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Friday, March 06, 2026

03/06 Links Pt2: If pro-Israel Democrats become extinct, what will liberal Jews do?; Argentina seek indictments of 10 suspects in 1994 AMIA bombing; Tucker Carlson’s War on Truth

From Ian:

Israel is helping save the West from China.
Collapse the Islamic Republic, and you remove the single-greatest drain on American strategic bandwidth, expose the fragility of every client relationship Beijing has built from Tehran outward, and free the United States to concentrate on the Pacific with a credibility that twenty years of pivot talk never produced.

That outcome, however, requires following through.

The Trump Administration has already rejected the negotiated settlement that would leave the clandestine arsenal operational and the Chinese-built surveillance state in place. What remains is to use the convergence of military pressure, regime fragility, and allied momentum to finish what the opening act began. The Venezuela playbook offers a template: Recognize a legitimate transitional authority, marshal international support around the transition, and let the regime’s own fragility do most of the work while American pressure forecloses Beijing’s ability to reconstitute what has been broken.

The nature of the threat makes the harder course not just preferable but necessary. Tehran’s deterrent has never rested solely on its nuclear program. In January 2024, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles from shipping containers aboard a converted cargo vessel purchased for less than 20 million dollars — a fraction of what a warship costs, yet merchant hulls are far harder to sink than frigates, as decades of naval experience have shown.

Iran now possesses a mobile, survivable, and largely undetectable strike platform that can operate from any port or shipping lane, hitting from vectors no existing defense plan anticipates. A state that can threaten American carriers from unmarked hulls in any ocean cannot be managed through arms control. Its total removal from the board changes the geometry of great-power competition entirely.

None of this would be possible without the groundwork already laid. What much of the Western conversation has missed, consumed as it has been by debates over proportionality and narratives of supposed “Israeli aggression,” is that Israel has been the actor most consistently performing the strategic work that American interests require. Israel broke the Iranian-led axis, dismantled the command structures of Hezbollah and Hamas, and proved that the entire edifice could be shattered by force.

The fashionable framework that reduces the Middle East to a morality tale of Israeli excess has been strategically blind, obscuring the fact that the most consequential campaign against Chinese regional infrastructure in this century was fought not by the United States, but by its closest Middle Eastern ally, acting largely alone and under relentless international censure. In this sense, Operation Epic Fury picks up where Israel left off, escalating from proxy destruction to direct confrontation with the hub itself.

Beijing’s response confirms the diagnosis. Chinese satellites provided Tehran with real-time intelligence on American force deployments, including detection of F-35A, F-15E, A-10C, and THAAD system arrivals at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

And the desperation runs in both directions. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit last year, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian begged Xi to treat Iran as “a friendly and determined ally.” Beijing is obliging, because the collapse of the Islamic Republic under American pressure would sever China’s corridors. No comparable opportunity to inflict this kind of strategic damage on Chinese positioning has presented itself since the end of the Cold War.

It bears repeating: The Iran question was never about Iran. Remove the Islamic Republic from the equation and China loses its pawns for a Taiwan contingency. Leave it in place and the Middle East remains what Beijing designed it to be: a second front that Washington can never afford to leave and can never afford to stay in. Trump’s strikes are the first move by an American president who appears to understand that the road to the Pacific runs through Tehran.
Argentine prosecutor seeks indictments of 10 suspects in 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires
More than three decades after the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentine prosecutors are seeking indictments against 10 suspects, including Ahmad Vahidi, who was recently appointed the new leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Federal prosecutor Sebastián Basso requested the indictments, the Buenos Aires Herald reported on March 5, in connection with the bombing that killed 85 people and wounded more than 300 on July 18, 1994. The attack remains the deadliest terrorist incident in Argentina’s history.

Argentine investigators concluded that the bombing was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah with support and direction from the Iranian government.

Among the suspects is Vahidi, who served as commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1994. Argentine authorities say he played a role in planning the attack, and he remains the subject of an Interpol red notice issued at Argentina’s request.

The 10 suspects—seven Iranians and three Lebanese nationals—have long been considered fugitives. Argentina has issued international arrest warrants and sought their extradition from Iran and Lebanon, but none have been handed over to face trial.

Basso said he hopes to hold a trial “in absentia as soon as possible, and show society the evidence gathered by the Argentine State over the last thirty years.”

The American Jewish Committee stated that Vahidi “has been widely identified as one of the key figures behind the deadliest terrorist attack against Jews until Oct. 7.”

“Ever since that heinous 1994 terror attack, AJC has called for justice for the 85 people murdered. Now, one of the main perpetrators is in control of the Iranian regime’s terror arm,” the group stated.
Indonesia says it will leave Board of Peace if Trump-led body doesn’t help Palestinians
Prabowo Subianto, the president of Indonesia, told local Muslim groups on Thursday evening that he would withdraw the country from the Board of Peace if the organization, which U.S. President Donald Trump leads, does not help Palestinians sufficiently, according to an Indonesian government statement on Friday.

Indonesia’s participation in the board, and its commitment in particular to contribute significant troops to the international stabilization force in Gaza, was seen as a sign that moderate Muslim countries, even those without diplomatic ties to Israel, could play a constructive role in securing peace in Gaza.

Indonesia was slated to join Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania in contributing troops to the international stabilization force and was supposed to lead the way, with an announced commitment of 8,000 troops for June.

Subianto met with Muslim leaders on Thursday to explain his reasoning, for which he has drawn criticism in the country.

The Indonesian foreign minister said that Board of Peace discussions are on hold during the war against Iran. A U.S. State Department official disputed that and told JNS that board activities continue in earnest.
Jonathan Tobin: If pro-Israel Democrats become extinct, what will liberal Jews do?
The Trump factor
Trump has proven time and again to be the most pro-Israel president to sit in the White House since the founding of the modern-day Jewish state in 1948. That belief, rooted in many of the decisions in his first term, such as moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the 2020 Abraham Accords, has been reinforced by his recent stand on Iran. His willingness to use force to defend both the Jewish state and Americans from the nuclear and terrorist threat that Obama sought to appease has again earned him the gratitude of the pro-Israel community.

The issue for AIPAC and Jewish voters isn’t so much what Trump is actually doing. Nor is it the way anti-Israel and antisemitic voices on the right, such as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, are opposing the president. Rather, it is the wholesale collapse of pro-Israel sentiment among Democrats and the way tropes of Jew-hatred have become normalized in the party. Carlson and even more hateful right-wingers represent a loud minority in the GOP with minimal support among officeholders and party activists. Still, as has become painfully obvious, hostility to Israel and Zionism, coupled with a willingness to treat those who call for Jewish genocide as both reasonable and idealistic, is now the view of a majority of Democrats.

It was one thing when Harris and former President Joe Biden were treating Jew-haters with kid gloves in a futile attempt to win them over without fully embracing their positions. But these days, mainstream Democrats like Newsom are doubling down on the Israel-bashing and even matching the invective of those who were widely thought of as extremists only a few years ago.

A test for Jews
For those Jews who are themselves abandoning Israel, this won’t be much of a dilemma. Indeed, many left-wing Jews and publications that appeal to them, such as The Forward, are claiming it is only understandable. Some have themselves bought into the campaign of pro-Hamas propaganda, including blood libels about Israel committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. As a result, those who feel this way now seem to think that Zionism is incompatible with their skewed concept of liberalism or their misguided notions about Judaism that strip it of Jewish peoplehood and the religious importance of the land of Israel.

But the majority of liberal Jews who still say they care about Israel, even if they aren’t fans of its current government, will soon face a profound test of their principles. They may still detest Trump and the GOP. Yet are they ready to vote for Democrats, like Newsom, who are prepared to demonize the Jewish state and treat mainstream politically neutral advocates for it, like AIPAC, as if it were a hate group? If so, then they will be sending a message that their ties to left-wing allies and traditional hostility to Republicans are more important to them than Israel’s survival at a time of war and surging antisemitism.

Under these circumstances, it’s going to be harder and harder for pro-Israel Democrats to hold their ground within the party, let alone aspire to lead it. It will be equally difficult for AIPAC to find Democrats to support. Stalwarts, like Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who are prepared to stand behind Israel and support efforts to defeat those who seek its destruction, were once commonplace in the party. Now they are outliers. Soon, like pro-life Democrats, they may be altogether extinct.


Seth Mandel: Why It Was So Easy for Newsom To Throw the Jews to the Wolves
You know who doesn’t support Israel’s right to exist? Anyone defending or making excuses for October 7. In other words, the progressive activists telling Newsom what to say and how to say it.

For example, aside from believing that America deserved 9/11 and spewing anti-Semitism, popular progressive podcaster Hasan Piker doesn’t believe Israel has a right to exist. Newsom, meanwhile, is planning to appear on Piker’s show to kiss the ring of yet another merchant of anti-Semitic incitement.

Piker and the podcasters before which Newsom has been genuflecting are pretty open about their beliefs. In fact the only reason to go on Piker’s show—and the shows of those who share Piker’s views—is to legitimize the idea that Israel has no right to exist at all.

So who cares what Newsom says he believes about Israel’s right to exist? It isn’t true anyway.

Meanwhile, the question is never really whether Israel has a right to exist but whether the Jews do. That’s all anybody’s debating here. Britain just arrested four Iranians for allegedly casing Jewish institutions for attack on orders from Tehran. Do the Jews of London have a right to exist? Iran says no and is actively trying to kill them.

“British security officials believe Iran wants to attack Jewish targets in the UK, believing that would represent a strike against the state of Israel,” the Guardian reports.

The war that Iran started decades ago is a war for the un-existence of the Jewish people. The U.S. and Israel are now trying to defeat Iran’s global genocidal campaign. Gavin Newsom opposes the U.S. and Israel’s involvement in this war. Functionally, Newsom then is on the wrong side of the question of the Jewish people’s right to exist. Therefore his verbal assurances to the contrary are worthless, just like everything else that comes out of his mouth.
Newsom Tries To Be Zohran Mamdani of 2028 Presidential Race
There may be some complicated political calculation whereby Newsom or his team may think this makes sense. They could figure Kamala Harris is tainted by association with Biden's Gaza "genocide" and that pro-Israel voters and donors will be with Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, or former Chicago mayor, former White House chief of staff, former ambassador to Japan, and former congressman Rahm Emanuel, or Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, so Newsom might as well seize the anti-Israel opportunity before Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or someone else captures it. Whether they think the Democratic primary voting electorate, which is mostly African-American moderates and the old people who elected Joe Biden, is there, or the general election electorate, is another question. It could be that Newsom and his crowd are spending too much time in the left-wing podcast and social media bubble.

Newsom ended the March 5 event in New Hampshire by hugging and warmly praising his interviewer, Jack Cocchiarella ("thank you for doing this, buddy"). Cocchiarella's questions included the false claim that Israel's actions against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza amount to "what every expert has called genocide." For anyone who remembers that, as NH Journal's Michael Graham put it, "Cocchiarella was kicked out of the Dartmouth College Democrats after serious accusations of abusive behavior toward women began circulating," don't worry; at the event-ending hug, Newsom definitely made the first move on Cocchiarella.

Newsom is planning to take a page from Mamdani by appearing on the podcast of Mamdani pal Hasan Piker, whom a Democratic congressman, Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), has described as "the poster child for the post-October 7th outbreak of antisemitism in America." As another podcaster, Jonah Platt, who is from a serious California Jewish family, put it: "Unless the plan is to go on and excoriate Piker for being a vicious anti-Jew hater and anti-American grifter (and I don't think it is), this will be a Rubicon moment for Newsom he will never come back from, and good riddance."
The latest Gen Z podcaster interviewing Democrats thinks Israel is a ‘terrorist state’
On Thursday, at the New Hampshire event, Cocchiarella asked Newsom to clarify comments he had made two days earlier suggesting that Israel could be considered an “apartheid state.” Cocchiarella said some online conversation has suggested Newsom is just following the polling, that “you don’t actually believe what you said there,” that “it’s kind of like a shape-shifting move.” But he said it reminded him of Newsom’s decision in 2004, when he was mayor of San Francisco, to give out same-sex marriage licenses — much to the chagrin even of other liberal Democrats in the state who had not yet come out in support of gay marriage.

“History echoes a little bit in the same way,” Cocchiarella said.

In response, Newsom spoke about growing up deeply connected to the Bay Area Jewish community and even traveling to Israel with his family.

“I want to level set on that basis. What I can’t accept today, though, is what Bibi Netanyahu is doing in Israel, and I just can’t countenance that,” said Newsom, who compared his anger at Netanyahu’s efforts to annex the West Bank to the way he felt when same-sex marriage was not yet legal.

“I can’t sit back in the spirit of this book, in the spirit that defined marriage equality, in terms of my values and beliefs, and watch that,” said Newsom.

Before Newsom’s interview with Cocchiarella, a spokesperson said the governor often sits for interviews with people whose views diverge from his own.

“Of course the governor doesn’t agree with every statement of every person he ever sits down with,” Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s communications director, told JI. “He is proud to engage with people across the political spectrum — from Ben Shapiro to Mayor Mamdani. The governor believes in free speech and open debate, something Donald Trump, who dines with neo-Nazis like Nick Fuentes, clearly doesn’t understand.”


Danny Burmawi: Tucker Carlson’s War on Truth
Over the past two years, Tucker Carlson has transformed from a mainstream conservative commentator into a prolific disseminator of misinformation, particularly targeting Israel, Jews, Christians, and the broader geopolitical dynamics involving Iran and Qatar. Carlson platformed dictators, revisionists, and propagandists while ignoring or distorting evidence of jihadist threats. His claims have amplified antisemitic tropes, historical revisionism, and pro-Qatari propaganda, reaching millions and contributing to a surge in anti-Israel sentiment.

Drawing from a detailed analysis of his public statements, interviews, and social media activity, cross-referenced with factual records, historical context, and direct refutations, this report catalogs specific lies and misleading claims. These falsehoods are not isolated errors but part of a coordinated pattern that whitewashes Islamic jihad, demonizes Israel as a manipulative force, and promotes isolationism that weakens Western interests.

Israel Drags the US into Middle Eastern Wars
Tucker Carlson has repeatedly peddled the falsehood that Israel’s alliance with the United States is a one-way street of manipulation, dragging America into endless Middle Eastern conflicts against its own interests. This claim, echoed in his interviews and speeches from 2024 to 2026, paints Israel as the aggressor and the U.S. as a hapless victim, forced into wars by “Zionist control” or undue influence. It’s not just misleading, it’s a deliberate distortion that ignores history, strategy, and the real drivers of regional instability.

The fact is that the U.S. has engaged in Middle Eastern conflicts long before Israel’s founding in 1948, and many without any Israeli involvement. The Barbary Wars (1801-1805) saw America fighting Islamic piracy in North Africa, establishing a pattern of defending its interests against regional threats. In the 20th century, U.S. interventions like the 1953 Iranian coup, the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, and the post-9/11 invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were driven by American priorities: oil security, countering Soviet influence during the Cold War, and combating terrorism.

In a 2025 broadcast, Carlson warned that standing with Israel would pull America into a broader conflict with “Islamic jihad.” This ignores that jihadist threats predate Israel and target the West inherently. Islamic expansionism conquered vast territories from the 7th century onward, subjugating Christian and Jewish populations across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. The Ottoman Empire’s wars with European powers, including the sieges of Vienna in 1529 and 1683, were not about Israel, they were about imposing Islamic dominance. Iran’s proxy wars through Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq and Syria aimed at global hegemony, chanting “Death to America” alongside “Death to Israel.” These groups have killed thousands of U.S. troops, from the 1983 Beirut bombing (241 Marines) to over 600 in Iraq via Iranian-backed IEDs. Attacking America is inevitable for jihadists. Israel isn’t dragging the U.S. in; it’s the frontline bulwark, buying time and intelligence that protects American lives.


US religious freedom panel criticizes State Dept, urges action on Syria, Qatar
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom sharply criticized the State Department on March 5 for failing to protect people fleeing religious persecution and for not penalizing violators of religious freedom, according to its 2026 annual report.

The congressionally mandated panel stated that the department has repeatedly failed to meet legal deadlines to transmit annual religious freedom findings to Congress and has not made new designations of violators under U.S. law.

Under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the department must submit the report by May 1 and notify lawmakers of countries responsible for “particularly severe” violations. According to USCIRF, the last designations expired at the end of 2025 because the department did not act on its recommendations.

The commission also faulted the Trump administration’s restrictions on refugee and asylum programs, saying they have hindered the resettlement of people fleeing from religious persecution. It noted a historically low refugee admissions ceiling of 7,500 for 2026 and stated that tens of thousands of refugees, including an estimated 15,000 registered Iranian Christians, remain in limbo among roughly 130,000 conditionally approved applicants.

The panel issued several recommendations, including raising the current refugee admissions ceiling, reinstating foreign aid to boost religious freedom, and restoring full asylum access.

USCIRF highlighted additional concerns tied to U.S. policy changes, including the U.S. Senate’s failure to confirm Mark Walker, a former Republican congressman, as ambassador-at-large of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. While Walker is currently serving as an advisor to the office, the panel noted that a confirmed ambassador is required to assist with publication of the annual report.

A State Department spokesperson contested the commission’s claims, stating that the department is “committed” to submitting the reports to Congress, and that designations made by the commission “do not expire,” including those for countries of particular concern, special watch list countries and entities of particular concern.


UK demands investigation into UN Palestinian Rapporteur after latest Israel comments
The government has called for an “urgent investigation” into Francesca Albanese over a “series of comments” made by the United Nations rapporteur on the Palestinian territories.

Albanese has repeatedly come under fire for extreme social media posts, including one in which she stated the Hamas-led attack on October 7 was a “reaction to Israel’s oppression.”

Last month the Italian diplomat accused international governments of enabling a “genocide” and referred to a “common enemy of humanity” when speaking about Israel at a conference in Doha.

After complaints about the remarks by over 400 peers Labour MP Luke Akehurst had submitted a question asking about the government’s position on Albanese.

Chris Elmore, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, responded: “Along with several other countries, we have raised concerns about a series of comments made by the Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“Ministers have raised these concerns directly with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UK has asked that the comments of the Special Rapporteur be urgently investigated against the Code of Conduct for her post, and for action to be taken to restore the confidence of the international community in the independence and objectivity of this important role.”

Akehurst told Jewish News: “I welcome the Government’s response and that it is taking this unacceptable behaviour seriously. The UN clearly must sack Francesca Albanese, as France and others have already called for. Her record of virulent anti-Israel hate is outrageous and longstanding.”

The move followed calls from France and Germany for her removal, along with similar demands from the Czech Republic and Austria.


Zohran Mamdani’s wife liked social media posts celebrating Oct. 7 attacks
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent the mayoral campaign distancing himself from the most radical anti-Israel elements of his leftist movement, but an examination of his wife’s social media activity reveals she liked multiple Instagram posts cheering on Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault.

The posts liked by Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, unambiguously celebrated the terrorist attack, which saw nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers killed, thousands wounded, 251 civilians and military personnel kidnapped and numerous episodes of sexual assault.

The first post, shared on the day of Hamas’ onslaught, came from The Slow Factory, which bills itself as “a school, knowledge partner and climate innovation organization” that “center[s] the voices and ideas of the Global Majority (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color) to share their knowledge outside the boundaries of institutions & oppressive systems.”

The Instagram post shows stills from participants’ livestreamed footage of the attack: first of a bulldozer that terrorists used to breach the barrier separating Israel from Gaza, the second of attackers riding on a captured IDF vehicle. Printed on the former are the words “Breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation,” and on the latter “Resisting apartheid since 1948,” and on both the slogan “Systemic change for collective liberation.”

The extensive caption on the post laments that “if and when the occupation forces retaliate against this resistance” Gazans will be “punished for wanting freedom from apartheid.”

Duwaji, who met Mamdani on a dating app in 2021 and married him in early 2025, liked this post and others using a personal account in her own name, on which she has posted her often-political illustrations and with which the mayor has interacted in the past. She has used it also to directly criticize Israeli policy.

The unapologetic tone of the Slow Factory Post contrasts radically with the mayor’s debate-stage messaging on the attack, which characterized Hamas’ actions as “war crimes,” even as he continually lambasted the Israeli military response.

Duwaji did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and the mayor’s office would not answer questions regarding his feelings about her online activity, or whether they had discussed the Oct. 7 attacks at the time. Rather, his team repeated his standard line on the bloody terrorist rampage.

“Mayor Mamdani has been clear and consistent: Hamas is a terrorist organization, October 7th was a horrific war crime, and he has condemned that violence unequivocally,” a City Hall spokesperson said in a statement to Jewish Insider.


Zohran Mamdani declines to address wife’s pro-Oct. 7 social media activity
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would not speak to Jewish Insider’s findings that his wife, First Lady Rama Duwaji, had liked Instagram posts that justified and even glorified the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

The mayor would not directly address JI’s revelations that his wife had liked posts that approvingly shared stills from the livestreamed assault and promoted a protest that supported the terrorist action the following day — a protest Mamdani himself had condemned at the time.

“My wife is the love of my life, and she’s also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall,” Mandani said at a press briefing Friday morning. “I, however, was elected to represent all eight-and-a-half million people in this city, and I believe that it’s my responsibility, because of that role, to answer any questions about my thoughts and my policies and my decisions.”

His comments appear to be an effort to differentiate Duwaji, who has no official municipal or political role, and the wife of Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), whom the New York Times reported earlier this week had liked and shared multiple posts attacking activists critical of Israel while serving as the congressman’s campaign treasurer.

But the mayor’s defense contrasts with his remarks in an interview from January, when he referred to Duwaji as “the best advocate” and credited her with lobbying him to close public schools for a snow day after a student reached her by email.

Duwaji, who met Mamdani on a dating app in 2021 and married him in early 2025, is an increasingly prominent Syrian-American illustrator whose work appeared in a New Yorker piece on conditions in Gaza following her husband’s election last fall, and whose style and presence in high society has received widespread attention.


Zack Polanski votes against motion condemning defacement of Churchill statue
The Green Party leader Zack Polanski has voted against a London Assembly motion which described the daubing of graffiti on Winston Churchill’s statue by an anti-Israel protestor – including language describing the British Prime Minister as a “Zionist war criminal” – as an “appalling desecration”.

Polanski, alongside his fellow Green London Assembly members, Zoe Garbett and Caroline Russell, voted against the motion, proposed by the Conservative GLA representatives, which condemned the defacement of the wartime leader’s statue in Parliament Square. Garbett described how “non-violent direct action has always been a legitimate and necessary part of democratic political life.”

The police arrested Dutch national Caspar San Giorgio, 38, shortly after the Churchill statue was defaced with graffiti last Friday. Other wording graffitied on the statue included the phrases “globalise the intifada” and “free Palestine”. San Giorgio now faces a criminal damage charge, which he is contesting.

Dutch group Free The Filton 24 claimed responsibility for the action, posting a video on Instagram appearing to show the incident in progress. Free The Filton 24 defines itself as a group of “family and friends” of the 24 Palestine Action activists who were charged over a break-in at one of Israel-based defence firm Elbit’s UK sites in 2024.

The government strongly condemned the defacement of the statue late last week, with a Number 10 spokesman saying: “Churchill was a great Briton. This Government will always stand up for our values and the perpetrator must be held to account.”

Polanski also joined his Green colleagues in voting against a GLA motion welcoming the removal of Ayatollah Khamenei and describing how the Iranian people “now have their strongest chance in decades to escape from the yoke of the ayatollah’s brutal regime.”

Yesterday Polanski claimed that “Israel killed 160 children in a strike on a school” in Iran. At this time, it appears far more likely that the airstrike was carried out by the United States.


House Education Committee says Daniel Biss ‘severely downplayed antisemitism’ in briefing
In a briefing for the House Education & Workforce Committee on his response to the anti-Israel protest encampment at Northwestern University in 2024, Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss “severely downplayed” the situation on that campus and antisemitism across the country, the committee said.

The committee asked Biss, who is a congressional candidate in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), to brief them on his decision to withhold Evanston police support from Northwestern University when requested by the school to help clear the encampment.

The lack of external law enforcement support prompted Northwestern to make a deal, widely criticized in the Jewish community, with the encampment members to disband voluntarily, according to internal Northwestern communications released by the committee.

“In his briefing with the Committee today, Mr. Biss severely downplayed antisemitism at Northwestern after October 7th. He told the Committee that the great majority of his Jewish friends in the Northwestern community had no concerns about it,” a committee spokesperson told Jewish Insider.

That’s at odds with comments from Jewish Northwestern community members and local Jewish groups about the encampment.

“He further stated that Northwestern should not have received an F on the Anti-Defamation League’s college report card. He even accused the Committee of alarmism that is not warranted by the facts when it comes to antisemitism at the university after the October 7th attacks,” the spokesperson continued. “The countless Jewish Northwestern students, faculty, and community members that the Committee has interviewed would say otherwise.”

The school reached an agreement with the Department of Justice last year, paying $75 million and making policy changes to address antisemitism on its campus.
Event at NYC public college features speaker who promotes antisemitic conspiracies
A student group at New York City’s public John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Thursday hosted a speaker on campus who has shared antisemitic conspiracies online in recent weeks.

John Jay’s Muslim Student Association hosted Sheikh Abdelraham Badawy in the campus’s student dining hall, the group said on social media.

John Jay is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), the city’s public college network. The Muslim Student Association is a recognized student organization, according to the college’s website.

In the past several weeks, Badawy has shared videos on Instagram mocking the Holocaust, saying Jews want to make non-Jews their slaves, justifying antisemitism, and promoted content from far-right figures with histories of antisemitism such as Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes.

One of the videos he shared attacked a New Jersey Jewish community for “scamming the system” by receiving welfare benefits.

“Antisemitism on the rise? Wonder why,” a caption on the video said.

Another video showed the Sesame Street character Elmo apologizing for saying that “Jews control the weather machines” and endorsing the antisemitic Elders of Zion. The character says, “Elmo knows the Holocaust is very real” and will “kiss the cuck wall in Israel,” referring to the Western Wall.

The video shows Elmo then walking back the apology after seeing a photo of a Palestinian child.

“Fuck that. How can Elmo be antisemitic if Jews aren’t semites?” the character in the video says to applause, before listing several antisemitic conspiracies. “9/11 — [Jews]. US Liberty — [Jews]. They’re ****ing children and blackmailing the government people wake up,” the video says.

Another post shared a video that accused “powerful Jewish financiers” of conspiring to foment the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and that Jews assassinated the tsar’s family “in a ritualistic manner,” echoing the age-old antisemitic blood libel.
Columbia University reaches settlement in federal Jew-hatred lawsuit
The StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice announced on March 5 that it has reached a confidential settlement with Columbia University in a federal lawsuit alleging the school failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism on campus.

The agreement, reached Feb. 27, resolves claims brought by Students Against Antisemitism, SCLJ and a majority of the student plaintiffs in Students Against Antisemitism, Inc. et al. v. Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit, first filed in February 2024, alleged that Columbia allowed a hostile environment for Jewish students and did not adequately enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin.

Under the settlement terms disclosed by SCLJ, Columbia has agreed to appoint a Title VI coordinator responsible for overseeing compliance with federal civil rights law and to implement enhanced education and training programs on antisemitism. The university also said it will consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism in enforcing its anti-discrimination policies and will provide scholarships for students who have lived, studied or worked in Israel.

Oleg Ivanov, executive director of the SCLJ, told JNS that the settlement “follows recent agreements by other educational institutions, which have acknowledged the issue of campus antisemitism and adopted measures, which, if properly implemented, will meaningfully address the problem.”

The initiatives that the university agreed to as part of the settlement “help to ensure that Jewish and Israeli students and faculty are treated as equal and valuable members of the campus community,” Ivanov said.

He added that “it is critical that other schools follow suit to ensure that those responsible for handling complaints of antisemitism on campus are trained and well-versed in the nuances of these identity-based attacks, which include contemporary forms of antisemitism, like anti-Zionism.”
Owen Jones attacked ‘journalistic integrity’ of Jewish BBC News editor, libel trial hears
An article by journalist Owen Jones about the BBC’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza is an attack on the “journalistic integrity” of the corporation’s regional Middle East online news editor, the High Court has been told.

In an article published in December last year, Jones claimed that BBC staff had told him that Raffi Berg “plays a key role in a wider BBC culture of ‘systematic Israeli propaganda’” and “repeatedly seeks to foreground the Israeli military perspective while stripping away Palestinian humanity”.

Berg, who joined the BBC in 2001 and has been Middle East regional editor for its news website for 12 years, denies the claims in the article, titled The BBC’s Civil War Over Gaza.

He is now suing Jones for libel and is seeking damages, an injunction preventing Jones from republishing the article, and an order requiring websites to take down the piece.

Jones is defending the claim and has previously said he will “vigorously” defend his reporting.

At a hearing on Friday, which both journalists attended, barristers asked a judge to rule on several preliminary issues in the case, including whether the article has a defamatory meaning and whether it was a statement of fact or an expression of opinion.

John Stables, for Berg, told the court that the meaning conveyed by the article was that his client was a “bent journalist”, “rotten”, and an “Israeli stooge”.

He continued in written submissions that the piece made “explicit statements” that Berg “carries out his job, his role, deliberately with a pro-Israeli bias; and that it is very evident that Berg’s work is intentionally biased because it is widely recognised as such”.

He also said that the article “singled out” Berg and attacked his “journalistic integrity”, offering “no antidote” to the claims.

The barrister said: “The article read as a whole would be readily understood to be largely focused on Berg and as being the product of investigation, of fact-finding, rather than mere commentary.”

He also said that the article made “statements of fact” including alleging that Berg “carries out his job deliberately to produce biased ‘propaganda’ that favours Israel, editing and writing news reports that promote Israel’s interests knowingly falsely”.
German Jewish community hits back at op-ed telling leader to ‘shut up’ about Iran strikes
Jewish organizations in Germany have slammed a prominent leftist daily after it published an op-ed telling the community’s top representative to “just shut up already” following his public statements on the joint Israeli-American military strikes on Iran.

The controversy began after Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, issued a statement on Tuesday in which he backed the military action, expressing hope for the fall of the Iranian regime.

On Wednesday, Susanne Knaul, an editor at the Berlin-based Die Tageszeitung, known as taz, published an opinion piece under the title “Just shut up already.”

In it, she criticized Schuster for his open support of the campaign. “Is this really necessary, many, especially those who are Jewish themselves, are now asking,” she wrote.

Knaul also expressed understanding for the desire to see an end to the Iranian regime, writing that, “No one denies Schuster the right to support the attacks. Whether publicly or privately, most people in Germany will hope that the terror regime in Tehran will soon come to an end.”

But she ultimately concluded that Schuster “should have shown restraint in his function and better left statements of this kind to the Israeli ambassador.”

Schuster had noted that Tehran is “behind numerous attacks on Jewish communities” and argued that without Iranian “terror agents,” Jews in Germany could finally move closer to a “visible life without a protective shield.”
How Iran’s Censorship Ministry Got Inside Wikipedia
Propaganda has long been one of the most prized weapons of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Manipulating not just information but perception, the regime has managed to offset outdated military hardware and limited strategic projection while cloaking its central strategy: maintaining a regional network of proxy militias across the Middle East.

Nowhere has this approach to information been more visible than on Wikipedia.

In January, NPOV reported Inside Iran’s Wikipedia War, exposing a network of IRI-aligned editors quietly reshaping hundreds of articles related to the Iranian regime. A second NPOV investigation revealed the mass upload of more than 10,000 images and videos tied to the 2025–2026 protests onto Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia’s global media repository. The files were sourced from Iranian state outlets including the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency, Mehr News Agency, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s official website, Khamenei.ir.

Together, the uploads saturated search results for the protests with regime-produced material — funeral processions for security forces, footage depicting protesters as violent rioters, and speeches by senior Iranian officials.

Newly examined records now show that senior figures within Persian Wikipedia were in direct dialogue with Iran’s censorship authorities.

In September 2018, several senior volunteers from the Persian-language edition of Wikipedia participated in a recorded strategy meeting held in collaboration with Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the government body responsible for regulating media and issuing publishing licenses, according to a 2019 report by openDemocracy.

Among the Wikipedia participants was Mohsen Salek, introduced at the event as a senior manager and bureaucrat of Persian Wikipedia. Representing the government was Hamid Ziaei Parvar, head of the ministry’s Bureau of Media Studies and Planning.

During the discussion, panelists addressed how politically sensitive content about Iranian officials should be handled on the platform. At one point, Salek compared the authority of Wikipedia administrators to the ministry’s own censorship apparatus, Vezarat-e-Ershad, which oversees all licensed media inside Iran:
“…these guys here play the role of Vezarat-e-Ershad in Wikipedia… They can close one account, open another, give warnings. They are even stronger than Vezarat-e-Ershad. They have the keys in their hands.”

Participants also discussed locking pages about Iranian officials to prevent what they described as “attacks,” and suggested that information about individuals should not appear on Wikipedia unless it had already been widely reported and verified by Iranian state media outlets.


Pennsylvania county, FCC investigate antisemitic broadcasts on public safety radio
Authorities in Allegheny County, Pa., are investigating a series of unauthorized transmissions of antisemitic messages and Nazi propaganda broadcast over a public safety radio channel starting on March 2.

Allegheny County Emergency Services was first alerted around 2 p.m. on March 2 to an unidentified radio user transmitting threatening and hateful messages on public safety radio channels, officials said. A second set of messages was broadcast the following morning on the same channel.

Federal and county law enforcement partners, including the Federal Communications Commission, are assisting in the investigation.

According to statements shared with JNS by Kasey Reigner, a county spokeswoman, the public safety system was not hacked. Instead, an unknown individual accessed the county’s analog radio system using an unregistered device to transmit the messages.

Reigner told local outlet TribLIVE that the county has had “unknown subscribers show up on our channels in the past.”

Local reports indicate some messages contained racist and antisemitic language, including threats against Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor, whose late mother was Jewish, and phrases invoking white nationalist ideology. One broadcast reportedly stated, “We will never stop until our children have a future in a white nation,” ending with praise for Adolf Hitler. Another claimed to be from William Luther Pierce, a neo-Nazi who died in 2002.
Advocacy groups urge govt action after Montreal Jewish businesses vandalized with swastikas
Jewish advocacy groups are urging the Canadian government to adopt “concrete measures” after three Jewish‑owned businesses in Montreal’s Saint‑Laurent borough were vandalized with swastikas on March 3, according to police and local reports.

Montreal police said they were called about 3 a.m. on Wednesday after someone reported graffiti on the storefront of a pharmacy on St. Louis Street. Officers found “hate‑related graffiti” on the pharmacy and on a neighbouring kosher butcher shop and Italian kosher restaurant, Gourmetti.

The marks have since been removed, police said, and the case has been referred to the hate crimes unit. No arrests have been announced.

“Concrete and effective measures need to be taken by governments, at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, to fight the rise in antisemitism,” Julien Corona, director of strategic communications and public relations for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told JNS.

Corona said that while the group has no knowledge of current active threats, “these Nazi signs and this new heinous act must act as a reminder to politicians of the need for these concrete measures.”

“This reminds us that no one wants hatred to take root in Quebec and undermine the fabric of our society,” Corona told JNS. “Displaying a Nazi swastika is completely contrary to Quebec’s values. It has no place in our society.”


From surfboards to flowers: Sydney Jewish Museum preserving Bondi Beach memorial tributes
The Sydney Jewish Museum is working to preserve flowers, notes and other items left at a memorial for the Dec. 14 terrorist attack during a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people and wounded more than 40.

The museum, located in Sydney’s Darlinghurst neighborhood and founded more than 30 years ago to commemorate victims of the Holocaust, has already collected and catalogued more than 1,500 objects from the spontaneous memorial that formed near Bondi Pavilion in the days after the attack. The collection will be used in a future memorial exhibition on the tragedy.

The museum stated that the memorial tributes highlight “all the ways people have shared their grief and solidarity.” Among the items preserved are candles, cards, soft toys, painted stones and textiles, as well as surf lifesaving boards used by first responders as stretchers to carry victims from the scene.

In February, museum staff met with members of the Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club who responded to the attack.

“During the Bondi Beach attack in December last year, they turned their iconic red-and-yellow rescue boards into lifelines,” the museum wrote of the club. “As first responders, they provided first aid to victims and crucial support to paramedics.”

Ten of those boards, along with a spinal board used during the rescue efforts, have been donated to the museum’s collection.

Volunteers are also helping artist Nina Sanadze preserve roughly three tons of fresh flowers left at the memorial.

“The whole community is participating in this meaningful effort of preservation, remembrance and community-building,” the museum stated. Sanadze has been commissioned to create an exhibition that will transform the fragile tributes into a permanent work of remembrance.

The museum has also launched a digital archive called “Remembering Bondi,” inviting the public to upload memories, reflections, photographs and messages connected to the attack.
Parents of FINAL hostage meet Bondi survivors at terror attack site
Standing at the site of the massacre at Bondi Beach, I spoke with the parents of hostage victim Ran Gvili, who was the final hostage from the 7 October Hamas attacks to be laid to rest after 843 days in Gaza.

Itzik and Talik Gvili were visiting Sydney to offer comfort to the families of those killed when two gunmen attacked people celebrating Hanukkah, leaving 15 people dead. Their son Ran was taken hostage during the 7 October attack in Israel and later died in captivity.

The couple told me they wanted to strengthen the community and encourage Jewish people to stand proud in the face of terror.

“Be strong and be proud to be Jewish. Don’t be afraid of terrorists,” Mrs Gvili said. “If we are frightened, they will do it again. Look them in the eyes and say: no more.”

The Gvili family said their visit was about supporting victims’ relatives and sharing the grief that follows violent attacks.

“We came to give them strength. They should be proud of their husband, their brother and proud of what they stood for,” Mr Gvili said.

The parents spoke emotionally about their son, describing him as a hero who ran into danger to save others during the 7 October attacks in Israel.

“He is like the rabbi who runs toward the fire instead of away from it to save lives. My son is a big hero ... he didn’t scare. And this is what they have to do, don't have to be scared of them.”

Their visit came as survivors of the Bondi Beach attack recounted the chaos that unfolded when the shooting began during a holiday gathering.






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