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Wednesday, October 21, 2026

10/20 Links Pt2: France in Flames: How the Red-Green Alliance Is Undermining Western Democracy; The Money Network Behind Mamdani, Tlaib, And El-Sayed; The Hamas apologism of Sarah Helm

From Ian:

France in Flames: How the Red-Green Alliance Is Undermining Western Democracy
The scenes unfolding across France in October 2026 - burned vehicles, looted shops, arson against public buildings, and clashes that left hundreds of police injured - reveals the operational success of the Red-Green Alliance: the tactical convergence of radical leftists and Islamist networks that has weaponized "Palestinianism" - into a moral solvent dissolving Western self-confidence.

Six months before the April 2027 presidential election, polling points toward a probable runoff between Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Melenchon of the La France Insoumise (LFI) party. LFI and Melenchon have long cultivated proximity to Islamist-linked activists and pro-Palestinian networks while framing criticism of political Islam as "Islamophobia."

Melenchon's public support for the student movement, his criticism of police "maintenance of order" as the true source of chaos, and the presence of Palestinian flags and radical rhetoric within the protests fit a pattern: the Red-Green assault that unites Marxist radicals and Islamists against the liberal democratic West and the Jewish state.

At the heart of this alliance stands Palestinianism - the ideological elevation of the Palestinian cause into the master narrative of a global anti-colonial struggle. Palestinianism functions as the primary vector through which the Red-Green Alliance legitimizes political violence.

Once terrorism is reframed as "resistance," and once the deliberate targeting of civilians is excused, a moral inversion takes hold. Israel is recast as the aggressor; those who butcher civilians are recast as victims or even heroes. This inversion has now boomeranged onto Europe itself.

When successive French governments treated Israel's defensive wars as the primary moral problem in the Middle East while soft-pedaling the genocidal charter of Hamas and the Iranian axis, they helped normalize the idea that Western power is inherently illegitimate.

The 2026 riots are a symptom of a deeper loss of civilizational nerve. The same moral inversion that excuses Oct. 7 as "resistance" now excuses the torching of French town halls and the looting of French shops as expressions of "rage."
Humanities PhD students at US universities more likely to hold antisemitic views than peers
A comprehensive new study published in October reveals that American humanities doctoral students are significantly more likely than other US graduate students to hold anti-Jewish prejudice and hostility toward Israel.

The report, called “Antisemitism and Prejudice Among US Graduate Students,” was conducted by researchers Graham Wright, Shahar Hecht, Daniel Nussbaum, Samantha Shortall, and Leonard Saxe at the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University, in partnership with the Steinhardt Social Research Institute and polling firm Generation Lab.

The research addressed a major blind spot in post-October 7 campus climate studies, which have focused predominantly on undergraduate students and faculty.

Researchers sought to examine graduate students, who make up majorities at many selective research universities, serve as teaching assistants and instructors, and often play central roles in campus political movements, to understand their views on Jews, Israel, other minority groups, political engagement, and protest tactics.

Generation Lab administered an online survey between March 5 and April 30, collecting responses from 3,107 graduate students across 222 four-year colleges and universities in the US.

The sample encompassed five major degree pathways: PhD students across STEM, social sciences, and humanities, and professional degree students in Master of Social Work (MSW), Master of Education (M.Ed.), Master of Business Administration (MBA), and Juris Doctor (JD) programs.

Distinct subgroups of graduate students harbor explicit hostility
The study’s key findings indicate that across all fields of study, nearly two-thirds of graduate students (62%) express low levels of prejudice toward Jews, Israel, Muslims, Blacks, and Asian Americans. However, the data revealed small, distinct subsets of students who harbor explicit hostility. Using Latent Class Analysis across ten prejudicial statements, researchers identified that 9% of graduate students fit a pattern characterized by hostility to Jews, 11% exhibited hostility to Israel, 12% showed anti-Black resentment, 4% demonstrated anti-Asian and anti-Muslim resentment, and 2% displayed hostility across multiple minority groups.

Humanities PhD students stood out across the data as the most likely to express anti-Jewish prejudice and hostility to Israel. While the majority of humanities doctoral students held low levels of prejudice, 26% fell into the “Hostile to Israel” category, and 12% fell into the “Hostile to Jews” category.
Ahmet Korkaya, Salam School, and American Muslims for Palestine
Man indicted in connection with antisemitic attacks in Michigan now teaches at K–12 school with links to American Muslims for Palestine, a group accused of having ties to Hamas. Ahmet Korkaya was indicted in June for his involvement in threatening U Michigan leaders and vandalizing their homes, as well as for attacking the Detroit Jewish Federation building and a Rolls-Royce building.

He is now teaching and coaching soccer at the Salam School, a private K-12 Muslim school in Milwaukee.

Salam School is operated by the Islamic Society of Milwaukee (ISM).

On October 9, 2023, ISM signed a statement condemning the "one-sided narrative...that posits Israel as a victim" and calling for "an end to US support of Israeli apartheid." The statement blamed Israel for Hamas's October 7 massacre and declared that "resistance to oppression is not terrorism."

ISM Personnel's Ties to American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
Note: AMP has been accused of operating as a successor to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which were shut down in the 2000s for fundraising for Hamas. AMP is a major backer of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

Othman Atta serves as Executive Director of both ISM and the Salam School. He wrote to the judge on behalf of Korkaya, acknowledging that Salam School is aware of Korkaya's indictment and requesting that Korkaya's ankle monitor be removed and his curfew be extended.

Atta has reportedly criticized the US’s designation of Hezbollah and Hamas as terror organizations, rejected a two-state solution, and invoked antisemitic tropes. He also has referred to Palestinian terrorism as “resistance” and contextualized the October 7 massacre. Atta has longstanding ties to AMP and has repeatedly spoken at their conferences.

ISM's president is Salah Sarsour, who is a board member of AMP. Sarsour was formerly a fundraiser for HLF. He also allegedly used his furniture store to pass money to the leader of Hamas’s armed wing. Sarsour was arrested by ICE earlier this year and faces deportation on national security grounds.

Sarsour’s attorney, Munjed Ahmad, serves as ISM's treasurer and is a member of AMP’s National Board. He previously served as AMP’s vice chairman and as ISM’s fundraising chair. At a 2014 AMP event, Ahmad called for Israel to be labeled a terrorist organization and justified violent terrorism against Israel.

Rami Bleibel is the imam and resident scholar at ISM’s Brookfield mosque. He previously taught Islamic Studies at Salam School and served as national chapters coordinator for AMP. Bleibel has publicly praised PFLP bomber Rasmea Odeh.

Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah served as ISM’s religious director from 2006 to 2024. Before that, he served as head of the South Asia Division of KindHearts, whose assets were frozen by the US Treasury in 2006 amid allegations of ties to Hamas and HLF. Shah has also reportedly praised jihad and allegedly warned that “If we are unable to stop the Jews now, their next stop is Yathrib” (Yathrib is the ancient pre-Islamic name for Medina, Saudi Arabia).


HonestReporting: Can the Rift Be Closed? Daniel Gordis on What Divides American Jews and Israelis
21 Oct 2026 The Honest Take: Media, Israel, and the Stories You’re Not Being Told "We are a people, and America is not Zion." For most of the last century and a half, Daniel Gordis argues, American Jewish life rested on a bargain: the Jews are a religion, not a nation, and America is the promised land. He traces it from the rise of Reform Judaism in the 19th century, to Woodrow Wilson warning that you can't be a "hyphenated American," to Jacob Blaustein of the American Jewish Committee telling David Ben-Gurion that "America is our Zion." His case is that the years since October 7 ended the pretense.

Gordis is a rabbi and the Koret Distinguished Fellow and Special Advisor to the President at Shalem College in Jerusalem. He's a two-time National Jewish Book Award winner, and he writes the Substack Israel from the Inside. In 2019 he published We Stand Divided: The Rift Between American Jews and Israel. Here he says the first two-thirds of it held up and the last third, the part about building bridges, was wrong. The core argument stands: "No American Jew ever went to war because she or he was an American Jew… Israelis go to war because we're Jews."

The conversation starts with a Rosh Hashanah sermon by Rabbi David Ingber, an American progressive rabbi, which Gordis shared with his Israeli readers because it didn't do the usual "yes, but." From there: what it means when your son is called up for reserve duty, and what Americans can see from a distance that Israelis can't. Why Israel's left "at the end of the day serves in the army" while the American left still treats a two-state solution as the starting point. Why he thinks Israel "invested exactly zero effort in trying to tell its story to the wider world." The question Israelis are asking each other at their own Shabbat tables. And where he draws a hard line on Jewish anti-Zionism, including why he will no longer debate Peter Beinart.

Asked what an American Jew owes Israel, Gordis says the first thing is to understand "the depth of the brokenness here, the depth of the exhaustion, the depth of the fear," and he suggests starting with Israeli literature and television, from David Grossman's To the End of the Land to Fauda. He closes on hope. Borrowing from the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, he says it isn't a mood: "Hopeful is a command. You have to be hopeful."

00:00 Cold Open & Introducing Daniel Gordis
03:06 The Rosh Hashanah sermon that reached Jerusalem
07:57 "The Jews are a nation, and America is not Zion"
12:37 When your son is called up
15:14 What American Jews can see from a distance
22:39 Was classical Zionism right? Why he rejects the easy answer
29:09 We Stand Divided: what held up and what didn't
33:47 Why Israel's left isn't America's left
37:04 "Born in sin" and the question Israelis ask at home
41:02 After October 7: the support and the frustration
50:37 Can the rift be bridged?
57:12 What does an American Jew owe Israel?
1:04:43 Where he draws the line on Jewish anti-Zionism
1:10:09 What gives him hope
1:17:06 Closing thoughts


Trump criticized for again using term ‘Shylock’ during speech at a rally
Several former Republican lawmakers on Tuesday criticized US President Donald Trump for again using a term considered antisemitic.

Trump was defending Kansas Senator Roger Marshall against Democrats’ ads that criticize the physician for aggressive collection of small medical debts from his patients.

Trump quipped that the ads paint Marshall as a “Shylock-type guy,” a slur that plays on stereotypes of Jewish people and is derived from William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”

Barbara Comstock, a former Republican congresswoman from Virginia, said “Trump once again lets loose his antisemitic rhetoric” and calls it “a bizarre defense of” Marshall, the Kansas senator.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, noted on social media that “Trump publicly used the antisemitic term again” and predicted “no one on the right” would condemn it.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the president’s use of the word.

Last year, Trump said he did not know the antisemitic history of the term after he was criticized for using it during a rally in Iowa.

“The term ‘Shylock’ is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype. Regardless of intent, its use can reinforce harmful tropes about Jews and normalize language that has long been used to target the Jewish community,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement Tuesday that unlike its response the previous incident did not name Trump or refer directly to his comments.


Western bans on Israeli settlement goods could cost 4,000 Palestinians their jobs
A growing wave of Western trade restrictions on products made in Israeli settlements threatens to deal a severe blow to Israeli industry in the West Bank, with Palestinian workers expected to be among the first to suffer. According to estimates by industry officials and economists, around 4,000 of the roughly 18,000 Palestinians legally employed in Israeli factories and industrial zones in the territory could lose their jobs in the near future. There are also concerns that some factories could close or relocate their operations inside Israel's pre-1967 borders.

The crisis is developing following a series of decisions and initiatives in Western Europe and Canada aimed at restricting trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Import bans have already taken effect in Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands. Ireland's ban came into force on September 15, followed by the Netherlands on September 22. Britain announced in September that it would introduce legislation expected to take effect within six to nine months. France and Canada have also announced plans to ban imports of settlement products, while Belgium and Norway are advancing legislative initiatives.

Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Portugal and Iceland have also joined the broader effort to varying degrees. In a joint statement with other countries, they announced plans to pursue national trade restrictions, support European-level measures or consider similar steps. However, there is no uniform ban, and the scope and implementation timetable vary from country to country.

The consequences are already being felt. Israel's Economy and Industry Ministry, its Foreign Trade Administration and the Manufacturers Association of Israel report a sharp decline in orders from overseas and the cancellation of long-term distribution contracts. Industry officials fear losing markets in Western Europe on which many factories in the region depend.


‘Unholy alliance’ between the left and radical Islamists in France
Former deputy prime minister John Anderson says there’s an “unholy alliance” between the left and radical Islamists in France.


Pro-Palestine rioters ‘energised’ by anti-West sentiments
Spiked’s Chief Political Writer Brendan O’Neill says pro-Palestine rioters in France are energised by anti-West sentiments.


NYPost Editorial: El-Sayed exposes Democrats’ decisive turn against Israel
Wow: The entire Democratic establishment is rallying behind Abdul El-Sayed, who just called on Americans to “realize that Israel is not our friend.”

Indeed, the Michigan Senate candidate is plainly where the whole party is headed on this front.

“The Israeli military has done heinous things,” El-Sayed (falsely) claims — “full war crimes, genocide” — so the Jewish state can never be our ally under any leader.

Among those campaigning for him is former President Barack Obama, who similarly smeared Israelis last week, accusing them (also falsely) of stealing Arab land as they founded their nation — a sickening bid to excuse anti-Israel terrorism that parallels El-Sayed’s “hurt people hurt people” excuse for attempted slaughter at a Jewish day school in Michigan.

Of course, Obama has been long played to the Israel-hating Third-Worldist crowd; recall his absurd apology tour in his first months in office, as well as the cockeyed bid to make Iran our chief Middle East partner that produced his 2015 nuke deal, paving Tehran’s path to nuclear weapons even as it sent the regime pallets of cash and hundreds of billions in sanctions relief.

But Sen. Chuck Schumer, who opposed that deal, is also backing El-Sayed; a Chuck-aligned super PAC is sending $30 million to his campaign.

El-Sayed’s sympathies are nothing new: When Israel eliminated Iran’s evil Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this year, he conveyed the sadness “of a lot of people in Dearborn.”

He’s also opposed the US-Israel war to stop Iran from getting nukes, and blames Israel for (supposedly) pushing President Donald Trump into it.

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Meanwhile, he excuses antisemitic terror and dodges about his Muslim Brotherhood ties.

Anti-Israel, anti-West lunacy is now mainstream in the Democratic Party, to the point where Schumer, who for decades proclaimed himself Israel’s protector in Congress, is willing to sell out the Jewish state to an unabashed Israel-hater so Dems can hold one Senate seat.

It’s positively perverse: Israel is not America’s enemy; just the opposite — it’s one of our most important allies, sharing absolutely vital intelligence that protects our interests throughout the region.


The Money Network Behind Mamdani, Tlaib, And El-Sayed
Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, NYC democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) operate within a tightly linked and coordinated operation, a report first obtained by The Daily Wire shows.

The network has funneled millions of dollars behind candidates, passing the donations through a complex web of organizations, which previously helped obscure the coordinated effort to back the most radical candidates in party, according to the Canary Mission’s report on “The Machine Transforming The Democratic Party.”

Far-Left candidates like El-Sayed and Mamdani ran while touting their apparent dissociation from super PACs and their reliance on small donations. The report reveals an entirely different reality.

“The financial structure also complicates the network’s grassroots branding. Candidates who reject corporate PAC contributions can still benefit from substantial outside spending backed by wealthy donors,” the report states. “Each organization performs a different function, but the combined effect can make the same candidate appear simultaneously grassroots-backed, donor-supported, institutionally endorsed and movement-aligned.”

The report details the separate but coordinated roles of the so-called independent “progressive” organizations. American Priorities, a super PAC, raised millions of dollars for political ads supporting their chosen candidates. American Priorities spent $1.3 million on New York democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier alone. Nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups like the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project do not need to disclose their donor list and funneled large sums of money into political action committees like Justice Democrats.

Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party develop leftist candidates and build electoral infrastructure. To oust Democratic incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Justice Democrats donated the maximum $5,000 to Avila Chevalier and spent far more money on negative ads against the more traditional democratic candidate. Avila Chevalier won the primary.

The Working Families Party, a far-leftist party, contributes to Justice Democrats efforts by lending endorsements and door-knocking, phone banking, and get-out-the-vote initiatives. The Working Families Party, together with American Priorities, the Institute for Middle East Understanding, and Justice Democrats, spent $1.5 million and knocked on more than 100,000 doors to back Pennsylvania Democratic Socialist candidate Chris Rabb. Rabb, recently said he is against incarceration except for “MAGA-thugs” such as Jared Kushner. “Lock all of those f*ckers up” Rabb said.

Then, the Democratic Socialists of America supplies and coordinates endorsements from their own chapter groups and allied candidates and currently elected officials, and construct local organizing. Finally, labor and Muslim groups “add funding, voter outreach and turnout capacity, while advocacy nonprofits and their electoral arms sustain policy work and political pressure between elections.”

“These organizations reinforce the same candidates without operating as a single entity, while working in coalition to cultivate donors, coordinate messaging, and create incentives for continued PAC spending and mutual endorsements,” the report states.


The Brink: Former British Diplomat Head of Palestinian Issues: ‘Britain Has Betrayed Israel’
In this episode of The Brink, Andrew and Jake are joined by former British diplomat Ameer Kotecha, who resigned from the Foreign Office after becoming disillusioned with Britain's foreign policy.

Drawing on his experience at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, Ameer reveals why he believes Labour has squandered Britain's influence in Israel, damaged vital intelligence relationships and put domestic political interests ahead of national security.

The conversation also exposes what Ameer describes as a culture of DEI and virtue signalling within the Foreign Office, and asks whether Britain's diplomatic establishment has lost sight of its most important duty: serving the national interest.

Chapters
00:00 How Britain Turned Its Back On Israel
02:39 Inside The British Embassy In Tel Aviv
06:10 How Britain Squandered Its Influence In Israel
10:28 The Diplomatic Fallout Of Sanctioning Israel
17:58 Who Is Really To Blame For Britain’s Israel Policy?
21:19 Is Labour’s Israel Policy Driven By Votes?
26:28 Inside Britain’s Decision To Recognise Palestine
34:02 Is Britain Putting Its National Security At Risk?
38:02 Why The Foreign Office Has Lost Its Way
42:52 DEI, Whitehall & The Crisis In British Diplomacy


Sadiq Khan’s housing manager celebrated Oct 7
A housing manager for Lord Khan has been accused of celebrating October 7.

Nabil Al-Kinani, an Iraqi refugee who works as a development manager for the Royal Docks, has shared multiple social media posts appearing to praise Hamas, a proscribed terrorist group, and to glorify the October 7 attacks.

In one post, he appeared to call the terrorist attack, in which Hamas killed 1,195 people in Israel and abducted 251 hostages, a “glorious crossing.”

In another, he seemed to refer to Hamas leaders as “freedom fighters”.

The Telegraph understands Mr Al-Kinani has been suspended from his job pending an investigation.

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism called Mr Al-Kinani’s rhetoric “grotesque” and called for a “robust response” from the Mayor’s office.

“It’s bad enough that our immigration system permits extremists to enter and stay in our country, but employing them in the public sector on prestigious projects adds insult to injury,” they said.

“The Mayor’s office needs to investigate and, if the allegations are borne out, fire Nabil Al Kinani.

“Fewer than one in 10 British Jews are satisfied with Sadiq Khan’s performance in relation to the Jewish community since October 7 2023. A robust response to these revelations may begin to restore that battered trust. We will be writing to the Mayor.”

Susan Hall, the leader of the City Hall Conservatives, said she was “horrified” by the allegations and called on Lord Khan to take action.

“In the midst of rising anti-Semitism, record numbers of anti-Semitic attacks and disgusting motions passed by political parties that seek to antagonise Britain’s Jewish community, I am horrified by the allegations against Mr Al-Kinani,” she said.


The Hamas apologism of Sarah Helm
In 2024, Helm dismissed a UN report detailing Hamas’s rape of Jewish women on October 7 as ‘botched’ and ‘utterly meaningless’. The day after the pogrom itself, Helm posted: ‘1948 [the creation of Israel] is the root cause.’ In other words, the simple fact of Israel’s existence, rather than Hamas’s genocidal anti-Semitism, was to blame for October 7. She has also called for Western intervention against Israel and compared the Jewish State to Nazi Germany. Last year, Helm even suggested that Keir Starmer and David Lammy – then prime minister and foreign secretary respectively – should face trial at the International Criminal Court for their supposed complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza.

Helm seems to dedicate an unhealthy amount of time to posting about Israel. In recent days, she has charged ahead, furiously posting and re-posting, either oblivious or indifferent to the severe problems she has created for her husband. She reposted a tweet affirming that ‘Zionism [is] racism’. And she reposted another referring to the ‘Zionist Labour government of Andy Burnham’. What next, blaming Israel’s actions for anti-Semitism? Well, yes – only Helm was saying as much in 2019, before it was ‘cool’.

Who knows what Helm might have come out with or endorsed since this article has gone online. Keeping up with her online activity – a task Gilligan has tried manfully to do – appears to be an all-consuming endeavour. But her opinions raise a troubling question – just how commonplace is the myopic loathing of Israel among those who operate at the top of British society?

Jonathan Powell’s career as national security adviser might well be over soon. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about the establishment’s obsessive loathing of the Jewish State.
Tory peer calls for ‘assessment’ of National Security Adviser’s record on fighting antisemitism
The performance of UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell in fighting the scourge of antisemitism has been called into question in the House of Lords by the Conservative peer Lord Polak.

During a Private Notice Question, Lord Polak asked a government minister for her assessment of Powell’s record “in the light of driving antisemitism and recent violence against British Jews.”

Tuesday’s question followed concerns about comments made by Powell’s wife, journalist Sarah Helm, on social media, including publicly opposing the banning of the activist group Palestine Action, sparking debate about potential conflicts of interest at the highest levels of government.

Polak urged both the government and the National Security Adviser to examine their policies, “particularly those of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), to determine if they were inadvertently contributing to the problem.

“I would urge the government and the national security advisor to take a good look at its policies, at the DSIT (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) and specifically the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) and examine how they are adding to the [antisemitism] problem, ” he told peers.

Responding for the government, Cabinet Office minister Baroness Twycross emphasised that combating antisemitism “is a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society effort.”

She said the National Security Adviser’s role is to “coordinate security and intelligence issues of strategic importance across government to support the National Security Council,” and that national security capabilities are being deployed to protect Jewish communities, individuals, and sites across the UK.

“But it cannot just be about security,” Baroness Twycross added. “That is why this government is taking steps across education, health and culture, and in the online space, to go further, to ensure that Jews in Britain can go about their day-to-day lives without fear.”

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Palmer of Childs Hill pressed the issue further, seeking assurances that Powell’s work was not being influenced by his wife’s statements in the media.

Baroness Twycross replied, “The views that the Noble Lord alludes to are held by an individual who does not represent this government in any capacity… it is important in political discourse to maintain a distinction between government employees and their families.”

Conservative peer Lord Callanan then cited concerns raised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism regarding Sarah Helm’s public comments. He referenced a recent exchange on X , in which Helm denied that her husband was involved in the decision to proscribe Palestine Action, responding “Nope” when asked directly.

Lord Callanan asked how Helm could be sure of her husband’s conduct over the matter, when it was not known who was behind the decision to ban the group.


Masked anti-Israel vandals shatter OMNY machines at NYC subway station over alleged IDF ties
A pair of masked anti-Israel vandals wrecked a Brooklyn subway station last week, smashing seven OMNY machines to protest the payment-reader maker’s alleged ties to the IDF.

One brazen flannel-wearing dope used a drill and another tool to destroy the tap machines at the Church Avenue subway station on the B and Q line around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday, according to the footage and the NYPD.

A second bozo, seen wearing all black, stood on a folding chair while painting the cameras hanging from the ceiling of the station, according to the video, posted on X by far-left activist Calla Walsh.

In total, seven OMNY readers were destroyed during the vandalism spree, and the paint obscured about four cameras, according to authorities and law enforcement sources.

The damaged OMNY machines were worth about $2,600 each – or $18,200 in total, the sources said.

The video of the midday mayhem is emblazoned with the all-caps message, “OMNY SURVEILS, FIGHT BACK.”

The mischief-makers left two leaflets behind at the scene – one accusing the OMNY system of tracking riders’ travels and collecting their personal information.


Chicago Teachers Union Abruptly Cancels Screening of Documentary on Hamas Sexual Violence Following Complaints From Anti-Israel Activists
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) abruptly canceled the screening of a film documenting Hamas violence on Oct. 7, 2023, after anti-Israel activists objected to the film being shown at the union's conference center, event organizers told the Washington Free Beacon.

The news comes three months after the far-left union hosted a Marxist, anti-Israel conference at which speakers called on attendees to support Iran's "axis of resistance" and advocated for violence against the United States and Israel.

Defending Education, a nonprofit group that supports parental rights and fights antisemitism in the education system, organized the October 19 screening of Screams Before Silence, a documentary by businesswoman Sheryl Sandberg that chronicled the sexual violence Hamas terrorists committed while carrying out the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel. The CTU Foundation agreed to host the screening at its event space in Chicago before reversing course on Friday, just two days before the planned event, according to Defending Education's director for combating antisemitism, Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg.

The union, which represents more than 300,000 students in Chicago Public Schools, claimed that Greenberg violated his rental agreement because he failed to disclose that Israel's consul general in Chicago planned to attend the screening. Greenberg said he informed the union of the consul general's attendance on September 28, nearly a month before the event was canceled, and was told by facility employees that there was no problem. He said he believes the event was actually canceled because of complaints from "radical Islamist and communist organizations in Chicago" who had been informed of the screening days prior.

"CTU advertises itself as a bastion of education," Greenberg told the Free Beacon. "They don't care about education. Dissenting opinions are no more welcome inside their buildings than they are in their classes. And if you don't toe the party line, then you're not welcome."

Greenberg said the screening will still take place at a different location in Deerfield, Ill., on November 19.

The CTU Foundation (CTUF)—the union's philanthropic arm—says on its website that its event spaces are open for rental by the general public as part of its mission to "the advancement, enhancement, and support of public education." It did not respond to a request for comment.

CTU's decision to nix the film screening comes three months after the union hosted a radical Marxist conference that advocated for anti-American violence in its event space, the Free Beacon reported in July.
Students at Scottish university launch campaign to bar ‘Zionists’ from all societies
In the wake of the Green Party’s ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion, a pro-Palestinian student group at one UK university has launched a campaign urging all student societies to adopt such a definition in an attempt to exclude Zionists.

As reported by the Telegraph, the Glasgow University Justice for Palestine Society has distributed leaflets providing advice on how other societies can exclude Zionists, in order to “create a Zionist free environment and protect Palestinian/pro-Palestine members of your society.”

It recommends that societies seek to change their constitutions by adding an anti-Zionism clause, adding Zionism alongside “Racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and religious discrimination” as things which will not be tolerated.

Raphi Leon, President of the Union of Jewish Students, told The Telegraph that the ‘Justice for Palestine’ society’s stance was “appalling”, describing it as “an antisemitic and discriminatory campaign, and it must not be accepted as permissible conduct on campus.

“We expect the university and SRC [Students’ Representative Council] to prevent societies from adopting this clause into their constitutions and to take action where any students are involved in this project. Jewish and Israeli students must be protected and included in spaces on campus.”

At its party conference earlier this month, the Greens passed a “Zionism is Racism” motion, with members also explicitly rejecting an amendment designed to protect Jewish party members who attended Synagogues and other Jewish communal institutions which could be identified as “Zionist”.

In the 1970’s in response to a concentrated campaign by Soviet bloc countries alongside the Arab League, the United Nations adopted a “Zionism is Racism” policy. In the wake of that announcement, the UK saw a nationwide campaign by far-left groups to ban Jewish Societies from campuses.

A spokesman for the University of Glasgow said it would not accept the exclusion of Zionist students from societies.
Schools in England failing to identify antisemitism as form of hate, new report to warn
The author of an independent review into Jew-hatred in English schools and colleges has acknowledged that “a general commitment to tackling racism or prejudice or hate has not properly identified antisemitism as a particular kind of hate.”

Former schools inspector Sir David Bell is understood to have set out 27 recommendations for the government to accept, aiming to create change in what he described as a frightening situation for young Jews.

Jewish News understands that the government will confirm in parliament on Wednesday that it has accepted all the recommendations made in the report.

A survey conducted for the review found that one in five students said they had witnessed antisemitism, and three in five Jewish students had experienced it. However, fewer than half of those surveyed felt it would be addressed if reported.

Ahead of the Secretary of State’s response, Sir David told Sky News: “I think what this review has demonstrated is that a general commitment to tackling racism or prejudice or hate has not properly identified antisemitism as a particular kind of hate. And certainly that’s one of the themes of this report.”

“We do need to name antisemitism as a particular kind of prejudice and hate, because I think if you don’t name it, you don’t actually know what you’re tackling or what you’re going to be able to do to respond to it,” he added.

A spokesperson from the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “Treating antisemitism in schools as a safeguarding issue will have the benefit of creating an explicit duty on all schools to address this as they would any other threat to children’s safety, and will strengthen accountability.”

The report is expected to call for teacher training and resources to tackle antisemitism in schools, strengthened guidance on political impartiality, and giving students the tools to recognise and confront online anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories.


University of Technology Sydney ‘poorly managed’ Jewish students' complaints after pro-Palestine protest, report finds
University of Technology Sydney (UTS) mishandled complaints made by Jewish students after an on-campus protest, an investigation by a higher education watchdog has found.

The National Student Ombudsman (NSO) has made seven recommendations to UTS following an investigation into its handling of complaints about a 2025 pro-Palestine protest and its oversight of an external review into the matter.

It included recommendations the university apologises to the students for "poor handling of their complaints" and review its on-campus protest policy.

In a report released on Tuesday, the NSO said the complaints from Jewish students came after a National Day of Action for Palestine protest at UTS on March 26, 2025.

The ombudsman said some complaints related to comments made by an external guest speaker, who the report said had "singled out a Jewish student counterprotester" and said "'Jews […] should feel uncomfortable, […] and that includes that fellow over there".

According to the NSO report, the university received five complaints from students after the protest, who raised concerns that "attendees had singled out Jewish students, targeted them on the basis of their identity, and placed them at risk of physical harm".

Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson acknowledged the university "acted quickly" on the complaints by launching an external review, saying it was "taking seriously its obligations to ensure student safety".

However, according to the report, two students did not receive a response from UTS, which went against the university's own complaints policy, while others only received a generic reply.

"Students were unsatisfied by the university's impersonal letters; one student commented to us: 'It doesn't feel like there was any care behind the experience I went through'," the report said.


Man arrested after a series of Jewish women report being assaulted in Stamford Hill
A man has been arrested after a series of Jewish women were assaulted in Stamford Hill on Monday, with the police treating the situation as a suspected antisemitic hate crime.

A video of one of the alleged assaults, in the Clapton Common area, was published by Shomrim, who subsequently detained the individual in question.

In a statement from the Jewish security organisation, they described how: “Shomrim received a call from a visibly Jewish lady, reported being punched in the face by a middle-aged male on Clapton Common, E5. Shomrim volunteers arrived on scene 30 seconds later to witness a second vicious assault on another Jewish lady. She was punched twice in the face, leaving significant bruising.

“Hackney police arrested the male for racially & religiously aggravated GBH, as well as for outstanding warrants. The victims told Shomrim that they believe they were assaulted because they were Jewish, as the offender only targeted Jewish ladies.”

Shomrim went on to say that “further assaults have been reported…with additional victims yet to come forward.” They appealed to either witnesses or any further victims to come forward to them or the police, citing CAD 3400 19/10/26.


23 people charged over antisemitic, pro-Nazi chants ahead of Croatia soccer match
Croatian police said on Monday they had charged 23 people over pro-Nazi and antisemitic chants ahead of a Hajduk Split soccer match against Dutch side Ajax, which sparked outrage in the country.

Ahead of last week’s UEFA Conference League meeting, Hajduk Split fans marched through the coastal town, chanting “Crush the Jews,” “Rise up Adolf [Hitler]” and “Let’s go Ustasha,” referring to the country’s World War II pro-Nazi regime, according to local media footage and reports.

Croatia’s leaders, opposition parties, rights groups and the Jewish community strongly condemned the incident, while Israel’s embassy in Zagreb said it was “deeply shocked.”

Police have filed criminal charges against 23 people “suspected of… publicly inciting violence and hatred,” a statement said.

Six people are in custody, police are processing two more, and a search is underway for the remaining 15, the statement added.

If tried and convicted, the suspects face up to five years in prison.

Hajduk Split, who won the game 2-1, apologized to UEFA and Ajax — a team with strong Jewish ties — having “witnessed scenes which we do not want Europe to remember,” while the Croatian Football Federation condemned the incident.

Ultranationalist hardcore fans have tainted Croatia’s image for years, notably by chanting pro-fascist slogans and displaying Ustasha symbols.

The regime killed and persecuted hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist Croatians.

Croatia was docked a point by UEFA after their fans painted a swastika on the pitch in Split in 2015, ahead of a Euro 2016 qualifier with Italy.

The perpetrators were never found.
Maryland man faces up to three years after pleading guilty to defacing Jewish cemetery with antisemitic imagery
George Horn, of Dundalk, Md., faces three years in prison after pleading guilty to defacing Jewish tombstones at Ohr Knesseth Israel Anshe Sfard Cemetery in Baltimore County with antisemitic symbols, including Nazi swastikas, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Horn “admitted that he targeted the cemetery because it is a Jewish cemetery,” the department said.

The 36-year-old admitted that he defaced “multiple” gravestones in the cemetery, which is in the Baltimore area, in July 2023.

“Days later, cemetery caretakers discovered 12 gravestones spray painted with swastikas and other symbols,” the Justice Department said. “Despite the caretakers’ efforts, black spray paint residue in the outline of a swastika remained on some of the gravestones necessitating replacements.”

“Evidence shows that Horn had antisemitic animus toward Jewish people,” the department stated.

“Investigators uncovered antisemitic messages along with other items in his car and storage unit,” it added. “Items included a journal with references to Naziism and white supremacy, along with a nine-second video of Horn spray-painting two gravestones, and a translated copy of Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto, ‘Mein Kampf,’ on his phone.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. district court on Jan. 14, 2027.


Robotic beehives and cancer-sniffing dogs: Israeli innovations make TIME’s Best Inventions list
Four Israeli tech companies have been named in this year’s annual list of Time magazine’s Best Inventions for creations “that are changing how we live, work, play and think about what’s possible,” the publication said.

The global list of the 300 groundbreaking inventions includes Apple’s iPhone Duo, AI software that lets non-coders build websites, and a breakthrough treatment for pancreatic cancer.

The Israeli-founded startups that shone in the global list of inventions that the magazine said “are making the world better, smarter and even a bit more fun” are: SpotitEarly, which trains dogs to detect cancer-related scent signatures in human breath samples; Beewise, a developer of robotic beehives using AI; Bria AI, which helps artists earn royalties when their work is used as part of AI-generated content; and Aidoc, the developer of a clinical AI reasoning engine designed to analyze medical images and clinical data to identify urgent findings and prioritize cases in real time.

To compile the 2026 list, Time asked for nominations both from its editors and correspondents from around the world and via an online application process with a focus on growing fields such as health care, AI and green energy. The jury then evaluated each contender on “key factors, including originality, creativity, effectiveness, ambition and impact.”

Founded in 2020, Tel Aviv-based SpotitEarly is the developer of a proprietary system that tracks dogs’ behavioral and physiological responses to human breath samples. The platform uses AI to analyze their cues to determine whether the canines’ highly sensitive noses detected lung, breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer. If they did, CEO Shlomi Madar said, “Our recommendation will be to get additional testing.”

“Some of the most powerful innovations come from rethinking what’s possible with the tools nature has already given us,” said Madar. “As we continue to clinically validate our technology and prepare for our commercial launch next year, we’re honored that Time has recognized the potential of our approach to early diagnosis.”
Israeli hospital launches AI system to enable hospitalized children to communicate without speaking
Clalit-Schneider Children's Medical Center and Code for Israel launched an AI-powered system that lets children who cannot speak communicate with medical teams and family members.

The system uses AI to create personalized, printable communication boards in under five minutes, tailored to each child's needs, age, language, gender, and background.

Communication boards can be essential for children who cannot speak to express pain or communicate their needs. Many hospitalized children have pre-existing language difficulties, while others may require ventilation that prevents them from speaking. The children may not yet have learned to write or are too weak to do so. Communication boards allow them to communicate without speaking or writing.

Previously, preparing customized communication boards could take up to several hours. The new system reduces the time to minutes.

Existing boards can also be updated, shared with professionals, and stored within a reusable library.
From cybersecurity to saving lives: how an Israeli startup is using AI to transform medical research
When David Lazerson decided to leave the world of cybersecurity and enter healthcare, he knew almost nothing about medicine. What he did know was that he wanted to build something that could make a meaningful difference in people's lives. Seven years later, he is leading Briya, an Israeli health-tech company using artificial intelligence to transform how medical research is conducted, helping researchers uncover critical information hidden in vast amounts of healthcare data. Born and raised in Jerusalem to a family of Russian immigrants who arrived in Israel in the 1980s, Lazerson discovered his fascination with computers at around age 10. Like many curious children growing up in the 1990s, he began experimenting with hacking and exploring how systems worked. That interest eventually led him to the IDF's elite Unit 8200, where he spent seven years working in cybersecurity and commanding cyber teams. After leaving the military, he continued in the industry, eventually establishing his own cybersecurity consulting business. But he began searching for a different purpose. "I wanted to do something more positive, something that would have a real benefit," he recalls. Healthcare seemed like the right direction, even if the learning curve proved far steeper than expected.

Together with co-founder Guy Tish, a software architect Lazerson describes as one of Israel's most talented problem-solvers, he established Briya around five years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic helped shape their vision, exposing both the importance of medical data and the limitations of traditional research methods. While conventional clinical studies often require expensive, time-consuming recruitment of patients, healthcare systems already hold enormous amounts of information generated through years of treatments, examinations and diagnoses. Much of that information, however, remains difficult to access and largely unused for research. "The data already exists," Lazerson explains. "Patients have received treatments, undergone tests and generated enormous amounts of medical information. But most of it is never actually used." Briya's mission is to change that by giving medical researchers, hospitals, universities and pharmaceutical companies the ability to analyze complex healthcare information using specialized AI. Rather than replacing researchers, the technology acts as an advanced scientific assistant, helping them formulate research questions, examine patient populations and produce evidence that can support medical decisions and regulatory processes. One example of its potential comes from Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where a physician researching fatty liver disease wanted to identify patients at risk before their condition progressed. An initial search of hospital records produced far fewer patients than expected. Briya's AI technology was then used to analyze radiology reports, including information that had not necessarily been entered as a formal diagnosis in patients' medical records. According to Lazerson, the system identified nearly five times as many potentially at-risk patients as the original search, allowing the hospital to bring additional people into follow-up care and consider earlier intervention. For him, the implications are profound: valuable medical clues may already exist in patient records, but remain undiscovered simply because no one has the tools or time to find them.







 


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