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Wednesday, April 22, 2026

04/21 Links Pt2: Israel at 78: Commitment, Solidarity, and Determination; Why the Progressive Hatred of Yitzhak Rabin Matters; DOJ says SPLC funneled $3M+ to extremists groups like the KKK

From Ian:

Israel at 78: Commitment, Solidarity, and Determination
Each year before Independence Day, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics releases a report. This year's figures show that Israel's population grew by 150,000 and that 91% of Israelis say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives. But the numbers say nothing about the kind of year the country actually experienced.

It has now been well over two years since Oct. 7, 2023, a day that shattered assumptions and exposed vulnerabilities we still struggle to comprehend. Since then, Israel has been at war - first in Gaza, then in Lebanon, and now twice with Iran. It has been a year of sirens and safe rooms, of long stints of reserve duty. But that is only half the story.

Israel fought on multiple fronts, dealing devastating blows to Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran - actions that will take those enemies years to recover from. It secured the release of the remaining hostages. And it once again demonstrated a capacity for resilience and mobilization that surprised even itself. Oct. 7 was a catastrophe. But Oct. 8 was the moment when Jews responded forcefully and decisively.

78 years ago, Israel emerged from the shadow of the Holocaust, weak and vulnerable. Today, it is a strong, independent state with a tremendous ability to defend itself. We need to be careful not to lose sight of how far we have come.

One expression of national resilience can be seen in the area adjacent to Gaza. On the eve of Oct. 7, 62,000 people lived there. Today, the number is higher. Most of those who were evacuated have returned, and new families are moving in. Hamas tried to empty those communities. Instead, they grew. This is a reminder of a deep current in Israeli society - one of commitment, solidarity, and determination.
Why, as a Progressive Jew, I Firmly Identify as a Zionist
I am a progressive Jew. I believe in human rights, equality, and justice. I also identify firmly as a Zionist. It is because I believe in human rights, take justice seriously, and because I take Jewish history seriously, that I place myself unapologetically in the Zionist camp.

Zionism means the belief that the Jewish people are a nation, and that like other nations they have the right to self-determination in their ancestral land. Self-determination is a core collective human right, one routinely recognized for other peoples. If I begin from a commitment to human rights, I cannot treat Jewish self-determination as the one exception, because denying a fundamental right to the Jewish people while recognizing it to all others is, in fact, discrimination.

Anti-Zionism is often presented as though it were merely moral outrage at Israeli policy. It is not. Anti-Zionism begins where criticism of policy ends. It means either denying that Jews are a people or accepting that they are a people while denying them the same right of collective self-determination routinely granted to others.

As a proud second-generation Mexican Jew, I learned very early that identity is shaped not only by what one feels inwardly, but by what the surrounding world insists on seeing. I also grew up with the persistent reminder that, for many (perhaps for most), I was somehow not fully Mexican. I was treated, subtly or openly, as if I were foreign, conditional, not quite of the place.

That experience is difficult for many American Jews to fully grasp, especially those who came of age in periods and places of greater security and acceptance. But outside the American frame, you learn that emancipation is real but fragile, belonging is real but conditional, and acceptance can narrow overnight.

The 20th century taught Jews that statelessness, dependency, and the goodwill of others are not a sufficient answer to Jewish history. It also taught that universalism is a noble language, but it has often failed Jews precisely when they most needed concrete protection. This explains why so many Jews, especially those whose families came from the Middle East, North Africa, or Eastern Europe, experience Zionism as the political form of collective survival.

To me, being progressive means applying moral principles consistently, not selectively. If self-determination is a right, then it is a right for Jews too.
Seth Mandel: Why the Progressive Hatred of Yitzhak Rabin Matters
Noura Erekat, the well-known opponent of Jewish indigenous rights, called the peace process an “arrangement of permanent subjugation” of the Palestinians and backed AOC’s decision not to promote coexistence between Arabs and Jews.

An International Crisis Group activist wrote in 972Mag that “Palestine advocates are setting the record straight about one of the conflict’s most harmful myths: that the Oslo Accords — and by association, Yitzhak Rabin — were a force for peace.”

One was tempted to sympathize with the spokesman for APN’s Israeli sister organization who asked: “Are you really going to boycott us and all our work with Palestinians to support human rights and an end to the conflict, just because Rabin wasn’t a flawless [idol] after 5 decades of conflict?”

Well, yes. They really are going to boycott you. It certainly doesn’t matter to AOC and the anti-Zionists around her that APN worked “with Palestinians to support human rights and an end to the conflict” because the progressive anti-Zionist movement doesn’t support either of those things. Human rights? The Tentifada crowd openly worships Hamas, which exists to deprive Palestinians (and non-Palestinians) of human rights. End the conflict? What on earth would give someone the impression that a movement chanting in support of Iran’s occupation forces, which are keeping several countries mired in civil war, wants an end to the conflict?

A Marxist author for Jacobin praised AOC’s snub of the Rabin event by cheering that this all happened because “AOC took her cues from Palestinians instead of pro-Israel voices.”

It’s hard to argue with that. Pro-Israel voices want coexistence. Those voices have been systematically excised from the political left. There is no progressive peace camp, and there hasn’t been one for years.

Edward Luce thinks there’s a big difference between Yitzhak Rabin and Bibi Netanyahu. The progressive anti-Israel caucus thinks the problem is that people think there’s a difference between Yitzhak Rabin and Bibi Netanyahu. To them, both men are equally guilty of the one unforgivable sin: believing the Jewish state ought to exist.


Israel marks Memorial Day and 78th Independence Day with Times Square campaign
Israel’s Consulate General in New York, in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, launched digital billboard campaigns in Times Square on Monday, marking Israel’s Memorial Day and 78th Independence Day.

One display honors fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, while the other celebrates Israel’s statehood.

“The dual campaign reflects the direct connection between the sacrifice and bravery of our heroic IDF soldiers and the very existence and independence of the State of Israel,” said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general.


PM Netanyahu’s Remarks to the Bereaved Families on Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Remarks to the Bereaved Families on Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars:

“Citizens of Israel, my brothers and sisters of the family of bereavement and heroism,

Remembrance Day does not mean that every other day of the year is a day of forgetting. Indeed, there is no day without tears, no day without a sense of sorrow, no day without a longing that sears the heart.

We remember every fallen soldier and victim whose life was cut short, but on Remembrance Day, we encounter them through a broader lens, from a national perspective. This collective memory touches the very foundations of our existence as a nation that is constantly struggling for its security.

On Remembrance Day, we remember the heroism, the sacrifice, the love of the homeland, the mobilization for every mission, the unconditional dedication, and the deep bond between us that is stronger than any passing dispute. These are the milestones; these are the building blocks of Israel's strength, a strength that stunned the entire world during the War of Redemption. Our soldiers and commanders rose like lions, they roared like young lions.


Mossad agent fell in action after laying groundwork for Iran war, agency director reveals
A Mossad agent who laid the groundwork for Israel’s “Operation Roaring Lion” against Iran fell in the line of duty “outside of Israel,” the agency’s director, David Barnea, revealed on Tuesday.

“During ‘Operation Roaring Lion,’ my thoughts and heart were filled with pride in the character and actions of M., who fell outside Israel while carrying out his duty,” Barnea said at a Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) ceremony for members of the intelligence agency, according to the Kan News public broadcaster.

“The operations led by M. combined creativity and ingenuity alongside technology, and had a significant impact on the success of the campaign against Iran,” the Jewish state’s top spy added.

The Jewish state’s Channel 12 News broadcaster identified M. as the former Mossad agent who was killed when a tourist boat overturned on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy on May 28, 2023. Israeli media at the time identified the deceased as 50-year-old Erez Shimoni, but the Prime Minister’s Office said that no additional details would be forthcoming due to the individual’s past service to the country.

“The Mossad has lost a dear, dedicated and professional colleague who, for decades, devoted his life to the security of the State of Israel, even after his retirement. The Mossad mourns the loss and shares in the grief of the family, which it will continue to support and embrace,” said the PMO statement.

The other fatalities among the 22 passengers and two crew members were two Italians who worked for the country’s intelligence service and the Russian wife of the boat captain. The rest of those aboard managed to swim to shore or were rescued by other boats, although five of them were injured in the incident.

According to reports, 18 of the 20 survivors were also either active or former intelligence agents. Like the Israelis, the Italians were quickly evacuated from emergency rooms and hotels “so as not to leave a trace.”
Ask Haviv Anything: 108: How personal grief built a nation
On the eve of Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day, we explore the profound arc of Israel's national remembrance days -- from Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) through Memorial Day, into Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Independence Day), and ending with the quiet, almost unknown commemoration of Theodor Herzl’s yahrzeit. It is an arc of memory, sacrifice, and renewal -- not abstract, but usually personal and intimate -- that lies at the heart of Jewish strength and survival in a dangerous world.

This episode was sponsored by an anonymous sponsor who asked to dedicate it to the memory of those we lost on October 7.

Chapters
00:00 The Arc of Remembrance: Yom HaShoah to Yom HaZikaron
10:56 Intimacy of Memory: Personal Connections to the Holocaust
18:47 Zionism and Historical Awareness: Lessons from the Past
28:40 Strength in Remembrance: The Path Forward for Israel




In new book, Rachel Goldberg-Polin recounts the before and after (and ever after) of her son’s life and death
As someone who spent the majority of her life as a private person, she has struggled with the fame that has come with her public fight, which often includes being recognized while out and about with her family. Sometimes it’s a wave from a stranger. Other times it’s a conversation.

“When people do approach us and say these heartfelt, gorgeous words of comfort and connection, I am truly thankful for the benevolence,” she said. “It’s me that’s broken. It’s not them. They’re being human. I am trying to figure out how to behave in a normal way.”

“When people say, like, ‘We’re with you,’ I literally act like a crazy person. Because I am a crazy person. I’m a crazy person. I actually thought, well, I have a disorder, and what is the etymology, the root of ‘disorder’? It is ‘not in order.’ I’m not in order. You know what? Burying Hersh was out of order for me. I didn’t want that order.”

Those who know Goldberg-Polin have known since Oct. 7, 2023, not to ask her, “How are you?” (In the book, she shares that she and her father will jokingly ask the other the question and prompt them, “Lie to me,” garnering the response, “Dandy!”)

For her, the book is the answer to that question. “This book is saying, ‘I know you don’t see it, and I really don’t blame you for not seeing it, and I didn’t see it.’ I haven’t seen it before. I’ve met people who are bereaved, who are grieving, who are suffering, who are mourning, and I didn’t say the right thing because I didn’t get it either.”

“If someone was born blind,” she continued, “they don’t know what the color blue is, and it’s very difficult for someone who knows what the color blue is to describe it to someone who has never seen it. And the book is my attempt to describe blue. It’s my attempt to describe pain.”

“This is simply me giving over my love and my pain, and I hope that maybe people just understand me a little bit more, maybe understand people who are suffering and really in grief and mourning more, and I don’t know that it has to do anything beyond that.”

Ultimately, Goldberg-Polin said, “I think that it’s a book about two things. I think it’s about love and pain. It’s a pain-filled love story, or it’s a love-filled pain story, and that’s what the book is.”
Rachel Goldberg-Polin: Mother of murdered hostage Hersh ‘parcels out her pain’ in book
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with author Rachel Goldberg-Polin.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin began writing her new book, "When We See You Again," as a way of finding some relief from her pain after she buried her son, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed by his Hamas captors in August 2024, after being held captive for 330 days in a Gaza tunnel.

Goldberg-Polin speaks about the process of writing the book, urged by her husband, Jon Polin, and how the book became a kind of answer to people asking her how she was.

The bulk of the book takes place after the Goldberg-Polins buried Hersh on August 31, 2024, and is an accounting of their lives in what Goldberg-Polin terms the Before and After.


Rachel Goldberg-Polin joined Hugh to talk about her moving, heart-breaking book about her son



Israel kicks off 78th Independence Day festivities with annual torch-lighting ceremony
Israel on Tuesday night ushered in its 78th Independence Day with the traditional torch-lighting ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl, which this year took place against the backdrop of shaky ceasefires with Iran and Lebanon.

Assorted dignitaries and hundreds of flag-waving spectators flooded into the makeshift stadium at Mount Herzl, marking the return of a live audience to the ceremony for the first time since 2023, with war and wildfires having kept them away for the past two years.

Among those in attendance were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Supreme Court Chief Justice Isaac Amit and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. Joining them was Argentine President Javier Milei, who was selected to light a torch at the ceremony — the first time the honor has been bestowed on a foreign leader.

The official theme of the ceremony, organized as it is every year by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, was “Forces of Renewal.”

Practically, this translated to a heavy focus on the joint US-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28 and was halted on April 8 with a two-week ceasefire — which at the time of the ceremony, was hours away from expiring before US President Donald Trump announced it would be extended for the time being — and on the fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Despite being in attendance, Netanyahu’s addressed the ceremony in a pre-recorded video, in which he lauded Israel’s military achievements over the past few years.

“Israel is stronger than ever, and together with the United States, we are leading the fight against the forces of evil in the world,” Netanyahu said.
PM Netanyahu's Greeting for Israel's 78th Independence Day
On Israel's 78th Independence Day, we stand tall and we say to the world, Am Yisrael Chai!

The people of Israel live!

To our Jewish brothers and sisters worldwide, to all the friends and supporters of Israel around the world, these three past years have made one thing clear: your role is not just important, it is vital. You stood with us. You strengthened us. You lifted us. Our success is your success. Our strength is your strength. Together we've built a stronger Israel, a regional power, forging new alliances and opening new paths to peace.

And as we celebrate our independence, we remember those we lost, our sons and daughters, whose sacrifice makes this moment possible. We embrace their families and pray for the healing of the wounded in body and spirit.

We just celebrated Passover. And we say in Passover and the Seder, in every generation, they have risen against us to destroy us. But in this generation, we rose against our enemies. We rose like lions. We fought like lions. We acted boldly to remove existential threats, the threats of nuclear weapons and thousands of missiles aimed at our cities.

The epidemic of antisemitism rages in many countries. But Israel is stronger than ever. We can fight back our enemies. The creation of Israel did not remove antisemitism; it just gave us the physical power to fight back. And we do so. But we also have to fight back against the slander and vilification. We have to fight back against the physical attacks against our communities, our brethren in Australia, in America, in Europe, elsewhere.




Seth Mandel: What Do Palestinians Think a Palestinian State Should Look Like?
As of now, we don’t know if the Palestinians would be willing to end the conflict, even if they stopped turning down statehood. The two are related: The Palestinian leadership most likely has never considered accepting a two-state proposal precisely because they would be expected to see it as a resolution to the conflict. Israelis understand this, and it accounts for some of the hesitation they have shown to continue offering the Palestinians a state: They want an end to the conflict and the Palestinians are unwilling to make such a promise.

October 7 made this clear not only to Israelis but to the world. Too much of the Palestinian public seemed most divided not on whether October 7 was good or bad but whether it was good or a hoax. The response from the “pro-Palestinian” industry globally was to support Hamas or, at the very least, only punish the Jewish state.

To top it all off, the October 7 attacks were aimed at torpedoing negotiations seeking a broad Arab-Israeli peace that would include a path to a Palestinian state. One of the two Palestinian factions was successful in sabotaging those talks and thus sabotaging the path to statehood.

Putting the onus on Israel, then, would only be understandable for someone born yesterday. Since no one born yesterday is on Twitter arguing over the Arab-Israeli conflict, there is a certain faux-naivete to this entire debate.

The Palestinians could disrupt their own unbroken pattern of rejectionism if they wanted to. And so they should: Mahmoud Abbas should make a speech, tomorrow if possible, and say explicitly that the Palestinians are prepared to consider the conflict resolved if they attain statehood through negotiations with Israel. In the same speech, Abbas should do what Olmert did for him and hold up a map of the two-state solution based on past negotiations.

If they really wanted to put Bibi on the spot, that would do it. The onus would then be on Israel to make a counteroffer—which is what Abbas would have done in 2007 were he negotiating in good faith.

Israelis have meticulously detailed and outlined “end game” maps. The Palestinians should take a turn doing so. If, that is, such a map exists.
Jake Donnelly: Have Palestinians Forfeited Their Right to a State?
If you had a neighbor who was on record, over and over, as wanting to murder your family—and who took videos of himself murdering your family and your family dog while his family cheered—would you want that person as your neighbor?Much less with an arsenal?

No sane person would. And no sane person would say, “Let’s build them a house—and fund it with everyone’s tax dollars.” That’s definitionally crazy if you claim to be anti-war and pro-peace.

But that’s the world we’re living in: an insane one where some of the most influential people—both in politics and online—push a rationale that would get you locked up in Arkham Asylum.

So let’s stop being crazy people filling the world with madness.No

Palestinian state until they can prove they desire peace more than war.


Yes, Russia Hates Israelis, Just Accept It
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for years, here’s a piece of information that shouldn’t come as a surprise: Russia hates Israel and Israelis.

And that’s not my Ukrainian side speaking—it’s simply the reality. Recently, 40 Israelis were detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport over their alleged involvement in the Iran war. They were reportedly interrogated under strict conditions and told that Iran’s enemies are Russia’s enemies.

I’ve seen some accounts on X, including the Mossad Commentary, describe this incident as “shocking.” But it’s hard to see why. By now, Israel should have realized that Russia has a serious problem with the country and its people.

I’ve written extensively about how Russia targets Israel, Israelis, and Jews more broadly—and I’m even considering giving a dedicated presentation on the subject once I’m in Tel Aviv. But the truth is, you don’t need to go very deep to understand how bad the situation is. The 2023 “Jew hunt” in Dagestan is a case in point.

Some will push back on this, noting that many Israeli nationals also hold Russian citizenship. That’s a fair observation—I saw it myself at Ben Gurion last December. But the issue isn’t dual citizenship, or even the existence of some pro-Russian sentiment among individuals. In fact, according to 2025 Pew Research, over 80% of Israelis view Russia unfavorably.

The issue is deeper. Russia has always had a strong, structural hostility toward Jews and Israel. The Soviet Union was a hub of anti-Zionist propaganda, despite being among the first to recognize Israel in 1948. It has consistently armed Israel’s enemies—Syria in the past, Iran today.

Yes, Russia can maintain working relations with Jerusalem and even cooperate with Israel in certain situations. And it’s understandable that Israel maintains ties with a country from which Jews continue to make aliyah. That relationship, to some extent, is unavoidable.

But the illusion that Russia is, or could become, a place where Jews are treated well—whether under Putin or any future leader—is just that: an illusion.

It isn’t, and it won’t be.
France blocks Al-Haq head, but funding to terror-tied group continues
France refused Shawan Jabarin a visa, Le Monde reported on April 15. Jabarin, who has links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization in the United States, European Union, Canada and Israel, is the director of Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO.

The ban led the Jerusalem-based organization NGO Monitor to ask why, given Jabarin’s ban, France’s development agency is still funding the terror-tied group he leads.

“Shawan Jabarin has been identified as a ‘threat to public order or internal security’ in Europe and denied entry. Jabarin heads Al-Haq, an NGO that leads anti-Israel demonization campaigns, and is linked to the PFLP terror group, which is under U.S. sanctions. At the same time, Jabarin’s Al-Haq continues to receive funding from the French government and the E.U. This is a blatant and immoral inconsistency that must be corrected,” NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg told JNS.

Le Monde reported that Jabarin has had his visa applications rejected by the French authorities twice since September 2025.

The current ban prevented him from appearing before the European Parliament’s Human Rights Committee in Strasbourg on April 14, the paper reported. “He was not able to testify before the committee that I chair,” posted Member of the European Parliament Mounir Satouri on X.

NGO Monitor reported on its website that Israel’s Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” on Oct. 22, 2021, because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates ‘on behalf of the ‘Popular Front.’ ”

In September 2025, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on Al-Haq for “directly engag[ing] in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent.”

NGO Monitor said that Al-Haq’s funding information isn’t transparent and the group hasn’t released financial details or donation amounts since 2009. Donors include the European Union, Norway, Ireland, Italy, France and Spain.
Meet the Green candidate who thinks Zionists killed 20 million Christians
A Green Party council candidate in Bournemouth says “the Zionists killed 20 million Christians” and are “trying to control the world.”

Feda Shahin, who is standing for the Central ward on Bournemouth town council, leads a group which caused significant national controversy by picketing the family home of the town’s then Tory MP, Tobias Ellwood, in February 2024.

The Palestine Solidarity Movement, a local Bournemouth-based activist group, organised about 80 people to mass outside the MP’s house after dark, chanting: “Tobias Ellwood, you can’t hide, you signed up for genocide.” Ellwood said: “Advertising [my] private address to mobilise an aggressive, intimidating rally at an MP’s property… for me is a step too far. MPs cannot be fair game to be directly attacked in this way.” The Palestine Solidarity Movement also picketed Ellwood as he went about other business in the town, calling him a “war criminal.”

Shahin is the Palestine Solidarity Movement’s “secretary general,” and was prominent in it in Bournemouth at the time of the Ellwood picket, though it is not clear whether she attended the event at his house. Speaking at another rally of the group in February 2026, she said that the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private island “is a symbol of the headquarters of the Zionists who are trying to control the world.”

She has also accused Israel of being a country that “sucks the blood of [Palestinian] children,” one of the classic anti-semitic blood libels.

The Palestine Solidarity Movement’s X account reposts what appears to be a call for ethnic cleansing, saying that “Israel must be dismantled… its population must be de-Zionised.”
Commentary Podcast: Kristallmonth
Today we take a break from Iran news to discuss the recent surge in antisemitic attacks in the US and UK, and what the rise of democratic radicals in Michigan and elsewhere means for pro-Israel democrats going forward. Plus, more on the debate surrounding military aid to Israel.
J Street accelerates leftward shift as progressives move to end Iron Dome funding
In recent years, as the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street joined left-wing calls to place restrictions on U.S. military aid to Israel, support for funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system remained a sacred cow for the group — the final aspect of the old-school U.S.-Israel defense relationship that, even for most progressives, was unaffected by the broader Democratic shift away from unconditional support for Israel.

That consensus has shattered in recent weeks. Instead of steering the conversation among Democrats, where J Street maintains a solid base of support, the organization found itself playing catch-up to the progressive lawmakers it supports after several of them announced in early April that they think the U.S. should no longer fund Iron Dome batteries.

J Street released a statement on April 13 calling for the U.S. to cease funding Iron Dome batteries, arguing that Israel — a wealthy nation with a substantial defense budget — should pay for its own missile-defense systems. The announcement marked a significant policy shift for J Street, which has long stated that a congressional candidate’s support for U.S. financial backing of the Iron Dome system is one of its most important endorsement criteria.

J Street’s leaders have insisted that they reached this conclusion independently, and not as a result of shifting political winds. But in a conversation on Monday, J Street’s chief policy officer, Ilan Goldenberg, acknowledged that progressives’ rapid shift on the issue factored into J Street’s announcement, even as the group insists it was moving in that direction anyway.

“It stirred up the conversation a little more, but that memo was already written,” Goldenberg told Jewish Insider. “It’s not like this came out of nowhere. It was part of a track record of things we were doing. AOC kind of spurred up the conversation further.”
Michigan Democrat criticizes party for nominating Hezbollah-supporting regent candidate
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI), a Democrat representing a swing district in Michigan, condemned the state party for nominating an attorney who expressed support for Hezbollah for the University of Michigan Board of Regents, as well as other harassment and divisive tactics delegates targeted at pro-Israel candidates at the party convention last weekend.

She argued that such activity and decisions will ultimately help Republicans in the November midterm elections.

“What I saw on the MDP Convention floor is deeply troubling — for what it says about who we are, how we win, and whether we will be able to meet this urgent moment,” McDonald Rivet said on X on Tuesday, emphasizing that, coming from the only Trump-won district held by a Democrat in the state, she “know[s] how hard it is to win.”

She said that while she is “excited” to run alongside “many” of those nominated, “the Convention nominated others with extreme positions and records — like calling Tucker Carlson ‘a real one,’ Hezbollah leaders ‘martyrs,’ or amplifying Qasem Soleimani — that are out of step with my values and those of Democrats across our state.”

Her comments are a reference to Makled, who has run on an anti-Israel platform and had an endorsement from the SEIU labor union pulled over past social media posts expressing support for Hezbollah. Makled’s nomination ousted Jewish regent Jordan Acker, who was repeatedly harassed and had his home vandalized by anti-Israel demonstrators.

McDonald Rivet said she was also concerned that “too much of the behavior we saw on the floor is not acceptable.” Pro-Israel candidates and those supporting them, including a supporter of Acker and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), faced aggressive boos at the party convention, to the extent that Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left Senate candidate who many of those vocal demonstrators are supporting, called out their behavior.

“We don’t name-call. We don’t belittle and bully. We don’t shout people down. We don’t make them feel unwelcome or unsafe based on who they are,” McDonald Rivet said. “We reject all forms of hate, including both antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
Gary Peters ‘really disappointed’ by heckling of pro-Israel voices at Michigan Dem convention
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) criticized divisive behavior by Democratic Party activists at the Michigan Democratic Party convention last weekend, where activists shouted down pro-Israel voices including Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and a speaker supporting University of Michigan regent Jordan Acker. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow also faced some jeers.

“I was really disappointed by some of the behavior, by some folks who were just so negative to Democratic candidates,” Peters told Jewish Insider in a brief interview on Tuesday. “The way we win elections is when we are all united and I would hope that everyone would realize that the most important election for Democrats is going to be in November.”

Peters served for two election cycles as the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, working to boost Democrats in swing states. He is retiring at the end of this term.
Sue Altman accuses challenger in N.J. race of ‘cheerleading’ the ‘deaths of Israeli children’
Sue Altman, a progressive organizer and former top staffer for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), who is running for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, slammed her anti-Israel primary opponent Adam Hamawy for “cheerleading and wishing for the deaths of Israeli children” with his comments opposing Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.

Hamawy said last week in an appearance on far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s show that he does not support Iron Dome because it insulates Israel from the consequences of war.

“When we talk about the Iron Dome or any kind of defensive weapons, what it is doing is insulating Israel from having to make decisions to make peace, and it really isolates them from having to deal with the consequences,” Hamawy said. “It’s like giving a bully body armor to go bully people some more. We need to be able to have them feel the effects of war, and then they’ll stop and actually have a conversation.”

He also said that he supports financial sanctions on Israel, asking “what makes it different than Russia or Iran?”

Altman, speaking to Jewish Insider on Monday, pushed back forcefully against Hamawy’s comments.

“Reasonable people can agree that the U.S. doesn’t need to be subsidizing military spending for a prosperous ally. And reasonable people can agree that we should be treating Israel as the same as all other prosperous allies,” Altman said. “But where I draw the line is — and where I feel like progressives need to draw the line is — that we absolutely cannot and should not ever be cheerleading and wishing for the deaths of Israeli children.”
Meet Ilhan Omar's Daughter: Isra Hirsi
It’s not terribly surprising, then, that after taking another extended break from activism, she would settle on Cuba — which has been the anti-America left’s darling for decades at this point — as the next hot thing. Joining a group sponsored by the People’s Forum in New York (a socialist boondoggle with ties to China), Hirsi went with the Nuestra America Convoy, a front for global communism, which happens to bring some aid to Cuba. Delegates of the convoy reportedly stayed at a five-star hotel; as blackouts plagued the Cuban people, Hasan Piker, who was part of the convoy, was somehow able to stream government propaganda. Kneecap, a Irish hip-hop group that also joined the convoy, led a chant of “Cuba si, bloqueo no!” (Recently, one of Kneecap’s members faced terrorism charges in the UK, since dropped, for waving a Hezbollah flag.) Watching the video, they seem to be having a nice time chanting — all good, clean fun (with a side of socialismo). But where’s the aid?

Certainly not with Cuban president Miguel Dรญaz-Canel, who greeted them personally. Whatever little food and medicine they managed to get to Cuba was essentially part of a propaganda operation by and for the Cuban government. Cuban independent journalist, Yoani Sรกnchez, posted to X: “They say they’ve come to support the Cuban people but they meet with the man who gave ‘the combat order’ to repress those who took to the streets…demanding ‘Freedom!’” (referring to Dรญaz-Canel’s crackdown last June on anti-government protests in Cuba). That hundreds of protesters were arrested by the state of course meant nothing to the defund-the-police, abolish-the-state convoyers.

“cuba truly changed me,” Hirsi wrote in an Instagram post on March 25th. “I have never felt such optimism and revolutionary spirit before. the misinformation and lies spread by US propaganda are immediately dismissed when visiting Havana. from the pediatric hospital to the farm, we met with regular people. all of whom believed in internationalism, the sentiment that Cuba cannot be free unless we all are… something i take back is a quote from a Cuban revolutionary we got to meet, ‘it doesn’t matter the condition of a place, Cuba stands with them.’”

What’s striking is how little originality there is in her words. Her statements through the years, perhaps because she emerged as a public figure so early in life, are more or less derivative, down to the hammer-and-sickle emoji in her X handle. Her words feel tedious not because she identifies as a socialist, but because quite literally any Zoomette who spent even a little bit of time on Tumblr could have come up with them.

Hirsi has successfully positioned herself as an activist of import — but whether it’s climate change or Palestine or Cuba, she’s ultimately proven herself beholden to the Current Thing. That the causes she pursues are so destructive ultimately says less about her, and more about the way the winds are blowing among young women in this country — and, in many ways, that’s a scarier phenomenon than one girl who happens to have a famous mom.
DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups like the KKK
FBI Director Kash Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a sweeping indictment Tuesday against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), accusing the far-left nonprofit of fraudulently paying members of extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

A grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned an 11-count indictment charging the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). Between 2014 and 2023, according to the DOJ, the SPLC "secretly funneled" more than $3 million in donations to at least eight individuals associated with violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, the Nationalist Socialist Movement, Unite the Right, Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, and more.

According to Blanche, the SPLC paid members of these extremist groups so it could create a "work product that reported on these activities."

"To that end, [SPLC] was doing the exact opposite of what it told its donors it was doing – not dismantling extremism but funding it," Blanche said Tuesday during the press conference announcing the indictment.

The SPLC is a longstanding left-wing nonprofit that claims to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement about them with the goal of dismantling the groups. SPLC's CEO, Bryan Fair, addressed the probe in a video message posted online, arguing the Trump administration has "made no secret who they want to protect and who they want to destroy."


UCLA student government condemned Hillel event featuring former hostage Omer Shem Tov
UCLA’s student government condemned a recent campus event featuring former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, labeling the speaker selection as “selective platforming of narratives that obscure the broader reality of ongoing state violence” and “a troubling disregard for Palestinian life.”

In an undated letter to UCLA administration, as well as the organizers of the event — UCLA Hillel and the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies — and “affiliated campus stakeholders,” the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council wrote that it “condemns” the April 14 event, held on Yom HaShoah, which was titled “505 Days in Captivity: Omer Shem Tov’s Testimony of Resilience.”

The council represents over 29,000 undergraduates at UCLA.

“While we affirm the humanity of all people impacted by violence, we reject the selective platforming of narratives that obscure the broader reality of ongoing state violence. Israel is currently continuing to carry out what has been widely identified by human rights advocates as a genocide in Gaza, while also expanding its illegal military campaign into Lebanon. In this context, elevating a single narrative, absent of critical political and humanitarian framing, serves to legitimize and normalize these ongoing atrocities,” the letter states.

“Institutional sponsorship of this event reflects a troubling disregard for Palestinian life … Universities must not be complicit in the production or amplification of one-sided narratives that erase systems of oppression and occupation,” the letter continued. “USAC calls on UCLA to immediately reconsider its role in sponsoring future programming that advances incomplete and harmful representations of ongoing violence.”

“Hillel at UCLA would like to apologize for absolutely nothing,” the group’s executive director, Daniel Gold, told Jewish Insider.

“Members of UCLA student government have once again shown they are anti-dialogue, anti-learning, anti-truth, anti-student, and anti-Jewish in condemning our beautiful event last week with Omer Shem Tov,” Gold said.

Shem Tov was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, and held captive in Gaza for 505 days.


I was one of a few conservative professors at Harvard — here’s where the school went wrong
Harvard is in a fix. The nation’s top university is under siege from the Trump administration for the heavily partisan diversity it has practiced for decades. Republicans have long been aware of the hostility that American universities show for them, but President Trump has led a policy reaction that could have occurred long ago. His siege on Harvard is a squeeze by a much stronger government that holds the money against a weaker university that wants and needs its funding.

Harvard makes its case for government money by emphasizing the scientific cancer research it performs. This, they imply, is service to both parties that keeps Harvard independent while still deserving of support.

Yet earlier Harvard, had gone so far as to renounce its independence. In 2023, it appointed a president, Claudine Gay, who immediately declared that the old idea of an Ivory Tower was obsolete. Harvard would now act as a “part of society.” What is the difference?

The Ivory Tower was an image, medieval like the university itself, of an institution made of a valuable material and grounded in society but towering above it. In this view, any university in America depends on America for its survival but does its best to rise above its politics. Politics is argument, for example about welfare policies. As an Ivory Tower, the university tries to define the bigger, more abstract question of what is welfare. Policies are about society; abstract definitions come from the Ivory Tower.

In abandoning the Ivory Tower Harvard was denying its independence. How well that worked was shown in Rep. Elise Stefanik’s later trouncing of Claudine Gay. The unfortunate Harvard president was humiliated and forced to resign. Here, society showed Harvard the harm and indignity that come when a university forgoes its independent devotion to the pursuit of truth and becomes a “part of society.”

Harvard had long since lost its independence by allowing one party on the left to dominate all its parts and every activity, including science. Its vocabulary was woke, its legacy was said to be slavery, its honors delivered to liberals, its attention given to affirmative action in admissions and hiring. In this deliberate but often concealed movement, black leaders were held up for public honors but the real gainers were feminist women. These women (and their male collaborators) made sure that no conservatives, especially no women conservatives, would receive the favor or justice they deserved.
After Israeli flyers found in NY high school urinal, some call for board president to resign
The school board president in a heavily Jewish suburb of New York City is facing calls to resign after flyers promoting a student-led Israeli culture club event were torn down and later found in a boys’ bathroom urinal last week.

The flyers advertised an “IsraelFest” event to celebrate Israel’s 78th Independence Day this week at Scarsdale High School. Among those posting photographs of the vandalism was the daughter of the board president, James Dugan. She added a caption: “Keep up the good work.”

The incident quickly drew condemnation from leaders within the school district of the heavily Jewish New York City suburb, including Superintendent Drew Patrick, who wrote in a letter to the community that the vandalism “places our collective sense of community in jeopardy.”

“We live in a time of rising antisemitism, political polarization, and a degraded civil discourse,” Patrick wrote. “I want the community to know that we take these complex challenges seriously and work to confront them every single day.”

Patrick said the district had already been developing a “clear, written set of guidelines regarding student speech and dress at school sponsored student activities,” which will be introduced at a Board of Education meeting on May 11.

Scarsdale High School Principal Kenneth Bonamo also decried the incident in a letter to the community on Friday, adding that the student government’s Instagram post advertising the event received “two replies criticizing the event using vulgar language.”

Bonamo said the school’s investigation into the incident was “active and ongoing,” and that officials were “currently interviewing students and reviewing camera footage to identify those involved.”

“The Israeli Culture Club was well within its right to plan this type of an event, for which they sought and received administrative approval,” Bonamo wrote. “Denigrating the club’s efforts in this way is wholly inconsistent with our values, both as a matter of basic fairness to support appropriate and approved student activities and because these actions constitute antisemitism.”
Catholic university faces accreditation challenge over handling of pro-Israel event requests
The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., is facing scrutiny over its handling of pro-Israel campus events, with a free-speech group warning the matter could implicate accreditation standards.

In an April 17 letter to university president Peter Kilpatrick, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said the school’s refusal to approve events hosted by Students Supporting Israel may violate institutional policy and Middle States Commission on Higher Education standards.

FIRE warned that it may refer the matter to the commission for review.

The dispute centers on the university’s requirement that student events include “speakers representing both sides of this issue.” Administrators denied SSI requests to host a talk by Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) on rising antisemitism and a talk by Israeli security expert Dany Tirza, a chief architect of Israel’s security fence, citing that policy.

A separate request to open an event on extremism to the public was also denied, according to FIRE.
Former Columbia professor who advocated for jihad after Oct. 7 to speak to NYU students
Mohamed Abdou, a former Columbia University professor terminated for praising Hamas and advocating for jihad following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, is scheduled to speak at an event organized by New York University students on Tuesday.

According to an Instagram flyer posted by Shut It Down NYU, a non-registered coalition of anti-Israel NYU students, faculty and staff, Abdou’s lecture — titled “The Student Movement is Dead. What Now?” — is the latest in a campus discussion series, the “Death to the Akademy” tour. His talk will evaluate the “successes and failures of the post Al Aqsa Flood [Oct. 7 attacks] student movement for Palestine,” according to the flyer, which features promotional art that depicts keffiyah-clad terrorists holding guns.

“NYU strongly condemns the brazen use of threatening language, as well as the imagery of violence in promotional posts for this event,” Wiley Norvell, senior vice president for university relations and public affairs, told Jewish Insider. “The group sponsoring the event is not an organization affiliated with the university, nor are the event or the invited speaker in any way supported by NYU. We are investigating several potential university policy violations associated with these posts.”

The event post does not identify a location for the event. As of Monday night, it was unclear whether the event will be held on campus or not.

“Let us engage in jihad,” Abdou said in March, addressing Union Theological Seminary students by video. In the clip, he praised the May 2025 assassination of two Israeli Embassy employees outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. He went on to glorify the gunman, Elias Rodriguez, saying he “took action” against “two Zionists,” and encouraged students to similarly “be a threat.”

Abdou was one of several Columbia University faculty members named by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) during her April 2024 questioning of then-President Minouche Shafik. Stefanik asked Shafik about Abdou’s position at the university after he posted on social media on Oct. 11, 2023, “I’m with Hamas & Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad.” Shafik responded, “He will never work at Columbia again.”


German court convicts man for antisemitic attack on Munich massacre victim’s grandson
A 24-year-old man who was convicted of attacking the grandson of a Munich massacre victim over a year ago in Berlin was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday.

The sentence, which was higher than what prosecutors sought, came after the judge determined that the assault was motivated by antisemitism, according to the German news agency DPA.

The case drew close attention in Israel because the victim, Lahav Shapira, 30, is the grandson of Amitzur Shapira, an Israeli athletics coach who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich Olympics terror attack in 1972. Shapira moved to Germany from Israel with his mother and brother Shahak Shapira, a prominent comedian and writer, as a child.

“He was full of hate,” Shapira’s mother, Tzipi Lev, told Ynet about her son’s attacker, whom German police identified as Mustafa S. “We won’t be silent about this. We already have a bloody history here, but I’m not afraid. I raised my sons to be proud of their Judaism and their Israeli identity. If we start to fear, we lose our right to exist.”

The attack occurred in February 2024, amid heightened tensions at the Free University of Berlin, where both men were students, over the Israel-Hamas war. Police reports at the time said that the younger man assaulted Shapira after the pair argued, while Shapira said there had been no precipitating incident. He suffered severe facial fractures, a brain hemorrhage and significant eye damage in the assault.

Testimony during the trial showed that Mustafa confronted Shapira outside of a bar for allegedly tearing down pro-Palestinian posters, according to Ynet’s report, which said the two had known each other from a teacher training program, and Mustafa had previously accused Shapira of treating him unfairly for removing members of a WhatsApp group who shared antisemitic content.
Syrian charged with planning attack on Jews and ‘infidels’ in Berlin
German prosecutors have charged a 23-year-old Syrian man with allegedly plotting a knife attack on “infidels” and Jews in Berlin, authorities said in a statement Tuesday.

The unidentified man allegedly bought a knife and materials to build explosives off the internet, and looked up content about “martyrdom” and “jihad” on social media platforms like Telegram and TikTok, prosecutors said.

He faces charges of preparing a terrorist offense and financing terrorism, as well as disseminating propaganda materials of terrorist organizations.

The man was arrested on November 1, and has been in detention since. Authorities did not identify him by name, but said that he arrived in Germany in December 2023 as an asylum seeker.

The man allegedly began plotting the attack in March 2025, and had hoped to build an explosive vest for a suicide attack.

Prosecutors said he discussed his plans with at least one other person.

The propaganda charges are related to a number of videos the man allegedly posted online that were set to jihadist battle songs associated with the Islamic State and other jihadist groups. Police officers detain a man at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, Germany, after another man was seriously injured, February 21, 2025. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Last month, a German court convicted a Syrian man of stabbing and seriously wounding a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial in February 2025, and sentenced him to 13 years in prison.
Kosovar teen charged for trying to kill teacher wanted to kill 'as many Jewish people as possible'
A Kosovar teenage jihadist who allegedly wanted to kill "as many Jewish people as possible" was charged with three counts of attempted murder for attacking his teacher, a janitor, and a stranger near a synagogue, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office announced on Monday.

Identified only as Erjon S, the juvenile suspect was charged with assault, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest, in addition to three attempted murder charges on March 31.

The teenage Islamist allegedly resolved to engage in jihad against "perceived infidels" in Essen, targeting a janitor he knew and his teacher as victims. He allegedly intended to kill as many Jews as he could afterwards.

In September, the teenager allegedly armed himself with a knife and went to an elementary school, where he punched and sprayed the janitor with pepper spray. The attacker was unable to use the knife because the victim reportedly defended himself.

After the first assault, Erjon allegedly attacked a teacher at his vocational college, stabbing her multiple times in the upper body.

Erjon then allegedly attended the Old Synagogue in Essen twice, but could not find any Jews, so he stabbed a stranger in the back.
After uproar, Kyrgyzstan hotel removes sign barring entry to ‘Jews and animals’
A sign saying that “Jews and animals are not allowed” was removed from a hotel in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan after widespread condemnation, according to Israel’s ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic.

Yesterday, the embassy posted a photo of the sign on X, calling it an “openly antisemitic and offensive statement.” The sign included warnings in Kyrgyz, Russian and English, with images of a Star of David and a dog.

Ambassador Yoav Bistritsky says today that the matter has been resolved.

“I welcome the swift action by the authorities in Kyrgyzstan to remove the antisemitic and offensive sign and to open a criminal investigation against those responsible,” Bistritsky writes on X. “Such hatred has no place in any society. I will continue to follow the matter closely.”

Ambassador Yoav Bistritsky says today that the matter has been resolved.

“I welcome the swift action by the authorities in Kyrgyzstan to remove the antisemitic and offensive sign and to open a criminal investigation against those responsible,” Bistritsky writes on X. “Such hatred has no place in any society. I will continue to follow the matter closely.”




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