Sunday, September 20, 2026

09/19 Links: Andrew Fox: The Anti-Israel Film That Undermines Its Own Genocide Claim; Saudi Arabia discovers the value of a strong Israel

From Ian:

Saudi Arabia discovers the value of a strong Israel
The lesson for Mohammed bin Salman should be clear: Alliances matter most when allies are prepared to confront a common enemy.

Only last month, Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Turkey and Pakistan. The pact provides that an armed attack against one of the three countries will be considered an attack against them all.

It sounded impressive. Reality has proved more complicated.

Turkey has no desire to be drawn into a confrontation with Iran, while Pakistan has sent mixed signals about what the agreement actually requires. Islamabad initially indicated that continued Houthi aggression could activate the pact, but later said that no military response had been discussed. And Pakistan is far away.

The stakes extend far beyond Saudi Arabia. Through its proxies, Iran has now extended its reach to another of the world’s strategic maritime choke points. Bab el-Mandeb is the gateway to the Red Sea and, ultimately, the Suez Canal—a vital artery of trade between Europe and Asia. Houthi control of the strait therefore threatens not only Riyadh but Egypt, Europe and global commerce.

That also helps explain Mohammed bin Salman’s turn to Egypt. Cairo has an enormous economic interest in keeping the Red Sea route open and traffic flowing through the Suez Canal. The Saudi crown prince traveled there this week seeking support from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the Houthi attacks intensified.

Saudi Arabia has also sought assistance from other allies as its missile-defense resources come under pressure. The United States continues to provide intelligence cooperation while stopping short of direct military intervention.

And then there is Israel.

Israel does not disappear when circumstances become difficult. It is not going anywhere. And Saudi Arabia and Israel face the same enemies: Iran and the Houthis.

Reports now suggest that Riyadh has sought Israeli intelligence assistance through U.S. Central Command as it confronts the growing Houthi threat.

That is significant.

Mohammed bin Salman has spent years dangling the possibility of relations with Israel, always conditionally and often ambiguously. But reality is stronger than diplomatic games.

On one side are Iran and its proxies. On the other are countries with a common interest in stopping them.

The Houthis have advanced along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and threatened the Bab el-Mandeb, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints. Saudi Arabia said this week that it intercepted a Houthi drone near Mecca, although the Houthis denied targeting the holy city.

They have demonstrated that there are few limits to their ambitions.

Mecca and Medina are threatened. The Red Sea is threatened. International shipping is threatened. And Jerusalem has long been in the sights of Iran and its proxies.

Mohammed bin Salman is discovering something that should have been obvious all along: Geography, common interests and common enemies are ultimately more powerful than diplomatic maneuvering.

When Iran and the Houthis threaten the region and its stability, Saudi Arabia must decide whom it can actually count on.

Riyadh is drawing closer to Israel again because, in a dangerous region, strength commands respect—and Israel has shown that it’s willing to use it against its enemies.
Brendan O'Neill: Ireland’s insane witch-hunting of Ed Sheeran
The infantile decree that to be Irish is to be a keffiyeh-wearing ponce who moans morning, noon and night about Israel’s ‘settler colonialism’ is gospel in Ireland’s cultural establishment. Aaron Rowe, the Irish crooner who withdrew from Sheeran’s tour, titillated both the Irish and British bourgeois left with his statement about how the Irish are all too familiar with ‘genocide, forced famine and violent occupation’. Oh change the record. No one in the Republic of Ireland has been famished or occupied for more than a hundred years.

It’s the Irish elite’s depthless capacity for self-pity that gets me. The Famine jabber in particular is appropriation of the most nauseating kind. They plunder the horrors of history and pull on the rags of the starved to try to coat themselves in the holy shroud of victimhood. If these moral bloviators knew the first thing about history, they’d know the Irish have far more in common with Israel than with Hamas-ruled Gaza. Two tiny, plucky countries with huge diasporas who won their freedom through force of arms against the British. And yet the Trinity grads of the keffiyeh mob identify more with a death cult that rapes Jews for sport.

What arrogance to say that Sheeran is no longer welcome in Ireland. And coming from the same people who say the Eritrean fella who arrived five minutes ago and who now aggressively panhandles outside the GPO is welcome and you’re racist if you say otherwise. We are witnessing the Kneecapification of Irish culture. Ireland is overrun by ridiculous fake rebels who hate the Brits but bow down to the EU, who bemoan Ireland’s sexist history yet insist women throw open their spaces to cocks in frocks, and who pose as anti-fascists while being curiously, hysterically and tirelessly obsessed with the Jewish homeland. ‘Jewish billionaires who control America’ – that’s who Kneecap’s manager blamed the Macklemore scandal on. I guarantee you he will face no consequences whatsoever for this.

So there you have it: you can wang on about the Jews who control America but you can’t say there’s suffering on both sides in the Holy Land. You can fret over ‘ZioNazis’ but you can’t choose to be apolitical about the Middle East. The Sheeran scandal really has exposed what a one-eyed, hateful and authoritarian cult Palestinianism has become. And Ireland has been conquered by it.


The Western Spirit - With Ariel Whitman: "I Was Against Israel. Then I Went There" | Claire Fox
Why has Israel become such an obsession in Britain — and what happened when one of its former critics actually went there?

Baroness Claire Fox, member of the House of Lords and one of Britain’s most outspoken defenders of free speech, joins The Western Spirit for a provocative conversation about Israel, antisemitism, identity politics and Britain’s growing crisis of free expression.

Fox explains why she was once deeply critical of Israel, why she was initially afraid to visit the country — and what she discovered when she finally went. She also argues that Israel represents something much of the modern West has lost: confidence in national identity, sovereignty and its own civilization.

We also discuss the explosion of anti-Israel sentiment after October 7, Islamism, Britain’s hate-speech laws, the policing of controversial opinions, victimhood culture, the transformation of the political left and why Fox believes a dangerous “soft authoritarianism” is taking hold in Britain.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Claire Fox and her background
04:23 Israel's unapologetic sovereignty and Western guilt
08:36 Victimhood politics and victim culture
12:24 Historical context of societal progress and backwardness
20:38 The left's shift from class to identity politics
23:08 The disillusionment with the working class and cultural shifts
25:34 The Enlightenment and the transcendence of identity
26:58 The betrayal of universal equality by identity politics
28:21 The dangers of cancel culture and speech restrictions
30:36 The absurdity of gender and cultural identity claims
33:01 The rise of victimhood and false victim claims
35:02 Institutional bias and the politicization of victimhood
36:24 The superficial support for Palestine and the real issues
37:19 Anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories in society
38:41 Jewish identity, success, and stereotypes
40:01 Historical persecution and resilience of Jewish communities
41:28 Mainstreaming prejudice and the danger of stereotypes
42:24 Diversity within Jewish communities and Israel
43:15 The complexity of Zionism and Israeli society
44:50 Free speech challenges and government overreach
48:08 The impact of accusations and cancel culture
50:01 Designating organizations as terrorist groups
52:21 The inconsistency in banning organizations
54:28 The silence around radical Islam and 9/11
55:26 The suppression of discussion on terrorism and Islamism
56:24 Anti-Semitism and Muslim community issues
57:19 The importance of free speech and open debate
58:31 The dangers of soft authoritarianism and self-censorship
01:00:03 Conclusion and final thoughts on free speech and societal issues


‘NAZA’ documentary can’t explain why a military bent on genocide would need AI
NAZA does not argue Israel should abandon that process. It argues that running it, something every other Western army runs routinely, becomes genocidal only when the flag on the jet is Israeli. That is not a legal argument. It is a double standard applied to one state, and a double standard applied to the one Jewish state that has a name.

The casualty math compounds the absurdity. Genocides do not produce ambiguous death tolls debated by demographers. Rwanda killed close to 70% of its Tutsi population in a hundred days. The Holocaust killed roughly two of every three Jews in Europe.

Every documented genocide in history has been measured by the fraction of a people erased, not a raw total from a two-year war against an enemy embedded in tunnels beneath its own civilians.

Labeling a war with a reported toll near 73,000, unverified and never broken down by combatant status, a “genocide” on the strength of a casualty-tolerance memo empties the word of its meaning as the gravest charge in international law.

Strip away the AI framing, and NAZA is really arguing that no foreseen civilian harm should ever be legally tolerable, that proportionality doctrine itself should be abolished. That is a real debate. But abolish it for everyone or defend it as written; do not deploy it only against the one army that documents its calculations, then call the paper trail evidence of guilt.

An army that keeps no record faces no such indictment. The real beneficiary is not international law but every terrorist group and dictatorship that hides fighters among civilians because it answers to no public and keeps no comparable record to leak.

None of this means every strike in Gaza was justified, or that mistakes did not happen in arguably the most difficult urban combat terrain in the world. It means the film’s central move – dressing up targeting technology and a legal process that every Western army performs as proof of genocidal intent – fails the moment you ask what a military genuinely bent on genocide would do differently.

It would not build Lavender. It would not calculate a collateral damage rate. It would not need to know which apartment the target slept in. It would level the block, or the city, the way armies with no such compunction have done throughout modern military history.

That the IDF did not do that is not a detail NAZA can explain away. It is the detail that unravels the film’s thesis before the opening credits finish rolling.
Inside NAZA: How a One-Sided Film Broke Basic Journalism Ethics
From what we know so far, the "NAZA" documentary set to be released in a week was built on unidentified sources, one-sided storytelling, and a disregard for the basic standards that are supposed to separate journalism from advocacy. In this episode, we break down exactly where the filmmakers departed from those standards and bring in the guests best positioned to unpack it.

John Spencer, a retired U.S. Army major and one of the most cited voices in the world on urban warfare, joins to walk through the legalities of war and where the film's framing does or doesn't hold up against them. Eitan Fischberger, an independent researcher, joins us after he uncovering the background of one of the film's directors. And Miki Zohar, Israel's Minister of Culture and Sport, sits down for his first English-language interview since calling for the directors' citizenship to be revoked telling us: "This is an act of treason."


Call me Back Podcast: Naza: When a Film is the News
Can Israel confront what went wrong in Gaza when the accusations leave no room for conversation?

In this special replay of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi take on Naza, the explosive Israeli film accusing Israel of systematically disregarding civilian casualties in Gaza. After receiving a nearly 25-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, the film has ignited a firestorm over what happened in Gaza and how Israel’s conduct of the war should be judged. Donniel and Yossi wrestle with how to confront legitimate questions about Israel’s actions while rejecting a narrative they believe relies on unverifiable testimony, erases Hamas’ culpability, and leaves little room for moral reckoning.

In this episode:
Why Naza became the news
The impact of the film’s 25-minute standing ovation
A missed opportunity for Israeli reckoning
Anonymous testimony and unverifiable claims
When criticism shuts down introspection
Erasing Hamas from the story of Gaza
Israel’s response to Naza and its filmmaker


The Western Spirit - With Ariel Whitman: The Anti-Israel Film That Undermines Its Own Genocide Claim | Andrew Fox
The new documentary Naza has ignited controversy over its allegations about Israeli airstrikes, civilian casualties and the IDF’s use of intelligence and AI in Gaza. But Andrew Fox, a former British Army officer and researcher at the Henry Jackson Society, says the claims being promoted simply don’t add up.

Fox challenges the film’s anonymous testimony, questions the lack of verification behind its most explosive allegations, and argues that the very process of calculating collateral damage around military targets may undermine rather than support claims of indiscriminate killing. He also explains what actually happens when Western militaries assess civilian casualties and proportionality before a strike.

We also discuss the film’s reception at the Venice Film Festival, the psychology of groupthink around Israel, the consequences of publicly defending the IDF, growing hostility toward Israel in Britain, and why Fox worries that European sanctions could become the beginning of something much larger.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the controversy surrounding Naza
02:09 The claims made in the Naza documentary and their credibility
03:51 Legal and ethical considerations of targeting military leaders
08:00 The role of lawyers and rules of engagement in Israel's military
12:02 The influence of social media and groupthink on public perception
16:03 International sanctions and their impact on Israel
20:13 The importance of critical thinking and independent analysis
23:56 The psychological aspects of disinformation and social conformity
28:10 The future of Israel's military strategy and international relations




Australia’s intelligence chief: Antisemitism has risen to ‘disturbing level’
Australia’s spy chief, Mike Burgess, said on Thursday he doesn’t rule out the threat posed by the Iranian regime to prominent Jewish figures Down Under.

The remark was made during a talk on broadcaster Neil Mitchell’s podcast, “Mitchell Unlimited.”

The director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation also spoke about the alarming spread of antisemitism in the country in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of Israel’s south.

“We still have antisemitism as a problem and that does concern me,” Burgess said.

“It’s got to a pretty high, disturbing level. It raised its ugly head after the 7th of October. It started with threatening, intimidating behavior and then, a year later, it transitioned to direct targeting of people, places of worship and businesses. And then we saw the death of 15 people. I reckon that’s a bad place for us to be,” the spy master said, referencing the Bondi Beach shooting attack on Dec. 14, 2025, carried out by an Islamic State-inspired father and son.

He addressed the failure of the government to curb the growing trend of antisemitism, saying, “Maybe I could have shouted more. Political leaders could have said ‘this is not right.’ … By all means be critical of the State of Israel but actually say, ‘But we’re not talking about Australians or people of Jewish faith.’”


Houthis target Riyadh for 1st time in renewed Yemen fighting, as smoke seen at capital’s airport
Yemen’s Houthis said on Saturday that they launched strikes targeting “sensitive sites” in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and oil facilities in the kingdom’s port city of Yanbu, hours after residents reported blasts in the Saudi capital.

“In response to the Saudi enemy’s criminal attempts to target the capital Sanaa… the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out two successful military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said, in a statement on Telegram.

“The first targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the second targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu.”

The Houthi statement came after firefighters extinguished a blaze on a fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil giant Aramco at a fuel depot near Riyadh’s international airport earlier on Saturday.

A large plume of smoke was visible near the airport after booms were heard and Saudi Arabia sent alerts overnight warning of potential danger around the capital.

Reuters video and photographs showed a huge pillar of black smoke rising in the area, with the airport highway, main terminal building and other facilities in the foreground.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis confirmed later on Saturday that the Iran-backed group had fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn.

Saudi Arabia’s air force “successfully intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi terrorist militia towards the city of Riyadh at dawn on Saturday,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki posted on X.

He said the Houthis also tried to target “civilians and civilian infrastructure in Bisha, Taif, Farasan, and Yanbu,” adding that the attacks “were thwarted by the Gulf monarchy’s air defences.”

Aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 reported major issues at the Saudi capital’s Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, including cancellations and delays.

The airport was listed under the site’s maximum disruption index of 5.0, meaning the airport was seeing “major problems with long delays and several canceled flights.”

The disruption follows an overnight air raid alert issued by Saudi authorities, the first since fighting in neighboring Yemen intensified this month.
Indonesia’s president declares 'Free Palestine'
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto voiced strong support for the Palestinians on Saturday, calling the situation in Gaza a source of deep pain and declaring “Free Palestine!” during a major Islamic gathering, months after he said Israel’s security must be recognized as part of achieving Middle East peace.

The event took place during an official reception marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the renowned Islamic boarding school Gontor in eastern Indonesia. 'They are being massacred, bombed, and attacked continuously'

In his speech, Subianto spoke of his feelings over the situation in the Gaza Strip, saying: “I remember our brothers and sisters in Palestine. They are being massacred, bombed, and attacked continuously, and it seems that we are powerless to help them.”

He called on the younger generation and religious leaders to strengthen Indonesia’s independence, allowing the country to stand alongside oppressed peoples around the world and avoid being subject to the dictates of foreign powers.

The display marked a sharp contrast with the moderate and pragmatic tone Subianto adopted just last year. In a speech at the UN General Assembly in 2025, he surprised capitals across the Muslim world by declaring that “we must recognize, respect and guarantee the security of Israel in order to achieve true peace in the Middle East.”

At the time, reports said Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, was considering steps toward normalization with Israel, partly as part of its process of joining the OECD. Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry denied at the time that normalization with Israel was a condition for joining the organization.


UAE official on reported Oct. 7 warning to Netanyahu: We do not ‘discuss such details at the level of national leaders’
Responding to a report that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of October 7, 2023, that Hamas was planning a major attack, a UAE official says the country does not discuss such matters at that level.

An Emirati source familiar with the conversation confirmed the Haaretz newspaper’s report to The Times of Israel that some 10 days before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Netanyahu was personally warned by the leader of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive move against Israel, but did not update Israeli security leaders and did nothing with the information.

The UAE itself declined to confirm or deny the report when it was released, issuing a statement that noted “open lines of communication” with Israel through which “all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated.”

Netanyahu denied the report and said he would sue Haaretz, but has yet to officially do so.

Responding to a query from the state-owned Emirati outlet The National, a UAE official does not outright deny that Netanyahu was warned, however, saying only that the “UAE discusses security matters with other countries through the relevant entities, and does not discuss such details at the level of national leaders.”

Hebrew-language outlet Ynet reports that the Emirati statement is the result of days of pressure from Israel for the UAE to deny the contents of the Haaretz report.
IDF says Oct. 7 invader killed in Gaza; strikes across Strip reportedly leave 5 dead
A Hamas commander who invaded Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip last week, the Israel Defense Forces announced Saturday, as Palestinian media reported several people killed in separate Israeli strikes across the enclave.

The Thursday strike in Khan Younis killed Mohammed Suleiman Byouk, a commander in Hamas’s military wing, according to the IDF.

The military said Byouk invaded Israel during Hamas’s October 7 attacks and had since been involved in planting bombs targeting Israeli troops.

Byouk had also been advancing attacks against troops and Israeli civilians and working to restore Hamas’s capabilities, “in a systemic violation of the ceasefire,” the military said, adding that he was “eliminated to remove the threat.”


IDF says it struck Hezbollah sites after terror group’s bomb wounded 2 troops
Southern Lebanon saw renewed tensions over the weekend, with two IDF soldiers wounded by a Hezbollah roadside bomb and Israeli and Lebanese troops facing off near the military’s buffer zone, as UN peacekeepers warned of the challenges ahead when their force withdraws at the end of the year.

Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured by a Hezbollah explosive device in southern Lebanon on Saturday morning, prompting Israeli strikes on the terror group’s sites, the military said.

According to the IDF, an engineering vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb planted by Hezbollah inside the military’s southern Lebanon buffer zone.

Two soldiers were injured in the blast and taken to a hospital in good condition, the military said, adding that their families were notified.

The incident came amid heightened tensions in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have occupied a swath of territory since renewed war broke out in March against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, and as questions mount over the future security arrangements in the area.

And it came a day after Israeli troops advanced toward a Lebanese army position in the southern village of Deir Mimas, leading to a brief standoff between the two sides.

Under a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon, the Lebanese army is supposed to gradually take control of southern Lebanon as Hezbollah disarms and Israeli forces withdraw. Progress has been slow, however, with Israel saying it will remain in the area as long as Hezbollah poses a threat.


Al Jazeera fires 24 journalists, staff from Gaza amid lawsuit alleging Hamas, PIJ ties - report
Al Jazeera has fired 24 journalists and staff members who worked for the network in the Gaza Strip, amid a lawsuit filed in the US accusing the Qatari broadcaster of providing support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Ynet reported on Friday.

The NGO and civil rights group Shurat HaDin filed the lawsuit in February 2025, with support from the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs. It names the employees and alleges that some Al Jazeera staff members had ties to terrorist organizations and, in some cases, were members of those groups.

The Jerusalem Post reported in June that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) would conduct a comprehensive review of its database of journalists killed during the Israel-Hamas War after Hamas and PIJ published obituaries identifying individuals previously listed by CPJ as journalists as members of their organizations.

In a statement on June 25, CPJ said it had removed 20 names from its database after confirming that those individuals had worked for Hamas or PIJ.

The review followed Israeli media reports that identified several individuals previously listed as journalists by international organizations as having ties to Hamas or PIJ.
JPost Editorial: Hamas's hostages deserve to have their suffering documented honestly
Israeli hostages were beaten in front of a camera on October 7, 2023, and the photographer withheld the footage to protect the Palestinians in it. That was the account Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza gave in a podcast interview reported by The Jerusalem Post.

“I did not want to ruin the lives of the people who were filmed,” he said, explaining that he feared Israel would identify and kill them.

Consider whose interests that decision served. Captives were being assaulted. Their families needed information. Evidence existed. Azaiza’s stated concern was what publication might do to the people captured on camera.

That explanation betrays the victims and journalism. The editors, broadcasters, and institutions that elevated him owe their audiences an answer: Is this compatible with the standards they claim to uphold?

News organizations routinely protect identities and assess the risks of publication. Azaiza could have blurred faces, described what he witnessed, or arranged an independent examination of the footage.

His account demands questions about those alternatives. Concern about retaliation cannot excuse withholding the truth of an assault on helpless captives.
Gaza journalist Motaz Azaiza says he filmed hostage abuse on October 7 but hid footage
Gazan photographer and journalist Motaz Azaiza said he filmed Israeli hostages being beaten by a Gazan mob on October 7, 2023, but chose not to publish the footage because he feared it could put the Palestinians involved at risk.

“I saw the vehicle of the Al-Qassam Brigades, and there were Israeli captives there,” Azaiza recalled. “People got out, watched, beat them, hit them, and I followed them and filmed. But I did not publish those videos. Why? Because I did not want to ruin the lives of the people who were filmed.

"I understood that Israel would use those videos to identify every person who was there and eliminate them," he added. "I did not want to be responsible, even indirectly, for the deaths of those people in exchange for a few likes and views online.”

A Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Azaiza has become one of the most recognizable figures associated with the current war. In an extensive and unusual interview with journalist Ahmed Biqui on the podcast Taqarrab, Azaiza revealed aspects of life in Gaza that his millions of social media followers have not seen.

During the interview, which was published earlier this month, Azaiza also delivered rare public criticism of Hamas's leadership, accusing the group of bringing disaster upon the Gaza Strip.


Ed Sheeran weeps on stage, denounces Israel’s actions in Gaza in emotional first speech since Macklemore fiasco
Crooner Ed Sheeran called Israel’s actions in Gaza “unjustifiable” as he wept and broke his silence during his first concert since booting rapper Macklemore from his tour for tirades against the Jewish state.

“I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,” Sheeran told the Philly crowd of concertgoers Saturday night.

Sheeran spoke multiple times about the controversy during Saturday night’s show at Lincoln Financial Field, growing progressively more upset as the night wore on and eventually telling fans it had been one of the “worst weeks of his life” and that “I really didn’t know whether I’d be even get on stage again, whether I wanted to be an artist at all.”

At the start of the show, before playing any music, he zeroed on his feelings about the Gaza War, criticizing both Israel and Hamas.

“I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division, about humanity, not politics,” Sheeran said, apparently reading from a teleprompter.

“But this is a humanitarian issue. I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel, and at the music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain,” he said as he broke down in tears.

“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”

“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilian loss and loss of children’s lives. And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfolding the West Bank cannot be overlooked,” the singer-songwriter said.

He later shared that his first concert back “is not the usual ‘Loop’ show” as he was fearful of how the crowd would react after Macklemore’s departure.


Chicago mayor accused of ‘singling out’ Jews, AIPAC at campaign launch
Chicago’s largest Jewish organization accused city Mayor Brandon Johnson of “singling out” Jews after he mentioned a Jewish donor and AIPAC when launching his reelection campaign.

In a Sept. 17 letter addressed to the mayor, Jewish United Fund of Chicago president Lonnie Nasatir and board chair Carey Cooper wrote that Johnson used his launch on Sunday “to target a local Jewish business and philanthropic leader and a national advocacy organization with no role in local politics.”

“Singling out Jewish people or Jewish organizations as symbols of political influence or control carries a dangerous history that should be understood and rejected, not repurposed as a political rallying cry,” the JUF leaders wrote. AIPAC “has never spent a dime opposing you or any other candidate for local office.”

According to the JUF, it is still awaiting a response from Johnson. (JNS sought comment from Johnson’s campaign.)

In August, Johnson said on Jamal Bryant’s Let’s Be Clear podcast that “AIPAC and other millionaires” were spending money against him, “because I dare call out genocide.” He said that concerns about his comments being antisemitic are “witchcraft” and “manipulative.”

He also linked U.S. aid to Israel to insufficient funding for black communities in Chicago. JUF called the mayor’s remarks “particularly troubling.”


Democratic nominee Chris Rabb photographed with Code Pink leader
Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, expected to be the next member of Congress representing Philadelphia, posed for a photo on Thursday with Medea Benjamin, a leader of the anti-American and pro-Iran group Code Pink.

“It’s going to be so great having @ChrisRabb in Congress!!!,” Benjamin said alongside the photo shared on X.



Benjamin and her group have become notorious on Capitol Hill for disrupting congressional hearings and shouting at members of Congress in the halls, generally recording the incidents on video, over their support for Israel.

Benjamin and other CodePink members have also met with and defended leaders of the Iranian regime and Hamas.

Another founder of the group is married to Neville Roy Singham, a wealthy pro-China financier believed to be supporting the group, leading to accusations that Code Pink may be acting as an unregistered agent of China and other U.S. adversaries.


German synagogue fire arson suspect arrested after spewing antisemitic remarks during Jewish high holidays
A 37-year-old Afghan man was arrested on suspicion of setting fire on Thursday afternoon to the Bergische Synagogue in Wuppertal, western Germany, three days before Yom Kippur.

Prosecutors said he had made antisemitic remarks at the scene, according to the German Press Agency (DPA).

The suspect is believed to have hurled two bags containing flammable liquid at the synagogue, poured the contents of a third bag near a side entrance, and then set the liquid ablaze.

Synagogue staff were able to extinguish the flames within minutes, while the arsonist fled the scene. No injuries were reported. Two women are believed to have witnessed the deed, DPA reported.

The suspect has a previous conviction for threatening a neighbor, the report cited prosecutors as saying.

The mayor of Wuppertal described the attack as “utterly despicable” and called on residents to show solidarity with the Jewish community.

Several Jewish organizations condemned the attack.

“The timing is particularly disturbing as Jewish communities prepare for the holiest day of the Jewish calendar,” the European Jewish Congress, an organization representing 2.5 million Jews across Europe, said in a statement.

“Attacks timed around Jewish holidays are part of a pattern intended to spread fear and push Jewish life out of the public sphere,” the EJC continued.

“Jews must be able to enter a synagogue, practice their faith and celebrate the High Holidays safely and without fear,” it added.
Man arrested after Edgware gun scare forced Jewish school into lockdown
A man has been arrested after a gun scare in Edgware forced a Jewish school and other nearby venues into lockdown.

The 22-year-old was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear, the Metropolitan Police said.

He was taken into custody, where police said he remained.

Officers have also recovered the item believed to have been carried during the incident and sent it for further testing.

Police were called to a residential area in Edgwarebury Lane at around 3.50pm on Wednesday after reports of a man carrying what appeared to be a firearm.

Several eyewitnesses told officers they believed the object was a toy.

The sighting prompted Menorah Grammar School to temporarily lock down as a precaution, with pupils instructed to remain in their classrooms. Other nearby venues, including schools and synagogues, were also briefly locked down.

The restrictions were later lifted, and no injuries were reported. The Community Security Trust (CST) said at the time there was no indication the incident was related to the Jewish community.

Shomrim NW London also said following the initial incident that there was “absolutely no ongoing danger or threat to the public”.
Who’s sorry now? Inside Israeli cinema’s Yom Kippur-inspired stories of guilt and redemption
Themes of guilt, redemption, sin, and atonement run through Israeli movies, many of which take their inspiration from Jewish life and Jewish religious texts and thought.

The theme of atonement is so ingrained in the Jewish/Israeli psyche that even comedies deal with it. A popular 2019 comedy is actually called Forgiveness, and tells the story of two friends (Guy Amir and Hanan Savyon) who get caught in a robbery; one flees while the other goes to prison. The guy who got away spends the years his buddy is incarcerated becoming religious, and when the friend is released, the newly pious robber tries to make amends.

The classic 1964 comedy about a Mizrahi immigrant, Sallah Shabati, by Ephraim Kishon, features a scene where the hero, played by Chaim Topol, rails against God for all his family’s suffering in their new land. It’s a cry for the Almighty to atone for his treatment of Sallah and his family, and is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in all of Israeli cinema.

Israeli filmmakers explore personal atonement
Certain directors have explored atonement deeply throughout their careers, and the director whose work comes to mind most readily is Avi Nesher. Although he burst onto the movie scene in Israel with two mostly comic films he made when he was in his early 20s, The Troupe and Dizengoff 99, with time, he has taken on more serious stories, although his films always mix comedy and tragedy.

His upcoming movie, Our Loves, to be released on October 15 in Israel and which will open the Haifa International Film Festival, has a central plot line about a father trying to redeem himself for abandoning his family. Shabi (Shalom Michaelshwilli) is a tough retired general, and his young adult daughter, Liri (Noa Cohen), adored him as a child, but now shuns him.

On October 6, 2023, he has a court date to try to force his ex-wife to sell the family home and move out, which upsets both his children. The following morning, their lives are turned upside down by the Hamas-led mega-attacks. Liri lives on a kibbutz near the Gaza border that is overrun by terrorists.

Shabi knows that only he can save her. He grabs a weapon and heads south, determined to rescue her, and along the way, he picks up four hopelessly incompetent but brave new recruits. The crisis brings him a chance for redemption.

What makes this storyline particularly interesting is that during that day, he must listen to others and make dozens of life-or-death decisions, and his atonement comes from learning to truly value other people, not simply his own bravery.





 




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