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Thursday, April 02, 2026

04/01 Links Pt2: Do not look away from the rising fires of Jew hatred; Three arrested inc. Pakistani teenager over Golders Green firebomb attack; Herzog: ‘Spirit of our people’ has always prevailed

From Ian:

Do not look away from the rising fires of Jew hatred
Can we all agree this is madness? How can it be that, as a child here, it almost never crossed my mind not to be openly and fearlessly Jewish, and yet I now wait in trepidation for the day one of my young children returns home from school or an outing, asking me to explain Jew hatred?

In just the past few weeks, a branch of Gail’s bakery in Archway was vandalised because it was founded by an Israeli Jew (who is no longer involved in the business), and then the incident was belittled in the Guardian. A report into campus anti-Semitism revealed that one in five students would refuse to live with a Jewish peer. An inquiry had to be launched into anti-Semitism in schools. Meanwhile, down in Margate, an art exhibition titled ‘Drawings Against Genocide’ depicts Israelis and Israel Defence Forces soldiers as demons, murderers and baby-eaters. Artist Matthew Collings claims the work is not anti-Semitic, merely ‘anti-Zionist’. Thank goodness he cleared that up!

This is what we’re up against. Anti-Semitism has had a rebrand and, honestly, activists have done a fantastic PR job. Say whatever you like about the Jews and carry out as many petty acts of anti-Semitism as you please – as long as you take care to use today’s euphemisms of ‘anti-Zionism’ or ‘Israel criticism’, you’ll get away with it.

Despite all of this, I still believe that the vast majority of Britons are not anti-Semites, and that growing numbers are sickened by what they see. Unfortunately, too many of our non-Jewish neighbours are looking away when they should be staring into the flames, as we are forced to do.

The Jewish community does not have the privilege of looking away. While I can shield myself from terrifying video footage of anti-Semitic murder and destruction, I cannot avoid reckoning with the daily reality of life for Jews in Britain today.

This week, Jews celebrate the festival of Passover, when we recall how Moses led us to freedom from slavery in Egypt. It is one of our most important festivals. It celebrates the privilege of not just freedom itself, but also the ability to live freely as Jews. It is a message that has always resonated strongly with me. But this year I find myself asking: when does living with unease become living in fear? In the past, I always believed myself to be truly free, as a person, as a Jew. Today, I’m not so sure.
Seth Mandel: How the Jewish Community Can Fight Tokenism Without Self-Destructing
Since October 7, anti-Zionist politicians and political institutions have relied more than ever on a specific tactic to deflect accusations of anti-Semitism: putting liberal and leftist Jews front and center and using them, essentially, as human shields.

This puts the global Jewish community in a bind. How do we call out this rank tokenism without allowing the debate to descend into an intra-Jewish fight that leaves the politicians unscathed but the Jews further fragmented?

The answer is to focus most of our ire on those responsible for pitting the Jews against each other. Obviously, Jews who allow themselves to be used in this manner are not without agency and therefore their actions can and should be criticized—just without losing sight of the way political systems historically take advantage of Jewish infighting.

Sometimes, the institutions that deserve to come under withering rhetorical fire aren’t political in the classic sense. Take the media. A couple of months ago, I noticed something reading the stories about Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s trip to Australia after the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre.

The Guardian headlined its story: “Isaac Herzog’s four days in Australia left him ‘energised’. For the Jewish community, some saw solidarity while others felt ‘serious angst’.”

The article claimed the trip brought “significant disquiet within Australia’s Jewish community.”

Commenting in favor of Herzog’s visit were the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies. The ECAJ is the umbrella organization of Australian Jewry that represents over 200 Jewish organizations. The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, which is listed as a territorial body of the ECAJ, oversees 55 such Jewish organizations.

The quotes from officers of these two organizations, therefore, can be reasonably said to represent Australian Jewry.

On the other side, being quoted against Herzog’s visit was… something called Jewish Voices of Inner Sydney. The leftist organization does not have much of a footprint and appears to have launched in 2024. Judging by its occasional forays into the public discourse, I can say with some confidence that it has a membership of at least 25 people. As of this writing, it has a whopping 126 followers on Facebook. It is a complete nonentity.

To say that it was unethical of the Guardian to frame its story this way based on some As-a-Jew garage band is to understate the point. The one person from this group the Guardian quotes hardly seems worth spending much time and energy on. The Guardian, on the other hand, is an influential tool of anti-Zionist agitation and ought to be subjected to heaps of scrutiny before anything it writes about Jews and Judaism are to be treated with a grain of seriousness or credibility.

The Guardian uses liberal Jews as human shields, and until it can prove that this has changed, it should be branded as such. Make the paper the primary target.
NYPost Editorial: This is a Democratic Party push to expel Jews from public life
The Democratic Party’s growing antisemitic wing is out to blacklist support for Israel, or at least the nation’s main pro-Israel lobbying and political action group, AIPAC.

Never mind that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spends far less than other interest groups: Climate-obsessed California billionaire Tom Steyer, a prime AIPAC-denouncer, has spent much more on campaign donations all by himself these last few years.

But such is the power of Democrats’ hard left that delegates to the Democratic National Committee’s April meeting will debate a resolution that first condemns “the growing influence of dark money and corporate-backed independent expenditures in Democratic elections” but then singles out only AIPAC as “undermining public trust in democratic institutions.”

But AIPAC isn’t “corporate-backed” or “dark money”: its SuperPAC donors, all successful American individuals, are completely open about who they are and what they support.

The same cannot be said about the real dark money spent on American politics, most of which — about $1.2 billion — supported Democrat candidates and issues in the last election cycle.


Three more arrests over Golders Green Hatzola ambulance arson
Three more people have been arrested in connection with the arson attack on Jewish community ambulances in Golders Green, as security is stepped up ahead of Passover.

A 20-year-old man, a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were detained in the early hours of Wednesday at separate addresses in east London. Officers are also carrying out searches at the locations.

All three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life and remain in police custody. Two are British nationals, while the third holds dual British and Pakistani nationality.

The arrests are part of an ongoing Counter Terrorism Policing investigation into the attack on 23 March, where four vehicles belonging to Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service serving the Jewish community in north west London, were set on fire at around 1.35am, causing gas canisters stored in the vehicles to explode.

Two other men arrested on 25 March have since been released on bail pending further enquiries.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said officers had been working “continuously” since the incident to identify those responsible.

“We know concern among the Jewish community remains high, but I hope these arrests show that we are doing everything we can to bring those responsible to justice,” she said. Damaged ambulances in Highfield Road, Golders Green, London, after an apparent arson attack on four ambulances belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service in London. Pic PA

She added that police would “continue to work closely with local policing colleagues to do everything we can to keep the public safe”.

The incident has not been formally declared as terrorism, but specialist counter-terror officers are leading the investigation due to the circumstances.
Palestinian journalist calls for violence against pro-Israel commentator
An Ireland-based Palestinian journalist who has contributed to outlets including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Drop Site, Middle East Eye, The New Arab and The Electronic Intifada shared posts on his Instagram story encouraging violence against an Irish pro-Israel commentator, Druze Israeli politicians and Israelis generally.

Abubaker Abed had been based in Gaza and was evacuated during the war, ending up in Ireland. He began his career as a soccer reporter and commentator before shifting to focus on the war when it began in October 2023. Press TV, an Iran state-backed media outlet, named him “Journalist of the Year” last year.

According to screenshots of Abed’s Instagram stories shared by others on X, he called for violence against Israelis and against Rachel Moiselle, a popular pro-Israel Irish commentator, in response to Israel’s passage this week of a death penalty law for Palestinian terrorists. The screenshots are no longer active on Abed’s account and could not be independently verified by Jewish Insider. Abed did not respond to a request for comment.

“We need a woman in Ireland to shut this sellout’s mouth,” Abed posted, sharing a screenshot of a post by Moiselle — despite Moiselle, in the post, expressing full-throated opposition to the death penalty law.

Abed also called for executions of Druze Israeli Knesset members who voted for the death penalty bill, saying, “Weed out the traitors. Execute them wherever they are.”

And, sharing a video of Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, celebrating the law’s passage — an action that garnered criticism from many Israeli and pro-Israel observers — Abed called for Israelis to be hunted down and murdered globally.

“Wiping out Israel off the planet is not enough revenge. Israelis mustn’t feel safe anymore,” he said. “Haunt them and go after them where they go. These terrorist parasites must be removed from our planet.”

Moiselle said she fears for her safety after the post.

“I have purposefully never interacted with or commented on this Hamas-affiliated Palestinian journalist based in Dublin, as it is quite clear he is dangerous,” Moiselle said on X. “I have now been subjected to a very explicit post by him inciting violence against me. It is very strange that I have received this due to a post I made unequivocally condemning Israel’s death penalty bill.”

She said that the post about her is a sign of “how toxic and dangerous the anti-Israel climate has become in this country” and of why she doesn’t feel safe in Ireland and plans to move by the end of the year.


Seth Mandel: The Real Reason Behind Israel’s Death-Penalty Bill
An obvious question arises: If Israeli lawmakers want to prevent future prisoner swaps, why don’t they pass a bill doing exactly that?

The answer is: They have tried and failed to do so repeatedly since 2014. The main reason these bills failed is because successive governments refused to tie their own hands, so the legislation would attempt to put peripheral restrictions on hostage deals without outlawing them. The most effective such restriction would have been disallowing Palestinian inmates serving life sentences to be released in such deals. But it’s likely that Israeli governments would be able to circumvent sentencing decisions anyway.

Also—and the same is true of this current death penalty bill—the new rules would not apply retroactively, so no one in custody would be affected by them.

Therefore, goes the thinking, the only way to prevent the government from releasing terror convicts is to require the government to execute them.

There is one more reason for the “success” of a DOA bill mandating capital punishments, and it is related to the current rise in anti-Arab violence in Judea and Samaria.

The case of Khaled Najjar is the best example here. Najjar was convicted in a terrorist murder over 20 years ago. The victim’s family remembers Najjar taunting them at his sentencing as follows: “We will kidnap soldiers until the last of our prisoners is released. Seven life sentences? I don’t consider those numbers. I’m going to be released.”

And so he was. He was finally killed in an IDF strike in May 2024.

Najjar, like many bloodstained terrorists, knew he’d never serve out his sentence. Because of the hostage deals, murder convictions only temporarily remove someone from the battlefield. It is a mockery of the justice system.

The sliver of young settlers terrorizing Palestinians in Judea and Samaria are easy to denounce from a moral standpoint: murder is evil, arson is evil, theft is evil. They are also worthy of denunciation from a strategic standpoint: blackening Israel’s name, inviting retribution, fomenting anarchy, forcing the diversion of IDF resources and manpower, etc. But the few violent settlers believe—wrongly, to be sure—that they are participating in an existing anarchy, not paving the way for a new lawlessness. They have weaponized the resentment some Israelis feel toward the system that ensures the most dangerous Palestinian terrorists will avoid their sentences and be freed to kill again and again.

Those violent settlers are in the wrong, full stop. Which doesn’t negate the fact that terrorists have gamed the Israeli justice system and Israeli leaders have been unable or unwilling to stop the manipulation.

The death-penalty bill is performative. Its purpose is to make a statement about hostage deals. And that statement, in the post-October 7 world, has a larger audience than ever.
Israel’s Death Penalty Law: What the Media Get Wrong
A Country Deeply Divided on the Issue
Another element missing from much of the coverage is the intense domestic debate within Israel itself.

There is no national consensus behind the law.

Opposition figures, legal experts, and segments of the public have raised serious concerns — from moral objections to questions about deterrence and potential consequences. Even within Israel’s political and security establishment, the issue has long been contentious.

In other words, this is not the action of a monolithic state imposing an uncontested policy. It is the product of a democratic system grappling — openly and contentiously — with a deeply sensitive issue.

And this law has been passed against the backdrop of the Hamas October 7 massacre. Beyond emotive calls to deal with future terrorist threats or to apply some form of deterrence, there is a very practical reality that Israel has faced. Israeli hostages were kidnapped and held in Gaza to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.

It’s hard to forget that in a previous prisoner exchange, Hamas leader and mastermind of October 7, Yahya Sinwar was among those released. For some Israelis, the death penalty may reduce the risk of such a murderer being freed in future.

A Law That Will Face Legal Scrutiny
The legal debate is far from over.

Israel’s legal system, anchored by an independent judiciary, is expected to examine the law in detail. Any attempt to implement it will likely face rigorous judicial review.

That is how Israel’s system functions.

Yet this reality — that the law will be tested, challenged, and potentially constrained through legal mechanisms — is largely absent from coverage that prefers a more simplistic narrative.

In addition, while death by hanging may be the default punishment for West Bank residents convicted of deadly terrorist acts by military courts, judges can opt for life imprisonment under vaguely defined “special circumstances.” In addition, the sentence would still require a simple majority of judges, thus avoiding a unilateral decision on a matter of such gravity.

It is worth noting that the law was watered down to ensure it would not go any further than any similar laws enacted under U.S. legislation.

The Bottom Line
The death penalty law raises serious questions. Israelis themselves are debating them.

But the portrayal of the law as a sweeping, discriminatory measure targeting Palestinians as a whole — or as a tool poised to be applied to thousands of existing prisoners — does not withstand scrutiny.

It is a narrower, prospective measure aimed at a specific category of deadly terrorism.

And once again, the gap between what the law says and how it is reported tells its own story.


Pro-Palestine march leaders found guilty of breaching protest conditions
The director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham, vice chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, have been found guilty of breaching protest conditions.

The pro-Palestine campaigners were both accused of failing to comply with a condition that required attendees of a protest on January 18 last year to stay on Whitehall in central London in a static rally.

The Metropolitan Police imposed conditions blocking the pro-Palestine march from gathering near a central London synagogue amid concerns it would risk the safety of the Jewish community.

On Wednesday, Jamal, 62, and Nineham, 63, were found guilty after a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Jamal was also convicted of two counts of inciting other protesters to breach police conditions under the Public Order Act.

Addressing the defendants, District Judge Daniel Sternberg said: “I accordingly find you guilty on each of the charges.”

Sternberg noted conditions imposed by the police on the march were “lawful” and said that a speech made by Jamal after the march “constituted incitement” of the crowd.

“Mr Jamal’s speech constituted incitement,” said the judge, it was a suggestion, persuasion, and inducement encouraging breach of the condition.”

During the trial, the prosecution said the conditions were knowingly breached when protesters marched outside of the designated area, towards the BBC’s headquarters in Portland Place.

Sternberg delivered the judgment on Wednesday saying “the court emphasised that protest rights while fundamental, are not absolute and do not permit breaching lawfully imposed restrictions.”


Radical Islamic preacher is DEPORTED after Daily Mail raised the alarm about vile Hitler comments
A radical Islamic preacher who praised Adolf Hitler as a 'divine punishment' against Jews has been deported from Australia mid-way through his national speaking tour.

Daily Mail was first to report the case of Mizanur Rahman Azhari, who has a 10million-strong online following and delivers lectures across Asia, the Middle East and Western diaspora communities.

The Bangladeshi preacher was touring Australia over Easter as part of his 'Legacy of Faith' series, with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

It is understood Azhari's visa was cancelled on Tuesday. He is now awaiting deportation.

Azhari was previously barred from the UK and banned from preaching at public congregations in his native Bangladesh over allegations of extremist hate speech.

Liberal Senator Jonathan Duniam earlier on Wednesday said he and other parliamentarians had been warned by community groups about Azhari's arrival.

'I know a number of members of parliament, including the minister himself, received communication from groups including the Australian Federation for Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Bangladesh,' he told the Senate on Wednesday.

In a 2023 sermon delivered in the United States, Azhari promoted a range of antisemitic conspiracy theories, offering praise for the Holocaust, dehumanising Jewish people, and urging his audience to sever ties with them.


UN names Hamas-defending Palestinian academic a special adviser
The United Nations Human Rights Council named Zeina Jallad, a Palestinian academic who justified the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks, on Tuesday to a six-year term as the global body’s special rapporteur on sanctions.

Jallad leads the Palestine Land Studies Center at the American University of Beirut, which was evacuated this week due to the threat of Iranian missile fire on U.S. educational institutions in the Middle East.

Her portfolio in the position, which Iran created, focuses on the negative impact of Western sanctions imposed on Tehran and other rights abusers.

Jallad’s appointment was unusual. Sidharto Suryodipuro, Indonesian ambassador to the global body in Geneva, who serves as president of the Human Rights Council, dismissed the vetting committee’s recommendation to select Jallad.

He cited her “practice-grounded perspective” and “pledge to approach the role with independence, transparency and a commitment to listen.”

Jallad does not appear to have expertise on sanctions. The expert whom the vetting committee chose does. Jallad also applied for the special rapporteur position on housing.

She serves as legal adviser to Michael Fakhri, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food and a frequent critic of the Jewish state.

Jallad said last March “before talking about Oct. 7, let’s talk about Oct. 6,” blaming the United States and Europe for boycotting Hamas, which she said is the “elected government” in Gaza and a “political party.”

She also falsely said that “Hamas and its charter recognized Israel.”


United Nations in wait-and-see mode for UNRWA, after Philippe Lazzarini steps down as head
Daniel Meron, the Israeli ambassador to international organizations in Geneva, hopes the door doesn’t hit Philippe Lazzarini as the latter steps down as commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

“Philippe Lazzarini’s departure follows UNRWA’s systemic moral collapse,” Meron told JNS. “Rather than accepting responsibility, he continues to frame the agency as a passive victim.

Lazzarini left UNRWA three months before the conclusion of his tenure, and there doesn’t appear to be a succession plan for the U.N. agency, which employed people who participated directly in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks and who had ties to Palestinian terror groups.

UNRWA became a “social fabric” for terror under Lazzarini’s tenure, and Israel has found that almost 12% of the agency’s staff in Gaza are members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to Meron.

“This is no case of rotten apples,” Meron told JNS. “Does anyone believe that the agency didn’t know that its schools were being used as command centers and its electricity to power Hamas server farms?”

Meron disagrees with Lazzarini’s view that the U.N. agency’s infrastructure, experience in Gaza and knowledge of the landscape are irreplaceable. Israel is already facilitating aid through international partners, including U.N. agencies like the World Food Programme and UNICEF, he said.

“Real peace requires neutral humanitarian agencies, not those serving as an arm of Hamas,” Meron told JNS. “Instead of preaching for accountability, Mr. Lazzarini should be held accountable for the systemic criminal failures under his tenure.”

Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in New York, wrote “good riddance” to the outgoing UNRWA head.

“The fact that he doesn’t mention, much less show any contrition for, UNRWA’s involvement in Oct. 7, nor their infiltration by Hamas, is a perfect example of how U.N. officials dodge accountability through moral grandstanding,” Waltz stated. (The U.S. envoy was responding to a Guardian op-ed that Lazzarini penned.)


Quillette: Inside Iran: Why the Regime May Be Near Collapse | Emily Schrader Interview
In this episode, Pamela Paresky speaks with journalist and analyst Emily Schrader about the Islamic Republic of Iran—its ideology, power structure, and the growing signs that the regime may be approaching a breaking point.

Schrader explains how the Iranian regime operates both internally and globally: from the role of the IRGC and the suppression of protests, to propaganda, proxy warfare, and influence networks in the West.

This is a wide-ranging and deeply informed discussion about one of the most consequential geopolitical challenges of our time.

00:00 Introduction: How Emily Schrader Became Focused on Iran
01:45 Iran vs the Middle East: Identity and History
02:00 Western Media and Narrative Distortion
02:44 The IRGC’s Global Reach
06:30 Exporting the Islamic Revolution
08:00 Terrorism and Radicalisation in the West
09:15 How Iran’s Political System Actually Works
10:00 Why Iranian Elections Aren’t Real
11:00 Reformists vs Hardliners Explained
12:10 Women, Protests, and Mahsa Amini
13:45 Reza Pahlavi and Leadership Questions
14:20 Sport, Repression, and Control
16:45 The 2009 Green Movement
18:30 Economic Collapse and Mismanagement
20:10 Iranian Public Opinion on War
21:15 Prospects for Uprising
22:30 IRGC Defections and Internal Weakness
24:00 Internet Blackouts and Information Control
27:00 Ideology: Islamism and Marxism
30:00 MEK and Opposition Politics
33:00 Separatism and Regime Propaganda
36:00 Iran’s Global Ambitions
38:30 Iranian Diaspora and Western Reactions
40:45 Biggest Western Misconceptions
41:00 Why Negotiations Fail
45:00 Narrative Warfare and the Gaza War
50:30 Containment vs Confrontation
53:20 Refugees and Regional Instability
55:00 Lobbying and Influence in the West
57:20 Current Situation: Who Is in Charge?
01:01:00 What Happens Next for Iran
01:04:30 Conclusion


Quillette: What Australia Can Learn From Israel: Zoe Booth
Written by Zoe Booth, and inspired by her first trip to Israel, this video explores the gap between perception and reality.

Arriving in Israel for the first time, what she encountered challenged many of the assumptions common in Australia—from fears about safety to deeper questions about identity, cohesion, and national purpose.

Why does Israel maintain unity despite internal tensions?
Has Australia’s model of multiculturalism weakened social cohesion?
And what happens when a country loses confidence in its own identity?

Drawing on firsthand experience, this is a reflection on two very different societies—and what one might learn from the other.

00:00 Busting Australian myths about Israel
02:18 Israel’s economic strength vs Australia’s complacency
03:42 Multiculturalism and the decline of social cohesion
05:19 Why Israel remains unified despite internal tensions
06:01 How assimilation built a shared Israeli identity
07:53 Balancing diversity within a national framework
09:01 Australia’s integration failures exposed
10:25 Britain as a warning case study
12:28 What Australia can learn from Israel


Erin Molan: The Soldier who Saved Idan Amedi in Gaza Speaks From a War Zone
This is the IDF combat medic who helped save Israeli singer Idan Amedi on the battlefield in Gaza — and later reunited with him in a moment that went viral around the world.

In this exclusive interview, Dr. Tuvia Book joins Erin Molan from a war zone to reveal what really happens on the front lines: the chaos, the life-saving decisions, and the reality of a war most people will never understand.

Dr. Book is part of an elite combat medical extraction unit that has saved thousands of soldiers — including Amedi, who was found critically wounded after an explosion in Gaza.

But this story is bigger than one viral moment.

Find 'Heroes of Palmar' By Dr. Tuvia Book HERE

This is about what war actually looks like.
And who is willing to step into it.


Erin Molan: Trump Said He's “Kissing My A$$”… Now Saudi Arabia May Decide the War
Episode 124 of The Erin Molan Show asks the question no one can avoid anymore: what does Saudi Arabia do next?

As the war between the U.S., Israel and the Iranian regime escalates, one country holds enormous influence over what happens next — Saudi Arabia.

Erin is joined by Saudi geopolitical analyst Mohammed Alhamed, who answers the critical questions:

Will Saudi Arabia join the war if Iran continues attacking the region?
Is the Kingdom moving toward the Abraham Accords?
How did Saudi leadership really react to Donald Trump’s “kiss my ass” comment?
What does Saudi Arabia actually want the end of this war to look like?

And — they don’t agree on everything.

This is a rare, direct look into how Saudi Arabia is thinking at a moment that could reshape the Middle East — from strategic patience vs escalation, to peace with Israel, to the growing risk of a wider regional war.

If Saudi Arabia moves… everything moves.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Erin Molan show intro
02:00 Trump hints at Iran deal
05:00 NATO under fire
08:00 Hezbollah-inspired terror in the U.S.
11:00 Sky News UK controversy
14:00 UN confirms October 7 atrocities
16:00 Megyn Kelly caught on tape
17:00 Israel death penalty debate
20:00 Saudi Arabia interview begins
30:00 Will Saudi Arabia join the war?
40:00 Fan feedback


Erin Molan: EVERY American Should Watch What's Happening in Canada...
In this explosive interview Episode 126, Erin sits down with Dahlia Kurtz — a Canadian activist who says her country has become a safe haven for extremist networks, and that anyone who speaks out is being targeted, silenced, and destroyed.

After posting in support of Israel, Dahlia says she lost her career, income, and reputation overnight. She describes state-sponsored hacking attempts, legal harassment, death threats, and why she believes Canada is just the beginning.

DAHLIA KURTZ'S BOOK: Dear Zionist, You're Not Alone

Is this a warning for the rest of the West?

CHAPTERS
00:01 – Intro: “This should terrify you”
01:00 – Canada’s leadership under fire
02:50 – “Canada is a safe haven”
03:30 – Claims of IRGC & infiltration
05:20 – Economic collapse & why people don’t fight back
07:40 – Targeting those who speak out
09:00 – State-sponsored hacking claim
10:30 – Demonitization & financial pressure
12:00 – Losing everything after one post
15:00 – What is considered “controversial” now
15:45 – Lawsuit against Roger Waters
17:30 – Death threats & police response
19:20 – Why Canada is being overlooked
20:30 – Why she refuses to stay silent
21:00 – Her father’s story & legacy
25:30 – What “winning” really means
27:30 – Final thoughts & where to follow Dahlia




The Monster the Media Helped Make: How a Democrat Darling Became an Iranian Asset
If HonestReporting’s criticism of Walsh in 2022 mattered, it was not because she was already sufficiently prominent to warrant attention. It mattered because she was already exhibiting the instincts, obsessions, and ideological fixations of someone heading somewhere even more dangerous. The question now is not whether that warning was fair, but why so few others seemed interested in hearing it.

That question becomes all the more uncomfortable when one recalls how eagerly parts of the press had elevated Walsh in earlier years. Just weeks before she was promoting the “Mapping Project,” she was being featured or quoted by outlets such as The Boston Globe, The New York Post, and Slate.

The Boston Globe quoted Walsh after she went viral over a homework assignment given to her younger sister, which asked students to consider both the positive and negative effects of imperialism. Walsh responded by denouncing the exercise as an attempt to justify genocide, posting online that forcing students to consider any “positive effects” of imperialism “perpetuates genocide” and indoctrinates them into supporting an “imperial war machine.” The newspaper reported her outrage in detail, noting how her post rapidly attracted thousands of shares and tens of thousands of likes.

What went largely unexamined, however, was that at the very same time, Walsh’s own social media presence was saturated with increasingly extreme rhetoric. Her then-Twitter account biography featured the Irish republican slogan “Tiocfaidh รกr lรก” – “our day will come” – a phrase historically associated with a group responsible for decades of deadly attacks on civilians and soldiers in the United Kingdom. Yet this wider pattern of radicalism was effectively ignored, as she was folded instead into a familiar and flattering narrative: the young activist, fearless in her convictions and worthy of amplification.

As The Free Press notes, the media in the years before played a huge role in building Walsh’s profile. She was elevated during the 2020 Democratic primary, when she became part of the so-called “Markeyverse,” a network of young activists credited with helping propel Senator Ed Markey to an unexpected victory over Joe Kennedy III. At the time, Walsh was treated as a symbol of youthful political energy, while being praised by senior politicians and profiled in outlets such as The New York Times and Boston magazine.

That early elevation matters. Not because it explains or excuses what Walsh has since become, but because it helps illuminate how her trajectory was misread at precisely the moment it should have been more carefully examined.

What was presented as precocious political engagement often carried with it something else: a rigidity of thought, a moral absolutism, and a performative certainty that should have prompted closer scrutiny rather than uncritical amplification. When Walsh’s social media posts went viral, including the episode that led to coverage in The Boston Globe, the instinct of much of the press was to treat virality itself as validation.

That is where the failure lies. Not in covering Walsh, but in failing to contextualize her. In presenting a teenager’s outrage as self-evidently meaningful without asking what else accompanied it, what patterns it reflected, or where it might lead.

None of this is to suggest that the media is responsible for Walsh, or that coverage alone can account for her eventual work in support of the Iranian regime. Individuals make their own choices, and Walsh bears responsibility for hers. But by elevating her profile, legitimizing her voice, and embedding her within a narrative of rising political significance, the media helped construct the public persona that later made her a far more useful asset to movements and regimes that prize Western voices capable of translating their ideology for a broader audience.

For all the revulsion her current conduct invites, Walsh remains, in another sense, a tragic figure: a young American woman whose radicalization played out in public, validated by institutions that should have exercised greater care, and gradually absorbed into movements that exploit grievance and flatter narcissism. The value in revisiting her descent lies not simply in documenting how far she has fallen, but in asking why so many warning signs were treated as markers of promise rather than causes for concern.


University of Washington removes Middle East center director, who wrote email blaming Israel for Iran war
Aria Fani, an associate professor at University of Washington, who holds the Elahรฉ Omidyar Mir-Djalali professorship in Persian and Iranian studies and who directs the public Seattle school’s Persian and Iranian studies program, is the only one of 20 full-time faculty and staff members on the university’s webpage for its Middle Eastern languages and cultures program whose email address isn’t listed.

But JNS sought comment from him on Wednesday after the university removed him as director of the Middle East Center at its Jackson School of International Studies for sending an email newsletter framing Israel as the aggressor in the Iran war.

“On leave until September,” Fani stated in an autoreply to a JNS email. “Will not check email with capitalist frequency.”

The professor reportedly wrote in a March 18 newsletter, which he sent via the center’s listserv, that “Israeli actions tell us that they seek the destruction of the state, not just its ruling class.” The email, titled “More notes on the Iran war,” reportedly added that it “was always BS” that the Islamic Republic was pursuing nuclear weapons.

David Rey, associate director of strategic communications at the university, told the Daily, a student paper, on Wednesday that Fani is no longer the director of the center and that “Daniel Hoffman, the director of the Jackson School of International Studies, will cover the administrative responsibilities of the Middle East Center for this spring and summer.”

Hoffman called Fani on Friday to tell him he was no longer the center head and that he can “maintain his position as an associate professor at the university,” the student paper reported. The paper added that Fani said he and Hoffman have spoken multiple times about his email and believes it was the reason for his termination from the role. (JNS sought comment from the university.)

In July, Fani told the student newspaper that “if you tell the dozens of children that were killed in Israeli bombardment, that were killed in Iran, or the families of the nuclear scientists who were just wiped out—I hardly imagine they would say that the world is a more peaceful place.”


Top American Prospect editor peddles antisemitic conspiracy theories online
Maureen Tkacik, a top editor for The American Prospect, an influential progressive magazine in Washington, has made no secret of her self-avowed hatred of Israel, particularly in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.

“Hating Israel is everything to me,” Tkacik wrote in one social media post in February, while adding in another, “If you don’t hate Israel I strongly question your humanity.”

In recent months, however, she has increasingly entertained conspiracy theories about Israel, used antisemitic rhetoric and expressed her approval of far-right extremists stoking anti-Jewish sentiment, raising questions over her ongoing association with a periodical that had long been viewed as a paragon of modern liberalism.

The Prospect — a magazine first published in 1990 that has helped to launch the careers of Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, Jonathan Chait and other prominent liberal pundits — states on its website it “is devoted to promoting informed discussion on public policy from a progressive perspective,” while highlighting its efforts “to dispel myths, challenge conventional wisdom and expand the dialogue.”

But Tkacik’s online commentary has clashed with that editorial ethos, as she is drawn to conspiracy mongering about Israel and what she views as its malign influence on U.S. politics and government.

In some social media posts, for instance, she has indicated that she believes it is possible Israel was involved in the assassinations of both President John F. Kennedy and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.


NY suspect indicted for ‘brutally assaulting’ Jewish man on subway
he Brooklyn district attorney’s office on Wednesday indicted a suspect for allegedly beating a Jewish man on a New York City subway in an antisemitic attack.

Neil Hurlock, 20, a Brooklyn resident, was charged with assault, menacing, robbery and aggravated harassment —- all as hate crimes —- as well as other charges.

On the morning of March 2, Hurlock, wearing a black face mask, followed his Jewish victim onto a train at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Hurlock allegedly punched the victim in the face twice, picked the victim up while striking him, threw the victim onto subway seats, and punched him in the face several more times.

Hurlock allegedly called the victim a “Fucking Jew” during the attack.

The victim was reading a religious text and identifiable as Jewish due to his clothing, including a kippah, the district attorney’s office said.

The attacker allegedly removed the kippah from the victim’s head before fleeing the scene.

During the attack, the defendant’s phone fell out of his pocket and was picked up by the victim, according to the statement. The victim called police and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for pain, bruising and swelling on his head and cuts on his hands.
Ontario court sentences neo-Nazi propagandist to 20 years for facilitating terrorist activity
Matthew Althorpe, 29, of Thorold, Ontario, was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice after pleading guilty to terrorism-related offenses tied to neo-Nazi propaganda that inspired attacks abroad.

Althorpe pleaded guilty in October to facilitating terrorist activity, instructing others to carry out terrorist acts and willfully promoting hatred.

Prosecutors said Althorpe was an active member of the Atomwaffen Division and a leader within the so-called Terrorgram Collective, producing videos, manifestos and online posts that promoted violence against Jews, Muslims, Black people and other groups. Prosecutors said his materials, disseminated on Telegram, were cited in multiple terrorist attacks, including a 2022 shooting outside an LGBTQ bar in Slovakia and a 2024 stabbing at a mosque in Turkey.

“Terrorists know that online hatred can lead to violence and that their words and images are weapons that can convert the minds of others and inspire them to commit violent acts,” said George Dolhai, director of public prosecutions.

Jewish advocacy organizations, including Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, B’nai Brith Canada, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism and the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, submitted community impact statements to the court.


Slain soldier considered missing since 1948 found in mass grave in north — IDF
The military announced Wednesday that it recently determined that a soldier killed in Israel’s War of Independence, who until now had been considered missing, was in fact buried in a mass grave in a northern kibbutz.

Pvt. Dov Parmet was killed in action on June 5, 1948, when the 1st Company of the Oded Brigade’s 11th Battalion encountered and battled a Syrian-Lebanese enemy force near Kibbutz Malkia on the Lebanese border.

Following the battle, Parmet was listed as a fallen soldier whose burial site was unknown.

“After years of intensive efforts to locate findings for his return to burial, in 2020, a special investigation team was established, which carried out numerous and diverse investigative actions to locate Parmet’s burial place,” the Israel Defense Forces said.

The IDF said its investigation included “document analysis, witness interrogation, soil analysis and archaeological surveys.”

The investigation led to the conclusion that Parmet was buried in a mass grave in Kibbutz Maoz Haim, near the Jordanian border, alongside 16 other soldiers slain during the 1948 battles at Malkia.


Herzog’s message for Passover: ‘Spirit of our people’ has always prevailed
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a Passover holiday message to Jewish communities around the world on Tuesday that despite the burst of global antisemitism and ongoing war against Iran, the “spirit of our people” will prevail.

“In a season of movement and change, we gather with our loved ones around seder tables everywhere to tell a story that has traveled with us since the beginning, across every generation and in every place our people have walked,” Herzog said in the recorded video holiday remarks posted on X.

The Passover story, he continued, is one of “freedom, a story of renewal and radical faith, a story of resilience that has inspired humanity across cultures. It is a story that has defined our people across history at large.”

The weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins on Wednesday evening, coincides this year with a war against Iran that started on Feb. 28.


TABLET VIDEO | In Every Generation: A Rabbi’s Passover in Nasser’s Prisons
Rabbi Albert Gabbai celebrated Passover from a prison cell under Nasser, imprisoned alongside hundreds of other Jews. Decades later, in Brooklyn, he and his family see differently what it means to have been slaves in Egypt.






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