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Wednesday, October 14, 2026

10/14 Links Pt1: UN Commission Member Chris Challenged on Gaza Genocide Findings in Melbourne Debate; Families of American October 7 victims call for US congressional inquiry into massacre

From Ian:

Joseph Lemkin: My relative defined ‘genocide,’ honoring him means scrutinizing Pillay’s Israel findings
Our history also makes us alert to the danger of collective blame. An accusation against a government must not become an accusation against a people. Jews everywhere must not be made collectively answerable for Israel’s conduct. Palestinians must not be made collectively answerable for Hamas.

That principle obliges us to look directly at Palestinian suffering. A child’s death does not become less terrible because its legal classification is disputed. Families deprived of food, shelter, or medical care do not have to win a terminology debate before their lives matter.

Protecting civilians, allowing and facilitating humanitarian relief, and investigating alleged crimes cannot wait for agreement on a label.

Challenging a genocide accusation does not require declaring every military action lawful. Recognizing civilian suffering does not require accepting every accusation made in its name. War crimes and crimes against humanity are grave crimes in their own right. Genocide is not a measure of whose suffering matters most.

There is danger in both directions. Using the term carelessly can turn it into an instrument of political condemnation. Refusing to consider it when the evidence warrants consideration can abandon people the convention was designed to protect.

A faithful defense of Lemkin’s legacy must confront both. The same discipline must apply whether the accused is an enemy, an ally, or our own government.

I want institutions that investigate allegations rigorously, explain their reasoning clearly and apply standards consistently, including when doing so angers powerful governments. I also want institutions whose conclusions can be questioned without every critic being branded an enemy of international justice.

Public confidence must be earned through evidence, fairness and a willingness to answer difficult questions. Governments cannot claim immunity from that scrutiny. International institutions cannot claim immunity from it, either.

Pillay is right that international law needs defenders. Those defenders should insist that no country is above scrutiny and no institution is beyond it.

My relative helped give the world a word it desperately needed. Our responsibility is to honor both the word and the obligation it created: to recognize genocide when the evidence establishes it, to resist using the accusation as a substitute for evidence, and to protect civilians whether or not that legal threshold is met.
Harris criticizes Biden, Trump administrations for not acting ‘more forcefully’ against Israel
Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the Biden and Trump administrations on Wednesday for failing to use U.S. leverage to curb Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, saying Washington should have acted “sooner and more forcefully.”

“Most recently, the failure to use our leverage to curtail the Israeli government’s horrific conduct in the war in Gaza, both under the current administration, which offers [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu a blank check, and our administration before, where we should have acted sooner and more forcefully,” Harris said while speaking at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, South Korea.

The Republican Jewish Coalition called Harris’s remarks “unsurprising,” citing her absence from Netanyahu’s 2024 address to Congress and her opposition to legislation targeting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

The group also criticized Harris for calling for a halt to Israeli military operations in Rafah, where the Israel Defense Forces later found and rescued hostages, and for agreeing with a student in 2021 who accused Israel of “ethnic genocide.”

Attorney and author Warren Kinsella, who worked on Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, wrote that he is “ashamed to have worked with her,” following her remarks about Israel.


Passengers of Egyptian aircraft that landed in Israel before October 7 were businessmen
Two businessmen on a routine trip were the passengers of the Egyptian aircraft that landed in Israel on September 26, 2023, KAN News reported on Wednesday, citing several sources familiar with the matter.

The report comes amid suspicion that Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate Director Abbas Kamel was on board the flight, which was first reported by The Atlantic on Friday.

According to the KAN report, the passengers entered Israel through the Fattal Terminal at Ben-Gurion Airport, and QAS provided ground services before the aircraft returned empty to Cairo.

KAN noted that the flight was not registered as official or security-related, and that the Transportation Ministry, Fattal Terminal, the Population and Immigration Authority, and an Egyptian charter company are all aware of the passengers' identities. However, the entities will not publish the names, in line with standard privacy practices.

The flight in question has come under scrutiny after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed earlier on Wednesday that an Egyptian aircraft had landed in Israel several days before the October 7 massacre.

Netanyahu denied meeting with Kamel in September 2023 and told KAN he was unaware of who the Egyptian intelligence chief met during the alleged trip.

"I want to know who he met. I don't know," said Netanyahu, claiming that whoever had met Kamel was trying to "pin it" on him.

Also on Wednesday, N12 News reported that Israel's security chiefs were unaware that Kamel had visited Israel in September 2023.


Families of American October 7 victims call for US congressional inquiry into massacre
Three years after Hamas's October 7 massacre, and with Israel yet to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the attack, families of American victims are calling for a separate investigation by the United States Congress.

The demand emerged Wednesday during a memorial ceremony at the US State Department in Washington honoring American citizens killed in the attack and its aftermath.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post following the event, Ruby Chen, father of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, said the families could no longer wait for Israel to investigate the circumstances that allowed the massacre to happen.

"Unfortunately, the Israeli government has not seen fit to establish a state commission of inquiry," Chen said.

"Maybe the time has come for the United States, for the US Congress, to establish an investigative commission for the American victims."

Itay Chen was a 19-year-old IDF soldier when he was murdered during the October 7 massacre. His remains were taken to Gaza and returned to Israel in November 2025.

For Chen, the demand goes beyond determining what happened during the attack. He wants an examination of the failures that made it possible.

"For a thousand days now, the families have been waiting to understand not just what happened, but how it happened," he said.

Chen pointed to previous American investigations following terrorist attacks that killed US citizens abroad, arguing that the deaths of Americans on October 7 justify an independent congressional inquiry.

The proposal has not been formally adopted by Congress or the Trump administration. For now, it remains a demand from bereaved families seeking answers and accountability.

During his remarks at the ceremony, Chen also called for legal action against those he said had financed or helped prepare Hamas's terror attack.

He criticized the fact that individuals he believes bear responsibility remain free in countries including Qatar and Turkey, and called on Washington to help bring them to justice on behalf of the American victims.

At least 46 American citizens were murdered in the October 7 attacks, including Israeli-Americans with dual citizenship.

For their families, the effort to secure recognition for their loved ones is increasingly accompanied by another demand: that commemoration be followed by accountability. Inside the Benjamin Franklin Room: Itay Chen's dog tag returns to Washington

The demand for an investigation formed part of a deeply personal gathering at the State Department's Benjamin Franklin Room on Wednesday morning.

Israeli-American bereaved families came together for a memorial honoring the American victims of October 7, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, also participating.


Administration officials join bereaved families for Oct. 7 commemoration event
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun and other administration officials joined the families of former hostages and victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel for a commemoration event on Wednesday at the State Department.

The commemoration took place a week after the third anniversary of the attacks.

Rubio and Lutnick played a central role in organizing the event to honor the 46 Americans killed in the Oct. 7 attacks, following advocacy by Ruby Chen — father of Itay Chen, an American who served in the IDF and was killed on Oct. 7 — and other bereaved families, several of whom delivered remarks.

Others in attendance included Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Sebastian Gorka, the senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

Rubio spoke about the U.S.’ commitment to foreign engagement and the need to fight for Western civilization, according to Doug Maguire, policy director at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which helped support the event, which was closed to the press. Rubio was joined by Lutnick, who spoke about his feeling of personal connection to the Oct. 7 attacks, having lost his brother, friends and co-workers in the 9/11 attacks, which destroyed his firm’s New York office.

Lutnick was heavily involved in advocacy for the hostages and has spoken previously about how his experience during 9/11 has brought him closer to the hostage families.

Cooper spoke about CENTCOM’s efforts as well as offered praise for the U.S. citizens who have enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces and lost their lives protecting Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 and in the subsequent war in Gaza, describing that level of commitment as an uncommon bond that the U.S. cannot take for granted.

Cooper, who said he has attended dozens of memorial services in connection to the Oct. 7 attacks, also displayed a replica of the dog tags worn by Itay Chen — an IDF tank commander and U.S. citizen killed on Oct. 7 whose body was held by Hamas for more than two years — which Ruby Chen gave to Cooper at Itay’s funeral.

Cooper said he has carried them daily and kept them close to his heart.


UN Commission of Inquiry Member Chris Sidoti Challenged on Gaza Genocide Findings in Melbourne Debate
On October 8, 2026, Chris Sidoti, a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Israel, and Dr. Brian Cox, an international criminal law expert and former U.S. military lawyer, debated the Commission’s finding that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. The debate took place at Caulfield Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia.

Sidoti is one of three members of the UN’s Commission of Inquiry established in May 2021 to investigate Israel. He previously served as Australian Human Rights Commissioner from 1995 to 2000 and has held various human rights roles at the United Nations.

Cox served in the U.S. Army for 22 years, including as a military prosecutor and Chief of International and Operational Law for Regional Command-East. He also taught international law at Cornell Law School from 2019 to 2026.

Below are key excerpts from their debate, addressing the legal standard for genocide, the Commission’s investigative methods, military operations in Gaza and the evidence underlying its conclusions.

The Standard for Establishing Genocidal Intent
Sidoti: “The test of inference [to establish genocidal intent] is a very, very high test. According to the International Court of Justice, to form a conclusion that the purpose is genocidal on the basis of inference requires that inference be the only reasonable inference available. That’s a really high test. It’s a test, in fact, that in my opinion is higher than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.”

Sidoti: “If we accept that the goal of the Israeli authorities in Gaza has been the destruction of Hamas, that does not preclude the possibility of genocide being the strategy by which that goal is going to be attained, and that is an issue. The fighting, the strategy, can be undertaken in such a way, in our view of the law, that it can coexist with the goal of eliminating Hamas.”

Sidoti: “The evidentiary standard is the standard that is in the procedures for all of the UN Human Rights Council investigative bodies… It is reasonable grounds to believe or to conclude… as Brian has rightly said in some of his writings, it’s not a high standard. It’s not beyond reasonable doubt. It’s not the balance of probabilities, although it probably comes close to that… [The standard of proof of reasonable grounds in the Commission’s terms of reference] honestly, that definition, which is in the OHCHR manual, is gobbledygook.”

Commission Infers Intent Solely from the Results of Attacks
Cox: “Going back to the Rome Statute as a template, as an example, intentionally directing an attack against civilian population or against a civilian object, it’s possible to infer intent, but it’s almost it is extraordinarily difficult to infer what the intent and the knowledge was after an attack from just looking at the effects of an attack.”

Sidoti: “It is a strategy of total destruction. Now, it may be that it is being done with the goal of destroying Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but the strategy has been from the beginning a strategy of total destruction… Hospitals, in their entirety, have been destroyed.”

Sidoti: Israel’s Non-Cooperation Increased Commission’s Reliance on Inference
Sidoti: “Israeli authorities do not cooperate with our commission in any way… it does make the job more difficult, and it pushes us back to relying more on inference than on other factors.”

Sidoti: “We Are Not a Court”
Sidoti: “We Are Not a Court”

Sidoti: “We are not a court. We are not a court. We’re not even prosecutors. We are an investigative body, and we produce the conclusions of our investigation based on the standard of reasonable grounds to conclude.”

Sidoti: “We’re not a court, and I keep on saying this: we’re not a court. We don’t operate on the basis of criminal standards, of evidence and proof. We’re an investigative body, so it’s different.”

The Commission’s Unnamed Military Expert
Sidoti: “We have a full-time military expert on our staff who has, I think, around about 20 years of active military service in an armed force before working in the international courts in The Hague before coming to us… We do not give out the names of any of our staff for obvious reasons. I’m responsible. I’m responsible. The other commissioners are responsible, and we will not expose our staff to risk, including from your government.”

Cox: “So, the person has served in a military, somebody’s military. I have no idea what type of experience they have, what type of biases they have, what gaps in knowledge they have… we can’t tell precisely how the military expert influences the commission’s work because we have no idea who he or she is.”

Cox: Selective Use of Israeli Leaders’ Statements
Cox: “[The Commission has] taken snippets of statements from elected officials to support the inference that the goal of the combat military operations is to destroy the Palestinian population in whole or in part, as such, while ignoring the actual stated intent that has been consistent since the very beginning: to repatriate all hostages and to end the enduring security threat posed by Hamas. That is not genocide. That is war.”

Sidoti: “We did, in fact, provide context for one of the most serious of Netanyahu’s comments and talked about how he qualified what he said later in the same statement. But it seemed to us that his qualification was not convincing, shall we say, in relation to the statement that preceded it, because the actions of the Israeli military was very much in relation to the first one.”

Sidoti: Commission Did Not Independently Establish Civilian Death Toll
Sidoti: “No, we didn’t [independently establish the number of civilians killed], because we don’t have that information, nor did we establish that the numbers that the IDF claimed were militants were accurate as well. So we literally do not know, nor does anybody else know, including the IDF, how many militants were there.”
Dr. Brian L. Cox: Cox vs Sidoti LIVE debate on UN Commission of Inquiry material and Israel "genocide" allegation



Simon Schama: British Jews feel unsafe – and history shows Gaza isn’t a genocide
Michael Gove is joined by historian Simon Schama to discuss the resurgence of antisemitism in Britain, why many British Jews increasingly feel unsafe, and what history can teach us about the war in Gaza.

Simon argues that the language of genocide is being misapplied to Gaza and warns that historical ignorance, social media and political polarisation are fuelling a new strain of antisemitism on both left and right.

They also discuss Holocaust education, Donald Trump and the politics of truth, the treatment of Jewish students in Britain, and what the rise of antisemitism tells us about the health of liberal democracy.


Victor Davis Hanson: The Lie Behind the Gaza Genocide Accusations
Three years after the October 7 massacre, Gaza lies in ruins. But who is really to blame?

Hamas had every opportunity to build a prosperous Gaza following Israel's withdrawal in 2005. Instead, billions in international aid were diverted, hundreds of miles of tunnels were built, and Palestinian civilians were used as human shields.

Despite repeated opportunities to release Israeli hostages and avoid further destruction, Hamas refused, launching thousands of rockets into Israel.

Now, as accusations of genocide continue against Israel, the history of Gaza and the events surrounding October 7 tell a very different story.




travelingisrael.com: NAZA: Exposing the Ugly Truth The shadow-bans and drops in views are real, but with your help, we can make sure the truth isn’t silenced. Here is how you can become an active part of this mission and keep this channel going:



US military destroys Iranian-affiliated ship in Gulf of Oman after evacuating crew
The US military destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in an X/Twitter post.

The ship was targeted after being observed "conducting surveillance and targeting US Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman," according to CENTCOM.

Over the past seven months, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has continued to target thousands of civilian mariners transiting regional waters, as well as US Navy warships, CENTCOM added.

“Crew members were safely removed prior to the destruction of the dhow. Repatriation efforts are ongoing,” CENTCOM confirmed.

US Army disables Panama vessel in Gulf of Oman
The ship's destruction comes after an October 10 announcement by CENTCOM that it had disabled a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman after its crew ignored repeated warnings and attempted to bypass the US naval blockade of Iranian ports along the Strait of Hormuz.

The Panama-flagged vessel, named the Ocean Molica and also known as the Arika Sun, was struck by a US military fighter jet, disabling its propulsion system without harming the crew, according to CENTCOM.
Iran Guards say cargo ship sank in Hormuz after hitting mine
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that a ship caught fire and sank in the Strait of Hormuz because of a mine, while British security firm Vanguard also reported a sinking.

“A container ship attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz using an unauthorized and dangerous shipping lane struck a mine that exploded,” said the navy of the IRGC, the Iranian paramilitary tasked with advancing the ideology of the 1979 revolution.

Images released by the IRGC showed a plume of black smoke rising from a ship, while dozens of containers that had fallen into the sea floated on the water. The IRGC said the ship was carrying more than 2,500 containers.

Iran claims control of the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s hydrocarbons passed before the Middle East war. It regularly targets ships it accuses of transiting without authorization, while the US has imposed its own blockade on Iran’s ports.

According to Vanguard, the GFS Pride, a Singapore-flagged container ship, was struck by a projectile on Tuesday and sank.

It was not clear if the two statements referred to the same ship.

Vanguard reported three other ships struck on Tuesday, with two of them continuing on their way and the fate of the third unknown.

The US military meanwhile said it destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow last week that it alleged was conducting surveillance and targeting US Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman.

“Crew members were safely removed prior to destruction of the dhow. Repatriation efforts are ongoing,” the US Central Command posted on X, saying the incident took place on October 6.


Israel confirms purchase of 12 Apache 'Echo' helicopters in major Boeing defense deal
Israel’s Defense Ministry confirmed Wednesday that it has purchased 12 Apache attack helicopters from Boeing. Ministry Director General Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amir Baram instructed the ministry’s delegation in Washington to sign the agreement with the Pentagon.

“The helicopters, scheduled for delivery at the beginning of the next decade, are of the Echo variant, the newest and most advanced model of the helicopter,” the Defense Ministry said.

“The procurement of the Apache helicopters is a critical step in the IDF’s force buildup, one that will strengthen its operational capabilities against a wide range of threats and contribute to the security of the State of Israel in the years to come,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

“The Israeli defense establishment invested considerable effort and acted with determination to overcome the challenges and complete this agreement out of a deep understanding of its importance in ensuring the IDF’s strength and readiness for future challenges,” he noted.

“I thank our partners in the US administration and the Pentagon for their steadfast commitment to Israel’s security, and for the cooperation and flexibility that made this agreement possible. Thank you to all those involved, led by Baram, for their professional and dedicated work, and for the perseverance that led to the completion of this important procurement,” Katz said.

“The execution of the Apache agreement was made possible thanks to creative solutions we developed together with our American partners, without compromising operational needs,” Baram said.

“This professional work with the US administration reflects the depth of our strategic relationship and the mutual commitment to Israel’s security.

“The Defense Ministry will continue to work at full pace to sign additional critical agreements, including the acquisition of additional platforms, munitions, interceptors, and more. This is to ensure immediate readiness for any scenario, alongside the implementation of the decade-long force buildup plan as part of the Defense Ministry’s strategy in the face of emerging challenges,” he added.

“Boeing has been a trusted partner of Israel’s in building and advancing the country’s national defense capabilities since its earliest days, and we are proud to continue serving as a leading supplier of fighter aircraft, helicopters, munitions and other equipment in the future,” Boeing Israel President Maj.-Gen. (res.) Ido Nehushtan said.

“The IDF’s selection of the Apache Echo, following its selection of the world’s most advanced refueling aircraft, the KC-46A, and the decision to procure a second squadron of the world’s most advanced fighter jets, the F-15IA, is compelling proof of its proven operational capabilities on the battlefield and its continued relevance in addressing evolving threats and future operational challenges.

“Boeing will work in close cooperation with the Government of Israel to provide the Israel Air Force with the world’s most advanced and capable attack helicopters,” Nehushtan added. He served as IAF chief from 2008 until 2012 before leaving the military.
Katz moves to ban fiber-optic, SIM-operated drones from Israeli airspace amid growing threats
Defense Minister Israel Katz plans to sign an order banning fiber-optic and SIM-controlled drones from flying in Israeli airspace on Sunday, Katz's office announced on Tuesday, in an effort to curb security threats posed by these drone types.

Among the varied threats mentioned were drone attacks, attempts to harm senior officials, usage of the drones by organized crime families, smuggling, and illicitly gathering intelligence.

The order will last six months from its signing and was approved in advance by both Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting.

The order also includes exceptions for security force drones, fiber-optic drones tied to the ground, SIM-operated drones which had received prior authorization from the Civil Aviation Authority, and all non-fiber-optic or SIM-operated drones.

IDF establishing new drone-countering corps
Also on Tuesday, Walla reported that IDF Ground Forces Commander Maj.-Gen. Nadav Lotan is working to establish a new corps dedicated to countering low-altitude drone threats, as part of an effort to strengthen Israel's defenses against the growing threat posed by unmanned aerial vehicles.

The corps will initially be based on five battalions that routinely protect the borders with Jordan and Egypt, as well as the security barrier area in the West Bank.

Under the plan, these battalions will assume an additional mission alongside their existing responsibility for defending Israel's land borders: protecting against mobile threats operating in the airspace close to the ground.
Jpost Editorial: Field trip tragedy shows Israel needs answers, not a blame game
Numerous questions must be asked following the tragic death on Monday of 14-year-old Elazar Yair Wilensky during a school field trip to the Naftali Mountains Forest near the Lebanon border.

Wilensky was killed, and 24 others were wounded, when one of the students picked up an unexploded Hezbollah bomb and put it in his backpack.

Among the questions that must be asked: Why did the Education Ministry approve a hike in an area that Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael said was closed to hikers? Did the approved route pass through that area? Why did the KKL warning signs at the site not explicitly explain that there was lethal unexploded ordnance in the area?

And if, as Education Minister Yoav Kisch suggested in an interview, the group strayed from the approved route, who made that decision, and why?

These questions need an investigation, not a round of competing statements where each body explains why responsibility lies elsewhere: Who knew what, which instructions were issued, were the crystal clear, and were they followed? That is what a probe must ascertain.

Three years of war have left remnants of rockets, drones, unexploded munitions everywhere
Responsibility matters because rules that are written down on paper offer no protection if nobody ensures that they are followed.

But the response cannot end with determining responsibility for this particular trip. There is also a wider danger that will linger long after the immediate headlines fade.

Three years of war have left remnants of rockets, drones, and interceptors, along with unexploded munitions littered around the country. Some objects may look harmless; some may arouse the curiosity of children.

Clearing forests and open spaces will require years of work, substantial resources, and sustained attention. The necessary budgets must be allocated. Areas known to be particularly dangerous must be clearly marked and access restricted, and routes opened to hikers must undergo thorough checks.

Even then, nobody can honestly promise that every dangerous object will be found.

That is not an argument for accepting a child’s death as inevitable. It is an argument for taking the remaining danger seriously and making sure the public also understands it.

Despite lurking dangers – and Israel has more than its fair share – normal life needs to continue. Children must be able to take field trips, and families need to be able to hike. But returning to these activities requires precautions suited to the landscape the war has left behind.
Funeral held for teen boy, ‘full of life,’ who was killed in Hezbollah munitions blast
Elazar Yair Wilensky, 13, who was killed in an explosion of unexploded Hezbollah ordnance during a high school trip near the Lebanon border earlier this week, was buried in Moshav Hosen on Wednesday.

His mother, Yehudit, said Elazar’s life was “too short, but it was so full and beautiful. You loved life, and life loved you in return. You loved nature and trips from an early age.”

Amid questions as to why the school group was apparently hiking in a restricted area, Education Minister Yoav Kisch vowed that the boy’s family would be given answers.

“Yair was a boy full of joy. He had been waiting for this trip and was happy that it was happening,” Kisch told mourners. “He was a good friend, a talented athlete, a champion in fencing.

“This trip, which was all about joy and love for the country, ended in great disaster and tragedy,” Kisch said. “I want to tell the family, the entire State of Israel stands with you and will support you. Secondly, we will examine this painful disaster… We will tell you what happened so that you will not be left with any questions.”

Minister Ze’ev Elkin, whose portfolio includes responsibility for the rehabilitation of the north, was also present at the funeral.

Rabbi Elazar Baruch, the head of the ORT Ma’alot yeshiva high school Wilensky attended, remembered the student as being “full of big dreams of sports, victories and record-breaking.”

“How is it possible to eulogize a boy full of life? The heart refuses to believe, and the mind refuses to grasp the enormity of the tragedy,” he said.

The deadly blast occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, when a group of students and teachers from the ORT Ma’alot school were hiking the Naftali Mountains Forest scenic route in the Ramim Ridge area.

A preliminary investigation indicated that students had found the unexploded submunition from a Hezbollah Grad rocket and passed it between them. One then placed the ordnance in his bag. At a certain point, it exploded. According to Ynet, the explosion occurred while the students were stopped at the Pe’er Observation Point in the Upper Galilee to eat.

Along with Wilensky’s death, 24 school students and teachers were wounded, some of them seriously.

A friend of Wilensky’s from yeshiva addressed him: “You were a huge light for us. I can’t bear to talk about you in the past tense. Only on Sunday I saw you, with your playful smile, and I gave you a final hug. You brightened our lives and made everyone happy. Everyone loved you.”

Another friend said at the funeral that Wilensky was “murdered at the hands of Hezbollah.”


IDF, Shin Bet raid two West Bank charities they say were fronts for terror groups
The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet said on Wednesday that they had cracked down recently on ostensible charities based in the West Bank, which they said were actually raising funds for terrorist organizations.

In a joint statement, the security bodies said that two targeted operations were carried out in Ramallah and Yatta in the West Bank, and five people were arrested for raising money on behalf of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Security forces raided the Ramallah offices of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association on Tuesday, the statement said, seizing computers, documents and checkbooks.

Addameer, a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 1991, provides free legal services to Palestinian political prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody and monitors the conditions of their confinement.

The IDF and Shin Bet said the organization provides legal assistance to terrorists, including those responsible for the murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in 2019.

Forces also recently raided the office in Yatta of the Islamic Society for Orphans Welfare, the IDF and Shin Bet said, adding that officers arrested individuals and confiscated items “bearing markings associated with designated Hamas funds.”

The IDF and Shin Bet accused the organization of transferring funds to Hamas and supporting the families of Hamas terrorists and prisoners.

Israel has carried out numerous raids against Palestinian organizations accused of working with or financing terror groups.


For AP, Oct. 7 is a monument to mark Palestinian suffering
Deganit Bar Hay, an Israeli survivor of the Hamas-led October 7 massacre, cannot barbecue because the smell of burnt flesh is still a trigger three years later, she told the Associated Press. Let that horrific thought sink in for a moment.

Hundreds of thousands of survivors of Hamas’s rampage of murder, maiming, rape, torture, kidnapping, burning, and destruction share her enduring trauma.

In Israel, three years afterward, one in five Israelis are still “struggling to function” due to mental health disabilities, a new study found.

But for the leading wire service, Deganit’s ongoing trauma is merely a footnote to what the news agency considers the real story: that is, the “tragedy in Gaza.” Israelis hold banners reading ‘Remember and never forget’ as they block the highway for a moment of silence during an October 7 memorial ceremony marking the third anniversary of Hamas’s attack in Tel Aviv.

On the eve of October 7, 2026, the third anniversary of the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, Deganit’s heartbreaking pain is buried in the seventh paragraph. The article’s focus, as the headline puts it, is “Much of the world sees tragedy in Gaza. Many Israelis, scarred by October 7, see only a threat.”

Deganit’s trauma serves as a mere vehicle to probe what the news agency sees as the real story on the anniversary of this horrific massacre of Israelis: “tragedy in Gaza.”

Thus, as Israelis gathered to mark the Palestinian mass murder of their own people in their homes and at a music festival, the AP perversely highlights Palestinian victimhood.

Even more perversely, on the anniversary of Hamas’s unprecedented slaughter of Israeli civilians, the AP faults Israeli victims for not seeing beyond their own self-absorbing pain to share concern for Palestinian hardships.

“There is little discussion of Palestinian civilians,” a subheading complains.

Indeed, in the opening paragraphs describing Israelis peering through binoculars towards “the shattered Gaza town of Beit Hanun,” AP falsely frames the scene as Israelis exhibiting cruel callousness towards Palestinian civilians.

“The lookout is a rare place where they can confront the Palestinian territory firsthand, and some celebrate its devastation,” AP’s Cara Anna opines, completely erasing Hamas from the equation.

She then cites one onlooker quoted in an Israeli documentary: “Wow, destroyed beautifully.”

In her fallacious telling, Israelis rejoice in the pain of civilians, not in the destruction of the terror infrastructure that enabled the unspeakable horrors their own communities suffered on October 7 and still torment to this day.

The news agency’s unfortunate photo choice reinforces the distorted narrative in which ghoulish Israelis supposedly rejoice in the suffering of neighboring civilians.
‘Since October 8, Hamas has been erased from the story’
How did sections of the international media turn the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust into an unprovoked war against a faceless enemy?

On the third anniversary of October 7, while Israel has fundamentally rebuilt its strategic security across seven physical combat arenas, the eighth front, the information battlefield, remains inundated with distortion and anti-Israel libels. Too often, mainstream Western outlets have functionally erased Hamas from the narrative, ignoring the terrorists' daily choice not to surrender and stripping Palestinians of all moral agency, Adam Levick, UK Media Research Manager at CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis) told me in this episode of The Rosshandler Report.

Key highlights from our conversation:
While antisemitic conspiracy theories imagine an all-powerful pro-Israel media machine, organizations like CAMERA operate with small, privately funded teams against a multi-billion-dollar state-backed propaganda apparatus bankrolled by Qatar and hostile actors.

Western newsrooms view the Middle East through rigid academic dogmas dividing the world into white "oppressors" and non-white "oppressed," thereby utterly distorting the reality of the conflict. Between October 14 and 27, 2023, before IDF ground troops even entered Gaza, The Guardian had already published 11 op-eds accusing Israel of active or impending genocide.

Winning in the media arena is not about stopping legitimate criticism; it is about enforcing newsrooms' own stated codes of conduct. CAMERA’s research has forced hundreds of formal corrections, from stopping BBC Arabic from calling pre-1967 Israeli cities like Sderot "settlements," to compelling The Guardian to acknowledge the Temple Mount as Judaism's holiest site.

Platforms like X create insular echo chambers that manufacture consensus. When veteran correspondents like the BBC's Jeremy Bowen bathe in applause from anti-Israel accounts, extreme rhetoric feels like the mainstream, and factual pushback is dismissed as fringe.

Mainstream coverage has normalized terrorist operatives masquerading as reporters, even after the IDF exposed 170 claimed "journalists" as active Hamas and PIJ combatants. On the massacre's anniversary, wire services went so far as to criticize grieving Israelis for failing to display sufficient empathy for Gazans, exposing an ingrained subtext that denies Jews the right to self-defense and the right to mourn their dead.

Resisting media bias requires avoiding both blind complacency and paralyzing fatalism. Israel possesses a formidable military, resilient alliances, and moral clarity. Everyday citizens can hold the line by amplifying fact-checked data and engaging in disciplined, professional correspondence with editors.







 


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