Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, February 13, 2025

02/13 Links Pt1: Top Arab Diplomat Sees No Alternative to Trump's Gaza Plan; Hamas confirms hostage release for Saturday; Reckoning with the Red Cross

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Bibi the Good Cop?

Let’s cut to the chase: How many hostages can Hamas release this Saturday without inviting pitiless retribution?

There are 76 remaining in Gaza. Trump’s comments didn’t seem to leave much wiggle room, so Saturday’s noon deadline would mean Hamas must release 76 hostages.

Israel’s security cabinet at first simply said it supported Trump’s position but did not specify what that position was exactly. Then, as the Times of Israel explained, an Israeli official said that “all” the hostages meant all nine hostages on the list for the first stage of the ceasefire who are still alive (that would be nine out of 17).

After that, an official said that the prime minister’s position was the same as Trump’s: “all of them.” But, in classic talmudic fashion, saying “all of them” instead of “all of our hostages” was viewed as leaving room for interpretation.

Finally, Wednesday evening saw reports that Israel has privately communicated to Hamas that if it releases the three hostages as per the original agreement on Saturday, the ceasefire will hold. This seems to be Israel’s way of embracing its new role as the good cop.

But that doesn’t fully end the drama. What if Hamas releases three hostages on Saturday? Israel might accept that. But will Trump?

On the one hand, Trump is unlikely to do anything that would blow up the ceasefire deal if both sides are still committed to adhering to its terms. He’s proud of the deal and doesn’t want the war to resume if he can help it.

On the other hand, in this scenario, Hamas’s threat to suspend the deal would go unpunished. Further, while we can assume Trump and Netanyahu are privately communicating over their messaging, that messaging remains vague—and that could just as easily confuse Bibi and Trump as it could Hamas.

The closer it gets to the weekend without any breaking news, the more likely it becomes that the hostage releases will continue as originally scheduled. If Trump’s threats are seen as the reason the ceasefire gets back on track, it should be enough of a victory for the president to claim. And he’ll have made Netanyahu look like the more reasonable one in the process.

Prof. Efraim Inbar and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser: Trump's Gaza Proposal Shifts the Diplomatic Landscape

President Trump's proposal to relocate Gaza's Palestinian population points to the price that the Palestinians will have to pay for their decision to carry out the terrible terror attack of Oct. 7. Israel paid for its unreadiness with many lives and the freeing of a large number of terrorists as part of the hostage release agreement. It is evident that under the current leadership, the reconstruction of the area will not be possible.

To enable the realization of the U.S. president's proposal, first, Hamas will have to be removed from power in Gaza. At least in the first stage, this would mean Israeli military control of the territory.

Second, assuming that there is no intention of forcibly evacuating the Palestinian population, based on surveys, it appears that a significant number of Gazans would be willing to emigrate.

Third, Arab nations and other countries would need to cooperate in absorbing Gazans and funding the project. At present, such a move runs counter to their interests. Moreover, it is doubtful that the people of the region can be convinced to abandon their fundamental concepts.

Nevertheless, the Trump proposal for the first time challenges conventional wisdom. The proposal makes it clear that after Oct. 7, the approach to the Palestinian issue must change fundamentally. Moreover, it acknowledges for the first time that the "two-state solution" is not the only possible solution.

Even if Trump ultimately fails to secure the conditions for implementation of the plan, the very fact that it has been put on the table will force the Palestinians and Arab countries to propose practical alternatives to deal with the difficult reality in Gaza, and to do so in a way that is acceptable to both Israel and the U.S.

Amb. David Friedman: The Trump Plan for Gaza Offers a Realistic Chance to Bring Peace

The President's plan for Gaza signals a long overdue rejection of the "two-state solution." Back in 2005, when Israel removed its entire civilian population and military presence from Gaza, the Bush administration told the Palestinian Authority that this was its chance to prove to the world that it could create a working model of peaceful coexistence that could be extrapolated to Palestinian statehood. The experiment failed almost immediately, but its death knell occurred on Oct. 7.

President Trump's plan would allow the civilian population of Gaza to leave the demolished enclave, something refugees have done from every war zone in history. Some had argued that removing the civilian population from Gaza is a war crime. This is false: Gaza is unlivable, and moving the civilian population out of Gaza represents the best of humanitarian intentions.

Most civilians in Gaza were desperate to leave long before the latest war began, for the simple reason that living under Hamas rule was a nightmare even before Gaza was turned to rubble. It is nothing but a smear to suggest that allowing desperate civilians to voluntarily leave a war zone is a crime; it is Gazans' leaders who have committed war crimes.

Many of the people of Gaza elected Hamas, and many supported and cheered Hamas when it kidnapped, murdered, raped, burned, and tortured Israeli civilians. From a moral perspective, they have forfeited the right to the land which they have destroyed.

As an additional important benefit, when the Islamic world sees that Hamas has lost its hold on Gaza and that the nightmare of Hamas has been replaced with a new reality of peace and prosperity, the suicidal psychosis of radical Islam will suffer a crushing blow.

Reckoning with the Red Cross

The ICRC failed to ensure the safety and well-being of the hostages. They failed to advocate for them. Not once did the ICRC work to ensure that hostages were receiving medical care or that they were being properly treated and fed. Indeed, the ICRC didn’t see a single hostage during their time in captivity. For many fortunate enough to have been freed, the first time they saw the International Red Cross was at their release. In short, the ICRC played the role of a glorified Uber driver, taking released hostages from Gaza to Israel. And even here, they failed.

On Jan. 25, four Israeli female hostages were released. Before they were loaded into Red Cross vans, Hamas forced the women to walk onto a podium and thank their captors before a baying crowd. The hostages were given gift bags, a framed “certificate of completion” and a key chain with a Palestinian flag. As the Red Cross looked on, these women were forced to smile and have their picture taken while holding their “certificates of completion.” The whole spectacle is as gruesome as it is outrageous. Many female hostages endured sexual abuse and rape from their captors, and some were allegedly drugged before their release.

The square arranged for the spectacle, filmed by an Al Jazeera journalist working with Hamas, was festooned with Arabic and English slogans proclaiming “Palestine: The victory of the oppressed people vs the Nazi Zionism.” Palestinians attempted to attack the Israeli women while they were being loaded into vans. As a further insult, the windows of the Red Cross vans were uncovered, ensuring that the women could see their tormentors as they drove away from Gaza.

The ICRC has claimed it couldn’t advocate for the hostages without shedding its role as a “neutral intermediary.” Yet the organization’s timidity is tellingly one-sided; the ICRC hasn’t shown a reluctance to criticize Israel during this conflict.

The United States is the largest contributor to the ICRC, contributing roughly a quarter of its budget. The press should note the ICRC’s failings. And Americans should ask themselves whether they want to fund glorified Uber drivers for Hamas.

Community Puzzled Over Lack Of Tunnels, Arms Storage Space In Plans For Rebuilt Gaza Mosque (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Community Puzzled Over Lack Of Tunnels, Arms Storage Space In Plans For Rebuilt Gaza Mosque

Jabalia, February 13 - Residents of this rubble-strewn area returning to it after months of fighting between Israel and Hamas voiced surprise and confusion today upon discovering that a blueprint to reconstruct their house of worship contains none of the familiar features of such a facility, such as underground passages for fighters, or places to keep weapons - not even anywhere to hold hostages.

Some of the last bouts of military confrontation between IDF soldiers and - primarily - guerrillas from Hamas in this northern Gaza Strip city before a ceasefire took effect last month resulted in widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure, almost all of which contained or concealed some target of military value. Many of the buildings that did not have Hamas positions or stockpiles nevertheless were festooned with booby traps laid against Israeli troops attempting to take positions there. Residents finally allowed back into the erstwhile combat zone began to salvage their possessions, assess the damage, and make plans to rebuild - but found themselves in shock at the first drawings to show such rebuilding: the Sheikh Marwan Mosque, leveled in December when Hamas fighters blew it up in an attempt to kill IDF soldiers they thought were inside, will contain only prayer, classroom, office, toilet, and rudimentary kitchen facilities, without the tunnels, weapons-caching, and hostage-storing units that everyone had assumed were an integral element of a mosque.

"I don't get it," remarked Faisal Masri, 49. "Who drew up these plans? They must be incomplete."

"Where's the tunnel system access?" wondered Shuruq Fadi, 48. "Every mosque has that. Every building, in fact. This will never get past any official approvals."

The puzzlement spread beyond those returning to the immediate vicinity of the mosque-to-be. "That can't be," stated Imam Aifuq Kamel, whose Anas Baqar Mosque, or what remains of it, lies about half a kilometer away. "I know the Imam of that mosque - well, he was killed in a bombing, with about seven fighters, so technically I 'knew' him - and he would never serve in a building without at least a hiding place to keep captive Jews. It's basic. I find it hard to believe this is an actual building plan. It's not credible."

Officials from Hamas, which still governs the territory of the Gaza Strip, were unavailable for comment. A relative of one mid-level operative disclosed that final decisions and approvals on reconstruction might not be issued for months, if ever, in light of the prospect of renewed fighting, and the possibility that Trump might prompt large-scale departure of the area's residents to greener, or at least less rubble-strewn, pastures.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Until today, I did not know this fact from The Free Press:

The biggest environmentalist craze of my generation started in 2011 with Vermont 9-year-old Milo Cress cooking up an arbitrary number for how many plastic straws Americans used daily. This 9-year-old figured it was so many. He says he called up straw manufacturers and calculated 500 million a day. Boom, big number, good number. The mainstream media was off to the races. That 500 million a day number was cited in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Suddenly the most important thing we could do for the environment—for our children!—was ban plastic straws.

For many years, the media repeated this "500 million straws a day" number without doing a basic fact check of the calculations of a nine-year old boy. That source only received wide coverage starting in 2018.

A couple of marketing firms did try. It turns out it is harder to count straws than one might think. Many are imported, for example. But there aren't that many plastic straw manufacturers in the US. It shouldn't be that difficult to find a better number (which, according to those firms, stands at somewhere between 180 million and 350 million daily.)

Why didn't the media bother to check this big, fat, round number?

Because they wanted to believe it. It fit in with their politics and their instincts.

It was, as journalists sometimes say, too good to check.

And that is how we get to Hamas' bogus casualty numbers.

People like me have shown that their numbers - for total people killed, for women and children killed, for injuries, for missing people under the rubble, and others - did not add up. Multiple sources of data were incompatible with each other. They were lying, and they continue to lie.

And yet the very people whose jobs are supposed to be to dig out the truth - reporters, medical researchers, NGOs - treat the Hamas numbers as legitimate.

The same way they trusted the plastic straw estimate of a nine year old boy.

There were two separate but related problems here: believing and reporting the original statistics as absolute truth, and continuing to do so over time without even checking.

Just as nearly no editors asked for a verification of the original numbers, so did almost none of them show any desire to review the statistics as more information becomes available over time. The reason is that they don't want to admit that their original assertions were wrong. Government agencies continue to use the 500 million number.

And we will continue to see Hamas' made up numbers for years to come. from sources that people trust.

The media isn't going to change. Hopefully media consumers can learn to be more discerning about what they believe.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

From the UK Government website:

Senior Muslim and Jewish denominational leaders in the UK have signed [11 February] a landmark agreement, The Drumlanrig Accord.

The accord establishes a structured framework for sustained Muslim-Jewish collaboration, fostering deeper understanding and shared responsibility.

Signed at Spencer House, the faith leaders subsequently presented a copy of the accord to His Majesty The King at Buckingham Palace.

The initiative represents a deep and enduring commitment from the UK’s Jewish and Muslim communities to strengthen relationships, promote understanding, and work together for the common good. It is the outcome of a yearlong series of high-level meetings convened by Imam Dr Sayed Razawi, culminating in a retreat in January at Drumlanrig Castle, hosted by the Duke of Buccleuch. The Scottish Secretary joined the delegates at the event remotely.

I found a copy of the agreement - and couldn't get past the first page.

It says:

The basis for reconciliation and mutual respect exists within both Jewish and Islamic sacred texts, which stress shared values of monotheism, compassion, and justice. The Torah emphasises that every human being is made in the image of God (Genesis 5:1).

The Qur’ān instructs Muslims to invite People of the Scripture to come together on a ‘common word’ (Qur’ān 3:64), emphasising the importance of dialogue and reconciliation.

When one looks at the Quran 3:64 and its context, one sees that it is not as accepting of other viewpoints - or even of what the "common word" might be.

Here is what it says:

64. Say, “O People of the Book, come to terms common between us and you: that we worship none but God, and that we associate nothing with Him, and that none of us takes others as lords besides God.” And if they turn away, say, “Bear witness that we have submitted.”

65. O People of the Book! Why do you argue about Abraham, when the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him? Will you not reason?

66. Here you are—you argue about things you know, but why do you argue about things you do not know? God knows, and you do not know.

67. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a Monotheist, a Muslim. And he was not of the Polytheists.

68. The people most deserving of Abraham are those who followed him, and this prophet, and those who believe. God is the Guardian of the believers.

69. A party of the People of the Book would love to lead you astray, but they only lead themselves astray, and they do not realize it.

70. O People of the Book! Why do you reject the revelations of God, even as you witness?

71. O People of the Book! Why do you confound the truth with falsehood, and knowingly conceal the truth?

...
75. Among the People of the Book is he, who, if you entrust him with a heap of gold, he will give it back to you. And among them is he, who, if you entrust him with a single coin, he will not give it back to you, unless you keep after him. That is because they say, “We are under no obligation towards the gentiles.” They tell lies about God, and they know it.
...

78. And among them are those who twist the Scripture with their tongues, that you may think it from the Scripture, when it is not from the Scripture. And they say, “It is from God,” when it is not from God. They tell lies and attribute them to God, knowingly.

...
81. God received the covenant of the prophets, “Inasmuch as I have given you of scripture and wisdom; should a messenger come to you verifying what you have, you shall believe in him, and support him.” He said, “Do you affirm My covenant and take it upon yourselves?” They said, “We affirm it.” He said, “Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.”

82. Whoever turns away after that—these are the deceitful.

...
85. Whoever seeks other than Islam as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.

The Quranic idea of "dialogue" is a monologue. Jews who do not accept Mohammed as a prophet - according to the very same chapter cited - are deceitful and consigned to hell.

And this is the part of the Quran they use to claim they want dialogue with Jews!

The agreements themselves do not seem to be offensive. Their mention of "interfaith dialogue" gives me pause because of the verses above and previous examples of what Muslim leaders meant when they say they want "dialogue" - it is only in the direction of teaching others about Islam, not to teack Muslims about other viewpoints.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

In November, a CIA analyst was arrested for distributing top secret intelligence about Israel's plans to attack Iran in October.

From the Department of Justice, January 17:

A former CIA analyst pleaded guilty today to retaining and transmitting Top Secret National Defense Information to people who were not entitled to receive it, information which was publicly posted on a social media platform in October 2024.

According to court documents, Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, was an employee of the CIA since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).

Rahman pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to the national defense. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15, 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for both counts in the plea agreement.

The crime of willful retention and transmission of classified information is a felony.

How about when the information is leaked to a left-leaning newspaper?

Today the Washington Post reported:

Israel is likely to attempt a strike on Iran’s nuclear program in the coming months in a preemptive attack that would set back Tehran’s program by weeks or perhaps months but escalate tensions across the Middle East and renew the prospect of a wider regional conflagration, according to U.S. intelligence.

The warnings about a potential Israeli strike are included in multiple intelligence reports spanning the end of the Biden administration and the beginning of the Trump administration, none more comprehensive than an early January report produced by the intelligence directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The report warned that Israel is likely to attempt a strike on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities in the first six months of 2025. Current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence told The Washington Post that the finding derives from an analysis of Israel’s planning following its bombing of Iran in late October, which degraded its air defenses and left Tehran exposed to a follow-on assault. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly classified intelligence.

How are these two leaks different? How is leaking information about specific Israeli attack plans against Iran to social media any different than leaking it to mainstream media?

In general, newspapers are protected from prosecution for publishing leaked information. But the leakers themselves should be equally liable in both cases.

Also, this Washington Post story came on the heels of the Wall Street Journal publishing a much milder story with no specifics, so it is possible that the WaPo asked their sources in the intelligence community to share information beyond the WSJ story, which could in theory make them complicit in actively soliciting classified information or conspiring with people to steal or improperly disclose top secret information. It seems unlikely that the "officials" voluntarily contacted the WaPo only hours after the WSJ article, almost certainly the WaPo reporters contacted their sources, which sounds like active solicitation of classified information to me.

The mention of "former US officials" also strongly indicates that the leakers had been loyal Biden Administration intelligence analysts who want to stymie any Israeli attacks.

Beyond the legal issues, it is hypocrisy for the media to frame themselves as "whistleblowers" when they are effectively aiding and spying for an enemy of the US and actively trying to sabotage a US ally.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

UN quietly stops reporting Hamas lie "10,000 missing under rubble"

For months, the UN-OCHAOPT has faithfully reported Hamas statistics unless they were found to be completely bogus.

One of those statistics was the supposed 10,000 presumed dead Gazans missing or under the rubble, as this February 4 infographic says:

In its February 11 infographic, however, OCHA stopped reporting on that figure.

Others have also reported on the "10,000 buried under rubble" claim based on the UN quoting Hamas.

For example, the BBC on January 20:

I've been reporting that the "under the rubble" statistics were entirely made up for nearly a year now. But with the ceasefire now in its fourth week, and no impediments to recovering these thousands of bodies, the lie is more obvious every day - because the average number of bodies recovered daily keeps going way down.

Here are the numbers of bodies recovered, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, for each of the weeks since the ceasefire (current week extrapolated from the days counted):

Tuesday they recovered only two bodies.

It sure doesn't sound like there are 9,500 more bodies to be found.

The UN simply parroted what Hamas' Civil Defense said and publicized those numbers in other venues without question or caveat. Now, as it is increasingly clear that those estimates were simply made up to exaggerate the number of dead in Gaza, the UN has silently stopped quoting that figure.

But the numbers are still out there, quoted in the media and by NGOs.

Reporters should ask the UN about this sudden ceasing of transcribing Hamas lies.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

02/12 Links Pt2: Why Anti-Semitism Is Getting Younger; Majority of American Jews Believe Anti-Israel Campus Protests Are Anti-Semitic; Court gives Gazans right to settle in UK

From Ian:

Why Jews are fleeing the West

Over time, Jews attitudinal shifts will influence where they settle. According to Pew, 51 per cent of all Jewish immigrants are migrating to Israel. Many other more secular Jews are remaining, but simply melding into the general population and losing their religious identity. Given low birthrates and assimilation even among the large US Jewish community, some pessimistically project America’s Jewish population dropping by a third by the end of the century.

The Jewish diaspora in both America and Britain will become increasingly Orthodox, sustained largely by groups like the ubiquitous Chabad movement. For those who do not want to be led by pious rabbis, Jews will seek their community in places that they consider safe and welcoming.

This used to involve moving from the inner city to the suburbs. But the big move in America now is towards certain regions, primarily in the South, once considered the home of antidiluvian racism and religious prejudice. In the 1930s, 60 per cent of American Jews lived in the north-east. Today the north-east is home to barely 40 per cent while the percentage of Jews living in the South has grown from nine per cent in 1960 to 22 per cent today.

The largest growth has occurred in big metros like Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Miami. Jews are also thriving in smaller southern cities, which often had small but well-established Jewish communities. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston is the nation’s second-oldest synagogue, and Savannah’s Mickve Israel was founded in 1735, shortly after the city’s founding.

Jews have long been prominent players in places like Charleston. Former police chief Ruben Greenberg, a half-Jewish, half-Black Houstonian, reclaimed the city’s streets during the 1980s. He also humiliated the white nationalists by personally leading the protection of a Ku Klux Klan march in the 1980s, something that was never repeated. Today one feels safer as a Jew in downtown Charleston than in Paris, London or even New York.

Jewish students are also headed south. Most schools ranked safest for Jewish students by the Anti-Defamation League are in the South, while Ivy League colleges and top University of California campuses rank least safe.

This shift in college attendance could accelerate the southward movement, as students often stay close to where they attend school. Already the first- and third-largest Jewish student populations are at the University of Florida and University of Central Florida. These Southern schools, known for viewpoint diversity as well as football and Greek life, are ascendant, attracting ever more students from the West Coast and north-east.

In the wake of the crisis initiated by the 7 October massacre, Jews across the Anglosphere are reassessing their politics and location. The most sustained anti-Semitic tide since the 1930s will continue to inflict both physical and psychological dislocation. But as they have done for millennia, Jews will have to survive and hopefully thrive by adjusting to changing realities.

Izabella Tabarovsky: Canceled ... in Finland

In recent days, two Finnish universities canceled my scheduled appearances on their campuses, turning me briefly into a minor celebrity in the country. Åbo Akademi University, in Turku, barred me from delivering my keynote address at an international conference on antisemitism set to take place on its campus. The University of Helsinki killed what was supposed to be a public talk. The title of both lectures: “From the Cold War to University Campuses Today: The USSR, the Third World, and Contemporary Antizionist Discourse.” The two schools caved to a smear campaign orchestrated by a “pro-Palestinian” Instagram account that weaponized my pro-Israel social media posts for the purpose.

In the U.S., the censorship of “wrong-thinking” speakers, including Jews who hold Zionist beliefs, has become so commonplace that it’s practically a nonevent. But this was Finland’s first major controversy of this kind, and my photo got splashed across the local press. It was also a first for me, forcing me to confront head-on the same cowardice, hypocrisy, and stupidity that the American academy has displayed for years—especially in the wake of Oct. 7.

That the incident took place in Finland was particularly ironic for me, given the topic of my lecture and my background as an ex-Soviet Jew. For former Soviet citizens, Finland is indelibly linked to the history of the Bolshevik revolution. Not only did Lenin spend extended periods of time there, but also he and Stalin first met at a 1905 Bolshevik conference in the Finnish city of Tampere.

During the Cold War, Finland—forced to maneuver to retain its independence in the shadow of the neighboring USSR (see: Finlandization)—adopted a servile stance toward the communist superpower. Criticism of the USSR was taboo and self-censorship was rife—all of which Finnish media helped to enforce. Soviet influence extended to the country’s intellectual, political, and cultural elites. In the 1970s, a scandal broke out when one of Finland’s municipalities successfully inserted materials from the Finnish-Soviet Friendship Society—a branch of the USSR’s global “friendship societies” influence network—as well as from Soviet textbooks into the school curriculum for grades 1-9, teaching Finnish children that there was no pollution in the USSR and that socialist central planning was superior to capitalism.

When Moscow launched its rabid anti-Israel propaganda campaign in 1967 and started building its “Anti-Zionist International,” Finnish intellectuals were drawn in as well. In 1975, Finnish writer Matti Larni, whose book castigating the U.S. made him popular in the USSR, published a piece about Israel in the Literary Newspaper—the Soviet Union’s most influential cultural publication. Larni’s article echoed key Soviet talking points, branding Israel a Jewish supremacist, racist state and depicting Soviet Jewish immigrants in Israel as miserable, regretful traitors longing to return to their Soviet motherland. In 1980, the article was republished in Zionism: Truth and Fiction, a collection edited by Yevgeny Yevseyev—one of the USSR’s most viciously antisemitic ideologues with close ties to the KGB, who played a pivotal role in shaping the key tropes of Soviet “anti-Zionist” ideology.

Another Finnish name appears in the Soviet 1984 propaganda pamphlet Criminal Alliance of Zionism and Nazism. The pamphlet recounts, in English, a press conference staged by the “Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public”—a notorious KGB front designed to vilify Israel and Zionism to foreign audiences under the guise of representing Soviet Jews. The entire event was dedicated to spreading the toxic equation of Zionism with Nazism—a cornerstone of Soviet anti-Israel propaganda—to international audiences. Known as Holocaust inversion, this false equivalence is widely viewed by scholars of antisemitism as a potent tool of incitement against Jews, used by both the far right and the far left. As Deborah Lipstadt has noted, the trope contains a grain of Holocaust denial, exaggerating “by a factor of zillion any wrongdoings Israel might have done,” while simultaneously diminishing, by the same factor, the acts of the Germans. The USSR and its Western enablers—including, it seems, the Finnish ones—played a significant role in embedding this inversion among the global left.

The cancellation of my lectures by the two Finnish universities, then, echoed in a weird way some of their country’s Cold War history. One of my Finnish contacts may have been right when she told me that Finland has yet to fully come to terms with that past.

Court gives Gazans right to settle in UK

Palestinian migrants have been granted the right to live in the UK after applying through a scheme meant for Ukrainian refugees.

A family of six seeking to flee Gaza have been allowed to join their brother in Britain after an immigration judge ruled that the Home Office’s rejection of their application breached their human rights.

The family had made their application through the Ukraine Family Scheme and the decision to accept their case came despite warnings by lawyers for the Home Office that it could open the floodgates to “the admission of all those in conflict zones with family in the UK”.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the case showed changes to human rights laws were needed so that Parliament, not judges, controlled who could settle in the UK.

02/12 Links Pt1: Eugene Kontorovich: Next, Defund the United Nations; Jordan and Egypt Are Repeating Abbas’s Mistake; How USAID Funded Hamas

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Next, Defund the United Nations

If an America-first approach means anything, it should be that the U.S. won’t pay international bureaucrats to do what it forbids its own employees to do. Most federal workers are at least U.S. citizens, voters and taxpayers. Employees at international organizations generally aren’t, and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency should seek to cut U.S. contributions to these agencies by significantly more than it cuts the federal bureaucracy. Only about a sixth of U.S. spending goes to mandatory membership dues to organizations. The rest is voluntary.

DOGE should begin by ending voluntary contributions to agencies that have adopted DEI or gender ideology agendas. Federal law already requires defunding U.N.-affiliated international organizations that accept Palestine as a member state. The failure, since the Obama administration, to enforce this law has undermined American credibility at the U.N.

It is impossible to quit entities like Unrwa, which Mr. Trump defunded this week, because they are U.N. subsidiaries rather than free-standing entities. While defunding them is necessary, past aid cuts have been reversed by subsequent Democratic administrations. Such agencies can ride out a liquidity squeeze.

Durable reform involves ending the U.S. relationship, as Mr. Trump has already done with the World Health Organization. Because these are treaty organizations, rejoining would be subject to congressional approval. DOGE and the State Department should review U.S. membership in these organizations with the same determination to make permanent cuts that they have shown domestically. Take one example: The International Labor Organization has been around since the League of Nations, despite massive changes in the global economy and labor relations. But the ILO has kept up with the times by embracing DEI and LGBT issues.

The Trump administration can also cut U.S. contributions to the U.N. peacekeeping system. Peacekeeping is one of the biggest parts of the U.N.’s budget, and the U.S. pays the lion’s share. Unlike other U.N. programs, peacekeeping operations must be regularly reauthorized by the U.N. Security Council, and the U.S. can veto them. Missions to be vetoed should include the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which has shielded Hezbollah, and the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, whose function has been made moot by U.S. recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Peacekeeping is the jewel in the crown of the U.N. system, evoking nostalgia for the original vision of the U.N. as an army that stops bad guys around the world. Starting by canceling a few of these missions may be one of the few ways the Trump administration could show the secretariat that there will be consequences for failing to reform.

Seth Mandel: Jordan and Egypt Are Repeating Abbas’s Mistake

It’s worth taking a brief walk down memory lane here. In the last year of his first term, Trump proposed a demilitarized Palestinian state without requiring Israel to disband its settlements in the West Bank. Instead, land swaps inside Israel would make up for the lost territory. The plan included massive investment in the Palestinian economy and “transportation links” connecting Gaza to the West Bank.

It was the first time an offer to the Palestinians was worse than previous offers. Abbas’s decision to walk away from a 2008 offer from Israel that gave the Palestinians everything they wanted came at a cost. Until Trump came into office, the Palestinian Authority had been rewarded for turning down statehood in 2000 and 2008. Now, Abbas was horrified by both the plan and the concept of his actions having consequences. “We say a thousand times over: no, no, no,” was his response.

It is now five years later and Abbas seems to realize that if he doesn’t do something soon, the next Trump statehood offer is going to make the 2020 plan look like—well, look like the generous 2008 plan he walked away from. So he wants to go back in time.

It is hard to overstate just how much Trump has shaken up the Mideast status quo. The old process went something like this: The U.S. and Saudi Arabia and Egypt would ask the Palestinians’ permission to do something that shouldn’t have required the Palestinians’ permission. The Palestinians would say no, and so no one would do anything.

Trump had no patience for it. He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem because it was American property on Israeli territory and therefore had nothing to do with the Palestinians.

In the past, no regional deals could move forward unless the Palestinians were at the center of negotiations. But this time, when the Palestinians told Trump they weren’t interested, he moved on. The Abraham Accords with Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE were signed eight months after Abbas declared his “thousand” no’s.

Egypt and Jordan ought to think about how this history might be a precedent for their current stalemate with the president. Mahmoud Abbas rejected deals without offering a counter-proposal, and he paid dearly for it.

Trump wants the Arab countries in the Middle East to play a constructive role in figuring out what to do with Gaza. Egypt is the recipient of billions in U.S. aid and a poor relationship with high-ranking Democrats in Congress, especially the Senate. Jordan is unlikely to elicit much sympathy from Trump. These countries may not like Trump’s opening bid here, but as Mahmoud Abbas can tell them, the alternative is to wake up one day five years later wishing you’d at least engaged with it.

Arbel Yehoud with her partner Ariel Cunio, still captive in Gaza, and their rescue puppy, Murph

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

When Eli Sharabi appeared on our screens wasted, skeletal, like an apparition from the Holocaust, it broke our hearts. We knew he’d been through a Holocaust without having heard the details. And like so many other survivors of the previous Holocaust, Eli was to learn what he’d hoped against hope was not true: no one in his immediate family was waiting for him. Eli Sharabi’s wife was gone. His two daughters were gone. His home was gone. Even his dog was gone—on October 7, Hamas shot Eli Sharabi’s four-legged friend dead, too.

Before the release of Eli Sharabi, there was Arbel Yehoud, squeezed on every side by masked Hamas terrorists armed to the teeth. She was terrified. No one had explained what was happening to her now, and she was sure that this time she would not manage to cheat death as she had for over a year. But Arbel did survive and she did get out.

Arbel’s partner, of course, is still suffering, still locked away in Gaza—we hope—because the alternative is death. But Arbel’s dog Murph is not suffering, and not locked away for some indeterminate period of unending time. Murph was shot dead by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

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Emily Damari impressed us all with her spunky personality still shining through after going through hell. With good humor, Emily gave us the victory sign despite her missing fingers. Hamas had shot her in the hand. They sewed it up crudely, without anesthesia, in unhygienic conditions, but Emily survived.

Emily Damari’s dog Choocha did not. Like so many other faithful family dogs on that black day in October, Emily’s dog had been shot dead.

What are we supposed to make of terrorists whose hate for Jews runs so deep and so black that even their pets must be eliminated? Do Nukhba “fighters” and the “just regular Gazan folk” who poured across the border to slaughter Jews, see these dogs as having a taint by association with their Jewish masters, or did the terrorists simply murder them for sport?

Here we see a dog come bounding out of a house towards the October 7 attackers, hoping to protect his owners, only to be immediately mowed down with a barrage of bullets

He staggers along through several shots

Did they murder the dogs to shut them up so they wouldn’t alert their owners to the horror that was about to descend upon them? Or did the murderers perhaps murder these beloved family pets to inflict maximum pain on their Jewish owners? Who knows?


At last he succumbs, after a final bullet takes his life.

Perhaps the murderers murdered these voiceless, intelligent creatures because in their brand of Islam, dogs are impure and spread impurity and may therefore be mistreated and killed at will. Especially, if you happen to be a monster that craves blood. Maybe it doesn’t matter whose blood is shed, blood is blood, and all of it makes terrorists happy. They see red and it gives them joy. And it didn’t begin on October 7.

In November 2022, Tayseer Abu Sneineh, the mayor of Hebron and a convicted murderer of six Israelis, announced a 20 shekel bounty—about $5—to anyone who captured or killed a stray dog. The Arab residents of that town proceeded to go on a wild shooting spree, torturing and killing dozens of dogs. Judging by the subsequent flood of footage and photos on social media, the Hebron dog massacre was probably less about the money than the easy attainment of a license to kill. This appalling episode suggests that PA and Hamas-ruled Arabs do indeed enjoy spilling the blood of living things, in particular, Jews and dogs.

It’s reasonable to wonder what Islam has to say about killing dogs, creatures unable to defend themselves from a maniac with a gun. Well, it’s not that the Quran says it straight out: “Kill dogs.” But it comes pretty close. According to one Hadith, for every day that a Muslim keeps a dog as a pet, he loses a part of his heavenly reward:

[Ibn ‘Umar] said:
“I heard [Mohammed] say: ‘Whoever keeps a dog, except a dog that is trained for hunting or a dog for herding livestock, his reward will decrease each day by two Qirats.’”
. . . What is the meaning of Qirats? When the companions asked [Mohammed] about its meaning he said: “Equal to two huge mountains.”
Raising a dog or keeping a dog decreases our good deeds.
When keeping a dog for any of the reasons known in shariah then you should prepare a separate place for it [as] dogs shouldn’t enter the house.

Muslims are permitted to keep dogs for practical reasons like hunting, herding, and serving as watchdogs. Unfortunately, abuse of these smart, sensitive animals is widespread. “I volunteer at the Gush Etzion Municipal Pound,” relates Efrat resident Leora Hyman. “We get dogs from the surrounding area. We have had dogs and puppies come in with no ears. Their ears are hacked off. I have heard that it's done so when the dogs are guarding outside in the rain, the rain and the wind will get into their ears and bother them so much, so they won't fall asleep. One puppy came in with no ears, cigarette burns and a knife wound.

“I adopted one of those puppies and he could never get over his trauma of being in a small place,” said Hyman. “If he were in a small space he would become aggressive. If he saw Arab workers, he would bark at them even though he was friendly to everyone else. Always.

“Other puppies have come in and not been so traumatized, but their ears are gone and they struggle in the rain and wind. I bought my dog an ear covering for walks in the rain.”

It’s painful to hear about and witness such cruelty, but even more difficult to understand why the world would cheer on a motley crew of dog killers. Sure, we understand that the world hates Jews. But dogs??

You’d think that all the students and others protesting Israel’s “genocide” of “innocent” Gazans, in addition to supposedly caring about the Gazan people, would also care about animal rights. What would these green-smoothie-drinking college campus protesters say were we to show them the clips and photos of Hamas terrorists shooting defenseless creatures dead on October 7? There’s no lack of such photographic evidence. The terrorists filmed the whole thing themselves with their GoPro cameras.

Would the protesters make excuses of some sort for this show of barbarism—the cold-hearted murder of harmless pets? Surely pets have no religion and no political bent for which they might reasonably be slaughtered. Or is killing a dog somehow different when it happens while ridding the world of colonialist Apartheid Jew occupiers?

Can excuses be made in such a case? Or even denials? Can one reasonably claim that the GoPro footage was edited?

There was no outrage at the gang-raping and genital mutilation of Jewish women on October 7. There was no outcry as Jewish women in captivity continued to be sexually abused by their captors. But there was also no outcry and no outrage at the murdering of several of man’s best friends.

Could it be that when a man is Jewish, man’s best friend is nothing but a conniving Jew?

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No, @Variety, the "Captain America" protesters aren't "pro-Palestine." They are obsessive, deranged anti-Zionists - at the most charitable interpretation.

From Variety:

Several dozen pro-Palestine protesters gathered Tuesday outside the Hollywood premiere of “Captain America: Brave New World” and called for a boycott of the film over its inclusion of the Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, aka Sabra, played by Shira Haas.

Protesters held signs that read “Sabra has got to go,” “Disney supports genocide,” “Boycott ‘Captain America'” and “Pray 4 Princess Jasmine.” They chanted phrases such as “Free, free, free Palestine” and “Disney, Disney you can’t hide.”

The video of the protest shows that it was pretty pathetic.

Now, what exactly offends them about "Captain America: Brave New World"?

Because an Israeli actress portrays an Israeli-born employee of a US intelligence agency in the movie.

That's it. There is nothing anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim, or anti-Arab in the movie. And there is nothing pro-Israel in the movie either.

They are protesting a non-political Israeli character played by an Israeli actress.

That is not "pro-Palestine." That is an obsessive, deranged hate for the Jewish state.

The only kind of hate that is remotely as divorced from reality is one that is more familiar to many in Hollywood: hatred of Jews.

Because they are one and the same.

So stop calling these protesters "pro-Palestine." They don't a damn about Palestinians when they are languishing in Lebanon or Syria.

They only get upset when they can blame Israeli Jews.

I have to admit that a sign saying "Pray 4 Princess Jasmine" at least shows a tiny bit of wit, which is unusual in these kinds of mindless chanting hatefests. But even that shows their hypocrisy: when the original Aladdin animated movie was released, the opening song "Arabian Nights" had the lyrics

Oh, I come from a land

From a faraway place

Where the caravan camels roam.

Where they cut off your ear

If they don't like your face

It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.

There were no protests outside theaters for the lyrics, just a letter writing campaign and press releases. Disney changed the lyrics for the home video release.

Where were the signs, the chants, the blocking sidewalks?

The only reason that actress Shira Haas is offensive to these bigots is because she is an Israeli Jew. That there are noisier protests over her than there was in 1992 for Aladdin shows that in the end, they are protesting against Jews, not for Palestinians or Arabs.

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Over the past day, this video has been widely seen:

🚨 #BREAKING: NSW doctor and nurse stood down after chilling footage emerged of the pair claiming to have killed Israeli patients in Bankstown Hospital

SIGN & SHARE petition at https://t.co/uGABTzsHcM demanding authrities:authorities

1. publicity identify the pair
2. lay… pic.twitter.com/RVlZ0OlZZE
— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) February 11, 2025

The people have been identified and fired from their nursing positions.

Usually, when outrageous events like this happen, the organized Muslim community is quick to issue press releases condemning the vile sentiments and to say that they do not represent the views of the larger, peaceful Muslim community.

But I looked at the web pages and social media accounts of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the Australian National Imams Council, the Alliance of Australian Muslims, and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network - and found nothing.

This is a big story, widely covered in Australian and UK news media. These groups are well aware of it, and most of them have active social media accounts. It would take minutes to craft a post condemning the disgusting words of Muslim medical professionals.

But as far as I can see, they choose to remain silent.

The reason may be that the video only talks about Israelis, not "Jews" specifically. And the only conclusion I can come to is that these Muslim organizations condone the murder of Israelis worldwide.

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

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