Saturday, September 19, 2026

09/18 Links Pt2: Why did the archbishop honour a cleric who called bin Laden ‘mujahid’? She worships at the shrine of Palestine; Widow of Bondi Hanukkah photographer reveals she is converting to Judaism

From Ian:

LA Review of Books spikes interview with pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai: ‘Double standard’
The Los Angeles Review of Books spiked an interview it commissioned with Shai Davidai — the Israel-born professor who called out antisemitism on Columbia University’s campus — with an editor calling the outspoken academic “a toxic figure,” The Post has learned.

Senior editor Rob Latham pulled the rug out from under freelancer Melissa Uchiyama after hiring her to interview Davidai ahead of his new book, “American Intellectual Antisemitism: The Anti-Jewish Movement Tearing Through Our Universities,” emails showed.

He had a stunning change of heart after reading the 2,000-word piece, telling Uchiyama in an email that Davidai is “a toxic figure who pretends to want respectful exchange.”

The prof is a “controversial figure” whose views “need to be probed more rigorously” than a standard interview allows, Latham wrote Uchiyama in emails seen by The Post.

Latham “should never have green lit the piece at all,” he added.

When Uchiyama offered to rework the article to salvage publication, the LA Review — which recently ran a fawning piece on controversial anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil – told her, no dice.

Latham wrote the dismayed scribe that her “best bet is to try and find a sympathetic venue” and offered her a $100 kill fee, which she declined.

“There was simply no way to have a quiet chat with him, and if you had challenged him forcefully, I expect it would’ve gotten ugly very fast,” Latham wrote.

Davidai said the spiking of the article looked like bitter proof of the kind of censorship he’s been fighting.

“Ironically, part of the book concerns these exact distortions and erasures in the media,” he told The Post.

“What’s most shocking is that they’re saying the quiet parts out loud,” he added, blasting “the double standard” at work.
French TV channel apologises after documentary shows French nuclear missile hitting Tel Aviv
The clip ran in Rafale, drones et canons : la révolution des armes françaises, a documentary on modern French weaponry first broadcast on September 1.

It was meant to illustrate the ASN4G, the fourth-generation air-to-surface nuclear missile planned for the Rafale F5 fighter jet.

The animation showed a mushroom cloud over a recognisable Israeli coastal skyline.

Héloïse Fayet, a researcher on nuclear weapons and the Middle East at the Institut français des relations internationales (IFRI), asked the channel on September 17 why France was firing a nuclear missile at Tel Aviv and noted that the blast yield on screen was far smaller than the ASN4G is supposed to carry.

By then the sequence had been circulating on social media as an illustration of French strike power. The clip was soon removed.

On September 18 the channel posted a communiqué on X, not on its website. It offered “sincere apologies” for using an image of Tel Aviv.

The shot, it said, came from a professional stock library that had “incorrectly identified and catalogued” it.

As soon as RMC Découverte was told, it pulled the film from its platforms and stopped further broadcasts. A cut without that sequence would follow.

The channel said it reserved the right to take legal action against whoever had mislabelled the city.


travelingisrael.com: "October 7 Didn't Happen in a Vacuum” — I Completely Agree.
“October 7 didn’t happen in a vacuum” — on that, I completely agree. But to understand what really drives this conflict, we need to look beyond borders, occupation, and politics, and confront the religious dimension that much of the Western world prefers to ignore.


Alex Hearn: A year after Heaton Park, I’m not so sure this government has the back of British Jews
Yom Kippur is looming, but this year it doesn’t feel the same. After the Heaton Park attack in Manchester this time last year, many British Jews will have a different feeling walking into synagogue.

Nearly six in ten British Jews now try not to show any visible sign of their Judaism in public. Sixty-one per cent have considered leaving the country in the past two years, up from 50 per cent the year before. We only know any of this because a Jewish charity paid for the polling. The effects accumulate in ways the incident statistics can never capture. Venues have cancelled Jewish comedians and bands. Jewish events keep their locations confidential until the day. West Midlands Police fabricated evidence about Israeli football fans rather than confront the real threat.

It isn’t that the problem hasn’t been acknowledged – we have reports about antisemitism coming out of our ears. It’s that nothing of any significance has been done about it, because there is no political will. A record high in the statistics and Heaton Park were not enough to move the government. It took a string of arson attacks, a stabbing in Golders Green and a raised terror threat level before ignoring it became politically impossible.

So this year we get higher walls and heavier doors, and more police outside. We are being slowly separated from the rest of society and made into more visible targets. Building higher walls lets politicians say they are fighting antisemitism. But nothing is being done to confront antisemitism in the arts, education or anywhere else the problem actually lives.

You might argue the government has made things worse. With impeccable timing before the high holy days, it announced sanctions on Israeli settlements. Whatever you think of the legality or morality of the settlements, the claim that this protects the two-state solution is fantasy. If it were that simple it would have happened long ago. Hamas put the final nail in that coffin on October 7 and still refuses to disarm. The policy ignores a Palestinian Authority in a state of virtual civil war, still operating pay-to-slay, rewarding imprisoned terrorists with generous funds, and still producing textbooks that incite violence against Jews.

Hamas, whose founding charter echoes Nazi ideology, welcomed the announcement. Basem Naim of its political bureau called the sanctions and Ed Miliband’s use of the term “ethnic cleansing” important steps in the right direction – but not enough, and called for Israeli figures to be tried as the Nazis were at Nuremberg. Iranian propaganda outlets hailed it as a step towards “the end of Israel”. They claimed Tehran’s proxies had talked a naive British government into it, and accused the Foreign Secretary of plagiarising Khomeini in his portrayal of Israel as an occupier.
Chief Rabbi issues memorial prayer for Heaton Park victims
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has composed a memorial prayer for the two victims who died in last year’s attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester on Yom Kippur.

Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby lost their lives defending the synagogue from Jihad Al-Shamie, who was eventually shot dead by police after ramming it in a car and then striking out with a knife.

The prayer, to be recited during Yizkor, the memorial service on Yom Kippur on Monday, honours the two men “whose lives were cruelly taken on the holiest day of the year”.

It asks divine protection for those praying in synagogue and asks for “wisdom and courage” for “those who safeguard our communities”, concluding with a request to “bring peace and strength to our communities, peace and security to the state of Israel and tranquillity for all the inhabitants of the earth”.

In an interview on Friday, Sir Ephraim told the Telegraph: “We know that a good number of the members of the synagogue are highly apprehensive. There’ll be that déjà vu feeling coming into the synagogue on that same day, same time as when it happened, same location. Memories are still exceptionally fresh.

“The impact of such a terrorist attack runs very deep, and the trauma continues for a long, long time.”

But the response to attacks on synagogues had been for more people to attend to them, he said.

On Yom Kippur, he believed, “our synagogues will be full of proud Jewish people coming to pray to identify with their faith.”
Stephen Pollard: Why did the archbishop honour a cleric who called bin Laden ‘mujahid’? She worships at the shrine of Palestine
The official picture of the ceremony is striking, with his wife dressed from head to toe in her burqa. This is an especially interesting example of interfaith madness because it is part of a pattern that has become clear since Mullally took over as archbishop in January.

It’s possible to see the church’s behaviour previously less as deliberately provocative than dangerously naïve. Justin Welby, for example, was no less obsequious in his embrace of Muslim clerics who stood for the destruction not just of Christianity but of the West itself. But Welby seemed, like so many of his fellow Anglicans, to be simply clueless and out of his depth rather than ideological.

Mullally is different. She seems to have ingested Palestinianism to such an extent that she is actively using her position to push ideas which are hostile both to Jews and to the West – such as her award to Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi.

She was a vocal supporter, for example, of the Kairos II declaration, which refers to Israel’s Gaza campaign as a “genocidal war” and describes the Jewish state as a “colonial enterprise built on racism”. She spoke in support of the statement at the Synod in July, when the church voted to hear it. Kairos II portrays Israel as inherently racist and rejects its very existence.

There are many moderate Palestinian Christians who could merit support from the archbishop. Instead, she chose to back the most extreme statement that has ever been put before the Synod. Kairos II states that Israel exists only through genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, racism and Jewish supremacy. It denies the idea of two peoples each with legitimate rights and instead argues that Palestinians are blameless victims of Jewish supremacists and rejects any Jewish connection to the land.

In her embrace of Kairos II, which depicts the October 7 massacre in the context of this Jewish illegitimacy, Mullally thus supports a statement which effectively excuses the massacre.

The traditional caricature of the archetypal C of E vicar is almost comforting in its portrayal of a form of bumbling naivety. But while that may still be true for many in the church, it is not at all true for its leader. The Archbishop of Canterbury is no naif and she is no fool, having been the Chief Nursing Officer for England in her former career. And that is deeply concerning.


Leeds Minster removes tapestry featuring 18 Hamas terrorists
Leeds Minster has pulled a Gaza tapestry after receiving evidence indicating at least 18 Hamas fighters were named on panels displayed inside the church.

The Stitch Their Names Together exhibition was due to run until Sunday, but the Minster announced on Friday morning that it had closed with immediate effect.

The decision follows days of controversy over the exhibition and comments by the Minster’s rector, Canon Paul Maybury, who said the “history is complex” when questioned about the murdered Bibas children and replied “no comment” when asked for his view of Hamas.

In a statement sent to Jewish News, Maybury said the Leeds Jewish Representative Council had raised concerns before the exhibition opened that the wider project was likely to contain the names of 12 Hamas fighters.

The Minster then checked the 90 panels selected for display in the church and confirmed those 12 names were not among them. The exhibition subsequently went ahead.

But the church said it received new evidence from the Jewish representative body on Friday concerning names that were on display.

Maybury said: “Today we received further information from the Leeds Jewish Representative Council indicating that they had evidence suggesting that there are the names of at least 18 known Hamas fighters contained in the exhibition in the Minster. Having received this information, we immediately decided to close the exhibition to the public.”

The Minster also issued an explicit condemnation of Hamas following criticism of Maybury’s comments earlier this week.

It said: “Leeds Minster categorically condemns all violence and in particular the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages, by Hamas, on 7 October 2023.”

The church acknowledged that hosting the exhibition had damaged its relationship with parts of the Jewish community and apologised.
‘More needs to be done’: Jewish leader calls for action after ASIO’s Iran warning for Australian Jews
Australia’s domestic spy chief has warned Iran could seek to kill prominent Jewish Australians, prompting a call for urgent action from the Australia, Israel and Jewish Affairs Council.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said he would not rule out the possibility of an Iranian attempt to target Jewish Australians.

However, he stressed there was no immediate threat being investigated.

He also revealed ASIO had spoken to a number of Jewish leaders about the potential risk.

Mr Burgess made the comments during a 70-minute interview with broadcaster Neil Mitchell, where he also described antisemitism as having reached a “pretty high, disturbing level”.

The warning has now prompted AIJAC executive manager Joel Burnie to call for governments, opposition parties and officials to act on the advice from Australia’s intelligence agencies.

Mr Burnie said the interview should be watched by as many Australians as possible.

“What it does is and what it should do to the Australian population is send shivers down all our collective spines as to how bad things are,” he told News24 host Steve Price.

He pointed to the December 2025 Bondi terrorist attack, in which 15 people were killed, and argued the warnings from security officials could not be ignored.

“The fact that 15 innocent people being gunned down after an explosion of antisemitism over an elongated period of time wasn't enough for the authorities or the government to do more to clamp down on it,” he said.
‘Iran may try to kill Jewish Australians’: ASIO boss issues terrifying warning
AIJAC Executive Manager Joel Burnie responds to ASIO chief Mike Burgess’s dire warning that Iran may want to kill prominent Jewish Australians.


ABC under fire after journalist defends October 9 Opera House protest
​News24 host Sharri Markson unleashes on the ABC after journalist Hamish McDonald defended the protesters at the Opera House on October 9 and claimed they weren't extremists; they were just expressing their “democratic right to protest”.

“This just shows how distorted the worldview is at the ABC,” Ms Markson said.

“This was a rally in celebration of the massacre. It was unfettered hatred of Jews.”


Widow of Bondi Hanukkah photographer reveals she is converting to Judaism in his, victims' honor
The wife of the late Peter Meagher, the retired NSW Police detective sergeant and photographer who was murdered in the Bondi Hanukkah attack last year, has revealed she is converting to Judaism in his honor.

Peter Meagher, 61, was a well-known photographer in the Jewish community and worked as a freelance photographer for many local Chabad events, including the Hanukkah party that Sunday.

Peter was raised a "good Catholic boy," according to his wife Virginia, but found out shortly before his death that his maternal grandmother, and therefore he, was Jewish.

Speaking to News24's Sharri Markson on Wednesday, Virginia said she had been considering conversion for "quite some time," sparked actually by when she started working at a Chabad school in June 2017, just 6.5 months after the two got married.

"When I started working there, Peter's cousin said, 'You do know Peter's Jewish? His grandmother was a Cohen.' I didn't know that."

Virginia Meagher begins journey to Judaism
"But, with the events of December [2025], my contemplation from 2017 onwards was solidified, and I made the decision in February [2026] that I would start the journey to conversion," she told Markson.

"This is my way of honoring him, them [the victims]. I may not have taken his name when we got married, but what ran through his blood, his history, is undeniable, and it should be celebrated and honored."

Additionally, Virginia spoke of how her late husband's photos have actually been instrumental in helping the police to piece together the last moments of the events and who was located where.

Some of the photos were uncovered only recently, as Peter's camera was stolen in the immediate aftermath of the attack and pawned a few days later.

New South Wales Police arrested the suspect in May. The suspect had also been working as the tragic Hanukkah event’s photographer when he stole his peer’s camera.




$2.4m taxpayer-funded maternity program faces scrutiny over allegations involving two midwives
A $2.4 million grant for Australia’s first “respectful” maternity care program has come under fire, as News24 can reveal two midwives involved in the project have a history of highly disrespectful posts about Jews and white people.

The Respectful Maternity Care for Maternity Clinicians program was awarded the seven-figure Commonwealth grant in June by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), which falls within the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

It’s described on the federal government’s GrantConnect website as the “first evidence-based, scalable program to prevent birth trauma and mental ill-health in Australia.”

A formal complaint was made by the Australian Zionist Healthcare Alliance (AZHA) earlier this month to both the department and Western Sydney University, which is the recipient of the grant.

The letter raises concerns about “antisemitism” and the “fitness” of some of the personnel involved in the taxpayer-funded project, citing their disturbing records of offensive posts.

One of those complained of is Dr Bashi Kumar-Hazard, a midwife and lawyer who lectures at the University of Sydney.

Dr Kumar-Hazard posts prolifically on her public Facebook page about “evil” and “nutjob” Israelis, has said “Zionism will always be synonymous with babykiller”.

The midwife has repeatedly referred to Jewish women as “privileged white princesses” for standing up against antisemitism.
‘Frightening’ synagogue ram attack not a hate crime
A man who subjected the Jewish community to a “frightening and disturbing act” has had hate crime allegations dropped due to drug use and mental illness.

Matthew Alexander Donald de Campo was accused of wilful damage in circumstances of aggravation of a hate crime following an incident at the Brisbane Synagogue.

The Sunnybank man was arrested shortly after he partially knocked down the front gate of the synagogue with his ute on the evening of February 20, causing $12,000 in damage.

De Campo faced Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday when prosecutors requested the hate crime element of his charge be removed.

He pleaded guilty to wilful damage as well as one count each of possession of methamphetamine and possessing a drug-smoking pipe.

Police statements supported an argument that de Campo was too intoxicated at the time of the incident to form a motivation of hatred or serious contempt for a group of people, the magistrate was told.

"It's not really like he's obviously cray cray, it's probably more drugs," an officer said during an encounter with de Campo in a cemetery prior to the synagogue incident.

De Campo had fallen into drug use following a serious workplace injury, defence barrister Gregory McGuire KC said.


Jonathan Tobin: Confronting Jew-haters is more important than worrying about cancel culture
According to some free-speech advocates, the Jews are making a big mistake. By complaining about rap artist Macklemore using a concert to promote the demonization of Israel, they are making him into a martyr or engaging in cancel culture that always backfires.

They’re not wrong about one thing. Up until last week, Macklemore, a 43-year-old performer whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, was not anyone who was thought of as a music superstar. The incident that set off the current controversy happened while he was serving as a warm-up act for another much more widely known musician, English pop star Ed Sheeran.

But now that some Jews in the audience at a concert at MetLife Stadium in northern New Jersey near New York City complained about the anti-Israel propaganda they were subjected to while waiting to hear the softer-edged, ballad-like songs of Sheeran, Macklemore is getting his 15 minutes.

‘Free Palestine’ martyr?
Macklemore’s publicized struggle with alcohol and drug addiction was hardly unique in his sphere. He was briefly on the radar of the Jewish world in 2014 for wearing a costume on stage in which he posed as an antisemitic Jewish stereotype with a huge nose. But after a minimalist apology for that appalling behavior, his career continued to flourish. He was even featured in a weekly address from the White House in 2016 with then-President Barack Obama, when he spoke about the dangers of addiction.

But now that he has been essentially kicked off Sheeran’s current tour, which appears at large venues such as NFL stadiums and appeals to mainstream audiences, he’s become a very big deal.

Even those of us who don’t listen to rap music now know his name and his views. His left-wing political activism and fashionable hate-mongering about Israel, which is spun as merely “pro-Palestinian,” are now discussed throughout mainstream media. And to those who applaud his use of a pop-music concert not merely to proclaim his support for “Free Palestine” but to spread blood libels about Israel committing “genocide” and being an “apartheid” state, he has become something of an anti-Israel hero.

The person who is primarily responsible for this is none other than Jewish philanthropist Robert Kraft, owner of the National Football League’s New England Patriots.


Ireland will not participate in Eurovision in 2027, RTÉ announces
Ireland will not participate in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria, broadcaster RTÉ has confirmed.

RTÉ also said it would not broadcast the competition, stating it “cannot be justified given the appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis”.

Ireland, seven times winner of Eurovision, did not take part in the 2026 competition – in which Israel participates.

A statement said: “RTÉ is today confirming that its position regarding participation in the Eurovision Song Contest remains unchanged.

“RTÉ will not participate in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, nor will RTÉ broadcast the competition.

“RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation cannot be justified given the appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.

“RTÉ also remains deeply concerned by the continued denial of independent access to international journalists to the territory.”

Martin Green, director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We regret that RTÉ will not be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, but we fully respect their decision and recognise the huge contribution they have made to the contest. They remain a valued part of our family and will be missed.


Ask Haviv Anything: What you can do for Palestinians. A response to Ayman Mohyeldin

2015: MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin Corrected On-Air After Suggesting Dead Palestinian Terrorist Wasn’t Armed

Austrian far-right leader apologises for Holocaust as Israel backs ‘trust-building’
Hebert Kickl, the leader of Austria’s major far-right party, has apologised for the Holocaust and condemned October 7 amid signs of rapprochement with Israel.

Speaking at a conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, which was attended by members of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party, Kickl directly apologised for his country’s role in the attempted extermination of Europe’s Jews during the Second World War.

He added that, in modern times, Jewish “security is the benchmark for the freedom of the entire republic [of Austria]” and offered to formally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) should his Freedom Party win power.

He also recognised “the Jewish people's historic connection to Judea and Samaria [the Israeli term for the West Bank]” and said that, once in office, he would move the Austrian embassy to Jerusalem, becoming the only European nation other than Kosovo to do so.

And, on the topic of October 7, he said: “Antisemitism in Europe is on the rise. Experts are warning of ‘small October 7s’ across the continent.

“October 7 was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. It was a crime against humanity, not resistance. The deliberate killing of civilians and the taking of hostages are war crimes.”

His comments were welcomed by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, who said: “Against the backdrop of the complex history, Israel views these statements as an important and positive development, but building trust also requires translating commitments into actions.

“Kickl’s remarks make it possible to open a substantive, open and sincere dialogue aimed at deepening our understanding of his positions and commitments.”

Israel’s right-wing has historically avoided establishing formal ties with the Freedom Party, especially given its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, was a former SS officer and Nazi agriculture minister.

But one of its MEP’s, Harald Vilimsky, has been developing a closer relationship with the Likud for several years, including on his multiple visits to Israel.


‘We’re not running’: Jewish students lead rally outside Mamdani residence
Several hundred Jewish students held a solidarity rally outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence in Manhattan on Friday morning.

The middle and high school students were from SAR Academy and The Ramaz School, two of the leading Modern Orthodox schools in New York City.

Students and organizers said the gathering was a statement from the community against antisemitism and marginalization, but not a protest.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group in New York City, and critics say Mamdani’s anti-Zionist activism increases risks against the Jewish community.

“We come from a people who know how to carry hard things and keep going,” a student told the crowd. “Being Jewish means being part of something that has survived, and more than survived. It has kept choosing joy, kept choosing community, kept showing up.”

Other organizers included the advocacy group IMPACT, the Israeli-American Council, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and the Romemu congregation.

The crowd gathered on the sidewalk two blocks south of Mamdani’s residence, Gracie Mansion, on the Upper East Side. The event began with prayers led by students and songs, followed by speeches from students and organizers.

Some of the non-student speakers connected the gathering to Mamdani, and several adults in the crowd wore yellow shirts that read, “Fire Mamdani.”

“We stand here because we want to show that we are unafraid and that the campaign to diminish our love for Israel will not work,” said Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Kehilath Jeshurun. “This summer, the mayor of New York demonized supporters of Israel and focused on singling out the Jewish state for criticism.”

“In this climate of criticism, we need you to remember who you are and we need you to stand tall,” he said. “We are not running. We are standing here in the open in the streets of New York.”


El-Sayed Gushed Over ‘Hilarious’ Antisemitic Comedian and Conspiracy Theorist Who’s Mehdi Hasan’s ‘Good Friend’: Zeteo Contributor Depicted Jews as Deceitful Redheads
Abdul El-Sayed calls him "hilarious" and a "fellow Egyptian." Mehdi Hasan calls him a "good friend." But Bassem Youssef, known as "the Jon Stewart of the Arab world," is also an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who regaled Candace Owens with loony canards about Israel on her podcast.

Youssef asserted in the Jan. 29 interview that the 9/11 attacks were a "false flag" operation conducted by Israel. And he accused the Jewish state of fomenting other "false flag" attacks, including the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia, in which ISIS-inspired radicals murdered 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration on Dec. 14, 2025.

"How can you believe a country that has a very lucrative history of false flag operations?" Youssef asked Owens.

He called 9/11 "the biggest false flag operation," adding: "And of course we have the Bondi attack."

Beyond pushing debunked claims about Israeli involvement in those atrocities, Youssef invoked antisemitic tropes in a highlight video of the podcast appearance.

The video, which Youssef captioned, "A terrible history of lying," depicts an Orthodox Jewish man with sidelocks and red hair standing in front of an Israeli flag. According to the American Jewish Committee and other groups, the use of red hair to stereotype Jews is a common antisemitic trope intended to link Jews to Judas, the Apostle who betrayed Jesus. Ancient Egyptians also associated red hair with evil spirits.

"Not normal at all. They are a freak," a narrator says at the end of the video.

It raises questions for Youssef's media and political allies, many of whom claim to abhor 9/11 conspiracy theorists and antisemites.

El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, is a huge Youssef fan. In an interview last year ahead of ArabCon, the anti-Israel Democrat named Youssef as someone he was "really excited" to see speak at the conference, which featured several Hamas sympathizers.

"I'm also really excited… you know Bassem Youssef, fellow Egyptian," said El-Sayed, who was born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrants. El-Sayed's mother worked for an Islamic nonprofit that was sanctioned for raising money for al Qaeda.

"He's hilarious," El-Sayed said of Youssef.


Student cleared of supporting Hamas in speech outside college
An activist has been cleared of voicing support for Hamas at a student rally outside her university two days after the October 7 attacks.

Sarah Cotte, 22, offered “unconditional solidarity” with the “Palestinian armed resistance” during a speech outside a London college on October 9, 2023, the Old Bailey was told.

The prosecution had asserted that, even though she did not name Hamas, her comments at the gathering publicised on Instagram were “thinly veiled references” to it.

Cotte had denied that her comments were about Hamas, saying she had been supporting “the right to resist”.

Following a week-long retrial, Cotte, from Camden, north London, was found not guilty of expressing support for a proscribed organisation.

At an earlier trial, she was found not guilty of a second charge of expressing support for Hamas on a WhatsApp group.

Throughout her first trial in the summer and subsequent retrial in September, pro-Palestine activists had staged vocal protests outside the Old Bailey.


Columbia University remains locked down like a war zone after anti-Israel protests — and students feel punished
Columbia University was crippled almost three years ago by anti-Israrel protesters, who shut down campus with an illegal encampment. And still, all this time later, the campus gates remain closed to the public.

“There was a complete time and place where [closing the gates] was justified and was necessary,” Nicholas Baum, a 21-year-old senior studying economics, told The Post. “But now it’s a constant and, frankly, outdated reminder [of the protests]. We’re in a completely different environment.”

Current seniors are the only undergraduates on campus who remember a time before their school was sent into chaos by the October 7th 2023 terror attack by Hamas on Israel.

Students were first required to scan their Columbia ID cards that month in order to gain access to campus, as part of the school’s attempt to calm ongoing protests and keep outside agitators from the community.

But that temporary measure became permanent when an encampment popped up on campus that spring. The measures remain despite protest activity on campus heavily dwindling. In May 2025 handfuls of students — some of whom were Jewish — chained themselves to gates to protests the arrest of protesters, while a library takeover resulted in the arrest of 78 people. By April this year, a pro-Palestine protest outside the University’s Hamilton Hall attracted around 20 people, video shows.

Newly installed university president Jennifer L. Mnookin sent a letter to the community on September 7 establishing a committee to decide when and how to reopen the campus in Morningside Heights.


PEN America names author Phil Klay, critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza and West Bank, as president
Prize-winning author Phil Klay has been named the new president of PEN America, taking on the role as the literary and free expression organization continues to be torn by disagreements stemming from the Israel-Hamas war.

Klay succeeds Dinaw Mengestu, who resigned in July in the wake of a PEN article that drew upon interviews with dozens of Jewish and Israeli writers about the “widening cultural isolation” they had faced since the war began.

Mengestu, who had been president for less than a year, posted on Instagram that the report’s emphasis showed a continued trend of bias against Palestinians and undermined his belief that PEN was capable of changing.

“I argued that the organization would defend free expression equitably and equally,” Mengestu wrote. “This report makes clear that will not happen.”

Two years ago, so many writers were unhappy with PEN’s response to the war — alleging that the leadership was slow to criticize the deaths of Palestinian writers and journalists — that the organization was called off its annual awards ceremony and “World Voices” festival because of participants dropping out. The CEO at the time, Suzanne Nossel, has since left, replaced by co-CEOs Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf and Summer Lopez.

The war was sparked by the Hamas-led invasion and brutal massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 abducted.

Klay is an Iraq War veteran whose debut book, the story collection “Redeployment,” won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014. He signaled support for the PEN article on Israeli and Jewish writers, but has strongly criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The “violence is unchecked, indiscriminate and targets innocent civilians,” he wrote on X in August, quoting a New York Times story regarding the West Bank. In March 2024, he wrote a piece for the Atlantic headlined “US Support for Israel’s War Has Become Indefensible.”

In a statement released by PEN on Thursday, Klay said he held a “broad faith in cultural exchange, in sustained efforts to understand other people, other cultures, and other ideas, including uncomfortable ones, and to the creation of a more open and egalitarian public square.”
Two lawsuits in California seek to recover Nazi-looted art from museums
Two lawsuits filed in California this week seek to recover paintings, which they say were stolen by the Nazis, from museums.

The Jewish Federation Los Angeles filed one of the suits against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif. According to the suit, the Nazis stole two oil paintings by renowned German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder from the family of Dutch Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker after it fled the Nazis in the Netherlands.

The Goudstikkers were unable to recover the paintings due to the difficulty of receiving postwar restitution from the Dutch government, the suit stated.

In the 1960s, the Dutch government gave the paintings to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, a member of a Russian noble family, who subsequently sold the Cranachs to the Norton Simon Museum five years later, the suit stated. (JNS sought comment from the museum.)

Marei von Saher, the only surviving Goudstikker heir, sued the museum in 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California but lost in 2018 after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the court could not overturn the Dutch government’s decision to bestow the Cranachs to Stroganoff-Scherbatoff.

The Federation is bringing the suit under California’s AB 2867, a law enacted in 2024 allowing state residents to recover property stolen as a result of political prosecution. The suit also invokes the recent federal law, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, which prevents a foreign government’s actions from being used as a defense against recovering Nazi-looted artwork.

Von Saher assigned her claim to the Cranachs to the Federation, which will donate the majority of the proceeds to Holocaust survivors who are living in poverty. Cranach paintings have sold for millions of dollars each, and some for hundreds of thousands, in recent sales at major auction houses.

“We are seeking to reverse a great injustice perpetrated by the Nazi theft of a Jewish family’s property, and securing the resources that will enable us to provide for the many needs of thousands of impoverished Holocaust survivors in the greater Los Angeles area so they can live in dignity for the remainder of their lives,” stated Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Federation.

The other suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland wrongly holds a series of watercolor paintings.
Deborah Lipstadt launches Emory institute to train the next generation of policymakers fighting antisemitism
When Deborah Lipstadt returned to academia last year after nearly three years navigating the State Department as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, she had a new mission: to turn what she learned in government into a training ground for the next generation of policymakers confronting antisemitism.

Lipstadt, a longtime Emory University historian, announced last week the launch of the Emory Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism. The institute will pair undergraduate fellowships with summer internships in Washington; offer seminars for diplomats, journalists and policymakers; and track how governments are implementing the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism that Lipstadt helped develop while serving as special envoy under President Joe Biden.

“In academia, professors think they’re right more often than not. Very often they are right in their assessments. But in diplomacy, you want to be effective. Sometimes you’ve got to compromise, narrow your view and adapt without losing sight of what you want to do,” Lipstadt told Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday.

Building off that “narrow focus” is what distinguishes EPICA from a crowded field of university antisemitism centers, Lipstadt said.

“I didn’t want to be a kolboinik like some of these other institutions,” she told JI, using the Yiddish word for a jack-of-all-trades. “There are people doing research on antisemitism in the Muslim world in the seventh century. There are people doing research on antisemitism in imperial Russia — all important topics to know. But that was not what I wanted. I wanted to be laser focused on policymaking.”

As special envoy from 2022-2025, Lipstadt frequently argued that antisemitism is not only a threat to Jews and Jewish institutions, but a broader danger that also imperils democracy, the rule of law and international stability.

She said the three focus areas of EPICA aim to address that notion. The student internships will span a wide range of fields in Washington, from Capitol Hill offices to social media companies. The summer internships will be fully funded, covering housing, travel and a stipend, to ensure that students can participate regardless of their financial circumstances.

The institute also plans to hold seminars in the U.S. and Europe for diplomats, journalists and policymakers, working with existing NGOs to educate emerging leaders about antisemitism.

The third focus will be monitoring the implementation of the Global Guidelines, an initiative of Lipstadt’s office during her final year as special envoy, which continue to be utilized by the Trump administration. While numerous countries signed onto the guidelines, Lipstadt said some of the signatories have not followed through in their commitments under the framework, and EPICA will track which governments are adhering to them.
After outcry, Texas lieutenant governor says schools should teach ‘Night’ and other Holocaust books
The lieutenant governor of Texas says his recent call for the state’s public schools to remove “over 2,000 titles” of “dirty, filthy and vulgar books” was not meant to include books about the Holocaust.

Dan Patrick’s statement, provided exclusively to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday, comes after a month of confusion following a press conference in which he and a conservative Christian activist threatened schools with potential loss of state funding if they did not comply with his directive to purge their libraries.

“I believe Texas students must learn about the Holocaust, and that includes reading books such as ‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel, ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ and other books about the Holocaust,” Patrick told JTA, singling out two books on the removal list he had promoted – one of which, “Night,” that he previously explicitly called for removal from middle schools.

Patrick added that his initiative was “focused on age-inappropriate, sexually explicit books in public school libraries across Texas.” At his earlier press conference, he had directed viewers to an online list compiled by an activist group that features several books about the Holocaust and Jewish identity.

Patrick’s threats have teeth. In Texas, lieutenant governors are more powerful than in many other states, playing central roles in shaping the budget and determining the legislative agenda.

Patrick also appeared to walk back some of the harsher proclamations from his August 19 press conference, at which the Republican had stated, “We’re coming for the books.”

“As the law states, local communities have the right to make their own decisions about their public school libraries,” he told JTA Friday.

The lieutenant governor, who is up for reelection this fall, appeared at the conference with Bonnie Wallace, the head of the activist group Recover America, and told viewers to “go to RecoverAmerica.com.” That group has circulated a list of more than 2,100 “Harmful Books in Libraries.” Its list, which it describes as “books with harmful, sexually explicit, and vulgar content,” includes more than a dozen titles of particular import to Jewish readers.
Woman who shouted at Jews outside Boston Kollel arrested for slapping cop
A Massachusetts woman was arrested after she slapped a police officer who tried to de-escalate her antisemitic rant outside the Kollel of Greater Boston in Brighton on Thursday night.

In footage of the incident that JNS viewed, Jordan Taylor, 24, of Sharon, appears to stand on the sidewalk outside the Kollel, a synagogue and study center, shouting at a visibly Jewish man, whom she appears to call a “Jew pedophile motherf**ker.”

“You can’t even tan,” the person in the video shouts at the man.

In another video, the woman depicted shouts at two more visible Jews. “You rape f***in’ kids. You traffic children,” the person in the video says.

“You’re f***in’ Israelis,” the person shouts, following them into the street.

In a third video, after the person is asked to leave, she shouts, “I’m an American citizen, b**ch. You leave.”

According to a Boston Police Department report, the incident began when Taylor’s car was parked in the middle of the road, and she started shouting after being asked to move it. Officers “attempted to de-escalate,” but Jordan “would not stop slandering and providing racial comments towards the individuals.”

Jordan allegedly “open-hand slapped” an officer three times in the chest. When she was asked to put her hands behind her back, she did not comply, according to the police report, and officers handcuffed her on the ground.

She was arraigned on Friday morning and released with a stay-away order from the Kollel and all synagogues in the state.





 




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