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Wednesday, November 11, 2026

11/11 Links Pt2: The day the eaters starved the haters; Labour’s cowardice on Israel and Islamism; Gal Gadot to bring Golodryga and Levi’s ‘Don’t Feed the Lion’ to the big screen

From Ian:

The Class of 1984 By Abe Greenwald
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How did we get here? In large part, this is what these kids have been taught. And 61.4 percent said their professors make their political leanings clear in the classroom (34 percent disagreed). And we don’t have to guess what those political leanings are. Aside from having seen all the academic radicals and their enthusiasm for campus protest, multiple polls confirm that progressivism dominates among professors, while the conservative professor is just about an extinct species. What concerns me is the 34 percent of students who, in all likelihood, are being indoctrinated without knowing it.

Okay, I promised some sunnier news. First, we’re winning the trans sports war. Asked about whether trans athletes should be allowed to participate in sports leagues “designated for a gender that is different from their assigned gender at birth,” 33.2 percent said yes, and 53.5 percent said no. Insanity reigns only so long as it goes unopposed.

And then there’s this: Despite the students’ overwhelmingly negative view of Israel, it doesn’t seem to be much of a priority anymore. When asked about what causes they attended rallies or protests in support of over the last year, “pro-Palestine” makes up only 11.7 percent, behind social justice (19.7 percent), LGBTQ rights (17.6 percent), pro-abortion rights (15.7 percent), anti-ICE (21.4 percent), and anti-Trump (17 percent). The only left-wing causes less popular than “pro-Palestine” were climate change (11.2 percent) and opposition to data centers (8.9 percent).

I don’t really take the waning importance of Israel as an indication of what’s in the minds and souls of college students. I read it more as the sign of a cultural trend. We’re moving away, however slowly, from “Free Palestine” and onto the next outrage. American attention is famously transient, and Israel-bashing has gotten slightly stale. And after things go stale, they rot.
Joshua Namm: The Entertainment Industry Hates Us. So why Do We Put Up With It?
On October 31 Michael Che, the host of “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live, said that Israelis voted “in record numbers” which was, he said, “great to see, regardless if you’re on the right side, the left side or the genocide.”

Get it?

The audience, of course, happily laughed at the comment (because none of this is about humor anymore: humor is now a public ritual in which laughter serves as a public declaration of absolute obedience to the narrative).

It was so important to Che that the audience get it that he actually pronounced it “gen-o-cide.”

Che also has a history of spreading blood libels against Jews.

Variety made it worse in its reporting, by having a headline that read: “SNL Weekend Update Finally Weighs in on Israel.”

They uncritically repeated the charge without any examination of why Israel went to war in Gaza. All that mattered to them was that SNL step in line and bash the Jews.

That the accusation of genocide is itself a lie, and 100% false, never matters to any of these people.

That made me think about a topic that I’ve been meaning to write about for years: the constant antisemitism of Hollywood, and our passive acceptance of it.

Like so much else, pop culture is a reflection of the society that produces it. The fact that there are multiple movies/TV shows/plays which portray Jews in a myriad of negative ways reflects the status of our culture.

And, I’m not just talking about the ever-present image of Jews as nerdy, bookish, endlessly neurotic wimps, or characters from Fiddler on the Roof.

Today’s culture often goes much further. And today they also hijack, appropriate, and rewrite our history to reinforce those negative perceptions of Jews, or worse, to promote political narratives by stealing our story.
Jaroslawa Lewicka, Israel’s last living Righteous Among the Nations, dies at 91
Jaroslawa Lewicka, the last of the Righteous Among the Nations living in Israel, passed away in Haifa on Tuesday night. She was 91.

Lewicka was born in Poland in 1935 and raised by her mother, Katarzyna, and grandfather, Alexander Levitska.

She began helping them save Jews during the Holocaust at the age of six, delivering food and medicine and serving as their messenger. In 1942, when a sealed ghetto was established in the nearby city of Zolochiv, the family continued its rescue efforts. Because of her young age, she delivered supplies without arousing the Nazis’ suspicions. The family’s home was about two kilometers from the ghetto. Jarosława regularly walked the distance carrying a small schoolbag in which she concealed food for starving Jews.

Along the way, she had to evade German and Ukrainian police officers, but she continued carrying out her mission.

In 1943, her family sheltered two Jews in their home. They provided food to a group of 25 Jews hiding in the basement of a destroyed building about two km. away until the arrival of the Red Army in 1944.

In 1989, Lewicka, her mother, and grandfather were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. In 1995, she immigrated to Israel, became an Israeli citizen, and settled in Haifa.

Lewicka’s life story was documented in Maya Klinger-Cohen’s book Only Red Candies.


Andrew Fox: Lessons from Auschwitz
We are not yet back in 1938. The anniversary of Kristallnacht was just days ago, and we do not yet fully see mobs engaging in orgies of Jewish destruction.

We are not far off.

When diaspora Jews cannot attend synagogue without guards, bullet-proof doors and a fear of walking the streets whilst wearing visible signs of their Judaism, we are on a branch line to the railway tracks that lead to the gates of Birkenau.

What is to be done? I have spent three years doing two things: trying to let our Jewish community know that they have allies, and trying to encourage other non-Jews to follow my lead. It is to the latter audience that I speak now.

Antizionism is simply a synonym for antisemitism. It is the new Juden verboten. Jews who do not disavow Israel must wear their Zionism as they would a numbered tattoo on their arms. Attacking Jewish businesses in London, as Palestine Action did, is not striking a blow against Israel. Stabbing Jews to death in Manchester is not striking a blow for Palestinians. Demonising the world’s only Jewish state and sanctuary for imaginary crimes, after the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, is not striking a blow for the side of righteousness.

I never before understood how humanity could reach the point where the Holocaust was possible. I do now. Our public discourse is a sewer. One of the most memorable afternoons of my life was spent talking with Holocaust survivors in London. When those who were there tell me that the atmosphere in modern Britain reminds them of Germany in 1933, I listen.

Friends. If you do not want to see a repeat of Jews either fleeing to Israel or being trucked to gas chambers, the time to change course is now. The answer sits at two levels: the personal and the political. At the personal level, I implore you to aggressively reject Holocaust inversion in the genocide accusations against Israel, wherever you see it. If you need chapter and verse, here is Danny Orbach’s award-winning paper demolishing the allegations. At the personal level, support a Jewish community you may never have had contact with if you do not live in London, Manchester, Birmingham or those other areas of the country where our tiny Jewish population is dotted. These are your countrymen and women. They enrich our society. Speak up. Your words will carry more weight than you realise.

At the political level, write to your MP. Any true Briton should find the demonisation of Jews intolerable. It is fundamentally un-British. Without a groundswell of popular support, our current government will continue kow-towing to anti-Israel obsessives and Islamists for votes. Make it clear that you will not vote for any parliamentary candidate who pushes these blood libels, and who, in doing so, demonises British Jews.

For three years, this battle has felt lonely. It felt never more lonely than standing outside the gas chamber in Auschwitz today, as my Jewish friends inside stood and prayed on the exact spot where their ancestors died screaming as the Zyklon B hit their lungs and extinguished them. My friends prayed for the dead, while the phrase “Never Again” hooked into my navel and twisted and twisted and twisted. One can never be the same again after visiting Auschwitz.

“Never Again” really is now. The West is sliding into the abyss. My friends, I beg you. Join me in making “Never Again” mean something. The darkness approaches. Today, as I observe the ruins of the gas chambers and the horrors of our public discourse, “Never Again” feels like it may too soon be “Again”.
Europe remembers Kristallnacht, but are its leaders failing today's Jews?
While the speeches delivered across Europe on Kristallnacht demonstrate that leaders recognize the threat of antisemitism, recognition alone does not guarantee that Jewish communities feel safe, nor does commemorating the persecution of Jews in the past necessarily translate into protecting them in the present.

The distinction between the three countries is notable. While Germany has largely resisted calls for sweeping boycotts of Israel, the Netherlands and Norway have pursued increasingly restrictive measures. Yes - such policies are not inherently antisemitic, but they raise questions about whether governments have adequately considered their potential consequences for Jewish citizens, particularly when hostility toward Israel can spill over into hostility toward Jews.

Norway's own research illustrates that concern, with 30% of respondents reporting that Israel's war in Gaza had negatively affected their attitudes toward Jews.

In Germany, meanwhile, the persistence of antisemitism despite extensive Holocaust education and political commitments suggests that remembrance, however important, is insufficient on its own.

None of this establishes that European governments are responsible for the antisemitism their leaders spoke of yesterday. It does, however, place a responsibility on them to examine whether their decisions and language are consistent with the principles they invoke each November.

88 years after Kristallnacht, the measure of Europe's commitment to "Never Again" lies not only in what its leaders say about the Jews who suffered in 1938, but also in whether Jews living in Europe today can openly and safely practice their faith, express their identities and participate in public life without fear.
German UN ambassador joins Auschwitz visit for first time as Danon warns of Iranian threats
More than 20 countries were represented in the delegation led by Israel’s UN ambassador, including Germany and Trinidad and Tobago, which is set to join the Security Council in January.

Dozens of United Nations ambassadors representing more than 20 countries visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland on Wednesday as part of a delegation led by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, who used the occasion to warn against rising antisemitism and Iran’s continued threats against Israel.

For the first time, Germany’s ambassador to the United Nations joined the Israeli-led delegation at the former Nazi death camp, adding particular historical significance to a visit intended to confront international diplomats with the consequences of antisemitism.

The delegation also included the ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago, which will begin a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council on January 1, 2027.

The visit was organized as part of the activities of an international task force established by Danon to combat antisemitism within the United Nations and beyond, with this year’s mission emphasizing practical efforts to confront hatred against Jews.

“I brought the world’s ambassadors to Auschwitz today to deliver an unequivocal message,” Danon said.

“We cannot fight today’s antisemitism without understanding its historical significance.”


The day the eaters starved the haters
Two days after a boycott against six Jewish- and Israeli-owned restaurants in Philadelphia and one day after arriving back from a week in Israel, I found myself pounding the pavement at night, walking from eatery to eatery in Center City, looking for scraps.

Not leftovers in the literal sense of the word. But when the party is over, some detritus tends to remain.

So does anger, rancor, melancholy, dread, introspection—feelings that go with being targeted on the streets.

That’s what happened to members of the local Jewish community on Nov. 8, one day before the 88th anniversary of the infamous Kristallnacht, “Night of the Broken Glass.”

On Nov. 9-10, 1938, Nazi Party soldiers and members vandalized, burned and destroyed as many as 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms in Germany and Austria; looted and vandalized 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses; smashed other Jewish institutions, organizations and even homes; and murdered nearly 100 people. Some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and deported to concentration camps, including Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen.

That is not what occurred in Philly on Sunday. It didn’t because this is America in 2026, not Europe in the late 1930s. World War III is not on the immediate horizon.

Still, it was less than a week after a volatile midterm election that had Israel and the Jews on the ballot, and which saw the election of the first Muslim senator in the United States, a man who has repeatedly put the State of Israel in the crosshairs.

It didn’t occur because, as has been reported widely, as many as 2,000 people didn’t let it. The Jewish and pro-Israel community and its supporters came out in full force to patronize six targeted eateries: Huda, K’Far Café, Mac Mart, Dizengoff, Goldie and Schlesinger’s, each of which is Jewish- or Israeli-owned. (Goldie, a falafel restaurant, is kosher.)

The “Boycott Ride” was organized by Philly Bike On Your Left in collaboration with Boycott CookNSolo and Philly Solidarity Calendar. A flier promoting the antisemitic effort stated: “No business for Zionists” and “These Zionist establishments must go.”

Notice of its ill intentions made it all the way to Israel, where I—a third-generation Philadelphian—got wind of the impending boycott while part of a press trip sponsored by the Or Ofir Foundation and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program was titled “Standing Against Antisemitism: Voices, Stories and Action.”

The irony didn’t escape me.
The Jewish firefighter who turned Philadelphia’s anti-Israel boycott into a buying spree
After an anti-Israel group called for a boycott of six Jewish- and Israeli-owned food businesses in central Philadelphia, the city's Jewish community adopted an unconventional strategy: Rather than ignore the protesters or confront them directly, it mobilized thousands of people to flood the targeted businesses with customers.

"How do you fight a boycott? You buy like crazy. You tell me not to buy Israeli products, I'll buy 10 times as much," Michael Balaban, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, told ynet on the sidelines of the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly (GA), attended by 2,500 delegates.

On Sunday, November 8, the day before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a "boycott ride" was held in Philadelphia's central Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, targeting six eateries: Dizengoff, Goldie, K'Far, Mac Mart, Huda and Schlesinger's. Some are Israeli-owned, while others belong to American Jews. According to reports, the event was organized by the activist group Philly Bike on Your Left. About a week and a half earlier, a social media flyer began circulating with a call to boycott "Zionist businesses." The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia quickly mobilized and decided to turn the tables. By Sunday, approximately 5,000 people, Jewish and non-Jewish, had gathered in the area. Lines outside the businesses stretched for hours, and the atmosphere was festive, while only about 75 cyclists participated in the boycott protest. Jewish counterprotesters shouted slogans toward the boycott activists, and according to local reports, three people were arrested following isolated confrontations.

Balaban, a father of three, is also a volunteer firefighter who responds to emergency calls almost daily alongside his work as federation CEO. He previously served briefly with fire and rescue services in Haifa and at the Akko fire station, responding to rocket impacts in Hanita and Shlomi. About two years ago, he moved to Israel to obtain Israeli citizenship and now holds dual citizenship. He says he has even flown to Israel specifically to vote in elections.

He describes the community's response to the boycott ride in firefighting terms. "I approached this event like a firefighter putting out a fire. You don't wait for a fire to build the fire station. If you want to build a community, don't wait for an incident. Start building."
Lawfare Project asks Treasury to investigate Philadelphia DSA over alleged sanctions violations
The Lawfare Project has asked the U.S. Department of the Treasury to investigate whether the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America violated federal terrorism sanctions by hosting a program with Samidoun, a group designated by the United States for raising funds for a Palestinian terrorist organization.

The referral concerns an event the DSA chapter’s International Solidarity Working Group held with Samidoun on March 26, 2025, Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at the Lawfare Project, told JNS.

The Treasury Department sanctioned Samidoun in October 2024 and identified it as an international fundraising front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“Federal law bars Americans from providing services to a designated entity or receiving services from one,” Filitti told JNS. “That program took place 162 days after the designation.”

Lawfare Project asked the Treasury “to investigate, to end any dealing with Samidoun, to penalize violations and refer willful ones for prosecution,” he said.

According to Filitti, the working group is connected to a recent anti-Israel ride targeting Jewish-owned restaurants in Philadelphia on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht. The ride drew condemnation from elected officials and Jewish organizations.

“The same working group runs No Appetite for Apartheid, the Philly DSA campaign reported by the media as a collaborator on the ride,” he told JNS.

In response to criticism of the protest, the DSA chapter accused Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and other lawmakers of “invoking comparisons of Kristallnacht that trivialize trauma and suppress political speech.”
Dueling pro- and anti-Israel bike rides set for Nov. 15 near Rocky statue in Philly
After more than 2,000 people showed up in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square on Sunday to support Jewish-owned businesses targeted by an anti-Israel boycott ride, two more bike rides—one pro-Israel and one anti-Israel—are planned for Nov. 15.

The “Ride for Israel” is set to begin at the famed statue of Rocky Balboa, the main character from the “Rocky” films that first hit screens in 1976, on the steps leading up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Participants were told to gather at 11:30 a.m. Departure time was noon.

“Antisemitism and hatred have no place in our city,” stated a flier shared by Chevra, a Jewish young professionals group in the city. It depicts a cyclist carrying an Israeli flag.

The original wording stated that the pro-Israel ride would end at the Liberty Bell; organizers clarified that the endpoint would only be shared with participants.

The Philadelphia Police Department and private security will monitor the event, according to Philly Israel Alliance, a grassroots group helping organize the event.

“Our security plan includes a designated, barricaded gathering area at the Rocky statue, police-controlled street closures and a police escort featuring motorcycles, bicycles and armored vehicles,” it stated. “Law enforcement will also provide aerial drone surveillance throughout the event.”

A second flier, shared by Philly Bike On Your Left, which organized the Nov. 8 boycott of six restaurants, advertises a “great ride of return” (a play on the Palestinian position of a demographic “right of return” to areas before the establishment of modern-day Israel in May 1948) also gathering at 11:30 a.m. outside the art museum and departing at noon.
Palestine Strategy Group Unveils Multi-Year Plan to Turn Christian Zionist Churches Against Israel
A Palestinian research organization with a documented history of foreign-backed strategic research has unveiled a multi-year initiative aimed at weakening Christian support for Israel by studying, monitoring and influencing the religious networks that sustain it.

The Palestine Strategy Group launched the initiative on November 9 in Amman, Jordan, during a workshop held in partnership with the Politics and Society Institute, a Jordanian think tank whose annual report shows it previously received USAID-backed institutional support. The new study, titled Toward a Palestinian Strategy to Confront Christian Zionism, follows two years of research into the religious, political and financial structures behind Christian Zionist advocacy, with the United States identified as the leading case study.

According to the launch announcement, the strategy goes far beyond criticizing Christian Zionism. It proposes an organized effort to map pro-Israel Christian networks, track their donors and media ecosystems, cultivate relationships with churches and clergy, influence theological education, reshape pilgrimage narratives and measure whether church institutions begin changing their positions on Israel and Palestinian issues.

Strategy Calls for Monitoring Christian Zionist Networks and Reshaping Church Teachings
The project is not merely descriptive. It is designed to identify how Christian support for Israel is built, and then develop ways to strategically weaken and redirect it.

The organizers describe Christian Zionism as a movement with major real-world political consequences, arguing that theological ideas about Israel can translate into lobbying, electoral mobilization, foreign policy pressure and support for Israeli claims over Jerusalem and the biblical heartland. The study identifies three major currents within Christian Zionism, including apocalyptic interpretations tied to end-times prophecy, teachings linking support for Israel to divine blessing, and covenantal approaches emphasizing the continuing biblical relationship between God and the Jewish people.

The strategy’s practical recommendations are especially notable. Among them is a proposed observatory that would monitor Christian Zionist organizations, media platforms, funders, pilgrimage networks and their relationships with political actors. The announcement also calls for building a theological and intellectual platform led by Palestinian and Arab Christians, producing multilingual educational materials, and fostering sustained ties with churches, seminaries and youth institutions.

Another component proposes alternative pilgrimage routes centered on Palestinian Christian communities and narratives, rather than the more familiar Christian tourism circuits centered primarily on biblical and Israeli state narratives. The strategy’s success, according to the organizers, would be measured by changes in church teachings, theological curricula, pilgrimage programming and the institutional positions adopted by churches.
Sydney sexual assault service boss Dr Jennifer Martinez leaves role after accusations of 'antisemitism', 'bullying' uncovered in News24.com.au exposé
The head of one of Sydney’s busiest sexual assaults services has abruptly left her role midway through her term, following a News24.com.au exposé revealing allegations of antisemitic abuse.

Dr Jennifer Martinez, a vocal anti-Israel activist, quietly left her senior position at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital last week, despite having only been appointed to the role in February last year for a minimum of five years.

The GP’s sudden departure follows a 15-month investigation by NSW Health into a formal complaint of “antisemitic bias” and “online bullying”, first revealed by News24.com.au last year.

The complaint cited Dr Martinez’s repeated social media references to her medical colleagues, including Jewish doctors, as “Zio doc flops”, “Zimbos”, “butthurt Zio doctors”, “Zionist extremists”, “demons” and “gronks”.

The doctor had reshared a video to her Instagram account which included a call to “end Zionism” and the inflammatory slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The complaint also referred to a comment Dr Martinez published on a post justifying the doxxing of 600 Jewish creatives, in which she wrote: “Nothing but facts”.

Dr Martinez emailed hospital colleagues on October 27, informing them she would be finishing in her role in six days.

She did not disclose the reason for her departure, but hinted: “I’m not very good at staying quiet when something doesn’t seem right… I hope you’ll keep asking questions… and keep speaking up for the people who need you to.”

At an anti-Israel protest outside Sydney’s Town Hall in October last year - four months into the department’s investigation into Dr Martinez - she cast herself as the victim.

“Doctors and healthcare workers here in Australia are being doxxed, stalked and are having our jobs threatened – I am one of them,” Dr Martinez told the crowd.
Islamists have Berlin’s politicians in their grip
The politics of fear suddenly feels very real to Berliners.

Elif Eralp, the Left Party’s candidate for mayor, won Berlin’s city state election in September. She is now in negotiations to form Berlin’s government. Yet despite her prospective power, she lives in fear of some of her own pro-Palestine supporters.

We know this thanks to a mistake by her press team. An interview transcript containing her internal annotations was accidentally sent to Der Spiegel, along with the authorised version. In the margins, Eralp reminded her staff that she had been advised against naming names in public, and noted that her husband, too, was afraid. ‘What do we do now? Cancel the whole interview?’, she wrote. ‘I should never have agreed to this interview.’

The question that so agitated her concerned Ibrahim Ibrahim, a well-known Palestinian activist who has organised many of Berlin’s anti-Israel demonstrations. He supports the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), whose members took part in the massacre of October 7, and which the EU has designated a terrorist organisation. He has also called former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a ‘martyr-hero’. Yet none of this stopped Ibrahim from being filmed arm-in-arm with leading Left Party figures at their September election celebration.

We owe it to the journalists at Der Spiegel that Eralp’s notes are now public and her hypocrisy duly exposed. After the election, when the Left Party emerged as the strongest force in Berlin with 25.7 per cent of the vote, it portrayed Ibrahim as the victim of a smear campaign. In Junge Welt, a daily newspaper close to the Left Party, Ibrahim was given space to present himself as innocence personified. ‘I am a German citizen of Palestinian origin. Both aspects are part of my identity.’ His attendance at the Left Party’s post-election celebration and his vote, he wrote, reflected his ‘personal convictions and democratic rights’.

The Greens and the Social Democrats played along. They treated a few general statements from Eralp, such as her wish for ‘Jewish life to be visible’ in Berlin, as good enough. Both are eager to form a coalition with Eralp’s Left Party and have promised to deliver the votes she needs in Berlin’s House of Representatives, which elects the mayor.
spiked: ‘It’s appeasement’ | Jonathan Sacerdoti on Labour’s cowardice on Israel and Islamism
Jonathan Sacerdoit – writer, broadcaster and commentator – returns to The Brendan O’Neill Show. Jonathan and Brendan discuss the dark turn of the Green Party, the left’s lies about Israel, and Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband’s appeasement of Islamism.

0:00 Cold open
1:15 What the hell has happened to the Greens?
1:40 Is Zionism racism?
4:00 Hard left meets Islamism: why the Greens are dangerous
5:00 The conspiracy theory behind anti-Zionism
9:45 Should Israel exist? The one-state fantasy
12:00 Why peace may be unrealistic – and what Israel gets right
15:40 What Britain can learn from Israel
18:00 Burnham and Miliband: recognising Palestine, sanctioning Israel
22:35 Settler violence and the West Bank: what the reporting misses
26:15 Gaza as a sandbox – and Netanyahu's Bar-Ilan offer
30:30 Paris, Milan and the Islamist problem
34:30 Liberty under threat: what the Covid lockdowns teach us


Natasha Hausdorff on calls for an Independent Inquiry into BBC antisemitism
The BBC is facing growing calls for an independent inquiry into allegations of antisemitism within the corporation. But its senior leadership insists that its existing procedures are robust and that an external investigation is unnecessary.

In this UKLFI Charitable Trust interview, its legal director Natasha Hausdorff examines the allegations, the BBC's response and the legal questions surrounding its treatment of Jewish employees.

The discussion follows reports that Oscar-winning documentary producer Lucie Kon received a settlement of around £400,000 after raising allegations of antisemitic discrimination and unfair dismissal. Kon has also alleged that Jewish BBC employees are being investigated for identifying as Zionists.

The BBC maintains that its internal investigation did not uphold Kon's allegations of antisemitism, although it acknowledged shortcomings in its treatment of her. The settlement does not constitute a legal finding of discrimination.

Hausdorff also examines the BBC's admission of failures in its vetting procedures following the appearance of Bushra Shaikh on Sunday Morning Live, despite previous social media comments about Jews, including that European Jews are a "bunch of lying scumbags". Shaikh denies being antisemitic.

With MPs, Jewish communal organisations and former BBC journalists calling for independent scrutiny, Hausdorff considers the BBC's obligations under the Equality Act 2010, the distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel and unlawful discrimination, and the standards of accountability expected of a publicly funded broadcaster.

The interview addresses a central question: Is the BBC institutionally antisemitic?

Hausdorff explains what an independent inquiry would need to investigate, including the treatment of Jewish staff, editorial impartiality, internal complaints procedures, management accountability and the consistent application of standards.

Chapters:
00:00 – Calls for an independent inquiry into BBC antisemitism
03:35 – Lucie Kon's allegations and £400,000 settlement
07:23 – Zionism, Jewish identity and workplace discrimination
09:25 – Bushra Shaikh and the BBC's vetting failures
12:31 – Is the BBC institutionally antisemitic?


Pro-Hezbollah Lebanese Diplomat Kicked Out of US Attended Multiple Campaign Events for Bernie-Backed Radical Who Expressed His Allegiance to Lebanon
The Lebanese diplomat expelled from the United States over his praise for Hezbollah's 1983 suicide bombing of the Marine barracks attended multiple campaign events for Abbas Alawieh, a Bernie Sanders-endorsed Michigan state senator-elect who co-founded the controversial, anti-Israel "Uncommitted" movement and who stated his allegiance to Lebanon after he won his election.

Ibrahim Charara, the former Lebanese consul general to Detroit, attended Alawieh campaign events on June 10 and Oct. 19, according to photos, which show the chummy duo posing arm-in-arm.

The State Department expelled Charara last week over social media posts unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon in which Charara called the 1983 suicide bombing, in which 241 Marines were killed, an act of "heroic resistance to the American military occupation." American troops were in Beirut from 1982 to 1984 at the invitation of the Lebanese government in hopes of bringing an end to the Arab nation's bloody civil war.

The State Department declared Charara persona non grata, the diplomatic term for "unwanted person," and ordered him to leave the country on Sunday.

But Charara was anything but unwelcome in greater Detroit, which has the country's largest Arab population and boasts "Little Beirut" in the majority Arab suburb of Dearborn. His attendance at the campaign events, which has not been previously reported, raises questions for Alawieh, a far-left political up-and-comer who landed endorsements from Sanders, Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D.). Alawieh, who won his race with 71 percent of the vote, expressed his allegiance to his homeland, Lebanon, in an interview after his victory. Alawieh, speaking in Arabic, called himself a "son of the South," a reference to southern Lebanon, a hotbed of Hezbollah activity.

Alawieh, who served as chief of staff to former Rep. Cori Bush—an alumna of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) far-left "Squad"—and worked for Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), solidified support from anti-Israel activists by co-founding the "Uncommitted" movement, which urged Democratic voters to sit out of the 2024 presidential primaries to protest against the Biden administration's support for Israel in the war against Hamas. Arab discontent with the Biden administration's Israel policy is believed to have contributed to Kamala Harris losing Michigan, a blue-leaning state, in the 2024 general election.

Charara's attendance at the Alawieh events has also spooked the Lebanese embassy, which expressed alarm at both Charara's posts and his close ties to politicians in the Dearborn area. Lebanese sources told the Free Beacon the Lebanese government is concerned about the appearance of meddling in American political affairs. That concern was heightened after Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon's parliament and head of the Hezbollah-aligned Amal Movement, told Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.) that his party has an "extension" in Michigan. Berri previously lived in Dearborn, and recently hosted Mo Baydoun, the mayor of neighboring Dearborn Heights, in Lebanon.


CAIR-Michigan Director Speaks at UK Conference Alongside Al-Qaeda Member
CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid and CAGE International Senior Director Moazzam Begg appeared at a London conference on Sunday, November 8, despite security concerns raised by a British lawmaker over the event’s speaker lineup. A 2004 U.S. Department of Defense tribunal summary previously described Begg as “a member of al Qaida and other affiliated terrorist organizations.” Footage of Walid’s appearance has not yet been released, though he reportedly called for “sacred activism” and greater Muslim unity, invoking the religious seminaries of Islamic scholars Abdul Qadir al-Jilani and al-Ghazali as major sources of soldiers for Saladin’s army, which defeated the Crusaders and captured Jerusalem in 1187.

The Thinking Muslim Conference, organized by Muhammad Jalal’s podcast platform, took place at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith. Post-conference reporting confirmed the participation of both men and documented new remarks by Begg concerning the UK-proscribed group Palestine Action and travel to Syria and Afghanistan.

Begg Discusses U.K.-Proscribed Palestine Action and Overseas Activism
Speaking to the British Muslim news outlet 5Pillars at the conference, Begg pointed to “physical on-the-ground activism like with the Palestine Action issue” and Muslim travel to Syria and Afghanistan as examples of increasing Muslim political engagement. He praised the growing willingness to engage in such activism, concluding, “This is really positive to see.”

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the British government in July 2025 over activities including attacks causing serious property damage. The Home Office assessed that the organization had engaged in conduct meeting the legal definition of terrorism.

Begg’s comments follow Jewish Onliner’s September 14 investigation, which examined the Pentagon’s historical allegations concerning his activities in Afghanistan. A September 15, 2004 Defense Department summary prepared for Begg’s Guantánamo combatant-status review tribunal alleged that he received extensive training at al-Qaeda-operated camps, including instruction involving AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades, handguns, ambush tactics and the manufacture of improvised grenades. The same document alleged that he recruited individuals for al-Qaeda training camps and provided money and material support to them.


At least two arrested in Ireland for allegedly rushing Biden motorcade
Three people were arrested on Tuesday at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, after anti-Israel protesters threw objects at former U.S. President Joe Biden’s motorcade as he left the campus.

Biden attended a ceremony at which the College Historical Society, which was founded in 1770, presented his son, Hunter Biden, with a gold medal for “outstanding contribution to public discourse,” Trinity News, a student newspaper, reported.

Former first lady Jill Biden and other family members also attended.

The society said that Hunter Biden’s “recent advocacy on the state of American politics and media as well as for matters of addiction and recovery make him a commendable figure.”

Protesters waving Palestinian flags shouted “Blood, blood, blood on your hands” outside the college, as the former president’s motorcade departed.

Footage of the incident appeared to show two men rushing past police to try to approach the motorcade. Officers appeared to stop them and throw them to the ground. Some officers seemed to hit the men with batons.

Simon Ó Gallchobhair, a spokesman for the Irish national police force, told JNS that officers “arrested two adult males, aged in their 50s and 30s, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, in relation to a public order incident at Trinity College Dublin.

“A male, aged in his 50s, has since been charged and is due to appear before court,” the police spokesman said.


West Point Grad Notorious for ‘Communism Will Win’ Graduation Pics Resurfaces at UChicago Where He’s Praising Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Bloodthirsty Assads
The notorious West Point graduate who wrote "communism will win" on his cap during graduation—and who now openly praises Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah, and Syria's sadistic Assad family—is now a Ph.D. student at the prestigious University of Chicago, all expenses paid.

Spenser Rapone, a self-described "revolutionary socialist" who was drummed out of the Army after declaring his support for communism and calling for violence against Republicans, has taken up residence at the University of Chicago, where he specializes in "modern Arab intellectual history" and the "history of the modern Middle East," among other subjects.

In addition to his well-known communist bona fides, Rapone has also picked up a taste for Islamic extremism—which he now freely posts about on his public X page. His most inflammatory public pronouncements are in Arabic and remain live on X.

"Glory to the martyred leader Yahya Sinwar," he said on Oct. 18, 2024, shortly after Israel killed the Hamas boss, who masterminded the Oct. 7 massacre.

When Israel killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah—who was behind thousands of terror attacks, including some that killed Americans—Rapone was similarly mournful.

"Glory to the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, symbol of dignity for the Arab homeland and all free peoples around the world. May God have mercy on him," Rapone said.

"Long live the resistance, and glory to the martyrs," Rapone posted on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 slaughter.

Rapone's study of Arab history has also led him to more baroque extremes—including a bizarre affection for Syria's sadistic, now-deposed Assad regime, which presided over a shocking reign of cruelty over its own people.

"The eternal leader Hafez al-Assad tried to crush this mentality in 1982, and his approach was correct at that time, just as it remains correct today," Rapone wrote in October 2026, in response to a now-deleted post.

The statement from Rapone is almost certainly a reference to the former dictator's ruthless suppression of a rebellion in the city of Hama that same year, which left up to 40,000 dead.

"Zionist control over the United States imposes on the United States, through the American administration, a policy in this region that is not linked to the interests of American citizens, but rather linked solely to Israeli interests, and especially to Israeli expansionist interests," he said in May 2026, alleging it was a quote by "the immortal leader Hafez al-Assad."
Tech for Palestine CEO Spoke at Turkish Forum Featuring Multiple Foreign Intel Figures
Tech for Palestine founder Paul Biggar invoked the false genocide claim against Israel at Istanbul’s TRT World Forum, alleging that Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir sell technologies enabling it.

Although the forum’s sessions covered economics, energy security and AI, speakers repeatedly returned to Gaza, denunciations of Israel, appeals on behalf of Palestinians and accusations of genocide. The rhetoric extended beyond the dedicated Gaza panel into discussions of global leadership, technology and maritime trade. The same program included Turkey’s serving intelligence chief, his predecessor and the head of an academy established within the intelligence agency.

Biggar’s appearance, alongside other controversial and intelligence-linked figures, was previewed in Jewish Onliner’s October 21 report.

Allegations Against Israel Across the Agenda
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan outlined an agenda spanning energy, economics, AI and transport in his November 6 speech. He compared Gaza with the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which Bosnian Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. He also alleged that what he called “settler terrorism” was intended to drive Palestinians from their land.

Erdoğan portrayed international institutions as passive spectators and accused press-freedom organizations of favoring Israel while attacking Turkey. They became a “paper tiger” when confronting what he called a “genocidal network,” he said. He also praised TRT for strengthening Turkey’s struggle for justice “on the media front.”

The organizers’ 2026 booklet described “Israel’s genocidal campaign” in its Gaza session introduction. That language built the accusation into the session’s premise. At that panel, former South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor advocated boycotts, sanctions and divestment.

Other Turkish officials reinforced that framing. In his opening address, communications chief Burhanettin Duran described Gaza as evidence of the international system’s failure and placed such gatherings within Ankara’s “forum diplomacy,” developed in line with Erdoğan’s vision. TRT director general Mehmet Zahid Sobacı declared, in remarks translated from Turkish, “Türkiye’s standard of rights and justice is TRT’s broadcasting standard.”
MAS Youth Booklets Promote MB Leaders, With Activities for Children as Young as 7
A Jewish Onliner investigation has uncovered educational materials published by the Muslim American Society (MAS), a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, that promote Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, widely regarded as the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, as models of Islamic revival. Qaradawi, who died in 2022, publicly endorsed suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians and maintained close relationships with senior Hamas leaders.

The materials include a Muslim Revivalists booklet featuring educational activities for children as young as seven, including exercises encouraging students to envision an Islamic revival in America, and a separate Sincerity teaching packet that incorporates Qaradawi’s writings into structured educational programs for youth and young adults.

Jewish Onliner’s examination also identified more recent MAS publications invoking al-Banna’s teachings, a project to translate and distribute Qaradawi’s books, and material adapted from a scholar affiliated with the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS). The findings come as the United States has expanded counterterrorism sanctions and designations against Muslim Brotherhood branches accused of supporting Hamas.

Muslim Brotherhood Founder Featured in Student Revivalism Booklet
The Muslim Revivalists booklet, hosted in MAS’s November 2023 online resource directory, introduces students and parents to tajdid, the concept of Islamic religious renewal. Its historical profiles include Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, and Abul A’la Maududi, founder of the Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami.

The booklet presents Hassan al-Banna as a model of Islamic revival, portraying his efforts to reshape Egyptian society and government around Islamic law as an achievement. MAS credits him with advocating “gradually introducing moral reform into society” until all segments, including government institutions, would eventually operate according to Sharia law.

MAS further claims that al-Banna’s organizing methods attracted “1 million followers in Egypt alone” and describes his movement as “one of the most successful of the modern era.” The booklet presents the Brotherhood’s founder as a historical example of successful Islamic revival and social transformation, without critically examining the movement’s ideology or political objectives.

Qaradawi Presented as a Moderate Revivalist Despite Support for Suicide Bombings
A subsequent section, titled Yusuf Al-Qaradawi: A Modern Mujaddid, presents the late cleric as an influential religious reformer whose teachings made Islamic jurisprudence accessible to Muslims internationally. Under a heading labeled “Ideology,” the booklet says Qaradawi advocated wasatiyyah, describing it as “a moderate, balanced approach.” It also praises his flexibility across Sunni schools of jurisprudence and emphasis on the broader objectives of Sharia.


Time to Raise the Price of Terror: Six Ways to End PA-PLO “Pay-for-Slay”
It is clear that the PA-PLO’s terror-rewarding “Pay-for-Slay” policy unequivocally drives and fuels terror. Since the PA-PLO remains undeterred by the measures taken by Israel and the U.S. to combat the policy, the time has come to raise the ante.

This paper will outline potential avenues to broaden the scope of activities and direct additional measures not only against the PA, but also against those implementing the policy and the recipients of the payments.

Before presenting the options, it is important to note that the PA-PLO’s “Pay-for-Slay” payments are not just a malicious policy. Rather, the policy and its implementation create actual breaches of existing criminal law provisions.

As a general rule, the provisions prohibit any action that assists, promotes, or funds the payment of a reward for the commission of a terror offense.

Enacted by both the Israeli parliament,1 and with mirror legislation in Judea and Samaria,2 the provisions establish a substantial legal basis for a host of different actions that could, and should, be taken. These steps would include criminal law enforcement actions and the invocation of a host of potential administrative measures and sanctions.

1. Arrest the PA-PLO officials responsible for implementing the policy
To operate the “Pay-for-Slay” policy, the PA-PLO employs an entire bureaucratic team. Each one of those people, from the simple clerks who receive and process the requests of the terrorists for payment to the high-level PA-PLO officials responsible for authorizing and making the payments, is committing an offense that carries a sentence of seven to ten years in prison.

While arresting every one of the people involved in implementing the policy is of the utmost importance, the message that Israel has finally taken off the gloves would best be conveyed by arresting a handful of the most senior PA-PLO officials.

The first on this list is PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is, without a doubt, most responsible for the policy and its implementation. It was Abbas who codified what were, historically, ad hoc PA-PLO payments to terrorists into PA legislation. It was Abbas who repeatedly raised the salaries paid to the terrorists. And it was Abbas who repeatedly declared, literally putting his money where his mouth is, that even if the PA is left with just one penny, he would pay it first to the terrorists.3

The next person on the list would be Ramzi Khoury. Abbas appointed Khoury in 2005 to head the Palestinian National Fund (PNF). As chairman of the PNF, Khoury is automatically a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee. Although not a member of the PA government, he holds the rank of minister.


Germany's left-wing Die Linke struggles to form coalition as anti-Israel controversy swirls
Germany's left-wing Die Linke party, which won Berlin's parliamentary elections on September 20, is struggling to form a coalition with the Social Democrats and Greens amid a series of controversies involving extreme anti-Israel statements, links between party activists and Hamas supporters and criminal clans, and a newly elected lawmaker who refuses to retract remarks questioning Israel's right to exist.

Die Linke came first in the elections to the parliament of the German capital, which is also a federal state, winning 25.7% of the vote and 45 of the 153 seats, marking a political upheaval in Berlin.

The shift is particularly striking given the position of the outgoing government. Berlin's governing mayor, Kai Wegner, of the Christian Democratic Union, stood firmly alongside Israel following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

In February 2024, he visited Israel, met with the families of hostages, and declared: "Berlin stands firmly by Israel's side, on this day and every day."

In May 2025, Wegner also signed a sister-city agreement with Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. At the time, Wegner recalled that Berlin was the city where the Holocaust was planned and emphasized its historical responsibility to protect Jews and combat antisemitism.

The political upheaval comes against the backdrop of Germany's declared commitment to Israel's security.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz also made clear on the third anniversary of the Hamas attack, in October, that "Germany stands firmly alongside Israel," describing the protection of Israel's existence as a lesson of the Holocaust and part of German identity.

However, official support for Israel does not necessarily reflect the views of the entire German public, sections of which are sharply critical of Israel's policies in Gaza.
Dutch museum cancels synagogue’s tricentennial celebration over Israel tensions
An exhibition honoring the nearly 300-year-old Amersfoort Synagogue was supposed to be a celebration of Jewish life in Amersfoort, a small city in the central Netherlands.

Instead, Dutch Jews say, it could become the latest casualty of anti-Israel cancel culture that has targeted Jews in the Diaspora.

The city’s mayor in the last week has scrambled to save a planned exhibit on the synagogue after it was canceled, but so far has not been able to guarantee that it will open as planned early next year.

On November 4, Paul Baltus, the director of Amersfoort in C, an organization that oversees the Museum Amersfoort and several of the city’s other cultural institutions, said he was canceling the upcoming synagogue exhibition due to “pressure,” an apparent reference to possible confrontations by pro-Palestinian activists.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have held dozens of demonstrations in the Netherlands since the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. On November 8, tens of thousands of people gathered in Amsterdam to demand that the Dutch government impose stricter sanctions on Israel.

Although the museum started planning the exhibition five years ago, Baltus said in a statement, “Since then, the social climate has changed significantly. The situation in the Middle East is also having an impact on Dutch society. The public debate on this subject can be heated and, at times, lacking in nuance.”

Baltus said he is finding the “tension” surrounding the exhibition, which was slated to begin in early 2027, difficult to manage. “As a small and vulnerable organization, I do not want to expose my staff to that kind of pressure,” he said. While he acknowledged that he could hire security guards and install cameras, “the reality is that our volunteers would still have to deal with a range of reactions.”

Jewish community leaders in the Netherlands said they were shocked by the museum’s actions and called on city officials to ensure the exhibition would go on as planned.

The exhibition is one of several cultural events scheduled to mark the 300th anniversary of the Amersfoort synagogue, which opened in 1727. It is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in Western Europe still in use today.
South Carolina man pleads guilty to hate crime for defacing Charlotte Jewish buildings
Dalton Ray Mullis, 24, of Indian Land in South Carolina, pleaded guilty to posting antisemitic materials, including a Totenkopf, at multiple sites within a Jewish complex in Charlotte, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

Mullis admitted in court that he attached the flyers to the Charlotte Jewish Day School, a Holocaust memorial and an employee building at the Foundation of Shalom Park complex on Jan. 19. The complex houses Jewish religious, cultural and educational organizations.

The materials featured a hangman’s noose, a swastika and a Totenkopf, or “death’s head,” a symbol associated with the Nazi Party and the SS.

Security footage showed Mullis applying what appeared to be spray adhesive to a school entrance before attaching a flyer to the door, the department said.

He was arrested and charged with a hate crime on June 11.

“Jewish Americans have the fundamental right to practice their religion and operate faith-based community centers without intimidation,” stated Jesus Osete, acting assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights.

Mullis used his social media accounts to share antisemitic messages and images between January and April, according to court documents.

He remains in federal custody. No sentencing date has been set.

“Posting Nazi and lynching symbols on the Jewish Community Center creates fear and hate and has no place in our community,” stated Russ Ferguson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. “In this country, everyone is entitled to practicing their faith without fear, intimidation or harassment.”

“Those that violate federal laws protecting that right will face consequences,” he said.
Teen gets two years in custody for Toronto-area synagogue shootings
A teenager who opened fire on two Toronto-area synagogues in March was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in a custodial facility followed by one year of community supervision, the maximum penalty available for the offenses under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act, Jewish organizations said.

The offender, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, pleaded guilty to firearms-related charges, according to a statement from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, which identified him as “J.B.” His identity is protected under Canadian law.

The shootings occurred within hours of each other. Shortly before midnight on March 6, gunfire struck Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto, a Modern Orthodox synagogue known as BAYT in Vaughan, Ont. Shortly after midnight on March 7, shots were fired at Shaarei Shomayim, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Toronto.

Multiple rounds struck both buildings, damaging their entrances. Two people were inside BAYT at the time, while Shaarei Shomayim was empty. No one was injured, according to police.

“Both synagogues sustained extensive damage, and the incidents caused widespread fear and distress throughout Canada’s Jewish community,” the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center stated.

Justice Michael Alexander Townsend of the Ontario Court of Justice described the shootings as “planned, calculated and brazen” during sentencing, according to the organization. He also said it was only through “good luck and good fortune” that no one was hurt.

Court records showed that the teenager was paid to carry out the attacks, the center said. However, those who financed or directed the shootings, as well as their motives for targeting the synagogues, remain unidentified.

“The sentencing therefore leaves unresolved the possibility that others involved in orchestrating the violence may pose an ongoing threat to Jewish institutions,” the center stated.
Kindertransport refugee has Austrian citizenship returned on her 100th birthday
A Holocaust refugee who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria as a child has had her Austrian citizenship returned on her 100th birthday, 88 years after Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogroms that changed her life forever.

Gabriele Keenaghan, who fled Vienna on the Kindertransport in 1939, was accompanied by her daughters and granddaughter at the Association of Jewish Refugees’ (AJR) annual Kristallnacht commemoration at Belsize Square Synagogue in London.

In a particularly poignant moment on her 100th birthday, Austrian Ambassador Bernhard Wrabetz presented Keenaghan with confirmation of the return of her Austrian citizenship.

Born in Vienna on 10 November 1926, Gabriele Keenaghan grew up unaware of her father’s Jewish heritage. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria, she was forced to leave her convent school. Kristallnacht in November 1938 was the last time she saw her father, who was subsequently deported and is believed to have been murdered during the Holocaust.

In August this year, Keenaghan returned to Vienna with several generations of her family as part of her centenary celebrations, where she hoped to revisit Westbahnhof railway station, where she had said goodbye to her grandmother before escaping Nazi-occupied Austria nearly nine decades earlier.

She went on to build a life in Britain, raising a family and becoming a headteacher in the Northeast. She was later awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education.

Speaking about the legal return of her citizenship, Gabriele Keenaghan said: “I’m deeply blessed to still be sharing my story after all these years and grateful to call myself an Austrian once again. Nothing can fully restore what was taken from myself and other Jews of the Holocaust, but the return of my Austrian citizenship is a welcomed gesture of reclamation. The AJR and Ambassador Wrabetz have been exceptionally supportive in commemorating this milestone with its multitude of emotions, both the sombre and the joyful. This birthday is special for many reasons.” Gabriele Keenaghan has Austrian Citizenship Returned on her 100th Birthday. Pic: Adam Soller

Olivia Tawse, Gabriele’s granddaughter commented: “It’s incredibly moving to be here with my grandmother on her 100th birthday as she regains the citizenship of the country she was forced to flee as a child. Having accompanied her back to Vienna earlier this year, we’ve seen just how deeply those memories remain with her. Although nothing can undo what happened, to share this moment across three generations is incredibly special.”

Austrian Ambassador Bernhard Wrabetz said: “To return Austrian citizenship to Gabriele Keenaghan on her 100th birthday is an extraordinary moment and an honour for me.”
Israeli blood test detects early breast cancer with 95% accuracy
An international team led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed an experimental blood test that detects early-stage breast cancer with 95 percent accuracy for localized tumors under two centimeters (about 0.8 inches).

The test also outperforms conventional tissue biopsies in assessing the risk of recurrence after treatment.

The peer-reviewed study, published on Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature, grew out of a collaboration between Dr. Efrat Shema’s lab at Weizmann, Hebrew University’s Prof. Guy Ron, and physicians at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. Researchers in France, Germany, Italy, and the United States also participated in the research.

The scientists mapped breast tumors’ epigenetics, the unique molecular switches that control gene behavior, and discovered a particularly aggressive group of cells hiding among less harmful cancer cells.

“Breast cancer screening saves lives,” Shema said in a statement. “Regular mammograms reduce the risk of dying from the disease by 22 percent, but the denser the breast tissue, the easier it is for a tumor to ‘hide’ in the image.”

She noted that the newly developed blood test demonstrated strong diagnostic performance regardless of breast density.
Gal Gadot to produce movie based on kid's antisemitism book
Gal Gadot and her husband and producing partner, Jaron Varsano, are teaming up with FOX Entertainment Studios and Moriah Media on a film adaptation of Don’t Feed the Lion, the novel for tweens about confronting antisemitism by broadcast journalists Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi, the companies announced Wednesday.

Gadot and Varsano will serve as executive producers through their company, Pilot Wave Motion Pictures. FOX Entertainment Studios and Moriah Media, the storytelling arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, will option, develop, and produce the film.

Published by Arcadia Children’s Books, the novel follows Theo Kaplan, a 13-year-old Jewish boy in Chicago whose soccer idol posts an antisemitic message online that goes viral. As the hatred spreads into their middle school, Theo, his younger sister, Annie, and their classmate Gabe, who is part Korean, must contend with prejudice and peer pressure, find allies, and decide how to speak out.

The story also unfolds around Friday-night Shabbat dinners with Theo and Annie’s immigrant grandparents. The title comes from their grandfather’s advice not to “feed the lion” by letting fear, panic, or hatred grow.

“This is a story that feels especially personal to us, both as parents and as a family,” Gadot and Varsano said in a joint statement. “We want our children to grow up in a world where differences are respected, where hatred is challenged and where no one feels alone in standing up for what is right.”

Golodryga, an Emmy-winning journalist and former CNN anchor, and Levi, the longtime anchor of the Channel 12 news, Israel’s top-rated news broadcast, and co-host of the podcast Unholy: Two Jews on the News, said the book grew out of their concerns as Jewish mothers and questions from their own children.

"We wrote Don’t Feed the Lion as two Jewish mothers concerned about the world our children were growing up in. We were alarmed not only by the rise in antisemitism, but by the lack of resources to help children and teens understand and confront it. No child should have to experience hate or feel powerless in the face of it,” said Golodryga and Levi.

“We are incredibly grateful to FOX Entertainment Studios, Gal Gadot, and Jaron Varsano for immediately connecting with our story, embracing its mission, and recognizing the importance of bringing its message of courage, empathy, and standing up to hate to an even wider audience.”
Israel approves NIS 100 million plan to bolster Jewish education in North America
The government has approved an NIS 100 million ($31.5 million) plan, initiated by caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to strengthen Jewish education in North America, a statement from his office said Wednesday.

Based on a partnership and joint investment with North American Jewish communities, the goal of the plan is to strengthen Jewish identity and ties to Israel among the next generation of Diaspora Jews in the United States.

The approval of the plan, which was developed with representatives of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), follows a government decision made in June.

It comes a day after the Knesset was sworn in and two weeks after a national election left Netanyahu facing a battle to stay in power as his rival, Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot, received the mandate to form the next government.

It also comes amid signs of growing disaffection among Diaspora Jews, particularly younger generations, toward Israel and the Netanyahu-led government. Recent polls suggest that support for Israel among Diaspora Jews, especially in response to its policies in Gaza and on matters of democracy, is slipping.

A February survey of American Jews by the Jewish Federations of North America found that only one-third of American Jews aged 18-34 identify as Zionist, even as nearly nine in 10 say they support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state.

A separate Pew poll in May examining American views of Israel found that Jewish attitudes have shifted since 2024. The survey found that 83% of Jews view the Israeli people favorably, down from 89% in 2024, while 47% view the Israeli government favorably, compared with 54% in 2024.
Pope Leo praises ‘spiritual bond’ uniting Catholic Church and people of Israel
Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s spiritual bond with the people of Israel during an interfaith gathering in Buenos Aires, a statement that drew particular attention from Jewish leaders amid growing antisemitism in Europe and elsewhere.

“Following the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, I wish to reaffirm the spiritual bond that unites the Church with the people of Israel,” and “our sincere respect for what is holy and true in the different religious traditions,” the Pope said on Monday during a meeting with representatives of various religious communities at San Martín Palace, Argentina’s foreign ministry headquarters. The Second Vatican Council, from 1962 to 1965, shaped the church’s strategies for dealing with the modern era.

“The statement was a pleasant surprise to us, especially at a time when antisemitism is resurfacing, as it is in Europe,” Isaac Sacca, chief rabbi of the Sephardic Community of Buenos Aires, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “That is very meaningful to our people.

“The meeting was moving on several levels,” added Sacca, who also is the president of Menora, a Jewish youth organization. “All the different religious communities that coexist in harmony and peace in Argentina came together and showed themselves as they truly are before the pope.”

Addressing around 100 religious leaders, Leo highlighted Argentina’s history of religious and cultural diversity, describing the country as a meeting point of different peoples and traditions.

“Hearing those words from Pope Leo himself, just a few meters away, was very comforting,” Rabbi Marcelo Polakoff, commissioner for interreligious dialogue of the World Jewish Congress in Latin America, told JTA. “Moreover, his use of language about honoring the People of Israel struck me as significant, since I don’t think that terminology is commonly used in Church documents. It gives his approach an even greater sense of closeness. He is clearly continuing the strong legacy of interreligious dialogue established by Pope Francis, Benedict XVI, and especially John Paul II.”



 

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