Tuesday, May 05, 2026

05/04 Links Pt2: Mourner in Zion Dara Horn reviews Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s memoir; The Chilling Truth Behind the New School’s War on Hillel; Vogue’s Glossy Whitewash of Francesca Albanese

From Ian:

Mourner in Zion Dara Horn reviews Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s new memoir.
I have never met Rachel Goldberg-Polin—though saying this feels somehow false, since at this point, every English-speaking Jew on earth is in a parasocial relationship with her. We have seen her at rallies fighting for her then still-living son; we have heard her voice on podcasts weeping for her executed child; we have seen her on television, her fight and her pain always on public display. And since Jews are a global family, I have, inevitably, also had some indirect contact with her. A mutual acquaintance told me that, remarking on the title of my book People Love Dead Jews, she suggested that the next one should be called People Hate Live Jews (ultimately I chose something even worse). This second-hand comment has stayed with me because it felt like more than a dark joke. It hinted at something that the public Goldberg-Polin, despite her enormous emotional exposure, rarely if ever expresses: rage.

Part of the galvanizing appeal of the cause of the hostages for worldwide audiences was that the hostages fit into the category of the kind of Jews that non-Jewish (and Jewish diaspora) audiences are more comfortable with: Jews who are powerless. This is one of the reasons for the broad acceptance of Holocaust memorialization, a history in which Jews are generally presented as powerless and pitiable victims. Goldberg-Polin is a woman of unfathomable energy and courage, but this unexamined and unconscious attitude toward Jews was part of what made it possible to share her public grief on mainstream American media outlets like 60 Minutes. It would be inconceivable, for instance, for the mother of a fallen IDF soldier to do so.

In Israel, in contrast, young Jews who have been killed fighting in Gaza are mourned alongside the civilians murdered or kidnapped on October 7. Everyone understands they are in the same fight for their lives, against an enemy that makes no distinction between soldiers and civilians. In her book, Goldberg-Polin dramatizes this equivalence with a moving personal story. She describes her fellow synagogue congregant Oshrat’s son Yuval, who constantly yelled Hersh’s name as he fought in Gaza, hoping to find his friend. At the end of Goldberg-Polin’s shiva, Oshrat was the one who recited the ritual statement “Get up from your mourning” and “took my broken paw in her cool, confident hand, and pulled me up into my New World.” A few months later, when Yuval was killed in Gaza, “it would be my hand to put into Oshrat’s broken paw, pulling her up into The New World where we both now live.”

When We See You Again is a deliberately apolitical book, almost stridently so, and, almost certainly, necessarily so. Beyond some important (and tragically not obvious) statements about mourning civilians on both sides, Goldberg-Polin makes no comments at all about the military or other choices of the Israeli government, which hostage families in Israel often vocally opposed. There was an inescapable—and for Hamas, intentional—tension in the official dual war aims of returning the hostages and defeating Hamas. The cause of freeing the hostages rightly became a near-universal obsession in Israel and the wider Jewish world, both because of the long Jewish tradition of ransoming captives and because of the sheer human horror of elderly people and children, even babies, being kidnapped, and innocents of all ages being shackled, beaten, starved, tortured, and in many cases sexually assaulted. But this meant negotiating with people who are “not like us,” people who regard murder, kidnapping, rape, and torture as legitimate, and it meant accepting their ever-more-outrageous demands, most consequentially the release of hundreds of convicted terrorists, many of them murderers. In 2011, Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7, was, of course, returned to Gaza, along with a thousand other convicted terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit. The recent hostage horror show threatened to turn Jewish existence into a sickening real-life Trolley problem, in which “Bring Them Home Now” might be a track toward generating even more bereaved mothers in the future.

In discussing Hersh’s death, Goldberg-Polin invokes an ancient folktale retold by Victor Frankl as “Death in Tehran,” though it is more popularly known under Somerset Maugham’s title “Appointment in Samarra.” The point of the story is that no one can escape their predestined appointment with death. But, as she knows better than anyone, her son’s murder was not a natural disaster or force majeure; it was the result of human perpetrators making monstrous choices in “lands where we should not go,” including not only Gaza but also Qatar and Iran. Perhaps this is what drew her to a story called “Death in Tehran.”

Goldberg-Polin’s memoir is about her terrifying immersion in personal grief, not a confrontation with the political evil that produced it. But as she guides her readers through that gutting grief with all her luminous goodness and courage on display, it is easy to imagine her finding her why, in her (and our) horrific new world, where we all desperately need more goodness and courage like hers.

The prophet Jeremiah also gave us the divine response to the original mother Rachel’s wail from Ramah: “Restrain your voice from weeping, your eyes from shedding tears. For there is a reward for your labor… and there is hope for your future.” There is.
Seth Mandel: The Chilling Truth Behind the New School’s War on Hillel
Buried in a 2007 decision by Israel’s high court is the key to understanding an important part of the Arab-Israeli conflict that has migrated to America and the rest of the West.

The case illuminates recent events at the New School and elsewhere.

A Palestinian connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization, was petitioning the Israeli courts to nullify a decision that would stop him from being able to travel abroad. Officials argued that he’d be a security threat. His attorneys argued that he was also running a “humanitarian” NGO, al-Haq, and thus had a right to continue that work abroad.

The infamously left-wing court agreed, through gritted teeth, that the security officials had presented a convincing case that the man was a threat: “Nevertheless, the current petitioner is apparently acting as a manner of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, acting some of the time as the CEO of a human rights organization, and at other times as an activist in a terror organization which has not shied away from murder and attempted murder, which have nothing to do with rights; rather, they violate the most basic right of them all, the most fundamental right that without which there are no other rights—the right to life.”

That description of al-Haq and its director—terror operatives masquerading as NGO directors and using their “human rights” group as a free pass to kill Jews—is a Rosetta Stone for our age. And why would an NGO director be the perfect job for a terror operative? The Israeli high court revealed this, too:

“A director of a human rights group has a special status similar to that of journalists or humanitarian workers; the security concerns must be concrete to justify hindering his freedom of movement.”

Today we are plagued by these “special status” holders.

Last week in New York, the student senate of the New School, a private university, voted to stop all funding of the local chapter of Hillel, the campus Jewish center. Though framed as some sort of stand against Israeli aggression, this move was obviously and undeniably anti-Semitic. Terror groups and their American public-relations pets tried to claim that Hillel was guilty of funding war crimes because it supports the IDF.

One of the sources of information for this claim? The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Hezbollah-linked Mr. Hyde dressed up as humanitarian Dr. Jekyll.
How Europe's classrooms are being turned into factories of antisemitism
What are Irish, Spanish, and Norwegian children learning about Israel and the Jewish people? What happens when a teacher shows a classroom of children photographs of Palestinian children from the Nakba alongside photographs of Holocaust survivors liberated from a death camp? When do textbooks describe Auschwitz as a "camp for prisoners of war"? When does an education system teach that Jews promote violence? When do new curricula present the war in Gaza as "genocide"?

Across Europe, a slow but dangerous shift is underway. A one-sided narrative is seeping into classrooms – sometimes officially, more often as the personal views of teachers shaped by the society around them. The result is a generation that may grow up with a distorted image of Israel, Judaism, and history.

Three countries illustrate the problem with particular sharpness: Ireland, Spain, and Norway. In Ireland, a near-total public consensus against Israel has taken hold, expressed across the entire political spectrum and throughout the media. In Spain, where 82% of the public believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, even news outlets that are supposed to be objective use the term in their reporting.

The anti-Israel line taken by the media and by a government that leans on the radical left – reinforced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's own claim that Israel is committing genocide – has created a public atmosphere in which Israel is seen as a malevolent and murderous actor.

Norway presents a similar picture. 88% of members of the country's largest trade union – which includes Norway's largest teachers' association – voted in favor of a boycott of Israel.

Here, too, power lies with a left-wing government that depends on the radical left. The discourse around "the genocide Israel is committing" has been ongoing since early 2024, and most of the media takes a pronounced anti-Israel line.

Ireland: when an error becomes policy
Orly Degani, a board member of the Jewish Community Council of Ireland, has been closely monitoring what is being taught in Irish schools. The picture that emerges from the textbooks, she said, is alarming. "Auschwitz is described in them as a 'prisoner of war camp' rather than an extermination camp. Judaism is presented as a religion that believes the only way to achieve justice is through violence.

"Another book, intended for children aged 4–5, puts forward the narrative that Jews did not like Jesus – classic antisemitism passed down from generation to generation." According to Degani, the problem is not necessarily malicious intent on the part of teachers, but a lack of knowledge and oversight. The Irish education system allows a wide range of bodies to publish textbooks, as long as they cover the subjects set by the government – but there is no meaningful oversight of the content.

"The government decides on the subject areas, and then any educational body that wants to can go and print a textbook. When we explained to the Ministry of Education that this produces problematic content, they said it was not within their control and that it was the publisher's responsibility."

The examples Degani cites are not theoretical. An official examination by the State Examinations Commission listed Palestine as a place where there are "many Jews." "The exam went through checks," Degani said. "It was approved by educational authorities, and it went out to every school. What does a child think when they receive that page?"


Man to plead guilty in Colorado firebombing attack on rally for Israeli hostages
A man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebomb attack on Colorado demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza plans to plead guilty this week to murder and other charges, according to court documents.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in the June 1 attack in downtown Boulder, according to the documents filed by his attorneys on Sunday in a related federal case.

Soliman had previously pleaded not guilty after he was accused of throwing two Molotov cocktails during the demonstration at a pedestrian mall. An 82-year-old woman who was injured in the attack later died. A dozen others were also injured.

Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the US illegally. Investigators say he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people.”

Boulder Mayor Pro Tem Tara Winer said the victims included some of her close friends and she planned to attend Thursday’s court hearing to support their fight for justice.

“It was a horrific attack,” Winer said by email. “Their lives were changed forever.”

Soliman faces dozens of state charges, including murder and attempted murder.

He has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges. Prosecutors are considering whether to seek the death sentence in that case, according to his attorneys. Soliman’s attorneys said he offered last August to plead guilty to the federal charges and would accept a sentence of life in prison. They said federal officials had not yet decided on the offer.

A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office declined to comment.

The Associated Press left voicemail messages for Soliman’s attorneys in both cases. His federal defenders said in Sunday’s court filing that the attack “was profoundly inconsistent” with Soliman’s prior conduct and “came as a total shock to his family.”
New Jersey Dem Congressional Candidate Testified on Behalf of Terror Mastermind ‘Blind Sheikh’
A New Jersey plastic surgeon who is the leading fundraiser in the crowded Democratic congressional primary was an associate of terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman—the "Blind Sheikh"—and served as a defense witness at the trial that ultimately saw the cleric put away for life, court records show.

Adam Hamawy, running in the Democratic primary to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District with Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) endorsement, was a 26-year-old medical student when Abdel-Rahman's lawyers put him on the stand to deny charges that the Blind Sheikh—whose followers carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing—had called for the murder of then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. The New York Times reported on Hamawy's participation in the trial at the time, but dozens of pages of testimony reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon reveal a yearslong relationship between the congressional candidate and the jihadist leader. Front Page Magazine first reported on their connection.

Hamawy and Abdel-Rahman met in 1991 when the Islamist firebrand delivered a lecture at Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School in Cliffwood, N.J. From there, the Egyptian-born Hamawy said, he followed the Blind Sheikh to speaking events at mosques, visited the cleric in his home, and provided him with translation help.

During his testimony, which Hamawy began with a traditional "salam alaykum" greeting to the Blind Sheikh, he described taking a 13-hour car journey with Abdel-Rahman and some of his associates to a conference in Detroit called "Towards a Global Islamic Economy." Those associates were Sheikh Abdel Khalid "from the Salam Mosque" in Jersey City, referred to in the court records as a "jihad office." That mosque, where Abdel-Rahman preached, was the location where the conspirators behind the World Trade Center bombing would meet.

Also in the car was Emad Salem, an FBI informant and central prosecution witness who would help put the Blind Sheikh behind bars. According to court documents, Abdel-Rahman told Salem he should turn his "rifle's barrel to President Mubarak's chest, and kill him." Hamawy, who told prosecutors he shared a hotel room with Abdel-Rahman at the conference, denied that he had heard the Blind Sheikh say anything to that effect.

But he did admit that the conference, where Abdel-Rahman appeared as a featured speaker, was not about economics.

When prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald asked Hamawy whether Abdel-Rahman talked "about conquering the land of the infidels" during the event, Hamawy said, "He might have, yes," adding that "it wasn't a commerce thing."

Hamawy told Fitzgerald that he heard the word "jihad" more than once that weekend.
‘Threatening and Intimidating’: Largest Teachers’ Union in United States Hit With Federal Antisemitism Complaint
The National Education Association (NEA) was hit with a federal complaint Monday alleging that it subjected Jewish members to an antisemitic environment, according to a copy of the complaint shared with the Washington Free Beacon.

The complaint, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) , alleges that the nation’s largest teachers’ union allowed activists within the organization to harass Jewish members. At the NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly—the group’s annual gathering—for instance, the union debated a resolution banning materials from the Anti-Defamation League from appearing in classrooms. During that debate, "delegates aligned with anti-Israel advocacy physically positioned themselves near Jewish Affairs Caucus members, shouted down Jewish participants, and created an atmosphere in which Jewish delegates reasonably feared retaliation and physical harm," the complaint details.

In some cases, activists "sat or stood so close to Jewish members that they felt unable to clap, which was required to vote, without risking physical contact and confrontation."

When one Jewish NEA member spoke against the resolution and mentioned the 82-year-old woman killed during a terrorist firebombing attack in Boulder, Colo., last year, her remarks were "met with laughter and clapping by anti-Semitic participants in the assembly." Witnesses, the complaint reads, "described the collective, celebratory reactions to the attack and murder of Jews as threatening and intimidating due to the forceful nature of the gestures which were directed specifically toward Jewish delegates."

A similar incident occurred later in the meeting, when members of the union’s Jewish Affairs Caucus attempted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their group’s formation. Witnesses cited in the complaint said that members of a competing caucus, Educators for Palestine, "convened several rows behind the Jewish Affairs Caucus members" in a manner that was "coordinated and physically intimidating." Security at the conference was eventually forced to intervene and stand "between the Jewish Affairs Caucus member-delegates and the individuals involved."

NEA president Rebecca S. Pringle allegedly prevented the Jewish Affairs Caucus’s executive chair from speaking even though the leader had received prior authorization to do so, and instead "recognized representatives of Educators for Palestine, who had just disrupted the proceedings and interfered with the Executive Chair’s ability to speak."
NYC Jews targeted in 60% of hate crimes last month; swastika sprayed on synagogue
Jews in New York City were targeted in 60 percent of all confirmed hate crimes last month, according to NYPD data released on Monday.

The police reported 30 antisemitic incidents out of 50 total hate crimes in the city.

Jews make up around 10% of the city’s population.

There were nine incidents targeting Black people, one based on gender, three against Hispanic people, two motivated by religion, five based on sexual orientation, and zero for Muslims, Asians, white people, and other ethnicities.

The number of antisemitic hate crimes in April marked a decrease over the 43 confirmed incidents targeting Jews in April 2025.

In February of this year, there were 21 confirmed antisemitic incidents, and in March, 32. The monthly total tends to vary based on factors including news developments, protests, and the weather.

The NYPD had previously reported suspected, but unconfirmed, hate crime incidents. That changed for February, when the police reported confirmed incidents instead.

After coming under criticism, the NYPD began reporting both suspected and confirmed hate crimes in March.

That means that a total for the year is not available, because for January, there is no data on confirmed incidents, and for February, there is no data on suspected incidents. Swastika graffiti on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, March 4, 2026. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

In February, March, and April, there were 83 confirmed antisemitic incidents, representing 58% of the 143 total hate crimes.

The total for those months amounts to a confirmed antisemitic hate crime every 25 hours in the city. Hate crime experts and Jewish security officials have said many or most incidents are likely not reported to police.
NYPD looking for four suspects in antisemitic graffiti at Queens synagogues
Police are searching for four suspects accused of vandalizing Jewish institutions and residences in Queens with Nazi symbols and other antisemitic graffiti early on Monday morning, the New York City Police Department told JNS.

“Multiple locations had been spray-painted with black and red paint with swastikas,” an NYPD spokesman told JNS.

Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, stated that the NYPD hate crimes unit is investigating the incident.

Mamdani, whose spokeswoman has said that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events, stated that he is “horrified and angered by the swastikas painted on homes and synagogues in Queens, including on a plaque honoring survivors of Kristallnacht.”

“This is not just vandalism. It is a deliberate act of antisemitic hatred meant to instill fear,” he stated.
“There is no place for antisemitism in Queens or anywhere in our city. I stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors. Their safety, dignity and belonging are non-negotiable.”

“Swastikas on synagogues and homes is vile, targeted hate,” stated New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said that state police were working with the NYPD to “track down those responsible and will hold them fully accountable.”

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, visited Congregation Machane Chodosh, an Orthodox synagogue in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, which was one of the targeted sites.

“When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community,” Menin stated. “When a family woke up, they were prepared to begin an otherwise normal week. Instead, they were met with terrifying signals of hatred and threats of violence.”

Menin visited the synagogue with fellow City Council members Phil Wong and Lynn Schulman, vice-chair of the council’s Jewish Caucus.

The Rego Park Jewish Center was also defaced, with a Nazi swastika and the word “Hitler” painted in red.


Vogue’s Glossy Whitewash of Francesca Albanese
Francesca Albanese wants the world to wake up.

But with a glamorous profile in British Vogue of the UN Special Rapporteur on the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” it would seem that the world has woken up and is being invited to view Albanese as a figure of admiration doing crucial work for the Palestinian people.

Yet Vogue’s spread omits Albanese’s well-documented record of antisemitism, conspiracy-mongering, and pro-terror rhetoric. These are not peripheral concerns; they are central to understanding how she has built her platform and reputation.

Instead, readers are presented with a carefully curated image that leaves this reality out of the frame.

Albanese tells Vogue that it is “not [about] me, it’s [about] what I’m doing.” But what she is doing is not advancing Palestinian interests in international forums— it is amplifying narratives that demonize Jews.

Long before her appointment as UN Special Rapporteur, her remarks claiming that a Jewish lobby subjugates the United States and her assertion at a Hamas-linked conference that the terror group has a “right to resist” should have triggered international condemnation. Instead, since assuming her role, the frequency and reach of such rhetoric have only increased.

Far from limiting her influence, this record has coincided with growing media amplification — not scrutiny.

So when Vogue writes that “the prospect of fame probably wasn’t one of [her reservations],” it ignores how Albanese has leveraged that fame to promote anti-Jewish narratives.

Her recent appearance at the Al Jazeera Forum illustrates the point. There, she invoked classic antisemitic tropes, suggesting the existence of a shared global enemy — echoing age-old conspiracy theories about Jewish power and influence.

When she is not promoting conspiracies, she is spreading demonstrably false claims to a global audience.


Call me Back: My diaspora Jewish world is crumbling - with Jesse Brown
What is happening to Jewish Canadians, and what it tells us about the country Canada thought it was?

In today’s episode, Dan is joined by Jesse Brown, founder, editor, and publisher of Canadaland, to discuss how Jewish life in Canada has changed since October 7. Drawing on months of reporting for his six-part investigative series What Is Happening Here, Jesse explains why antisemitism in Canada feels more targeted, more tolerated, and more systemic than many outsiders understand. They discuss attacks on Jewish schools and synagogues, the role of progressive institutions and campus culture, the collapse of old assumptions about diaspora belonging, and whether Canadian Jewish life can ever go back to what it was.

In this episode:
Jesse Brown’s life as a Canadian Jew before October 7
Why Jesse says his diaspora Jewish world is crumbling
What Jewish life in Canada feels like now
How Jewish schools, synagogues, and neighborhoods became targets
Why antisemitism in Canada feels more systemic
Canada’s postnational identity and the politics of settler colonialism
The role of Islamist extremism and what Canada refuses to name
Why anti-Zionist activism in Canada has become more explicit
Zionism, anti-Zionism, and why Jesse says the labels matter less than the harm
The fractures inside Canada’s Jewish community
Why Jesse still wants to fight for diaspora Jewish life




Cambridge fails to suspend students who threatened to kill classmate over Israel trip
A University of Cambridge college has been criticised after it failed to suspend students who made death threats against an undergraduate who visited Israel.

The visit, organised by the Pinsker Centre think tank, took Oxbridge student leaders to Israel, where they met Israelis and Palestinians to better understand the Gaza conflict.

But one of the party, Bradley Smart, 21, said he received death threats from fellow students when he returned to Homerton College.

The third-year student, who is not Jewish, claimed he was subjected to abuse in a student group chat in which identifiable individuals from the college wrote “I’m going to kill him”, “kill him”, and “he needs to die”.

Other messages included slurs and degrading language, as well as anti-Semitic content including comparisons between Israel and the Nazis.

Mr Smart claimed that he reported the threats through the college’s harassment channels, but was told to speak to welfare staff or consider moving rooms. He moved out of Homerton a month later out of fear for his safety.

He said he complained to police, but claimed they told him it was an “academic matter”, and would not investigate.

Mr Smart told The Telegraph: “As a Cambridge student, I expected my university to be a place where opinions could be refined through dialogue.

“The reality, however, was that this trip was enough to trigger a campaign of cancellation, including explicit death threats and being banned from a college club.”

Lord Walney, a former government counter-extremism tsar, said: “It is entirely unacceptable that students at one of our leading universities would threaten to kill one of their peers for visiting Israel.

“The college’s response is wholly inadequate, and sets a dangerous precedent that intimidation and threats of political violence will be tolerated. Cambridge must do better.”
GOP’s Blakeman pushes NYC venue to cancel singer for rant against Israel, Jews: ‘Vile person’
GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said a Brooklyn theater should cancel a scheduled performance of an Uzbek singer over a reported anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rant.

Blakeman, the Republican Party’s pick to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in November, called it an outrage that 62-year-old singer Yulduz Usmonova would be allowed to perform at the Oceana Theater in Brighton Beach on May 9.

“There is no place for hate speech or hate singing, for that matter, here in Brooklyn or anywhere in New York State or America,” Blakeman said outside the venue at a press conference with local state lawmakers.

“This woman is singing and she is performing, but she is a vile person,” said Blakeman, who is currently serving as Nassau County executive. “She is a person filled with hate. She is riddled with antisemitism. There is no place for her to perform here in Brooklyn.”

Usmonova first sparked outrage in a social media post on May 13, 2021, when she went on a rant attacking the Jewish State and pledging support for Palestine.

“Let Israelis and other Jews know: We will not leave the Palestinians alone,” she wrote. “At a single call, we will all go to help Palestine and fight alongside them against Israel.

“Know this, all who are against Muslims will burn in fire. Know that we will unite,” Usmonova said. “We are with you, dear Palestine. May the almighty rain all misfortunes upon your heads, Jews!”
Bestselling author faces backlash over ‘positive’ portrayal of Israeli character
Bestselling American author Rebecca F Kuang is facing anger from some of her fans after her upcoming book Taipei Story apparently includes a sympathetic portrayal of an Israeli character.

The Chinese-born author of works including Yellowface and Babel is facing anger from some readers after advance reader copies of her upcoming book – set to be released this September in the UK – were apparently circulated to a select audience.

According to Pakistani outlet The Express Tribune: “Readers on X and TikTok claim a two-page sequence featuring an Israeli pianist is described within religious and artistic contexts, which some interpreted as a positive or neutral depiction.”

Some social media users criticised the apparent inclusion of the Israeli character on Kuang’s Instagram page.

“EXTREMELY disappointed. Heartbreaking to think I raved about your work and your stance on colonialism and then you go and add a Zio narrative in your book… please please remove it”, said one comment.

“What was the logic behind the deliberate choice to mention Israel in your latest novel?”, another added.

Another wrote: “We don’t want Zionist propaganda!! Do you even know your audience?”

A different user accused the author of effectively selling-out her fan-base: “Good luck selling your books now girl you literally built your whole audience on your whole anti-colonialism thing just to end up normalizing Israel’s existence that’s just disgusting”.

Last year, Kuang announced her withdrawal from the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature in Dubai following a call by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
University of Michigan apologizes after professor praises anti-Israel activists at commencement
Domenico Grasso, president of the University of Michigan, issued an apology on Saturday after a faculty leader praised pro-Palestinian student activists during a spring commencement speech.

Derek Peterson, a history and African studies professor and outgoing faculty senate chair, urged graduates to remember the thousands of students who “have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of social justice over the course of centuries.” One of the examples he listed was “the pro-Palestinian student activists who have, over these past two years, opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”

The remarks drew applause from parts of the crowd and swift criticism from some university officials and Jewish groups.

Grasso stated that Peterson’s remarks regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict “were hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community.”

“We regret the pain this has caused on a day devoted to celebration and accomplishment,” Grasso said. “For this, the university apologizes.”

Grasso added that Peterson “deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony” and stated that the comments “do not represent our institutional position.” (JNS sought comment from Peterson.)

“The chair’s remarks were expected to be congratulatory, not a platform for personal or political expression,” Grasso said. “Introducing such commentary in this setting was inappropriate and did not align with the purpose of the occasion. In the coming weeks, I will work with university leadership to review and refine future commencement programming.”
Maureen Lipman depicted with devil horns by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) is facing criticism after it depicted Jewish actress and JC columnist Dame Maureen Lipman with devil horns and a pitchfork.

The Aberdeen branch of the SPSC shared the graphic on Instagram, objecting to Lipman’s upcoming show, Allegra in the city – scheduled for May 26–30 at His Majesty’s Theatre – claiming that she had “openly voiced extremist Islamophobic anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views” and urging supporters to sign a petition against her.

The group further label her “an open supporter of the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel, which continues to commit genocide, and is ethnically cleansing the West Bank.”

However, the pro-Palestine group was widely criticised for its social media graphic, which was criticised as antisemitic.

Andrew Bowie, the shadow Scotland secretary and Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, blasted the group in a post on social media.

"Maureen Lipman depicted as the Devil and people urged to boycott her play in Aberdeen, all because…well you guessed it. Utterly abhorrent, antisemitic racists in plain sight here”, he said, adding: “Well, not in my name. Maureen is welcome to Aberdeen and the North East.”

Rosie Kay, co-founder of Freedom in the Arts, a project to tackle the culture of fear and intimidation artists are facing for expressing their legal views, said that the abuse Lipman was subject to was part of a wider attempt to intimidate artists into silence.


Sesame Street post honoring US Jews draws intense wave of antisemitic hate
A Sesame Street social media post on Friday marking Jewish American Heritage Month drew a wave of hateful antisemitic comments, accusing the decades-old children’s show of spewing “Jewish supremacy” and “propaganda.”

The comments followed a post by Sesame Street’s X account that reshared a preview of a segment that originally aired in May 2023, showing Jewish actress Kat Graham and the puppet Abby Cadabby asking viewers to join them in marking JAHM.

“No one wants any more of this Jewish supremacy nonsense,” antisemitic influencer Dan Bilzerian wrote in response to the post.

“Great, a whole month just for Jews …like we don’t hear about their victimhood every day of every other month,” another user posted. “Nope. We’re not celebrating genocidal Zionists, which many/most are,” another replied.

“Propaganda. Getting into the minds of young impressionable children is brainwashing. Does anyone remember the Hitler Youth?” a user also commented.

Amid the wave of hate, some stepped in to support the post.

Joan Leslie McGill, head of the US-Israel Education Association nonprofit, wrote: “This is a wonderful lesson for young Americans! Thank you @sesamestreet for recognizing #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth!”

“The antisemitism and racism in the comments is deplorable,” another said.

“This @sesamestreet skit is AMAZING!!!! It is awesome! And its highlighting Jews of Color as well which makes this even more special. So you antiSemites you can just ….. , you know what. And in the meantime, we will celebrate all the incredible things that American Jews have given to this amazing country of ours!!!!” Todd Richman, a former co-chair of the Democratic majority for Israel, wrote.

American Jewish Heritage Month was first marked by then-president George W. Bush who, on April 20, 2006, issued the first presidential proclamation designating May 2006 American Jewish Heritage Month.


Why Alphabet’s CapitalG is still betting on Israel
“Israel will remain a cyber powerhouse for the next decade,” says James Luo, a general partner at CapitalG, the growth investment arm of Alphabet.

CapitalG has invested in several Israeli cybersecurity companies, including Armis Security, Salt Security, and Orca Security. Luo says that, following the major acquisitions of Wiz, CyberArk and Armis in the sector, more Israeli companies are likely to pursue public listings in the United States.

Founded a decade ago, CapitalG aims to connect entrepreneurs with Alphabet’s expertise in scaling technology companies.

Israel is currently facing a period of heightened geopolitical tension, including attacks from Iran and Lebanon. Asked whether this affects the fund’s strategy, Luo is unequivocal.

“Israel has always punched above its weight in technology, and especially in cybersecurity,” he says. “The ecosystem here is unique. I’m not a prophet, but I’m convinced that the global cyber industry will continue to be shaped by what comes out of Israel over the next decade. We will continue to invest here aggressively.

“We meet Israeli entrepreneurs all the time, and our feeling is that there is a huge opportunity here. The amount of innovation relative to the size of the country is simply phenomenal.”
Israeli fintech startup partners with Elon Musk’s X to gauge market sentiment
Israeli startup BridgeWise has inked a strategic partnership with Elon Musk’s X to plug financial conversation feeds into its AI financial intelligence platform to help investors capture market sentiment in real time and make better-informed decisions where to park their funds.

“Markets move on more than just numbers; they move on what people are saying, thinking, and feeling at any given moment,” said BridgeWise co-founder and CEO Gaby Diamant. “By plugging X’s data stream into our engine alongside our deep fundamental and technical analysis, we are helping our clients cut through the noise to see what actually matters.”

Diamant said the partnership with X announced last week provides the startup with access to the world’s largest and most active platform for real-time financial conversation, turning it into a quantifiable tool alongside its fundamental and technical analysis to help investors make well-informed decisions about stock picking.

“The partnership with X fits into our vision to provide full-scope intelligence on every traded security, from fundamental and quantitative analysis to real-time sentiment intelligence,” said Diamant.

Founded in 2019 by Diamant, Dor Eligula (CBO), Or Aligula (COO), and Mor Hazan (CPO), BridgeWise has built a financial intelligence platform that uses machine-learning algorithms trained on more than 20 years of historical data and generative AI to provide analysis and recommendations to wealth advisers, banks, brokerages, trading platforms, and global stock exchanges.

The startup says its platform uses proprietary AI to generate analysis reports of more than 90 percent of global securities, across 20 languages, to help investors act on informed financial insights. BridgeWise’s natural-language AI conversational chatbot adviser — Bridget — provides regulatory-compliant investment insights as well as buy-or-sell recommendations on any security based on users’ existing portfolios and other data.

The startup said the integration of billions of unstructured social conversations by X-users into its generative AI intelligence platform processes them into clear insights that investors can act on. Institutions and investors alike can monitor sudden shifts in market mood and identify emerging trends before they hit the mainstream, Diamant said. It will also help investors spot risk factors around a company’s stock such as short selling, pump-and-dump patterns, or toxic online discourse, he added.




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