Saturday, June 20, 2026

06/19 Links Pt2: Mamdani calls AIPAC ‘monsters’; The Guardian’s ‘Nazification’ of Jews; Sally Rooney blames Israel and US for rise of fascism in Europe

From Ian:

The Guardian’s ‘Nazification’ of Jews
It ran under the headline: “From Goop to ‘Gwynocide’: why is Gwyneth Paltrow starring in a luxury Israeli real estate ad?” Beneath it appeared the following summary: “Paltrow went viral this week for her commercial for 51 Park – a building just miles from where Palestinians are being killed and displaced.”

Mahdawi's accusation of Paltrow's putative complicity in a (non-existent) genocide is based entirely on the fact that the commercial is for a building located "just miles" from where Palestinians are being killed:

“While the situation in the West Bank is terrible, it’s even worse in Gaza – which is only 50 or so miles away from the luxury pilates room at 51 Park,” she writes.

So, the logic would suggest, not only are all Israelis, even those living within pre-67 boundaries, guilty or complicit in genocide, but diaspora Jews – and, presumably, non-Jews – who visit, invest, or in any way associate with the state, within any borders, are genocidaire-adjacent.

Then, the Guardian columnist places an even large target on Israelis and Jews by evoking the Nazi analogy:

"Newborn babies are being gnawed on by rats in filthy camps in Gaza, while Paltrow shows off the wine rooms of a luxury tower development down the road,” Mahdawi writes. “It is some real The Zone of Interest stuff.”

The Zone of Interest is a film focusing on the life of German Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who lived with their children in a home in the "Zone of Interest" next to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

So, for at least the fifth time since October 7, 2023, Guardian editors have promoted one of the most morally grotesque and cruel forms of antisemitism – the attempted “Nazification” of Jews.

"There is a sadistic triumphalism in charging Jews with genocide", wrote Howard Jacobson, "as though those making it feel they have their man at last". The sadism, he added, "resides, specifically, in attacking Jews where their memories of pain are keenest...by making them now the torturer and not the tortured, their assailants wrest their anguish from them, not only stealing their past but trampling on it."

Of course, the only party in the war that is guilty of genocide is Hamas, whose desire to rid the world of the Jewish state is codified in its founding charter, and who live-streamed to the world on October 7 what barbarism inspired by Nazi-like hatred of Jews looks like.

Turning again to Jacobson, who wrote that "morality changed on 7 October. Black became white, evil good, ugliness, beauty, the victim the culprit" and that "it was Hamas’s genius to have seen something to its advantage in the declining status of the Jews in the conscience of the west.” It realised, he added, "how the drip, drip, drip of unremitting revilement in the western media and on western campuses had worn away their humanity".

It is undoubtedly true that, both before and after October 7, no mainstream British outlet has done more to inspire the "revilement" of Jews than the Guardian.
The useful idiocy of Zack Polanski
To push back, he’s doubled and tripled down on his AsAJew status. He can barely utter a sentence without spitting out ‘the genocide’. He has constantly demanded that the UK should end arms sales to Israel and investigate the country for war crimes. He has backed sporting and cultural boycotts of Israeli football teams and supported the monitoring of UK-Israeli dual nationals who served in the IDF, saying they could be responsible for war crimes.

He didn’t even speak out against the Green party’s ‘Zionism is racism’ motion, even though it would mean labelling his own family – most of whom are Zionists and a few of whom made Aliyah – racists.

But still it isn’t enough for those who are really in control. Et tu, Mothin Ali? Because, yes, it is Zack’s trusty deputy who is on manoeuvres. Who could have guessed?

According to an article in the Spectator, Mothin is backing a new, powerful Greens affiliate called the Global Majority Greens (GMG), which has accused Polanski and other senior Greens in a new report of creating a “hierarchy of racism” with allegations of antisemitism taken more seriously than other complaints.

The report, which will be presented at the Green Party AGM later this month, accuses Zack of only “performing anti-racism” and condemns a “serious governance problem inseparable from institutional racism”. The problem is that too many Muslim members have been suspended for antisemitism. Apparently, that is racist because it “demonises migrants and Muslims”.

And even though Zack has really done everything he possibly could to disassociate himself from his own previous Zionism, it is not enough. It never would be. Because Zionism isn’t the problem.

It was inevitable that the Red/Green/Islamist alliance that now makes up the Greens would eventually break up. Their agendas are too separate, even if they can agree on hating Israel and the need for revolution. This glue won’t hold forever, as Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party found when the far left fell out with conservative Islamists on the issue of trans rights.

Perhaps the Greens lasted just a little bit longer because they are an older, more established party; but the cracks are emerging.

So the battle for the Greens is on. Now we will see whether the party’s newfound popularity is genuinely the Zack effect (and I don’t doubt that some of it is) and how much it is sheer entryism from the hard left and Islamists.

I imagine that Zack will fight this, but he is already bloodied by the growing body of scandals surrounding him. How much longer can he last?

You do have to wonder how he really thought that a Jewish man with a history of Zionism could survive as leader of a party obsessed with Israel. Idiot.


Silenced no more: The Israeli women who documented Hamas's October 7 sexual crimes
When the privately funded Civil Commission on the Oct. 7 crimes against women, men, and children released its landmark report on May 12, Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy felt something she had not experienced in a very long time: a deep sense of relief.

The report – Silenced No More: Sexual terror unveiled: the untold atrocities of October 7 and against hostages in captivity – was finally out, and Elkayam-Levy noted that it has received fair and accurate coverage in hundreds of news outlets, including the BBC, the UK’s Daily Mail, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, and The New York Times.

Elkayam-Levy, the commission’s principal author, accepted responsibility for work so heartbreaking and disturbing – documenting crimes of extraordinary cruelty – that many on her team simply could not continue. For two and a half years, she sat with the evidence as well as with survivors, and reviewed testimony about the sexual crimes committed by Hamas-led terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and thereafter.

“One of the most important takeaways is the before-and-after reality of the report,” noted Danae Marx-Callaf, director of international communications and one of the four co-founders of the Civil Commission. “Our report shifts the conversation from ‘whether it happened’ to ‘what are the consequences.’

“Another important thing is recognition of the victims. The report will go around the world to different policy makers and not remain just the knowledge of a few in the world,” Marx-Callaf added.

The comprehensive 298-page document details the sexual terror committed on and after Oct. 7, which the Civil Commission concluded was central to Hamas’s war strategy.

An expert in international law, human rights, and feminist legal theory, Elkayam-Levy serves as a Sophie Davis Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was a 2024 Israel Prize laureate for her tireless work on the report. For years, she taught and wrote about war crimes, gender-based violence, and the responsibility of legal systems to protect the vulnerable and pursue justice.

But she never imagined that other highly committed women’s advocates from other nations – the same people with whom she spent a career teaching and working – would abandon her after Oct. 7.

In the days following the massacre, while Israel was still counting its dead, and families were searching for missing loved ones, Elkayam-Levy traveled to New York to address the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. There, she reported on the sexual atrocities that were being retrieved from both Hamas’s and the victims’ phones, from survivors’ testimonies, and the accounts of those charged with the holy task of identifying the mangled corpses.
'I have a mission': Guy Gilboa-Dalal recounts sexual violence he experienced in Hamas captivity
Former Gaza hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal shared his experiences of sexual abuse during his time in Hamas captivity with First Lady Michal Herzog in a candid interview on Thursday.

The interview was held a day before the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Herzog mentioned her outrage over Israel being included in the UN’s blacklist of countries and organizations that use sexual violence in conflict.

UN fails to verify allegations
“What really outraged me,” she said, “was that the description of the situation in Israel began by noting that the Israeli hostages who returned from captivity in Gaza made allegations of sexual abuse they had experienced, and that the UN could not verify those allegations.”

“This is why we’re here,” she told Gilboa-Dalal. “So that you can say what you went through.”

Gilboa-Dalal recounted a moment in which one of his captors covered his eyes and told him to take his clothes off.

“He started touching my entire body. I froze. I couldn't do anything. He held a knife to my throat and said, 'Don't tell anyone about this," Gilboa-Dalal said.

The former hostage also spoke of a similar but separate incident.

“The second time he came into our room,” he recalled. “He told me to turn toward the wall. He covered my eyes and said, 'Now stay like this, don't move.'”

He said that the Hamas terrorists threw him and fellow hostage Omer Wenkert and started beating, punching, and kicking them.

“We were crying and begging him to stop,” he said.

"After he finished, he took me to the shower. He grabbed me by the hand, threw me onto the couch, stood behind me, and began rubbing his genitalia against me. In moments like that, my mind simply disconnected. Every second felt like a lifetime. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted it to be over. I couldn't do anything, even if I wanted to. I was so weak."

Gilboa-Dalal is one of the few male hostages to recount instances of sexual assault during captivity. Among others with similar experiences are released hostages Rom Braslavski and Keith Siegel.

Siegel and his wife Aviva testified before the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) in Geneva in late 2025. Siegel, at the time, had urged the committee to listen to the facts presented by the Israeli delegation and remain free from political bias.

When asked what prompted him to speak openly and reveal the severe abuse he endured, Gilboa-Dalal replied that he feels that he has a mission to use his voice to strengthen and empower survivors of sexual assault.


Sally Rooney blames Israel and US for rise of fascism in Europe
Irish author Sally Rooney has been challenged by Ireland’s Jewish representative body after claiming that Israel and the United States are contributing to the rise of fascism and authoritarianism across Europe.

Speaking at a public event in Dublin on Tuesday, the Normal People author argued that European governments were learning from the US and Israel, helping to drive the growth of far-right movements on the continent.

Rooney said: “Israeli settler colonialist techniques have been inherited and refined from the practices of British and European imperialism, so the political classes in Europe today are cooperating with and learning from the US and Israeli regimes.

“Not only are far-right fascist movements rising to power as a result, but mainstream political parties are increasingly adopting authoritarian and fascist techniques to suppress protest and protect colonial interests.”

She also told the audience that “the liberation of Palestine really does represent the liberation of the world” and described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “the darkest (moment) that we have witnessed in our lifetimes”.

Responding to Rooney’s remarks, Maurice Cohen, chairperson of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI), said he was concerned by “the growing tendency in public discourse to attribute a wide range of global problems, from the rise of the European far right to the erosion of international norms, primarily to Israel.

“Such arguments risk reducing complex political, economic and social phenomena to a single cause.”

He added: “The rise of far-right extremist movements in Europe has deep roots that long predate the current conflict in Gaza. It is driven by factors including economic insecurity, migration pressures, social fragmentation, online radicalisation and declining trust in democratic institutions. Suggesting that Israel is responsible for these developments requires far stronger evidence than has been presented.”


Former antisemitic activist Lucas Gage explains to Jewish podcast why he left the movement
In July 2024, X suspended antisemitic influencer Lucas Gage for six months for making “repeated and clear calls for violence.”

This month, Gage was in Lakewood, New Jersey, explaining to two Jewish interviewers why he no longer considers himself an antisemite.

“It’s like a disease. I’m serious. It was like this compulsion and look, it comes from a justified place in some, but then it’s like what have I become honestly and it’s like I was sick of myself,” Gage told Yaakov Langer and Jake Turx on the podcast “Inspiration for the Nation.” “Looking back at the videos that got me knocked off of Twitter … I was out of my mind.”

Gage, a longtime white nationalist activist from New Jersey formerly known as Angelo John Gage, spent more than a decade promoting conspiracy theories and hate towards Jews online before publicly renouncing antisemitism earlier this year.

He told Langer and Turx that a pivotal moment for him was seeing antisemitic theories proliferate about the September murder of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. From there, his conversations changed.

“The more I sit down and talk to Jewish people, the more I realize how maligned they are,” Gage wrote in a post on X announcing the interview. “The lies the JQ crowd now tell about me are similar to those they tell about Jews. I was part of that crowd, but now I’m glad to say I’m no longer an antisemite.”

Gage announced in a March post on Substack that he was “abandoning” antisemitism, explaining that while his declaration was “not an apology,” his “focus on Jewish supremacy alone has become a self-destructive and futile endeavor, which does not even solve the problem.”

“The problem, however, is that I got sucked into the mob — the very mob I identified as ‘my people,’ who are just as problematic as the Jewish mob,” Gage wrote. “With that being said, I do not denounce my beliefs about Jewish supremacy and criminality in certain areas of society nor Jewish overrepresentation, which are all well substantiated.”

When asked by Langer, the founder of Living Lchaim and host of the podcast, why he had the “strength” to publicly renounce antisemitism and meet with Jews, Gage said he felt an obligation to engage with the Jewish community after spending years attacking it online.

Gage told the Jewish hosts that he thought it would be wrong for him “to walk away and not speak to a community I’ve been at war with for 14 years, and to see why I was at war with you guys in the first place.”


Mamdani calls AIPAC ‘monsters’ in rally ahead of NY primaries
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday night accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of being “monsters” for spending “millions in dark money” to ensure pro-Israel candidates win seats in the November midterms.

Mamdani made his remarks at a rally headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at Kings Theater in Brooklyn ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primaries for progressive congressional candidates. He called on the crowd to help elect Jewish former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, State Assembly member Claire Valdez and former Columbia encampment organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier.

In a fiery 30-minute speech, Mamdani took aim not just at AIPAC but also Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the war in Gaza. He claimed that “The monsters that we are up against, they take many different forms,” and then singled out AIPAC.

He described the major pro-Israel lobby as an organization “for whom the only thing more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and Netanyahu’s wars.”

Mamdani continued by alleging that AIPAC moves “millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal, to preserve their power so that they can turn us against one another instead of our leaders turning towards the moral change we all know to be necessary.”

AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment about Mamdani’s remarks.


Jury takes just 28 minutes to unanimously clear ‘Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahood’ chanters
Jewish groups have expressed dismay after two women filmed chanting a notorious slogan seen as referring to the 7th century killing of Jews by Muslims were unanimously cleared by a jury this week of threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour intending to stir up racial hatred.

Fatiah Boumazouna, 55, and Hadjer Boumazouna, 28, were arrested the day after the demo near Trafalgar Square on 28 October 2023 – three weeks after Hamas attacked Israel.

As reported by CourtNewsUK, footage played in court showed Fatiha chanting “Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahud Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud”. The chant, which translates to “Khaybar Khaybar, oh Jews, the armies of Mohammed are coming”, is a reference to the 7th century battle of Khaybar, when Jewish tribes in Arabia were slaughtered by forces under Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

CST, the main organisation protecting the UK’s Jewish community, has previously described the Khaybar chant as “effectively a call for Jews to be killed”. As described by the ADL, America’s most prominent organisation combating antisemitism, the Khaybar chant “has been heard at numerous anti-Israel demonstrations around the world…Invoking this slogan today at such a demonstration problematically shifts the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious battle between Islam and Judaism. Moreover, in celebrating a past military defeat of Jews, this chant can be perceived as a threat of armed violence or forcible expulsion against Jews today.”

Brett Weaver, prosecuting, said the footage showed “these two defendants together in amongst protestors at the demonstration.

“Fatiha can be seen holding a megaphone and engaged in chanting, with her daughter behind her joining in.”

Weaver described the chant as being “in effect a threat that Muslims will again kill Jewish people in the present day or in the new future.”

However, the jury, at Southwark Crown Court, reportedly took just 28 minutes before reaching their decision to acquit the two accused.

A spokesperson for CST said: “It is very disappointing that this case did not result in a conviction, but we hope this outcome will not dissuade the CPS from continuing to prosecute cases of people allegedly inciting antisemitic hatred wherever possible.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is the second time that a prosecution by the CPS of people who allegedly chanted ‘Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud’, has failed. The chant is unmistakably threatening to Jewish people. But a jury apparently somehow disagreed. Nothing, it seems, can possibly be construed as being threatening to Jewish people if it means someone might be held to account. Another miscarriage of justice that will do nothing to reassure British Jews that the system is up to the job of protecting them and deterring haters.”

A JLC spokesperson said: “Chants of “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud” are among the clearest examples of incitement against Jewish people heard at regular anti-Israel demonstrations. This slogan cannot credibly be misconstrued as a legitimate political slogan against the State of Israel. Rather, it is a direct expression of racial and religious hatred towards Jews.


Bamba Bandwagon distributes thousands of Israeli snacks, anti-BDS fliers in NYC area
When Daniel Rosen first thought of doing a large-scale distribution of the Israeli snack foods Bamba and Bissli in New York City, he thought it might involve 10 small groups of people going out on behalf of Impact, a grassroots activation group that responds to antisemitic incidents.

He scheduled the campaign, called IMPACT Snack Crew, to last four days—from June 10 to June 14. One of the first distribution sites was outside the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, N.Y., which recently adopted a boycott of Israeli products, and which sparked initially sparked this idea.

More than 10 days later, it was still going strong.

American distributor Osem USA has donated pallets of the savory treats. Bamba comes in classic peanut butter- and also strawberry-flavored corn puffs. Bissli, made of wheat, come in flavors like BBQ, pizza, onion and falafel.

So far, about 100 groups of people have participated in the Bamba-Bissli brigade.

With each bag of snacks, volunteers distribute a one-page flier about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in an effort to educate New Yorkers about what such boycotts represent and try to accomplish.

“BDS is bigotry,” Rosen, chairman and a co-founder of IMPACT, told JNS. “You tried to hurt Israel, and our response is to help Israel.”

The Bamba-Bisli brigade has so far distributed some 6,000 bags of the snacks at sites of major New York City foot traffic in all five boroughs, as well as on Long Island and in Westchester.

Crews have brought the snacks to Times Square and Grand Central Station, as well as Cunningham Park in Queens on the evening of a free concert by the New York Philharmonic. They are sharing the snacks at shopping centers and at a commuter train station in White Plains. When that volunteer crew ran out of snack bags, the local kosher grocery store Seasons gave them cases more.
Norway readies bill to ban all trade with Israeli settlements
The Norwegian government said on Friday it planned to ban all trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as Jewish neighborhoods in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

“Norwegian people and Norwegian companies should not contribute to sustaining illegal settlements. The policy of colonization undermines the possibility of achieving a two-state solution,” the foreign ministry in Oslo said in a statement.

Specifically, the government said it wants to ban trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements in Gaza — none of which currently exist — and the West Bank as well as areas of Jerusalem that most in the international community consider to be occupied.

Israel has controlled the West Bank since capturing the territory from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War, a conflict that also saw Israel take the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Israel annexed East Jerusalem — a move not recognized by most of the international community — while the West Bank has remained under varying forms of Israeli military and civil control ever since.

There have not been any Jewish settlements inside Gaza since the 2005 Disengagement. While some far-right elements of the government have called for such settlements to be reestablished in the Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly reassured allies that Israel would not do so.

Oslo also plans to outlaw “the purchase of property in the settlements, the provision of services relating to the construction, renovation, purchase or sale of property in these areas, and the acquisition of commercial enterprises whose head office and production facilities are located in the settlements,” the ministry said.
Somerville voters backed Israel boycott. Jewish groups say it is illegal
They can’t say they weren’t warned.

Jewish groups are giving a heads-up to Somerville officials that they will certainly be sued if the city’s proposed “Israel boycott” law passes.

The Anti-Defamation League and Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law on Thursday urged city officials to reject the controversial ordinance.

The groups, writing on behalf of Somerville Jewish residents, argue that the law is unconstitutional and would expose the city to significant legal and financial risks. “The Ordinance is flagrantly unconstitutional and would adversely affect many companies that supply products to Somerville,” lawyers for the Jewish groups wrote to Somerville officials. “Moreover, the Ordinance is an invitation to costly and unnecessary litigation that will distract City leadership from the important local responsibilities they were elected to address.

'Reject this ordinance!'
“We urge the Council and City to reject the Ordinance,” the attorneys added. “Should the Ordinance be enacted in its current form, our clients are prepared to pursue all available legal remedies to prevent its enforcement.”

The proposed “Ethical Procurement Ordinance” was before the Somerville City Council last week and was referred to the Legislative Matters Committee for a recommendation.

Last year, 55% of voters in the Somerville municipal election voted “yes” to instruct the city to “end all current city business and prohibit future city investments and contracts with companies as long as such companies engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.”

The City Council then passed a resolution to follow through on that vote, leading to this proposed ordinance.
Auto union votes to divest from Israel at annual convention
Delegates at the United Auto Workers convention in Detroit voted on Thursday to divest from Israel Bonds, citing the war in Gaza.

One of the largest unions in the country, the UAW previously held an estimated $400,000 to $700,000 in Israel Bonds and securities, according to the Detroit Free Press. It has not been disclosed how much money the divestment will affect or how many members voted to pass the resolution.

The annual convention also featured a speech from Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left, UAW-endorsed Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan who told Jewish supporters last month that he “often struggle[s]” to answer whether he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. He said in an interview with CNN in April that he believes the Israeli government is just as evil as Hamas.

While UAW historically evokes imagery of assembly lines, picket lines and blue-collar solidarity, the union has increasingly drifted away from its core mission of representing autoworkers, largely driven by individuals pushing extreme political agendas that leave critics questioning their relevance to workplace issues.


Energy Department formalizes Eastern Mediterranean alliance with Israel, Cyprus and Greece at Houston hub
The Department of Energy is leaning on Israel’s offshore gas resources and cybersecurity prowess to help an emerging Eastern Mediterranean energy alliance, with officials telling Jewish Insider that Israeli participation uniquely “strengthens” the newly formed coalition.

Earlier this month, the U.S., Cyprus, Greece and Israel formalized the partnership, announcing the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center (EMEC) on the campus of Rice University in Houston. Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed a declaration of intent alongside Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Cypriot Energy Minister Michael Damianos and Greek Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou.

The center will serve as a permanent hub for research, policy dialogue, technical cooperation, and public‑private partnerships focused on infrastructure, investment, emerging technologies, and regional connectivity, according to the department.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy told JI that the agreement was part of a “longstanding effort to deepen cooperation” and that Israel’s involvement in the newly established EMEC partnership is vital to the coalition’s geopolitical objectives.

“Israel brings strategic geography, significant offshore gas resources, strong innovation and cybersecurity capabilities, and a dynamic technology ecosystem,” the spokesperson said. “Israel is also a key U.S. ally and a central partner in the broader Eastern Mediterranean’s energy and security architecture. Israel’s inclusion strengthens EMEC as a platform for cooperation on energy security and related regional priorities.”

The spokesperson added that the participation of Leiter “reflected Israel’s importance to the success of this initiative and underscored the strength of the 3+1 partnership,” which entails periodic meetings between the alliance’s energy ministers to coordinate regional security. The group last met in Athens in November 2025.
Netanyahu inaugurates neighborhood in Gush Etzion, names Route 60 ‘The Biblical Highway’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday inaugurated a new neighborhood in Kibbutz Migdal Oz and announced that Route 60, the historic north-south highway running through Judea and Samaria, will officially be known as the “The Biblical Highway,” linking the moves to Israel’s historic connection to the land and its ongoing security challenges.

Speaking in Gush Etzion alongside his wife, Sara, Netanyahu said the expansion of the kibbutz and the development of communities throughout the region reflected “the power of life and the spirit of vitality” of the Jewish people.

“This is a manifestation of our spirit of vitality and of our sacred mission: to take root in our homeland despite our enemies, despite all the pressures,” Netanyahu said at the unveiling of the Promenade neighborhood in Migdal Oz. “We are not merely treading over the past of the nation of Israel, but securing its future.”

The neighborhood is part of an expansion project expected to double the size of the community within a year.

During the ceremony, the prime minister and his wife planted a tree together with Noam Leiter, son of Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and a resident of Gevaot in Gush Etzion, and Ofri Nir, daughter of Sgt. Maj. (res.) Yuval Nir, who was killed in the War of Redemption, the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The prime minister compared the growth of the neighborhood to trees he had planted during previous visits around the country.

“This tree, its treetops will grasp the sky,” he said. “You are guarding the past and securing the future. The two are intertwined, because we have no future without our past.”
Years after a boycott fight, Ben & Jerry’s Israel debuts a flavor celebrating Israeli resilience
Ben & Jerry’s Israel operation has come up with a flavor that leaves little to interpretation. Called “Milk and Honey,” a nod to the biblical description of the Land of Israel, it uses ingredients sourced from Israeli cows and bees, and its chocolate fudge pieces are shaped like Stars of David.

The company, which split from its American counterpart after a contentious 2021 boycott fight, is billing the new pint as its “most Israeli flavor ever” and, on its website, as a “symbol of hope, rehabilitation, and positive action” after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.

Its ingredients and production come from southern Israeli communities, most affected by the massacre and the war that followed. The company, based in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi, said it “felt a responsibility to take an active part in the region’s recovery process.”

The milk and cream come from the dairy in Kibbutz Alumim, one of the Gaza-border communities infiltrated by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. The honey comes from the beehives of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. The chocolate Stars of David are made by hand at the Korint factory in Beersheba, part of the Shkulo Tov social enterprise, which helps integrate people with disabilities into the workforce.

Even the wrapper is local: the pint is adorned with “Fields of Light,” a painting by Rivi Doron-Gerloy, a southern Israeli artist who was killed in a Miami car accident last year.

Proceeds from sales will support efforts to revitalize Israel's periphery
The flavor was developed in partnership with the Ayalim Association, a nonprofit that works to strengthen Israel’s periphery. The company said royalties from sales of the new flavor will go to Ayalim’s rehabilitation and educational initiatives in the south.

The Israeli and American Ben & Jerry’s operations are now completely separate, a split that followed one of the more improbable diplomatic dramas ever to involve ice cream. In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s said it would stop selling in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying sales there were “inconsistent” with its values.

The move set off an uproar in Israel. President Isaac Herzog called the boycott a “new kind of terrorism,” while Benjamin Netanyahu, then opposition leader, retweeted the company’s announcement that it would stop selling in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” writing, “Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy,” alongside Israeli flag and flexed-bicep emojis.

The original founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who no longer control the company but remain its best-known faces, also came under fire after the decision. In an interview, they were asked why the boycott logic did not extend to places such as Georgia and Texas, despite their opposition to those states’ voting rights and abortion laws.





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