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Thursday, May 28, 2026

05/27 Links Pt2: Dara Horn: The answer to the Jewish question; The unforgivable betrayal of the Nova Festival victims; Dem congressional candidate volunteered with Al-Qaida-tied group in Bosnia

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: A Plea to Jews: Don’t Do the Anti-Semites’ Dirty Work for Them
The erasure of Jews from the public square since October 7 has been extensively chronicled and documented here at COMMENTARY and elsewhere. But it has reached a new and poisonous stage.

In the recent past, the erasure was carried out by the erasers, not by those being erased. But the purpose of an all-consuming culture of fear and suspicion is to get to the point at which people erase themselves.

I don’t blame many of the people seeking to stay out of the limelight. But this is a much worse state of affairs than one in which the anti-Semite is forced to do his own dirty work, both for Jews and for wider society.

For Jews, the reason is obvious: As history shows, no one can make us disappear. The enemy’s only hope is that we withdraw of our own free will.

Speaking of which: Internalizing fear means forfeiting freedom. As Jews, we are the world’s foremost ambassadors of liberty. We have a responsibility to act like it.

As for what this does to society: If people can pretend that what’s happening isn’t actually happening, they don’t have to look themselves in the mirror. The best hope of waking a society from a nightmare is to ensure the anti-Semites see exactly what they’ve become.
Seth Mandel: What Platner Has Done to the Democratic Party
Yet even two high-powered progressives on the outs can come together for a certain cause: Graham Platner and his Nazi tattoo.

Chakrabarti declared war on Platner’s congressional critics: “Auchincloss should be primaried.” In other words, there is room either for people sporting Nazi tattoos or people who object to them, but not both, in the preferred Democratic Party of AOC’s former chief of staff. (Ocasio-Cortez’s own embrace of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories only got worse after Chakrabarti left her office, so we know she didn’t object to that part of Chakrabarti’s political persona.)

Chakrabarti and others claimed that this was Auchincloss’s way of endorsing the Republican in the race, Susan Collins. Auchincloss clarified that no, he was simply saying Nazis are bad: “Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst admin in history. Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers. As I said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his commentary about it personally disqualifying. If it were me I’d vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.”

But Auchincloss’s nuance fell on deaf ears. Back the Nazi tattoo guy or you might as well be a Republican.

Between Chakrabarti and Auchincloss, there is no question who has taken the more heterodox position on Nazis. After all, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer is also backing Platner’s campaign, as is the party’s relevant campaign committee.

Hasan Piker, the Jew-baiting anti-American influencer popular among progressive Democratic candidates, also chimed in against Auchincloss, calling him part of the “straight up israel first democrats.”

But of course, Auchincloss didn’t mention Israel in that statement. He said Nazis are bad. Piker was, by the way, not the only left-winger to bring up Israel in response to Auchincloss. It was a telling moment: Somehow, suddenly influential progressives openly associate anti-Nazism with disloyalty to America.

Enjoy your new friends, Chuck Schumer.
Taryn Thomas was a committed member of the pro-Palestine movement. Then she went to Israel
Her post opened the floodgates. In November 2025 she then posted a video online talking about how her views had shifted. “By the end of the month, the video had reached millions of views. As it spread, my social world began shrinking. Classmates steadily cut me off, people blocked me, and I became the target of online exposure campaigns and cyberbullying.

“I lost every single friend,” she says. Classmates “posted really disgusting things”, including labelling her a “genocidal apologist”. Thomas says she received death threats and racist abuse – and that her family was also targeted. “It was like a crusade and felt like being stoned publicly.”

The weight of it all left her “deeply depressed”.

“Then my therapist came across the video and decided to end our professional relationship, asking me to find a new provider after learning about my views as a Zionist.”

She now takes a dim view of the encampment atmosphere. “It completely insulates you in this echo chamber and indoctrinates you. If you had any questions, you’d lose your social belonging – the last thing you wanted to be called was a Zionist.”

She adds that the protesters’ “attention turned into this hatred” and there were constant calls for the “normalisation of violence”. Some activists, for example, celebrated the assassinations of Charlie Kirk, the Right-wing political activist, and Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, she says.

The mental toll had become so heavy on Thomas that she stepped away from her studies late last year. What helped get her through this tough period was the new friendships she has formed, including some with Jewish students.

“They knew I came from the encampments and they engaged with me, intellectually argued with me, disagreed with me, but we still broke bread on Shabbat,” she says. “I learnt from my [now] best friend that she was doxxed because of people within our movement. I know I have to repair some of those damages.”

‘Open your heart and put down those megaphones’
Thomas says her family are not politically engaged in the issue of Israel and Gaza, and she has faced questions from her mother about her involvement. “She was just like, ‘Why are you doing this? It isn’t your burden to shoulder.’ She just wants her family to be safe and protected.”

But Thomas hopes that by sharing her story it will encourage others to experience the Nova exhibition. “I hope the people who are protesting will come – I just want them to go inside,” she says. “None of this is political. Just look and learn the stories – you don’t have to agree. Come in with an open heart and an open mind and put down those megaphones.”

As for Thomas, she hopes to return to university in September, but in the meantime, she is determined to do what she can to increase cross-community understanding. “A lot of us on the pro-Palestine side were recruited through empathy, so I think we can be reached through it, too. Because of this unique perspective I have of what changed my heart, I think I can hopefully change other people’s.

“I’m not Jewish; I’m an African American woman. But a lot of our struggles are parallel,” she says. “We’re seeing an increase in anti-Semitism, we’re seeing an increase in extremism and political violence. There’s just no way that I can now sit back, kick my feet up and call it a day.”


Dara Horn: The answer to the Jewish question
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 author and scholar Dara Horn.

Horn visited ToI’s Jerusalem studio while on a break from this year’s International Writers Festival in Jerusalem, taking place May 25-28, at the city’s Mishkenot Sha’ananim cultural center

An author of novels and non-fiction, including “People Love Dead Jews,” “Eternal Life,” “A Guide for the Perplexed,” Horn’s latest book — her first for young readers — is “One Little Goat.”

Her newest nonfiction work will be published by Simon & Schuster in September under the title, “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question: A Love Story for the Living.”

We hear about how, after Horn published her bestselling work, “People Love Dead Jews,” readers asked her for the solution to this problem. This week, she speaks about her new education initiative, Tell, which is bent on teaching American schoolchildren about real, living Jews, and Jewish culture.


The unforgivable betrayal of the Nova Festival victims
The Nova Exhibition lets the horror speak for itself. You can look at and touch the tents, the shoes, the water bottles and the iPhones. They carry a simple and poignant message – does any of this look and feel familiar to you? Does it remind you of the sweat, the dust, the hangover? To everyone there, the answer is probably yes, it does – we’ve all been there. Until you remember that the sneakers in your hands quite possibly belonged to someone who was raped, then shot, then dragged into Gaza and paraded before an ecstatic crowd of young men. Perhaps his or her lifeless body was returned, months after a traumatised family had to witness it being used as a bartering chip by the terrorists. Or perhaps it wasn’t returned at all.

Fast forward to June 2025. It’s the annual Glastonbury Festival, in a sunny field in Somerset. Here, tens of thousands of predominantly young people have gathered to do the very same thing that, less than two years earlier, the revellers at Nova had done. To listen to music, to dance with their friends until sunrise – to be swept up in the intoxicating feeling of common humanity that draws people to music festivals from across the world.

You might expect such people to feel an affinity for the victims of Nova. But instead, there was the opposite. Glastonbury 2025 was effectively a Palestine Action rally, a celebration of the ‘resistance’ that began when the first shots were fired by Hamas at the defenceless attendees of the Nova festival. Irish rap trio Kneecap – one of whose members had publicly praised Hamas – performed in front of a sea of Palestinian flags and led the crowd in a chant of ‘Free Palestine’. Bob Vylan frontman Pascal Robinson-Foster took things further, leading the crowd in chants ‘Death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)’. ‘Widespread support for Palestine was evident in every bar, audience and campsite’, wrote one journalist in glowing approval.

Despite having everything in common with those at the Nova festival, there was a collective refusal on behalf of everyone at Glastonbury to acknowledge it. The same thing could be said for Coachella in the US, or just about any music festival in the West.

Why? Because most of those at the Nova festival were Israelis, and very likely Jewish. And if there is one unquestionable progressive doctrine of our times, it is that Israelis can never – under any circumstances – be seen as ‘people like us’, let alone as victims.

The ‘radicals’ who spent Glastonbury denigrating Israel and praising its enemies would do well to spare an hour at the Nova exhibition in Shoreditch, east London – no doubt it is a short distance from where many of them work or live. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Because Ayala Avraham’s question – ‘How much evil?’ – might not be the only one troubling their conscience. It will be replaced by something possibly worse: ‘How could we have betrayed you?’


Committee to Protect Journalists, Key Source for Kristof's 'Rape' Claims, Has Board Stacked With Anti-Israel Figures Who Accused Israel of 'Apocalyptic' Destruction, 'Genocide,' 'Apartheid'
The Committee to Protect Journalists, the Manhattan-based advocacy group that's a key source for the controversial New York Times exposΓ© on "sexual violence" against Palestinians in Israeli detention, has a board of directors brimming with anti-Israel sentiment and virtually no dissenting voices. Two prominent members—Maria Ressa and Nika Soon-Shiong—have compared Israel to Nazi Germany and accused it of "genocide" and a "war on children," according to a Washington Free Beacon review.

Meanwhile, the organization's vice chair, Times opinion writer Lydia Polgreen, claimed last year in the Times that Israel assassinated a "Pulitzer prize-winning journalist." Even though Israel has released voluminous documentation that the dead man was a Hamas fighter—even producing a picture of him with late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar—Polgreen insisted there was "no credible evidence" that the man fought for the terror group.

None of the CPJ's 29 board members appear to have publicly supported Israel's response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks or supported the United States' providing military and diplomatic support to the Jewish state, calling into question the journalism group’s objectivity as it inserts itself into the debate over the Gaza war. The CPJ was recently caught quietly removing terrorists' names from its widely cited list of journalists killed in Gaza. The CPJ's separate allegations that Palestinian journalists detained by Israel are subjected to sexual violence was a lynchpin of the lurid Times piece by Nicholas Kristof, which quoted two "Palestinian journalists," one named and one anonymous, claiming they were raped by a carrot and a dog while in Israeli detention. (Kristof cited CPJ stats extensively to bolster his case against Israel. It's unclear if CPJ connected him with the men telling the carrot and dog stories.)

The CPJ board is packed with members who strongly—often vehemently—oppose Israel's military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran and also oppose American military, logistical, and diplomatic support for Israel. It is controlled by New York establishment figures tied to publications that have been harshly critical of Israel, most notably the Times. Polgreen—who works alongside Kristof at the Times' embattled Opinion section—has called Israel's actions in Gaza "the most brutal military operation for civilians in the 21st century" that has created an "apocalyptic reality … a moonscape of total devastation and unfathomable loss." She has also compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.

Another CPJ board member, longtime New Yorker editor David Remnick, wrote last year about "Israel's Zones of Denial," likely a reference to the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest about Auschwitz. Remnick's New Yorker also last year won a Pulitzer Prize for work by a "Palestinian poet" who was widely denounced for mocking Israeli hostages (Remnick, a darling of New York's media scene, is also on the Pulitzer board).

The Israeli media watchdog group HonestReporting, which first exposed the CPJ for erasing terrorists from its list of "journalists" killed in Gaza, said the organization has sacrificed its credibility to champion anti-Israel narratives.

"The CPJ rot starts at the top and spreads throughout the organization," HonestReporting editorial director Simon Plosker told the Free Beacon. "We've uncovered members of CPJ's staff who have histories as prominent [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] advocates, including one who led an actual riot on campus in an effort to assault and silence an Israeli influencer from speaking to Jewish students. How is it possible that someone who tries to silence voices they disagree with can find themselves working for an organization that claims to promote freedom of expression?"


British Museum postpones lecture on ancient Israel, cites ‘security concerns’
Paul Collins, keeper of the British Museum’s Middle East department, was slated to deliver a lunchtime talk about “Ancient Israel and Judah in the British Museum” on May 28. The museum now states that the lecture, which was to be part of Jewish Culture month, has been postponed.

“Please note this event has been postponed,” it states. “We apologize for any inconvenience.”

David Wolfson, a member of the House of Lords who is an Orthodox Jew, shared a screenshot of what he said was an email from the museum postponing the event.

“Important information about your booking,” the email from the museum’s ticketing team states. “Due to security concerns, the Ancient Israel and Judah in the British Museum talk on Thursday May 28 has been postponed. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

“If publicly-funded institutions cannot host such events without folding to pressure, serious questions arise about that funding,” wrote Wolfson, shadow attorney general.

In a separate statement, the museum said it had been “informed that a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event.”

“This decision was made to protect the event—not to diminish it,” it stated.

Alex Gandler, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London, stated that “it is shameful that historical and academic truths are being stifled by a grotesque, violent pressure campaign.”

“Those who need to be canceled are the violent criminals that are threatening,” he said.

“Jewish history under attack by extremists,” stated Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUS Israel. “The British Museum—one of the world’s most famous museums, founded in 1753—caved into them.”


Leading N.J. Dem congressional candidate Adam Hamawy volunteered with Al-Qaida-tied group in Bosnia
Adam Hamawy’s past relationship with terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman has loomed over his rapid rise in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

Their relationship spanned a 1991 road trip the two took together to Detroit, Hamawy’s service as the sheikh’s translator for a press conference in which Abdel-Rahman denied any role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Hamawy’s testimony on the sheikh’s behalf at his 1995 trial, where the Islamist leader was convicted of plotting to carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks in New York City.

But just one year before Hamawy took the witness stand to describe his travels with Abdel-Rahman, the now-Congressional candidate made a different journey with another party entangled in terrorist conspiracies: to Bosnia, with a group subsequently shut down for providing “logistical support” to Al-Qaida.

In a 1996 interview with the Newark Star-Ledger, according to a copy Jewish Insider recovered through an archive of print publications, Hamawy described volunteering in Bosnia during the summer of 1994 with a Chicago-based nonprofit called the “Benevolence International Foundation.”

“I worked in Sarajevo for 10 days and then the rest in Zenica, a large regional center in central Bosnia,” Hamawy, who had just graduated from medical school, told the paper about the five weeks he spent with the organization. “We went out to hospitals around the area and in the mountains to check what supplies they needed and we tried to deliver them.”

Sarajevo and Zenica were the exact cities where Benevolence International maintained its offices — offices that Bosnian authorities raided in 2002, part of a joint effort with U.S. authorities to dismantle the group, which they had identified as a front for Al-Qaida. The 9/11 Commission Report would later identify the foundation’s base in the Bosnian capital as part of the “impressive array of offices [that] covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities” that Osama bin Laden established in the early 1990s.

Hamawy, who has scored endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in his New Jersey congressional bid, did not respond to repeated questions about his relationship with Benevolence International and his contacts and activities in Bosnia.

The plastic surgeon has emerged as a frontrunner in the congressional race despite his relationship with the “Blind Sheikh” receiving significant coverage in recent weeks. A 1995 court transcript shows how the then-medical student Hamawy described meeting the Islamist leader in 1991, visiting him at his home and accompanying him on a 13-hour van trip to a conference in Detroit. In the courtroom, he and the sheikh greeted each other warmly, and Hamawy denied a government informant’s claim that Abdel-Rahman had urged the assassination of the then-president of Egypt.
Los Angeles controller race pits mainstream Democrat against anti-Israel incumbent
There are only three citywide elected offices in Los Angeles, and one might expect that in this deep blue city, all three of them — the mayor, the city attorney and the controller — would be Democrats.

But Kenneth Mejia, the incumbent controller who is running for reelection in next week’s primary, bolted from the Democratic Party in early 2024 to protest American support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Unlike in New York City, where the comptroller makes decisions about overseas investments like Israel Bonds, the L.A. controller — the same position that acts as a municipality or state’s auditor, with different spelling — has no jurisdiction over anything Israel-related. But Mejia said in a video last year that he “could no longer be part of a party that pays for bombs to be dropped overseas while people here in America and in L.A. are struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their head.”

That’s provided an opening for his opponent, real estate executive Zach Sokoloff, to go after Mejia, painting him as insufficiently Democratic.

“From my standpoint, Los Angeles is still a staunchly Democratic town,” Sokoloff told Jewish Insider in a recent interview. “I think that it’s healthy for parties to evolve as the world evolves, and I guess remaining loyal to the Democratic Party for me means being involved in that conversation, not abandoning it.”

Sokoloff is Jewish, which is a big part of his identity, both in public and in private. A video on his campaign Instagram account shows Sokoloff sitting on a park bench under the caption, “What is tikkun olam?”

“I’m a proud Jew,” Sokoloff told JI. “It has been very ingrained in me that as Jews we need to care about every individual and their well-being, whether or not they are Jewish, and so to me, that sits at the heart of what drives me to serve my community in the first place.”
In Curious Reversal, McMorrow Ally Honors Fallen US Soldiers Without Mentioning Grandfather’s Role in Nazi Army That Killed 150K Americans
A prominent Democratic fundraiser omitted key Nazi-related details from an Instagram post thanking U.S. service members for preserving her freedom to ride electric bikes at a waterfront resort.

"Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all the brave men and women who’ve served and sacrificed for our freedom," wrote Kelly Neumann, a Michigan trial attorney who co-chairs the finance committee on U.S. Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow's floundering campaign. "[My significant other Megan] and I are off to ride our e-bikes in Harbor Springs and while breathing in freedom, we will be taking moments to reflect on how grateful we are to those who’ve served and continue to serve. God bless America!"

Notwithstanding the moral depravity of electric-powered bicycles, the subject matter was significantly less controversial compared to Neumann's 2024 Veterans Day post on Facebook, in which she honored her late grandfather, Albert Neumann, who served "on the German side in WWI & WWII" before escaping to Brazil after the Allies won.

The post included several photos of the Nazi soldier in uniform. Neumann cited her grandfather's transformation—from loyal cog in Hitler's war machine to being "one of the first people" who accepted her as gay—as evidence that "people can change and love indeed can win."


Democrat Who Claimed Jews Worship Satan, Called for Jailing of Zionists, Loses Primary Runoff for Texas Congressional Seat Despite Initial First-Place Finish
A Democratic Texas House candidate who called for American supporters of Israel to be put in prison—as well as saying Jews worship Satan and own Hollywood—was defeated decisively in a Democratic primary runoff Tuesday evening, despite having finished first in the original vote that triggered the runoff.

Maureen Galindo, an anti-Israel sex therapist who has routinely railed against "Zionists" on social media, came in a distant second behind Johnny Garcia, a public information officer for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, in the contest for Democratic nomination for Texas’s 35th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press and other news outlets.

In March, Galindo placed first in a sharply divided four-way race in the Democratic primary for the 35th district seat. That vote triggered a runoff election for the top two vote-getters, Galindo and Garcia.

Garcia will face Republican Carlos De La Cruz in the November general election for the congressional seat, which is open because of redistricting. Political analysts have rated the redrawn district as "likely Republican," but not a sure thing for the GOP.

Galindo’s triumph in the first vote was largely a surprise. Her campaign has raised less than $11,000 from just four donors, with Galindo herself pumping more than $4,000 of her own money into the effort, Federal Election Commission records show.

Galindo’s under-the-radar campaign first came to widespread attention after a Washington Free Beacon report noted her past comments on social media about Jews.
Some Journalists Still Unsure if Maureen Galindo, Democratic Sex Therapist Who Vowed To Castrate ‘Zionist’ Pedophiles Who ‘Worship Satan,’ Is Antisemitic
Maureen Galindo, the kooky San Antonio sex therapist and Democratic House candidate who lost a primary runoff this week after receiving the most votes back in March, has made a series of comments most objective observers would describe as antisemitic.

In light of Galindo's past remarks about "the Jews who own Hollywood" and "worship Satan"—not to mention her recently announced plan to establish a "prison" and "castration processing center" for "American Zionists" and other "pedophiles"—even some mainstream media outlets have conceded as much.

Axios and CNN described Galindo's comments about Jews as "antisemitic." PBS observed that she had "repeatedly expressed antisemitic views." Democratic politicians largely concurred.

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) blasted Galindo as the "antisemitic and anti-American candidate." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) condemned Galindo for spouting "bigoted garbage" and endorsed her conservative, pro-Israel Democratic opponent, county sheriff's deputy Johnny Garcia. The endorsement did not sit well with antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, who called it "ridiculous."

Nevertheless, some mainstream outlets persisted in their reluctance to describe a Democrat's rhetoric as antisemitic. The New York Times said the race had been "roiled by antisemitism accusations" in response to Galindo's "critical comments about Israel and its supporters." Days earlier, the Times noted that Galindo had "attracted national attention and anger" for vowing to castrate pedophiles—a group she said would likely comprise "most of the Zionists" she planned to imprison.

Politico described Galindo as being "accused of antisemitism," while noting the candidate had denied those accusations while claiming the Democratic Party was trying to "inflame [her] comments" to promote her "Israeli-backed opponent." Last week, Politico reported that Galindo had been "broadly condemned by Democrats over a string of comments they say are antisemitic," while again noting that she denied the allegations because her "last serious relationship was with a Jewish man," among other reasons.


NYC councilwoman under fire for invoking hell on Muslim rally-goers outside Gracie Mansion
Shahana Hanif, a member of the New York City Council, is facing backlash after invoking hell upon Muslim activists who attended a rally on Tuesday opposing antisemitism and criticizing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“May Allah condemn you to Jahannam,” Hanif wrote, directing the remark at Anila Ali, president of the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, and Zeba Zebunessa, a board member of the organization. Both attended the rally organized by EndJewHatred outside Gracie Mansion.

Ali stated that she and Zebunessa attended “to stand with the Jewish people and protest Mayor Mamdani’s refusal to stop religious freedom violations against the Jewish people, their intimidation and harassment under his leadership.”

Jayne Zirkle, director of communications and outreach at the Lawfare Project, told JNS that the protest was “a powerful show of solidarity in defense of freedom and Western civilization.”

“Our co-sponsoring organizations included Muslim, Christian and Hindu groups alike, reflecting a coalition that rose above politics and the divisions that too often separate us,” said Zirkle, who helped organize the rally. “To condemn people for attending such an event is to condemn the very principles of freedom our nation was founded on.”

After the post drew criticism online, Hanif defended her comment, writing, “It’s OK for me to say that about my people (these Muslim ladies) joining a hate-fest. You all love to take things out of context.”

Brooke Goldstein, executive director of the Lawfare Project and founder of EndJewHatred, called the comment evidence of the kind of “Islamist radicalism” the rally was meant to oppose.

“We will end the extremism that has been brought to this country,” she wrote.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, stated that Ali “showed up only to oppose hate, harassment and murder. For these things, Hanif condemns her.”

“If you are not disgusted by Hanif, something is seriously the matter with you, and particularly your moral compass,” Menken wrote.


Alo Yoga Urged to Investigate Customers Receiving Packages With Anti-Israel, Anti-Jewish Messages
The Jewish advocacy group StandWithUs has called on the American athleisure brand Alo Yoga to publicly condemn antisemitism and investigate how some customers received packages containing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages.

“No customer should face discrimination or hate because of their identity or nationality. We are calling on Alo Yoga to investigate this incident, condemn antisemitism clearly and publicly, and ensure this never happens again,” StandWithUs said in a statement.

The Jewish group also asked supporters to send “a respectful direct message” to the privately-owned company on Instagram and demand the brand take “accountability,” address the reported incidents, and condemn antisemitism.

Earlier in May, the Israeli publication Ynet spoke with two Alo Yoga customers in Israel who ordered items from the brand’s official website. Instead of receiving a mailed package with their purchased products, the shipments included hateful messages. Both customers said their orders were placed through the brand’s US website but physically shipped from Alo Yoga Canada.

One customer said her package did not include the items she ordered and was instead full of torn cardboard and papers, and an empty plastic bag used to wrap clothing. She shared photos of her printed order summary that was inside the package, showing someone had handwritten “Free Palestine,” “Hamas will win,” and “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].” Someone had also drawn an inverted red triangle, which has been used to symbolize support for violent Palestinian “resistance” against Israel. The symbol first appeared in propaganda videos from the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

“The bag was sealed — the shipment arrived intact, and I opened the folds myself, so it would appear that this had to have happened at the company itself,” the customer told Ynet. “All the junk inside — the cardboard, the bags — was also all from Alo Yoga.”

The shopper said after she contacted customer service through the Al Yoga chat and uploaded a photo of the package, the chat blocked her.

A second Israeli Alo Yoga customer told Ynet the package she received did not contain her purchased items but just a order slip with the handwritten messages “Free Palestine,” “Victory to Hamas,” “From the river to the sea,” and “Death, death to the IDF.”
Brooklyn food coop votes to boycott Israeli products after years-long push
Members of the Park Slope Food Coop in the Brooklyn borough of New York City voted on Tuesday night to boycott Israeli products, citing the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

The measure passed by a margin of 67% (4,551) to 31% (2,083), with 2% abstaining, according to vote totals reported after the virtual meeting. Coop members first approved a bylaw change lowering the threshold for boycott measures from a 75% supermajority to a simple majority.

The Park Slope Food Coop, founded in 1973, has about 16,000 members and carries a limited number of Israeli products, including tahini, snacks and produce. Supporters of the measure said members had pushed for such a boycott since 2009.

A statement released following the vote claimed that coop members had worked for 17 years to pass the measure, accusing “far-right Zionist opponents” of continuously attempting to block it through intimidation and procedural tactics.

“This does nothing to help Israelis and Palestinians make peace,” said Avi Posnick, executive director of StandWithUs Northeast. “Instead, it actively promotes the agenda of violent extremists, while fueling hostility and division among members of the co-op.”

The vote came after the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law sent a letter urging the coop to cancel or restructure the referendum, citing concerns about antisemitism and the safety of Jewish members. The meeting was ultimately held entirely online after organizers cited security concerns.

Andres Spokoiny, president and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, mocked the boycott, sarcastically stating that the measure “will free Palestine.”

“That’s it, people, it’s over,” he wrote. “The Soviets, Nasser, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran couldn’t, but this boycott will break the Zionist monster. People are leaving Tel Aviv as we speak. We held up heroically, but this is really too much.”
Brandeis Center exploring legal options after Brooklyn food co-op boycotts Israel
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is weighing whether to sue the Park Slope Food Coop after the Brooklyn, N.Y., store voted on Tuesday night to boycott Israeli products.

Omer Wiczyk, senior counsel at the center, told JNS that he has been in contact with “numerous” members of the co-op both before and after the vote and is “looking aggressively to see what recourse we can take through the legal process.”

“These types of boycott, divestment and sanctions resolutions end up bubbling over into more aggressive antisemitic conduct,” he told JNS. “They are inherently antisemitic and anti-Israeli, and these movements don’t stop with a boycott.”

“We know where this is going, and that’s why we are going to get out ahead of it,” he said.

The attorney noted that supporters of the boycott measure made antisemitic comments, including someone saying during a co-op debate that “Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country.” Some at the meeting applauded the latter statement.

“‘Jewish supremacy’ is a classic dog whistle, a classic antisemitic trope,” Wiczyk told JNS. “It shows intent. When the members of the coop that are advocating in favor of the resolution are talking about ‘Jewish supremacy’ and applauding each other, it indicates to you that—is this really about the treatment of Palestinians or something else?”

“There is evidence of antisemitic animus going back 18 months,” he said.


New report documents $65 million Qatari campaign to influence U.S. education at all levels
Qatar has spent more than $65 million to influence U.S. education over the past 17 years through Qatar Foundation International, with efforts targeting all levels of education including K-12, universities, teacher training programs and national education networks, according to a new report from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.

ISGAP, in its report, called for a federal investigation of Qatar’s influence efforts targeting American education — and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill appear eager to join those inquiries.

“Given the scale, duration, and structure of these activities, this is not a series of isolated educational programs. The 54-page report, ‘Institutional Capture,’ specifically documents how foreign-linked funding was used to shape educational content and educator training in ways that were not transparent to institutions, regulators, or the public,” Charles Asher Small, ISGAP’s executive director, said in a statement. “These findings require decisive action. We are calling on federal authorities to conduct a full review of these activities, to examine how they intersect with publicly funded programs, and to ensure that transparency and accountability are upheld across the entire education system.”

The report alleges that QFI has gone significantly further than supporting Arab-language education, as QFI now claims is its goal, and has instead undertaken efforts to exercise influence over social studies, science, technology, art and mathematics curricula, activism and educational professional development programs — and deliberately engaged in efforts to shield its work and influence, using the credibility of host organizations to which it provided funding.

“It is the realized embodiment of defined civilizational jihad against Western society outlined by the Muslim Brotherhood decades ago, entrenching and embedding its influence within Western educational institutions to transform their narratives to align with the ideology of political Islam,” the report asserts.
Harvard Gives $90,000-a-Year Fellowships to Four Anti-Israel Activists
Harvard is bringing four more anti-Israel activists to campus, hiring a filmmaker, a "journalist" for a Qatari-owned outlet, an English teacher at a Hamas-linked university in Gaza who has accused Israel of "scholasticide," and a professor who has described Israel as an "ecofascist state" guilty of "domicide." They’ll serve as Radcliffe Fellows in the 2026-2027 academic year, earning at least $89,550 over nine months for a stipend, expenses, and housing allowance and potentially tens of thousands of dollars more in child care, health care, and moving expenses, along with access to Harvard libraries and athletic facilities, office space, and use of Harvard undergraduates as paid research assistants.

The newly named fellows include:
— Mahdi Fleifel, the Dubai-born writer-director of London-based Nakba FilmWorks. In 2018 Nakba FilmWorks affirmed its support of the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel. In an interview published in July 2025 with the World Socialist Web Site, Fleifel appeared to justify the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel: "The events of October 7? You leave the Palestinians to rot and die in a cage, what do you expect is going to happen? They’re going to send Christmas cards?" He also agreed with an interviewer who asserted that dignity and freedom for Palestinians "requires the overthrow of everything," replying, "Exactly."

— Ibtisam Azem, whose LinkedIn profile describes her as, since 2014, a New York-based "journalist and novelist" for Qatari-owned Alaraby Aljadeed Ltd. In July 2025, she conducted a fawning interview with Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University anti-Israel activist that the U.S. government is trying to deport. Her questions included, "How do you situate your arrest and the broader Palestinian freedom movement in the U.S., especially student-led activism, in relation to other justice movements like the civil rights movements for African Americans, Indigenous struggles, or the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa?" Her introduction to the interview described "the genocide in Palestine—a genocide backed by President Donald Trump’s administration." She’s also a public supporter of the boycott against Israel; in a 2020 interview with the Asia Times, she said, "there is no agreement to translate the novel into Hebrew. Any such translation must be in accordance with the principles of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions)." In the same interview she described both Israel and the U.S. as "settler-colonial countries."
Vile antisemitic UCLA students formed Jewish exclusion zone, beat them unconscious, attacked with sticks: suit
A group of antisemitic UCLA students beat their Jewish classmates unconscious, attacked them with sticks and pepper spray and created Jewish exclusion zones — all while the school did nothing to stop it — according to a new lawsuit against the University of California.

The school allowed for vile antisemitic attacks on Jewish students on the campus following the Hamas attacks on October 7, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said in the suit, obtained by The California Post.

“Antisemitic hatred against UCLA’s Jewish and Israeli students reached a point where students were physically assaulted, injured, excluded from campus, and deprived of educational opportunities because of their perceived Jewish or Israeli heritage,” the lawsuit said.

The explosive Department of Justice complaint alleges anti-Israel protesters seized control of UCLA’s main quad in April 2024, setting up barricades and physically blocking Jewish and Israeli students from entering classrooms, libraries and walkways.

One Jewish student was knocked unconscious with an open head wound, while others were kicked, beaten with sticks and blasted with pepper spray. Another victim was assaulted and told “Hitler missed one.”

One Native Jewish woman-who counter protested by holding a sign reading “Hamas supporters are not welcome on native land”-was “violently assaulted,” per the complaint. UCLA police were “directly behind [her] and [did] absolutely nothing,” it added.

Protestors established militia-style checkpoints on UCLA’s campus and refused to allow Jews to traverse public property unless those Jews denounced a core tenet of their religion, per the complaint.

The encampment took over Royce Quad — the heart of campus — with barricades, checkpoints and graffiti including “F*** ALL Jews” and ‘F*** Israel’ scrawled on buildings.


Ukraine reburies Nazi collaborator with state honors, drawing Israeli condemnation
Israel criticized Ukraine on Monday after President Volodymyr Zelensky gave full state honors to a Ukrainian nationalist leader who was part of a movement that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

During a reburial ceremony on Sunday, Zelensky described Andriy Melnyk and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnyk, as “iconic Ukrainians of the 20th century who are deeply respected,” according to The New York Times.

Melnyk led one of the factions of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists during its collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II. Though the Ukrainian organization shared a mutual opposition to Soviet rule with the Nazis, it also promoted antisemitic rhetoric and some of its members participated in the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. Melnyk initially sought cooperation with Nazi Germany but was later detained by the Nazis as relations with Ukrainian nationalist groups deteriorated.

The ceremony marked the latest flashpoint in a longstanding dispute over Ukraine’s commemoration of World War II-era nationalist figures linked to Nazi collaboration. In 2018, the country designated the birthday of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera as a holiday, and in 2017, a statue was unveiled honoring a nationalist leader whose regime killed tens of thousands of Jews in pogroms during the Russian Revolution.

The remains of Melnyk and his wife were exhumed from Luxembourg last week and then transported to Ukraine for reburial at Kyiv’s National Military Memorial, which opened last year for soldiers killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Glory to every Ukrainian hero! Glory to all our Ukrainian warriors! Glory to our people!” Zelensky, who is Jewish, wrote in a post on X marking the ceremony, adding that he was “grateful to everyone who has worked to make such returns of great Ukrainian figures possible and to give the Ukrainian People their own pantheon of heroes.”
Israelis attacked in Cyprus; one reported injured
Three Israelis were attacked with a sharp object in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia on Tuesday afternoon, with one person sustaining wounds, local media reported.

Following a manhunt, local police arrested two suspects, identified as men from Syrian origin, according to the Knews outlet.

The stabbings took place in the city center, the website said. The condition of the wounded victim was not immediately clear.

JNS reached out to Israeli Ambassador to Cyprus Oren Anolik, who referred to a statement posted to X.

“I am deeply shocked by the violent attack against Israeli citizens in Nicosia, targeted solely because of their visibly Jewish appearance,” Anolik tweeted. “Such antisemitic violence has no place in Cyprus.”

The envoy thanked the Cyprus Police for the swift arrest operation. “Those responsible must face justice,” he added.

“Amid a worrying and untypical rise in antisemitic incidents in Cyprus, clear and firm condemnation by leaders across the country is essential,” concluded Anolik.
Police arrest suspected accomplice in Berlin Holocaust Memorial stabbing
German police on Wednesday arrested a Syrian man suspected of aiding a 2025 stabbing attack that seriously wounded a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, according to the Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors identified the suspect as Khalaf A., who is accused of encouraging the attacker ahead of the Feb. 21 assault and acting as an accessory to attempted murder and bodily harm.

The attacker, also a Syrian national, Wassim Al M., was sentenced in March 2026 to 13 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder and attempting to join a foreign terrorist organization. The court found he carried out the attack in the name of the Islamic State terrorist group and targeted the memorial because he believed Jews would be present, shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” after carrying out the stabbing.

The victim was stabbed in the throat at the site, which commemorates the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
Police seek suspects in antisemitic vandalism at 9/11 memorial in Wisconsin
Police in Lisbon, Wis., are seeking suspects accused of spray-painting antisemitic graffiti on a local 9/11 memorial earlier this month.

Authorities said swastikas, a Star of David and other graffiti were discovered on the Lisbon Village Hall building and the nearby 9/11 memorial on May 9. The vandalism also included “Matthew 6” and “Romans 4,” referring to chapters in the New Testament.

The memorial, dedicated in 2011, includes a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center. Crews later removed the graffiti using specialized cleaning agents to avoid damaging the artifact.

On Tuesday, Lieutenant Nicholas Wenzel of the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office asked the public for “assistance in identifying those responsible for this vandalism,” encouraging anyone with information about the incident or suspicious activity in the area to contact detectives with tips.
Jewish couple in Santa Monica attacked by man who shouted ‘genocide’
A chaotic and violent scene unfolded at a busy Santa Monica intersection on Sunday when a man shouting obscenities first chased a couple, then attacked them with his dog.

The suspect, identified as Tar Nay, faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats.

The incident happened around 5:20 p.m. at Broadway and the Third Street Promenade pedestrian mall. Video shared on social media shows the suspect first driving slowly through the intersection while brandishing a baseball bat and yelling at the couple.

“Preliminary information indicates the suspect … was driving on Broadway when he stopped in traffic and began yelling threats at two people crossing the street,” the Santa Monica Police Department said.

Moments later, he gets out of the car and chases them while shouting “genocide” and “genocidal,” the video shows. The couple believes they were targeted because they are Jewish.

After the initial confrontation, the suspect returned to his car, then came back with his dog, a male Cane Corso, which bit the male victim on the thigh, police said. He then got back into the car with his dog and drove away.

The victim was treated at the scene for a minor wound.


Japan’s Olympus buys Israeli co BioProtect for $270m
The medical device company has developed an implant to protect healthy tissue from radiation damage during prostate cancer treatment.

Japanese medical device company Olympus Corporation announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Israeli medical device manufacturer BioProtect, which has developed an implant to protect healthy tissue from radiation damage during prostate cancer treatment.

Olympus will pay $270 million for BioProtect. This figure is higher than the $200 million that was reported to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in January by Almeda Ventures (TASE: AMDA), a limited partnership in healthcare investments, which owns 4% of BioProtect. Aty the time Almeda said that BioProtect had signed a memorandum of understanding to be acquired by an unnamed investor.

Other investors who will profit from the acquisition include: TriVentures, which invested in the company in 2020; Consensus BioGroup led by Vincent Tchenguiz, which invested in the Xenia incubator from which the company grew, MVB, and KB Investments, and the state’s Israel Innovation Authority, which also invested in the company at the incubator stage.

The revolutionary balloon that focuses radiation

Radiation treatment for prostate cancer puts the patient at risk of losing sexual function or damaging the sphincters, as these systems literally surround the prostate. The product is a type of balloon made of transparent polymer, which is placed in the area when uninflated, and then inflated by inserting a biodegradable gel. The balloon moves the sensitive organs away from the prostate, making it easier to focus the radiation only on the prostate.

BioProtect was founded in 2004 by urologist and medical device entrepreneur Dr. Adrian Paz, Prof. Avi Domb, currently president of the Academic Heart Center in Jerusalem and formerly Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Science, and biomed entrepreneur Dr. Shaul Shochat.
Israeli lecturer donates part of liver to save critically ill Arab baby
An Israeli computer science lecturer has donated part of her liver to save the life of an eight-month-old Arab baby after carrying a decades-long wish to help another family avoid the loss she experienced as a child.

Dr Talia Eden, 39, a researcher and lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, underwent surgery earlier this month to donate part of her liver to Bissan, a baby from Jerusalem born with a rare liver condition that had developed into life-threatening liver failure.

Doctors had reportedly warned Bissan’s family that without an urgent transplant, she would not survive. Neither of her parents nor any of the other close relatives were found to be suitable donors.

For Eden, the decision carried deep personal significance. Her father died from Hepatitis C while waiting for a liver transplant, something she said had stayed with her for years.

According to Clalit-Schneider Children’s Medical Centre, Eden first approached Israel’s National Transplant Centre in her twenties hoping to become an altruistic liver donor, but was advised she was too young and should wait until after having children.

Despite building an academic career, raising a family and spending time in the United States for postdoctoral research, she continued pursuing the idea over the years.

Several potential donations reportedly fell through before she received confirmation that surgery could go ahead.

Two days before the transplant, Eden was told that the recipient would be Bissan. At the time, she was travelling to the airport for a work trip when doctors informed her that the baby’s condition was rapidly worsening. She immediately turned around and asked for the surgery to be brought forward.





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