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Friday, April 10, 2026

04/10 Links Pt2: Simon Schama: With parts of London ‘no-go zones,’ Jews have lost basic civil rights; So You Want To Be a Bundist; The rise and fall of Tariq Ramadan; What Do You Mean by “Jewish State”?; Eliot Engel dies at 79

From Ian:

Historian Simon Schama: With parts of London ‘no-go zones,’ Jews have lost basic civil rights
As a “little Jewish boy” growing up in postwar Britain, Simon Schama says he never felt physically unsafe walking the streets wearing a kippa. Nor, he says, were guards routinely posted at the door of the local synagogue.

But, notes the acclaimed historian, that’s not the experience of Jewish children in Britain today. Instead, he says, it is the most difficult time for young Jews to be growing up since the end of World War II.

“It’s really painful that little kids, for example, Hasmonean or Jewish Free School kids, have to hide their uniforms,” Schama tells The Times of Israel. “The sense of a fearful loss not just of self-esteem, but basic civil rights. Nobody goes around tearing hijabs off Muslim women, and I’m very glad they don’t. But this is a dreadful time just [in terms of] feeling you have equal rights to the rest of the multicultural population.”

Parts of central London’s West End, says Schama, have become “no-go” areas, with Jews wearing a kippa or a Star of David facing the risk of “being screamed at.”

Schama’s comments came during a week when Britain’s Jewish community — already experiencing near-record levels of antisemitic incidents — was further shaken by an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish-run volunteer organization in the heavily Jewish north London neighborhood of Golders Green.

A renowned art historian, as well as a scholar of British, French, and Jewish history, Schama is clearly put off by an anti-Israel exhibition in Margate, on the south coast of England, that made headlines that same week.

“Disgusting, horrible, mad, kind of bad Julius Streicher cartoons of Jews eating babies,” says Schama. “The really worrying thing is, of course, how these extreme, murderous, grotesque things have become absolutely… part of Generation Z’s repartee.”

All of this is far removed from the world in which Schama grew up.

“My father thought, after the Holocaust, there was nothing to fear in Britain,” he recalls. “Both my parents, and their generation, and indeed mine growing up, thought somehow of British life and Jewish life being a kind of almost perfect cultural fit.”

Despite being a Labour supporter, like many British Jews at the time, Schama’s father “worshiped Churchill both as a Zionist and for the war,” he says. Schama recalls the pride with which his father later told him about the speech by William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury, delivered in the House of Lords in March 1943, denouncing Allied procrastination and inaction in the face of the Nazis’ mass slaughter of European Jewry. “We stand at the bar of history, humanity, and God,” the archbishop declared.

“My father was moved by that,” says Schama. “The sense that the head of the Church of England would be the one person to say, ‘Don’t look away, don’t do nothing,’ struck him as a symptom of the benevolence and the fit between British history and Jewish history.”

Schama, who is currently working on the third volume of his trilogy “The Story of the Jews,” rejects the idea that Jews do not have a long-term future in Britain, as well as comparisons with the 1930s. There is no “horrible, intimidating, crazed popular antisemitism” backed and encouraged by the state, as was the case in Nazi Germany. Britain’s King Charles III meets members of the community during a visit to Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on October 20, 2025. (Chris Jackson / POOL / AFP)

And, he says, there continue to be “moments of fantastic hope” for the community. By coincidence, on the day of the Golders Green arson attack, it was announced that King Charles is to become a patron of the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and protects Jewish synagogues, schools, and other institutions.

“It was an incredible thing that the king accepted the patronage [of the CST]; that’s exactly what was needed,” Schama says.
Seth Mandel: So You Want To Be a Bundist
Equal collective rights for all nations within the state. That the advocates of this system didn’t call it “nationalism” is mostly irrelevant. Jewish autonomy as envisioned by Medem and others on the Jewish left would essentially mean the following, in practice: Jewish governing bodies running what they called cultural affairs and institutions. This included education.

In a world built around the ideas of Medem-like autonomists, either Yiddish schools would be publicly funded or Jewish governing bodies would be given the power to tax all the Jews, and only the Jews, to pay for these and other institutions.

Bundist theorists weren’t assimilationist—Medem himself seems to have conceived of assimilation as a nefarious capitalist plot of some sort. Jewish autonomy was a mainstream idea among Jewish leftists just as much as it was among those who eventually became known as “rightist.” Socialist Jewish writers and thinkers envisioned a sort of Zionism-lite—with the key difference being that it would apply in the Diaspora.

Let me simplify this. If I were to live under Jabotinsky’s idea of Jewish autonomy, I would be governed by Jews in the Land of Israel—if I chose to move there. But under Medem’s idea, I would be governed by Jews in America (though also by a secular national government). Rather than pay synagogue dues to the shul of my choice, I’d most likely be paying an annual Jew tax.

The triumph of Zionism over Bundism maximized Jewish freedom. But it also had the same effect on Jewish security. We’ll never know if the Holocaust would have happened as it happened had there been a State of Israel at the time. Instead, the Holocaust happened during the time of the Bundists. That isn’t to blame them, obviously, for what happened. It is merely to say that Bundism wasn’t a plan for Jewish survival.

Nor was it universalist and assimilationist, two terms that ironically describe the Bund’s biggest modern-day fans. If it was “anti-nationalist,” it was a very funny sort of anti-nationalist. I’ll close with Medem’s own words, translated by Lucy Dawidowicz and published in COMMENTARY in 1950:

“When did I clearly and definitely feel myself to be a Jew? I cannot say, but at the beginning of 1901, when I was arrested for clandestine political activity, the police gave me a form to fill in. In the column ‘Nationality,’ I wrote ‘Jew’.”
Douglas Murray: The rise and fall of Tariq Ramadan
This was how I first encountered him in the 2000s. I had helped arrange an English publication of Caroline Fourest’s Frère Tariq, in which the French journalist devastatingly showed how Ramadan spoke out of both sides of his mouth. To Islamic audiences he preached one message, to western audiences he told another.

On the rare occasions he was put on the spot, Ramadan was evasive. In a French TV debate in 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy – not then president – tried to get him to condemn the Islamic teaching that a woman should be stoned to death for adultery. The most he could say was he thought there should be a ‘moratorium’ on stoning for such a crime.

Ordinarily such talk would go down badly. But at around this time the situation in Europe was getting worse. After the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005, Ramadan was one of the Muslims appointed to the UK government’s counter-extremism taskforce. A number of us were sharply critical of this, but nothing seemed able to stop Ramadan´s remorseless rise. In television studios and debating chambers across many countries he and I debated and argued against each other for years. I once called him ‘my closest enemy’. He always came across to me as both fraudulent and cunning.

In 2005 he was made a professor at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and held a teaching position at the university right up until the first sexual assault allegations were made against him more than a decade later.

Why he should ever have been given such a position at Oxford was itself a mystery. One of the people who put him forward for the role once admitted to me that he had no knowledge of Ramadan’s academic history, nor his Islamist track record. So why was he appointed to St Antony’s? The college had always been known as the ‘spook college’. Was it a sign that parts of the Establishment had found a way to embed and elevate Ramadan? As the years went on, and no allegation or misstep seemed to touch him, that certainly became my own suspicion.

As the relationship between Europe and its Muslims came under an ever-greater spotlight it was in the interests of officials, like those in the Blair government, to promote ‘moderate’ Muslim voices – whether they were actually moderate or not. Ramadan fitted a bill. One explanation as to why (until recently) no criticism or exposé of him ever landed is that he was simply too important to certain people.

When the Obama administration came into office in the US, Ramadan had an almost equally gilded ride. Past travel bans relating to his alleged funding of terrorist-linked groups and connections to extremists were forgotten.

From Athens to Oxford, whenever I encountered him I could never understand the entitled, arrogant attitude he projected as he mouthed evasive platitudes. It was as though he knew he was always going to be fine. Life was good to Tariq.

All of this has come to an end due to something I suppose not many people could foresee. But, as I say, the more striking thing about Ramadan is not his fall, but his rise.

He will doubtless appeal the French verdict. But I would be surprised if we hear much from him again. The accounts of his victims tell us too much about him. But the supply and demand problem that created him says an awful lot about us, too.


What Do You Mean by “Jewish State”?
For Jews (0.2% of humanity), the idea and the necessity of a Jewish state is so self-evident that most of them have not thought about how to put the concept into simple terms that non-Jews (99.8% of humanity) can understand.

Allow me to help. I'm an Israeli tour guide and educator. I've put some thought into this.

What do Jews mean by “Jewish state”?

“Jewish state” is shorthand for the idea that Jews are a people, that the Jewish people are from a specific place (the Land of Israel), and that in at least part of that specific place, the Jewish people will be responsible for their own fate.

“Jewish state” means that there will never again be a Jewish refugee.

“Jewish state” means that any Jew who needs a home will have a home.

In one sentence:
“Jewish state” is the idea that Israel is and will continue to be the one place in the world where the Jewish people are responsible for their own fate.

That’s it. That’s the definition of the Z-word. That’s Zionism.

You can “yes but what about” the principles that I have written here until you are blue in the face.

You can throw whatever academic jargon you want at us.

But it will not change the meaning of “Jewish state.”

The overwhelming majority of Jews in the world agree with what I have written here.

Yes, I speak for them.

I hope this helped.


60% of Americans have an unfavourable view of Israel, up sharply since 2022, survey shows
Six in 10 Americans say they have a very or somewhat unfavourable view of Israel, up 20 points since 2022, according to a new Pew Research Centre survey released this week.

About half of them say they have a “very unfavourable” view of Israel, a proportion that has tripled in the last four years.

The survey of 3,500 U.S. adults conducted late last month, weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, offers the latest signal that anti-Israel sentiment is surging among Americans. Multiple previous polls have shown that Americans sympathise more often with the Palestinians over the Israelis.

The poll results come as politicians on both sides of the aisle are pushing for Israel to receive less or no U.S. aid, and as the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC has become a punching bag, especially among Democrats.

The latest poll replicated the partisan divide widely detected in polling, with about 80 percent of Democrats saying they have an unfavourable view of Israel, compared to 40 percent of Republicans. Nearly half of Democrats under age 50 said they have a “very unfavourable” view of Israel.

While Republicans continue to hold an overall favourable view of Israel, they are split on their assessment of its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Pew survey, which had a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points. As many have little or no confidence in him as have a lot or some confidence, though among Republicans under 50, only 30 percent said they had any confidence in him.

The poll is the second released this week to detect opposition to the Israeli government among Jewish Americans specifically. The Pew survey found that 56 percent of U.S. Jews have little or no confidence in Netanyahu when it comes to world affairs. A smaller survey by the Jewish Electorate Institute found that 63 percent of respondents described themselves as both “pro-Israel” and critical of Israeli government policies.
Elise Stefanik: How antisemitic professors — including Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s father — have ‘poisoned’ Columbia University
For years, Columbia has welcomed professors like those above, treating them as superlative members of Columbia’s academic community. Pro-Israel professors have not received the same welcome. Consider what happened to former Columbia Business School Professor Shai Davidai.

On the evening of October 18, 2023, Professor Davidai, who grew up in Israel, gave an impassioned speech at an anti-terror vigil on Columbia’s campus. He posted the speech to YouTube titled “An Open Letter to Every Parent in America.”

“I’m speaking to you as a dad,” Davidai said: “I want you to know we cannot protect your children from pro-terror student organizations, because the president of Columbia University will not speak out against pro-terror student organizations, because the president of Harvard University, because the president of Stanford, because the president of Berkeley will not speak out against pro-terror student organizations.”

In the course of his ten-minute oration, he accused then Columbia President Minouche Shafik of being a “coward” and said that he feared for his safety on campus, given the indisputable evidence of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred.

Unlike the tenured professors spewing vile antisemitism for decades, Shai Davidai became a target of Columbia’s administration. In December 2023, Columbia University launched an investigation of Davidai, alleging harassment based on “national origin and/or shared ancestry.” The charges reflected accusations from pro-Palestinian students and faculty that Davidai had “doxxed” and “harassed” them — charges that Davidai denies.

Davidai and his wife identify as liberals. Writing in Tablet in February 2024, they articulated their position this way: “As leftist, liberal Zionists, we have always made a clear distinction between the people of Palestine and the inhumane terror organizations that falsely purport to speak in their name. Our support for a two-state solution has never wavered, and to this day we remain staunchly opposed to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, refrain from buying products manufactured beyond the 1967 armistice line, and protest any governmental policy that we see as oppressive or unjust.”

They simply think that Israel has the right to exist — a belief they share with the majority of Americans.

In October 2024, on the first anniversary of October 7th, antisemitic protesters surrounded and intimidated a group of students holding a university-sanctioned memorial. Pro-Hamas protesters sat on the steps of Columbia’s library holding mock newspapers that read, in a full-page advertisement, “Glory to the Martyrs. Victory to the Resistance.”

When Columbia chief operating officer Cas Holloway happened to cross Columbia’s plaza, Davidai challenged him to explain why pro-Hamas protesters were permitted by the university to harass Jewish mourners and accused Holloway of being “indifferent” to “hatred.”

A few days later, Davidai’s campus access was suspended. A university spokesman alleged that he had “repeatedly harassed and intimidated University employees in violation of University policy.”

Eventually, exhausted by Columbia’s mistreatment, Davidai left the university. Writing in Tablet in July 2025, he explained his decision: “Columbia’s failed leadership, morally bankrupt faculty, and indifferent majority have shattered my respect for an institution I once called home. I no longer trust its leaders to do what’s right, or my colleagues to show them the way. With that respect lost, I have no choice but to leave. Staying would betray everything I stand for.”

The pattern is clear. Those who attack Jewish students are treated with kid gloves and allowed to remain in positions of privilege and influence. But those who stand up for the civil rights of Jewish students are bullied— then accused of being the bullies, suspended, canceled, and driven out.

And just to remind you: Columbia University’s undergraduate tuition is an eye-watering $70,000 per year—for this antisemitic, anti-American, and vile anti-West hate.

Copyright © 2026 by Elise Stefanik. From the forthcoming book “POISONED IVIES: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities” by Elise Stefanik to be published by Threshold Editions, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC. Printed by permission.
The Forward Dulls Mahmoud Khalil’s Sharp Teeth
During Passover, The Forward has found a new liberating figure for the Jewish people: Mahmoud Khalil.

In an April 7 puff piece, headlined “Mahmoud Khalil wants to reassure you”, the missionary tone is clear from the outset. The subheader goes even further: “The Columbia protest leader on Hamas, Zionism and why Jews shouldn’t fear a ‘free Palestine.’”

A new Moses, preparing to calm down the skeptical Israelites about a new version of their Promised Land.

But Mahmoud Khalil is not simply an activist with a mission caught in a misunderstanding. As the leader of CUAD (Columbia University Apartheid Divest), Khalil has backed calls for violence and the destruction of Western civilization.

He has already been exposed as a figure whose record includes antisemitic rhetoric and positions far more extreme than the measured persona presented in the interview. That context should have been central. Instead, it is softened, sidelined, and in places effectively laundered.

The choice of platform also matters. The Forward is not a fringe outlet. It is a prominent, left-leaning Jewish publication that often takes a critical stance toward Israel and shapes discourse within segments of the Jewish community. Even within that editorial posture, the decision to soften rather than scrutinize a figure like Khalil goes beyond critique and into normalization. It signals to readers that his views fall within the bounds of acceptable debate in the Jewish world.

Indeed, the interview acknowledges criticism of Khalil, who was detained by federal agents at Columbia university last March during campus demonstrations against Israel. But the interview quickly lets Khalil pivot to his preferred narrative. Readers are told he “sought to reassure American Jews,” and he is given wide space to do exactly that.

“The Jewish people are part of the land and they should remain that way,” Khalil says. “I want to liberate everyone.”

With appreciation to Mr. Khalil’s narcissistic need to liberate the Jewish people, it is difficult to reconcile that sentiment with his repeated denial of Jewish self-determination and his record of inflammatory rhetoric. But his star-struck interviewer, Arno Rosenfeld, didn’t seem to grasp the contradiction.

Throughout the piece, Khalil is allowed to define the terms of the debate. “Rejecting the self-determination of the Jewish people on the Palestinian land in itself is not antisemitism,” he says. That assertion sits at the core of the controversy surrounding him. Yet it is not meaningfully challenged.

Instead, the article goes further, describing Khalil as advocating “a remarkably pragmatic direction for the movement.” It even slips from reporting into quiet rehabilitation, casting him as “a poor poster child for the protest movement’s excesses” – a phrase that also sanitizes a movement which, in practice, has openly embraced chants to “globalize the intifada.” What is being framed as mere “excess” is, in reality, the movement’s defining rhetoric.

These claims also contradict the article’s own reporting. Khalil “goes beyond accusing Israel of genocide,” has said Israel’s goal is to “kill all the Palestinians,” questioned whether Hamas militants sought to kill Israeli civilians on October 7, and is “sympathetic to support for Hamas among Palestinians.”

The contradictions are visible. They are simply not interrogated. And the readers are left to wonder if they hallucinated what’s in front of their eyes.
Trump Administration Moves Closer To Deporting Mahmoud Khalil as Immigration Board Nixes Agitator's Last Ditch Plea
The Board of Immigration Appeals denied anti-Israel activist and Columbia University agitator Mahmoud Khalil's attempt to halt his deportation, issuing a final order of removal on Thursday, according to his lawyers. The move marks a victory for the Trump administration in its efforts to deport the Syrian native and Algerian national.

Khalil called the board's decision "biased and politically motivated" in a statement, insisting that the Trump administration "has weaponized the immigration system to punish" him. The former Columbia student, however, was found to have "willfully misrepresented" his campus activism and work for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency—which the Trump administration has considered sanctioning over its ties to Hamas—at the time of his green card application, according to a ruling from an immigration judge in September. Khalil's lawyers maintain that he cannot be detained or deported until his federal court case is adjudicated. In January, a U.S. appeals panel ruled that Khalil is required to go through immigration courts before he's able to challenge the decision in federal court.

Khalil has made a series of inflammatory remarks since he entered the public spotlight. At an illegal March 2025 protest where activists distributed Hamas propaganda, Khalil told reporters that he and his Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) organization would push the university to divest from Israel by "any available means necessary."

He insisted that "it's very racist to ask a Palestinian" to condemn the terror outfit during an appearance at the South by Southwest festival last month when a moderator asked him why he told CNN it was "disingenuous and absurd" to ask him to do so in an earlier interview.

Khalil has offered repeated justifications for Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, telling New York Times columnist Ezra Klein in August that "we couldn't avoid such a moment," insisting that Hamas did so "to break the cycle, to break that Palestinians are not being heard." Most recently, he told the Forward, "I wouldn't rule out that Hamas targeted civilians, but I wouldn't confirm it either."


Yale Political Union to host Hasan Piker for debate on ending the ‘American Empire’
The Yale Political Union, a storied debate society at the Ivy League university, is slated to host antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker on campus on Tuesday for a debate titled “Resolved: End the American Empire,” according to the organization’s social media.

YPU — a registered student-run group, which is the oldest and largest collegiate debate society in America, according to its website — has hosted a range of elite figures such as former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter; media figures like Walter Cronkite and George Stephanopoulos; and leading intellectuals including economist Milton Friedman and Margaret Mead.

Several alumni of the institution have held prestigious roles in politics, media and law, including former U.S. National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy and former Secretary of State John Kerry.

A spokesperson for Yale University told Jewish Insider ​​that “student organizations are responsible for issuing their own invitations to speakers.”

“At the same time, Yale is committed to maintaining a diverse, vibrant, and respectful community in which free expression is a fundamental value and a shared responsibility. The university is dedicated to providing a space where differing views can be expressed and heard respectfully,” the spokesperson said.

Piker, a far-left Twitch streamer, has recently been invited to speak at several high-profile events, despite a laundry list of antisemitic, anti-American and terror-supporting rhetoric, which includes justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel. He has also called Orthodox Jews “inbred” and claimed America deserved 9/11.

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing criticism from fellow Democrats and Jewish leaders for hosting rallies with Piker at two Michigan universities earlier this week.
ICC’s anti-Israel prosecutor should get the comeuppance he deserves
President Donald Trump’s critics were clearly overreaching when they charged him with war crimes for his attacks on Iran. And now it’s becoming obvious that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s haters have been doing the same to him.

This month, the International Criminal Court voted to begin disciplinary proceedings against its Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan — the man who filed arrest warrants against Bibi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallan — over sexual-misconduct allegations.

Those allegations only further undermine the war-crimes case.

Of course, charges against Bibi & Co. never had a shred of legitimacy in the first place: They’re based on Israel’s entirely legitimate response to Hamas’ barbaric Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

In fact, that response — a two-year war to eliminate terrorists who threatened to repeat their horrors if they ever got the chance — was a case study in humane warfare, featuring the lowest ratio in recent-war history of civilians-to-enemy-combatant deaths.

Reports suggest that Khan filed the anti-Israel warrants only weeks after colleagues confronted him with the sexual-misconduct allegations.

One witness claims he quickly sought to blame Mossad for the charges.

Yet if Khan truly believed the Israeli spy agency was involved, then he surely should’ve recused himself from a war-crimes case against . . . Israel.

That Khan “specifically blamed the Mossad for his problems shows he is fundamentally compromised and the investigation that he launched . . . in any normal legal system would be dismissed with extreme prejudice,” law professor Euguene Kontorovich told Fox News Digital.

The fact that “such a politicized investigation would be allowed to proceed” shows just “how broken” the ICC is.
France’s Jew-hatred bill faces pushback from UN special rapporteurs ahead of parliament debate
A group of U.N. special rapporteurs has raised concerns about a proposed French law to combat antisemitism, warning that it could infringe on free expression protections, ahead of a debate on the measure in the French National Assembly scheduled for next week.

The legislation, Bill 575, was introduced by National Assembly deputy Caroline Yadan and seeks to address what it describes as “renewed forms” of antisemitism. The measure would expand existing laws on incitement and the glorification of terrorism, including speech that uses Israel as a proxy to target Jews, and draws in part on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

The bill was passed by an 18-16 vote in the Law Committee of the National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, in January, following a three-hour debate and substantive revisions, including the removal of a provision criminalizing calls for the destruction of a country.

A 2025 report by the French Interior Ministry showed more than half of the nearly 2,500 anti-religious actions committed in France in 2025 were against Jews, despite Jews composing less than 1% of the country’s population.

In an April 1 letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, the five U.N. special rapporteurs, independent experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, said the bill raises “significant concerns” about compatibility with France’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly protections for freedom of expression. They warned that vaguely defined provisions could lead to arbitrary or overly broad enforcement.

Among the signatories are Ben Saul, U.N. special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, who has previously criticized Israeli government actions and supported boycott and sanctions-based measures against the Jewish state, and Irene Khan, special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, who has drawn scrutiny for downplaying antisemitism in debates over pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses.
Husband of Francesca Albanese constrained at World Bank due to sanctions on wife
Massimiliano Cali, the husband of Francesca Albanese, a United Nations special rapporteur sanctioned by the United States, said in court filings that the penalties have caused “external pressure” affecting his career and family, including requiring medical treatment for stress.

Cali, a senior economist with the World Bank, filed a lawsuit in February in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of himself and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, seeking to overturn the sanctions imposed on Albanese in July 2025 for her campaign of intimidating and threatening letters to American companies and organizations with ties to Israel.

The U.N. Office of Legal Affairs did not provide clearance for Albanese, the global body’s special rapporteur for the Palestinians, to file a suit herself, and has not committed to providing her with legal representation to fight the sanctions.

According to court filings, Cali wrote that the World Bank informed him in October that his position as senior country economist for Syria was suspended some three months from his starting date, and that he would have to leave the World Bank’s Middle East/North Africa division by this July.

He attributed the decision in part to outside pressure, including advocacy by the watchdog group U.N. Watch.

Cali also stated that the sanctions have limited his employment prospects, noting that many senior World Bank roles are based in Washington, D.C., which he and Albanese are barred from entering under the measures.

The lawsuit argues that the sanctions have had sweeping personal and financial effects on the family, including freezing assets, restricting access to bank accounts and disrupting professional affiliations. Sanctions imposed by the United States typically cut individuals off from the U.S. financial system and can deter institutions worldwide from engaging with them.

According to the filings, speaking engagements involving Albanese have been canceled, and financial institutions have declined to open accounts for her. Her professional affiliations with Columbia University and Georgetown University were also canceled.

Both Cali and Albanese were prescribed medication, he claims, as he deals with anxiety and insomnia, and she with stomach ulcers.

A motion hearing was held in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week.
Sir Michael Ellis: Kanye West and the industry that keeps handing antisemitism the mic
Kanye West’s descent into raw antisemitism and self-professed Nazism has recently been headline-grabbing. Even for this government, his embrace of Nazi iconography in merchandise and song titles such as Heil Hitler and Gas Chambers was too much – and he was banned from entering the UK as a person adjudged “not conducive to the public good.”

The organisers of the Wireless Festival gave no impression of regretting their decision to book the controversial artist and even mounted an extraordinarily tone-deaf defence for West. Journalists then kept asking about forgiveness – but if a far-right white supremacist member of the Ku Klux Klan were trying to enter the UK, would the same voices have asked for his remarks to be forgiven?

We have heard more than enough about Bob Vylan and Kneecap in recent months. And now Kanye West dominated the Easter bank holiday headlines – creating more discordant tones for the Jewish community.

The failure of the British authorities to press mute on expressions of hatred – whether that be the police, Crown Prosecution Service or the Government – has had the harmful consequence of normalising antisemitism and extremism. It also removes any real sense of responsibility or pressure on the likes of festival organisers not to book such artists in the first place.

The failures of the state were perhaps best encapsulated by the lack of consequences for Bob Vylan following the infamous Glastonbury appearance last summer. While the BBC was embroiled in a scandal for their indefensible broadcasting of calls for the killing of Israelis, the chant exploded online and at protests across the country. To this day, it continues to feature at Bob Vylan’s concerts – and was heard in the Prime Minister’s own constituency in recent months.

The Kanye West saga also has echoes of the West Midlands Police scandal. The organisers of the Wireless Festival asserted that “multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking [Kanye West] and no concerns were highlighted at the time”. Again, this suggests a blind spot to the harms of antisemitism, let alone providing it a platform to reach 150,000 in a London park.

As with the Maccabi Tel Aviv debacle, it appears that a Safety Advisory Group for the event exists, including Haringey Council, the Metropolitan Police, and other interested parties. What role did it play?

Were the Department of Culture, Media and Sport or Home Office consulted? Was the local Jewish community consulted?

This all raises troubling questions about the willingness of record labels, music venues and publishers not only to provide these artists with a platform but to gain financial reward from their notoriety.

There is also a lesson here for corporate sponsors of music festivals. It might be wise for potential sponsors of future events to do some careful due diligence given the risk of harm to their brands and bottom lines.

But it’s good to know that not all music icons dance to the same tune.

Boy George recently posted on X his support for Israel, writing: “It’s very trendy to hate Israel, but I have always said ‘fashion for the fragile, style for the brave.’" Lady Gaga also recently came under attack when an old clip emerged of her performing in Israel years ago and expressing her love for her Israeli fans. Boy George defended her from the inevitable backlash. These courageous artists are music to the ears of those in our society who want to dance to a different tune from those who are always gonna hate, hate, hate.

I don’t want to sound like a stuck record, but it is time the music industry and the government get their houses in order. They should be singing from the same hymn-sheet and making good on a zero-tolerance pledge to tackle anti-Jewish racism.
Wireless didn’t just book a Nazi. It exposed the rot in Britain’s music industry The visa ban may have spared us the spect
None of this had to happen.

Nobody forced one of the UK’s largest festivals to decide to pick Kanye West as their headline act. No one made them fail to release any comment about it for a week, as anger grew and as sponsors started bailing out. And the director of the company which operates the festival, Melvin Benn, didn’t have to then release a tone-deaf, condescending statement in which he attempted to prove his bona fides by describing his work on a Kibbutz half a century ago and encouraging people to “reflect” on “forgiveness and giving people a second chance.”

Still, thanks to the Wireless Festival, scholars finally have the answer to that long-debated question: “Is it wise to invite someone who has repeatedly described himself as a Nazi to perform on stage in front of tens of thousands in a North London Park?”

The government’s decision to ban the highly controversial rapper from entering the country is the right move. But it has also effectively enabled the UK’s music industry to dodge the larger question – how, particularly in the current climate of hate in this country, was a decision to book someone with a long history of antisemitic statements deemed acceptable?

It has been less than a year since Kanye West declared himself to be a Nazi – again, after engaging in similar behaviour in 2022. In 2025 his activities included selling merchandise on his website featuring swastikas, publishing a video of himself wearing a diamond encrusted swastika chain while standing with America’s most infamous far-right social media influencer, Nick Fuentes, and releasing songs called “Heil Hitler” and “Gas Chamber”. Yet in a statement after the government’s visa ban decision in which Wireless announced that the festival in its entirety was now cancelled, the organisers claimed that “multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking Ye and no concerns were highlighted at the time”. This incredibly revealing claim implies that no-one involved in the decision-making process saw fit to ask any Jewish person whether this was a good idea.

Mr Benn’s behaviour is not entirely surprising. Speaking in the wake of one of Ireland’s largest music festivals last year, also organised by his company, he described how seeing Kneecap perform was “a very special moment”, with the band personally thanking him on stage for allowing them to comment politically.

“You know, it’s different in the UK, there I’ve had to spend time in their dressing room reading them the riot act about what they can and can’t say in England. But of course, those restrictions are not here in Ireland and it’s wonderful”, Benn told a music magazine. This at the time that the Belfast band were under investigation by UK counterterror police for alleged support for Hezbollah.
Jewish leader of UK’s Green Party calls to end trade, diplomatic ties with Israel
The Jewish leader of the United Kingdom’s Green Party has called on the government to sever trade and diplomatic ties with Israel in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Zack Polanski made the comments during the first minutes of a speech on Thursday that launched the Green Party’s local election campaign in London. Polanski, who has led his left-populist party to major wins since taking over in September, hopes the Greens will benefit from protest votes against the Labour government in local elections on May 7.

“It is outrageous that Israel is still enjoying diplomatic and trade privileges from the international community, and as a Green Party, we are calling on this government to make much more robust sanctions, to withdraw the UK-Israel trade agreement, and to end the genocide,” said Polanski.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon killed over 250 people on Wednesday, according to local authorities, with Israel claiming many of those killed were members of Hezbollah. It marked the deadliest day of the war between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group, an Iranian proxy, threatening the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran. The Israeli army is fighting across southern Lebanon, and government officials have signaled that it plans to occupy the area.

Polanski also said the United Kingdom should block the United States military from using UK airspace to ensure the UK has no involvement in strikes on Iran.

“We still have UK soil and UK bases where US bombers are flying over to Iran,” he said. “What we need to do is disentangle the UK military and the US military, ban the US from using our airspaces.”

In a statement on Thursday, Polanski added that the British government “must suspend diplomatic ties and stop all arms sales to this increasingly rogue state.” He accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being “too cowardly and complicit to condemn Israeli atrocities.”
Revealed: Green candidate and husband of Loose Women star rants about threat posed by ‘the chosen people’
The husband of Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha, who is a Green Party local election candidate in south London, has ranted about “the chosen people” posing the biggest threat to the planet, the JC can reveal.

Mark Adderley, who is standing in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, also suggested some drones fired at Gulf states could be Israeli “false flag” attacks and blamed Benjamin Netanyahu for the Hatzola ambulance attack.

In a video titled “true cause of the anti-semitic [sic] ambulance attack,” Adderley attributed responsibility for last month’s attack on Hatzola ambulances in north London to the Israeli prime minister.

“To what extent has Benjamin Netanyahu made the lives of Jewish people all over the world more dangerous by committing a genocide?” Adderley asked.

In the caption, he added: “Benjamin Netanyahu is single-handedly responsible for endangering the lives of Jewish People THROUGHOUT the WORLD … and just for the record … if a Muslim community had their own Ambulance service we would have never heard the end of it …”

Five people have now been arrested in connection with the arson attack, which police are treating as an antisemitic hate crime.

It comes as another Green Party candidate in London reportedly withdrew from local elections after sharing a conspiracy theory about the same incident.

Tope Olawoyin, posting on her now-private X account, allegedly wrote: “I can say with almost absolute certainty that the men arrested are white, probably even Jewish, because we all know for a fact that if they weren't their names and pictures would be EVERYWHERE."

Adderley and Sawalha host a YouTube series, Coffee Moaning, featuring wide-ranging discussions that frequently include conspiracy theories about Israel.

In one video last month, Adderley described Israel as “the biggest threat to the planet, because they are the chosen people”.

Drawing comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, he said: “When you look at how Hitler expanded Germany, or sought to expand Germany, it is almost a complete identikit to what Netanyahu is doing in the Middle East.

“Israel is the biggest threat to the sovereignty of every nation on this planet because they are the chosen people, deluded cult. It is just a cult,” he went on.
Anti-Israel groups organize behind Gaza doctor in N.J. House primary
A constellation of anti-Israel groups is coalescing behind Adam Hamawy, a doctor who served as a trauma surgeon in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas and has been an outspoken critic of Israel, in the competitive Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. He also recently reported raising $550,000 in the first quarter of 2026, a sizable sum.

Justice Democrats and PAL PAC, a new group affiliated with the Institute for Middle East Understanding that aims to counter AIPAC, both offered their endorsements of Hamawy last month, moves that could bring more national attention and backing to the candidate.

“From war zones to the operating room, Dr. Hamawy has seen firsthand how our government’s misplaced priorities mean life and death for millions of people in America and across the world,” Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement.

“As a physician, he has witnessed the destruction wrought by our tax dollars abroad, while seeing his own patients struggle to afford the healthcare they need at home,” PAL PAC executive director Margaret DeReus said in a statement. “He is a witness with a mandate to ensure our resources fund healthcare at home, not Israel’s war crimes abroad.”

Hamawy had previously been endorsed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and TrackAIPAC, as well as by former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who was also an outspoken critic of Israel. Hamawy was also endorsed by the more moderate Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who credits Hamawy for saving her life after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq.
Josh Shapiro suggests Israel pressured Trump into Iran war
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro accused President Donald Trump of being “bullied” into starting a war with Iran, suggesting in an interview with the “All-In Podcast” that Israel had pressured the U.S. into joining a military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

“America should never be led around by any other nation. It should always be about America’s interests, our national security interests, the interests of expanding freedom and opportunity for the American people,” said Shapiro, who was responding to a question from tech investor Jason Calacanis about whether the U.S. followed Israel into an unnecessary war. “We should never, ever be bullied, as maybe President Trump was, by any other world leader.”

In the interview, Shapiro continued a line of criticism that he has used regularly against Trump’s handling of the war in Iran: that the president doesn’t know what he’s doing and has failed to offer a sufficient explanation to the American public.

“This was a war of choice. The president never defined the objectives. It is clear he doesn’t know how the hell to get out of this,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro’s allegation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had led the U.S. into war with Iran was a rhetorical escalation for the pro-Israel Democrat. While he reasserted the same pro-Israel, anti-Netanyahu argument that he has been making for years now, Shapiro also made clear that it is America’s goals — and not Israel’s — that he cares about.

“I don’t view this issue as a Jewish American,” Shapiro said. “I view this issue as an American, and I view this issue in a way of trying to understand what is the best thing for America, which to me is having peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Brad Lander calls for ending all U.S. aid to Israel, flip-flopping on previous support for Iron Dome
Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in a bitterly contested June primary, called for ending all U.S. aid to Israel during an interview published Friday, reversing his prior support for funding to bolster Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.

Lander, a Jewish Democrat who identifies as a progressive Zionist, told The New York Editorial Board, a Substack of New York City journalists focused on local campaigns, that he “would not vote for any more aid [to Israel] at this moment,” when asked about his position on Iron Dome, saying he believed Israel was not following international law in the wake of its war in Gaza that he has called a genocide.

“I think we need to follow the Leahy Law and condition all of our foreign policy aid on human rights and international law compliance,” Lander said in the April 9 interview, referring to U.S. laws banning security assistance to foreign military units that engage in “gross” human rights violations. “At the moment, Israel is very far from complying with human rights and international law.”

Lander joins a handful of leading progressive lawmakers who have also recently vowed to reject further funding for Iron Dome and other defensive systems used by Israel, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, one of Lander’s top allies in his race to unseat Goldman, confirmed last week that he holds the same position regarding aid to Israel.

Lander had declined to comment when asked by Jewish Insider this week to share his position on defensive funding to Israel, raising questions about where he would land on an issue that is emerging as a sort of electoral litmus test among the far-left activists he is courting in his campaign to represent a heavily Jewish district covering Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.


Elissa Slotkin warns against equating Jewish donors with ‘Israel lobby’
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) has lately been saying that she does not take money from AIPAC or any corporate political action committees. So when a college student asked her at a town hall in Cincinnati on Thursday about $4.5 million she has received from “pro-Israel lobbies,” Slotkin pushed back — arguing the student was unfairly lumping together all Jewish donors.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to on ‘not AIPAC but the Israel lobby.’ If you’re equating ‘Israel lobby’ to Jews, I got a problem with that,” Slotkin said.

The figure that the Xavier University student quoted comes from a far-left organization called Track AIPAC, which targets elected officials who it alleges have received funding from the “Israel lobby.” But increasingly, the group is tallying up donations from “lobby donors,” a broad category that critics believe includes any Jewish donors who have also supported AIPAC, J Street or other Jewish or Israel-related advocacy groups.

Slotkin said that just as Iranian Americans, for instance, may not agree with everything the Iranian government does, “I think it’s really important, especially now, to make a distinction between the Israeli government and the choices that they’re making and the average Jew, okay, and Jewish people who donate to campaigns,” Slotkin said, earning applause from the audience.

At the end of the event, she stood by her response to the question when asked about it by another attendee.


J Street backs far-left calls to end U.S. missile defense aid to Israel
J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy organization which describes itself as a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group, offered backing for the growing calls among far-left lawmakers to end U.S. support for Israel’s missile-defense systems, such as Iron Dome, which until recently had been largely spared even by strident critics of the Jewish state.

“What progressives are saying is not radical, and in fact, [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and [Sen.] Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are arguing the same thing. Israel is capable of paying for its own military equipment, including supplies for its missile defense systems,” a J Street spokesperson told Jewish Insider.

Notably, that stance is at odds with J Street PAC’s own top endorsement criteria on its website as of Friday afternoon. The site states that J Street PAC requires endorsees to support “US security assistance to Israel that adheres to US law,” including naming specifically support for Iron Dome.

“The United States plays an indispensable role in ensuring Israel’s future as a secure, democratic homeland for the Jewish people. JStreetPAC only supports candidates who affirm this responsibility and who commit to supporting US security assistance to Israel as outlined in the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) negotiated by President Obama — including sustained support for vital systems like Iron Dome,” the site says.

The group, however, is currently supporting candidates who back policies like the Block the Bombs Act that run counter to the MOU.

In its statement, the group was referring to comments by the Israeli prime minister in which he did not call for an immediate end for U.S. aid to Israel, but said that he believed Israel would no longer need to rely on U.S. aid in a decade.


A new US anti-Zionist PAC endorses candidates who believe Jews were behind 9/11
A new group opposing AIPAC is backing anti-Israel candidates across party lines. Some of its endorsees have blamed Israel and Jews for 9/11 and the Charlie Kirk assassination. Its founder claims the bloody Hamas-led invasion of October 7, 2023, was a “false flag” operation and has referred to Jewish people as “the Synagogue of Satan.”

This is the Anti-Zionist America PAC, or AZAPAC.

With a stated aim to “de-Zionize” the American government and end military aid to Israel, AZAPAC is unlike the other PACs that have recently popped up as a counterweight to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby that has poured millions of dollars into political races across the country.

Those groups — including American Priorities, PAL PAC and Citizens Again AIPAC Corruption — are rallying their support around a brand of pro-Palestinian progressives in line with Congress’s left-wing “Squad” members. Michael Rectenwald, AZAPAC’s founder and a self-described libertarian, is taking a different approach.

“We’re not like leftist anti-Zionists, calling for ‘from the river to the sea’ and all this nonsense,” said Rectenwald in an interview. “We are not trying to say the State of Israel should not exist. That is not our concern. Our concern is the US government only, and what it’s doing.”

To that end, Rectenwald’s group, which was founded last summer, has endorsed fringe candidates across the political spectrum, from both Republican and Democratic parties, as well as independents. The primary criteria for endorsement, Rectenwald said, are that candidates will vote against aid to Israel and do not take money from pro-Israel lobbying groups.

AZAPAC’s spending has been relatively minimal (it had raised $111,556 by the end of 2025, according to FEC filings), but it taps into an ascendant set of sentiments, including a rising anti-Israel faction of Republicans, as well as the conspiracy-theory mindset increasingly occupying Americans of all stripes.
Shadow home secretary calls for DJ Haram to be banned from UK after Australia antisemitism probe
A senior Conservative MP has called for an American DJ at the centre of an antisemitism row in Australia to be barred from entering the UK, as pressure mounts ahead of her scheduled performances this month.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the government should intervene to prevent Zubeyda Muzeyyen – who performs as DJ Haram – from appearing at venues in London and Birmingham.

Muzeyyen is due to play at Phonox in London and at the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, weeks after a controversial speech at the Sydney Biennale prompted a police investigation in New South Wales.

In an exclusive statement, Philp said: “The last thing this country needs is a visit from yet another international musician embroiled in allegations of antisemitism and promoting terrorism.

“As the Government continues to struggle to get a grip on the relentless wave of anti-Jewish racism and Islamist extremism in the UK, it is patently not conducive to the public good for Zubeyda Muzeyyen (DJ Haram) to perform here. The Home Secretary needs to get a grip and ban her.”

His intervention follows the government’s recent decision to refuse entry to Kanye West, citing the same “not conducive to the public good” threshold – a comparison now likely to intensify scrutiny of Muzeyyen’s planned visit.

The artist is under investigation by New South Wales Police over remarks made during a speech at the opening of the Sydney Biennale on 13 March, in which she referenced “resistance” and “martyrs” and criticised what she described as “art washing the genocide”.
Federal police review jihadi preacher linked to Bondi gunman
Federal police are reviewing notorious jihadi preacher Wissam Haddad off the back of a Sky News report that revealed he is back spreading hatred against Jews and Christians in a new sermon.

An Australian Federal Police spokesperson confirmed the review to this network on Thursday afternoon.

“The National Security Investigations team in NSW is reviewing the matter to determine if the content reaches a criminal threshold to allow the AFP to lay charges,” the spokesperson said.

“The AFP will provide an update at an appropriate time.”

Caroline Marcus will discuss this story tonight on Sky News Australia at 8pm. SkyNews.com.au subscribers can watch with a subscription. Become a subscriber here.

YouTube also took down the 30-minute sermon on Wednesday night following a referral from shadow assistant multicultural affairs spokesman Dave Sharma, who requested it be removed as Hate Speech under the platform’s community guidelines.

Senator Sharma had also called on the AFP to investigate the sermon under the new Combating Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill passed by the Federal Parliament in the wake of the Bondi massacre.

A message on YouTube’s webpage now reads: “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.”

Haddad himself shared the news of the video being removed, telling followers on the encrypted app Telegram that it was part of a religious conspiracy.
Palestinians take News Corp to court for alleged hatred
News Corp is being taken to court over alleged racial discrimination and hatred against Palestinians and Arab Muslims.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni, Engy Abdelsalam and five others have filed a legal action in the Federal Court against News Corp Australia and its subsidiaries responsible for Sky News, The Australian and The Herald Sun.

The group, represented by Birchgrove Legal, has accused the publications of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act by unlawfully publishing or broadcasting discriminatory content, and public comments made in response, and failing to remove those comments.

It also alleges their editorial agendas were irresponsible, bad-faith, sensationalist, factually distorted, and more, which fostered hate, ridicule, dehumanisation, and collective blame against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian Australians.

"During this current genocide, Palestinians who are grieving and suffering have been openly ridiculed and demonised by News Corp," Mr Mashni said.

"Those companies have engaged in hateful, extreme, dangerous, divisive and racist conduct, and it's time that they stopped being treated as credible news sources."

Should the group's case succeed, the outlets could be forced to take down the alleged discriminatory content, pay damages and make a donation to a community organisation that aims to eliminate racial discrimination.

High-profile commentators and journalists including Andrew Bolt, Rita Panahi, Caleb Bond and Sharri Markson have all been named as individuals who created or broadcast the allegedly discriminatory content.

But by targeting the corporations, rather than those individuals, this is one of the first times such legal action has been taken against a major Australian news company.

The issue was first lodged to the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2025, which found there were no prospects for conciliation, paving the way for the group to take the issue to the Federal Court.
Student claiming RMIT is ‘complicit in genocide’ in social media post faces misconduct action
An RMIT University student faces potential suspension over a video accusing the institution of being “complicit in genocide” in Gaza, because of its defence and aerospace research centre’s ties to weapons companies.

RMIT has argued the video, recorded in a corridor of the centre, publicly identifies its location which is not published online, thereby risking the safety of its facility, staff and students.

The student, Gemma Seymour, is due to face a student conduct hearing on 22 April regarding the allegations of misconduct.

In the video, posted on the RMIT Students for Palestine’s Instagram profile in August, Seymour stands outside RMIT’s Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence and Aero Centre at its Melbourne city campus.

“No more excuses RMIT. There is blood on your hands and we will not rest until you cut ties with all weapons companies,” Seymour said in the video.

The caption of the video reads: “The Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence and Aerospace centre should be shut down. Our university should not be complicit in genocide.”

In a student conduct report sent to Seymour and viewed by Guardian Australia, RMIT said there was a risk to the safety and security of staff if its research locations were posted publicly on social media.

It also pointed to the potential for unwanted attention, harassment or threats against RMIT’s research facilities, staff and students.

“While the Student’s right to engage in world affairs is not in question, the University holds significant concern regarding the way in which the Student has done so, as we believe this may compromise safety, security, and teaching and learning activities,” the report said.

The social media post could also compromise the integrity and security of “sensitive research areas”, heighten risk stress and anxiety among students and increase the likelihood of unauthorised access, the report said.

A still cover image on the video, that has since been deleted, showed Seymour’s middle finger gesturing to the centre’s signage. RMIT said the middle finger was a “universal symbol indicating disrespect” and it was reasonable for a person viewing the post to find it to be an “offensive” gesture.
First person charged under Queensland's new hate speech laws faces court: What he said that got him in big trouble
The first person charged under Queensland's contentious hate speech laws has appeared in court.

Liam James Parry, 34, was arrested in March outside state parliament after he allegedly said the phrase 'from the river to the sea' at a student protest in support of Palestine.

He was charged with publicly reciting a prohibited expression that might make a member of the public feel menaced, harassed, or offended.

Queensland has banned the phrases 'from the river to the sea' and 'globalise the intifada', categorising them as hate speech against Jewish people under new 'fighting anti-Semitism' legislation.

Parry said it was 'surreal and dangerous' that he was facing a potential sentence of two years' imprisonment while speaking to media after having his bail continued following a brief court appearance on Wednesday.

'I'm contesting these charges,' he said.

'It's an important moment in Queensland right now. the government is trying to criminalise pro-Palestine advocacy. We can't accept that.'

'I don't think there was anything hateful or menacing about my speech. My speech was about standing up for the people of Palestine,' he said.

The phrase 'From the river' to the sea is controversial because some interpret it as a call for Palestinian freedom, while others see it as implying the elimination of Israel.
Labour council leader blames AI after antisemitic video posted to his social media
The leader of a Labour council has posted an apology online over an antisemitic video shared to his social media account, which he said was created using AI.

Gavin Callaghan, leader of Basildon Borough Council, said he was completely unaware that the video, branded ‘Back Basildon Stop Reform’, and set to the tune of Michael Jackson’s ‘They Don’t Care About Us’, included antisemitic lyrics.

He said he “did not check the video adequately before posting” but deleted it “immediately” after being alerted to the issue.

The 1996 track drew a barrage of criticism over its original lyrics, and Jackson subsequently re-recorded the song with the offending lines removed.

But the video posted by Callaghan featured the original lyrics, which were laid over images of sitting Conservative councillors at Basildon Borough Council.

The word “Jew” and the antisemitic slur “Kike” — a highly derogatory term targeting Jewish people — were displayed in bold text over headshots of the Tory councillors.

The caption on the video read: “The Billericay Tories will run Basildon Council again in 35 days’ time if Reform UK win enough seats to put them back in charge”, with an emoji of an hourglass.

In an apology posted last week, the Labour Group leader said: “Antisemitism has no place in our society and I am deeply sorry for unknowingly sharing something that carried antisemitic content.

“I would never have posted it had I known, and accept that I should have been more careful in my use of AI.

“I will learn from this mistake and be far more cautious in the future.”

Richard Holden, the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to remove the Labour councillor from the party.


Sydney council under fire over ‘Globalise the Intifada’ event
A row has erupted in Sydney after a council-owned venue was booked to host a public forum defending the phrase “globalise the intifada”, prompting strong condemnation from Jewish community leaders.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the event, organised by activist group Stop the War on Palestine, had initially been scheduled to take place at the Darlington Activity Centre, a building owned by the City of Sydney. Promotional material invited attendees to “discuss what it means to ‘Globalise the Intifada’” and urged supporters to oppose proposed anti-hate speech laws in New South Wales.

Following mounting criticism, organisers confirmed the event would instead be held on 5 May at another council-run site, the East Sydney Community and Arts Centre.

The controversy has drawn sharp reaction from Jewish groups, who say the phrase carries clear associations with violence. The Australian Jewish Association described the situation as “deeply concerning”, particularly given the involvement – now withdrawn – of local councillor Ahmed Ouf.

Chief executive Robert Gregory said it was troubling that “a sitting councillor is participating in an event invoking language associated with the promotion of violence”, adding that concern had intensified in the aftermath of the Bondi attack.

He also questioned how the event had been approved, arguing, “It is difficult to imagine that the venue would host an event perceived to legitimise violence against any other minority group.”

Similar concerns were raised by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, whose president, David Ossip, said the slogan had already been identified by a parliamentary inquiry as “a call to violence against Jewish Australians”.

“Post 14 December, no one can claim ignorance about where dangerous rhetoric and incitement like this can lead,” he said, warning the use of council facilities for such an event “endangers public safety and so grievously undermines social cohesion”.


Missouri legislature approves bill adopting Jew-hatred definition for public schools
Missouri lawmakers have passed legislation adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the state’s public education system, sending the measure to Gov. Mike Kehoe.

The state Senate approved HB 2061 on Thursday after earlier passage in the House, clearing the bill’s final legislative hurdle.

The bill, sponsored by George Hruza, a Republican state representative, and Curtis Trent, a Republican state senator, states that “antisemitism is a form of discrimination” and is intended to address “discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and denial of equal access arising from antisemitism in educational institutions.”

Under the legislation, public K-12 schools and state-funded colleges and universities must incorporate the IHRA definition into their codes of conduct and treat antisemitic incidents “in an identical manner to discrimination motivated by race.”

The legislation also mandates that schools prohibit antisemitic harassment and ensure equal access to classes, counseling and other educational services. It requires designated Title VI coordinators at the state’s education agencies to monitor, investigate and report incidents, with annual findings submitted to the legislature.

The IHRA definition describes antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and includes examples such as Holocaust denial and certain comparisons involving Israel.
Indiana University making changes after its program worked with US-designated ‘sham charity’ with Hamas ties
Indiana University Indianapolis told eight state representatives that its Muslim Philanthropy Initiative is no longer working with the Istanbul-based Hayat Yolu Association, which the U.S. Treasury Department designated last month as a “sham charity” that supports Hamas.

The state lawmakers wrote to the public school last month expressing “grave concern” about the initiative collaborating with the association on training programs last July and in January.

Andrew Ireland, a Republican state representative and one of the signatories of the letter, said on April 6 that “after our letter demanding answers, Indiana University confirmed its Muslim Philanthropy Initiative partnered with and accepted travel benefits from a Hamas-linked ‘sham charity.’”

Ireland said that the public research school has agreed to halt all training and new partnerships, overhaul its processes of vetting and oversight, and “rein in and restructure” the initiative in another part of the school. It was previously part of the philanthropy school.

“These are good first steps, but there is more work to do,” he stated.


Drop Site's Terror-Tied Reporter Roster Just Got Longer
When I published my original piece on Drop Site News in January 2025, I noted that the outlet was seeking its own 501(c)(3) status while employing contributors with apparent documented ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Since then, nothing has changed — except that Drop Site has added another name to its roster that makes the pattern even harder to excuse.

That name is Abdel Qader Sabbah. And the twist is that the Soros-funded Drop Site didn’t stumble onto him before anyone knew who he was. They picked him up after CNN already dropped him.

In July 2024, HonestReporting published an investigation into Sabbah’s social media history that was damning enough to prompt CNN to announce it would no longer use his material. Drop Site’s response, apparently, was to make him one of their main reporters.

One of Drop Site’s main reporters, Abdel Qader Sabbah — who has done extensive reporting from Gaza City and remained in the north since the war began — has now been displaced and forced to evacuate south. Drop Site Middle East editor @sharifkouddous shares the details 👇

The HonestReporting investigation found that Sabbah had photographed himself alongside US Treasury-sanctioned Hamas leader Mahmoud A-Zahar, captioning the image with a reference to A-Zahar as “commander.” He wore the uniform of the General Training Directorate — a Hamas-run body — and produced promotional video content for it.

In 2014, as discovered by Honest Reporting, he praised as a “hero” Hamas’ suicide bomber Izz A-Din Al-Masri, who had blown himself up in a Jerusalem restaurant in 2001, killing 16 people, including children. Sabbah’s praise came as Israel returned the terrorist’s body to the Palestinian Authority 13 years later.

He also shared a Qassam Brigades propaganda video with green and black heart emojis months before October 7th, and circulated Hamas media censorship guidelines during the 2021 conflict — including instructions not to film rocket launch sites.

CNN’s response, after HonestReporting published its findings, was to acknowledge it had been unaware of Sabbah’s posts, call them “highly offensive,” and cut ties with him. Drop Site apparently reached the opposite conclusion. As of April 2026, Sabbah continues writing for the outlet.

His sympathies haven’t changed either. On December 29, 2025, when Hamas announced the death of its spokesman Abu Obeida, Sabbah posted a tribute — an image of a flag-draped coffin accompanied by the Arabic phrase “إلى رحمة الله ورضوانه” (”To the mercy and pleasure of God”) — a traditional Islamic expression used to honor the deceased, deployed here for a man designated as a terrorist by the United States.

CNN fired him. Drop Site made him one of their main reporters. Then again, this is the same outlet whose co-founder Ryan Grim can look at images of an Al Jazeera journalist training with RPGs in an actual Hamas uniform and wave it off without a second thought.


Pakistani man pleads guilty to planning terror attack on Brooklyn Jewish center
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani national living in Canada who was accused of plotting to target a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 in support of ISIS, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on April 8, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The terrorist, who also goes by Shahzeb Jadoon, admitted that he tried to carry out a terror attack across national borders “for attempting to enter the United States and carry out a mass shooting with automatic weapons at a prominent Jewish center in Brooklyn, N.Y.,” the department said. It added that he is slated to be sentenced on Aug. 12.

“Khan planned a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York City, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, with the explicit goal of killing as many Jews as possible,” stated John Eisenberg, assistant U.S. attorney general for national security.

“Khan declared that New York City was the ‘perfect’ venue for his attack because of its large Jewish population and boasted that his plot could be the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11,” he said. “The national security division will work tirelessly to ensure that terrorists like Khan face the full weight of American law.”

Khan said that he wanted to target Chabad centers. The Chabad world headquarters is in Brooklyn.
Unsealed indictment details ISIS-inspired NYC bomb plot
Federal prosecutors revealed graphic new details in an indictment against two Pennsylvania teens accused of an ISIS-inspired bombing attempt near Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 7 against anti-Muslim protesters and counter-protesters, including alleged step-by-step attack planning, shrapnel-packed explosives and discussions of mass casualties.

According to the eight-count indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York this week, Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, packed the improvised explosive devices with triacetone triperoxide (TATP), described as a highly unstable explosive “known as the ‘Mother of Satan’” that is “extremely sensitive to impact, friction and heat.”

FBI agents also searched a storage unit rented by Balat in Pennsylvania and discovered TATP residue, as well as “bomb-making supplies, including a bottle labeled ’12% hydrogen peroxide,’ an ingredient of TATP, syringes, a digital scale, gloves, an open package of nuts and bolts, and glass jars similar in appearance to the ones used to build the devices.”

Also recovered was a notebook with instructions for making explosives, references to “acetone peroxide synthesis” and “TATP explosive,” and warnings that the material becomes more dangerous as it dries. Other pages in the notebook allegedly outlined additional attack concepts, including a vehicle assault targeting festivals, parades, protests and celebrations, along with instructions for producing napalm, according to prosecutors.

Dashcam footage cited in the indictment captured the suspects discussing how to carry out the attack, including how to ignite and throw the bombs and how to flee the scene. “All I know is I want to start terror, bro,” Kayumi said.
Israeli restaurant targeted in suspected Jew-hatred attack in Munich
Unidentified assailants hurled incendiary devices into an Israeli restaurant in Munich on Thursday night in what authorities suspect was an antisemitic attack.

“I received the news with great dismay that the Israeli restaurant Eclipse in the Maxvorstadt district was the target of an arson attack last night,” Mayor Dominik Krause wrote in a statement on Friday.

No injuries were reported, but the attack caused damage worth several thousand euros after three devices were thrown through the restaurant’s windows, according to dpa, the German Press Agency. Police said the type of devices used remains under investigation.

“The Munich Police Headquarters is proceeding on the assumption of an antisemitic motive,” the mayor stated. “This is intolerable. I am currently following the Munich police investigation very closely. My great hope is that the perpetrators will soon be apprehended and that the city will unite even more closely in the fight against antisemitism.”

The Central Council of Jews in Germany wrote in a social media post that now was a “good moment to display solidarity.”
Police investigating after explosive devices damage Israeli restaurant in Munich
Explosions lightly damaged an Israeli restaurant in the German city of Munich early Friday, in what police there say may have been an antisemitic attack.

Footage from the scene of Eclipse Grillbar, which the police did not name, shows broken windows, including one with a menorah behind it. No one was injured in the incident, which took place after the restaurant closed for the night.

The restaurant’s owners are Jewish, and police are investigating whether the attack was motivated by antisemitism, they told the German news agency dpa.

The incident adds to a flurry of explosions, all causing minimal damage, at Jewish and Israeli sites across Europe since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, which watchdogs say may have triggered Iranian sleeper cells to act. The German government, which has long offered special support for Israel, has opposed the war.

Eclipse Grillbar bills itself as “the first authentic Israeli restaurant in Munich” and has operated in the city’s university district for nearly two decades. Its menu includes classic Israeli fare such as falafel and hummus, as well as dishes familiar to Jews from the former Soviet Union, who make up the majority of Jews in Germany. Owner Ben Malenboym was born in Belarus and moved to Israel at 12 with his family in the late 1980s before landing in Munich as an adult.

“My restaurant inspires a desire to visit Israel, and I’m sure there are quite a few Germans who have decided to travel there someday,” Malenboym told Germany’s main Jewish newspaper in 2014. “Many have eaten hummus for the first time in their lives here. They seem to have enjoyed it. In any case, they keep coming back.”


UK National Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony wins Royal Television Society Award
The UK National Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony 2025, broadcast by the BBC and watched by more than 2 million viewers, has won the live event category at the Royal Television Society programme awards, alongside being nominated for the BAFTA Television Awards in May.

A powerful tribute to the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Shoah and the millions more slaughtered under the Nazi regime, last year’s national ceremony on 27 January, organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Held at The Guildhall in the City of London, it was attended by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales, Prime Minister Keir Starmer MP, other members of the Cabinet, faith and civic leaders, celebrities and survivors.

Olivia Marks-Woldman, HMDT chief executive said: “This recognition reflects the dedication of all involved in embedding this moment of collective remembrance across audiences nationwide. At a time of rising antisemitism and growing prejudice in our communities, it is more important than ever to bring people together – whether in person or through the power of broadcast into homes across the UK.”
Former congressman Eliot Engel dies at 79
Eliot Engel, a former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and former Democratic congressman from New York, died on April 10. He was 79 years old.

He died “surrounded by family and loved ones in the borough that raised him: The Bronx,” his family stated. “During his over 44 years in public service, Engel fought tirelessly for his constituents at home and for peace and security around the world.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the Jewish politician a “steadfast friend of the pro-Israel community and an unabashed champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship.” He was a “leading force against efforts to delegitimize our ally Israel, speaking out with courage and conviction against campaigns to isolate the Jewish state and against systemic anti‑Israel discrimination at the United Nations,” it stated.

Engel served 32 years in Congress, representing parts of The Bronx and Westchester, N.Y.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) called him a “giant of New York politics and one of the greatest champions the Bronx has ever had in Congress,” who was a “trailblazer for the Bronx in Washington, and a fierce advocate for Kosovo and the Albanian community at a time when few others were paying attention.”

The American Jewish Committee stated that Engel, a recipient of its congressional leadership award, was a “steadfast friend of the Jewish people” and a “true partner in advancing democratic values, human rights and the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Born in the Bronx, Engel graduated from the Bronx campus of Hunter College and earned his law degree from New York Law School. He ran for office in 1977, entering a special election for a seat in the New York state Assembly, where he served until 1988. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2021. The prior year, he lost the primary to Jamaal Bowman, a former member of the progressive “Squad” and a critic of Israel.
Milei selected to light torch at Israel’s Independence Day event in Jerusalem
Argentine President Javier Milei has been selected as the first foreign leader to light a torch at Israel’s official Independence Day event in Jerusalem later this month, in recognition of his deep friendship with the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

“In these very complex years we are in, the State of Israel has found in Buenos Aires a true friend and a dedicated partner on the path,” Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev, who is charged with the Independence Day ceremony, said on Thursday in announcing the decision. “President Javier Milei is one of the most prominent leaders of the free world and one of Israel’s closest friends, a true friend and a true Zionist, a model of partnership, loyalty and appreciation for the Jewish people and one of the greatest friends of the Jewish people.”

She added that his selection to be one of 12 torch lighters at the state event on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl “expresses the immense gratitude that all Israeli citizens feel for his leadership and our immense pride in the warm and close relationship between Israel and Argentina.”

The ceremony, which marks the closure of Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism commemorations, and the opening of Independence Day celebrations, will be held on the evening of April 21.

The Argentine leader has broken with decades of foreign policy by positioning himself with the United States and Israel, emerging as one of the most vocal supporters of the Jewish state around the globe.

Since taking office two and a half years ago, Milei has designated Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terrorist groups and called out Tehran’s terrorism, vowing to try in absentia Iranian suspects in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.

Last year, Milei declared two days of national mourning for the Bibas children—Ariel, 4, and 9-month-old Kfir—whom Palestinian terrorists murdered in captivity in Gaza, along with their mother, 32-year-old Shiri Bibas. The family, which held Israeli, Argentine and German citizenship, had become symbols of the plight of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas and other terrorist groups when they invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and murdered some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. He also renamed a Buenos Aires street from Palestine to the Bibas Family.

Milei has also pledged to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem this year.




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