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Saturday, August 15, 2026

08/14 Links Pt2: At the site of a Nazi massacre, the Jews are forgotten; The Clueless Hate Preachers in Liverpool; French ministers condemn ‘Hitler’ death threat against Jewish tourists

From Ian:

At the site of a Nazi massacre, the Jews are forgotten
Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s speech at Sant’Anna di Stazzema shows how the Palestinian cause is becoming a political and moral rallying point for parts of the European left.

Conte is an especially interesting case in the antisemitic tsunami now engulfing much of the world. The former prime minister and current leader of the left-wing populist Five Star Movement is a key ally of Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein and a potential candidate to lead Italy again. Italian media are already portraying his political moves with an eye toward a future contest for leadership of the left-wing coalition.

Increasingly, Conte appears to be using the Palestinian cause as a moral glue for the electorate he hopes to assemble, much as New York politician Zohran Mamdani has done in the United States.

That is what made his appearance this week at Sant’Anna di Stazzema so significant.

Sant’Anna is not simply another Italian village with a tragic wartime history. It is one of the most powerful symbols of Nazi-Fascist barbarism in Italy.

On Aug. 12, 1944, soldiers of the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division “Reichsführer-SS,” aided by Italian Fascist collaborators, descended on the Tuscan village and surrounding hamlets and massacred hundreds of civilians. The official commemoration on Wednesday marked the 82nd anniversary of the slaughter, in which 560 people were killed, including more than 100 children.

Women, old people and children were slaughtered. The youngest victim, Anna Pardini, was just 20 days old. What was ostensibly an operation against partisans became a bloodbath of defenseless civilians.

Italian writer Adriano Sofri has compared the massacre to Srebrenica. The comparison is understandable.

But there is another massacre, far closer to us in time, that should have been impossible to ignore at Sant’Anna: Oct. 7, 2023.

On that day, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel and carried out a mass slaughter of Jews in kibbutzim, towns and at a music festival, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting 251 to the Gaza Strip.

Why should Oct. 7 have been remembered at Sant’Anna?

Because the defining ideological crime of Nazism was the persecution and extermination of the Jewish people. The SS did not merely terrorize Europe. It was a central instrument in the machinery that murdered 6 million Jews.

On Oct. 7, an ancient ideological hatred appeared once again in its most bloodthirsty form: the mass murder of innocent Jews, accompanied by an explicit determination to destroy their state.

Yet Conte, who delivered the official commemorative address at Sant’Anna on Wednesday, did not make that connection.
David Collier: The Clueless Hate Preachers in Liverpool
Foreigners, and Israel in the Strait of Hormuz
And incredibly, it got even worse.

My attention turned to the people living there. I was told Israelis are just “foreigners” who arrived, sent by imperial powers that wanted influence in the region.

There is something particularly absurd about this inversion of history. The modern Middle East was shaped by successive imperial conquests. Arab-Muslim armies conquered the region in the seventh century. The Ottoman Empire that ruled it for centuries was itself an Islamic empire. British rule followed as part of the largest empire the world has ever seen.

Yet somehow, when a tiny and historically persecuted minority rebuilt its national home in its ancestral homeland, that became the great act of imperialism.

Turning the Jewish story of return and national liberation into a twisted narrative of foreign global power requires both an extraordinary rewriting of history and the recycling of some very old antisemitic tropes.

I pressed the issue.

“It is nothing to do with religion,” she said.

By this point I was toying with her. Islamic identity, supremacy and religious rhetoric have run through major strands of the Palestinian national movement from its earliest decades and remain central to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad today. She is certainly not alone in mistakenly reducing the entire conflict to an argument over land, but she was proving more clueless than most.

I pushed back lightly on the subject of a Jewish homeland.

And then came the killer blow.

As she reaffirmed that this was all about Western power rather than religion, she explained to me why Israel had been created where it was.

Israel, she told me, was built in the Strait of Hormuz because the West wanted control of it.

I had to check that I had heard her properly.

So I questioned it.

She doubled down.

This woman really believed that Israel was in the Strait of Hormuz:

At this point it became clear that she was mixing up the various fragments of TikTok geopolitics that had apparently built her education, so I played along for a while, asking her to explain more about Israel’s geopolitical position in the Strait of Hormuz.

Eventually she gave up.

Instead, she began pushing me towards the literature on the table.

That, she assured me, “would help answer my questions.”

Justifying October 7
I was presented with the latest copy of the Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! newspaper. Pointing to the headline, she began telling me about how the activist Sarah Cotte had been arrested simply for saying that “Palestinians had rights.”

These were just more lies. Cotte has been charged with terrorism offences over alleged support for Hamas. The “unconditional” solidarity was expressed at a public rally in London on October 9, just two days after the October 7 atrocities.

I wanted to push this further. She did not budge. According to her, simply supporting Palestine could “put you in jail”.

All that was left for me to do was ask about October 7.

“They have a right to resist,” she responded.

She then spent the next few minutes conflating Gaza with both real and imagined events in Judea and Samaria, droning on about occupation and the daily killing of children, all supposedly leaving these poor Gazans with no alternative.

“What option do they have?” she asked.

The reality crossed my mind. When Israel left Gaza in 2005, dismantling every settlement and dragging its own civilians out, Palestinians were presented with an opportunity to begin building towards statehood. Gazans had lots of options. Instead of peace and investment in the future, Hamas and other armed groups spent the following years building tunnels, accumulating rockets and preparing for war.

October 7 was not the only option at all. It was the one Hamas chose.

And then the absurdity of the conversation struck me.

Just two minutes earlier she had tried to convince me that simply supporting Palestinians was an arrestable crime. Yet here she was, standing perfectly freely in the middle of a major Liverpool shopping district, offering her own thinly veiled justification for the terrorist atrocities of October 7.

It was time to leave.

The problem here is a simple one. A false narrative is being spread openly on our streets – one that generates hatred, radicalises weak-minded and vulnerable people, and ultimately places British Jews at risk. And those spreading these lies have not even taken the time to learn the basics about the subject they speak about with such certainty.

They stand on British streets campaigning for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state while repeating a historical narrative they have never seriously examined. When confronted with the murder, rape and kidnapping of Israeli civilians, even that can be absorbed into the same ideological framework: they had no choice; they had a right to resist.

These are not harmless mistakes about distant history. This is political extremism being sold to passing members of the British public.

When will we stop pretending that someone standing on our streets spreading hatred, historical falsehoods and justifications for terrorist violence is merely an “activist”?

Why not call it what it is – hate preaching?
For 2028’s Jewish hopefuls, Israel is the test that decides who’s the ‘right’ kind of Jew
A quarter century ago, when the late Sen. Joe Lieberman was tapped by Al Gore, the Democratic nominee for president, to be his running mate on the 2000 ticket, the question around many a Shabbat table was, “Is he too Jewish to be in the White House?”

There’s a different question being asked, largely in Democratic circles, of today’s Jewish presidential candidates: “Is he the ‘right’ kind of Jewish candidate to be president?” — a question that is almost entirely centered around a candidate’s position on Israel and how openly he identifies with his religious faith.

A long list of Jewish candidates are considering a presidential campaign or are being touted as credible contenders, ranging from moderates like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to progressives like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and those who straddle the ideological divide, like Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).

In both 2026 and 2028, the debate over Israel is on the ballot: Congressional primaries are pitting pro-Israel candidates against those who don’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and already a clear divide is emerging in the prospective 2028 presidential field over the issues of the U.S.-Israel relationship and dealing with rising antisemitism.

Even in races where Israel policy is not front-and-center, invoking AIPAC has become something of a catch-all slur for progressives attacking the role of outside money in Democratic primaries. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 hopeful, proudly proclaimed in February that he’d never taken AIPAC money — which of course he hasn’t, given that AIPAC and its affiliated super PAC historically focus on federal, not state, races.

Since soft-launching his presidential campaign last month (in Tel Aviv, no less), former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made the Jewish state — and its relationship with the U.S. — one of his top issues in speeches and interviews. Even when his views are well within the mainstream, his signaling that he’s talking tough against Israel is a sign he recognizes his long-standing pro-Israel record is a vulnerability in a Democratic presidential primary.


Scholar hopes students who visit NYC Holocaust museum via City Hall program see Mamdani as ‘polarizing figure he is’
The Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, which is located about half a mile from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in lower Manhattan, is the only Jewish museum that City Hall listed on Thursday among participants in its collaboration with the Theatre Development Fund.

Zohran Mamdani, the city mayor, and the fund said that free and heavily discounted tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows would be available into the fall for some city high schoolers and that 24 museums and other cultural spaces would have similar free or significantly discounted admission.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage states in a resource for educators on its website that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

Anti-Zionism “seeks to delegitimize the Jewish state and to deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination,” the museum adds. “It also ignores the Jewish people’s religious and historical connection to the land. As such, it represents antisemitism. It is antisemitic to hold Israel to a standard that does not apply to any other nation.”

On Feb. 25, 2025, the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s CEO and board chair stated that witnessing the liberation of hostages, whom Hamas held in Gaza, recalled “the horrific echoes of the Holocaust.”

“The suffering of Jews during the Holocaust, as well as the indifference to their humanity, is tragically mirrored in the cruel treatment of Jews today,” the museum leaders stated at the time.

The two added that they “reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the people of Israel, who have the right to live in peace, free from terror.”

Mamdani has said that Israel should not exist as a Jewish state and campaigned on having the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York City. His spokeswoman said that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events.

Luke Moon, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute, told JNS that he is glad to see the museum listed among the participating cultural institutions.

“It’s important for students to understand the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel,” Moon said.

“While Mayor Mamdani has been extremely vocal about his disgust with Israel and its political leadership, hopefully, because of this program, students visiting the Museum of Jewish Heritage will see Mayor Mamdani as the polarizing figure he is,” Moon told JNS.

JNS sought comment from the museum.

Among the current exhibits at the Museum of Jewish Heritage are “The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do,” “Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark” and “Survivor Stories: An Interactive Dialogue.”
‘Reminiscent of what you’d find behind Iron Curtain,’ attorney says of ongoing effort to sue Mamdani admin for records
The first hearing of a case, over which Gerald Lebovits, a New York County Supreme Court judge, presided on Thursday was about whether New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has illegally withheld records about his revocation, on his first day on the job, of his predecessor’s executive orders protecting Jews.

It also doubled as a legal classroom for and a pitch to law students from New York University and China about how rewarding a legal career can be, in which City Hall’s lawyer, the plaintiff’s attorney and the judge gave their spiels about why they chose their profession.

“The law is a noble profession. You can do so much good in your life in the law,” Randy Mastro, an attorney and former first deputy mayor of New York City, told the students. “Law is a profession. It’s not a job.”

Mastro was on hand in the snug, high-ceilinged courtroom representing Richard Behar, a veteran investigative journalist, who alleges that Mamdani’s office has denied several of his requests under the state’s Freedom of Information Law to share documents about the anti-Israel mayor’s decision to axe executive orders of former mayor Eric Adams.

Late Wednesday, hours before the court heard oral arguments at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, a batch of documents that Behar had requested more than eight months earlier arrived suddenly in his email inbox.

Mastro told the court on Thursday that not only had it taken more than eight months to secure the documents, but the released information contained “nothing substantive at all,” due to large swaths of redacted materials, and instead of explanations of City Hall’s reasoning, the documents were transcripts of mayoral press conferences, inquiries from reporters—including from JNS—and press releases.

Behar had sued Mamdani and the city for what he said was a “pattern of obstruction.” In court, Mastro called City Hall’s responses a “gross inadequacy.”

“I’m shocked,” Mastro told JNS in the hallway outside the courtroom after the hearing.

“A mayor, who said it’s gonna be the most transparent administration in history, is turning out to be one of the least transparent administrations in city history,” he said, “and particularly on this issue—city actions that implicate antisemitism policies.”

“We need to get to the truth,” he told JNS. “We need to know what’s really gone on.”
Feds probe $100M anti-Israel ‘war chest’ tied to glamorous Mamdani ally: sources
The feds are probing a shadowy nonprofit’s $100 million anti-Israel “war chest” allegedly amassed by a glamorous ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a racecar-driving billionaire and a Texas private equity mogul, The Post has learned.

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating a UK-based outfit known only as PFF, scrutinizing whether it illegally funneled donor funds to Al-Haq, a Palestinian group sanctioned by the US in September, sources said.

Two sources with direct knowledge said federal agents are investigating more broadly whether the fund’s organizers employ opaque UK corporate entities to obscure cross-border financial flows.

One insider said the “linchpin” for the group’s fundraising is Bassema Yousef, a New York-born Democratic donor who now lives in the swanky London neighborhood of Kensington.

The Mamdani ally is a former Al Jazeera staffer and Booz Allen Hamilton consultant who has regularly forked out to the campaigns of Israel-bashing Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich).

She also previously served at the International Rescue Committee, a global organization led by former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband that provides life-saving support to people caught in conflicts and disasters around the world

Insiders described Yousef as “a well-connected operative who bridges the gap between State Department veterans, management consultants, and elite progressive spheres.”

They added she is a close friend of Mamdani spin doctor Waleed Shahid and Zara Rahim, a senior advisor to the left-winger’s winning campaign in November.

Yousef’s Threads account features a string of unhinged anti-Israel tirades in which she unloads on CBS correspondent Matt Gutman, who is Jewish, because his network “is owned and run by Zionist (sic)”.

Yousef’s limited social media footprint showcases her kooky anti-Israeli views. In March, she unloaded on CBS correspondent Matt Gutman.

“No-one cares,” she ranted in response to Gutman’s short video from March showing air-raid sirens blaring in Tel Aviv. “Israel is too busy committing war crimes with US tax dollars,” adding that the Israeli city is “stolen Palestinian land.”

Yousef allegedly established PFF with the backing of Palestinian-Australian motorsports magnate Yasser Shahin and the Austin, Texas-based buyout executive Basil Qunibi.
Commentary Podcast: Non Campus Mentis
It's Friday, and we close out the week by discussing the tendency of leftist candidates to publicly put down favorite American pastimes and places and how this could impact Abdul El-Sayed's political ambitions. Plus, the antisemitism reckoning at Haverford College, the dismissal of the antisemitism case against Harvard, and Duke's racial admissions discrimination. Also, Eliana recommends the Netflix documentary Mourinho.




Bay Area Jewish leaders urge Pelosi to address ally Connie Chan’s anti-Israel rhetoric
Leaders in the Bay Area Jewish community are urging former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to speak out or otherwise address her endorsed successor Connie Chan’s decision to lean into Israel and AIPAC-related attacks on her Jewish Democratic opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, which some in the Jewish community view as antisemitic.

Pelosi has been a longtime ally of the area’s Jewish community and, until her final years in office, a reliable supporter of Israel, though she recently voted for an amendment to cut off U.S. aid to Israel. Pelosi — a top surrogate for Chan, who is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — has not commented on Chan’s stances or rhetoric on Israel, and did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Jewish Insider on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council and executive director of Bay Area Jewish Action, told JI he hopes Pelosi will “educate [Chan] about where the line is between criticizing the Israeli government and amplifying antisemitic tropes.”

“I don’t think Nancy Pelosi’s support for Connie Chan has anything to do with our community’s agenda,” Gregory continued. “We would ask Nancy Pelosi, who I believe has the Jewish community in her heart, to guide Connie Chan on these issues in the same way she is on many other issues.”

He said he plans to raise the issue with Pelosi directly.

Tali Klima, a spokesperson for Bay Area Jewish Coalition-Action, a separate grassroots group, urged Pelosi to speak out publicly.

“We call on Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who currently represents this district and has endorsed Chan, to publicly reject Chan’s antisemitic rhetoric,” Klima told JI. “Pelosi has been a longtime friend of the Jewish community. As a respected leader, we urge her to use her platform to make clear that Jew hatred has no place in public discourse and stand up to the growing normalization of antisemitism in our community.”

Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Chan’s campaign, said Chan is “unequivocal that there is no place for antisemitism, anti-Jewish hate, or harassment of Jews in our politics or our society, and our campaign strongly rejects and denounces any efforts to target Jewish people or communities.”

Krager added, “At the same time, criticism of AIPAC, its political spending, or scrutinizing the influence of any political organization or political lobby is well-founded. Connie believes voters deserve to know who is funding political campaigns and what interests candidates are accountable to. That standard applies across the board, regardless of the organization involved.”

Chan’s tactics gained particular attention this week when a fundraising message by Chan’s campaign — first shared by former Democratic Majority for Israel co-chair Todd Richman — circulated on X. The message read, “when children and families are being killed with American dollars, there is no room for careful political hedging.”

“I support a total arms embargo on Israel. I reject all corporate and lobbyist PAC money. And I will never stay silent on human rights. My opponent, Scott Wiener, continues to oppose a full arms embargo and receive donations from the Israeli lobby,” the message continued. “I know this makes me a target and the only way our grassroots campaign beats dark-money Super PACs is when everyday people stand up together.”
'You're the Man': Democratic Nominee in Tossup House Race Is Caught on Tape Buttering Up Hasan Piker and Groveling To Get on His Show
The behind-the-scenes moment at the El-Sayed event offers a rare glimpse at the enormous sway Piker commands among the far left, as well as the chumminess between Piker and El-Sayed.

El-Sayed's introduction of Lawrence to Piker resembled—if one can overlook the height disparity—one frat brother introducing a pledge to a fellow frat brother.

Piker, a surrogate for El-Sayed, began his career as a recurring guest on his uncle Cenk Uygur's YouTube show The Young Turks.

The show's name is taken from the group responsible for committing the Armenian genocide.

After spending much of his time marketing himself as a "total misogynist" and pickup artist, Piker eventually moved to a more hard-edged progressive politics.

In addition to once declaring that "America deserved 9/11" on his social media accounts, Piker has produced a volcanic stream of inflammatory comments, often in support of terrorism or communist regimes.

"I got stopped by a cop who thought I was, like, making fun of, of Mao Zedong, which I never would and never will," Piker said of a 2025 visit to Beijing. "Mao Zedong is … one of the great leaders of, of this world, OK? A man who changed the entire universe, the entire planet."

"I'm a lesser-evil voter and therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time," Piker said during an April 2026 appearance on the podcast Pod Save America.

Piker has accused Orthodox Jews of being "inbred."

"I do not have a single issue with Hezbollah as a form of militancy trying to incur penalties on the genocidal state of Israel," he said on a Twitch stream with Ethan Klein in May 2025. In June of that year, when Piker was asked on another podcast about his favorite flag, he responded, "Hezbollah."

While DSA candidates have romped to victory in progressive strongholds like New York City, the outlook is far murkier for them in a swing state like Michigan, which twice voted for President Donald Trump.

Though polls had El-Sayed a double-digit lead in the Michigan Democratic primary, he ended up pulling out the nomination by less than 1 point.
Mike Rogers calibrates Jewish outreach as he builds broad coalition against Abdul El-Sayed
More than a week after Abdul El-Sayed narrowly clinched the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s bruising Democratic Senate primary, his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), is working to fine-tune his campaign’s outreach and messaging to disaffected Jewish voters who could play a decisive role in the closely contested race.

While Republicans in the key battleground state see an opportunity in November to capitalize on Jewish Democrats’ alarm over El-Sayed’s hostile rhetoric toward Israel and lackluster record in confronting the rise of antisemitism, Rogers has in the days following the primary still appeared relatively cautious in directly courting Jewish voters, as he has widened his pitch to Democrats in Michigan whom he reassured in a video message last week have “a home with” his campaign.

He has otherwise called El-Sayed, a far-left former public health official, “beyond antisemitic” and said he “hates Jewish people,” echoing the most extreme concerns among Jewish Democrats turned off by the Democratic nominee’s ties to antisemitic Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and comments equivocating over the foiled terrorist attack against a synagogue outside Detroit in March, among other issues.

Despite such criticism, Jason Cabel Roe, a GOP strategist in Michigan not involved in the race, said that he had not seen Rogers “specifically identifying the Jewish community as a target,” underscoring how the campaign is balancing private engagement with a key constituency alongside a more broadly calibrated public invitation for Democrats to join his coalition.

“A lot of this is going to come organically,” Roe told Jewish Insider, referring to Jewish Democrats in the state who are contemplating voting for Rogers. “This is not new territory for him.”

Bobby Schostak, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and a prominent Jewish campaign surrogate, said he had hosted a donor call on Monday with Rogers and his pollster, Tony Fabrizio, joined by some 150 people. “There were people there who were traditionally not Republican voters,” he told JI, citing some Jewish Democrats and other former backers of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), the moderate, pro-Israel lawmaker who lost to El-Sayed.

“Mike spoke to the importance of having a wide-open campaign with multiple coalitions,” Schostak said of the donor call, while stressing that Jewish Democrats in the Detroit area are particularly energized to help Rogers. “It is consequential both in numbers and in names,” he told JI on Thursday. “They are not being passive,” he explained. “They want to beat El-Sayed.”

In one of the first major signs of those efforts now materializing, three prominent Jewish Democratic bundlers in Michigan are hosting a fundraiser for Rogers next Tuesday, according to an email invite sent to Jewish community members on Thursday.

“This is something that none of us has ever done,” said Hannan Lis, who is leading the fundraiser with Brian Hermelin and Rob Orley. “But we feel this is a departure in the direction of the Democratic Party,” he told JI of El-Sayed’s staunch opposition to Israel and refusal to recognize its right to exist as a Jewish state. “We’re taking a stand here,” he added. “This is beyond politics.”

Even though “there are many issues where we don’t necessarily agree with Mike Rogers,” Lis noted, “we trust him” on key issues. The fundraiser is meant to “show we are willing to back up a person” who holds a mutual commitment to a “strong relationship with Israel” and “is not playing politics” on other matters concerning the Jewish community, he explained.
Poll: Mike Rogers holds narrow lead over Abdul El-Sayed in high-stakes Michigan Senate race
Former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers starts off the Michigan Senate general election race with a narrow advantage over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to a new Fox News poll, aided by an advantage with independents and making inroads with a small but significant number of Democrats willing to cross party lines.

Overall, Rogers leads El-Sayed among registered voters by four points, 51-47% — and is one of the only Republicans to hold a lead in the series of Fox News Senate battleground polls that have otherwise shown Democratic Senate candidates ahead of their GOP opponents.

The poll found Rogers’ advantage is sustained by holding onto more of his base than El-Sayed, while claiming a small edge with independents. Rogers wins 96% of Republican support, while El-Sayed support is at 91% among Democrats and is only polling at 69% with Democrats who don’t support the Democratic Socialists of America.

54% of Michigan voters surveyed said El-Sayed is too extreme for the state, while 51% of respondents said Rogers was too close to President Donald Trump.

El-Sayed starts the general election with 54% of Michigan respondents viewing him unfavorably and a 41% minority viewing him favorably. That minus-13 net negative unfavorability is a notch worse than Rogers’ 45% favorable rating and 51% unfavorable rating (minus-6).

The pollsters also found that El-Sayed is underperforming with Black voters, women and suburbanites — all key constituencies in a midterm election. Rogers, however, is lagging among younger voters under 30 and independents compared to Trump’s 2024 showing in the state.


Abdul El-Sayed To Headline Islamic Event Alongside Pakistani Cleric Who Forced His 13-Year-Old Niece Into Marriage, Was Denounced for ‘Pedophilic Rhetoric’
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will spend Labor Day weekend alongside a Jew-hating Pakistani cleric who has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories and admitted to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage.

El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at the Islamic Society of North America's (ISNA) 63rd annual convention, held in Detroit from Sept. 4-7. El-Sayed, whose father-in-law is a founding member of the ISNA—which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood—will speak Sept. 5 on the oddly titled panel, "Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America," according to an itinerary.

The convention features a rogues' gallery of notorious Muslim figures who've engaged in Holocaust denial and the persecution of Christians and have also been unindicted co-conspirators in terror plots, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But one speaker stands out for his particularly noxious record: Tariq Masood, an influential Pakistani cleric who is also on the ISNA roster.

Masood, a "mufti" qualified to issue religious laws, is scheduled to speak on a panel about "avoiding mental illness in youth," including how parents "can prevent or minimize the impact of any trauma leading to a mental illness."

The topic is an unusual fit for Masood, given his past advocacy of child marriage.

According to multiple Pakistani media reports, Masood in 2021 admitted in a sermon that he forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage, and advised his followers to do the same with their young female relatives. Masood also said it was a husband's decision whether or not his wife can go to college or must remain a housewife, citing Sharia, or Islamic religious law. In 2024, Canadian activists urged the government to block Masood's visa to the country over his "pedophilic rhetoric."

Masood has also promoted inflammatory views about Jews.

In a 2024 sermon titled "The Final Humiliation of the Jews," Masood said, according to translations of the event, that Jews' "cunning minds" had worked to bring the world under their control.

"The Quran condemns Jews," Masood said, while adding that "not all Jews are the same." He nevertheless claimed that the amount of "evil and turmoil" among Jews was unmatched by any other community in the world.


Jewish-owned Florida venue cancels DSA campaign event featuring Tlaib
A Jewish-owned Florida venue canceled a Democratic Socialists of America campaign event featuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) after learning the “full scope and nature” of the gathering, according to a statement from the venue.

The Venue Fort Lauderdale stated on Thursday that it is “Jewish-owned and operated” and that its “values and commitment to the Jewish community are deeply important to us.”

The Venue also cited “increased security concerns” and a review of promotional materials for the event, titled “Chomp the Oligarchy,” which was scheduled for Friday night.

Tlaib, who has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, was set to speak at the event alongside Democratic candidates backed by the DSA.

Oliver Larkin is challenging Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary in Florida’s newly configured 25th Congressional District. Elijah Manley is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) in the 20th District.

Angie Nixon, a Democratic Florida state representative who is running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, was also scheduled to appear. Nixon is competing against retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman for the chance to challenge Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.).

Melat Kiros, who recently won the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District after defeating longtime Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), was also expected to attend. Kiros has described Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as “the inevitable consequence of apartheid.”


J Street launches six-figure ad campaign to boost progressive in Swalwell’s former seat
J Street Action Fund, the super PAC affiliated with the progressive Israel advocacy group, spent $108,000 on Thursday on digital advertisements to boost progressive California state Sen. Aisha Wahab in the special election in California’s 14th Congressional District.

The AIPAC-affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project has spent nearly $2.5 million — along with significant independent expenditures by other groups — attacking Wahab and boosting moderate former local mayor Melissa Hernandez in the special election runoff to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

J Street said in a statement that its spending effort is intended to counter the pro-Hernandez spending by AIPAC and others. The J Street ad praises Wahab for work on housing affordability issues.

Wahab’s campaign has raised concerns from members of the Jewish community, given that she voted against or abstained on votes on top-priority legislation to combat campus antisemitism and is closely aligned with teachers’ unions that have opposed antisemitism bills. She has also accused Israel of committing genocide and shared a page on her campaign site individually calling out specific “AIPAC-linked donors” supporting Hernandez’s campaign.

“Aisha Wahab is an Afghan-American and the first Muslim elected to the California State Senate,” J Street said in a statement. “In September 2025, she introduced a resolution calling for an end to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the immediate release of all hostages. She is exactly the kind of compassionate leader constituents of the 14th District should have in Congress.”

Wahab introduced the 2025 resolution alongside Jewish state Sen. Scott Wiener, who is running for Congress in another Bay Area district.

“This is once again a cynical attempt by AIPAC to defeat a candidate who won’t rubber-stamp their agenda,” Tali deGroot, J Street’s vice president of political and digital strategy, said in a statement. “AIPAC’s super PAC has failed time and again this cycle, and we expect this latest attempt to take Republican billionaire dollars and buy a Democratic primary to fail as well. Voters in the 14th deserve better, and they deserve a Member of Congress who will bring the kind of clear-eyed, nuanced and compassionate leadership that Dr. Wahab has shown throughout her career.”


When queer activists put anti-Israel ideology before their own interests
The cruise ship of Western gays were confronted with the kind of anti-LGBT ideology they'd spent years downplaying and they couldn’t quite comprehend it. Having experienced even a fraction of the reality that comes with supporting two opposing ideologies, I had naively hoped that the stranded gays would start to reshape their points of view and shift gears towards something more rational and less radical.

In the instance of the stranded ship, the obvious solution would have been to dock in Haifa or Ashdod, the only ports in the region where LGBT+ people have legal protections and can live openly. However the reaction to that suggestion was of course horror, accusations of pinkwashing and something I thought couldn’t be possible: the showcasing of even more Western gay privilege.

One type of comment I received multiple times from profiles based in countries across the West was, “I’ll take my chances with the Egyptians over the Israelis” or “Anything is better than Israel”. These comments, whilst intended to virtue signal about Palestine, actually just insult queer people and downplay their suffering in the same way the woman at the vigil did. The queer Egyptians who are routinely imprisoned and tortured by the Egyptian police for being gay fall below their priority for the cause just like the victims in Berlin.

Many of the queer commenters favouring Egypt apparently hadn’t heard of people like Sarah Hegazi who was arrested for waving a pride flag in Cairo and tortured by the Egyptian police, dying by suicide a couple of years later having been vocal about the trauma of her torture.

Living in Western countries comes with the privilege of typing anti-Israel comments on social media and calling for intifada at Queers for Palestine rallies knowing full well that in Israel queer people have rights and are able to live freely and outwardly as gay, bi, lesbian or trans. Whereas in Palestine, Turkey and Egypt that is not the case.

For queer Israelis, this paradox has become all too familiar. By simply existing as a queer Israeli, especially online, you are accused of pinkwashing. Your experiences are denied not only by people who are “anti Israel” but by fellow queer people. The life of a queer Israeli is labelled propaganda from the outset. A gay man forced into conversion therapy would be a cause for outrage, unless he’s Israeli. A trans woman having the courage to come out would be applauded, unless she’s Israeli. A lesbian couple welcoming a baby into their family would be met with celebration, unless they’re Israeli.

Their opposition to Israel has become so all-consuming that a large part of the community is at best willing to ignore the pioneering achievements of LGBT activists in Israel and at worst willing to ignore the devastating consequences of LGBT oppression elsewhere. The gay men who cruised around the Mediterranean preferred to publicly dismiss the horrific experience of queer Egyptians rather than acknowledge a reality that complicates their worldview.

As long as it means they can make some snippy anti-Israel comment they’re more than happy to ignore the suffering of queer people elsewhere. They get to close the Instagram app with a smirk on their face whilst a gay person in Egypt is handcuffed to a chair and electrocuted. That's the same mindset shared by the woman who publicly declared that her first thought was not with the victims of the Berlin attack but with the support of ideology that caused the attack.

The cruise ship continued to sail through the sea, rejected by the realities of ideologies incompatible with civility and the freedoms they take for granted, before finishing in Italy. The passengers on board may have been in a state of shock after their experience but not enough to challenge their warped world view.

The queer community in Berlin, still reeling from the terror attack, have to now understand that being shocked isn’t enough. The people with the microphones are shouting into them, telling them that their lives are worth less than supporting an ideology that fundamentally does not accept their right to exist. The burden of blame doesn’t just lie with the terrorist who committed the attack. It lies with the people on the stages, willing to sacrifice those of us in the crowds, selling our lives out for their virtue-signalling agendas and homicidal empathy.


Moroccanoil will not renew Eurovision sponsorship
Israeli-founded hair-care brand Moroccanoil will not renew its sponsorship of the Eurovision Song Contest after the end of its six-year contract, according to the European Broadcasting Union.

The decision came one day after the EBU announced new rules for the 2027 contest that bar a winning country from hosting “if an armed conflict, a sensitive geopolitical situation or any other situation materially affects the security, safety or stability of their state or immediate region.” The rules also allow the EBU to select another broadcaster to host the contest if the winning country is deemed ineligible. (JNS sought comment from Moroccanoil.)

The EBU told The New York Times that “Moroccanoil has decided not to renew its sponsorship of the Eurovision Song Contest after six successful editions.”

“We have greatly appreciated the collaboration over the past few years and are grateful for their support of the song contest,” the EBU stated. “We wish Moroccanoil much success in the future.”

Moroccanoil, founded by Israeli brothers Mike and Erik Sabag, who began developing and selling argan-oil hair products in the Tel Aviv area in 2003. Carmen and Ofer Tal, of Montreal, later acquired North American distribution rights and purchased the company in 2008.

Moroccanoil became Eurovision’s presenting partner in 2021 after the song contest was held in Tel Aviv in 2019. Though the sponsorship deal was meant to expire in 2025, it was extended after the 2020 song contest was canceled due to COVID-19.
Uruguay: Screening of Hamas propaganda film at university canceled after outcry
The screening of a Mexican documentary film on life in Gaza, produced in collaboration with Hamas, which was scheduled to be held at Uruguay’s largest university, has been canceled, an American Jewish organization said on Wednesday.

The screening of the 2025 film “La Gran Palestina” or “Greater Palestine” at Universidad de la Republica on Wednesday evening was nixed after a public outcry, with opposition leaders asking how a propaganda piece by a terrorist group was scheduled to be shown at a public university.

The film was made “in collaboration with the combatants of the resistance (Hamas),” its accompanying flier states.

“At a time when anti-Israel rhetoric is spreading at Uruguay’s most prestigious public university, the cancellation of a documentary screening presenting Hamas’s perspective should be seen as a victory,” Ariel Gelblung, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s director for Latin America, told JNS. “You can feel empathy with the Palestinians. But promoting terrorism is a red line that should not be crossed.”

The movie comes less than three years after the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel killed some 1,200 people, in the worst single-day attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

“La Gran Palestina” was screened on July 1 at the Faculty of Humanities and Arts of the National University of Rosario in Argentina.

The university’s rector subsequently apologized and said he had not been aware of the event, Gelblung said.

The film, directed by Mexican filmmaker Rafael Rangel, is the second in a trilogy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the third installment, “Trilogy of a Genocide,” under production.


French ministers condemn ‘Hitler’ death threat against Jewish tourists
French ministers have condemned an antisemitic death threat against a Jewish couple after they were allegedly told that Hitler should have “finished the job” during a confrontation in a supermarket.

The Australian tourists were approached by an Irish man while shopping in Avignon on Tuesday, before what began as a friendly conversation became hostile after the couple revealed they were Jewish and mentioned Israel.

Footage filmed during the encounter shows the man threatening to “put a f***ing bullet” in their head.

The incident has now drawn a response from the French government, with tourism minister Serge Papin and equality minister Aurore Bergé condemning the threats “in the strongest possible terms”.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the ministers said the man had allegedly made “serious antisemitic remarks” before threatening to kill the couple.

They added that comments invoking the Holocaust “cannot be trivialised or tolerated” and pledged that antisemitic threats would not be allowed to go unanswered.

Papin said: “France is a welcoming land, open to all those who wish to discover it, regardless of their nationality or religion. No tourist should be targeted, threatened, or discriminated against because of who they are or what they believe.

“Antisemitic acts are an attack on our values and have no place in our country. To all those who come to France: you are welcome. Our country must be and will remain a destination where everyone can stay freely, with dignity, and in safety.”

Bergé added: “France will never compromise with antisemitism and hatred. Our country is particularly mobilised, especially since 7 October 2023, and will remain so for as long as necessary to ensure that no one ever has to suffer hatred because of their origin or their real or perceived identity.”


Herzog marks Abraham Accords anniversary, calls to expand ‘circle of peace’
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday marked the sixth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, calling for the circle of peace established by the landmark agreements to be expanded across the Middle East.

“The 6th anniversary of the Abraham Accords, forged by your team under President Trump’s leadership, is an important milestone for peace in the Middle East,” Herzog wrote on X in response to a post by Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser, who played a key role in negotiating the agreements.

“It is a moment to reflect on the remarkable partnerships that we have built across our region,” Herzog continued. “It is also a moment to look to the future and chart the road ahead together.”

He added, “I firmly believe that this is just the beginning. Now is the time for us all to work to expand this circle of peace across the Middle East to the benefit of all our peoples.”

Kushner had earlier hailed the accords as the beginning of “a new chapter of peace, partnership, and prosperity in the Middle East.”

“Many said it was impossible. But with courageous leadership, persistence, and a small group of people willing to challenge old assumptions, we proved that progress was possible,” Kushner wrote.

The Abraham Accords, brokered during Trump’s first term, led to the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020. Morocco subsequently normalized relations with Israel, while Sudan agreed to join the framework. Kazakhstan became the latest country to join the Abraham Accords in November 2025.

The anniversary comes amid continued efforts by the Trump administration to broaden Israel’s ties with Arab and Muslim countries and expand the Abraham Accords.





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

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    

 

 

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