Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 29, 2026

01/29 Links Pt1: Palestinians Offered Prosperity for Giving Up Dream of Israel's Destruction See It as Humiliating Bribery; Hamas official: We did not discuss disarmament ‘for a single moment’

From Ian:

Palestinians Offered Prosperity for Giving Up Dream of Israel's Destruction See It as Humiliating Bribery

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Donald Trump's former senior advisor Jared Kushner presented a vision for what Gaza would look like, under the title "Empowering Gazans with Jobs, Training, and Services." This vision is based on real estate deal logic: property improvement, value creation, and bringing prosperity.

Its foundational assumption, held also by Israel before Oct. 7, is that humans are, first and foremost, rational economic creatures. If we just provide Gazans good livelihoods, luxury hotels, a port, and factories, the motivation for terror will decrease until it disappears.

But Middle Eastern reality and Palestinian reality proves again and again that the struggle is not about quality of life. The critical mistake of the Trump-Kushner approach is the attempt to reduce a deep national, religious, and identity conflict to a cash-flow and urban-development problem.

The Palestinian national movement, and especially its extremist branches controlling Gaza, have never placed economic welfare at the top of their priorities. If they had wanted that, Gaza could have become the Singapore of the Middle East a decade ago, with the billions of dollars that flowed to it.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are driven by an ideology that sees eliminating Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel as a lofty goal, sanctifying any sacrifice including poverty and hunger of their own people. For them, the land is not real estate waiting for a developer, but waqf land that must be liberated. When offered prosperity in exchange for giving up the dream of Israel's destruction, they see it as humiliating bribery.

The thought that money will buy quiet is an optical illusion. This is a national struggle. The other side is not seeking a business partnership, but historical victory. A discourse about economic development, without first neutralizing the nationalist-religious aspiration to destroy Israel, is a recipe for repeated disaster.

Hamas Intends to Control Gaza from Behind the Scenes

According to the IDF, Hamas will accept the Palestinian technocrat committee - the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) - with the goal of controlling it from behind the scenes, as Hizbullah has done in Lebanon.

Handing over civilian functions to the NCAG makes Hamas's life easier, as they do not need to invest in civilian issues.

The IDF noted that even though the NCAG will not be formally controlled by Hamas, it will still need to rely on local administrators in the field who are under Hamas control.

This would not truly dislodge Hamas from power absent an additional round of military pressure.

Seth Mandel: Mansour Abbas’s Dilemma and the Israeli Election

One can better understand the phrase “two Jews, three opinions” by looking at Israeli elections, where there is rarely much strength in numbers and where splitting a party can provide more Knesset seats than unifying parties together.

And like everything else in Israel, it doesn’t just apply to Jews. In 2021, the Ra’am party, led by Mansour Abbas, made history by becoming the first Arab party to establish itself as a formal member of a governing coalition. Though Ra’am had won only four seats in the election, those four seats made the difference by giving the “change government,” led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, a Knesset majority. For first time in a dozen years, Benjamin Netanyahu would not be prime minister.

This time around, Ra’am has agreed to be part of a joint Arab slate, in which the Arab parties all run together. Some polls suggest this Joint List could garner as many as 13 seats. Abbas, however, isn’t thrilled.

Wouldn’t 13 seats—theoretically—be better than four? Not exactly. A joint Arab slate means Ra’am is tying its fortunes to parties that wouldn’t sit in a government. Abbas is pragmatic, the rest of the Arab party leaders much less so. Which means those 13 seats wouldn’t be added to a coalition of Zionist parties that might replace the Likud-led government.

Abbas would rather have four seats and be part of the government than have 13 seats in opposition. Joining a coalition means winning concessions for Abbas’s Arab constituents. Remaining in opposition with more seats would make the Arab coalition louder but mostly irrelevant.

Ra’am has been working to improve its image as a pragmatic party that wants to give Arab voters a stake in the Israeli governing majority, not just its opposition. Abbas has reportedly been seeking a Jewish candidate to join its slate, and a few weeks ago Ra’am announced it was separating from the Shura Council, the religious body of the wider Islamist movement of which Ra’am is part. A technically secular Arab party, perhaps even one with a Jewish candidate, would be another major step toward the normalization of Arab politics on a national level.

But running with the other Arab parties on one giant slate essentially erases all that distinguishes Ra’am ideologically from the other parties. So why would Mansour Abbas agree to the Joint List?

Greta Announces Flotilla To Minneapolis (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Stockholm, January 30 - Dissatisfied with shrinking online engagement numbers, a young Scandinavian climate-cum-Palestine-cum-migrant activist convened a press conference today to invite the cause-of-the-month community to join her in sailing to Minnesota to bring humanitarian relief and support the locals in their fight against Trump's imperialism.

“We have no choice,” declared 23-year-old Greta Thunberg from a folding table set up in a drizzly courtyard, flanked by two solar-powered megaphones - with backup diesel generators available, given the season - and a banner that read “Solidarity Flows Both Ways (and Also Inland).” “The tweets are drying up. The Reels are barely getting 12 likes from my mother. If we don’t pivot to something fresh and photogenic, the algorithm will literally kill the planet.”

The proposed Freedom Flotilla—now officially branded “Sumud Surge: Midwest Edition”—will ride the waves created by all the icebergs that have already melted because her climate alarmism cannot be wrong, either. Organizers promise the fleet will glide effortlessly from the Baltic Sea, through the magically risen Atlantic, across the newly submerged eastern United States, into the expanded Great Lakes, and straight up a Mississippi River that, by departure date, will have become a six-lane superhighway of righteous seawater.

“The water knows what justice looks like,” explained a press aide clutching a clipboard and an oat-milk latte. “It will simply flow around anything problematic—capitalism, Zionism, borders, you name it.”

The armada’s manifest has already begun to coalesce: several German Antifa kayakers who brought their own black bloc dry bags, a handful of French philosophers tweeting live existential dread, two token Jews, one very online American grad student who keeps referring to Minneapolis as “Minne colonized,” and a core group of Hamas members. The flagship remains the same oversized rubber duck from previous campaigns, now repainted with a keffiyeh pattern and equipped with Bluetooth speakers looping a 45-minute remix of “How dare you” set to drill beats.

Upon arrival in Minneapolis, the expedition plans to: establish a “People’s Autonomous Zone” in the skyway tunnels, complete with land acknowledgments and a large stockpile of challah bread so Greta can enjoy her new favorite food; stage daily glare sessions outside the local ICE office while holding signs that read “This Is What Decolonization Looks Like (From 4,000 Miles Away);” and distribute keffiyehs and 3D-printed “solidarity paddles” to residents who promise to obstruct ICE raids at every opportunity.

Ms. Thunberg defended against critics who call her naive: "We're under no illusion that we will have smooth sailing this time of year. That is why we have contracted with a fleet of large trucks to carry our vessels on the roads if that becomes necessary."

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

At the Cairo International Book Fair there was a discussion of the book "Jews of the Arab World: Claims of Persecution" by Zubaydah Atta.

The point of the book appears to be to prove that Jews really were not treated bad in the Arab world - an easily provable lie.

One specific statistic that Ms. Atta claimed in the talk was that Jews had been a peripheral presence in Jerusalem, saying that an Ottoman census found only 60 Jewish families in the entire city. I could not find any such census; the lowest number I could find was in 16th century Ottoman tax recordss that said there were 1,194 Jews, about 21% of the total population, which is still significant.

This author is not telling the truth even in her "scholarship."

But this book, being praised by fellow Egyptian "scholars," goes much further than just discussing Jews in Muslim lands. It describes the Jewish mindset (simultaneously pretending to be the victim and supremacist,) it critiques Jewish interpretation of the Torah as being selective, it accuses Jews of inventing stories that distort Islamic history and it says Zionists created false narratives about Jewish history to the West.

This goes way beyond Jews in the Arab world into lots of other fields like European history, psychology and theology, which is strange for a supposedly scholarly work.

But it all makes sense when you realize that these disparate factoids all converge on one theme: Jews are bad.

And this is the level of scholarship that gets celebrated at the Arab world's premier book fair.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

26% of European teachers think that "Jews murder Christian children for their blood" isn't or might not be antisemitic

UNESCO surveyed over 2,000 teachers in the EU about how much antisemitism they witness in the classroom.

The main headlines are bad enough:

- 78% of teachers said they had encountered at least one antisemitic incident among students

- More than a quarter reported seeing nine or more such incidents.

- 61% said they had come across Holocaust denial or distortion in the classroom, with one in ten saying this occurred frequently.

- One in ten teachers reported witnessing physical attacks on Jewish pupils at least once,

- 44% said they had seen students making Nazi gestures or wearing or drawing Nazi symbols.

But I think the most noteworthy and frightening results came from a different question.

The teachers were asked to judge whether a series of statements were antisemitic or not. All of them are.

36.7% are not sure that defacing a Holocaust memorial with "Free Palestine" is antisemitic.

36% think "Jews control the media" might not be antisemitic.

25.7% think the classic blood libel of Jews murdering and drinking the blood of Christian children is either not antisemitic or "depends on context."

Holocaust denial, using derogatory terms for Jews, attacking Jewish properties - a significant number of these teachers don't consider those necessarily antisemitic.

The survey didn't ask the question, but one can assume that a majority of those who answered that these things were definitely not antisemitic actually believe them to be true.

Which means that at least 10% of European teachers are antisemites. Moreover, since so many had no idea what antisemitism actually means, the statistics of how many witnessed antisemitism in their classrooms are certainly undercounted.

I don't know what the numbers would be in America, but the EU has been a harbinger of US antisemitism for quite a while now. This is what US and Canadian classrooms will look like in a few years, unless someone starts to take the fight against antisemitism seriously. Unfortunately I cannot imagine US teachers unions supporting the training and vetting that would be necessary to stop this from happening in America.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

01/28 Links Pt2: Islamists have been given a veto over public life; Hundreds at funeral of Ran Gvili, Israel’s final hostage; A Hospital’s Shocking Treatment of a Bondi Beach Survivor

From Ian:

20 Jews murdered, 815 severe antisemitic attacks took place worldwide in 2025

Twenty Jews were murdered worldwide and some 815 severe antisemitic incidents were documented in 2025, according to a report released Tuesday by the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry.

The total number of attacks was down from 2024, the ministry said without elaborating, while the number of deaths rose significantly from the one confirmed antisemitic murder in 2024, of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan.

The report also recorded approximately 124 million antisemitic posts on X, formerly Twitter, and over 4,000 anti-Israel demonstrations, of which 365 were classified as posing a high or extreme risk to Jewish communities.

Antisemitic activity and rhetoric skyrocketed after Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023. The data was presented during the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, held in Jerusalem on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The highest numbers of incidents were recorded in the United States (273), the United Kingdom (121), Australia (45), France (44), and Canada (37), the ministry said.

The murders included 15 killed in the Hannukah terror attack at Bondi Beach in December, two killed in a Yom Kippur attack in Manchester, two Israeli embassy staff members killed outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, in May, and a woman killed at a pro-Israel vigil in Boulder, Colorado, in June.

Other noteworthy incidents included an Israeli tourist hospitalized in Greece after a pro-Palestinian attacker bit off part of his ear in July; an elderly Jewish woman stabbed in a grocery store in Canada in August; the torching of a Sydney childcare center in January; the beating and attempted kidnapping of an Israeli in Wales in March; and the torching of a Melbourne synagogue with 20 people inside in July.

Belongings of members of the Jewish community are seen at the scene of a terror shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 15, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)

The data showed a clear correlation between spikes in violence and incitement and international security developments related to Israel’s war in Gaza, the report said without elaborating.

Brendan O'Neill: Islamists have been given a veto over public life

The Met imposed severe conditions on the UKIP march. No one, they decreed, is permitted to take part in a UKIP gathering anywhere in Tower Hamlets on 31 January. Their reasoning is truly scandalous. ‘We are not saying that the UKIP protest, in isolation, will be disorderly’, they said. But ‘we reasonably believe’ that ‘groups who are hostile’ will ‘find it provocative’. That means there could be ‘an adverse local reaction’ that might include ‘violence and serious disorder’. Strip away all the euphemistic cop-speak and what is being said here is that a right-wing, pro-Jesus rally is likely to piss off Islamists and thus it is forbidden.

If this doesn’t shock you, I don’t know what to say. The dictionary definition of appeasement is ‘giving in to hostile demands’ in order to maintain some kind of peace. That’s what happened here. The Met cravenly bowed to the belligerence of local bigots. They sacrificed freedom of assembly at the altar of ideological menace.

It matters not one iota what you think of UKIP. To prevent anyone from holding a ‘Walk with Jesus’ because you fear a ‘local adverse reaction’ is to play a dangerously divisive game. What the Met should have done is police those that they suspect will commit violence (local Islamists), not punish those who, by their own admission, are unlikely to be ‘disorderly’ (UKIP). In doing the opposite, the Met have made themselves the footsoldiers of Islamism and the enemies of freedom.

Who will now deny there is an Islamist veto over much of our public life? Courtesy of the moral cowardice of our institutions, Islamists enjoy staggering power over who is allowed to assemble in public, where, for how long, and for what reasons. The Met’s capitulation to Whitechapel extremists comes hot on the heels of the Maccabi Tel Aviv scandal, when West Midlands Police banned Jews from Israel from attending a game at Villa Park because they caught wind of the fact that local elements were planning to arm themselves to attack those Jews. West Midlands Police had earlier banned Birmingham’s 2025 Diwali celebrations, again out of ‘concerns for public safety’.

Anyone who’s thinking of gloating at the fact that a UKIP assembly has been forbidden should think again. For the Islamist veto, this trump card of violent menace, has also led to a prohibition on Jews from Israel and the brute prevention of Brummie Hindus from marking the most joyous festival in their religion. No one is safe from the extra-legal powers that our spineless rulers have gifted to noisy Islamists.

Recent history makes it clear where such kowtowing can lead. For what was England’s rape-gang scandal if not a vile byproduct of the elites’ fear of rocking the ‘multicultural’ boat? That industrial-scale abuse of mostly white working-class girls by men who considered them little more than ‘slags’, as police, councils and politicians looked the other way, was a testament to the horrors that can flow from official cowardice. And how does the Labour government respond to all of this? By obsessing over a new definition of ‘Islamophobia’, which will make it even harder for decent Brits – Muslims and non-Muslims alike – to discuss the Islamist scourge.

Tearing up the Islamist veto, shoving it in the shredding machine of history, is one of the pressing tasks of our time. Everyone who values secularism, liberty and equality should balk at the elevation of Islamist feeling over everyday freedom. This is how you respond when Islamists say a UKIP march, Jewish football fans or a Diwali celebration will cause them offence: So fucking what? Get over it. Stop being a baby.

When hate becomes a business: The monetization of antisemitism

Antisemitism has always adapted to its surroundings. Today, it has adapted to the digital economy.

What once circulated through fringe pamphlets or isolated gatherings now thrives online, in an environment where outrage is rewarded, provocation is amplified and attention can be monetized. Antisemitism is no longer just spreading. In many cases, it is being incentivized.

In the modern attention economy, clicks equal currency. Algorithms are designed to reward engagement, not accuracy or morality. Content that shocks or enrages travels farther and faster, and antisemitic material, unfortunately, performs well in that system. The result is not only broader exposure to hate, but a set of financial incentives that sustain and accelerate it.

We saw this dynamic recently in Miami Beach, where videos circulated online of influencers singing Nazi slogans and performing salutes, first in a limousine and later inside a nightclub. They laughed, played to the cameras, fully aware they were being recorded and without a hint of shame.

The episode spread widely because it was inflammatory. In today’s digital ecosystem, outrage fuels visibility. Visibility drives traffic. Traffic brings revenue. Antisemitism becomes content and content becomes cash.

Extremist figures understand this well. For some, antisemitism is strategic. Provocation drives attention. Attention drives donations, subscriptions, merchandise sales and influence. In these cases, hate is not just ideology. It is a business model.

What once existed on the fringes now operates openly on mainstream platforms, supported by systems that reward engagement without evaluating consequences.

When hate becomes profitable, behavior changes.

Repetition normalizes rhetoric that once would have triggered immediate alarm. Over time, the presence of money dulls moral resistance. If content is rewarded, it can begin to feel acceptable, or at least tolerable.

This is where the danger lies, not only for Jewish communities but for society more broadly. Antisemitism has become embedded in a digital economy that prioritizes virality over responsibility and profit over principle.

01/28 Links Pt1: Now that all hostages are back, Israel must finish off Hamas; PA Promised $200 Million in ‘Pay-To-Slay’ Payments After it 'Scrapped' Program

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Now that all hostages are home, Israel must open inquiry into October 7 massacre

A profound chapter in Israel’s national trauma reached a painful conclusion on Monday: the remains of St.-Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli held in Gaza after the October 7, 2023 attack, were returned to Israeli soil. After 843 days, the state can say that there are no more Israelis in captivity.

Gvili’s story comprises both courage and heartbreak. A 24-year-old police officer who put on his uniform on that horrific morning while on medical leave, he joined the defense of Kibbutz Alumim and was killed while fighting to protect others. That he ran toward danger and became the last to come home should echo throughout Israeli society.

Gvili’s return is rightly mourned and honored. Families gathered in Hostages Square. The symbolic clock counting the days since October 7 has been turned off. Yet closure brings its own burden: a country that has endured this scale of loss still needs to fathom how and why Israel was so catastrophically unprepared.

Government and military leaders also framed Gvili’s return as a statement of national duty. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told the family, “We will bring Ran home,” and added, “We will bring them all home.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said, “We kept our promise to leave no one behind,” calling it a moment the country “is excited about,” because Ran returned “to be buried in Israel.”

Across the political spectrum, voices have called for a state commission of inquiry into the gross failures of October 7. Many of those calls reflect anguish more than politics. Families who lost loved ones, freed hostages, reservists, and civilians want answers about intelligence failures, operational decisions, strategic assumptions, and the broader policy environment that left communities exposed.

At the same time, concerns raised by opponents of a sweeping inquiry deserve a fair hearing. Israel remains in a volatile security environment, and public hearings can affect operational freedom, intelligence sources, and national cohesion. Some also fear that an inquiry will turn into a political battlefield and deepen internal chasms and rifts at a time when unity still carries strategic value.

No retreat: Now that all hostages are back, Israel must finish off Hamas

Why it's time to finish off Hamas
In this war, two critical dimensions are unfolding simultaneously: the present and the future.

The insistence on returning all the hostages held in Gaza embodied the battle over the present – our moral, ethical, and existential duty to save lives here and now. Every moment in which our soldiers and civilians were held captive was an open wound in the heart of the nation, and every effort to bring them home expressed our commitment to the value of life.

At the same time, the insistence from here onward on the decisive defeat of Hamas embodies the battle over the future. A society that cannot defeat its enemies, uproot the threat of terror, and ensure secure borders for generations to come will remain trapped in an endless cycle of bloodshed and uncertainty. The dismantling and disarmament of Hamas is not only a military objective – it is a vision for a future of stability, security, and prosperity in the State of Israel.

The beginning of Phase II is an integral part of the war, and the determination to dismantle Hamas is not only part of the struggle for life, but also – and no less importantly – for the quality of life. Part of this war for life is the moral foundation that obligates us to do everything possible not to leave hostages behind.

The completion of the phase of returning the hostages from Gaza must serve as a lesson – not the first, but one that must be the last – that it is both a security and moral obligation to decisively defeat Hamas. As long as it exists, the threat of rockets, tunnels, and kidnappings will continue to haunt us, and any dream of civilian stability will remain fragile. The defeat of the October 7 perpetrators is therefore a necessary condition not only for survival in the present, but above all to ensure that no Israeli civilian or IDF soldier will again be abducted and held as an asset by Hamas in the future.

The prolonged war in Gaza and along Israel’s other borders – and especially the kidnapping of civilians and soldiers – has tested and continues to test Israeli society. It challenges us to understand that war demands painful prices and enormous economic resources. These reflect our choice to invest in building the tools necessary for our defense, rather than in monuments to our memory.

Andrew Fox: Why cutting military ties with Israel would cost British soldiers’ lives

Four retired senior British Army officers have reportedly urged the prime minister to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and to “cut all military collaboration with Israel forthwith”, including links with Israeli defence firms.

In the same political climate, the UK has also taken steps to prevent Israeli students from attending one of Britain’s flagship defence courses. You may agree or disagree with any Israeli policy, and you can hold Israel to any standard you believe is appropriate. However, a blanket attempt to sever military-to-military contact with the Israel Defence Forces is not a serious way to protect British troops. It is, in fact, a notable way to ensure that British soldiers die needlessly in the next war Britain cannot escape.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: when it comes to saving young men and women after they have been torn apart by blast and shrapnel, Israel has been learning, adapting and delivering at a pace and scale that the British Army simply has not had to sustain in recent years.

The IDF’s own combat medicine data from recent conflicts shows a steady decline in the “case fatality rate” (the proportion of casualties who die) across major operations, even as injuries have become more severe. That is what a learning medical system looks like when tested under fire.

Consider the first lesson: blood, not “drips”, saves lives. For decades, armies (and civilian ambulances) often reached for clear IV fluids first. Doctors call these fluids “crystalloids” – essentially sterile saltwater solutions used to increase circulating volume.

They are not useless, but they have a fatal limitation: they do not carry oxygen, and they do not contain the clotting components that stop catastrophic bleeding. In mass trauma, too much crystalloid can dilute the body’s ability to clot, cool the casualty, and worsen shock.

The IDF’s data indicates a significant doctrinal shift away from crystalloids and towards blood-based resuscitation. During the Second Lebanon War, 92.7 per cent of casualties receiving resuscitation fluids were treated with crystalloids. In Protective Edge (2014), that figure was still 83.3 per cent. In the current war (Iron Swords), only 29.8 per cent were treated with crystalloids, reflecting a clear move towards resuscitation centred around blood products, especially whole blood.

“Whole blood” matters because it is what the body actually loses: oxygen-carrying red cells, plasma proteins, and platelets that form clots. The challenge is not the concept; it is creating a system capable of delivering whole blood safely, repeatedly, and at scale. Israel has achieved this.

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

I used to read antisemitic comments online with a sort of grim detachment. The ugliness was real, but it felt like something I could observe from a distance—how people swallow stupid lies, how hatred hardens into certainty, how mobs form without ever meeting the people they condemn.

Since October 7, that distance has narrowed. Sometimes the hatred is no longer “interesting.” It hurts.

It hurts because Jews were butchered and raped—and the global reaction was not what any reasonable person would expect in relation to such atrocities. Victims became villains. Murderers and rapists were recast as “resistance.” And when the Jews defended themselves, they called it “genocide.” We were even told we were “occupiers,” as if an indigenous people can be said to “occupy” its own land. The moral inversion is sickening to anyone in command of the facts of October 7, and what has since transpired.

But it’s not all bad. When the haters peddle awful lies about the Jews, the rare thing that steadies you is a friend who speaks plainly—someone willing to describe reality without euphemism, and to risk doing so, even at a high cost.

Sometimes that friendship shows itself in a single gesture. Senator John Kennedy posted a brief message acknowledging the suffering of the Israeli hostages and their families, and congratulating Israel on the return of the last hostage from Gaza, Ran Gvili. At the same time, he acknowledged the suffering of the Israeli hostages and their families. The replies were a familiar torrent of moral inversion and cruelty. The contrast said more than the post itself ever could about the overwhelming hatred toward a people that were tortured, murdered, abused, and held captive—a people whose babies were burned alive.

The truth is, aside from my favorite senator, Israel has too few true friends today. One of them is Michele Bachmann. Bachmann served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota’s 6th District from 2007 to 2015 and was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. She previously served in the Minnesota Senate and is currently dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University.

When I heard an excerpt of Michele Bachmann’s remarks at the Pray Vote Stand Summit, I was touched, filled with gratitude for her honest, plain talk. Bachmann got it when so many do not. She saw everything that was bad about putting terrorists and businessmen with regional interests in charge of negotiations, and she was unafraid to say so.

Dean Bachmann asked the right questions. There was no sign that she cared about the risks of speaking the truth. Just a forthright laying out of the facts—trying, and at times failing—to restrain her passion for the subject of how the negotiations were going.

Keep in mind that the summit was held in October. So much has happened since then. Though some things remain unchanged. We still have two non-cabinet figures—Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—selling an imaginary peace that threatens Israel’s survival (she didn’t say it in those words—that was all me).

“We have a Secretary of State named Marco Rubio,” Bachmann said. “Why wasn’t he involved in these negotiations?”

She turned to Qatar, explaining something that everyone should know, but too many do not:

NEW @nytimes investigation: Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff was the target of a Qatari influence campaign in which Qatar would invest in Witkoff real estate projects in order to gain entree to Trump’s inner circle. https://t.co/ZecRXuvICy
— David Enrich (@davidenrich) September 26, 2025

“Qatar is the number-one funder of terrorism in the world,” Bachmann said, painting a picture of a wealthy engine of political Islam and a patron of Hamas. She warned about the way money and access can shape foreign policy decisions, especially when those decisions concern Israel. That having Qatar shape the atmosphere around the talks could not be a good thing.

Trump’s chosen interlocutors, Witkoff and Kushner, do business with Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Yet they were put in charge of negotiations that come with direct consequences for Israel’s security and the safety of its people.

After watching an excerpt of her remarks, I reached out with some questions. I was honored when Michele Bachmann, graciously consented to answer my questions. It’s obvious that Michele Bachmann is a busy lady—someone with a full plate—yet always ready to take on more. It’s the reason I reached out to her.

Varda Epstein: In your remarks at the Pray Vote Stand Summit, you expressed concern about President Trump’s decision to involve Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in negotiations with Qatar, despite their business ties and Qatar’s role as a major sponsor of Hamas. More recently, Israel’s security cabinet has reportedly blamed Jared Kushner for the composition of the Executive Board for the proposed Board of Peace, which includes (rabidly anti-Israel) Turkish and Qatari representation and was, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, "not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy."

Why do you think the president continues to rely on Witkoff and Kushner? Who stands to gain from this approach, and what risks does it pose for Israel?

Michele Bachmann: The President has full confidence in his envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Their diplomatic portfolios have enlarged in the last year since they were dispatched at the President’s direction during his second term.

Neither envoy appears to be employees of the federal government. They are volunteers, according to press accounts.

Concerns have been raised over past and ongoing business relationships between Mr. Witkoff and Qatar, and Mr. Kushner and Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Mr. Witkoff was a former business partner with Qatar. Mr. Kushner’s investment company was in business, and remains in business, with Saudi Arabia and other Arab investors, all while Witkoff and Kushner are currently conducting U.S. foreign policy with these business partners.

The questions of conflicts of interest are obvious and concerning.

One question concerning these relationships, regards the level of Qatari and Saudi influence on American foreign policy decision making, in particular regarding Israel’s security.

Varda Epstein: In recent months, a number of prominent conservatives—including Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts and commentator Megyn Kelly—have publicly defended Tucker Carlson, even after his interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Why do you think this shift is happening, and what does it signal about the direction of the Republican Party?

Michele Bachmann: Tucker Carlson and other high-profile commentators have made controversial statements this year. These statements are vocal, intentional, and are dividing the pro-Israel Republican base. Grounded by pro-Israel evangelicals, the Republican Party historically supported strong support for Israel.

Tragically, the Democratic Party moved from an often pro-Israel party to holding a decidedly anti-Israel posture.

The anti-Israel embrace of the Democratic Party is now attempting to similarly turn, or at least divide pro-Israel support from within the Republican Party.

The Republican Party is pro-Israel and will remain that way unless it is taken over by an anti-Israel Presidential candidate. An event like that would certainly terminate a Republican candidate’s chances for electoral victory.

Varda Epstein: Given J.D. Vance’s isolationist worldview and his close relationship with Tucker Carlson—including employing Carlson’s son as a senior aide—what do you believe a Vance presidency would mean for Israel?

Michele Bachmann: A Republican Presidential candidate who does not value the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship to vital national security interests, will likely lose a general Presidential election. Pro-Israel support is a foundational value of the Republican Party.

If Israel is not America’s greatest ally, then which nation is? Which nation has served as America’s greatest partner advancing peace in the Middle East?

What other nation has offered more to America by way of intelligence assets? Weapons development? Innovation and technology development?

What other nation demonstrates similar moral clarity and commitment to advancing civilization and human rights than Israel? No other nation on earth compares to a demonstration of moral clarity more than Israel.

People need to consider where the United States would be without our partnership with Israel. As Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Israel is what is right with the world.”

Varda Epstein: After watching your Summit address, many of my colleagues and readers remarked how much they miss your voice in government and your staunch support for Israel. How do you see your own role in public or political life going forward?

Michele Bachmann: I use my mind to learn all I can about our world and how humankind benefits from following the truths and precepts of the Bible.

History, Sociology, Economics, Astronomy, Anthropology, Archeology, Biology, Physics, etc., all reflect and demonstrate the truths given to us from the pen of Moses, David, Solomon, and the Prophets.

We, finite humankind, live in a world created by the infinite God. My job is to know Him more, obey Him more, and communicate His love and truth to others.

***

In her Summit remarks, Bachmann argued that Israel was nearing decisive victory against Hamas when diplomacy intervened and stopped it cold. Israelis well recognize this pattern. A war Israel did not choose becomes a war Israel is not allowed to win. The hostages are used as leverage. And a terror organization is encouraged to negotiate.

When Israelis speak about friendship, they are not being sentimental. Friendship means clarity under pressure. It means refusing to sanitize those who finance terror because they also broker lucrative deals. It means understanding that Israel cannot outsource its security to assurances offered far from its borders.

That is why Bachmann’s voice is important. She speaks as someone who understands that Israel is an ally. Not a problem to be managed, but an ally whose survival is nonnegotiable.

Israel has too few friends right now. And Michele Bachmann is indeed a friend—one who understands the wider implications of negotiating with terrorists, not just for Israel, but for the entire world.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Columbia U to screen film praising a Jew-hating, terrorist loving liar as a heroic doctor

Coming soon, to Columbia University:

"A State of Passion" is about Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Arab plastic surgeon who is described as "a face of Palestinian resistance" from his activities in Gaza during wartime.

The film will not discuss Abu Sittah's penchant for making up lies about Israel. Nor will it discuss his antisemitism.

During the Gaza war, for example, Abu Sittah claims that he - and he alone - saw photographs taken by Al Jazeera that he says proved that Israeli doctors "expertly" removed organs from living Palestinian prisoners. This is a blood libel; it is absurd to think that any such photographs exist yet they weren't publicized where doctors worldwide could confirm it. Al Jazeera colluded with Abu Sittah - because they know that he will say anything to condemn Israel, no matter how far from the truth it might be.

He has a history of doing exactly that.

I found an Arabic language interview where he claimed that Israel had targeted every Palestinian Red Crescent hospital in the first days of the 1982 Lebanon war.

It was a lie.

He further claimed that Ben Gurion said "I cannot bear to think that we will have to live in the same country as these people." Another lie.

He further alleged that when Israel arrested Shifa hospital director Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, "They broke his arms. They made him walk on all fours with a chain around his neck. They made him eat from a plate on the floor in front of the other doctors, because he refused to go on TV and say that the Israelis were right."

Salmiya himself never made any such claims when he was released and gave a press conference, and his arms were clearly not broken. It was a lie.

Abu Sittah also is a fan of terrorists who attack Jews, retweeting one who said “We congratulate our brothers in Hamas and our comrades in the Popular Front on the anniversary of their inception.”

He also praised the PFLP terrorist who bombed a cinema in Tel Aviv in December 1974, killing two.

Beyond his lies and love of murderers, Abu Sittah is also a rabid Jew hater.

He has repeatedly compared Israel to Nazi Germany, for example calling Gaza a "Final Solution."

Abu Sittah also falsely claimed that 66% of Israelis are allergic to olive tree pollen, linking to a study that says no such thing. It was only looking at people who already had allergies and who lived near olive groves. Allergies are correlated with exposure. Lebanese people with allergies are more likely to be allergic to cedar and cypress pollen.

When a doctor misrepresents a medical paper to push an antisemitic theory, it casts doubt on his competence as an activist as well as his medical credentials.

Abu Sittah is not a hero. He is a contemptible, antisemitic terror supporter.

Maybe Jews of New York should take a page from Abu Sittah's fans and hold a protest outside the Lenfest Center for the Arts on February 10. There is an excellent plaza right in front tailor made for people chanting and holding signs. Call the media ahead of time asking for comments from the Center for Palestine Studies, sponsoring the event, asking them if they support a doctor who praises terrorists and spins antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Palestinians trust Hamas more than any other group

The latest Arab Barometer poll of Palestinians has been released, the third one since the Gaza war.

On most questions, the answers are roughly what they were in previous polls, but there is one major difference: West Bank Palestinians now trust Hamas more than any other Palestinian group.

Trust in Hamas went up from 18% to 46% from those surveyed:

This is higher than the percentage who trust the legal system (34%,) civil society organizations (38%) and religious leaders (25%.)

Another interesting result is that misogyny is increasing. The percentage of those who agree that men are better suited as political leaders rose from 63% to 75%. Also, the share who believe men should have the final say in family matters rose from 44% to 57%.

Which makes this sign accurate in the opposite way it was intended.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Kanye West's Fake Apology

On Monday, Kanye West bought a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal saying he is apologizing for his antisemitism and other topics.

Here's the full text:

To Those I’ve Hurt:

Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage—the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.

Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.

Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.

Once people label you as “crazy,” you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you can die from. According to the World Health Organization and Cambridge University, people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by ten to fifteen years on average, and a 2x-3x higher all-cause mortality rate than the general population. This is on par with severe heart disease, type 1 diabetes, HIV, and cancer - all lethal and fatal if left untreated.

The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable.

I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to have someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.

In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments - many of which I still cannot recall - that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body-experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.

To the black community - which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.

In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.

Having bipolar disorder is notable state of constant mental illness. When you go into a manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely ‘normal’. And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.

I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism.”

My words as a leader in my community have global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that.

As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise, and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world.

I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”

With love,

Ye

I have been working on my Derechology framework based on Jewish thinking, and I have been spending time examining how repentance works.

This isn't it.

Repentance is not performative and it is not merely an apology. It is a change in one's life, a clear difference of actions. Have we witnessed anything new from Kanye West? For example, when his song "Heil Hitler" was played at the Florida nightclub Vendôme for neo-Nazis, did he issue a public statement distancing himself from his far-Right fans? Not that I could find.

In my framework, I assume that a person's "derech" - their moral and behavioral trajectory - remains constant throughout one's life unless there is a rare case of real teshuva, repentance, that upends one's entire being. That is rare, but it happens. Without any evidence beyond a paid ad, we have nothing indicating that West has truly changed. Which means we must search for a deeper consistent pattern that covers both his antisemitism, this apology, and his other outrageous acts like his disrupting the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009.

So what has Kanye West consistently done? He has pursued attention, fame and money. When the backlash threatens his career or public image, he crafts a new persona, a new justification, a new name, sometimes even a new diagnosis. The pattern is consistent.

That derech fits both the initial harm and the apology. The swastika shirts and the antisemitic remarks didn't appear out of nowhere. They followed the exact pattern: escalate, provoke, dominate headlines. The apology follows the same logic: reposition, reframe, re-enter public legitimacy through a therapeutic lens. This is just a rebranding maneuver wearing the clothing of regret.

And speaking of clothing, at the bottom of the ad it gives his clothing website, Yeezy-Official.com. Needless to say, that site does not host this letter. The ad is a clothing ad disguised as an apology.

Beyond that is the absurdity of Wesr's main point. If someone claims their past behavior was the result of mental illness, and that the illness compromised their judgment, then what makes us believe their current moral clarity is more reliable? The apology claims bipolar disorder made him act destructively. But then it claims that, now that he is stable, his remorse is true. He self-diagnosed using groups on Reddit. Why is his apology any more credible than his infractions? Unless he offers external proof - not just that he feels regret, but that he is acting in sustained alignment with a new moral framework - the apology stands on no firmer ground than his many offenses over the better part of two decades. A full page ad in the Wall Street Journal is significantly less expensive than the Super Bowl ad where West promoted the website that was selling the swastika T-shirt.

Keep in mind that West had claimed to apologize to Jews before, in 2023,. Yet he marketed the swastika shirts and wrote Heil Hitler after that "apology." Also, in Vanity Fair, West was interviewed about this ad but declined to answer several questions, including where his antisemitic sentiments may have originated from and why, and how he feels about neo-Nazis dancing to “Heil Hitler.” If he really cared about doing the right thing as he claims, he would first face these sorts of questions honestly. After all, not all bipolar or manic people spout antisemitism - most of them don't. So in the end, even his excuses aren't an explanation. It is more likely that his derech always included antipathy towards Jews.

Without a visible change in behavior, all the therapy-language in the world is just a rebranding strategy. And when that rebranding happens on a Wall Street Journal ad page, in the service of someone who has used outrage to sell for decades, his derech speaks louder than his words.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

01/27 Links Pt2: Herzog: Denying Jewish self-determination is antisemitism; Bondi Chabad rabbi: Antisemitism must not become what defines us; Meet the Proud Nazi Spawn Raising Money for Democrats

From Ian:

Ceremonies held worldwide to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Candles flickered at dawn Tuesday at the vast Holocaust memorial in Berlin as people across Europe and beyond paused to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, reflecting on Nazi Germany’s murder of millions of people and its attempt to completely wipe out Jewish life on the continent.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed across the world on January 27, the anniversary of the liberation by Soviet forces of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious of the Nazi German death camps. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2005 establishing the day as an annual commemoration.

At the memorial site of Auschwitz, in an area that was under German occupation during World War II, former prisoners laid flowers and wreaths at the Execution Wall, where German forces murdered thousands of people, most of them Poles. Later in the day Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki will join survivors for a remembrance ceremony at Birkenau, the vast site nearby where Jews were transported from across Europe to be exterminated in gas chambers.

Nazi German forces murdered some 1.1 million people at Auschwitz, most of them Jews, but also Poles, Roma and others.

Commemorations on the anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation by the Red Army on January 27, 1945, were also taking place across Europe on Tuesday, as well as at the United Nations.

Germany, the nation that inflicted war and genocide on its neighbors, is holding a commemoration in the Bundestag, the parliament, on Wednesday.

Candles burned and white roses were placed at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a field of 2,700 gray concrete slabs near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, which honors the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. The vast site in the heart of the capital underlines Germany’s remorse.

Herzog: Denying Jewish self-determination is antisemitism

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day by warning that antisemitism is once again spreading worldwide, and equated the denial of Jewish self-determination with hatred of Jews.

Speaking at the Second International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem, Herzog said, “To deny the Jewish people—and only the Jewish people—the right to self-determination in their national home is antisemitism, even if you are the mayor of the city with the most Jews outside of Israel,” the latter being a reference to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Herzog linked his remarks to the return on Monday of the body of Israel Border Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili from Gaza, calling it “a significant turning point.” He said, “For the first time since 2014, not a single Israeli citizen, living or dead, is being held as a human bargaining chip in Gaza.”

Reflecting on the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Herzog said the world is “failing to meet our vow” of “Never Again” as Jewish communities face rising hostility in cities around the world, from London to Sydney.

The conference was hosted by the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, led by Minister Amichai Chikli, and attended by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and other international figures.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the first day of the event on Monday, warning that antisemitism has reemerged as a global threat, and urging governments to confront it as an assault on “our common civilization.”

US envoy warns Jew-hatred ‘rages anew’ during UN Holocaust remembrance

Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, warned that the global body, created in the aftermath of the Holocaust, “must do far more now to confront this ancient poison” of antisemitism “to fulfill its founding promise and to protect every people, including the Jewish people.”

Waltz spoke at the U.N.’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day observance on Tuesday, recalling the atrocities American soldiers discovered and documented while liberating Nazi concentration camps in World War II.

The vow of “Never Again” must be put into action, the U.S. envoy said.

Waltz added that antisemitism “rages anew,” citing sharply rising levels of Jew-hatred in the United States and around the world.

“This wave of hate has left synagogues under siege. Jewish students, once again, hiding their identity. Whole communities living in fear,” he said. “I mean, what, are we back in 1933? This is absurd, and we have to call it out.”

While commending the United Nations for holding the ceremony, Waltz decried the growing reality of “Holocaust denial, its distortion, its rehabilitation in these historic narratives of Nazi collaborators, its the manipulation of history right here at the U.N. and elsewhere.” He linked that phenomenon to recent acts of violence, including the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre in Sydney on Dec. 14 and the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Elie Wiesel once hoped that antisemitism perished in Auschwitz, and sadly, he lived to see its horrific resurrection,” Waltz said. “We cannot wait for another liberation.”

Waltz emphasized the importance of education and commemoration as critical tools in combating antisemitism, calling for greater efforts to elevate the voices of Holocaust survivors.

“You did not become a lifelong victim. You move forward and educate the next generation so that this can never happen again,” he said, addressing survivors in attendance.