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Saturday, August 08, 2026

08/08 Links: Omer Bartov is whitewashing Israel’s enemies; Pakistan’s defense minister: “Israel is a threat to the entire Muslim world,” called for “a united military front” against it

From Ian:

Omer Bartov is whitewashing Israel’s enemies
‘When someone says to you that he wants to kill you – believe him.’ Israeli novelist Roni Gelbfish was quoting her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, during a radio interview shortly after Hamas’s pogrom on 7 October 2023. Most people would empathise with Gelbfish’s grandmother in the aftermath of the atrocities of that terrible day. Hamas had once again shown, in the most horrific way imaginable, that it should be believed when it says it wants to slaughter Jews.

But if Omer Bartov feels any empathy with Gelbfish’s grandmother, he hides it well. In his new book, Israel: What Went Wrong, the American-Israeli professor at Brown University cites the quote as an example of Shoatiyut, which he translates from Hebrew as ‘Holocaustism’. This is the tendency, he argues, to interpret and exaggerate the threats facing Israel through the prism of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism more broadly.

Although Bartov offers a cursory criticism of the Hamas pogrom, he is really interested in condemning the Israeli reaction. He claims that framing 7 October as a Nazi-like attack on Jews is little more than an attempt to justify what he calls the ‘genocidal’ assault on Gaza.

Bartov’s argument is of a piece with that of Israel’s enemies in the Middle East and beyond. They view the Jewish State as evil incarnate, a prime representative of a malign West. They claim that Israel cynically weaponises the Holocaust and the charge of anti-Semitism to deflect what they call ‘legitimate criticism’ of its actions – in this case, the ‘genocide’ in Gaza.

To make this argument, Israel’s enemies deny and downplay the very real anti-Semitic threats it faces, from the assorted Islamist groups like Hamas, hell-bent on its destruction, to their nation-state supporters, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey. By minimising and erasing these formidable threats, Israel can be portrayed as a singularly malevolent nation, killing for killing’s sake. Anyone who has followed the conflict in Gaza and the broader Middle East – and not just on the Qatar-funded Al-Jazeera but also on the BBC and Sky – should be familiar with this portrayal. Israel appears to be fighting a war for no good reason, rather than what it’s actually doing – defending itself against an all too real, annihilationist threat.

In What Went Wrong, Bartov lends credibility to this anti-Israel case, from the denial of the anti-Semitic threat to the accusation of genocide. After all, he’s a professor of Holocaust studies at an Ivy League university and he served as a company commander in an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) combat unit in the 1970s. His credentials have turned him into a valued guest on anti-Israel media. He’s written articles for the Guardian and the New York Times and has appeared on the virulent anti-Israel podcasts of Owen Jones and Mehdi Hasan.

But What Went Wrong is no dispassionate academic analysis. It is the work of a professor-activist who, at the very least, is willing to omit key facts to make his case.
UNESCO joins Palestinians in rewriting Jewish history in Judea and Samaria
Three shocking examples pertain to the Temple Mount, Joshua’s Altar on Mount Ebal, and Solomon’s Pools.

In 1999, the PA-led Wakf conducted vast, illegal construction projects on the Temple Mount and beneath it, willfully destroying centuries of Jewish archaeological treasures.

The Wakf unceremoniously dumped 400 trucks full of archaeologically rich soil into the Kidron Valley. Thousands of artifacts from the Temple periods have since been found through careful sifting of the debris by Israeli archaeologists.

On Mount Ebal near Nablus, a large archaeological site identified by the late Prof. Adam Zartal as the altar of Joshua has been imperiled.

The PA drew up plans to pave over the site with roads and 24 high-rise housing units, and in 2001, Palestinian contractors ground part of the ancient stone fencing at the site to make gravel for roads.

Recently, Israel halted renewed Palestinian attempts to vandalize the spot, and has approved the establishment of a yeshiva and a settlement nearby that will also protect the archaeological site.

Another infuriating episode relates to the incredible aqueduct identified as King Solomon’s magnificent water system for Jerusalem. This runs from Hebron through Bethlehem to Jerusalem, including what is today termed Solomon’s Pools southwest of Bethlehem.

This marvel of ancient engineering, 40 km. long, is described in detail in the Bible, and the description matches the archaeological findings precisely.

The pools and aqueducts survived 2,000 years of summers, winters, and many invaders and predators – until the arrival of the PA.

In 2022, the PA dug an enormous 1,500 dunam quarry pit at Beit Fajar right through a section of the aqueduct. The quarrying caused irreversible damage to the aqueducts, with some 100 meters of tunnel and approximately 2,000 meters of the aqueduct on either side of the tunnel reduced to rubble.

Only recently has the government of Israel (finally!) stepped in to prevent further damage to the relics and to develop the site for organized biblical tourism.

The Israeli cabinet has just approved NIS 113 million in government funding for protection and development of 70 Judea and Samaria heritage sites.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu advanced this budget allocation.

While insufficient given the scale of the challenge, this funding signals a shift in policy. Enforcement has increased, site development and public access have begun, and after decades of neglect and looting, long-buried historical treasures are being uncovered.

The discoveries are significant, with the potential to reshape global scholarship on entire historical periods of importance to world heritage.

Some examples: at Hyrcania, near the Jerusalem-Dead Sea highway, a fortress marking the fall of the Hasmonean Kingdom is being revealed as a “mini-Masada,” complete with siege systems, underground chambers, inscriptions, and ritual baths.

At the Alexandrian fortress on Mount Sartaba, mentioned in the mishna in connection with signal fires that inspired today’s Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony, excavations are producing dramatic new findings too.

Every such archaeological excavation is a victory over Palestinian denialism and UNESCO’s ISIS-like efforts at Jewish erasure.
She lost everything after supporting Israel: 'To be a good Arab and a good Muslim, part of it is to hate the Jews'
Within just five hours, Dalia Ziada managed to leave Egypt, abandoning her entire life and everyone she knew. In that brief span of time, she packed what she could, received help from friends in Israel and the US, and fled the country where she had been born, raised and educated, and where she had built a career and become a prominent public figure. It happened just two weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre.

Until the final moment, she refused to believe she would have to flee. Ziada was already well acquainted with incitement campaigns, abuse and online threats. As an activist for liberal democracy, a fierce opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood and an outspoken supporter of Israel's right to exist, she had paid a public price for years. This time, however, another threshold had been crossed.

"It came to the point that they were using a verse from the Quran to justify my killing," she says. "A local group in my family's neighborhood went to my family's house looking for me. Thank God I was not there that night." At the same time, she says, lawyers affiliated with the Egyptian government began pursuing legal action against her on serious charges. "These two combined made me feel trapped," she says. "I could have ended up in jail waiting to be executed on treason accusations, or being immediately killed by some Salafists. And then the government would come out and say, 'Oh, we're sorry,' and that's it. It was a matter of life or death."

The trigger for all this, she says, was her public declaration that Hamas was a terrorist organization and that Israel, like any other country, had the right to defend itself. But that was only the beginning.

Ziada, 44, was born and raised in Egypt in a Muslim family. Her father, who died when she was 19, was drawn to Sufism, a more spiritual and moderate tradition within Islam. She describes him as a liberal, open-minded man who deeply influenced her worldview. After his death, in a conservative society where her mother was left alone with two teenage daughters, Ziada began wearing the hijab. She emphasizes that this was not a purely religious decision, but a response to social pressure and her mother's need to protect her and her sister. Over the years, the head covering became part of her identity, as well as the focus of an unresolved internal crisis.

She studied international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts and devoted her career to researching Middle East geopolitics, advancing democracy and working for regional peace. For her, "peace" was never limited to an agreement between Israel and the Arab world.

"By peace, I'm speaking not only about Arab-Israeli peace, but peace between all the factions of the Middle East," she says. "You have Muslims, Jews, Druze, Christians. You have people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds, the Kurds and others, who have spent, I would say, thousands of years fighting with each other. My hope and my fight, and still my fight, is to get to a point where they understand that we are all human, regardless of where we belong. At the end of the day, we all want to live good lives. We all want to live in peace."

From that standpoint, she says, she had always supported Israel's right to exist. "This is unfortunately not very common among people with my background, Muslims, Arabs, Egyptians and so on," she says. "This caused me a lot of problems and a lot of trouble in the past, but it did not get to the point that it really threatened my life."

At the same time, she was waging an ideological campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood. In her view, the organization is not merely a political rival, but the bearer of an ideology that rejects the very principle of human equality. "The ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood removes this concept that all of us are human and equal," she says. "It tries to divide the world into Muslims, who are good and superior to everyone else, and non-Muslims, who should be submissive to Muslims. This is exactly the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is something I totally rejected as a Muslim myself."

Then came Oct. 7.

According to Ziada, she was one of only three people in all of Egypt who dared to say publicly that Hamas was a terrorist organization. The claim illustrates the extent of the isolation she felt. "We are speaking about the most populous country in the Middle East," she says. "We are over 110 million people now, maybe more. It is really dangerous to think that this massive population could be radicalized."

What shocked her was not only the terrorists' actions, but the response on the Arab street. "We saw how horrible it was, how brutal Hamas and its followers were toward Israelis, including innocent people who were literally in their pajamas in their own homes," she says. "Unfortunately, people in Egypt and in so many Arab countries were celebrating what happened as a victory."

She stresses that these were not merely members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists or extremist activists. "They were mainstream Egyptians, people who look like me," she says. "So I had to speak up. I had to tell them exactly what happened on that day. It is not acceptable to celebrate such brutality. Then they turned against me."


Boy George reminds us why you can't reason with unreasonable Oct. 7 deniers
The unlikeliest person has become one of Israel’s most unlikely allies.

Boy George, the flamboyant pop icon of the 1980s, has released the song “We Will Dance Again,” a moving tribute to those murdered at the Supernova music festival on October 7, 2023. In today’s entertainment industry, where public support for Israel often carries professional and personal consequences, it was an act of genuine courage.

Predictably, the reaction was immediate.

Many praised him for standing up for what he believed in despite knowing he would face criticism. Others mocked him. One social media user sneered that it merely proved Israel’s only remaining supporters were “an aging 80s pop weirdo and Tommy Robinson.”

Sadly, that no longer surprises me.

What stopped me in my tracks was another comment beneath the article. Written by someone hiding behind an anonymous username, it confidently asserted that the young people murdered at the Supernova festival had in fact been killed by Israeli helicopters, and that Hamas had merely come to take hostages.

I read it twice.

Not because I thought it might be true.

But because I found myself asking a question that has troubled me ever since October 7: How do you have a conversation with someone who believes that?

When I first qualified as a GP, my senior partner and trainer was a wise, experienced doctor of Irish stock and of immense wisdom. She taught me countless lessons about medicine, but one in particular has remained with me for more than four decades.

“Jonathan,” she said, “you can’t reason with unreasonable people – so don’t try.”

At the time, I thought she was talking about the occasional difficult patient. The man demanding antibiotics for a virus, the woman convinced every symptom was caused by a mysterious allergy despite every test being normal, the patient who arrived not seeking advice but demanding confirmation of a conclusion already reached.

With experience, I realized she was teaching me something much broader – about life itself.

Reason only works when both people are prepared to reason.

Evidence only matters when both sides are willing to change their minds.

If someone has emotionally invested themselves in a belief, facts often become irrelevant. Every new piece of evidence is simply reinterpreted to support the conclusion they reached long ago.
Turkey: Defense pact mirrors NATO's Article 5
A defense pact signed between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is technically the same as NATO's Article 5 mutual defense agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday, adding the accord was not targeting Iran.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency, Fidan said a committee of ministers similar to that within NATO would be formed as part of the alliance, as well as a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia. Egypt could potentially join the pact once certain technical matters are resolved, he said.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the agreement on Friday, bringing together the three countries' leaders: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

'An attack against one is an attack against them all'
The agreement says that any armed attack on any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack against them all, according to a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry.

A spokesperson for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry stressed that, despite tensions in the Gulf, the visit has "significance that goes beyond the immediate crisis and short-term considerations."

"This agreement, based on the principle of collective deterrence, will contribute to cooperation in the fields of security and defense, joint projects in the defense industries, and the fight against terrorism," stated Erdogan before the official signing.

The move marks a significant step in efforts by the three regional powers to deepen security cooperation amid growing tensions and the ongoing war between the United States and Iran.
Pakistan’s defense minister threatens ‘illegitimate’ Israel after inking pact with Saudis, Turkey
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday told a news outlet in his country that “Israel is a threat to the entire Muslim world,” and called for “a united military front” against it, just a day after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed a joint defense agreement.

“In the context of Israel, all Muslim countries must unite. I have no doubt about this,” Asif said

“Israel is a product of the Balfour Declaration, which was established in the 1940s as an illegitimate state, and it could pose a direct threat to any of the countries in the region,” he continued, referring to the 1917 British declaration of support for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in the Land of Israel, setting the stage for Israeli independence three decades later. Pakistan was similarly established on the basis of a British declaration in 1947, just a year before the founding of Israel.

Asif, who has in the past called Israel “evil and a curse for humanity,” and a “cancerous state,” told the interviewers that his fierce opposition to Israel will not change even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defeated in this year’s elections, which are set for October 27.

“No matter who comes to power in Jerusalem – whether it’s [former premier Naftali] Bennett or any other leader – the differences are only marginal,” Asif said.

“Their attitude towards the Palestinians and their anti-Islamic mindset will not disappear. They continue to incite Muslim countries against each other,” he charged, “and as long as the Palestinian issue is not permanently resolved, the Islamic world must stand against them as one.”

There was no immediate Israeli reaction to Asif’s threat. After his since-deleted social media post earlier this labeling Israel “cancerous,” in which he also called “to get rid of European jews [sic],” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his “call for Israel’s annihilation is outrageous,” particularly coming from a member of a government “that claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace,” referring to Islamabad’s role as a mediator in talks between Washington and Tehran on ending the US-Israel war against Iran. Israel is not a party to those negotiations.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel. It voted against the establishment of modern Israel at the UN in 1947, does not recognize Israeli sovereignty, and says it will not do so until a Palestinian state is established along the pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. During a visit to India in 2018, Netanyahu said: “We are not enemies of Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either.”


Iran, Oman edging toward Strait of Hormuz deal amid fresh attacks on vessels
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic and Oman were “very close” to agreeing on a naval route through the Strait of Hormuz, but that reopening the choke point still depended on other conditions, one of them being U.S. compensation to Tehran.

The previous traffic arrangement stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tehran in June was no longer acceptable to Iran, Reuters cited Araghchi as saying.

A temporary alternative route is being finalized with Oman, the report added.

Oman is situated to the south of the strait.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian held a press conference in Tehran the same day, saying that now is the best time for an agreement to end hostilities, the report continued.

“There is cohesion, strength and unity in the country, and as far as I know, Iran is considered victorious and powerful in this war,” Iranian news agencies quoted him as saying.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke to Fox News on Saturday, saying that Washington is talking to the Iranian regime and is looking to “maximize the amount of oil and gas that is coming out of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Vance said that U.S. forces destroyed Iran’s nuclear program and conventional military in the war that started on Feb. 28, and now Washington is “trying to see if [the Iranians are] willing to make the kind of long-term changes that would be necessary to have a better relationship with the United States—and if not, that’s fine too.”

Washington’s aim is to “keep on applying the pressure that we can apply and getting as much oil and gas out of the Middle East so that Americans can enjoy lower gas and energy prices,” the vice president said.

A U.S. official cited on condition of anonymity said that the Trump administration was anticipating that Tehran and Muscat would agree on a framework “soon” so that oil could resume flowing through the waterway.


Tehran issues drastic new demands for deal to reopen Hormuz, says US must ‘correct its behavior’
Iran’s politburo-like body known as the Supreme National Security Council on Saturday declared the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States “corrects its behavior,” issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway and traffic on it.

Iran’s state broadcaster published the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The United States must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The US must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets.

The new list of demands reflected the demands Iran was previously making as a condition for a permanent accord with the US. That envisaged accord was intended by the US as also resolving the threat posed by Iran’s rogue nuclear program and its stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium. Instead, the demands were being issued as conditions for an accord under which Iran would merely consent to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Barak Ravid, Washington correspondent of Israel’s Channel 12 news, told the network that “clearly the US cannot accept” those demands and that they could potentially push US President Donald Trump back toward the military option that he shelved only days ago.

There was no immediate comment from the US, which has wanted an acceptable deal first on the strait before ending the blockade. According to the interim deal signed in June, a schedule to end sanctions and plan for compensation would be part of the final deal, and negotiations would address frozen assets.
Ryan McBeth: Iran's Six Point Peace Plan is Legitimately Insane
The Iranian response to the latest cease fire negotiation is a legitimate joke that shows Iran has no intentions of taking this situation seriously.

The response is as follows:
1 - Never threaten Iran with any language or insult the sanctities of this nation.
2- End the war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq forever.
3- Lift the naval blockade and withdraw its military forces (naval and air) from around Iran.
4 - Pay the damages of the two wars of aggression and imposition on Iran without any reduction or reduction.
5 - Lift the cruel and illegal sanctions against the Iranian nation.
6- Unconditionally release the frozen and stolen assets of the Iranian people




IDF, Shin Bet acknowledge for first time special mission to hunt down and kill all Oct. 7 terrorists
For the first time, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet have acknowledged that a special operation has been established with a dedicated unit to hunt down and kill every single Palestinian terrorist involved in the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacres.

As recently reported by The Times of Israel, the IDF and Shin Bet have devoted significant time and resources to eliminating the terrorists who took part in the October 7 atrocities in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Officers of the special joint IDF – Shin Bet unit dubbed “Nili” have worked over the last three years to compile an extensive list running to thousands of names of those involved in the atrocities, and painstakingly worked to identify, find and eliminate them.

The IDF and Shin Bet refused multiple requests for comment from the Times of Israel when it reported last month that the military and security agency have in the past few months stepped up a large-scale retribution campaign with the aim of hunting down and eliminating every single terrorist who took part in the October 7 massacre.

Israel has created a list of all the Gazans who were identified as having invaded Israeli territory on October 7, the Times of Israel reported, using a plethora of video and photographic evidence of the attack posted online by terrorists on and after the attack, and running the footage through facial recognition software. Also on the list are all Hamas leaders involved in orchestrating the massacre, according to Israeli officials.

Speaking to Channel 12 news on Saturday night, some of the Nili officers openly described their mission for the first time, detailing who has been targeted and the means used to locate and kill them.

According to the Channel 12 report, 2,800 people on Nili’s list have been killed, including the 1,200 terrorists killed by Israeli security forces in southern Israel during the onslaught, the worst ever invasion of Israel and the bloodiest single attack in the history of the nation.

The Times of Israel reported last month that of the estimated 5,000 terrorists who participated in the October 7 attack or helped hold hostages, more than 2,700 have been confirmed by the military to have been killed — including those who were killed during the onslaught and those targeted in the Strip amid the war. Another 300 alleged perpetrators have been captured by Israel and await judgment by special military tribunals, which have yet to be set up. Those convicted of genocide will be eligible for the death penalty.

According to the officers interviewed by Channel 12, as well as Adi Rotem, a former senior official in the Shin Bet, Nili created a spreadsheet with thousands of names, and then began the immense, laborious, and time-consuming task of identifying and locating each name.
UK probes major Muslim charity after director charged with funneling aid to Hamas
The United Kingdom’s Charity Commission announced on Friday that it was probing one of the UK’s largest Muslim charity organizations for allegedly providing financial and material support to Hamas in the wake of the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The probe into the Al-Khair Foundation came after its director, Mohammad Yousef Hasna, was arrested in the UK last week on US charges alleging he conspired to funnel money and supplies to Hamas through his senior role in what prosecutors said was a sham global humanitarian organization.

Hasna, a 45-year-old Turkish national, was ordered held pending extradition to New York, where he will face a federal court.

Hasna worked closely with Hamas’s senior leadership to deliver supplies, food and funding to Hamas under the guise of humanitarian aid, said the US federal prosecutor assigned to the case.

The US Justice Department accused Hasna of using “his senior role at a purported global humanitarian organization to raise funds and provide financing and commodities to Hamas.”

The indictment alleged that he also “manipulated photographs and documents to conceal from the public and potential donors that Hamas was the actual beneficiary of his fundraising and to obfuscate the true nature of his purportedly humanitarian work.”

According to the indictment, AKF’s income ballooned from $41 million in 2023 to $81 million in 2024, before further growing to around $100 million in 2025.

Hasna was accused by the US of having close ties with Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad, with the two exchanging several messages regarding the transfer of millions of dollars of funds directly to the terror group.

Hasna allegedly arranged cash transfers to Hamad, with a ledger exchanged between the two showing nearly £4 million ($5.4 million) in incoming funds and £2.3 million ($3.1 million) in expenses, including more than £500,000 ($674,500) that the FBI concluded was “personally received” by Hamad.

The FBI also alleged that Hasna and Hamad coordinated the transport, storage and distribution of aid and other supplies to Hamas in Gaza while concealing the terror group’s role. In one exchange, Hamad allegedly asked Hasna to film aid parcels inside a storage facility without showing identifying signs or markings linking the location to Hamas, while days later Hasna allegedly discussed diverting 5,000 food parcels to Hamad.


Red Cross deletes sympathetic film about Afghan migrant now accused of killing British woman and hiding her body in a suitcase
The Red Cross has deleted a film tracking the journey of an Afghan migrant who is now accused of killing a British woman and hiding her body in a suitcase in Greece.

Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, was arrested on Monday over the murder of Scottish Christian Elisabeth-Jane Ross, in Athens.

Ahmadzai, a professional boxer who arrived in Greece on a small boat in 2016, is accused of killing Ms Ross before stuffing her body into a suitcase and ditching it in a derelict building.

The 38-year-old's body was found by a homeless man on July 18, three days after she is believed to have been killed.

It has now emerged the Afghan-national collaborated with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and a London artist to create a film following how he escaped Afghanistan and reached the Greek island of Lesbos aged 15.

The four-minute animated film, named Game of Life: The Story of Sharif, was first shown on YouTube in December 2016, and includes a narration of his six-week migrant crossing.

The sympathetic video follows how his father, who was a military commander, was killed in an ambush and his mother and siblings were killed by a suicide bomb attack in Kabul.

Ahmadzai, accompanied by friends, was then smuggled out of Afghanistan's capital and journeyed through Iran and Turkey, before he reached a refugee camp on Lesbos, named Moria.

The interview was conducted in Moria, and took place after Ahmadzai had been in the camp for six months.

The video opens with, 'each migrant has a story worthy of a Hollywood movie'.

Ahmadzai's journey from Afghanistan to Greece is said to have taken one-and-a-half months, with the smuggler quoted as calling it a 'game'.

During which time, Ahmadzai was arrested in Istanbul after his first attempt to cross into Greece, the video described, and was held in prison for three days.

The video also reveals Ahmadzai intended to reach the UK, where he claimed he had family who would look after him should he successfully cross from Greece.

Voiced by an actor, he says: 'She told me: "I can take full responsibility of you, if someone helps get you to the UK." But, if I can't get there, I don't know what will happen to me.'

Scott Craig, a spokesman for the charity, told the Daily Mail: 'Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Elisabeth-Jane Ross at this extremely difficult time.

'The video is no longer publicly accessible. We took this decision out of consideration for Elisabeth's family while the legal proceedings continue.


Attacking the pro-Israel lobby has become the acceptable way to attack Jews
For those who don’t want to be accused of outright hatred of Jews, the more clever and subtle way to attack them is by going after those who lobby on their behalf.

That is why a coordinated effort is being made by haters of the Jewish state. The massive campaign is designed to destroy only one specific lobby – the one advocating for Israel.

By their reckoning, successfully putting an end to it will kill several birds with one stone. It will close the financial spigot, prevent further military defense assistance, put the brakes on legislation that helps Israel, and freely allow for an unending stream of anti-Jewish criticism, especially coming from the UN.

The pro-Israel lobby is composed of many groups, the most popular being the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Others include the UK’s Conservative Friends of Israel, Christians United for Israel, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and the Zionist Organization of America.

Although having been in existence throughout the tenure of decades of US presidents, these Israel lobbying groups have never been more reviled and scrutinized than in the last three years, as blatant antisemitism began to make a comeback with a deep fervor.

Consequently, Israel’s detractors figured out that the best way to injure the Jewish state is to bludgeon these supportive organizations, accounting for their latest crusade, aimed at annihilating any groups who do the bidding for the only democracy in the Middle East.

Predictably, their first course of action has been the highly effective “name smear.” By slapping the “Zionist” label on these lobbying groups, they can make the causal link between a term now synonymous with bigotry, strengthening the bogus and defamatory claim that Israel is an oppressor state.

Libel is always the best starting point, since it serves to advance an unsavory view of the people they are attempting to hang in the town square. And that is exactly what is happening. Make no mistake about it! Israel supporters, in the political arena (aka the Israel lobby), are being readied for their public execution.

The passage of 80 years has greatly altered the way Jews are perceived, especially in light of a new generation, which has decided to designate the chosen people as the harsh persecutors of the Middle East’s victim class. And, as long as they are doling out blame, why not throw a few more accusations on those evil Zionists?
NYPD says Mamdani’s rhetoric fuels ‘security nightmare’ for Netanyahu visit
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is criticizing Mayor Zohran Mamdani for creating what officials describe as a security nightmare ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to New York in September, according to a report by the New York Post.

Netanyahu is expected to arrive in the city next month for the United Nations General Assembly and is scheduled to address the assembly on September 26.

NYPD sources said Netanyahu’s visit will require substantial, presidential-level security. They specifically pointed to Mamdani’s recent public statements against the prime minister, which include calls for his arrest and encouragement for the public to protest Netanyahu’s presence as sources of their security concerns.

“Basically, he’s turning what would be considered a category 1 hurricane that we deal with every year into a category 5 because of his words,” a NYPD source told the NYP.

“We have to protect hotels; we have to protect wherever dignitaries go out to eat; we have to protect everything,” the source added. “Having the mayor say, ‘Go ahead and protest, and he should be arrested’ is unfair to your own officers.”

Netanyahu’s complete schedule for his visit to New York is not yet known, so the final number of police officers required for his security detail is still uncertain.

However, up to 60 or more officers could end up being a part of his security detail, including both direct and peripheral personnel, according to another NYPD source.


Mamdani vows to be at 25th-anniversary ceremony of 9/11 — but skipped 1993 WTC bombing memorial months ago
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to defy 9/11 victims’ families by attending the 25th-anniversary ceremony of the terror attacks at Ground Zero, but he ditched this year’s ceremony for the victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Instead of attending the solemn ceremony on Feb. 26 at Ground Zero, he chose to pitch a housing project to President Donald Trump in Washington, DC.

Mamdani — who was photographed last year grinning ear-to-ear with a Brooklyn imam who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing that killed six people and injured more than 1,000 — sent one of his deputies to the memorial instead.

That day, the socialist mayor met privately with the president to try to convince him to provide more than $21 billion in federal funds for a 12,000-unit affordable housing project at a massive railyard in Queens.

Mamdani “blew us off and passed on it because he does not give a s–t,” raged Andrew Colabella, whose 41-year-old cousin John DiGiovanni was one of the six people murdered when radical Islamic terrorists detonated a bomb in an underground parking garage.

“The only thing he cares about is his ego and his so-called political future,” added Colabella, a Republican legislator representing Westport, Conn.

Colabella and some other family members of the 1993 victims accused Mamdani of blowing off the 33rd annual memorial service because it lacked major media coverage.

The mayor was quick to visit Ground Zero in April to greet King Charles III because plenty of cameras were rolling, they added.

Colabella accused the mayor of meeting with Trump on a pie-in-the-sky housing proposal to avoid being booed at Ground Zero over his “longtime association” with individuals who’ve defended Islamic terror, including vile left-wing influencer Hasan Piker, who once said “America deserved” the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.


Rome airport said to drop Israeli Rafael anti-drone system after court ruling
Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino International Airport, the Italian capital’s main airport, has canceled a contract with Israeli state-owned defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to operate an anti-drone system following a court ruling, Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported Thursday.

The contract with Rafael to operate an anti-drone system designed to detect and counter unauthorized drones was invalidated after government technicians determined that the system installed at the airport was military rather than civilian and therefore lacked the necessary permits, according to the report.

The airport authority defended its use of the system, saying similar technology was deployed elsewhere in Europe.

The agreement, signed in 2022, will be transferred to an Italian contractor, Il Messaggero said.

The cancellation comes during a period of growing strain between Italy and Israel.

In April, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government declined to renew a longstanding defense cooperation agreement with Israel, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“In consideration of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” she said at the time.

The memorandum, first signed in 2003 and ratified in 2005, provided a framework for cooperation in defense and scientific research and had been renewed automatically every five years.

Israel downplayed that decision at the time, with the Foreign Ministry saying the memorandum had never contained “any substantive content” and that its expiration would not affect Israeli security.


The Oxford Union Debate That Broke the Internet — Jonathan Sacerdoti Tells All | The Brief | PragerU
The Oxford Union debate clip that broke the internet — and what happened behind the scenes.

In this episode of The Brief, host Shabbos Kestenbaum sits down with Jonathan Sacerdoti — British broadcaster, journalist, and public intellectual — for a conversation about the Oxford Union debate that went viral around the world, the BBC's Gaza documentary scandal, and what the UK's two-tier approach to law and media actually looks like from the inside.

The debate — on the motion, "The West Should Be Suspicious of Islam" — took place in June but was held back by the Oxford Union for weeks. When selective clips started leaking to Middle East Eye, Jonathan and his team released their own footage. Within hours, the Oxford Union found the upload button. The result: millions of views and a global conversation.


Jonathan Sacerdoti Real America with Dan Ball
After the Oxford Union Islam debate, Jonathan Sacerdoti discusses with Dan Ball on One America News how the reaction around the world has started an important discussion about Islam, the far left, security and safety, and how Islamism has entered Western political systems.


Comedy Cellar USA: Live from the Table: Tucker Carlson, Daryl Cooper & the Nazi Question | Waiting for Evan Barker
Noam Dworman and Periel Aschenbrand sit down expecting to interview Evan Barker—but when she doesn't arrive, they discuss Tucker Carlson, Daryl Cooper, antisemitism, Germany, immigration, media and why Evan Barker never made it.

Chapters
00:00 Waiting for Evan Barker
02:15 Tucker Carlson, Daryl Cooper & extremism
08:35 Germany, antisemitism & lessons from Europe
19:30 Noam on ideology, immigration & prejudice
32:20 Listener emails & why the podcast matters
44:40 Evan Barker finally checks in
49:00 All is forgiven & rescheduling the interview




Jew-hating Cornell student kicked out of parents’ home claims 5G tower scrambling his brain
He’s losing his connection with reality.

Days after getting booted from his family’s $1.75 million Virginia mansion, the Cornell University student who declared he’s “not interested in working for a Jew” is losing his mind over a new enemy: a 5G cell tower.

In a bizarre Aug. 2 rant on X, Austin Franco claimed a mysterious 5G box outside the window of his new Ithaca, NY, pad is blasting harmful radiation right into his brain.

“My head has been ringing for the past hour and I have a massive headache,” Franco, 19, whined in the midnight post.

“The ping on this is already 10x the normal limit and went almost 500x at one point.”

The rising junior then asked if anyone in the area had a room to spare for him to crash in, because he “won’t be staying here much longer.

“Will just have to eat the cost. And figure out something in the meantime. I guess that’s what happens when [you] can’t test these places out ahead of time.”

Franco launched a GiveSendGo donation page on July 29, begging for cash after he announced that his parents evicted him from their home due to his “repugnant” views.

He’s already raised over $10,000 from his twisted supporters — on top of the roughly $26,000 he’s raked in from a separate fundraiser titled, “Fund Austin Franco after Jewish doxxing,” created by far-right English YouTuber Miles Routledge.


'Baby killer': Fight breaks out in Manila airport over antisemitic insults
An Israeli man and an American man engaged in a physical confrontation at a Manila airport in the Philippines on Saturday after the American allegedly hurled antisemitic insults at the Israeli, according to footage of the incident published on X/Twitter.

The footage, released by Israeli writer and activist Hen Mazzig, shows the men fighting on the ground before a passerby and airport staff manage to break it up.

The Israeli alleged that the American had called him a "baby killer" and said it was "too bad Hitler didn't finish the job," causing him to act out.

Following the fight, the American can be seen in the footage saying: "You proved my point; you're going to jail; you attacked me," before he called the Israeli man a "piece of s***."

IDF reservist attacked by antisemitic Spanish tourist in Philippines
The incident follows an antisemitic attack against an IDF reservist at a cafe on Siargao Island in the Philippines at the start of the month, according to the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry.

That incident also involved the term "baby killer." The Spanish tourist further accused the Israeli of "genocide" before threatening to kill him.

According to the ministry, the tourist began the physical fight after the Israeli attempted to de-escalate the situation, asking the Spanish man to step away.


It's Official: Manor Solomon Moves from Tottenham to West Ham
The transfer of Israeli footballer Manor Solomon to West Ham has been finalized and the official signing is expected to take place within the next 24 hours. The Israeli will immediately join his new team's training sessions, with the aspiration being that he will be included in the squad as early as next Sunday, in the second round of the Championship against Burnley. This will conclude Solomon's time at Tottenham after three years. He will sign a three-year contract after passing medical examinations.


Israeli embassy in US honors memory of six hostages murdered in Gaza
The Israeli embassy in Washington marked on Saturday the Hebrew calendar-dated second yahrzeit—the anniversary of a person’s death—of six hostages who were murdered by Hamas terrorists in a tunnel in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip, in August 2024.

The six are Master Sgt. Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Eden Yerushalmi.

“Alongside our Shabbat candles, we light candles in their memory and carry their light forward. May their memories forever be a blessing, and may their light continue to shine,” the embassy tweeted.

All six were kidnapped alive during the Hamas-led assault on the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.

The hostages were found in a 65-foot-deep tunnel with gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of their bodies. One of the hostages showed signs of being tied up and they all showed evidence of neglect and having not bathed for a long time.

In addition, there was evidence that they sustained injuries during their kidnapping that were treated over time.

The hostages are believed to have been transported from the northern Gaza Strip to the south, where they were murdered.

Their bodies were recovered by the Israel Defense Forces on Sept. 1, 2024.
After October 7 and Bondi massacre, seven Australian friends answered Israel's call to serve
On a recent morning, seven friends from Sydney stood alongside their fellow soldiers and received their light-green berets, the color of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade.

They had all spent a year in Israel, either at yeshiva or on an experiential program. While most returned to their home country, these boys decided to leave their families and friends in Australia and enlist as lone soldiers in the IDF.

The Masa Kumta is a march after which the beret is awarded to the soldiers. It marks the end of months of basic and advanced combat training. However, it was not only the physical test that made these soldiers so impressive, but the sacrifice that comes with being a lone soldier while your family is almost 14,000 kilometers away.

The friends had arrived in the IDF via slightly different routes. One told me about the influence of Bnei Akiva, another of family history and friends who had already served. October 7, however, was central for all seven.

“I hated the idea that Israel was fighting while I felt helpless in Sydney. It was around the time of my end-of-year exams, but I just wanted to start my year in Israel.”





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