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Swords of Iron: sources IIIIII (view source)
Revision as of 21:24, August 23, 2025
, 21:24, August 23, 2025→Further reading
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DNI revokes clearance of former Biden intelligence chief.
Former White House aide and Palestinian activist now adviser to Sen. Schiff.
By Bill Gertz.
The Washington Times
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has revoked the security clearances of former White House National Security Council intelligence chief Maher Bitar, who as a congressional aide played a role in President Trump’s 2020 impeachment.
Mr. Bitar, a former Palestinian political activist who is now national security adviser to Sen. Adam B. Schiff, was among 37 officials whose access to secrets was revoked this week for what Ms. Gabbard said were abuses of power related to the Russia collusion hoax and other intelligence abuses.
Mr. Bitar was National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs from January 2021 until the end of the Biden administration. His position gave him access to the most sensitive intelligence secrets, including the identities of clandestine agents, sources of electronic spying, covert action programs and special access programs that require extraordinary secrecy.
Ms. Gabbard said in announcing the revocations on X that the 37 current and former officials “abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”
“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Ms. Gabbard said. “Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold.”
Others on the revocation list included former Principal Deputy DNI Stephanie O’Sullivan and Vinh X. Nguyen, a senior National Security Agency official.
Both worked for James R. Clapper, the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence. Critics say he was a key leader in promoting the now discredited anti-Trump intelligence community assessment based on false information contained in a private intelligence dossier.
Emily Horne, an NSC spokeswoman under Mr. Biden, lost her clearances.
Thomas W. West, currently on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff, also lost his clearance.
Mr. West spent four years at the State Department as a special official for Afghanistan under Mr. Biden and as an Afghanistan and Pakistan policy official for Mr. Biden when he was vice president.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had no comment. She referred questions to Ms. Gabbard’s post on X.
Mr. Bitar did not respond to an email request for comment. A spokesman for Mr. Schiff, California Democrat, said he is a “trusted and deeply experienced national security professional who has served at the highest levels of government for almost a decade and a half and has devoted his career to protecting our nation from foreign threats and addressing our most complex foreign policy challenges.”
“The Senate is fortunate to have him continue serving our country as a public servant,” the spokesman said.
Ms. Gabbard told Fox News that the government’s false Russia collusion scandal was a “very dangerous thing” that created a manufactured intelligence assessment.
The assessment was a “politicized, weaponized piece of fake intelligence” that was used as a foundation for multiple investigations and two congressional impeachment investigations.
“Ultimately, the real crime here was against the American people because this action singularly undermined the integrity of our democratic republic,” she said.
An intelligence official said Mr. Bitar took part in a Dec. 9, 2016, National Security Council meeting with senior Obama administration officials, including CIA Director John O. Brennan and Mr. Clapper, who was director of national intelligence, about producing an intelligence community assessment on Russian collusion in the presidential election.
At the meeting, “they decided the conclusions for the [intelligence community assessment] before it was drafted,” the official said.
Some of the current and former officials “aided and abetted in this action, this seditious conspiracy that undermined our democracy, undermined our republic, and broke that sacred trust that every one of these professionals is supposed to have from the American people,” Ms. Gabbard said on Fox.
Mr. Trump directed the clearance revocations, Ms. Gabbard said.
While attending Georgetown University, Mr. Bitar was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine. Critics say the group is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said recently that the State Department is considering declaring the Muslim Brotherhood, a shadowy international Islamist political organization, a terrorist group.
Mr. Bitar spent time abroad as a student working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNWRA, which Israel has identified as heavily infiltrated by the terrorist group Hamas, yet funded for years by American taxpayers.
“Maher Bitar finally has lost his security clearance,” former Ambassador David M. Friedman said on X. “Given his affiliations with Students for Justice in Palestine and UNRWA, as well as his hostility towards Israel, Biden never should have given him a senior position in the NSC. Why is he now employed by @SenAdamSchiff?”
Online Trump activist Laura Loomer claimed credit for Mr. Bitar’s loss of security clearances. She said she was the first to expose his continued access to secrets.
“I just got another Islamic Jihadist SCALP,” Ms. Loomer said on X. “For those of you who don’t know who Maher Bitar is, he’s one of the many Islamic jihadists in the government who I have personally been exposing FOR YEARS!!!!!”
Mr. Bitar has no military or intelligence experience and, as general counsel to Mr. Schiff when he was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, took part in the impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump for abuse of power and obstructing Congress related to Ukraine.
The Senate acquitted Mr. Trump of the charges in January 2020.
Before joining the House oversight panel, Mr. Bitar was NSC director for Israeli and Palestinian affairs under President Obama and, from 2015 to 2017, was a deputy to Ambassador Samantha Power.
Congressional investigators revealed that Ms. Power made an unusual number of requests, estimated to be about 300, to unmask the identities of sources in sensitive intelligence reports at the end of the Obama administration.
Intelligence made public under the second Trump administration reveals a concerted effort by intelligence officials to falsely discredit Mr. Trump.
Mr. Schiff, as House intelligence committee chair, was the leading proponent of the unverified and later debunked Russian dossier that included salacious allegations against Mr. Trump.
No real evidence of such collusion was ever uncovered.
A former Democratic congressional aide told the FBI that Mr. Schiff approved leaking classified information in a bid to discredit Mr. Trump, documents released this month showed.
The House voted in 2023 to censure Mr. Schiff for lying in leading investigations of Mr. Trump.
[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/aug/21/dni-revokes-clearance-maher-bitar-former-biden-intelligence-chief/ WashTimes]
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Terrorism against aid: A rocket was fired at a truck convoy in the southern Gaza Strip.
Dvir Cohen.
27th Av of 5785 (08.21.25).
Hamas and the terrorist organizations in Gaza continue to work to thwart the distribution of humanitarian aid: A launch was detected at an aid truck supply route in the southern Gaza Strip, which fell about 300 meters from the route.
Earlier today (Thursday), the Hamas terrorist organization launched a rocket from the area near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, towards the main route for supplying aid trucks in the southern Gaza Strip.
Our forces identified the launch, which was carried out during the passage of a convoy of trucks moving to collect humanitarian aid from the Kerem Shalom crossing, and fell about 300 meters from the axis.
The launch adds to the attempts of the terrorist organizations, which are working cruelly and systematically to thwart the entry of aid by international aid organizations, thereby harming the distribution of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip.
[https://www.c14.co.il/article/1301259 C14]
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White pro-Palestinian protester melts down after cop accuses her of 'cultural appropriation'.
15:43 BST 21 Aug 2025, updated 16:17 BST 21 Aug 2025
By Sophie Gable, US Reporter.
A pro-Palestine protester was caught in a furious meltdown after a police officer accused her of 'cultural appropriation'.
The moment was caught on video at Union Station in Washington DC amid protests reacting to a visit by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15021323/pro-palestinian-protester-cop-keffiyeh-scarf.html DailyMail]
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State Department fires senior press officer on Israel and Palestinians after policy disputes.
'Trump only wants pro-Israel messages': Shahed Ghoreishi was fired days after he drafted a statement stating that 'the United States does not support the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza'; State Department officials vetoed the statementand fired him: 'Federal employees should never put their personal political ideologies ahead of the duly elected president’s agenda'.
Ynet|08.21.25 | 09:17
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjq0p7vyxe YNet]
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A Brief History of Tucker Carlson – From Conservative Star to Qatar’s Mouthpiece
Following the passing of conservative legend Rush Limbaugh and the fall of Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson emerged as a leading voice on the American right. His popularity soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to his anti-establishment rhetoric and combative style. For a time, he filled a vacuum in conservative media, channeling public frustration into high ratings for Fox News.
However, Carlson’s trajectory shifted in 2023 when he was abruptly ousted from Fox News. The dismissal followed a series of controversies—including a high-profile lawsuit by a former producer who accused him of fostering a toxic, discriminatory workplace, as well as Carlson’s growing discomfort within the network after the Dominion Voting Systems settlement. Some insiders speculated that Fox saw him as a liability rather than an asset.
Post-Fox, Carlson began a sharp and concerning pivot. In February 2024—and again in December—he appeared in Moscow, broadcasting from within Putin’s Russia and conducting a softball interview with the dictator himself. His trip was lauded by the Kremlin while seeing him as a useful idiot and widely criticized in the U.S. as a propaganda gift to an authoritarian regime. Ironically, , Carlson increasingly adopted the rhetoric of isolationist, so-called “America First” nationalism—rhetoric weaponized against U.S. allies like Israel.
His descent didn’t stop there. In September 2024, Carlson platformed fringe revisionist voices like Darryl Cooper, known for dangerously apologetic views on Nazi Germany and distorted takes on World War II history. But worse was to come.
By 2025, Carlson appeared fully embraced by the Arab-Islamist propaganda machine, especially Qatar—known for its double-dealing, Western-facing PR and behind-the-scenes funding of terror-affiliated networks. He gave an uncritical platform to Munther Isaac, a known Palestinian IslamoChristian figure with a history of incendiary anti-Israel fabrications and theological propaganda. Carlson then elevated Qatar’s duplicitous leadership—accused of bribing Western influencers and exploiting media for political gain—clearly aiming to build a following in the Middle East.
In June 2025, Carlson went a step further, echoing the talking points of Iran’s genocidal Islamic regime, raising alarm across the political spectrum. Dubbed mockingly “QATARlson,” even former allies began distancing themselves. Donald Trump reportedly referred to him as “Kooky Tucker,” and major Republican figures followed suit.
Then, in a widely criticized move in August, Carlson gave a platform to a nun long tied to anti-Israel activism—George Stephanopoulos' sister—who notoriously defended Yasser Arafat’s use of churches as human shields during the 2002 Ramallah siege. Her latest appearances downplayed Hamas’ October 7 atrocities, framing them in apologetic terms, and Carlson offered no pushback.
In a few short years, Tucker Carlson has gone from mainstream conservative commentator to a willing tool of regimes and ideologies hostile to the West—and especially to Israel. His brand may still attract headlines, but his credibility has eroded among those who once saw him as a voice of reason and resistance.
[8.21.25].
[https://david-collier.com/famine-photo-lies/#comment-52984 st DavidCollier]
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IDF begins warning calls to medical officials in northern Gaza.
The IDF has begun warning calls medical officials and international organizations in the northern Gaza Strip in order to prepare for the evacuation of the population to the southern Gaza Strip.
Israel National News.
Aug 21, 2025, 3:31 PM (GMT+3)
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413646 INN]
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Netanyahu: 'I approved taking control of Gaza City and hostage negotiations'.
PM visits Gaza Division, says he approved plans to defeat Hamas militarily and talks to bring all of the hostages home and end the war at the same time.
Israel National News.
Published: Aug 21, 2025, 8:13 PM (GMT+3)
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413658 INN]
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Lebanon says Palestinian factions begin handing over weapons in first step of disarmament plan.
Lebanese army begins collecting weapons from Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, but rival factions reject move as symbolic, highlighting hurdles facing government in pledge to disarm all militias, including Hezbollah, under US and Israeli pressure
Lior Ben Ari|08.21.25 | 20:31
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bkd6qanyeg YNet]
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"Throw Them Off the Plane”.
German Left Exposed: Antisemitic Hate and Millions Funneled Into Israeli [liberal] Activism
German left-wing party Die Linke under fire for antisemitic tweets while funding Israeli NGOs through its foundation. Investigation reveals concerning money trail and ideology.
Eli Gotthelf.
Aug 21, 2025 21:17
Germany’s far-left party Die Linke, already under scrutiny for its ties to radical activism abroad, has been embroiled in a shocking antisemitism scandal that exposes a disturbing reality: while publicly championing “human rights” and “progressive values,” the party’s affiliated institutions are funding and legitimizing groups in Israel - all while spreading some of the vilest rhetoric against Jews.
Antisemitic Tweets: “Throw Them Off the Plane”.
In July, the Frankfurt branch of Linksjugend, the official youth wing of Die Linke, shared an article from Jüdische Allgemeine reporting on a disturbing incident in Spain. Fifty-two French Jewish students were removed from a Vueling Airlines flight in Valencia after the pilot - who reportedly trained two of the 9/11 hijackers - refused to fly with them.
Instead of condemning the incident, the Frankfurt Linksjugend account added:
“We regret to disappoint: the ejection (of the Jewish children) did not happen while the plane was in the air.”
The tweet, which openly fantasized about throwing Jewish children out of an airplane mid-flight, sparked outrage across Europe. The grotesque message stayed online for nearly three weeks before being deleted under public pressure.
Calling for the Erasure of Israel.
Just days later, the same account reposted another statement endorsing the “abolition of the Jewish state” and a program of ethnic cleansing. Incredibly, the youth wing declared it “formally supports this initiative.” That tweet, too, was eventually deleted.
German prosecutors have since confirmed that the tweets are under criminal review for potential incitement and antisemitism. One individual linked to the posts has reportedly been suspended, but the damage is done.
The Rosa Luxemburg Connection.
The scandal becomes even darker when tracing the money trail. For more than a decade, the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - the international foundation tied directly to Die Linke - has poured millions of euros into Israel through its Tel Aviv branch on Rothschild Boulevard.
According to NGO Monitor, the foundation has funded a wide range of far-left NGOs in Israel, including:
*Standing Together (Omdim Beyachad)
*Van Leer Institute Jerusalem
The Social Economic Academy
*972+ Magazine and Local Call
*Aroushti, Kedma, Combatants for Peace, Kerem Navot, Mada al-Carmel, Adva Center, and more.
Many of these organizations have been criticized for anti-Israel messaging, demonization of the IDF, and promoting international pressure campaigns against Israel.
Importing Antisemitism Through “Progressive” Money.
The juxtaposition is stark: in Germany, Die Linke’s affiliates openly mock Jewish children and endorse the elimination of Israel. In Israel, their foundation funds local NGOs that push narratives hostile to the Jewish state - all under the guise of “human rights” and “social justice.”
This is not simply hypocrisy. It is the importation of foreign antisemitism into Israel’s civic space, subsidized by a European political party with a long record of hostility toward Jewish sovereignty.
The Urgent Need for Oversight.
Foreign-funded NGOs have long been a contentious issue in Israel. This scandal underscores why: money from abroad is not neutral. It carries ideology, political pressure, and in this case, naked antisemitism.
The Israeli public deserves full transparency regarding the foreign financing of political activism. And Germany, which bears unique responsibility for Jewish safety after the Holocaust, must ensure that its tax-funded institutions are not weaponized against Jews and Israel.
Bottom line: Die Linke cannot hide behind denials and technicalities. When its youth movement dreams of Jewish children falling from the sky - and its foundation bankrolls NGOs inside Israel - the line between “progressivism” and antisemitism has been crossed.
[https://www.jfeed.com/news-world/die-linke-antisemitism-scandal JFeed]
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Trump delivers massive blow to Iran with Azerbaijan-Armenia pact.
By Efrat Lachter, Fox News
Published Aug. 22, 2025.
President Donald Trump’s new deal in the South Caucasus has ended a decades-long conflict and handed Washington a rare strategic foothold on Iran’s northern border, experts say.
The agreement, signed earlier this month between Armenia and Azerbaijan, grants the U.S. a 99-year lease over the Zangezur Corridor – a narrow strip of land that will serve as a critical trade and energy route to Europe, bypassing Tehran entirely. Iranian American journalist and dissident Banafsheh Zand told Fox News Digital the move is “a wonderful gain for the U.S.” that also delivers a “slap in the face” to the regime in Tehran.
[https://nypost.com/2025/08/22/world-news/trump-delivers-blow-to-iran-with-azerbaijan-armenia-pact/ NYPost]
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Israel warns Hamas that ‘gates of hell’ will open in Gaza if terror group doesn’t agree to cease-fire
By Emily Crane
Published Aug. 22, 2025
Updated Aug. 22, 2025, 8:25 a.m. ET
[https://nypost.com/2025/08/22/world-news/israel-issues-gates-of-hell-warning-to-hamas-if-terror-group-doesnt-agree-to-cease-fire/ NYPost]
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Trump Admin Pulled 6,000 Student Visas, Will Review 55 Million More.
A good start.
August 22, 2025 by Daniel Greenfield
What do you call 6,000 pulled student visas? A good start.
'The roughly 6,000 visas that were pulled were primarily due to visa overstays or encounters with the law, including assault, DUIs, burglary and support for terrorism, the State Department told Fox News Digital.
Those who had their student visas yanked due to assault — roughly 800 students — either faced arrest or charges stemming from assault, according to the State Department official.
Those whose visas were pulled due to support for terrorism — between 200 people to 300 people — engaged in behavior such as raising funds for the militant group Hamas, which the U.S. State Department has designated as a terrorist organization, the official said.
Altogether, the State Department told Fox News Digital that approximately 40,000 visas have been pulled in 2025, in comparison to the 16,000 that were revoked during the same time frame under the Biden administration.'
Onward to 55 million.
'The State Department said Thursday that it’s reviewing the records of more than 55 million foreigners who hold valid U.S. visas for potential revocation or deportable violations of immigration rules.'
That huge number alone ought to be a topic of conversation. There are around 300 million citizens. And we have a massive non-citizen population that includes 55 million with visas. That’s a percentage you don’t see in stable countries. It’s something we ought to rethink because these numbers are unmanageable. There’s no way we can track or police a population that large.
[https://www.frontpagemag.com/trump-admin-pulled-6000-student-visas-will-review-55-million-more/ FPM]
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Tucker Presents: A World Without the Jews.
Faith, Power, and the Jewish Question
Tucker Presents: A World Without the Jews
A reflection on how criticism of Jews has often served as a tool to dismantle the very moral order they introduced.
Yair Kleinbaum.
Aug 22, 2025 19:45
A world without the Jewish experience is a closed world, a system devoid of abstraction and faith. On the other hand, it is a world that offers many the longed-for certainty, achieved only after the elimination of the ultimate representation of God's original laws in the world.
In many ways, this is an anti-American world. The American world is founded on the idea of covenant, or in the words of John Locke, the idea of the social contract, entered by human beings, the voters, facing their creator, called to choose good over evil.
Good and evil here, of course, are functions of the Ten Commandments, and especially of the Torah of Moses. The transcendental foundation and legal framework of the social contract is the story of the Children of Israel.
The problem arises when some among the Children of Israel do not live according to the spirit of God. What than? One cannot hate the Jews yet embrace their laws. Here lies the internal contradiction: will people prefer to criticize the representation of the modern Jew, or to hold the Jews responsible for other past 'vices', to the point of transgressing the prohibitions set by the very founder of civilization (since it stems from the Jew)?
Or will they criticize the Jew, while humbly acknowledging the need to recognize that the Jew heralded so much to the world?
One way out of this dilemma is a critical theory from the right.
This right-wing critical theory sets aside the caricature of the Jew and asks about the nature of the transcendental moment as shaped by its main interpreters, above all, the Protestants.
It is, in fact, a continuation of the Counter-Reformation: just as socialism arose in response to capitalism, so too the Catholic Counter-Reformation arose in response to the second wave of the Protestant Reformation.
But the problem is, this reactionary moment is not here to bring us closer to God, but only to deconstruct what is seen as the poor historical outcomes of a certain interpretation of good and wrong, that is manipulated by pharisees.
Tucker Carlson is the one that enables this alternative line of thought in America. He makes possible a cultural and historical destabilization that comes not only through criticism of the Jews, but through using the Jews as a vehicle for criticizing the humanist-transcendental moment they themselves announced, by demonstrating that the heralds themselves were often deeply problematic.
In truth, Carlson’s aim is not the Jews, but the monotheistic cultural order itself. Criticism of Jews is simply how to uproot it entirely. This is a form of theological post-colonialism: an attempt to dismantle the Jewish-Protestant heritage in the name of another theological narrative, one that was recast as secular Catholicism in the form of fascism or socialism and ultimately proved unfit for reality.
The problem is that this is not new merchandise. Europe has already produced it, and we all know where it led. The pressing question is whether in America it will lead to the same places. It is an unsettling question. And another: if vengeance and hatred of Jews are so dominant, what becomes possible in their absence? In a world without Jews, there is no one left to blame. A new game of power begins in which anyone can become the “new Jew”, without the transcendental-universal anchor of Moses’ revelation to define good and evil outside the structures of church or state.
This is a process of emptying transcendence itself, in which the Jews are only the convenient tool for the trap of deep heresy against the image of humanity. Against this, we are compelled to say: we stand with the “left”.
The temptation to shake and break the moral image which the jews gave the world was manifested in Adolf Hitler more than all, when he identified the “Jewish invention” of “moral conscience” as the greatest evil ever manifested. That dangerous pull into this form of dark enlightenment should at least be spoken to be what it really is. A world where God is confined to be non-Abrahamic, where there is no room for mistakes, where some may never be forgiven, where love is conditional.
For this, the right-wing critique seeks an external substitute ideal. Seeking to return to the pure world prior to material or spiritual Jew dominance.
There may be many excuses to escape the “liberal matrix”, but truth be told, at least a matrix gives an illusion of freedom, which is preferable to complete enslavement.
[https://www.jfeed.com/analysis/jewish-moral-legacy-america JFeed]
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Iran launches large-scale military exercise in northern Indian Ocean: 'We’re not in a ceasefire now'.
Tehran launches a major two-day military exercise showcasing missile launches, drones and electronic warfare amid heightened tensions with Israel and the U.S. and threats of possible renewed fighting; 'We now have far superior missiles. If the Zionist enemy undertakes another adventure, we’ll use them'.
Lior Ben Ari|08.21.25 | 15:41
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjlj000ekex YNet]
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Hezbollah Under Pressure: Terror Organization Launches Desperate Campaign Against Its Dismantlement.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has launched a campaign against Prime Minister Najaf Salam following his plan to disarm the organization, and warned of a possible social and security crisis.
Yair Amar.
Aug 21, 2025 23:36
https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/hezbollah-lebanon-disarmament
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IDF’s Fatal Mistake: Told Soldiers to ‘Go Back to Sleep’ Hours Before Hamas’s October 7 Attack.
A young soldier’s unheeded warnings in the Gaza Division’s intelligence center on the eve of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack exposed a critical failure in the IDF’s response to mounting threat indicators. The dismissal of alerts, compounded by a flawed threat model and leadership inaction, allowed Hamas to execute a devastating assault.
Eliana Fleming.
Aug 22, 2025 00:50
[https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/idf-october7-warning-failure JFed]
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Huckabee:
'Palestinian state is not a priority for Trump'.
Israel National News.
Aug 22, 2025, 12:16 AM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413671 INN]
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Report:
Israel and Syria to sign security agreement on September 25.
Israel National News.
Aug 22, 2025, 2:43 AM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413674 INN]
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Two Americans arrested on suspicion of photographing sensitive security facility.
Two students from the United States studying in Jerusalem arrested on suspicion of photographing a sensitive security facility at the city's entrance.
Israel National News.
Published: Aug 22, 2025, 4:21 AM (GMT+3)
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413677 INN]
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Hotovely to UK:
Don't tell us where to build in Jerusalem.
Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely fires back after being summoned by the UK Foreign Office over the E1 construction plan: "I wouldn't tell the British where to build in London".
Israel National News.
Aug 22, 2025, 3:54 AM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413676 INN]
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GWU suspends Jewish Voice for Peace over hostile antisemitism.
George Washington University suspends its JVP chapter for antisemitic acts and holding an event on Hitler's birthday.
Israel National News
Aug 22, 2025, 6:14 AM (GMT+3)
George Washington University (GWU) has suspended its campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) ahead of the 2025-26 academic year, JNS reports.
According to information provided to JNS, the university's student conduct history web page was updated in July with new disciplinary resolutions. These resolutions detail two separate infractions by the JVP chapter this past spring.
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413681 INN]
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German court bans keffiyehs in Buchenwald concentration camp.
German court supports Buchenwald management's right to refuse entry to keffiyeh-wearing visitors, stressing site dress requirements.
Israel National News.
Published: Aug 22, 2025, 1:57 PM (GMT+3)
The Supreme Court of the German state of Thuringia rejected an appeal by a woman who was denied entry to the Buchenwald memorial site while wearing a keffiyeh.
The judges ruled that the site's management is permitted to prohibit entry with the Palestinian symbol. The court justified its decision by stating that wearing the keffiyeh at the former concentration camp site "endangers the sense of security of many Jews."
The judges added that, in this case, freedom of expression was outweighed by the memorial's purpose of preserving the memory of the Holocaust.
The woman had requested to participate in the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation but was denied entry due to the keffiyeh. After the rejection, she petitioned the court to participate in another ceremony, but this request was also denied. The ruling is final and not subject to appeal.
The judges concluded that the visitor intended to convey a "clear political message" through the keffiyeh, in contradiction of the site's regulations, which require attire "appropriate for the memorial."
The Buchenwald camp, which operated from 1937 to 1945, imprisoned about 280,000 prisoners and approximately 56,000 people were murdered before its liberation by American forces.
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413700 INN]
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After severing ties, Israel denies entry to Barcelona mayor.
08.22.25.
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hj3q42skex YNet]
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Hamas' goal is to divide Israeli society, collapse government.
Former Hamas insider Musab Hassan Yousuf, known as the 'Green Prince,' warns that partial hostage deals will only prolong Hamas rule, compares Hamas to 'the new Nazis,' and urges world Jewry to unite around Israel.
Yoni Kempinski.
Aug 22, 2025, 3:24 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413661 INN]
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'She deserved to die': US biotech executive sacked after attacking bereaved Jewish father.
Mark Bouyzk, a prominent American biotech entrepreneur, is fired from his company after a video reveals him and his wife hurling antisemitic slurs at their Jewish neighbor, David Lubin, father of a fallen Border Police soldier.
Daniel Edelson, New York|08.22.25 13:19
Dr. Mark Bouyzk, a prominent American biotech scientist, was ousted Friday from the company he founded after a video surfaced showing him and his wife confronting their Jewish neighbor with antisemitic slurs.
[https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/bybdwpbfeg YNet]
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Outrage in France.
French Holiday Village Manager Arrested After Refusing 150 Israeli Children.
A resort director in southwestern France denied entry to 150 Israeli children citing “personal principles.” Authorities intervened, relocating the group safely while opening a discrimination probe.
Yair Kleinbaum.
Aug 22, 2025 04:53
French authorities have arrested the manager of a holiday village in the southwest of France after he refused to host a group of 150 Israeli children aged 8 to 16, despite the group booking their stay well in advance.
The incident took place in the town of Porté-Puymorens, near the French, Spanish, and Andorran borders. According to AFP, the 52-year-old manager, whose name has not been released, told police he blocked the children’s entry due to his “personal principles.”
Investigators detained him on charges of “refusing to provide service or carry out a transaction based on religious discrimination.”
While the man has no prior criminal record, the offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
A French court confirmed Thursday afternoon that “the group of Israeli tourists was safely transferred, under police protection, to another site in the country,” and that a formal investigation is under way.
The case comes amid heightened strains between Israel and France. Earlier this week, Orthodox Jewish families from across Europe vacationing in a resort in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region discovered their cars vandalized with graffiti reading “Free Palestine.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a sharply worded letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, criticizing his plan to recognize a Palestinian state next month.
“I am deeply concerned by the disturbing rise of antisemitism in France and by the lack of decisive action from your government to address it,” Netanyahu wrote. “In recent years, antisemitism has plagued French cities, and since your public statements attacking Israel and signaling recognition of a Palestinian state, it has only increased.”
Paris rejected the criticism. French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad responded: “We do not need lessons on fighting antisemitism.”
[https://www.jfeed.com/news/french-resort-discrimination-israeli-children JFeed]
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Israel doubles tanker fleet to extend Iran reach.
Israel adds 2 Boeing KC-46 tankers to sustain deep strikes in Iran and shorten future battles with Tehran.
Yoav Zitun|08.22.25.
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sj1fi1ukgl YNet]
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‘Distortion of reality': IDF disputes IPC report on Gaza 'famine'.
Military pushes back against a UN-backed report warning of famine in Gaza, dismissing its findings as depending on Hamas reports and biases while presenting data on Israel's extensive humanitarian aid efforts.
Itamar Eichner, Yoav Zitun|08.22.25.
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skt7sthfxl YNet]
PMO Slams IPC: 'Modern blood libel against Israel'.
Prime Minister’s Office launches forceful rebuttal to starvation claims, cites two million tons of aid delivered to Gaza, 'the only ones being intentionally starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages.'
Israel National News.
Published: Aug 22, 2025, 5:42 PM (GMT+3)
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413711 INN]
Will Truth Win Out?
Netanyahu: IPC Report of Gaza Famine "Outright Lie".
Prime Minister Netanyahu released a detailed statement seeking to refute the allegation that there is a famine in the Gaza Strip, specifically in Gaza City.
Avi Woolf
Aug 22, 2025 21:09
([https://images.jfeed.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=2048,quality=75,format=auto/https://images.jfeed.com/2025/08/22/aa88fb80-7f84-11f0-8d26-57d0d601607d__h1600_w1333.jpg].
Price drop of food in the Gaza Strip.
Price drop of food in the Gaza Strip. Photo: PMO).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released the following statement today (Friday) regarding the IPC finding of famine in the Gaza Strip:
"The IPC report is an outright lie.
"Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation.
"Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.
"Today, prices have plunged because of Israel’s surge in humanitarian aid in Gaza. (SEE IMAGE 1.)
"The report says nothing about the collapse in prices.
"The facts:
"101,000 trucks, 2 million tons of aid have entered Gaza facilitated by Israel since October 7 (COGAT, Ministry of Defense).
"Over one ton of aid per person in Gaza (COGAT).
"UN/WFP data (July 2025): Of 1,012 aid trucks collected, only 10 reached warehouses; the rest were looted before distribution.
"Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF): 2.2 million relief packages, equal to 132 million meals.
"Community kitchens (run by NGOs with Israeli facilitation): 86+ kitchens produce 400,000+ hot meals daily for civilians.
"Kerem Shalom Crossing: Journalists saw hundreds of pallets of food left untouched because UN agencies refused to distribute them."
Israel’s Humanitarian Surge.
"Like all previous IPC reports, this one ignores Israel’s humanitarian efforts and Hamas’s systematic theft.
"Hamas steals aid to finance its war machine.
"These were the causes of temporary shortages, which Israel overcame with airdrops, maritime deliveries, safe transport routes, and GHF distribution points manned by American companies.
"Israel has gone to unprecedented lengths to enable aid to go into enemy territory.
"According to John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, no other country at war has gone to such lengths to feed the civilian population in enemy territory.
"The only ones being intentionally starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages."
A Modern Blood Libel.
"Refuting lies always takes longer than inventing them.
"The IPC’s fabrications will soon collapse. We have seen this before — major outlets publishing photos of children with congenital diseases, like cerebral palsy, and falsely blaming Israel for “starvation.”
"This is not analysis. It is a modern blood libel, spreading like wildfire through prejudice. History will judge those who peddle it. The IPC must end its double standards against the Jewish state.
"Israel, will continue to act responsibly, ensuring aid reaches Gaza’s civilians while destroying Hamas’s terror machine.
"The Hamas-orchestrated “starvation campaign” will not deter us from freeing our hostages and eliminating Hamas.
"The civilized world must demand two things: the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages and the truth."
[https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/netanyahu-denies-gaza-famine JFeed]
UN-backed report based on ‘fabricated’ view of Gaza ‘famine,’ Israel says.
“Maybe the over-fed terrorists could share some of their warehouse full they stole with hungry people, especially the hostages,” stated Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Mike Wagenheim.
(Aug. 22, 2025 / JNS)
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a tool associated with some 25 global partners, including U.N. agencies, said on Friday that it confirmed with “reasonable evidence” that there has been “famine” in Gaza since Aug. 15.
[https://www.jns.org/un-backed-report-based-on-fabricated-view-of-gaza-famine-israel-says/ JNS]
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Netanyahu to OAN:
'Hamas starving hostages while media spreads lies'.
Israel National News.
Aug 22, 2025, 11:15 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413719 INN]
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Welcome to 2025
Shocking Antisemitic Attack at Dutch Vacation Resort, 2 Israelis Hospitalized.
Two Israeli tourists were hospitalized after a violent attack at a Dutch vacation resort, allegedly sparked by pro-Palestinian activists targeting “Zionists” on social media.
Gila Isaacson.
Aug 22, 2025 13:16
Two Israeli tourists were hospitalized last night (Thursday) after a violent attack at Center Parcs De Kempervennen, a vacation resort in Westerhoven, Netherlands. The assault targeted a family of five, sparked by pro-Palestinian activists circulating their images on social media.
A few days before the attack, pro-Palestinian activists had posted a secretly filmed video on Instagram and other social media platforms. The montage showed Israeli families on vacation, including children, accompanied by hostile messages: “We see them, Zionists are not welcome in the Netherlands,” read one message in English, as reported by JeanMarcMorandini.
The Instagram account of the group “Students for Justice in Palestine – Amsterdam” shared these images, urging its followers to report the presence of Israeli tourists in the country.
[https://www.jfeed.com/antisemitism/antisemitic-attack-netherlands-resort JFeed]
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Hackers Cripple Over 60 Iranian Oil Tankers in Massive Cyberattack.
Hackers from the group Lab Dookhtegan claim they’ve crippled communications on over 60 Iranian oil and cargo ships, disrupting Tehran’s export lifeline and sparking fears of escalating cyberwar.
Gila Isaacson.
Aug 22, 2025 16:24
[https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/iran-tanker-cyberattack JFeed]
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Trump says fewer than 20 hostages alive in Gaza, families demand transparency.
Ynetnews|08.22.25
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1nclsuygg YNet]
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Houthi terrorists in Yemen fire missile, drone at Israel.
Since the end of the Gaza ceasefire on March 18, the Houthis have fired more than 70 ballistic missiles and over 20 drones at the Jewish state.
JNS Staff.
(Aug. 23, 2025 / JNS)
A ballistic missile launched by Houthi terrorists in Yemen on Friday night likely broke apart mid-air before reaching Israel, the IDF said.
[https://www.jns.org/houthi-terrorists-in-yemen-fire-missile-drone-at-israel/ JNS]
Houthi missile strikes 85-year-old woman's home: 'There was a huge boom, everything exploded'.
Meir Turgeman|08.23.25
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjxrppitlx YNet]
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Israel drops Dutch consul over Gaza war remarks.
Israeli embassy axes Maastricht rep Wesly after Gaza genocide[sic] claim, embassy move protest; cites age, inactivity, backlash
Itamar Eichner|08.23.25
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bybpc4ptle YNet]
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Israel proposes economic buffer zone along Lebanon border amid security talks.
Jerusalem reportedly proposes demilitarized industrial buffer zone on Lebanon border, as Beirut weighs US-brokered security terms, Hezbollah pushes back and Washington prepares new diplomatic mission.
Lior Ben Ari|08.23.25
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bysefsdtxx YNet]
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Lieutenant Ori Gerlic, 20, fell in battle in Gaza.
Platoon commander Lieutenant Ori Gerlic, 20, fell in battle in southern Gaza, IDF announces.
Israel National News.
Aug 23, 2025, 9:05 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413730 INN]
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Four IDF brigades maneuvering near Gaza City.
Israel National News.
Aug 23, 2025, 10:23 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413734 INN]
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==Further reading==
==Further reading==