Sunday, August 02, 2026

08/01 Links: Hamas disarmament cannot wait for the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza; Trump cancels Iran attack, calls for immediate deal; Herzog accuses Mamdani of spreading 'blasphemy,' antisemitism

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Hamas disarmament cannot wait for the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza
The latest Gaza proposal is better than the empty language that has surrounded much of the postwar discussion. It addresses Hamas’s weapons, the tunnels, the command structure, the future administration of Gaza, and the link between demilitarization and Israeli withdrawal.

That is important, but it is not enough. Israel cannot agree to a process in which withdrawal, reconstruction, or political recognition move forward on the assumption that Hamas will disarm later.

The issue is not whether disarmament appears in the document - it does - the issue is whether Hamas is required to carry it out before Israel gives up the leverage needed to make it happen.

Hamas has spent the period since October 7 using every negotiation to gain time, preserve control, and push the most difficult questions into the next phase. Deals have produced real achievements - above all the return of hostages - and that matters. But Hamas’s military power has remained largely untouched by diplomacy.

The negotiations show the same risk, with Hamas already presenting its obligations as conditional on Israeli steps that would come first in practice. It has repeatedly rejected disarmament, qualified it, or offered formulations that leave its weapons under a different name or authority.

The latest proposal may be more serious, but it still depends on sequencing. If Hamas is allowed to remain armed while a new Palestinian committee enters Gaza, while international bodies begin work, and while Israeli forces pull back, the result may be a civilian structure operating under the same threat that has shaped Gaza for years. Israeli withdrawal can not happen based on Hamas promises

The United States should be careful not to mistake a framework for implementation. Titles, ceremonies, international boards, and public declarations may help move negotiations forward, but they do not remove a single rocket, destroy a single tunnel, or prevent Hamas from rebuilding. Israel cannot base a withdrawal on what Hamas says it intends to do.

The standard must be physical and verifiable. Weapons need to be collected and placed beyond use, while production sites and tunnels need to be located and destroyed. Smuggling routes, command networks, and financing systems need to be dismantled. Inspectors must be able to enter sites without warning, and violations must stop the next stage automatically.

Food, medicine, water, shelter, and basic services should reach civilians regardless of Hamas’s conduct, and they should do so without strengthening Hamas’s control where possible.

Large-scale reconstruction is different. It brings money, building materials, jobs, contracts, and influence. If it begins while Hamas remains armed, it risks rebuilding the system that allowed the organization to embed itself in every part of life in Gaza. Reconstruction should expand first in areas that have been independently verified as demilitarized and where a civilian authority can operate without armed intimidation.
Orna and Ronen Neutra: Israel’s future is in jeopardy if it becomes a single-party cause
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham entered our lives during the darkest chapter our family had ever known. This week, as we traveled to Washington for his funeral, we came not only to honor one of Israel’s most steadfast friends, but to remember a leader who stood beside our family — and whose example offers an urgent lesson for Israel and its relationship with the United States.

We first met Graham shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, when we believed our American Israeli son, Capt. Omer Neutra, had been taken hostage by Hamas. We later learned that Omer had been murdered during the attack and that his body had been taken into Gaza.

From the earliest days of the war, Graham was among the strongest and most consistent voices in the Senate calling for the hostages to be brought home and standing firmly with Israel. He spoke with clarity about Iran’s central role in supporting Hamas and understood that Hamas could not remain in power if the region was ever to achieve lasting stability.

Within weeks of the attacks, he led a bipartisan Senate delegation to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt. He believed Hamas must not be allowed to destroy the historic possibility of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He also recognized that building a regional coalition against Iran and its proxies was essential to creating a safer and more stable Middle East.

But the lesson Graham leaves behind is not only about foreign policy. It is about how meaningful change is achieved in a democracy.

When he believed in a cause, he fully embraced the democratic process required to advance it. He worked across party lines, sought consensus whenever possible, and used his voice, relationships, and influence to bring others with him.

That was how he approached the effort to bring the hostages home.

He never told us what we wanted to hear simply to make us feel better. He told us what he believed. He never offered false hope, but he always made time for us, listened carefully, and treated our concerns with honesty and respect.

During one meeting with hostage families, he said something we have never forgotten: “I wish you were all my constituents.”

As our family’s journey unfolded, from fighting to bring Omer home, to learning the devastating truth of his murder, to finally bringing him home for burial, we tried to follow the same principle.

From the beginning, we made a conscious decision that the hostage crisis could never belong to only one political party.

On Oct. 15, 2023, Donald Trump called us as a former president and private citizen. We thanked him for reaching out, but we also shared what would become one of the guiding principles of our advocacy: The hostages had to remain a humanitarian cause, not a partisan one, especially during a presidential election. He immediately agreed, and we appreciated that he honored that principle throughout the months that followed.

We carried that commitment through every stage of our advocacy. We worked closely with the Biden administration and later with the Trump administration. We met with Republican and Democratic senators, members of Congress, governors, administration officials, and leaders from across the political spectrum.

We participated in the Republican National Convention while proudly supporting fellow hostage-family advocates Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin when they addressed the Democratic National Convention.

Our message was the same in every room: bringing the hostages home was not a Republican cause or a Democratic cause. It was a human cause.


Herzog accuses Mamdani of spreading 'blasphemy,' antisemitism, after stabbing attack
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is spreading "blasphemy," as well as antisemitism, President Isaac Herzog told Fox News in an interview published on Saturday.

"Mamdani does not respect my nation's right for self-determination," Herzog accused the mayor. "He's basically spreading blasphemy, hate, antisemitic rhetoric. He should understand that he's risking his own citizens. He’s risking their safety, well-being and life."

Herzog referenced a recent stabbing which occurred in New York against two men, one of whom was Jewish, blaming Mamdani's rhetoric for the violence.

"I think New York will continue way after Mamdani, and I hope he won't create any irreversible damage, and I hope the citizens of New York will be as safe as was promised to them," Herzog stated.

He also condemned former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan, accusing him of having attempted to use the arrest warrants issued against various Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a distraction from the sexual harassment allegations against him.

Khan, Herzog claimed, had been ready to visit Israel and meet with Israeli officials, including Herzog himself, when the trip was suddenly called off amid his announcement of the arrest warrants.

"That case has to be dropped, and the ICC should revert it completely, and not fall into the trap of hate and lies that Karim Khan presented simply to cover for himself," Herzog demanded. US, Israel bonded by spiritual values, Herzog claims

Herzog also said there was something "Biblical and prophetic" in how the United States and Israel worked together, citing US President Donald Trump's support for Israel, and called for bipartisan "friendship and support" between the two countries.

"We both drink from the fountain of the Bible," he said. "We both drink from this set of values which was commanded to all of us by these historic, spiritual books given to us by the Almighty."

He blamed much of the current tension between Israel and the younger generation of Americans on social media, saying that it was "very easy to smear Israel on TikTok, but that doesn't say the real truth."

Israel, Herzog defended, was a democracy with a wide variety of opinions within its political parties, "from Palestinian-oriented parties, to extreme right-wing, even fascist, on the verge of fascism parties," he explained.


Israel isn’t the only nation harmed by Mamdani’s ‘genocide’ charge
When former Mayor Bill de Blasio recently defended current Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s labeling of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal,” he pointed to one metric above all: the number of civilian casualties in Gaza.

Mamdani and de Blasio are not alone. Throughout the progressive left and much of the press, the accusation of Israeli “war crimes” and “genocide” has quietly transformed into an accepted default narrative.

But there’s a vital question almost nobody bothers to ask: If large civilian casualties alone prove war crimes or genocide, where does that logic stop?

Harry Truman authorized the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Franklin Roosevelt directed a total war that leveled German cities.

John F. Kennedy dramatically escalated America’s involvement in Vietnam, a conflict that claimed immense civilian tolls.

Would Bill de Blasio call Truman a war criminal? Would Mamdani seek an ICC warrant for FDR?

Few Americans would answer yes. Deep down, most people understand that war is judged by context, military necessity and, above all, intent. Or, at least, they used to.

To test these assumptions, we conducted a national survey of 505 Americans.

Our results suggest Americans are rapidly abandoning these crucial legal distinctions, driven by a widening partisan and generational chasm.

We expected disagreement over Gaza, but we discovered a profound, systemic erosion of basic definitions.


Ben Shapiro: MUSLIM INVASION! Spain Overrun By Migrant Wave



Extremist content creators spread conspiracy theories blaming Israel for Spain's migration crisis
Several anti-Israel accounts posted conspiracy theories over the weekend, blaming Israel for the border disruptions reported in the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on Thursday, with many citing years-old posts from Yair Netanyahu as “proof” of Israel’s involvement.

Far-right American commentator Candace Owens shared a post made more than seven years ago by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair, where he argued that Israel would not fund “NGOs in [Spain] calling you to give away Ceuta and Melilla, and [Spain] will stop funding NGOs in our country that call us to give away Judea and Samaria.”

In Spain, far-left content creator Ana Alcalde – known as “Gaza Barbie” for her participation in one of the Global Sumud Flotilla activist missions – also began posting content blaming Israel for the current migration crisis in the Spanish cities in Africa while claiming that it was “a plan to take down a progressive government like the one of [Spanish Prime Minister] Pedro Sanchez.”

Her first posts were made hours after the first migrants started to cross the border to Ceuta, and she has continued sharing conspiracy theories that link Netanyahu, Israel, and US President Donald Trump to the crisis.

On the other side of the political spectrum, far-right influencer Alex Jones shared a conspiracy theory saying that “Israel launched an Islamic invasion of Spain,” while he also claimed that the US was “backing Netanyahu’s plan to launch an Islamic invasion of Spain from Morocco.”

Moroccan police pushed migrants into crossing the border, The New York Times reports
Conspiracy theorists were not the only ones hinting at the possibility that the situations in Ceuta and Melilla were encouraged or organized by foreign actors, with The New York Times reporting that several migrants were influenced by the Moroccan police to cross the border.

According to the report, Moroccan migrants present at the scene flocked to the border after seeing social media posts calling for people to gather there.

They were also reportedly urged by the police to cross the border, with one of the migrants interviewed recalling that officers told him, “Come to Spain.”

The interviewed migrant, called Mohammed Ahmidho, also said that the people from Morocco were not welcomed in Spain, even though many went there looking to work.

“They had nothing for us,” he said. “They were screaming, ‘Get out of Spain.’”


Trump cancels Iran attack, calls for immediate deal, claims Israel supporting commitment
US President Donald Trump called for an immediate deal with Iran in a Truth Social post on Saturday night, claiming to have called off a massive attack against the country and to have Israel's support in his commitment.

"The USA is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II," Trump claimed.

"Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to."

Trump announced that the deal would have to include the complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat.

"Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL," Trump wrote.

Israel raises alert level amid fears Trump will resume strikes on Iran
Earlier on Saturday, two Israeli sources told The Jerusalem Post that Israel had raised the alert and readiness amid assessments that Trump was close to deciding to resume military strikes against Iran, potentially on an even larger scale.

Israeli officials told the Post that “we are on high alert and awaiting the president’s final decision.”

Axios also reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had asked Trump to reconsider potential large military strikes on Iran during a phone call on Saturday.


Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asks Trump to reconsider large strikes on Iran
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked US President Donald Trump to reconsider potential large military strikes on Iran during a phone call on Saturday, Axios reported on Sunday.

The report cited two United States officials, one of whom told Axios that "the Saudis expressed concern and asked for clarity about the plan of action."

Axios further cited sources with knowledge of the call between the two world leaders, who said that MBS asked Trump to de-escalate the situation instead of launching large strikes.

According to the report, the Saudis are concerned that the strikes could result in an unprecedented regional escalation.

Axios reached out to the Saudi Embassy in Washington and the White House, both of which declined to comment.

The report comes as two Israeli sources told The Jerusalem Post that Israel has raised its alert and readiness for a potential resumption of large US strikes on Iran.
Israeli troops kill Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon encounter
Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed several Hezbollah terrorists in the Ali al-Taher Ridge area on Saturday, about six miles north of the border with Lebanon, the military said.

An IDF officer was moderately wounded in the incident, the IDF noted. He was evacuated to a hospital and his family was notified.

“The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat to its soldiers and will not allow the Hezbollah terrorist organization to harm Israeli civilians,” the IDF added.

Overnight Thursday, the Israeli military detonated a network of Hezbollah tunnels in the Beaufort Castle area in the eastern part of Southern Lebanon containing roughly 700 tons of explosive devices, Ynet reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the operation follows Hezbollah’s “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement” on Wednesday, referring to an explosive drone Hezbollah launched at an IDF heavy engineering vehicle.

The IDF said the underground network, built over two decades and funded by Iran, consisted of multiple subterranean levels and functioned as the primary command center for Hezbollah’s Bader Unit in Southern Lebanon.

The United Nations on Saturday expressed concern over the escalation in Lebanon in recent days.

“The scale of the detonations and demolitions taking place in south Lebanon is deeply concerning, with a devastating impact on civilian infrastructure, cultural heritage and the collective memory of communities,” the U.N. said in a statement.

On Friday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun labeled the detonation “an extremely dangerous escalation” and “a direct threat to the process which was launched as part of the framework agreement” reached with Israel during U.S.-mediated talks in July, AFP reported.

Rubio: Israeli-Lebanese peace “achievable”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday lauded the Israeli-Lebanese framework, saying it is “unprecedented.”

“In fact this is the first time the Israelis and the Lebanese government have spoken, at the official level, in close to 30 years,” he added.

There is still a lot of work to be done to accomplish peace, but it is “achievable,” Rubio stated.


IDF detains more than 200 terror suspects in Judea and Samaria
The Israel Defense Forces apprehended more than 200 wanted Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and seized funds purposed for terrorism worth tens of thousands of shekels over the past week, the military said on Friday.

Among those detained were individuals involved in promoting and inciting terrorism, suspects affiliated with Hamas, a wanted individual who was planning to carry out an imminent attack, suspects involved in smuggling illegal residents, arms dealers and a wanted individual involved in manufacturing explosive devices, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

Additionally, IDF troops confiscated dozens of items used to manufacture weapons, airsoft weapons, hunting rifles, a pistol, and an unmanned aerial vehicle, and located and dismantled five explosive devices, the military added.

Moreover, two homes of Palestinian terrorists who carried out last week’s deadly attacks in the Alon Moreh area near Nablus were mapped, and one of them was sealed ahead of its demolition, according to Israeli policy regarding the residences of terrorists with blood on their hands. Two Israelis were killed and six wounded in a terrorist shooting near Havat Gilad (Gilad Farm) in Samaria on July 24 when a group of Israelis hiking in the area was attacked by Palestinians.

The victims were identified as Benayahu Melet, 32, a member of the community’s rapid-response security team and its agriculture director, and Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, from Herzliya, a commander in the 411th Battalion of the 282nd Artillery Brigade, who later succumbed to his wounds.


Islamic Jihad Recruited Children to Fight — The Media Helped Hide the Evidence
In recent weeks, the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) published several martyr notices for child soldiers, highlighting the untouched story embedded inside October 7 War casualty statistics.

Statistics, news articles, and NGO reports have — often rightly — been published detailing the tragedy of Gazan children slain during the war in Gaza. However, these items have often been geared toward accusing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of deliberately targeting Palestinian children as part of a genocidal campaign.

Yet implicit in the same statistics used to support such claims are some indications that Palestinian children are being pressed to fight in militias. Recent publications by PIJ only serve to underscore this.

Cross-referencing between the martyr notices and Palestinian and pro-Palestinian casualty databases, HonestReporting was able to confirm the identities of nine deceased PIJ child terrorists.

On July 21, a martyr poster was issued for 16-year-old Muhammad Saher Khattab on the PIJ Al-Quds Brigades website and Telegram channels. He reportedly served in PIJ Central Brigade’s Deir al-Balah Battalion. The Genocide in Gaza (GIG) database and a Facebook post by a brother detailed that he had been killed alongside family members in a January 2024 airstrike on their Deir al-Balah home. The sources also linked him to his 30-year-old brother Bayan Saher Khattab. A martyr notice was also issued for the older Khattab, indicating that he served in the same brigade as his younger brother, as a commander in its missile unit.

16-year-old Fawzi Kamel Fawzi Washah was killed in December 2023, according to GIG. On July 17, PIJ claimed him as a member of the Northern Brigade’s Martyr Hussam Abu Habl Battalion. According to Israel Policy Forum senior police associate Gabriel Epstein, the teenager terrorist was the son of high-ranking PIJ Central Information Unit commander Kamel Fawzi Washah. Epstein noted that two of Washah’s other children were featured in posters holding firearms.

17-year-old Hamdan Abullah Khattab was eulogized as a victim who had supposedly been killed in September 2024 in the bombing of an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital tent for internally displaced persons. Yet yesterday PIJ announced that he was a member of the Central Brigade’s Deir al-Balah Battalion.

Sixteen-year-old Saleh Atef Al-Zamli was in the Rafah Brigade’s Rocket Unit. Seventeen-year-old Amin Adham Al-Zwaidi was in the Northern Brigade’s Central Mobilization Unit. Seventeen-year-old Muhammad Hazem Abu Shawqa was in the Central Brigade’s Al-Bureij Battalion. Seventeen-year-old Saif Ramadan Junaid was in the Northern Brigade’s Martyr Wadhah Al-Batsh Battalion. Seventeen-year-old Hussein Samir Al-Hajin was in the same brigade, but in the Martyr Abdullah Al-Saba Battalion. Seventeen-year-old Suleiman Abdul Rahman Abu Nasr was in another battalion in the Northern Brigade, the Martyr Muqallad Hamid Battalion.

The martyr notices for some PIJ terrorists like 18-year-olds Musa Majed Zannoun and Abdul Basit Abdul Rahman Al-Hams also suggest that some child soldiers are aging into legitimate fighting age. This is indicated by the youthful appearance in their posters, and the fact that the war has dragged on for almost two years of their lives. Al-Hams, who was supposedly killed while waiting for aid in the Rafah area in June 2025, could have been 16 or 17 when the war started, and it is unknown when he was drafted.

There has been little to no news coverage of the use of child soldiers in mainstream Western English-speaking media.


Tikvah Podcast: Dan Schueftan on Israel's Doctrine of Preventive Violence
For half a century, Israel treated its adversaries as if their intentions could be tracked and might change according to circumstances. With the states surrounding it, that assumption largely held: Egypt, for instance, signed a peace treaty and kept it, whatever else occurred in the region. But with the radical forces that Iran built around Israel in the years before October 7, that same assumption proved catastrophic. Hamas, Hizballah, the Houthis, and the militias in Syria and Iraq do not vary in their commitment to Israel's destruction. What varies is only their capability. And so Israel has been forced to exchange a doctrine built on monitoring intention for one built on continually destroying capability, whatever the diplomatic cost, wherever preparations for war are found. Today's guest, Dan Schueftan, calls this doctrine preventive violence, or simply, violent maintenance.

Schueftan is the director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa. In conversation with Mosaic's editor Jonathan Silver, he lays out this doctrine, its roots, and the circumstances that forced Israel to adopt it. He then offers a threat assessment of Iran's proxy network as it stands today: in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq—before turning to the sepearate question of Turkey.
Mike Ritland: I Went Into Gaza With the IDF: Here's What I Saw
John Spencer tears apart a trendy modern theory of military escalation, using the recent U.S. actions in Iran and Venezuela as his proof




Tikvah Podcast: How Israel Protects Christians in the Middle East | Amb. George Deek | Tikvah Podcast
What is life like for Christians in Israel? In April 2026, Israel's Foreign Ministry created a new position: special envoy to the Christian world. The appointment followed a string of incidents that strained Israel's standing with Christian communities — an IDF soldier destroying a statue of Jesus in Lebanon, a nun assaulted in Jerusalem, and viral videos of Israelis spitting on Christians.

Israel, since its founding, has publicly committed to upholding religious freedom and tolerance for all its citizens. Following this string of incidents, a harder question emerges: how prevalent are anti-Christian attitudes in Israel? And is the country still living up to its founding commitment when it comes to its Christian population?

Confronting those questions now falls, in part, to George Deek: a veteran Israeli diplomat, an Arab Christian whose family has lived in Jaffa for centuries, and the first Christian in Israel's history to hold the rank of ambassador.

In this conversation, Deek sits down with Jonathan Silver to discuss these viral incidents and provide insight into Christian life in Israel today, and how it compares to the Middle East more broadly. Deek explores the root causes of a declining Middle East and suggests that understanding parallel crises in the West may be the key to improving the region.

00:00 Introduction: A New Envoy to the Christian World
04:26 George Deek's Family and Background
07:50 Theological and Strategic Bonds with Christianity
12:06 Addressing the Attacks on Christians
20:24 Christian Growth Inside Israel
24:10 From Azerbaijan Ambassador to Special Envoy
27:17 Two Crises: A Region and a West in Decline
20:30 Blame, Responsibility, and the Roots of Anti-Christian Sentiment
38:58 A Family Story of Return
41:16 Bridging Evangelical and Orthodox Christianity
44:48 Winning Back Gen Z
52:53 Why Persecuted Christians Stay Silent
59:16 Looking to Africa and Latin America


Ask Haviv Anything: 136: Why not two states from the start?
Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.

In our current episode we ask: Why not two states from the start?

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the 1947 UN Partition Vote
01:55 The Flawed UN Partition Plan and Its Implications
03:53 Jewish Perspectives and the Need for a Homeland
06:14 Arab Rejection and the Arab League's Arguments
08:09 The Arab World’s Vision for Palestine
10:07 The Arab Arguments Against Partition at the UN
11:57 The Arab Refugee Crisis and Its Roots
13:49 The Establishment of the PLO and Its Goals
15:46 The 1948 War and Its Consequences
18:10 The International Context and Cold War Dynamics
19:51 The Aftermath: Borders, Refugees, and Future Conflicts




Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rule: Commie By Your Name
I'm not voting for anyone who thinks the wrong side won the Cold War or cheers for the Intifada like it's the World Cup.




From 1967 to October 7_ The Historical Facts Missing from NPR On All Fronts
Preying on those seeking to understand Israel’s military engagements over the last quarter- century, NPR’s Greg Myre and Scott Simon produced a segment on July 18, 2026, titled “Then and now: Re-evaluating Israel’s expanding military engagements 25 years later.”

The problem? The systemic omission of critical facts required to comprehend the position Israel finds itself in today.

The reporters introduced the segment by explaining that: “Decades ago, Israel was actively shrinking its presence in many of the areas it is now aggressively military engaging.” They then contrasted this with current Israeli military activity on four fronts: Lebanon, Gaza, Syria and the West Bank.

In doing so, NPR skipped over what happened both before, and in between the then-and-now, denying its audience an understanding of the cause and effect.

West Bank
Covering the West Bank, Myre described watching the Israeli government tear down the Jewish settlement of Ma’on in the West Bank when he was first there. He described how the army tore down the shacks and “pulled the settlers from the rooftops and dragged them away.” He recently drove by Ma’on and saw what looked like a subdivision with lots of houses, giving that as an example of how settlement expansion makes it “more difficult, bordering on impossible, to work out a peace deal and create a state for the Palestinians.”

Attributing the lack of a Palestinian state predominantly to the presence of housing structures ignores that Palestinian leaders previously rejected at least six statehood offers. It also ignores historical evidence, like when Israel and Egypt forged a peace agreement over 40 years ago and the Israeli military razed or removed more than 600 homes in 14 settlements, or when Israel withdrew from Gaza more than 20 years ago and razed approximately 2,800 structures. (Later in the report, when talking about Gaza, Myre admitted Israel removed 8,000 “Jewish settlers” from Gaza in 2005).

Structures don’t reject peace; people reject peace.

More critically, Myre ignored public opinion of those who actually live there. In a September 2025 poll, 56% of Palestinians in the West Bank believe the State of Israel has no right to exist and 50% believe Israel can be destroyed. In an October 2025 poll, 78% of West Bank and 55% of Gaza respondents were opposed to disarming Hamas and 59% of West Bank respondents believed Hamas’ decision to launch the October 7 attack was correct. In fact, support for Hamas increased. More shockingly, 86% of respondents denied Hamas committed video-recorded atrocities (like killing women and children). In the shadow of the October 7 invasion and ensuing war, 57% of Israelis polled in October 2025 reject a Palestinian state, including 68% of Jewish Israelis.

The barrier to peace is not housing – it is terrorism and the rejection of most Palestinians to Israel’s right to exist.

Gaza
Rounding out the report, Myre acknowledged Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, and then said, “And as we know, Israel and Hamas have often fought since then, and Israeli troops reentered Gaza after the Hamas attack in 2023. Well, today, the Israeli military holds close to 70% of Gaza.”

The startingly casual and brief summary ignores Hamas’ governance, building of terror tunnels and attacks on Israel since 2005. According to a list tallied by the Jewish Virtual Library, more than 20,000 rockets were fired by Hamas and/or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) at Israel between 2005 and Oct. 7, 2023. In addition to rocket fire, in 2006, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel by tunnel, killed two Israeli soldiers, wounded more, and captured one. In 2014, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in the West Bank. Rockets, murder and kidnapping necessitated defensive Israeli military operations in response in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2023.

Most egregiously, reducing the horrific atrocities of October 7 to the “Hamas attack in 2023” sanitizes the deadliest single day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The generic word “attack” does not describe the systemic murder, rape, beheading and kidnapping that Hamas executed on that day.

Journalistic integrity requires providing the requisite context to understand complex conflicts. By omitting the terrorism and rocket fire that preceded Israel’s operations, leaving out the highly relevant detail of Assad’s fall and minimizing to an extreme degree the horrors of October 7, NPR excused itself from such requirements. Instead, it served a narrative that blames Israel for its security footprint while ignoring the violence that precipitated Israel’s need to fight on these fronts to begin with – and now.
Washington Post Corrects Gaza Women and Children Casualty Statistics – Twice
After being contacted by CAMERA, The Washington Post corrected two recent articles falsely claiming that most casualties in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, were women and children.

In the two articles, (“Mamdani says he is looking into whether he can order Netanyahu’s arrest,” July 18, and “Mamdani says New York doesn’t have authority to arrest Netanyahu, urges feds to act,” July 22) The Washington Post cited Gaza’s Health Ministry to claim that over 73,000 people had been killed and that “the majority of casualties are women and children.”

Open-source researchers found a year ago that this was no longer true – as in, even Hamas’s data didn’t support the claim anymore. A recent check of the Ministry’s website shows that the number of men killed is greater than the combined total of women and children. On July 2, 2026, the Hamas media office reported that out of 73,066 people killed during the war, 21,500 were children and 12,500 were women. The total of children and women (34,000) is less than half of all those killed.

CAMERA presented these figures to The Washington Post and after reviewing the information, the Post amended both articles to read, “The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up roughly half of the fatalities.”

The Post also attached an editor’s note to both stories, acknowledging that the language about women and children in the original version was incorrect.
CNN Corrects Record_ Settlement Legality Is Contested Opinion, Not Absolute Fact
“There is no one true interpretation of what international law mandates, regardless of what ‘experts’ at outlets … claim,” CAMERA U.S. Media Research Manager David Litman previously wrote.

Drawing from a famous Pirates of the Caribbean line, that the pirate code is “more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules,” Litman noted that, without enforcement, international court rulings and proclamations function merely as suggestions.

Considering this reality, CNN corrected its July 20, 2026, article (“Israel’s far-right openly boasts of resettling Gaza as election looms”) on July 23 to clarify who considers Israeli settlements illegal.

The article had authoritatively stated, “All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under International law.”

Following CAMERA’s outreach, the outlet amended the article to state, “All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under International law by most of the international community and the United Nations.”

CAMERA had previously flagged this exact error to CNN. Regarding the Feb. 8 article, “Israel tightens grip on West Bank ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to US,“ CAMERA alerted the network to the same blanket phrasing. CNN explicitly promised in communication with CAMERA to update the wording as requested, but it only corrected two other reported errors in that story, leaving the erroneous absolute claim on settlement legality untouched until July.

This is a small change with significant implications. The correction acknowledges that the legal status of West Bank settlements is a matter of debate among international law experts and not an absolute, indisputable fact.

CNN’s framing obscured reality by conflating political opinion with binding international law. By initially declaring settlements unconditionally illegal, the article treated non-binding U.N. resolutions and International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinions as enforceable precedent, ignoring that neither body possesses the statutory authority of a global supreme court that overrides state sovereignty.


Queens Man Indicted For Car Crash That Killed Jewish Woman Also Charged With Hate Crime For Destroying Property Outside Kosher Bagel Shop
A Queens man who was indicted for manslaughter late last month after killing a woman in a three-car crash and then fleeing the scene was also charged with hate crimes yesterday for allegedly destroying property outside a kosher bagel shop just days before the crash.

Dawood Faisal, a resident of the Fresh Meadows neighborhood of Queens, allegedly drove more than 75 miles per hour in an area with a 35-mile-per-hour speed limit on the evening of May 25, speeding through two red lights and crashing into two cars. He hit the second car with such force that it careened into a crosswalk and struck two pedestrians, one of whom—71-year-old Cara Trager—suffered fatal injuries. According to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, Faisal attempted to flee the scene before bystanders chased him down. He faces more than 15 years in prison if convicted.

The incident came days after he allegedly vandalized a kosher bagel shop in Queens, Bagels & Co., on two separate occasions. On the evening of May 15, according to hate crimes charges brought against him on July 31, he knocked over nine metal plant stands outside the store—which displayed Israeli flags—and then allegedly threw dirt at the storefront. He returned in the middle of the night on May 23, allegedly pushing over 11 plant stands, dumping plants and dirt out onto the sidewalk, and ripping plants out of other pots. If convicted on the hate crime charges, he faces up to seven additional years in prison.

Trager, a longtime journalist, was known as an outspoken supporter of Israel and leader in the Queens Jewish community. Her husband, Michael—who was injured in the crash—told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency afterwards that he believed Faisal was "looking to do damage in a heavily Jewish area" like the neighborhood of Hollis Hills, a majority-Jewish section of Queens.

Faisal’s alleged crimes occurred amid a rise in antisemitic violence in New York City under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. That same month, according to NYPD data, antisemitic hate crimes jumped 46 percent compared to the three months that came before. New York City experienced 41 antisemitic hate crimes in May, averaging one every 18 hours, and hate crimes directed against Jews accounted for 60 percent of all hate crimes in the city.
Five Toronto police officers disciplined for glorifying Oct. 7 on official podcast
Five Toronto police officers, including two who were Muslim liaison officers at the Toronto Police Service, were disciplined for saying on an official police podcast on March 10, 2025, that Oct. 7 was inspiring an “unbelievable” number of people to convert to Islam, the National Post reported.

The Post reported that Farhan Ali and Haroon Siddiqui, the liaisons, and three supervisors were found to have committed professional misconduct in an official report dated June 3. An investigation document was received July 31, it reported.

B’nai Brith Canada said that it “welcomes the findings included in the York Regional Police investigation into the inappropriate comments made by Toronto police officers on a podcast in 2025.” (JNS sought comment from the Toronto Police Service and the York Regional Police.)

“These comments concerned many in the Jewish community, and as the findings reveal, they violated the high standards we must all expect of our law enforcement officers,” the group said. “It is concerning that, according to the report, the officers in question declined to provide written evidence or participate in the investigation in a meaningful fashion.”

“This incident underscores the importance of antisemitism training for all police officers, as the Ontario inspector general of policing recognized in his recent, first-ever notice of issue,” B’nai Brith said.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, stated that when the podcast, Project Olive Branch, published the program, “we said the issue went far beyond a deeply insensitive episode.”
‘Suspicious’ fire destroys kosher restaurant in Montreal
Nöam, a kosher restaurant in Montreal, was destroyed by a fire on Friday night in an incident that is being investigated as a possible hate crime, the Montreal Gazette reported, citing Raphaël Bergeron, a spokesman for the Montreal police, SPVM.

Someone was seen leaving the site after the fire began, leading police to probe to assign the case to the arson team, the Gazette reported.

“Sickened by this criminal attack on a Montreal kosher restaurant overnight,” stated Leslie Church, a parliamentarian who represents parts of Toronto. “I hope the evidence leads to a swift arrest and conviction of those responsible. I stand with all Canadians who are appalled by these criminal acts targeting Jewish Canadians and Jewish-owned businesses.”

Anthony Housefather, a Jewish parliamentarian who represents parts of Montreal and who was adviser on Canadian Jewish community and antisemitism to former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, stated that he was “absolutely disgusted to see what appears to be an arson attack on a local kosher restaurant overnight.”

“This attack on a Jewish own business must be investigated as a hate crime, and those involved in this criminal act must be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he stated. (JNS sought comment from the Montreal police, the SPVM.

Marc Miller, minister of Canadian identity and culture, stated that he was “disgusted to see this attack on a local kosher restaurant” and that he is “trusting this disgraceful act will be properly investigated as a hate crime.”


First human trial supports Israeli immune therapy for Alzheimer’s
An Israeli-developed biological therapy designed to restore the immune system’s ability to protect the brain has shown a favorable safety profile in its first human trial, according to Phase 1 clinical results published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys memory, thinking and the ability to carry out everyday tasks. According to the World Health Organization, more than 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, and Alzheimer’s accounts for an estimated 60% to 70% of those cases.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Current treatments can help manage symptoms, while newer drugs may modestly slow cognitive decline.

However, a potential new treatment, an antibody called IBC-Ab002, is based on years of research by Professor Michal Schwartz of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Brain Sciences Department. Unlike most current Alzheimer’s therapies, it does not target amyloid plaques—abnormal protein deposits that have long been considered a hallmark of the disease. Instead, it aims to restore immune functions that naturally decline with age.

“The goal of our biological therapy is to restore the immune system’s youthful capacity to protect the brain,” Schwartz said.

The trial results provide the first clinical evidence supporting key aspects of a theory Schwartz has spent years developing.

Schwartz, a recipient of the Israel Prize in Life Sciences, previously showed that the brain depends on the immune system throughout life for maintenance and repair, challenging the long-held view that the brain operates separately from immune activity. She also found that age-related immune decline contributes to brain inflammation, a major factor in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases—suggesting that clearing amyloid plaques alone may not be enough to halt Alzheimer’s.


‘Only love wins’: Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei faces Israeli friend Sagi Muki in historic bout
For moments at a time, Saeid Mollaei seems unable to believe that he is standing on Israeli soil as a free man. Walking slowly along the beach in Netanya, he takes in the scene, occasionally bending toward the wet sand to collect seashells for his children, souvenirs from a visit he says he will never forget.

Beside him is Sagi Muki, the Israeli judoka who became his friend after one of the most politically charged episodes in the sport’s history. Mollaei came to Israel to face Muki in an exhibition bout held Wednesday, completing a circle that began seven years ago at the 2019 World Judo Championships, where pressure from Iran prevented the two from meeting in the final.

Muki said he was deeply moved to welcome Mollaei at the airport and hear him say that, despite being Iranian, he was able to come to Israel, and that many others like him wanted to do the same. “He told me he was lucky,” said the retired Israeli champion. “Saeid had been here before, when he competed at the 2021 Tel Aviv Grand Slam, but it was during COVID and he could not do very much. Now everything is different and relaxed.

“He came to my parents’ home for dinner and was so moved. We danced to Persian songs. It was an incredible experience. Even in my best dream, I could not have imagined a moment like this, Saeid the Iranian and me sitting together for dinner at my home, laughing about life and enjoying ourselves. It is a victory for both of us after everything we have been through.”

Mollaei recalled the warmth he received during his previous visits to Israel.

“People from the Persian community who live here supported me, and not only them,” he said. “I remember that after I won the silver medal at the Masters in Jerusalem in December 2022, I went outside and people approached me. They told me how much of an honor it was for them, and it was an honor for me too. Now I am here again, and I do not know what else I can say except that I am so happy.”


Uganda unveils Yoni Netanyahu memorial at Entebbe Airport
A memorial honoring Lt.-Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu was unveiled on Saturday at the old terminal of Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where he was killed 50 years earlier during the historic rescue operation.

According to the Kampala Post, the ceremony was overseen by Ugandan Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a powerful figure in the country and the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Kainerugaba presented the memorial to what he said was a testament to the enduring friendship, security partnership, and mutual trust between Uganda and Israel. He had previously announced plans to erect a memorial at Entebbe Airport at the site where Netanyahu was killed.

“We unveil the memorial to Lt.-Col. Yonatan ‘Yoni’ Netanyahu, the courageous commander of the Israeli rescue force, whose leadership and ultimate sacrifice during the Entebbe raid on July 4, 1976, became an enduring symbol of courage, duty, and selfless service,” the military chief said.

According to Kainerugaba, the government of Idi Amin, which aided the terrorists after they had hijacked an Air France flight from Tel Aviv, was a brutal dictatorship that did not represent the Ugandan people, while present-day Uganda is a constitutional democracy committed to international cooperation.

‘The friendship between Uganda and Israel extends far beyond the events of 1976’
Kainerugaba added that the memorial was not only a tribute to one soldier, but also to the values Netanyahu embodied: courage in the face of danger, a commitment to protecting innocent lives, and complete devotion to duty.

“Memorials are more than stone and bronze. They preserve memory, teach history, and inspire future generations,” he said.

Kainerugaba also mentioned the hostages who were abducted aboard the Air France flight and killed in connection with Operation Entebbe: Jean-Jacques Maimoni of Netanya, who was 19; Dr. Pasco Cohen, a 52-year-old physician from Haifa; Ida Borochovitch, 56, of Tel Aviv; and Dora Bloch, 74.

Bloch was murdered after the raid while she was being held at a hospital in Kampala.

He also commemorated the Ugandan soldiers who were killed that day.

“The friendship between Uganda and Israel extends far beyond the events of 1976. The two countries have enjoyed good relations for a long time, based on mutual respect and practical cooperation,” the military chief said.

He pledged that both countries would remain committed to deepening their cooperation.





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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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