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Monday, May 25, 2026

05/24 Links: Ruth Wisse Warns Now of 'the Organization of Politics against the Jews.'; Trump's deal with Iran must be more than promises; Anatomy of a blood libel

From Ian:

Elliot Kaufman: Ruth Wisse Warns Now of 'the Organization of Politics against the Jews.'
The anti-Israel obsession has metastasized into what Ms. Wisse calls "the organization of politics against the Jews."

That's her definition for the tendency that called itself antisemitism in Germany and anti-Zionism in the Soviet Union. "It shifts blame, directs it against a specific target, and it is the greatest coalition-builder," Ms. Wisse says. See Iran and the old Arab League for evidence-or see many U.S. colleges, where ritual denunciation of Israel has for years been an organizing principle of campus politics. What happens on campus doesn't stay on campus.

Ms. Wisse says "the combination of the Jews' small size and inflated image" has long made them the ideal scapegoat. Exploitation of that combination is now ubiquitous on social media, soaking into the new youth culture. "Demagogues recognize the opportunity," she says.

In the face of anti-Israel propaganda, Ms. Wisse detects a liberal Jewish yearning for powerlessness and the moral purity that comes with it. "It's a loss of moral confidence." She worries more, however, about a similar yearning and loss of confidence among Americans writ large.
Jewish leader calls on Hochul to send in National Guard for NYC Israel Day Parade
A prominent pro-Israel activist is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to dispatch the National Guard to the Big Apple to help protect marchers at the upcoming Israel Day Parade in the wake of a troubling increase in antisemitic incidents.

Americans Against Antisemitism founder Dov Hikind said he’s a supporter of the NYPD but thinks local cops could use a boost — not just along the parade route in Manhattan but in the general vicinity of the march, as people carrying Israel flags or wearing pro-Israel gear could become targets of violence.

“We need to make sure bad things don’t happen,” said Hikind, a former state Assembly member who represented heavily orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. “We want to make sure there is safety for the Jewish community. I’m calling on Governor Hochul to bring in the National Guard to help the New York City Police Department.”

Hochul has periodically dispatched the National Guard soldiers to man major transit hubs to assist in crime prevention.

But the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which hosts the 61st Israel Day Parade, said it is working closely with the NYPD and is not requesting Hochul to send in the National Guard.

“I have full faith and confidence in the greatest police department in the world, the NYPD, under the exceptional leadership of Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who has done a tremendous job ensuring the safety and success of major events and parades across New York City, including the Israel Day on Fifth parade in recent years,” JCRC CEO Mark Treyger told The Post.

“Commissioner Tisch, the NYPD, and all of our law enforcement partners have left no stone unturned in preparing for next Sunday’s parade.”
Brendan O'Neill: Anatomy of a blood libel
The rude intrusion of such medieval imagery into our supposedly modern societies feels disquieting in the extreme. In the past two months alone, we’ve seen the rise and rise of the Judenhund libel; we’ve seen a 23-feet tall effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu, stuffed with 14kg of gunpowder, being set alight in a Judas-burning in Spain; we’ve seen a Jewish girl have her hair violently yanked by a seething mob yelling ‘Bitch!’ outside a synagogue in Brooklyn; and we’ve seen a Jew in England being allegedly assaulted by a man calling him a ‘baby killer’. Animal-themed libels, Jew-head burnings, Jewish women being subjected to the ritualistic humiliation of hair-pulling, as if it were the 1930s again – isn’t it remarkable how much ‘criticism of Israel’ looks, feels and smells like hatred for Jews?

And yet, horrified as we should be by the resuscitation of the zombie monster of medieval Jew hate, we also need to clock what is new; what is distinct about anti-Zionism. It is so clear now that anti-Zionism is not just some iffy ideology that occasionally crosses the line into anti-Semitism. It is not simply the mask Jew hatred wears, to try to doll up its low-IQ loathings as virtuous politics. No, anti-Zionism is its own ideology of hatred, and one that poses a very real threat not only to the physical health of Jews but also to the spiritual health of Western civilisation itself.

The dog-rape story might echo the Judensau mocking, but it is very much a libel of the modern, anti-Zionist era. It has joined the feverish accusations of genocide and settler-colonialism as one of the key means through which the Jewish nation is delegitimised and treated as a criminal entity deserving of erasure. Where medieval mockery and libels were motored by a religious animus that treated the Jew as a sickly pox in Christian Europe, anti-Zionist libels are underpinned by a dystopic vision of the Jews as a swaggering, violent people whose demented devotion to their ancient sovereign rights is harming not only Palestinians but world peace itself.

The Jew was once hated for being weak – now he is hated for being strong. He was once hated for supposedly being hunched and ashen-faced – now he is hated for being upright and armed. He was once hated for not being European – now he is libelled as a European settler of Arab lands. He was once laughed at as non-white – now he is branded as the ‘hyper-white’ thief of other people’s territory. He was once mocked for fucking pigs – now he is mocked for making other people fuck dogs. He was once told he did not belong in Europe – now he is told he doesn’t belong in Israel. The very elites whose ancestors expelled Jews from our nations now cry for the erasure of the Jewish nation, all the way ‘from the river to the sea’. And when they have nowhere to go – not here, not there – they’ll be branded a cosmopolitan menace whose very landlessness is a threat to human normalcy. It is the sheer cruelty of Jew hatred, the trickery of it, that alarms those of us who are clinging for dear life to our moral faculties.

‘One of the marks of anti-Semitism is an ability to believe stories that could not possibly be true’, wrote Orwell. We are back there again. In fact, there is something dispiriting even in the sight of Jews and their allies – spiked included – having to point out the mechanical impossibility of dogs being commanded to rape humans. ‘Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies’, wrote Sartre. ‘They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words.’ This, right here, is the moment we are in. The anti-Semites are revelling in the vision of Jews and their friends being compelled to discuss dog penises and human anuses. This in itself is a victory for the scum. They are amusing themselves. They are enjoying this. It is obscene.


David Collier: BBC News Hosts Yet Another Palestinian Pantomime
The 2018 Version
It is not as if this is an original angle. When the NGO-media machinery finds a story that resonates, it searches for new ways to adapt, recycle and resell the same underlying narrative. Had the BBC journalists done their research, even within their own BBC archives, they would have found multiple “Gazan brick” innovation stories recurring throughout the years of conflict.

In the Guardian this week there is a story about how a different pair of innovative Palestinians are also making bricks from rubble. The distinguishing feature of this version is that the instability of the bricks is itself woven into the humanitarian narrative.

And also this week we have “Green Rock” that work like Lego bricks, with yet more Palestinian innovators also “crushing the debris” to recycle it.

It does appear however, as if this is all reinventing the wheel, and the origins of this rehashed story are a decade old. In 2016, two young Palestinian engineers in Gaza, Rawan Abdulatif and Majd Mashharawi developed environmentally friendly bricks made of coal ash. They called them “Green Cake”.

What is notable about the initial reports, is the absence of any wider conflict narrative. They are simply stories about innovation and science. A few months later, the brick was winning Japanese innovation awards. All talk of rubble and destruction is nowhere to be seen.

As late as June 2018, the project was still being presented primarily as an eco-friendly engineering initiative. The report explicitly states that the concept emerged from brainstorming ideas aimed at tackling Gaza’s high unemployment rate.

By late 2018, the BBC was reporting on her success – but the entire narrative had evolved. The clip tells us wars with Israel have led to “widespread destruction” – which motivated her desire to “help Gaza rebuild.” To complete the picture we are also informed that in 2008 Mashharawi’s house had been “partially destroyed.” The story had been reshaped and was ready to be repackaged and resold at will.

The Girls From Nowhere
Just as it did with the children in the documentary, the BBC tried to present the sisters as random Gazans who, while living in a tent, somehow produced an award-winning eco-innovation. But things in Gaza are rarely random, and the faces elevated to Western audiences are often deeply connected to powerful clans, NGO networks and carefully cultivated media ecosystems.

This case appears no different.

The girls are both still minors, and their father Samer is a Dean at the University of Palestine, a private university in the Gaza Strip. He studied in Algeria in the early 2000s, but recently achieved his PhD in Islamic jurisprudence at the University of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic Sciences, in Sudan.

For nearly two decades Mousa has operated in the hierarchy of Gaza’s NGO propaganda network. By 2016 he even held the title of “acting Executive Director” of al-Dameer.

Al-Dameer is a Gazan-based NGO long associated with the PFLP-linked activist ecosystem.

It is also the same NGO that helped introduce the world to Abdullah, the son of the Hamas minister at the centre of the BBC documentary scandal. In a 2023 Channel 4 report, Khalil Abushammala – one of al-Dameer’s best-known figures – was incorrectly presented as Abdullah’s father. The entire affair was riddled with omissions, misdirection and political concealment.

The connections between the two al-Dameer figures are direct. In 2009, Samer Mousa signed a cooperation agreement with the Islamic University of Gaza on behalf of Khalil Abu Shammala, then Executive Director of al-Dameer for Human Rights.

The PFLP-affiliated Democratic Gathering of Lawyers and Jurists even tagged Mousa in a 2013 Facebook post.

Samer Mousa is no random Gazan. And once again the BBC finds itself serving as a vehicle for a Palestinian pantomime, presenting the children of prominent political actors in Gaza as anonymous civilian protagonists crafted to elicit sympathy from Western audiences.

And then there are Mousa’s own explicit calls for terrorist violence.
Michelle Bachelet would be a calamitous UN chief
The role of the United Nations has rightly come under close scrutiny in recent years as our nations have become less united.

Found to be asleep at the wheel during a period of intense geopolitical instability as well as being beset by operational failures, the 80-year-old institution has struggled for relevance.

Yet what is the UN’s answer to this well-documented crisis of legitimacy? More hubris.

This week we learnt that the body already criticised for its seeming powerlessness in the face of successive humanitarian crises is considering appointing as its next secretary-general a woman described by UN Watch as “the dictator’s shield”.

The campaign group is urging the UN Security Council to block a bid by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, citing her controversial four-year tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

During that period she remained silent on the mass detention of Uyghurs in China, the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, and Iran’s forced hijab laws.

“Under Bachelet’s tenure, the office tasked with defending human rights became an office that protected the world’s worst abusers,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “The next secretary-general must be someone willing to confront dictators, not shield them.”

Bachelet is one of five candidates vying to succeed Secretary-General António Guterres on December 31.
JPost Editorial: Diplomacy funded by illusions: Trump's deal with Iran must be more than promises
Iran’s nuclear program cannot be separated from the regime’s ballistic missile arsenal or from Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, militias in Iraq, and the wider machinery Tehran built to surround Israel and pressure the region.

A narrow agreement that freezes one file while funding the rest of the system would create the illusion of progress and the reality of danger.

Washington should therefore make several principles clear.

First, Iran must not receive sanctions relief before verified concessions. Promises from Tehran are not security. Verification is security. Dismantlement is security. The transfer of enriched uranium out of Iran, the closure of pathways to weaponization, and intrusive inspections must come before economic rewards.

Second, no agreement should allow Iran to preserve enrichment as a sovereign trophy. Zero enrichment is the standard that matches the scale of the threat. Anything less risks turning a future Iranian sprint toward nuclear capability into a question of political timing rather than technical possibility.

Third, missiles and proxies must be part of the conversation. Iran’s regional strategy is not a side issue. It is the system through which the regime converts money, ideology, and weapons into pressure on Israel, Arab states, international shipping, and American interests.

Any deal that frees up money while leaving that system untouched will strengthen the very forces that made diplomacy urgent.

Fourth, Congress must see the details. A consequential agreement with Iran cannot be managed through ambiguity, leaks, and celebratory statements.

The American people, and America’s allies, deserve to know what Iran is giving up, what it is receiving, and what enforcement mechanisms will exist when Tehran violates the spirit or letter of the agreement.

Last, Israel must be fully consulted. This is a strategic necessity.

Israel lives with the consequences of Iranian power in a way Washington does not: it faces Hezbollah rockets, Iranian weapons transfers, cyberattacks, and terror plots. A deal negotiated over Israel’s head would weaken trust and invite future confrontation.

Diplomacy backed by pressure can serve the region. Diplomacy funded by illusions will endanger it.

The West cannot buy calm by financing Iran’s next phase. A serious deal must leave Iran weaker, more constrained, and further from a nuclear weapon on the day after it is signed. Anything else would turn temporary quiet into a strategic gift for Tehran.
Israel Fears U.S.-Iran Deal May End the War without Ending the Threat
The flood of reports and leaks in recent days surrounding the U.S.-Iran negotiations has been filled with contradictions, disinformation, political interests and very few hard facts. More than anything, it reflects how many hands are stirring the pot.

According to reports in the United States and the region, Washington and Tehran are moving toward an initial understanding through Pakistani and Qatari mediation. This is not yet a comprehensive agreement that would end the confrontation in all its dimensions. It is a document of principles, a memorandum of understanding, meant to serve as the basis for a more detailed round of negotiations expected to last 30 to 60 days.

One source familiar with the Iranian arena put the Israeli fear bluntly: once the United States enters a prolonged negotiating process with Iran, Tehran gains time, leverage and room to maneuver.

Israeli officials fear that if the issue is pushed down the road, a future U.S. administration, or a less pro-Israel political climate in Congress and among American voters, could leave Israel with far less freedom to act.

In that scenario, Israel could face heavy diplomatic pressure, restrictions on weapons and spare parts, and a clear American warning not to act independently against a renewed Iranian threat.

Diplomats may try to find a vague formula that Iran can accept without giving it everything it wants. That kind of ambiguity is precisely what worries Israel and Gulf states: even if Iran does not receive formal control over Hormuz, it may retain the practical ability to threaten, disrupt or block the strait whenever it chooses.

The sequencing of the emerging memorandum is troubling to Israel. If the war ends first and the uranium issue is deferred to a later round, Iran keeps its most important bargaining chip while gaining relief from military pressure.

Another major Israeli concern is what does not appear to be central to the current framework: Iran's ballistic missile and drone programs.

The emerging memorandum, as described in foreign reports, focuses on ending the war, resolving the Hormuz crisis and opening a window for broader negotiations. But Israel's threat perception is not limited to uranium enrichment. Iran's missile and drone arsenal is a direct strategic threat to Israel, to Gulf states and to American forces in the region. American officials may argue that those issues can be handled later. From Israel's perspective, the danger is not that diplomacy exists. The danger is diplomacy that stops the fighting without resolving the threat.

That is why Jerusalem is watching the emerging memorandum with deep concern. Israeli officials fear it will not guarantee the dismantling of Iran's nuclear project, will not limit the missile and drone programs, and will not stop the activity of Iran's proxies, especially Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Republican politicians warn Iran ceasefire deal could strengthen Tehran, would be 'disaster'
Republican lawmakers and former Trump administration officials sharply criticized reports of an emerging 60-day ceasefire agreement with Iran, warning that the proposed deal could hand Tehran a strategic victory and undermine the results of the US campaign against the Islamic Republic.

US President Donald Trump said Saturday that a peace agreement involving the US, Iran, and several Middle Eastern countries had been “largely negotiated,” adding that the deal would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also said he had spoken separately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the call as having gone “very well.”

The reported framework, which has not yet been finalized, would extend the current ceasefire for 60 days while further negotiations take place on issues including Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.

Several senior Republicans responded with alarm, arguing that any deal that leaves Iran with influence over the strait, access to funds, or nuclear capabilities would represent a failure.

“I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran ‘deal,’ being pushed by some voices in the administration,” Sen. Ted Cruz wrote on X/Twitter.

Cruz said Trump’s decision to strike Iran was “the most consequential decision of his second term,” but warned that ending the conflict on the reported terms would be a mistake.

“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz added.
Many Questions, Few Details in Latest Iran Peace Proposal
It is too early to tell what exactly Mr. Trump and Iran have agreed to, or if they have agreed to much at all. The president wrote in a Truth Social post that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen under some kind of memorandum of understanding.

Two U.S. officials with knowledge of the negotiations said on Saturday that Iran has agreed in principle to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But the Iranians have not publicly confirmed that, and much hinges on the details of how that would be accomplished.

But in judging whether Mr. Trump achieved his objectives, here are a few key questions to look for:
*Is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz permanent, or does Iran claim that it now has the authority to control the waterway, even if it agrees to suspend "tolls" on traffic in and out of the strait?

*Does the United States agree to release any of the $25 billion in frozen Iranian funds that Tehran has demanded must be released?

*Does Iran agree to turn over its 970 pounds of near-bomb-grade uranium, or blend it down to a form that would largely neutralize the threat that it could be used in a weapon? What happens to the roughly 11 tons of other uranium, enriched at varying levels, that the International Atomic Energy Agency says is in Iran's possession? Mr. Trump has frequently said Iran must give up all of its nuclear material.

*And what happens to Iran's missile arsenal? This is a critical issue for Israel, which is in range of many of Iran's ballistic missiles. Early in the conflict the Trump administration said Iran would have to give up its missiles or limit their range, but more recently that topic had not been discussed publicly.
Israel briefed on US-Iran talks as Trump backs Jerusalem’s freedom of action
Israel will maintain freedom of action against all threats, including Lebanon, an Israeli political source said on Sunday with regard to an emerging memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran.

Washington is updating Jerusalem on the negotiations, and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the source. The premier in that discussion “stressed that Israel will maintain freedom of action against threats in all arenas, including Lebanon, and President Trump reiterated his support for this principle,” the source added.

Trump “made clear that he will stand firm in the negotiations on his consistent demand for the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program and the removal of all enriched uranium from its territory, and that he will not sign a final agreement without these conditions being met,” according to the source.

“The prime minister again expressed his appreciation to President Trump for his longstanding and exceptional commitment to Israel’s security,” the source added.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday during a visit to India that an agreement could be hours away. “I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news,” he said.

The agreement that the United States and Iran are reportedly close to signing would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, and an Iranian commitment to negotiate over its nuclear enrichment program, news site Axios reported, citing an unnamed official.

Under the proposed agreement, the sides would sign a 60-day memorandum of understanding, renewable by mutual consent, according to the report.

During the ceasefire period, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen without tolls and Iran would remove mines it deployed in the waterway.

In return, the United States would lift its naval blockade and grant sanctions waivers allowing Tehran to sell oil.

Iran also commits to permanently forgo nuclear weapons and to begin negotiations on suspending uranium enrichment and eliminating its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, according to the anonymous official cited by Axios.

“We’ve been in this situation several times before, and I do not see how the agreement currently on the table could be signed, despite all the noise surrounding it,” Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv told JNS on Sunday.

“This would be a bad agreement—one that does not serve the interests of the United States, not just ours. I do not see it being signed,” she added.
Trump Assured Israel No Iran Deal without Dismantling Nuclear Program, Official says
U.S. President Donald Trump gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assurances that he would not sign a final agreement with Iran unless Tehran dismantles its nuclear program and removes all enriched uranium from its territory, a senior Israeli official said on Sunday.

According to the official, Netanyahu told Trump in a call Saturday night that Israel would preserve freedom of action against threats on all fronts, including Lebanon. Trump backed that principle, the official said.

Netanyahu, the official said, expressed appreciation for Trump's "long-standing and extraordinary commitment" to Israel's security. Even after the Israeli official's statement, it remains unclear what threats are covered by Israel's promised "freedom of action." In Gaza, and now especially in Lebanon, Israeli forces operate under significant restrictions shaped in practice by Washington.
Barak Ravid: What's Inside the Iran Deal Trump Is Close to Signing
The agreement the U.S. and Iran are close to signing involves a 60-day ceasefire extension during which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran would be able to freely sell oil, and negotiations would be held on curbing Iran's nuclear program, according to a U.S. official.

*Both sides would sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would last 60 days and could be extended by mutual consent.

*During the 60-day period, the Strait of Hormuz would be open with no tolls and Iran would agree to clear the mines it deployed in the strait to let ships pass freely.

*In exchange, the U.S. would lift its blockade on Iranian ports and issue some sanctions waivers to allow Iran to sell oil freely.

*The U.S. official acknowledged that it would be a boon to Iran's economy, but said it would also give significant relief to the global oil market.

*The U.S. official said the faster the Iranians clear the mines and let shipping resume, the faster the blockade will be lifted.

*The official said Trump's key principle in the agreement is "relief for performance."

The draft MOU includes commitments from Iran to never pursue nuclear weapons and to negotiate over a suspension of its uranium enrichment program and the removal of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the U.S. official said.

The draft MOU also makes clear that the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon would end.


Trump reportedly asked Muslim, Arab leaders to normalize ties with Israel if Iran deal reached
US President Donald Trump told the leaders of several Arab and Muslim countries in a Saturday phone call that he expects them to normalize relations with Israel if he reaches a deal to end the war with Iran, two US officials told the Axios news site on Sunday.

Trump also referenced the request in a social media post, and suggested that Iran could also establish relations with Israel. But the ask was reportedly met with silence from the Arab and Muslim leaders.

The request suggests that Trump is seeking to offer Israel an upside in the nascent deal to end the war, whose reported terms have raised alarm in Jerusalem. Channel 12 reported on Sunday that senior Israeli officials have warned, “As it seems, [the agreement] does not serve Israel’s interest.”

Israeli officials are reportedly concerned that the deal, which will begin with a 60-day extension of the ceasefire, does not address Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs or its support for regional proxies. According to the report, officials fear the deal would grant Iran time for economic and military recovery, after which “it will be hard for the Americans and us to go back and fight.”

In social media posts on Sunday, Trump said any deal he negotiated would be “good and proper,” and derided critics of the agreement as “losers.” He also said he told negotiators “not to rush into a deal.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio likewise told The New York Times that a nuclear deal could not be achieved “in 72 hours on the back of a napkin.”

Trump’s posts came after he held a phone call on the emerging deal with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain. In 2020, the UAE and Bahrain were among the countries to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords.

According to Axios, Trump told the leaders that he wants countries that don’t have ties with Israel to establish them. Of the countries represented on the call, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan do not have relations with Jerusalem. Trump, his predecessor Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have pursued a Saudi-Israeli accord for years.


Rubio: Hezbollah trying to ‘drag Lebanon back into chaos’ through war, call to oust government
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah in a statement Sunday of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos” by continuing to fight against Israel and by calling to overthrow the Lebanese government.

Rubio denounced what he called Hezbollah’s “reckless call to overthrow Lebanon’s democratically elected government” and said the Iran-backed terror group was “actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction.”

“Hizballah has ignored repeated calls from the legitimate Government of Lebanon to cease its attacks and respect a ceasefire,” Rubio’s statement said, using an alternate spelling of the terror group’s name. “Instead, it has continued firing on Israeli positions and moving fighters and weapons into southern Lebanon. This is a deliberate campaign to destabilize the country and maintain its power at the expense of the future of the Lebanese people.”

Naim Qassem, the leader of Hezbollah, had said earlier that “the people have the right to go down onto the streets and to bring down the government” in response to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets and US sanctions on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan is affiliated with the terror group. It provides interest-free loans to mainly Shia Muslim communities that have faced financial difficulty amid Lebanon’s economic crises.


Soldier killed in battle in south Lebanon, IDF says
A soldier was killed in battle yesterday in southern Lebanon, the IDF announces.

Sgt. Nehoray Leizer, 19, from Eilat, was a combat engineer in the 601st Brigade. He was killed by an explosive drone, according to Hebrew media reports.

Another soldier was seriously wounded in the incident.
IDF troops hit by explosive drones in Lebanon
Seven Israel Defense Forces soldiers, including a company commander, were wounded when explosive-laden drones detonated in Southern Lebanon, the military said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on May 20 during an operation in the Hadatha area by the 601st Battalion of the 401st “Iron Tracks” Armored Brigade, aimed at locating and dismantling Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and seizing weapons.

About an hour into the operation, two drones launched toward the troops exploded nearby.

Capt. M., the company commander, and Sgt. S., an operational documentation soldier, were wounded in moderate and serious condition, respectively, the IDF said.


IDF dismantles Hezbollah terror tunnel in Lebanon
Israel Defense Forces troops operating in the Mount Dov area of Southern Lebanon located and dismantled a Hezbollah tunnel roughly 100 meters long with four hideout rooms, the military said on Sunday.

The IDF noted that troops are operating in the area in accordance with ceasefire understandings.

“The IDF will continue to operate against threats posed to Israeli civilians and IDF troops and is acting in accordance with the directives of the political echelon,” the military said.


Restricted tweet: An IDF strike in Nuseirat on June 11, 2025 that was reported as killing only civilians is looking very different now. Hamas admitted Khaled al-Namrouti was a combatant, while Sami al-Afash was lauded by family as a “hero martyr” and “mujahid.” Slowly the truth comes out. 1/



Thousands protest in Bilbao over Spanish police’s abuse of Gaza flotilla activists
Around 2,000 protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police’s abusive treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel.

Police were filmed hitting people with batons and dragging them across the floor, before detaining four of them.

Video of the incident showed supporters gathered in the arrivals hall to welcome six of the anti-Israel campaigners as they arrived on a flight from Turkey after having been detained and deported by Israeli forces. Police then began striking people with batons and pinning others to the ground while onlookers jeered.

At Sunday’s march, pro-Palestinian demonstrators carried banners criticizing the Basque police force and accusing the local government of being “complicit with Zionism.”

The Basque regional police force said in a statement on Sunday that it had launched an investigation to determine whether officers had complied with procedures. The Spanish government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation.

Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories, has called for those responsible for events at Bilbao airport to be held responsible, while Amnesty International has demanded a thorough investigation.




Teaching union threatens 'safe space for Jews' as chiefs override members to adopt Israeli boycott
A major teaching union has been accused of failing Jewish teachers after adopting an Israeli boycott despite most members not wanting it.

The NASUWT – the UK's second largest teaching union – has resolved to boycott goods and services from companies involved in Israeli institutions and settlements.

The decision was taken by union bosses in private, even though members failed to back it in a vote last month.

It comes after the union appointed Corbynite former fireman Matt Wrack as its General Secretary, despite him having no teaching experience.

It signals a swing to the Far-Left for the NASUWT, which was previously more moderate than Britain's other major union, the National Education Union (NEU).

One Jewish member from Essex said: 'The idea that they have adopted a motion sanctioning Israel while completely ignoring all the other countries around the world with questionable policies and human rights records makes me wonder how much longer NASUWT will be a safe space for Jewish members.

'I honestly despair as there doesn't seem to be anywhere else to turn.'

It is understood the boycott was contained in a list of motions sent round to members ahead of the union's annual conference, asking them which ones they would like debated and put to vote.
Would Robert F. Kennedy Have Honored This NYT Photographer?
The images featured in Alghorra’s Pulitzer-winning portfolio present Gaza’s devastation through a carefully curated lens: one designed to place Israel at the center of the tragedy while obscuring Hamas’ central role in creating it.

Absent is the context that Hamas initiated this war with the October 7 massacre. Missing too is any acknowledgment of the terror group’s systematic embedding of military infrastructure within civilian areas, a strategy designed precisely to produce the kind of imagery that dominates international headlines.

This is visual storytelling stripped of context.

And it is precisely this one-sided, Hamas-adjacent framing that the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center has now chosen to celebrate.



The award’s namesake was one of America’s most steadfast supporters of Israel.

Robert F. Kennedy’s support for the Jewish state dated back to its founding. In April 1948, he traveled to Mandatory Palestine as a special correspondent for the Boston Post. His dispatches, published two months later, after the establishment of the State of Israel, lauded the pre-state Zionist militias’ “undying spirit” and “unparalleled courage” and celebrated the Mandate’s Jewish population as “an immensely proud and determined people.”

His admiration only deepened over the following two decades.

While campaigning for the Senate in 1964, Kennedy repeatedly emphasized his pro-Israel credentials. Speaking to a Zionist women’s group, he advocated for an increase in military aid to Israel and argued that the United States “must continue to make clear to those who threaten Israel that she is not alone.”

As a senator in 1965, he publicly advocated for Soviet Jewry and, in 1968, he pressed the Johnson administration to approve the sale of 50 F-4 Phantom fighter jets to Israel after France refused to sell fighter jets to the Jewish state in the wake of Israel’s victory during the 1967 Six-Day War.

That support came at a deadly cost.

Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian-Palestinian who was enraged by Kennedy’s backing of Israel, particularly his support for the fighter jet sale.

Sirhan was born in Jerusalem in 1944, but his family had moved to Jordanian-controlled territory during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence and later emigrated to the United States in 1956, when he was 12 years old.

According to reports, Sirhan was heavily influenced by anti-Israel propaganda both during his time in the Middle East as well as following his move to the U.S.

Having read about Kennedy’s push for the sale of fighter jets to Israel in the local newspaper, Sirhan was determined to kill him before June 5, 1968, the first anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War.

He waited in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles for Kennedy to pass him by after delivering a victory speech following his win in the California Democratic primary. Shortly after midnight, as Kennedy exited the hotel through the kitchen, Sirhan emerged and shot Kennedy four times at point-blank range (including one in the back of the head), mortally wounding him and injuring five others.

Sirhan’s hatred was fueled by anti-Israel propaganda.

That historical fact makes today’s award especially jarring.

In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was murdered in part because of his support for Israel.

In 2026, his name is being used to legitimize a photographer whose work advances a narrative that erases the context of anti-Israel terror while amplifying imagery that serves its political aims.

The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award was established to honor truth, moral clarity, and human dignity.

By awarding Saher Alghorra, it risks becoming something else entirely: another institution lending its prestige to a distorted narrative that Robert F. Kennedy himself would likely have rejected.





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Reclaiming the Covenant on America's 250th (May 2026)

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    

 

 

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