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Thursday, October 08, 2026

10/07 Links Pt2: Who still fights the war on terror?; Simon Sebag Montefiore: Iran, America, Israel, and the End of Khomeinism; Iran’s sickening celebration of October 7

From Ian:

Clifford D. May: Who still fights the war on terror?
Addressing Congress nine days after Sept. 11, President George W. Bush declared: “Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there.” He added: “It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

A dozen years later, President Barack Obama announced that what had become known as the global war on terror “like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises.”

History doesn’t actually advise, though it can reveal patterns—and Obama drew the wrong one. Wars against an enemy driven by an ideology of conquest rarely end until that enemy is decisively defeated or abandons its demands.

Since 2001, some Islamist terrorist organizations have been diminished by the United States and its partners. But not one has surrendered. Nor have any forsworn what they call the jihad—the holy war that began in the seventh century and for more than a millennium drove the expansion of vast empires.

As for the Islamic Republic of Iran—long described by the U.S. State Department as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism—it, too, is committed to jihad. Only three years ago, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late supreme leader, said plainly that “Death to America!” should be understood as “not just a slogan; it is a policy.”

His challenge was to develop the capabilities necessary to implement that policy. If you understand that, you grasp why U.S. President Donald Trump, unlike his predecessors, decided to take concrete steps to end Tehran’s nuclear-weapons development.

The U.S. military and the Treasury Department have been depriving Iran’s rulers of the oil revenue they need to rebuild a missile arsenal that would shield their nuclear-weapons program, support their foreign terrorist proxies and utilize the Strait of Hormuz to hold the global economy hostage.

Meanwhile, more good news: Within a few days of one another, three attempted terrorist attacks—one in the Middle East, one in Europe and one in the United States—were foiled.
Jonathan Tobin: In Michigan, the issue is erasing Jewish interests, not the Jewish vote
Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich.) decision to campaign on behalf of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Senate in her state, was, she says, a function of a desire to help someone who would be on what she calls “Team Fight” rather than “Team Flight.” By that, she meant someone who would battle President Donald Trump alongside her in the U.S. Senate, rather than seek compromises with the Republican administration like her more moderate colleague Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.).

In taking this stand, she has fallen in line with the rest of her party in backing El-Sayed. But in framing the question as one of “fight” or “flight,” she was deliberately avoiding the historic implications of her choice. One more Democrat in the Senate could give her party control of both houses of Congress, and make it easier for them to impeach and try Trump, regardless of the partisan nature of such a procedure.

Given that even under those circumstances, a conviction and his ouster from office would likely be impossible, the stakes won’t involve the future of the republic as much as handing Democrats the sinecures and power that come from being in the majority.

But electing an open antisemite like El-Sayed would be truly momentous not just for the Jewish community, of which Slotkin is a member, but for its implications for the future of her party and the nation. From that perspective, characterizing the decision as one of “fight” or “flight” is actually quite apt. But the truth is that what she and a host of other Jewish Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, are doing is engaging in “flight” rather than fighting to hold the line against antisemitism inside her party at a time when it is surging around the globe.

‘No such thing as Jewish voters?’
What made her decision to join forces with El-Sayed particularly interesting was revealed during a joint interview with him on the MS NOW cable-TV channel.

In it, Slotkin didn’t just play the loyal Democratic soldier swallowing the indignity of endorsing a man who seeks to drive the overwhelming majority of American Jews out of the public square. In doing so, she is supporting someone who embodies the illiberal red-green alliance of leftists and Islamists that is taking control of liberal parties around the world.

When asked about the fact that most Michigan Jews, including the majority who are loyal Democrats and politically liberal, simply won’t go along with electing an antisemite, Slotkin’s reply was succinct.

She said, “There’s no such thing as the Jewish voters, just like there’s no such thing as the Muslim voters or the black voters. People have their own views, and the things that they prioritize are going to drive their vote.”

In a sense, she’s right. Citizens vote as individuals and not as part of groups. And, indeed, most American Jews have not voted in lockstep on issues like Israel, even if the majority of them are supporters of the Jewish state. That is especially true of Jewish Democrats, who have always placed Israel’s security below many domestic concerns, whether it was health-care costs or legalized abortion. It’s something that has particularly frustrated Trump, whose pro-Israel policies and efforts to fight antisemitism in education have not been rewarded by most Jewish voters.

To some extent, that’s also true of other groups, like Muslims and African-Americans, though both of those constituencies have been more likely to treat issues relating to their community’s safety as a priority. By contrast, liberal Jews tend to treat universal concerns as more important than those that personally concern them. As writer Cynthia Ozick famously said, “Universalism is the ultimate Jewish parochialism.”

Tolerating antisemitism
But as Jews in Michigan and elsewhere have come to learn in the three years since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attacks on Israeli communities incited an unprecedented increase in antisemitism, El-Sayed’s candidacy is not, strictly speaking, about voters’ views about the Jewish state. It’s about their willingness to tolerate the mainstreaming of Jew-hatred here in the United States.

So, when Slotkin seeks to deny that there is such a thing as “Jewish voters,” she’s signaling something very different from the fact that not all Jews cast votes solely on the basis of a candidate’s views on Israel. Along with other Democrats, both Jewish and non-Jewish, she is seeking to establish something far more important.
'Not yet out of danger': Israeli envoy to US shares update on son following terror attack
Israel ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, whose son Neria was seriously wounded during a car-ramming terrorist attack in September, said Wednesday that his son “has severe head injuries, but in recent days he has begun breathing on his own.”

“He remains unconscious,” Leiter added in a video recorded for the Evangelical Christian community’s memorial ceremony honoring the victims of October 7, held in Jerusalem.

In an additional statement shared by the ambassador, the family clarified that despite several encouraging signs, Neria remains in very serious condition and is not yet out of danger.

The Leiter family said Neria is receiving the best possible medical care in the intensive care unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. The family thanked the medical staff and the public for their prayers and immense support and asked people to continue praying for the recovery of Neria Dov ben Chana.

Seriously wounded in terror attack
Neria Leiter, an IDF reservist and American citizen, was seriously wounded in a terrorist attack at the Bell checkpoint on Route 443.

He underwent several hours of brain surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where his family later received a visit from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Jerusalem Post previously reported.

The family also received numerous messages of support on X from Israeli leaders, including President Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
From bedside of his son on life support from terror attack, Israeli envoy to US decries Mamdani’s ‘dangerous lies’
Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States, was so put off by the statement that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released on the third anniversary of Oct. 7 that the envoy decried it from the hospital in Israel, where he is at the bedside of his son, who is on life support after a Palestinian terrorist hit him with a car.

“It’s actually hard to find a sentence in Mamdani’s post that isn’t a lie,” Leiter stated.

“Paying lip service to the victims of Oct. 7 just to spread blood libels about Israel might play nicely to the red-green/communist-Islamist alliance that he promotes in the United States, but those of us who know better see his perverted language for what it is,” the Israeli envoy stated. “This man is a defender of Palestinian terrorism, a promoter of antisemitism and an advocate of anti-Americanism.”

Even on the anniversary of the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the anti-Israel mayor “can’t help but attack the Jewish state with absurd accusations and outright propaganda,” according to the Israeli envoy.

“The only attempted genocide in this conflict was perpetrated by the barbarians he supports, Hamas, who butchered, raped and murdered in the most horrific ways imaginable,” Leiter stated. “There is no genocide, ethnic cleansing or famine in Gaza. Hamas embeds itself among, behind and beneath the people of Gaza, knowing that the IDF will not, ever, intentionally target civilians. It robs its own people of the humanitarian aid that Israel has facilitated into Gaza since the war began.”

Leiter called the mayor, who campaigned on having the Israeli prime minister arrested, an ally of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization since 1997.

“Hamas knows that its allies, including Zohran Mamdani, will regurgitate its lies, demonizing Israel and endangering Jews everywhere,” the Israeli envoy stated. “Israel and its allies will not be deterred from defending civilization against terrorist savagery. Those of us who envision a peaceful and prosperous Middle East will root out the evil that is Islamic terrorism and build a better future for all, Jew and Arab alike.”


Report: flydubai pilot accused of terror plot studied at prestigious British flight school
Hamam al-Hamami, the Omani pilot suspected of attempting to crash a Flydubai passenger flight at Ben Gurion Airport, trained at one of Britain’s largest flight schools, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.

According to the report, al-Hamami underwent professional training with the prestigious L3 Airline Academy between 2018 and 2019 as he worked toward becoming a commercial pilot. The company operated training centers in England and has since become part of Acron Aviation. Investigators believe the Omani first officer trained at one or more of the company’s British facilities. The company said it would cooperate with authorities investigating the case.

His training also took him to New Zealand, where he received a six-month student visa for additional flight instruction between November 2018 and May 2019. At the time, L3 Airline Academy operated a program connecting its British centers with a flight school in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The Telegraph also reported that al-Hamami’s now-deleted X account, @PilotHamam, appeared to document his training and his life in Britain. Earlier reporting said the account included posts expressing support for violence against women.

In a 2022 post, al-Hamami wrote that he had “studied in Australia, Britain and New Zealand for five years” and described his years abroad as “the golden years of my religious commitment.” He said he became less religiously observant after returning to Oman. In other posts, he described encounters with women in Britain and expressed support for strict Islamic expectations regarding marriage and clothing.

The account also appeared to show that he lived in London for about five months, although it is unclear whether that period overlapped with his pilot training. The British academy had business ties with Oman Air, where al-Hamami later worked as a pilot until the airline allegedly found “extremist materials” in his possession and removed him from flying duties. He continued working in an administrative position at the airline until 2025.

The Telegraph noted that Oman Air had previously listed the academy as one of five internationally recognized institutions whose graduates would be considered for its pilot recruitment program. Acron Aviation declined to say whether al-Hamami had trained with the company, saying it does not publicly disclose whether specific individuals are current or former students.

Israeli Shin Bet security officials who traveled to the United Arab Emirates are taking part in the investigation of al-Hamami. During questioning, he said he had been motivated by a desire to take revenge on Israel for its actions in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli officials.

The extremist posts he shared on social media
Israeli officials said the investigation indicates that al-Hamami intended to crash the aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport. According to the findings so far, he waited until the flight was over Jordan before attempting to seize control because he wanted the aircraft to appear to be approaching Ben Gurion for a normal landing before crashing it into the airport and causing mass casualties.

Investigators say that if he had been unable to reach Ben Gurion, al-Hamami planned to crash the aircraft into a U.S. military base in Jordan. They also say he had originally intended to carry out the attack in July but postponed it because of a personal connection to one of the crew members, whom he said he had “spared.”

The investigation has also found that al-Hamami landed in Israel in June and had prepared himself to become a “martyr,” according to Israeli officials.


Iran’s sickening celebration of October 7: We will complete destruction of Zionist regime
Iran marked the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks by celebrating the Hamas-led massacre and vowing to “destroy the Zionist regime”.

Regime officials, organisations and state-aligned media praised what they refer to as ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’, and repeated calls for the destruction of Israel.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the 2023 assault as “one of the largest operations in the history of the resistance”, portraying it as the “beginning of the end of Zionism”.

The IRGC vowed that its campaign against Israel would continue, declaring: “The path of resistance will continue until there is the liberation of Jerusalem and the complete destruction of the occupying Zionist regime.”

The statement went on to predict that: “Palestine will be liberated from the river to the sea”.

The rhetoric was echoed by the Iranian state broadcaster.

In its daily political analysis, Radio Tehran described the October 7 attack as “the first phase of the total elimination of Israel”.

“The operation will continue until the Zionist regime is removed from the face of the earth,” the broadcaster said, adding that, in accordance with the words of Iran’s late supreme leader, “the Islamic Republic would do anything to make it happen”.

The anniversary has received extensive coverage across Iranian media, with outlets publishing interviews with regime officials and Hamas representatives in Iran.

The celebrations come against a backdrop of criticism, including from Iranians inside the country, of Tehran and Hamas’ portrayal of October 7 as a strategic success.

Critics have pointed to the destruction in Gaza and the subsequent deaths of senior Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian figures as evidence of the severe setbacks suffered by Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” since the attack.

Khorasan newspaper, which is considered close to Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, interviewed Khaled al-Qaddoumi, Hamas’s representative in Tehran.

He rejected claims that the October 7 attack had ultimately weakened Hamas and the wider network of Iranian-backed armed groups.

He insisted that October 7 had instead been a “strategic victory against Israel” and suggested that Hamas and its allies had expected greater involvement from other countries in the region.

“The main reason for the losses suffered by the ‘Resistance Front’ in recent years was not the October 7 operation,” he said. “Rather, that operation constituted a strategic victory against Israel.”

Qaddoumi blamed what he described as the failure of some regional countries to become seriously involved in the confrontation with Israel, as well as insufficient support for the conflict, for the setbacks suffered by the Iranian-backed alliance.


In open letter, dozens of retired U.S. military leaders reject genocide allegations against Israel
A group of more than 75 American military leaders is pushing back against allegations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, arguing in a letter released Wednesday that the accusation is unsupported by the legal standard for genocide and contradicted by the conduct of the Israeli military during the war.

“As retired senior military leaders and legal experts, on this, the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 brutal attack on Israel, we reject claims that Israel committed genocide in Gaza,” the letter, released by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, says. “The allegations that Israel committed this crime do not meet the established definition and standards of genocide, are unsupported by established facts, nor do they stand up to common sense scrutiny.”

The signatories argue that a finding of genocide requires evidence that a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group was targeted for destruction, in whole or in part, and contend that Israel’s actions in Gaza do not meet that standard.

“Israel has neither intended to, nor destroyed, Palestinians as a group in Gaza,” the letter reads. “All the evidence, in fact, points to the contrary conclusion: that, after suffering a barbaric, indiscriminate massacre by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), acting in justified self-defense, went to extreme lengths to protect civilians in Gaza, including from Hamas.”

The authors also dispute arguments that the number of civilian deaths establishes genocide, saying casualty figures from Gaza are unreliable.

“Genocide is not a quantitative crime; there is no number of civilian casualties that constitutes genocide,” the letter says. “Nor are the claimed casualty numbers from Gaza credible. Issued by Hamas themselves and, at the very least, not distinguishing between civilians and combatants, they cannot be relied upon.”

They argue that the war must be viewed in the context of fighting an enemy that operates among civilians, drawing on their own experiences commanding U.S. forces in similar combat environments.

“We understand that the loss of civilian life in Gaza is tragic, but we also know that such tragic outcomes do not necessarily violate the law of armed conflict,” the letter says. “Further, established legal precedent makes clear that civilian deaths occurring during combat, however tragic, are insufficient, by themselves, to support a finding of genocidal intent.”

“Many of the signatories to this letter have commanded United States armed forces in combat against enemies who regularly hide behind civilians and put those civilians intentionally in harm’s way,” the letter continues. “Fighting under those complexities is especially difficult.”

The letter then points to the extensive measures taken by the IDF to reduce civilian casualties as evidence that the military took precautions and lacked genocidal intent during its operations in Gaza.


Why Is TikTok Still Banning Pro-Israel, Pro-America Content?
Most media articles are based on research, but every once in a while, a piece is based on personal experience. When that experience is in direct contradiction to what most media reports, we all should start to wonder about the real truth, especially when it affects millions of people. And TikTok is not only influencing world opinions, but it is also consciously manipulating them for anti-American purposes.

With its powerful influence, we all need to be concerned about what is really happening at TikTok. Despite reports that censorship has been removed from the social media giant since January of 2026, pro-Israel and pro-America content is still being banned.

A few months ago, I was asked to host a radio show and podcast, “The Rabbi’s Table: Dialogue Not Debate”, which has already broken into the top one percent of podcasts worldwide. Iconic guests discuss politics, religion, and their own personal wisdom and life’s journey. It is a show about disagreeing without being disagreeable, and is the antithesis of the incendiary programming that is found all too often on the internet. Guests have included cultural icons like Andrew Klavan, Dinesh D’Souza and Tommy Robinson; religious leaders such as Pastor Jack Hibbs and Bishop Juan Carlos Mendez; political heavyweights such as Ambassador David Friedman, Senator Roger Marshall, and Sebastian Gorka; and intellectual giants like Professor Alan Dershowitz, James Lindsay, and Robert Spencer. These iconic guests have opened not only their minds, but have shared their deeper values and personal stories. As a Rabbi, I look at everything through a faith-based lens, and the show is consistently pro-American and pro-Israel. BizPac Review called it “The podcast everyone in political media is suddenly talking about”, and it is a blessing to sit with these types of icons and have a genuine dialogue.

As in most of these types of projects, there is a person who posts short “teaser” clips on social media, and the Instagram account alone has achieved almost one million views of the clips. But while Instagram, X, and other platforms post clips without hesitation, TikTok has banned a number of them. And while that seems innocuous enough, what is concerning is the anti-American/antisemitic pattern that shows up when looking at the banned clips (which can still be seen on Instagram).

Jeremy Kagan is an Emmy Award-winning director and the Chair of the Film Directing Department at USC. An old friend, Jeremy served on the Board of the DGA for years and has been a respected leader in his industry for decades. And yet, a brief clip of Jeremy describing his experience of finding God through officiating a Jewish wedding was banned. No politics, no hate, just his own spiritual insights about a Jewish wedding.

Andrew Klavan is a bestselling author, speaker, and host of a show on the Daily Wire for years. Born Jewish, Klavan found God in Christianity, and beautifully says about Christianity that “it is the deepening of the individual within the collective – the Body of Christ”. Apparently, “the Body of Christ” as part of a theological discussion on a Rabbi’s show is forbidden on TikTok, especially when it is juxtaposed against the theology of Judaism and Islam.

As a Rabbi, one of my primary jobs is to teach theology, and between that and as a former Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, I have taught thousands of people the text of the Hebrew Bible. One of the questions I have constantly been asked by students is why Jewish holidays begin at sunset. By referring to the first few verses of the Book of Genesis, I quote that “there was evening, there was morning, day one” and explain that since evening is mentioned first, the 24-hour cycle for Jews begins at sunset. But this simple explanation of basic theology was banned on TikTok. Rather than wanting to help non-Jews understand Jewish theology a little better using shared biblical text, TikTok wants to keep Jewish practices unexplained, and in so doing, push Judaism farther away and distant from other faiths… and that lack of education directly increases antisemitic behavior and actions.
Dave Rich: Three years on from the 7 October attacks, antisemitism has taken hold in Britain: Jews aren’t safe
At first, Britain largely avoided the wave of anti-Jewish violence that swept world after 7 October. In the past 12 months that has changed. Since the terror attack at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester last year that killed Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby, injured others and left a community traumatised, Britain has witnessed the stabbing of Jewish men in Golders Green, arson attacks on synagogues “almost certainly directed” from Iran, and the conviction of two Islamic extremists for a terrorist plot against Manchester’s Jewish community that could have killed hundreds. Just this week, two Iranians have been charged with an alleged plot, also to target Jewish people in the Manchester area. This has gone well beyond a problem for Britain’s Jewish community. In its scale and impact, it’s a threat to our national security.

Why these attacks are occurring is where things get complicated. It has become impossible not to notice that the justifications anti-Jewish terrorists offer for their crimes echo the language and ideas that motivate large numbers of people to march peacefully against Israel. Alid’s desire to expel Zionists from Palestine and avenge Palestinian children’s deaths in Gaza, for example, is more widely held than ought to be comfortable, given how he acted as a result. You can even hear an echo of that desire in the recent Green party vote condemning Zionism to be racism. I am sure most protesters who march for Palestine would never endorse Alid’s bloody methods, but the similarity of slogans is troubling nonetheless.

We think of democratic protest and terrorism as two opposing categories of behaviour, but the world is not so neat. Political violence always draws sustenance from a hinterland of ideas and rhetoric shared by many more people who would never pick up a knife or a gun, but who articulate the same grievances.

The belief that Israel is engaged in a “war on children” is common across the pro-Palestine movement, promoted by major NGOs and found in a thousand Instagram reels about genocidal Zionist baby-killers. Without doubt, it is deeply upsetting that thousands of Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza, and many feel that Israel could have done more to minimise civilian casualties. But to describe this not as the result of a tragic and unbearable conflict, but as a “war on children”, is to imply that killing children is the whole point: a charge that echoes the medieval blood libel. From that assumption to Jihad al-Shamie yelling: “This is what you get for killing our children” as he tried to batter down the doors of Heaton Park synagogue last Yom Kippur is not as big a leap as some might wish.

I know this reality is uncomfortable for some. It would be far more convenient if the people attacking Jews always wore swastikas rather than, as has happened, keffiyehs. The riposte that British Jews should take more care not to conflate themselves with Israel misses the point entirely. Nobody tells Russians in London not to conflate themselves with Russia, just as nobody threatens to protest outside their local Chinese takeaway about the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghurs, as some have protested at Israeli-owned restaurants in Britain. It wouldn’t even occur to people to do so. The double standard, the unique demand, is the first stage of discrimination.

We are in an extraordinary period. That the Home Office has had to commit £250m to increase policing in Jewish communities across England and Wales, while also raising the national terrorist threat level, recognising the scale of anti-Jewish terrorism and far-right extremism, shows the staggering cost of failing to tackle antisemitism at its source. The government now has plenty of reviews and recommendations to implement regarding how to reduce the extremism that drives anti-Jewish hatred. Civil society, too, needs to step up: it can’t all be left to Whitehall.

The history of antisemitism is marked by moments in time and place when it has been politically weaponised by dangerous actors who are able to lure millions to its toxic scent. The blending of vengeful anti-Israel sentiment with older antisemitic tropes over the past three years, all while Jews are being murdered on multiple continents, makes me fear we have entered such a phase. Antisemitism matters once more, and we all have a role to play in addressing it.


Inside The Cauldron: Iran, America, Israel, and the End of Khomeinism (feat. Simon Sebag Montefiore)
To understand the war unfolding with Iran today — and where it could lead — you have to understand the history that brought the Middle East to this moment.

In this episode of The Iran Breakdown, Mark Dubowitz sits down with acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East, to put today’s conflict with Iran in its deeper historical context.

When did this war really begin — with October 7, the direct 2025 US-Israel-Iran confrontation, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979? Montefiore traces the forces that shaped the modern Middle East and examines how Khomeini’s revolution transformed Iran, political Islam, and the regional order.

The conversation explores what the current war is actually about, how victory should be measured, and whether external pressure can break the Islamic Republic. Mark and Simon also look beyond the current regime: If the Islamic Republic eventually disappears, which parts of Iran’s regional ambitions disappear with it — and which are rooted more deeply in Iranian history, geography, and nationalism?

Are we witnessing another violent turn in the Middle East — or the end of the revolutionary cycle that began with Khomeini in 1979? And if that era really is ending, what comes next?


Madrid bus campaign links Ceuta border breach to Oct. 7 attacks
On the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, a prominent Spanish pro-Israel group launched a billboard campaign in Madrid, drawing a comparison between the Hamas-led attack on Israel and a mass border breach in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta.

“Did Ceuta make you feel threatened? Imagine they’d come in to kill us. That was 7 October in Israel,” read one message on buses that traveled throughout Madrid on Oct. 6 and 7 as part of a campaign by Action and Communication on the Middle East.

On July 30 and 31, tens of thousands of migrants crossed into Ceuta from neighboring Morocco, overwhelming local authorities and prompting Spain to deploy additional police and military personnel. Spanish authorities initially estimated that about 50,000 people crossed. Later estimates put the number at roughly 72,000. Most subsequently returned to Morocco. At least 72 people died during the crossings, according to Spanish authorities.

ACOM said its campaign featured two fully wrapped buses that traveled Madrid’s major streets for 10 hours a day. Other messages included: “Israel did what it had to do: defend itself” and “Don’t confuse the victim with the culprit.”

The buses traveled near landmarks including the Agriculture Ministry in Atocha, the KIO Towers in Plaza de Castilla and Plaza de Cibeles. ACOM estimated that the campaign generated between 160,000 and 280,000 street impressions over the two days.

The Ceuta migrants “did not come in to murder families or to massacre a festival,” ACOM stated. The juxtaposition, the organization’s founder and CEO Angel Mas told JNS, was to “underline for Spanish audiences the threat Israel faces and the scale of the Oct. 7 invasion.”

The campaign also criticized Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government for what ACOM described as singling out Israel and contributing to hostility toward Jews in Spain.
‘The Martyr's Blood Is Fragrant’: Mamdani's Wife Does Artwork for Terror-Loving, Anti-Israel Olive Oil Company That Celebrates Palestinian Terrorist Who Shot Down a British Plane
They're extra 72 virgins.

New York City first lady Rama Duwaji has created art for a virulently anti-Israel olive oil company that celebrates Palestinian violence, trades in antisemitic imagery, and sells expensive bottles that celebrate an OG Palestinian terrorist who shot down a British plane.

Duwaji, the wife of New York City's Israel-bashing mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has been doing illustrations for the company since at least October 2025, when her husband was the frontrunner for the mayoralty, records show.

"Rama Duwaji is a Syrian illustrator and animator based in Brooklyn. Her work explores sisterhood, closeness, and the subtle dynamics that shape our communities," reads Duwaji's page for the company, Olive Odyssey.

Duwaji, who was born in Houston but describes herself as Syrian, has provided illustrations for at least two offerings from Olive Odyssey—one of which sells for close to $100 a bottle.

Not far from her bio and products on the Olive Odyssey website, the company sells its "Nazareth Picholine Cold Pressed: Floral [Harvest 2025]"—with art featuring "a hand-drawn portrait of Khalil Abu Osba, a Palestinian resistance fighter." Abu Osba is hailed by his olive oil aficionado supporters as an anti-Israel militant who not only shot down a plane but was also condemned to death before breaking out of a fortress prison.

The highly active social media accounts for Olive Odyssey are almost cartoonishly anti-Israel, displaying a notorious antisemitic image of Israel as a skull with dead Palestinians in its teeth, deploying language about the olive trees watered with "martyrs' blood," and even accusing Israel of appropriating salad.

It's part and parcel for Duwaji, an anti-Israel activist who's had to apologize for deleted social media posts celebrating Oct. 7 and who, even as her husband recently rolled out a $30 million program to combat antisemitism, was "artist-in-residence" at a luxury Islamic wellness retreat that praised terrorism.

The olive oil bottle label sketch of Abu Osba, the "Palestinian resistance fighter," is credited to Duwaji's employer, Aya Gazawi Faour, the company founder. Faour is an Israeli citizen who lives in Haifa, in Israel proper, but on social media and in interviews, she claims that Haifa is "in Palestine." Her Olive Oil company, however, maintains a U.S. address in Casper, Wyoming.


‘As-Salamu Alaykum’: Dem House Candidate Deletes Video Condemning ‘Genocide in Gaza’ And ‘Terrors That Are Happening With Our ICE Agents’
Ohio Democratic House nominee Don Leonard's campaign quietly deleted a video from its YouTube channel where he condemned the "genocide in Gaza" and "terrors that are happening with our ICE agents here in the homeland." He also thanked his "Muslim brothers and sisters" for helping him secure his party's nomination.

Leonard, a former Ohio State University professor who denies being a democratic socialist despite supporting the Bernie Sanders-backed Working Families Party, posted the video in early May shortly after he won the primary for the 15th Congressional District, but is now nowhere to be found. He begins the video, a recording of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, with a traditional Arabic greeting and promises to "represent the interests of Muslims."

"As-salamu alaykum my Muslim brothers and sisters," Leonard said. "We did it, and we did it together. We sent a signal that no longer can the Democratic Party simply run establishment candidates who are unwilling to speak truth about the genocide in Gaza or the terrors that are happening with our ICE agents here in the homeland."

"No longer will Muslims sit back and allow the Democratic process to unfold without them," he continued. "No longer will they hold their nose and simply vote for the lesser of two evils, but rather to demand representation and to support those candidates who are willing to represent the interests of Muslims and the shared interests of all Americans."

Leonard concluded the message with a request for continued support and said, "It will be my sacred responsibility to honor the relationship that we have built when I get to Washington."

It's unclear why Leonard's campaign, which did not respond to a request for comment, deleted the video, but he has since toned down his rhetoric since winning the primary. He's running against Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Carey to represent a district that, while considered competitive, is still rated as "likely Republican" by the Cook Political Report, which assesses races based on numerous polls.

During a March podcast interview, Leonard said he supported cutting off weapons exports to Israel and characterized Israel's defensive operations as "genocidal." He also called for America to rethink its relationship with the Jewish state and promised to never accept donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Since winning the primary, he's continued his criticism of AIPAC, but has avoided weighing in on Israel.

The Ohio branch of the Hamas-friendly Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) lobbying arm, meanwhile, endorsed Leonard in April. A super PAC controlled and funded by CAIR Action has since paid $9,016.37 to fund 10 text-message campaigns in support of Leonard, campaign finance filings show.




Chicago Jewish theater drops Naomi Ragen play, says actors feared repercussions of working with her
Naomi Ragen, the New York-born Israeli novelist and playwright known for her portrayals of Orthodox Jewish women in crisis, says the cancellation of a planned Chicago revival of one of her plays represents a “return to McCarthyism” in the American cultural scene.

Ragen, 77, has revealed that a Jewish arts company in Chicago has shelved plans to revive her 2001 play Women’s Minyan. In a post shared with her thousands of followers on Facebook, Ragen included an email from the company’s artistic director saying that she had been inundated by messages from actors, directors and designers who feared that working with a “pro-Zionist Jew/Israeli” like Ragen could damage their careers.

Ragen told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Chicago-based Arts Judaica first approached her in July with a request to stage her play about a haredi woman trying to flee her abusive marriage. Elayne LeTraunik, the company’s artistic director, told Ragen they intended to stage 13 performances next March.

Happy to collaborate, Ragen asked for a contract. She heard nothing until this week when she received a reply from LeTraunik, saying she “must sadly withdraw my intent to do the show.”

LeTraunik’s email continued: “People were seeing you were a pro Zionist Jew/Israeli, and I was bombarded with actors, directors, and designers who were actually afraid that doing a show with you as playwright would hurt their careers. I have never faced this before, and I was stunned by all the accusations of ‘genocide’ flying around.”

The episode contrasts with Arts Judaica’s stated mission: Its website says that “American audiences need Jewish stories on stage more than ever.”

“In the past I have done plays about suicide bombers and never had a peep from anyone,” LeTraunik told Ragen. “This world is getting insane. Perhaps once all this dies down (if it ever does), I will try again. I am so sorry.”

Born in New York, Ragen emigrated to Israel in 1971 and settled in Jerusalem. In addition to best-selling novels like Sotah and The Sacrifice of Tamar, she regularly writes opinion pieces sharing her hawkish views on Israel. On her website and on social media, she shares dispatches from her “Israel War Diary,” expressing strong support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF military action against Hamas. She has also spoken against what she describes as a worldwide “climate of hatred, fear, and intimidation.”

Some people, she said, have suggested the play was canceled because she is a right-wing Zionist. “Are we now back to McCarthyism, where you have to check the political credentials of an artist [before deciding] whether or not to promote their work?” she said.

“I thought all the progressives were against McCarthyism. Now we’re back there where I have to pass some kind of political test in order to have my work shown.”

LeTraunik told JTA she could never have predicted the pushback or the cancellation when she first approached Ragen. “This situation is one I have never faced before after a lifetime in theater,” she said.

“Since the play has nothing to do with politics, I didn’t anticipate any problems,” she continued. “But unfortunately, people had done research on Naomi and felt so triggered by her politics that it appeared that there were concerns from would-be actors, etc., and even the person who had offered to put up some of the funding was not comfortable.

“As for me, I am almost 80 years old, [a] lifetime American and Jew, and I have long decided not to get involved in the current political turmoil. I just want to do interesting theater.”


Somali immigrant charged with plotting antisemitic terror attack on Mall of America: ‘I want to harm the Jew’
The FBI foiled an antisemitic terror attack at the Mall of America by an ISIS-inspired Somali immigrant who wanted to “harm the Jew,” according to a federal criminal affidavit and authorities.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud paid $600 to an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS member for a Chinese-made Norinco AK-47 assault rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court.

He was then promptly arrested Tuesday in a public park.

Mohamud wrote to an FBI informant through TikTok and Signal messaging accounts he wanted to attack the Mall of America — the largest shopping center in the US — “because its owned by jewish [sic] so if i kill even 30 people noone would go there anymore. I want to harm the jew just like the brothers in australia bondi beach harmed the jews.”

“I’ll just go grab assault rifle bomb is too complicated kill maybe 30-60 people insha Allah and have 260 ammo,” Mohamud also wrote.

In other text messages with the informant, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed his intent to carry out the attack against non-Muslims in the Twin Cities region on Oct. 24, the complaint authored by an FBI special agent noted.

The 18-year-old had been under investigation for almost two years while exchanging messages with a confidential informant.

Agents sold him the rifle and ammunition right before taking him into custody, per the complaint and US Attorney Daniel Rosen.


After war put them on the ropes, a martial arts gym gives wounded vets a fighting chance
On a recent morning, Sagi Dovev started his day the way he usually does: throwing jabs, kicks and flipping opponents onto a mat.

His sparring partners included one soldier who was missing a leg, another without an arm, a combat veteran fighting from a wheelchair and others with invisible wounds like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Gathering at a second-story gym in central Israel that is the temporary home of House of Heroes, the close-quarters combat and resilience trainer led sessions for the ex-soldiers on mixed martial arts, jiu-jitsu and Krav Maga, turning the space into a blur of sweaty motion, accompanied by a cacophony of thuds and grunts.

“These are elite fighters,” Dovev, 49, told The Times of Israel while he surveyed the crowded gym. “One day they were doing extreme missions, and the next day they were in a hospital bed. They are warriors, and we want them to be warriors again.”

Dovev, who formerly served as a head special operations trainer in the IDF, is the founder of the House of Heroes,

Dovev came up with the idea for the non-profit as he and the rest of the country scrambled to respond to the October 7, 2023, invasion of thousands of Hamas-led terrorists into southern Israel, where they slaughtered some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped 251 to the Gaza Strip.

At Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, he found a number of soldiers he had previously trained who were critically injured in the fighting.

“One day they were elite fighters who could do anything they wanted,” Dovev said. “Then, they were in the hospital, and I was helping them drink cold coffee with a straw because they couldn’t move their hands. I was thinking, ‘How can I help them rehabilitate faster?’”

His solution would eventually become House of Heroes, a special type of gym where wounded combat veterans can learn various martial arts and train with other injured fighters, helping them rebuild their physical strength and mental resilience.

According to Valery Hazanov, a PhD who directs the Returning to Life Center for Victims of Mental Trauma in Jerusalem, getting on the mat can be particularly therapeutic for PTSD sufferers.

“Their identity as warriors, as fighters, can get lost,” said Hazanov. “They may have stopped taking care of their bodies and staying in shape. They feel powerless and helpless, and mixed martial arts can return that fire to them. They’re fighting again in a controlled, therapeutic setting, but they’re still fighting.”

House of Heroes is one of dozens of organizations that have stepped in to help the tens of thousands returning from war with physical or mental scars, filling gaps left by the limited resources provided by official institutions.
Paris names park path for slain Bibas children
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire on Tuesday inaugurated a memorial pathway named for Ariel and Kfir Bibas, two children who, along with their mother, Shiri, were murdered by Hamas terrorists after being abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023.

The mother and her two boys, aged 4 and nine months at the time of their abduction, were “cowardly murdered by terrorists in what is the deadliest pogrom in recent history,” Grégoire said at the ceremony, alongside Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), and others, Le Parisien reported.

The plaque marking the Ariel and Kfir Bibas Pathway also mentions Shiri and describes the three as “victims of Islamist terrorism and antisemitic hatred.”

The Paris City Council observed a minute of silence on Tuesday at a separate ceremony ahead of the third anniversary of the Hamas massacre.

“The violated innocence of Ariel and Kfir Bibas has become a symbol of the antisemitic hatred of the mass attacks perpetrated on Oct. 7, 2023,” read a resolution unanimously adopted by the council.

The pathway named for Ariel and Kfir is in Parc Monceau, which the city describes on its website as “one of the most beautiful gardens in Paris” and a “particularly peaceful” corner of the city.

Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the father of the two boys, attended the inauguration and recalled the last time he saw his family alive.

“I asked you: Do we fight or do we surrender? You said we fight, so we fought. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. If I’d have known what would happen, I never would’ve fired,” he said, referring to his decision to open fire with his sidearm on terrorists who invaded the family’s home.

Yarden Bibas was wounded, captured and taken to Gaza, where he was held hostage until his release.

“We won’t forget and we won’t forgive,” Jimmy Miller, Shiri Bibas’s cousin, told JNS. “The fire may have died out long ago, but the light of Ariel and Kfir will continue to burn forever.”





 


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