Monday, August 10, 2026

08/09 Links: Has "Never Again" Blinded Us?; The Ethical Case for Finishing the War Against Iran; 25 years ago, the Sbarro bombing opened a wound in Israel that still hasn’t healed

From Ian:

Has "Never Again" Blinded Us?
I am a grandchild of Holocaust survivors - barely survivors - who stepped out of the camps into a world emptied of everyone they had ever loved. In the last three years, atrocities beyond imagination have been inflicted on us. Again and again we have watched parents bury their children. They tried to erase our entire nation. They tried to kill our faith and everything we bring to the world. And yet we rose again. We flourished, and we carried our dead forward by naming our sons and daughters after them and by making the world a better place.

"Never Again" rests on a hope. We believed the world would learn, that no one could confront the piles of shoes, the children's faces, the naked corpses, and remain unchanged. But only those who already felt some bond to Jews were capable of caring. Millions did not. Billions did not. The world walked through our museums and remained largely unmoved, or moved only briefly, never long enough to restrain antisemitism.

We wanted to believe morality could be taught. But not for the Jewish question. Pain does not create affinity; affinity must already exist for empathy to take root. And without that affinity, without some prior sense of connection to Jews as a living people, whatever response we think we see is not empathy, it is a grimace.

We spent decades in the belief that if we exposed everything, if we spared nothing, truth itself would end antisemitism. It would compel compassion. It never did. Antisemitism was not waiting for enlightenment. It was waiting for permission. For years now, the world has behaved as if there were a statute of limitations on the moral freeze that followed the Holocaust, as if the restraint purchased by our six million dead had quietly expired. After the Oct. 7 pogrom, there was no pause in Jew-hatred, not even for one day.

Antisemitism does not respond to evidence. It does not submit to reason. Hitler did not murder Jews because of what they believed, how they lived, or what they owned. He murdered the poor and the rich, the pious and the secular, the assimilated and the insular, the newborn and the elderly. There was no argument that could have saved them. There never is.
The rubicon of antisemitism crossed in the West - Israel will face new dangers, too
The current wave of antisemitism will – and already is – fundamentally altering Jewish life in the countries with the largest communities outside of Israel: the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany.

Almost three years since October 7, and the wave of antisemitism is not receding; it is becoming more pervasive and more commonplace. In the US, for example, one in three individuals said they were targets of antisemitism, and over half of Jews have changed their behavior out of fear of antisemitism, according to a recent survey.

The antisemitism genie will not go back into the bottle on its own. Political and social polarization, the convergence of left-wing and right-wing hatred, hostility toward Jews in academia, greater proclivity towards antisemitism among younger adults, well-funded Israel-defamation campaigns by state actors, and growing immigration from Arab countries with high rates of religious extremism – all signal that we have likely crossed a point of no return.

This doesn’t bode ill only for Jews in the West; there are major repercussions for Israel as well. Foremost, its strategic alliance with the United States is in jeopardy, as public sentiment turns increasingly anti-Israel and somewhat anti-Jewish. Israel will need to reassess its strategic situation and act.

First, Israel must continue to pursue military self-sufficiency. It must have the capacity to fight an extended war without dependency on the US (or any other country) for arms, munitions, and spare parts. After all, a future American president may simply refuse to provide them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Israel’s new situation to the ancient isolationist Greek city-state of Sparta, which successfully fought its wars alone. The analogy was useful but flawed: in a global world, Israel should not aspire to Spartan isolation.

Rather, Israel should redouble efforts to build robust alliances with non-Western countries that don’t fall along the trend-lines of rising antisemitism – including India, former Soviet Republics, countries in South America, the Far East, and Africa, including moderate Muslim nations.

Among Western allies, Israel should foster mechanisms of co-dependence, so that there will be a real cost for such countries should they choose to abandon their partnerships with Israel.
Israel Is Making Plans for a Post-America Middle East
Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis says what worries him most is not the bouts of conflict in the Middle East. It's a drift in American politics that could one day spell the end of the historic U.S.-Israel alliance. Citing recent electoral victories by candidates espousing criticism of Israel, Akunis argued that "the reality is that some people here, for sure, prefer the ayatollahs rather than the American administration....To prefer your enemies rather than your political opponents, this is something new."

While it was his "hope that the United States of America will always be with us, we will need to prepare ourselves to be more independent than we used to be," given the trends he was witnessing.

It's not just Iran and its predominantly Shiite Muslim Axis of Resistance that Israel sees on its threat radar. An emerging "quartet" comprising the leading Sunni Muslim powers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan is also viewed with deep suspicion. "The ayatollahs are still in Iran. So, we need to solve this problem, and then we'll talk about the next challenge," Akunis said.

It's those in the West who direct their outrage not toward Iran but Israel that he blames most. "Those people do not say even one word about the ayatollahs, not even one word about their slogan 'Death to America,' and not even one word about the Iran massacre [of civilians]. What is it? Gaza, Gaza, Gaza."

"I can give you an answer about Gaza. Gaza can be like the Emirates, or Bahrain, or Singapore of the Middle East. No Hamas? Gaza can be prosperous. By the way, like in Lebanon. No Hizbullah? Lebanon can be prosperous."


25 years ago, the Sbarro bombing opened a wound in Israel that still hasn’t healed
At the time, the catastrophe was unimaginable.

The numbers themselves told a horror story: 16 killed, 130 injured. Eight children among the dead. Five members of a single family. Another of the victims was a woman pregnant with her first child, visiting from New Jersey.

And yet, somehow, while those gruesome figures conveyed the worst of the nightmare that was the Sbarro terror attack, they didn’t convey its entirety.

Sbarro was the center of Jerusalem, the expansive curved storefront dominating one of the capital’s busiest intersections. For Israelis, it was a place to meet up. For tourists, especially religious ones, it was an enticing example of an American fast food chain made kosher in the Jewish state.

Twenty-five years ago, the crowded pizzeria became a hellscape.

If you’re old enough, you remember the photos: A bombed-out storefront. Debris everywhere. Medics and first responders scrambling in their vests to tend to the wounded. The terrorist who detonated the bomb had packed it with nuts and bolts and nails to cause maximum pain to the adults and children he was about to kill and maim. It worked.

A quarter-century later, who still thinks about this terrible attack? It was not the deadliest suicide bombing of the Second Intifada, or even of 2001. Globally, it was overshadowed 33 days later when terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon, killing exponentially more people. More than two decades after that, the same Hamas terror group that killed 16 at Sbarro would kill 1,200 in southern Israel.

But of course, 25 years after it happened, there are those who still think about it: The parents, children, siblings and other loved ones of the 16 victims who walked into a pizzeria on that Thursday afternoon and never came out. At least one of those parents has never stopped thinking about it, because for him, 25 years later, it isn’t really over.

“The only reason I’m involved in this is because my daughter was murdered and the murderer has been free all these years,” Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was killed in the Sbarro attack, told The Times of Israel in an interview last week. “It’s unthinkable to me that we’re still fighting for justice for a child who was murdered in broad daylight.”

One of the terrorists who committed the attack killed himself along with the 16 victims. But another, Ahlam Tamimi, walked away and has lived free in Jordan for more than a decade. Roth and his wife have dedicated the past 15 years of their lives to making her face justice, so far without success.

And in recent years, that struggle has become harder. Because losing Malki is not the Roths’ most recent bereavement: They lost a son-in-law in Gaza, shortly after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

“Losing a son-in-law along the way to the very same enemy that this savage barbarian represents has not been easy,” Roth said. “It’s a replay of having to address the need of keeping my loved ones safe and unharmed by the grief.”
Arnold Roth: 25 years ago, my daughter was killed in the Sbarro bombing. Her killer is free
Losing our daughter Malki felt like a horror movie unfolding in real time.

August 9, 2001, was a school vacation morning in Jerusalem. I left early for the drug-technology company I managed, while the house slept. Around 2 p.m., my wife Frimet called my office. Instead of her usual update, she was screaming: “There’s been a terror attack — a pigua. I can’t reach the children.” The line went dead.

Twelve hours of frantic calls, hospital checks, prayers, and mounting dread followed. Malki, 15, our oldest daughter and the middle child, had gone out with her closest friend Michal for a day of teenage fun. Frimet, sidelined by a migraine, had not seen her leave.

At 2 a.m., our two oldest sons phoned from the government pathology center in Jaffa. A municipal social worker had taken them there. The call no parent ever wants to receive. It marked the end of the first chapter of our lives.

Malki was gentle and loving by nature. She adored her blind, non-verbal little sister Haya and helped with every medical emergency and hospital stay. Her empathy came naturally; her smile lit up rooms. That pure, sweet life was ripped away in an instant.

The memories never fade: the funeral, sitting shiva on the floor of our suddenly crowded home, the stream of friends and strangers offering comfort.

Twenty-five years later, the pain returns sharper than ever — layered now with the knowledge that the woman who orchestrated the massacre walks free, defiant, unrepentant, and celebrated. Her name is Ahlam Tamimi. She calls the Sbarro pizzeria bombing “my operation,” says she would do it again exactly the same way, and lives openly in Jordan under Jordanian protection. A $5 million US State Department reward on her head has been in effect since 2018. She is the sole woman on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Born, raised and educated in Jordan, Tamimi crossed into the West Bank in 2000 at the age of 20 to study journalism at a Ramallah-area university. She worked nights as a news presenter on Arabic television. Within her first year, she moved from Fatah to Hamas, becoming the first woman the group accepted for terror operations. She planted one bomb in a Jerusalem supermarket that failed to detonate. A week later, she succeeded.

Tamimi escorted the man I call her human bomb — a religious zealot carrying a guitar case packed with explosives and nails — to the entrance of the crowded Sbarro pizzeria in central Jerusalem. There were no security guards in those innocent days.

She recounts in a now-viral video how she left ahead of the carnage and in a taxi back to Ramallah listened to radio reports as the casualty count climbed. She recalls her disappointment at hearing “only three dead” — and the rising elation as the toll mounted. Fellow passengers applauded. The final count: 15 dead, including eight children, and dozens wounded. A 16th victim, a young mother left unconscious, died of her injuries in 2023.

Back in Ramallah, Tamimi delivered the news on a local station that evening, reporting on the carnage as if someone else had carried it out. Arrested weeks later by the IDF, she pleaded guilty to all charges, received 16 life sentences, and grinned at the judges throughout the proceedings.

In 2011, barely eight years after her conviction, she walked free as part of the lopsided deal that secured the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held hostage for five years by Hamas. Her return to Jordan was greeted with ecstatic rallies, media tours, interviews, and VIP visits.
Arnold Roth and The War to Bring His Daughter's Murderer To Justice
For the third episode, Shloime sits down with Arnold Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter Malki was murdered in the Sbarro Bombing during the second intifada in Jerusalem, Israel in 2001. This conversation touches on tragedy, grief, and the growing frustration with people in power who are not living up to the responsibility bestowed upon them.


Tech for Palestine to Host Leading Muslim Brotherhood Figure Who Praised Boulder Firebomber
Tech for Palestine, a U.S.-based nonprofit that has developed dozens of anti-Israel tech tools for the broader anti-Israel ecosystem, will host Ezzeldeen Dwedar, an alleged leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, at an August 20 online roundtable titled “Winning the Algorithm Wars.”

Dwedar is the founder and general coordinator of ISNAD, a digital influence network that researchers have linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. He and ISNAD have publicly praised Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who pleaded guilty to the June 2025 murder of 82-year-old Karen Diamond during a pro-Israel hostage-awareness rally in Boulder, Colorado.

The event is scheduled for 7 p.m., according to Tech for Palestine’s official listing. The organization presents Dwedar as an Egyptian-Turkish politician and political-media executive who organized thousands of ISNAD volunteers into a “disciplined digital front” operating in influence, technology and the “information and algorithms war.”

Other announced speakers include Palestinian-American content creator Moath Hamzeh; digital-governance specialist Mona Shtaya; and Taysir Mathlouthi, senior European Union advocacy officer at the alleged PFLP-linked 7amleh.

Praising the Boulder Firebomber
In two X posts at the time, Dwedar reshared a propaganda video Soliman had recorded before the attack and praised him for possessing “rare courage.” In another post, Dwedar said Soliman had not merely recorded a video explaining an idea, but had “embodied” and “proved” it through his actions, concluding: “God is the Greatest.”

ISNAD’s Telegram channel separately amplified Soliman’s pre-attack video, circulating what it described as “the full will of the hero Mohamed Soliman.” The channel also forwarded a statement praising those who followed Soliman’s path and “ignited the flames” beneath Israelis. Jewish Onliner previously documented ISNAD’s response to the attack.

Soliman pleaded guilty to 101 state charges, including first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole plus an additional 2,128 years. Dwedar’s Muslim Brotherhood Ties and Support for Hamas

Dwedar’s association with the Muslim Brotherhood is documented in his own words and in reporting about the organization’s internal leadership.

In a 2013 interview published by the Muslim Brotherhood’s official website, Dwedar said a film he directed faced criticism because of his Brotherhood affiliation. He stated that he did not deny belonging to the organization and was proud of his membership.

Egyptian newspaper Youm7 subsequently identified Dwedar in 2017 as a leader in the Brotherhood’s General Bureau faction. A 2018 report described him as a fugitive Brotherhood leader residing in Turkey.

When Hamas released a new political document in 2017, Dwedar disputed claims that the organization had never been structurally connected to the Brotherhood. He said Hamas had been represented in the Brotherhood’s International Organization, was organizationally subordinate to the Guidance Bureau and had leaders participating in the Brotherhood’s international coordination structures.

Dwedar added that any person who had belonged to the Brotherhood for at least 15 years could attest that Hamas had been part of the organization “organizationally and ideologically.”

In an April 6, 2026 X post, Dwedar wrote: “I am with Hamas.”


The Ethical Case for Finishing the War Against Iran
Polls in the West show large majorities in both the U.S. and Europe opposed to the U.S.-Israeli war against the Iranian government. Politicians have called it morally indefensible. They are wrong. Bullies deserve to be punished, criminal dictators deserve to be overthrown, initiators of war deserve to lose them.

Every war has a price. The question is whether the rewards outweigh the costs. First, the rights of Iranians need protection. For more than four decades, Iranians have lived under a regime that systematically suppresses basic human rights. Citizens can be imprisoned or even killed for criticizing the government, protesting in public, removing a headscarf.

Iran's government needs to be held accountable. The Islamic Republic just murdered 30,000 of its own citizens for protesting the regime. Beyond Iran's borders, the regime has spent decades funding and directing Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis, exporting violence as a tool of regional policy. A government that operates this way has no legitimate claim to the sovereignty protections it demands.

The institutions built to prevent governments from slaughtering their own citizens have a well-documented response to the Islamic Republic: They tend to write reports about it. After the massacre of protesters in Iran earlier this year, the UN produced empty statements and no action. The International Criminal Court in the Hague issued no indictments.

The U.S. and Israel stepped in when the UN and the international community refused to do so. For the first time in decades, the Iranian regime is facing real consequences, not empty condemnations.
Would Another Military Round Compel Iran to Fundamentally Change Its Policies?
Washington is far from certain that another military campaign would bring Iran to the negotiating table from a position of weakness. Had the administration returned to the operational pattern that characterized the previous campaign, eliminating senior officials, striking weapons-production facilities and damaging Iran's military apparatus, it would undoubtedly have inflicted further harm on Tehran's military capabilities. But there is no reason to assume that this would have changed Iran's position on the core issues, including control of the Strait of Hormuz.

There is no doubt that the U.S. has the military capability to inflict unprecedented damage on Iran. The question is whether such damage would produce the desired strategic result. Iran is not invulnerable and has significant weaknesses, but it has also demonstrated a far greater degree of resilience than many had anticipated.
Iran Bets Control over Strait of Hormuz Can Force Trump to Bend
Iran's leaders are betting that their own victory is at hand, that they will ultimately force the U.S. to accept their control over the Strait of Hormuz, and that time is on their side. Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran's chief negotiator, posted on social media: "Iran is going after the enemy's defeat - not an agreement." Iran has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz will not go back to being an open waterway, and that it will keep attacking ships trying to transit without its permission.

Formal control over even part of the strait would be a clear win for Iran and a loss for the U.S. It would also deal a blow to global norms on freedom of navigation and set a precedent that much of the world would find disturbing - that nations can shut down trade choke points at will.

Rahman Ghahremanpour, an Iran-based analyst, noted that Iran's resilience has limits. "Iran cannot continue with this strategy forever, and at a certain point, in reality, it has to reach a deal with America."
Is Israel Really Obligated to Lay Off Hamas?
Gaza mediators Turkey, Egypt and Qatar released a joint statement on Aug. 3 stating that Israel's continued targeted strikes on Hamas leaders and perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacre "constitutes a breach of the [ceasefire] agreement."

Israel resumed strikes because Hamas had refused to disarm for the past 10 months, contrary to their 2025 agreement.

Senior U.S. officials fear Israel stands in the way of its new Gaza roadmap.

Turkey and Qatar sponsor and praise Hamas. Egypt long turned a blind eye to Hamas arms smuggling and prefers the group to the Israeli military on its border.

Young Washington envoys lecture Israeli leaders behind closed doors, claiming to be doing Jerusalem a favor by pursuing its true long-term interest, if only Israel's leaders were enlightened enough to see.

In the 10 months since the Gaza war's end, not one Hamas terrorist has forfeited his weapon. We haven't seen a Hamas signature on the new roadmap, either, whatever that may be worth.

Instead, we have Hamas Politburo member Ghazi Hamad, best known for promising to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre "again and again," telling the Journal, "We didn't say disarmament, we didn't say handing over the weapons."

If the terrorists now tell the mediators that they are ready to deal, it is likely because they are steadily losing territory and top members.
Trump says US ‘low-keying’ Iran conflict, giving economic pressure time to work
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was “low-keying” its approach to Iran and only “semi-negotiating” with the Islamic Republic, as it suffers in dire economic straits.

The remarks, made in a brief phone interview with Barak Ravid of Channel 12 and Axios, signaled Trump was forgoing a military strike on Iran and instead preparing to let the mounting economic pressure take its toll.

Trump’s comments came after Iran on Saturday laid out drastic new conditions for lifting the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about one-fifth of the world’s commercial oil shipments until the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.

A separate report on Sunday said Trump was preparing to declare victory in the war as long as the strait reopens, even without a deal to secure the end of Iran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, Tehran doubled down on its demands, and denied holding any direct talks with the US.

Iran’s new demands stymied mediators’ hopes last week that Iran, Oman, and the US would announce a deal to reopen the key waterway, Ravid reported. Trump himself had threatened massive military strikes on Iran only to backtrack at the start of last week, citing a breakthrough in talks.

Nonetheless, according to Ravid, Trump in the phone interview did not threaten Iran or rail against it for holding up the deal, which would give Iran unprecedented control over maritime traffic in the strait.

Speaking to Ravid, Trump said, “We are low-keying it,” in the talks with Tehran.

“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said. “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.”
Iran names new security chief who’s wanted by Interpol in connection with deadly AMIA bombing
The former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohsen Rezaei, has been named head of the country’s highest national security body, the Iranian presidency announced on Sunday.

In addition to previously leading the elite IRGC paramilitary, Rezaei, 71, is wanted on an international arrest warrant for his alleged role in one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks of recent decades, the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1994.

Rezaei is the second person tapped to head Iran’s Supreme National Security Council since Israel assassinated the powerful Iranian official Ali Larijani in mid-March, just weeks into the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. Israel’s military said, upon killing Larijani, that he had served as the “de facto leader” of Iran following the killing of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the war’s first day.

The current supreme leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, was injured in that same strike and has not been seen publicly since.

Rezaei’s appointment was the latest shuffle at the top for the politburo-like Supreme National Security Council, which has a range of political opinions and rivalries and is adapting to the loss of several senior officials in the war.


Netanyahu: Israel rejects Board of Peace roadmap on Hamas disarmament
The Israel Defense Forces will not carry out any withdrawal from the Gaza Strip until the Hamas terrorist organization is fully disarmed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said during a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, referring to the disarmament roadmap announced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace on July 30.

Disarming the Iranian-backed terrorist group means that Hamas gives up its “heavy weapons, the less heavy weapons, all the weapons,” he reiterated, saying there had to be “real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.”

Jerusalem is discussing the matter with the Trump administration, the premier said, adding that the Americans “have ideas, some of them acceptable to us and some not acceptable to us.”

The IDF will continue to thwart threats against Israeli forces and civilians, he vowed.

Israeli Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen said on Saturday that Jerusalem opposes the 15-point Roadmap for Gaza “in its current form,” adding that “Hamas is planning a deception.”

Hamas “will say that it intends to abide by the agreement, hand over some of its weapons, and obtain what we used to call, in the language of the past, a hudna. [But] the era of hudna is over,” Cohen told Israel’s Channel 14 broadcaster.

“Hudna” means truce or armistice in Arabic. Hamas has used ceasefires in the past only to regroup ahead of renewed assaults on the Jewish state.

Cohen continued, “Ultimately, Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization. We do not believe a single piece of paper that Hamas [signs].”

Hamas violated the Gaza ceasefire 17 times in a single day, Doron Spielman, Netanyahu’s international spokesman, said on Saturday.


Israeli pause on strikes in Gaza suspends deadly hunt for October 7 terrorists
On Wednesday, a Palestinian terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was captured by Israeli troops at a crossing with the Gaza Strip.

The member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force had requested a permit to deliver private sector goods inside the Strip and was granted one by the Shin Bet security agency, according to Israeli security sources.

Upon arriving at the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing in a truck to collect the goods, he was apprehended by Israeli troops, the sources said.

Up until last week, it is possible that the truck driver would not have been captured.

Instead, he would have likely been targeted with deadly firepower, as part of a special operation led by the military and Shin Bet to hunt down and kill every Palestinian terrorist involved in the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre.

As reported last month by The Times of Israel, and confirmed on Saturday night, 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. An Israeli soldier stands next to a truck at the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025. (Carlos REYES / AFP)

Officers of a special joint IDF-Shin Bet unit, dubbed Nili, have painstakingly worked over the last three years to identify, find and eliminate the thousands of Gazans allegedly involved in the atrocities.

It has built its list of names of Gazans who invaded Israeli territory by using a plethora of video and photographic evidence of the attack, much of it captured by the terrorists themselves, 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.

Of the estimated 5,000 terrorists who planned or participated in the October 7 attack and its aftermath, including those who may have remained in Gaza but helped hold hostages, around 2,800 have been confirmed by the military to have been killed. That number is largely made up of terrorists killed during the onslaught and others 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.

Israeli officials have invoked the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics as a precedent for the retribution campaign against the October 7 terrorists, pointing to the years-long and largely unsuccessful Mossad-led effort to track down and eliminate anyone linked to the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes during the Games.


How Hamas Plans to Remain Armed
Anyone wondering where Hamas is really headed received a clear answer a month ago with the election of Khalil al-Hayya as the organization's leader. Al-Hayya is among the most hard-line of the senior Hamas leaders who remain, holds views close to those of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and has close ties to Iran.

The Board of Peace (BoP) was launched in Jan. 2026 to establish a Palestinian local administration backed by an international force, demilitarize Gaza, and lead its reconstruction. The BoP has now published a roadmap that calls for an end to Israeli military operations in Gaza and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas is prepared to allow a Palestinian administration in Gaza to take care of sewage and garbage collection, provide food and health services to the local population, and deploy traffic police. But Hamas has no intention of giving up its weapons and relinquishing its grip on the ground. Its model is Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Hamas cannot afford to disarm. The moment it gives up its weapons, its Palestinian rivals, and there are many of them, could launch a bloody campaign of revenge against Hamas members for everything the terrorist organization has done to them during its two decades of rule in Gaza.

Hamas would be willing to place its heavy weapons, assuming it still has many left, into storage in Gaza. But it would not surrender its rifles, rocket launchers, and anti-tank missiles. Those weapons would be kept for the right moment, even if Hamas has to wait months or years. This ticking time bomb must be defused, sooner rather than later, before facts are established on the ground, whether by our friends or by our enemies.
Hamas Shifts Covert Activities from Qatar to Turkey
Palestinian sources say that most of Hamas's covert activities have been transferred from Qatar to Turkey, while Qatar will continue to host its leadership and public-facing activities.

This comes as a result of Hamas's decision to appoint Iran-backed Khalil al-Hayya as its leader instead of Khaled Meshaal, who had closer ties to Qatar.

Hayya, who served as Hamas's chief negotiator during the Israel-Hamas War, was chosen to be head of Hamas's political bureau on July 20 to replace Yahyah Sinwar, who was killed in Gaza in October 2024.
Israeli Mother and Son Narrowly Escape Palestinian Mob in Jenin
An Israeli mother and her son were saved Thursday from an attempted lynching that occurred after they mistakenly drove into the city of Jenin on their way to meet friends further north in Afula.

"I realized that Waze had taken us to Jenin," the mother said. "Dozens of Arabs tried to open the doors, threw stones at us and tried to stop us." While they were being attacked, the two contacted the Samaria Regional Council security hotline, which guided them out. "I drove as fast as I could and managed to get out of there with my son." The two escaped unharmed, though their vehicle sustained heavy damage.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said, "This incident could never have happened without the Palestinian Authority's incitement."
Beirut Says It Will Take Months to Implement Southern Lebanon Demilitarized Pilot Zones Program
The implementation of the agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon in June, which calls for the disarming of Hizbullah and the gradual withdrawal of the IDF from southern Lebanon, is expected to continue very slowly.

So far, the Lebanese army has taken over only one of the two pilot areas.

Israel believes the Lebanese army is making an effort to abide by its commitments, but the army's fifth division, composed primarily of Shi'ite soldiers and commanders, has tight relations with Hizbullah, making it hard to rely on it to uphold the agreement.

Arab media report that Israel and Lebanon have agreed on Britain, Indonesia, Italy and Switzerland taking part in a new monitoring mechanism meant to stabilize the situation in southern Lebanon, replacing UNIFIL.
Israel Should Strike Hizbullah Activity in Southern Lebanon while Avoiding a Return to All-Out War
Israel should intensify strikes against any Hizbullah activity detected in southern Lebanon while avoiding a declaration that the ceasefire has ended, former head of the Mossad's counterterrorism division Oded Ailam told 103FM on Thursday.

"Let us not forget that we are also holding talks with the Lebanese....The talks are important, not because the Lebanese army will take control of the area tomorrow and establish the Principality of Liechtenstein. That will not happen."

"But over time, it matters that we, and not only we but the world, give significant legitimacy to the idea that there is one sovereign authority, and that is Lebanon."

"I would recommend striking with force anywhere in southern Lebanon where we identify any kind of organizing, without any reservations and without any restrictions."


Netanyahu, Katz said to quietly okay reconstruction in IDF-controlled part of Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have quietly given the go-ahead for rehabilitation work to begin in southern Gaza, despite vowing that reconstruction of the badly damaged Strip would only take place once the Hamas terror group was disarmed, Army Radio reported Sunday.

The reconstruction work, which involves building infrastructure for the establishment of residential housing, is taking place in an area of eastern Rafah under Israel Defense Forces control, but near the Yellow Line that forms the frontier with Hamas.

According to the report, Netanyahu and Katz gave the green light two weeks ago, albeit without announcing the move, as the International Stabilization Force set to take control of parts of Gaza readied to deploy.

The report said that Gaza contractors and laborers will carry out the work after undergoing security checks.

In response, the Prime Minister’s Office said the work began months ago, as part of an Emirati-backed project for temporary housing “free of Hamas rule.”

“As of now, the area has been cleared of terror infrastructure and tunnels,” Netanyahu’s office told Army Radio. A Palestinian man pulls an empty cart past a sprawling makeshift camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, August 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The PMO also said electric, sewer and water infrastructure work will not be performed by Gazans, and will be under IDF supervision.

In January, Netanyahu insisted that reconstruction in Gaza would be allowed only if Hamas first gave up its weapons, something it has refused to do thus far, though a recent US-proffered agreement, rejected by Israel, appeared to pave the way toward disarming the group.


Hawaii congressman defeats anti-Israel progressive upstart in Democratic primary
US Congressman Ed Case, a Democrat from Hawaii with a pro-Israel voting record, defeated a progressive primary challenger on Saturday in a race that drew special attention after a string of wins by anti-Israel leftists in primary races elsewhere in the country.

The 73-year-old moderate led his opponent, State Senator Jarett Keohokalole, by more than twenty points when the Associated Press called the race, at 60-36, with 80 percent of the vote counted.

Keohokalole conceded the race, calling his opponent “a good guy.”

“We ran because we had policy differences and we ran because we felt that the moment called for more,” he said, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat, which noted a low turnout of some 29%.

The state senator, 43, called in his campaign for expanded government healthcare and ending military aid to Israel, an issue that has played a prominent role in Democratic primary campaigns this year, with anti-Israel candidates winning races in Michigan, New York and Colorado this year.

Case, who was elected to his seat in 2018, has a pro-Israel legislative record, having voted against a proposed ban on $3 billion in security aid to Israel just last month, while also criticizing Israel’s military response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught. Keohokalole has said he would have voted for the ban.
Mamdani taps Israel-hating, anti-cop radicals for NYC school board
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has inserted radical anti-police and anti-Israel members to the Panel for Education Policy, including one who is pushing public schools to have segreagated racism-reflection rooms, The Post has learned.

Among Mamdani’s 13 picks for the agency is race-obsessed former Department of Education official Lucas Koehler, head of the $500 million endowment for the Foundation for City College.

Koehler — who is white — pushed his agency to “dismantle white dominant culture” and supported segregated spaces in city classrooms for non-white educators to reflect on their purported anti-black racism.

The “separate spaces for white people and non-black people of color” would be used “to interrogate their own internalized anti-black racism and unlearn white dominant behaviors without causing harm to black colleagues,” reads a statement Koehler endorsed during his DOE tenure from the Division of Early Childhood Education Antiracism Coalition, extremism watchdog Canary Mission found.

Koehler, who worked for the DOE from 2014-2022, also called on the agency to sever all ties with the NYPD and said that cops pose a “threat” to minority students, as part of the letter he signed on to.

Another pick Mamdani placed on the board is Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center alum Dr. Madeline “Maddy” Fox, who signed a letter accusing Israel of genocide and denying the existence of widespread antisemitism on college campuses.

“There is no rampant crisis of antisemitism on our campuses, despite prolonged attempts by the current administration to persuade the public that there is one,” read the 2025 letter, signed by Jewish faculty at CUNY, Berkley and Georgetown.

The letter went on to accuse the Trump administration of “Islamaphobia” for its attempts to combat antisemitism.

“This campaign of repression and censorship, including deportation and detention, is evidence of an Islamophobic and racist campaign against political dissent,” the letter said.

The PEP’s 24-member board approves contracts for the Department of Education — which boasts a $45 billion budget, sets policies and manages school closures.

Of the board’s 23 voting members, 13 are picked by the mayor.


Israelis in Greece warned to lie low ahead of pro-Palestinian ‘day of rage’ protests
The Foreign Ministry on Sunday warned Israelis in Greece to lie low and avoid displays that give away their identity, with dozens of anti-Israel protests set to take place across the country.

A group of pro-Palestinian organizations were planning a “day of rage” over the Gaza war in dozens of locations across Greece, focusing on sites that Israeli tourists regularly visit.

“Given the expected scale of the protests and the possibility of large gatherings and disturbances, the Foreign Ministry recommends that Israeli citizens in Greece exercise increased vigilance, stay away from protest sites and large gatherings, and avoid any friction or confrontation with demonstrators,” the ministry stated in a special travel warning.

“It is recommended to keep Israeli and Jewish identifying symbols discreet and to avoid posting your location in real time on social media,” it continued.

The warning came with masses of Israeli vacationers in the country, a top tourist destination, for peak travel season. Nearly 50 flights were set to leave from Ben-Gurion Airport to Greece on Sunday alone, according to data from the Israel Airports Authority.

In its announcement of the planned protests, BDS Greece – a group advocating a boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel – wrote on Facebook that it would “fill the entire country with Palestinian flags, keffiyehs, and slogans.”

“It’s been more than 1,000 days of genocide in Gaza, while in the West Bank, occupation, attacks, and the seizure of Palestinian land continue,” the group wrote.
Toronto police says it arrested two more people for antisemitic protest in March
The Toronto Police Service said on Saturday that officers executed a search warrant in the city the prior day and arrested Daniela Bonamico, 40, and Shahram Nayeb-Yazdi, 63, in connection with six others it had previously arrested for marching with antisemitic signs toward a group of pro-Israel people and “shouting derogatory slurs” at them on March 15.

The 40- and 63-year-old are charged with wilful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred.

Both were scheduled to appear in court in Toronto on Saturday.

None of the eight has been charged with a hate crime, but the police department said that such charges are often laid later on by prosecutors and the department’s hate crimes unit was part of the investigation.


Over Jewish concerns, Bay Area district votes 5-0 to use ethnic studies textbook
Trustees of the Campbell Union High School District, which operates six high schools with 8,600 students in the San Jose, Calif., area, voted 5-0 to adopt the textbook “Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey” for six years for its ethnic studies courses.

The book “mentions Jews but lacks a meaningful discussion of what antisemitism is, how it works and why it has risen dramatically since the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, 2023,” according to Oleg Ivanov, executive director of the northern California region for StandWithUs.

“It distorts Jewish identity and experiences by ignoring Jews, who are not ‘white’ in any sense of the term, as well as antisemitic threats from white supremacists and other hate groups,” he told JNS. “It teaches about ‘diaspora’ communities but never mentions how that word is rooted in Jewish history.”

The textbook, which the district board adopted at a meeting on Thursday night, is to be part of a curriculum that “repeatedly uses ‘resistance’ and other terms that extremists have weaponized to promote hatred and violence, with no clear definitions or guardrails,” according to Ivanov.

“Given the numerous antisemitic incidents in this district, it is vital that school leaders engage with the Jewish community in good faith to address these concerns,” he said. (JNS sought comment from the district.)

Tali Klima, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Jewish Coalition, told JNS that it’s “astonishing” that the district board approved “a year-long mandatory course after reviewing only a textbook that teachers are not even required to use.”

“Parents and students repeatedly warned that the concern was never the textbook. It was the unchecked supplemental materials,” she said. “By approving this course without meaningful oversight, the board has effectively handed educators a blank check to introduce political content into a required class.”

“Such irresponsible decision making is especially alarming in a district with a documented history of discriminatory classroom materials,” Klima said.


Islamist terrorist once sentenced to death for plot to kill Egyptian prime minister now runs a honey business in London
A convicted Islamic terrorist sentenced to death for plotting to kill an Egyptian Prime Minister is running a honey and food supply business in north London.

Yasser Al-Sirri, 63, a one-time member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, first came to Britain and claimed asylum in the 1990s following a failed assassination plot.

He was turned down but fought the decision repeatedly through the courts and appears to have won a three-decade battle to stay in Britain.

In 2021, the Appeal Court ruled in the his favour on condition he took refugee status

The Daily Mail has now tracked Al-Sirri down to a £500,000 flat in upmarket Maida Vale, west London.

He was also present at a honey business in north west London, where he works and appears to be the boss.

It has a few employees and provides wholesale food and drink products.

Staff members initially said that Al-Sirri was not in his office when a reporter visited, despite his car being parked in the driveway.
Italian teenager arrested for ISIS association, antisemitic and neo-Nazi propaganda
A 16-year-old Italian boy has been arrested for association with ISIS and for possessing “neo-Nazi and antisemitic content,” Italian Police announced.

The teenager, from the province of Como, was arrested in Grosseto, where he was on vacation with his family, on charges of participation in an association with the aim of international terrorism, as well as propaganda and incitement to commit crimes motivated by racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination.

The investigation was conducted by officers from the General Investigations and Special Operations Division anti-terrorism section in Milan (DIGOS), with the cooperation of the Como DIGOS and the Service for Combating Extremism and External Terrorism of the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police.

This was done in coordination with the Milan Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office.

The investigation began following a report from AISI (the Internal Intelligence and Security Agency) concerning a user who disseminated jihadist propaganda material linked to the terrorist organization ISIS through several profiles on a messaging platform.

Further investigation enabled police to trace those profiles back to the boy, who had previously never been flagged for associations with radical circles. An unusual case of a minor with no previous extremist ties, with evidence that the teen allegedly expressed support for ISIS

This arrest therefore marks an unusual case of a minor with no previous extremist ties being detained for offenses related to international terrorism.

A subsequent personal and digital search by DIGOS revealed a large amount of material on Islamic State translated into different languages, propaganda videos, and images on training sessions, executions, and content of a supremacist, neo-Nazi, antisemitic nature.

They also found videos and conversations in which the teenager allegedly expressed his support for ISIS and stated that he had previously helped produce propaganda material for the terrorist organization.

A video in Russian was also found containing instructions on how to make an improvised explosive device using easily available materials.


Israel loses a friend in Congress: Rep. Kay Granger dies, 83
Israel lost one of its staunchest supporters in the US Congress with the passing this past week of Rep. Kay Granger at the age of 83.

She was a trailblazing Texas Republican who served as the first female mayor of Fort Worth and later spent 14 terms (28 years) in Congress.

Over those 28 years, she was in Congress during the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, and both Trump administrations. She was also the first woman from her party to chair the powerful House Committee on Appropriations.

Earlier, as chair of the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee from 2011 to 2017, Granger controlled the allocation of funding for the US State Department and foreign aid.

In 2016, she took the lead on an Obama-initiated $38 billion, ten-year military aid package for Israel, which she successfully pushed through Congress. The package included 33 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters, actually built in Granger’s Texas district.


Twenty-four years of new olim: Nefesh B'Nefesh welcomes its 100,000th immigrant to Israel
Nefesh B'Nefesh has celebrated the arrival of its 100,000th North American oleh (immigrant to Israel), a landmark achievement since the organization was founded in 2002.

To commemorate the milestone, Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the family to the President's Residence alongside Israel’s Aliyah and Integration Minister, Ofir Sofer, and Nefesh B'Nefesh Co-Founders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart.

The milestone was marked by the arrival of Jeffrey and Atara Douglas in Israel alongside their three children: Nathaniel (10), Hallie (9), and Emilia (6).

"I am delighted to welcome to Israel the Douglas family, including their six-year-old daughter Emilia, who is the 100,000th Olah to make aliyah with Nefesh B'Nefesh to Israel," said Herzog.

"The Douglas family is setting a wonderful example for millions of Jews all over the world, and I wish them every success in their integration and new life here in Israel. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the amazing work of Nefesh B'Nefesh under the leadership of Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart, who have changed the whole model of aliyah.

"I would also like to thank the Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Ofir Sofer, for his ongoing efforts to support and strengthen aliyah to the State of Israel. May you all continue to go from strength to strength."





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