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Saturday, September 05, 2026

09/05 Links: Academic Bias Shaped International Law’s Israel Consensus; Mamdani hands symbolic 9/11 pen to lawyer who represented al-Qaeda terrorist; David Draiman: Rock ‘n' Roll's disturbing hatred of Israel

From Ian:

Study: Academic Bias Shaped International Law’s Israel Consensus
On September 2, Israeli legal scholar Avraham Russell Shalev released a forthcoming paper arguing that the international legal consensus shaping many judgments about Israel has developed within an academic environment that Shalev argues systematically marginalizes Jewish and Zionist perspectives.

In his forthcoming paper From Blogs to Boycotts: Anti-Zionist Biases in Legal Academia, Shalev examines how international-law journals, conferences, professional networks and academic platforms help create the “expert consensus” later invoked by international institutions.

His central argument is not simply that individual scholars hold anti-Israel views. Rather, he argues that the infrastructure producing international-law expertise has developed institutional mechanisms that marginalize Jewish and Zionist perspectives, allowing a narrow ideological framework on Israel to become embedded as a dominant interpretation within parts of international legal discourse.

The paper examines controversies involving Opinio Juris, the Columbia Law Review, the Leiden Journal of International Law and what Shalev describes as informal “grey boycotts” against Israeli scholars.

The Battle Before the Courtroom
International legal campaigns involving Israel often rely on claims of expert consensus. Arguments about occupation, proportionality, self-defense, genocide and state responsibility frequently cite academic commentary and legal scholarship as evidence that a particular interpretation represents mainstream international law.

That influence is recognized within the international legal system itself. Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice identifies “the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations” as a subsidiary means for determining legal rules.

Shalev argues that this creates an overlooked power center: the academic institutions that determine which scholars, arguments and interpretations receive legitimacy.

When certain perspectives are excluded from journals, conferences and professional networks, he argues, the resulting consensus can become self-reinforcing and influence the legal positions adopted by international bodies.

From October 7 to the Legal Narrative
A central focus of the paper is the reaction of parts of the international-law community following Hamas’ October 7 massacre.

Shalev examines international-law blogs such as Opinio Juris, arguing that some platforms have provided space for scholars whose responses to October 7 framed Hamas’ attack through anti-colonial theory while leaving Zionist perspectives underrepresented.

One example discussed by Shalev is an October 2023 Opinio Juris post by legal scholar Mohsen al-Attar responding to an interview with Professor Noura Erakat. The discussion situated October 7 within a broader anti-colonial framework and referenced Frantz Fanon’s argument that “decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon.”

The post also included an addendum published after October 7 that continued discussing the conflict through the lens of anti-colonial struggle. Critics argued that the framing risked treating Hamas’ attack primarily as an anti-colonial event rather than confronting Hamas’ deliberate targeting of civilians and the scale of the atrocities committed during the attack.

University of Haifa legal scholar Yahli Shereshevsky later criticized elements of the response within international-law circles, arguing that some reactions reflected a failure to fully acknowledge the nature of the October 7 attacks.

For Shalev, the episode represents a broader pattern: legal discourse surrounding Israel often begins from frameworks of colonialism, oppression and state violence while placing less emphasis on Israeli security concerns, Hamas terrorism and the legal obligations of non-state armed groups.

The Institutions Defining Acceptable Debate
Shalev also examines the controversy surrounding the publication of Rabea Eghbariah’s article Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept in the Columbia Law Review.

The article became controversial after the journal acknowledged that it had been commissioned and did not undergo the journal’s standard review process.

Shalev argues that the episode reflected a broader asymmetry: arguments challenging Israel’s legitimacy often gain access to prestigious academic platforms, while scholars defending Israel or contesting dominant narratives face greater professional barriers.

The paper also discusses cases involving Israeli scholars whose submissions were rejected or altered during publication processes, including Anne Herzberg and Tal Mimran.

Shalev also examines the controversy surrounding the Leiden Journal of International Law. He argues that the journal’s decision to add a disclaimer to an article by Israeli authors after criticism on social media reflected broader concerns about the treatment of Israeli scholars publishing on Israel-related issues.
The E1 debate is not just about West Bank settlement construction - it’s about security
Twenty-nine Democratic senators have demanded that Israel halt proposed construction in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim, an Israeli city of 40,000 people.

E1 has long been a lightning rod for advocates of Palestinian statehood, who argue that Israeli construction would sever the Ramallah-Bethlehem corridor and destroy the contiguity of a future Palestinian state. But any viable Palestinian state would likely require tunnels, bridges, or dedicated roads to connect separated areas. Moreover, E1 lies in Area C, where Israel retains planning and zoning authority under the Oslo framework, despite international opposition.

Still, I believe building in E1 now is ill-timed. Israel’s most important ally, the United States, is already grappling with growing anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitic intimidation from the Democratic Left and the conspiratorial Tucker Carlson Right. Israel gains little by creating another unnecessary political confrontation with Washington at this time.

But Washington is asking the wrong question about E1.

The Democratic senators wrote, “The United States must remain committed to a two-state solution that delivers lasting peace and security for both the Jewish, democratic State of Israel and for a future Palestinian state.… development in E1 would seriously jeopardize the prospects for a Palestinian state.”

Their call for Israel’s security and a Palestinian state deserves more scrutiny.

Obstacles toward Palestinian state
The obstacles to Palestinian statehood did not begin with E1. They began with the Arab rejection of two states in 1948 and their subsequent refusals for a state in 1967, 2000, 2001, and 2007-08, the last offered Palestinian sovereignty in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank, with a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem.

Underlying those failures is a question those American policymakers too often avoid: whether Palestinian society is prepared to accept a permanent Jewish state anywhere between “the river and the sea.”

After October 7, that question can no longer be treated as theoretical.

The real E1 debate should not be whether Israelis can build homes there. It should be whether Israel could ever safely relinquish security control of this strategically critical corridor.

Highway 1 runs east from Jerusalem, past Ma’aleh Adumim and E-1, toward the Jordan Valley. It is an essential artery connecting Israel’s major population centers on the coast with its eastern frontier, and provides a vital route for rapidly moving troops, weapons, and supplies toward Israel’s longest border with Jordan.

That matters because Jordan’s long-term stability cannot be taken for granted.

The Hashemite monarchy remains an important American and Israeli security partner, but Jordan is economically fragile and faces significant demographic and Islamist ideological pressures. American and Israeli strategists must contemplate the possibility that over the coming decade Jordan could face increased Sunni Islamist influence, Iranian destabilization efforts, or serious internal disorder.

If that happens, Israel’s eastern frontier could rapidly transform from one of its quietest borders into one of its most dangerous.

During visits with Israeli military personnel and intelligence officials, I saw firsthand the concern about weapons and narcotics smuggling across Israel’s eastern frontier. Weapons entering Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, can strengthen an already formidable Hamas and other armed groups’ presence, operating only miles from Israel’s major population centers.

Today, Israel is confronting increasing tensions inside the West Bank. Israeli security officials have warned repeatedly about the potential for significant escalation.

The Netanyahu government deserves criticism for failing to adequately restrain extremist Jewish violence. Those who attack Palestinians violate Israeli law and should be prosecuted. A future Israeli government should enforce the law aggressively.

But Jewish extremism is only one part of a much larger security problem. For decades, Palestinian Authority schools, official media, and religious institutions have promoted incitement and narratives that reject any Jewish sovereignty, while the PA’s notorious “pay for slay” system has financially rewarded terrorists and their families, incentivizing violence that makes territorial compromise increasingly dangerous.

This brings us back to E1.

There are actually two separate questions that Washington has mistakenly conflated.

The first is whether Israel should build in E1 today. I believe it should not. With an election approaching, beginning construction looks more like a political gesture to the Israeli Right than an urgent security requirement.

The second question is far more consequential: Should E1 ever come under Palestinian security control? From an Israeli security perspective, the answer is no, certainly not in the foreseeable future.
Toronto Film Festival to Feature Speaker Who Called Hezbollah Attacks “Legitimate Resistance”
The Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Hollywood Bureau is bringing its Muslim House cultural hub to the Toronto International Film Festival for the first time on September 13 and 15, with MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati scheduled to interview filmmaker Bassam Tariq inside TIFF Lightbox.

Al-Marayati’s appearance comes 25 years after he suggested, during a Los Angeles radio interview on September 11, 2001, that Israel should be investigated over that day’s terrorist attacks. “I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list,” he said on KCRW’s Which Way, L.A.? The Los Angeles Times later reported the remarks.

The episode was not his first national controversy involving terrorism. Two years earlier, his appointment to a federal commission examining terrorism was withdrawn amid objections over his previous statements concerning Hamas, Hezbollah and attacks against Israel.

The Hollywood Bureau and Muslim House operate under the Muslim Public Affairs Council Foundation, a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose charitable contributions are generally tax deductible. Muslim House does not appear to be a separate nonprofit entity. MPAC describes it as a program produced by the Hollywood Bureau. “Legitimate Resistance” and the Marine Barracks Bombing

In November 1999, Al-Marayati described Hezbollah attacks against Israeli soldiers in Lebanon as “legitimate resistance” during an appearance on PBS.

That year, an MPAC counterterrorism position paper addressed the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 American servicemen. The paper said the bombing was “not in a strict sense, a terrorist operation,” instead characterizing it as a military attack against a noncivilian target. The language was later quoted in witness testimony before the 9/11 Commission.

Then-House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt had appointed Al-Marayati in June 1999 to the National Commission on Terrorism, a 10-member body tasked with reviewing U.S. counterterrorism policy.

Jewish organizations and members of Congress objected to the appointment, with critics accusing Al-Marayati of failing to unequivocally condemn Hamas and Hezbollah. Gephardt withdrew the appointment the following month amid the controversy.

MPAC’s framing of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack also drew criticism.

In a statement issued as the attack unfolded, MPAC identified Israeli “occupation” as “the source of the problem.” It said Israeli policies had created a political vacuum that allowed Hamas and other groups to gain support and “justify their violent attacks.”

MPAC has since described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as genocide. Its archived Palestine page states, “It is a genocide.”


Early antisemitism warnings underestimated before Bondi massacre
News24 host Rowan Dean has exposed the police failings in the lead-up to the horrific Bondi Beach massacre that saw 15 innocent people killed.


US forces destroy three IRGC oil tankers after coming under Iranian fire
American forces destroyed three crude oil tankers belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, U.S. Central Command.

The strikes were carried out after the IRGC fired ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships patrolling regional waters, CENTCOM said.

A U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks and no American personnel were harmed, the statement read.

One vessel was disabled off the coast of Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, another was “completely destroyed” near the city of Jask in southern Iran in the Gulf of Oman, and the third, also in the Gulf of Oman, was rendered “inoperable” after the crew was ordered to abandon ship, CENTCOM said.

“The three Iranian crude oil tankers are part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies,” the military body stated.

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost—taking out three of yours,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

Following CENTCOM’s statement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that if it shoots at U.S. ships, “we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers. All they have to do is not shoot at [the] U.S. Navy.”

On Thursday, President Donald Trump told British television network GB News that the U.S. has capabilities to monitor the three nuclear sites that were struck by American forces during “Operation Midnight Hammer” on June 22, 2025, and during the 40-day military campaign of “Operation Epic Fury” that was launched on Feb. 28, 2026.

“We have cameras on every major area of the first three and we also have cameras on Pickaxe Mountain. And we know everybody that walks in and walks out. We can read the name. … if you’re ever at Pickaxe Mountain I can see your [tag] name. … You could literally from space read their name tag, can you believe it?” Trump revealed.

Pickaxe Mountain, located near Iran’s heavily damaged Natanz uranium ⁠enrichment facility, is a heavily fortified site ⁠that hosts two deeply buried ⁠tunnel complexes, according to Reuters.

It is one of the few Iranian sites linked to Tehran’s nuclear project that has not been the target of U.S. or Israeli strikes, the BBC reported last month.

Trump twice in July and again on Friday threatened to strike the mountain, after satellite images have appeared to show construction taking place in the area, the report continued.

In his interview with GB News, Trump reiterated that the Iranian regime is “in big trouble.”

The U.S. has stopped the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons, he said, and has defeated its navy, its air force. “Their leaders are gone, everything is gone, just about there. ... We have great control over the Hormuz Strait; we’re taking out 30-40 boats a night, and a lot of oil is coming out.”

He stressed that the Iranian economy is “crashing,” with inflation at some 300%. “Their money is valueless,” he added.


IDF chief: Israel ‘fundamentally changed its security doctrine’ after Oct. 7
During the three-year war that followed the “failure” of the Hamas-led massacre in the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, the Jewish state “fundamentally changed” its security doctrine, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Thursday.

There is no more “ignoring and no containment; there is the removal of threats before they materialize. We are engaged in a continuous process of learning, drawing lessons and implementing them,” Zamir said at a recognition event for IDF troops and security forces, organized by the State Employees’ Union, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, which did not specify the location of the conference.

“For more than a thousand days, the State of Israel has been engaged in a prolonged, unprecedented and multi-front campaign for our existence and our homeland,” the military chief was quoted as saying.

Zamir stressed that over the course of the war, Israel’s security forces “have removed real existential threats that had been built up against us for years. We have proven that the IDF’s long arm is powerful, determined and capable of reaching anywhere to strike those who seek to harm us.”

He went on to say that the military must be expanded with the necessary manpower and equipped with advanced capabilities to meet its evolving missions, while at the same time, the state’s “highest obligation” is to care for those who serve in the IDF.

These include mandatory service personnel, career service personnel, reservists and IDF employees, “who are the foundation of our strength and the secret to our power,” Zamir said.

“This is a generation of courageous and fearless troops whose achievements will be recorded in the annals of Jewish history,” he continued.

Upon receiving an award of appreciation, the military chief stated, “I stand here solely as the commander of hundreds of thousands of troops and officers—both in mandatory service and the reserves—who carry the security of the state on their shoulders every day, hour by hour.”

This award “belongs to the reservists who left behind their homes, families and careers and reported for duty out of a profound sense of mission; it belongs to the families who provide them with unwavering support, and to the fallen and wounded who have paid the highest price. I am merely the representative of an entire military that operates with dedication, determination and humility, and I accept this recognition in their name and because of them.”


Ben-Gvir unveils voluntary Gaza emigration plan, vows implementation after election
Itamar Ben-Gvir, national security minister and chairman of the Otzma Yehudit Party, presented on Thursday his party’s “Disengagement 7/10” plan, aimed at allowing the voluntary emigration of Gaza Strip residents to countries willing to accept them.

He discussed the plan’s objectives in a recorded message issued to the press.

The program’s main goal is to enable the voluntary departure of approximately 250,000 Gazans in the first year, approximately 1.11 million within three years, and approximately 1.86 million within seven years, according to a later statement issued by the party.

To implement the policy, Otzma Yehudit is demanding the next government establish a dedicated ministry for voluntary emigration, headed by a minister and operating through a director-general, an independent budget, an international negotiating team and a dedicated execution apparatus.

“Instead of illusions of peace now, we need acts of emigration now,” Ben-Gvir said. “Instead of digging tunnels, the time has come to pack suitcases. Instead of working in terrorism, the time has come to find work abroad and build new lives.

“In the last war, the State of Israel achieved significant successes against Gazan terrorism. These achievements came at a difficult and painful price; a terrible, awful price paid in the blood of our sons. God forbid that the blood of our sons and daughters be in vain. We must seize this historic opportunity to bring about a historic solution,” he said.

“I state aloud my commitment to the people of Israel: to advance this plan, with God’s help, in the next term,” the minister pledged.

The plan enumerates 12 principles, among them voluntary emigration only; departures to consenting countries only; a preference for departures and absorption of families; emigration assistance tracks relating to work, studies, medical treatment, family reunification and community sponsorship; and performance-based payments, which would monitor the transfer of funds to the absorbing countries meeting their targets.
Huckabee, in West Bank, urges severe consequences for settler violence: ‘Terror is terror’
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for “severe consequences” for violent settlers as he met with Palestinians in the central West Bank.

The meeting in Turmus Ayya included families of Palestinian Americans killed by settlers. The Ramallah-area town, home to a large number of US citizens, has faced repeated settler attacks.

“Our clear message is that crime is crime, terror is terror. When people do it, they should have an expectation that they will have severe consequences,” Huckabee told reporters, adding that “the government has a responsibility” to ensure targeted Palestinians’ safety.

Taking action was also in Israel’s “best interest,” Huckabee said, since “their reputation does not do well when it appears that this tiny little group of marauders are somehow representative of the larger population. I don’t believe that it is.”

“There may be a few hundred who are responsible, but that’s a few hundred too many,” he said.

“I think the Scripture is pretty clear — Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, and thou shalt not even covet,” said Huckabee, a Baptist minister who has long cited his faith as the reason he supports Israel and the settler movement.

Huckabee said that the bible was also why he calls the West Bank “Judea and Samaria.”

“The reason I use the terms Judea and Samaria is because they are the ancient biblical terms of this land. Eighty percent of the Bible happened in the era of Judea and Samaria,” he said. “The West Bank is a nebulous term to me.”

Footage from Huckabee’s visit shows settlers riding past in an all-terrain vehicle as the ambassador raises his phone to film them. When someone beside him remarks, “There is no respect for nobody,” he can be heard responding, “Yeah.”

Unnamed sources who were present told Channel 12 news that Huckabee promised to personally send the video to US President Donald Trump.

Huckabee has grown more vocal about settler violence in recent weeks amid the siege settlers imposed on several Palestinian homes, including the home of a Palestinian-American, in the Nablus-area town of Qusra.

The ambassador has called the settlers in Qusra “Israeli terrorists” but said they represent only a small minority of the settler community.

Last week, settlers set fire to a mosque n the village of Bizzariya in the Nablus area of the northern West Bank, and graffitied on a nearby wall: “Regards to Huckabee from the terrorists.”

Settler violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.

The attacks occur daily but are rarely prosecuted. Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.

In Turmus Ayya, which is surrounded by several settlements, residents said harassment was common and that they were unable to prevent settlers from entering the town and damaging their homes.

On Friday, a settler was filmed declaring in broken English from atop a home in Turmus Ayya, “You need to understand, this country and this land — Jewish. This is my land. This is my country because Allah promised me.”

The settler was wearing a T-shirt with the logo of Kach, the proscribed organization led by slain extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, of which far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was a member.

Ahead of Huckabee’s visit, Turmus Ayya Mayor Nawwaf Zaghoul told reporters that “we have many issues we will address” with the US ambassador and that residents would be asking to help keep them safe.

About 80% of the town’s roughly 3,000 residents were Palestinian Americans, said Zaghoul.

Also during the visit on Saturday, Huckabee denied Israel was planning to force Palestinians out of Gaza, days after Defense Minister Israel Katz said plans to remove Palestinians from the Strip were merely “frozen” by the White House.

“I can tell you categorically there is no plan of the Israelis to displace people out of Gaza against their will,” Huckabee said.


Huckabee accuses UK gov’t of ‘Jew hate’ over claim Israel blocking medicine from Gaza
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee bashed British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Saturday and accused the UK government of having “lost it,” after the Labour lawmaker published a video discussing allegations of Israel blocking the entry of medication to the Gaza Strip.

The Foreign Ministry also responded to Miliband and denied that Israel was preventing Palestinians from accessing medical treatment.

Miliband, in the video published on Friday, says he attended a meeting on the “horrific” healthcare situation in the Gaza Strip, where he said he was told about “medicines being blocked” from entering, and of “children dying while waiting for vital life-saving treatment.”

Huckabee, in response to Miliband’s video, said, “the Brits have lost it.”

“The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts, Huckabee wrote on X, declining to note that Miliband is Jewish.

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, denied that Israel was blocking medicine from entering Gaza or that it was preventing Palestinians from seeking medical treatment abroad, and insisted that Miliband was “well aware of all this.”

“If the Foreign Secretary were interested in facts rather than stories, he would know that there are no restrictions whatsoever on the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip, and that no medicines are being blocked,” wrote the Foreign Ministry on X.

It added that “22,500 tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began” in October 2025, and that in the past two weeks alone, 200 Palestinians have exited the enclave for medical treatment.

“The UK is a member of the International Gaza Support Center, which facilitates the delivery of medical aid to the Gaza Strip,” the Foreign Ministry added, referring to the US-led coordination center in Kiryat Gat.

Miliband was appointed foreign secretary in mid-July by Prime Minister Andy Burnham and has since called for a “comprehensive reset” of British policy toward Israel. Miliband is the son of Jewish refugees.

The clash comes as relations between Israel and the United Kingdom have deteriorated further over Jerusalem’s controversial E1 settlement project, which would impede territorial contiguity between major Palestinian population centers.

Israel is reportedly considering expelling British representatives from the Gaza coordination center amid growing tensions between London and Jerusalem over E1.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that Israel “will act against” Britain if it follows through on threatened measures against settlements, saying Jerusalem has “tools” at its disposal.

British media have reported that Burnham’s government is considering a complete ban on trade in goods from Israeli West Bank settlements as part of its response to E1.


British charity funds 'could be going to Hamas' as regulator investigates money raised for Gaza relief
The Charity Commission is to open a regulatory investigation into a British charity that has raised millions of pounds for humanitarian relief in Gaza, following concerns that some of its money may have worked its way to Hamas.

Save One Life UK, a London-based charity, has distributed much of its aid to Gaza since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The regulator said it had identified issues surrounding the charity’s due diligence, and its ability to monitor how funds are ultimately used overseas.

The renewed investigation follows a complaint last year, alleging that money raised by the charity in Britain could potentially reach Hamas - a proscribed terrorist organisation.

There is no finding by the Charity Commission that Save One Life has funded Hamas.

The complainant questioned the charity’s use of an intermediary in Turkey, and raised concerns about the distribution of cash to families in Gaza.

Photographs supplied to the regulator appear to show charity workers handing envelopes believed to contain cash to children.

The allegations prompted the Charity Commission to reconsider an earlier decision to avoid investigation.

Nicholas Britnell, a senior case manager dealing with high-risk compliance, said a review had identified grounds for “further regulatory engagement” with the charity.

He said particular attention would be paid to the organisation’s due diligence, its overseas partners and the monitoring of the end use of money sent to Gaza.

The Commission previously inspected Save One Life’s premises and reviewed its policies, but said it had found no evidence supporting the concerns raised at that stage.

It did however issue regulatory advice requiring improvements to governance and financial oversight.

A spokesman for the regulator said the case had now been officially opened, as matters concerning overseas due diligence and monitoring required further examination.


Mamdani hands symbolic 9/11 pen to lawyer who represented al-Qaeda terrorist
Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order recognizing 9/11 Friday — and then gave the symbolic pen to his controversial aide who once represented an al-Qaeda terrorist with links to the attack on the Pentagon.

Administration officials were gathered at City Hall for a pair of executive orders — ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks — one establishing a Day of Remembrance and another beefing up security against future terror threats.

After Mamdani signed the last of the documents, Hizzoner gave Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch the ceremonial pen, and whispered, “Can you pass this?”

Tisch awkwardly handed it to Mamdani’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who just snuck into the press conference, before she hurried out of the Blue Room — the first official to exit the press conference.

“It was calculated,” retired detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Michael Alazar told The Post.

“It happened during a ceremony meant to be about the victims, and no one else. 9/11 families didn’t come to City Hall to watch Mamdani spotlight someone whose work intersects with the very ideology that took their loved ones. Commissioner Jessica Tisch was reduced to a prop rather than acknowledging her role as the leader of the NYPD.”

Kassem, a lawyer who famously represented al-Qaeda operative Ahmed al-Darbi, is seen on video smirking as he receives the symbolic pen.

“It’s bulls–t,” slammed Dennis Warchola, whose brother Michael, a firefighter with Ladder 5, was killed in the North Tower.

“How can you defend a guy like that who wants to do Americans or any innocent person harm?”

“It shows exactly where his loyalties truly lie,” said Council Member Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who slammed the socialist mayor’s stunt as “breathtakingly tone-deaf and disrespectful.”

“The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult.”


Palestinian journalist accused of racism for calling Hakeem Jeffries ‘AIPAC monkey’
Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal faced accusations of racism on Friday after calling US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries an “AIPAC monkey.”

“His name is Hakeem. ‘Hakeem’ is an Arabic name which means ‘healer.’ He’s not a healer, he’s a divider,” Jebreal said during an appearance on New York Times columnist Wajahat Ali’s left-wing podcast “The Left Hook.”

“He is a bought and paid by AIPAC monkey,” she said, before adding, “with all due respect — and I don’t mean it in a racist way.”

“He is just basically an errand boy, and we’re done and tired,” Jebreal continued.

Jeffries, a Democrat, has reportedly received large donations linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group, throughout his political career.

Following Jebreal’s controversial remarks, Ali appeared to attempt to alleviate tension by noting that “using ‘monkey’ to anyone black… has terrible racial connotations, but I think you caught yourself and said that you didn’t mean it with any racial animosity.”

Jebreal claimed that she used the term, which has historically been used as a racist slur to dehumanize Black people, as a reference to the Japanese three wise monkeys, which see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

Still, her statements triggered backlash from Black lawmakers.

“To be clear, there isn’t a non-racist way to call Leader Jeffries — a Black man — a ‘monkey’ or ‘errand boy,'” the Congressional Black Caucus posted on X. “We have to stop platforming and trafficking in anti-Black racism, whether it’s on the political right or the left.”

New York Representative Ritchie Torres, one of Israel’s most staunch defenders in Congress, also took to X to condemn Jebreal’s remarks.

“Calling a Black man a ‘monkey’ is racist. Full stop,” he wrote. “If Wajahat Ali and Rula Jebreal were on the far right, no one on the far left would have any trouble condemning them for dehumanizing a Black man in racist terms.”

Jeffries, meanwhile, did not publicly respond to Jebreal’s remarks.


CAIR-Ohio Hires Official from IU Initiative That Trained Hamas “Sham Charity”
Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Ohio announced Thursday that it hired Abdul Samad Amjad as their Director of Government & Community Relations, who previously worked at the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative (MPI) at Indiana University (IU). Amjad, who used the name Abdul Samad professionally during his tenure at IU, served as MPI’s associate director until the initiative was closed by the university in late July following an internal investigation.

In March, the Treasury Department designated Hayat Yolu, an Istanbul-based nonprofit, as a “sham charity” that raised money “in direct support of Hamas’ military wing,” the al-Qassam Brigades.

“Hamas continues to finance its military wing by exploiting sham charities to support terrorist operations,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “The Treasury Department will not allow Hamas to misuse the charitable sector for its violent aims, and we will continue to target these networks wherever they operate.”

The relationship between MPI and Hayat Yolu was revealed later that month in a Washington Free Beacon report. MPI conducted two training programs involving Hayat Yolu – in July 2025 and January 2026. IU placed MPI under review following the revelations and permanently closed the initiative in late July. The programs involving Hayat Yolu were led by MPI director Shariq Siddiqui, but Samad worked closely with Siddiqui during his tenure there – often serving as his right hand man.

Samad also had a documented working relationship with Islamic Relief USA, which funded portions of MPI’s research and sponsored a February 2025 report he coauthored following a joint symposium at the charity’s Virginia headquarters. Islamic Relief USA later said federal officials warned that its tax-exempt status could be jeopardized unless it severed ties with Islamic Relief Worldwide, an affiliate the House Ways and Means Committee alleged to have connections to terrorist entities, including Hamas. After suspending that relationship in October 2025, Islamic Relief USA filed a federal lawsuit in March seeking to formally separate from the global organization.

Historically, CAIR Ohio’s Director of Government & Community Relations has overseen CAIR’s activities at the State House as well as its youth leadership programs – including its high school advocacy course, Muslim Youth Leadership Program, as well as its college program, Summer Internship Development Program.

Many Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) leaders come from these programs — including Laila Shaikh, who founded SJP at the University of Cincinnati her first year on the main campus and received awards from the organization for her work after October 7th — which includes a four hour lockdown for Hillel students by SJP UC and recently leading the chant “Free Palestine until all the Zionists are dead”.


Name of Scottish missionary added to memorial wall at Auschwitz
The name of a Scottish missionary who was murdered by the Nazis after caring for Jewish schoolgirls in Budapest has been added to a special memorial wall at Auschwitz.

Jane Haining is recognised in a section devoted to hundreds of prisoners for whom no registration photographs were taken.

Miss Haining, who grew up near Dunscore in Dumfries and Galloway, was the matron at a Church of Scotland school in Budapest, Hungary, from 1932 to 1944, and cared for both Jewish and Christian girls.

She helped keep children safe until she was arrested in 1944 and was jailed in Budapest before being transported along with Hungarian Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland on May 14 1944.

She died there on July 17, 1944, aged 47, around six months before the camp was liberated in 1945.

Her name has now been added to a section of the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum’s main exhibition.

A spokesman for Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum said: “The corridor has two important purposes.

“It restores individual names and identities to people who were imprisoned and killed in Auschwitz, but it also helps visitors understand the complexity of the prisoner population.

“Prisoners came from many different countries, communities, backgrounds and groups.

“By presenting hundreds of individual names together, the exhibition shows both the scale of persecution and the diversity of the people who experienced the camp.”
Nazi-looted ‘Portrait of a Lady’ to return to Jewish heir after 80 years in Argentina
An Argentine court on Friday approved the return of the painting Portrait of a Lady, looted during the Holocaust from Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, to his sole heir, Marei von Saher, more than 80 years after it disappeared.

The decision was made as part of an agreement with Patricia Kadgien, daughter of fugitive senior Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso. The two were charged last year with aggravated concealment after authorities alleged that they had hidden the painting despite knowing that investigators in Argentina and abroad were searching for it.

According to a statement issued by Argentina's Justice Ministry on Friday, the couple will relinquish any claim of ownership over the work and agree to hand it over to von Saher. In return, they will not face a criminal trial, but will remain under court supervision for two years, must keep authorities informed of their whereabouts, and make payments to a children's hospital in Mar del Plata, the city where they live.

If they violate the terms of the agreement during the next two years, authorities may reopen proceedings against them. According to reports in Argentina, however, each spouse agreed to pay 2.4 million pesos to the hospital, only about $1,600 each, or roughly NIS 9,600 combined.

A statement from the Argentine government stressed that von Saher's legal representatives had conveyed her wish for the work to remain temporarily in Argentina and be displayed to the public.

"The goal is to contribute to the dissemination and raising of awareness of the looting of cultural property during the Nazi regime," the Justice Ministry said.
Australian man charged over alleged antisemitic threats against Zionist council
A 52-year-old man from northern Queensland, Australia, has been charged with two hate crime offenses following alleged antisemitic threats targeting the Queensland Zionist Council.

Chris McComb, a resident of Mossman, is accused of calling for Jews and Israelis to be expelled from Australia, among other demands.

The Queensland Zionist Council confirmed that it received the message. In a statement quoted by The Courier-Mail, the council said it received an online message through the contact form on its website in early July 2026 that contained "explicit threats."

Police took steps to protect the identity of the council representative who received the message. The council and the Zionist Federation of Australia said they supported the decision not to disclose the person's identity.

The council used the case to warn about what it described as a growing and dangerous trend: the use of terms such as "Zionists" and "anti-Zionism" as a cover for statements that are, in practice, directed at Jews and Israelis.

Anti-Zionism: a tool for a modern Jewish hatred
"Anti-Zionism has increasingly become a tool for a modern form of anti-Jewish hatred," the council said. It added that such rhetoric "presents itself as political commentary, while in practice it is used as a means of threatening, defaming, and intimidating Jews and Israelis."

The council added that the case "reflects a broader pattern" and said it has been warning government officials, police, and online platforms about it for some time.

Australian Police arrested McComb on August 27 in an area north of Cairns. The newly established joint hate crime team of Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police is carrying out the investigation. The team combines investigators from Queensland's counterterrorism unit with Australian Federal Police national security investigators.

McComb himself, however, has not been charged with any terrorism offenses at this time.

"The harm to social cohesion at the local community level ultimately affects Australia's national security," Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Anthony Conway said. "We will not allow divisive and hateful rhetoric to grow and spread."

The case comes amid a sharp increase in reports of antisemitism in Queensland. Jason Steinberg, president of the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies, told The Australian that more than 100 reported antisemitic incidents have already been recorded in the state this year.
The Brink: Rock ‘n' Roll's disturbing hatred of Israel - David Draiman
In this episode of The Brink, Andrew is joined by David Draiman, frontman of Disturbed, for a deeply personal conversation about October 7th, antisemitism, Israel and why he has refused to remain silent despite the potential cost to his career.

Drawing on his own experiences of antisemitism and his family's history, from grandparents who survived Auschwitz and Dachau to relatives who served in the IDF, Draiman explains why defending the Jewish people has always been central to his identity. He reflects on how October 7th transformed that fight and why the reaction that followed left him deeply concerned about the future of Jews in the West.

Draiman also addresses one of the most controversial moments of his activism: writing “F*ck Hamas" on an Israeli artillery shell. He explains why he has no regrets, while also speaking candidly about Palestinian suffering, his hopes for coexistence, and his belief that Israelis and Palestinians ultimately deserve a future beyond perpetual war.

Finally, Draiman reflects on the power of music after Disturbed's Hold On to Memories was played at the funeral of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, and on his friendship with Yarden Bibas. He explains why, whatever the professional consequences of speaking out, being able to act according to his conscience matters more than becoming "the next Metallica."

Chapter
00:00 David Draiman On Speaking Up
02:58 Why October 7th Changed Everything
05:56 Growing Up With Anti-Semitism
09:27 How Jewish Identity Shaped Disturbed
16:16 Jews, Division & Survival
19:43 Hollywood, Music & Israel
25:49 Israel, Gaza & Legitimate Criticism
33:15 Fighting Back Against Anti-Israel Narratives
34:57 Why Celebrities Won’t Debate Him
40:57 “I Wrote F*** Hamas”







Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    

 

 

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