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Saturday, July 11, 2026

07/10 Links Pt1: US House probe targets New Israel Fund over anti-Netanyahu meddling; Pro-Israel UK MP Ann Widdecombe, murdered; CPJ Staff Packed With Anti-Israel Agitators

From Ian:

Brian Cox: Hamas announced it is stepping down in Gaza. It’s time for Canada to step up
The Board of Peace that is tasked with managing the transition of authority in Gaza welcomed Monday’s announcement that Hamas has dissolved its government, yet the Board nonetheless insisted that its assessment will be “guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza.”

If Hamas does not voluntarily disarm and refrain from a governing role in Gaza, these non-negotiable objectives may yet require overwhelming military force to achieve. This means the prospect of intense—even deadly—combat operations remains.

Despite the dangers on the horizon, the potential for this plan to finally achieve durable peace in Palestinian territories is worth the risk.

But doing so will require commitment, resolve, and skilled military capabilities. This is why the Canadian Armed Forces are especially well suited to the task.

One potential roadblock is the current strain in relations between Canada and the United States. Despite current tensions, the government still maintains that “Canada has had no closer friend and ally than the United States” for over 150 years.

And although the peace plan is an American-led initiative for which Trump is appointed chair of the fledgling Board of Peace, the United Nations Security Council has welcomed the board and authorized establishment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF).

This provides international legitimacy to the peace plan, which is a point the government can emphasize to the domestic constituency in light of current diplomatic tensions with America.

Last fall, the Carney government along with Australia, France, and the UK recognized the State of Palestine even though it doesn’t currently qualify for traditional criteria of statehood. Committing robust military capabilities to the ISF in Gaza represents an opportunity to pursue a credible two-state solution.

The Carney government insists that “Canada is a strong supporter of the Middle East Peace Process” and that its approach to the conflict “is guided by its historic and unwavering commitment to a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in peace and security.”

If Canada is genuinely committed to long-term peace while also supporting “free and fair elections in Palestine in which Hamas must play no role,” political rhetoric, humanitarian aid, and capacity building simply will not be enough.

The consequences of failure are predictable: perpetual conflict, resurgence of Hamas and other Iran-backed regional proxy militias, and eventually a repeat of the October 7 atrocities followed by catastrophic large-scale hostilities.

A coalition of the willing must seize this moment by demonstrating the resolve needed to convert wishes to results.

The time is now for Canada to step up, join in, and take on a decisive role to foster genuine peace in Gaza and beyond.
US House probe targets New Israel Fund over anti-Netanyahu meddling
Two influential US congressional panels have launched a major inquiry into the New Israel Fund (NIF), JNS reported on Friday.

According to the report, the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees are examining allegations that the American-based leftist organization potentially violated federal tax laws by funneling non-profit capital into partisan political operations aimed at toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In an official warning obtained by JNS, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) detailed how NIF may have breached its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status “by providing millions of dollars in funding to groups that engaged in political campaign activities in the 2019 Israeli elections."

US internal revenue laws strictly forbid public charities from intervening in foreign or domestic political races either directly or indirectly.

According to congressional investigators, the NIF covertly backed radical anti-Netanyahu networks.

“NIF provided approximately $356,000 to Zazim, an Israeli organization that ‘operated a transportation system that brought thousands of Bedouin voters’ to the polls that were part of the opposition party to Prime Minister Netanyahu," the lawmakers noted. They also revealed that the organization “also provided approximately $95,000 to Adalah, a group that ‘provided legal representation to the Joint Arab List,’ an alliance of Arab parties that centered their campaign around ousting Prime Minister Netanyahu in favor of his opponent, Benny Gantz."

Further compliance failures were flagged regarding a 2019 court filing indicating that the NIF actively interfered in the sovereign electoral map by securing signatures for a legal petition to block a right-wing legislative candidate. “When the Israeli Supreme Court banned the candidate, ‘NIF called it a victory for democracy,’" the chairmen noted.

The leftist organization has historically presented itself as an entity dedicated to bolstering civil equity, asserting that it has disbursed over $300 million to various left-wing frameworks since 1979. However, the prominent visual on their web portal showcases Arab MK Ayman Odeh, leader of the radical anti-Zionist Hadash-Ta'al faction.

Odeh, despite being an elected member of the Knesset, has made countless anti-Israel statements, including comparisons between Israeli hostages and Hamas terrorists.

Rep. Jim Jordan indicated to JNS that the evidence points to blatant meddling. “The law is the law. You’re not supposed to be using this for electioneering activity," he stressed. “It looks like they were.
Downstream of the Lie By Abe Greenwald
Via Commentary Newsletter, sign up here.
I’m not talking about the dupes who believe anti-Israel propaganda. I mean, rather, those Israel supporters who blame the shift in public opinion on Israel’s failed communications strategy over the past three years.

They act as if anyone else is doing a better job of getting populations to distinguish between lies and truth. Falsehoods and loony theories have come to proliferate everywhere at all times. Look at recent history: Most of the country believed that Donald Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin to win the 2016 election. Most bought into the story that Covid came from a wet market. The 2020 election showed that Americans generally thought Joe Biden was cognitively fit for office. As recently as 2024, Gallup found that a majority of Americans were opposed to banning “gender-affirming” care for minors. And most still think the government is lying to us about aliens.

In such cases of broadly shared misinformation, we tend to blame those peddling the lies, not those who just didn’t scream the truth loud enough. In fact, truthful protestations are repurposed by the liars as further proof of a cover-up.

Look, I don’t really think Israel lost the information war to begin with. As I’ve argued before, the information Israel needed to get across was that it’s not going anywhere and will do whatever is necessary to ensure its survival.

But what’s more important is that the psyop against Israel isn’t ultimately about Israel. It’s a disinformation nuke aimed at the heart of America. Just look at what it’s already done to our social cohesion. Same goes for the Charlie Kirk conspiracy theory, which is itself an anti-Semitic spinoff of the op against Israel. History shows that the promulgation of anti-Semitism can be a death sentence for free societies.

To save our country, I suggest we start looking abroad at who would stand to gain from this kind of crack-up. Never mind the incentive structure of clicks and views. That’s all downstream of the problem’s source. It’s the U.S. that’s losing the information war. And the way to win it is to take the fight straight to our enemies.


UK police arrest suspect in the killing of former Parliament member Ann Widdecombe
British police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of murder in the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former British member of Parliament and reality TV contestant.

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead on Thursday in her Haytor Vale home on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England after sustaining what police said were “serious injuries.”

The killing was not believed to be an act of terror and there was no information to suggest it was politically motivated, Devon and Cornwall Police Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said.

Longman did not discuss a possible motive but said the suspect was in custody as the investigation continues.

“This is really shocking news, and my thoughts, I think all of our thoughts, will be with the family and friends of Ann Widdecombe at this awful time,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. “Ann was a distinguished politician over many, many years with many achievements, and it’s a huge, huge loss.”

Widdecombe found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother reality television shows. She later joined the Brexit Party and became a spokeswoman for the anti-immigration Reform UK party.

She served in the House of Commons as an MP from 1987 to 2010 and was known for socially conservative views opposing abortion rights and expansion of LGBTQ rights.

She was also a supporter of Israel, belonging to the Conservative Friends of Israel group for many years and speaking at B’nai Brith events, according to a report in the Jewish Chronicle.

Additionally, Widdecombe wrote a novel set during the Holocaust; the story focused on the tension between a German officer’s patriotism and his opposition to the Nazi regime.


SCOOP: ‘Read history books,’ UN adviser Albanese told after claiming Jews only well-treated in Arab lands post-Inquisition
Francesca Albanese, special United Nations rapporteur for the Palestinians who has a long history of making anti-Israel comments, ought to read a book after her claim that Jews have been treated only in exemplary fashion in Arab lands since the Inquisition ended in the 19th century.

“Francesca Albanese can either read history books if she wished to—obviously she doesn’t—or she can meet people like my wife,” David Harris, executive vice chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, told JNS.

Harris, who was CEO of the American Jewish Committee from 1990 to 2022, is married to Giulietta Boukhobza, whose family comes from present-day Libya. That country is Judenrein, he told JNS, using the German for “Jew-free.”

“There is not a single Jew left in Libya. No trace. No plaque. No memorial. No monument. No museum. No school book reference. Nothing,” Harris said. “No citizenship. Any business venture required a majority Arab partner. No legal recourse. The list is a long one.”

After Libya became independent in 1951, new rules made it almost impossible for Jews to remain, and later, after the Six-Day War in 1967, “mobs came to the homes of Jews, including my wife’s family, to burn down and kill the Jews—very, very similar in a way to Oct. 7,” Harris told JNS.

At a June 19 gathering of current and former U.N. staffers, Albanese, whom the global body considers an independent “expert,” said that “Jews had been discriminated in Europe, not in West Asia, not in the Arab world, where they had been in fact welcomed once they were kicked out from Spain and other parts of Europe.”

Albanese’s comments, which took place during a webinar hosted by the anti-Israel group U.N. Staff For Gaza, have not been reported previously. She made the remarks as she compared the Holocaust and what she said is a “genocide” that Israel is carrying out against the Palestinians.
Israeli envoy tells UN special rep for sexual violence that she is ‘collaborator’ in political campaign
Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told Pramila Patten, the global body’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, that she betrayed the Jewish state’s trust by “caving” to pressure from the head of the United Nations to place Israel on a blacklist of sexual violence perpetrators.

“We all know what really happened here. Let’s admit it,” Danon said during the U.N. Security Council’s session on Wednesday, as a stonefaced Patten looked on.

“Hamas was finally and rightly placed on the secretary-general’s blacklist,” Danon said. “Immediately after that, in the name of balance, the anti-Israel forces inside the U.N. decided that Israel had to be added to to make a balance.”

Patten “gave in to” António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, “instead of standing up to that pressure,” the Israeli envoy said.

The U.N. special representative included Israel alongside Hamas, Islamic State and Boko Haram on the blacklist.

When Patten presented the report to the press, she admitted that she hadn’t seen evidence of Israel’s purported violations. “This is not my job,” she told reporters at the time. “It is not the responsibility of my office to do any verification.”

That makes her a “collaborator” rather than a bystander, Danon said on Wednesday.

The Israeli envoy said that the Jewish state cooperated with Patten’s office and invited her multiple times to visit Israel in order to carry out her mandate.

She scheduled and then canceled two trips. She visited Israel after Oct. 7, after which she put Hamas on the blacklist.


Trump emphasizes end of US-Iran ceasefire, claims Iran requested to resume negotiations
US President Donald Trump claimed the US has accepted a request from Iran’s leadership to resume negotiations, but emphasized that the ceasefire between the nations is over in a post on Truth Social on Friday, after having previously declared that the Washington-Tehran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also over.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue 'talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump asserted.

According to Iranian state media reports, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied that any requests were made regarding the continuation of talks and stated that any US breaches of commitments would be met with “reciprocal action.”

The spokesperson noted that Iran had agreed to a visit by Qatari mediators.

Qatari officials discuss US-Iran tensions with Iranian, Pakistani officials
According to semi-official Iranian news outlet Tasnim, a Qatari delegation arrived in Iran on Friday to consolidate Doha’s role as a mediator between Tehran and Washington after clashes in the Strait of Hormuz reignited hostilities between the two nations.

Tasnim reported that Iranian officials will also discuss Doha’s condemnation of Iran’s recent strikes on commercial vessels transiting the strait.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a phone call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday, according to his office, to discuss the US-Iran situation and Pakistan’s role in negotiations.

According to a statement regarding the call, both leaders stressed the importance of continuing talks, reducing regional tensions, and resolving the disputes through diplomatic means.


Unclaimed airstrikes hit Iran, raising possibility of Gulf state involvement
A series of unclaimed airstrikes that hit Iran after the US said it finished its attacks have again raised questions of who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

The strikes Thursday, just as Iran prepared to bury the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hit areas across southern Iran. The country’s theocracy hasn’t directly blamed anyone for the strikes, though one lawmaker issued a warning to the United Arab Emirates over allegedly providing support to the United States in its campaign against Iran.

Gulf Arab states, which repeatedly have been targeted by Iran since the war began February 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday over the strikes. The attacks come as they and the US insist the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for world energy markets, must be open and free to ships.

Iran says the strait must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin to pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. About a fifth of all oil and natural gas transited the strait before the war began.

Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Israel, which took part in the Iran war, has also not claimed any recent attacks on Iran.


Qatar vetoes Volkswagen deal with Israeli defense company Rafael in Germany
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a major Volkswagen shareholder, blocked a proposed agreement between Volkswagen and Israeli defense company Rafael to manufacture Iron Dome components at a factory in Germany, according to German newspaper Bild.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Volkswagen’s third-largest shareholder, reportedly vetoed a plan to repurpose the automaker’s struggling plant in Osnabrück, putting hundreds of additional jobs at its German factories at risk.

A potential solution to save the plant appeared to have been found in late April, when Volkswagen signed a letter of intent with Rafael. Under the proposal, the Israeli company would manufacture components for the Iron Dome missile defense system at the facility.

The Qatari shareholders have since expressed reservations about the agreement because of tensions between Qatar and Israel, according to the report.

The state-owned Qatar Investment Authority, or QIA, holds 17% of Volkswagen’s voting rights and 10.4% of its total share capital, giving it significant influence over decisions made at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.


Inside the IDF's cutting-edge 'targeting cell' course, shaped by lessons from the Gaza war
The IDF is now running a cutting-edge “targeting cell” officers’ course, with The Jerusalem Post recently exclusively interviewing four officers in connection with it.

A “targeting cell” is a term that refers to a specific kind of command center that coordinates between parts of the IDF’s heavier power, from aircraft to drones to tanks to artillery to the navy, should the military attack a target.

The targeting cell unit reviews the latest multifaceted intelligence, receives and gives directions to ground forces nearby, evaluates risk to innocent civilians who are close by, and assesses the best kind of munition for the attack.

Notably, in the recent war in Gaza, a targeting cell also carried out an assessment regarding the likelihood of danger to Israeli hostages.

Speaking to IDF Lt.-Col. and course commander “R,” who has served in the IDF for 24 years and who has conducted two such courses, he said that “following a jump in the evolution of how war is fought, the training has to be unique, innovative, different, and cutting-edge.”

The dynamics of the war have taught new lessons and need to adapt
“This war has been a climax for new situations, variations, and learning, so we have accumulated tremendous lessons from the last three years, especially regarding new ways to work better and more rapidly when it comes to different arms of the military,” R said.

The need for this fresh course was emphatically operational.

According to R, “We need to inculcate the right approach from the start of officers’ training as a young officer. It is harder when someone comes from another area of the military. Part of this training involves working directly with other overlapping arms of the military from the very start of officer training.”

“Officers from our new training course will already ‘speak the language’ and already know how to work much more smoothly with other arms of the military when there is crossover,” he said.

In other words, until now, targeting cells were thrown together haphazardly on an ad hoc basis when needed.
IDF destroys Hezbollah tunnels, uncovers weapons caches in Southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that troops operating in Southern Lebanon’s security zone have destroyed two additional Hezbollah tunnel routes and uncovered large weapons caches during ongoing operations near the village of Majdal Zoun.

The tunnels, uncovered by soldiers from the 551st Paratroopers Brigade and the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, had a combined length of approximately 200 meters (656 feet) and reached a depth of about 20 meters (66 feet), according to the military.

Inside the tunnels, troops found living quarters, three launch shafts aimed toward Israel and dozens of weapons. During additional searches in the area, soldiers uncovered caches containing mortars, rocket launchers, RPGs and other weapons.

The IDF said the area had been heavily fortified with extensive Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure. The newly uncovered tunnels were found after troops had previously dismantled another significant underground route in the area.

Over the past week, brigade forces also killed an armed Hezbollah terrorist near one of the tunnel routes, the military said.

In a separate announcement, the IDF said troops operating elsewhere in the security zone located additional Hezbollah weapons facilities containing launchers, machine guns, explosive devices, missiles and other weapons intended for attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.

The military said all of the facilities and weapons were destroyed.


IDF kills Oct. 7 Re’im infiltrator, hostage captor in separate Gaza strikes
The Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that it had killed a Hamas Nukhba cell commander who infiltrated the Re’im military base during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre, as Israeli troops continued operations against terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip.

The military said Yahya Hamdan was killed in a precise airstrike in southern Gaza on Thursday. According to the IDF, Hamdan took part in the assault on the Re’im base during the Oct. 7 attack and in recent months had advanced attacks against IDF troops while working to restore Hamas’s operational capabilities.

The IDF said Hamdan posed an immediate threat to Israeli forces operating in the area. It added that precautions were taken before the strike to minimize civilian casualties, including the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance.

In a separate announcement on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said they had killed another Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, abducted Israeli civilians and later helped hold them captive in the Gaza Strip.

Waheed Abu Salam, who had served as commander of the Western Company in Khan Yunis, was killed in a joint IDF-Shin Bet airstrike in southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to the joint statement.

The military said Abu Salam crossed into Israel during the Oct. 7 attack, participated in the kidnapping of Israeli civilians and was involved in holding hostages in southern Gaza throughout the war.

In recent months, he planned additional attacks, including efforts to restore weapons capabilities intended to target IDF troops operating in the area.

The IDF said Abu Salam posed an immediate threat and was killed in a precise aerial strike.

In a separate strike on Wednesday in southern Gaza, the IDF eliminated Rashid al-Qadhi, a commander in Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s weapons production array.

According to the military, al-Qadhi played a central role in the terrorist organization’s weapons production network, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying arms to its military wing. He oversaw efforts to produce weapons intended for attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.

In another strike on Wednesday in northern Gaza, Israeli forces killed Abdullah al-Souti, a sniper operative in Hamas’s military wing.


Committee to Protect Journalists’ Staff Packed With Anti-Israel Agitators Amid Boardroom Feuds Over Group’s List of ‘Journalists’ Killed in Gaza
The Committee to Protect Journalists employs multiple staffers who have engaged in anti-Israel advocacy, accused Israel of "genocide," promoted anti-Israel economic boycotts and, in one case, authored a bizarre manifesto advocating "resistance and revolutionary violent pressure" against "the Zionist occupation," according to new research from the media watchdog group HonestReporting.

The revelations are likely to raise further questions about the CPJ’s impartiality as the embattled New York group—founded in 1981 to defend journalists worldwide—descends further into turmoil and infighting over its oft-cited list of Palestinian "journalists" killed in the Gaza war. The list, which major media outlets use to discredit Israel’s war effort, has been found to include numerous military operatives for terror groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The embattled CPJ is already in an uproar over the vote by its board—composed largely of leading journalists from prestigious news operations like the New York Times and NBC News—to affirm that people who work for "organizations affiliated with militant groups" can still be considered "journalists." The board, already under fire for the pronounced anti-Israel sentiments of several members, voted 17 to 1 last week in favor of keeping that contested definition, with only Fox News voting "no," the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The hostility to Israel seen on the CPJ’s board appears to extend to at least half a dozen of the group’s staff members, according to HonestReporting, an Israeli media watchdog which unearthed extensive evidence of some CPJ staff’s past affiliation with radical—and sometimes violent—anti-Zionist organizations and causes.

CPJ Levant researcher Rama Sabanekh, for example, who is listed on the organization’s website as a "third-generation Palestinian refugee based in Amman, Jordan," emerged as an anti-Israel student activist around 2017 while attending SOAS University of London, HonestReporting found. When Sabanekh ran for a SOAS Students' Union position that year, she penned a "manifesto" outlining support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the global campaign to economically isolate, punish, and shame Israel.

Just a year prior, in 2016, Sabanekh helped orchestrate a virulently anti-Israel protest at University College London to oppose a speaking appearance by former Israel Defense Forces commander Hen Mazzig. The Telegraph noted that police were called to the event, "which left Jewish students barricaded" inside the room, which was ultimately breached by the protesters. The following day, Sabanekh uploaded a photo to Facebook celebrating that the "lecture theatre [was] shut down," according to archived posts accessed by HonestReporting.


Commentary Podcast: Memorandum Mori
It's Friday, and contributing editor Eli Lake joins us to discuss whether we are at war with Iran again, and how can Trump reconcile his desire for a deal with Iranian intransigence? Plus, the evil conspiracy theories surrounding Charlie Kirk reach a fever pitch during his trial, and John recommends the new film Gale Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.
Erin Molan: Israeli General: Israel Can FINISH the Job... If THIS Happens
Could Israel finish the job without American military involvement? Is the Iranian regime far weaker than the world realizes? And what would it actually take for the regime to collapse?

In Episode 192, Erin Molan sits down with Brigadier General (Ret.) Amir Avivi, Founder of the Israel Defense & Security Forum (IDSF), for an in-depth conversation on Israel's military strategy, the future of Iran, the threat posed by the Islamic regime, and why he believes the Middle East is at a historic turning point.

General Avivi explains why he believes the Iranian regime is more vulnerable than ever, why negotiations alone cannot stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, what life inside Iran is really like today, and why Israel must be prepared to act decisively if necessary.

Whether you follow Israel, Iran, U.S. foreign policy, or the rapidly changing security landscape in the Middle East, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Can Israel Finish the Job Alone?
03:05 Why the Iranian Regime Cannot Survive
05:37 Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
07:47 The Path to Regime Change
09:44 What Intelligence Reveals About Iran
13:35 Is There Still a Window to Act?
15:56 Israeli Politics & Netanyahu's Future
17:50 Israel's Future After the War
19:16 The Rise of Global Antisemitism
19:43 Final Thoughts







Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

Reclaiming the Covenant on America's 250th (May 2026)

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    

 

 

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