Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Varda Opinion

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Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Trump’s “Peace” in the Middle East: 78 Hamas Violations and Counting (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are the sole responsibility of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

President Trump keeps touting the peace he brought to the Middle East. But if this is peace, I’d hate to see war. Though actually, I’ve seen war and I’m still seeing war—because we still have war. Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, there have been 78 Hamas violations of the ceasefire.

Below are the president’s own “peace” claims—grouped by date—asserting or clearly implying that peace now exists in the Middle East.

*October 13, 2025 (remarks released October 14): “At long last, we have peace in the Middle East. And now we’re there.” In the same remarks, Trump also declared, “After years of suffering and bloodshed, the war in Gaza is over.”
*October 16, 2025 (Truth Social): Trump described what he called a “Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East.”
*October 25, 2025 (Truth Social and Air Force One press gaggle): “We have a very strong PEACE in the Middle East,” Trump wrote, adding that it had a good chance of being “EVERLASTING.” Speaking to reporters later that day, he said, “We have peace in the Middle East. That’s what we have. Great peace in the Middle East,” and insisted, “This is real peace.”
*November 10, 2025 (Truth Social): Trump referred to “PEACE in the Middle East” and described it as “the Great Miracle that is taking place in the Middle East.”
*December 1, 2025 (Truth Social): He claimed “SUCCESS, already attained, for PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST!”
*December 11–12, 2025 (White House remarks): Trump stated, “We actually do have a real peace in the Middle East.”
*December 16, 2025 (White House remarks): He said the administration’s goal was to ensure that there “remains … peace in the Middle East.”
*December 18, 2025 (national address): In a national address, Trump said the Gaza truce had “brought peace to the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years.”

You’d never know the reality on the ground if you tried to Google “Hamas ceasefire violations.” What you get instead is page after page of propaganda about Israel’s supposed violations—Israel’s “pretend” violations—while Hamas malfeasance disappears into a black hole. Seventy-eight instances of such malfeasance, ignored or downplayed, because the media (and apparently Google) are more comfortable amplifying accusations against Israel than confronting what Hamas actually does. They love anyone who murders, rapes, beheads, and burns Jews. Including babies.

So they cover up the truth and peddle lies. That we expect. What is galling is DJT’s continued claims that we have peace. But actually, this too is to be expected. The president wants to have accomplished peace—and yes, he’s a braggart—so he calls it peace even when it isn’t. Boy, would he like to earn that Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe he thinks if he says it enough—peace, peace, peace—the world will be convinced and he’ll get that prize. And if he doesn’t get that prize—which almost assuredly he will not—he’ll say that only because he’s Donald Trump, they won’t give him credit for bringing peace to the Middle East—which he assuredly did not.

Don’t get me wrong—Donald Trump got all but one of our remaining hostages out. For that, the Israeli people are hugely grateful. But this is not peace, and IDF soldiers have still been killed. For their families, there is no peace—also for the rest of Israel. We all know we’re still at war.

For anyone who wants specifics, below is what that “peace” has consisted of since October 10: 78 separate ceasefire violations and hostile incidents, in chronological order:

Oct 13 — Arrow Unit killed 32 Gazans accused of collaborating with Israel (incl. Doghmush clan members).
Oct 14 — Hamas failed to return over half the remaining slain hostages within the required 72 hours (hostage-return breach).
Oct 14 — “Suspects” crossed the Yellow Line (Incident A); IDF opened fire; Gaza health ministry claimed fatalities.
Oct 14 — “Suspects” crossed the Yellow Line (Incident B); IDF opened fire; Gaza health ministry claimed fatalities.
Oct 15 — Hamas returned a body that did not match any hostage (forensics mismatch).
Oct 15 — Hamas publicly executed 8 captives (incl. Doghmush clan members).
Oct 18 — “Suspicious vehicle” crossed the Yellow Line and approached troops; IDF fire; Hamas claimed 11 family members killed.
Oct 19 — Tunnel ambush in Rafah: 2 IDF killed, 3 wounded (Israel called blatant ceasefire violation; Hamas denied responsibility).
Oct 27 — Hamas returned partial remains of a hostage already recovered by IDF (Netanyahu office: “clear violation”).
Oct 28 — Sniper/RPG attack killed 1 IDF soldier in Rafah area (Hamas denied responsibility).
Nov 1 — Hamas handed over 3 bodies claimed as hostages; Israel said none matched any hostage.
Nov 2 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached troops (north Gaza); IAF struck.
Nov 3 — Multiple individuals crossed Yellow Line and advanced toward troops (south Gaza); troops fired.
Nov 3 — Israel assessed ~200 Hamas fighters remained in tunnels within Israeli-controlled southern Gaza (non-withdrawal breach).
Nov 4 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached troops; eliminated.
Nov 5 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and advanced toward troops (central Gaza) (Incident A); eliminated.
Nov 5 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and advanced toward troops (central Gaza) (Incident B); eliminated.
Nov 8 — Two terrorists crossed/approached troops (north Gaza); one eliminated.
Nov 8 — Additional terrorist crossed/approached troops; eliminated.
Nov 10 — Two terrorists crossed/approached troops (south Gaza); eliminated.
Nov 11 — Terrorist crossed/approached troops (south Gaza); eliminated.
Nov 12 — Four terrorists identified east of Yellow Line (Rafah); 3 killed.
Nov 12 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached troops (Khan Younis area); eliminated.
Nov 16 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached troops (north Gaza); eliminated.
Nov 17 — Several crossed Yellow Line and buried suspicious objects near IDF forces; one eliminated, others retreated.
Nov 17 — Individual crossed Yellow Line and approached troops; eliminated.
Nov 18 — Two terrorists crossed/approached forces (south Gaza); both eliminated.
Nov 19 — Several terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Gaza); at least one eliminated.
Nov 19 — Terrorists opened fire toward IDF in Khan Younis; IDF called it a ceasefire violation.
Nov 20 — Two terrorists crossed/approached troops (south Gaza); “hit identified,” outcome unspecified.
Nov 21 — ~15 terrorists emerged from underground infrastructure east of Yellow Line in eastern Rafah; later 6 killed, 5 apprehended.
Nov 22 — Armed terrorist fired from a humanitarian access road (IDF video); attacker eliminated.
Nov 22 — IDF said it eliminated 3 terrorists likely linked to prior Rafah tunnel escape attempt.
Nov 22 — IDF said 2 other militants were eliminated in a separate strike (total in that episode reported as five).
Nov 22 — IDF: 2 terrorists crossed Yellow Line and advanced toward troops; eliminated.
Nov 24 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached IDF in Khan Younis; struck by IAF.
Nov 24 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached IDF near Khan Younis; struck by IAF.
Nov 24 — Several terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached troops (north Gaza); threatened forces.
Nov 24 — Additional terrorists attempted to approach troops in same area; IDF said 2 eliminated total across both Nov 24 northern incidents.
Nov 25 — PIJ delay in transfer of hostage remains (Netanyahu: “additional violation”); body later returned and identified as Dror Or.
Nov 25 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Strip); eliminated.
Nov 25 — Nahal Brigade: 5 armed individuals emerged from tunnels in “Rafah Pocket”; eliminated.
Nov 26 — 6 terrorists emerged from tunnels in Rafah; 2 captured, 4 eliminated.
Nov 26 — IDF struck Hamas operative planning an imminent sniper plot in northern Gaza.
Nov 26 — PIJ member approached IDF in southern Gaza (immediate threat); eliminated.
Nov 26 — Individual crossed Yellow Line and approached IDF; eliminated.
Nov 28 — Terrorist approached troops near Yellow Line (south Gaza); eliminated by IAF.
Nov 29 — Two suspects crossed Yellow Line, did “suspicious activities,” and approached troops (south Gaza); eliminated by IAF.
Nov 29 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached troops later same day; eliminated.
Dec 1 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line (north Gaza) (Incident A); eliminated.
Dec 1 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line (north Gaza) (Incident B); eliminated.
Dec 1 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (central Gaza); eliminated with air support.
Dec 3 — Tunnel ambush in eastern Rafah: Sayeret Golani engaged attackers; 4 IDF injured.
Dec 4 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached IDF (south Gaza); hit/eliminated per IDF.
Dec 5 — Two terrorists with suspicious items approached IDF (north Gaza); struck by IAF; one confirmed eliminated.
Dec 6 — Multiple terrorists crossed Yellow Line (Incident A); IDF reported eliminations (part of three total across day).
Dec 6 — Multiple terrorists crossed Yellow Line (Incident B); IDF reported eliminations (part of three total across day).
Dec 7 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (south Gaza); eliminated.
Dec 10 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Gaza); one eliminated.
Dec 11 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (south Gaza); one eliminated.
Dec 13 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Gaza); eliminated.
Dec 14 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Gaza); eliminated.
Dec 15 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces; eliminated.
Dec 16 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line carrying a suspicious object; eliminated.
Dec 18 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces; eliminated by IAF.
Dec 19 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (central Gaza); eliminated by IAF.
Dec 20 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Gaza); killed by IAF.
Dec 21 — Suspects gathered near Yellow Line; warning fire; 3 crossed and approached forces; IAF struck (outcome unclear).
Dec 21 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (Incident A); IAF struck (outcome unclear).
Dec 21 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (Incident B); IAF struck (outcome unclear).
Dec 24 — Charge detonated on armored vehicle during Rafah clearing; 1 IDF soldier lightly wounded.
Dec 25 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (north Gaza); eliminated.
Dec 25 — Two terrorists crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (south Gaza); eliminated by IAF.
Jan 2 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (south Gaza); killed.
Jan 3 — IDF destroyed shaft with loaded rocket launcher ready to fire at southern Israel, deployed after ceasefire (explicit violation).
Jan 5 — Terrorist crossed Yellow Line and approached forces (south Gaza); eliminated by IAF.
Jan 7 — Hamas fired into an area where IDF forces were operating (north Gaza); IDF called it a blatant violation.
Jan 8 — Failed launch from Gaza City toward Israel; projectile fell near a hospital; IDF struck launch point.

All ceasefire violations listed above are drawn from reporting by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal (longwarjournal.org), which has provided detailed, day-by-day tracking of militant activity in Gaza since the ceasefire.

I’m not surprised at the president’s braggadocio in the least, but I wish he would be honest about what is actually happening in Gaza. About the fact that not only has Hamas violated the ceasefire 78 times as of this writing, but that the war is not over. I wish the president would admit that Hamas is reorganizing, rearming, repairing and reopening tunnels, and reasserting its full control over the parts of Gaza still under its authority.

🚨Hamas has been violating the ceasefire since the beginning.

Video: @HonestReporting pic.twitter.com/7aQTetBPmz
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) November 28, 2025

Since the U.S.-mediated ceasefire in October 2025, Hamas has used the lull to regroup: reconstituting command and policing structures, replenishing weapons stocks, restoring damaged tunnel routes, and tightening its grip over the parts of western Gaza it controls.

Much of this has unfolded out of the Western spotlight. The tunnels did not vanish; they went back underground—literally and politically—while Gaza’s civilians were pushed into ever tighter spaces above them. In that crowded terrain, Hamas can rebuild with more cover and less room for anyone to separate fighters from families. Israeli assessments say the group is returning to a familiar method: tucking command posts, weapons caches, and staging areas into the seams of civilian life—near hospitals, UN-linked compounds, and schools—locations Israel argues have repeatedly been used as shields for military activity.

Meanwhile, the president keeps saying that Hamas will disarm the easy way or the hard way, but it never ever happens. He doesn’t push it. Instead, he’s trying to shove Qatar and Turkey down our throats as if they were good actors, for his Board of Peace (of which there is not).

We deserve safety and peace. But this is not peace and Israel and the Israeli people are not safe. This is not what we bargained for when we agreed to this ceasefire. Or maybe we did. The more things change, the more they stay the same. We are told again and again that Trump is the most pro-Israel president ever, and we are actually giving him the Israel Prize, but unfortunately, the peace that’s breaking out all over, is not peace, and is not breaking out all over.

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Angelina Jolie: Two Borders, One Ignored (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely the responsibility of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Back in November 2023 — only weeks after October 7 — Angelina Jolie accused Israel of bombing “a trapped population who have nowhere to flee.” She wrote: “Gaza has been an open-air prison for nearly two decades.”

Fast forward to January 2026. Jolie visits the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing into Gaza, ostensibly to check on injured Gazans and the flow of aid. And there she is: standing on the border with Gaza — in Egypt.

So here is the question that should be unavoidable now, even for celebrities who don’t do geography:

Did Jolie not know where she was standing?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Angelina Jolie (@angelinajolie)

Because there are two land borders with Gaza. One is with Israel. The other, with Egypt. If Gazans have “nowhere to flee,” it’s because of Egypt. Because Egypt has a border too — and refused to open it to the fleeing Gazan masses, most of whom are their cousins.

But Jolie does know where she is standing. She is standing on the border she ignored. She would have been well aware of it all along, because she served as a Special Envoy for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Surely she had at least a nodding acquaintance with borders and crossings.

Now, it is no longer possible for her to claim ignorance of this second border. Her inability to look at a map. Because she has stood at Rafah, on the Egyptian side of the border. Jolie should apologize for demonizing Israel. That she has failed to do so, proves what we already know: Angelina Jolie is an antisemite. She hates Jews.

There is no other explanation — she hates us too much to even contemplate an apology to the Israeli people, even at the expense of her integrity.

And still, there is no apology on her lips. Not a peep. No: “I’m sorry. I know it wasn’t Israel trapping the people of Gaza. That Egypt could have let the fleeing Gazan refugees in and given them safe harbor, but refused. Israel deserves my humblest apologies.”

But of course, there will be no such apology. Humble or otherwise. There never is.

Two borders, one ignored.

Because acknowledging the other would make Egypt the guilty party, the bad guy. And they want the bad guy to be Israel. They want to make Israel the bad guy for not letting them in after October 7— they want to blame the Jews, and increase hatred against them. Then come the protests that turn into riots, the riots that morph into bodily assault, and finally spiral into murder. A Jewish museum affords that opportunity. As does the home of a Jewish governor and his family, set on fire at night while they were asleep.

It's all the same. Two borders, one ignored — and finally erased.

Even as one stands right there on the border with Gaza. Even as the Angelina Jolies of the world lose their integrity, one by one:

Two borders, one ignored.

It's a lie that betrays a deep and evil hatred of Jews.

The people who will never disappear.

**
Please note that Jolie's father, Jon Voight, has been a staunch friend to Israel and the Jewish people. From Arutz 7:

Jolie’s criticism of Israel was met with a sharp response from her father, actor Jon Voight, who said his daughter “has no understanding of God's honor, God's truths" and added, “The Israeli army must protect thy soil, thy people. This is war. It's not going to be what the left thinks. It can't be ‘civil’ now. Israel was attacked by inhuman terror on innocent babies, mothers, fathers, [and] grandparents."

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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

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Should the US Send Money to Israel? A Transcript of Hate. (Judean Rose)

JD has a weird thing going on with his dog Tucker Carlson/Youube

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

I started out writing something totally different, tonight. Something about the dangers of a Vance presidency considering his arrogant comments at TPUSA. The things the vice president said bear out my belief that JD Vance is not just an isolationist, but a hater as well. In fact, the isolationism may only be cover for his true feelings about Jews. Who knows? But according to JD Vance, I am definitely allowed to say these things. As an American.

As I looked at all that wealth of information relating to hate among conservatives, I happened on a debate between Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan about whether Israel qualifies as an "ally." I was appalled and nauseated by both men.

I created a transcript of their debate when I couldn't find a good one online. I am sharing it here for the benefit of those, who like me, prefer text, having no patience with video. I read fast, and would far rather read a transcript then space out as two arrogant men pontificate. Perhaps some of my readers share my preference for text.

But first a few (okay, so not a few) prefatory comments.

I called it right when I was taken aback by Vance’s reaction to a motion to declare sovereignty in Judea and Samaria coming before the Knesset just as Vance’s plane was arriving at Lod Airport. When asked by a reporter how the vice president felt about that, he said that it was weird and insulting.

Not long after that, there was a bit of a ruckus on X when it was discovered that JD's assistant is Buckley Carlson, none other than the son of Tucker Carlson. This, we are made to believe, is perfectly normal. Besides, said Vance, we have no right to judge the son according to the father. He was disgusted by any suggestions to the contrary.

Sloan Rachmuth is a "journalist" who has decided to obsessively attack a staffer in his 20s because she doesn't like the views of his father.

Every time I see a public attack on Buckley it's a complete lie. And yes, I notice ever person with an agenda who unfairly attacks a… https://t.co/bjFVuM2yBI
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 16, 2025

But while we aren't free to say what we think, Vance is. Tucker is his friend. It's okay to listen to his hate speech and conspiracy theories. Which makes me wonder if Vance thinks that, in theory, it would be okay to laugh at the victims of Bondi Beach or to listen to someone laugh at that, as if that were a totally normal thing to do. Nothing worthy of remark. Because freedom.

This would, after all, be the perfect application of Tucker Carlson’s "principles" as outlined by Carlson and Piers Morgan, in their February 2025 debate.

Just now at TPUSA, we had an opportunity to see how people are lining up. We heard things like, “We can have a conversation about that.”

What does it mean to JD Vance, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon, to have a "conversation?" It means they are permitted to hate Israel and the Jews—and that it is their right as Americans to express that hate openly—even in hearing of little children, if they wish.

Commenting on the the coming out of Megyn Kelly at TPUSA, my Facebook friend Moshe Z. Matitya said, "The overnight transmogrification of the big RW influencers feels like something straight out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

"The first tweet from Megyn Kelly below is from 2 months ago; the second one is from two days ago."

Moshe shared two screenshots of Kelly's X posts.

To JD Vance and his associates, perhaps, this is the essence of what it means to be free. The right to express hateful views and also to remain friends with those who express them. In theory, this would make it okay to say that a little Australian girl deserved to die. And then lie about it.

Because that would be their right. As Americans. The supreme application of freedom in the good old USA.

***

TRANSCRIPT: Piers Morgan on The Tucker Carlson Show
February 8, 2025 · 12:51 a.m.

Piers Morgan: Why do you support Israel against Hamas, for example? Why do you support America giving them billions of dollars?
Tucker Carlson: Well, I don’t.

Piers Morgan: You don’t support Israel being supported by America?
Tucker Carlson: Well, I… support Israel in the sense that I really like Israel. I brought my family on vacation.

Piers Morgan: But do you agree with America supplying them with a lot of arms?
Tucker Carlson: To the extent that it helps the United States, I’m for it, of course. I think what we need is—

Piers Morgan: So you do believe in America interfering in countries a long way away. It just depends which country.
Tucker Carlson: No. I, I—

Piers Morgan: Your principle, it doesn’t really apply in Israel.
Tucker Carlson: I’ll articulate it for the third time, just to be totally clear. I believe the United States, like every country, should, to the extent that it can, act on behalf of its own people and their perceived interests. We can debate what those interests are.

Piers Morgan: But that doesn’t apply in Israel.
Tucker Carlson: I don’t know what you mean.

Piers Morgan: America is supporting Israel because it’s an ally.
Tucker Carlson: I don’t even know what those words mean. I’m just saying my principle is—

Piers Morgan: I mean, but isn’t it—they’re an ally, right? I mean, they both know what—
Tucker Carlson: I don’t know what that means to be an ally. I mean, we have no—

Piers Morgan: It means that when Israel wants to attack in Gaza and attack Hamas, America will help it because it’s its ally.
Tucker Carlson: That’s not what it means to be an ally.

Piers Morgan: So it gives it billions of dollars’ worth.
Tucker Carlson: That’s not what it means to be an ally, okay?

Piers Morgan: Well, it fundamentally does.
Tucker Carlson: I have no greater allies than my own children. When they come to me and say, “I want to do this,” I assess whether it’s good for them or not. If I don’t think it is, I don’t support it.

Piers Morgan: Right.
Tucker Carlson: Because they’re my true allies. They’re my children.

Piers Morgan: But why would you support America getting involved in Israel?
Tucker Carlson: Just because a country that’s your ally says, “I want to do this,” does not mean axiomatically you support it. Maybe it’s not good for you or me.

Piers Morgan: So do you support America supporting Israel to the tune of billions of dollars?
Tucker Carlson: It depends. If you can make—

Piers Morgan: What’s in America’s interest?
Tucker Carlson: It depends in all cases. It’s not just about Israel.

Piers Morgan: But do you support what’s happening then in the support in the attacks in Gaza, for example? Because I don’t see the difference between that and what’s happening in Ukraine. This is a long way away from America. There’s no direct involvement with America. There’s no mainland involvement with America. And yet you think it’s right that America supports Israel. Put words in your mouth. But you don’t think it’s right—
Tucker Carlson: I don’t think those are the words that came out of my mouth.

Piers Morgan: You don’t think it’s right America supports Ukraine when Russia invades it?
Tucker Carlson: I have a simple solution. Let me explain what I think, and then that way we’ll get—

Piers Morgan: Am I wrong?
Tucker Carlson: We’ll get right to what I think.

Piers Morgan: Am I wrong?
Tucker Carlson: I actually tuned out midway through. I’m not exactly sure what you said.

Piers Morgan: You can’t tune out when I’m right.
Tucker Carlson: I did, I did, I did, I did.

Piers Morgan: Just because I’m right. You can’t tune out.
Tucker Carlson: I didn’t follow everything you said.

Piers Morgan: You can’t tune out when I’m right.
Tucker Carlson: No, it was more a lecture about what I think, and then I’m like, “Wait, I know what I think. I think I’m the world’s expert on what I’m thinking. I think I’m the uncontested premier of my own head.”

Piers Morgan: That is true.
Tucker Carlson: So, I’m going to unload its contents on you right now.

Piers Morgan: Explain what is America’s national interest in Israel?
Tucker Carlson: I’ll define the parameters as well, because I’m happier with that, okay? I would say I support the right of all sovereign nations to act within what they believe is their own interest. (laughing) Like we don’t always know our own interest in our personal lives or between nations. Like, we think it’s good for us, but it may not be. The vodka in the morning analogy. Not good, actually, but I thought it was. Now I know it’s not. But to the extent that we think we know, I think countries should act on behalf of their own citizens. That’s the basic idea in democracy. Okay? And there’s certainly—you could make a case that whatever we’re giving to Israel this year in the form of direct aid, military assistance, loan guarantees, however we’re doing it, is good for the United States. I think you just have to make that case.

Piers Morgan: Why is it good for the United States?
Tucker Carlson: Well, you could make that case.

Piers Morgan: But why is it?
Tucker Carlson: I’m not convinced.

Piers Morgan: What is the case?
Tucker Carlson: Well, I don’t know. You’d have to be an advocate for it. You are a vociferous advocate for it. So why don’t you tell me?

Piers Morgan: For what?
Tucker Carlson: For U.S. aid to Israel in the current conflict.

Piers Morgan: Actually, I haven’t expressed a view about that at all. I’m just curious about your… the difference in your—
Tucker Carlson: You’re not an Israel hater, are you? Why do you hate Israel?

Piers Morgan: Not at all. Not at all.
Tucker Carlson: Why are you attacking Israel? I don’t know why. What problem do you have with Israel, Piers?

Piers Morgan: I have no problem with Israel.
Tucker Carlson: The press likes this. They secretly hate Israel.

Piers Morgan: I have no problem with Israel whatsoever.
Tucker Carlson: It feels like you do. Is Netanyahu a dictator?

Piers Morgan: Actually, I don’t like Netanyahu. I think you should—
Tucker Carlson: You hate Israel.

Piers Morgan: I think you should go. Let me, just, I’m going to ask you one more time—
Tucker Carlson: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Piers Morgan: Hang on. Hang on.
Tucker Carlson: Now we’re getting into… I’m not comfortable with this.

Tucker Carlson: Here’s my question. Should I be platforming you? That’s my question. You just said you don’t like Netanyahu.
Piers Morgan: I’m trying to work out whose brand suffers more when we platform each other. But let me ask you this. Let me ask you this.

Tucker Carlson: All right, I’m going to need a second.

Piers Morgan: One more time, just quietly for the people at the back. You don’t like America getting involved in helping Ukraine against Russia because there’s no national interest for America in doing that in your eyes.
Tucker Carlson: Well, there’s a negative national interest.

Piers Morgan: Okay.
Tucker Carlson: I found one.

Piers Morgan: So I get that.
Tucker Carlson: We’re losing the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency because of this war.

Piers Morgan: All right. Fine.
Tucker Carlson: There’s no greater national interest.

Piers Morgan: Your position is America first. There’s no interest for America. Shouldn’t be doing it. Every country should act for this. It’s a problem between Ukraine and Russia. Okay, that’s fine. A lot of people have that view. I respect it. What I can’t understand is the difference in your logic and principle about supporting Israel in its war with Hamas, which is many thousands of miles away from America. There’s no direct—
Tucker Carlson: If I’ve been a great advocate for the war in Gaza, I missed that part of the conversation.

Piers Morgan: Well, you support America supporting Israel.
Tucker Carlson: No.

Piers Morgan: You don’t support America supporting Ukraine.
Tucker Carlson: No. I don’t support America supporting any nation on the planet to its own detriment. Every element of our foreign policy should serve the United States.

Piers Morgan: Okay.
Tucker Carlson: That’s the point of our government: to serve the people who live there, called citizens. That’s what democracy is. There’s no other reason. So, if I’m in charge of a country and I decide, actually, I should do this because people who pay me want me to do it or I’m making money to do it, then I’m by definition illegitimate. That’s not democracy. That is a species of oligarchy or whatever. You could assign a name to it. That’s not democracy. So I just believe in our system, and our leaders should act on behalf of their own people or what they think is their own people’s interests. And I would apply that to Israel. I’d apply it to Ukraine. I think there have certainly been times where we have benefited from our alliance with Israel. You know, it’s an alliance. Just like we have an alliance with our country?

Piers Morgan: They are allies then.
Tucker Carlson: I don’t know what ally means.

Piers Morgan: It’s short for alliance.
Tucker Carlson: Yeah, you’re right. It is.

Piers Morgan: Yes!
Tucker Carlson: It’s so funny. I never knew that.

Piers Morgan: I’ve got you.
Tucker Carlson: You got me.

Piers Morgan: You’ve literally just—
Tucker Carlson: When it comes to etymology, you are the unchallenged king.

Piers Morgan: Boom.
Tucker Carlson: You’re blowing my mind, Piers Morgan.

***

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Bondi Beach and the “J” Word No One Will Say (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

After the Bondi Beach attack, there were public figures who could not bring themselves to describe the victims as Jews or to call the attack antisemitic. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was one of them.

In a statement released soon after the attack, Albanese said only that his “thoughts were with every person affected.” He did not mention Jews. He did not mention antisemitism. He did not say why the victims were targeted.

Albanese had no difficulty recognizing a Palestinian state that does not exist and never has. Yet he could not publicly acknowledge that Jews were murdered because they were Jews.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did acknowledge it. He also said he had warned Albanese months earlier about where this kind of language ends.

“On August 17, about four months ago, I sent Prime Minister Albanese of Australia a letter in which I warned that the Australian government’s policy was promoting and encouraging antisemitism in Australia.

I wrote: ‘Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets.’

Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent; it retreats when leaders act.

Instead, Prime Minister, you replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement. Your government did nothing. You let the disease spread. The result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today.”

Albanese was not the only one to obscure the Jewish identity of the Bondi Beach victims.

Oprah Winfrey wrote, “My heart breaks for the victims, their families and loved ones, and all you Aussies.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Oprah (@oprah)

There was no mention of Jews or antisemitism. Not anywhere. Oprah simply made us disappear.

Israeli American Council (IAC) CEO Elan Carr called Winfrey out, referring to the missing identification of the victims as Jews in her statement as "obfuscation."

“Oprah’s neglect to name the actual targets and victims of the attack, Jews celebrating Hanukkah, conceals both the true nature of this horrific event and the appalling surge in antisemitism that gave rise to it,” said IAC CEO Elan S. Carr, a former US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. “For a public figure to express sorrow over the attack without saying that it was an antisemitic mass murder of Jews during their celebration of a holiday is precisely the sort of misguided obfuscation that allows antisemitism to flourish.”

Just as we now have ample evidence from the global reaction to the massacre of October 7 that terror begets terror, we also have evidence that omitting to call attacks "antisemitic," or the victims "Jews" begets more of the same. In 2015, for example, then President Obama famously referred to the 2015 shooting at the Hyper Cacher supermarket in Paris that left four Jews dead as a random shooting of “a bunch of folks in a deli.”

Former White House secretary Jen Psaki, when pressed to explain her boss’ assertion that the victims were “random,” doubled down, knowing full well that calling the Hyper Cacher shooting “random” was immoral and a complete falsehood.

I created a transcript of the exchange between veteran AP journalist Matt Lee and Psaki to show all the nervous stutters that gave her away.

Matt Lee: Yesterday uh, the President in his news conference raised some eyebrows by saying that the victims, of the, uh, shooting in Paris at the kosher deli were uh “random.” Um, your colleague at the White House apparently said something similar today. Um, doe. . . is that, really, I mean, does the Administration really believe that these peop-that the, the victims of this attack were, were not, uh singled out because they were of a particular faith?
Jen Psaki: Well as you know, I believe, if I remember the victims specifically there were, they were not all victims of one background or one nationality. So, I think what they mean by that is, I don’t know that they spoke to the targeting of the grocery store or that of the specific individuals who were impacted.
Matt Lee: Well. I mean, right, but when the Secretary went and paid respects to he was with a member of the Jewish community there.
Jen Psaki: Naturally, given that it’s the, the na-th-th-th th-the grocery store is one that uh,
Matt Lee: Well don’t you think that the target, maybe, even if all the victims, e-even if the victims came from different backgrounds, from different religions, different nationalities, was the target, the store itself was the target. Was it not? I mean. . .
Jen Psaki: But that’s different than the individuals being. I don’t have any more to really. . .
Matt Lee: All right, well, does the Administration believe this was an anti-Jewish, uh, uh attack on, an attack on the Jewish community in Paris?
Jen Psaki: I don’t think we’re going to speak on behalf of French authorities and what they believe was, uh, the situation at, at play here.
Matt Lee: Yeah, but if a guy goes into a, a, a, a, a kosher market and starts shooting it up, you know, he’s not looking for Buddhists is he?
Jen Psaki: Well again, Matt, I think it’s relevant that obviously the individuals in there who were shopping and working at the store. . .
Matt Lee: Who does one ex . . . who does the Administration expect shops at a kosher, I mean I would like but you know, an attacker, going into a store that is clearly identified as being one of you know, as, as identified with one specific faith. I’m not sure I can, I understand how it is that you can’t say that this was a, that this is was, that this is not a targeted attack.
Jen Psaki: I don’t have anything more on this for you Matt, this is a topic for the French government to address.

Psaki was flat out lying when she told Lee, “Well as you know, I believe, if I remember the victims specifically there were, they were not all victims of one background or one nationality.”

All four of the Hyper Cacher shooting were Jews. There was no way that Psaki was unaware of this fact.

The backpedaling of the Obama administration was, of course, not long in coming. We were lied to by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest who tweeted that the administration’s views “had not changed,” that Obama had never meant to suggest that the attack was anything but antisemitic.

Our view has not changed. Terror attack at Paris Kosher market was motivated by anti-Semitism. POTUS didn't intend to suggest otherwise.
— J Earnest (Archived) (@PressSec44) February 10, 2015

And not long after Jen Psaki refused to say the victims were Jews, she falsely claimed on Twitter that the White House administration had “always been clear that the attack . . . was an anti-semitic [sic] attack.”

We have always been clear that the attack on the kosher grocery store was an anti-semitic attack that took the lives of innocent people.
— State Department Spokesperson 2013-2025 (@statedeptspox_a) February 10, 2015

It’s a funny thing: When Jews are murdered, the people at the top of the food chain—government officials and celebrities—suddenly go nonspecific. They say “victims” or “families.” They say, “people affected.”

But they won’t say the J word: “Jews.”

Even before the Hyper Cacher attack, the Obama White House tried very hard to not talk about Jews when they were victims of terror. A year earlier, when Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel were kidnapped (and subsequently murdered), it took six days for the White House to respond, even though one of the teens, Naftali Fraenkel, was an American citizen.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of 3 Israeli teens who were kidnapped last week. May they be reunited with their sons soon.
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) June 17, 2014

Then, during a press conference, Jen Psaki couldn’t bring herself to utter Naftali’s name, or perhaps as she claimed, she simply couldn’t remember it.

MS. PSAKI: Go ahead, Jo.

Question: Can I ask if you have a privacy waiver for the - one of the teenagers?

MS. PSAKI: We do, yes. So we can confirm that one of the kidnapped was an American citizen.

QUESTION: Which one?

MS. PSAKI: I believe his name has been reported. I don't have it in front of me right now.

Again and again, when Jews are targeted, the language changes. Specific words disappear. Everything becomes vague. By choice. Everyone knows who was attacked and they know why. But some people choose to omit the truth.

It's not that they've forgotten who was murdered. They haven't lost the words. It's that they've carefully chosen which words to use. They'll say “victims" or "families." They'll say “people affected.” But they won't say “Jews.”

Because when Jews are murdered and no one says they are Jews, the killing is stripped of its reason. The victims lose their identity. The attack becomes just another “random” act of violence.

Leave the victims unnamed and the crime can be treated like any other crime. Nothing about it is Jewish. Nothing about it is special.

You can murder Jews, and afterward it will be spoken about as if it had nothing to do with Jews at all. But when nothing is named, there is nothing to stop the next attack. And right now, at least, that seems to be what most of the world would like to see.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Dear Paul Simon: You Lent Your Name to a Killer's Cause (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Dear Mr. Simon,

When I read that you’d signed a letter calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti, I wouldn’t say I was devastated. Just deeply sad that I would now have to consign your music to the “do not listen to antisemites” discard pile. That pile includes such luminaries as Massive Attack, whose “Teardrop” was the theme song for the House MD series — a ringtone I removed the moment I saw they had signed on to “No Music for Genocide.”

Carole King joined that same campaign, which involved pressuring major labels to boycott Israeli platforms, at which point I realized that when she sang, “You’ve Got a Friend,” she didn’t mean me. Because I live in Israel. She doesn’t like that.

By the same token, I have sent Susan Sarandon, Cate Blanchett, and Ben Affleck to the “do not watch antisemites on the silver screen” garbage heap. At this point, I refuse to watch anything on Netflix before checking the entire cast list against the Film Workers for Palestine pledge. I’ve got that pledge bookmarked for convenience. (The Big C has Cynthia Nixon and Idris Elba in it? Nope, not watching it.)

But you, Mr. Simon — I didn’t imagine you would sign a letter calling for the release of a mass murderer from prison. A man who ordered the murder of Jews for no other reason than that they were Jews. And of course, Barghouti didn’t only murder Jews. He was also responsible for the killing of Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis, a Greek Orthodox monk-priest shot in his car on the way back to his monastery because terrorists assumed — based on his Israeli license plate — that he was a Jew. In other words, he was murdered not because he was a Jew, but because he was thought to be one.

So now I will no longer be listening to Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, because the singer-songwriter who created that musical masterpiece supports the release of a mass murderer — a man convicted on five counts of murder for attacks orchestrated by the networks under his control. Attacks that targeted Jews. Jews like you, Mr. Simon.

Marwan Barghouti built his reputation on directing the gunmen and bombers who left Israelis dead in buses, cafés, and on the roadside. This is the man you’re calling on us to release.

He wouldn’t care that you’re not Israeli or a member of the IDF. He wouldn’t care about your one-in-a-million gift for music. He would only care that you are a Jew. And that is all Barghouti would care about if he were released from prison: murdering innocent Jewish civilians. Violently.

As head of the Fatah supreme committee in the West Bank and leader of the military wing of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Barghouti had the power to order his men to kill Jews. Jews like 45-year-old mother-of-two Yoella Hen, murdered while filling her gas tank on the way to a family wedding — murdered on the order of Marwan Barghouti, for whose release you, Mr. Simon, are calling.

Barghouti also supplied weapons to the men who killed Yosef Habibi and Eli Dahan as they were dining at a popular Tel Aviv café. The terrorist lobbed grenades into the crowd, opened fire, and when his rifle jammed, rushed inside stabbing anyone he could reach. Habibi and Dahan were murdered. Habibi’s wife Haya was critically injured. A Druze policeman, Sergeant Salim Barakat, ran to help and was stabbed to death as he bent over the terrorist’s body.

Barghouti was also responsible for the shooting attack at a bar mitzvah celebration held at a Hadera banquet hall — six murdered, 26 wounded. He directed the shooting spree on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem in which two Israelis were killed and 37 wounded. He masterminded a shooting attack in the residential Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, where a young policewoman was killed and nine Israelis were wounded. A worker at a coffee factory in the Atarot industrial zone was murdered by a terrorist who acted on Barghouti’s orders.

In the end, Barghouti was convicted on five counts of murder. Which is why he is serving five consecutive life terms plus 40 years. Which is also why he is very popular among Palestinians — they would love to see this Jew-killer step into Mahmoud Abbas’s shoes, now in the twentieth year of his four-year term

Mr. Simon, I know I shouldn’t be surprised you threw your support behind a murderer — all the cool kids are doing it. But somehow I thought someone as obviously brilliant as yourself knew better than to listen to the lies about Barghouti’s victimhood. That you would know enough to look into the matter and find out why Barghouti is really in prison. Not because Israel is persecuting him, but because he is a stone-cold killer.

But as it turns out, I shouldn’t have been surprised for a different reason. Something I hadn’t known. Rafael Medoff filled in the blank: years ago, you wrote The Capeman, a Broadway musical about Salvador Agron — a gang member who stabbed two teenage boys to death on a New York playground. You recast him as a troubled outsider shaped by poverty and street culture.

And now here you are again, extending the same sympathy to Marwan Barghouti. Only Barghouti’s “environment” is something else entirely.

Jew-hatred permeates the PA’s curriculum, its summer camps, its official media, and the speeches of its political leaders (though only when speechifying in Arabic, naturally). Even the sermons of imams praise those who murder Jews, describing them as pigs and monkeys — just as the Nazis saw Jews as cockroaches and rats.

When I heard you had joined the call for an arch-Jew-murderer to be released into the general Israeli population, I thought: He’s misinformed. They’re telling him lies, and the lies are so pervasive that no one bothers to check.

I hoped you were one of the rare birds — someone with enough intellectual curiosity to look into the real story of the war in Gaza. Why it happened and why it didn’t. The war did not happen because Israel wanted to wipe out the Gazan people. The war happened because of October 7 — because of the rape of little girls, the burning of babies, the slaughter of families. Civilians in Gaza cheered and filmed as hostages were dragged through the streets. Ordinary Gazans held hostages in their homes.

Hamas has ruled Gaza exactly as it promised it would. It hijacked aid, blocked distribution, and seized baby-formula shipments with full awareness of the consequences. They knew infants would die, and they let it happen because the deaths served their narrative.

During the worst of the days of the hunger crisis in Gaza in the past six months, Hamas deliberately hid literal tons of infant formula and nutritional shakes for children by storing them in clandestine warehouses belonging to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The goal, as I said… pic.twitter.com/pANo9uHfAb
— Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (@afalkhatib) December 9, 2025

And yet, instead of looking into any of this, you signed your name to the accusation that your own people are committing genocide — while calling for the release of a man who spent years trying to kill us.

The worst part is that so many of the Jews murdered on October 7 were leftist peaceniks who did everything they could to help the people of Gaza. You would know this, Mr. Simon, if you had bothered to check. If you had bothered to come to Israel, even briefly, to see for yourself, to offer support, to stand with your people in a moment of unimaginable pain.

Instead, you stood with a man who would gladly see you dead.

I even looked for you online, thinking perhaps I could explain all this to you — that you would understand how deeply you’d been deceived. I searched for you on Facebook and X, but you have made yourself unreachable to your own people.

We cannot find you to tell you what you’ve done, the harm you’ve caused, how betrayed we feel.

This letter is all I can do. And you will never read it.

But you have placed yourself in a box now — the box reserved for Jews who turn their backs on their own people. You can leave that box anytime, Mr. Simon. It would be an easy enough thing to do. You can join the side that is just, the side that holds life as its greatest value. Or you can stay where you are and earn a footnote in Jewish history as a man who sided with a murderer.

The choice is yours.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)