Friday, October 23, 2026

10/22 Links Pt2: The anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust is all around us; The delusional vanity of the Sally Rooney cult; Bank of Israel projects 5.6% GDP growth in 2026, 7.5% next year

From Ian:

The anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust is all around us
As Marian Turski, a survivor and historian, said: “Auschwitz did not fall suddenly from the sky.” And the anti-Semitism that fuelled these atrocities sadly does not belong to the past. It is a virus that may lay dormant for a while but is so easily activated, as it has been in recent years.

Is it any surprise that a report by the former Ofsted chief inspector Sir David Bell has found anti-Semitism on the rise in schools, with three in five Jewish pupils saying they have experienced it. Mostly it goes unreported. Anti-Semitism has become an everyday quasi-acceptable form of racism that has been ignored for too long. This predates the current Israel-Gaza situation though of course has been exacerbated by it.

For years many have simply shut their eyes. Once, when my middle daughter was rude to teachers at our local state school, her punishment was to be excluded from Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations. Yes, really. That day had low attendance anyway because many Muslim parents did not send their kids in.

Some teachers would turn the day into lessons about the Rwandan genocide. This has become fashionable; we talk of genocides in plural to deny the specificity of what happened to Jews in Europe. There is an effort to make the suffering equitable somehow. There can never be anything special about Jews or what happened to them. Or why it happened or the way it happened: the industrialised slaughter, the chimneys ever burning, the mothers running into the electric fences after their children had been taken away to be experimented on.

The shame is that at the time so many looked away. Years before anyone got to Auschwitz, Jews had been rounded up, walled into ghettos, deported, dehumanised. This was not secret.

To begin to understand how this happened, we only have to look around us, to the barricaded synagogues of most European cities, to the 24-hour security protecting schools here, to recent attacks. Many Jewish people are horrified by what the current Israeli government is doing but are somehow held responsible for it unless they entirely disassociate themselves from Israel. Where is their right to exist as complex individuals? The Nazis remember, whenever they found a Jew with a non-Jewish name, added Israel into that name. This precedes 1948.

There has thankfully been widespread abhorrence at the Greens’ “Zionism is Racism” motion but surely, even a few years ago, such an idea would have held no sway at all. When you look back in history at the junctures at which anti-Semitism rises and compare them to the recent past, the signs are unmistakable – even if there has been widespread denial of this, because… Gaza.

The shock of Auschwitz is that it is all so ordered, that it forces you to think of what happened before anyone arrived there and who turned a blind eye to what was happening. It is not just children who need to be taught this but their teachers, who in their anti-racist zeal are somehow teaching “the Nazis” while themselves denying, ignoring or even encouraging the hatred that the Nazis fed on.

None of this is about turning Jews into eternal victims, it is about being alert to the conditions in which anti-Semitism thrives.

One doesn’t have to go to Auschwitz to see this, but every survivor tells us to look for the signs of indifference and exclusion that led to the death camps.

The least we can do is to understand that those signs are all around us.
The Beginning of the End of the Lies By Abe Greenwald
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All sorts of pivotal truths have recently been coming to light. On the third anniversary of October 7, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani outed himself as an undeniable anti-Semite with a social media screed attacking Israel for supposed war crimes. Jews, liberals, and even friendly media noticed.

The next day, Ukraine launched drone strikes that significantly damaged three Yandex data centers in Russia. “It suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted days later. “There was less hate, less division and fewer provocations.” The hate and division have probably returned already, but the successful strikes offered a small hint at how much online propaganda is a function of foreign influence. On X, there has since emerged a viral “I’m a Zionist” trend, and it’s still going strong.

Roughly a week ago, France began to unravel as rioters looted and burned city after city. The country, whose leaders promote Palestinianism, anti-Americanism, and Islamist Jew-hatred, was exposed as a demographic and economic basket case. One could see above the scenes of charred wreckage the official symbol of indiscriminate upheaval, the Palestinian flag. Before the Lebanese Civil War, people liked to call Beirut “the Paris of the East.” Since then, Paris has become the Beirut of the West. The only question now is which European city turns into its Damascus or Jenin.

The truth is often disturbing but always necessary. Its revelation brings reality back into focus. I appreciate such moments. When Hunter Biden’s laptop was found to be legitimate; when Russiagate was discredited; when it became clear that Joe Biden was cognitively unfit for office; when Graham Platner was exposed as a creep; when Anthony Fauci was shown to have buried the lab-leak theory of Covid’s origins; when Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the ICC, was uncovered as a sexual predator attacking Israel as a distraction—truth bombs with the potential to right wrongs.

Of course, the usual parties are still doing their best to contain explosive truths from detonating. The media decided that the French riots were mostly peaceful student protests. Last night, Chris Hayes tried his best to portray Omar as the victim of crazy bigots, and this morning, ABC News claimed that there’s no evidence of El-Sayed’s ties to Islamic extremists. That’s okay. The propagandists played this game with Biden, Fauci, and Platner, too, and then they were unmasked along with their wards.

I’m even going to allow myself some modest expectation of truth about Israel. Hamas’s October 7 attack inaugurated a dark age of sinister lies about the Jewish state and flattering lies about its enemies. The latter are nearing a kind of reckoning. With a little luck, that just might begin to expose the former.
Douglas Murray: If countries like France don't confront and remove those who hate them, there will be nothing left of them but a beautiful name
When I say it does not take a historian to understand what is going on this month, I mean that identifying what is fuelling these protests requires nothing more than having eyes. Yes, there are students involved. But hardened adult rioters have moved in and stoked unrest to its current level of conflagration. The result has been apocalyptic scenes, including the burning down of the historic town hall in Limoges and the ransacking of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris.

Those responsible are not students demanding better mathematics instruction. They are far-Left activists, anti-capitalists, green activists and Palestine fetishists.

Importing generations of people who have no loyalty to or love for the country, many of whom desire to burn it down, has contributed to France’s climate of disorder. The snarky, Schadenfreude-filled nature of much of the international commentary is itself sickening.

‘The French voted for this,’ many online warriors have said as they watched tearful French shopkeepers trying to stop mobs from destroying their livelihoods.

But that is not true. The French public never voted for this. Like their counterparts across Europe, in Britain and in America, the public has consistently voted for governments that promised to secure the nation’s borders, maintain order on the streets, and prevent the civil-war scenarios so many people, inside and outside the country, have warned about.

Their leaders simply never heeded them, or failed trying.

And gosh, have there been warnings. In 2021, dozens of retired generals and high-ranking officers from the French army signed a letter warning that, unless the French government got control of the immigration and integration failures that had roiled their country, civil war was a possibility.

The government and media might have considered that these men had a point. But the French authorities took the other option, the same one chosen by governments across Europe – they shot the messengers. Not literally. They merely hounded the signatories, stripped many of their pensions, slandered them and more. This is the modern equivalent of carrying out a punishment beating pour encourager les autres.
If France cannot protect its Jews, European order may soon fall alongside it
France protects Jewish rights with armed guards
Edmund Burke, watching the Revolution from across the Channel, warned that "rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." France crossed that line this weekend, in Limoges and elsewhere.

For French Jews, this is not abstract. In 1791, France became the first country in Europe to grant Jews full civil rights. It was the Revolution's noblest promise. Today that promise is guarded by soldiers. The interior ministry recorded 1,320 antisemitic incidents last year, more than half of all anti-religious acts in the country. Armed guards outside Jewish schools have become as ordinary as bus stops. France deserves credit for providing that protection. But a guard at a school gate is a symptom, not a cure. A community that can only pray under protection is not fully free.

The political climate has not helped. Debate about Israel in France has too often slid from criticism into something cruder, and the line between opposing a foreign government and resenting one's Jewish neighbors has blurred. When the street becomes the arena of politics, those already marked as targets are the first to feel it.

We have seen this before. In 1819, the Hep-Hep riots swept the German states, and mobs angry at Jewish emancipation attacked Jewish homes and shops. France in 2026 is not Germany in 1819. But the lesson holds: when the authorities lose the street, minorities lose their safety first, and everyone else loses it soon after.

If France cannot keep the peace, Europe may follow behind it
That is why my concern is not only for Jews. France is the keystone of Europe's political and economic order. If Paris cannot keep the peace, Europe's confidence in its own institutions will crack with it. Order is not the enemy of liberty. It is the condition for it.

Three things must follow. Those who burned and looted must face justice, swiftly and visibly. The ransacking at Ohalei Yaakov must be fully investigated, whatever the motive turns out to be. And French leaders across the spectrum must stop treating the street as a legitimate extension of parliament.

France gave Europe the Rights of Man. It must now prove it can guarantee them on an ordinary Saturday night.


The Bell Review is welcome – but implementation will be the key to change
The Bell Review makes for sobering reading. It holds up a mirror to what young Jewish people have been seeing, hearing and feeling for a long time; that antisemitism in our schools and colleges is a serious issue.

The report is stark in its descriptions of Jewish young people experiencing antisemitism not only as direct abuse, but also through everyday stereotypes, online hostility, a lack of effective institutional responses, and pressure to conceal their Jewish identity. As British Jewish parents, this makes for distressing reading and leaves us questioning the direction our country is taking if a well-integrated sub-section of society no longer feels, or is, safe.

One of the most concerning aspects of the report is that educational professionals aren’t seeing the antisemitism that is clearly happening. Whilst 3 out of 5 of Jewish 16-19 year olds reported experiencing or witnessing antisemitism, only 12% of teachers reported having seen it. This gap in perception seems to represent a broader blind spot where Jewish hatred is not seen for the racism it is.

The review calls for all schools and colleges to adopt the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism, supported by meaningful teacher training and effective implementation. Currently, only 24% of the schools surveyed use IHRA’s definition. Within hours of the report being published, leading teaching trade union officials were calling this the ‘wrong approach’, signifying the challenges and pushback that many headteachers and governing bodies are likely to face if and when they attempt to act on this recommendation. This raises the question of how schools confront antisemitism if they cannot recognise it, particularly in its contemporary and more subtle forms.

Implementation is the key to change. Sir David Bell’s review must be followed by a clear and accountable implementation strategy. Innovation is necessary to effective implementation. Equality Diversity and Inclusion programmes in recent years have lacked representation of antisemitism.

As the recipient of the largest Department for Education grant to tackle antisemitism in education with students, we are well versed in applying innovative approaches to tackling complex issues within organisations. Our work across the public sector has delivered changes in culture, teamwork and effectiveness, because it has had the courage to be different. Our Bridges & Studios programme offers a fresh new approach to developing belonging and cohesion, and to tackling antisemitism in schools, colleges and universities for young people aged 16 and above. The programme uses methodologies from psychology and behavioural science in guiding young people to engage in meaningful discussions on complex global issues. This blended and experiential approach creates the conditions for respectful and mutual understanding to truly flourish.

The findings of the Bell Review should matter to everyone, not just the Jewish community. But the critical question here is, can British society survive becoming immune to the suffering of a discrete sub-section of society? And what sort of society would Britain be, if this continues? The Bell Review is a call to action – not only to transform the experiences of young people in our education system, but to stand up and to see antisemitism for what it is – a corrosion of all the things that have made British society a place of freedom, democracy and inclusion.
The Bell Review shows the importance of speaking out about Jew-hate
I shared a story from two Jewish parents in my South London constituency. A campaign group had persuaded their children’s primary school to let them run a Palestinian Cultural Day at which activists indoctrinated young children that Israel has no right to exist. The headteacher had no idea who the group was or what they were really doing.

And I shared my own experience of a group of hard-left pro-Palestine activists, led by a teacher trainer, who staged a hugely intimidating demonstration outside my house, terrifying my family and my neighbours, with no reaction from the Police. They even bought two young children with them to learn how to frighten people in their own home.

Jewish News covered the story prominently, from where it was picked up by the national media. The huge furore that followed led then-Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to commission the Bell review that her successor Lucy Powell has now accepted.

The Bell Review is welcome good news for the Jewish community at what’s been a very difficult time in so many other ways. It stands alongside the social cohesion action plan, Protecting What Matters, that increased security funding for the Jewish community, and Lord Mann’s review into antisemitism in the NHS that banned staff from wearing political badges or symbols and introduced mandatory antisemitism training.

There’s more to do, including tackling the hatred of Jews that has become a feature of pro-Palestinian marches, and the vile anti-Jewish content still circulating on social media. But the Bell Review shows the importance of speaking out about anti-Jewish hatred wherever it’s found, and the power of a plucky community newspaper like Jewish News in making sure the rest of the world listens and acts.
Brendan O'Neill: The delusional vanity of the Sally Rooney cult
Yes, let’s talk about Salman Rushdie. He’s name-checked in an accompanying piece in the New Statesman. Rooney and Rushdie are not only adjacent to each other on bookshop shelves, it says – they’re now morally adjacent too, in that both have been punished with censure for their ‘dissent’, their ‘outspokenness’. How dare you. Rushdie spent decades under a state-backed death sentence for writing The Satanic Verses. He faced down fanatical assassins hell-bent on making good on the fatwa issued against him by the nutters of the Islamic Republic. The only tyranny Rooney has ever endured is a lukewarm review in a Sunday supplement.

What a sickening spectacle it is for these Daunt Books wankers who clink their champagne flutes in complete safety to liken one of their kind to that terrorised, hunted hero of artistic freedom. Translators of Rushdie’s work were murdered. Publishers were firebombed. For decades Rushdie was forced to scurry from safe house to safe house. And eventually they got him: he was viciously stabbed in the chest, neck and face in New York in 2022, causing him to go blind in one eye. His literal blindness is a rebuke to the moral blindness of a literary elite that has the depthless nerve to compare Rooney’s theatrical huff with the Islamist savagery he endured.

What’s funny – and by funny I mean vomit-inducing – is that many of the people who signed the letter for Rooney probably wouldn’t have stood with Rushdie in ’89. They certainly wouldn’t stand with any contemporary author brave enough to write a ‘blasphemous’ novel about Islam. They’d wang on about ‘Islamophobia’ and the ‘structural bias’ Muslims must navigate daily yada yada yada. Indeed, tucked among the signatories are people who gloated over the hounding of gender-critical authors – female writers whose only crime is that they know that if you have bollocks you’re a fella. Get Rushdie’s name out of your mouths.

Over the weekend, we learned that not one major publisher in the UK would touch Eli Sharabi’s profound and towering memoir, Hostage. It tells of his 491 days in the cruel captivity of Hamas, and his discovery upon his release that his wife and two daughters had been murdered in that carnival of Islamofascist violence on 7 October 2023. That Britain’s publishing giants weren’t interested in his deeply human tale is not all that surprising. Under the bigoted tyranny of BDS, our cultural elites tend to swerve anything that comes from the Jewish State. This genuinely tyrannical freezing out of Israeli authors and artists is backed by many of the people now cosplaying as free-speech warriors over Rooney’s narcissistic stunt.

Ladies and gentleman, the British publishing industry, where entitled cliques rally around a spoilt author chasing headlines while slamming the door on a Jew who was tortured by Islamo-Nazis. Seriously, fuck these people.


New Study Documents CAIR’s Yearslong Campaign to Influence K-12 Education
A new report published Wednesday by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University details a years long effort by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to influence American K-12 education, including how public schools address terrorism, the October 7 Hamas attacks, antisemitism, Zionism, and Israel.

The October 21 study, titled The Long Game: CAIR’s Campaign to Influence K-12 Education, was authored by Asher Stern, a researcher at the Program on Extremism, and David Collins, a retired FBI special agent with more than 29 years of law enforcement experience, including counterterrorism investigations involving Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The researchers document how CAIR and its state chapters have developed educator guides, parent advocacy templates, curriculum resources, district outreach programs, legal advocacy initiatives, and legislative campaigns to influence school policies and instructional materials. The report identifies instances in which CAIR’s advocacy reached state education agencies and the processes used to develop official guidance.

CAIR Educator Guide Discouraged Use of “Terrorist” and “Extremist”
Among the report’s findings is a 2024 educator guide published by CAIR New Jersey, which instructs teachers to refrain from using the terms “Extremist” and “Terrorist” in classrooms. The guidance, appearing in a section addressing “Palestine”, also discourages educators from describing Israeli-Palestinian violence as “clashes” or “conflict,” instead presenting Israel’s actions as ethnic cleansing and military occupation.

The researchers also examined a September 2022 curriculum developed by CAIR New Jersey and Teaching While Muslim for classroom discussions of the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to the report, the curriculum attributed the attacks partly to U.S. foreign policy and included a link to the full text of Osama bin Laden’s Letter to America among its educational resources. CAIR New Jersey announced that it had shared resources with nearly 30 school districts encompassing more than 55 public schools, requesting that administrators circulate the material among educators.

Jewish Onliner previously identified in an August 25 investigation that CAIR’s original nationwide 2026–2027 back-to-school guide explicitly directed educators and school boards to the New Jersey 9/11 curriculum containing bin Laden’s manifesto. A subsequent September 1 investigation established that the manifesto appeared under “Background Resources” in sections spanning elementary, middle, and high school levels, rather than only high school as initially identified. The original investigation also uncovered a separate student-activism resource promoted through CAIR’s national guide that advised U.S. citizens to assume front-line protest roles to reduce noncitizens’ exposure to arrest or retaliation.

Following Jewish Onliner’s August 25 investigation, CAIR National removed its endorsement of and hyperlink to the curriculum by August 26. In a subsequent correction, the organization acknowledged that an earlier version had not undergone proper vetting and stated that certain primary-source documents associated with the September 11 perpetrators were better suited for review after K-12 education.
Breakfast Club: Haviv Rettig Gur Talks Israel–Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu, Political Views & Criticism, Protests +More

El-Sayed’s Fellow Muslim Brotherhood Supporters, Who Signed Letter With Him Urging Brotherhood To ‘Purge’ the Media and Police, Have Poured Thousands Into His Campaign
At least six men who joined Abdul El-Sayed in signing a notorious 2012 letter calling for a Muslim Brotherhood "purge" of the media and police have also donated handsomely to his two runs for office, mostly to his current Senate campaign, records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

The total haul from his fellow brotherhood backers was at least $25,850, according to the records.

The 2012 letter, signed by El-Sayed and other "leaders of the Egyptian community," voiced support for Egypt's struggling Muslim Brotherhood government and called on newly elected president Mohamed Morsi, a longtime Muslim Brotherhood leader, to "purge the media and the police as quickly as possible."

Dr. Hany Saqr, who signed the letter as part of the "Egyptian Association in America," has given at least $1,000 to El-Sayed's Senate campaign, Federal Election Commission records show.

Saqr has a long history with the Muslim Brotherhood—an Islamist group with longstanding ties to terrorism that birthed al Qaeda and ISIS—the Free Beacon previously reported.

The doctor was listed in a 1992 phone directory of U.S.-based Muslim Brotherhood leaders submitted by federal prosecutors as part of the terror financing case against the Holy Land Foundation in 2008. The directory was seized from the Virginia home of an alleged Hamas operative. In 2018, Saqr used a Muslim Brotherhood logo as his Facebook profile photo and blasted Egyptian president Abdel el-Sisi—a foe of the Muslim Brotherhood—as a "dog of the Jews."

While El-Sayed has denied any ties to the brotherhood, his own mother spent time working for a charity which was later shut down over its association with al Qaeda. His half-sister Eman Abdelhadi has said the family has deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to now-deleted social media posts. She specifically pointed to her and El-Sayed's mother's role as a Muslim Brotherhood activist as a college student in Egypt in the 1970s.

On Wednesday evening, El-Sayed dismissed the scrutiny into his family during a debate against Republican opponent Mike Rogers, who referenced the 2012 letter by accusing El-Sayed of calling to "defund the police there" in Egypt.


Sadiq Khan housing official suspended over posts appearing to praise Hamas
A senior official working on one of Sadiq Khan’s major London housing projects has reportedly been suspended after sharing social media posts appearing to celebrate the 7 October Hamas attacks.

Nabil Al-Kinani, a development manager involved in the Mayor of London’s Royal Docks regeneration programme, is under investigation following allegations that he praised Hamas terrorists and called for Ashkenazi Jews to leave Israel.

According to The Telegraph, Al-Kinani marked the third anniversary of the 7 October massacre by posting “The Day of Glorious Crossing” on Instagram.

The wording echoed language used by senior Hamas figures to describe the attacks, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

In another post, he reportedly shared footage of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar alongside the message: “Don’t ever fear speaking up and celebrating the freedom fighters. They are the best of us, and don’t deserve your silence.”

He also allegedly posted an image of rockets being launched towards Israel, writing: “God bless our fighters” and “Repatriate the Ashkenazis.”

Al-Kinani, an Iraqi refugee, works on the Royal Docks redevelopment in east London, a major regeneration scheme backed by City Hall.

His LinkedIn profile states that he manages land and leasehold arrangements at Thameside West, a £2.5 billion development site.

The Telegraph reported that he has been suspended pending an investigation.
Green Party deputy leader filmed joining controversial chant at anti-Zionist group’s rally
Green Party co-deputy leader Rachel Millward was filmed participating in chants of “From The River To The Sea Palestine Will Be Free” at an event organised by the hardline anti-Zionist Greens For Palestine group.

The “Red Line for Palestine” protest on Bournemouth beach was staged to help build momentum for the subsequent passing of the incendiary motion equating Zionism with racism at the party’s conference.

Earlier this month though, facing significant backlash over the motion and its impact on British Jews, Millward announced before the Greens conference that she would not support the ‘Zionism is racism’ motion unless it was amended.

She did not provide specifics on the changes she sought.

However, the video footage, filmed in October 2025, will raise further questions about Millward’s political judgment, both as the party’s deputy leader, and as leader of Wealden District Council in Sussex.

Notably, the video footage shows that, unlike party leader Polanski, Millward joined Greens For Palestine activists on the beach to chant “From The River To The Sea Palestine Will Be Free”—a phrase many view as a call for the elimination of Israel.

Disturbingly, Millward took part in the stunt on October 4 last just two days after the deadly Heaton Park Synagogue attack.


Bronx officials decry Pal-Awda targeting Jewish gatherings in Riverdale
Four Bronx officials condemned Pal-Awda for targeting Jewish community gatherings in Riverdale and said that Jewish families should be able to meet without fear.

In a joint statement, Rep. Richie Torres (D-N.Y.), state Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and New York City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz said the group previously boasted about forcing a Jewish community event out of Queens and had now turned its attention to Riverdale.

“Pushing anyone out of public life in our city because of their faith is nothing to celebrate,” the officials said. “The Bronx will not tolerate it.”

The statement described efforts to identify and drive Jewish gatherings out of neighborhoods as an attack on Jewish New Yorkers. It added that Riverdale is one of New York’s vibrant Jewish communities.


New branch of Gail’s targeted by ‘bomb bread’ posters
A new branch of Gail’s bakery in Brixton has become the target of an anti-Israel campaign, with posters depicting bombs attached to loaves of bread appearing around the south London neighbourhood.

The posters, bearing the slogans “a rising threat” and “avoid Gail’s”, accuse the upmarket chain of contributing to gentrification and maintaining financial connections to Israeli defence and cybersecurity companies.

The campaign has been claimed by Strapline, an activist group describing itself as an “Active art” company. Its posters appeared in the vicinity of Gail’s new premises beside Brixton Underground station.

One poster stated: “Gail’s bakeries sit at the intersection of aggressive corporate expansion, which harms local communities, and an ownership with significant investments in defence and cybersecurity firms from the genocidal state of Israel.”

The group told LBC News that its campaign was intended to challenge the expansion of large businesses into established neighbourhoods, arguing that commercial development can come at the expense of independent traders and local communities.

A Strapline spokesperson said: “We want to draw attention to the damage being caused by Gail’s bakeries across London through a capital-driven ownership which prioritises aggressive corporate expansion into our local communities, whilst also maintaining significant ties to the genocidal state of Israel through investments into Israeli cybersecurity and defence firms.”

They argued that local authorities should do more to protect community spaces and independent businesses from corporate expansion.

The group added: “We’re aware that the displacement of local communities across London is nothing new, but we believe Gail’s embodies the current wave of what can only be described as late-stage gentrification in Brixton.


After backlash, Tulane cancels in-person talk on Israel ‘weaponizing’ diseases
Tulane University canceled an in-person lecture, slated for Thursday night, with Dr. Salman Khan, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University, titled “Israel’s weaponization of infectious diseases in Gaza.”

The event was planned by student groups. Organizers shared a letter from the private New Orleans university, in which it wrote that “due to heightened safety concerns, the university has determined that the hybrid format of your event this evening will need to shift to a fully virtual format, without an in-person, on-campus component.”

The university wrote that it received “thousands of concerns that have escalated significantly, including threats of disruption and counter-activity that could inhibit the safe delivery of your program,” according to the letter that organizers posted. (JNS sought comment from Tulane.)

The school promised to reimburse the groups for costs of food for the event, according to the letter.

Palestine Solidarity Coalition and the Minority Association of Pre-Med Students were permitted to live-stream the event, according to organizers, but decided late on Thursday, “after lengthy, unproductive discussions with Tulane administrators,” to postpone instead.

The lecture faced backlash for promoting Jew-hatred and antisemitic tropes about Jews spreading disease and poisoning wells in Europe, which led to pogroms and mass slaughter of Jews.
Berkeley Public Schools Raised Money for Group With 'Fiscal and Personnel Ties' to Palestinian Terror Outfit, House Report Finds
A public middle school in the Berkeley, California, school district held fundraisers to raise money for a group with "fiscal and personnel ties" to a Palestinian terrorist organization, a House Committee on Education and Workforce report released on Wednesday found. The district's superintendent also promoted the organization in a district-wide teaching guide, according to the report.

Students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, a public school in Berkeley, California, held the fundraisers for the Middle East Children's Alliance, a nonprofit group that funds programming in Gaza, emails obtained by the committee show. Mariam Al-Shawaf, an official at the school, wrote in a March 2024 email that the school's South and Southwest Asia and North Africa student group "will be doing a bake sale and Palestine bracelet sale to raise money for the Middle East Children's Alliance." Kathleen Marte, an English language development lead teacher, responded, "These sound like amazing events. I will definitely make it to at least one of them."

MECA's Gaza director reportedly worked for a known front group for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Last month, the House Ways and Means Committee called for MECA's tax-exempt status to be revoked because it "repeatedly funded organizations tied to the PFLP" for "more than a decade."

The fundraisers weren't the only promotion of MECA at Berkeley schools, according to the committee report.

Enikia Ford Morthel, the superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, touted MECA as one of five "Local Organizations & Programs to Learn About" in a district-wide teaching guide for National Arab American Heritage Month. A ninth-grade Arab American Studies presentation also listed MECA as a "curriculum resource." And MECA officials were invited to teach at the schools: Andrea Prichett, a Willard Middle School history teacher, sent out an email promoting an event with Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch, executive director of MECA, who would be "speaking in the library about his organization and how it is supporting displaced people in Gaza" on March 18, 2024. Prichett sued California last year to try to overturn a new law combating antisemitism in schools, arguing that the policy was overbroad and violated her "academic freedom."


Three Years After Oct. 7, Spain’s RTVE Reframes the Massacre
On the third anniversary of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, a caption on “La Hora de La 1,” a program on Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE, summed up the occasion as follows: “Three years of genocide in Gaza.”

Below it, another caption spread misinformation: “The International Criminal Court has opened a genocide case against Israel.”

It would be difficult to better summarize Spanish public television’s grossly skewed coverage of the third anniversary of Oct. 7—and, by extension, of the entire war: ideological reframing and factual errors.

This formulation was not merely an unfortunate choice of words, but a political framework through which RTVE rearranged events to turn the victim of aggression into the aggressor.

On the anniversary of a massacre, Spain’s public broadcaster chose to highlight not the massacre itself but an accusation of “genocide” against the people who had been attacked. To reinforce that narrative, the network added a statement that was objectively false.

To be clear, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not opened a genocide case against Israel. The proceedings initiated by South Africa under the Genocide Convention are before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), an entirely different institution. Nor has the ICJ determined that Israel committed genocide: the case remains pending.

RTVE devoted several programs to commemorating Oct. 7, including reports and interviews dividing attention between Israeli and Gazan suffering—a duality which, given the occasion, already suggested a clear intention to relativize the horror Israelis experienced.

The segments devoted to Palestinian suffering were filled with images of anguish, personal stories identifying individuals by name, voice-over narratives, testimonies from Gazans on the ground, details of deaths and a continuous display of empathy.


Norwegian auction house withdraws sale of SS-looted Torah fragment following Israeli outcry
A Norwegian auction house canceled the sale of a valuable parchment fragment from a Torah scroll, following intervention by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

On Sunday, Valkyrie Historical Auctions listed on its auction itinerary a “Very Old Piece of Jewish Torah Roll Plundered by German SS Soldiers During Shoah.”

In the item description, the auction house wrote that the fragment was sent to a relative as a souvenir. This piece is handwritten in calfskin and shows signs of damage, probably from a fire. The fragment is said to have been used by an SS soldier as wrapping paper to mail a package to an address in Germany. The soldier’s field unit and the address to which he sent the package are still partially legible in the handwriting. The estimated sale price was listed as $1,500-$2,000.

Valkyrie Historical Auctions is a web-based platform auctioneer offering authentic historical items to collectors and museums worldwide. It specializes in historical artifacts from World War II and Holocaust-related material.

One thousand two hundred and fifty items were for sale in Sunday’s auction, ranging from postcards to private notebooks and photo albums.
NYPD investigating suspected antisemitic stabbing
The NYPD said on Thursday it was investigating the stabbing of a Jewish man the previous day as a potential hate crime.

Police told The Times of Israel the incident took place on Wednesday afternoon, on 47th Street in Manhattan’s Diamond District.

The Manhattan Shomrim Safety Patrol released security footage showing an individual crowding a Jewish man on a street, removing a hand from a bag, then jabbing the hand into the man’s back.

The Jewish man then fled onto the sidewalk, the footage showed. The apparent weapon was not visible in the footage.

The NYPD said officers had responded to a 911 call about the incident and found a 26-year-old man who had been “stabbed in the back with an unknown sharp object.”

The victim was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

There have been no arrests and the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force was investigating.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York City more than all other groups combined.

Police have reported at least 245 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes so far this year, 53% of all total hate crimes in the city.

Wednesday’s incident was at least the fourth suspected anti-Jewish stabbing in the city in recent years.


Florida man arrested for threatening life of Jewish Rep. Jared Moskowitz
A Florida man was arrested in Boca Raton, Florida, for threatening the life of Jewish US Representative Jared Moskowitz on Thursday.

“A constituent of mine has just been arrested in Boca Raton, just a few miles from my house, for threatening my life. He is currently in the Palm Beach County Jail,” Moskowitz said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

According to sources who spoke with CBS News, the suspect left a voicemail at the Moskowitz Coral Springs office with the intent to inflict physical harm on the representative.

Moskowitz said he and his family were safe and that the suspect was in police custody, though their identity has not yet been made public.

“I’m grateful to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and local law enforcement for acting quickly to keep my family and me safe,” he added.
Utah man found with pipe bombs charged with threat to ‘blow up’ synagogue
US federal prosecutors on Thursday charged a man in Utah with a hate crime and other offenses for a threat to bomb a synagogue.

Skyler AJ Rose, 22, allegedly made threats on social media in December 2025, including, “I wanna blow up a synagogue.”

Investigators traced the statements to an IP address where Rose lived with his mother and his “toddler-aged sibling,” investigators said.

Rose’s mother allowed officers to search the home. The investigators found six improvised pipe bombs, two rifles and ammunition in Rose’s bedroom, court filings said.

The home and neighboring residences were evacuated until the bombs were disarmed due to the explosives’ potential volatility.

Investigators also found materials to construct more bombs, including precursor chemicals, pipes, end caps and ball bearings.

On Rose’s cell phone, investigators found that he had searched for the address of a synagogue three miles from his home on Google Maps.

The indictment said Rose also posted, “Backwards Jew scum,” “Death to Israel,” “Death to all Jews I will devote my life to killing you,” and, “Heil Hitler!” Other messages referred to Jews as “children of Satan.”

“I cannot forgive the terrorist state of Israel who shelter pedophiles and trafficks the little ones. Death be upon you Jews for I bring fire and brimstone,” he posted, followed by American flag emojis.

Investigators also found hundreds of child pornography images in Rose’s possession.
Bank of Israel projects 5.6% GDP growth in 2026, 7.5% next year
The Bank of Israel forecasts that Israel’s gross domestic product will grow by 5.6% in 2026 and 7.5% in 2027, according to projections released on Wednesday.

Excluding overseas production by multinational companies registered in Israel, the bank projects growth of 3.4% this year and 5.1% next year. The central bank said the adjusted measure better reflects domestic economic activity, as production abroad does not necessarily generate comparable increases in Israeli employment or household income.

“This component contributes in part to government tax revenues, but it does not utilize domestic capital or labor, and most of the income it generates does not accrue to Israeli households,” Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron said on Wednesday. “As a result, its rapid growth may create a distorted picture of the pace of real domestic economic activity.”

The forecast assumes fighting will remain at its current low intensity, easing constraints on the economy. Even so, the bank expects output excluding production abroad to remain below its prewar trend through the end of 2027, partly because of a slow recovery in workforce participation.

“At the same time, the Israeli economy remains resilient and robust,” Yaron said. “Nevertheless, uncertainty remains elevated in view of geopolitical developments.”


Heaton Park Shul hero honoured for ‘Outstanding Bravery’ at Pride of Britain awards
The volunteer security guard who tackled a knife-wielding terrorist during an attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue was honoured at Monday 19 October’s Mirror newspaper’s annual ‘Pride of Britain’ awards ceremony for unsung heroes, which airs on ITV on Thursday 22 October.

When Jihad Al-Shamie launched a horrific attack outside the Manchester shul on Yom Kippur, 2 October 2025, Andrew Franks bravely confronted him, suffering life-changing injuries whilst buying vital time for the congregation to barricade themselves behind the doors.

66-year-old Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby, 53 were killed and others injured in the attack on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The terrorist initially used his car as a ramming weapon outside the Synagogue, then tried to enter the building with a knife.

Despite being stabbed several times in the face and neck, Franks managed to push his attacker over and run towards the synagogue, warning them to shut the doors.

Police arrived within minutes of the 999 call, and Al-Shamie was shot dead by firearms officers at the scene. Inside the synagogue, Andrew’s 80-year-old father Ellis held his wounds until paramedics arrived. He was rushed to hospital, where he suffered clinical death three times on the operating table during lifesaving surgery, being resuscitated each time.

As reported by Jewish News, Franks, a chef for NHS Greater Manchester mental health unit, said: “I noticed the man at the gate and had a strange feeling. Something wasn’t quite right.

“Suddenly I heard a bang and he had rammed his car into the gates. He was shouting and I didn’t know at this point he had already killed someone.

“I went to grab him and he stabbed me three times, yelling he was going to kill me. I managed to trip him up as he was running towards the synagogue. I got up somehow and shouted, ‘Lock the doors, lock the doors!’ Then I ran and said ‘Let me in, quick, I’m hurt’. I thought he was going to chase me.

“Members of the congregation barricaded the doors. He was trying to get in, smashing big pots against the doors. I was in and out of consciousness. I kept saying, ‘Dad, I’m going to die’. Then I heard gunshots, it was very scary for everyone.”

Andrew, a widowed dad of one, added: “At hospital I told the surgeon, ‘Please save me, I have a daughter’.”





 




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