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Friday, August 07, 2026

08/07 Links Pt1: Melanie Phillips: The suicidal significance of the Michigan Democratic primary; Victor Davis Hanson: The Great Israel Double Standard; Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey sign NATO-style defense pact

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The suicidal significance of the Michigan Democratic primary
Both Britain and America insist on viewing Islam as merely a religion and refuse to acknowledge that it is also a supersessionist global political project. Both countries have accordingly failed to realize that while Muslims may be a minority, their turnout at elections is enormous—vastly greater than that of non-Muslims—and that they vote as a bloc and overwhelmingly support radical Islamist candidates.

As a result, dozens of Muslim candidates across America have won seats as mayors, city council members and state legislators, and many support or are associated with extremists or terrorists.

Regarding only Islamist terrorism as a threat, Americans have failed to grasp how Islamists are also weaponizing civil society against them.

On Middle East Forum, Dexter van Zile points out that in Massachusetts, Beacon Hill lawmakers are trying to establish Muslims as a privileged class. A Senate bill would create a permanent, taxpayer-supported commission exclusively for “people who practice Islam,” grant it the power to recommend American Muslims for appointive government positions at every level, and charge it with studying and combating “Islamophobia”—all in blatant violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

For years, Americans looked complacently and pityingly across the Atlantic at the progressive Islamization of Britain and Europe. Now this is galloping ahead in America, too. And after being some years behind Britain and Europe, America is allowing pieces to be put into place which, it’s no longer fanciful to imagine, could see an Islamist in the White House.

Tragically, while the Republican Party should be fighting these developments with all its might, it is itself a house divided. MAGA’s isolationist faction—led by podcaster Tucker Carlson and groyper Nick Fuentes—ignores the all-too-real conspiracy against America by the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead, it’s poisoning the minds of millions of impressionable young followers with the defamatory and paranoid falsehood that the conspirers against the American interest are the Jews.

And from Michigan’s defeated “moderate” Democratic candidate Stevens, who has now thrown her support behind El-Sayed, to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who refuses to condemn his friend Carlson because he objects to “purity tests,” both main parties are adopting a “big tent” approach that protects the people they should be expelling as pariahs.

Across America and the West, hostility to Israel is now driving political life. Such people should beware. Israel’s cause is the West’s own cause; Israel’s existential enemies are the West’s existential enemies.

Those who want to tear down Israel, believing that the Jews are a bone they can throw to appease their mortal foes, are actually tearing down the West.
Jonathan Tobin: A man of courage was needed. Instead, American Jews have Schumer
Yet the El-Sayed candidacy isn’t just another embarrassment for the country’s most prominent liberal Jew. Along with every other element of the current surge of vile bigotry that is changing the face of American politics in ways we are only beginning to understand, it is the kind of moral test that comes along once every generation or two.

It’s a moment when lifelong legislators are required to step up and respond to the challenges of history. And we know that most Democrats, including almost all of those who seek their party’s presidential nomination in 2028, are siding with the antisemites like El-Sayed—or staying silent.

Republicans have done better, but if they allow someone like Vice President JD Vance to succeed Trump, then they, too, will fail.

Fair or unfair, public figures are judged not so much on the sum of their lifework but on how they respond to those singular moments in time, whether it is the debate about slavery and the Civil War in the 19th century or the rise of the totalitarians in the 20th. We don’t know what will happen in the coming years, but it is becoming apparent that the explosive growth of antisemitism will, in one way or another, create yet another pivotal chapter in history. Many people will likely emerge from this struggle with their reputations either destroyed or enhanced.

At such a time, it is a pity that rather than a person of courage and character, American Jews are stuck with the likes of the feckless Schumer to represent them.
New York must heed the warning signs before we ask, 'How did this happen?'
History teaches that democracies rarely fail because warning signs are absent. They fail because too many people convince themselves that someone else will act.

As I write these words from Jerusalem, I find myself thinking of my parents. In many ways, I am grateful they are no longer here to witness what has become of the New York they loved.

I am a fourth-generation New Yorker on my father’s side, and like millions of American Jews, I grew up believing New York represented something extraordinary: a city where freedom, pluralism, and the rule of law protected everyone.

That belief shaped my life.

In 1980, while studying at Brooklyn College, I had the privilege of serving as a research assistant to Dr. Hillel Seidman, a Holocaust survivor, distinguished scholar, and journalist.

He was a prominent Orthodox journalist, author, historian, and activist for Agudath Israel, who later wrote critical analyses of international diplomacy and the United Nations (such as his 1982 book United Nations: Perfidy and Perversion).

He taught me that the UN was never merely a diplomatic institution. It was often the stage upon which tomorrow’s political realities first appeared.

Dr. Seidman followed the tenure of UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim. He and prime minister Menachem Begin shared a deep friendship and commitment to Holocaust remembrance and to the principle that powerful public officials should never be beyond scrutiny.

Following Yasser Arafat’s 1974 address to the General Assembly, when Arafat famously appeared with both an olive branch and a gun, Dr. Seidman and Begin believed the greater danger was not the gun. It was the olive branch, because it carried legitimacy while concealing a more dangerous reality.

That conviction eventually led to the investigation into Waldheim’s wartime record. I was privileged to assist in portions of that research before the effort was later expanded by the World Jewish Congress, sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and others. The lesson has remained with me throughout my career.

No public official is above the law.

No public official is above scrutiny.

Today, history feels as though it is echoing.


A new cover for Jew-hatred: Why the word 'antisemitism' is under attack
The degradation of the word “antisemitism” – its conversion from the name of hatred into an accusation of bad faith – is not an accident of polarized discourse. It is a funded project with measurable returns, and the institutions responsible for fighting antisemitism should treat it as adversary infrastructure rather than as noise surrounding their work.

There is a precedent for what is being attempted, and it succeeded. Before 1978, “Orientalist” was a profession. The word described the scholars who cataloged Arabic manuscripts and compiled the grammars and dictionaries on which the study of the Middle East still depends. Then Edward Said published Orientalism, and within a generation the word was an accusation.

Whatever the merits of Said’s argument – historians have contested them for nearly 50 years – the operational result is not contested. No scholar today will accept the label.

The term carries its own verdict; the verdict arrives before any evidence, and entire lines of inquiry become professionally hazardous not because they are refuted but because their name has been made toxic.

Said did not win every argument. He won the word.

The word, now under attack, has its own biography, and it clarifies what is being unbuilt.

“Antisemitism” entered political life in 1879 with Wilhelm Marr, the German agitator who founded the League of Antisemites and wanted a term his movement could wear in public – scientific-sounding, an upgrade on vulgar Jew-hatred. For two generations, parties campaigned under it; Karl Lueger won Vienna’s city hall with it.

What made the word unwearable was not an argument. It was Auschwitz. The cost attached to “antisemite” is not a natural property of language; it is a postwar settlement, purchased at a price everyone knows.

The current campaign is an attempt to reopen that settlement – to return the word to what it was for Marr’s generation: a position that could be held in public without consequence.

The actors are ideologically incompatible – white nationalists, Islamist propagandists, engagement-driven media personalities, parts of the activist Left – and they do not coordinate. They converge because they share a problem: Jew-hatred loses in the open. Holocaust denial loses in the open. The Protocols lose in the open.

So the campaign does not defend the hatred. It attacks the name. Antisemitism is recast as a smear, an industry, a career-ending weapon deployed by the powerful against the honest. Under this framing, every use of the word becomes evidence of bad faith. The person who names the hatred becomes the aggressor. The person who spreads it becomes the censored truth-teller.
Commentary Podcast: Frogs Electing Scorpions
Contributing editor Eli Lake is back to discuss Chuck Schumer's promotion of Abdul El-Sayed despite styling himself the Guardian of Jews, and the folly of attempting to appease those who hate you. Plus, President Trump's hard-to-believe declaration that the Strait of Hormuz is open and the prospect of a terrible Iran deal on the backdrop of negative economic numbers, and John recommends the Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony.
Ben Shapiro: The Muslim Brotherhood Is Now Part of the Democratic Party w/Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Democratic Party has decided to ingest radical Islam wholesale – it’s just a part of the big tent now; we announce the release of the biggest, most audacious, most kickass film Daily Wire has ever made; and Tucker Carlson doesn’t launch a third party, but he does bitch a lot.


Michigan imam celebrated Graham’s death, prayed for Trump to die before El-Sayed win
A prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric in Michigan celebrated the death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and asked worshippers to pray for President Donald Trump’s death, before later urging Muslims to elect Abdul El-Sayed, who this week won the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s US Senate seat.

Mohammad Baqer Qazwini made the remarks during a July 17 Friday sermon at the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights, according to footage published Friday by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). MEMRI identified the original source as the Islamic Institute of America’s YouTube channel. The remarks in the clip were delivered in English.

Qazwini told worshippers he had awakened to “very good news” following Graham’s death and said Allah had taken the senator’s soul to hell.

He blamed Graham for what he called the “genocide in Gaza” and for the deaths of civilians in Lebanon, and described the senator’s death as “a slap” from Allah that Graham had not anticipated.

Qazwini then turned to Trump.

He asked worshippers to raise their hands and pray that Allah would also take “the friend of Lindsey Graham,” referring to the president, according to the footage. Qazwini said Allah could bring about sudden miracles and ended the passage by calling for victory for Islam and Muslims.


Key Gulf states skip Amman summit on Jerusalem as Arab bloc omits Jewish ties to the city
A coalition of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim countries met in Jordan on Wednesday to launch a coordinated campaign against Israeli policies in Jerusalem — a gathering marked both by the notable absence of key regional players and rhetoric that dismissed Jewish ties to the city.

The meeting brought together diplomats from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Somalia and Morocco, alongside representatives from the Arab League, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia. Missing from the Amman summit were several close U.S. allies including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.

In a joint statement, the group denounced what it called an “unprecedented Israeli escalation in occupied Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites,” accusing Israel of trying to alter “the Arab Islamic and Christian identity of occupied Jerusalem and its legal and demographic status” — omitting any mention of Jewish historical or religious ties to the city.

The ministers also claimed that Israel “has no sovereignty” over east Jerusalem.

The statement accused Israel of discriminatory practices against Christians, including “restrictions on access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the observance of religious rites therein; interference in the affairs of churches and restrictions imposed on their institutions and properties; and attacks targeting clergy, worshippers and religious symbols.”

The ministers also warned that “Israeli attacks against Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem constitute a blatant provocation to the sentiments of around two billion Muslims worldwide, and push towards a religious conflict with repercussions that will extend beyond the region and threaten regional and international peace and security.”

To operationalize their response, the ministers announced a coordinated international campaign — including a dedicated media platform — to document alleged Israeli violations against holy sites with a plan to present them to international organizations.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry lauded the meeting, where it said the countries discussed “the Israeli escalation in occupied Jerusalem, and the joint efforts to preserve its Islamic and Christian identity.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry forcefully denounced the joint statement, noting its exclusion of Jewish ties to the city.
For Israel, peace with Saudi Arabia is not worth a nuclear arms race
Saudi Arabia’s accession to the Abraham Accords could become one of the most important diplomatic achievements in Israel’s history. Normalization with the largest and most influential kingdom in the Arab world could reshape the Middle East, open new trade routes, strengthen the moderate camp against Iran, and grant Israel unprecedented legitimacy in the region.

But there is one price Israel must not agree to pay for that achievement.

Allowing Saudi Arabia to develop an independent uranium enrichment capability should set off alarm bells in Jerusalem.

According to Reuters, the agreement would not require the kingdom to adopt the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol, which permits more intrusive inspections, including access to undeclared sites.

This would make it fundamentally different from the agreement signed by the United States and the United Arab Emirates, under which Abu Dhabi renounced uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of nuclear fuel.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Saudi Arabia’s desire to build nuclear reactors for energy production. Many countries operate such reactors, and the kingdom is seeking to diversify its energy sources as part of its Vision 2030 program.

The problem lies elsewhere. Uranium enrichment is not necessary to operate nuclear power plants. Nuclear fuel can be purchased from other countries, as many nations around the world already do.

The distinction between a civilian nuclear reactor and an independent enrichment capability is critical. The technology used to enrich uranium to low levels for use in reactors can, if a political decision is made and the necessary infrastructure is available, also be used to advance toward the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.

The debate, therefore, is not about Saudi Arabia’s right to nuclear energy. It is about why the kingdom needs the most sensitive component of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey sign NATO-style defense pact
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a NATO-style mutual defense pact in the Saudi city of Mecca on Friday.

The agreement brings together three of the largest military powers in the world including, in Pakistan, the world’s only nuclear-armed Muslim state, amid the ongoing war between the United States and Iran.

The three countries did not release the text of the defense pact, but a statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign ministry echoed the language of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

“The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all,” it stated.

“It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defence cooperation among the three states,” the Pakistani ministry said.

Iran has repeatedly fired missiles at Saudi Arabia and Turkey since the United States and Israel began military operations against the Islamic Republic in February, and in recent years, the regime has engaged in border skirmishes with Pakistan.

Pakistan is also in an ongoing “open war” with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, in addition to its long history of wars and border clashes with India.
Sa’ar accuses Turkey of hypocrisy over Syria, vows Israel will keep defending itself
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Friday accused Ankara of hypocrisy after his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, criticized Israel’s actions in Syria, saying Jerusalem would continue taking all necessary measures to protect its citizens.

In a statement posted on X, Sa’ar said Fidan had accused Israel of destabilizing Syria for taking “the minimum measures necessary to protect Israeli citizens from attacks.”

“These are the same Turkish leaders who have spent decades violating the sovereignty of Syria while cynically lecturing others on international law,” Sa’ar wrote.

He said Turkey occupies about 5% of Syrian territory and is seeking to establish military bases inside the country “to undermine Israel’s security.”

By contrast, Sa’ar said, Israel controls a buffer zone amounting to “just one-tenth of one percent” of Syrian territory to prevent terrorist groups from attacking the Jewish state from southern Syria.

He said the security zone became necessary after Syrian terrorists violated the 1974 Israel-Syria Separation of Forces Agreement by entering the demilitarized buffer zone in December 2024.

Sa’ar also accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government of repeatedly violating the sovereignty of neighboring states through military operations against Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, maintaining its decades-long military presence in northern Cyprus, and drawing international criticism over its human rights record.

“What Minister Fidan wants is for Israel to stop protecting itself from threats to its security. This will not happen,” Sa’ar said. “Israel will continue to take all measures necessary to defend its citizens against any threat.”
Top US general reportedly looking for ‘off-ramp’ from Iran war
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately said in recent weeks that the United States needs “an off-ramp” from the war with Iran, believing that the military options currently being considered could backfire and that airstrikes alone are unlikely to accomplish the administration’s goals, CNN reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The report says Caine isn’t the only administration official to believe the US is at a crossroads in the war and that he has discussed the possibility of an off-ramp with other top advisers of the president, including Vice President JD Vance, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Tehran preparing missiles capable of reaching US, cleric says
A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday that the Islamic Republic was preparing to increase the range of its missiles to 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles), which he said would allow them to reach deep into the United States.

“We are preparing ourselves so that the American people, too, will see what it is like to be hit by missiles and understand what it means to be left in blood and destruction,” Abdolnabi Mousavifard, the Friday prayer leader in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, said.

Mousavifard also said Iran's missiles could already reach “deep into Jerusalem,” around 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away.

Leading chants of “revenge, revenge,” he expressed hope that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be “destroyed” by Iranian forces.
Uganda approves troop deployment to Gaza
Uganda’s parliament on Thursday approved the potential deployment of Ugandan troops to the Gaza Strip as part of a multinational stabilization force envisioned under U.S. President Donald Trump’s postwar plan for the enclave.

Ugandan Defense Minister Kiryowa Kiwanuka told lawmakers that Trump, through emissaries, asked President Yoweri Museveni in July to consider contributing troops to the force.

“Following the invitation by His Excellency Donald Trump, the President of the Republic of Uganda is ready to deploy in the Gaza Strip the desired Uganda People’s Defence Forces contingent,” Kiwanuka said during the parliamentary debate, according to Reuters.

Lawmakers approved the deployment, although Kiwanuka said a status-of-forces agreement governing the mission would be signed before any troops are sent.

The vote marks the first public acknowledgment by Uganda that it is prepared to participate in the force. Last month, an Israeli official told reporters that “friendly countries,” including Uganda, could take part if the mission is established.

Trump’s Gaza framework, announced after a ceasefire agreement was reached in October, calls for a surge in humanitarian assistance, civilian governance by Palestinian technocrats, the disarmament of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The proposal also envisions an International Stabilization Force deploying in areas no longer under Israeli control. However, implementation has stalled, and the proposed civilian governing body—known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza—has yet to assume any role inside the enclave.

Uganda has extensive experience participating in international peacekeeping missions and currently has troops deployed in Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Israel, Lebanon reach troop shortlist
Lebanon and Israel have agreed a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a US-brokered agreement, a Lebanese official said on Friday, with the United States due to pick countries from the list.

The official declined to identify any of the countries on the shortlist or say how many there were. Another Lebanese official and two foreign diplomats have previously told Reuters that Israel and the United States had vetoed France.

The list was produced during meetings between Lebanon and Israel at the US embassy in Rome this week, the latest round of talks on how to implement a June 26 deal that links Israel's progressive withdrawal of troops from Lebanon to the disarmament of ​Hezbollah, which would be "verified" by a third party.

Hezbollah is not a party to the agreement and has refused to give up its arsenal.

"We have reached a short list of countries. We decided which parties were impossible for each and set the potential actors," the Lebanese official said. "The Americans will now decide, and could pick more than one country."


Nukhba terrorist who participated in Oct. 7 arrested while driving humanitarian aid truck
A Nukhba terrorist who participated in the October 7 Massacre was arrested on his way to the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Thursday after being caught driving a humanitarian aid truck, Israeli media reported on Friday.

According to N12, security forces stated that the terrorist had been collecting aid from private merchants operating inside of Gaza and was transporting it for one of his clients when he was apprehended.

The report also mentioned that IDF soldiers operating inside the crossing captured him after learning about his identity and role in Hamas, before he could collect the aid.

Walla learned that the terrorist had applied to be a humanitarian aid driver, and that the Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) had approved his application.

Shin Bet declines to comment after taking terrorist in for questioning
The terrorist was taken in for questioning by the Shin Bet.

The Shin Bet declined to comment on the operation, while the IDF didn't issue any statement regarding the capture of the terrorist.

An IDF source told Walla that "There is a fear that the Rafah area will become an area that absorbs Palestinian civilians, into which terrorists and Hamas operatives will be able to infiltrate."


Victor Davis Hanson: The Great Israel Double Standard
Charges of apartheid, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing and genocide against Israel fall apart under historical scrutiny, Victor Davis Hanson argues.

He points to the glaring double standard applied to Israel while far more severe abuses by other regimes receive little attention on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”




Jonathan Sacerdoti: UN data reveals: NO FAMINE in Gaza Strip. Barely any reporting in mainstream news publications
The UN’s own latest Gaza nutrition survey blows apart the famine narrative: acute malnutrition among under-fives was just 0.2–0.8%.
• The UN report’s own conclusion: there is “no widespread acute malnutrition at population level”.
• Gaza’s pre-war acute-malnutrition rate was around 0.8%. The new measurements are therefore at or below the pre-war level.
• Gaza’s figures are lower than neighbouring countries: Egypt 2.9%, Jordan 2.0%, Syria over 12%. Even Bulgaria is 4%.
• The famine threshold is 30% acute malnutrition by WHZ. The new Gaza measurements are 0.2–0.8% — a tiny fraction of that threshold.
• Meanwhile, on 30 June
@YvetteCooperMP
described Gaza's situation as “desperate” and announced another £23 million of British taxpayers' money for UNRWA.
• Politicians and campaigners were talking about ‘starvation’ while the UN nutrition system was producing physical measurements showing extremely low acute malnutrition.




School of War: Ted Cruz’s Plan to Bring Down Iran’s Regime—and Tucker Carlson
As the American right and left are increasingly pulled toward their ideological extremes, many politicians have chosen to appease the loudest voices in their coalitions even when those voices flirt with or openly embrace antisemitism. Senator Ted Cruz says he’s done playing nice. “If we do not defeat this poison,” he warns, “I believe it will consume the Republican Party just like it has consumed the Democratic Party.” Today, Cruz joins School of War to discuss his strategy for bringing down Iran’s regime, what Tucker Carlson’s splinter from the mainstream right means for conservative politics, and the battle he believes will define the future of the Republican Party.

02:08 - The State of Iran After the War
02:46 - Why Trump Struck Iran
04:13 - Why the MOU Was a Disaster
05:39 - The Post That Triggered an Iranian Bot Campaign
07:24 - Why Cruz Opposed the Iran Deal
08:57 - America’s Next Move in Iran
09:29 - Why the Goal Should Be Regime Collapse
12:01 - Cruz’s Strategy to Bring Down the Regime
13:08 - Why He Wants to Arm Iranian Protesters
15:22 - The Future of America’s Foreign Policy
16:27 - Is the Democratic Party Being Taken Over?
21:32 - The Rise of Antisemitism on the Right
22:50 - Why Tucker Carlson Is “Dangerous”
24:06 - “We Have to Defeat This Poison”
26:34 - Could Tucker Carlson Run for President?







Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    

 

 

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