol incident, raised nearly $60,000 in just 19 hours.

In addition to the GoFundMe’s she has created, she also promoted a GoFundMe for someone in Gaza named Rabah Dawoud, a campaign that raised over $52,000 for “her friend” seeking to leave Gaza.

Nadia Ali appears to be a central figure in Voices for Justice in Palestine, a North Carolina nonprofit where former Green Beret Anthony Aguilar serves on the board of directors. That organization lists partnerships with groups including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), CAIR, Black Lives Matter, Code Pink, among others. Event Poster...

Ali’s social media presence is overwhelmingly dedicated to promoting local protests and rallies, CAIR events, Voices for Justice in Palestine campaigns, and related political gatherings in her city, and amplifying accounts from the most famous Gaza‑based “journalists” who are linked to Hamas. As part of her activism, she also gives people prepared scripts for people to call their representatives to advocate for “Palestine”.


UK launches independent review of Jew-hatred in schools
The British government announced the launch of an independent review into antisemitism in schools across England, led by former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education, Sir David Bell.

The review is geared to examine the nature and extent of antisemitism affecting students and staff in general schools as well as institutions of higher education. It aims to assess how educational bodies are currently responding to the problem and recommend steps to strengthen prevention, reporting and disciplinary frameworks.

“Antisemitism is a deeply concerning and complex prejudice that has plagued communities for centuries,” the Department of Education wrote on March 4 in background information for the review.

“Since the 7 October Hamas attacks that killed over 1,200 people, antisemitic violence has surged worldwide, including the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting in Australia, and the murders of Melvin Crazvitz and Adrian Daulby, and attack on Yom Kippur worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue,” continues the background section. “These are devastating reminders of the threats and violence faced by Jewish communities.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said on March 4 that “school-related antisemitic incidents remain double pre-2023 levels, and too many Jewish teachers who raised concerns felt that nothing was done.”

The initiative comes as data indicates that antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom remain high. According to the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Jewish hate, as many as 3,700 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2025, the second-highest annual total on record.
Yale Law School Suspends Scholar After ‘Jewish Onliner’ Exposes Her Ties to Terror Group
Yale Law School has placed Associate Research Scholar Helyeh Doutaghi on administrative leave following revelations first reported by Jewish Onliner regarding her connections to the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, an organization designated as a terrorist front by the U.S. Treasury Department in October 2024. The designation was due to Samidoun serving as a fundraising front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—also a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

The investigation uncovered that Doutaghi—who serves as the Deputy Director of Yale Law School’s Law and Political Economy Project—has been affiliated with Samidoun since at least 2022, when the organization identified her as a "doctoral student of international law and a member of the international Samidoun Network."

Following the publication of these findings, The Buckley Beacon and The Washington Free Beacon also reported on Doutaghi’s alleged connections, citing Jewish Onliner’s initial findings. Yale Responds to Allegations

In response to the reports, Yale Law School confirmed that Doutaghi has been placed on leave while the university conducts an internal review.

“We take these allegations extremely seriously and immediately opened an investigation into the matter to ascertain the facts,” said Alden Ferro, Yale Law School’s Senior Associate Director of Public Affairs. He also noted that Doutaghi’s short-term role with the Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project is set to end next month.

While Yale has not confirmed whether Doutaghi will be permanently disassociated from the university, the ongoing review suggests that the institution is carefully considering the matter.
NUS election candidate under fire after reposting antisemitic conspiracy thread
A candidate in the upcoming elections for the National Union of Students (NUS) has come under scrutiny after reposting a social media thread containing antisemitic conspiracy claims.

Nasir Mohammed, president of City St George’s Students’ Union, is standing as a candidate for vice-president for higher education in the NUS elections.

Screenshots circulating online show Mohammed reposting the opening message of a thread on X by another user.

The thread includes a series of claims alleging that Israel was responsible for major global events and promotes conspiracy theories involving the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and the Rothschild family.

One post in the thread states: “Iran didn’t kill JFK. Iran didn’t do 9/11. Iran didn’t employ Epstein. Iran didn’t attack the USS Liberty. Iran didn’t steal nukes from America. Iran didn’t tell Americans that Iraq had WMDs. Iran didn’t commit a genocide in Palestine. Israel did.”

Another post claims: “This is the power of Israeli Mossad’s Epstein Blackmail network & Rothschild’s desire to install their aligned central banking. Presidents are puppets!”

A further message in the thread alleges: “America is controlled by Zionist PDFs. They’re a t e & r a’ ed American kids… And now they’re telling you to support bombing Iran for Israeli interests.”

Mohammed shared the first post of the thread on his account.

Responding to the posts, Louis Danker, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said: “We think the candidates calling themselves the ‘Do Better NUS’ slate may need a little self-reflection.

“Nasir has reposted virulent antisemitism, and Jewish students have lost all confidence in his candidacy.”


In safety precaution, Israel to bar Friday Ramadan prayers at Temple Mount amid Iran war
Amid the war with Iran, Muslim worshippers will not be permitted to attend Friday Ramadan prayers this week at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli authorities announced Thursday.

“The State of Israel is committed to freedom of worship and religion, and has allowed this during the first two weeks of the blessed month of Ramadan, but the axis of death led by Iran endangers everyone’s lives through its continued launching of rockets toward Israel and the entire region,” said Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, chief of the Civil Administration, a Defense Ministry body that’s part of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit, which regulates much of daily life in the West Bank.

“For this reason, and in accordance with the instructions of Israel’s Home Front Command, and to preserve public safety and protect people, all holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, will remain closed tomorrow, Friday, and worshippers and visitors of all religions will not be allowed to enter,” Ibrahim added in a video posted on COGAT’s Facebook page.

In the first two Fridays of Ramadan, thousands of West Bank Palestinians were permitted by Israel to enter Jerusalem for the prayers at Al-Aqsa. Israel said that it would cap the number of Palestinian worshipers from the West Bank attending the weekly prayers at 10,000.

Thursday’s announcement that Friday prayers won’t be permitted atop the Temple Mount this week came as Israel eased some restrictions amid the slowing pace of Iranian ballistic missile attacks, although gatherings remain capped at 50 people and can only be held if a shelter can be reached in time.

Since the start of the US-Israel war against Iran on Saturday, Israeli authorities have, for security reasons, barred access to the Old City for anyone other than residents or shop owners, with an Iranian warhead impacting just several hundred meters from the Temple Mount on the first day of fighting.

“The Muslim worshippers who associate Ramadan with praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque are very heartbroken by this closure,” Mustafa Abu Sway, deputy head of the Islamic Waqf that manages the holy site, told the New York Times. “If the issue is the safety of worshipers, then Al-Aqsa Mosque has massive subterranean halls that can host thousands of people.”

“Our prayers are for a quick end to this war and for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East,” he added.


9/11 and Israel ‘false flag’ conspiracy theorist to headline Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall has defended its decision to host an Egyptian-American comedian who has shared claims that Israel “uses kids to sexually blackmail people”, kidnapped Yemenite Jews to plant “Semitic DNA” into the Israeli gene pool and bombed its own embassy in the UK in 1994 – with the iconic venue saying it “has no reason to believe this show will contain antisemitic material”.

Bassem Youssef, who left Egypt in 2014 and has since become an American citizen, is perhaps best known in the public domain as a vocal critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, particularly via his performances on the Piers Morgan Show. However, Youssef regularly shares and promotes conspiracy theories about Israelis and “Zionists” on social media.

One such post from Youssef featured a meme showing a picture of the United States Congress next to destruction in Gaza. The wording of the meme read: “Israel uses kids to sexually blackmail people here so it can bomb kids over there”. Youssef also shared a video from far-left outlet Dropsite News claiming Israel tried to blackmail Bill Clinton into releasing the spy Jonathan Pollard. Youssef wrote: “Reposting this again and again. This is the world we live in. Israel’s Mossad use sex scandals and tapes to blackmail American presidents and politicians and celebrities. Whether it was the Monica Lewinsky tape, Epstein or the likes.”

Another post from Youssef, whose wife is believed to come from Gaza, featured a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a mocked up Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? background, instead titled “Who wants to do a false flag?”, with the question: “To drag the US into a war with Iran you will:” … and the options being: “Attack US ship, Attack US base, Assassinate US official, Conduct ‘terrorism’ on US soil”.

In his February 2026 appearance on the podcast of conspiracy theory promoter Candace Owens, Youssef described several terror attacks as “false flag operations”, including the 1994 bombing of the Israeli embassy in London, which he alleged “was done by Mossad”. The video footage from the Candace Owens Show, in which Youssef also describes 9/11 as “the biggest false flag operation”, later shows the claim that Arnon Milchan, an Israeli film producer behind some of Hollywood’s biggest feature movies, “months before 9/11 produces a film episode in which remote controlled planes hit buildings”.
X account of creator of children’s YouTube channels blocked in Turkey after antisemitic backlash
The X account of a Turkish Jewish creator behind several major children’s YouTube channels has been blocked for users in Turkey following an antisemitic backlash triggered by a television broadcast targeting him.

Users in Turkey attempting to access the account of Melih Abuaf now see a notice stating that the profile has been withheld in response to local laws and regulations.

Authorities have not publicly explained the legal basis for the restriction, and it remains unclear which court or government body ordered the measure.

The move comes days after the pro-government broadcaster TVNet aired a segment highlighting Abuaf’s Jewish identity and suggesting he was influencing Turkish children through widely viewed online content.

The broadcast opened with the claim that a Jewish man was “controlling the minds of Turkish children.”

Abuaf operates several popular Turkish-language children’s YouTube channels, including Çuf Çuf Çocuk Şarkıları, Karpuz Adam, Pırtık and Afacan TV, which collectively have millions of subscribers and billions of views.

After the broadcast aired, social media users began circulating clips of the program and calling for boycotts of Abuaf’s channels, while others condemned the coverage as antisemitic and dangerous.

Turkey’s small Jewish community, largely descended from Sephardic Jews who settled in the Ottoman Empire centuries ago after being expelled from Spain and Portugal, has periodically faced hostility during periods of regional political tension.
Syrian man handed 13-year sentence for Berlin Holocaust memorial stabbing
A court convicted a Syrian man on Thursday of stabbing and seriously wounding a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial just over a year ago, and sentenced him to 13 years in prison.

The 20-year-old defendant, whom authorities have identified only as Wassim Al M. in line with German privacy laws, was convicted on charges including attempted murder and attempted membership in a foreign terrorist organization, German news agency dpa reported.

The Berlin district court found that he traveled from Leipzig to Berlin on February 21, 2025, to carry out an attack in the name of the Islamic State terror group.

He chose the Holocaust Memorial because “he believed he would find people of Jewish faith there,” presiding judge Doris Husch said, and he stabbed the Spanish tourist in the throat before shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”

The 31-year-old victim survived but is still unable to work and is receiving psychological treatment.

The defendant said during his trial that he had regretted the attack immediately, and asserted that he had traveled to Berlin under pressure from an online acquaintance he had gotten to know as he watched IS videos.

The defendant arrived in Germany in 2023 as an unaccompanied minor and successfully applied for asylum, investigators have said. He lived in Leipzig. He was arrested nearly three hours after the attack when he approached officers with blood on his hands and clothes.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a field of 2,700 gray concrete slabs near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, honors the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

The attack occurred two days before a national election in which migration became a critical issue, pushed to the forefront by a string of deadly attacks involving immigrants in the months before the vote.
DOES AMAZON TOLERATE ANTISEMITISM?
Amazon in Poland sells items promoting antisemitic hatred and fascism, according to the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. It may be in violation of Polish and international laws, including the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

The Association publicized its concerns during the Advocacy & Policy Development Forum taking place in Brussels on 5 March 2026, organized by the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) in cooperation with CEJI - A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ had repeatedly contacted the Polish branch of Amazon, but the company stated in response: ‘the current verification methods are deemed sufficient’.

The Polish service of Amazon features numerous gadgets bearing Nazi symbols, such as the Totenkopf. During World War II, the symbol appeared on the uniforms of the SS units (SS-Totenkopfverbände) responsible for the Nazi concentration camps.

Among the items offered for sale on Amazon.pl, and brought to the company’s attention by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, are also extremely antisemitic propaganda tracts written after World War II. These include diatribes by authors such as Léon Degrelle, a Belgian SS officer who denied the Holocaust and praised Hitler, the former Waffen-SS general Felix Steiner who glorified this criminal formation calling it ‘a patriotic volunteer organisation’, David Irving, a British pseudo-historian who was sentenced to prison in Austria for denying the Holocaust, and Andrew Macdonald (William Pierce), an American neo-Nazi whose publication inspired the perpetrator of the 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist attack which killed 168 people.

Antisemitic publications by Polish authors are also available on Amazon.pl, for example ‘Studies on Judeophilia’, ‘Herrenvolk the Jewish Way’ and ‘Nazis and Shabbat Goym’ by Stanislaw Michalkiewicz, a notorious propagandist known for spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories. In May 2025, the French authorities disallowed his participation in a book fair in Aulnay-sous-Bois near Paris.

Other publications sold on the Amazon Polish service include those authored by Alexander Dugin, a leading apologist for Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and the brain behind the neo-fascist ideology of ‘national bolshevism’. Dugin is infamous, among other things, for his slogan: ‘Ukrainians must be killed, killed, killed!’

Moreover, Amazon offers music releases, clothing and other merchandise by neo-fascist bands, such as the Norwegian group Burzum, associated with a style known as ‘National Socialist Black Metal’ (NSBM). Burzum is known for an open fascination with violence and cruelty. The band’s founder, Varg Vikernes, was convicted of murder and of arson of three churches.
NYPD searching for suspect in antisemitic assault on Brooklyn subway
Police are searching for a suspect who allegedly assaulted a Jewish man and stole his yarmulke during an antisemitic attack on a subway train in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Monday.

“This incident is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force,” the New York City Police Department told JNS.

The assault occurred around 10:45 a.m. aboard a southbound N train at the Atlantic Avenue subway station, within the 84th Precinct and Transit District 32, police said.

According to the NYPD, the suspect approached a 54-year-old man and repeatedly punched him in the face and body while making anti-Jewish statements. The attacker then forcibly removed the victim’s yarmulke before fleeing the train.

Police said the suspect was last seen at the Canal Street subway station in Manhattan. He was described as a man with a dark complexion and a slim build, wearing a gray sweatshirt, khaki pants, a black jacket, a black surgical face mask, and black shoes and carrying an orange backpack.

Emergency medical services transported the victim to SUNY Downstate Medical Center in stable condition, authorities stated.

The Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism told local outlet amNewYork that it is in contact with law enforcement regarding the attack.

“No one should be targeted for wearing a yarmulke—or for expressing their faith in any way,” stated Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the office.

“The Mamdani administration is committed to confronting antisemitism head-on and building a New York where every person can live their beliefs openly and safely,” she added.
Ryanair apologises after staff member wore pro-Palestine badge in Stansted dispute
Ryanair has apologised and launched an internal investigation after a complaint that a staff member wore a pro-Palestine badge while assisting passengers at London Stansted Airport.

The airline said the incident, which took place at a Ryanair help desk on 21 February, breached its policy prohibiting employees from displaying political symbols while on duty.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “It is not Ryanair policy for staff to wear badges, symbols or other items that might be considered political, divisive or potentially offensive to passengers or colleagues, and we sincerely apologise for any offence or concern that may have arisen where this policy was not adhered to.”

The complaint was raised by the legal advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which said a passenger reported that a member of staff had been wearing a badge showing a clenched fist wrapped in the Palestinian flag – imagery commonly associated with the “Free Palestine” movement.

According to UKLFI, the passenger politely questioned the badge but alleged the staff member reacted angrily, calling him “racist” and “disgusting” and threatening to cancel his ticket.

In its response, Ryanair said it had reminded staff of its longstanding dress code rules banning political paraphernalia while employees are in uniform or dealing with passengers. London Stansted Airport main terminal (Wikipedia)

The airline said the policy covers items such as badges or symbols that could reasonably be considered offensive or cause discomfort to passengers, including the Palestine-themed badge described in the complaint.


Defense giant Elbit becomes Israel’s most valuable company, after 45% surge this year
Defense giant Elbit Systems becomes the largest Israeli firm by market value listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange after surpassing Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries and the country’s biggest lenders, Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi.

Elbit shares jump almost 4 percent in midday trading, taking its market value to about NIS 123 billion ($40 billion), according to Tel Aviv Stock Exchange data. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is ranked second with a market value of NIS 118 billion, followed by Bank Leumi at 115 billion and Bank Hapoalim at NIS 105 billion.

Among all companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Elbit is the second most valuable company, after US cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks with a market capitalization of NIS 396 billion.

Elbit, led by CEO Bezhalel Machlis, is an arms manufacturer and supplier specializing in the development of a broad spectrum of defense, homeland security and commercial systems that are marketed worldwide.

Listed on both the Tel Aviv and Nasdaq stock exchanges, the defense firm is controlled by Israeli billionaire Michael Federmann through Federmann Enterprises. It operates in various fields, including aerospace, land and naval command and control, communications, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. Over the past two trading days, the value of Federmann’s 42.1% holding in Elbit has increased by more than NIS 5 billion in accumulative terms.

Since the start of the year, Elbit shares soared 45% buoyed by booming sales to Israel’s military and multiple contracts with international customers. Amid Israel’s October 2023 multifront war with Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies and with the war between Russia and Ukraine, Israel’s military and European countries have been showing growing interest in buying Israeli defense technology due to heightened regional security concerns. As a result, Elbit’s order backlog hit a record last year, reaching $25.2 billion as of the end of September.
Taiwan pledges £135k to Beit Shemesh after Iranian missile kills nine
Taiwan has pledged around £135,000 in aid to the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh after an Iranian missile strike killed nine people and devastated a residential area earlier this week.

The donation, announced by Taiwan’s representative office in Israel, will fund emergency assistance for families affected by the attack, including food parcels, hygiene supplies and other essential equipment.

The missile struck Beit Shemesh – around 20 miles west of Jerusalem, on Sunday after reportedly evading Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system. The blast destroyed a bomb shelter where several victims had sought refuge and damaged nearby buildings, including a synagogue.

Among those killed were nine civilians, including four teenagers.

One of the first victims identified was Ronit Elimelech, a volunteer emergency responder from the city. Elimelech, 45, was killed alongside her mother, Sarah. Her three children were injured in the attack and remain in the hospital.

United Hatzalah, the volunteer emergency response organisation she served with, paid tribute to her in a statement, describing her as “a friend. A colleague. A Hero in Orange.”

The group said rescue teams searched for hours before confirming her death.

“For several agonising hours after the strike, Ronit was listed as missing,” the organisation said. “Rescue teams searched relentlessly through the wreckage until confirmation came that she and her mother were among those who had been killed.”
How The Three Stooges Humiliated Hitler
While Hollywood cowered, the Three Stooges mocked Hitler to his face.

People either howl with delight at the Three Stooges or stare in bewilderment that anyone could. But spend even a few minutes with their classic shorts and something becomes impossible to miss: their antics and banter are soaked in Jewish identity. And at one of the most dangerous moments in modern history, that identity became a weapon.

Anti-Fascist Jewish Humor
The Stooges knew their slapstick could be pointed and political. They took on the Nazis early with humor and ridicule.

This was a rare act in 1930s-40s Hollywood, where Jewish comedians working in a studio system that pressured them to hide their identity used that very identity as a weapon against fascism. Look closely, and their Jewishness isn't incidental to the jokes — it's the engine that powers them.

Jewish humor traditionally punches up at tyrants, pompous leaders, and anyone who demands obedience. The Stooges' entire act is built on puncturing authority figures. When Nazism emerged, it slotted perfectly into a pre-existing comedic framework: the bully who deserves to be taken down a peg.

Raised in Yiddish-speaking homes, in neighborhoods where Jewish humor — sharp, self-mocking, quick on its feet, and forever suspicious of authority — was the air everyone breathed, that sensibility shaped their comedic instincts long before Hitler appeared on their radar.

Hollywood, meanwhile, was terrified of offending Germany. Studios tiptoed around anything that might upset the Nazi government. Working under the Hays Office, the industry's self-imposed moral watchdog, studios followed strict rules limiting sexual content, profanity, drug use, excessive violence, and ridicule of religion. But the Hays Office had another, quieter mission: avoiding conflict with Nazi Germany. Major studios, many led by Jewish executives, were especially cautious about provoking the regime.

Before WWII, Germany was a major foreign market for American films. The Nazi government threatened to ban studios entirely if movies portrayed Germany negatively or showed Jewish characters sympathetically. These restrictions held until Hitler's aggression escalated, and the tide began turning between 1939 and 1941.

This is exactly why the Stooges' shorts are so remarkable. They broke through the climate of fear and did what the major studios wouldn't: they mocked Hitler to his face.
Despite war, Israel releases ‘Michelle,’ its 2026 Eurovision song
Despite war with Iran canceling most events across the country, Israel went ahead Thursday night with the release of its 2026 Eurovision song, “Michelle,” sung by Noam Bettan.

The celebratory broadcast on the Kan public broadcaster was interrupted several times by warnings of incoming Iranian missiles and sirens across the country but it didn’t stop the premiere of the pop song.

The song, in Hebrew, French and English, is slightly more upbeat than those from Israel over the past few years, and the music video includes catchy dance moves during its most up-tempo moments.

“It’s an incredible song,” Bettan said Thursday night during the broadcast. “In the past few years, Israel sent] a lot of ballads, and the country was waiting to be happy.”

Bettan said that people in Israel are “looking for a different kind of energy, we want to be happy, the whole country is thirsty for it,” he said. “I think we’re bringing a song that touches on the whole spectrum of emotions.”

The singer said “Michelle” is a song about an unhealthy relationship, and the need to get up and walk away when things aren’t working out.

Unlike the past few years where Israel’s songs were largely English with only touches of Hebrew (and last year, French), “Michelle” is largely Hebrew and French with only one verse in English.

One of the verses in French includes the lyrics: “Oh Michelle/ I no longer know what to do/ You were my light,” while a section in Hebrew has the words “Perhaps in the end/ things will be good for us/ I pray for you/ that you’ll find love.”

The song’s only English verse is: “Walking down/ Florentin/ Ocean eyes/ Memories/ I, I’m Losing my mind/ An angel but is it hell/ Trapped in your carousel/ Round and round/ Under your spell.”




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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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