Tuesday, July 28, 2026

07/27 Links Pt2: London’s mayor has crossed a far more dangerous line than Mamdani; UK Solicitor General Spoke at Rally Where Protesters Chanted "Khaybar, Khaybar"

From Ian:

Israelis fail to understand anti-Israel sentiment in the U.S., Israeli public opinion researcher says
Israelis generally don’t grasp the extent of the growing anti-Israel sentiment in the United States, Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli public opinion researcher and columnist, told Jewish Insider.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum this month hours before more than 100 House Democrats voted to cut U.S. military aid to Israel, Scheindlin said that most Israelis feel that warnings of slipping U.S. support have been repeated for years but haven’t come to fruition.

“Israelis for a long time have been told ‘you have to worry about the America-Israel relationship’ and nothing ever really happened — they sort of took it for granted that the relationship would always be there, and in many ways they still do,” Scheindlin said. “From the Israeli perspective, there’s a little bit of a sense of crying wolf. We see that in the 53% who still think that the relationship will be fine.”

She said most Israelis today view Republicans as pro-Israel and Democrats as anti-Israel and have little understanding of the range of views within both parties. And she said they don’t believe Israel’s own actions have any bearing on U.S. criticism of Israel.

Supporters of opposition parties, she continued, believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “personally has undermined the relationship” — but that the issues in the relationship largely end with Netanyahu.

She said that the strong support in Israel for President Donald Trump took a nosedive with the ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon, with many Jewish Israelis feeling that Trump had forced a premature end to the wars and didn’t let the U.S. and Israel carry them to their conclusion or fulfill their main objectives.

But she said that most Israelis still see issues in the relationship as a “disagreement that will pass” rather than a true crisis or turning point. She said a majority of Israelis still feel the U.S.-Israel relationship will survive — and many are too concerned with their own daily lives and the ongoing impacts of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon to give the relationship much thought.

“When you ask about the U.S.-Israel relationship, it’s somewhere between repressing it and complacent and fearful — but also they have been told year after year for quite a long time, ‘Watch out for this relationship,’ and then America continues to come through in so many ways,” she said.
Dave Rich: Mayoral missteps
The Mayors of New York and London have both weighed in on the Gaza genocide claim in the past week, calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested if he visits either city. In both cases it is an empty threat and an opportunistic piece of political theatre. At a time when Jews have been violently attacked in both cities, the two mayors would be better off trying to protect their Jewish residents rather than engaging in this kind of reckless posturing.

First, the facts. There is an outstanding arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu (and for then-Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant), for allegedly commissioning war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants the US government to enforce this warrant if Netanyahu visits New York, because, he says, Netanyahu is “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.” When Channel 4 news asked London Mayor Sadiq Khan if he would do the same, he concurred, calling Netanyahu “a perpetrator of genocide… he’s broken the law and I think justice needs to happen.” “People who commit genocide”, Khan went on, “are not welcome in London.” We’ll come back to that.

This is a classic bait-and-switch, because the ICC warrant that Mamdani and Khan want to be enforced is not for genocide. On the contrary: when the ICC issued the warrant they explicitly rejected a request for it to include the crime of extermination, because the evidence did not support it. Even if Netanyahu were to be arrested and convicted under the ICC warrant it would not prove that Israel is guilty of genocide, because that is not what the ICC has charged him with. This distinction might seem trivial; after all, being accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity is bad enough. But “genocide” is a political label that Israel’s enemies have been trying to attach to it for decades, as a shortcut to declaring the entire Israeli state illegitimate. If the Israeli Prime Minister is guilty of war crimes, it would be a matter of personal disgrace; whereas if the Israeli state has committed genocide, then the entire nation is damned. This is why Israel’s opponents are determined to make everything seem like evidence of genocide. Anything less simply will not meet their political needs.

This is part of a campaign to rebrand Zionism - the Jewish desire for national self-determination in the ancestral Jewish homeland - as a racist, supremacist ideology and a manifestation of European settler colonialism, that has genocidal intent woven into its founding ethos. The sobering scale of the devastation and loss of life in Gaza provides a golden opportunity to make this label stick, so everything must be about genocide, even when, as with the ICC warrant, it isn’t.

The now-disgraced ICC prosecutor who instigated the warrants, Karim Khan KC, who is no friend of Israel, resisted the pressure to go along with the “genocide” charge as recently as May this year. In a telling exchange, he advised a bemused and frustrated Mehdi Hasan that the evidence for genocide simply isn’t there, and “it would be a reckless prosecutor to move simply because of clamour. You move based upon evidence.”

Not just a reckless prosecutor, but a reckless Mayor too. The belief that Israel is committing a genocide, and that it deliberately kills children and has starved Palestinians, is the driving force behind the rise in antisemitism in the United Kingdom and the United States today. This is the central narrative of the protests that regularly feature antisemitic and violent rhetoric on London’s streets. It is the excuse offered by Palestine Action members when they smash up offices in London or arms factories around the country. And it appears regularly in the antisemitic incidents reported to CST, when ordinary Jews going about their lives in our capital city are abused and harassed by random racists. “Oh, you’re Jewish - you must support genocide”, is what a fellow student said to the university-age daughter of a friend of mine, on discovering there was a Jew in their class.

Both Mayors have condemned antisemitic attacks in their cities. Presumably they would fiercely reject any suggestion that their behaviour might encourage, even unwittingly, the violent extremists and antisemites who are making Jewish life in London and New York so difficult right now. But if they don’t want it to look that way, they should take more care over their language, and be much more visible in demonstrating their opposition to antisemitism. When ambulances belonging to Hatzola (a Jewish-run ambulance service for the whole community) were set on fire in Golders Green in March, Khan visited a different Hatzola base in another part of London the following day, rather than rushing to the scene of the attack. When a series of synagogues and other Jewish community premises were attacked by Iranian-directed arsonists in April, London’s Mayor was nowhere to be seen. It was left to the Metropolitan Police to hold a press conference outside one of the targeted synagogues. After criticism for this absence, Khan held a private visit to Finchley Reform Synagogue a couple of days later; but then, when two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green allegedly by an Islamist terrorist at the end of April, Khan, again, did not turn up in person to show his solidarity.
London’s mayor has crossed a far more dangerous line than Mamdani
The ICC warrant itself also rests on increasingly shaky foundations. It was issued by former chief prosecutor Karim Khan just days before allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public. Earlier this week, ICC member states voted overwhelmingly to remove Khan from office following his suspension.

One might have expected the backlash to Mamdani’s remarks to discourage other political leaders from embracing similar rhetoric.

Instead, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has chosen to follow the same script.

The timing makes his comments all the more disturbing. Only days earlier, Khan visited London’s Nova Music Festival exhibition and urged visitors to remember “the horrors of that awful day” on October 7. Yet within a week he publicly declared Netanyahu “a perpetrator of genocide” and insisted he should be arrested if he visits Britain.

“As a perpetrator of genocide,” Khan said, “I think he’s broken the law. And I think justice needs to happen, and that means him being brought to book.”

Unlike Mamdani’s remarks, these comments carry genuine diplomatic significance. Britain is legally bound by the Rome Statute and has long presented itself as a champion of the international legal order. When the mayor of one of the world’s leading capitals publicly calls for the arrest of the democratically elected leader of a close ally, it lends credibility to an ICC process that many legal experts and democratic governments have questioned.

It also comes at a moment when antisemitism has become disturbingly commonplace across Britain. In the past year alone, Jews have endured stabbings in Golders Green, attempted arson attacks on synagogues, the destruction of Hatzolah ambulances, and the killing of two Jewish men in Manchester during Yom Kippur. Against that backdrop, rhetoric that singles out the Jewish state’s leader while ignoring the world’s countless genuine war criminals risks reinforcing an already dangerous climate.

Demonising Israel has become an easy route to headlines and political applause. Mamdani turned it into political theatre in New York. Sadiq Khan has now elevated it into something with potentially serious diplomatic consequences.

When elected leaders compete to lambast Israel, they do more than dominate the news cycle. They help normalise the hostility that Jews increasingly confront on the streets of New York, London, Sydney, Vancouver and beyond.

Mamdani’s comments generated headlines. Sadiq Khan’s could shape policy. That is why London, not just New York, should be where the real alarm bells are ringing.


UK Solicitor General Spoke at Rally Where Protesters Chanted "Khaybar, Khaybar"
Andy Slaughter’s appointment as Solicitor General on July 21, 2026, under Prime Minister Andy Burnham has prompted renewed scrutiny of his meetings and political activity between 2010 and 2018 concerning Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The record includes meetings with officials in the Hamas-run Gaza administration, photographs with Hamas-linked Palestinian politicians, an invitation to Muslim Brotherhood figures to attend a parliamentary meeting, and an appearance at a 2017 London rally where protesters were recorded chanting antisemitic slogans.

In December 2017, Slaughter spoke at a “Hands Off Jerusalem” demonstration in London held outside the U.S. Embassy. Separate contemporaneous reporting documented protesters at the rally chanting antisemitic and anti-American slogans, including “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”

Two Separate Hamas Encounters in 2010
In March 2010, Slaughter traveled to Gaza as part of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group. During that visit, he met with Faraj al-Ghoul, Hamas’s justice minister at the time, and Dr. Ahmed Yousef, Hamas’s deputy foreign minister and senior adviser to political leader Ismail Haniyeh. Al-Ghoul was reported killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City in July 2025.

Eight months later, in November 2010, Slaughter embarked on a second trip to the region, this time accompanied by then-Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. The journey, sponsored by Friends of Al-Aqsa and Middle East Monitor, was documented in a now-deleted report that included photographs showing Slaughter and Corbyn with Mohammed Totah and Ahmed Attoun, who had been elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council on the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform list, and Khaled Abu-Arafeh, who had served as Jerusalem affairs minister in the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Following his March 2010 Gaza trip, Slaughter published a Guardian comment piece on March 13, 2010, arguing that “one way to break the deadlock is to negotiate without preconditions,” adding that “this includes Hamas.”

2014: Muslim Brotherhood Meeting at Parliament
On June 10, 2014, Slaughter invited senior Muslim Brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party figures to an open meeting held in a House of Commons room, according to contemporaneous reporting by Al-Masry Al-Youm, which said it had obtained a copy of his invitation. Those invited reportedly included senior Brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party representatives, as well as Tayab Ali and Rodney Dixon, lawyers acting for the Brotherhood.

Official parliamentary evidence later submitted by ITN Solicitors on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood confirms that the Brotherhood had instructed a legal team including Ali, Dixon, and former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Macdonald, and that the Brotherhood organized and held the June 10 meeting.

The Tayab Ali identified as one of the Brotherhood’s lawyers is now director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians. Jewish Onliner previously reported that Companies House records show Ali also served as a director of the legally separate International Legal Coalition for Palestine from its July 2020 incorporation until its March 2021 dissolution. Several months later, Israel’s Defense Ministry designated ILCP a terrorist organization, describing it as an institution established by Hamas and, in practice, a proxy intended to expand Hamas’s international support and influence.

In January 2026, the United States designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and sanctioned the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Home Office gave visa sponsor licences to Islamic bookshops selling antisemitic texts
Several Islamic bookshops selling antisemitic and extremist literature have been granted Home Office licences allowing them to sponsor overseas workers under the UK’s skilled worker visa scheme, according to an investigation by The Telegraph.

The newspaper found that licensed booksellers in Birmingham, east London and Leicestershire have sponsored foreign workers, with some issuing dozens of certificates of sponsorship since 2021.

Some of the bookshops sell works by former Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna and cleric Bilal Philips, who is banned from entering the UK.

According to The Telegraph, one Birmingham bookshop that has sponsored up to 16 workers since 2021 sells Qutb’s Milestones. The newspaper said the book argues that secular governments should be replaced by Islamic rule and calls for jihad to spread that system worldwide.

Another licensed bookseller in east London, which has reportedly sponsored up to 18 workers, sells Qutb’s In the Shade of the Qur’an. The Telegraph reported that the book describes Jewish people as having a “wicked nature” and claims they “try to destroy all values and all that is sacred to mankind”.

The investigation also found that several licensed bookshops sell The Fundamentals of Tawheed by Bilal Philips. In 2016, the Prison Service identified the book, along with works by Qutb and al-Banna, as extremist material that should be removed from prison chaplaincies.

Separately, The Telegraph reported that the Islamic Centre of England, which is under investigation by the Charity Commission over alleged links to the Iranian regime, also holds a Home Office sponsor licence allowing it to sponsor skilled workers and religious ministers from overseas. The centre said it is “not an official office or representative of any government, political entity, or individual” and has consistently maintained that it is an independent UK charity operating in accordance with UK law. The Home Office said the organisation has not sponsored any workers since 2022 and that, if wrongdoing is uncovered, those responsible could face criminal prosecution, the loss of licences and further civil action.
Children’s charity funded by Singham, Soros tied to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: report
A California children’s charity funded by billionaire George Soros stands accused of sending cash which may have ended up in the hands of a Palestinian terrorist organization, according to a new report obtained by The Post.

The Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) features Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters and activist academic Noam Chomsky on its advisory board and claims to provide humanitarian aid to children in the Middle East.

It was founded by husband-and-wife activists Barbara Lubin and Howard Levine in 1988, but has strayed far from its original mission and has been tied to a US-designated terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine through its funding of other groups, according to a new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI).

Since the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, MECA “emerged as a critical US charitable fundraising vehicle promoted across the pro-Palestinian activist ecosystem,” according to the report.

“America built the most generous philanthropic infrastructure in human history,” said Joel Finkelstein, an NCRI senior scientist.

“When American foundations bankroll groups tied to foreign terrorist organizations, when senators, members of Congress and prestigious academics endorse it … they’re turning the country’s own institutions against it,” he claimed.

MECA and Soros did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

But as MECA’s grants to foreign groups grew exponentially, their reporting became less transparent, the NCRI report claims.

MECA brought in more than $18 million in revenues in fiscal 2024, according to public records. That same year, the group’s payouts rose to nearly $11 million — nearly five times the previous year — while “grant descriptions were progressively replaced with generic labels such as ‘community projects’,” according to NCRI.

By 2025, all foreign grants were described with the generic labels, obscuring their true purpose, the report claims.


Jonathan Tobin: Mamdani bears responsibility for anti-Jewish violence in New York
The red-green alliance
But Mamdani’s public statements go beyond theoretical anti-racist and intersectional appeals that have become a familiar aspect of life in the American academy. Anti-Jewish violence has become more prevalent in the United States since Oct. 7, as murderous attacks in Washington, D.C., and Boulder, Colo., in the spring of 2025, preceded by an attempted firebombing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence in Harrisburg on Passover. And that’s not to mention the targeting of Jewish students and faculty on college campuses.

Mamdani’s career embodies the red-green alliance of Marxists and Islamists that has endangered Jewish life in Europe and elsewhere in a way that is far more pervasive than what has happened in the United States. Support for his attempt to revive failed Marxist economic theories in New York reflects a profound ignorance of history and the disasters that led to totalitarianism and mass murder in the 20th century under the banner of that false secular faith. At the core of Mamdani’s rise has been his devotion to the cause of anti-Zionism and war against the existence of the State of Israel.

Let it be perfectly clear: Criticism of Netanyahu or his government isn’t antisemitism. Israel is a democracy; its own citizens criticize it every day, just as Americans complain about their government. And whether the world—and many Diaspora Jews—like it or not, Israelis voted in their political representatives in the last election. One doesn’t have to argue that Netanyahu or Israel is above criticism to comprehend that the big lie that it has carried out “genocide” against Palestinians is the justification for anti-Jewish violence.

When placed in the context of woke and Marxist ideas about the downfall of Israel and Zionism being the magic key to defeating global injustice, it becomes a license for even the most murderous attacks on Jews, such as the unspeakable crimes that Rama Duwaji Mamdani openly cheered after Oct. 7. Advocating for an outcome such as the end of the Jewish state, which can only be achieved by eliminating everyone in it, such rants cannot be considered ordinary or even hyperbolic political speech.

Such speeches filled with extreme and unproven charges whose purpose is to depict Israel as beyond the pale, such as the one that Mamdani made last week after admitting that he couldn’t legally arrest Netanyahu when he visits New York for the U.N. General Assembly in September, are not innocent expressions of opinion. They are part of a campaign of incitement whose only purpose is the delegitimizing of anyone who supports Israel, such as is the case with the overwhelming majority of Jews in New York. Indeed, Mamdani made that clear when he justified the siege of a Manhattan synagogue in November by an anti-Zionist mob because he falsely accused those within it of violating international law by facilitating the return of Jews to it.

When leftists persist in trying to libelously blame the rise of antisemitism in the United States on Trump and Netanyahu—in New York and anywhere Mamdani’s violent rhetoric is justified—that is called mainstreaming a pretext for anti-Jewish violence.

The mayor’s anti-Zionist crusade isn’t one more instance of a politician going beyond the normal give-and-take of debate. It’s part of a hate movement directly linked to murderous attacks on Jews. Those who defend it aren’t protecting free speech. Nor are they acting as a check on unfair attempts to associate innocent people with crimes they never imagined, let alone committed. It’s granting a permission slip for an ideology that has only one intended outcome, in which the shedding of Jewish blood is the goal, not a by-product of rhetoric.
Words matter: It’s time for New Yorkers to reject Zohran Mamdani’s dangerous ‘genocide’ libel
For centuries, antisemites portrayed Jews as malevolent, conspiratorial and dangerous. Medieval blood libels accused Jews of murdering Christian children. Modern antisemites claimed that Jews controlled governments, finance and the media. Nazi propaganda depicted Jews as a disease to be eradicated.

The details changed, but the purpose did not: to push Jews beyond the boundaries of empathy and moral concern, making exclusion, persecution and violence easier to justify.

Today, that pattern is often directed at the Jewish state. Israel is stripped of context, subjected to standards applied to no other country and cast as uniquely illegitimate. The Jewish people are again told that their collective existence stands outside the ordinary protections afforded to others. In effect, Israel is treated the way Jews have so often been treated: singled out, demonized and denied the benefit of the doubt.

A mayor’s words carry particular weight. They help define what a city will tolerate and how its residents should regard one another. Accusing Israel’s prime minister of genocide and describing political opponents as monsters deepens the fear and isolation already felt by many Jewish New Yorkers.

That is why silence from other leaders is unacceptable.

Federal and state officials, members of the City Council, religious and civic leaders and New Yorkers of every background should say plainly that the genocide libel is false and dangerous. Those who oppose antisemitism must confront it not only when it comes from political adversaries, but also when speaking out requires challenging their friends and allies. That is where principle is tested.

Mayor Mamdani condemned the Upper West Side stabbing as hateful and despicable. That condemnation was necessary, but leadership requires more than denouncing violence after it occurs. It also requires avoiding rhetoric that helps create an atmosphere in which hatred takes root.

Words are not violence. But violence is often preceded by words that make hatred easier to excuse, accept or ignore.


NBA star launches blistering attack on Zohran Mamdani and claims he is a 'mayor playing president' after video slamming Benjamin Netanyahu
NBA star Kyle Kuzma has launched an attack on Zohran Mamdani after the New York City mayor labelled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a 'war criminal.'

On Tuesday, Mamdani shared a two-minute clip on social media where he renewed his criticism of Netanyahu and reiterated his opposition to Israel’s military campaign.

Mamdani has previously acknowledged that his intent to detain Netanyahu might face legal difficulties and, in the video, he urged the federal government to consider arresting the Israeli PM based on the International Criminal Court warrant against him.

The clip swiftly went viral on social media and among those to respond was Kuzma, currently of the Milwaukee Bucks, who wrote a scathing response to the NYC Mayor.

Taking to X, he wrote: 'This is 2026. People cosplaying as things they don’t have the authority, the talent, or the track record to actually be. Just for content.

'A mayor playing president. A founder playing operator. A content creator playing one-on-one thinking he’s a pro. A 25yr old with a ring light playing economist.

'Everyone auditioning. Nobody building. We're raising a generation that's learning the reward isn’t in doing the thing it’s in looking like you did the thing.

'The clip is the career. The pose is the product. The soundbite is the substitute for a life’s work. Don't fall for distractions,' he added.


Security threats and lawfare alter Jewish life in Australia, AJA warns Royal Commission
The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) has told Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism that government rhetoric, Islamist extremism, and coordinated “lawfare” campaigns have fundamentally altered Jewish life in Australia.

In a 32-page submission shared with The Jerusalem Post, the group says that many Australian Jews are now considering making aliyah because they no longer feel confident in the country’s future. The submission comes just weeks after former AJA president Dr. David Adler announced he had moved to Israel, citing rising antisemitism and security fears as reasons.

The central focus of the submission is that Jewish life in Australia has fundamentally changed, and not for the better.

One noticeable change is the unprecedented increase in visible security at Jewish events. AJA notes that this has become so commonplace at Jewish events that many members of the community now feel uncomfortable attending events that do not have visible security arrangements in place.

AJA has never received any government funding for security expenses and, therefore, incurs significant costs to keep its members safe.

Political concerns and fears of public backlash result in venue cancellations
AJA also noted that, for security reasons, the locations of AJA events are not publicly advertised, and addresses are provided only to registered attendees after they have been vetted and, in many cases, only shortly before the event.

While these arrangements are necessary, AJA said they create significant logistical difficulties and are unlike the arrangements required for any other community in Australia. On several occasions, details of AJA events have been leaked, resulting in pressure being placed on venues not to proceed with bookings, the submission adds.

Because of political concerns and the fears of public backlash, many venues are unwilling to host Jewish events, AJA said. Recently, the Queensland Cricketers’ Club declined a booking request from AJA to host an event discussing antisemitism featuring British author Melanie Phillips. The venue cited concerns that hosting the event could be perceived as controversial and could attract negative publicity.

AJA said these experiences demonstrate that antisemitism affects not only individual Jewish Australians but also the ability of Jewish organizations to conduct normal community activities. “Security concerns, venue reluctance, secrecy requirements, and event disruptions have become a routine part of Jewish communal life in Australia,” it said.
Albanese insists Australian Labor Party platform ‘balanced’ despite parroting Palestinian narrative
One amendment proposed replacing the wording, “Russia’s illegal and immoral war against Ukraine” with “illegal and immoral wars against Ukraine, Palestine, Iran, and Lebanon.” It also sought to remove “Islamist” from a pledge to “meet security challenges posed by terrorism, including to counter violent extremism and work to mitigate the evolving risks of Islamist and right-wing terrorism.” “Islamist” was to be replaced with the amorphous “hate groups.”

Another amendment, connected to opposition raised against Australia participating in the F-35 fighter jet supply chain following the Gaza war, proposed that “Australia’s defense trade should operate consistently with Australia’s international and legal treaty obligations and human rights commitments.”

Still another amendment called for “the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti.” Barghouti was arrested by Israeli forces during the Second Intifada in 2002. As a senior leader in Fatah, he was responsible for thousands of attacks against Israel.

While these amendments were not adopted, pro-Israel and Jewish groups nevertheless expressed disappointment at the platform’s ultimate wording.

Labor Friends of Israel spokesman Mike Kelly said in a statement that the group was “deeply disturbed by the events at the national conference whereby elements of the Labor movement succeeded in having the national platform amended to exclude the reference to our policy on Hamas.”

“There was no excuse for not remedying this in the light of the extensive commentary and debate that highlighted deleting the reference could only be interpreted as the movement embracing Hamas,” he said.

In a statement provided to JNS by the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, the main public affairs organization for the Australian Jewish community, Executive Director Colin Rubenstein said his group was “deeply disappointed that the National Conference has still adopted changes to the ALP National Platform that removed these explicit calls for Hamas’ disarmament, Palestinian Authority reform and guarantees of Israel’s security.”

“There can be no credible pathway to peace while Hamas remains armed and committed to Israel’s destruction, and with an unreformed Palestinian Authority that continues to fund pay-for-slay terror salaries, incite violence, and lacks the capacity to govern effectively,” he said.

Rubenstein expressed relief that MP Husic’s “highly extreme and incendiary proposal on the Middle East” had been rejected.

He also welcomed the July 21 statement by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong reaffirming the government’s position that “Hamas must disarm and play no role in the State of Palestine” and that the Palestinian Authority must reform, including ending its payments to terrorists.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group of 200 Jewish organizations, warned on Sunday that the Labor platform could lead to a change in the government’s position.

“The concern is that the weakening of resolve to exclude Hamas from any role in governing a Palestinian state and to hold the Palestinian Authority to account for failing to honor its written commitments, as now enshrined in the ALP platform, will eventually become government policy,” said ECAJ co-chief executive Peter Wertheim.
Labor's Israel-Palestine foreign policy revision ‘really disturbing’, former ALP minister Mike Kelly says
Former Labor minister Mike Kelly has expressed concern over the Labor Party’s revised policy platform related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying the alteration is "really disturbing".

Labor's new policy platform unveiled at its national conference last week condemned Hamas but dropped demands for the terror organisation to disarm and be excluded from governing.

The revised wording of the policy has sparked backlash from Jewish community groups and organisations, which have been critical of the language adopted by the Albanese government.

Mr Kelly said it was “really disturbing” that the Albanese government had chosen to remove the section which would exclude Hamas from Palestinian governance and encourage its disarmament.

“This is really disturbing. I mean, the issue here is if you've got a simple line in that document, which refers to the need for Hamas to be excluded from a Palestinian government and be forced to lay down its arms,” Mr Kelly told News24 host Sharri Markson.

“This is something that's at the centre of the ceasefire, the centre of the peace board's two state solution plan and it's what Palestinians want.”

When asked whether there was an “unhealthy obsession” with Israel at Labor's recent conference, Mr Kelly agreed, saying there was “relentless focus” on the Israel-Palestine conflict in the updated foreign policy document.

“You've got this section of the platform that deals with foreign affairs, and there is only one conflict that's actually mentioned in that entire document,” he said.

“With everything that's going on in the world, the war in Ukraine, the slaughter in Syria and Sudan, et cetera, there's been this relentless focus on this conflict.

“But also a very one-sided reflection of it in that it doesn't seem to be any opposition that has agency in this fight, which is obscene when you think about the fact that it was actually Hamas that initiated the war in the first place by its invasion of southern Israel on the 7th of October.”
Commission hears drivers of antisemitism need to be addressed
Physical security measures alone will not address rising antisemitism unless governments confront the social and political factors driving hatred against Jews, the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has heard.

Australian Jewish Association (AJA) CEO Robert Gregory said security funding and stronger protection were necessary, but their impact would remain limited without action against the forces contributing to antisemitism.

“You can bring in as many physical security policies and funding as you want, but if you don’t address the drivers of it, it can only have so much impact,” he said.

Gregory told the commission that antisemitism had become the main focus of his work since the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.

“In the early years in my role, it made up a very small amount of what I dealt with. Antisemitism existed, but it was quite small,” he said.

“I think what we saw after October 7, particularly at the Opera House immediately after, and at some of the celebrations in parts of Western Sydney, ushered in a very dark period for the Jewish community.”

He said weekly protests, terrorist symbols and images of Iran’s ayatollah had contributed to an environment that was “very hostile to Jews”.

“And now, the vast majority of my work is dealing with antisemitism,” he said.

Gregory said some existing antisemitic attitudes had been openly expressed after October 7 because people felt it was “socially acceptable to unleash” them.

He accused the federal government of contributing to the hostile climate through its policies and public statements.

“I think government policy, some of the statements and actions from people, particularly in the federal government, have egged on the situation,” he said.

Gregory referred to visa decisions affecting Jewish and Israeli visitors, comments by federal ministers and the Israel and Palestine policy adopted at Labor’s national conference on the weekend.

He also referred to the revoked visas of former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked and Israeli parliamentarian Simcha Rothman. Gregory said Rothman had been invited by the AJA to speak at synagogues and Jewish schools and show solidarity with Australian Jews facing antisemitism.

“His visa was also revoked as he was on his way to the airport, which caused huge concern in the Jewish community,” he said.

Commonwealth counsel Peter Melican later rejected Gregory’s claim that the federal government had “egged on” antisemitism.


Jewish student attacked with knife in Bentleigh | 7NEWS
An 18-year-old Jewish student from Canada was threatened with a knife and punched in the stomach while conducting religious outreach work in Bentleigh. The teenager and his partner were helping residents prepare for an upcoming religious holiday when a 69-year-old man confronted them, shouted death threats, and attacked them. Police found two pocket knives on the man, but no charges have been laid yet as the investigation continues.




Turkey working to influence Israel's upcoming elections through social media - exclusive
Turkey is attempting to interfere in Israel’s upcoming election through activity on social media, senior Israeli security officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

According to the officials, the activity is intended to influence Israeli public opinion, disrupt the election campaign and deepen divisions between different groups within Israeli society.

The officials did not provide details about the social media accounts, platforms or organizations involved. They also did not say whether the operation was being directed by the Turkish government.

The assessment places Turkey alongside Iran among the foreign actors Israeli security authorities suspect of attempting to influence the election and exploit divisions within Israeli society.

Further, the disclosure comes as Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief David Zini prepares to present information about indications of foreign election interference to a classified Knesset subcommittee on Monday, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported earlier on Monday.

Zini is also expected to brief lawmakers on Israel’s ability to track covert flows of money intended to finance political activity inside the country, according to the report. Central Elections Committee chairman and Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg is also expected to attend the hearing.

The National Cyber Directorate told previous Knesset hearings that indications of attempted election interference had already been detected, KAN reported.

Foreign attempts to influence the vote have become a growing concern ahead of Israel’s October 27 election, the country’s first national election since the October 7 massacre and the war that followed.


Mamdani refuses to engage with calls to tone down Israel rhetoric after UWS stabbing
Days after an alleged hate crime against a Jewish person in Manhattan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to engage with suggestions from various corners that he de-escalate his rhetoric around Israel — or speak to why he continued publicly toying with arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu well after city attorneys told him he couldn’t.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Raul Morales with multiple hate crimes for stabbing first an Asian American and then a Jewish man on the Upper West Side last Thursday — the latter attack allegedly preceded by Morales shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “justice for Islam” outside an Orthodox synagogue displaying American and Israeli flags.

A number of Jewish leaders linked the attack to the mayor’s recent denunciations of Netanyahu and the Jewish state, and even a fellow Democrat signaled at a press conference on Friday morning that Mamdani should “take the temperature down.”

Netanyahu himself, whom Mamdani excoriated in a widely watched video last week as “the architect of a horrific genocide,” accused the mayor of “fomenting hate” in a Sunday appearance on Fox News.

But the mayor declined to substantively engage with any of these criticisms when pressed by reporters on Monday.

“I’m not interested in getting into a back and forth with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the mayor said when asked about Netanyahu’s comments at an unrelated press conference, though he immediately pivoted back to attacking the Israeli leader when asked moments afterward about other New York elected officials suggesting his commentary might negatively impact Jewish New Yorkers. “When I make criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu, they are criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And what I shared were not even, frankly, personal assessments. They were objective facts.”

Still, the democratic socialist acknowledged that the majority of the city’s hate crimes fall upon its Jewish minority, and pledged his administration would protect them. He also praised the police for quickly arresting Morales, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

“One of my top priorities is keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe, keeping every single New Yorker safe,” he said. “My responsibility as a New Yorker and as a mayor of this city is a responsibility to take care of each and every person who calls the city their home. And that is not based upon whether or not they agree with me, how they feel about me. My job is to make sure that they are safe, that they are thriving, and they continue to call this city home.”


Pro-Palestine activist spared jail for scaling Big Ben in 17-hour protest
Daniel Day, 30, triggered a major emergency services response and caused road closures around Westminster when he scaled the Elizabeth Tower – often referred to as Big Ben – on March 8 last year.

Southwark Crown Court heard Day cost the taxpayer at least £92,000 as he refused to come down and livestreamed his protest on Instagram while chanting “Free Palestine”.

On Monday, he was sentenced by Judge Tony Baumgartner, the Recorder of Westminster, to a 14-month prison sentence suspended for the next two years.

“This was well-planned offending and you knew precisely what you were doing,” said the judge.

“Foolishly you climbed a far way up the tower, far enough to cause very serious harm to you and possibly others if you fell.”

The judge found Day had “little insight into your offending or any real remorse”, but he noted Day had not offended since the Big Ben incident and had strong personal mitigation including failing eyesight.

Day was ordered to attend up to 20 rehabilitation days and he will be electronically monitored for four months as part of his suspended sentence.

“It’s good to see people having strong principles, but it doesn’t give a licence to break the law,” said the judge.

“You, and people like you, must understand that like everyone else you are subject to the laws of this country.
Gaza protesters guilty of damaging Picasso painting
Two pro-Palestine activists have been convicted of criminal damage after they targeted a Pablo Picasso painting at the National Gallery.

Jai Halai, a 25-year-old NHS worker, and Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, a 23-year-old politics student, plastered a poster of a Gazan mother over the glass cover on Picasso’s painting “Motherhood” on Oct 9, 2024.

They then poured water-based red paint over the National Gallery’s wooden flooring before shouting “Free Palestine” as they were taken away.

Footage played in court shows security guards unsuccessfully trying to pull the pair away from the painting as they unveiled the picture of the Palestinian mother.


Irish frisbee team demand Israel is banned from world championships
An elite Irish ultimate frisbee team has called for Israel to be banned from competing in this year’s world championships.

Ranelagh Ultimate vowed to boycott any fixture it has with the Israeli team New Age, and called on the sport’s governing body, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), to either suspend them or make them compete as ‘neutrals’.

The World Ultimate Club Championship (WUCC), – the sport's biggest competition, takes place in Limerick, Ireland, from August 15th until August 22nd.

In a statement posted on Ranelagh’s Instagram, the Dublin-based team wrote: “We condemn the actions of Israel in Gaza and towards the Palestinian people.

"We are deeply concerned by the inclusion of New Age, a club team that will compete under the Israeli flag at WUCC and will effectively represent Israel and its actions.

“We believe it is wrong for a state plausibly committing a genocide in Gaza, according to the 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice, to have representation at this tournament. To do so goes against the spirit of our sport and our moral conscience as a team.”

Ranelagh, which is hugely successful in the world of frisbee having won eight Irish titles, has also called on other competing teams to issue their own statements opposing New Age’s involvement, and asks the other teams to join their boycott.

Ranelagh also wrote that they “support peaceful protests from teams, organisations, and members of the public”, adding that they “condemn all violent or intimidating actions”.

They want all Israeli teams suspended for now, or for New Age to take part as neutrals not under the Israeli flag, The Irish Times reports.

In a statement, Ranelagh urged the WFDF to: “Suspend the participation of Israeli national and club teams in this and future tournaments until the ongoing large-scale violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza have ceased and accountability mechanisms are in place. This action would be consistent with WFDF’s policy from 2022.
Indiana University Shuts Down Muslim Philanthropy Initiative Following Free Beacon Report on Hamas-Tied Trainings
Indiana University shut down its Muslim Philanthropy Initiative following months of scrutiny over the program's relationship with a "sham charity" that funneled money to Hamas as part of the terrorist group's "international fundraising network."

The closure comes after the Washington Free Beacon reported that the initiative, housed within the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, organized training conferences in July 2025 and January 2026 with the Hayat Yolu Association, an Istanbul-based nonprofit the Treasury Department sanctioned in March for raising money "in direct support of Hamas' military wing," the al-Qassam Brigades.

The Muslim Philanthropy Initiative had thanked Hayat Yolu for its "generous support" in its annual report.

The revelation prompted a coalition of eight Indiana lawmakers, led by state representative Andrew Ireland (R.), to demand a formal university investigation into the partnership. Ireland announced Monday that the university had permanently shuttered the program.

"Indiana University made the right decision by closing the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative," said Ireland. "A taxpayer-supported university should never lend its name, expertise or credibility to an organization connected to the financial network of a terrorist group."


Holocaust Museum LA to open $70 million cultural center
Holocaust Museum LA, a 65-year-old institution located in the central part of the city, is readying to reopen after being closed for about eight months, as the anchor institution of the new Goldrich Cultural Center, a $70 million expansion at Pan Pacific Park.

Museum leaders think that the museum, which is to have a campus with triple its prior footprint, will redefine the ways Los Angelenos and visitors learn about the Holocaust, confront hate and gather as a community.

“I’m excited about so many things,” Beth Kean, CEO of the museum, told JNS during a recent tour of the campus. “It’s really hard just to pinpoint one thing.”

She did pinpoint several things, including what she said is “beautiful architecture and the seamless integration of the buildings with the indoor and outdoor spaces.”

A new addition that is planned is a World War II-era boxcar, which was found near the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland and will be part of a permanent exhibit.

“You might see this authentic boxcar, which is a really powerful exhibit that’s kind of heavy,” Kean told JNS. “You walk through the boxcar exhibit, learn about how the transit system played a role in the death camps, which didn’t happen overnight.”
Legal brief asks US Supreme Court to consider anti-Zionism potential discrimination
A Jewish legal group filed a brief with the US Supreme Court last week arguing that anti-Zionism can constitute discrimination against Jews, in a legal argument the authors hope will be used in other courts around the US.

The brief is part of an ongoing legal battle surrounding alleged anti-Jewish discrimination at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Jewish students, backed by the StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice, in 2024 filed a lawsuit accusing MIT of allowing a hostile educational environment. The case was dismissed later that year, and the federal First Circuit court of appeals upheld the dismissal.

While dismissing the case, the First Circuit court issued an opinion saying that anti-Zionism was not discrimination and that there was no consensus in the scholarship on the matter.

The circuit court said that the Jewish students were “entitled to their own interpretive lens equating anti-Zionism (as they define it) and antisemitism,” but cannot “insist that others must be bound” by their view.

The decision was a blow to Jewish legal groups that had argued anti-Zionism was discriminatory. Legal opponents of the Jewish groups cited the MIT dismissal in cases around the country.

The Center for Jewish Legal Studies, an advocacy group established this year by law professors Rona Kaufman and Andrea J. Martin, filed the amicus brief last Wednesday as part of an appeal against that dismissal.

Cases filed by Jewish groups in recent years have argued that anti-Zionism was discriminatory based on the IHRA definition of antisemitism, or that anti-Zionism was discriminatory because an attachment to Israel is a core value for most Jews. The strategies have met with mixed success.
Stars of David and swastikas scrawled on gallery as Israelis harassed in Mexico
A group of Israelis in Mexico were subjected to an apparent campaign of antisemitic harassment after being surrounded by protesters who called them “terrorists”, told them they were “not welcome” and daubed Stars of David alongside swastikas on a gallery building.

Footage posted online appears to show a group of masked locals, some wearing keffiyehs, gathering outside what is believed to be an art gallery where the Israelis were sheltering. The protesters can be seen dancing, playing loud music and hurling abuse at the group inside.

“You are not welcome here, f*** off,” the protesters shouted. “Go to hell, that's where you belong, you terrorists.”

They also chanted “Yankees out of Latin America, Zionists out of Palestine,” and accused the Israelis of “killing babies”.

Graffiti sprayed across the walls, entrance and pavement outside the building equated Zionism with Nazism and labelled the Israelis “terrorists”.

The vandalism included multiple Stars of David painted alongside swastikas, the number “666”, which is mostly associated with the devil, and the word “terrorists”. Other graffiti, written in English, accuses Israel of “rape”

A hammer-and-sickle communist emblem can also be seen next to a heart, and the symbol for the anarchist movement.

At one point in the footage, one of the Israeli men appears to confront the protesters, warning them that if they crossed into the gallery they would be trespassing.
Toronto police probing if shots fired outside US consulate tied to attacks on Jewish-owned bakeries prior day
The Toronto Police Service is investigating what officials called a “brazen attack” after someone fired a shot outside the U.S. consulate at around 4:45 a.m. on Monday.

The shooting took place more than four months after the U.S. consulate was targeted in a shooting and a day after two Jewish-owned bagel shops, part of the same bakery chain, were attacked late on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning.

The police department has said that at least one of the attacks on the bakeries involved a gunshot and that the attacks on the two Kiva’s bakeries might be linked.

“It’s too early in the investigation to determine whether there’s any connection between the incident this morning and the one yesterday at the Jewish-owned bakeries,” a spokeswoman for the Toronto Police Service told JNS, of the attack on the U.S. consulate.

“Investigators are examining all possibilities, including whether the two incidents may be related,” the spokeswoman told JNS.

An officer was stationed outside the building on Monday at the time of the shooting, Olivia Chow, mayor of Toronto, told reporters during a press conference. No injuries were reported, she said.

“This is when there is a police cruiser, with its lights flashing, right in front of it,” she said. “It’s a brazen attack.”

After hearing the gunshot, the officer saw someone speed away in a white sedan without license plates, according to Frank Barretto, deputy chief of the department. Officers pursued the vehicle at speeds exceeding 87 miles an hour before calling off the chase because of the danger it posed to the public, police said.

Police officers found a shell casing at the scene and evidence of damage to the building’s facade, Barretto told reporters. No arrests had been made.
Israel sends three tons of medical aid to Congo amid Ebola epidemic
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Monday that Israel has delivered three tons of medical aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assist its efforts to confront an Ebola outbreak.

Sa’ar spoke alongside his Congolese counterpart, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, who arrived in Jerusalem with an expanded delegation to sign two Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation in diplomatic training and on holding political consultations between the two countries’ foreign ministries.

Sa’ar and Kayikwamba Wagner spoke to reporters after first meeting privately at the ministry.

“Israel stands with its friends in good times but also in the bad,” the Foreign Ministry quoted Israel’s top diplomat as saying.

“As a member of the United Nations Security Council, your voice is even more meaningful. We appreciate your support at the ICC [International Criminal Court] against the blood libels against the Jewish state,” Sa’ar added, referring to allegations made at the international court against Israel’s military conduct in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Kayikwamba Wagner told reporters that her country “attaches great importance to its relations with the State of Israel. Our two nations share significant potential for cooperation. We are committed to strengthening our partnership in key areas such as investment, innovation, agriculture, healthcare, education, diplomatic training and emerging technologies, all with the aim of advancing the well-being and prosperity of our people.”
Israeli student wins math Olympiad gold in China
Israel’s official X account on Monday congratulated Yotam Budnik, a 12th-grade student from Rehovot, for winning a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Shanghai, China.

Budnik competed against more than 600 students from 117 countries and earned one of the competition’s highest honors after solving six challenging mathematical problems.

The post added that the rest of Israel’s team brought home one silver medal and four bronze medals, calling the overall performance “an incredible achievement.”

The International Mathematical Olympiad is widely regarded as the world’s premier mathematics competition for high school students.
Beach worker searching for lost items finds rare 2,500-year-old Cypriot coin
A municipal employee searching for lost jewelry on the beach in Ashdod instead uncovered a rare 2,500-year-old coin from ancient Cyprus, which archaeologists say is the first of its kind ever found in Israel.

Avi Chaprak, deputy director of Ashdod’s Beaches Department, found the coin about a month ago while scouring the shore for items lost by beachgoers. He understood its significance after seeing similar coins in the past, so he turned it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority, as required by law.

Experts at the authority identified the coin as an exceptionally rare silver-plated siglos minted in the ancient city of Salamis on Cyprus’s eastern coast during the mid-fifth century BC, when the island was under Persian rule.

The roughly 11-gram coin appeared at first to be solid silver but was actually made of base metal coated with silver, a practice known from Cypriot coinage of the period because of shortages of silver on the island, according to Yanniv David Levy, a researcher and curator in the IAA’s Coin Department.

One side of the coin depicts a reclining ram facing left, while the reverse shows a ram’s head inside a sunken square, alongside a laurel branch and three symbols believed to belong to the ancient Cypriot syllabic script. Its size was not specified.
First Temple-period figurine mold uncovered in Jerusalem excavation
Archaeologists have uncovered a rare mold used to cast the face of a female figurine dating to the First Temple period—the first production mold of its kind ever found in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday.

The mold was found during excavations at the Kishle, a former Ottoman-era prison on the grounds of the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Dr. Amit Re’em and Dr. Ayala Zilberstein, who are directing the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, said the mold was uncovered while soil from First Temple-period fills was being sifted. “The Kishle excavation, which has been ongoing for several years, continues to surprise us time and again,” they said.

After cleaning the mold, the Antiquities Authority revealed its finely detailed facial features. The authority then produced a cast from the mold, revealing a complete female face with an elaborate curly hairstyle.

Re’em said clay figurines from the First Temple period have turned up in nearly every excavation in Jerusalem and across Judea, but until now, no molds used to produce them had ever been discovered in the city. “The discovery of this mold at the Kishle is therefore the first of its kind in Jerusalem, providing direct evidence that at least some of these figurines were produced within the city itself,” he explained.

The figurines date to between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, the final two centuries of the First Temple period, and generally stood 10 to 20 centimeters (four to eight inches) tall. They are most often found broken at the neck, a byproduct of a technique in which the head and body were shaped by hand while only the face was formed using a mold.

Archaeologists have identified three main figurine types from the period: female figurines known as Judean Pillar Figurines, typically shown with prominent hairstyles and hands beneath their breasts; horse-and-rider figurines; and zoomorphic figurines depicting animals, primarily horses. The figurines were coated in a white slip, and traces of pigment show they were originally painted yellow, red and black.
Geert Wilders visits family of IDF soldier killed in Samaria terror shooting
Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands’ opposition Party for Freedom, paid his respects on Sunday to the family of Israel Defense Forces Master Sgt. (res.) Benayahu Mellet, who was killed in a terrorist shooting in Samaria last week.

“I was in Havat Gilad today with the Governor of Samaria, Yossi Dagan, to pay my respect and give condolences to the widow—Esther—children and family of Benayahu Mellet, who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist,” Wilders wrote on X.

Mellet was shot and killed on Friday alongside IDF Maj. Yuval Ezra during an attack outside Havat Gilad (Gilad Farm). Six others were wounded in the shooting.

Wilders said he told the grieving widow during the visit on Sunday that “millions of people all over Europe support her.”

The Dutch leader toured Israel’s heartland at the invitation of Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, days after the Dutch government announced a ban on the imports of Jewish goods produced in Judea and Samaria.

“It’s your soil, it’s your land, it’s your history, it’s your religion, it’s everything that it’s supposed to be,” Wilders said during a visit to the northern Samaria community of Sa-Nur, according to a video released by the council.

“Yossi, I’m very proud to be here, with the Lion of Samaria,” he told Dagan.

The Samaria leader responded, “It’s so exciting to host you in Sa-Nur, in my home, in the heartland of Israel.” He added, “You’re a brave leader—I know what you’re doing for the future of Europe, and Holland and Israel.”

“You are the first leader that understood this,” Dagan said. “We must stand together, and we are fighting together.”

The Party for Freedom holds 19 seats in the Netherlands’ 150-member House of Representatives, following a January split in which seven lawmakers left the faction.


‘If you’re ever confused: I stand with the Jews,’ Boy George releases pro-Israel song
The British pop icon Boy George has gone to bat for Israel and its supporters multiple times in recent months, rejecting boycott calls and expressing solidarity after antisemitic violence. Now, he has released a single in the same key.

“We Will Dance Again” defends Israel’s military response in Gaza, criticizes musicians and activists who have publicly supported the Palestinian cause and declares, “If you’re ever confused: I stand with the Jews.”

The song borrows its title from the slogan of survivors of the Nova music festival, where Hamas terrorists killed 378 young people and kidnapped dozens as part of the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. The slogan has become a symbol of resilience in the aftermath of October 7.

The singer released the reggae-inspired track, titled “Od Nirkod” in Hebrew, on his social media accounts on Monday with a single hashtag: #Shalom.

“You say genocide, I say war / When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for,” the song opens. Later, Boy George sings, “You never mention Oct. 7,” in a criticism of those he sings have “selective memory” about atrocities deserving their reprobation. The song ends by repeating the opening lyrics in Hebrew.

Although Boy George is not Jewish, he has become increasingly vocal when it comes to supporting Jewish communities in the wake of October 7.

He rejected calls to boycott this year’s Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s participation, saying he would not “turn my back” on his Jewish friends. The singer participated this year representing San Marino, in a counterpoint to artists and countries that pulled out rather than compete alongside Israel.

Boy George had a long relationship with Jon Moss, the Jewish drummer who launched Culture Club with him, the New Wave band that dominated much of the 1980s with its melodic soul-infused music and its outlandish styles. Boy George then often wore a tunic with “Culture Club” in Hebrew translation.





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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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