Wednesday, May 06, 2026

05/05 Links Pt1: Alan Dershowitz: Why Are Some in Our Media Cheering for Iran?; Trump pauses Strait of Hormuz operation; What We Learned From Today’s ‘Palestine Action’ Verdict

From Ian:

Alan Dershowitz: Why Are Some in Our Media Cheering for Iran?
It is shocking how many people with major media platforms would rather see Iran win its battle to preserve its nuclear program.

Both the U.S. and Israel are taking proper military action against a tyrannical and unlawful regime that might well use a nuclear arsenal against its enemies, were it be allowed to develop one.

Preventive wars against threatened nuclear attacks are justified both morally, legally, and under any theory of just war.

No decent person should be on Iran's side or remain ambivalent about the need to defeat Iran's genocidal ambitions.

No decent person should support Iran's repression and murder of tens of thousands of its own citizens just this year.

There can be little dispute about these democracies being on the right side in their conflict with a tyrannical regime sworn to their destruction.

The First Amendment gives Americans the right to cheer for Iran if they want, just as it gave them the right to cheer for Nazi Germany. But that doesn't mean that others don't also have the right to point out that they are wrong on the merits.
Palestinian activist says UK ‘betrays democracy’ by continuing to back Mahmoud Abbas
A Palestinian political activist has accused Britain and other Western governments of “betraying Palestinian democracy” by continuing to treat Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people.

Samir Sinijlawi, an East Jerusalem-born activist and former Fatah youth figure, made the comments at an event at JW3 in north-west London, where he warned that the lack of democratic renewal in Palestinian politics was “dangerous for Palestinians and for Israelis”.

Speaking at Emerging Partners: Perspectives of a Palestinian Insider, Sinijlawi said: “Each leader of yours, when he hosts Abbas and receives him as a legitimate leader of the Palestinian, he is betraying the Palestinian democracy. He’s betraying everything that I am fighting for.”

He added: “We deserve democracy. You cannot tell us that democracy is good for you… and it’s not good for us.”

The event, for which Jewish News was a media partner, brought together organisations including We Democracy, UJS, Progressive Judaism, Yachad and the New Israel Fund, and was chaired by Sunday Times journalist Josh Glancy.
Aizenberg: Hamas Confirms: October 2023 IDF Strikes on Homes Targeted its Commanders
In October 2023, Israel’s opening air campaign in Gaza was often characterized as indiscriminate, with family homes struck and incidents catalogued as “civilian-only.” That conclusion rested on a faulty assumption: absent proof of combatant status, the dead were treated as civilians. In Gaza’s operating environment, where Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) dress in civilian clothing for combat, use private homes for weapon storage, as their leaders admit, as well as for command centers and tunnel shafts, that assumption was always going to misclassify outcomes.

Airwars is an NGO that catalogues fatalities in conflict and connects them to specific airstrikes. Its methodology in Gaza also defaulted to treating all those killed as civilians. Since Hamas hides its losses as a matter of policy, and Gazan residents also avoid disclosing combatant deaths, it follows that Airwars would classify the large majority of attacks as civilian-only. This produced the absurd claim that 96% of 606 assessed IDF airstrikes in October 2023 killed only civilians, which in turn fed the broader allegation that the IDF was deliberately targeting civilians and reinforced genocide claims.

That record is now changing. As Hamas and PIJ release martyr notices, often identifying commanders, many October strikes can now be reexamined in light of new disclosures. Incidents once cited as evidence of indiscriminate bombing are now being shown to have killed commanders located in residential structures. Civilian casualties remain and must be accounted for, along with the fact that Hamas and PIJ, by strategy, do not operate from traditional military bases. But the emerging evidence directly challenges the claim that these strikes lacked legitimate military targets and calls into question a methodology that defaulted to “civilian-only” in a context where combatant status was systematically concealed.

The following examples focus on strikes on family homes that were originally labeled “civilian-only” but are now shown to have killed commanders. They represent just a small sample of what has since been disclosed.


Alex Hearn: Britain’s antisemitism problem is not for Jews alone to solve
Jews can’t fix it. There are only 250,000 Jews in Britain, and despite what you might have heard, we just don’t have the power.

Successive governments have failed to confront the issue. Met police commissioner Mark Rowley said Jews sit at the centre of a “ghastly Venn diagram of hate,” targeted by the far right, the far left, Islamist extremists and hostile states. But he warned that the Met struggle to get public pickup on the issue.

That's the problem. It's easier to throw money at building higher walls, further isolating Jews, while the conditions that created the threat go unaddressed. Anti-Jewish racism holds no social consequences.

Everyone has a part to play. If you don’t want racism, firebombings and stabbings to become normalised, if you like living in a tolerant country, then you have to fight for it. Don’t be a bystander. If you see it, call it out. On social media, in the workplace, in public life. If you’re in a political party, don’t tolerate it. Be brave, even when you’re going against the flow.

The hardest part is calling it out when it appears in your own camp. That’s why Labour Against Antisemitism was founded during the Corbyn years. Don’t overlook your friends' antisemitism in WhatsApp groups or over drinks. If you’re a councillor or politician, push back against it. Don’t give an inch to hate. No pasarán.

Bigots have had a free run, but sometimes it doesn’t take much pushback to stop the tide. Jewish businesses, musicians, comedians and artists have been targeted for boycotting. Speak up for them. Pressure institutions and politicians into doing the right thing. They caved to the mob, so we know it works the other way around. Write to your MP. Make complaints. Send the message that this isn’t socially acceptable, and that the public won’t stand for it.
Seth Mandel: What We Learned From Today’s ‘Palestine Action’ Verdict
The whole thing was a farce and a tragedy in one. It meant the British legal system was well into the process of disintegrating entirely. Jews would be the first on whom to experiment: What if democracies jettisoned the rule of law so mobs could harass hated minorities at will?

Officials were deeply embarrassed, though the atmosphere of anti-Zionism that portrays the Jews as especially evil is egged on by the political establishment right up to the prime minister himself. Keir Starmer could claim to be appalled all he wanted, but the jurors could easily come back with the line from the old anti-drugs commercial: “I learned it by watching you!”

On some charges, the jury was unable to reach a verdict. That meant prosecutors could still retry the defendants on those charges. And so they did.

And today, several of them were convicted of these lesser charges. Juror sympathy was still on display, of course: The sledgehammer assailant was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm but cleared of doing so with intent, which was a higher charge. The charges on which the other defendants were convicted were also lesser versions of those on which the first jury either acquitted them or failed to find a verdict.

So: are we feeling better about the future of Jewry in Britain? Don’t be naïve.

But if there’s any reason for hope, it lies in the possibility of the political establishment following the judge’s jury instructions. According to Sky News, the judge told the jurors “to put any views they may have about the Israel-Hamas war to one side” and, most important, that whether they “thought they had some moral justification is completely beside the point.”

Here we have the reasons for hope and despair in one sentence. On the one hand, apparently British society needs to be told that the rule of law applies even if you don’t like the victim of a crime. On the other, at least someone in the judicial system is willing to say as much.

The question, then, for politicians, the media, the police, the courts, and the rest is whether they can accept the equal standing of Jews before the law. As the judge said, can they set aside whether they personally like the targets of harassment, assault, and murder, or is that too much to ask? Thus far, the answer has been the latter.
Four anti-Israel radicals found guilty over $1.2 million rampage at Elbit Systems UK
Four of six anti-Israel activists were found guilty on retrial in a British court on Wednesday of criminal damage for breaking into and vandalizing an Elbit Systems UK facility near Bristol, England, on Aug. 6, 2024.

Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, destroyed property and clashed with security guards and police. Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were acquitted of the charge by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court earlier.

The vandals caused €1 million ($1.2 million) in damage at the Elbit site, driving through fencing in a decommissioned prison van and then vandalizing equipment with sledgehammers while dressed in red jumpsuits.

“Inside the warehouse, they set about destroying as much property as they could. They used crowbars and hammers to damage computers, equipment, drones and other products Elbit had manufactured,” prosecutor Deeana Heer told the court.

“Their role was to cause as much damage as possible until they were forcibly stopped,” she said.

Two police officers and a security guard were wounded in the attack.

Corner was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm after striking a police sergeant, Kate Evans, with a sledgehammer, fracturing her back during a scuffle with officers and a security guard.

He previously told the court that he “would never want to seriously hurt anyone,” the BBC reported. He was cleared of causing “grievous bodily harm with intent,” a far more serious charge punishable with up to life imprisonment. The lesser charge carries a maximum prison term of five years.
Top barrister facing contempt of court action over Palestine Action trial speech
A leading barrister is facing contempt of court proceedings after he was accused of defying a judge’s orders in the first Palestine Action criminal damage trial.

Rajiv Menon KC is accused of misleading the jury and ignoring the directions of Mr Justice Johnson when representing one of the six activists who invaded the UK site of Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems.

Details of the case can be disclosed today after four Palestine Action activists were convicted of criminal damage charges.

Mr Menon, a leading human rights barrister who has worked on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, inquests of victims of the Hillsborough disaster, and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, faced the ire of the judge after delivering a closing speech in January for his client, Charlotte Head, during the first trial of the case.

Senior judges at the Court of Appeal are now assessing whether Mr Menon should face contempt of court proceedings.

Before the first trial over the Elbit invasion, Mr Justice Johnson ruled that Ms Head and her co-defendants, who were then charged with violent disorder, aggravated burglary, and criminal damage, could not argue they had a “lawful excuse” because of the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza.

He blocked evidence of Elbit’s supply of weapons to Israel being presented in the trial, as well as evidence on the history of conflict in the Middle East, and the judge said the defendants could not argue they were justified in their actions that night because of Israeli genocide.

In his closing speech, Mr Menon highlighted a plaque at the Old Bailey which sets out the “right of juries to give their verdict according to their convictions”, in a move the judge said was in breach of his directions.

He said Mr Menon had “asked the jury to apply the principle of jury equity” – allegedly suggesting jurors could find the defendants not guilty by taking a decision “according to their conscience”.
UK’s Starmer holds summit on antisemitism, says attacks are ‘a crisis for all of us’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged leaders from across UK society on Tuesday to work together to eradicate antisemitism “from every corner,” as he convened an emergency meeting following the stabbing of two Jewish men last week and a string of other antisemitic attacks.

“It is part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them,” Starmer told representatives from business, health, culture, higher education and policing who gathered for talks with Jewish community members at Downing Street.

“These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis — it is a crisis for all of us,” said Starmer.

Moments after Starmer began speaking, counter-terrorism police confirmed they had launched an investigation into an arson attack at a former synagogue in east London. The incident was the latest in a series of arson attacks on diaspora Jewish targets amid the war with Iran, some of which authorities are examining for possible Iranian links.

The attacks in Britain have piled pressure on the governing Labour Party, particularly ahead of local elections on May 7. The leader of the opposition Conservative Party has called antisemitism a “national emergency.”
Met announces new dedicated team of officers to protect British Jews
The Metropolitan Police has announced a new dedicated Community Protection Team of initially 100 extra officers, a day after Keir Starmer convened leaders from across society in Downing Street to call for action on antisemitism.

The new team brings together neighbourhood policing, specialist protection and counter terrorism capabilities, providing a “more visible, intelligence‑led and coordinated presence” focused on protecting Jewish communities across London.

In a statement, the Met said the approach “reflects what we know works best: officers who are locally based, understand their communities, and have strong relationships with residents, schools, faith leaders and volunteers.

“This new team brings together some of the experienced local officers already working in these areas, who will be joined by additional officers as funding allows. It marks the beginning of a new, more sustainable and consistent model of protection built around local knowledge, visibility and partnership, rather than relying solely on repeated short‑term surges.”

The announcement comes as officers investigate Tuesday morning’s suspected arson attack at a former synagogue in east London and made a number of arrests over the weekend in connection with racially and religiously aggravated offences.

These included the arrest of a 57‑year‑old man on Friday, 1 May, on suspicion of causing fear or provocation of violence following reports he threatened a Jewish man while using racially offensive language.

On Saturday, 2 May, a 35‑year‑old man was arrested on suspicion of aggravated criminal damage after rocks were thrown at an ambulance belonging to the Jewish community while it was transporting a patient in Edgware.

Further arrests were also made on the same day for racially aggravated harassment, criminal damage and public order offences in Brent and Croydon. All have been released on bail pending further investigation.


Multiple Green candidates peddle ‘false flag’ conspiracy theories and defend terrorism
Twenty-five Green Party candidates contesting Thursday’s elections have a history of antisemitism and extremism, according to a dossier circulated by the Labour Party.

At least ten of the candidates have justified or downplayed violence against the Jewish community, with five referring to such violence as “false flag” attacks committed by Israel.

Dozens of others have repeatedly posted vehement opposition to Zionism, including one candidate in Newcastle who suggested Zionists should be killed in a combine harvester, and another in Hackney who claimed Israel was harvesting organs to help “alter DNA of Zionists”. Several others have shared material claiming Israel was behind the arson attack on a Jewish volunteer ambulance service in Golders Green and others have posted in support of proscribed terror groups.

Despite the volume of shocking material, very few of the candidates have been officially sanctioned by Zack Polanski’s eco-populist party, which is predicted to make major gains during Thursday’s local and regional elections.

Labour’s Communities Secretary Steve Reed is now urging Polanski to rid his party of these “toxic” views ahead of polling day.

“This isn’t one or two bad apples. This is serial hatred from candidates handpicked by Zack Polanski and the Green Party to represent them at the ballot box,” Reed said.

“Polanski can’t stay silent on these abhorrent candidates. He needs to take action against them, withdraw his support and boot them out of the party,” he went on.

Among the candidates highlighted in the dossier is Camden Green, Aziz Hakimi, who reposted an article on Facebook describing the Hatzola attack as a “false flag”, convenient for the “Zionist narrative” and reshared a video alleging that “Zionists” were responsible for the September 11 terror attacks.


Two arrested over arson attack near Golders Green memorial as terror probe intensifies
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire was started next to a memorial in Golders Green, as counter-terror police continue to investigate a series of incidents affecting Jewish areas in north-west London.

Officers from Metropolitan Police confirmed that a 46-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were detained in Romford on Monday morning. Both remain in custody at a London police station.

The arrests relate to an incident on 27 April in which a cabinet close to a community memorial wall was set alight. The wall itself was not damaged.

The site has become a focal point for solidarity and remembrance, featuring images of protesters killed during the Iranian government’s crackdown earlier this year, alongside tributes to victims of the 7 October attacks at the Nova music festival in Israel. A separate message expressing support for the Jewish community had also been placed nearby. Statement of solidarity from MIGA Rally displayed beside the Golders Green memorial, expressing support for the Jewish community following recent attacks. Photo: Annabel Sinclair

Commander Helen Flanagan said police were continuing to prioritise protecting communities affected by recent incidents.

“We are committed to protecting vulnerable communities in the capital,” she said.


Counter terror police probe suspected arson attack at former East London synagogue
Counter-terrorism police are investigating a suspected arson attack at a former synagogue.

Jewish security charity Shomrim said that fire crews were called out to the building in Nelson Street, Whitechapel, east London, in the early hours of Tuesday.

The incident is being investigated alongside a number of apparent attacks on Jewish sites in London since late March.

The Metropolitan Police said officers were called just before 5.15am by the London Fire Brigade, and that minor damage had been caused to a set of gates and a lock at the front of the building.

CCTV showed that the fire had been started deliberately minutes before, the force said.


Trump pauses Strait of Hormuz operation, citing ‘great progress’ in Iran negotiations
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was temporarily pausing “Project Freedom,” the three-day-old operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, at the request of Pakistan and due to progress in negotiations — hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio heralded the start of the operation.

The president wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday evening that all elements of Project Freedom, a U.S. mission to escort commercial vessels safely through the Strait of Hormuz, “will be paused for a short period of time” in order to see if a “[peace] agreement can be finalized and signed.”

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, however, “will remain in full force and effect,” Trump noted.

The president said that the decision had been made “based on the request of Pakistan and other countries” as well as due to the “great progress” made toward “a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”

The comments came a few hours after Rubio held a lengthy press conference at the White House, where he repeatedly insisted that the U.S. had completed Operation Epic Fury, the administration’s name for the war in Iran, and was now solely focused on Project Freedom, as well as diplomatic efforts.

“Operation Epic Fury has concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal,” Rubio said. “He would prefer to sit down and work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed. That’s the route he prefers.”

“That is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen,” he continued. “And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we’re the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there, and that’s what we’re undergoing now,” Rubio said of launching Project Freedom.
Defeating Iran's Strait Strategy
Iran's strategy to close the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a major conflict with the U.S. has been well known for decades. The U.S. sidelined the Strait at the outset of the conflict, but the threat from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) must now be addressed. The IRGCN is built around shore-based anti-ship cruise missiles, naval mines, fast attack craft, and drones. The shore-based missiles are located in "missile cities" up to 500 meters underground, making U.S. strikes difficult.

In an abundance of caution, the U.S. is actively hunting for mines that may have been laid. The U.S. Navy has four Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships in the region and two littoral combat ships which have been augmented with counter-mine capabilities. These forces have some of the most advanced mine-countermeasure resources, including unmanned undersea systems, helicopters, and divers.

The MH-60S Seahawk can employ the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System to locate mines from the air and then help neutralize them. The Knifefish unmanned undersea vehicle can hunt mines below the surface.

The IRGCN, though significantly degraded, still retains enough capability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait. However, rather than rush major naval forces into a confined battlespace built for attrition, Washington and Jerusalem widened the fight, dismantled key elements of Iran's military system, and then combined limited operations in and around the Strait with economic coercion and diplomatic pressure.
Majority of Israelis think ending Iran war now undermines security
A majority of Israelis believe that ending the war with Iran under the current conditions would undermine the country’s security, according to a new poll from the Israel Democracy Institute.

The survey, conducted between April 26-30, over two weeks into the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, found that 64% of Jewish Israelis said ending the war in its current state is “only slightly or not at all aligned” with Israel’s security interests. Nearly half of Arab Israelis (48.5%) said the same.

Despite ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations and a fragile ceasefire, most Israelis expect a return to further escalation. Overall, 62% of respondents said they believed a return to widescale conflict was likely, including roughly two-thirds of Jewish respondents (64%) and 52% of Arab respondents. Since the survey was conducted, the ceasefire has grown more precarious, with both sides alleging violations.

In the first week after Israel and the U.S. launched joint strikes on Iran’s top officials, 80% of Israelis — including 93% of Jewish Israelis — said they supported the war against Iran.

The latest survey also points to shifting perceptions of U.S. influence over Israeli decisionmaking. A majority of Jewish Israelis now believe the Trump administration exerts greater influence over Israel’s defense policy than the Israeli government itself, with that share rising from 45% in October 2025 to 56.5% in the newest survey. Over the same period, the percentage of Jewish Israelis who see their own government as the primary decisionmaker in its military actions dropped from 24% to 15%.

Among Arab Israelis, views moved in the opposite direction: The share who believe the U.S. holds greater influence fell from 39.5% to 25.5%.


Why Even Immediate Peace with the U.S. Would Not Save Iran
Iranians have suffered such extensive economic blows in recent years that their situation would not qualify as good even if an agreement is reached soon to decisively end the current conflict.

Consider where Iran was before the damage to key economic sites caused by the Israeli-American bombing of 13,000 targets.

In November, President Pezeshkian warned that Tehran might have to be evacuated due to acute water shortages.

In addition, for months before the war, electricity was cut off in major cities for hours at a time.

Natural gas shortages this past winter forced authorities to close industrial plants powered by gas and cut the wages of factory workers. Iran depends on natural gas for 69% of its total energy.
The New Landscape of Counter-Terrorist Financing
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is no longer merely smuggling pallets of physical cash across the Zagros Mountains; it has constructed a sophisticated, transnational laundering apparatus.

The financial architecture utilized by the IRGC to circumvent U.S. sanctions and fund its proxies is a masterclass in layered obfuscation.

By the end of 2025, blockchain analytics revealed that IRGC-controlled addresses accounted for 50% of Iran's entire crypto ecosystem, receiving billions in illicit volume.

Pakistan has emerged as the critical geographic and financial bridge for this deployment.

The IRGC is heavily leveraging established Pakistani money laundering syndicates, entities that historically serviced narcotics cartels and human trafficking rings.

The IRGC contracts these syndicates to convert Iranian digital assets into Pakistani rupees or hard Western currency.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker: No talks with Israel until war ends
Lebanon’s parliament speaker, the most senior Shiite politician in the country and a close ally of Hezbollah, said on Monday there could be no negotiations with Israel without a halt to the war that has raged on in southern Lebanon in spite of a ceasefire.

Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement, made his comments as the Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation warnings for four villages in southern Lebanon ahead of strikes targeting the Iran-backed terror group. Israel says it is acting in response to Hezbollah threats and violations of the truce.

Meanwhile, two soldiers were moderately wounded during an exchange of fire with Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon, one soldier was lightly injured in a drone attack, and the IDF said it shot down at least one Hezbollah drone.

The continued clashes underlined challenges facing US efforts to forge peace between the enemy states, which held rare face-to-face talks last month.

Despite the ceasefire reached between Israel and Lebanon in mid-April, which has since been extended into May, Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones at northern Israeli communities, though most attacks have been on troops in southern Lebanon or on the Israeli side of the border.

Berri told Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper the priority must be “stopping the war before any political track,” and that he rejected any negotiations without guarantees Israel would halt attacks, according to a summary of his comments released by his office.

A day earlier, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said that the terror group would be able to “thwart” the talks between Beirut and Jerusalem, and that “any new agreement that will be established in Lebanon must guarantee that our country will not be attacked in any way.”

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has also sharply rejected the talks, calling them a “sin.”


Board of Peace won’t hold Israel to truce terms if Hamas doesn’t okay disarmament offer
The US-led Board of Peace tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza does not intend to hold Israel to the terms of the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire if Hamas does not accept the international panel’s framework for the terror group’s disarmament, a document obtained by The Times of Israel shows.

While the Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov has warned that refusal from Hamas to disarm could lead to the resumption of the war, he goes much further in the document, saying that Israel will not be expected to halt attacks in Gaza or ensure humanitarian aid enters the Strip.

“Failure by Hamas to accept the framework within a reasonable timeframe, as determined by the Board of Peace and after consultation with the parties, shall render such commitments null and void,” Mladenov writes in the document — a letter that he and senior US official Aryeh Lightstone sent to the head of the Palestinian technocratic government that is meant to replace Hamas in Gaza.

The Board of Peace has been engaged in negotiations with Hamas for several months, conditioning major reconstruction projects for the war-flattened Gaza on the decommissioning of the group’s weapons.

Hamas has refused to comply, arguing that Israel must first adhere to the terms of the ceasefire’s first phase, which included a hostage-prisoner exchange along with the scale-up of humanitarian aid into the Strip and the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces.

In an apparent effort to meet Hamas halfway, Mladenov and Lighstone state in the letter that they approached Israel in early April to secure guarantees that it would fully implement US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war.


JPost Editorial: Israel must accept only way to secure the North is to eliminate Hezbollah
It’s time

The hollow promise of Lebanese diplomacy has finally collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions. On Monday, Hezbollah secretary-general Naim Qassem provided the final proof that the current cessation of hostilities is a strategic farce.

In a televised address, Qassem flatly rejected any prospect of direct negotiations with Israel. He effectively shut the door on the very mechanism the international community claimed would bring stability to the northern border.

This refusal should surprise no one who has been paying attention. History appears to be repeating itself. Israel witnessed an almost identical refusal of engagement from Qassem and Hezbollah on April 27.

When an adversary tells Israel, repeatedly and clearly, that it has no intention of talking, it is the height of naivety for the government to continue acting as though a diplomatic solution is just around the corner. For the Jewish state, the safety of northern residents is not a theoretical chip to be played in a game of “wait and see.” It is a necessity.

The hard truth is that this ceasefire is not working
Israel was hesitant to enter this arrangement from the outset. US President Donald Trump announced the deal while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was still on the phone with the security cabinet. The cabinet had not yet reached a formal decision, but the momentum of international expectation forced Israel’s hand.

The country was cornered into a “goodwill gesture” that many in the security establishment knew was built on sand.

Despite these reservations, Israel acted with restraint. It gave the process a genuine chance. Jerusalem facilitated channels for talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States, hoping the government in Beirut might finally exert some measure of sovereignty over its own territory.

Israel waited for the Lebanese Armed Forces to move south. It waited for international observers to observe.

The results of this patience have been measured in sirens and shrapnel. Since the ceasefire officially began, Hezbollah has violated the terms of the agreement dozens of times.
The World Chooses to Ignore Hizbullah's Rocket Attacks on Israel
More than 6,000 rockets and drones have been fired into Israel in the two months since Hizbullah began its latest round of attacks on March 2. In the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona there have been 180 rocket sirens and 87 drone alerts. That comes out to more than four sirens a day - every day. Yet, if you follow much of the international media coverage of Lebanon, you wouldn't know any of this.

Instead, the stories run according to the familiar script: Israel is once again striking its northern neighbor. There is little mention of the relentless rocket fire, the daily drone incursions, or the inability of the Lebanese government to rein in Hizbullah. Israel is cast, almost exclusively, as the aggressor.

This is the same storyline we saw 2 1/2 years ago when after the initial shock of the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion faded, coverage of the war in Gaza shifted almost entirely to the suffering of Palestinians, making it seem like there was only one side to the war and as if Israel's actions existed in a vacuum, disconnected from the massacre that had triggered the conflict.

In Lebanon, the fact that Hizbullah - a designated terrorist organization - is actively firing thousands of rockets and drones at Israeli communities and Israel is acting in self-defense like any country that wishes to survive would do, does not fit into that narrative, and so it is sidelined.

The way the media cover wars is by reducing them to a scoreboard - how many people have been killed on each side. The result creates a distorted moral equivalence, where a sovereign state defending its citizens is seen in the same way as a terrorist organization whose stated goal is destruction. But Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7. Hizbullah opened a second front from Lebanon. Israel did not choose these wars; it was forced into them.

Do people expect Israel to simply evacuate again an entire swath of the country? Should it tolerate a situation where communities live under constant threat of rockets and drones? Should it simply concede the territory? We know that this would only embolden Hizbullah and send a dangerous message across the region - that sustained attacks on civilians provide results. Moral clarity is needed when media ignores who initiated the war and why it continues.


The Free Press: The Middle East Is (Still) in Turmoil. What Comes Next? With Haviv Rettig Gur
The Middle East remains in turmoil. Trump is waging “Project Freedom” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; the war with Iran continues; the United Arab Emirates just dramatically departed from OPEC; Israel is still fighting on its northern border with Lebanon; and Hamas’s grip on Gaza persists.

It can be hard to keep track of this—much less make sense of it. Which is why I sat down with Free Press Middle East analyst Haviv Rettig Gur to ask him about all of it. We also examined escalating settler violence in the West Bank, and why Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tacitly supports it; UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s appearance on the cover of British Vogue; the latest Gaza flotilla; and likely presidential candidate Rahm Emanuel’s recent declaration that “the days of taxpayers subsidizing Israel militarily are over.” And overall, can the region shake its martyrdom ideology?




The Times of Israel: Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: Israel has re-embraced Hamas rule in Gaza
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign for Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

This week, the Board of Peace’s top Gaza envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, is in Israel in an attempt to kick-start the Trump peace plan. He has previously urged the international community to pressure the Hamas Palestinian terror group to disarm and prevent another cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip.

This week, we hear why Alkhatib believes the current stalemate in Gaza is being embraced by both Hamas and official Israel.

But first, Alkhatib paints a dismal picture of life in the Strip -- rat infestations, sewage in the streets and a strong Hamas presence on the ground.

We learn about the recent elections for Hamas leadership and hear background about the leading candidates.

Finally, among all the darkness, Alkhatib shares pinpoints of light from among the people who are still not cowed by the terrorist regime.

And so this week, we ask Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, what matters now?




Gil Troy: To Students Protesting an Honorary Doctorate to Israeli President Herzog
Ten Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) students recently protested the granting of an honorary doctorate to Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog. The website of JTS, affiliated with Conservative Judaism, declares that it "is deeply committed to strengthening the North American Jewish community's ties to Israel and to sharing the centrality of Israel to Jewish peoplehood."

We believe in healthy argument. But Judaism didn't survive for 3500 years by only debating and never standing for anything. Judaism has preserved defining principles, including the Land of Israel's centrality and a love for the Jewish people, 45% of whom live in Israel. Honoring their president honors them, our brothers and sisters still bravely fighting a war for their survival against evil jihadists.

Please, don't be dupes delighting the anti-Zionists who hate us, Israel, and America - and would happily kill you too. Don't ape their genocide libel. One of you told the Forward: "I feel like there's a genocide happening." Your job as academics is not to "feel" but to assess. Research what genocide means. Read the UN definition requiring "intent" to eliminate a people, "wherever" they are. Discover the UN's urban warfare standard that democratic armies often legitimately kill ten civilians for every combatant.

Herzog said shortly after the Oct. 7. massacre: "It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians who were not aware or not involved." Test the claim: Did Palestinians celebrate in Gaza and elsewhere on Oct. 7, with one poll showing 74% cheering the slaughter? Did any hostage, including a few who evaded their captors, find even one Palestinian helping?

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a leading Jewish theologian and professor at JTS, expressing the Jewish consensus, wrote that "To abandon these bonds to Israel" was "to deny our identity." He called the Zionist idea - meaning the Jewish "right, its title, to the Land of Israel" - an "intimate ingredient of Jewish consciousness...at the core of Jewish history, a vital element of Jewish faith." Heschel said: "Auschwitz is in our veins." Who dares suggest that "we, the generation that witnessed the holocaust, should stand by calmly while [Arab] rulers proclaim their intention to bring about a new holocaust?" That didn't make Heschel "pro-war" but "pro-life." You owe President Herzog an apology for calling him "pro-war," given Israel's reluctance to crush Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran until they attacked us viciously.
Matt Lucas speaks out on Tube confrontation: ‘I still believe innately in the goodness of people in Britain’
Two of Britain’s best-known public Jewish faces, presenter and barrister Rob Rinder and writer and comedian Matt Lucas, took to the stage this week at a jam-packed and raucous 45 Aid Society reunion, celebrating the charity’s 81st anniversary.

The pair contrasted their different experiences of being confronted by those assailing them for their Jewishness. Lucas was captured on video as a man unknown to him ranted at him inside a London Underground station; Rinder, meanwhile, was walking in Carnaby Street when a young cyclist recognised him and chose to shout “Heil Hitler” at him, only days after the Golders Green stabbings. Matt Lucas (left) and Rob Rinder (right) at 45 Aid Society 2026 Reunion Dinner Gary Perlmutter Photography

Lucas told the audience that he had always refused to comment publicly on his incident, in which the man had tried to goad him into making a response about the Palestinians. But he said: “I still believe innately in the goodness of people in Britain”, and added, “Prejudice comes through a lack of education, and we have a duty to educate people about what happened”.

Both men have a survivor history. Rinder is the grandson of Morris Malenicky, and his mother, Angela Cohen, is chair of the 45 Aid Society; while Matt Lucas’s grandmother was a Berlin-born survivor. Each has taken part in the high-profile Who Do You Think You Are? television research programme, and Lucas said that in the course of his episode he discovered that one of his grandmother’s cousins had been a lodger with the family of Anne Frank, before the Franks went into hiding in the annexe in Amsterdam.

The evening began with a now traditional lighting of memorial candles by survivors from the group known as The Boys, the young men and women who came to Britain after the war and made new lives and families for themselves.

This year — joined by members of their families and the Second and Third Generation of 45 Aid — the candle-lighters were Arek Hersh, Mala Tribich, Jackie Young, Rachel Levy and Jan Goldberger, together with American citizens Judi Roth, daughter of Michael Novice, and Mark Frydenberg, son of Bernie Frydenberg, both members of The Boys.

The emphasis of the evening was education, with Natalie Meltzer, granddaughter of Harry Balsam, another of The Boys, announcing the launch of the charity’s new interactive website, 45Aid.org — which will be a 21st century way of telling and retelling the stories of the Holocaust survivors after they are no longer there in person.
Miss Israel says she randomly bumped into NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife in cafe — and it all went horribly wrong
The reigning Miss Israel said she randomly bumped into New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife in a Brooklyn cafe over the weekend — and that the first lady “brushed me off’’ when she learned she was Israeli.

Melanie Shiraz, 27, told The California Post she was in town for an event at the Israeli Consulate and ran into Rama Duwaji, 28, sitting at a coffee shop in Williamsburg on Sunday.

“She sat right next to me. What are the odds?” said Shiraz, who studied at UC Berkeley and worked in Silicon Valley’s tech industry before returning to Tel Aviv.

Shiraz said the pair’s brief encounter started off warm, with her starting to take a selfie video with Duwaji.

The three-second clip Shiraz shared with The Post, which did not have sound, begins by showing her face before panning to Duwaji.

The mayor’s controversial wife — who has taken heat for reportedly once liking posts celebrating the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre in Israel — smiles into the camera, then quickly appears to try to get out of the frame as she says something to Shiraz.

It’s not clear whether Shiraz said something to her off-camera to have her react that way, nor what the pageant winner then said to her, as the camera shows.

But Shiraz said that as soon as she unveiled who she was, Duwaji’s “tone changed” and she “couldn’t allow herself to engage with me.”

“I had told her I’m Miss Israel, and then she didn’t want to engage with me anymore. Shocker,’’ Shiraz said.

“She was polite but clearly changed her tone.

“Right before I took that [footage], I asked her if we could take a photo and introduced myself. As soon as I did, she said, ‘Sorry’ and asked if it was a video and said she didn’t want to anymore,’’ Shiraz said.

“I told her what I think about the stuff she has said online, and that I believe that it’s important to engage in dialogue in which you don’t dehumanize the other side.

“And she politely brushed me off and then refused to engage anymore.”


Tony Burke kicks antisemitic streamer Sneako out of Australia
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has slapped a lifetime ban on the antisemitic American YouTuber ‘Sneako’ from ever visiting Australia after kicking him out of the country.

Sky News first reported on Monday that the divisive streamer, whose real name is Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy, had been given a visa by Home Affairs and had arrived in Australia.

Mr Burke told Sky News, Sneako would never be able to return to Australia.

"Our government has made it very clear we will use every power available to us to protect our community from people coming to this country to spread hatred," he said.

“The clauses that have been used to cancel this visa were amended by the parliament early this year.

"That means it’s not simply the current visa that is cancelled, there is now a lifetime ban preventing him from ever applying for another visa to Australia. We are a better country when he is somewhere else."

Sneako has been repeatedly banned from various social media platforms and has a mixed ideology of Neo-Nazism and Islamist extremism.

Video clips show him chanting jihadist calls for Jews to be killed, and he has repeated Nazi slogans.

After Sky News revealed his arrival in Australia, the Home Affairs department reviewed his visa.

It’s understood his visa was cancelled on Tuesday evening and he was thrown out of the country.

If he had refused to leave, he would have been placed in immigration detention.

The Coalition had called for his visa to be cancelled.

Shadow home affairs minister Jonathon Duniam said it was “without question” that the government should cancel Sneako’s visa.
Taking all the wind out of the Gaza flotilla’s sails
The naval blockade of Gaza has been widely recognized in international law as a lawful security measure when properly declared and enforced. In that context, publicly declared attempts to breach a lawful sea blockade must be viewed as unlawful extremist conduct rather than legitimate protest or humanitarian action.

Accordingly, Israel is required to take the necessary and proportionate measures available under international law to enforce its rights and ensure the integrity of the blockade, including actions on the high seas.

This, of course, is not a new challenge. Flotilla schemes have been attempted before—and defeated before. Years ago, our organization, Shurat HaDin, used legal jiu-jitsu to stop similar efforts before they ever left port.

By threatening lawsuits, we succeeded in getting maritime insurers to cancel coverage and service providers to withdraw GPS support. We had the Greek coast guard in Athens impound the militants’ boats. It was a reminder that those who abuse international systems for political warfare can be challenged through the rule of law.

But legal creativity alone is not enough. Israeli lawmakers must finally enact serious deterrence measures to end this recurring cycle.

The Knesset should pass legislation mandating the confiscation of all vessels used in blockade-running operations. Participants should face meaningful minimum jail sentences of one year and substantial fines that need to be paid, with significantly harsher penalties for repeat offenders. Those who knowingly assist organizations aligned with terrorist interests should understand there is a real price for doing so.

Israel should also reconsider diplomatic relations with states that knowingly allow such flotillas to depart from their ports in defiance of maritime security obligations. Friendly relations cannot be one-sided. Governments that permit provocations, such as Spain, Turkey, Italy and Greece, aimed at Israel should be held accountable for enabling them.

Most importantly, Israeli servicemen and women should not be forced, again and again, to risk their lives boarding hostile vessels while taxpayers foot the bill for expensive operations. Too often, the perpetrators walk away with sandwiches, a slap on the wrist and a free plane ticket home—only to announce to the media their next anti-Israel stunt. That absurdity must end.

Israel has shown that it can boldly stop these provocations with daring restraint and professionalism. Now it must translate that operational success into enduring policy—so that the message at sea is unmistakable: Israeli waters are watched, the rules are enforced and these provocations simply do not set sail.
Court remands 2 flotilla activists until Sunday; lawyer claims one was on fishing trip
An Israeli court extended the detention of two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla until Sunday, according to police and their lawyers, as authorities continued to question the pair.

Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila appeared Tuesday before the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court for their second hearing, after they were brought to Israel for questioning last week after naval forces intercepted several boats from the flotilla.

“The court approved their detention until Sunday morning,” Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the Israeli rights group Adalah, which represents the detainees, told AFP.

Police said the court accepted their request for a five-day remand extension, adding that not all the suspected offenses are related to the flotilla.

Adalah said it would appeal the extension of the remand.

A lawyer for Avila claimed in court that he hadn’t been on his way to Gaza, but rather had been on a fishing journey to Greece, according to Hebrew media.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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