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Wednesday, October 28, 2026

10/28 Links Pt2: Giving Up the Word "Zionism"; How did eco-idealists of the 70s descend into Israel-hating Greens of today?; Abdul El-Sayed: tribune of America’s Islamo-left

From Ian:

Giving Up the Word "Zionism"
Should Jews retire the word "Zionism" since it has become a lightning rod of hate?

Our enemies will persecute us given the chance. They don't play by the rules. They don't use evidence and reason. They are committed to their conspiracy theories, their resentments, their violence and their insatiable need for destruction.

The demands they place on us right now involve changing who we are - the names we choose for ourselves, our commitment to Israel. That alone should be reason enough to say "no."

There will be no relief if we give up the word "Zionist." The enemy will not pocket the win and go home. When it comes to antisemitism, every conciliation brings only further demands.

Zionism was the most important movement of Jewish liberation in thousands of years. It gave us back our homeland, our confidence, our spine.

To be a Zionist is to assert that Jews not only have rights, but also a home and a future.

To give up on that, of all words, is to concede the argument - to implicitly endorse the libel that Zionism is a genocidal, colonialist, supremacist belief.

But the first reason to say we are still Zionists is that it should be a necessary, reflexive response to anyone who wants us to submit to external pressure, as a precursor to pressing us on other things: our identity, our communities.

That's reason enough to say that, yes, we are Zionists. Look into our eyes. We won't give up the word.
Stephen Pollard: Jonathan Powell’s flawed approach to Israel is more dangerous than his wife’s views
Powell uses the Good Friday Agreement to buttress his view that the way to end conflicts is to talk to the other side. In 2008, for example (he left Number 10 in 2007) he said that Western governments should talk to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. His 2014 book is actually called Talking to Terrorists: How to End Armed Conflicts.

Powell’s approach is not merely naïve; it entirely misunderstands the nature of the Middle East conflict. The IRA were, like Hamas and Hezbollah, murderous terrorists. But the IRA wanted Northern Ireland’s status changed, not every Unionist dead. Meanwhile, Article 7 of Hamas’ covenant says that: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews."

Were it not for what Abba Eban famously called the Palestinians’ habit of never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, it might have been that Powell’s penchant for negotiating with terrorists had worked: Oslo showed that the PLO could be negotiated with. But Hamas cannot.

The two most significant acts over Israel since Labour took office have been recognition of a Palestinian state last September and then, a year later, the imposition of sanctions on Israel.

The former is classic Powell. Even if we take it at face value, and ignore the domestic political pressures driving Middle East policy (Labour’s fear of the sectarian Muslim vote), the idea is at best naïve, at worst pure folly.

It is based on the notion that recognition without any quid pro quo arrangement is a statement of intent designed to build trust.

In reality, all it did was give a propaganda win to Hamas, who could claim that decades of talking got nowhere and it took the October 7 massacre to force the UK and other Western nations to recognise a Palestinian state.

But while Powell’s approach may be misguided, even he could see that Miliband’s decision to sanction Israel could only be counter-productive, showing Israel that the UK can no longer be trusted or even counted as an ally.

Sarah Helm may be a valid target for opprobrium, but her marital status is not what matters. It’s what her husband does that is important.
How did eco-idealists of the 70s descend into Israel-hating Greens of today?
So, what changed? Bale suggests that the most significant shift is in foreign policy. For years, he explained, the Greens saw the US as “the acme of rapacious and hegemonic industrial capitalism”, opposing Britain’s lucrative involvement in the global arms trade and its willingness to project military power overseas. Under Polanski, “Israel has taken over from the USA as the party’s bête-noir.”

Since taking the reins, Polanski’s leadership has seen the party criticised both from within and without for majoring too much on left-wing populism and too little on ecology and conservation, according to Bale.

Shahrar Ali, deputy leader of the Green Party from 2014 to 2016, described to the Jerusalem Post an "authoritarian shift” under Polanski, with party veterans increasingly uneasy about the direction of the party. “The rot [has] set in more deeply from Polanski’s tenure as leader,” Ali said. “Now we’re seeing the old guard like Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay, and some of the MPs, notably Ellie Chowns, getting far more agitated around the direction of the party.”

Ali also pointed to insufficient guardrails and oversight as party membership has grown. “During the last 12 months, the party’s seen a huge increase in membership but a corresponding lack of control regarding who is entering the party and why. There are a lot more pro-Palestine campaigners, Corbynista types who were kicked out of the Labour Party because of antisemitism.”

Peter Cardwell, a Talk TV presenter, former government special adviser and author of Political Animals, offered a more damning indictment, telling me: “Islamist entryists have taken over the Greens and they have become a single-issue party. Even some of their MPs believe the antisemitic ‘Zionism is Racism’ policy is one with which they cannot be associated.”

Cardwell, who hosts an evening show covering UK politics and current affairs, added: “It seems quite a while since anyone I’ve interviewed from the Green Party has actually brought up anything to do with the environment.”

He contrasted the current trajectory of the party with past leaders, or “harmless eccentrics” such as Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas, who were at least impassioned defenders of Net Zero and public spirited representatives who truly cared about the core mission of the Green Party.
Greens are no longer a party of peace after ‘Zionism is racism’ motion
Deny, distort, and allege bad faith whenever Jews report antisemitism – it is a familiar, if disturbing, playbook from the Corbyn years. I fought against antisemitism in my own party then.

But even Jeremy Corbyn didn’t preside over a party where so many members actively voted for a discriminatory policy that is so utterly unbothered with actual peace for actual people in Israel and Palestine.

Let’s be clear – peace is the only lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East, and it will be achieved by leaders and activists in Israel and Palestine. It will not be achieved by the Green Party of England and Wales – not least when its policy, and some of their politicians, won’t disavow “armed struggle”, and want a nation state to be actively “dismantled”.

Their policy is beyond even that advocated in mainstream Palestinian politics, and by the Palestinian Authority. I know more than most how the conflict in the Middle East is imported onto the streets of Britain.

Dealing with several antisemitic terrorist attacks in my constituency, Finchley & Golders Green, taught me that building more cohesive communities is the only way through. Politics as a unifying force, not a divisive race to the bottom.

The publication of the Bell Review underlines just how irresponsible the new Green Party is. Political discourse that favours simplistic slogans over nuanced and sensitive engagement creates a climate where antisemitism can be normalised. Three in five Jewish children surveyed had experienced or witnessed antisemitism in their school.

Our politicians cannot muddy the water by denying antisemitism or rejecting Jewish experiences.

Cllr Thompson’s views are extreme, out of step with the diverse communities she is supposed to represent, and do nothing to advance peace – not in Israel and Palestine, and not on the streets of north London.

The Green Party has turned its back on those of us who yearn for peace. I expect, if they haven’t already, those who yearn for peace will soon turn their back on the Green Party.


Israel-Palestine for Absolute F*cking Morons: Also Known As: Good versus Evil for Idiots


Prosecutors track anti-Semitic hate crimes for first time
Hate crimes are being recorded as anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim for the first time by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), The Telegraph can reveal.

The CPS began breaking down data on hate crime charges, prosecutions and court outcomes by the victim’s religion after criticism of the response to the Golders Green stabbings in April.

It is a significant policy change by the CPS, which previously gathered statistics under the broader categories of racial and religious hatred. This meant the number of charges specifically relating to anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred was unknown.

Documents seen by The Telegraph reveal that the CPS started recording prosecutions according to the religion, or perceived religion, of the victim in May.

The change has been welcomed by Jewish groups, who said the new data would serve as “a vital tool” to hold the CPS to account over how effectively it was prosecuting cases involving anti-Semitism.

Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, faced calls to overhaul the way hate crimes were recorded after firebombings, assaults and harassment followed the Oct 7 2023 attacks on Israel.

Mr Parkinson said that the “deeply troubling rise in anti-Semitic incidents” had led the CPS to overhaul how it logs hate crimes.

In the first six months of this year, there were 1,926 anti-Semitic hate incidents in the UK, according to data from the Community Security Trust, a charity that protects Jewish people from anti-Semitism and terrorism.

This was twice the level before the Oct 7 attacks, and Home Office data show that Jewish people are nine times more likely than Muslims to be victims of hate crimes.
Quillette: Omar Mohammed (Mosul Eye) on ISIS, the Farhud and Iraq’s Erased Jews
For three years, historian Omar Mohammed secretly documented life under the Islamic State as the anonymous blogger Mosul Eye. He speaks with Pamela Paresky about growing up under Saddam Hussein, the Jewish history Iraq erased, the 1941 Farhud, reporting from inside ISIS-held Mosul, and why he believes antisemitism is the thread that runs through every jihadist movement.

Omar Mohammed is a senior research fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism, where he leads the Antisemitism Research Initiative. His book, Mosul Eye: A Scholar’s Clandestine War Against ISIS, is out now.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Growing up in Saddam’s Mosul
3:00 What Saddam’s Iraq taught about Jews
8:00 The fall of Mosul to ISIS
12:00 Discovering Mosul’s erased Jewish history
16:00 Finding the Jews of Mosul
20:00 The Farhud
26:00 “Good Jews” and “bad Jews”
29:00 Sectarian war and a murdered professor
39:00 Why he says every terror group is antisemitic
41:00 “The moral compass of any society is its Jews”
43:00 Writing Mosul Eye under ISIS
46:00 Who was reading Mosul Eye
49:00 Nearly caught
53:00 How Mosul stopped obeying ISIS
1:03:00 Western support for Hamas and Hezbollah
1:09:00 The “reassignment” of Jews
1:16:00 Khaybar
1:17:00 Studying antisemitism online
1:21:00 Where to find Omar Mohammed


Abdul El-Sayed: tribune of America’s Islamo-left
An advert in support of Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic US Senate candidate for Michigan, may well be the worst political ad in the history of political ads. And yes, calling something the worst political ad in the history of political ads is a big claim. Especially in these midterms, where there has already been an attack ad in which a candidate’s mother calls her own daughter a mentally ill liar.

Still, even that did not sink as low as a new ad promoting El-Sayed. It was produced by Rebellion PAC, a political action committee founded by Cenk Uygur, the loudmouth host of the intellect-free, left-wing channel, The Young Turks. It features a tired-looking couple in a supermarket. The man picks up eggs for his family and puts them in the basket. His wife tells him to put them back. ‘Why?’, asks the husband. ‘[The kids] don’t like eggs anymore?’ The wife replies: ‘No, they like eggs. But we have to set that $7 aside. For killing Palestinians.’

Now, maybe it’s just my imagination, but I swear even the two actors playing the couple look embarrassed, ashamed and dead behind the eyes, as if they cannot believe their careers have come to this.

At the end, as a photograph of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu flashes on the screen, the voiceover states, with an actual throat-clearing noise, ‘Mike Rogers is for they / them’.

Geddit? Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s Republican rival in the midterms, works for the evil Jooooos… And now American children have to forgo their breakfasts. As if the message weren’t clear enough, Uygur felt the need to write the following when unveiling the ad on X last Friday: ‘We have to suffer here at home, so Israel can get all its wars. That’s why they buy politicians like Mike Rogers.’

For an indication of just how bad and offensive this ad is, even a panel on the usually pro-Democrat CNN uniformly denounced it. ‘This must be a Mike Rogers commercial’, said host Michael Smerconish. ‘This is a very dangerous ad’, said activist Van Jones, usually a fierce critic of Israel.

The ad shows how deeply the Palestine brain rot has taken root among a new generation of Democrats and leftists. Party bigwigs are now torn. On one side is their long-standing Jewish voter base, old alliances with the State of Israel, and just plain old common sense and decency. On the other is the ever more fervent energy of the insurgent left, which would rather side with Hamas terrorists than their fellow Americans of the Jewish faith. That CNN panel aside, all indications are that the supposedly sensible grown-ups are throwing their lot in with the fanatics. Former president Barack Obama, in particular, has gone to bat for El-Sayed – campaigning hard for him in Michigan.
Abdul El-Sayed's Father Sits on Board of Charity With Muslim Brotherhood Ties That Got Caught Funneling Cash to Saddam, Was Raided by FBI and US Military
Abdul El-Sayed's father sits on the board of a notorious Islamic charity that was once busted for funneling cash to Saddam Hussein and has been raided by the FBI and the U.S. military. The board also features two current members who belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to documents from federal prosecutors.

El-Sayed's father, Michigan academic and imam Dr. Mohammed El-Sayed, serves as a board member of the group Life for Relief and Development, which proudly displays his affiliation on its website.

"Dr. Mohammed El-Sayed, P.E., is a Professor of Engineering at Eastern Michigan University with over thirty years of industrial and academic experience. He is a Fellow of ASME and SAE—distinctions awarded to engineers recognized for excellence in leadership, research, and innovation," the site describes him, adding that he is a "visiting imam" at various other "community organizations."

The elder El-Sayed has been affiliated with Life for Relief and Development since at least 2020, federal tax forms show.

Abdul El-Sayed's father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, previously served on the group's board.

The group bills itself as "a trusted top-rated global humanitarian organization committed to helping people in crisis from natural disasters to man-made emergencies." But its past is considerably more controversial and includes a six-figure settlement with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, which accused it of funneling cash to Saddam Hussein in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The story began in 2006 when the FBI raided the charity's office. A year later, its CEO was charged by a grand jury with violating sanctions and money-laundering laws, and the charity's accounts at Bank of America were closed.

Federal agents also raided the home of the charity's then-CEO, Khalil Jassemm, the Detroit Free Press reported in September 2006.
Brad Schneider says El-Sayed must ‘publicly condemn’ ‘gross, antisemitic’ ad
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus, said Tuesday that Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed must go further to “publicly condemn” an antisemitic ad by an outside group supporting his campaign, arguing that his failure to do so belies his pledges to support the Jewish community.

The ad, by the Cenk Uygur-led Rebellion PAC, blames U.S. aid to Israel for high grocery prices in the United States. El-Sayed’s campaign emphasized in a Monday statement that it was not responsible for the ad and that Rebellion PAC doesn’t speak for El-Sayed, but some critics say that the Democratic nominee needs to explicitly denounce the ad’s contents, which he has not addressed.

“[T]he gross, antisemitic campaign ad by Rebellion PAC … has no place in American political discourse,” Schneider wrote on X. “[T]he ad is clearly supporting Dr. El-Sayed’s election, and neither he nor his campaign have publicly condemned it. The campaign needs to condemn the ad and call for it to be taken down.”

He added that he is “disappointed” that El-Sayed has not issued such a call, “especially as he is promising the Michigan Jewish community that he has their back. His refusal to act shows otherwise.”

Schneider argued that blaming U.S. support for Israel, a tiny fraction of the federal budget, “for the economic pain in the country is beyond the pale.”

He said that it “follows a long tradition, dating back more than 1,000 years, of dangerously scapegoating Jews for a country’s ills,” and that it continues a pattern including the pogroms and the Holocaust that has led to Jews being shunned, expelled and killed.

Schneider follows Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who co-chairs the House antisemitism task force, in calling El-Sayed’s comments to this point insufficient.

In the same statement, Schneider condemned President Donald Trump’s “vile, anti-Muslim attacks” on El-Sayed, and said that Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers “should forcefully denounce them.”

Trump, at a rally on Monday, called El-Sayed a “jihadist” who is “on the side of terrorists.”
Nonnegotiable campaign says El-Sayed needs to do more to condemn antisemitic ad
Rabbis with the Nonnegotiable campaign said Tuesday that Abdul El-Sayed hasn’t done enough to disavow an antisemitic ad by an outside group supporting him. And they expressed broader fears about political alienation amid the party’s embrace of El-Sayed.

The Michigan Democratic Senate nominee’s campaign issued a statement on Monday noting that the ad was not produced by his campaign and that the group responsible, Rebellion PAC, doesn’t speak for him or his team.

Rabbi Aaron Starr, one of the original leaders of the Nonnegotiable Michigan effort, said on a call with reporters that the El-Sayed campaign’s rhetoric has worsened since the Nonnegotiable campaign began, and said that El-Sayed “has distanced himself from the … commercial, but he has not disavowed it.”

He said that the ad’s message blaming Israel and the Jews “for seemingly all of the world’s problems … does echo some of the themes that he’s put forward,” that U.S. support for Israel is to blame for financial troubles at home.

Starr also condemned an ad produced by El-Sayed’s own campaign that highlights criticism of GOP nominee Mike Rogers by antisemitic right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson.

Starr told Jewish Insider that he felt the El-Sayed campaign’s response to the Rebellion PAC ad fit a pattern of partial apologies and condemnations, like El-Sayed’s walk-back of his comments following the Temple Israel terrorist attack that “hurt people hurt people.”

“He’s not discrediting the commercial, he’s just distancing himself from it,” Starr said. “Now I appreciate that he’s distancing himself from it, but it’s just not enough. We have to condemn this kind of language, and I’m mindful that he’s engaged in similar language on his own about these false equations between America and Israel’s strategic allyship and the real suffering of Americans in Michigan and around the country.”


Jewish Floridians torn over anti-Israel Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon
Over a bagel with cream cheese and lox, Ron, a Jewish South Florida attorney, admitted that he hasn’t quite figured out his ballot.

Seated at Flakowitz Bagel Inn, a New York-style Jewish deli nestled in a Boca Raton parking lot, Ron — who declined to share his last name to protect his privacy — said he tends to go with moderate Democrats.

And that’s making the US Senate race a real puzzler.

“I’m really torn,” said Ron, a Boynton Beach resident.

He has no intention of voting for Ashley Moody, the Donald Trump-backed Republican who was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio last year when Rubio became secretary of state. But he also is unsettled by some of the stances taken by Angie Nixon, the left-wing challenger who hopes to be Florida’s first Democratic US senator in eight years.

“For example, Israel is important for me, and I suspect that she’s not in that direction. So that’s a problem for me,” Ron said between bites. He added that he is considering not voting in the race at all, but conceded that “not voting is as much as giving a vote.”

Nixon, who was first elected to the Florida House in 2020, accuses Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza and has said that she opposes sending US military aid or selling weapons to Israel “at this moment.” In November 2023, she introduced a statewide bill advocating for “de-escalation and cease-fire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine,” which was defeated 104-2 in the Florida House.

In August, she soundly won the Democratic nomination with a progressive platform focused on universal healthcare and free childcare.

Next week, Nixon — who is trailing between 4 and 6 percentage points in the latest polls — finds out whether her Israel stance affects her performance among the state’s substantial Jewish minority. (A 2021 study found that there are approximately 665,000 Jewish adults in Florida, the third-largest Jewish electorate in the country.)
Angie Nixon Touts Endorsement From Muslim Advocacy Group That Blames Israel For Hamas Attacks
Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon is doubling down in the campaign's final days on her fierce opposition to Israel, promoting an endorsement she received from a virulently anti-Israel group that shares ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and whose founder has represented several alleged terrorists in court, including some linked to al Qaeda.

Emgage Action, a Muslim advocacy group that calls Israel an "apartheid" state that engages in "genocide" and blames the Jewish state for causing the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, donated $3,500 to the Nixon campaign in April, and now the dues-paying Democratic Socialist touts the group's endorsement of her candidacy on her website. Emgage Action was founded in 2006 by Khurrum Wahid, a Florida criminal defense attorney who has represented several convicted terrorists in criminal courts, including Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who in 2006 was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aiding al Qaeda and for conspiring to assassinate then-president George W. Bush.

Nixon—who first made a name for herself three years ago by taking a lonely stand against Israel in the Florida legislature a month after Oct. 7—is a natural fit for Emgage, which endorses candidates who are committed to fighting Islamophobia and "reining in ICE" and rejects candidates "aligned with AIPAC." Nixon's ties to the group date long before her run for Senate. Emgage boasted in an April 2025 report titled "Initiatives on Palestine" that it played a key role in supporting the Nov. 6, 2023, resolution she introduced in the Florida House calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas. The resolution vaulted Nixon to national prominence in liberal and Muslim circles but was widely panned as antisemitic by many of her colleagues, who roundly rejected it in a bipartisan 104-2 vote.

Prior to founding Emgage, Wahid was a legal adviser to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was designated as an unindicted co-conspirator of a Hamas front group in 2007. Wahid also once served as director of CAIR Florida, which invited Nixon to speak at several fundraising events after the 2024 elections, where she declared those who voted against her ceasefire resolution her "permanent enemies" and ranted against the "false capitalistic American dream," the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Nixon is not the only prominent Democrat to have embraced Emgage. Emgage endorsed former vice president Kamala Harris's presidential campaign in 2024, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, rallied with the group at a campaign event that focused largely on the war in Gaza.
Reversing Palestine Action ban ‘would do catastrophic harm to UK’
In a rare joint editorial with the Jewish Chronicle newspaper, published ahead of a legal challenge brought by PA co-founder Huda Ammori in the Supreme Court next week, both titles warn: “The decision by the UK’s final court of appeal will have major ramifications for this country.”

The case, R (on the application of Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, will see the court consider whether the former Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, failed to follow her own published policy when proscribing Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The November 5 hearing follows a series of contrasting lower court rulings over whether the ban constituted a lawful and proportionate response to the group’s activities.

The joint article rejects claims by Palestine Action’s defenders that the group is non-violent and motivated purely by concern for Gaza, stating: “None of these claims are true.”

The editorial details a series of violent assaults attributed to Palestine Action, including an incident in which a police officer’s back was fractured with a sledgehammer.

The group’s targets, the papers write, have included not just defense companies, but also Jewish charities and businesses. “A Jewish property company in the heart of Stamford Hill was targeted because the group claimed that it had rented out a site to an Israeli defence firm. It must be a coincidence that no other property company appears to have been targeted by the group for this,” the editorial notes.

It notes how Palestine Action members “have committed hundreds of attacks on property, businesses and military targets of huge importance to the security and interests of the UK.”

The editorial highlights a high-profile incident in which members of Palestine Action filmed themselves breaching an RAF base and damaging military aircraft, later boasting about the act online.

“No country which wishes to be taken seriously – by either its allies or its enemies – could sit back and countenance such an act,” the newspapers argue, framing the government’s proscription as a necessary response to the escalation.

Palestine Action was banned by then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in July 2025 after a series of direct actions, including break-ins and property damage, mainly targeting Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.
Reversing ban on Palestine Action would send a chilling message to Britain and its Jews
Next week, the Supreme Court is set to rule on whether the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is legal. The decision by the UK’s final court of appeal will have major ramifications for this country.

At various points, Palestine Action’s defenders have argued that it is non-violent, that its members are motivated by nothing more than a horror at the destruction in Gaza, and that its proscription was an extreme overreaction by the State.

None of these claims are true.

Members of Palestine Action have committed violent assaults – in one notorious case, a policewoman was left with serious injuries, her back fractured with a sledgehammer. Its targets have been many and varied – and certainly not limited to attacks on factories operated by defence companies. They have included Jewish charities in Hendon and Jewish owned businesses in Hampstead. A Jewish property company in the heart of Stamford Hill was targeted because the group claimed that it had rented out a site to an Israeli defence firm. It must be a coincidence that no other property company appears to have been targeted by the group for this.

All in all, however, Palestine Action’s members have committed hundreds of attacks on property, businesses and military targets of huge importance to the security and interests of the UK.

Charities, universities and government buildings have been hit, subjected to vandalism causing many millions of pounds worth of damage.

It need hardly be stated that none of his has furthered the cause of peace or the Palestinian people in any way.

And yet, the chances are high that Palestine Action would have continued to be treated like other direct action groups of recent years, were it not for one important difference. Members of Palestine Action filmed themselves breaching an RAF base and damaging military aircraft. And then the group published the footage, boasting about it.

No country which wishes to be taken seriously – by either its allies or its enemies – could sit back and countenance such an act. It was therefore both predictable and entirely right that in the wake of that attack, the government took firm and appropriate action in banning the group under the terrorism act.

The probity of the decision cannot be questioned: as Andy Burnham told parliament this month in defending the proscription carried out under his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer: “It followed a rigorous and evidence-based process that came before this House, endorsed by Parliament.”

A predictable rogues gallery of “human rights organisations” and celebrity activists have opposed the proscription decision. It is important to recognise, that if a group was carrying out the exact same attacks in the name of, for example, banning abortion, or preventing mass immigration, the same groups and individuals signing endless open letters would have had no qualms about proscription. Their sympathy for the Palestinian cause has convinced them that in this case, such actions are justifiable.
Fifty peers call for Macklemore to be barred from the UK
Fifty members of the House of Lords have urged the government to stop American rapper Macklemore from entering Britain ahead of his London concert, amid concerns that money raised from his tour will go to a group accused of supporting Hamas.

The rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, is due to perform at Wembley Arena on Friday as part of his sold-out Free Palestine tour.

Profits from the concerts will go to Palestinian charities and campaign groups, including the Palestine Youth Movement (PYM), whose representatives have previously made statements appearing to justify the 7 October attacks.

The peers have written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, calling for Macklemore to be refused entry to the UK.

The letter was organised by Lord Walney, a former government adviser on political violence, and signed by 50 peers, including Lord Pickles.

Their main concern is that the rapper could raise money in Britain for PYM. The group’s UK spokesperson has previously described the taking of hostages during the 7 October attacks as “legitimate” and “effective”.

The peers argued that allowing the concert to go ahead would give the organisation an opportunity to benefit financially from a major event in London.

In the letter, they said: “A refusal would be proportionate and narrowly targeted. It would not prevent anyone in this country supporting the humanitarian organisations on Mr Haggerty’s list, nor restrict access to his music.”

They added: “It would simply decline to grant a foreign national the privilege of raising funds on British soil for an organisation of this kind.”

There is no suggestion that Macklemore himself has endorsed Hamas, and it remains unclear whether he is aware of the allegations against PYM.

The rapper announced his Free Palestine tour after being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour last month, following pro-Palestinian comments he made on stage.

He opened the tour in Dublin on Monday, where he was joined by Irish performers including Kneecap and Hozier.


Students for Justine in Palestine rally for divestment at Records Field
The organizer also said SJP is currently suspended and that its application for reinstatement has stalled, claiming Rutgers has tried to “push back our reinstatement for very arbitrary and seemingly nonsense reasons.”

According to the organizer, the group was not told ahead of time about the barricades. “As far as I’m aware, we did not know that we would be barricaded,” the organizer said. “So this is new to us.”

Under Rutgers’ rules, groups must book a permit to use the zone, and demonstrations must end by 4 p.m. The organizer said the zone was created after the 2024 encampment and is meant to limit visibility. “It’s in a secluded area, also purposely to not give us visibility,” the organizer said. “You have to book a permit for it, which is kind of ridiculous because that’s not the point of a protest.”

Speakers took turns addressing the crowd, and several focused on the HELIX, the life sciences hub in downtown New Brunswick that opened in September. Protesters said Tel Aviv University has a presence there, a claim the hub’s leadership has disputed. “That’s why they have felt the need to block off any entrance and hide you behind this little divot,” one speaker said.

Other speakers addressed the human toll in Gaza. “We must remember Zainab, a Palestinian woman I knew who survived the bombs her children did not, and who repeated their names each morning through the dust,” one speaker said.

Some speeches went further. One speaker called the Oct. 7 attack a “revolutionary act” and urged the crowd to celebrate it. Hamas, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization, killed about 1,200 people in Israel that day. “October 7th is not something to be scorned. Quite the opposite,” the speaker said. Another speaker said resistance to occupation should be achieved “through every means possible,” including armed resistance.

The demonstration remained peaceful. SJP said it will keep pushing for divestment and for an end to the protest zone rules.


BBC press officers refused to promote Emmy-winning Oct 7 documentary
BBC publicity staff refused to promote an Emmy-winning documentary about the victims of the Oct 7 massacre in Israel, The Telegraph can disclose.

The film, Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again, reconstructed the events at the Nova music festival, where 364 Israeli civilians were murdered, numerous attendees subject to rape and mutilation, and 44 were kidnapped and taken hostage.

The film was commissioned by the BBC, whose in-house publicists turned their back on it “due to its subject matter”, it is alleged.

They were allowed to “abandon their duties” by the BBC, according to Lucie Kon, a Jewish producer who later received a £400,000 payoff after being made redundant following a complaint she made about anti-Semitism.

Instead she had to hire a freelance publicist to organise a premiere, which included a question-and-answer session with survivors of the massacre.

The film went on to win the outstanding current affairs documentary award at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York.

Ms Kon told The Telegraph the press team refused to get involved in publicity because the Oct 7 film was “too political”. BBC sources insist the real reason was because the material it contained was so harrowing that staff asked to be excused.

The BBC has pledged several times to stamp out anti-Semitism within the corporation, but Ms Kon previously told The Telegraph she was repeatedly the victim of anti-Semitic language after the Oct 7 terrorist attacks in 2023.

She complained that she had been told Zionists like her were “evil”, that if Hamas were to be referred to as terrorists then Israel should be referred to as a terrorist state, and that it was “disgusting” that Rishi Sunak had visited a Jewish school after the Oct 7 attacks to offer his support as prime minister.


KIND founder Daniel Lubetzky calls Semafor’s Qatar ties ‘downright unethical’
Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND Snacks, accused the global news publication Semafor of compromising its journalistic independence through its financial ties to Qatar, alleging that the outlet was receiving outsized resources from the Qatari government for programs that did not require that level of funding.

In a post on X Wednesday, Lubetzky alleged that Semafor’s CEO and co-founder Justin Smith told him about the program funding after the outlet was founded in 2022 as he was ostensibly seeking Lubetzky’s investment. He said Semafor’s continued sponsorships and events with Qatar, alongside what he described as favorable coverage of the country, raise ethical concerns and called for an investigation into Qatar’s financial influence on American media and educational institutions.

Lubetzky recalled that, during their conversation, Smith acknowledged that the cost to conduct a program was “a tiny fraction of what he was getting paid” by the Qatari government for it — “directionally it was something like getting paid $2 million to conduct a ‘media training’ boot camp that would cost Semafor $50,000 to execute,” he wrote.

Lubetzky said that he told Smith at the time that the arrangement sounded like he was “being bribed,” arguing that “no entity pretending to be a journalism outfit should accept stuff like that, as it would compromise him.” He called Semafor’s alleged financial ties to Qatar “downright unethical” and said the outlet “does a disservice to the profession by undermining trust.”

The comments come days after Semafor published a story by its Gulf editor, Mohammed Sergie, arguing that accusations of Qatari funding of terrorism and influence operations lack sufficient evidence.

Lubetzky — a lifelong advocate for the Jewish people and for peace in the Middle East — has also founded public charities aimed at combating antisemitism and other forms of hate. He became a regular investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2024.


Russian lunatic who allegedly stabbed 2 Jewish men with syringe slapped with federal hate crime charges
The Russian lunatic arrested for stabbing two Jewish men with a syringe last week has been hit with federal hate crime charges, officials said Wednesday.

Anna Mochalova, 32, faces 20 years in prison for two counts of committing hate crimes following her stabbing spree last Wednesday in Manhattan’s Diamond District that directly targeted Jews.

Officials revealed that all of Mochalova’s targets were wearing yarmulkes, including the one man she spared after he claimed to be Muslim.

“This Office will continue to seek justice for victims of hate-based crimes and will aggressively prosecute those who seek to spread bigotry through violence,” said US Attorney Jamie McDonald.

“As alleged, Anna Mochalova deliberately and viciously targeted Jewish victims with violence,” McDonald added. “Mochalova allegedly stabbed two men specifically because they were Jewish, an attack made all the more terrifying because the specific weapon used — and its potential contents — remain unknown pending further investigation.

The assaults took place along West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues at around 5:50 pm, when Mochalova stabbed a man “ wearing attire traditionally worn by Orthodox Jewish men,” prosecutors said.
Teen fined after giving Nazi salute outside Borehamwood synagogue
A teenager has been fined more than £500 after making a Nazi salute outside a synagogue in Borehamwood as Jewish worshippers were leaving.

Kamil Mach, 19, from Watford, appeared at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on 16 October after being charged with a racially or religiously aggravated public order offence.

The incident took place on 9 May outside Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue in Croxdale Road, Hertfordshire.

Mach was ordered to pay a fine of more than £500, along with a £200 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs.

Hertfordshire Police said the incident had caused distress beyond those who witnessed it, with officers stepping up patrols to reassure Jewish residents.

Chief Inspector Ryan Davenport said: “This was a shocking and distressing incident for all who witnessed it, and we know that crimes like this affect the wider community too.

“I hope the news of Mach’s court hearing reassures Jewish residents that antisemitism will be dealt with robustly.

“Everyone has the right to feel safe regardless of their faith, background or beliefs and we will continue protecting all communities across Hertfordshire from hate.”


Jewish artifacts looted by Nazis return to Berlin, thanks to Arizona synagogue
What could one purchase with boxes of Crisco, bags of coffee, and cartons of cigarettes in chaotic postwar Germany?

For Moishe Saksenhaus, a young Holocaust survivor from Belarus, the answer was: two Jewish ritual textiles, hundreds of years old.

The seller said he’d stolen them himself from a burning Berlin synagogue on November 9, 1938 — the November Pogrom, commonly called Kristallnacht.

Moishe brought those two items — a Torah wimple, or sash, and a parochet, or Torah ark curtain — with him to America, taking them out of their suitcase only on special occasions. After Moishe’s death in 1993, his family donated them to his synagogue, Temple Chai in Phoenix, Arizona. They remained on display there until the building was deconsecrated in 2026. The congregation moved to a new location in nearby Scottsdale this spring.

Last week, nearly 88 years after Kristallnacht, the two items made their way back to Berlin.

In a ceremony at the site of the New Synagogue Berlin Foundation-Centrum Judaicum museum and archive, on Oranienburger Strasse, Associate Rabbi Bonnie Koppell of Temple Chai handed them over to Berlin Jewish Community president Gideon Joffe.

“There were people who felt individually attached to the items” in Phoenix, Koppell told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a phone interview before her trip. “But ultimately, I think everyone realized that they belonged in their home. If the people from whom they were stolen wanted them back, that was where they belong.”

The handover took place October 22 in the presence of Joffe, Rabbi Gesa Ederberg, historian Rabbi Andreas Nachama, members of the Berlin community and 29 visitors from Arizona.



 

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