Friday, October 30, 2026

10/29 Links Pt2: The Orwellian rewriting of the October 7 massacres; Blaming the Jews for Everything in Michigan; Anti-Israel activists have ‘co-opted’ American Psychological Association

From Ian:

The Orwellian rewriting of the October 7 massacres
On October 7, 2023, 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza. In proportional terms, that would be the equivalent of roughly 8,400 killed and 1,750 kidnapped in Britain. Nor can those numbers convey the suffering of the victims of rape and other sexual violence.

And then came the Orwellian plot twist. Before the dead had been buried, while the hostages were being brutalised in Gaza, and as Israel’s military response was taking shape, the account of what happened began to change, manipulated by Hamas and its allies, enablers, and useful idiots in the West. History was turned on its head. The deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust was blurred, rationalised, justified, celebrated, and, in certain quarters, dismissed as a false-flag operation.

I saw this again recently when I addressed a large university audience in Europe. Fifteen students, strategically positioned around the room, offered a case study in chanted slogans substituting for thought. They robotically repeated accusations of “Nazi-like genocide”, “ethnic cleansing”, and “settler-colonialism”, more intent on reinforcing one another’s certainties than examining the outrageous, unexamined claims they made.

More consequentially, over time, some governments that should have known better began sacrificing high-minded principle for street-level politics. Students at so-called elite universities in the US and UK revealed how little they knew, or cared, about the facts. Too many media outlets seemed quicker to question the evidence staring them in the face than to scrutinise Hamas’s fictionalised claims. Organisations that professed universal concern for women and children were conspicuously missing in action, or raised the evidentiary threshold to new heights, when the victims were Israeli. And the United Nations once again showed how far it had strayed from its founding ideals. It was not until September 2025 that the General Assembly endorsed a declaration condemning Hamas’s October 7 attacks, while some ostensibly neutral UN staff working on relief efforts in Gaza were revealed to be Hamas sympathisers or even moonlighting as Hamas terrorists.

Hamas had announced its intention to destroy Israel long ago. On October 7, its attackers acted on that aim with unprecedented ferocity, in full view of the world, in some cases gleefully recording and sharing their crimes with family and friends. Yet, in the story that took hold in many quarters, democratic Israel became the villain, the aggressor, and even the alleged perpetrator of genocide. Terrorist Hamas, meanwhile, was sanitised as a resistance movement and its reports treated as gospel. Its killers were romanticised as freedom fighters and, in some circles, all but fetishised.

Western capitals rightly supported Ukraine as it defended itself against Russia’s illegal invasion. Yet too many could not, or would not, recognise Israel’s need to fight back powerfully against the aggressors on its own border. Instead came sanctimonious lectures from Dublin to Madrid, Paris to Oslo, and Brussels to Ottawa, as if Israel were confronting a foe that cared a whit about the laws of war.

Strip away the rhetoric, and what many seemed to be saying was something else: for the sake of our streets, our electoral fortunes, our domestic political pressures, and our wider Middle East interests, appease. Sacrifice your interests for ours. Trust the untrustworthy. Be good Christians (!) and turn the other cheek.

Then, in September 2025, London, Paris, Ottawa, and Canberra recognised a Palestinian state without agreed borders, a unified government, or control over its territory – while hostages remained in Gaza. What a sense of timing! What an unearned gift! What shameless pandering!

Meanwhile, amidst this diplomatic circus, history, geography, and reality all got upended.

First, history. Before the attack, Israel maintained neither settlements nor a permanent military presence inside Gaza. It had dismantled its settlements and withdrawn its forces 18 years earlier, giving Gaza’s leaders their first chance ever to chart the strip’s future. They could have chosen Dubai or Singapore as a model. Alas, they did not.

Second, geography. Striking how collective amnesia sets in whenever there is discussion of Gaza’s “encirclement” by Israel. Lo and behold, Gaza has a second border. It’s with Egypt, an Arab and Muslim-majority country. Yet many neglect this inconvenient fact. Why does Egypt maintain such a formidable Gaza border fence, topped with layers of concertina wire?

And third, reality. The “experts” in government, universities, social media, and think tanks presume to know exactly what Israel is not supposed to do. But what, precisely, would they have had Israel do after October 7? Leave a genocidal foe in power on its doorstep? Abandon the hostages, some of whom would endure brutal captivity for more than two years? Defer to Hamas’s use of civilians to shield its fighters and ignore the vast armed infrastructure it built above and below ground? Pretend that Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood had no interests of their own in the conflict? It is easy to preach restraint and question strategy from a distant armchair. It is harder to say what Israel should have done against an enemy determined to destroy it.

Yet for all the second-guessing, all the libellous accusations of genocide, Israel demonstrated two things: military resolve and an effort to limit civilian harm.

It fought a war on seven fronts to weaken its declared enemies and restore the power of deterrence. In that fight, it showed any number of wobbly, flaccid Western nations what valour, patriotism, and resilience look like.

To be sure, there were tragic civilian deaths. Every such death is an incalculable loss. Israel nevertheless sought to minimise civilian casualties as best it could in an immensely difficult, weaponised, and confined environment. In fact, Israel risked the lives of its own soldiers in that effort rather than relying solely on air power. It also permitted humanitarian assistance, albeit with interruptions, much of which, alas, was seized by Hamas for its own use and profit.

Hamas started a war. It was a naked act of aggression. And then, along with fellow travellers, it methodically convinced much of the world that it was the innocent victim of the very war it began. George Orwell, where are you?
David Bell: My report on antisemitism in education is based on hard evidence – now let’s implement its findings
What matters is what emerges when that evidence is considered together. The survey responses, testimony and wider evidence presented to the review consistently point to antisemitism being a real issue among young people and within schools and colleges.

Antisemitism is rising in wider society and it has filtered into our schools. You do not need to look far to see deeply troubling cases involving Jewish pupils and teachers. Statistics are important, but we do not need a single statistic to tell us that antisemitism is present – it is clearly visible.

Questions have also been raised about my impartiality when conducting the review. I did not come to this review with an agenda or narrative I wanted to promote.

Instead, throughout this work I have been led by the evidence presented to me, and I would encourage anyone questioning its conclusions to engage with that evidence in full.

Free speech and open debate are vital, especially in schools and colleges where young people are learning how to navigate these types of conversations.

Young people should be able to discuss difficult and contentious political questions, including the actions of the State of Israel.

That's why I don't believe asking schools and colleges to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism will inhibit legitimate debate. Applied in a way that respects their legal duties, including on equality and freedom of speech, it should help institutions distinguish legitimate criticism from antisemitism.

Debate must be encouraged in education, but school and college leaders also have a responsibility to ensure political expression is appropriate, particularly in the classroom, and that they meet their legal duties.

My conclusion is clear – antisemitism is a serious problem in our schools and colleges, and we must tackle it in a coherent and comprehensive way. My report is a start in that direction so now it’s all about implementation.
WSJ Editorial: Blaming the Jews for Everything in Michigan
A common theme of antisemites throughout history is to blame the Jews for any and every social ill.

Now this has reappeared in America with a new ad for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed that blames grocery prices on U.S. support for Israel.

The ad features a couple agonizing over high prices at a supermarket. The wife tells her husband that "you're going to have to put those eggs back" because "we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians."

Later the husband asks about the Israelis, "Don't they get universal health care too?" "Yeah, they do. And we're paying for that too probably," she replies. "Might as well put the bananas back."

The unmistakable message: Americans are paying more and making personal sacrifices because the U.S. is supporting Israel's alleged genocide against Palestinians.

Most Michiganders are smart enough to know that Israel isn't responsible for inflation, but the ad is intended to feed grievances on the far left and right.


Australia considering Iron Dome's Tamir interceptor for missile defense
Australia is considering looking at Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system as it works to build its first land-based ballistic missile shield.

According to local media, Australia’s Defense Ministry has approached Washington regarding cost and delivery timelines for the US Marine Corps’ Medium Range Intercept Capability, which uses the SkyHunter, a US-built version of the Iron Dome’s Tamir interceptors.

It is also looking at the Patriot and Aegis missile defense systems. Bids from Norway’s Kongsberg and South Korea’s Hanwha are also expected.

Canberra is looking for a medium-range missile defense system as Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has called the current geopolitical situation “The most complex and threatening strategic circumstances” since World War II.

The Australian reported that a tender issued by the country’s Defense Ministry in mid-October wants a “proven” off-the-shelf system selected by the end of next year, followed by a live-firing during Exercise Talisman Sabre by 2029. According to the report, the planned system will not be fully operational until the middle of the 2030s.

Highly critical of Israel
Australia has been heavily critical of Israel’s war in Gaza. Canberra does not supply weapons to Israel, and its purchase of Israeli defence products continues to come under political scrutiny.

But while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted that the country does “not sell arms to Israel,” Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy has defended the country’s use of Israeli military systems.

“We make no apology for getting the best possible equipment for the Australian Defence Force,” he said at the Indo-Pacific Maritime Exposition last year.

Environment Minister Murray Watt has also supported the decision to look at Israeli technology, telling the committee on Thursday that "the government will always seek to deliver the most suitable military technology.”
Labor government’s stance on Israeli tech labelled ‘baffling’
Liberal MP Jonathon Duniam slams the federal government as "baffling" after Labor refused to rule out a politically motivated boycott of Israeli technology
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Commentary Podcast: The Antisemitism Horseshoe
Contributing editor Eli Lake joins us today to correct the record on Jon Lovett's comments on Michigan Jews and Abdul El-Sayed, and discuss the larger implications of centering Israel in US politics and the different flavors of antisemitism on the left and right as both parties struggle with their own cohorts in the approach to the midterms. Is there any cause for optimism going forward, or do even darker days lie ahead?
UKLFI: The Rules and Practices of Wikipedia
This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar on The Rules and Practices of Wikipedia with Alan Sohn and Natasha Hausdorff, which took place on Wednesday 28 October 2026.

Wikipedia is the world’s largest reference website, hosting over 68 million articles in more than 300 languages and attracting billions of monthly views. As well as providing information directly to the public, it is accessed by search engines and used to train AI large language models. Its influence on knowledge and thought can hardly be overstated.

Anyone can volunteer as an editor of Wikipedia and amend existing articles or create new ones. Volunteer editors can thus contribute constructively and make a meaningful difference in developing and shaping the world’s largest reference work.

Wikipedia has a system of rules which editors are expected to observe and procedures to resolve differences between them. Substantial bodies of precedents and practices have developed in their interpretation and application.

Wikipedia editors need to understand these rules, procedures, precedents and practices, particularly if they wish to contribute in controversial areas such as the Middle East. This webinar will serve as an introduction to this important subject.


travelingisrael.com: Slavery in Islam: They Took Far More Women Than Men
For 1,300 years, millions were enslaved across the Islamic world—yet this massive chapter of history is almost completely silenced.


The Brink: Islamists Are Inside Our Institutions - Nick Timothy MP
In this episode of The Brink, Andrew and Jake are joined by Conservative MP and Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy to examine the growing influence of Islamism in Britain and what he believes is a serious threat to the country's future.

Nick reveals how he uncovered a controversy surrounding the government's new definition of anti-Muslim hostility, including allegations of secret consultations, withheld records and potential conflicts of interest. He explains why he believes the definition threatens free speech and could protect extremist organisations from scrutiny.

The conversation also explores the Muslim Brotherhood's alleged influence over British institutions, Labour's relationship with Muslim voters and the controversy surrounding mass Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square.

They also debate multiculturalism, religious freedom, Britain's Christian heritage and whether the country can defend its liberal values while remaining a tolerant, pluralistic society.

Chapters
00:00 Nick Timothy On The Growing Threat Of Islamism In Britain
02:38 The Islamophobia Definition Scandal
06:27 The Secret Government Consultation
09:15 The Missing Emails & Government Cover-Up Allegations
13:06 How Extremists Gain Influence Over British Institutions
15:00 Is Britain Introducing Blasphemy Laws By Stealth?
20:16 Why Labour Is Afraid To Confront Islamism
23:43 Is Britain Facing An Existential Crisis?
29:53 Muslim Prayer In Trafalgar Square & Religious Freedom
37:48 Christianity, British Identity & The Future Of Multiculturalism


NYPD drops no-bid contract for Israeli company after criticism from Mamdani allies
The New York City Police Department dropped plans to award a no-bid contract to Israeli technology company Cognyte for a cellphone surveillance system after Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced criticism from progressive lawmakers and privacy advocates, the New York Daily News reported on Tuesday.

An NYPD spokesman told JNS that the department “uses cell-site simulators for the location or identification of mobile devices.”

“We use this technology to locate missing persons, victims of abductions and criminal suspects,” the spokesman said. “The department explored different cell-site simulators and determined that this device best met the needs of the NYPD.”

“Cognyte can still bid on the contract,” the spokesman told JNS.

JNS sought comment from Cognyte and City Hall.

An NYPD spokesman told the Daily News that the proposed deal “did not meet the criteria for a sole source procurement.”

The department first announced plans to negotiate with Cognyte in December 2025, under former mayor Eric Adams.

An Oct. 7 city procurement notice valued the proposed three-year contract at up to $750,500 for FalcoNet equipment, training and support for the department’s technical assistance and response unit.

FalcoNet imitates a cellular tower to help investigators locate cellphones. The NYPD already uses other cell-site simulators to locate suspects, missing people and abduction victims.

The proposed contract would have added FalcoNet to those capabilities.

New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán, who, like Mamdani, is part of the Democratic Socialists of America, criticized the proposed purchase on Tuesday.

“We should not be giving the NYPD, a department that already spends millions on surveillance, another tool that will allow them to conduct mass surveillance of New Yorkers,” she stated.

“That is doubly true for a technology that has been used by human rights abusers, including the governments of Israel, Myanmar and South Sudan to track dissidents and targets of state violence,” she stated.

“It’s time for our city government to cut ties with companies like these that profit off of human rights abuses,” she said.
Seth Mandel: Abdul El-Sayed can’t dodge vile antisemitic ad — because it parrots his own words
El-Sayed says Michiganders can’t afford basic services because that money is being spent by Israel “to drop bombs.”

Israel, he complains — just like the complaining couple in the Jew-baiting ad — “has guaranteed health care.”

It’s therefore “insane,” El-Sayed says, that “you want to send my money over there.”

El-Sayed has been saying some form of this all through the campaign. It’s basically his only idea.

Every bumper-sticker line you hear from El-Sayed is a version of this grocery ad.

He’s not the only Democrat angrily spitting this propaganda, of course.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, a New York Democratic House nominee, blamed the Jewish state for gentrification.

New York Assembly candidate Lydia Green said, “The more we’re spending on genocide and displacement of Palestinians, the less we’re spending on housing, feeding and caring for New Yorkers.”

Does it require an astonishing level of innumeracy and economic ignorance to believe that when the US gives Israel vouchers to buy weapons from American manufacturers — thus expanding American jobs and American manufacturing — it’s somehow taking eggs and bananas out of the mouths of theoretical Abdul El-Sayed voters?

Yes, it does.

What do you think? Be the first to comment.

That’s why no one believes it.

But some people want to believe it, and others pretend to believe it.

One person in the latter category is Abdul El-Sayed — the inspiration for some of the ugliest political antisemitism in America.
Event for Michigan Republican draws Jewish Democratic megadonor who rejects El-Sayed
The Republican Jewish Coalition typically isn’t known for drawing committed Democrats to its events.

But that’s what happened Wednesday night at the Townsend Hotel in suburban Detroit, when a campaign event for GOP Michigan US Senate nominee Mike Rogers attracted several Jews from the other side of the aisle.

Those included Jason Turkish, a Democratic lawyer and megadonor best known as the fiancé of pro-Israel Democratic US Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the race for the party’s Senate nomination to Rogers’s opponent, Abdul El-Sayed.

Turkish did not speak at the event. But just before it started, he had gone public with his declaration that he was voting for Rogers, and called El-Sayed antisemitic.

“This choice for me, in the end, was very simple,” Turkish told reporters from the sidelines. He cited recent instances of El-Sayed not answering whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the United States, and of the candidate distancing himself from a PAC ad that blamed Israel for the price of groceries, without addressing its content.

“History will remember who stands where in this moment, and it will not remember Abdul El-Sayed kindly,” Turkish said.

Turkish’s public stance against his party’s nominee, whom his fiancée has endorsed while not directly campaigning for him, was yet another indication of the deep distrust and anger many of Michigan’s pro-Israel Jewish voters have voiced toward El-Sayed throughout this campaign. Republicans are hoping that will translate into more Jewish lifelong Democrats, like Turkish and former Stevens campaign chair David Kramer, pulling the lever for Rogers instead.

“I love it,” Rogers, a former congressman, told reporters about Turkish’s endorsement. From the stage, the candidate was clear about what he thinks of El-Sayed: “He’s beyond antisemitic. He hates Jews.”

Turkish insisted that despite his Rogers vote, he was not a Republican.

“I will vote for Democrats up and down the ballot,” he said. “This isn’t some major departure. You can support Democrats up and down the ballot and make a choice to choose country over party in one race.”
‘May Allah Curse the Jews’: El-Sayed and Father Have Close Ties to Mosque Whose Board Is Packed With Extremists Slinging Bloodthirsty Lines From Quran
Abdul El-Sayed has a long history of involvement with a notorious Michigan mosque whose leaders have defended payments to the families of terrorists and offered prayers to Allah to destroy the Jews.

The Michigan Senate Democratic nominee has been affiliated with the Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield Township—"part of this community," as El-Sayed put it—since at least 2017, according to a Facebook post from the mosque. His father, Mohammed El-Sayed, formally became a member in 2019, according to another Facebook post from the mosque—though a 2006 local news article identified the elder El-Sayed as an "imam" for the center as early as 2006.

"Welcome Dr. Mohamad El-Sayed Family as new Members of Muslim Unity Center," the mosque wrote on a 2019 Facebook post about its "membership drive."

A 2020 annual report from the mosque notes that it partnered with Abdul El-Sayed "for a two-day training on civic engagement, organizing, and storytelling" for Muslim youth looking to get involved in the 2020 elections.

"Being able to be a part of this community has meant a lot to me," El-Sayed said in a promotional video for the mosque in May 2021. El-Sayed also touted his enthusiasm for people with "different perspectives on what it means to be an American."

The mosque has returned the praise, lauding Abdul El-Sayed as "a treasure for our community." El-Sayed held a fundraiser there during his 2018 campaign for governor.

"The objective of MUC is to develop, support and promote an Islamic way of life and to ensure the emergence of an American Muslim identity. MUC affirms the principles of the social order established by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), including the establishment of a thriving and vibrant community free of ethnic, racial, cultural or national divisions. MUC's vision is based on the teachings of the holy book Al-Qur'aan and by the teachings of the Prophet," the mosque grandly states on its website.

While the mosque puts on a public show of tolerance, what comes from the pulpit and from its board leadership paints a starkly different picture.

In March 2020, MUC posted a podcast episode delivered by Mohamed Almasmari, who spent a decade as imam of the mosque and has given $500 to Abdul El-Sayed's Senate campaign, Federal Election Commission records show.

During the episode, Almasmari condemned President Trump's 2020 peace plan for Israel and Palestinian terrorists, condemning proscriptions on providing funding for the families of dead terrorists.

"The idea of supporting now the families of shuhada [martyrs], those who died in the process of defending their honor. That people want you and I to say that they are terrorists. People tell you two sides. Are you with freedom or are you with Hamas? You have to pick a side. That's a nonsense game," Almasmari thundered.

"People paid the price for that, who died in the path of Allah, glorified and exalted is he, you can no longer support those terrorist families. Even though you're supporting kids and widows."

In a video from June 2026, MUC youth director Ibrahim Abdus-Sabur offered a prayer for the destruction of Jews.


"Orthodox Christians for Palestine" Summit to Headline Convicted Ex-CIA Leaker
An upcoming Orthodox Christians for Palestine (OCP) summit near Washington, D.C., will feature a convicted former CIA officer who now hosts a Russian state-media program, speakers associated with sanctioned organizations, and an Orthodox nun who publicly defended Hamas.

The Not in Christ’s Name summit, scheduled for November 14 at Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Potomac, Maryland, will feature keynote speaker John Kiriakou, who was imprisoned for leaking a covert CIA officer’s identity and has called the Houthis “freedom fighters.”

Other advertised participants include Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi, whose immigration case filings cited allegations that he claimed to have made guns for Hezbollah; attorney Jonathan Kuttab, co-founder of Israeli-designated Al-Haq; Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, who said “Hamas is not the problem”; and Tor Stumo, a flotilla participant whose movement’s steering committee includes a U.S.-sanctioned organizer.

OCP also identifies Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna, who has met senior Hamas and Hezbollah figures and defended Bashar al-Assad, among the clerics from whom it takes “guidance.”

The conference will serve as preparation for a November 16 congressional advocacy day, with afternoon sessions devoted to lobbying lawmakers, organizing church communities and mobilizing younger activists.

Keynote Speaker’s Russian State-Media Career
Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, currently hosts The Deep State on Russian state-controlled RT, following years of employment at Sputnik, another Kremlin-funded media organization. His relationship with Russian state media dates to August 2017, when he joined Sputnik Radio and began co-hosting Loud & Clear alongside Brian Becker, co-founder of the ANSWER Coalition and a leading figure in the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

In a 2018 investigation titled The CIA Spy Who Became a Russian Propagandist, The New Republic examined Kiriakou’s work for Sputnik and the Russian government’s recruitment of American commentators across the political spectrum. His association with Russian state media continued into 2026 through RT’s The Deep State, a program covering American foreign policy, intelligence agencies and international conflicts.


Berlin’s far-left mayoral candidate inadvertently admits fear of supporters who back Hamas
Berlin’s leading far-left mayoral candidate, Elif Eralp, inadvertently admitted during a recent interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel that she was afraid of some of her supporters due to their ties to the Hamas terror group.

Eralp, a politician from the far-left Die Linke party, accidentally made her fears public when she sent Der Spiegel an authorized transcript of an interview conducted earlier this week without first removing comments and annotations she and her spokesperson had added.

Next to a question about antisemitism among pro-Palestinian German supporters of her party, in which one such supporter, Ibrahim Ibrahim, was mentioned by name, the Die Linke politician wrote, “Neither my husband nor I want to mention specific names; he is afraid of these people, and so am I.”

The question Eralp took issue with had mentioned “the terrorist sympathizer Ibrahim Ibrahim,” and noted that he had referred to former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7, 2023, attack, as a “martyr hero.”

Ibrahim, according to German media, is a leading figure of Germany’s United Palestinian National Committee (VPNK), a group formed after October 7 for supporters of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

He attended the Die Linke election party following Berlin’s state election in September, prompting Der Spiegel’s question to Eralp about his support.

According to Der Spiegel, Eralp’s spokesperson noted in the annotations that they couldn’t just delete the journalist’s question, as rules dictate that the interviewee can change only their answers and not the questions when authorizing final transcripts.

“What do I do now?” Eralp wrote in response. “I should never have agreed to this interview.”

Eralp, who positioned herself in the Berlin election as the best person to counter the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, is poised to become the mayor of Berlin after Die Linke’s win in the September election, but only if she can gather the support to do so.

Because Die Linke did not win an outright majority, Eralp will be required to form a coalition, likely with the center-left SPD and the Greens. However, it is not certain she’ll succeed, as Germany’s mainstream parties have many differences with the hard-left party, especially on security policy, where Die Linke opposes military aid for Ukraine and advocates for Germany to leave NATO. Antisemitism among her supporters has also been an issue amid coalition talks.


The View From a College Campus: When Jewish Grief Becomes Political
The language mattered too. They did not tell me they were simply mourning Palestinian civilians. They specifically said they were honoring Palestinian “martyrs.” In this context, “martyr” is not a morally neutral synonym for someone who died. It carries the idea of sacrifice for a cause. There is an enormous distinction between mourning an innocent Palestinian civilian and honoring someone who deliberately participated in murdering Israeli civilians. Blurring that distinction is not compassion. Civilians are not legitimate targets because of their nationality, and that principle should not change depending on which side someone supports.

What troubled me was how familiar the underlying reflex felt: Jewish experience becomes meaningful only after it is filtered through a political story about Israel.

I see variations of the same reflex constantly online. A kicker misses a field goal to lose the game, and someone calls him a “Mossad agent.” Something people dislike becomes “spiritually Israeli.” Then there are “goyslop,” “goy cattle,” and “good goy,” jokes that stem from the idea that Jews secretly manipulate, control, or look down on non-Jews.

I have personally been attacked and mocked just for wearing a Star of David necklace, which leads those antisemites and Israel-haters to treat me like I’m a representative of the Jewish state, without even knowing my views. Their comments would be reprehensible even if they were targeting me for supporting Israel’s right to exist, but the fact they attack any Jew as a representative of Israel shows how antisemitism often can’t be separated from hatred of Israel.

None of this means that everyone making these jokes consciously hates Jews. That would be too simple. The more uncomfortable possibility is that certain assumptions about Jews and Israel have become so normalized that people repeat them without stopping to think about what they actually mean. A Jewish symbol becomes Israel, Israel becomes something sinister, and suddenly the punchline goes without saying.

I am not asking anyone to stop caring about Palestinians or to stop criticizing Israel. I am asking people to recognize what happens when Jewish identity becomes solely about politics and when the grief of Jews becomes another opportunity for condemnation of Israel.

On Oct. 7, Jewish students should not have to argue for the reality of what happened before they are allowed to grieve it. And they certainly should not have to hide a Magen David while doing so.
‘You guys are evil,’ antisemitic heckler shouts at US Jewish comedian
The Jewish comedian Lucas Zelnick on Wednesday posted footage of an antisemitic heckler shouting at him onstage, the latest in a series of incidents in which Jewish comics in the US have been targeted.

Zelnick is a stand-up comic based in New York City who discusses his Jewish identity in his routines.

The footage showed the audience member shouting at Zelnick, “I’m against Jews.”

Zelnick reacted incredulously, then asked her for clarification as he and other audience members reacted with shock, and he cracked jokes about her comments.

“You guys are evil,” the woman said, “considering what’s happening in Palestine.”

“But that’s not all Jews. Like I’m here, right? And I’m pro-Palestine,” Zelnick said. “There are a lot of Jews being naughty in Israel right now, but it’s not all Jews, and it’s not because they’re Jews.”

Zelnick said her comments were “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard at a show where people have come specifically to see me. I so talk about being Jewish all the time.”

He asked the woman if she was a “young leftist,” to which the woman demanded he provide her an “answer” and “more depth.”

“Why am I on the hook for explaining to you why one religion of people aren’t all evil at the individual level?” he said. “I care about being Jewish. I think what’s happening in Israel is horrible, but those are two different things.”

Other audience members took Zelnick’s side, asking for the woman to be ejected from the show.

Zelnick asked the woman for more “nuances” and she walked out.


Lies and The Holy Land
In summer 2025, I worked for a Palestinian Christian-run reconciliation organization and lived in Beit Sahour, a town near Bethlehem. While there, I met Palestinian scientist Mazin Qumsiyeh, who was nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

I asked him: “How long has your family lived here [in Beit Sahour]?” He replied that his family had resided there for “thousands of years.”

I was initially skeptical but didn’t investigate further. Later, I found that Beit Sahour’s records date his family’s arrival in the town to the late eighteenth century. Before then, the ancestors of his family lived in Wadi Musa, Jordan.

Prominent Palestinian figures have long lied about their personal history to strengthen political authority. Yasser Arafat claimed to have been born in Jerusalem, although he was born in Cairo. Similarly, Edward Said’s account of his childhood connection to Jerusalem obscured how much of his upbringing took place in Cairo.

Personal stories give political arguments the authority of lived experience. That makes the less obvious distortions worth examining, too. Rashid Khalidi offers an important case. A Columbia University professor emeritus, former PLO spokesman, and member of a notable Jerusalemite family, Khalidi’s book, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, recounts the conflict through his own experiences and those of his relatives. It spent more than 30 weeks on The New York Times’ nonfiction bestseller list.

But the parts of his family’s history that undermine the book’s narrative are missing.

Journalist Oren Kessler shared a little-known historical thread from his book, Palestine 1936, in our recent interview. “There are actually indications that the whole idea of partition came from the Khalidi family,” he said.

In The Hundred Years’ War, Khalidi characterized early partition plans as colonial, oppressive endeavors that treated Palestinians “as if they had no national existence and no collective rights.” For example, Khalidi criticized the 1937 Peel Commission — which recommended creating a Jewish state in roughly 17 percent of Mandatory Palestine, moving approximately 225,000 Arabs out of that state, and transferring 1,250 Jews out of the proposed Arab state — for threatening to expel “over two hundred thousand Arabs” and denying their “goal of self-determination.”

Yet overlooked documents illustrate that the Khalidi family implored the British to divide the land and transfer its inhabitants.

Reginald Coupland, a member of the Commission, explained that the idea of partition had “come from an Arab source.” His statement followed a meeting with Ahmad Khalidi, principal of the Arab College and one of Rashid Khalidi’s uncles.

An earlier document adds substance to that connection. In 1934, Ahmad was the first Palestinian to propose cantonization, dividing the territory into separate administrative areas, as a “final solution” to the conflict. The Zionists would receive “the best lands of Palestine,” while their continued presence would depend on “economic success.” Ahmad also explained that the “transfer of property and population is bound to take place.”

In other words, a prominent member of Khalidi’s family advocated for territorial division and population transfer before Peel recommended them. Readers judging these ideas as colonial impositions deserve to know that Palestinian leaders helped create them.


Anti-Israel activists have ‘co-opted’ American Psychological Association, House panel says
A new House Committee on Education and the Workforce report on Jew-hatred in the American Psychological Association found that anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activists have “successfully co-opted” the association, which has about 190,000 members.

The report, which was released as the accreditation advisory committee of the U.S. Education Department recommended that the APA’s recognition be suspended for a year, cites internal communications showing that activists influenced the group’s response to Oct. 7 and its handling of complaints from Jewish psychologists.

It details instances in which APA leaders allegedly minimized Jew-hatred, resisted initiatives to address it and embraced political frameworks that portray Israel as a colonialist state.

“For an organization dedicated to understanding human behavior, the APA has done a remarkable job of ignoring prejudice within its own ranks,” stated Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee.

“Its leaders have allowed antisemitism to fester and radical activists to turn a respected scientific institution into a platform for political agendas, while Jewish psychologists are ignored and ostracized,” he said. “The APA has a credibility problem, and its leadership has no one to blame but itself.”

According to the report, leaders of the association “caved to pressure to whitewash” the Oct. 7 attacks, “mocked and dismissed Jewish psychologists sounding the alarm on antisemitism” and “appeased radical activists who gutted protections against antisemitism and accused Jews of having white privilege.”

The then chief diversity officer of the APA “responded internally, ‘Sigh!’” when a “Jewish psychologist raised concerns about antisemitism,” the House panel said.

“Another senior official complained about ‘the Jews who are so angry at us,’ accusing them of ‘feeding hatred’ by speaking out against the association,” it said.

“The APA adopted a watered-down antisemitism resolution over the objections of a group of Jewish psychologists advising its board,” the panel said. “Meanwhile, opponents of recognizing a Jewish ethnic psychological association argued that Jews benefit from ‘white privilege’ and do not face the same discrimination as other minority groups.”

Days after Oct. 7, association leaders sought input on their public statement from the American Arab, Middle Eastern and North African Psychological Association, an affiliated group that described the attacks as a “resistance action,” according to the report.

The group’s incoming president urged the APA to remove the phrase “terrorist attacks” and argued that there was “lots of problematic and racist language” that would upset members in the Middle East and North Africa.

The final statement did not reference terrorism.

The APA described the group internally as an “antisemitism stakeholder,” according to the report, which says that the group “does not represent Jews” but instead “foments antisemitism.”

The report also details exchanges involving Lara Sheehi, a George Washington University psychologist whom Jewish students accused of discrimination.
‘Heartbreaking’ findings in House report on Jew-hatred within American Psychological Association, psychologists say
Jewish psychologists who raised concerns about antisemitism within the American Psychological Association say a new congressional report validates their experiences but leaves them fearful of professional backlash, as they call on the group to acknowledge the harm and rebuild trust.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce released a report on Thursday detailing allegations that APA leaders dismissed Jewish members’ concerns, resisted efforts to address Jew-hatred and allowed anti-Israel activists to influence the organization’s policies and response to Oct. 7.

“No one should have to turn to Congress to ask their own profession to practice empathy,” Miri Bar-Halpern, a Jewish psychology lecturer at Harvard Medical School, told JNS.

“I’m scared of what’s going to happen now,” she said. “I can already predict the backlash.”

Bar-Halpern told JNS she gets “quite a lot” of antisemitic messages and threats. But for every hostile message, she also receives “three or four messages from people thanking me because they couldn’t speak up,” she said.

“This has been hard,” Bar-Halpern said. “This has been really hard.”

Dean McKay, a psychology professor at Fordham University who testified alongside Bar-Halpern at a September hearing before the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which advises the U.S. Department of Education on accreditation, told JNS that people he had approached for help were implicated in the report.

“There are people named in the report who I met with as part of our efforts to try and address the problems in the organization back last year, who theoretically were trying to operate in good faith with us,” he said. “They were actually operating against us behind the scenes.”

McKay said that is “a particularly heartbreaking finding.”

“I had hoped that these were people who were actually working on our interests in a genuine way, rather than what I think is a duplicitous way,” he told JNS.

The tax-exempt association with more than 190,000 members sets policy “for how professional psychologists are expected to conduct themselves,” McKay said. “They’re the largest professional psychology organization in the world, and so they exert enormous influence.”

Bar-Halpern told JNS that “as a Jewish psychologist who has received hate for speaking up, this report is both validating and heartbreaking.”

“Behind those warnings are people who have risked their careers, relationships, and sense of belonging to ask their profession to confront harm within its own ranks,” she said. “I love this profession. That is why I spoke up, and why these findings hurt so deeply.”


UJS condemns Glasgow campus event as ‘a severe threat to Jewish students’
UJS has described an event taking place this evening on the campus of Glasgow University as posing “a severe threat to Jewish students”, due to it featuring a barrister known for representing Hamas in its efforts to challenge the government’s proscription of it as a terrorist group.

The event, taking place this evening, organised by the university’s Islamic Society and further promoted by the Glasgow University Justice in Palestine Society (GUJPS) is titled “What is Zionism and how do we confront it”. It features the barrister Franck Magennis, as well as the rector of Glasgow University, British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah.

Dr Abu-Sittah, a former student at the university, won a vote to become its rector in 2024, with a campaign video that said a vote for him would be a vote “against the genocide in Gaza” and “against the blood money that Glasgow University is making as profit from this war”.

Earlier this year a Medical Tribunal ruled that accusations of antisemitism from Dr Abu-Sittah had not been proved. He had been reported to the GMC over two social media posts from 2023 and an article he had written for a Lebanese newspaper, Al Akhbar, in March 2018.

In the article, the medic wrote about the “martyrdom” of Ahmad Nasr Jarrar, who he referred to as a “hero” of the Nablus operation, saying: “The people have no weapon left but revolutionary violence.”

Jarra was believed to be a member of Hamas and suspected of orchestrating an operation where a rabbi was killed in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank city of Nablus. Abu-Sittah told the tribunal he did not endorse the acts Jarra had been accused of and said: “I do not believe that the readers of the article, familiar as they necessarily would be with the nuance of Arab and Palestinian political discourse and life, would have seen my article as an endorsement of terrorism.”

The doctor was also accused of re-posting two tweets, one saying: “We congratulate our brothers in Hamas and our comrades in the Popular Front on the anniversary of their inception.”

A second tweet refers to “Martyrs in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine”, referring to a man who carried out the first operation using a suicide belt in 1974, and a second man, Shams al-Din al-Qazimi, who died during fighting in 1973.

The tribunal said that it was “satisfied that, having considered Dr Abu-Sitta’s evidence, there was no intention on his part to be supportive of violence.”
University rector who previously accused Israel of genocide told to stay off campus after bullying complaints
The St Andrews rector who sparked outrage among Jewish students by accusing Israel of genocide has now been told to stay off campus for seven years after bullying complaints against her were upheld.

Stella Maris, whose three-year term ends on Saturday, has been formally censured after an independent investigation found she had behaved in a way “consistent with bullying” towards a member of university staff.

She has been told she must seek permission before entering university buildings or attending events until October 2033.

Maris has rejected the findings, calling the decision “utter nonsense” and accusing the university of harassment.

The investigation upheld five complaints made by a senior university official, with her behaviour described as “unprofessional and aggressive”.

The university also found that Maris had intimidated and caused distress to staff and student representatives during an incident at the students’ union in July.

Its governing body, University Court, concluded that her conduct was serious enough to justify dismissal. However, with her term almost over, it decided to issue a formal letter of censure instead.

A University of St Andrews spokesperson said: “The University of St Andrews has issued a letter of censure to its outgoing rector, Ms Stella Maris.

“The letter was issued by St Andrews’ supreme governing body, University Court, after an independent investigation found that Ms Maris had behaved in a way ‘consistent with bullying’ towards a member of university staff.

“It was also found that the rector had intimidated and caused distress to staff and student representatives at the St Andrews Students’ Association (the students’ union) in an incident there in July 2026.”
Canadian received Bell Canada text saying 'Welcome to Palestine' while visiting Jerusalem
A Canadian traveller who received a text from Bell Canada welcoming him to “Palestine” while he was in Israel says he is shocked and disappointed.

The Ottawa resident — who only wanted to be identified by his first name, Charles, out of concerns for his safety amid rising antisemitism — told National Post he decided to take a trip to Israel and landed there last week. He was at the Holocaust memorial and museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem when a text from the telecommunications company popped up on his phone.

“Welcome to Palestine,” it said, followed by information about his account’s travel plan. He said he was nauseated because he was standing in a place that showed the result of the Nazis’ obsession to eradicate the Jewish people. “And I get, from Bell Canada, a welcome to a non-existent country, whose aspirational goal…is to, again, eliminate the Jewish people,” he said.

Hamas, the terrorist group that murdered 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the deadliest day for the Jewish community since the Holocaust, refers to the “struggle against the Jews” as “very great and very serious” in its 1988 charter. It calls Jewish people the enemy and says they should be “vanquished.” While there are Palestinians who have denounced the terror group, it has remained in power since taking over Gaza in 2007.

Several European countries, as well as Canada and Australia, recognized the State of Palestine in 2025. Prime Minister Mark Carney said his recognition was conditional, and would be based on whether Hamas would “fully disarm, and play no role in the future governance of Palestine.” Hamas remains in Gaza, using a decentralized system of governance to maintain and expand influence, according to research published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Despite the promise of hosting democratic elections this year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said they would be postponed until September 2027. There have been no legislative or presidential elections held since 2006.

Charles said it feels like there is a “concerted effort” around the world to erase Israel from existence. But receiving the text from a Canadian company while travelling abroad was especially “outrageous.”

“For them to say to me, a Canadian citizen and a longtime client, ‘Welcome to Palestine’ — to me, that’s making a political statement and it’s inappropriate,” he said.

A spokesperson from Bell Canada told National Post over email that international roaming welcome messages are “automatically triggered when a mobile device connects to a network tower in a new region.”


Eitan Fischberger: The DOJ Should Investigate Semafor’s Ties to Qatar
Earlier this week, I posted a thread laying out Semafor’s financial ties to Qatar. It went up the same day Semafor Gulf’s editor, Mohammed Sergie, argued that accusations of Qatari terror-funding and influence “hold little evidence.”

Two days later, KIND snack founder and Shark Tank investor Daniel Lubetzky went public with a story of his own. Lubetzky says that years ago, Semafor CEO Justin Smith, while pitching him to invest, “bragged about getting an enormous amount of money from the government of Qatar” to “train journalists.” Lubetzky says he doesn’t recall the precise figures, but that “directionally” it was like being paid $2 million for a boot camp that cost Semafor $50,000. He says he told Smith it sounded like a bribe.

His video opens with the same highlighted screenshot of Sergie’s article from my thread. TheWrap and Jewish Insider have since reported on the findings in my thread.



Semafor & Qatar Financial and Program Ties
As my thread noted, Semafor named Invest Qatar, the Qatari government’s investment promotion agency, among the “inaugural launch partners” of Semafor Gulf. Jewish Insider confirms it, adding that the deal included “digital and event collaborations.”

I also explained in my thread that Semafor ran at least four “Independent Media Initiative” workshops in Doha from October 2024 to December 2025, working with the Doha Institute and state-run entities like Media City Qatar and the Qatar Leadership Centre.

The Non-Denial
Here’s what a Semafor spokesperson told both TheWrap and Jewish Insider:
“Semafor has never accepted investment from any government or sovereign wealth fund, and we remain firmly committed to independent journalism.”

But Lubetzky didn’t accuse Semafor of selling Qatar an equity stake. He alleged Qatar paid Semafor for services, at a wildly inflated price. “We never took investment” answers a question nobody asked.

What Semafor wouldn’t answer matters more. According to TheWrap, the company did not say who funded the workshops or how much it received. Jewish Insider reports the spokesperson did not directly address the training-payment allegation at all.

Is Semafor Violating FARA?
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires people acting on behalf of foreign governments to disclose it publicly. There’s a narrow exemption for genuine journalism, but paid events and training programs for a foreign state raise real questions about whether that exemption covers them. That’s exactly what the Justice Department should investigate: who paid Semafor, how much, on what terms, and how it influenced Semafor’s coverage of Qatar.

In my view, a newsroom that takes state money for services, then publishes defenses of that state while refusing to disclose the arrangement, is precisely what FARA was written for.


Incorrect Times
The scale of the Palestinian departure had taken Israeli leaders, including hardliners, by surprise. Despite whatever attitudes they had towards the Arabs, “Palestinian flight during the first stage of the war left the Israelis aghast,” as Israeli historian Anita Shapira recounts. To Israelis, the events were simply unfathomable.

Detractors would point out that Israel activated Plan D/Tochnit Dalet around April and May of 1948. It called for the Israeli forces to conquer Arab villages. Expulsion and destruction of villages was to take place only if the inhabitants and whichever fighting forces residing among them would resist, unless they surrendered.

Morris writes, “Townspeople and villagers usually fled their homes before or during battle and Haganah commanders rarely had to decide about, or issue, expulsion orders.”

Even when Plan D was in effect, “mass exodus of the Arabs was neither intended nor expected by either the Arabs or the Jews.” There is no evidence of a master Israeli plan for mass expulsion of Arabs and Plan D never was an official decision of any Israeli body.

Furthermore, by the time Israel activated Plan D, at least 70,000-75,000 Palestinians, often belonging to urban elite circles, had left the country in fear of the oncoming conflict and in the hope of returning to a calmer Palestine.” This mass departure, taking place between September 1947 and March 1948, produced even more anxiety and insecurity among the Palestinian population that already seeing the fighting and the withdrawal of the British rule. The situation was chaotic. It is no wonder why many others followed the elites and left in the following months.

But it is not accurate that Israel expelled all the refugees. This argument ignores the realities of war and the twilight of British rule. The Times should correct the article. The outlet did not respond to a correction request and a follow up email from CAMERA.


Egyptian man who fire-bombed pro-Israel rally in Colorado pleads guilty to federal hate crimes
The man who lobbed gasoline bombs at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado last year, injuring several people, including a woman who later died, pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal hate-crime charges, the US Department of Justice said.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 47, an Egyptian national, is already serving a life sentence for his guilty plea in May to more than 100 state charges, including first-degree murder.

Soliman pleaded guilty to nine counts of hate-crime offenses and three explosives charges in federal court in Denver, according to the DOJ. The charges are punishable by life in prison after federal prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty.

The plea deal asks that Soliman be sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years. Soliman will be sentenced on January 7.

"The defendant admitted that he committed the attack because of the actual or perceived Jewish religion and Israeli national origin of the group he targeted," the DOJ said in a statement.

David Kraut, a federal public defender listed as Soliman's lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Soliman admits to tossing Molotov cocktails
Soliman has admitted tossing two Molotov cocktails at people taking part in a rally in downtown Boulder on June 1, 2025, held in solidarity with hostages seized by Hamas terrorists who stormed Israeli villages from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on October 7, 2023.

Prosecutors said Soliman yelled "Free Palestine" as the gasoline bombs he lobbed at the crowd burst into flames outside a municipal courthouse in the heart of Boulder's popular Pearl Street shopping district.

Admitting his guilt in state court nearly six months ago, Soliman denounced his own crimes as contrary to "the teachings of Islam" and insisted he bore no ill will toward Jewish people. He went on to lament the "thousands of families who have lost their families in Palestine and Gaza," and said the "enemy is Zionism."

Authorities in Colorado identified 29 victims from the attack, including 14 who were burned or injured while fleeing and 15 who were close enough to be considered targets of attempted murder. One victim, 82-year-old Karen Diamond, died of her injuries later that month. Her husband suffered severe burns and survived.
Russian woman charged with stabbing Jews in NYC previously arrested near Brooklyn yeshiva
A Russian woman accused of stabbing two Orthodox Jewish men in Manhattan’s Diamond District on Oct. 21 was previously arrested for attacking a Jewish teenager outside a Brooklyn yeshiva in June 2025, federal prosecutors revealed in a filing on Wednesday.

Anna Mochalova, 32, was charged with two federal hate crimes on Wednesday. Prosecutors asked the court to detain her pending trial, arguing that she poses a continuing threat to the Jewish community.

She faces up to 20 years in prison for the two federal crimes.

“A hate crime is a message written in violence, and this defendant’s message was loud and clear,” stated New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“As alleged in the complaint, Anna Mochalova attacked two visibly Jewish New Yorkers, striking fear in an entire community,” the Jewish commissioner said. “Every New Yorker has the right to walk our streets safe from hatred and violence, and the NYPD will always hold those who threaten that right accountable.”

In a seven-page letter to Robert Lehrburger, a federal magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, prosecutors wrote that Mochalova approached a Jewish teenager who was wearing a kippah and tzitzit on June 18, 2025, took his cellphone and threw it on the ground.

The Justice Department said that both victims wore kippas and that one “who has a beard, was wearing attire traditionally worn by Orthodox Jewish men, including a black hat, a black suit, a white shirt and tzitzit.”

Police body-camera footage captured her admitting that she threw the phone. She claimed that the teen and his friends laughed at her and recorded her.

Mochalova told officers that she had visited the yeshiva, which she called a “church,” while searching for someone she believed had assaulted her friend’s children in Los Angeles.

During the encounter, she repeatedly referred to “the Jewish community” and appeared frustrated while describing how the Jewish teenagers had allegedly treated her when she asked them if they knew the person in Los Angeles, prosecutors wrote.
New study finds younger Americans struggle to recognize antisemitism on social media
Young Americans struggle to recognize antisemitism on social media, whether it involves explicit hate speech or modern rhetoric targeting Israel and Zionism, a new study by the Anti-Defamation League and Boundless shows. At the same time, the study found that reminding participants that most people reject antisemitism successfully nudged them to identify and report the abusive content.

The study, released Thursday, surveyed nearly 7,500 Americans between the ages of 18 and 44. To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, the researchers showed participants real social media posts featuring classical and contemporary antisemitism from the political left, right and no specific affiliation.

Respondents struggled to recognize contemporary antisemitism, often expressed through hatred towards Israel and Zionism, especially compared to classical antisemitic statements, such as a tweet claiming Jesus “called the money grubbing jews the ‘synagogues of Satan,’” which was more easily identified.

The researchers tested six interventions, including messages offering a Jewish perspective, explaining the personal impact of antisemitism, raising awareness of disinformation and providing neutral information. Most did not significantly improve respondents’ ability to recognize — or willingness to report — antisemitic content.

A short message emphasizing that antisemitism is rejected by most Americans was the only one of six interventions tested to produce improvements in reporting across the broader sample, increasing the likelihood of reporting certain posts by about six percent.

While the message’s impact was modest, its simplicity and potential to reach millions could make it a powerful tool in combating online antisemitism, according to Matt Williams, vice president of the ADL’s Center for Antisemitism Research. “Moving the needle six percent on recognizing and reporting antisemitic content doesn’t seem like much for a room full of people but think of what a six percent reduction across millions could bring about,” he said.

The findings also revealed a generational divide in how young Americans respond to antisemitism online. Millennials were somewhat better than Gen Z respondents at recognizing antisemitic content.

Gen Zers, however, were more likely to report antisemitic content once they identified it as hateful. Among respondents who recognized a post as antisemitic, 77% of Gen Zers said they would report it, compared with 68% of millennials, suggesting that Gen Z faces a greater challenge in recognizing antisemitism while millennials may be less likely to act on it.
Argentine court ordered antisemitic dictionary entry on the word ‘Jewish’ removed. It’s still there
Two years after an Argentine judge ordered a Spanish dictionary to drop a definition of “Jewish” as “miserly or usurious,” the institution responsible for the dictionary has yet to comply — frustrating the Jewish groups that brought the case.

The definition reflects a long history of associating Jews with greed and moneylending, an age-old antisemitic stereotype reinforced by literary figures such as Shakespeare’s Shylock and by centuries of prejudice. The Royal Spanish Academy, the Madrid-based language-standardization institution that is ignoring a September 2024 order by a federal judge in Argentina, has defended its dictionary as a record of how words are used, including pejorative meanings.

Jewish groups argue that preserving the definition perpetuates an antisemitic trope.

“We understand that the dictionary reflects how some people use language, but it is also true that many people learn through the dictionary,” Ariel Siedler, a member of the Latin American Jewish Congress (CJL) who monitors online discrimination, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last month. “That is why adding that definition seems negative. The aim was to avoid reinforcing discrimination, which would be perpetuated through the dictionary.”

The 2024 order came a month after CJL and DAIA, Argentina’s Jewish political umbrella organization, filed a criminal complaint against Santiago Muñoz Machado, the academy’s director, and other officials. It accused them of “inciting hatred against the Jewish community through the discriminatory definition of the term ‘Jew.’”

When the ruling came down, Muñoz Machado told EFE, the Spanish state-run news agency, that he would examine the ruling even though it is unenforceable in Spain, out of respect for the Argentine courts and the CJL’s parent body, the World Jewish Congress.

“It is a judge’s ruling; therefore, we receive it with the utmost respect — all the more so given that the petitioners behind it include the World Jewish Congress,” he told EFE. Nonetheless, he said then, he still held to what he had told the CJL in 2023, when he responded to the Jewish group’s direct request to remove the definition.

“If the [academy] defines ‘Jew’ as ‘miserly,’ it is because that’s how people use the word,” he said. He emphasized that dictionaries document language rather than invent it, and that deleting a definition would not necessarily prevent people from using the expression.

The academy’s online Dictionary of the Spanish Language lists five meanings for “judío” (Jew/Jewish). The first definitions are “Hebrew,” a person “who professes Judaism,” a “native of Judea, a country of ancient Asia” and “belonging or relating to Judea or the Jews.”

The fifth describes it as a person who is “miserly or usurious.”



 



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