Sunday, June 28, 2026

06/27 Links: There is no distinction between Jews and Zionists - ask Jews from Arab countries; Bibi: From the sea to the Jordan, there is no room for two states; Israel-Lebanon deal framework: trust but verify

From Ian:

Lyn Julius: There is no distinction between Jews and Zionists - ask Jews from Arab countries
It has been six months since 15 people were gunned down on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, prompting the establishment by a shocked government of a Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

The Commission has received over 16,000 submissions, and a block of hearings is slated to begin at the end of June.

My organization Harif – the UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) – was asked to make a submission on behalf of the 10 to 20% of Australian Jews who are Sephardi or Mizrahi (easterners), i.e., hailing from the Middle East and North Africa.

They may be a minority within the Jewish minority, but their experience of living in Arab and Muslim countries and fleeing from these lands can bring an essential perspective to understanding the causes of antisemitism sweeping through the West today.

The Commission might be able to learn useful insights from them, the first being that almost a million Jews were ethnically cleansed from the MENA, even though they had no part to play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Almost no Jews live in the Arab world today because Arab governments conflated Jews with Zionists. Jews were victimized as potential spies for Israel.

Whatever their political leanings and however spurious the pretext, Jews could be arrested, tried, and even executed for the crime of Zionism.

The second insight is that one cannot perceive a distinction between Jews and Zionists in Western antisemitism. Today, supporters of the Palestinian cause say they are against Zionism, not Jews.

When 'Zionism' becomes the cover
They point to the small number of Jews who join their protests.

However, it doesn’t take much to see that “legitimate criticism of the Israeli government” takes the form of verbal and physical abuse of Jews, firebombings, arson, and shootings at Jewish schools and synagogues, and ultimately, the murder of Jews simply for being Jews.

Left-wing Jews attempt to deflect by claiming that antisemitism is a problem for the Right. They claim that curbs on incitement proposed by the Commission are in reality limitations on free speech.

But the two gunmen who slaughtered Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach never asked what their victims’ views on Israel were.

Mizrahi Jews who are now resettled in the West are experiencing a sense of déjà vu, reliving the trauma they experienced in their birth countries. The bullying and harassment they thought they had escaped are back with a vengeance.

The slogans chanted in every anti-Jewish riot in Arab countries never did distinguish between Jews and Zionists.
Between Jakarta and Jerusalem
Conclusion: The dawn of functional normalisation
Ultimately, Indonesia’s calculated steps toward the Gaza post-war architecture reveal a sophisticated paradox. President Prabowo’s conciliatory rhetoric and his willingness to engage with the Board of Peace demonstrate a level of pragmatic goodwill that would have been unthinkable under previous administrations. The strategic benefits of the move – currying favour with Washington, positioning Indonesia as a responsible global middle power and securing a seat at the table in Middle Eastern affairs – are simply too lucrative for Jakarta to ignore.

However, Western observers must avoid the illusion of an imminent, warm normalisation. The path to formal diplomatic ties remains firmly blocked by the domestic Palestinian veto and is entirely contingent upon a prior breakthrough between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

What we are witnessing instead is the birth of “Functional Normalisation”. The massive logistical realities of a potential Indonesian deployment, combined with daily operational coordination within the Board of Peace, will force Israeli and Indonesian defence, intelligence and diplomatic officials into unprecedented direct contact.

A stark preview of this reality occurred recently with the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, where the detention of Indonesian activists forced Foreign Minister Sugiono to utilise the Board of Peace as a direct de-escalation channel with Jerusalem. This crisis proved that while institutional ambiguity can be “quicksand”, the operational imperatives of crisis management create an unavoidable, functional dialogue.

For Israel, securing the active involvement of the world’s largest Muslim nation in securing its post-war periphery is an extraordinary geopolitical achievement. For Indonesia, it is a high-risk domestic tightrope walk. Therefore, functional, quiet and deeply cautious coordination is the maximum the current geopolitical architecture can bear, and even that is only feasible if the ISF mandate remains strictly defined and a Saudi catalyst remains on the horizon.


74% of Israelis fear another Oct. 7-style attack—poll
More than 70% of Israelis fear the possibility of another attack of the magnitude of the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, a poll published on Friday by Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster shows.

Only 20% said they are not concerned by the possibility of a similar attack in the future.

The high percentage was recorded among coalition voters as well, at 66%, according to the survey.

Fifty-three percent said that the Oct. 7 massacre will affect their voting decision in the general election in October.

In addition, 66% of respondents said they would support a national inquiry into the events that led to the deadliest single-day attack in Israel’s history, when thousands of Gazan terrorists invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 more into the Strip.

The Hamas-led attack triggered a multi-front war, involving military campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran, that has lasted close to three years.

The poll was conducted by Midgam Consulting and Research under Mano Geva among a representative sample of 501 Israeli adults. The maximum sampling error was ±4.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
‘I was low-hanging fruit’: IDF reservist targeted by UK legal group sees case collapse in court
‘I was low-hanging fruit,” IDF Soldier A, a dual British-Israeli citizen, told The Jerusalem Post this week after a UK pro-Palestinian legal group tried and failed to prosecute him for his military service.

Soldier A was born and raised in London, but moved to Israel in 2014 and enlisted in the army in 2017. On October 7, he was in London, but flew back to Israel the following day to join his reserve unit.

On October 20, 2025, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) formally applied for a court summons to prosecute Soldier A for allegedly breaching UK law by voluntarily serving in the Israeli military.

If successful, the ICJP was hoping the case could set a legal precedent for accountability under Britain’s Foreign Enlistment Act (FEA) of 1870.

“In line with ICJP’s Global 195 campaign, this is a significant step in holding suspected war criminals accountable within domestic jurisdictions for offenses that they have committed outside of their home countries,” Mutahir Ahmed, the ICJP’s legal chief, said at the time.
Israel-Lebanon deal framework: trust but verify
What is important is that this agreement is “performance-based.” In point 11 of the framework, it states that “Lebanon and the United States commit to preventing funds from flowing to any entity, organization, or individual affiliated with non-state armed groups and to take available legal measures to proscribe the activity of any such entity, organization, or individual.

The Government of Lebanon explicitly commits to preventing reconstruction funds from flowing to non-state armed groups and connected entities.”

All of the points are important, and many provide a requirement, or at least a goal, for Lebanon to begin to take pragmatic steps against Hezbollah.

This is important because Lebanon has often gotten away with hosting Hezbollah and then pretending that it has plausible deniability in all the attacks that Hezbollah carries out.

Hezbollah stockpiled 150,000 rockets over the last few decades, but Lebanon pretends it has no responsibility. If any other country did this to a neighboring country, like Mexico letting cartels stockpile 150,000 rockets to attack the US and then drive millions of Americans away from the border via attacks, we would all know what to call it.

For too long, Lebanon enjoyed the privilege of not having to verify that it was doing anything. Instead, the UN was deployed as UNIFIL on the border with Israel, which was another way to enable Lebanon to get a pass in terms of responsibility.

Hezbollah also committed crimes in Syria over the last decade. Yet, Lebanon was not held responsible. This isn’t because countries can’t be held responsible for what armed groups they tacitly support do.

Liberia and others have been accused of doing the same thing. Lebanon’s former president, Michel Aoun, was an ally of Hezbollah. Therefore, it’s not like the government has no connection to what the group does.

In 2000, Israel left Lebanon, so any pretense that Hezbollah had some excuse to exist ended. Hezbollah went on to murder former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. And then start the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Did Lebanon charge one Hezbollah member with these crimes? No. Instead, some Lebanese politicians allied with Hezbollah to empower it. Now there is a “trust, but verify” kind of document serving as a roadmap to see whether Lebanon can do the right thing. If it can, then Israel will redeploy troops in Lebanon, and there might be peace.
Netanyahu: Deal tells Iran and Hezbollah they have ‘no role in Lebanon,’ and that Israel can keep security zone as long as needed
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails yesterday’s framework agreement with Lebanon as “a historic achievement for Israel” that advances progress toward ending the bilateral conflict and opens the prospect of “an eventual peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”

Speaking at a press conference, Netanyahu says the deal is “a major blow” to Iran and to Hezbollah, and claims it marks US and Lebanese agreement to Israel holding a security zone in Lebanon for as long as is needed for Israeli security.

“We’ll continue to hold it until Hezbollah and other terror groups are disarmed,” he says of the current security zone, “until there is no longer a threat to Israel from Lebanon.”

He says Iran wanted to impose an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, but that he resisted this, and notes bitter Iranian and Hezbollah criticism of the agreement.

With this accord, he claims, Israel, Lebanon and the US “are essentially telling Iran, ‘This is none of your business. You have no status here, no involvement and no role. Not you, not Hezbollah, not any terror group.'”

He acknowledges that Israel will be withdrawing from two small areas it currently holds, in a pilot project for disarming Hezbollah and transferring territory to the Lebanese Army. Showing the areas on a map, he says one is completely outside the security zone, and the other is on the edge of the zone in an area the IDF no longer needs to hold.

Thus, he says, Israel is retaining the entire security zone area that it needs to protect northern Israel.


Hezbollah chief says Israeli-Lebanese framework is ‘null and void’
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem lashed out on Saturday at the U.S.-brokered framework signed the previous day between Jerusalem and Beirut, calling it “a very dangerous proposal that crosses all red lines.”

The Israeli-Lebanese “agreement is null and void, and the provisions of the Iranian-American Memorandum of Understanding must be implemented,” Qassem said in a recording transcribed by Hezbollah-run outlet Al-Manar.

Washington and Tehran signed an interim agreement on June 17 that commits to ending hostilities in the Middle East.

“The framework agreement reached in Washington is a humiliation, a disgrace, and a surrender of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Qassem continued, referring to the signing ceremony on Friday with Israeli and Lebanese officials.

He further stated that the agreement grants Israel the “legitimacy to annex the lands it occupied” in Southern Lebanon, preventing the Lebanese from “returning to their land.”


US strikes Iran, as tit-for-tat attacks dramatically reignite tensions
The US military said it struck Iran again on Saturday, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, in the worst escalation since the two sides signed an interim peace deal two weeks ago.

US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post, "United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"

Each of the warring sides has accused the other of violating the agreement reached two weeks ago to end the four-month-old conflict.

US Central Command said its forces carried out fresh strikes after a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone early on Saturday. In Iran, state broadcaster IRIB said early Sunday local time that explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, without providing further details.

According to Trump, the US struck missile and drone storage facilities, as well as coastal radar sites.

Retaliation for Iranian strikes in Hormuz, US-linked targets attacked
"Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to," CENTCOM said in a statement. It said the strikes were "in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping" and targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defense, drone storage, and mine-laying facilities.

A US defense official later reported that the strikes on Iranian targets were complete, according to Fox News.

Washington said earlier that it hit Iranian targets overnight. Iran said it responded on Saturday by striking targets linked to US forces.

Iran's Saturday drone attack on the cargo ship M/T Kiku, which, according to CENTCOM, carried more than two million barrels of crude oil, came after an earlier attack on the cargo ship M/V Ever Lovely that triggered the latest escalation on Thursday. Iran has made a fresh bid to assert control over the world's most important energy shipping route, which has begun to reopen after months of disruption.


IDF kills 17 terrorists, arrests over 100 suspects in operations over past week
The IDF killed at least ten terrorists in the Gaza Strip and struck six terror targets in southern Lebanon over the past week, the military announced on Friday.

According to the IDF, the Southern Command killed the ten terrorists, several of whom had invaded Israel on October 7, alongside the drilling operation to locate and destroy underground terror infrastructure.

Along the Israeli-Jordanian border, the IDF thwarted a smuggling attempt involving about ten kilograms of illegal drugs, according to the statement.

In Lebanon, the Northern Command struck the six Lebanese sites after terrorists in the area posed a threat to soldiers, the IDF said.

The IDF also killed seven Hezbollah terrorists who transferred weapons near the Security Zone in southern Lebanon, the military said in a separate announcement on Friday.

Also this week, the IDF arrested over 100 suspects during operations in the West Bank, who the military said were either involved with Hamas, the sale and possession of illegal weapons, or attacked soldiers with stones and Molotov cocktails.

As part of the operations, the IDF uncovered seven drones, combat equipment, and incitement materials, seizing at least ten weapons, including M-16 rifles, handguns, and several improvised weapons.
IDF killed Walid Haniyeh, nephew of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, military says
The IDF killed Walid Haniyeh, nephew of the former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, during a Thursday operation in Gaza, the military said on Saturday.

Haniyeh was the deputy commander of a Nukhba company and commanded a terrorist cell throughout the infiltration of Israel during the October 7 attacks. He recently tried to recruit new Hamas operatives into his ranks.

"Haniyeh was involved in directing and providing operational instructions to the terrorist cell as they took Israeli civilians hostage into the Gaza Strip," the military said.

Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
Ismail Haniyeh was a senior Hamas leader who was killed in July 2024 and replaced by Yahya Sinwar. His assassination in Tehran was said to have been caused by an explosive device planted in his room months before the detonation.

Haniyeh was appointed the chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau in 2017 and served from Qatar to strengthen international relations between Hamas and Middle Eastern powers, such as Iran and Turkey.

As a result, Iran threatened to retaliate against both the US and Israel with a barrage of air strikes, as many condemned the assassination for escalating the conflict.


NY’s Hakeem Jeffries welcomes anti-Israel primary winners who declined to endorse him
US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader, on Saturday congratulated recent winners of New York Democratic Party primaries, despite two of the candidates declining to support him as a potential House speaker.

Jeffries’ statement congratulated Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Micah Lasher, who all won Democratic party primaries in New York City this week.

All are expected to win seats in Congress in the general election in their Democratic-majority districts.

“From public servants to union organizers to community activists, the path is different but the work is the same,” Jeffries said in a statement. “We must decisively address the affordability crisis and crush far-right extremism.”

In each election, Israel was a central issue. Chevalier and Valdez are aligned with anti-Zionist ideology, while Lander is Jewish and defines himself as a “liberal Zionist” but is also harshly critical of Israel.

Jeffries is generally supportive of Israel, a major wedge issue between Democratic Party moderates and its insurgent far-left flank.

Jeffries, as House minority leader, regularly welcomes new party members to the House, but the congratulatory statement was complicated by political circumstances surrounding the primary campaigns.

Chevalier defeated incumbent US Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Lander beat incumbent US Rep. Dan Goldman. Jeffries had endorsed Espaillat and Goldman.

Chevalier and Valdez, both members of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, have declined to endorse Jeffries as majority leader if Democrats take back the House.

Their refusal to endorse Jeffries highlights the tense relationship between the DSA and more moderate Democrats.

At an election night party for Valdez, attendees chanted, “You’re next,” at Jeffries when he appeared on a screen at the event.

Chevalier, in particular, has voiced many extremist views targeting Israel, Democratic party leaders, the US, and domestic issues, such as calls to abolish prisons, borders and the police.

Mainstream Jewish leaders have lined up behind Jeffries amid threats against his leadership from the DSA.

Jeffries has supported Israel’s existence as a Jewish and Democratic state and backed US security assistance to Israel.


Progressive Jewish US lawmaker chased from transgender event, accused of ‘genocide’
California Congressional candidate Scott Wiener, who is Jewish, was chased out of a transgender community march in San Francisco on Friday, in the second instance of anti-Israel harassment against Wiener this week.

The incidents came amid increasing concern about antisemitism in left-wing politics in the US and a slew of incidents targeting Jews on the left.

Wiener, who is gay, is a state senator and a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community who has passed pro-transgender legislation in the state government.

He is one of the most prominent Jewish politicians in California state politics and is among the leading candidates in the race to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is retiring.

Video posted by a local activist showed an anti-Israel crowd accosting Wiener at the transgender community parade in San Francisco’s Dolores Park.

In the footage, the activist approaches Wiener and compliments his past legislation in support of the LGBTQ community, as other activists begin shouting, calling Wiener a “genocidal piece of shit.”

The activist filming the video then shouts, “I think your policy on the genocide in Gaza is terrible. I think you do not belong here.

Other attendees follow Wiener, repeatedly shouting, “We fucking hate you,” and holding their middle fingers up to Wiener’s face.


Hamas crushes ‘Peaceful Revolution’ protests in Gaza
Hamas clamped down on Gazans on Friday for attempting to protest against its rule over the Strip.

The demonstrations, titled the “June 26 Peaceful Revolution,” were planned to take place in several locations throughout the Gaza Strip, but the terrorist group’s arrests and intimidation tactics prevented the protests from gaining traction, U.S.-based newspaper The Algemeiner reported.

Hamas’s security apparatus detained or rounded up people at four hospitals in Gaza; Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, a resident of the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City told the newspaper.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity over fears for his safety, the man was cited as saying, “The situation in Gaza is very difficult. They are kidnapping people and threatening people. The level of terror is high. There are fatwas calling for killing and fatwas declaring people infidels in the mosques, and calls saying the protest movement has been postponed. Things are very difficult. Since the morning, they’ve been arresting people and kidnapping people from the streets. Things are very bad.”

The Association of Palestinian Scholars, a Palestinian religious body, warned that those linked with the protests will be deemed collaborators with Israel, a crime punishable by death under Hamas’s rule, according to The Telegraph.

A debate on social media raged in the wake of the events, with Hamas supporters accusing the organizers of the demonstrations of being handled by an Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, Ynet reported.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the Gaza-born senior fellow of the U.S.-based think tank Atlantic Council, said that Hamas deployed at least hundreds of its operatives across Gaza to suppress the protests, resulting in “eerily empty” streets.


New Israeli AI system detects wildfires within minutes using sound sensors
The Jerusalem Hills took almost a year to recover from the 2025 wildfires, according to an April report by the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), with new fires expected to break out as summer fully kicks in. And the Israeli AI startup Firewave has been working to create a solution to these fire problems.

"The main bottleneck with wildfires is in detection, with rescue services not being able to detect the fires before they become a major problem," Dr. Jenia Yurkovsky, co-founder of Firewave, told The Jerusalem Post. "And while technology using drones already exists, we are using sound to detect when a fire is about to happen."

The company works by installing thousands of sensors near sensitive areas, such as national parks or critical infrastructure, and uses AI to distinguish the area's normal sounds from those of a fire.

"We have thousands of sounds registered that allow our system to understand not only if a fire is breaking down, but also if it's a controlled fire, a fire that was left unlit, or even a wildfire produced by the hot weather," Dr. Yurkovsky explained.

Dr. Yurkovsky explained that they developed not only the AI system to detect fires but also the devices used for detection, with the system allowing detection of fires a few square meters wide in a matter of minutes.

"This is a game-changer because usually you detect fires when they're already starting to spread, with the first sparks not being observable by traditional detection systems. Between smoke being very thin and fires occurring in forests where visibility is low, these situations were previously impossible to detect on time," he said.


‘Born to make people laugh’: Comedy legend and Jewish icon Mel Brooks turns 100
The 2000 Year Old Man is turning 100: Mel Brooks on Sunday celebrates his centennial birthday.

The comedian and filmmaker has been awaiting the milestone. Earlier this year, Judd Apatow titled his retrospective documentary on him: “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!”

“I was born to make people laugh,” Brooks says in the film. “So, I do that.”

Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York, on June 28, 1926. After serving in the Army during World War II and performing in the Borscht Belt, Sid Caesar hired him as a writer. On his “Show of Shows,” Brooks met Carl Reiner, who’d remain a lifelong friend and with whom he created the “2000 Year Old Man” sketches in the 1950s.

Reiner would pepper Brooks’ ancient man with questions about what Jesus was like. “Jesus … yes, yes,” Brooks would answer. “Thin lad. Wore sandals. Always walked around with 12 other guys.”

Brooks went on to make classic comedies like “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “High Anxiety,” “Spaceballs” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.”

It all started, Brooks told The Associated Press in 2021, with his childhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“I wanted to keep the party going. I wanted to keep the happiness and joy and explosions of laughter going into a dour part of our lives, not our childhood anymore,” Brooks recalled. “I was once interviewed and the guy said, ‘What was the happiest part of your life? Was it winning the Academy Award? Was it marrying Anne Bancroft?’ I said no, not at all. It was my childhood. From about 4 or 5 to 9, it was the most exciting, happiest, joyous life that anyone could experience.

“The guy said, ‘What happened at 9?’ I said, ‘Homework.’”





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