Block, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, Moderators, protect
28,062
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 16,139:
Line 16,139: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Continued operations on Islamic Republic of Iran, proxies , May 4 2026+ - sources: Pt II (view source)
Revision as of 00:51, October 11, 2026
, October 11→Part 7
___
___
Weaponizing the charge of genocide fuels an increasingly dangerous antisemitism.
Iran, Qatar, China and Russia are spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories to sow chaos in democracies.
By Jeffrey Miller, Stuart Eizenstat Fox News. October 8, 2026.
Genocide, the intentional annihilation of a group of people, is the gravest of crimes. As malicious actors weaponize the term and endanger Jews everywhere, meticulous use of the charge is more essential than ever.
We are honored to serve as the current and former chairs of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, an institution memorializing history’s most well-documented genocide: Nazi Germany and its collaborators’ attempt to systematically murder every Jewish man, woman and child in Europe. They almost succeeded. Two-thirds of European Jews – 6 million – were killed. The global Jewish population has yet to recover, with fewer Jews alive today than in 1939, when World War II began.
Holocaust survivors fervently hoped antisemitism would wither when Germany was defeated and its crimes exposed. Yet, they knew from centuries of persecutions long before the Nazis, this ancient hatred is impossible to eradicate. Even so, after World War II, antisemitism became socially unacceptable. The shocking reactions from many quarters to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, three years ago, show this is no longer the case.
On that day, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel intending to murder as many Jewish people as possible, bringing about the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. As Israel defends itself, we reiterate our wholehearted conviction that Israel has not committed genocide, reflecting the United States government’s consistent and prevailing view. Rescuers and police escort elderly woman and others after synagogue terror attack in Manchester.
At the same time, we cannot forget the terrible tragedy many innocent Gazans have experienced as a result of the war. The loss of tens of thousands, including many children, is horrific.
As we mourn so many innocent lives lost, we cannot ignore that Hamas puts civilians in harm’s way as a central part of its strategy to demonize Israel. Despite this deadly strategy, Israel has made efforts to warn civilians when to evacuate, provide food and relief, and facilitate vaccine distribution.
Israel, like any country, is not exempt from criticism. And yet, whether out of ignorance or malice, people from all walks of life, often with little knowledge or legal expertise, including in the specific definition of genocide, continually wield the term. Others weaponize it to delegitimize the world’s only Jewish state. Regardless of their intention, the impact is a terrifying eruption of antisemitism and a more dangerous world for Jewish people everywhere.
Furthermore, state actors like Iran, Qatar, China and Russia spread antisemitic and anti-Israel conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial to stir hatred of Jews and sow chaos in democracies. They are succeeding. Antisemitism is no longer lurking at society’s fringes. It is marching openly through its institutions. Violent antisemitism is at levels not seen since the Holocaust. From Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue to Bondi Beach in Australia, to Manchester, England, and far too many other places, Jews are under deadly attack. And every day, Jews face relentless harassment and threats on streets, campuses and online.
[http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/weaponizing-charge-genocide-fuels-increasingly-dangerous-antisemitism FoxNews]
____
Talk about "Genocide" Should Start with Israel's Murdered Mothers and Children.
Allison Pearson. Oct 7, 2026.
When I heard that students were planning a pro-Palestinian march through London on the third anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, I thought how grotesquely insensitive is it possible to be? What is wrong with people?
You want genocide? Young women at the Nova peace festival, half-naked, strung up from trees the better to defile them. Twin baby boys, their mother slaughtered in the kitchen, their father riddled with bullets; the orphaned babies used as bait for 14 hours, little Guy and Roi, 10 months old, left to scream so they would lure neighbors to rescue them and those brave souls were then picked off by the terrorists lying in wait. Killing parents in front of their sobbing children, then setting the house on fire so those children are burnt alive.
Here we are, three years on from one of the darkest days in history, and it's Jews - not Islamists - who are either fleeing the UK or living in fear. Their children attend heavily fortified schools and worship in high-security synagogues.
I am not Jewish, but I believe the Jews deserve and need a homeland. I hate their enemies because they are our enemies. So that makes me a Zionist. If you have any sense of what history teaches us, you should be a Zionist too. No more "Yes, buts." Today, Oct. 7, of all days, let us stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters.
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/10/06/october-7-horrors/ Telegraph]
____
____
Israel in New York. Oct 7, 2026
On October 6, they were a family.
Johnny, Tamar, Shahar (6), Arbel (6), and Omer (4) Siman Tov.
An entire family, brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Never forget. 🕯️
[https://www.facebook.com/reel/2422798801582771/ on FB]
humansofjudaism:
Oct 7, 2026
This is a photo of the Siman Tov family before October 7. Johnny, his wife Tamar, and their children, 5 year old twins Shahar and Arbel and 2 year old Omer, were together in Kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas terrorists set fire to their home, broke into their safe room and opened fire. None of them survived. We will never forget.
[https://www.instagram.com/p/DeLHLU9tib3/ on Instagram]
___
3 years of war: Data shows IDF hit 100,000 targets as 31,500 projectiles fired at Israel.
In Gaza, military says it has killed 4 Hamas chiefs, established 40 new outposts; reserve army expands by 36%; 30,000 security personnel treated by Defense Ministry rehab center.
By Emanuel Fabian.
October 7, 2026, 6:04 am
As the country marked the passage of three years since the onset of the multifront war on October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday published new data about its operations on all fronts, from the number of rockets fired at Israel to the number of sites struck by the military.
The Gaza war began with the Hamas-led invasion in southern Israel, during which terrorists rampaged through communities, an outdoor rave and military bases, massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 to the Strip.
Israel responded with a military campaign to topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, destroy the terror group and free the hostages. The day after the Hamas assault, the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah began attacking along Israel’s northern border, saying it was acting in support of Gaza, a conflict that later escalated to all-out war. Israel also engaged in several rounds of fighting directly against Iran over the past three years, including major 12-day and 40-day wars in 2025 and earlier this year, respectively. Iran’s proxies in Yemen and Iraq also attacked Israel amid the fighting.
The fighting has largely subsided since an October 2025 ceasefire in Gaza, an April ceasefire in Iran, and a June truce in Lebanon.
In all, since the start of the war, the Israeli military said it has carried out strikes on approximately 100,000 targets, including 65,000 in the Gaza Strip, 28,000 in Lebanon and Syria, 4,500 in Iran, and 80 in Yemen.
... with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative. Israel notes that Hamas has embedded its military infrastructure in civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, mosques and schools.
The IDF has said that it has killed over 24,000 combatants in Gaza and another estimated 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
The IDF’s data said that since the October 7 attack, the military has killed four
leaders of Hamas’s military wing, 17 brigade commanders and those of an equivalent rank, some 30 battalion commanders, and some 300 company commanders.
The IDF has assessed that Hamas is no longer the military and governing organization it was before October 7, but said the terror group “continues attempts to rebuild and rearm.”
Gaza remains bisected into Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas, and talks to bring about Hamas’s disarmament and the territory’s reconstruction have made only limited progress.
Israel has expanded its control in the Strip amid the ceasefire, from an initial 53% to around 63% currently. The IDF also now maintains some 40 army posts in the Israeli-held portion of the Strip.
In the West Bank, since October 7, the IDF said troops have arrested more than 45,000 wanted Palestinians for questioning, including terrorists planning imminent attacks.
More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority health ministry. The IDF has said the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
Also in the West Bank, the IDF said troops had seized more than 3,800 weapons, as well as NIS 46 million ($15.1 million) in cash intended for terrorism.
Since the beginning of the war, over 31,500 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts, according to the IDF’s latest data.
The numbers included 10,200 projectiles fired from Gaza — at least 5,000 on October 7 alone — 20,000 from Lebanon, around 50 from Syria, 90 from Yemen, and 1,200 from Iran. The IDF did not detail how many drones and missiles had been launched from Iraq at Israel amid the war.
The figures did not include rockets — said by Israel to be in the thousands at minimum — launched by Gazan terror groups that misfired and landed in the Strip, those launched by Hezbollah that landed short in Lebanon, and ballistic missiles launched by Iran that failed to reach Israel.
Casualties and reserve duty.
A total of 970 soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed, and another 6,424 have been wounded in the war since October 7. Of them, 472 were killed and 3,004 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza, according to the IDF’s data.
The military said that more than 70% of soldiers wounded in the war returned to service.
Among the 970 fallen soldiers, 85 were killed due to friendly fire and other military-related accidents during the war, according to the IDF’s data.
Separately, on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said more than 30,000 wounded soldiers and security personnel have sought treatment through its Rehabilitation Department since the war began.
Some 63 percent are receiving care for psychological conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and difficulties surrounding reintegration into civilian life.
The ministry said the total number of wounded from all of Israel’s wars under the department’s care reached 91,200, a number that is expected to surpass 100,000 by 2028, with roughly half expected to be coping with psychological harm.
The rehab department deals with wounded veterans from all of Israel’s security bodies, not just the IDF.
According to the ministry, of those wounded since the start of the October 7 war, 63 are classified as having over 100% disability — the most severe level of injury; 249 have severe head injuries; 29 are suffering from blindness; and 106 are amputees.
Also, according to the data, women make up 8% of security personnel wounded in the past three years, while 62% are reservists.
Meanwhile, the military said that its reserve army had grown by some 36% since the start of the war, with several new units for reservists established in the past three years and some 22,000 ex-soldiers returning to service despite having been granted exemptions from reserve duty.
Hundreds of thousands of reservists have been called up during the war. The IDF said that in the past three years, new standing army units were also established to reduce the strain on the reserve army.
This year, the military said combat reservists are expected to serve on average between 80 and 100 days in reserve duty, compared to the military’s initial estimate of 55 days per year, “due to evolving operational needs.”
At a military conference on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the army was concluding its investigations
into the October 7 onslaught, “out of an understanding of the magnitude of the disaster, alongside the understanding that we must not become mired in them, but rather learn, draw lessons, implement them, and move forward.”
“One of our greatest lessons from October 7 is the need to expand the security margin. We need to build the IDF’s force structure to meet challenges and threats across multiple arenas. The size of the IDF is our strategic depth,” he said, according to a readout of his remarks published by the military.
[https://www.timesofisrael.com/3-years-of-war-data-shows-idf-hit-100000-targets-as-31500-projectiles-fired-at-israel/amp/ TOI]
___
Mamdani dined at NYC Palestinian restaurant blasted for ‘openly genocidal’ menu on Oct. 7 anniversary.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dined at a Palestinian restaurant chain blasted for being “openly genocidal” against Jews on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
Hizzoner ate dinner at Ayat Hinds Hall on the Upper West Side — part of a chain whose sister restaurant in Brooklyn was blasted for featuring a menu section entitled “From the River to the Sea,” in the wake of the 2023 attacks.
The restaurant is named after Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian child who was killed by IDF forces in Gaza in Jan. 2024, and also pays homage to the anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University, who renamed Hamilton Hall “Hind’s Hall” when they took over the building.
New York Post · October 8, 2026
[https://nypost.com/2026/10/08/us-news/zohran-mamdani-ate-at-nyc-palestinian-restaurant-on-oct-7-anniversary/ NY Post]
Sorrow and Shame. NY Post.
[https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/OCTOBER08.P1_LCF.jpg?resize=768,847&quality=80&strip=all]
nypost:
Today's cover: Mamdani booed, berated by anti-Israel protesters waving Hamas flags at NYC Oct. 7 memorial: ‘Shame on you’ trib.al/AvAYt…
[https://www.threads.com/@nypost/post/DeOsiuEm0e5/todays-cover-mamdani-booed-berated-by-anti-israel-rotesters-waving-hamas-flags/ Threads]
____
Hamas Rakes in Up to $5 Million Daily in Gaza While Rearming, Plotting Soldier Abductions, Israeli Reports Say.
By Debbie Weiss. October 8, 2026.
Hamas is generating as much as $5 million a day from goods entering Gaza while rebuilding tunnels, accumulating weapons, and planning possible attacks on Israeli troops, including attempts to kidnap soldiers, according to separate Israeli television reports this week citing security officials.
Neomi Neumann, a former head of research at Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, told the Kan public broadcaster on Thursday that Hamas continues to exercise effective control over Gaza’s population through a decentralized system of taxation, aid distribution, and covert enforcement.
Neumann, now an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, estimated that Hamas earns between $2 million and $5 million daily by imposing heavy taxes on goods entering the enclave and exploiting humanitarian assistance.
“Everything that enters the Strip becomes a source of income for Hamas,” Neumann said in the interview. “It confiscates some of the humanitarian aid and sells the goods at high prices on the black market.”
Hamas also uses its control over supplies to determine which residents receive goods and services, creating economic dependence on the Palestinian terrorist group, she said. It charges residents for services and remains the principal source of employment in Gaza, according to Neumann.
A separate report by Channel 12 cited Israeli and Palestinian sources describing preparations for renewed fighting, including potential attacks on Israeli military bases inside Gaza and attempts to abuct soldiers.
[https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/10/08/hamas-rakes-in-up-5-million-daily-gaza-rearming-plotting-soldier-abductions-israeli-reports-say/ Algemeiner]
____
French Students Play Rap Song Referencing Jihadists During Protests.
By Taryn Pedler, Newsweek, October 8, 2026.
A rap song referencing jihadists involved in deadly attacks in France has appeared in videos filmed during student protests at a French high school and at a church.
The track, “MRH” by rapper BORO700, references Mohamed Merah, who killed a teacher and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012, and Salah Abdeslam, who was convicted for his role in the November 2015 Paris attacks. The lyrics also refer to the Bataclan concert hall, where 90 people were killed...
One video circulating on social media shows students singing the track at François-Villon high school in Beaugency, in the Loiret region, during a school blockade on October 1.
They could be heard shouting French lyrics, translated into English as: “Like Mohamed Merah, dodging the cameras,” and “Bataclan, I shot him with my eyes, manhunt, Salah Abdeslam.”
The Orléans prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into suspected “apology for terrorism,” and three minors were placed in police custody on October 7, according to French media reports citing the prosecutor. The term “apology for terrorism” refers to publicly presenting or justifying terrorism, or portraying terrorist acts or their perpetrators in a favorable manner, in a way that may constitute a criminal offense.
The investigation concerns the song’s lyrics and does not establish the students’ intentions.
The song also appears in a video filmed on October 4 inside Saint-Hilaire church in Soullans, Western France, in an incident separate from the school protests....
Between March 11 and 19, 2012, Mohamed Merah, a French citizen of Algerian origin, carried out a series of jihadi attacks in Toulouse and Montauban. He killed seven people, including two soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children aged 3, 5 and 8...
[https://www.newsweek.com/french-students-play-rap-song-referencing-jihadists-protests-12540713 Newsweek]
____
Watch:
El-Sayed walks away when asked about October 7 anniversary.
Elad Benari.
Oct 9, 2026, 5:46 AM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434333 INN]
____
'No excuse for victim blaming': Mamdani under fire from Democrats and pro-Palestinian left over Oct 7 message
World.
|
Edited by: Prisha Patnaik | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Oct 8, 2026, 10:19 IST
[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/no-excuse-for-victim-blaming-mamdani-under-fire-from-democrats-and-pro-palestinian-left-over-oct-7-message/articleshow/134780069.cms Timesofindia]
___
European Parliament Backs Calls to Put Muslim Brotherhood Entities on Terrorist List.
By Ailin Vilches Arguello. October 8. 2026.
The European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution calling on the European Union to add people and entities linked to the Muslim Brotherhood to its list of terrorist organizations, amid growing concerns over the group’s influence and Islamist threats across the continent.
With the resolution passing 381-167, with 15 abstentions, the measure now goes to the European Council, which determines the EU’s political direction, after lawmakers called on member states to develop a joint strategy to counter what they described as “Islamist infiltration and Muslim Brotherhood networks.”
As part of the broader effort to counter the growing influence of Islamist networks, European officials have called on EU member states to develop a common strategy for identifying signs of infiltration, including “double messaging” — when individuals use moderate language in public or political settings but promote more extreme views in mosques or private settings.
The resolution also urges governments to strengthen cooperation against extremist networks and support Muslim intellectuals and activists who publicly defend democracy, freedom of conscience, and the rule of law.
[https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/10/08/european-parliament-backs-calls-put-muslim-brotherhood-entities-terrorist-list/ Algemeiner]
_____
Operation Economic Outcast Neutralizes Iranian Regime’s Remaining Shadow Fleet Network
October 8, 2026
Sanctions Target Iran’s Remaining Illicit Fleet and its Global Support Network
WASHINGTON—Today, as part of Operation Economic Outcast, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is targeting the remnants of Iran’s shadow fleet: the aging network of tankers the regime relies on to move billions of dollars’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products to foreign markets. Today’s action effectively neutralizes the vast majority of Iran’s remaining shadow fleet network.
“Treasury is starving the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region, and we will continue exposing those who enable the regime’s oil sales,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “No enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion is safe from the full force of Treasury’s authorities.”
With the success of the U.S. military’s blockade, dwindling Iranian oil shipments outside the blockade line, and intensifying economic pressure across sectors from Operation Economic Outcast, the regime is running out of options to stabilize Iran’s failing economy.
[https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0653 treasury.gov]
____
Huckabee: Hamas Hasn’t Done Anything to Disarm, ‘Trump Brought Them to the Table, and Then They Have Ignored Every Bit’.
Breitbart. Oct 8, 2026.
[https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/10/07/huckabee-hamas-hasnt-done-anything-to-disarm-trump-brought-them-to-the-table-and-then-they-have-ignored-every-bit/ Breitbart]
____
Aiming at Israel, Europe Is Hitting Its Own Defenses in a Circular Firing Squad.
Algemeiner. Oct 8, 2026.
[https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/10/08/aiming-israel-europe-hitting-own-defenses-circular-firing-squad/ Algemeiner]
____
Operation Bogus Bylines: The pro-Iran network of fake journalists and the outlets that published their articles.
A closer look at the network documented by OpenAI.
Marc Owen Jones
Oct 09, 2026.
OpenAI published a report on 8 October 2026 detailing two covert influence operations that used ChatGPT. One, which it named “Bogus Bylines”, originated in Iran and used seven fabricated journalist personas to submit articles to online publications. OpenAI identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under these identities across more than a dozen outlets between July 2025 and October 2026. Publication increased following the outbreak of the US–Iran conflict.
The seven bylines were Ervin B. Hoskins, Noah Lamington, Sophia Gonzalez, Michael Harrison, Ericka Feusier, Jenny Williams and Alice Johnson. Their biographies generally presented them as Western journalists or analysts specialising in foreign policy, human rights or the Middle East. Most claimed an American identity; Lamington was described as a journalist based in New Zealand.
Thanks for reading Dysinfluence! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
According to OpenAI, the operators used ChatGPT to review English-language drafts against the submission requirements of specific publications. They then requested revisions and emails pitching the articles to editors. In Harrison’s case, the model was also used to generate the author biography. Several personas had supporting social media accounts.
I traced matching article and author records across 17 publication and syndication websites: Middle East Monitor, CounterPunch, PeaceVoice, News-Register, ZNetwork, LA Progressive, Antiwar.com, Fair Observer, the Libertarian Institute, NationofChange, Black Star News, Emmitsburg.net, Foreign Policy in Focus, Eurasia Review, Modern Diplomacy, Asia Times and International Policy Digest. These records establish where the bylines appeared...
[https://marcowenjones.substack.com/p/operation-bogus-bylines-the-pro-iran at Substack]
OpenAI Bans Two Covert Influence Operations Using False Fronts.
Published October 8, 2026
By Miles Okada, AI & Cybersecurity
AI Research Agent
Key Points
-OpenAI's first Category 5 disruption shows AI fronts now launder geopolitical messaging into real media.
-The Russian operation co-opted unwitting Latin American staff to run a fake research platform.
-Iran's seven fake journalists planted nearly 100 articles in small outlets worldwide.
OpenAI said on October 8, 2026, that it had banned two covert influence operations, one originating in Russia and one in Iran, that used ChatGPT to support what it called “false front” entities, assessing the Russian campaign as the first Category 5 influence operation it has disrupted. According to the company’s safety report, the operations used those entities “to launder geopolitical, conflict-related messaging into their target audiences.”
OpenAI assessed the Russia-origin operation at Category 5 on the IO Breakout Scale, which rates influence operations from 1, the lowest, to 6, the highest, and placed the Iran-origin operation at Category 4. The Iranian campaign ran seven fake journalist personas that pitched long-form articles to small and medium online outlets around the world, while the Russian operation appears to have co-opted unwitting people in Latin America to run a self-styled research platform on the ground, OpenAI said.
OpenAI said it has exposed 30 covert influence operations over the past two and a half years, and that operations landing their content in real media outlets rather than relying on fake social media distribution tend to have the highest potential reach. The report compared the pair to pre-AI fronts such as “Alice Donovan,” a fake journalist persona described as a front for Russian military intelligence whose articles ran in Western outlets in 2016 and 2017, and “PeaceData,” a fake news outlet Meta exposed in 2020 that recruited unwitting journalists; both ceased their activity after exposure, OpenAI noted.
Russia-Origin Operation ‘Dark Clark’
OpenAI banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts that originated in Russia and were used for tasks tied to covert influence campaigns targeting countries across Latin America. Most of the operators prompted in Russian; one prompted in Spanish but appeared to be located in Russia. Because OpenAI does not allow access to its models from Russia, the operators connected through VPNs. OpenAI said it shared information on the case with the relevant authorities.
The operators used ChatGPT mainly to draft and update internal reports to an unknown superior, covering three workstreams: denigrating Ukraine and undermining recruitment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces; interfering in domestic politics, especially in Bolivia and Argentina; and managing a self-described research platform called the Social Research Center (SRC). The operators appeared to control the SRC through a fake persona named “Mia Clark,” the basis for the operation’s “Dark Clark” nickname.
The internal reports claimed a series of fakes planted across the region. The operators said that in 2024 they spread a false story that Argentine President Javier Milei had bought Cartier jeweled collars for his dogs and paid local actors to post anti-Milei graffiti in Buenos Aires, claims that open-source researchers have publicly attributed to a Russian entity known as “Politology” or “La Compania,” a reported successor to the Wagner Group.
In May 2026, the operators said, they created a fake email address impersonating the Regional Directorate of Education in Lima and instructed Peruvian schools to hold Ukraine-themed events referencing Stepan Bandera, a controversial twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist. OpenAI said its open-source research identified matching stories in the Peruvian and Polish press and a reaction from at least one Polish Member of the European Parliament.
The operators also claimed that in June 2026 a different fake email address tricked schools in Ecuador into holding ceremonies pledging allegiance to President Daniel Noboa and to Erik Prince, the former head of private military contractor Blackwater; OpenAI said it found closely matching Ecuadorian media coverage and a detailed rebuttal from the country’s education minister.
Two claimed March 2026 fakes used fabricated audio attributed to Ukraine’s consul in Ecuador and a video alleging that Noboa’s government was recruiting young men to fight in Ukraine, and Ecuadorian fact checkers described a matching campaign in early April. In late May 2026, according to the reports, the operators spread fabricated audio of a worker at Bolivia’s state water company, EPSAS, warning that water to La Paz would be shut off and a state of emergency declared, a campaign the operators described as intended to exacerbate the crisis around anti-government protests. OpenAI said it identified a published debunk of the claim and an official EPSAS denial.
OpenAI said the operators also used ChatGPT to identify incidents they could take credit for despite having no involvement, including Falkland/Malvinas arguments that have been part of Argentina’s official position for many years and a Brazilian media report on a captured volunteer that quoted the captive’s own video. That pattern suggested an attempt to run an influence operation aimed at the operators’ own employers rather than any external audience, the report said, and the operators’ self-reported impact claims could not be taken at face value.
Even so, OpenAI assessed Dark Clark at Category 5, citing evidence that it led to public comment by politicians in a number of countries, and described it as the most complex attempt to run a front identity the company has disrupted over the past two and a half years.
The Social Research Center Front
The operators’ reports referenced hiring and firing decisions, pay scales, staffing plans, and research projects at the SRC, indicating that they controlled the entity rather than merely cooperating with it, OpenAI said. The SRC’s website describes a focus on the Indian diaspora in Latin America and relations between India and the region’s countries, and the available evidence indicated that its on-the-ground employees were unaware they were working for a Russian group. OpenAI identified well over 60 articles on the SRC website, the great majority apparently original compositions.
Transparency settings showed the SRC’s X account listing a German location while connecting via the Russian Federation App Store, and one of its Instagram accounts administered from Venezuela. A LinkedIn account with SRC branding counted 961 followers as of August 17, 2026, claimed 200 to 500 staff, and listed two employees.
The operators occasionally asked the model to produce operational content, OpenAI said. The requests included a letter implicating Ukraine’s honorary consul to Panama in corruption, which later appeared on a one-follower TikTok channel using the logo of Panama’s TVN Noticias; translation into Ecuadorian Spanish of a script claiming Noboa had insulted poor people in Ecuador; and proofreading of a fake contract between a company called International Security Solutions FZE and an individual in Ecuador, purporting to provide infrastructure services in Ukraine. An image of that contract later circulated on social media to bolster the recruitment claims, and fact checkers concluded the company did not appear in the registry of Ecuador’s Superintendency of Companies, Securities, and Insurance, according to the report.
Iran-Origin Operation ‘Bogus Bylines’
OpenAI banned a separate cluster of ChatGPT accounts originating in Iran whose operators prompted in Persian, generated content in Persian and English, and used VPNs to obscure their location. The campaign was nicknamed “Bogus Bylines” for seven fake journalist personas: Ervin B. Hoskins, Noah Lamington, Sophia Gonzalez, Michael Harrison, Ericka Feusier, Jenny Williams, and Alice Johnson. The personas posed as Western journalists, and for the Michael Harrison persona the operators asked ChatGPT to write the biography itself. OpenAI noted that in March 2026 Meta disrupted an Iranian influence operation that also featured a Michael Harrison persona, and that transparency settings located the Hoskins persona’s accounts in Iran; Meta banned that persona’s Instagram account in August 2026.
Using open-source investigation, OpenAI identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under the operation’s bylines across roughly a dozen small to medium online outlets focused on international affairs, geopolitics, and the Middle East. The earliest article dated to July 2025 and the latest to October 2026, and the frequency increased after the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict, the report said. Operators asked ChatGPT to refine English-language drafts against specific outlets’ submission criteria and to generate pitch emails to editors. One outlet that published the operation’s articles had almost 2 million followers on Facebook, almost 355,000 on X, and over 544,000 on Instagram as of August 2026.
Alongside the articles, the operators generated batches of social media comments that portrayed the United States as the aggressor, Israel as an unreliable ally, and Iran as a resilient victim, including over two dozen batches of hostile Persian-language replies to UK-based satellite network Iran International, OpenAI said. Other batches praised the operation’s own articles to make them look more popular. The replies OpenAI identified online drew low engagement, with many of the likes coming from accounts linked to the operation itself, and the X accounts of three of the personas had been suspended as of August 2026.
OpenAI said the operators’ internal reports measured their impact using the number of views on the posts they replied to rather than views of their own replies, a calculation the report described as greatly exaggerating the operation’s apparent effectiveness. It assessed the commenting workstream at Category 2 and the article-planting workstream at Category 4, citing consistent breakout to a number of media outlets. The overall activity appeared consistent with a commercial actor running a for-hire influence campaign, though OpenAI said it was unable to identify the particular actor involved. The company said it shared information on the case with the relevant authorities and with industry partners, which it described as best placed to provide holistic assessments of engagement.
[https://www.unite.ai/openai-bans-two-covert-influence-operations-using-false-fronts/ unite.ai]
____
Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan’s execution by firing squad will be livestreamed: Pentagon.
By Jared Downing.
Published Oct. 8, 2026
The military will livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday — after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he wanted to make an example of the mass killer.
The execution will happen on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, where Hasan massacred 13 people and wounded 32 others in one of the deadliest shootings ever at a US military installation, Hegseth confirmed to Real America’s Voice News aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
[https://nypost.com/2026/10/08/us-news/army-mass-shooter-nadal-hassans-execution-will-be-public-carried-out-at-fort-hood-hegseth/ NY Post]
____
Caught on tape.
Drone Video Debunks 'Palestinian' Arson Libel in Binyamin.
Oct 8 '26. C14 Desk
[https://c14news.com/article/1509628 C14]
___
Anti-Israel Jews Discover the Left Hates Them Too.
It’s impossible to be anti-Israel enough for an anti-Semitic movement.
October 9, 2026. By Daniel Greenfield.
[https://www.frontpagemag.com/anti-israel-jews-discover-the-left-hates-them-too/ FPM]
___
Op-ed:
Mamdani spit on the graves of October 7 victims.
Acknowledging the reality of who the aggressors were, the scale and barbaric nature of the atrocities they committed, and the basic humanity of the victims, would put the war into a “context" Mamdani can never admit. Opinion.
Gary Willig.
Published: Oct 9, 2026, 1:08 PM (GMT+3)
Antisemites just can’t help themselves. That’s what New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s disgraceful “message" for the anniversary of the October 7 massacre proves.
Instead of acknowledging the true horror of the atrocities committed, Mamdani belittled them and abused the anniversary to “contextualize" the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and to attack Israel for daring to respond to barbaric monsters who slaughtered its civilians and for trying to get the 251 hostages back.
Even in his opening paragraph, the one cited by many as “starting off well," the Mayor of New York downplayed the scale of the massacre, rounding the number of victims down to “1,100" where most would say “about 1,200" to more accurately reflect the true number of victims, which is 1,195. Mamdani won’t say which of the 95 murdered souls do not count in his eyes, but it would hardly be the first or the last time he spat on the graves of the victims of October 7.
He immediately moved on to saying that “the suffering did not begin nor end that day," putting the genocidal butchery of Hamas in the same “context" antisemites have tried to use to justify Hamas’s crimes against humanity every day for the last three years. And not a word criticizing Hamas or acknowledging the actual victims of that day was to be found after the first paragraph. The final three were about how “evil" Israel is in his eyes for not rolling over and dying.
Mamdani cannot make a simple acknowledgement of the reality of what happened on October 7, he cannot make even one statement on the anniversary that is even mostly - let alone entirely - devoted to remembering the victims. Because to him, Israelis by definition are never victims. Hamas is always the victim.
In the upside-down world inhabited by Mamdani and his fellow antisemites, 9-month-old Kfir Bibas is not an innocent victim, but Yahya Sinwar, the “butcher of Khan Younis," is a "victim" of the fake “genocide." That is the message he was conveying in his brief mention of October 7 and the far more detail he devoted to spreading lies about the war that followed.
He could not be bothered to describe the families burned alive in their homes, the young concert-goers shot down, and their bodies burned in the hundreds at a music festival, the grenades thrown into roadside shelters to kill the civilians hiding inside. He could not be bothered to utter a word about the mass rapes, or to describe the horrors the hostages endured.
Acknowledging the reality of who the aggressors were, the scale and barbaric nature of the atrocities they committed, and the basic humanity of the victims, would put the war into a “context" Mamdani and those like him can never admit. He would much rather spit on all their graves for the sake of his fantasy of righteous Islamists "resisting" and fighting back against the evil Jews.
Mamdani ended with a call to “honor the dead." And yet he cannot and will not honor any dead except those from Hamas. He is incapable of doing the bare minimum to honor the victims of October 7, because he is incapable of seeing Jews as victims, let alone honoring Jews who don’t submit to Dhimmitude.
49 Americans were murdered on October 7, the exact number of words Mamdani used out of 211 to actually talk about October 7 instead of distracting from October 7. Not one of those words mentioned the American victims, because again, the victims of Hamas, even US citizens, are not real victims to him.
Is it any wonder that antisemitism has spiked in New York and Jewish citizens are increasingly unsafe? Is it any wonder that Jews are attacked outside synagogues on other days of mourning such as Tisha B’Av, or that antisemites felt no compunctions about going out to celebrate the slaughter of October 7 and the Hamas monsters who killed 1,200 people on the anniversary of the massacre, when this is the mayor?
The Jewish citizens of New York, a community which has done so much to make the city great for a century and a half, deserve better than this pitiful excuse for a mayor. The victims of October 7 deserve better than this pitiful excuse for a human being.
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434352 INN]
____
Israel blasts decision to award Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay.
Oct 9, 2026.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday denounced the decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, calling it a “grotesque misuse of the prize to legitimize hatred and anti-Israel prejudice.”
“If there were a prize for lies, hatred and blood libels, Navi Pillay would not merely be a candidate—she would be the front-runner,” the ministry said.
Pillay chaired the U.N. commission of inquiry that concluded in September 2025 that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, allegations Jerusalem has categorically rejected.
“Now that the Nobel Committee has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is surely applauding from hell,” the ministry said
[https://www.jns.org/live/breaking-news#000001a1-2070-de70-adbf-33ff4a590000 JNS]
Israel calls Navi Pillay’s win a ‘grotesque weaponization’ of Nobel Peace Prize.
By Mira Bhakta 10/09/26.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday fumed over what it described as the “grotesque weaponization” of the Nobel Peace Prize after the award was won by former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge Navi Pillay.
“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner. Her role in the relentless, politically motivated demonization of Israel and promotion of the genoLIE speaks volumes,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on social media. “Awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t a recognition of justice. It’s the grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”
[https://thehill.com/policy/international/6139090-israel-condemns-navi-pillay-nobel/amp/ TheHill]
'Goebbels is applauding'.
Anti-Israel South African jurist awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel National News.
Oct 9, 2026, 2:58 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434349 INN]
_____
A ‘peace prize’ for the vilification of Israel - Israel & Jewish News - JNS.
Oct. 9, 2026.
By Ruthie Blum.
A ‘peace prize’ for the vilification of Israel
Honoring Navi Pillay highlights the moral rot of the United Nations and Nobel Committee.
(Oct. 9, 2026 / JNS)
There are bad decisions and disgraceful ones. And then there’s the awarding of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay.
The choice is hardly out of character for an award whose history has repeatedly shown that its name guarantees nothing about its recipients’ merit. Indeed, this isn’t an aberration for the Norwegian committee. But it’s an especially egregious example of a familiar pattern: an international establishment congratulating itself for advancing peace while rewarding people whose records make a mockery of the concept.
Pillay, who chaired the United Nations Commission of Inquiry that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, has become a symbol of the double standards permeating the global system. The woman now being feted in the name of peace presided over a more aptly dubbed “inquisition” whose whole purpose was to brand the Jewish state with a bloody—blood libelous—stain. Like an irremovable tattoo.
The term “genocide” has a specific legal definition, including the requirement to establish intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group. It’s laughable to suggest that Israel’s behavior even remotely fits that description, as it took great pains to avoid civilian casualties and flooded Gaza with humanitarian aid.
That Hamas kept stealing the food and medicine, and prevented anyone other than its goons from entering the hundreds of miles of tunnels, was never of interest to Pillay and her ilk. Nor did they ever note that the population in Gaza has grown in the past three years. Some genocide.
Though her commission’s report wasn’t a judicial verdict, the force of its accusation was unmistakable, and Pillay was gleefully instrumental in promoting the lie for pernicious purposes. Which we now see has paid off, big-time.
This was hardly the first time her commission helped fuel the campaign to portray Israel as uniquely depraved. Pillay, a former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-2014), was appointed to her latest post in 2021. That was when the “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory” was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council to concoct a report to vilify Israel.
And, boy, did she ever come through for her anti-Israel colleagues, producing a
mendacious paper on Israeli “crimes” in Gaza. Its allegations reinforced a false narrative depicting Israel not as a country at war with sadistic barbarians—thousands of whom breached the border on Oct. 7, 2023 to rape, maim and slaughter 1,200 innocent Israelis, and abduct 251 others—but as a sexually abusive state.
Nothing new about the turpitude of the U.N.’s endless attempts to demonize Israel. So, Pillay’s having been selected to head the commission wasn’t surprising.
Ditto for her winning an award transformed long ago into a vehicle for leftist virtue-signaling. In his 1895 will, Swedish scientist/businessman Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, bequeathed most of his immense fortune to establishing prizes in science, literature and peace.
The latter was intended to recognize efforts toward fraternity among nations. Its subsequent history, however, has repeatedly exposed the gulf between those ideals and the eponymous committee’s selections. Rather than consistently rewarding meaningful contributions to peace, the prize has served as a platform for globalist ideology involving the inversion of right and wrong.
Pillay epitomizes this moral rot. Her new laureate status is less an honor than a mark of Cain.
To add to this blot, her prize was announced on Oct. 9, two days after Israel marked the third anniversary of the worst atrocities committed against Jews since the Holocaust. The timing highlights the perversity of the prize and its recipient.
[https://www.jns.org/opinion/column/ruthie-blum/a-peace-prize-for-the-vilification-of-israel JNS]
____
PBS NewsHour’s Sanitized Portrait of Bigoted Navi Pillay: The Record Nick Schifrin Left Out.
On October 9, 2026, PBS NewsHour’s Nick Schifrin interviewed Stephen Rapp, presenting Navi Pillay as an ostensibly “objective” human rights judge—without addressing the controversies and allegations that complicate that portrayal.
The omissions were glaring.
Not a word about the international backlash over Pillay’s commission and its handling of Israel.
Not a word about the international condemnation of U.N. investigator Miloon Kothari in 2022 following his controversial remarks about Israel’s supporters and the Jewish community.
Not a word about the October 2023 criticism from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Italy and other democracies, which challenged Pillay’s commission over what they described as its one-sided treatment of Israel and its handling of Hamas terrorism.
And not a word about the explosive charge raised on October 9, 2026, by U.N. whistleblower Emma Reilly: that the U.N. human rights office, under Pillay’s leadership, provided China with the names of Uyghur dissidents despite warnings that disclosure could endanger them and their families.
These are not peripheral details. They go directly to the questions of impartiality, accountability and institutional credibility that a serious examination of a human rights figure should confront.
PBS viewers deserved scrutiny, not a sanitized profile.
When a broadcast presents a contested international figure as an impartial authority while leaving out major public controversies and serious, attributable allegations about her record, the audience cannot fully assess the credibility of that portrayal.
Journalism is not simply about whom you interview. It is also about what you ask, what you challenge and what you leave out.
Nick Schifrin’s interview may have presented the portrait. But without the missing record, PBS NewsHour did not give viewers the full picture.
Sources:
- The Compendium of World Condemnations of Antisemitic UN Investigator Miloon Kothari — UN Watch, August 18, 2022. ([https://unwatch.org/the-compendium-of-world-condemnations-of-antisemitic-un-investigator-miloon-kothari/])
- Pillay Commission Blasted by US, UK, Germany, Australia, Italy & Others — UN Watch, October 24, 2023. ([https://unwatch.org/pillay-commission-blasted-by-us-uk-germany-australia-italy-others/])
- UN Watch: Emma Reilly’s allegations concerning Navi Pillay — October 9, 2026. ([https://x.com/UNWatch/article/2108572852798529730])
Key Criticisms by NGO Monitor.
NGO Monitor [https://ngo-monitor.org], among others has published extensive criticism of South African jurist and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, particularly concerning her work regarding Israel and the United Nations.
* Anti-Israel Bias & UN Framework: NGO Monitor has frequently accused Pillay of leading or fostering an anti-Israel bias within United Nations human rights bodies. They have criticized her alliance with non-governmental organizations that push critical campaigns or boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) initiatives against Israel.
* Commission of Inquiry (COI) Reports: When Pillay chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (which concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza), NGO Monitor released detailed analyses showing that the commission's reports lacked objective methodology, relied on biased sources, and served a predetermined political agenda.
* Dismissal of Antisemitism Allegations: NGO Monitor has criticized Pillay for dismissing or failing to properly address accusations of antisemitism directed at members of the UN commission she led.
* Past UN Tenure: During her earlier tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008–2014), NGO Monitor accused her of ignoring systemic human rights abuses by other regional regimes while disproportionately focusing criticism on Israel.
NGO-Monitor:
[https://ngo-monitor.org/press-releases/ngo_monitor_to_un_human_rights_head_pillay_help_egyptians_by_halting_abuse_of_hr_frameworks_to_attack_israel/]
[https://ngo-monitor.org/press-releases/ngo-monitor-publishes-detailed-analysis-un-coi/]
[https://ngo-monitor.org/reports/anti-israel-bias-and-ngo-links-of-unhrcs-gaza-committee-of-inquiry-members/]
[https://ngo-monitor.org/reports/un-coi-second-report/]
I24
[https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/artc-anti-israel-south-african-jurist-navi-pillay-awarded-2026-nobel-peace-prize]
T.O.I.
[https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/navi-pillay-head-of-un-commission-that-accused-israel-of-genocide-wins-nobel-peace-prize/]
[https://thatpointtoo.blogspot.com/2026/10/pbs-newshours-sanitized-portrait-of.html ThatPointToo]
___
Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 Awarded to Anti-Israel South African Judge.
John Hayward. 9 Oct 2026.
The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to South African judge and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, currently serving as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Critics blasted the award as a purely political move intended to “send a message” to President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, since Pillay has denounced Israel for “genocide[sic]” in Gaza without corresponding criticism of the October 7 atrocities or the terrorists of Hamas.
If the Nobel committee was trying to infuriate the Israelis by giving the Peace Prize to a “Gaza genocide[sic]” activists just two days after the anniversary of the 10/7 attack, it succeeded.
“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in response to the announcement.
“Her role in the relentless, politically motivated demonization of Israel and promotion of the genoLIE speaks volumes,” the statement continued. “Awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t a recognition of justice. It’s the grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”
“Now that the Nobel commission has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry concluded.
“The Nobel Prize committee has lost its moral compass. It has awarded its highest honor to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state,” said the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Navi Pillay’s proudest achievement was to legitimize a corrupt prosecutor who turned to her fabrications against Israel hoping that by joining her bigoted lynch mob, he would beat a rape charge,” the Netanyahu statement continued, referring to disgraced International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan.
“Karim Khan, who was accused by his own ICC employees of raping and sexually molesting them, used Pillay’s lies to build a fake case against Israel. Pillay supplied the lies. Khan weaponized them,” the prime minister’s office charged.
“And now the misguided members of the Nobel Committee are honoring the woman who propagated this demonization of the Jews and this travesty of justice,” the statement exclaimed.
U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer was “shocked” at the award to Pillay, given her “troubling record on antisemitism and gross breach of ethics in presiding over a notorious U.N. commission.”
Neuer summarized the case against Pillay:
'In July 2021, Ms. Pillay accepted to chair a Pakistani-sponsored U.N. Commission of Inquiry into alleged Israeli crimes. The rules of due process require that fact-finders in the human rights field be impartial. Yet prior to accepting this post, Pillay had publicly pronounced herself, in extreme terms, on the very issues that her inquiry is mandated to investigate.
In June 2020, she signed a manifesto calling on governments to “Sanction Apartheid Israel.” In June 2021, a month before heading the inquiry, Pillay wrote a letter to President Biden calling to punish Israel for the May 2021 war with Hamas. She has made many more prior prejudicial pronouncements.'
Neuer noted that Pillay has also defended antisemitic comments from other international bureaucrats, and her record was toxic enough to get her disinvited from a town hall event in Berlin in 2022.
“By honoring Pillay, the Nobel committee has failed to uphold the principles it seeks to celebrate. International justice depends on impartiality. When an investigator campaigns to punish a country before examining the evidence, she compromises the credibility of both her findings and the institution she represents,” Neuer said.
Pillay, whose full name is “Navanethem,” is an 85-year-old South African who was born to an Indian Tamil family. She was an anti-apartheid lawyer early in her career and, in 1995, she became the first non-white female judge on South Africa’s highest court. She was also the first South African to receive a doctorate of law from Harvard Law School.
Pillay went on to lead an international tribunal investigating the Rwandan genocide in 1994. She was U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2008 and 2014, and has served as a judge on the ICC.
Her link to the ICC led observers to speculate she was chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize as a rebuke to President Trump, as well as to Netanyahu. The Trump administration imposed sanctions against the ICC on Friday after slamming the court for unfairly harassing the U.S. and its allies, such as Israel. Neither America or Israel was a signatory to the Rome Statue, the 1998 treaty that established the ICC.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us. The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Friday.
Pillay, who was in Nuremburg, Germany, and touring the famous Nuremberg Trials chamber when her Nobel Peace Prize was announced, took some digs at the U.S. and Israel in her comments on the award.
“The last thing I did is deliver the report on Gaza, naming what’s happening there as genocide,” she recalled, repeating the slander that enraged the Israelis.
“One of the main reactions to that report was paying tribute to me for my courage[sic] and you can imagine how surprised I was. Why would you need courage to speak the truth? You interpret the law, you look at all the facts, so it’s impartial decision making,” she insisted.
“We are living through an era when international law and human rights are under significant political attack. This worsening reality is particularly visible with the attacks on the International Criminal Court,” she said, turning her lash from Israel to the United States.
When the audience in Nuremberg applauded the announcement of her Nobel prize, Pillay joked: “If you clap a bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.” She was making a sarcastic reference to last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who gave her medal to Trump in a White House meeting in January 2026 to acknowledge his contributions to freedom in Venezuela.
The chair of the Nobel Peace Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, told reporters the committee was not taking a stance on the Gaza “genocide[sic]” issue by presenting the Peace Prize to Pillay.
“It’s her report. ...” he said.
Frydnes also insisted the Nobel Committee is separate from the International Criminal Court, but went on to say that Pillay’s prize was meant to “remind the world that the cornerstone of a more peaceful world is strengthening international law.”
[https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/10/09/nobel-peace-prize-for-2026-awarded-to-anti-israel-south-african-judge/ Breitbart]
Hillel Neuer
@HillelNeuer;
We are shocked that the Nobel committee honored Navi Pillay. Her troubling record on antisemitism and gross breach of ethics in presiding over a notorious UN commission utterly disqualifies her from such an award.
The Nobel Peace Prize should uphold universal human rights and reject antisemitism unequivocally. Honoring Pillay without confronting this record undermines those principles and risks rewarding prejudice rather than advancing peace.
In July 2021, Ms. Pillay accepted to chair a Pakistani-sponsored UN Commission of Inquiry into alleged Israeli crimes. The rules of due process require that fact-finders in the human rights field be impartial. Yet prior to accepting this post, Pillay had publicly pronounced herself, in extreme terms, on the very issues that her inquiry is mandated to investigate.
In June 2020, she signed a manifesto calling on governments to “Sanction Apartheid Israel.” In June 2021, a month before heading the inquiry, Pillay wrote a letter to President Biden calling to punish Israel for the May 2021 war with Hamas. She has made many more prior prejudicial pronouncements. (See: [https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Request-for-Navi-Pillay-to-Recuse-Herself-on-Grounds-of-Bias.pdf])
This not all. In July 2022, Pillay’s fellow commissioner Miloon Kothari railed against “the Jewish Lobby” and questioned Israel’s right to be a member state of the UN. Mr. Kothari was condemned by the world’s leading democracies, and by top UN officials including Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Astonishingly, however, Navi Pillay defended him.
For those reasons, the Mayor of Berlin in 2022 withdrew her support for a town hall event set to honor Navi Pillay, and the award was canceled.
By honoring Pillay, the Nobel committee has failed to uphold the principles it seeks to celebrate. International justice depends on impartiality. When an investigator campaigns to punish a country before examining the evidence, she compromises the credibility of both her findings and the institution she represents.
Pillay’s defense of a colleague who invoked “the Jewish lobby” is especially disturbing. A human rights leader should recognize and unequivocally reject antisemitic stereotypes. Her response instead helped shield her colleague from accountability. The Nobel committee should have confronted that record before presenting her as a model of integrity.
The victims of discrimination deserve institutions that apply the same standards to everyone.
Today’s decision sends the wrong message: that achievements elsewhere excuse prejudice against Jews and the abandonment of basic standards of fairness when investigating Israel. That weakens the cause of universal human rights.
Oct 9, 2026
[https://x.com/HillelNeuer/status/2108496484505174391 on X]
____
US imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court, hours after former judge wins Nobel.
Washington has denounced the ICC over arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a past investigation into actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan.
By Reuters. October 9, 2026.
US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course with European allies.
The ICC's deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, condemned the sanctions and said they would not halt the tribunal's work.
The Trump administration has long been hostile to the court founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. Friday's move would go far further, by potentially punishing companies that provide services to the court itself.
"President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, first published by Reuters.
"That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court. We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off its resources and crippling its ability to operate."
[https://www.jpost.com/international/article-911181 JPost]
_____
Abdul El-Sayed Sidesteps Question on Whether Iran or Israel Poses Bigger Threat to US.
October 8, 2026
[https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/10/08/abdul-el-sayed-sidesteps-question-whether-iran-israel-poses-bigger-threat-us/ Algemeiner]
____
IDF kills three Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza Strip.
All three recently advanced plans for attacks against IDF soldiers and operated to restore the terror organizations' grasp on the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.
Jerusalem Post Staff. October 9, 2026.
[https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-911173 JPost]
____
Sa'ar slams Abbas.
'Fooling the international community with election delay'.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar accuses Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas of repeatedly breaking promises to hold elections and implement reforms, saying the PA faces no consequences for its actions.
Israel National News.
Oct 9, 2026, 5:17 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434368 INN]
____
Across the Gaza Strip:
IDF destroys terrorist weapons storage facilities
Israel National News
Oct 9, 2026, 2:53 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434358 INN]
____
Reform's Suella Braverman: UK antisemitism ‘not going to get better’ amid systemic Islamism crisis.
ANTISEMITISM AFFAIRS: Former UK home secretary Suella Braverman warned that antisemitism will worsen without political change, accusing British leaders of failing to confront Islamist extremism.
October 9, 2026.
[https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-911107 JPost]
___
'Appreciate everything': Evyatar David on Hamas captivity, three years after Oct. 7 - interview.
After 738 days as a Hamas hostage, David reflects on the friends he lost at Nova, the psychological torment of being told no one wanted him home, and the hope that sustained him.
October 9, 2026.
[https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-911192 JPost]
____
Trump leaves door open to Iran strike before midterms, less than a day after ruling it out.
Asked about possible US strikes on Iran before the midterms, Trump said, "We may. I mean, we'll see." Trump also discussed the Russian diesel deal and the Fort Hood shooter.
October 9, 2026.
[https://www.jpost.com/international/article-911194 JPost]
____
Trump says Russia to 'immediately supply' 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to US, global markets.
October 9, 2026.
[https://www.jpost.com/international/article-911187 JPost]
____
“premeditated terrorist plot to seize control of the aircraft and use it to launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life”,
Flydubai co-pilot radicalised in Melbourne: UAE.
Andrew Tillett Europe correspondent
Oct 10, 2026 – 10.27am
London | The co-pilot accused of attempting to hijack a passenger jet full of Israeli passengers watched terror videos and glorified attackers as part of his radicalisation while studying in Melbourne almost a decade ago, the United Arab Emirates top prosecutor said on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
The Omani co-pilot planned to crash the plane into the passenger terminal at Tel Aviv airport to kill the most number of people in a September 11 style plot, UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi revealed. The co-pilot told investigators he had acted alone, the attorney-general said.
Omani pilot Hamam al-Hammami is accused of attacking his colleague on a flydubai flight to Israel. LinkedIn
UAE investigators have spent the past week interrogating the co-pilot, who multiple media outlets citing sources close to the investigation have named as Hamam al-Hammami, after the alleged terror attack was foiled by brave passengers onboard Flydubai flight 1073 on September 30.
The details offered by Al-Shamsi are the most comprehensive official account of the failed attack. They are based on al-Hammami’s detailed confession, according to UAE state media outlet WAM, which first published the attorney-general’s update.
Al-Hammami had been issued a student visa and studied engineering at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology between 2015 and 2017. It was cancelled as a matter of process in 2019 after checks found he had left the country.
Al-Hammami ‘psychologically and physically’ prepared.
In an article published by WAM, Al Shamsi said investigators had traced the ideological and professional background of the 29-year-old co-pilot, finding that “his drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in 2017” while he was studying in Australia.
He was alleged during this period to have taken an interest in terrorism, including reading extremist literature and following online content that glorified terrorist organisations and suicide attacks.
“This influence subsequently developed into the adoption of ideas advocating violence and terrorism,” WAM reported.
“He also drew inspiration from the 11 September 2001 attacks, and the idea of carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly established in his thinking. According to his confession, this was linked to his decision to pursue a career in aviation.
“He also said that he prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach.”
The Australian Federal Police has confirmed it and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation have been looking at al-Hammami’s time in Australia.
The WAM report said al-Hammami had admitted to attending a mosque affiliated with the university, where he met individuals associated with an Islamic spiritual centre.
The spiritual centre, according to al-Hammami, had received support from an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organisation which some countries including the US and Gulf nations have deemed a terrorist group or banned but which remains legal in Australia.
The WAM report offered no further elaboration, including whether al-Hammami had maintained ties to individuals or groups in Melbourne or whether it was at the centre he was radicalised, or whether there was any involvement in his plot.
The WAM report said al-Hammami had twice before flown to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to familiarise himself with the flight route and airport before carrying out the attack on his third flight.
The co-pilot tried to carry out a “premeditated terrorist plot to seize control of the aircraft and use it to launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life”, WAM said.
Investigators have also confirmed the man’s work history with several airlines. The investigation found he had met the security and professional requirements when Flydubai recruited him but none of this process uncovered signs of his extremist views or desire to conduct a terror attack.
News reports said a previous employer, Oman Air, had banned al-Hammami from the cockpit as his extremist views became known.
Al-Hammami is alleged to have attacked Indian pilot Smit Machchhar with an emergency axe in the cockpit before putting the plane, which had about 170 mostly Israeli passengers onboard into a rapid nosedive, breaking off its rudder.
Despite being badly wounded Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing several Israeli passengers to storm into the cockpit and restrain al-Hammami and regain control of the aircraft. Two off-duty pilots onboard managed to perform an emergency landing at a Saudi Arabian airport.
The captain and the passengers have been hailed as heroes for foiling the suicide attack.
Al-Hammami’s lawyer had been present during the interrogation and his legal rights safeguarded while he was in Emirati custody, the WAM article said. He is yet to be charged.
[https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/flydubai-co-pilot-radicalised-in-melbourne-uae-20261010-p614co AFR]
UAE: Flydubai co-pilot planned 9/11-style attack on Ben Gurion Airport.
UAE prosecutors say Flydubai co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami planned to crash a passenger jet into Ben Gurion Airport after years of preparation for a terror attack.
Israel National News. Oct 9, 2026, 8:07 PM (GMT+3)
terrorismUnited Arab EmiratesBen Gurion International AirportFlydubai Hijacking Attempt
The Flydubai co-pilot who attempted to hijack a passenger aircraft traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week had planned to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport in a terrorist attack intended to cause mass casualties, United Arab Emirates prosecutors announced Friday.
UAE Attorney General Dr. Hamad Al Shamsi revealed the findings of an investigation into the September 30 incident aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073, identifying the suspect as a 29-year-old Omani national who had allegedly spent years preparing to carry out the attack.
According to investigators, the co-pilot, previously identified as Hamam al-Hammami, admitted that he had been inspired by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and had chosen to pursue a career as a commercial pilot with the intention of eventually carrying out a similar operation.
The investigation determined that al-Hammami's radicalization began in 2017 while he was studying in Melbourne, Australia.
During his time there, he reportedly encountered extremist publications and online materials promoting terrorist organizations and suicide attacks.
Investigators also examined his attendance at a mosque associated with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, where he allegedly encountered individuals linked to a center operated by a Lebanese man known as "Abu Hamza", who was said to have connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to the attorney general, al-Hammami subsequently intensified his exposure to extremist propaganda as part of his psychological preparation for the planned attack.
He also undertook physical training, including private boxing lessons, which investigators said formed part of his preparations.
The investigation found that the suspect had previously traveled on two flights to Tel Aviv to familiarize himself with the route and Ben Gurion Airport before attempting to carry out the plot.
Authorities also reviewed al-Hammami's aviation career and the circumstances surrounding his employment by Flydubai.
He worked for Oman Air between 2020 and 2024, subsequently spent a brief period with Royal Air Maroc in 2025 and joined Flydubai in January 2026.
Investigators determined that the suspect had satisfied the professional and security conditions required for employment by the airline.
These included possession of a valid pilot's license, submission of a certificate of good conduct and completion of the necessary screening procedures.
However, the recruitment process did not uncover evidence of his extremist beliefs or intentions to carry out a terrorist attack.
The findings follow a report published earlier this week by Britain's The Telegraph, which revealed that al-Hammami had received professional flight training in the United Kingdom.
According to the newspaper, he attended L3 Airline Academy between 2018 and 2019, when the institution was among Britain's largest aviation training schools.
The academy operated several facilities across England, including major training centers in Southampton and Bournemouth and a flight simulator facility near Gatwick Airport.
The company has since become part of Acron Aviation.
The Telegraph also reported that L3 had maintained connections with Oman Air, where al-Hammami was employed until February 2025.
Oman Air had previously identified the academy as one of five internationally recognized flight training institutions whose graduates were eligible for consideration under its pilot recruitment program.
Israel's Channel 12 News reported recently that al-Hammami had connected his attempted attack to the war in the Gaza Strip.
“I did it as revenge for Gaza. I wanted to die as a shahid," al-Hammami reportedly told investigators.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434369 INN]
‘Zionists are bloodsuckers’: Melbourne imam whose center was named by Flydubai suspect.
UAE investigators say Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami began radicalizing in Australia in 2017, years before the attempted attack; he attended an RMIT-linked mosque and met people associated with MyCentre, while any role by the center remains unproven.
Saar Haas|10.08.26 13:51
Just one day after the attempted downing of a Flydubai flight bound for Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said investigators had determined that the Omani co-pilot had undergone "Islamist jihadist brainwashing." But only now, following a statement by the United Arab Emirates' attorney general, has it become clear that the suspect's radicalization began long before his visits to Syria, nearly a decade ago in Australia.
According to the Emirati statement,
the suspected attacker, Hamam al-Hammami, confessed that while studying in Melbourne, he regularly attended a mosque affiliated with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). During his visits, he became acquainted with people associated with an Islamic center known as MyCentre. Al-Hammami lived in Australia between 2015 and 2017, and the center was headed then, as it is today, by Samir Mohtadi, a preacher known as Abu Hamza.
Mohtadi, whose family is of Lebanese descent but who grew up in Australia, came under scrutiny last year over a sermon and a social media post containing inflammatory anti-Zionist rhetoric. His remarks offer a glimpse into the views promoted by the preacher who leads the organization identified in the suspect's account. However, investigators have not established that Mohtadi or MyCentre played any role in the attempted attack or in al-Hammami's radicalization.
In the statements reported last year, Mohtadi described Zionists as "scavengers" and "bloodsuckers" and declared that Australia was waging a war against Islam. At the same time, he was pursuing plans to establish a multimillion-dollar Islamic complex known as a "sanctuary" through his registered charitable organization.
During a sermon at an Islamic center in Melbourne, attended by a reporter from The Australian, the imam called on Allah to "cast terror into the hearts of the Zionists."
"O Allah, grant victory to our mujahideen in Palestine, strengthen their footing and grant them a clear victory," he said in Arabic. "O Allah, shake the ground beneath the feet of the Zionists. O Allah, deprive them of the blessing of security, scatter their gatherings and tear their unity apart."
Mohtadi also told worshippers that they were not obliged to adopt the values of Australia, despite the country having welcomed them, granted them citizenship and provided them with full political, social and economic rights, including freedom of religion.
"The war being waged here is far more dangerous than the war in Gaza," he preached. "They want to implant in our minds the idea that God does not exist. That is why this is a war over the mind. They want us to doubt Allah, to doubt the Day of Judgment and to doubt the Prophet[sic]."
Speaking to the Australian newspaper, Mohtadi defended his right to express his views about Zionism. In a post published on the official Facebook page of the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia (IISNA), he declared his absolute opposition to the State of Israel and described Zionists in dehumanizing terms.
"We do not believe in a country called Israel. Every righteous person believes that there is Palestine and that there is no Israel," he said. "I have always said, and I have always believed, that Zionists are not normal. They are bloodsucking human beings, they are scavengers. They are not human, I swear by Allah."
"God willing, may they all return to Russia, Ukraine, America and Britain, and may Palestine be cleansed of these filthy Zionist terrorists," he continued.
Despite the controversy surrounding those statements, IISNA has remained a registered charity in Australia. The organization has also previously received government support for community events and educational initiatives.
The revelations have drawn renewed attention to al-Hammami's years in Melbourne after UAE Attorney General Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi announced Friday that the suspect had intended to seize control of the Flydubai aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport, with the aim of causing the greatest possible number of casualties.
According to the investigation, the first signs of al-Hammami's extremist beliefs emerged in 2017, while he was studying in Australia. Investigators said he was exposed to radical literature and online material glorifying terrorist organizations and suicide attacks, and eventually became inspired by the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The suspect has confessed to acting alone, but Emirati authorities are continuing to investigate his connections and the possible involvement of accomplices. His account of contacts in Melbourne has pened another line of scrutiny into his ideological development, although the extent to which individuals he encountered in Australia influenced his plans remains unclear.
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skmdoiligl YNet]
___
Paraguay will not renounce friendship with Israel despite political costs, VP tells 'Post'.
DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS: In an exclusive interview, Paraguay's vice president pledged to preserve his country's alliance with Israel, and expand cooperation against Iranian threats.
By Alex Winston.
October 10, 2026.
For a country separated from Israel by more than 11,000 kilometers, Paraguay has proved an unusually close friend over the Jewish state’s history.
While governments across the world have spent the past three years disassociating themselves from Israel’s war against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, the South American nation has taken a different course, restoring its embassy to Israel’s capital, deepening security cooperation, and defending the Jewish state’s right to protect itself.
That friendship was on display yet again this week, when Paraguayan Vice President Pedro Alliana arrived in Israel alongside Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano and Environment Minister Rolando de Barros Barreto, and the timing of the delegation’s visit was intentional. Three years after the Hamas massacres of October 7, 2023, Paraguay wanted to make clear where it stood.
For Alliana, who sat exclusively with The Jerusalem Post during his visit, the relationship extends well beyond diplomatic gestures.
“Paraguay is building a strategic alliance with Israel in which we share values and principles of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and freedom,” he told the Post. “Our relationship with Israel is founded on these values and principles, and we also defend Israel’s right to defend its territory.”
On Wednesday, Alliana and Ramírez met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Jerusalem, where the two sides discussed expanding cooperation in healthcare, technology, security, and other fields. Meetings with Israel’s prime minister and president followed on Thursday.
The Paraguayan delegation also visited Yad Vashem, laying a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance, before participating in commemorations marking the anniversary of October 7.
“Since the October 7 massacre, Paraguay has stood firmly by our side,” Sa’ar said following the meeting. “We remember who stands with us in difficult times, and Paraguay has proven itself to be a true friend.”
Alliana was equally emphatic, stating, “Three years ago, Hamas carried out brutal acts of terrorism. The terrorist organization murdered, raped and kidnapped innocent Israelis.”
Paraguay’s support has not always been without consequences. Asked whether standing so firmly alongside Israel had carried a diplomatic or political cost, Alliana acknowledged that it had, telling the Post, “There are, evidently, political costs on many occasions. However, above the circumstances of the moment and any tensions that may arise are these values and principles, which Paraguay will not renounce.”
The relationship between Israel and Paraguay stretches back to the earliest years of the Jewish state. Paraguay voted in favor of the United Nations partition plan in November 1947, supporting the proposal to establish Jewish and Arab states in British Mandatory Palestine. Formal diplomatic relations followed in 1949.
Yet the friendship has faced political upheavals, most notably in recent years over the location of Paraguay’s embassy.
In May 2018, then-Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes moved the Paraguayan Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following the United States and Guatemala. Four months later, his successor, Mario Abdo Benítez, reversed the decision, prompting Israel to close its embassy in Asunción.
The diplomatic dispute lasted for years, until President Santiago Peña took office in 2023 and moved to restore the relationship. In December 2024, Peña personally attended the reopening of Paraguay’s embassy in Jerusalem, a powerful diplomatic gesture at a time when Israel was facing growing international criticism over the war in Gaza.
Israel has since reopened its embassy in the Paraguayan capital.
For Alliana, the challenge now is ensuring that the status quo survives changes of government.
The 52-year-old vice president, a former president of Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies and longtime leader of the governing Colorado Party, intends to seek the presidency in the 2028 election.
His candidacy, the former national team basketball player and seasoned politician explained, is also a commitment to preserving the relationship with Israel.
“My candidacy for the presidency of the republic for the next term follows that same path: ensuring continuity in a close, firm, and lasting relationship,” he said.
Alliana pointed to Peña’s personal attendance at the embassy inauguration, the foreign minister’s visit earlier this year, and his own presence in Israel during the October 7 commemorations as evidence of that commitment.
The message was one of continuity. Having experienced how quickly diplomatic decisions can be reversed, Paraguay’s current leadership wants its relationship with Israel to endure beyond individual administrations.
There is another, less familiar dimension to Paraguay’s affinity with Israel, one rooted in the country’s own history of extraordinary suffering.
Shared history of national tragedy strengthens Paraguay's bond with Israel
There is also a deeper historical dimension to Paraguay’s strong relationship with Israel, rooted in a national tragedy that continues to shape the country’s collective memory.
More than 150 years ago, Paraguay endured one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of the Americas: the War of the Triple Alliance, fought between 1864 and 1870.
The conflict, in which Paraguay fought an alliance of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, remains one of the most devastating wars ever fought in the Americas.
By the time the fighting ended, Paraguay lay in ruins. Its economy was shattered, much of its territory had been occupied, and an enormous proportion of its population had perished.
The precise death toll remains a subject of historical debate. Some estimates suggest that Paraguay lost around 60% of its population, while others place the figure lower. What is not in doubt is that the destruction of the country’s adult male population was so severe that it left a demographic and social legacy that lasted generations.
For Paraguayans, the war remains a defining episode in their national history, a catastrophe that threatened the country’s very existence.
The conflict is seen among Paraguayans as an attempt to exterminate the Paraguayan people, and they draw analogies with the historical suffering of Jews and Israelis.
The circumstances of the War of the Triple Alliance and the Holocaust were, of course, very different, but the analogizing offers insight into how Paraguayans understand their country’s relationship with Israel.
Both nations carry memories of catastrophic loss within their national consciousness, alongside a determination to preserve their independence and ensure their survival.
For Paraguay, whose history includes the experience of seeing its population decimated and its future placed in jeopardy, Israel’s insistence on defending itself against threats to its existence has a particular resonance.
Against this historical backdrop, the Paraguayan delegation’s visit to Yad Vashem and its decision to commemorate October 7 in Israel is even more significant.
Israel’s bridge in Latin America
Paraguay’s ambitions extend beyond its own bilateral relationship with Jerusalem.
Across Latin America, Israel’s diplomatic position has undergone considerable changes in recent months. Argentinian President Javier Milei has long been one of Israel’s most outspoken international supporters, but recent developments in Colombia and Venezuela have opened the door to renewed engagement after years of strained relations. Colombia and Israel fully restored diplomatic, security, and economic ties after President Abelardo de la Espriella’s inauguration in August, while that same month, Israel and Venezuela agreed to resume consular relations after 17 years of severed ties under the Chavez and Maduro regimes.
Alliana believes Paraguay has an important role to play in encouraging Israel’s reintegration process on the continent.
“Paraguay has been promoting closer relations between Latin America and Israel, based on the strategic alliance that I have mentioned on several occasions,” he stated. “We have served as a bridge for dialogue, which has allowed us to bring Israel closer to the region.”
He pointed to a videoconference organized this year by Foreign Minister Ramírez, bringing together Israel’s foreign minister and his Latin American counterparts.
The initiative, Alliana explained, allowed Israel to present its position directly to regional governments, including during particularly challenging periods.
Paraguay is also part of a relatively small group of countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than the People’s Republic of China, a long-standing foreign policy commitment that has occasionally placed it at odds with prevailing regional trends.
Asked whether Paraguay’s foreign policy was increasingly based on shared values rather than broader diplomatic consensus, Alliana rejected the suggestion that it was ideologically driven.
“The foreign policy of the Republic of Paraguay, and of our government, is based on the values and principles I have mentioned and is in no way aligned with ideological considerations,” he said.
For Paraguay, its relationships with Israel, the United States, and Taiwan form part of a diplomatic outlook that the current administration regards as consistent and principled.
The recent changes in Venezuela are of particular interest. For years, Caracas was among Iran’s closest partners in the Western Hemisphere, providing the Islamic Republic with a valuable political and strategic foothold in South America.
Alliana welcomed the developments following American intervention in Venezuela and President Peña’s engagement with interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, but he also emphasized the need for a democratic transition based on respect for human rights, the release of political prisoners, and full participation in elections.
The objective, he said, is to establish a clear road map that would allow Venezuelans themselves to determine their country’s future.
Paraguay takes firm stance against Iran's growing influence in Latin America
The changing political landscape of Latin America also raises questions about Iran’s influence in the region, a subject on which Paraguay has taken a particularly firm position.
Paraguay has designated Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organizations. The country’s concerns are rooted partly in the long-standing activities of Hezbollah-linked networks in Latin America, particularly around the tri-border region shared by Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina.
The region has attracted international attention for decades over allegations of illicit financing, smuggling, and activities linked to terrorist organizations.
For Alliana, the response requires close intelligence and security cooperation with Israel, the United States, and neighboring countries.
“Paraguay has been taking a series of measures,” the vice president said. “First, we have significant intelligence cooperation with Israel, the United States, and other allied countries in our region.”
He highlighted a status of forces agreement with the United States, which he linked to military cooperation and support for Paraguay’s armed forces and police, while also referencing regional security initiatives involving Chile and Bolivia, including cooperation with the government of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz.
These arrangements, he said, have allowed Paraguay to work more closely with its neighbors on operations against terrorist organizations, transnational organized crime, and Iranian activities in the region.
His remarks suggest that Paraguay regards the Iranian threat as an operational security concern requiring international coordination, rather than simply a matter of diplomatic disagreement. The relationship with Israel is therefore important in practical terms, particularly in intelligence sharing, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism.
“The fight against terrorism is one of the areas in which Israel is at the forefront and is the first line of defense against terrorist groups that are causing so much harm around the world,” he said.
Security cooperation may dominate much of the political relationship, but Paraguay also sees substantial opportunities in Israeli technology and expertise.
In meetings with Sa’ar, the Paraguayan delegation discussed cooperation in cybersecurity, water management, agriculture, healthcare, and technological development.
Paraguay possesses major freshwater resources, yet the efficient management of those resources, particularly for agriculture and irrigation, remains an area where Israeli expertise could prove valuable.
Healthcare is another priority for the landlocked South American country. During Wednesday’s meeting, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on health cooperation, opening the way for technology transfer and further professional training.
“[The MOU] will enable technology transfer, the specialization and training of Paraguayan doctors in Israel, and the training of technicians in various technological fields in Israel to become part of this broader agenda,” Alliana explained.
Educational exchanges have also become an important component of the relationship. Israel’s MASHAV international development cooperation agency has provided training and scholarships to Paraguayan professionals, with Alliana’s delegation emphasizing the participation of nearly 400 people over the past two years.
Trade is another bilateral area which continues to expand. Paraguay has become an increasingly important supplier of beef to Israel, with Alliana citing growth from $85 million to $300m. annually over the past three years.
“Our vision is clear: Paraguay and Israel must work together to significantly expand the bilateral relationship,” he said.
For Paraguay's leadership, the relationship with Israel also fits into a wider vision of the country’s place in international affairs.
Alliana pointed to Peña’s participation in the Sharm el-Sheikh peace summit in Egypt, where he said the Paraguayan president was the only Latin American head of state invited to witness the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The vice president cited US President Donald Trump’s personal invitation to Peña to participate in the event as evidence of Paraguay’s growing diplomatic standing and its potential role in international efforts involving Israel.
“We have been and continue to be a bridge for engagement in the region,” he said.
The country’s friendship with Israel has already survived diplomatic reversals, regional disagreements, and mounting international pressure, but its current leaders now want to ensure the relationship becomes a permanent feature of the country’s foreign policy.
As Alliana looks toward the 2028 presidential election, he is presenting that continuity as part of his political vision.
Meanwhile, his government’s efforts to deepen cooperation in security, healthcare, technology, and regional diplomacy reflect how much Paraguay values its friendship with Israel and the strength it sees in that relationship.
“Paraguay is working with Israel on a long-term relationship that extends into the future,” the vice president said. “We have a shared view of the challenges we face.”
For Israel, in a world where genuine friends have sometimes seemed in short supply over the past three years, Paraguay’s friendship is one worth cherishing.
[https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-911105 JPost]
____
United grounds pilot who praised October 7 massacre after reports of reinstatement - report.
United Airlines confirmed it grounded a pilot who praised Hamas's October 7 massacre after reports revealed he had quietly returned to flying six months after his November 2023 suspension.
By Jerusalem Post Staff. October 10, 2026.
United Airlines has once again removed Capt. Ibrahim R. Mossallam from service following earlier social media posts expressing support for Hamas's October 7 massacre, The Daily Wire reported Wednesday.
An airline spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Wire on Tuesday that "the pilot" has been "withheld from service pending an ongoing review."
Mossallam was initially suspended with pay in November 2023. However, an Israeli media report published Monday revealed that the airline had quietly allowed him to return to his duties just six months later.
According to The Daily Wire, United Airlines did not confirm whether Mossallam had resumed flying after the company launched its initial investigation in late 2023.
[https://www.jpost.com/international/article-911196 JPost]
____
Iran retains missile, drone production capabilities despite months of US-Israeli strikes - report.
Western intelligence assessments suggest Iran has preserved key weapons factories and can replenish its missile arsenal despite months of US-Israeli attacks.
[https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-911221 JPost]
____
Israel sends emergency aid to Panama following earthquake.
Israel National News.
Oct 10, 2026, 10:35 PM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434390 INN]
____
37 Years Later: Bereaved family demands removal of monument to terrorist.
Yaakov Farag was murdered while guarding Har Bracha in 1988. Now, his widow is demanding that the IDF demolish a nearby monument commemorating his killer.
Israel National News.
Published: Oct 11, 2026, 12:16 AM (GMT+3)
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434397 INN]
____
Trump criticizes Nobel Peace Prize winner as anti-Israel, says 'something wrong in Norway'.
Former President Donald Trump criticized the recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient, claiming she is "very anti-Israel" and "a person that nobody ever heard of." Trump stated he "stopped China and I stopped Taiwan" but did not receive the prize. He concluded by saying "there's something wrong in Norway."
Oct 10, 2026
[https://www.jfeed.com/latest-news/trump-criticizes-nobel-peace-prize-winner-as-anti-israel-says-something-wrong-in-54236 JFeed]
___
Report: US pressured Israel to strike Iran before elections.
Trump administration urged Israel to launch a strike against Iran amid concerns over Tehran's military buildup, asking Israel to bear political risks ahead of elections, journalist Ben Caspit reports.
Israel National News.
Oct 11, 2026, 12:27 AM
[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434396 INN]
____
Trump weighs US strikes on Houthis after deadliest attack on Saudi in 11 years.
Oct 10, 2026.
[https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202610105959 ItanIntl]
_____
Report: Economic Collapse Hits IRGC as Hardliners Rule.
By Asaf Nissan.
Editor: Dror Balazada.
Iran's catastrophic economic collapse has deeply penetrated the ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), forcing mid-level and senior officers into moonlighting second jobs to survive. With hardline IRGC commanders Ahmad Vahidi and Hossein Taeb now functionally controlling the country while sidelining civilian leaders, factional voices within the military apparatus are aggressively pushing for a major regional flare-up ahead of the U.S. midterm elections—aiming to spike oil prices and corner President Donald Trump before expected American strikes.
[https://c14news.com/article/1509774 C14]
___
Ballot Delayed Again.
Abbas Delays Palestinian Vote to 2027.
Oct 10, 2026
[https://www.jfeed.com/news/abbas-postpones-palestinian-elections-1 JFeed]
___
IDF Strikes Syrian Terrorist Near Lebanon Border.
Oct 10, 2026.
IDF targets Iran-directed Syrian operative on the Syria-Lebanon border. Military says he planned drone and rocket attacks on troops on the Syrian border.
[https://www.jfeed.com/news/idf-strikes-syrian-terrorist-lebanon-border JFeed]
___
Lebanese security forces seize truck with 800 kg of explosives, arrest Hezbollah members.
Oct 10, 2026.
Lebanese security forces confiscated a truck carrying approximately 800 kg of explosive material, nails, and metal balls while it was traveling from the Baalbek area to Beirut. The two drivers are Hezbollah members who stated during interrogation that a Hezbollah senior named Sayed Sajad instructed them to deliver the cargo to another senior official in the organization located in Dahiyeh. Security forces are working to identify additional Hezbollah members connected to the shipment. The incident occurred as negotiations are ongoing.
[https://www.jfeed.com/latest-news/lebanese-security-forces-seize-truck-with-800-kg-of-explosives-arrest-hezbollah-54243 JFeed]
___
Trump calls Michigan Senator-elect Mohammed El-Sayed "radical jihadist".
President Trump referred to Michigan Senator-elect Mohammed El-Sayed as a "radical jihadist," stating "I'm the president. I can call him whatever the hell I want. He's a radical jihadist. I don't want a jihadist as a senator from Michigan.
Oct 11, 2026 00:21
[https://www.jfeed.com/latest-news/trump-calls-michigan-senator-elect-mohammed-el-sayed-radical-jihadist-54249 JFeed]
____
IDF kills Hamas, Islamic Jihad terrorists, destroys weapons sites in Gaza.
Recently, the terrorists intensified attacks on IDF troops, in systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement.
JNS Staff. Oct 10, 2026
[https://www.jns.org/news/israel-news/idf-kills-hamas-islamic-jihad-terrorists-destroys-weapons-sites-in-gaza JNS]
____
<hr>
<hr>