Thursday, March 26, 2026

03/25 Links Pt2: Israel Derangement Syndrome Needs to End; Coleman Hughes vs Glenn Greenwald; Two men arrested in connection with the Hatzola ambulance arson

From Ian:

Time for non-Jews to call out this hatred
I find myself emailing Jewish colleagues, “So sorry for abuse you’re suffering”, when I read comments on social media. But it happens so regularly I can’t keep up. I fear becoming desensitised. Gentiles aren’t included in WhatsApp groups where Jews discuss escape plans to New Zealand. The young aren’t going to call out this racism. Their cause is Palestine. Greta Thunberg, like most of her generation, appears to equate Jews collectively with the Israeli government. It doesn’t matter how many times Jewish friends and colleagues apologise for atrocities occurring in the Middle East, how often they distance themselves from Binyamin Netanyahu’s wars — it’s not enough for some unless they disown the state of Israel and disavow Zionism.

Hate crimes against Muslims are now twice as likely to result in prosecution as offences against Jews, yet Jews are nearly ten times as likely to be the targets of these attacks, according to Home Office figures. The number of schools marking Holocaust Memorial Day is down 60 per cent since the October 7 massacre in 2023. Jews aren’t considered victims any more.

Sir Keir Starmer says little, he’s too compromised. This half-term he slipped away to visit Auschwitz with his wife, Victoria, who is Jewish, and their children. “Antisemitism has no place in our society,” he said stiffly this week, but it is clear he is anxious about offending both the Muslim and youth vote as the government fast-tracks a new definition of Islamophobia. The Green leader Zack Polanski has mentioned his Jewish heritage yet is more fixated on his party’s vote this week on the motion “Zionism is racism”. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, needs to speak up for Britain’s Jews. It was Jewish News that reached out last week to show a British sense of tolerance in supporting Muslims celebrating Iftar in Trafalgar Square.

I am nominally Church of England but my creed is acceptance and respect for all faiths that adhere to our country’s values. I never thought we could be like the communities in Kyiv, Lviv, Salonika and Amsterdam in the last century who allowed their Jewish brethren to be shunned and then attacked before being annihilated. Standing by and saying nothing now corrodes us all.
The everyday heroism of our Jewish children
It’s primary school. 12:30. Sun is shining. Some of the kids are having lunch, others are out in the playground. The climbing frame is full, the football pitch is buzzing, kids are running around playing ultimate tag. There’s a lunchtime netball club in the hall. This is the primary school of every kid in the UK. But this is where the familiarity for the general population ends.

The alarm goes off. It takes a second, but the kids know exactly what to do. They’ve practised for this very moment. This alarm isn’t the fire alarm. It’s the other one. The one where you have to stay safe, stay down, and stay silent. Thirty seconds later the entire school has locked down. Out of sight. Four to eleven year-olds sitting without making a sound. A minute goes by. Then the next, then the next. Seconds feel like hours. The teachers don’t know any more than the kids, but they have to keep them calm. They have to keep them quiet. Because the alternative is unthinkable.

Finally, the all clear sounds. It was a false alarm. Everyone breathes out.

And the kids? They just go back to the rest of the day like nothing happened.

I just finished watching Crossfire on BBC iplayer. It’s harrowing. Gunmen attack a hotel. Families, kids, running everywhere. But all I could think (and it was wildly depressing) was, “my kids would know what to do. If I told them it was an intruder alarm, they’d know what to do”. And that awkward lump in my throat, the slight tear in my eye, grew just slightly bigger.

Every kid at a Jewish school walks past the security, and often the police outside their school, and instead of turning to their parent and asking why these people are here, they just say good morning. Because it’s normal. But it’s not, is it? It’s not normal to be surprised when the front gate is open rather than locked shut. It’s not normal to have your bag searched going into a Jewish community centre. It’s not normal for my son’s teacher to have to skip a section of CBBC Newsround because it might hit a bit too close to home.

It’s not normal for every single synagogue in the country, every Jewish school, every Jewish building, every Jewish event to have security stood outside large gates and fences. And it’s not normal for my kids to think it’s normal.

And this isn’t just some sort of over-reaction. The threat is real. This month alone there has been an attack against a Jewish “cheder” school in Amsterdam, an attack on a synagogue in Michigan which housed a nursery, arrests of Iranians accused of spying on Jewish locations (including a school) in London, and of course the firebombing attack on the Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green.
Police chief who responded to Detroit synagogue attack targeted by online vitriol
During a press conference last Thursday, organized to address rising antisemitism in the wake of the ramming attack on Temple Israel in Detroit earlier this month, the Oakland County sheriff who helped organize the police response to the incident announced the arrest of what seemed like the latest perpetrator: an individual who had posted an antisemitic meme ridiculing the sheriff.

Sheriff Mike Bouchard displayed the image, featuring his face altered to include a Star of David over his forehead and payot, the sidelocks worn by some Jewish men, dangling near his ears.

“Some pond scum felt empowered and emboldened enough to put this picture of me up to try to threaten and intimidate me,” Bouchard, who is not Jewish, said during the press conference. “And by the way, the person that did this said a bunch of terrible things, not just against me, but against a lot of groups and individuals, who, by the way, was arrested today in Wisconsin.”

But while the arrest was only briefly mentioned during the press conference, which featured Bouchard and a group of religious leaders, including Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel, by Tuesday, it had been seized on by thousands of users on X as evidence of censorship and Jewish supremacy.

“Arrested in America for pointing out that a sheriff is jewish,” Jake Shields, a far-right influencer and former MMA champion, wrote in a post on X.

“Jews are murdering free speech in America,” wrote another influencer.


Coleman Hughes: Israel Derangement Syndrome Needs to End
For those who don't listen to long podcasts, I'd like to summarize the points I've made in my podcast debates with @ggreenwald and @davesmith on the supposedly all-powerful Israel Lobby.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

The idea that the most powerful country the world has ever known is being puppeteered by a country the size of New Jersey and its co-ethnics, who collectively account for 0.2% of the world's population, is an extraordinary claim.

So you would expect there to be a ton of evidence, right? In reality, there isn't. Criticize America's foreign and domestic policy as much as you want––there's plenty to dislike. But don't blame it on Israel or the Lobby.

The centerpiece of this narrative is the article of faith that Israel got us into the Iraq War. In reality, the Prime Minister of Israel came to the White House to ask Bush *not* to invade Iraq, as that would empower Iran, Israel's real enemy. Bush listened politely, then ignored him and did it anyway, because U.S. Presidents make their own choices, for good and for ill.

The IDF chief of military intel said on TV in fall 2002 that Israel did *not* believe Saddam had nuclear weapons and disagreed with the American intel assessment. Hard to imagine a clearer discouragement. Again, we ignored this and went in for our own reasons.

Here's why we did the War in Iraq: 9-11 created an atmosphere of extreme threat-sensitivity among the U.S. security establishment. Our failure to pre-emptively destroy al-Qaeda in the 90s was suddenly seen as a huge failure never to be repeated. The lesson internalized: we must pre-emptively act against theoretical security threats, even if they're low-probability and thousands of miles away.

The fear that Saddam could pass WMD to an undeterrable Jihadist group fit that lesson perfectly. Why?

Saddam had been reckless since the 80s. He invaded multiple countries. And key: He had successfully hidden his nuclear program from the CIA in the past. In 1991, when the CIA discovered that Saddam was 1-1.5 years away from a nuke, they were stunned. They internalized another lesson: Saddam is capable of hiding his nuclear program from us. That lesson led them to discount the absence of a smoking gun in the lead-up to 2003. "If he successfully hid it back then, he could be successfully hiding it now," the thinking went.

Ppl often cite Netanyahu's pro-war testimony before Congress as if it mattered (September 12th, 2002). Netanyahu was a private citizen and had no power at the time. Meanwhile, the actual Prime Minister of Israel was saying: "please don't go in". Not only that, Bush and crew made the final decision to invade Iraq *before* that testimony even happened (see White House memoirs). There is no evidence that Citizen Bibi's testimony moved anyone's needle.

So if Israel did not get us into Iraq, where is the evidence of the "all-powerful" Israel Lobby?
Glenn Greenwald vs. Coleman Hughes Debate: Does Israel Control U.S. Foreign Policy?
Glenn Greenwald joins the show to debate a hotly contested topic: What is Israel’s influence over U.S. policy? Glenn is a fierce critic of the US-Israel alliance and in this episode, Coleman and Glenn examine competing claims about the power of the Israel lobby and whether it played a role in the path to war with Iran. They discuss Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the case for or against regime change, and how these questions shape American foreign policy in the Middle East. The conversation also turns to free speech on college campuses after October 7 and the boundaries between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. Finally, Coleman presses Glenn on his alliance with Tucker Carlson and the responsibilities of independent media.

0:00- Intro
3:01- The IHRA Definition, Campus Speech Controversies, and Allegations of Chilled Criticism of Israel
24:55- How Much Influence the Israel Lobby Actually Has in U.S. Politics
32:34- Trump’s Foreign Policy Toward Iran and Whether Lobbying Explains His Decisions
47:07- Strategic Benefits of the U.S.–Israel Alliance, Intelligence Cooperation, and Alliance Tradeoffs
59:55- Espionage Between Allies and the Jonathan Pollard Case
1:04:11- Did Israel Influence the U.S. Decision to Go to War With Iran?
1:11:41- Netanyahu, Donors, and the Case for Israeli Influence
1:22:22- Iraq, Intelligence Credibility, and the Case Against Preventive War
1:54:52- Glenn Greenwald on His Relationship With Tucker Carlson




“Australia, Britain, Canada, France: How many of your Jews are now thinking of leaving?” At the United Nations, Hillel Neuer recalled an old truth. The measure of any society is simple: Are Jews safe?

Across the West, that answer grows uncertain. Neuer asked Australia, Britain, Canada, France: “How many of your Jews are now thinking of leaving?”

History will render its judgment.



UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff gives the Dennis Blair Memorial lecture, chaired by Nicole Lampert, at JW3
Wide-ranging discussion of issues facing the Jewish community and legal responses to them, including the work of UK Lawyers for Israel and UKLFI Charitable Trust. 24 March 2026.


Why Are People So Obsessed With the Jews?



Bondi hero Ahmed al Ahmed arrives back at iconic beach to be given rare award of the key to the city - but it's the accompanying gift that might be even more hard to find
Ahmed al Ahmed has been awarded a 'Key to the City' and lifetime Waverley Beach Pass, which gives him free waterfront parking to some of Sydney's best beaches, in recognition of his bravery during the Bondi massacre.

Waverley Council, which oversees Bondi, handed Mr Al Ahmed his award on Wednesday night.

He and two other men, Gefen Bitton and Leibel Lazaroff, have been applauded as heroes for risking their lives to help others during the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on December 14 that claimed 15 innocent lives.

It's alleged Naveed Akram and his father, Sajid Akram, opened fire on a Jewish festival celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. Sajid was fatally shot by police and Naveed remains in custody ahead of his trial.

Mr Al Ahmed has been widely recognised for wrestling a gun from Sajid during the six-minute attack.

Mr Bitton had also run to Mr Al Ahmed's side to confront Sajid. He has not returned to Australia to receive his award after being medically evacuated to Israel.

Mr Lazaroff assisted Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who died during the attack, in helping critically wounded NSW Police Constable Scott Dyson after he was shot. He received his award from Waverley Council in February.

When presenting Mr Al Ahmed with his award on Wednesday, Mayor Will Nemesh described the hero's actions as 'a guiding light to prevail against the darkness'.
Western Sydney University distances itself from post-Bondi event
Western Sydney University has distanced itself from an event about the Bondi terror attack chaired by a prominent anti-Israel academic following questions from Sky News.

A webinar scheduled for Friday challenging the new antisemitism laws had been promoted for several weeks using the name and logo of the university.

The event, Hate: Placing the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act in Context, is being chaired by university professor Alana Lentin, described on her personal website as an “anti-Zionist Jewish European woman who is a settler on Gadigal-Wangal land (Sydney, Australia)”.

Professor Lentin published an article two weeks after the Bondi terror attack, in which 15 people were shot dead by two gunmen police allege were motivated by Islamic State, calling Zionism “fascism”.

She published another article in the months before the massacre headlined “Against Jewish safety”.

In an online video promoting her new book, she claims “Jewish safety is being used to re-secure European hegemony”.

This week’s event focuses on the new hate speech laws introduced by the Albanese government in the wake of the Bondi attack.

Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said he was shocked to see the university associated with the event in online material, given its chancellor Jennifer Westacott has been a strong voice against antisemitism.

Professor Westacott was nominated for The Australian newspaper’s own Australian of the Year awards over her leadership in fighting to stamp out Jewish hatred in universities.
The Hatzola attack has exposed the conspiratorial rot of ‘anti-Zionism’
Nothing better illustrates the obsessive hatred of ‘anti-Zionists’ than how they react when Jews are attacked.

In north London on Monday morning, three masked individuals attacked four empty ambulances belonging to Hatzola, an emergency service that operates in Jewish areas but which serves all the members of the local community. An Iran-backed group, the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand (Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya), a group with Islamist symbols similar to those of Hezbollah, quickly claimed responsibility. The group has already been associated with other violent incidents in Europe, including recent attacks on synagogues in Liège and Rotterdam. Two suspects have now been arrested, although no links to People of the Right Hand have yet been confirmed.

It is genuinely harder to imagine a more blatant violation of civic norms and humane values. This was a pure anti-Semitic crime, designed to intimidate and wound the local Jewish community at a time of rising Jew hatred. To its credit, the UK government offered swift condemnation and paid for new ambulances, and there was an outpouring of sympathy from many quarters.

But there was also a hysterical meltdown from every deranged anti-Israel hater, desperate to plumb new depths of irrationality, stupidity and disgrace. On X, the belief that this was a ‘false flag’ attack by Zionists, or the Israeli government, went viral.

These conspiracy theorists come in all shapes and sizes, arriving from various fringes of the political spectrum to meet on the common ground of ‘anti-Zionism’. A tweet rubbishing any possible Iranian motive for the Hatzola attack – and heavily hinting Israeli involvement – garnered tens of thousands of likes. Another claiming that People of the Right Hand is a front group for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, was also gleefully retweeted by anti-Israel zealots on the left and the right.

On her X account, Jayda Fransen, former deputy leader of the far-right Britain First movement, claimed that British Jews have ‘their own Hatzola ambulances’, as well as ‘their own police force’, meaning that ‘Jews run parallel emergency services for their own people in Britain’. She also shared a post that stated:
‘It is interesting that the torched ambulances were in the process of being replaced and no longer needed. That means they will get all the insurance money now as well plus the outpouring of sympathy. Wonder who would come up with such a scheme?’

It seems like you just can’t stop those devious, manipulative and downright avaricious Jews, can you? If they aren’t manufacturing stories of rape and murder on 7 October, then surely they must be busy setting fire to their own ambulances?
Bizarre stupidity of the Hatzola ambulance ‘false flag’ conspiracy theories
Every time there is an antisemitic attack – in this country or any others – Jews feel it twice over. First, we have to cope with the attack itself. Second, we have to deal with an overflowing sewer of toxic bile from those who find their own particular way to label the attack as a ‘false flag’.

What surprises me the most is that a number of the people who publicly engage in this sort of behaviour appear to have no real motivation for doing so – and in fact, a large number of reasons for not acting in this way. This includes a variety of people who operate public-facing businesses, websites and initiatives. You would think that a level of basic caution, if nothing else, would prevent them from outing themselves – at best – as raging conspiracist cranks. Apparently not.

And as with so many conspiracy theories, the people promulgating them look absolutely ridiculous, if not downright sinister.

Apparently targeting four ambulances in London’s Jewish community is part of some cunning Mossad plan to do… what, exactly? In this grand conspiracy theory which you have built in your head, does Keir Starmer instantly commit to an Iran ground invasion? Or has ‘Israel’ done it to somehow engender support for Jews in the UK (in this scenario, why blame ‘Netanyahu’ for conflating Jews and Israel when you do it so effortlessly yourself?) Or are you trying on for size the more longstanding ‘Israel false flag’ conspiracy theory of Mossad attacking a Jewish community target to promote fear among Diaspora Jews and encourage them to move to Israel?

So, then, is Israel’s cunning plan burning several ambulances to induce Diaspora Jews to migrate to Israel now, when the country is being targeted by Iranian ballistic missile fire?

If you are genuinely someone willing to examine your own prejudices, how on earth do you not look at yourself and laugh helplessly at your own idiocy in having fallen for this?

But it goes far deeper. Take a tweet by Daniel Lambert, otherwise known as the manager of Northern Irish band Kneecap (the lads were last seen taking in the sights on a regime trip to Cuba).

“When will media openly consider the likelihood Israel stages ‘antisemitic events’ in Europe?”, said Lambert, who is also chair of the Irish football club, Bohemians FC.

“Why? Blanket media coverage and distraction from their crimes. All that’s left to ask is would they go that low? Of course they would. They torture kids, bomb hospitals and execute medics.”

See, now here we have a much more insidious version of the ‘false flag’ conspiracy theory. For Lambert, Israel is unquestionably the most evil country in the world – and if you see something as unspeakably evil, then you are going to be willing to entertain the concept that they are willing to commit evil acts anywhere, against anything and anyone (the flip side is that those opposing them, no matter how foul, become almost saintlike in their ‘resistance’.)

In terms of brainpower, this expends the approximate wattage one would expect from a particularly dim pigeon.
Two men arrested in connection with the Golders Green arson attack
Two men aged 47 and 45 have been arrested in connection with the Golders Green arson attack.

The suspects – aged 47 and aged 45 – were arrested on Wednesday morning at addresses in the north-west London and central London areas respectively.

They were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both men have been taken to a London police station where they currently remain in police custody. Officers are carrying out searches at the two addresses.

The arrests are linked to the ongoing investigation into an arson attack on four ambulances run by the Hatzola, a volunteer-led service.

Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “We have been working around the clock since this appalling attack took place and this has led to these arrests being made this morning. This appears to be an important breakthrough in the investigation, but we’re also mindful that CCTV footage of the incident suggests there were at least three people involved. We fully recognise the local community will still be concerned and our investigation very much remains active and we will continue to work to identify and seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, who leads policing in North West London, said: “We know that community concerns remain heightened and I want to reassure the community that an enhanced, bespoke policing plan and activity, which is particularly focused around vulnerable areas right across London, will continue over coming days and weeks.
Group behind European antisemitic attacks may be only a facade, warn experts
An obscure group has claimed to have carried out a clutch of attacks that have rattled the Jewish community in several European cities.

But experts question whether the group, which has called itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) in online posts, really exists or is just a front for Iranian intelligence.

Jewish communities in Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands have each been targeted since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February.

Ambulances run by Jewish volunteers were set on fire in London, a car was torched in Antwerp, synagogues were hit with explosives in Liege and Rotterdam, and a Jewish school was targeted in Amsterdam.

Although police have generally been careful not to ascribe motives, pro-Iran social media accounts have posted footage and said the HAYI group carried out the attacks.

A European security source who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic pointed out that the HAYI group was unknown before the war.

“So it is indeed likely at this stage that it is a front group,” the source said.


Does the Green Party support Hamas’s aims? We’ll find out this weekend
Is Zionism racism? The Green Party is scheduled to debate a motion at its conference on Saturday which states that it is. In recent weeks, the party’s leader, Zack Polanski, has had media interviewers ask what he thinks. Every time, his response has been to argue around the various definitions of Zionism, while being clear that his view is that the current Israeli government is both racist and genocidal in its war in Gaza. His ultimate answer to the question? For him, it depends what you mean by Zionism.

Yet the TV media questions and Polanski’s answers give the impression that neither the interviewers nor their interviewee have read and understood the motion, which is much more than just its provocative title. Nick Robinson’s recent interview with Polanski on BBC Radio 4 was typical of this genre.

Ultimately, whether they realise it or not, members who sign up to Motion E12: “Zionism is Racism”, are being called on to support the belief that armed force should be used to ensure Israel ceases to exist, and that it should be replaced by a single Palestinian state in the whole territory, from the river to the sea.

The other effective actions are all means towards that single end: boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel; a call for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners; the de-proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group in the UK (largely overtaken now by the High Court decision ruling the proscription unlawful, albeit stayed pending a government appeal); the release of pro-Palestinian prisoners in the UK; support for those prisoners’ ever-changing political demands.

A clause calling for the party to reject both the IHRA definition and the Jerusalem Declaration on antisemitism was ruled out of order on the procedural basis that it was a proposal for internal party management rather than external political action. A separate motion would be needed for that.

When I say this motion calls for the overthrow of Israel by the actual armed Palestinian groups – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, etc – I get two types of responses. The first accuse me of a malicious misreading of the motion to discredit it and its supporters. The second say the motion absolutely does call for the armed overthrow of Israel, and rightly so.

Let me clear up any dispute about the motion’s effective text. Clause 3 says: “The Green Party supports the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine”. No mention is made of whether this would be with or without the consent of Israelis.

Clause 4 of the motion calls on the Greens to affirm “the right of the Palestinian people to resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation, domination and subjugation, and acknowledges that the struggle to achieve that liberation by all available means under international law is legitimate.”
11 Palestinian families evicted after court found Jews owned their East Jerusalem homes before 1948
Eleven Palestinian families were evicted from their homes in the Batan al-Hawa section of East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood on Wednesday, following a Supreme Court ruling from last year determining that their houses were owned by Jews before 1948.

The ruling said that because Jews owned the houses before Jordan occupied East Jerusalem in 1948, the year of Israel’s War of Independence, their ownership must be transferred to Ateret Cohanim, a right-wing foundation that works to strengthen the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem and petitioned to receive the properties.

Palestinian families had petitioned against the eviction, but their appeals were rejected late last year in several rulings that ordered 157 residents of the neighborhood to leave their homes.

Yosef Basbous, whose family was among those evicted on Wednesday, said in a statement, “Our family was expelled in 1948 and dispersed in refugee camps in the West Bank. I arrived in Silwan with my parents more than 60 years ago. I built this house stone by stone, brick by brick, nail by nail.”

“The police say they are implementing the court’s decisions in accordance with the law,” he continued. “But what kind of law is this that can expel me, who has been here for more than 60 years?”

The Peace Now settlement watchdog characterized the evictions as “ethnic cleansing.”

“The government and a discriminatory legal system are expelling an entire Palestinian community and replacing it” with Jewish nationalists, the left-wing group said. “This is happening in the Jerusalem of 2026, and it is a stain that will not be erased from Israel.”

The eviction orders target residents of the hilltop neighborhood south of Jerusalem’s Old City, and are based on a 1970 law that allows Jews who lost property before the establishment of Israel to reclaim it.
Lee Smith: Who's the Boss?
Even before starting his second term, Trump publicly warned his deputies not to bring anyone into the administration who’d been part of the Charles Koch network, whose think-tank experts favor a restoration of Obama’s nuclear deal and amicable relations with a terror state that since the 1979 Islamic Revolution has, together with its proxies, made a habit of kidnapping and torturing Americans and killed thousands of us.

And yet last March, Gabbard named Daniel Davis, a foreign-policy analyst at the Charles Koch-backed Defense Priorities, to a top spot at ODNI. Davis was in line to be deputy director for mission integration, responsible for preparing the presidential daily briefing. This raised concerns that an official in charge of the president’s briefing who was opposed to the president’s policies—and Davis was at odds with Trump not only on Iran, but also on China, Russia, Hamas, and pro-Hamas campus protesters—might try to curate intelligence so as to steer the commander in chief away from his preferences and toward Davis’ own.

Due to public outcry from Trump allies on Capitol Hill, prominent media and social media figures, and donors, Davis was replaced before he even officially started. Gabbard’s second pick for the same job was William Ruger, who worked at the Charles Koch Institute. Recently, Gabbard hired another former Defense Priorities adviser, Dan Caldwell, who worked under Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth before he was removed from his post for reportedly leaking to the media.

She wasn’t just staffing DNI with aides intent on protecting Iran from Trump. According to U.S. officials, she was also freezing out pro-Israel candidates. “She and her team actively campaigned against people going into the administration who saw Israel as a key ally,” one senior government official told Tablet. “And they viewed the Koch implants across the administration as an ally in that mission.”

Last year, Gabbard tried to move the country’s counterintelligence (CI) mission from the FBI to the ODNI. “Thanks to Kash Patel fighting Gabbard’s empire-building attempt, control of CI operations remained with FBI, which has the deep expertise in countering foreign espionage threats,” the senior government official told Tablet. “Had Tulsi succeeded in moving FBI CI ops to DNI, our country’s premier counterespionage service would have been in disarray and unable to respond to the surging Iranian threat.”

Or she would’ve buried the threat altogether for fear of giving the president and his top national security officials more reason to end the 47-year threat for good. Indeed, last March, she undercut Trump when she testified on Capitol Hill that the U.S. intelligence services “assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

If, as Gabbard testified, Iran wasn’t building a bomb, then Trump’s vows to end Iran’s nuclear program either through diplomacy or force were ridiculous. But Iran didn’t suspend the program in 2003, as Israel’s 2018 seizure of Iran’s nuclear archives made plain. And by the time of Gabbard’s testimony, Iran had enough material to make at least 10 bombs.
Vance’s office denies report VP raised anti-Palestinian riots with Netanyahu
U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s office on Tuesday dismissed as “completely false” reports that he raised concerns about anti-Palestinian violence in Judea and Samaria during talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The vice president’s discussions over the last week with the prime minister have been solely focused on Operation Epic Fury,” the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, tweeted Vance’s press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk.

“The subject of this article was not even discussed,” she added.

Van Kirk’s X post was referring to an Israel Hayom article claiming that “the tone escalated” after Vance raised recent incidents of anti-Arab riots in Judea and Samaria during a phone call with Netanyahu.

Israel Defense Forces Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth during a meeting with Judea and Samaria mayors on Tuesday “commended the involvement of municipal leaders in preventing incidents of nationalist crime” in the wake of reported attacks targeting Palestinians, according to a military statement.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter told Ynet on Wednesday that “there are 600,000 people [in Judea and Samaria] who respect the law, respect their neighbors and wake up every morning wanting only to do good.”

“There is a small group of a few hundred guys who have fallen through the cracks, who are tarnishing an entire enterprise,” he said.

Leiter said neither the White House nor the Jewish state’s allies on Capitol Hill had criticized the matter, and denied the report that Vance raised the issue in his two phone calls with Netanyahu.
Shocking racist messages from group chat named 'Nazi Heaven' force Republican secretary to quit
A Florida Republican resigned from his secretary position on Monday after a racist group chat filled with epithets and slurs was exposed.

Abel Carvajal, 23, stepped down as Miami-Dade Republican Party secretary about three weeks after the vile messages were leaked.

Carvajal created the WhatsApp group chat and took part in it at times, leaving it active even as shocking messages about killing black people were shared.

At one point, the chat was renamed to pay tribute to what one member dubbed 'Nazi heaven,' according to the Miami Herald.

Carvajal specifically used the terms 'mi***ss,' 'mi***et,' and 'm***er,' all variations of the n-word, the Floridian Press reported.

In total, the heinous slur variations were used more than 400 times. Women, gay people and Jewish people were also regularly demeaned in the chat.

Carvajal resigned ahead of a special meeting on Monday to vote on his future in the party.

He told the Daily Mail: 'I will simply state - I want our party to move forward, and I want to keep the party out of this situation.'


Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens criticize El-Sayed over rallies with Hasan Piker
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing criticism from some prominent Michigan Democrats — including Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is running against him in the Democratic primary — for his decision to host campaign rallies with Hasan Piker, the far-left political streamer with a history of antisemitic remarks.

“That’s the exact opposite of someone I’d be campaigning with,” Stevens told Jewish Insider on Wednesday. “We have to be serious here about who’s going to be the best general election candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan to beat [Republican] Mike Rogers, and someone who’s campaigning with someone like that is not going to win in Michigan.”

El-Sayed will host two rallies with Piker and Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University on April 7.

Piker has millions of followers on the streaming platform Twitch. He has said that “Hamas is a thousand times better” than Israel, and has described Orthodox Jews as “inbred.” He has also praised terrorists and said America deserved 9/11.

Stevens said that by associating with Piker, El-Sayed is “choosing to campaign with someone who has a history of antisemitic rhetoric.”

Slotkin told JI that she is not familiar with much of Piker’s language but that what she knows of his rhetoric raises concerns for her.

“Any equating of all Jews or American Jews with Israel and the Israeli government is a problem right off the bat, and then it sounds like, from there, a cascading set of antisemitic tropes and just the kind of rhetoric that is — I want to read for myself, but sounds deeply antisemitic, consistently, and therefore not someone that should be helping anybody out in the Michigan political environment,” said Slotkin.

The announcement of Piker’s upcoming campaign visits to Michigan comes two weeks after an attempted terrorist attack at Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich.


Sen. Bill Cassidy warns Mamdani NYC public health funding at risk over anti-Israel working group
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday questioning if a city-run health agency was using federal resources in its initiative aimed at responding to the “ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

He suggested that public funding for the city’s health department could be at risk without a course-correction.

Cassidy sent the letter to Mamdani on Tuesday afternoon raising his concern about the “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” established within New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in response to the “ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

The Louisiana senator cited a New York Post report that said the group “aims to address the growing interests among the health department staff to learn about current and ongoing global oppression in its many forms and how it influences the advancement of health equity.”

After noting that there was no mention of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel during the group’s inaugural meeting, as reported by the Post, Cassidy mentioned a recent comment that Dr. Alister Martin, New York City’s health commissioner, offered to NY1 earlier this month. Martin stated that there is “pretty specific evidence that the federal government is not a fan of the work that we’re doing on equity,” but that the city under Mamdani was “not gonna stop doing that work” even if the Trump administration “comes and messes with our money.”

Cassidy warned that the working group could violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by potentially creating a hostile environment for Jewish employees, putting at risk $600 million in annual federal funding that the city’s health department receives, which makes up 20% of the department’s budget.


British schools in Qatar accused of using textbooks promoting anti-Jewish content
British private schools operating in Qatar are facing mounting criticism after reports that they are using state-approved textbooks that omit the Holocaust and include hostile references to Jews.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph found that several prestigious UK schools with overseas branches – including Sherborne School, King’s College Taunton and the Royal Grammar School Guildford – are required under Qatari law to teach certain subjects using government-approved materials.

According to the report, a Year 12 history textbook on the Second World War makes no reference to the Holocaust. Instead, Adolf Hitler’s ideology is described only in vague terms, stating that the Nazi regime “emphasised Hitler’s racist ideas”, while encouraging students to read Mein Kampf.

Separate material used for younger pupils reportedly includes explicitly anti-Jewish passages. One Islamic studies textbook states: “There is no one more evil, or misguided, than one who turns away from Islam,” in reference to Jews.

The findings have prompted strong condemnation from Jewish organisations. The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) described the omission of the Holocaust as “morally indefensible” and “an insult” to victims and survivors.

AJR chief executive Michael Newman said: “The Holocaust is intrinsic to learning about Nazism. By omitting this, it is an insult to the memory of victims and their families, and dangerous for future generations.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism also criticised the use of the materials, warning that the content would be unacceptable in the UK and calling on schools to reconsider their involvement.

Under Qatari regulations, all schools must teach Arabic, Islamic studies and national history using state-sanctioned textbooks designed to reflect the country’s “national identity” and “religious values”. These materials must be provided to all pupils “without exception”.
Harvard Business Professor Who Protested at Library Now Teaching Israel Divestment 'Case' in Class
A Harvard Business School professor who participated in a library protest in favor of student anti-Israel protesters is planning to teach a "case" in her class on Friday about divesting from Israeli and other companies because of "their possible complicity in the crisis in Gaza."

A copy of the 26-page "case" obtained by the Washington Free Beacon puts the decision in the context of responding to "the apartheid regime in South Africa." The Free Beacon is not printing the case in its entirety because Harvard Business copyrights the materials. The case makes gestures at even-handedness, noting that the movement to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel "faced criticism of antisemitism in its singling out of Israel, as opposed to the numerous other states engaged in human rights violations globally, for divestment." Yet on careful analysis, the case as drafted is slanted against Israel from the very first sentence, which describes the October 7, 2023, attack as one by "Palestinian armed groups" rather than by terrorists. The word "terrorists" doesn’t appear in the whole case, including in an extensive discussion of what the case calls a "separation barrier" or "wall"—actually a security fence that Israel built to prevent terrorist attacks.

The case is about whether the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global—at $2.1 trillion, one of the world’s largest—should divest from Caterpillar, IBM, Microsoft, and Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. and Unilever on account of being "‘too’ complicit in unethical activity to justify investment."

The lead author of the case and the teacher of the business school class is Reshmaan Hussam. Hussam co-wrote an October 2024 Harvard Crimson article about participating in a library protest wearing a black scarf as a variation on "traditional Palestinian keffiyehs" worn by students. "Our students’ suspensions from the library come amid a wave of new, excessively restrictive rules governing campus speech that have been codified in direct response to student protests about the devastation in Gaza," she wrote. She was also quoted in Harvard Magazine coverage of the faculty in-library protests, which the participants described as "study-ins."
UCLA Taps Director of Harvard Center Accused of Anti-Semitism As Next Public Health Dean
The University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday named as its next dean of public health the head of a Harvard University center that was hit with numerous anti-Semitism allegations in a university report last year.

Kari Nadeau, the chair of the environmental health department at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will leave Harvard for UCLA just months after she became the interim director of the Harvard François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights. The FXB center's previous director, Mary Bassett, resigned in January, and Nadeau was tapped to replace her.

The FXB Center and its Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights were a focus of the report issued in April 2025 by Harvard's task force on anti-Semitism. Over the weekend, a program sponsored by the FXB Center featured a speaker who demonized Israeli doctors as "pro-genocide."

Though most of the incidents took place before Nadeau was named interim director, the weekend's event makes clear that at least some of that programming has continued under her stewardship. The task force's report described a hostile climate for Jewish students at the school of public health, which houses the FXB center and features a course on the "Settler Colonial Determinants of Health."

"One student told us that the FXB programming created the impression that 'Israel exists solely to oppress Palestinians, and nothing else,'" the anti-Semitism report reads. A speaker at a November 2024 webinar described in the report claimed that the "IDF's charter is to target healthcare workers." Students who raised concerns about the center's programming were allegedly asked, "who is more marginalized, Jews or Palestinians," and noted that there were "no programs on the 'public health consequences of rockets being fired or suicide bombings.'"
Columbia Slaps Socialist Student Group with Interim Suspension Following Free Beacon Report
Columbia University has placed its Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapter on interim suspension in the wake of a Washington Free Beacon report highlighting the group's plans to "liaise with Columbia University Apartheid Divest" (CUAD), the banned student organization that wished "death to America" amid the U.S. military operations in Iran. Those plans appeared to violate Columbia's "zero tolerance" policy barring recognized student groups from affiliating with CUAD.

"The University has placed the Columbia-Barnard Young Democratic Socialists of America group on interim status as we investigate these allegations," a Columbia spokesman told the Free Beacon on Wednesday. "During this change in status, the group will not be eligible for benefits afforded to recognized student groups and will not be entitled to use University space or funds."

On March 1, Columbia said that it had required all recognized student groups, including YDSA, to disavow CUAD as part of the university's "Zero Tolerance policy." All groups complied, Columbia said, allowing them to "retain their official recognition" and receive benefits from the university like access to campus spaces and funding.

YDSA's official Columbia webpage, however, included a link to an interest form that said the group coordinates with other banned "leftist groups"—Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)—to "plan actions and liaise with Columbia University Apartheid Divest."

Access to the form was restricted by Wednesday morning, and YDSA's official Columbia webpage now only shows frequently asked questions about the university.
Indiana University Launches Investigation Into Muslim Philanthropy Initiative That Gave Fundraising Advice to 'Sham Charity' Bankrolling Hamas
Indiana University has opened an investigation into a Muslim initiative housed within its School of Philanthropy following a Washington Free Beacon report on the initiative's ties to a "sham charity" that bankrolls Hamas.

State representative Andrew Ireland (R.), a former deputy attorney general for the Hoosier State, said that Indiana University launched a "formal investigation" into the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative's partnership with Hayat Yolu, a Turkish nonprofit that the Treasury Department sanctioned earlier this month for providing "significant material support to Hamas." IU's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy "is ceasing all training activities" and "reviewing all current partnerships" with the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, a spokeswoman told Indiana Public Media.

Ireland and seven other Indiana lawmakers pressed the school about the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative after the Free Beacon reported its ties to Hayat Yolu. The initiative partnered with Hayat Yolu in July 2025 and January 2026 to host training events in Turkey and Indonesia aimed at helping Islamic nonprofits "refine their fundraising strategies, improve performance, and more effectively advance their missions." The initiative, led by Shariq Siddiqui, thanked Hayat Yolu for its "generous support" in its recent annual report.

According to the Treasury Department, Hayat Yolu has been "involved in Hamas' international funding network that enables Hamas to generate external revenue in direct support of Hamas' military wing" and served as an "operational headquarters, banking and financial hub for the Muslim Brotherhood."

It's not the first time the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative has been linked to terrorism financiers. In December 2022, the initiative hosted Sami Al-Arian at a conference about Islamic fundraising and the difficulties those groups have faced raising money since 9/11.

Al-Arian was deported from the United States over his fundraising on behalf of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a designated terrorist group.

The school apologized for inviting Al-Arian to the event and said it had failed to conduct proper "due diligence."

The Indiana lawmakers asked Indiana University officials whether the school "accepted any money or in-kind support" tied to Hayat Yolu and whether the school conducted any due diligence before entering the partnership.
‘Shameful’: California Jewish Advocacy Group Denounces Challenge to K-12 Antisemitism Law
A California state legislator has introduced a bill aimed at gutting a recently passed K-12 antisemitism law (AB 715), which strengthened civil rights protections for Jewish students amid a pandemic of bullying, harassment, and extreme anti-Zionist activity in public schools.

Robert Garcia, a Democrat and member of the California State Assembly, introduced the measure — Assembly Bill (AB) 2159 — on Wednesday, and it has already amassed support from a number of groups which have opposed the Jewish community’s efforts to address antisemitism in education.

In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law which requires the state to establish a new Office for Civil Rights for monitoring antisemitism in public schools at a time of rising anti-Jewish hatred across the US. As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the bill confronted Newsom, a Democrat rumored to be interested in running for US president in 2028, with a politically fraught decision, as it aims to limit the extent to which the state’s ideologically charged ethnic studies curricula, supported by progressives and many Democrats, may plant anti-Zionist viewpoints into the minds of the 5.8 million students educated in its public schools.

Newsom, who has since endorsed the false charge that Israel is an “apartheid” state, approved the measure amid these cross currents, paving the way for state officials to proceed with establishing an Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator, setting parameters within which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be equitably discussed, and potentially barring antisemitic materials from reaching the classroom.

“Specifically, this bill removes reference to a definition of antisemitism that could include criticism of Israeli government policy, requires the Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator to be selected through an unbiased, merit-based civil service process, and removes vague and subjective language that exposes schools and teachers to discrimination complaints,” Garcia’s new bill says.


ADL launches leaderboard ranking popular video games on safeguards to combat antisemitism
A first-of-its kind leaderboard evaluating how major video game companies address antisemitism and extremism in online games was released on Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Insider has learned.

The leaderboard assessed 10 of the most popular games and their respective companies on their policies and in-game safety features. “Fortnite” was rated the best at implementing safeguards to combat antisemitism, with “Grand Theft Auto Online,” “Call of Duty” and “Minecraft” following closely behind. Other major games evaluated included “Roblox,” “Valorant,” “Clash Royale,” “Counter-Strike 2” and “PUBG: Battlegrounds.”

ADL evaluated the product features of each individual game and the relevant policies that govern that game — for some games, the policies that govern them were specific to the game, while for some it was the company policies that apply to all of their games.

The leaderboard, created by the ADL Center for Technology and Society in partnership with the ADL Ratings and Assessment Institute, builds on the annual survey work that CTS did in partnership with gaming analytics firm NewZoo, from 2019-2023.

Games received labels of advanced, moderate or limited protections based on criteria including: antisemitism and hate policy; extremism/terrorism policy; in-game display of code of conduct; documentation of escalation to law enforcement; and in-game tooling.

The latter criteria, which accounts for 60% of a game’s overall score, includes players’ ability to block and/or mute other players; players’ ability to report players for voice, text, usernames and user-generated content; and the game’s prevention of antisemitic and hateful extremist usernames.

Bonus points were awarded for clear appeals processes and engagement with ADL, and points were deducted for harmful content on public-facing game stores. The antisemitism watchdog shared detailed findings with each gaming company and invited them to discuss the assessment before the leaderboard’s release, to which Epic Games, Supercell and Minecraft responded.

Popular online games boast hundreds of thousands of players, with 85% of U.S. teens reporting playing video games in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center. The Pew study found that 80% of all teens think harassment over video games is a problem for people their age, and 41% of those who play them say they’ve been called an offensive name while playing.


Israel approves land for permanent US Embassy site in Jerusalem
The Israeli government on Tuesday approved a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz to allocate land at the Allenby Complex in Jerusalem for the construction of a permanent U.S. Embassy.

The ministers said the decision “completes a major diplomatic move” that began when former U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocated the embassy there during his first term.

A permanent embassy building serves as a “tangible, central, and long-term expression” of America’s commitment to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the strength of the special relationship between the two countries, Netanyahu, Sa’ar and Katz said in a joint statement.

“At a time when Israel and the U.S. stand shoulder to shoulder in the campaign against the Iranian terrorist regime, this decision carries special significance. It serves as further evidence of the strength of the bond, the steadfast alliance, and the shared values and strategic partnership between our two countries,” they said.

The officials also expressed gratitude to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for his cooperation, as well as to Foreign Ministry personnel involved in advancing the decision.

The U.S. officially opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, fulfilling a key promise made by Trump.

The embassy, which had been in Tel Aviv, relocated the ambassador’s office and about 50 staff members to an already existing former U.S. consulate in Jerusalem. It was agreed at the time that an entirely new embassy building would be built in the city.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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