Wednesday, April 01, 2026

03/31 Links Pt2: Israel’s sniveling classes are in the minority; The Sham of 'Disarming' Hamas; UN Sends Billions to Islamic Terrorists Who Kidnap its Staff

From Ian:

Ruthie Blum: Israel’s sniveling classes are in the minority
In other words, outside the curated echo chamber of the likes of Seroussi, Israelis are doing what we always do: debate, grumble and persevere—raising families at the highest rate in the Western world, and managing, against all odds, to sustain an upbeat mood under the constant strain of having to defend against enemies bent on wiping us off the map.

Seroussi’s woe-is-me theatrics aside, Israel ranks eighth on the latest World Happiness Report. Evidently, the citizens polled neglected to align their answers about their overall well-being with the gloom and doom emanating from left-wing Hebrew-language TV studios.

Not only that. Surveys indicate that an overwhelming majority of Israelis back the war against Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon—despite having spent the past month running to bomb shelters throughout the day and wee hours of the night.

Seroussi and her fellow moaners are free to view things differently. They’re also at liberty to depart for what they imagine to be greener pastures abroad.

Such prerogatives are among the many options taken for granted by the sniveling classes. You know, the people who tend to omit a certain inconvenient phenomenon for Jews, regardless of their political persuasion: the explosion of antisemitism in New York, London, Paris and just about everywhere else.

It’s open Jew-hatred that would have seemed unfathomable not long ago, though probably not to Seroussi’s grandparents.
Jonathan Tobin: Gavin Newsom and the Democrats’ Israel problem
Simply put, there is a broad consensus within Israel that stretches from left to right on these issues. That consensus views a Palestinian state, such as the one that existed in Gaza prior to Oct. 7 in all but name, as an invitation to future slaughter and perpetual war. It also understands that the only option available to them with respect to Iran, as long as it is governed by fanatical Islamist theocrats, is a fight to the finish.

Seen from that perspective, it makes even those Democrats who claim to be supporters of Israel, though bitterly opposed to its government, like Newsom or even Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, as not merely out of touch with the realities of Israeli politics but also with their own voters. Such candidates may try to finesse the issue, as Newsom and Shapiro are trying to do, by declaring their support for Israel while avowing perpetual opposition to Netanyahu and Trump. But even if you take Netanyahu out of the equation, there is no conceivable government that could emerge from the next Israeli election that would have policies on two states or Iran that any almost any Democrat outside of an outlier like Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa) could support. And as far as the left-wing base of the Democratic Party is concerned, all Israelis and their American supporters—be they Jewish or Christian evangelicals—are backers of the mythical “genocide” and “apartheid.”

And that is why Israel is a land mine that Democratic presidential contenders understand can blow up their ability to reach their party’s activists who are the key to winning primaries and the nomination.

The two parties move in different directions
It’s true that there is also a vocal anti-Israel and increasingly antisemitic faction on the right that is unhappy with Trump’s pro-Israel policies. But it is clearly a minority with most Republicans, including the MAGA base. Most are enthusiastic supporters of Israel and of Trump’s stands, including the current war on Iran. And that has also placed Vice President JD Vance, the putative champion of the Tucker Carlson anti-Israel wing of the party, in a very uncomfortable position. He and his staff are reduced to leaking their unhappiness with Netanyahu, as well as their hopes about brokering a deal with Iran, to left-wing publications like Axios.

The anti-Israel right may think that it can reverse the GOP’s pro-Israel stance if Vance wins the presidency in 2028. But their problem is that unlike the situation on the other side of the aisle, the Veep’s coolness to Israel and the conflict with Iran is making that prospect far less of an inevitable occurrence than it seemed just a few months ago.

But for Democrats, the trend is moving in the opposite direction.

The best that supporters of Israel can hope for from a Democratic presidential candidate going forward is exactly the sort of dodge Newsom has just demonstrated—by talking out of both sides of his mouth. He signaled acquiescence to the “apartheid” and “genocide” blood libels while saying he supports a mythical Israel that has, like the few remaining liberal Zionists, learned nothing from Oslo, the events of Oct. 7, or Iran’s role in fomenting terror and war. Some “moderate” Democrats may think that trying to thread the needle in this way will allow them to be acceptable to both left-wingers and Jewish donors. That’s a sham that increasingly fewer opponents or supporters of Israel will accept.
Yisrael Medad: ‘The Three Cs’ and company
The person on the other side of that conversation was Robert Emmet Patrick Barron, a theologian who serves as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. In a follow-up post on X, he was more explicit in his opinion about Boller.

He wrote on March 20: “Boller … has called out myself and other Catholic members of the commission for not defending her. This is absurd. Mrs. Prejean Boller was not dismissed for her religious convictions but rather for her behavior at a gathering of the commission last month: browbeating witnesses, aggressively asserting her point of view, hijacking the meeting for her own political purposes.”

He also clarified the Catholic position on matters of “Zionism.” For Barron, the State of Israel has a right to exist, though the modern nation of Israel does not represent the fulfillment of biblical prophecies and hence does not stand beyond criticism. He ended, writing: “To paint herself as a victim of anti-Catholic prejudice or to claim that her religious liberty has been denied is simply preposterous.”

These people, righteously raging their Christianity, may be suffering from a form of persecutory delusion. That mental and psychological framework has led them willingly to be accused of irrationality as an element of modern-day martyrdom. They feel, for some strange reason (unless it’s all about the greenbacks), that being in a minority—one that is ridiculed—is actually “proof” of the truth of their convictions. They are pig-pen delighted to exist in their unique in-group status as champions of an outlier view of Jews.

Owens, and specifically, Boller, display the obvious new convert fervor that forces them to be so overtly extroverted in their disgust of fellow Christians and hate for Israel and Judaism.

Social psychology researchers have found that people can form self-preferencing in-groups, even if they are in a significant minority position. In doing so, while experiencing feelings of exclusion, they nevertheless achieve a higher awareness of their identity. In the case of “The Three Cs,” this perception excites them and provides a form of self-justification. They resist the obvious evidence of their irrationality and reject sensible, contrary logical arguments that disprove their beliefs.

And why do we not hear what Carlson, Boller and Owens have to say about the actions of Arab terror groups and Islamist countries against Israelis and Jews? Or about the persecution of Christians in Muslim lands? Why the dichotomy? Why sound the one note?

The danger is that their lack of any real success—beyond temporary media fame and, possibly, fortune—is that their anger only increases. While all they are doing is talking, the true evil is emboldening all those others who hate, channeled through computers and online instruments.


The United Nations’ Transition from International Law to Sharia Law
In 2025, during Ramadan, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), the largest global agency dedicated to migration and displacement, launched what represents a profound departure from any claim of secular humanitarian neutrality: the Islamic Philanthropy Fund (IPF). Presented as a mechanism to mobilize “Zakat” and “Sadaqah,” the fund embeds Islamic legal doctrine directly into the financial and operational structure of a taxpayer-funded international organization, placing religious law alongside, and in many cases above, universal humanitarian standards.

The IPF is not merely a funding tool; it is a system built on religious authorization, Sharia compliance agreements, and clerical validation through formal Islamic fatwas.

Under classical Islamic jurisprudence, Zakat is conditional, and inherently exclusionary. Eligibility is not determined solely by need, but by religious classification and doctrinal interpretation. This stands in direct conflict with the core principles the United Nations claims to uphold: neutrality, impartiality, and non-discrimination. Under a Sharia-compliant system, aid distribution is no longer needs-based. It introduces a parallel standard in which access is shaped by religious criteria. In practice, this creates the conditions for a two-tier system of assistance, where vulnerability is no longer sufficient to guarantee aid.

As part of legitimizing the Islamic Philanthropy Fund (IPF) within Islamic legal frameworks, IOM’s own materials reference multiple religious endorsements and fatwas affirming its eligibility to collect and distribute Zakat and Sadaqah.

The International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), a major jurisprudential body linked to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has issued formal rulings supporting the Fund’s compliance with Sharia. In addition, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a globally influential network of clerics, provides religious backing and interpretive guidance. All while the fatwa issued by IKTISAD sets out clear principles governing how the IOM Islamic Philanthropy Fund collects and distributes Zakat, Sadaqah, and other Muslim alms. Zakat is required to be disbursed promptly to eligible recipients, in accordance with Qur’anic guidance, while Sadaqah and other alms are distributed in line with donor instructions. And lastly, an advisory board providing oversight and “strategic guidance” to ensure operate according Islamic principles.

Taken together, this is not simply charitable validation but a full integration of religious jurisprudence and financial doctrine into the mechanics of a UN agency.
UN Sends Billions to Islamic Terrorists Who Kidnap its Staff
Every March 25th, the UN commemorates its ‘International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members’ while trying not to discuss who is kidnapping them.

The ‘International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members’ commemorates the day when Alec Collett, a UN Information Center director, was kidnapped by a Hezbollah front group on March 25th, 1985, in Lebanon. He was held hostage and then a video was released of him being hanged. His remains were eventually recovered in Lebanon in 2009.

Earlier this March, Israel was accused of ‘kidnapping’ his alleged Hezbollah abductor in order to get information about the remains of an Israeli abductee. The UN did not express any appreciation for this long delayed act of justice, instead it went on condemning Israel, while aiding and covering up for the Islamic terrorists who are killing and kidnapping its own people.

This ‘International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members’, the UN admitted that 73 of its ‘detained’ staff members are being held by the Yemeni Shiite Islamic terrorist group known as the Houthis. Last year one of the UN detainees died in custody of the terrorists. (Unlike every Israeli air strike on Islamic terrorists, this received almost no media coverage.)

On March 18th, 2026, a week ahead of the commemoration of the 73 UN hostages being held by the Houthis in Yemen, the United Nations released its latest Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan calling for $2.16 billion in aid for Yemen. The UN had already admitted 8 years ago that their ‘aid’ was being stolen by the Houthi Islamic terrorists.

The UN led a campaign that poured billions to save Yemen from a fake famine. Since the famine began, Yemen’s population shot up from 30 million to 41.8 million. And the Houthis were able to deploy drones and rockets that held the U.S. Navy at bay as Biden provided $768 million in aid to Yemen even though the Islamic terrorists were firing missiles at U.S. Navy vessels.

The Trump administration sharply cut aid to Yemen, but the UN is still funding its kidnappers. As it always has.

‘International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members’ was born when Collett, an UNRWA activist for the ‘Palestinians’ was kidnapped by Hezbollah and eventually sold to and killed by the ‘Palestinians’ in whose cause he and the United Nations had labored.
On last day in office, UNRWA head urges probe into alleged IDF killing of nearly 400 workers
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants wants an investigation into the alleged killing of nearly 400 of its staff in the Gaza Strip, its outgoing chief said Tuesday.

Israel has claimed that over a thousand UNRWA employees had ties to terror groups and that UNRWA facilities were used for terrorist activities on multiple occasions, including in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught.

Criticizing what he called an “extraordinary level of impunity,” UNRWA’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, on his last day on the job, claimed that Israel appeared to have “a license to kill” in Gaza.

“I believe that we need to have a… high-level panel of experts to look into the killing of our staff,” Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.

The 62-year-old Swiss national condemned the alleged killing of “more than 390” of the agency’s staff in Gaza, during the war that was sparked by the October 7 massacre in Israel.

“Many others have sustained life-changing injuries or have been arbitrarily detained and tortured,” he said, calling for investigations into the alleged killings of other UN staff as well.

Lazzarini said he had raised the issue of an investigation with the office of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and with UN member states.

He lamented that Israel’s conduct of the war gave the impression that “all possible red lines have been crossed, and there have never ever been any consequences, whether diplomatic, political, economic, legal, nothing.”

Israeli intelligence reportedly alleged during the war that some 10 percent of UNRWA’s 12,000 Gazan employees had ties to Palestinian terror groups and that at least 12 were involved in the October 7 onslaught. It also found several Hamas facilities located directly underneath multiple UNRWA facilities throughout the war.

At least one Israeli hostage abducted in the massacre has said she was held in an UNRWA facility, and the IDF has repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and gunmen hiding out in UNRWA schools.


Anti-Semitic graffiti ‘tragically escalated to bullets’ at Bondi, new Israeli ambassador claims
Israel’s new ambassador to Australia has accused pro-Palestine protesters of “celebrating the slaughter of Jews and Israelis” as state and federal governments crackdown on popular slogans and alleged hate speech.

Dr Hillel Newman appeared before the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday just over a month into the ambassadorship and after a period of heightened tension in Australia following the passing of new hate speech and counter-extremism laws.

The legislative changes came in response to the Bondi Beach terror attack, during which 15 innocent people were killed.

Dr Newman said the attack was the culmination of a documented rise in anti-Semitism across the country.

“What began as graffiti and vandalism tragically escalated to bullets on Bondi Beach. This violence is real,” he said.

The ambassador criticised pro-Palestinian rallies that took place outside the Sydney Opera House and over Sydney Harbour Bridge in recent years.

The bridge rally, known as the March For Humanity, was organised by Josh Lees and Amal Naser from Palestine Action Group and was attended by as many as 90,000 people.

“Rallies appeared in the New York City and outside the Sydney Opera House supporting Hamas” following the October 7 attacks, Dr Newman said.

“Participants celebrated the slaughter of Jews and Israelis.”

Dr Newman accused protesters of ignoring “documented sexual assault” against Israeli women and “betraying human rights”.

He warned anti-Semitism was on the rise in Australia and across the world.

“Jewish citizens have faced attacks in neighbourhoods, schools, synagogues, university campuses and public spaces. This did not start on October the 7th,” he said.


Reviewing massacre footage, Bondi hero’s daughter discovers more of her dad’s bravery
Passover was always one of her family’s favorite festivals, but this year, Sheina Gutnick is dreading the holiday’s arrival. It will be the first time celebrating without her father, Reuven Morrison, who was murdered in the terror attack on a Hanukkah gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December.

“My dad loved Passover. He would prepare everything himself for the Seder, barbecuing the lamb shanks, grinding up his own maror,” Gutnick said, referring to the horseradish traditionally used as the bitter herb for the Seder plate. “I think he really felt a deep connection to the festival as an ex-Soviet Jew who lived behind the Iron Curtain, and he really related to Jewish suffering and the Exodus from Egypt.”

In the three months since the Bondi Beach shooting attack, which saw 15 people killed by a father and son inspired by the Islamic State terror organization, Gutnick has hardly had a chance to breathe.

She has successfully lobbied Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to establish a royal commission into the Bondi attack, met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on his visit to Australia, spoken to international media about rising antisemitism in Australia, and tried to piece together exactly what happened in the moments before her father’s death.

The work is relentless, but so is the need behind it: to understand how something like this could happen in a country that has not historically seen itself as having an entrenched antisemitism problem.

What remains most vivid to Gutnick, however, is the night that her father was killed.
This man went viral after surviving Bondi. Then the internet took a dark turn
Who takes a selfie in the middle of a terrorist attack?

Arsen Ostrovsky had his reasons.

When the first shots rang out at Bondi, he was standing apart from his wife and children. This included his eldest daughter, who he'd rushed to a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv on October 7 two years earlier. He'd promised her Australia — their new home — was a world away.

Now he was in a beachside park in Sydney, trying to cross a gunman's line of fire to reach his family. He didn't get far.

"The instant I stood up and must have taken a few steps, I got hit," he says. "And the blood just starts gushing out."

It was a near escape. A bullet or bullet fragment cut across his scalp to the bone.

He saw a man on a bench, shielding a woman.

"He wasn't moving. He was dead. On the left of me, someone was shot right in front of my eyes."

Pinned down by gunfire, unable to see his family, Ostrovsky called his wife. No answer. He held his phone in front of his face and took a photo.

"I took a picture for two reasons," he says. "I took it to see how bad and where exactly I was hurt."

"And I took that picture to send to my wife with the words, 'Love you'… not knowing if they'd be the last two words she was going to hear from me."

The reply came 5 minutes later, just before the shooting stopped — his wife and kids had escaped safely to the beach.

In the aftermath of the massacre, Ostrovsky spoke to a TV news crew on the Bondi foreshore.

"I survived October 7th," he told them. "I lived in Israel the last 13 years. We came here only two weeks ago."

You know how it ended. But you don’t know how it began. A three part podcast series by Background Briefing.

He was in an ambulance on the way to hospital when a journalist friend from Israel messaged to ask if he was OK. Ostrovsky replied with "a photo that showed [him] on the ground, bloodied, hit". His friend shared it online with permission.

Within hours, the photo went viral, making Ostrovsky a face of the tragedy. But in the dark corners of the internet, his image was twisted into something else.

It became fodder for a wild conspiracy theory that alleged his injuries were fake, and the Bondi attack was staged by Israeli state actors.

Out of all the victims at Bondi, why him?
Matthew Gould: I used to defend Britain against accusations of anti-Semitism. I’m not sure I could today
Taken together, it adds up to this. We have got to the point where it appears to be axiomatic for the majority of young people – along with vast swathes of liberal Britain – that Israel is bad. For a significant number of them there is little difference between Israel and Jews. There is a fixation on Israel to the exclusion of any number of other conflicts and concerns.

This chills me, more in fact than the heartbreaking terrorist attack in Heaton Park and the ambulance-burning in Golders Green. Because it’s easy for everyone to condemn those, and we can do something about them. It’s much harder to deal with a deep-rooted world-view in which Jews are the same as Israel, and Israel is uniquely bad. Because this is the soil in which anti-Semitism grows, and starts to explain why the past three years were the worst three years for anti-Semitic incidents since records began 40 years ago.

I was moved by the King stepping forward to become a patron of the Community Security Trust – the charity set up to protect Jews from anti-Semitism and terrorism – straight after the Golders Green attacks.

I am not telling my daughters that they should no longer plan to go to a British university. I’m not packing my bags, as my grandfather had to do when he fled Poland in the 1920s; he came here because Britain was a safe place for Jews, and for the past 100 years that has remained true.

But if that Holocaust survivor were to ask me her question again today, I’m not sure I could give her the same answer I gave her then. And that, as a proud Brit and a proud Jew, is what breaks my heart.
Mayor of Bath resigns over sharing posts claiming Hatzola arson was ‘Israeli false flag’
The Mayor of Bath has resigned after he was found to have reposted social media content claiming the 23 March arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green was an “Israeli false flag operation”.

Dr Bharat Pankhania, who also works as a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, later deleted the posts and apologised “unreservedly” in a statement on Twitter/X, where he said, “I have been made aware that I have reposted or replied to some posts which have never aligned to my values and beliefs, and which are abhorrent.”

The Liberal Democrat councillor, suspended from his party amidst calls for a full investigation, later resigned.

He also reposted content which said: “People are now asking why do the Jewish community have their own private ambulances in the UK?” as well as another post claiming the attack was an example of insurance fraud.

After the firebombing two men – aged 47 and 45 and of British nationality, were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and later released on police bail.

Dr Pankhania’s social media profile includes recent and repeated posts suggesting the US was “forced into a war by Israel and their powerful lobby in the USA”.

A Bath and North East Somerset councillor since 2019, Pankhania qualified from the Welsh Nation Schools of Medicine in Cardiff, trained as a GP in 1989 and now specialises in disease control.
JLM welcomes suspension of MP who gave interview to activist accused of ‘peddling antisemitic conspiracies’
An outspoken critic of Keir Starmer’s government has had the Labour whip suspended after he gave an interview to an activist accused of “pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories” and who faced allegations of misogyny in a general election campaign.

Karl Turner, a barrister and leading critic of the government’s plan to restrict jury trials to the most serious offence, was informed by Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds that he was suspending the whip “following his recent conduct”.

The Kingston upon Hull East MP confirmed:“I am being told that I have had the whip suspended, but I have not had any notification from the whips about this.

“It seems journalists have been told, but I have not.”

Jewish News understands that Labour whips have become increasingly frustrated with the MP’s conduct for some time now, but the tipping point came with the most recent interview with Jody McIntrye, a writer for the far-left conspiracy site The Canary, who stood as a Workers Party candidate in the last general election.

McIntyre has a lengthy history of making anti-Zionist remarks and campaigned at the last election on a pro-Gaza ticket, where he narrowly failed to win the Birmingham Yardley seat with what many viewed as a divisive and inflammatory campaign against his female Labour opponent Jess Phillips.

After the result was called, amid shouts and boos from onlookers, including chants of “shame on you” and “free Palestine”, Phillips , who narrowly held the seat, said: “I will carry on with my speech. I understand that a strong woman standing up to you is met with such reticence.”

She then recounted how during the campaign a community activist went out to canvass with her, but was filmed by people in the street and had her car’s tyres slashed.
Khaled Abu Toameh: The Sham of 'Disarming' Hamas
Hamas, like Iran, continues to treat the idea of disarmament with a mix of dismissal and rhetorical defiance, effectively signaling that it has no intention of giving up its weapons or altering its dream of eliminating Israel.

For Hamas, disarmament is not a serious proposal. Instead, it is a tool for political theater, a way to manipulate donors and tighten its grip over the Gaza Strip.

In Hamas's view, the establishment of Israel on any of this land is an illegal "Zionist project" and a form of colonial occupation.

When Hamas talks about "resistance" (Arabic: muqawama), it is referring to a comprehensive framework aimed at destroying Israel through a violent jihad (holy war), similar to the Islamic conquest of the Christian Byzantine Empire, or Turkey's 1974 invasion and conquest of northern Cyprus.

According to the Independent Arabia report, some 20,000 Hamas gunmen will be integrated into a new security force in the Gaza Strip and receive salaries with international funding. The new force would be granted the status of an official security apparatus, recognized regionally and internationally.

The "Board of Peace" has also apparently offered "political and legal immunity" to Hamas terrorists, guaranteeing that they will not be prosecuted internationally or by Israel in exchange for their involvement in a local governing council.

If true, this means that the "Board of Peace" views Hamas as a legitimate and acceptable partner in the future management of the Gaza Strip. The mere act of engaging Hamas in such negotiations is beyond problematic. It risks not only legitimizing an Islamist terror group, but also entrenching its authoritarian rule in the Gaza Strip and paving the way for more massacres against Israel.

The idea of integrating Hamas terrorists into the Gaza Strip's new security apparatus is even worse. Such a move sends a message to the Palestinians that participation in terrorism carries no consequences and that terrorists can move directly from violence into official roles without a meaningful process of disarmament.

Legitimizing these terrorists -- as with the Taliban in Afghanistan -- undermines any attempt to establish norms of governance based on law rather than on violence, and can only embolden other terror groups. Without a credible enforcement mechanism -- backed by unified international and regional support -- calls for disarmament remain hallucinatory.

It is hard to see how pro-Hamas countries such as Qatar, Turkey, or Pakistan, all part of the "Board of Peace" -- and two of which, Qatar and Pakistan, have never even recognized Israel -- would seriously participate in any effort to force the Palestinian terror groups to give up their weapons.

Without such pressure, plans for disarmament will continue to be dismissed by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. Any plan that assumes these groups will voluntarily lay down their weapons is dangerously unenlightened.


National Review: Are Mehdi Hasan and Tucker Carlson Right About the Jewish Lobby?

Commentary Podcast: Mourning in Michigan
On our last show before Passover we discuss Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's comments on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei published by the Free Beacon, and the democratic dilemma regarding more radical candidates. Plus, the absurd Dark Money accusations against AIPAC, and Eliana and Christine recommend the movie Nuremberg.




Mamdani heckled at NYC Passover Seder as some rail at his inclusion
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was briefly interrupted by a heckler during an appearance at a Passover Seder in Manhattan Monday night, marking a tense moment that highlighted ongoing strains between the mayor and segments of the Jewish community.

“The rising tide of antisemitism has caused enormous pain for so many Jewish New Yorkers. Doors are locked that used to be open, routine subway journeys felt fraught, synagogues that once felt like sanctuaries now require armed protection,” Mamdani said before he was interrupted by an individual in the back of the room who stood and shouted, “Every Jewish organization is a target.”

Attendees responded with a blend of shushes and a single voice shouting, “Stop the xenophobia, let him speak.”

“This is New York City, and we love to be here,” Mamdani said as the audience erupted in cheers. “I say it because we know that if there was complete decorum anywhere that we were, then we would have to ask ourselves if we had left the city that we love, and it is important to be here and to acknowledge that this is what it means to love and to lead the place that we call home.”

The episode, which took place at Jewish entrepreneur Michael Dorf’s annual Seder at City Winery in the Meatpacking District, comes with Mamdani facing scrutiny from segments of New York’s Jewish community over his responses to antisemitic incidents and continued alignment with pro-Palestinian activists.

“I have to say I didn’t vote for him,” one male attendee, who asked to remain anonymous for his privacy, said following the Seder. “I have certain feelings about him that I think a lot of other people have, but that’s neither here nor there. But that was kind of surprising that a couple of people kind of went out of their way to heckle.”

While the mayor has previously marked Jewish holidays with Jewish leaders and organizations aligned with him on his criticisms of Israel, the event at City Winery involved a lineup of speakers and attendees with differing views.

“Mamdani was here, which is great, yeah, I guess, because he knows at the Seder, you lean to the left,” joked comedian Olga Namer later in the evening. “A little bit about me, I’m a Syrian Jew, yes, so that’s good, because I know, at least I’m confident, that Mamdani likes half of me.”


NY candidate joins anti-Israel streamer’s show, sparking ire from Jewish-heavy district
Democratic officials in four suburban New York counties are decrying a local congressional candidate who criticized Israel during an appearance this weekend with Hasan Piker, the leftist streamer who has divided Democrats and drawn allegations of antisemitism.

Effie Phillips-Staley is running for Congress in a heavily Jewish district just outside New York City and hoping to face off against a pro-Israel Republican in November. During her appearance on Piker’s show on Saturday, she accused Israel of genocide and being an apartheid state.

Phillips-Staley’s position on Israel has morphed since last July, when she told Jewish Insider that she wanted to be “very clear that the US has to continue to be a critical ally to Israel” and that she wouldn’t support restrictions on aid to Israel.

But after she went on a trip to Israel and the West Bank in February, she became strongly critical of Israel and said she now supports cutting US aid.

In a 30-minute interview that also covered immigration and her other campaign priorities, Piker asked Phillips-Staley about her West Bank trip, and about how her Israel stance is sitting with the district’s large Jewish community.

“The majority of people — or maybe not the majority, but certainly a strong number — who have brought this to my attention have been Jews,” she said. “I get the most encouragement, from lots of people, but a lot of encouragement from Jews who really challenged me, especially in the beginning, to be brave and say it like it is.”

Phillips-Staley, a village trustee in Tarrytown, has established herself as the left-wing candidate in the NY-17 primary and has made her anti-Israel stance a focus of her campaign. She said on Saturday that she believes using the words “apartheid” and “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions is “100 percent” a good litmus test for Democrats.

Israel has vehemently denied the allegations that it has committed genocide in Gaza, saying it makes efforts to protect non-combatants. It has accused Hamas of fighting from within civilian population centers and of using civilians as human shields.


Contributor for left-wing outlet says Israelis 'must be removed from our planet'
A contributing writer for the far-left publication Drop Site News called for "wiping out" Israel and urged his followers not to make Israelis "feel safe."

Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, a self-described "accidental war correspondent" whose work is published by Drop Site, took to social media Monday with a post calling for the complete elimination of the Jewish state.

"Wiping out Israel off the planet is not enough revenge. Israelis mustn’t feel safe anymore. Haunt them and go after them where they go. These terrorist parasites must be removed from our planet," Abed posted on Instagram.

Drop Site contributor Abubaker Abed told his Instagram followers Israelis are "terrorist parasites" who "must be removed from our planet." (Screenshot/Instagram)

Drop Site co-founder Ryan Grim directed Fox News Digital to a statement saying Abed’s message does not represent the organization’s editorial position but stopped short of condemning the anti-Israel rhetoric.

"We also are never going to police the language of anyone who survived a genocide," Grim wrote on X.

Drop Site, primarily known for its anti-Israel coverage of the Gaza war, bills itself as a "a non-aligned, investigative news organization dedicated to exposing the crimes of the powerful — particularly in overt and secret conflicts where the U.S. government is playing a key role."

It has money from the George Soros-funded Open Society Foundations, which gave Drop Site a $250,000 grant in 2024 to establish a Middle East desk, according to a listing on Open Society's website.


Pro-Palestine activist charged after counter-terror arrest in Watford
A pro-Palestine activist linked to direct action against Israeli defence sites has been charged following a counter-terrorism investigation after being arrested at her home in Watford.

Qesser Zuhrah, 21, of Swiss Avenue, was charged on Monday evening with three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting criminal damage.

In a statement, Counter Terrorism Policing South East said: “A woman has been charged following a Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) investigation.”

They added: “Qesser Zuhrah, of Swiss Avenue, Watford, was charged yesterday evening (30/3) with three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely criminal damage, contrary to Section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.”

Police said: “The charges are in connection with posts made on social media.”

Zuhrah appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (31 March) and has since been released on bail.

She had initially been arrested on suspicion of “intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely criminal damage” and “encouragement of terrorism, contrary to Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006”.

The charges are understood to relate to three posts on her social media story allegedly calling for “direct action”.

Zuhrah is part of a group of activists known as the “Filton 24”, who are accused of targeting a UK facility linked to Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in August 2024.
Local MP’s fury as ‘anti-Zionist’ mob descends on Hendon An anti-Zionist protest in Hendon has been condemned after demonstrators gathered days after an antisemitic attack nearby.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Police were called to reports of a protest outside a charity premises in Finchley Lane, Hendon at 18:25hrs on Monday, 30 March. Officers attended to prevent possible disorder between the protesters and a counter-demonstration. No arrests were made, and both groups had left the area by 20:30hrs.”

Footage and eyewitness accounts indicate that around 40 demonstrators entered the north-west London neighbourhood, chanting accusations of “genocide” and shouting that the “state of Israel has to go”.

Police were seen escorting the group away from the area towards Hendon Central station as residents gathered nearby.

The incident occurred less than a mile from Golders Green, where Hatzola ambulances were targeted in an arson attack last week, leaving many in the local Jewish community shaken.

Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinsky described the protest as “utterly appalling, completely unacceptable and clearly antisemitic”, criticising both its location and timing.

“I have been made aware of a spontaneous so-called ‘anti-Zionist’ protest that took place in Hendon earlier this evening,” he said.

“The protesters chose to demonstrate at the heart of a quiet residential neighbourhood with a large Jewish community that is still in shock from the despicable antisemitic attack on Hatzola Golders Green, less than a mile away.

“At a time when the community is already frightened, they have sought to make things worse.”

He added that he is “liaising closely with the CST and Police” and thanked them for their “rapid action”.

Barnet Council also condemned the incident, with Cllr Sara Conway describing the scenes as “deeply concerning and unacceptable”.

“Seeing the scenes in Hendon, it is deeply concerning and unacceptable that protestors brought intimidation to the streets of Barnet at a time when the Jewish community is feeling so vulnerable,” she said.

She confirmed the demonstration was “spontaneous, with no prior warning or notification”, adding that police “arrived within 10 minutes of receiving the call”.

US academic’s tirade calling Jewish professor ‘colonizer’ found to be antisemitic harassment
An expletive-laden outburst last year by a City College of San Francisco (CCSF) staff member that included calling a Jewish professor a “colonizer” constitutes unlawful harassment and discrimination based on her Jewish identity, an independent investigation has found.

The finding sets a precedent that attacking Jews as “colonizers” may be regarded as illegal harassment, according to a statement Tuesday by StandWithUs and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights, which represented the targeted academic, Computer Networking and Information Technology Professor Abigail Bornstein.

During a public CCSF Board of Trustees meeting on May 29, 2025, after Bornstein opposed a proposed budget item, the local Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president, Maria Salazar-Colon, aggressively chastised her, speaking by video link.

“I really wish that that colonizer, Abigail Dumb-stein, would shut her damn mouth and not speak on SEIU items,” she charged, adding that Bornstein was “dumber than a bag of rocks” and should “shut the fuck up.” She added: “I’m sick of her shit. Shut the fuck up,” before abruptly ending her 90-second rant.

During that meeting, Salazar-Colon sent Bornstein an email that, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, read, in all-caps: “YOU LACK THE POWER TO STOP OR CONTROL SEIU, AND YOU NEVER WILL! ACCEPT THAT, COLONIZER!”

“As a result of these incidents, Professor Bornstein feared for her safety, reported the conduct to campus authorities and the police, stopped coming to campus, and was unable to teach in person as planned,” Brandeis Center and StandWithUs said in their statement Tuesday.

The third-party investigator tapped by CCSF concluded, according to the statement, that “the repeated, public attacks against Professor Bornstein constituted harassment and discrimination based on her Jewish identity in violation of its policies prohibiting discrimination, harassment, and workplace violence.”

The findings “specifically credited evidence showing that terms such as ‘colonizer,’ as used in this context, functioned as an attack on Bornstein’s Jewish identity and national origin, and determined that the respondent’s claim that she was unaware of Bornstein’s Jewish identity was not credible,” it added.
Penn must turn over list of Jewish employees to Trump administration, federal judge rules
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the University of Pennsylvania must turn over lists of Jewish employees as part of the Trump administration’s investigation into antisemitism on its campus.

The ruling marked a significant blow to the school and its Jewish leadership, who submitted court filings opposing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s requests for information on its Jewish employees in January. The EEOC’s subpoena stemmed from a 2023 probe into Penn’s handling of antisemitism complaints from Jewish employees.

In a 32-page ruling, US District Judge Gerald J. Pappert dismissed arguments by Penn and the leaders of Jewish groups on campus who said in separate filings that the Trump administration’s requests were “disturbing and unconstitutional.”

“Penn and other groups and associations the Court permitted to intervene significantly raised the dispute’s temperature by impliedly and even expressly comparing the EEOC’s efforts to protect Jewish employees from antisemitism to the Holocaust and the Nazis’ compilation of ‘lists of Jews,’” Pappert wrote. “Such allegations are unfortunate and inappropriate.”

While Pappert wrote that Penn does not have to provide information to the EEOC about which Jewish organization each individual is affiliated with, he ordered that the school comply with the EEOC’s subpoena by May 1.


Girl, 13, is charged with more than FIFTY offences involving alleged stolen cars and antisemitic abuse
A 13-year-old girl is accused of being behind the wheel of a stolen car that allegedly swerved at a pedestrian and hurled abuse at men in traditional Jewish clothing.

The teenager from Melbourne's Bayside area was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly being caught in another road incident.

Victoria Police was alerted to the teen's first alleged crime when members of the Jewish community were targetted at the intersection of Hotham St and Glen Eira Rd in St Kilda East, inner-southeast Melbourne, on Saturday afternoon.

Footage showed the stolen Hyundai sedan making a right-hand turn from the wrong lane and female occupants appearing to yell 'f*** Jews' at the group of Jewish men.

Witnesses claimed the women inside the car also threw eggs at pedestrians and swerved towards at least one person.

Police at the time said the car had previously been seen 'driving erratically in the Hampton, Ripponlea and Caulfield areas'.

On Tuesday, Victoria Police said the car was stolen from a gym in Caulfield.

However, the alleged offences severely escalated on Monday evening when a male cyclist was allegedly struck by a stolen silver SUV on St Kilda St.


At 101, Holocaust survivor credits Spielberg for her ongoing fight against hatred
After surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ginette Kolinka developed a stock answer to shut down questioners who’d ask about her experiences of the Nazi death camp and its horrors.

“‘If I had a child, well, I would prefer to strangle them with my own hands than make them go through what I went through,'” she’d tell them.

“For me, that was an answer that said it all,” Kolinka says.

Now, at the tail end of a remarkably long and fruitful life, the feisty 101-year-old with an easy and generous smile has become a mighty warrior against antisemitism in France, seeing purpose in sharing her firsthand insight into murderous hatred and inhumanity.

So the lessons of the Holocaust aren’t forgotten. So people who tune in to the countless interviews she gives cannot say that they didn’t know about the death camps and the extermination of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators. So school pupils who are thrilled to meet and listen to Kolinka inherit and embrace the duty of remembrance.

Kolinka credits Steven Spielberg for helping to precipitate her decision 30 years ago to start opening up about the mental and physical scars that she buried for decades, the survivor’s guilt that tormented her, the eternal regret of goodbye kisses that she didn’t get to give to her father, Léon, and 12-year-old brother, Gilbert, before Nazi guards sent to them to the gas chambers, and so many other cruelties.

After the 1993 release of “Schindler’s List,” Spielberg launched a foundation to collect testimonies from Holocaust survivors. When it contacted Kolinka, she was reticent, replying that talking to her would be a waste of time, she recounts in “Return to Birkenau,” her memoir.

But when its interviewer then sat down with her, in 1997, out the memories flowed, for nearly three hours. Tears, too. The foundation says it has since collected more than 60,000 testimonies and is still gathering more.

“For the first time, I found myself compelled to think about it again,” Kolinka says in her book, published in 2019.




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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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