Friday, May 15, 2026

05/14 Links Pt2: A Day in the Life of a New York City Jew; King Charles meets Golders Green stabbing victims; Britain can’t fight antisemitism without confronting its main driver: hatred of Israel

From Ian:

A Day in the Life of a New York City Jew
After the massive protests in Jewish neighborhoods across New York City over the past few days, I think a lot of people genuinely do not understand what something like that actually feels like for the people living there, so I want to try to walk you through it.

You wake up in the morning and see a message in the community WhatsApp chat. Maybe it’s from the local Jewish council. Maybe it’s from your congresswoman. It’s a warning that there’s going to be a protest in your neighborhood that night.

You open the flyer and see men in keffiyehs holding rifles, militant imagery plastered across something the media will later describe as a “demonstration.” The address is around the corner from your house. The flyer never explicitly calls for violence, but you’ve seen the videos from the last one and the one before that, and you already know there is a very real chance this is going to turn ugly.

Your first thought is your family.

A few months ago, you bought a firearm and locked it in a safe in your bedroom, away from the children. You know that if the day ever comes where you actually need to use it to defend your family, then something has already gone catastrophically wrong, and even if you survive that encounter, there is a very good chance the legal system in a city like New York will spend years trying to destroy your life afterward.

There is not much you can do, so you put your phone away and go to work, spending the entire day trying to keep your mind off what is waiting for you back home.

On the drive home, traffic suddenly stops. Streets are blocked off and police cars are everywhere. Sirens are flashing on every corner. And you remember that your neighborhood is about to be flooded with hundreds of people screaming about intifada and resistance while politicians and reporters insist this is all perfectly normal political expression.

You get home before the kids.

One by one they walk through the door while you keep checking the window to make sure they made it back safely. Your oldest tells you the principal made an announcement warning students not to walk or bike through a certain area after school, but refused to explain why, probably because nobody wants to be to explain to a group of Jewish children that there will be a mob outside their neighborhood later that night chanting slogans that openly glorify violence against Jews.
Report: German Intelligence Agency Documents Secular Pro-Palestinian Extremism
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), released new background material in May 2026 documenting secular pro-Palestinian extremism across Germany, a heterogeneous movement comprising decades-old organizations and groups formed after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, united by their denial of Israel’s right to exist and anti-Jewish agitation disguised as political criticism.

The intelligence service identifies key actors, symbols, and protest patterns, warning that secular pro-Palestinian extremists use Israel-hatred and antisemitism as a bridge between Islamists, German and Turkish left-wing extremists, and Turkish right-wing extremists.

The BfV documents how extremist actors in the scene have appeared in protest activity that has included anti-Israel and antisemitic content, riots, and attacks on police, journalists, and counter-protesters, especially in Berlin

Key Extremist Organizations
The BfV material describes terror-linked and extremist networks, including people from the PFLP milieu and former Samidoun actors, as continuing to influence Germany’s pro-Palestinian extremist scene.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
According to the BfV, people from the milieu of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an EU-designated terrorist organization since 2002 whose members helped hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 “Landshut” in 1977, have regularly helped organize anti-Israel rallies, particularly in Berlin.

The Marxist-Leninist organization openly advocates armed struggle to establish a Palestinian state “within the borders of historical Palestine,” meaning Israel’s complete elimination through what it calls ending “Zionist occupation.”

Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Germany banned Samidoun, on November 2, 2023, after the group celebrated the Hamas massacre as “resistance.” Founded in 2011 by PFLP members abroad, Samidoun demands release of Palestinians imprisoned for terrorism links and provides propaganda support to the PFLP, Hamas, and the Turkish terrorist group DHKP-C.

Before its prohibition, the network was documented to have exploited pro-Palestinian demonstrations and social media for recruitment, fundraising, and spreading disinformation. BDS and Affiliated Groups

The BfV says BDS-linked groups in Germany have used antisemitic narratives, participated in anti-Israel demonstrations after October 7, and, in some cases, are now assessed as confirmed extremist endeavors. The agency interprets the BDS call to end occupation of ‘all Arab lands’ as a demand for ‘all of Palestine’ and, therefore, the end of Israel’s state existence

The report notes that extremist individuals without formal organizational membership have become key mobilization drivers through extensive social media reach, repeatedly disseminating hate messages and violence calls that fuel radicalization and willingness to use force.
Britain can’t fight antisemitism without confronting its main driver: hatred of Israel
Britain is experiencing a surge in antisemitism, yet much of the public discussion about how to respond to it avoids the central issue driving it. Today’s antisemitism is overwhelmingly rooted in hostility towards Zionism, sustained by false claims about Israel and the war in Gaza. This hostility only makes sense, it only inflames the imagination, because it is everything that has sustained Jew-hatred for millennia, culminating in the Holocaust. It’s effectively the same thing with the same target, even if it has a different new fancy name. Until this reality is openly acknowledged and confronted, declarations of opposition to Jew hatred will continue to fall short.

The sharp rise in antisemitic incidents is not occurring in a vacuum. Nor is it driven simply by ignorance or longstanding prejudice. It is being fuelled by a sustained campaign of disinformation about Israel, Gaza, the IDF and Hamas, and by the moral licence that these narratives grant to those who believe “Zionists” are legitimate targets.

Public figures and institutions frequently express opposition to antisemitism, often sincerely. But these declarations increasingly ring hollow because they fail to engage with how antisemitism actually manifests in Britain today. Statements of concern alone achieve little if there is no willingness to address what is motivating the hostility.

That motivation is frequently explicit. When the extremist group Ashab Al Yamin claimed responsibility for the arson attack on Kenton United Synagogue, it justified the attack by describing the shul as “one of the centres of Zionist influence in the British capital”. Its supposed crimes included hosting a “Kenton for Israel” group, holding events such as “Shabbat for Israel”, and singing Hatikvah. A typical synagogue in suburban London was attacked because it was considered too Zionist. If Kenton United is too Zionist then all of us are and therein lies the point.

Kenton was not an isolated case. Finchley Reform Synagogue and Hatzola have both been targeted for similar reasons. In one particularly stark example, a former synagogue that is in the process of being converted into a mosque was also subjected to an attempted arson attack. A local man interviewed by the BBC expressed confusion: “That synagogue has been turned into a mosque, so I don’t know why someone would petrol bomb it.” The answer lies in the way “Zionism” is now treated not as a political belief but as an inherent moral stain, one that clings to places and institutions even after Jews themselves have gone.

This obsession with “Zionist influence” is viral. Punk artist Bobby Vylan, best known for chants of “death to the IDF” at Glastonbury last year recently took to YouTube to claim that the British Department for Education had been “captured by Israeli forces”. He went on to ask what hope there was of resisting “growing Zionist influence” if even the education system was not free of it. The language is familiar to anyone who understands antisemitism: claims of capture, control and hidden power, updated for a modern audience.

Outside Parliament, activists now regularly gather during Prime Minister’s Questions to distribute fake banknotes headed “Bank of Zionism”. They hold placards depicting senior UK politicians branded with the same slogan and unfurl banners calling to “End Zionism control of UK Politics”. At larger demonstrations against Israel, chants such as “Palestine is Arab” and demands for “Intifada revolution” are common. These are not calls for peace or coexistence. They are declarations that deny Jewish self‑determination entirely and frame violence as justified or even necessary.

The same assumptions are increasingly tested in the courts. Palestine Action, a group that has attacked British defence firms, banks, insurance companies and even a law firm, argues that such actions are justified because these institutions are allegedly complicit in Israeli “genocide”. Whether or not the group is ultimately proscribed, the underlying premise often goes unchallenged: that extraordinary action against “Zionist” entities is morally virtuous.

This brings us to the question many remain unwilling to confront. The claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is false. It does not meet the legal definition of genocide, it is not supported by the facts on the ground, and it is contradicted by serious analysis of Israeli military intent. Yet it is repeated endlessly with absolute moral certainty. That matters, because genocide is not just another accusation. It is the ultimate crime, and once it is accepted as fact, almost anything becomes permissible in response.
Streeting would effectively tackle sectarian politics and rising antisemitism as PM, say allies
Wes Streeting is convinced he can directly challenge and confront the rise of sectarian politics, increased division, and rising antisemitism in the UK as Prime Minister, allies have said.

Streeting resigned as Health Secretary in a move aimed at pressuring Keir Starmer to accept that his time as Prime Minister should come to an end.

Aides said they believe the Ilford North MP would prove to be a more effective communicator if given the chance to lead.

In his resignation letter, Streeting criticised the “drift” at the top of government and told the Prime Minister it is “clear” he will not lead Labour into the next election.

While he praised Starmer’s “many great strengths” and “courage and statesmanship on the world stage,” Streeting continued: “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift.”

Jewish News understands that last week’s election results in Redbridge—where Labour held on to the council, beating back the challenge posed by the Jeremy Corbyn-backed pro-Gaza independents—convinced Streeting of the need to attempt a move to replace the PM.

Although Labour suffered significant losses to the Greens and Reform UK elsewhere, Streeting became convinced that effective communication was key to tackling the advance of extremist politics in the country.

Colleagues in Redbridge confirm that Streeting played a “very active” role in the local elections, attending meetings on campaign messaging and taking part in regular door-knocking to listen to local voters for months leading up to the May 7 poll.

Streeting also featured in a couple of online videos urging locals not to vote for the pro-Gaza independents.

In one video, he told residents to remember that they were participating in a vote about Redbridge, “not the UN Security Council.”


The King in Golders Green marked a special moment for British Jews
Sometimes you see a picture and immediately feel a shudder of history, knowing that the snap of a photographer’s shutter has captured a moment that will outlive the camera, and quite likely the photographer.

So it was for me with a photo of King Charles’s impromptu visit to Golders Green on Thursday. For obvious security reasons, the good burghers of north London were not given advanced warning of his majesty’s visit to the site of the recent terror attack. Yet within minutes, as the royal journalist Robert Hardman posted online, hundreds of onlookers had rushed to the scene, bringing traffic to a standstill.

The picture that Hardman posted of the King surrounded by a crowd, tells the story of this moment better than I ever could. The gnawing fear and anxiety, replaced for just a moment by admiration and excitement and gratitude. It should go straight into the annals of Anglo-Jewish history.

There is a timelessness to the backdrop of this picture: Gross Butchers, Leon’s fruit shop, the red brick flats of Russell Parade beneath the mottled London sky. It could have been taken on Brick Lane in the 1930s, with the petty bourgeois merchants and their customers pouring out of the shops to glimpse their king. On the balconies above the shops, frum schoolgirls are lined up two or three deep. One young boy hangs eagerly from a lamppost, another from a silver birch. The tableau is dotted by black velvet kipot and sheitels, thrusting iPhones and admiring grins.

In the bottom right, Charles Rex makes his progress, his hair receding, his body tired from its long struggle with cancer, his willingness to walk unguarded through a large and excitable crowd a testament to his determination to be there. And also the affection with which he knew he would be is received. Charles’s mother Elizabeth famously said that a monarch must be seen to be believed. Here the king was not only seen by his subjects but touched, snapped, filmed, a tangible and very human presence in their midst.

There are two similar flags visible in the picture, each freighted with symbolism. On a lamppost is a small Union Jack, an outgrowth of the Raise the Colours campaign. The couple responsible for raising these flags on Golders Green High Street were interviewed on television after the recent stabbing, explaining their patriotism and their unease at how Britain has “changed”. The flag on the lamppost embodies that unease, making an unsettling statement about immigration and ethnic change and what that has done to alter and threaten the Jewish place in British society.

Directly above Charles is another, larger, flag, the Union Jack/Magen David hybrid that seeks to bind Britain and its Jews in symbolic unity. I don’t know how long that flag has been around but I only started noticing it cropping up regularly at events post October 7.

This flag makes its own statement, in a way reminiscent of another famous Anglo-Jewish photo, which was taken outside the offices of The Jewish Chronicle in 1914. That picture showed a recruiting poster that sought to rally Jews to sign up for the First World War. “England”, it said, “has been all she could to the Jews. The Jews will be all they can to England.” This hybrid flag seeks to say something similar: we are you, you are us, we fight together.
‘He wouldn’t let go of my hand’ – King meets Golders Green stabbing victims
The King spent several minutes speaking with each victim and their partners. Holding the hand of one of the victims, 76-year-old Michael (Moshe) Shine, throughout their conversation, and with his other hand placed on his heart, the King expressed his “heartfelt condolences”.

Afterwards, Shine said the King “genuinely cared about how I was getting on and my recovery. He wouldn’t let go of my hand. It was so special he came today,” he said.

Accompanied by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the King also met emergency first responders from Hatzola — the Jewish community’s volunteer ambulance service — including volunteer responder and chairman Laurence Blitz, dispatcher Etty Hager, volunteer responders Stuart Richman and Avrumi Weisenfeld, and clinical lead Kevin Cuddon.

The King asked the Hatzola volunteers about their training, backgrounds and operational jurisdiction, including whether they were all trained paramedics. “The demand unfortunately never stops” for emergency responders, the King remarked, as he thanked them for their “extraordinary service”.

Four Hatzola ambulances were targeted in an arson attack in late March, an incident followed by a series of escalating attacks throughout April, including attempted synagogue firebombings and vandalism.

His Majesty also met members of Shomrim, the Jewish community’s volunteer security organisation operating in north London. Representing Shomrim were CEO Gary Ost and volunteer trustees Sheldon Bodner and Steven Bak. Also present to meet the King were the two emergency response volunteers who first responded to the Golders Green stabbing, Yonathan Elkouby and Yitzi Lipszyc. The King asked about their training, the equipment they wear while on duty, and whether they are trained to “disarm” adversaries.

On Thursday, the King also met leaders of CST, including deputy chair Sir Lloyd Dorfman, chair Sir Gerald Ronson and CEO Mark Gardner. On March 23, CST announced that King Charles had become the organisation’s first-ever royal patron.


New Questions about ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and Qatar
Karim Khan is the International Criminal Court prosecutor who requested arrest warrants for Israel's leaders in 2024, shortly after learning he had been accused of sexual assault.

This month the court's governors voted to advance disciplinary proceedings against Khan.

Now a witness statement says the Qatari government promised to "look after" Khan if he moved against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The new witness statement suggests that a Qatar-linked private intelligence operation sought to discredit Khan's alleged assault victim.

It also targeted two Americans: Tom Lynch, the senior ICC official who first reported the assault allegation, and Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The intelligence operation's manager said in a recording: "It's all in the context of issuing the warrant. That was basically the deal. He was like, 'I want to issue the warrant, but I'm terrified to do it.' And they said, 'if you do it, then we'll look after you.'"

The intelligence operation's manager was asked whether the support came from an individual sheikh or from the Qatari state. He said, "No, it's the state."

It was always egregious to indict Israel's prime minister and defense minister for the country's defensive war, which Hamas began.

In 2024 we wrote that Khan's conduct had placed the ICC's targeting of Israel "under a cloud." Now it's raining.
UN Watch: Preliminary Injunction on Albanese Sanctions Is “Not a Moral Vindication”
In response to yesterday’s decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily pausing the enforcement of U.S. sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer issued the following statement:

“It is important to be clear about this ruling. This is only a preliminary injunction issued at an early stage of litigation. The court has not issued a final ruling on the merits of the case, nor has it vindicated Francesca Albanese’s conduct or statements. The decision temporarily pauses enforcement of sanctions while the litigation proceeds.

The opinion primarily addresses constitutional and procedural questions, including First Amendment concerns related to sanctions imposed in response to speech. It does not endorse Ms. Albanese’s rhetoric, her conduct as a U.N. official, or the substance of her claims.

The underlying concerns about Ms. Albanese remain unchanged. She is the first U.N. special rapporteur in history to be formally condemned by numerous democratic governments for Holocaust inversion, antisemitic rhetoric, and gross misconduct. More than a dozen governments including the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom have publicly denounced her statements and conduct.

Ms. Albanese has repeatedly compared Israelis to Nazis (as recently as last week), accused the United States of being controlled by the ‘Jewish lobby,’ minimized or rationalized Hamas terrorism, promoted statements calling Israel “the incarnation of evil,” and turned a U.N. mandate that is supposed to uphold impartial human rights principles into a platform for political activism and extremism.

The ruling is not a moral vindication, and it does nothing to restore the credibility that she has squandered through years of inflammatory conduct and justification of Hamas terrorism. We support the call by leading democracies for Albanese to resign.”


Jonathan Sacerdoti: Uncovering Wikipedia's propaganda posing as truth: Ashley Rindsberg on how bias becomes fact
Ashley Rindsberg has uncovered how a small group of powerful online actors can twist the facts we trust, reshape public reality at global scale, and quietly influence what millions of people believe they know.

Search engines, encyclopaedias, artificial intelligence models and social platforms now form the infrastructure of public knowledge. They shape what citizens believe, what institutions repeat, what journalists trust, and what political actors can smuggle into respectable discourse. The deepest battles of the internet age are fought through language, sourcing, rankings, edits and definitions. This is a full scale battle for your mind.

In this conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti speaks with Ashley Rindsberg about Wikipedia, propaganda, information warfare, and the collapsing distinction between knowledge and power. At stake is the machinery by which ideas acquire legitimacy.

💬 We Discuss:
🧠 Why the internet has become the primary power centre for politics, culture, ideology and public belief
📚 How Wikipedia’s claim to neutrality can become a vehicle for narrative control
🌍 Why the battle over Israel, Palestinians and Jews on Wikipedia carries serious geopolitical consequences
🕵️ How anonymous editors can influence material with profound political, economic and human significance
🤖 Why artificial intelligence systems relying on Wikipedia may amplify contested narratives at scale
🧾 How information laundering works when sources, citations and institutional trust reinforce one another
⚖️ Why “neutral point of view” can fail when moral and political conflicts are embedded in the sources themselves
🏛️ How trusted knowledge infrastructure affects journalism, education, policy and public memory
🔥 Why modern propaganda often appears through respectable systems rather than crude slogans
🧩 What this reveals about Western institutions, technological dependence and the fragility of shared reality


Left-Wing Wikipedia Editors Fight To Keep Democrat Adam Hamawy’s Ties to ‘Blind Sheikh’ Offline Even Though House Candidate Testified to Their Friendship in Court
Wikipedia editors are fighting to keep Democrat Adam Hamawy's yearslong friendship with terrorist mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman, the notorious "Blind Sheikh," off his Wikipedia page.

Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, is the frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in New Jersey's deep blue 12th district.

The Egyptian-born doctor served as a defense witness for Abdel-Rahman, who was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deadly 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plotting myriad other attacks. (The Blind Sheikh died in prison in 2017. In its coverage of the sensational 1995 trial, the New York Times called Hamawy "a supporter" of Abdel-Rahman.)

But despite Hamawy's ties to—and support of—Abdel-Rahman being well-documented from his sworn testimony, his supporters are doing their best to downplay his terror ties, with a major effort underway to clean up Hamawy's Wikipedia entry, one of the top search results for his name.

Wikipedia is "crowdsource" edited by nameless volunteers, many of whom build up credibility and power over years of contributions. On the evening of May 11, a Wikipedia editor by the name of "GrafBismarck" quietly added the following lines to Hamawy's "Early Life" section.
Open Society, which has backed anti-Israel protests, pledges millions to progressive Jewish groups to combat antisemitism
The Open Society Foundations, the major international philanthropy founded by left-wing billionaire George Soros, has pledged $30 million over three years to combat antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate, directing those funds to a number of progressive groups, some of which are at odds with the mainstream Jewish establishment.

Jewish recipients of the funding include progressive Jewish groups such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Nexus Project and Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. Alexander Soros, George Soros’ son, was also a founding chair of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, another grantee. The younger Soros is a longtime donor to progressive Jewish causes and chairs OSF’s board of directors.

The OSF has also come under fire within the Jewish community for funding initiatives seen as hostile to Israel, including providing grants for Jewish Voice for Peace — which has spearheaded anti-Israel campus demonstrations.

Asked about the OSF’s support of anti-Israel groups, a spokesperson for the organization told Jewish Insider, “We’re a human rights organization and we were created in part to counter discrimination and hatred which are contrary to ideas an open society needs to flourish. Everything we fund is aligned with those values but a lot of the work is focused on many other issues [unrelated to antisemitism].”

The commitment, announced Wednesday, marks an alternative approach to the community’s fight against rising antisemitism, which has traditionally focused on legacy organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federations of North America that have historically been at the forefront of combating antisemitism. The spokesperson told JI that the commitment “supports organizations on the frontlines standing against antisemitism and other forms of hate — not by challenging another organization.”

JCPA, one of the grantees, is a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations — the umbrella organization of mainstream American Jewish groups. “JCPA is​ a legacy Jewish organization [that] already collaborates with other legacy Jewish organizations, including on campus and broader education-related issues,” the group’s CEO, Amy Spitalnick, told JI.

“No grantee of any foundation agrees with every position of every other grantee,” said Spitalnick. “We’ve been a clear voice calling out antisemitism wherever it exists across the ideological spectrum and underscoring that our legitimate concerns should not be exploited to attack democratic norms and institutions, including university research funding.”

But other organizations selected, such as Nexus, are newer and use a more left-wing lens to combat antisemitism than the approach taken by the largest Jewish organizations. Nexus released the Nexus Document to challenge the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, specifically arguing that double standards targeting Israel are not inherently antisemitic. The IHRA definition is largely embraced among mainstream Jewish organizations.
Mamdani spokesman likens Hezbollah to JDL
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, was referring to Hezbollah flags when he decried “displays of support for terrorist organizations” at protests in the city, a spokesman for the mayor told JNS.

“Protests and counter-protests related to a real estate expo that featured the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank took place outside a synagogue in Midwood,” the mayor told JNS on May 12.

“The violence—alongside antisemitic, anti-Muslim and racist rhetoric, as well as racial slurs, displays of support for terrorist organizations and calls for the death of others—was despicable and has no place in our city,” said the mayor, whose spokeswoman said last year that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events.

“New Yorkers have the constitutional right to protest and to counter-protest, but no one should face violence, intimidation or hatred because of who they are or what they believe,” Mamdani stated. “We can simultaneously protect both public safety and civil liberties, and our city remains committed to doing exactly that by upholding the right to peaceful protest while keeping every New Yorker safe.”

The spokesman for Mamdani told JNS that not only did the mayor have Hezbollah flags in mind, but that at prior protests, there have also been displays of support for the Jewish Defense League.


NYC first lady curated anti-Israel Spotify playlists, including one dubbed ‘hungry but sexy for Palestine’: report
It’s full of sour notes.

Big Apple first lady Rama Duwaji’s reportedly curated Spotify playlists with songs that have foulmouthed anti-Israel lyrics — with one bizarrely titled “hungry but sexy for palestine.”

The wife of Mayor Zohran Mamdani compiled the playlists targeting the Jewish state following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack, a new report said — the latest instance of the 28-year-old’s radical online behavior coming under scrutiny.

The “hungry but sexy for palestine” playlist included the song “Ana Bakrah Israel,” which translates to “I hate Israel,” the Free Press reported Wednesday.

A second playlist titled “p2P Palestine 2 Pree-DC protest trip,” was apparently created for the March on Washington for Gaza on Jan. 13, 2024 and included a song titled “FREE PALESTINE,” the Free Press reported.

The song repeats lines like “F–k Israel, Israel a bitch,” and spews other incendiary lines against the Jewish state, according to the outlet.

The Spotify account reported on by the Free Press also had a playlist called “ACAB” – short for “All Cops Are Bastards” – during the summer of 2020 when protests erupted over the murder of George Floyd.

The mayor’s office declined comment on the latest revelation – but the Spotify account was made private after the Free Press first inquired with City Hall this week.


Activist flotilla leaves Turkey for Gaza weeks after Israel intercepted previous convoy
Dozens of boats carrying activists and symbolic aid for Palestinians set sail from Turkey’s Mediterranean coast on Thursday in the latest attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza — just weeks after Israel intercepted a previous flotilla and detained two activists.

More than 50 vessels departed from the port in Marmaris in what the organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla described as the final leg of their journey to Gaza’s shores. Channel 12 said the flotilla is expected to arrive around Monday or Tuesday next week.

The Israeli Navy is set to intercept the boats, and in the past has done so well before the activists were able to get close to Gaza’s coast.

Israel has previously dismissed the flotillas as publicity stunts, after their organizers rejected calls to transfer the small amount of symbolic aid they had been carrying with them to Israel or international organizations to be taken into the Strip and distributed via official channels.

The Global Sumud Flotilla will be the third initiative in a year aiming at breaking an Israeli blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, which has suffered severe shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel since the Palestinian terror group invaded Israel in October 2023, sparking two years of war in the coastal enclave.

The flotilla is being led by Turkish aid organization IHH, which is designated in Israel as a terror organization and which organized the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla to Gaza.


Boston Suburb Becomes Legal Battleground Over Anti-Israel 'Values' Law That Jewish Group Says Is Thinly Disguised BDS Policy
A small town outside of Boston has quietly emerged as a central battleground in nationwide efforts by anti-Israel activists to force divestment from Israel under the guise of so-called Values-Aligned Local Investments laws.

In Medford, Mass., where one of these divestment initiatives is being challenged in court, a network of anti-Israel lawyers has jumped into the case, seeking to ensure the measure stays in place, an outcome that could supercharge similar schemes nationwide.

But Jewish groups have joined the battle, seeking to stop the thinly disguised divestment measure. In February, attorneys with the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) filed an injunction to stop Medford from implementing its "Values-Aligned Local Investments Ordinance," a far left, DEI-tinged local law which would bar the city from investing in "weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel companies, private prison operators, and entities alleged to engage in 'human rights violations,'" according to copies of the legal filings obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The law, which targets Israel in every way but name, is one of several similar divestment measures being pushed in cities nationwide by supporters of the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Medford is the first municipality to be hit with a complaint over its divestment initiative, making the case a litmus test for the many other towns nationwide contemplating similar divestment laws.

Medford city officials, including Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn—who had vetoed the law but was overridden by the city council—agreed in late April to pause the divestment law while a U.S. district court ruled on its legality, filings show. But just prior to that decision, a coalition of lawyers tied to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)—an advocacy group that has been accused of platforming "pro-terror views" and embracing BDS as "a constitutional right"—filed a third-party motion to intervene in the case and keep the ordinance in place. In a move NJAC described as "an egregious breach of ethics," the ADC's lawyers cited support from three Medford city council members in their petition, even though third parties are generally prohibited from approaching individuals who are already represented in a case.
Therapists 4 Palestine Promotes “Therapy is Political” Event After Sharing Pro-Terror Posts
Therapists 4 Palestine, an Instagram-based collective of mental-health professionals with over 5,700 followers, is hosting a May 21 virtual event featuring Dr. Lara Sheehi to promote her new book advocating “psychic militancy” and revolutionary psychoanalysis. The event page directs attendees to an opaque Lebanon-focused fundraiser with limited public information about how donations are handled.

The group’s mission statement explicitly endorses “diverse forms of Palestinian resistance, including armed resistance,” and calls for professional psychology bodies to adopt Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) positions.

Therapists 4 Palestine has also used its social-media platforms to circulate content that appears to glorify Palestinian militancy, including posts commemorating deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. The group posted a graphic commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April 11, 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre, carried out by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

The group also shared posts praising Ghassan Kanafani, a former spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The Event: “Therapy is Political”

On May 21 at 7 p.m. EDT, Therapists 4 Palestine will host Dr. Lara Sheehi for a 90-minute Q&A about her May 2026 book, From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures.

Sheehi’s 192-page book argues that psychoanalysis has been co-opted by capitalist and colonial structures and must be “seized” as a revolutionary tool. Central to her framework is the concept of “psychic militancy”—a form of psychological resistance to what she describes as “psychic intrusions” from capitalism, colonialism, Zionism, and “cis-heteropatriarchy.”

The book includes sections titled “Warfare Psychologically Waged,” “Psychic Intrusions,” and “Affirmations for Psychic Militancy.” In her writing, Sheehi frames Palestine as a central case study, rejecting therapeutic neutrality in favor of explicit political activism. She has described Israel’s military actions in Gaza as “genocidal” and argues that mental-health professionals have a duty to use their clinical training to support “liberation” movements globally.


CPJ Removes Gaza Journalist From List After Hamas Identifies Him as Commander
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Gaza casualty database is facing renewed scrutiny after open-source researcher Salo Aizenberg said CPJ removed Yaacoub Al-Barsh from its “journalists killed” list following Hamas’s alleged identification of him as a military commander.

The Al-Barsh case fits a broader pattern raised by researchers, Arabic “martyr” notices, terror-group Telegram statements, and recent reporting, which have identified some Gaza media workers listed as journalists as alleged members of terror groups.

CPJ’s Standard Allows Removals
CPJ says cases can be removed if new evidence shows the person was not a journalist under its definition or if the death was not related to journalism. In November 2025, CPJ said it would begin publicly recording removals made for reasons other than security concerns, while noting that individual pages generally show only a person’s most recent status rather than a full revision history.

That standard matters because CPJ has acknowledged how difficult verification is in Gaza. Its 2023 Israel-Gaza report said researchers rely on at least two sources and interview family members, colleagues, supervisors, and friends to verify victims’ work and affiliations. CPJ also said it had removed several names after later research found they were not journalists or were not working when killed.

The Al-Barsh Removal Claim
The case that triggered the latest scrutiny is Yacoup Al-Borsh, also spelled Yaacoub Al-Barsh. CPJ’s individual profile previously described him as a 30-year-old Palestinian journalist and executive director of Namaa Radio.

Aizenberg wrote on X that CPJ “recently removed Yaacoub Al-Barsh” from its journalists-killed list after Hamas admitted he was a commander. Fox News separately reported that Aizenberg found “numerous social media posts and martyr notices” identifying Al-Borsh as a fighter and “mujahid,” including one from an account affiliated with Al-Omari Mosque in Jabalia.
Economist columnist treats Palestinians like children
The Economist invited Nimrod Novik, a former senior adviser to the late Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, to address the root cause of Palestinian terror, in which he presents Palestinians as completely lacking moral agency (“How Israeli terror begets Palestinian terror”, May 12).

Novik begins his column by devoting several paragraphs to an anonymous West Bank Palestinian resident who he calls Ali.

Ali, readers are told, “never concerned himself with politics, never joined any organisation, never demonstrated for national rights, never held a weapon”, but, because of Israel, is “now on the verge of becoming a fighter, perhaps even a shahid (martyr)”.

Since Novik fails to provide any details about his Palestinian protagonist, it’s impossible to fact-check his story. In fact, the columnist himself admits that the tale he tells could be apocryphal. “During the visit [to the West Bank], he wrote, I met others as well”, and so “it is quite possible that some of what I attribute to Ali, I heard from them”. Therefore, he adds, “Ali is merely a parable for what is unfolding a 40-minute drive from home”.

Readers are presented with a few details about the Palestinian man he may or may not have spoken to as having a “direct gaze and neither arrogance nor submissiveness”, and “someone who’s straightforward”. The moment he opened his mouth, Novik explains “it became clear that he was also articulate, intelligent and sober-minded”.

Novik then writes that Ali was named after his 13-year-old brother who was shot and killed by Israeli forces – a claim, like the others about the pseudonymous Palestinian, can’t be verified or disproven.

Nor, do we have any information by which to refute the charge that the tale’s villain, an (unnamed) Israeli settler, “raised a proud blue-and-white flag, established an ‘outpost’ just dozens of metres from Ali’s house, and settled himself like a hand on their throat”. From that moment on, we’re told, the armed Israeli “has made Ali’s family’s lives miserable in every possible way”.
THE BBC’S TWO-FRONT FAILURE TO PROVIDE CONTEXT TO ‘WAR CRIMES’ ALLEGATIONS
The BBC’s lack of interest in reporting the discovery and demolition of Hizballah tunnels in southern Lebanon is of course highly reminiscent of its editorial approach to similar stories from the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks alone, IDF forces operating on the Israeli side of the ‘yellow line’ have destroyed four Hamas tunnels spanning a total of 800 metres, an 800-metre-long tunnel belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, eight Hamas tunnels with a total length of 2.5 kms in eastern Rafah and four more tunnels used by Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade to hold hostages with a total length of some 4 kms.

Such context is obviously relevant to descriptions of destruction of civilian infrastructure in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. However, rather than provide their audiences with that and additional relevant background, BBC journalists prefer to promote anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations of “war crimes”.


Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Leaders Still Reject Israel's Right to Exist
[T]he "right of return" for refugees will remain "a historical constant that cannot be forfeited by the passage of time." — PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef, wafa.ps, May 12, 2026.

When Palestinian leaders speak about the "right of return," they are not talking about resettling refugees in a future Palestinian state in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.... The goal is to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians and transform Jews into a minority in their own country.

This demand fundamentally contradicts the idea of a "two-state solution." Under a genuine "two-state solution," Palestinians would establish their own independent state alongside Israel. Yet Palestinian leaders are effectively saying that they want not only a Palestinian state....

How can a leadership that celebrates Israel's creation as a "catastrophe" be serious about peace? How can leaders who continue promoting the fantasy of the "right of return" claim to support coexistence? How can the international community expect real reform while Palestinian leaders continue indoctrinating their people with narratives of rejection and victimhood?

Or does the international community not expect any reform and secretly hope that the Palestinians might "take care of the Jewish problem" without them having to get their own hands dirty?

The Trump administration and Western donors should pay close attention to the messages emerging from Ramallah. The problem is not just Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The problem is far deeper and more widespread.

Even the supposedly "moderate" Palestinian Authority leaders continue to promote narratives that erase Israel's existence and deny Jewish historical rights.

So long as this narrative dominates the Palestinian political culture, peace will remain not possible.


Melbourne girl, 14, has 109 charges dropped after alleged crime spree targeting Melbourne’s Jewish community
The Melbourne girl accused of mowing down a cyclist and Googling “where do Jews live” had 109 charges dropped because of her age.

The 14-year-old, who cannot be named, was 13 at the time she allegedly went on a two-and-a-half month crime spree targeting Jewish individuals and “weaponising” a stolen car to run down a 45-year-old man cycling in the bayside suburb of Brighton.

News.com.au last week revealed her lawyers planned to argue she was too young to know what she did was morally wrong.

The Herald Sun on Thursday reported that as a result of the legal argument for doli incapax — the legal principle that presumes a child between the ages of 10 and 14 cannot fully understand the gravity of their crimes — prosecutors dropped the charges completely.

She will not be prosecuted in a children’s court and will walk away with a clear record.

On March 30 this year, she allegedly attempted to strike the cyclist with the passenger door of a stolen SUV.

After a brief argument between the pair, the teen allegedly drove into the rear of the cyclist and knocked him from his bike. He suffered significant injuries to his neck and has described ongoing mental anguish.

Police said the teen Googled “how long is the sentence for running someone over” within three minutes of allegedly striking the cyclist.

The 14-year-old was also accused of carrying out a series of antisemitic attacks, including swerving towards members of the Jewish community in Ripponlea two days before the cyclist was knocked from his bike.


Exclusive: For first time, Muslim group slated to march in Israel on Fifth parade
The Israel parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue this year is slated to have a Muslim group marching alongside Jewish organizations in what is believed to be a first time in the parade’s 61-year history.

Another first will be the first time in memory that New York City’s mayor will not participate in the parade, which shows support for the Jewish state. The annual event, scheduled this year for May 31, typically has thousands of participants, with groups marching from Jewish day schools, yeshivas and organizations.

Anila Ali, board chair and president of the nonprofit American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, intends to lead group that she expects will include about 30 people in the annual event, which takes place on New York’s iconic Fifth Avenue, alongside Central Park.

In an exclusive interview with JNS, Ali said that the anti-Israel protesters, who have recently whipped up angry crowds in Jewish neighborhoods and fomented fear, do not represent all Muslims.

She and many others support the Jewish community and Israel’s right to exist, she told JNS.

“After 9/11, the first faith community that reached out to us were the Jewish people,” she said, of the time after Islamist terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers and other sites, killing closing to 3,000 people, and Muslims became afraid of retaliation.

“As the largest Muslim women’s civil rights organization standing against bigotry within and without, we had a very close relationship based on trust that we shared common heritage,” she told JNS.


Massive ancient tunnel on Jerusalem’s outskirts baffles archaeologists
Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered a mysterious ancient tunnel carved deep into bedrock near Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, a discovery that has left researchers puzzled.

The tunnel was found during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority ahead of the construction of a new residential neighborhood being advanced by the Israel Lands Authority north of the kibbutz.

Stretching roughly 50 meters (164 feet) underground, the tunnel was discovered after archaeologists encountered what initially appeared to be a natural cavity in the rock.

“We were excavating in relatively rocky and exposed terrain when suddenly we discovered a natural karstic cavity,” excavation directors Sivan Mizrahi and Zinovi Matskevich said in a joint statement. “To our amazement, as the excavation progressed, this cavity developed into a long tunnel. Parts of it are still collapsed, so the tunnel has not yet revealed all of its secrets.”

The underground complex was accessed through a staircase descending from the surface into a hewn entrance leading to the tunnel. Archaeologists found the passage filled with layers of soil that had accumulated over hundreds, and possibly thousands, of years.

Excavations conducted at several points inside the tunnel revealed that some sections reach up to five meters (16 feet) in height and approximately three meters (10 feet) in width.

“The quarrying was executed meticulously,” said Mizrahi and Matskevich. “It is clear that whoever carved this tunnel invested tremendous effort, careful planning, and possessed the capabilities and resources necessary to achieve this goal,” they added.

Despite the scale and sophistication of the work, researchers have not yet determined the tunnel’s purpose.


Israel to establish IDF museum at former UNRWA Jerusalem headquarters
The Israeli Cabinet is expected to approve next week the establishment of an Israel Defense Forces museum in the compound in Jerusalem that was previously occupied by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

The army’s recruitment center in the capital, currently situated in the Romema neighborhood, is expected to be relocated to the compound next to the museum, Israel Hayom reported on Wednesday.

A bureau for the defense minister is also expected to be established on the site, according to Ynet.

The government is scheduled to approve the measure on May 17, in honor of Jerusalem Day that is taking place on Thursday.

On Oct. 28, 2024, the Knesset passed laws banning UNRWA from operating in Israel following the exposure of its complicity in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and despite pressure from the United States and other countries against the move.

The legislation came into effect on Jan. 30 of the following year, prompting the immediate closure of the agency’s main offices in northeastern Jerusalem’s Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab neighborhoods.

Israeli authorities began demolishing UNRWA’s headquarters in January.


Hochul presents honorary degree to slain Israeli-American soldier Omer Neutra
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul presented the parents of slain Israeli-American Omer Neutra with an honorary bachelor of arts degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton during a Jewish American Heritage Month on Wednesday.

Neutra, a Long Island native born to Israeli parents, deferred his enrollment at Binghamton University to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces as a lone soldier, a service member without immediate family in Israel.

An IDF tank commander, Neutra was killed during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, while commanding one of the few tanks stationed along the Gaza border. Hamas terrorists abducted his body to Gaza, and Israeli authorities did not confirm his death until December 2024.

His parents, Ronen and Orna Neutra, became prominent advocates for the hostages held by Hamas and frequently met with U.S. and Israeli officials while campaigning for their son’s return. His body was recovered and returned to Israel in November 2025.

“I was proud to present his parents with an honorary degree from SUNY Binghamton — one he should be here to receive,” Hochul wrote, alongside a picture of her with the Neutras and their younger son, Daniel.

“May his memory forever be a blessing,” she added.

Hochul previously ordered New York state flags lowered to half-staff on the day of Neutra’s funeral and has met with the family on multiple occasions.


Hugh Hewitt: Former Hamas Hostage Alon Ohel joined John Ondrasik onstage to perform Superman




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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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