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Sunday, June 07, 2026

06/06 Links: What D-day teaches about Israel, Iran, and unity; Restraining Israel Is Not the Answer; The SPLC’s real scam; Zionism, Jews and the coming inquisition

From Ian:

Coming together again: What D-day teaches about Israel, Iran, and unity
For many, an unanswered question prevails: Why is it that Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada fail to recognize the similarities between the Germany of World War II and Iran?

There can be little doubt that these countries, by their desire to remain “neutral,” have become party to the projection of a dangerous negativity toward Israel and the Jewish people.

A most disturbing question is why those who came together to confront Hitler fail to see the Iranian leader’s plan to emulate him. It was Hitler’s Germany that barbarically killed six million Jews, and today it is Iran that openly states its desire to eliminate Israel, home to the world’s largest number of Jews.

The ultimate observation is that the Jew was the whipping boy of the past and is the whipping boy of today; the only difference is who holds the whip.

And what of the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic alliance embracing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, all of which have been attacked by Iran?

While Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has compared Iran’s proxy network and regional expansion in the Middle East to Hitler’s pre-World War II annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, neither Saudi Arabia nor the others respond militarily to Iran’s assault on their respective countries.

The coming together of Israel and the US in their fight against Iran – which began on February 28 – epitomized the meaning of togetherness. Yet does it follow that this union has the support of America’s man in the street?

Yaakov Katz’s excellent article in last week’s Magazine highlights the increasing lack of support for Israel from the US public, embracing a high proportion of its younger generation, which will be voting for a new president in just over two years. It is the public that ultimately decides the policy of a country; and, observing which way the wind is blowing in the US, it does not look good for Israel.

The increasing possibility that Israel cannot rely indefinitely on support from the US brings us to the question of how we in Israel – possibly alone – will be successful in confronting those who wish to eliminate us.
Restraining Israel Is Not the Answer
Donald Trump is not known for hewing to convention, but this week he seemed to rerun a standard Beltway drama. During a phone call on Monday, the president called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "crazy" and pressured him to rein in the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. Two days later, the State Department announced it had brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

The seeming crackup in the Bibi-Trump bromance thrilled Israel’s critics and perturbed the Jewish state’s supporters. Some hope the close working relationship between Trump and Netanyahu is drawing to a close, others fear the entire bond between Washington and Jerusalem to be severed. Israel’s opponents think Trump’s actions to restrain Bibi show that the Jewish state is a strategic liability. But in reality, frictions like this between the two sides are common because of the value Israel provides the United States.

The most recent shouting has been over how to conclude the conflict with Iran. Israel and the United States severely damaged the Islamic regime’s leadership and war machine during their bombing campaign, but since it has not collapsed, their different priorities have emerged. Trump wants the Gulf Arabs’ oil to reach global markets again and to gain control of Iran’s enriched uranium without a return to major combat. Netanyahu wants Hezbollah to stop attacking northern Israel with drones and other long-range weapons. The mullahs claim the fighting in southern Lebanon, which Hezbollah started, is a serious obstacle to further negotiations about an interim agreement, so Trump is trying to find a workable compromise.

This sort of thing happens at the denouement of nearly every war that Israel has had to fight. The American goal in Middle Eastern conflicts usually is for its allies—including Israel—to successfully defend themselves, and then to reestablish peace in the region as quickly as possible. Threats to globally significant infrastructure, such as the Suez Canal or Persian Gulf oil refineries, make Washington nervous. More often than not, after fending off the initial attack, Jerusalem prefers to crush its opponents on the battlefield and destroy their ability to threaten the Jewish state for years or even decades.

This occurs regardless of how warmly the White House regards Israel. After the pan-Arab attempt to destroy Israel in 1948 failed and Israel gained the initiative, Harry Truman halted David Ben-Gurion’s counteroffensive. A decade later during the Suez crisis, Dwight Eisenhower forced Israel and its British and French allies to withdraw from Egypt. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger stopped Israel just short of encircling and annihilating much of the Egyptian Army at the end of the Yom Kippur War. Ronald Reagan forcefully condemned Israel's operations in Lebanon in the 1980s, and George H.W. Bush did everything he could to keep Israel from responding to Saddam Hussein’s unprovoked missile attacks in the first Gulf War.

Both strategies have shown their value at times. Eisenhower thought sparing Gamal Abdel Nasser would win over Third World opinion in the Cold War, but all he did was empower a dictator who cozied up to the Soviet Union and undermined our allies. America would have benefited from a Nasser-less Egypt. Hezbollah rewarded Reagan’s concern for Lebanese civilians by bombing the U.S. embassy and a Marine barracks in Beirut, going on a decades-long spree of international terrorism, repeatedly attacking Israel, and immiserating generations of Lebanese. But if Anwar Sadat had been thoroughly humiliated in 1973 and lost the forces he needed to maintain his grip on power, he could not have spoken in the Knesset in 1977 and then made peace with Israel the next year.
Alan Baker: Can the Oslo Accords model still deliver peace after October 7?
Local realities further complicate any return to the Oslo model. The Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, fundamentally altered Israel’s security assumptions. The belief that territorial compromises, international guarantees, and external monitoring arrangements could provide sufficient security has been severely weakened. For many Israelis, the events of October 7 demonstrated that ultimate responsibility for national security cannot be delegated to international actors.

At the same time, increasing international pressure for immediate Palestinian statehood bypasses the very negotiating framework established by Oslo. The accords envisaged that permanent-status issues would be resolved through direct agreement between the parties. Efforts by foreign governments and international organizations to recognize Palestinian statehood in advance of negotiations effectively prejudge issues that were expressly reserved for negotiation. Such initiatives undermine the contractual foundations of the peace process and further erode confidence in international guarantees.

This dynamic is closely related to the widespread international promotion of the “two-state solution.” While the concept has become a diplomatic slogan, it was never included in the Oslo Accords. The accords intentionally left all final-status arrangements open for negotiation. Whether the eventual outcome would involve two states, a federation, a confederation, or another arrangement was to be determined exclusively by the parties themselves. The transformation of the two-state formula from a possible negotiated outcome into a predetermined international prescription departs from the original logic of the peace process.

Further complicating matters is the absence of a unified and authoritative Palestinian leadership capable of serving as a reliable negotiating partner. At the same time, Israel faces its own internal political and governance challenges, which affect national cohesion and international perceptions of stability.

Against this backdrop, the Abraham Accords offer an alternative and more encouraging model. Announced in 2020, these agreements demonstrated that Arab states and Israel can establish peaceful, productive, and mutually beneficial relations based on shared interests and direct engagement. The accords emphasize coexistence, mutual understanding, cultural exchange, and regional cooperation. Their success suggests that meaningful progress is achievable when parties choose pragmatic cooperation over confrontation.

The central lesson remains unchanged. International forums, judicial bodies, and unilateral recognition initiatives were never intended to replace direct negotiation. Efforts to impose solutions from outside may satisfy short-term political interests, but they cannot create the trust, legitimacy, and mutual acceptance necessary for durable peace.

As long as international actors continue to bypass rather than encourage negotiation, instability is likely to persist. A viable and lasting peace can emerge only from direct engagement between the parties themselves.

Until conditions exist for such negotiations, Israel will continue to rely primarily on its own capabilities to safeguard its security and national interests.




France, allies eye coordinated sanctions to pressure Israel over West Bank, diplomats say
France is working with several countries to step up pressure on Israel by pressing ahead with coordinated national sanctions targeting individuals linked to violence in the West Bank, three European diplomats said on Saturday.

The measures, which would include asset freezes and travel bans, have yet to be finalized and countries may adopt different lists of individuals, the diplomats said.

The move comes amid escalating violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank and underscores anger in many Western countries toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has rarely prosecuted those involved and has expanded settlements with the stated goal of undermining prospects for a Palestinian state. No EU unanimity for tougher measures on Israel

The diplomats said that with efforts blocked at the European Union to advance tougher measures against Israel, several countries had concluded that coordinated national sanctions were the best option for now.

“There is no unanimity at the EU level, so we have moved to discussions at the national level,” one diplomat said.

Two of the diplomats said the announcement would be in the coming days.

Another diplomat said Britain and Norway were among the countries France was coordinating with, although it remained unclear who else could join.

Most countries avoid publicly discussing national sanctions for fear that potential targets could shift assets in advance.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said after some new EU sanctions on May 11 that the bloc had “chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis.”

Seven Western nations, including France, Britain, Australia and Canada, accused the Israeli government on May 22 of aggravating tensions in the West Bank.
Jeff Bartos says UN reform is no longer an 'oxymoron' after $570M in cuts
When Jeff Bartos appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2025 for his confirmation hearing, he was warned that the job he was seeking might not exist.

The Pennsylvania businessman, former political candidate and endurance athlete had been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador for United Nations Management and Reform — a title that has long sounded aspirational in a building famous for bureaucracy.

During his confirmation hearing, Bartos recalled being greeted with a dose of skepticism.

"U.N. reform? That's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one," lawmakers told him.

Less than a year later, Bartos believes the impossible is beginning to happen.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the Trump administration official laid out an ambitious campaign to reshape an institution critics say has become bloated, inefficient and increasingly disconnected from its founding mission.

The effort comes at a pivotal moment for the United Nations. The stakes extend well beyond budgets. As the U.N. confronts a cash crunch, prepares to choose its next secretary-general and faces growing scrutiny from the administration, the debate over reform has become a battle over the institution's future: whether it remains on its current course or undergoes its most significant restructuring in decades.

Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly warned of a growing liquidity crisis as the organization struggles with delayed member-state payments, including billions owed by the United States. At the same time, the Trump administration has made clear that future funding and support will be increasingly tied to reforms.

Bartos argues that pressure is already producing results.

Sitting at the U.N. headquarters, he points to what he calls historic achievements: roughly $570 million cut from the U.N.'s regular budget and 2,900 positions eliminated through negotiations among all 193 member states.

"Again, never happened before in 80 years," Bartos said.

"$570 million cut to the regular budget, approximately 3,000 posts cut. Unanimity. That's by consensus. All 193 countries had to come together."
The espionage affair: Who is driving a wedge between the US and Israel?
The latest scandal that emerged overnight marks a troubling escalation in the subterranean conflict unfolding within the American establishment against Israel. The dramatic leak to NBC News, according to which the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) raised Israel's espionage threat level to the highest "critical" category, is not a routine security incident. To understand its significance, historical context is essential.

Since the Jonathan Pollard affair in the 1980s, Israel has been careful to avoid spying on U.S. soil or monitoring senior American officials. For that reason, the current report raises numerous questions, particularly given that the leaked document reportedly contains no forensic evidence or concrete findings proving a breach, only alleged "concerns." The absence of evidence raises an obvious question: Is this merely a coincidence, or could the document represent a kind of land mine or parting gift left behind by departing intelligence officials? To answer that question, one must look at the timing.

It is highly noteworthy that anonymous intelligence-community "sources" chose to leak the information precisely as Congress is considering Section 224 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2027.

A dramatic initiative
Section 224 is a dramatic and critical initiative intended to deepen, synchronize and accelerate U.S.-Israel defense technology cooperation. The provision focuses on shared challenges at the forefront of military technology, including counter-drone systems, missile defense, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

It requires the Pentagon to appoint a senior official to coordinate that cooperation, ensuring that American and Israeli forces maintain a qualitative advantage on the battlefield. The isolationist wing in the United States has mounted a forceful campaign against the provision, spreading what the author views as myths that it would "merge" the two militaries, give Israel influence over Pentagon supply chains and, above all, grant Israel unrestricted access to sensitive U.S. military data.

Now, just as the provision faces a critical test, an intelligence document surfaces warning that Israel is aggressively spying on the United States. The institutional logic of the leakers is, in the author's view, entirely clear: How can Congress approve legislation that expands information-sharing and technological cooperation with a country simultaneously designated a "critical espionage threat"? This amounts to a targeted effort to derail the legislation.

To connect the dots behind this campaign, it is worth revisiting the controversy surrounding Joe Kent's departure two months ago.

Kent, the Trump-appointed director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), resigned and launched an unprecedented attack on Israel. He argued that Iran does not pose an immediate threat and accused Israel and its supporters of dragging America into an unnecessary war. He also linked his wife's death in Syria to a conflict that he claimed Israel helped create. Kent is not operating in a vacuum. Does his worldview also reflect the outlook of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard?

Throughout her tenure, Gabbard displayed deep opposition to any military confrontation with Iran. Although she presented her resignation as a personal decision related to her spouse's illness, there are indications behind the scenes suggesting that she was actually forced out because of those disagreements.


What New York's Israel Day Parade says about the future of American Jewry
WE MUST STOP coddling our collective consciousness. The current state of affairs in New York bears a terrifying psychological resemblance to the early years of 1930s Germany. Antisemitic incidents are skyrocketing across the United States. Heavy armed protection at synagogues, day schools, and community centers has transitioned from an emergency measure to a permanent, mundane norm.

When a minority group requires an army just to walk down a public avenue, they are no longer equal citizens; they are targets living on borrowed time.

We are currently tracking toward a perfect storm scenario. Consider the geopolitical and domestic horizon:
The economic and human toll: A protracted, gray-zone war with Iran is draining the US Treasury and costing or endangering the lives of American servicemen and women abroad.
The political lame duck: As the polarization peaks, if US President Donald Trump loses control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, he faces a hostile Congress as a lame-duck president. In the ensuing vacuum, both the radical Left and the populist Right will look for a historic, convenient scapegoat. They will blame the Jews, the Left for America’s alliance with Israel, and the Right for perceived globalist failures.
The northern front: Simultaneously, to protect its citizens from relentless rocket fire, Israel will be forced to do in southern Lebanon what it had to do in Gaza: launch a devastating, high-intensity campaign to dismantle Hezbollah. The resulting visual horrors broadcast by a hostile global media will focus exclusively on the destruction in Lebanon, completely omitting the fact that Israel’s enemies deliberately hide their military assets behind human shields.

When those images flash across American television screens against the backdrop of a souring domestic economy, the backlash on the streets of New York will make the current campus encampments look tame.

WHAT WILL it take to awaken a Diaspora community? What does it take to make them realize that the armor plating on their schools, and the snipers at their parades, are not signs of safety, but signs for more dramatic solutions?

The Jews of New York are currently celebrating their ability to survive behind a thin blue line. But security cordons can be dismantled by a single administrative directive from an unfriendly politician.

How long do we have before the ghetto displayed on Fifth Avenue becomes even further widespread and untenable? The clock is ticking, and the walls are closing in. It is time for American Jewry to wake up, look past the barricades, and realize exactly where they are standing.
Seth Mandel: The Bottomless Pit of Progressive Primaries
The Democratic Party primaries have demonstrated two aspects of the progressive drift toward extremist candidates: the character of the candidates themselves and the speed of the transformation of the party.

Both of those elements are once again on display with yet another troubling congressional candidate.

June 23 is the date of what the New York Times calls “arguably the fiercest primary battle in New York City this cycle,” between five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Darializa Avila Chevalier, a left-wing insurgent with the backing of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Chevalier also has the endorsement of the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a once-moribund crowd of left-wing afterthoughts that has been revitalized by its new mission: spreading anti-Semitism.

City & State NY reported yesterday that Chevalier’s already-unsubtle anti-Zionist fixation is more monstrous than it appeared. That has to do with a particular DSA rally.

On October 8, 2023, as Israel was still counting its dead and searching for remaining Palestinian terrorists on the heels of the Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 innocents and took over 200 hostages, and which included extended sexual torture and the killing of entire families by giddy Gazans, the DSA promoted a pro-Palestinian rally that was organized to celebrate the barbarity.

Even for the anti-Israel progressive faithful, this was too much. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, leader of the party’s influential anti-Zionist caucus, criticized it. So did Zohran Mamdani, at the time a state legislator. Attendees at the rally justified the carnage in Israel as legitimate “resistance,” shocking the consciences even of DSA members.

At a debate this week with his primary opponent for a different New York seat, Brad Lander—a key architect of the anti-Zionist whirlwind engulfing Gotham—said he dropped his DSA membership over the rally. Lander is a Mamdani backer who is constantly accusing his opponent, the incumbent Dan Goldman, of being too supportive of Israel and of taking Jewish money to hold onto his seat. Yet even Lander was horrified by the October 8 rally, as was literally any person on earth with a shred of humanity.

You can see where this is going: Chevalier proudly attended the rally and defended her participation to City & State: “At the core of it all for me is human dignity. And I think so often we get lost in the ‘well on this date, and on that date’ when it’s all cyclical, if we don’t get to the core of how we disregard the human rights and dignity of some people over others.”

Buried in that soulless gobbledygook is a key belief animating blood-and-soil extremists like Chevalier: that it doesn’t matter what a Palestinian does to a Jew; there is no line and no sin.
David Harsanyi: The SPLC’s real scam
It turns out that the most generous funder of white supremacist groups in the United States was likely the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At least that’s what the Department of Justice‘s superseding indictment against the SPLC alleges. The organization secretly paid informants to engage in the active promotion and funding of racist groups while denouncing and “fighting” the very same groups in public. The SPLC purportedly created fictitious entities to hide funding from its donors.

That’s what is colloquially known as a “racket.”

The SPLC, for instance, is accused of bankrolling the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, paying a leader nearly $300,000 to post racist messages, organize, and even transport people to the infamous Charlottesville protest, where one person was killed.

In another instance, a pair of white supremacists who approached the SPLC about leaving the Ku Klux Klan were encouraged to stay in the group and recruit new members. Given salaries, the two men were allegedly reimbursed for the costs of their activities, including those “incurred for cross-burning events, to include the wood and fuel used.”

In the end, I’m not sure what legal jeopardy there is in engaging in this brand of duplicitous activity, but it is without a doubt corrupt, fraudulent, immoral, and bad for the country.

Many people correctly point out that SPLC is merely interested in keeping white supremacist groups operational to justify its existence. White nationalists and identitarian groups have no genuine political power or support, so it makes sense that SPLC and other groups would prop them up for fundraising. The notion that Americans live in a nation of deep-seated systemic and cultural racism is a foundational belief of the American Left. Having a bunch of cartoonishly racist groups running around the country not only perpetuates the myth but also helps raise money.

But a far more vital objective of the SPLC is destroying the reputations of legitimate organizations involved in mainstream political debates that have absolutely nothing to do with racism or extremism.
Stephen Pollard: Zack Polanski wants a Jew register. What could be more sinister than that?
I’ll say one thing for Zack Polanski: he knows a winning strategy when he sees one. When he became leader of the Greens last September, he spotted straight away that the secret to boosting the party’s poll ratings – and thus electoral success – was straightforward. Dump the green stuff and focus on Gaza.

There was a ready-made group of voters for whom Gaza is the only issue that really matters, waiting to be courted by any party which turned itself into the anti-Israel train. That group fell into the Greens’ arms when Polanski arrived on the scene.

He has been masterly in his care of them, not least in his skilful elision of being anti-Israel with being Jewish himself. It provides a much-used “get out of jail free card” when the Greens’ professed anti-Zionism slips into accusations of barely disguised anti-Semitism.

But even by Polanski’s standards, his demand that any dual British-Israeli citizen who has fought for Israel against Hamas in Gaza has their name listed on a database – a list, in other words, of bad Jews – is breathtakingly blatant.

The Green leader has signed an open letter sent to Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, which calls on the Government to act in the name of “public safety and justice” to “track the movements of Brits who have served in the IDF” and “subject them to secondary screening where necessary at ports of entry”. Britons, that is, who just happen to be Jews.

Israel has national service, and all Israeli citizens (with the exception – which is deeply controversial in Israel – of some religious groups) are conscripted to the IDF at 18. Many have been called up as reservists when they are older.

Polanski is thus calling for a large proportion of British-Israeli dual citizens to be listed on a database. “Nobody wants to live next to a potential war criminal,” the letter organised by campaign group Declassified UK states. Presumably then, Polanski wishes to refuse entry to or deport any British-Israeli who has served in the IDF.

You will notice one obvious element to this demand. There are wars on every continent. There are accusations of war crimes in all those conflicts. But Polanski has said not a word about British dual citizens – or even those of sole UK nationality – who have fought in any of those wars, either ongoing or historic.
Senior executives at Islamic charity privately warned that £350,000 aid to Gaza 'very likely to have helped fund Hamas and other terror groups'
Senior executives at one of Britain's biggest Islamic charities privately warned that aid money they had sent to Gaza 'very likely' ended up funding Hamas and other terrorist groups, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Penny Appeal – which in its heyday had annual revenues of more than £25million and operated in more than 40 countries – is now the subject of a Charity Commission investigation.

Inspectors searched its £3.5million Wakefield headquarters earlier this year and seized thousands of documents.

The charity donated more than £350,000 to British organisation Programme for NGOs to deliver aid into Gaza following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – dispatching up to 25 trucks carrying food and humanitarian supplies through the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian border.

But alarm bells began ringing when updates on how the money was being distributed did not arrive – with a whistleblower telling the MoS that insufficient 'due diligence' checks had been carried out.

Minutes of an emergency meeting held on April 4, 2024, leaked to this newspaper, warn that the funds could have fallen into the hands of 'Hamas and other terror-related entities operating in Gaza'.

Executives voiced concerns that local entities involved in distributing the aid 'could very likely be a front for extreme and terror-related activity in Gaza that we should have no part in'.

The charity received no list confirming who had received the aid – with the minutes recording that repeated requests for such lists had been 'ignored.'

Programme for NGOs told bosses that what happened to money and goods once they entered Gaza was not its responsibility.

Among the documents seen by the MoS are receipts showing thousands of pounds of donated funds were spent inside northern Gaza, including on 'media services' – raising fears that British donations could have ended up in the pockets of Hamas-linked organisations, since the terror group and its members are embedded in Gaza.

Despite a resolution for the group's trustees to voluntarily contact the Charity Commission and inform the regulator, it is believed that angry staff later contacted the Commission as whistleblowers.

The charity's founder, British-Asian millionaire Adeem Younis, stood down as head of trustees in 2019 – with the Charity Commission later finding he had personal interests 'affected by the charity's contract' with an Islamic broadcaster.
Islington Council pressing ahead with controversial pension fund divestment plan
Labour-run Islington Council is pushing forward with controversial plans to fully divest its £2.2 billion pension fund from companies it says are linked to “the current conflict between Israel and Palestine,” despite a series of legal setbacks.

The decision comes after relentless pressure from the local Unison trade union branch and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Town Hall officials say they have now launched “an extensive member consultation process” to gather feedback in an attempt to satisfy the “member support condition”required by law.

The council is hoping to use member polling data to build a legal shield against the intervention guidelines.

But there are claims, including from the UK Lawyers For Israel, that they letter sent to fund members in recents weeks is “a biased survey on which no reliance should be placed.”

Islington has for some time been known as one of the most active Labour councils in London on divestment.

With the Greens making gains in the most recent local elections, some believe other councils are now expected to follow suit.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed has issued a clear warning, stating that “local authorities must stay out of foreign conflicts.”

He has also said that any council adopting “anti-Israel or targeted BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) policies risk facing significant legal action.”

Council officials acknowledge that government pressure and the threat of statutory damages have influenced their approach.

They describe the consultation as a way to build a legal shield against the intervention guidelines.

In letters sent to members of the council’s pension scheme, officials raised concerns about the fund’s “limited exposure to companies appearing on United Nations lists as engaged in activities raising human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

Members were also informed of the Pension Fund Committee’s concerns regarding a current holding valued at approximately £1.4 million in Palantir Technologies.
Ireland’s Antisemitic Blindspot ‘Wearing the Green Jersey’
With the grim stories of alleged Israeli abuse of the Irish Flotilla activists relayed on Irish television and radio in the rearview mirror – although no doubt those stories will be recounted by some for a generation- Ireland seems doomed to entangle itself in Holocaust metaphors to criticize Israel.

Margaret Connolly, the sister of the Irish President, described her few days’ detention as the “horror of a concentration camp”. The language not only risks belittling the Jewish experience of concentration camps, but also ironically diminishes the experience of Palestinians living in tented encampments under the risk of bombardment for more than two years.

Invoking the language of the Holocaust to attack Israel is not new. Invoking the Holocaust to rebut antisemitism is altogether a trickier sort of argument. Yet very recently, we saw just that in the Irish Times.

Justine McCarthy, a veteran columnist, wrote a piece titled “Ireland and its people stand accused of being antisemitic… it is a vile accusation; the guilting of Ireland is in full throat.”

Uncharacteristic hyperbole for the Irish Times. Perhaps a case of “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

The argument opened with a graphic account of lice infestation in Auschwitz, drawn from the book The Postcard. We are then told: “Even as Irish booksellers restock their shelves to satisfy customers’ requests for The Postcard, Ireland’s people stand accused by some prominent commentators of being antisemitic.”

The inference is that because some Irish readers engage with Holocaust literature, Ireland either doesn’t have or can’t have a serious antisemitic problem.

It is a curious and, no doubt, comforting argument for the author and some of her audience.

It is, however, akin to arguing that because some Irish people watched Angels in America or Roots, Ireland could not have homophobic or racist issues. Few non-LGBTQ or white Irish people would dare write that.

Many Irish Jewish readers may reasonably read the argument as dismissive of concerns about antisemitism. Others might view it as peculiar form of childlike myopia.

Any argument that invokes the horrors of the Holocaust to dismiss claims of contemporary antisemitism is as misguided as it is ignorant of what antisemitism is.

Maurice Cohen of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI) expressed his despair.

“There is an exhausting and deeply ingrained problem in Ireland regarding antisemitism: unless it resembles something, people recognize from the Holocaust, it is too often dismissed as not being antisemitism at all.”

Just days before, independent Dublin City Councillor Philip Sutcliffe shared a WhatsApp video containing references to a “real Final Solution” and describing Jews as “satanic.” The post was subsequently deleted.

While the story was covered in the Irish media, no leader of any major political party in Ireland has, as of this week, publicly addressed Councillor Sutcliffe’s post directly, and no formal, publicly issued statement from Dublin City Council has yet been published condemning its content in specific terms.

It is now three months since the publication of the damming JRCI report in March, which outlined over a hundred antisemitic incidents in Ireland in a short few months, and still the publication has prompted no public response from the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister), and, most notably, the President, Catherine Connolly.

Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee did issue a statement at the time, expressing concern about the report’s findings and acknowledging the “undeniable picture of the difficult situation currently experienced by Ireland’s Jewish communities.”

But the fact that the most senior minister to respond publicly was the Foreign Minister spoke volumes — and raised eyebrows within the Irish Jewish community.
NZ’s latest party hates Israel
One of New Zealand’s proudest claims to fame, just behind the pavlova dessert and the All Blacks, is being the first country to give women suffrage. Now, adding more heft to this noble tradition of groundbreaking democratic developments, comes the announcement of a new political party that hopes to contest November’s general election. Introducing the ‘Palestine Free From the River to the Sea’ party. The party has six principles, two fewer than the words in its name.

The first is ‘the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and the dismantling of the Zionist structure of the state of Israel’.

Among the tens of millions of displaced peoples from the 1940s, only one group remains refugees. ‘Refugee’ carries a unique meaning for Palestinians, so that if your great grandparent lived in the British Mandate for Palestine for two years before Israel’s Declaration of Independence, you have never set foot in the land and have citizenship elsewhere, you can be considered a Palestinian refugee until your ‘return’. This principle contemplates that the number of Palestinians who live between the river and the sea could double.

The third principle is ‘the establishment of a single state in Palestine, bi-national, secular and democratic, with full and equal citizenship for all with ethnic and religious rights protected in a democratic constitution’.

This lofty aspiration would also be a groundbreaking democratic development, because none of the 22 Arab states have this system of government, including the ‘state of Palestine’ (recognised by Australia). The last Palestinian legislative election was in 2006, when Hamas won 74 of the 132 seats. This principle, mandating how another state governs itself, has a whiff of regime change.

The party’s president is a self-declared fund-raiser and spokesperson for the ‘PFLP solidarity campaign’. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular Marxist group, has a terrorist designation in the EU, US and Canada, though not Australia or New Zealand. It participated in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel and gained notoriety in the 1960s and 1970s for its plane hijackings, including in Entebbe.

In April, the party president gave a stirring speech in which he mused about how ‘the ideology of Zionism created such a despicable people’, noting that it has had 78 years to indoctrinate ‘the vast majority of Jewish Israelis with a belief in their own superiority’, while Hitler only had 12, and referring to the ‘complicity of the mainstream media in hiding the truly horrific nature of Israeli society’.
Zionism, Jews and the coming inquisition
Something very similar is happening today. A Jew is told they can escape the hatred that comes with their association with the State of Israel, by condemning that state, and preferably Zionism entirely. The figures who do this follow in the footsteps of Donin and Christiani. They become heroes to the Jew-haters and the greatest scourges to the vast majority of the Jewish community that will not take the same step, and repudiate their national identity and right to self-determination in their ancient homeland.

This seems obviously different to racial antisemitism. The problem with being a Jew in the face of a Nazi is that there is no remedy. In the Nazi understanding, race is inherent, it is in the blood. There is nothing that can be said or done about it.

But here comes the second new point and it is a warning from history; the distinction is not as simple as that.

It is true that when there are just a small number of Jewish converts, either to Christianity or to antizionism, they are welcomed, feted and put on a pedestal by their new community. But when Jews apostatised in large numbers, even though that is the stated goal of their oppressors, they are immediately mistrusted, suspected, pressed for ever increasing proofs of their sincerity and ultimately persecuted even more viciously than before.

That is the story of the medieval inquisition. Following mass conversions to Christianity, especially in Spain after 1391, the Church authorities could not believe that these “New Christians” were authentic. They were no longer open, believing Jews, which was bad enough, now they were heretical Christians; conforming on the outside but clinging secretly to their old beliefs. Sometimes they were, and sometimes they weren’t, but everyone was swept up.

The result was the Inquisition, which spent hundreds of years interrogating, torturing and burning men and women who claimed they had made the leap out of Judaism, prompted by a profoundly antisemitic atmosphere, but now found their predicament was, if anything, worse.

That is what faces the Jewish community today if large numbers repudiate Zionism as a way to escape antisemitism. The first few will be accepted and rejoiced over, but once the trickle becomes a flow, we will see a modern-day inquisition set up, which will examine whatever Jews and Jewish organisations say and do for ideological purity, on pain of excommunication.

Jewish antizionists will be targeted, bullied and forced to make the declarations of their new beliefs over and over again and in increasingly extreme terms. And in the end, whatever they do, they will not be believed. They will be burned to the stake again, either literally or figuratively and their abandonment of their community will have done them no good. That will be a tragedy both for sincere Jewish antizionists whose comrades will turn against them, and for those who adopt the antizionist creed as a way to find safety and acceptance.

Antisemitism does indeed mutate, but we should also pay attention to what remains the same, because that should affect the decisions the Jews make.


Iranian regime will fall sooner or later, but US stopped war too early, ex-Mossad agent says
A plan developed by Israel and the Mossad intelligence agency to topple the Iranian regime could still succeed if given time, but it has not been carried out to completion due to the United States’ decision in April to halt the war against the Islamic Republic, a former senior Mossad official told Channel 12 on Saturday. In any event, he insisted, the regime will fall sooner or later.

“We didn’t try all the way — we were stopped along the way,” said the ex-Mossad official, identified only as “Aleph,” who retired last year. “This is a multi-stage plan that has been prepared over time and has been paused for the time being. In this war, we went out with a partner, a strategic power that at some point stopped the fighting, but these stages started and developed, including the use of Kurdish partners, with the goal of replacing the regime.”

According to Channel 12, Aleph served in the Mossad for almost 30 years, rising to senior leadership, until he retired last year when realizing he would not be considered for its top position. In December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed his military secretary, Roman Gofman, as the new Mossad director to replace David Barnea. Gofman entered his role on Tuesday, after months of legal challenges and controversies.

Asked about a New York Times report according to which CIA Director John Ratcliffe and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Israel’s plan for toppling the Iranian regime as “farcical” and as “bullshit,” after Netanyahu and Barnea presented it to US President Donald Trump, Aleph pointed out that the US officials did not have his 28 years of experience working in the Mossad.

“It’s a pity that they don’t have that experience, but [the plan] was certainly not bullshit and not farcical,” he stressed. “In the Mossad, imagination becomes reality.”

Aleph expressed hope that the next stages of the operational plan would be authorized at some point.

“A plan like this is a long-term plan that can take a long time, and you have to persevere in all its stages,” he noted.


CENTCOM: Iran fired seven ballistic missiles at Kuwait, Bahrain, drones at Hormuz
U.S. forces on Friday intercepted several Iranian ballistic missiles and drones launched by Iran toward its Gulf neighbors and the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Central Command said.

In total, the Islamic Republic fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, hours after CENTCOM downed four Iranian one-way attack drones that were launched toward the strait, the statement read.

CENTCOM described the drones as posing “an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic.”

In response, U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Geruk, east of the strait, and on Qeshm Island in the northern part of the chokepoint as a defensive measure, the statement continued.

“Initial assessments indicate six of the missiles launched by Iran were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its intended target,” CENTCOM said.

No injuries to U.S. service men and women were reported.

The statement added that Iranian claims of damaging U.S. 5th fleet headquarters in Bahrain “are false.”

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump sat down on Friday for an interview with Kristen Welker of NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” in which he said that one reason Tehran is not rushing to reach an agreement with Washington to end the conflict is that it “has been getting away with whatever [it] wanted” for 47 years, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

He added that the Iranians are “strong, they are proud; there are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do ..., they’ve got no choice. And it takes a little while.”

The war against Iran “should’ve been done long ago. This should’ve been done by other presidents or other countries,” Trump continued.

He said he decided to act because Tehran was twice close to having a nuclear weapon, adding that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was “tantamount to giving them a nuclear weapon.”

The American leader said that it was for this reason he terminated the agreement in 2018, which would have expired in any case and paved the way for Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb.

Trump further stated that most of Iran’s manufacturing sites for missiles and drones have been destroyed during “Operation Epic Fury,” but the Iranians still have some 21-22% of their stockpile of ballistic missiles intact.

The full interview will air on Sunday.


US forces redirect 129 commercial ships as part of Iran blockade
The U.S. Central Command said on Friday that U.S. forces enforcing the blockade of Iran since April 13 have redirected 129 commercial vessels from their route in the Arabian Sea and disabled six more.

CENTCOM posted a photo of the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli on X as it transits the Arabian Sea to help maintain the blockade.

Meanwhile, CENTCOM said in a separate post that its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, met with senior leaders from Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan during a recent visit to the Middle East.

Cooper also met with deployed U.S. service members, recognized exceptional performers and presided over the leadership transition for U.S. Army Central—the echelon above corps for the army component of CENTCOM—the statement continued.
Capt. Shahar Gamla and Sgt. Ohad Yaari fell in southern Lebanon, IDF announces
Capt. Shahar Gamla, 23, from Natur, and Sgt. Ohad Yaari, 21, from Rehovot, fell after two separate incidents in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on Saturday.

Gamla, a deputy company commander in the Egoz Unit of the IDF’s Commando Brigade, died after being severely injured by a suspected aerial target in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

Yaari, a soldier in the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade, was killed during operational activity in southern Lebanon.

Following the incident in which Yaari was killed, an investigation by the military police was opened, upon completion of which its findings will be forwarded to the Military Attorney-General's Office.

Netanyahu mourns fallen soldiers
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote that Gamla and Yaari were "among our finest sons" in a message of condolence he put out on Saturday night.

"They fought with supreme heroism to protect the communities of the north and the citizens of Israel, and their sacrifice and courage will be forever etched in our hearts," he said.
Israeli troops kill Hezbollah terrorists who wounded Givati Brigade officers
IDF Givati Reconnaissance Battalion soldiers on Friday killed two Hezbollah gunmen in southeastern Lebanon who earlier in the day injured two of their officers in close-quarter combat, the Israeli military said.

After the encounter, in which one of the Givati officers was severely wounded and the battalion’s commander was lightly injured, the soldiers combed the Zawtar al-Sharqiyah area near Beaufort Castle northwest of Metula, and located and killed the terrorists.

Simultaneously, the soldiers struck terrorist infrastructure sites in the area, the IDF said.

The two officers were evacuated to the hospital and their families were notified of their condition, the army added.

In a separate incident on Thursday, an IDF officer was severely injured from the impact of a suspicious aerial target in Southern Lebanon.

Additionally, sirens warning of hostile aerial threats sounded overnight Friday and early on Saturday morning in northern Israel. In the first incident, the Israeli Air Force intercepted a hostile aircraft, and two additional aircrafts hit near the area in which IDF soldiers are operating in Southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported.

In the second incident, a hostile aircraft hit the ground near Israeli troops in Southern Lebanon. An air-raid siren sounded in the Moshav Zar’it area but the IDF noted that no aircraft crossed into Israeli territory.

Summarizing the activities of the army’s Northern Command in Lebanon over the past week, the IDF said the IAF struck more than 650 Hezbollah targets and that more than 125 terrorists were killed in Southern Lebanon.

The ground forces continued to dismantle terrorist infrastructure sites in Southern Lebanon, removing threats to Israel’s northern residents and to the troops operating in the area, the military added.


Israeli strike kills Lebanese army general, two soldiers; IDF says incident under review
The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed a senior commander, another officer and a soldier, as the IDF issued fresh evacuation warnings and Hezbollah continued launching drones toward Israeli troops and communities along the northern border.

According to the Lebanese Armed Forces, the strike targeted a military vehicle traveling on a road between Kfar Tebnit and Khardali in the Nabatieh area, killing a brigadier general, a captain and a soldier.

“The continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression against Lebanon, its people and its army only strengthens our resolve, faith and determination,” the army said in its statement.

It said Israel’s attacks aim to thwart all efforts “to reach a solution that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

The IDF later acknowledged carrying out the strike, saying the vehicle was “moving suspiciously” in an active combat zone where movement requires prior coordination with Israeli forces. The military said troops operating in the area had been on heightened alert due to intelligence warnings of potential Hezbollah attacks and information indicating the terror group was active in the vicinity.

“Following the identification, and due to the warning information and the danger to the forces, the vehicle was struck,” the IDF said.

The military confirmed that the vehicle was carrying two Lebanese army officers and a soldier, adding that the incident is under further review.

The Lebanese army has largely stayed out of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel and has not taken part in the fighting during the current conflict.

Late Friday, Lebanon also reported that five other people were killed in an Israeli strike.


NYPost Editorial: The pro-Gaza brigade whose suffering you never heard of — and why
When the Israeli navy detained Greta Thunberg and other pro-Hamas radicals who were trying to “break the siege on Gaza,” the global sob-sister class went crazy on cue, crying about international piracy and Israeli mistreatment of the fake aid workers, including such torture as sending them home in coach.

Which makes the fate of other members of the same group so telling: The Global Sumud Flotilla, traveling overland from Tunisia, found themselves seized by Libyan forces and held incommunicado for weeks, and the world’s moral police said . . . nothing.

Crickets.

No marches or protests.

No front-page coverage alleging torture and beatings.

No lawyers rushing to demand access to the detained “humanitarians.”

It’s the clearest example of “No Jews, no news” we’ve seen since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, massacring 1,200 innocents and taking 250 hostage.

According to Sumud, 10 members of its “Land Convoy,” including several Europeans, Argentinians and one American, were detained at a checkpoint in eastern Libya on May 24, “forced into unmarked white vans and disappeared to an unknown location.”

After a week in isolation, the group was hauled before a prosecutor in Benghazi, denied counsel and ordered held another 10 days.

The American in the group, Jenelle Jones, filmed an “SOS” video soon released on Instagram: “If you are watching this video,” she says, holding her US passport in front of her, “it means I have been detained or abducted.”

Sumud says its people are “being held in an isolated, non-civilian prison complex operated by the Ministry of Interior, known locally as a ‘black site.’” They have no access to the outside world or to medical treatment; some are reportedly refusing food and water.
Quillette: Hava Mendelle: What October 7th Revealed About Australia's Activist Left
Hava Mendelle defies easy categorisation. Openly gay and proudly Jewish, she is a fifteen-year Australian Army veteran, emergency department nurse, published author, and co-founder of Minority Impact — a coalition of Australian minorities united in their opposition to Islamic radicalism and far-left extremism. She writes for The Spectator Australia, The Times of Israel, and The Jewish Independent, and has been making waves on social media for her unflinching commentary on antisemitism, the activist left, and the slow erosion of Australian national identity.

In this conversation with Quillette's Zoe Sankey, Hava traces a remarkable personal journey — from an orthodox Jewish childhood and boarding school in Israel, to climate activism and Marxist study groups at university, to her current role as one of Australia's most clear-eyed critics of the movements she once moved in. They discuss the red-green alliance, the activists behind the Gaza flotilla, the radicalisation of the Australian Greens, why the United Nations deserves far more scepticism than it receives, and what October 7th changed — for Hava personally, and for Jewish Australians more broadly.


Speak The Truth: Street Interview about Palestine In Liberal Colorado
Today I hit the streets in one of the most liberal cities in America.

I offered $100 to anyone who correctly answered 5 questions about Palestine.

How do you think everyone did?

Education is fun!




NYC prof clamors to ‘bring down US empire,’ defends IRGC during ‘Islamic Revolution Teach-in’ at DSA meeting
A controversial Israel-and-US-hating NYC college professor defended the murderous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as she clamored to bring down the US empire “by any means necessary” at a meeting of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Corinna Mullin, a radical political science prof once arrested for leading anti-Israel protests that resulted in $3 million in damage to the City College of New York’s Harlem campus, lauded Iran’s “phenomenal” military for depleting US weapons stockpiles in the Middle East, as she urged support for its armed forces.

“Iran has won this war. . . . its indigenous military industry has produced phenomenal results,” she claimed during an unhinged hour and a half “Islamic Revolution Teach-in” she gave to the NYC chapter of the DSA.

“This is having a huge toll on the capacity of the US empire to impose its will. . . . We need to bring the empire down by any means necessary,” she raged.

Mullin, who specializes in teaching anticolonialism, was fired by CUNY in 2025 after eight years on the job.

The termination came after she led an April 2024 encampment at the City College of New York. She fought the move and was reinstated this year, though her name didn’t appear on CUNY faculty pages and it’s unclear if she taught any classes there this spring semester. She also teaches at The New School.

Speaking to more than two-dozen comrades Wednesday evening, she painted Iran’s murderous Islamic regime in a socialist light to justify funding its military — while making zero mention of the riches Iran’s ruling elite has famously amassed through the control of oil and state-owned resources.
Racist caricatures of Jewish members and a president who said Hamas would be 'lauded as heroes': How the Oxford Union became a seething cauldron of anti-Semitism
A wonderful old friend of mine used to be president of the Oxford Union.

When he went back to visit the world's most famous debating society this year, he was astounded to see a pile of Islamic prayer mats in the corner. 'They clearly wanted to encourage public Muslim worship,' he told me.

This was an emblem of how much the place has changed since his tenure two decades ago.

'The Union has been taken over by hardline Muslims and progressive radicals,' he observed, shaking his head.

These days, even downtime is politicised at the famous Victorian building on St Michael's Street, Oxford.

Last week, it emerged that the union's annual ball - with the theme 'Al Andalus', the area of Spain and Portugal that fell under Islamic domination in the Middle Ages - was partnered with the Palestinian Forum in Britain, an organisation with strong links to Zaher Birawi, a man described as a 'Hamas operative'.

This and other recent scandals suggest that something has gone badly wrong with Britain's most prestigious university society.

Founded in 1823, it has the feel of a miniature parliament and has incubated generations of politicians.

Past presidents have included a constellation of luminaries, from William Gladstone to Boris Johnson.

The debating chamber, meanwhile, has been graced by Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa and even King Charles.

Fast-forward to 2026, however, and a motion of no-confidence was moved against the president, Arwa Elrayess, on Thursday.

In leaked WhatsApp messages, she described the butchery, rape and kidnapping of October 7 as 'proportional' and insisted that one day the jihadis of Hamas - which she described as a 'resistance group' - would be 'lauded as heroes'.

Elrayess, 19, is the Union's second president of Palestinian descent (the first, whom she does not tend to acknowledge, was Gershon Hirsch, a Palestinian Jew who became president in 1941).

Born in London to an academic father from a distinguished Palestinian clan and an Algerian mother, Elrayess moved with her family to Gaza at the age of five.

Her great-grandfather was mayor of Gaza in the decades after Israel's birth, while her grandfather, Nahid Munir al-Rayyes, served as justice minister for the governing Palestinian Authority, which was routed from Gaza by Hamas in a bloody civil war in 2007.


Despite antisemitic controversy, thousands attend Kanye West concert in Netherlands
Tens of thousands of fans flocked to see US rapper Kanye West perform in the Netherlands on Saturday, despite controversy over his antisemitic tirades that have prompted the cancellation of several European concerts.

West sparked widespread outrage with comments glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, a song titled “Heil Hitler” and the sale of T-shirts bearing a swastika on his website.

Outside the Gelredome stadium in the eastern city of Arnhem, where 40,000 attended the concert, fans told AFP they wanted to separate the music from the controversial reputation of the 48-year-old artist, known as Ye.

“I’m not supporting all of those things he said, like it’s really controversial,” said Loes Snyers, a 20-year-old Belgian student.

“But for me, I really don’t care about the backlash of all the bad stuff artists do, I really focus on the music.”

The rapper has denied being antisemitic and distanced himself from his remarks on social media, attributing them to his bipolar disorder. A woman checks her mobile phone as she stands outside of a venue where Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will perform, June 6, 2026. (Mouneb Taim/AP)

Near the concert venue, the Jewish organization CIDI held a small protest against the artist, displaying antisemitic quotations from the rapper on placards.

“I know that his fans are probably coming for the music, but we cannot look away (from) the Jew-hatred that he has spread widely in the past,” said the CIDI’s director, Naomi Mestrum.

The organization sought to have the concert cancelled, but an Amsterdam court ruled the shows did not pose a threat to public order.

Ye’s concerts have been scrapped in the United Kingdom, France, Poland, and Italy.
'I show up for my Jewish friends': Jerry O’Connell on antisemitism, Israel, and a childhood promise
I recently interviewed actor and talk show host Jerry O’Connell via Zoom. He spoke to me from Mort’s, a deli in the San Fernando Valley – the perfect setting for a conversation about the Jewish people.

O’Connell’s career took off early, with his breakout role as Vern in the classic film Stand by Me. There’s been a kind of elasticity to his career – an ability to adapt, to stay relevant, to keep showing up in new ways.

Over the decades, he’s moved easily between film and television, drama and comedy, with memorable roles in Jerry Maguire, Scream 2, and the family film Kangaroo Jack before reinventing himself as a television host and personality on The Talk for CBS.

I knew Jerry had a reputation as a consummate professional and a great guy. My husband, Jeff Melman, directed him and his co-star, Jim Belushi, in an episode of The Defenders, a series about two attorneys in “anything goes” Las Vegas. It was a terrific concept for two comedic talents that never made it to a second season, but that’s show business.

I didn’t know that he was willing to be a vocal ally for Israel and the worldwide Jewish community at a time when so many have fallen silent. A video clip from a recent Anti-Defamation League (ADL) event, where he said “Jewish people have been showing up for me and my family for my entire life, and [it’s] time for me to show up for my Jewish friends,” taught me otherwise.

His connection to Israel comes from his very good high school friend, Tommy Gutman, and his Israeli mother.

She was so kind to us and just so funny. I loved her'
Apparently, Tommy’s mom had a full refrigerator and an easy nature. She would combine English words with Hebrew syntax, like “close the light” instead of “turn off the light,” which the teenagers found hysterical. “My God, she was so kind to us and just so funny. I loved her.”

Mostly, however, it is three wise men who are the key Jewish influences in his life. There is the late director Rob Reiner, who gave him his big break by casting him in Stand by Me and encouraging him to be himself; his longtime manager, Michael Rotenberg, who has guided his career; and his godfather, “Uncle Bill” Silverstein, a World War II veteran.

Uncle Bill’s stories about being a former POW made a huge impact on him, Jerry explains.





Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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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