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Thursday, July 02, 2026

07/01 Links Pt2: Argentina’s Milei urges Latin American countries to join Isaac Accords; Boy George brands Roger Waters a ‘sanctimonious t***’

From Ian:

Argentina’s Milei urges Latin American countries to join Isaac Accords
Argentinian President Javier Milei on Monday urged Latin American countries to strengthen continental ties with Israel as envisioned in the Isaac Accords, saying it was an existential fight between good and evil.

The public exhortation comes amid a historic shift across Latin America, where a right-wing wave is reshaping alliances with the United States and Israel, and the political left is on the retreat.

“From my first day as president, I made the firm decision to place Argentina on the right side of history,” said Milei during an address to Latin American legislators affiliated with the Israel Allies Foundation. “What this region decides in the coming years will determine which side of history we end up on,” he continued.

The Isaac Accords, launched by Milei and Israeli leaders in Jerusalem earlier this year, are a diplomatic initiative aimed at improving relations between Israel and Latin American countries, modeled on the 2020 Abraham Accords brokered by the United States between Israel and four Arab nations.

He called the accords “a moral, diplomatic and cultural coalition” against antisemitism, terrorism and drug trafficking.

In a forceful and impassioned keynote address to the pro-Israel lawmakers from over a dozen countries, the Argentine leader argued that evil can only be defeated by organized good.

“Words without actions are just words, and the region already had too many speeches and too much inaction,” he said in a characteristically unsubtle rebuke of decades of anti-Israel policies on the continent by predominantly left-wing governments. “We have prayed, lit candles and held hands, and all the while terrorism continued.”

The unabashed philo-semite broke with decades of Argentinian foreign policy by both left-wing and right-wing Argentinian governments since entering office in December 2023 by forming an unprecedented alliance with both the United States and Israel, emerging as one of the most outspoken wartime supporters of the Jewish state.

The Argentine leader became the first non-Jewish head of state to receive the Genesis Prize last year in recognition of his staunch support for Israel. The Genesis Prize Foundation established American Friends of Isaac Accords to operationalize the vision of the Accords through public and private diplomacy.

‘Latin America can take a clear stand,” he said. “Neutrality is not an option just as it never has been in existential struggles.”
Abdul-Hussain: My journey from anti-Israel to pro-Israel is a model for the Arab world
At a launch event for his book, The Arab Case for Israel, on Tuesday, writer and researcher Hussain Abdul-Hussain argued that the path to peace in the Middle East begins with Arabs reexamining long-held assumptions about Israel, drawing on his own transformation from believing anti-Israel propaganda to an advocate for the Jewish state.

Speaking days after Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-brokered framework agreement, Abdul-Hussain said the Lebanese people can follow in his footsteps, as the country remains divided between a faction that promotes the Iranian narrative that Israel “only understands the language of war and force,” and those seeking to reclaim the country’s sovereignty.

“The Lebanese have had their share of sacrifices for big powers. This started back in the 1960s. The Lebanese will stand up for sovereignty and independence. They’ve been thrown under the bus time and time again and this makes them always wary and they try not to stick their neck out… this is what’s keeping them back,” Abdul-Hussain said.

The invitation-only event for the book, published in February, was hosted by Antoun Sehnaoui, businessman and philanthropist, and Morgan Ortagus, former deputy U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, at the Mark Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Abdul-Hussain, a Shia Muslim raised in Iraq and Lebanon where he said he was taught to hate Israel and the West, is now a Washington-based research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The Arab Case for Israel chronicles his unusual journey away from holding anti-Israel views, detailing his argument for why all Arabs should do the same.

“My story is the story of an average person who was told something and when he dug up the story it turned out to be something else,” Abdul-Hussain told some 50 attendees — a mix of Jews, Christians and Muslims — at the event. “I was taught, like every other kid was taught, that Israel must disappear. And I believed it.”

“Over the course of my life, events pushed me to try to learn about Israel.” The biggest turning point, he recalled, was in 2000 while he was working as a reporter in Lebanon. “We covered the Israeli military pulling out of the south and that day I drove my car to the border, which at the time was just a flimsy wire so I could see Israelis,” said Abdul-Hussain. “I became really curious. At the time, I could get on the FM radio of the Israeli channels. If you were in Lebanon at the time, your sources on Israel were [staunch Israel critics] Edward Said, [Noam] Chomsky and [Norman] Finkelstein.”

After learning Hebrew, Abdul-Hussain said he “discovered everything they taught us about Jews — that they were scheming to kill every Arab Lebanese kid — was not true.
Boy George brands Roger Waters a ‘sanctimonious t***’ after Pink Floyd founder’s anti-Israel remarks
Boy George has called Roger Waters a “sanctimonious t***” after the Pink Floyd co-founder predicted that the state of Israel will soon cease to exist.

In a pre-recorded video address to an ‘antizionist’ event in Ireland this week, Waters said: “I think the awful experiment that is the state of Israel is coming to an end,” prompting cheers from the audience.

He added: “And there will be equal rights, civil, human, every kind of right for all our brothers and sisters living between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.”

A clip of the remarks was shared online.

In the replies, Culture Club singer Boy George responded to another video of Waters appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored, writing: “Sanctimonious t***” Not you Piers!”

On Monday, Boy George responded to a July 2024 clip of Waters on Uncensored in which the singer-songwriter, who left the band in 1985, denied there was evidence that rapes had occurred during the October 7 attacks.

Boy George wrote: “Go to the Nova Exhibition you t***!”


Sa’ar, Huckabee sign agreement for permanent US embassy compound in Jerusalem
Israel and the United States signed an agreement on Wednesday allocating land for the construction of a permanent U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee signed the agreement during a ceremony held at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in the nation’s capital, in the presence of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.

The deal allocates the Allenby Compound in southern Jerusalem—just a stone’s throw from the current embassy—for the construction of a permanent complex.

“This agreement is about far more than the allocation of land,” Sa’ar said in remarks published by his office. “It is a recognition of history and a declaration of our shared future.”

Sa’ar called U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2017 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital “an act of historic justice” and said the permanent complex would cement the decision “for generations to come.”

He also described Israel as the United States’ “most important strategic asset in the Middle East,” saying the two countries were “indispensable” partners.

Huckabee said the United States would build a “magnificent and beautiful new U.S. Embassy complex” that would strengthen bilateral ties.

“The U.S decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was rooted in implementing U.S. law and the recognition of the deep, historic connection of the Jewish people to their eternal capital that goes back thousands of years,” he said.

Huckabee noted that the agreement was signed on the eve of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

“The Judeo-Christian values that inspired America’s founding fathers come from Jerusalem and throughout the land of Israel,” he declared.

Lion said the agreement turned Trump’s decision “from paper into stone,” adding that Jerusalem had always been the Jewish nation’s eternal capital.


So many instances of antisemitism at the BBC, says Chief Rabbi
The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis criticised the BBC for “so many” cases of antisemitism as he hailed the media’s “enormous role in strengthening social cohesion in Britain”.

Sir Ephraim was speaking at the Religion Media Festival in London.

Asked if the broadcaster was “institutionally antisemitic”, he said: “There are some people who are far more familiar with the BBC than me who claim that is the case. Unfortunately, there have been so many instances of antisemitism within the BBC.”

He said that while challenging the BBC’s reporting of an antisemitic attack on Jewish teenagers celebrating Chanukah on Oxford Street, he had encountered “an outright atmosphere of demonising Jews emanating from the BBC”.

Sir Ephraim said he had raised concerns privately with successive directors-general on “many occasions”.

He also claimed that Jewish BBC employees had required support from his office, saying the “normalisation of antisemitism is a blemish on UK society, and unfortunately within the BBC it is prevalent.”

The Chief Rabbi gave a keynote at the event at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, entitled: “How the media should challenge hate crime and promote social cohesion.”

He said: “The media has an enormous role, I believe, in strengthening social cohesion in Britain today.

“The media must surely highlight everything which we, as British citizens, have in common. But part of the problem is many of us fail to recognise what our true values are, so we’ve still got quite a lot of work to do and the media can help us in this regard to identify what it means to be British, and then to show how all of us share these true British values.”

He went on: “But even that will not be enough – we can’t only focus on all that which brings us together to create strong social cohesion, which will withstand all challenges.

“We need as well to recognise differences and to be open about that, and to debate those differences with respect. It is in that way that we can genuinely move forward.”
‘Are we in the 1920s now?’: Frank Lowy urges government to take action on antisemitism
Businessman and philanthropist Steven Lowy details his submission and testimony to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.


Don’t use Holocaust as ‘debating tool’ Diane Abbott told after she cites Kindertransport to oppose asylum seeker charge
The Holocaust Education Trust has warned that the Holocaust must not be “deployed as a debating tool,” after Diane Abbott invoked the Kindertransport while attacking new Home Office plans requiring some asylum seekers to contribute towards the cost of their stay in the UK.

Under the proposals, asylum seekers granted refugee status will be required to pay around £10,000 through a means-tested scheme designed to cover the cost of their state-funded living expenses.

Abbott wrote: “This is just a tax on refugees. Imagine applying to the Kindertransport children fleeing Nazi Germany, and withholding refugee status they are entitled to.”

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP and former Labour stalwart who had the whip removed over antisemitism allegations, also accused the government of “chasing Farage down a dead end”.

She was criticised by campaigners, who noted that children admitted under the Kindertransport were only permitted to come to Britain after a payment per child by private sponsors.

Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said: “That is literally what happened to Kindertransport children.”

Former Labour councillor Joshua Garfield added: “The Kindertransport was entirely funded by private donations from Anglo-Jewry as the government expressly required that no refugee child become a burden to the state."

A spokesperson for the Holocaust Education Trust said of the remark: “In a world full of misinformation, accuracy is essential.

“Under the special immigration scheme agreed by the Home Office in November 1938, a private guarantor, often from within the Jewish community, had to post a £50 bond per child, around £2000-£3000 today, to cover the cost of their eventual re-emigration, on the basis that no child would become a burden on public funds.

"Children entered on temporary travel documents, and the £50 was a guarantee held against future costs.

"The Holocaust must be taught and understood, not deployed as a debating tool,” HET said.


National Review: Why Are The Queers Pro-Palestine?

Top Democrats won’t commit to supporting Israel’s security in party platform
Several House Democrats, including in leadership and top progressives, remain divided or notably noncommittal over whether Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be a policy position of the Democratic Party moving forward.

The official 2024 Democratic Party Platform, released by the DNC for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, stated that party leaders “believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States” and that the party’s “commitment to Israel’s security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself … is ironclad.”

However, the Democratic Party has continued to face internal division over how to exercise that support, or to what extent that support should continue to exist at all.

When asked on Tuesday whether support for Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be an official policy position of the Democrat Party moving forward, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was noncommittal and avoided the question.

He instead told Jewish Insider that Democrats are “continuing to focus on driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and cleaning up corruption in an environment where the Trump cartel is the most corrupt administration in American history.”


Harris reaches out to anti-Israel Democrats ahead of possible 2028 presidential bid
Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly called New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and recently met with Abbas Alawieh, a candidate for the Michigan State Senate and co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement, which declined to endorse her 2024 presidential campaign over her Israel policy.

According to Axios, Harris called Mamdani privately on June 25 to “talk about the party’s future and plan a longer conversation.”

Harris met in Detroit with Alawieh, who is running as a Democrat in Michigan and previously served as chief of staff to former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who is currently seeking re-election after losing her seat in 2025. According to Alawieh, “the meeting came after months of conversations she initiated over multiple phone calls.”

“In my first call with VP Harris, I shared with her that several community members in the Michigan State Senate district I’m running to represent have had family recently killed in Israeli airstrikes with support from our American government, and that my 91-year-old grandmother’s home was destroyed as well,” he wrote. “When I met with her last week, I reiterated what has long been my position: American tax dollars must never be used to target civilians and destroy entire communities.

Alawieh called Michigan crucial for “defeating Trumpism.”

He said he urged Harris and “all our party’s leaders” to oppose “the Israeli military’s genocide in Gaza.”

Harris has also reportedly spoken with James Zogby, a Democratic National Committee member and founder of the Arab American Institute who has frequently criticized Israel and its war against Hamas in Gaza. In 2024, Zogby criticized the Harris campaign for not allowing a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic National Convention.

Harris has not announced whether she will run for president again, though she recently said she was “thinking about” a 2028 bid.


Texas Democrats embrace toned-down anti-Israel language in party platform
Texas Democrats adopted several anti-Israel amendments into their party platform at a state party convention last weekend — a significant move to the left on Israel policy in a generally conservative state with marquee Senate and gubernatorial races this November.

That said, much of the anti-Israel language was toned down from the original amendments as introduced — and the party also adopted some pro-Israel language in the platform.

The platform also supports the right of Israel to “exist in safe and secure borders” and condemns the “genocidal actions and goals of Hamas” and supports its removal from leadership in the Gaza Strip and the terror group’s disarmament.

At the same time, it offers support for the right of return for Palestinian refugees as well as for Palestine becoming a U.N. member state “when qualified under the U.N. Charter” and the International Court of Justice’s interim judgement in the genocide case against Israel — though it acknowledges that the ICJ has not ruled that Israel committed genocide — and recognizes the Palestinian “Nakba.”

“Israelis and Palestinians alike have the inalienable right to pursue self-determination, be it a unified political structure or separate sovereign states,” the platform reads.

The platform urges Texas Democratic members of Congress to support the Block the Bombs Act and the end of U.S. offensive weapons sales to Israel, as well as legislation calling for a war crimes investigation into certain Israeli actions in the West Bank.
Washington state Democratic Party spoke ‘for us without including us’ in anti-Israel platform, Jewish caucus co-chair says
Leaders of the Washington State Democratic Party added anti-Israel statements, including blaming the Jewish state for rising antisemitism, in the party’s newly adopted platform without consulting with the Jewish Caucus of the Washington state legislative, Democratic state senator Jesse Salomon, co-chair of the caucus, told JNS.

The platform states that “there has been a dramatic resurgence in antisemitism in recent years on all sides of the political spectrum, due in part to actions taken by the Israeli government.”

“As co-chair of the Jewish legislative caucus, I heard nothing about this from the state party,” Salomon told JNS. “It is very disappointing that they would speak for us without including us.”

Salomon, who represents the state’s 32nd Legislative District, said that he has been trying for two years to pass a bill, which the Anti-Defamation League supports and which would protect houses of worship. “The same wing of the so-called progressive community has blocked those bills,” he told JNS.

“It’s like you can’t win,” he said. “I don’t understand the failure to recognize this.”

The anti-Israel language in the party platform “is not surprising and far from an isolated incident,” the state senator said. “It is clear that unless one is willing to denounce all affinity for the Jewish state, we are not welcome in many progressive spaces. No other identity group is subjected to that.”

“That is in itself antisemitic and creates an atmosphere of intolerance and lack of safety,” he said.
‘I Am Honored’: Abdul El-Sayed Accepts Endorsement From Arab-American PAC Led by Hamas Cheerleader Who’s Called for Israeli Jews To Be Sent 'Back to Poland’
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D.), who has made opposition to Israel and the "pro-Israel lobby" a centerpiece of his campaign, accepted an endorsement from an Arab-American lobbying group led by an unabashed supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah who has called for Israeli Jews to be sent "back to Poland."

El-Sayed said, in a statement dated this past Saturday, that he is "honored" for the endorsement of Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), a Dearborn-based group that aims to "lobby on behalf of the Arab American political causes which are of concern to the majority of the community."

"AAPAC understands that we can only achieve that promise by investing in our communities here at home instead of sending our tax dollars to fund killing, genocide, apartheid and endless war," said El-Sayed, according to the Arab American News.

It’s a powerful endorsement for El-Sayed, who leads Rep. Haley Stevens (D., Mich.) and state senator Mallory McMorrow ahead of the Aug. 4 primary, one of the most closely watched races in the country. AAPAC pledges to provide "all available resources" to its endorsed candidates, including through "direct bilingual mailings to Arab American registered voters."

AAPAC is led by Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Arab American News. Siblani, who praised El-Sayed in the endorsement for his "vision" and "leadership," has a lengthy history of urging violence against Israel and defending the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, drawing condemnation from Democrats and Jewish groups.

In 2022, Siblani urged Arabs to "fight within [their] means" against Israel with "stones," "guns," or "their hands." He has bragged that he refused to condemn Hamas, which he called "freedom fighters" during a conference call with Biden White House officials in 2021.

In October 2024, Siblani blasted the Jordanian government for its "interception of Iranian missiles directed at Israel." Siblani said Jordan was "complicit" in Israel’s war against "Lebanon and Palestine," where Israel is fighting Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively.

At a rally in Dearborn in September 2024, Siblani hailed "the great Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," and hailed the late Hezbollah leader as a "hero." After chants of "death to Israel" broke out during Siblani’s speech, Siblani responded, "Believe me, they will take care of the job," an apparent reference to Hezbollah.
Colorado’s pro-Israel, Jewish attorney general wins Democratic primary for governor
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a strong supporter of Israel, defeated Sen. Michael Bennet in the state’s Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday, getting some 55 percent of the vote.

Weiser is the son of a woman born at Buchenwald two days after the concentration camp’s liberation in 1945, and will now be the Democratic Party candidate for governor of the Rocky Mountain state.

In the governor’s race, Bennet initially had the momentum as a three-term senator and the former superintendent of the Denver Public Schools. But voters ultimately chose Weiser, the two-term attorney general and former clerk for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“They counted us out, and they underestimated all of you. Together we pushed forward. We did the hard work and we proved the establishment wrong,” Weiser said in his victory speech.

Weiser has been outspoken about his support for Israel and against the rise of antisemitism.

He condemned the June 2025 firebombing attack in Boulder, in which one person was killed and seven others suffered burns during a demonstration to release Israeli hostages from Gaza. Noting a rise in antisemitic attacks, Weiser said at the time, “These attacks are fueled by hatred, demonization, and, in this case, a dangerous and abhorrent belief that politically motivated violence is justified.”

Weiser’s primary win came as voters in Denver chose a democratic socialist who declined to condemn the Boulder firebombing as antisemitic as their congressional candidate, adding to a surge of wins for anti-Israel candidates in multiple states.
Colo-radical: Socialist Who Called 9/11 ‘Inevitable’ Takes Down 15-Term Incumbent in Denver House Primary
Far-left House challenger Melat Kiros, a socialist who called both the Oct. 7 and Sept. 11 terror attacks "inevitable," unseated Rep. Diana DeGette, who has represented Denver for nearly 30 years. The result comes on the heels of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's socialist sweep in New York City's congressional primaries and shows that left-wing radicalism is not confined to the East Coast.

Kiros led DeGette by nearly 10 points with 93 percent of the vote counted early Wednesday morning. Her victory comes a week after a slew of socialists, all backed by Mamdani, swept the primaries in the Big Apple. Like in New York, Kiros will almost certainly secure the House seat, which hasn't had a Republican representative in over 50 years, in November.

Besides her socialist identity, Kiros shares another characteristic with the Mamdani-backed House candidates: She's an outspoken anti-Israel activist. She called Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack "an inevitable consequence of apartheid, of occupation, decades of occupation" during a May interview with Hasan Piker, the anti-American streamer who has said "America deserved 9/11."

The remark prompted a reporter for Denver's NBC affiliate, Kyle Clark, to ask Kiros if she believed the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks "were the inevitable consequence of American foreign policy." Kiros said they were.

"Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East that forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response," she replied. "And again, just like I said before, our responsibility is to getting rid of those conditions that lead to violence in the first place."


Government urged to close media loophole after antisemitism aired by UK based channel
The government is facing renewed questions about the ability of extremist media organisations to operate in the UK, after a London based Arabic-language TV Channel ran an interview in which an individual claimed that “on Jewish Passover they have to get a gentile child – a non-Jewish child – and knead the matzah they eat in the morning with his blood.”

Al-Hiwar, a TV channel based in Acton, West London, ran an interview with Dr Mona Sobhy, an Egyptian family therapist, last week, in which she claimed that Israel “is the offspring of Western culture”, where Jews have been gathered “in order to get rid of their traditions, the problems they cause, and their usury”.

In the interview, which was translated by the MEMRI (Middle East Media and Research Institute) watchdog, which referred to Al-Hiwar as a “Muslim Brotherhood TV channel”, Sobhy cited what she called “a very famous story in the Levant, in Damascus…it used to be a Christian neighbourhood, but on Jewish Passover they have to get a gentile child – a non-Jewish child – and knead the matzah they eat in the morning with his blood.”

At this point the interviewer interjected, but only to affirm the existence of what they referred to as “the blood matzah”.

Sobhy went on to claim that the Jews “couldn’t find” a child, because “the Muslims would take precautions, and hide their children before Passover. They would not let them go out to the street. The neighbourhoods were closed down, and no stranger could go in.

“So they found themselves in a pickle, they needed gentile blood. So they had no choice but to trick one priest, who worked as a doctor and would do rounds, with his bag and everything. They told him ‘we have someone sick in the Jewish neighbourhood’, and they killed him and took his blood. It is hatred towards Islam, towards Christianity, and all the non-Jewish communities.”
How International Yoga Day Was Reframed Against Israel
International Day of Yoga was created to promote physical wellbeing, mental health and cultural exchange. Every June, millions of people in more than 180 countries take part in events organized under a shared global theme, with governments, municipalities and community organizations hosting public gatherings that celebrate yoga’s universal appeal rather than national politics. Israel’s flagship event on June 21 followed that model.

Organized by the Embassy of India in Israel in partnership with the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, Tel Aviv Port and the Ellayoga studio, the open-air gathering brought together more than 500 participants overlooking the Mediterranean. This year’s international theme, “Yoga for Healthy Aging,” framed an evening of 108 synchronized Sun Salutations, live Indian classical sitar music, a traditional Kathak dance performance and remarks by India’s Ambassador to Israel, J.P. Singh, who described yoga as a bridge between cultures while noting Israel’s unusually strong yoga community. By every official measure, it was a cultural diplomacy event centered on health and wellbeing.

Yet reports produced by AJ+, the digital platform of Qatar’s Al Jazeera Media Network, and Turkey’s state international broadcaster, TRT World, took the events and created a biased, politically charged narrative. They contrasted the yoga with images of the war in Gaza and recontextualized the event beyond normal editorial standards. Reframing The Story

TRT published a report in which they contrasted images of the Indian Embassy-backed event with those of October 7 War destruction under the headline “Israelis hold mass yoga session to heal PTSD from committing genocide.”

Captions claimed that the event was geared toward helping Israeli security services members and civilians “heal from the trauma and PTSD caused by Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians.”

TRT misrepresented the event, as program and advertisements by the Indian Embassy or Ellayoga studio did not describe the event as being particularly for Israeli soldiers, a PTSD recovery program, or an initiative connected to Israel’s war against Hamas. Like International Day of Yoga celebrations held around the world that weekend, the emphasis remained on health, resilience and cultural exchange.

At separate yoga event held several days earlier in Jerusalem, Ambassador J.P. Singh referred to research from Hillel Yaffe Medical Centre examining how yoga may help healthcare professionals cope with prolonged psychological stress during wartime. In that context, he described yoga as a form of “Psychological Iron Dome,” using the phrase as a metaphor for emotional resilience rather than redefining the purpose of International Day of Yoga itself.

Yet even before viewers read the misleading captions, from the first frame of video, the gathering had already been redefined. Hundreds of participants attended an evening devoted to yoga, cultural exchange and wellbeing. TRT World instead introduced the footage through an allegation that became the dominant frame for everything that followed.


Majority of U.S. Jews say they experienced antisemitism in the last year in new survey
As the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary this weekend, a new study by Combat Antisemitism Movement reveals a stark reality for American Jews: 57% reported experiencing antisemitism — frequently manifesting online — in the past year.

Conducted by Ira Sheskin, director of the Jewish Demography Project at the University of Miami and administered by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, the survey — which polled 1,060 Jewish American adults over three weeks in May — found that antisemitism is causing them to actively alter everyday behavior.

A clear majority of respondents (58%) said they felt less safe as Jews in the U.S. than a year ago.

Over one-third (38%) of Jewish American respondents now conceal items that identify them as Jewish, with 32% avoiding posting identifying information online and 23% reporting that they skip Jewish events out of fear.

Even as the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. declined by a third last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2025 audit, the overall global increase in attacks on Jews that came after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks and ensuring war in Gaza continues to have lasting ramifications —- and may even be getting worse for some, according to the CAM survey.

Much of the antisemitism reported was experienced on the Internet, with 59% of respondents saying they had seen antisemitic content directed at someone else online. Only 10% reported being the personal target of online antisemitism.

But the more visibly Jewish a person identifies, the more antisemitism they report facing: 46% of Orthodox Jews and 44% of those active in Jewish communal life reported experiencing antisemitism, compared with 17% of those not involved.

Other forms of antisemitism respondents said they faced over the past year included anti-Jewish vandalism (36%), slurs from colleagues or neighbors (36%) and being socially excluded (14%).

Only 8% of respondents reported being physically threatened or attacked, though 40% also noted that a non-Jewish person had expressed solidarity with them.
Almost three-quarters of religion-based hate crimes in California in 2025 targeted Jews, state says
Jews were the targets of 289 hate crimes in California in 2025, which was about 73.7% of the 392 religion-based hate crimes recorded in the state that year, according to a new state report released on Wednesday.

“There is absolutely no place for hate in California,” stated Rob Bonta, the California attorney general. “Transparent and accessible data is a critical part of understanding where we are and how we can end hate crimes in our communities.”

Announcing the 2025 Hate Crime in California report, Bonta said that “reported hate crime events in California decreased by 3.4% from 2,023 in 2024 to 1,955 in 2025" but that “reported hate crime events involving racial or ethnic bias increased by 6.2% from 1,011 in 2024 to 1,074 in 2025.”

The state attorney general singled out 30.3% and 23.8% increases in anti-Hispanic or Latino and gender based bias, respectively and said that hate crimes that were " anti-citizenship status” were up from 16 in 2024 to 40 in 2025.

He added that “anti-Jewish bias events fell from 310 in 2024 to 289 in 2025, a decrease of 6.8%" and that “anti-Islamic bias events rose from 24 in 2024 to 38 in 2025.”

The 289 anti-Jewish hate crimes in California in 2025 represented almost 14.8% of all hate crimes of any kind in the state in 2025. Jews make up about 3.25% of Californians, by some estimates.

Daniel S. Mariaschin, honorary CEO and senior adviser at B’nai B’rith International, told JNS that “this is yet further evidence of an epidemic of hate that shows no sign of abating.”

“Whether in California or elsewhere, elected officials, law enforcement, the media, educators and community leaders all have an obligation to address this spiral—now,” Mariaschin told JNS. “To neglect or look the other way is to enable its spread.”
Exclusive: I mentioned my trip to Israel at the airport… then a passenger threatened to kill Jews and rape me
A British-Jewish man has told the JC that he was subjected to rape threats and physical assault after mentioning a trip to Tel Aviv while on the phone to a friend in a European airport.

Jacob, who asked to be identified by his first name only, claimed he had food thrown over him by a bystander after discussing his recent holiday to Israel aloud while waiting for a flight in Copenhagen.

"I was sitting at a coffee stand having a drink while waiting for my flight. During that time, I was speaking to someone on FaceTime about a recent trip that I had taken to Tel Aviv,” he told the JC.

"An Arab couple who were sitting opposite me overheard my conversation and began verbally abusing me.”

Jacob insisted that he had not said a word to the couple prior to the incident and claims it was simply his mention of having been in Israel that prompted the assault.

“The young man, who I have since been informed is 25 years old, became increasingly aggressive and directed a series of threats towards me.

"He repeatedly threatened to “f*** me up”, threatened sexual violence against me by stating that he would rape me, and also said that he would rape Jewish people. He further stated that he would kill Jews and destroy Israel. Throughout the incident, he made repeated obscene and threatening gestures by grabbing his groin.

“The abuse then escalated when he deliberately threw pizza directly into my face, covering my clothing with food. I was left shocked and extremely distressed by the assault.

“I immediately contacted the police. As soon as the man and woman realised that I was on the phone to the police, they ran away from the area.”

Danish police soon arrived on the scene to take a statement from Jacob. However, according to a video shot by Jacob and seen by the JC, the alleged assailant returned during his conversation with an officer, at which point the man was stopped for questioning.

According to Jacob, police subsequently informed him that the alleged attacker was a 25-year-old Swedish citizen and that he had been arrested at the airport.


FIFA hopes for Israeli-Palestinian match at international youth tournament
FIFA is understood to be continuing attempts to schedule a game between Israelis and Palestinians as part of its plans for a new international under-15s tournament, which will be taking place in the USA this Autumn.

The efforts from the international footballing body have come despite embarrassment at FIFA’s annual conference held earlier this year in Vancouver, where despite an understood agreement for representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian FAs to shake hands on stage, the Palestinian FA chair, Djibril Rajoub, publicly refused to do so, despite the repeated urging of FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino.

Rajoub, a senior member of Fatah who spent years in Israeli jails for terrorist activities, refused to shake the hand of the vice chair of Israel’s FA, Israeli-Arab Basim Sheikh Suliman, with Palestinian representatives later accusing Suliman of having been brought “to whitewash fascism and genocide”. Rajoub was reportedly denied access into the US to attend the world cup, though the United States authorities have not given an official reason.

Despite the public rebuff, Infantino told the crowd at the get-together that “We have a beautiful under‑15 tournament coming up, where we will invite all 211 countries to participate, all the children of the world, let’s do it for that. Let’s work together. You have my commitment, you have the support of the whole room.”

It is thought that the youth tournament is likely to place in Miami, given FIFA’s main US operational base is located in the Florida city.

As reported by i24, a spokesperson for the Israel Football Association said, “Chairman Moshe Zuares will stick to what he has publicly stated several times at the FIFA Congress and elsewhere—we are more ready than ever to use football as a tool to promote normalization and peace.”

“Our hand is always extended toward a better future for everyone. We hope to find a courageous partner on the other side.”
Israel ranks 18th in global wealth list as 8,800 Israelis become new millionaires
Israel ranked 18th in average personal wealth in the world in 2025 as the number of millionaires continued to grow, boosted by strong financial markets, according to the UBS annual Global Wealth Report published on Tuesday.

With average personal wealth in dollar terms of $312,108 per adult at the end of 2025, up from $284,224 in 2024, Israel moved down one spot from the previous year’s annual ranking and was situated before South Korea and after Ireland.

Globally, personal wealth expanded at its fastest pace since 2017, marking the third consecutive year of growth, creating nearly 1 million new millionaires, or more than 2,600 per day. Switzerland came in at the top of the table in terms of average personal wealth, followed by the US and Luxembourg, among 56 countries that represent over 92% of the world’s wealth, the Swiss bank said.

Israel was home to about 195,000 millionaires at the end of 2025, an increase of 4.7 percent over 2024, as just over 8,800 people became newly minted dollar millionaires. However, Israelis in this wealth bracket represent only 3.2% of the country’s adult population, the report found.

More than 82% of the country’s gross personal wealth is invested in financial assets, the second-highest proportion in the list of 56 countries, after Sweden.

In 2025, a year of war and geopolitical uncertainty, Tel Aviv share indices soared to record highs, amid the raging multifront wars, outperforming the world’s major stock indexes. Similarly, the shekel has strengthened against both the dollar and the euro despite an economy strained by ballooning war costs and a growing debt burden, while tech exits jumped by a whopping 340% to $58.8 billion.


Maccabiah Games open in Jerusalem as global celebration of Jewish pride
The opening ceremony of the “Jewish Olympics” was buzzing with Jewish pride and resilience as athletes and fans from more than 30 countries gathered in Jerusalem Wednesday night.

After last year’s Maccabiah Games were postponed due to Israel’s June 2025 war with Iran, the kick-off of the two-week competition carried an extra level of symbolism and significance as Israel prepared to mark 1,000 days since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023 this weekend.

“We came here from Mexico with all of our family, because we are all family here,” said Katya, part of a delegation of about 300 visitors from the Latin American country who sat together in the capital’s Teddy Stadium wearing dark green T-shirts. “We are so excited to finally be here in Israel together.”

Kicking off the games, which will be held at sites around Israel through July 13, some 5,000 athletes marched through the sold-out stadium waving their countries’ flags ahead of a ceremonial torch lighting ceremony and performances by some of Israel’s leading entertainers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog addressed the crowd in a mixture of Hebrew and English, speaking to both the Israelis in the audience and visitors from abroad.

“Through this difficult war, we have proven that despite the pain, we can find the challenge in every crisis,” Herzog said. “This sports celebration is a demonstration of Jewish power that conveys an unequivocal message of joint responsibility and determination to the people of Israel and the entire world.”

Netanyahu, meanwhile, called on the crowd to be strong amidst the rise in global antisemitism. “This year, I have only one message for you: People respect only those who respect themselves,” he said. “In the face of antisemitism, stand tall!”

Among the countries participating, Israel has by far the largest representation with some 2,200 athletes. About 900 came from the USA, followed by significant teams from Mexico, Argentina, Germany, Brazil and France.





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