Swords of Iron: sources IIIIIIIII

This is part 9 of primary sources for Swords of Iron" or use the Template:

Main article: Swords of Iron

Continuing from Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.

Introduction

Oct 7, 2023 atrocities, the thousands of "Palestinian" Arab Muslim barbarian (Hamas/PIJ, PFLP & ordinary Gazans) onslaught on southern Israel - under Allah Akbar cries: massacring youth at a festival, torching families alive at their homes, suffocating shelters with people in them, mass torture, mass rape - some even post mortem - all while laughing, slaughtering children in front of their parents - parents in front of their children, beheading babies, dismembering bodies, kidnapping kids, men women into Gaza while parading them to cheers of other racist Arab masses. It led to operation Swords of Iron.

Notes part I: Dec-22-26, 2025

Bondi massacre: Terrorists threw explosives at crowd - which didn't detonate. Naveed Ackram, one of the two terrorists who carried out the terror attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, was released from the hospital where he was treated after being wounded in an exchange of fire with police, and transferred to a detention facility. According to documents released by the Sydney court, he faces 59 charges, including 15 murder charges. According to Australian ABC network, he and his father Sajjid Ackram, who was killed at the scene, threw four explosive devices at the crowd on the beach - which did not detonate (three pipe bombs and an additional tennis ball-shaped device). It was also noted that the two had trained and recorded a video in which they "justified" the attack. Ynet | 12.21.25 23:41 YNet

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Neo-Nazi. AmericaFest Horror: Myron Gaines Hurls Antisemitic Abuse at Pregnant Jewish Woman | WATCH. The conservative movement is going one way, and it's not up. Tucker, Candace and Fuentes are shining examples of this. And Charlie Kirk would be crying in his grave if he saw this happening at his beloved TPUSA.

Gila Isaacson. Dec 22, 2025. JFeed

Debbie Schlussel חי-ה דבורה שליסל @DebbieSchlussel: POS Nazi @MyronGainesX aka Muslim Amrou Fudl was an honored guest @TPUSA cozied up to by fellow Jew-hater TPUSA official & host @JackPosobiec (hired by his pal. Charlie). Outside the venue, he called a pregnant Jewish woman a "fat fucking Jew." Despicable From Leviathan: Leviathan @l3v1at4an: Amrou Fudl aka “Myron Gaines” calls a Jewish pregnant woman a “fat fucking Jew” outside of @TPUSA while wearing a shirt that mocks cooking Holocaust victims.

The conservative movement in the US has a big problem associating themselves with such degenerate grifters. on X Dec 21, 2025 on X

(Related:

Andrew Tate’s Muslim fanbase is growing. Some say he’s exploiting Islam for internet popularity. By Sana Noor Haq, CNN. Feb 16, 2025.

But being banned from major social media platforms did not silence Tate online. He continued to appear regularly last year on internet forums hosted by content creators including Mohammed Hijab and Myron Gaines – both of whom belong to a strand of Muslim male influencers known as “akh right bros.”

Taken from the Arabic word for “brother,” akh right bros situate themselves in opposition to so-called Western values in favor of a version of Islam that is rife with misogyny, according to Javad Hashmi, an Islamic studies scholar at Harvard University.

Andrew Tate’s Muslim fanbase is growing. Some say he’s exploiting Islam for internet popularity. By Sana Noor Haq, CNN

Feb 16, 2025 CNN

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'Yeah, we like Hitler' Gaines defends leaked GOP chat. ‘Fresh and Fit’ host Myron Gaines defends leaked GOP antisemitic group chat: ‘Yeah, we like Hitler’

By Grace Gilson/JTA October 17, 2025.

Myron Gaines, co-host of the popular podcast “Fresh and Fit” which is known for frequently airing antisemitic content, defended a leaked group chat where Young Republicans operatives praised Adolf Hitler.

“Yeah we like Hitler. No one gives a f–k what you woke jews think anymore,” wrote Gaines, whose real name is Amrou Fudl, in a post on X Wednesday replying to another post decrying Vice President J.D. Vance’s defense of the group chat.

“Bro was a revolutionary leader and saved germany,” Gaines’ post continued. “The jews[sic] declared[sic] war on Germany first[sic]. ...”

While condemnation for Gaines resounded in the replies to his post, later that night, Gaines posted a photo of himself superimposed on an image of Adolf Hitler, responding to Politico’s post of its exposé by writing, “Hitler was a real n—a and no one gives a f–k what stupid outlets you fruit loops say.”

Gaines antisemitic podcast. Like many products of the conservative “manosphere,” Gaines’ podcast, which he co-hosts with Walter Weekes and has over 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, centers on misogynistic views about dating and gender roles. It has also increasingly embraced antisemitic conspiracy theories since the summer of 2023...

In July 2023, Gaines, who authored a book titled “Why Women Deserve Less,” hosted antisemitic influencer Sneako and far-right commentator Nick Fuentes for an episode that centered on Holocaust denial.

The following month, “Fresh and Fit” was demonetized by YouTube for “repeated violations” of its policies, and last July, a podcast episode on Rumble where guests blamed Jews for the Holocaust was taken down by the platform.

During a speaking engagement last April at Pennsylvania State University, where Gaines was met with student protests, he claimed to his audience that there were “...fingerprints all over” the 9/11 terror attacks and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

On his X account, he frequently refers to Jews as “kik[sic]es” and espouses conspiracy theories that Jews control the “media and the narrative.”

“Do you not see that jews engineer or pioneer every destructive industry into western civilization? Feminism, marxism, communism, transgenderism. pornography, usury. All of these things are completely antithetical to Christ,” wrote Gaines in a post on X in August. “Also, they killed Jesus...” JPost

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Facebook · Canada-Israel Friendship Association. 6.1K+ reactions · 4 months ago 👁️ MUST WATCH Watch as an IDF soldier humiliates and destroys ... Aug 11, 2025 MUST WATCH Watch as an IDF soldier humiliates and destroys Sudanese-American Muslim hatemonger, fanatical antisemite and rabid Israel hate. On FB

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American antisemitism. VP Vance: Consensus on Israel is Eroding Speaking at TPUSA'S America Fest, Vice President JD Vance said that "99% of Republicans, and probably 97% of Democrats, don't hate Jews because they're Jews." The VP said it's time for American support for Israel to be open to debate. Judah Pe'er. Dec 22, 2025 07:25

Remarks by US Vice President JD Vance at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest this week landed with particular unease in Israel, not because he attacked Israel directly, but because of what his framing reveals about a growing shift inside the Republican Party.

Vance addressed the wave of antisemitism that has roiled conservative politics by insisting it is largely being misdiagnosed. “99% of Republicans, and probably 97% of Democrats, don’t hate Jews because they’re Jewish,” he said. What Americans are reacting to, he argued, is not Jews, but a “consensus foreign policy” that should be open to challenge. The real task, in his view, is to debate US foreign commitments openly rather than “shutting down” dissent by labeling it antisemitic. On its face, this sounds reasonable. Debate about US aid, alliances, and overseas military engagement is legitimate and necessary. But for Israelis, the subtext is unmistakable: antisemitism is being reframed as policy disagreement, and the burden of proof is shifting away from those spreading antisemitic ideas and toward those objecting to them.

This distinction matters because the current American debate is not taking place in a vacuum. Vance made his comments amid a very public fight within the MAGA movement over the normalization of figures who traffic in explicit antisemitism, including white nationalist Nick Fuentes and conspiracy-peddling influencers like Candace Owens. When Vance declines to draw clear red lines, arguing instead against “purity tests,” it signals tolerance for an ecosystem in which antisemitism is increasingly treated as just another controversial opinion. For Israel, this is not an abstract concern. For decades, bipartisan American support for Israel rested on a moral consensus that antisemitism is not merely another viewpoint, and that attacks on Jews, whether rhetorical or physical, demand firm condemnation. Vance’s comments suggest that this consensus is eroding, particularly on the American right, where “America First” rhetoric is being used to recast hostility toward Israel as principled skepticism rather than prejudice.

That shift was on full display at the conference. Prominent conservative voices openly accused pro-Israel figures of dual loyalty, blamed Israel for political violence without evidence, and portrayed Jewish influence as corrosive to American interests. Yet Vance’s response was to minimize the problem and emphasize unity over exclusion. For Israelis, the message is troubling: the priority is preserving a political coalition, even if that means accommodating people who openly flirt with antisemitic tropes. The danger here is not that Republicans will suddenly “hate Jews,” as Vance put it. It is that antisemitism is being laundered through the language of foreign policy realism and free speech, making it harder to call out and easier to dismiss. When hostility toward Israel becomes indistinguishable from mainstream debate, Jewish communities pay the price first.

Vance is widely viewed as a leading contender for the post-Trump Republican future. His remarks suggest that future may involve a colder, more transactional relationship with Israel, and a greater willingness to tolerate antisemitism so long as it is packaged as dissent. Israelis would be wise to take note. JFeed

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The eighth, most dangerous front: How Turkey went from ally to strategic threat - opinion. Bit by bit, a Turkish front is forming, more dangerous than Israel’s seven arenas since Oct. 7. Erdogan’s ideology and ambition require Israel to refocus on a higher strategic risk.

By Maj.-gen. (Res.) Giora Eiland. December 22, 2025 09:57 Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s political and military leadership has claimed that seven different arenas threaten it. It seems that, bit by bit but consistently, an eighth menacing front is forming, one that in many ways is more dangerous than the others.

This is the Turkish front. Turkey, which until about 23 years ago was one of Israel’s greatest friends, has become a real enemy since Erdogan rose to power.

The main factors that explain Turkey’s defiant and threatening approach toward Israel, Cyprus, and Greece are its religious outlook, its national outlook, and its megalomania. However, Erdogan’s influence on Turkey is not the only factor that defines the Turkish ethos.

To understand the full context, one must examine the reality that has taken shape for more than a hundred years. During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled for centuries both in the Middle East and in the Balkans, collapsed.

Turkey, which had been allied with Germany and Austria, was defeated. At the conference convened in Lausanne in July 1923, Turkey was forced to accept the position of the victorious countries, Britain, France, Italy, and Greece. The main Turkish concession was in the territorial sphere. Turkey was forced to retreat to the borders recognized to this day.

How Turkey became Israel's largest strategic threat.

The fact that it was required to retreat to these borders does not mean that it accepted this decision. In fact, more than twenty years ago, when relations between Turkey and Israel were good, and the two countries’ militaries were cooperating, I, as an IDF major general, met with my Turkish counterparts many times. In our informal conversations, they told me the following:

“We understand that the days of the great Ottoman Empire have passed, and we do not expect them to return. However, we do not accept the borders that were imposed on us in 1923. Turkey’s natural borders must expand in at least three places: the southern border, the Aegean Sea, and Cyprus. Regarding the southern border, the just and correct border is the one that runs along the line between the city of Aleppo in Syria and the city of Mosul in Iraq. Regarding the Aegean Sea, the sea that separates Turkey from Greece, we believe it is not right that dozens of islands that exist in this sea, some only a few kilometers from the Turkish coast, have belonged to Greece since 1923. The correct border between Turkey and Greece should pass in the Aegean Sea midway between the mainland of Turkey and the mainland of Greece, and thus many islands would have to pass to Turkish sovereignty. Regarding Cyprus, its entire northern part is supposed to belong to Turkey.”

Since Erdogan came to power, Turkish national pride has not only grown, but two additional dimensions have been added to it: the megalomaniac personality of the Turkish president and his strict Islamist approach.

Until a few years ago, Israel could live with Turkey’s hostile approach toward it, since this approach was characterized mainly by words, by venomous statements, by attempts to jab at it through the flotilla to Gaza in 2010, and by funding provocations in Jerusalem.

Turkey's radicalization reflects willingness to act against Israel.

In the past two years, it is evident that there has been a radicalization in Turkey’s hostile position toward Israel, a radicalization that also reflects a willingness to move toward a military confrontation with it.

Three developments encourage Erdogan: First, Israel’s international isolation following the war in Gaza. Second, Turkish success in bringing about a coup in Syria, which ensured loyalty to the Turks from Syria’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa. Moreover, he depends on Turkish military assistance in order to strengthen his rule. Third, the personal connection and good relations between Erdogan and the president of the United States, Trump, who declared publicly that he loves him.

Israel apparently understands the magnitude of the Turkish threat. The likelihood that it will materialize into a direct military confrontation still seems distant, mainly because the United States will do everything it can to prevent it.

However, the severity of this threat, if it does occur, is more than troubling. Turkey has a huge and high-quality navy, and if it decides to attack Israel, it is certainly capable of creating a maritime blockade of Israel. In other words, Israel could find itself in a limited military confrontation with Turkey in the skies of Syria, since it cannot forgo its air control over all of southern Syria. This control is a necessary condition for the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of action against Iran.

It would be better for Israel to cooperate with Cyprus and Greece, since these two countries also identify the potential of Turkish aggression toward them.

The Iranian threat, on the one hand, and the potential Turkish threat, on the other, are considered the most significant dangers at the strategic level. These threats, and the need to prepare for them, explain why Israel must avoid renewing the war in Gaza and in Lebanon. In these arenas, Israel has the upper hand, and therefore it is right to direct its resources toward much greater risks. JPost

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Neo-Nazi. AmericaFest Horror: Myron Gaines Hurls Antisemitic Abuse at Pregnant Jewish Woman | WATCH. The conservative movement is going one way, and it's not up. Tucker, Candace and Fuentes are shining examples of this. And Charlie Kirk would be crying in his grave if he saw this happening at his beloved TPUSA.

Gila Isaacson. Dec 22, 2025. JFeed

(Related:

'Yeah, we like Hitler' Gaines defends leaked GOP chat. ‘Fresh and Fit’ host Myron Gaines defends leaked GOP antisemitic group chat: ‘Yeah, we like Hitler’

By Grace Gilson/JTA. October 17, 2025.

Myron Gaines, co-host of the popular podcast “Fresh and Fit” which is known for frequently airing antisemitic content, defended a leaked group chat where Young Republicans operatives praised Adolf Hitler.

“Yeah we like Hitler. No one gives a f–k what you woke jews think anymore,” wrote Gaines, whose real name is Amrou Fudl, in a post on X Wednesday replying to another post decrying Vice President J.D. Vance’s defense of the group chat.

“Bro was a revolutionary leader and saved germany,” Gaines’ post continued. “The jews[sic] declared[sic] war on Germany first[sic]. ...”

While condemnation for Gaines resounded in the replies to his post, later that night, Gaines posted a photo of himself superimposed on an image of Adolf Hitler, responding to Politico’s post of its exposé by writing, “Hitler was a real n—a and no one gives a f–k what stupid outlets you fruit loops say.”

Gaines antisemitic podcast. Like many products of the conservative “manosphere,” Gaines’ podcast, which he co-hosts with Walter Weekes and has over 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, centers on misogynistic views about dating and gender roles. It has also increasingly embraced antisemitic conspiracy theories since the summer of 2023...

In July 2023, Gaines, who authored a book titled “Why Women Deserve Less,” hosted antisemitic influencer Sneako and far-right commentator Nick Fuentes for an episode that centered on Holocaust denial.

The following month, “Fresh and Fit” was demonetized by YouTube for “repeated violations” of its policies, and last July, a podcast episode on Rumble where guests blamed Jews for the Holocaust was taken down by the platform.

During a speaking engagement last April at Pennsylvania State University, where Gaines was met with student protests, he claimed to his audience that there were “...fingerprints all over” the 9/11 terror attacks and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

On his X account, he frequently refers to Jews as “kik[sic]es” and espouses conspiracy theories that Jews control the “media and the narrative.”

“Do you not see that jews engineer or pioneer every destructive industry into western civilization? Feminism, marxism, communism, transgenderism. pornography, usury. All of these things are completely antithetical to Christ,” wrote Gaines in a post on X in August. “Also, they killed Jesus...” JPost

__

But being banned from major social media platforms did not silence Tate online. He continued to appear regularly last year on internet forums hosted by content creators including Mohammed Hijab and Myron Gaines – both of whom belong to a strand of Muslim male influencers known as “akh right bros.”

Taken from the Arabic word for “brother,” akh right bros situate themselves in opposition to so-called Western values in favor of a version of Islam that is rife with misogyny, according to Javad Hashmi, an Islamic studies scholar at Harvard University.

Andrew Tate’s Muslim fanbase is growing. Some say he’s exploiting Islam for internet popularity. By Sana Noor Haq, CNN

Feb 16, 2025 CNN

Facebook · Canada-Israel Friendship Association. 6.1K+ reactions · 4 months ago 👁️ MUST WATCH Watch as an IDF soldier humiliates and destroys ... Aug 11, 2025 MUST WATCH Watch as an IDF soldier humiliates and destroys Sudanese-American Muslim hatemonger, fanatical antisemite and rabid Israel hate. On FB)

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A week after Bondi. Antisemite Arrested for Making Threats on Flight to Sydney. A nineteen year-old Australian man was arrested upon landing after making antisemitic threats on a flight from Bali, Indonesia, to Sydney. The threats, both verbal and hand gestures, were directed at a passenger the antisemite knew to be Jewish, police say.

Judah Pe'er. Dec 21, 2025 12:04

Australian Federal Police arrested a 19-year-old man on Wednesday after he allegedly threatened violence against a member of the Jewish community during a commercial flight from Bali, Indonesia, to Sydney. According to the Australian Federal Police, the arrest followed a request for assistance from the airline, which alerted authorities to an onboard incident involving antisemitic threats. AFP officers were waiting at Sydney International Airport and took the suspect into custody immediately after the aircraft landed. Police allege that during the flight the man made verbal threats and hand gestures indicating violence toward another passenger, whom he knew to be affiliated with the Jewish community.

Investigators have described the incident as an antisemitic offense, noting that the alleged conduct specifically targeted the victim on the basis of their identity.

The suspect, a resident of the western Sydney suburb of Condell Park, has been charged with one count of threatening force or violence against members of a group or their associates, an offense under section 80.2BB(2) of Australia’s Criminal Code. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. The man was refused bail and is scheduled to appear before the New South Wales Local Court. Police have not released further details about the nature of the threats, citing ongoing legal proceedings, but confirmed that the alleged victim was not physically harmed. In a statement, federal police emphasized that incidents of hate-based threats are treated seriously, particularly when they occur in confined public spaces such as aircraft. Authorities also sought to reassure the public, stating that there are no current or impending threats to the wider community connected to this case. The arrest comes amid heightened concern within Australia’s Jewish community following a series of antisemitic incidents in recent months, including threats, vandalism, and violent attacks. Law enforcement agencies across the country have increased monitoring of hate crimes and publicly urged airlines, venues, and members of the public to report threatening behavior as early as possible.

Federal police reiterated that threatening violence against individuals or groups based on religion or ethnicity is a criminal offense under Australian law, regardless of whether the threats are carried out. “There is zero tolerance for behavior that intimidates or endangers people because of who they are,” an AFP spokesperson said. The case now moves to the courts, where prosecutors will seek to establish that the alleged threats constituted criminal intimidation motivated by antisemitism JFeed

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Mosques in Philippines post photos of Bondi terrorists to aid probe. Davao mosques display photos of Bondi terrorists as Muslim leaders urge locals to report any links to the attackers’ month-long stay before their deadly rampage in Australia. Israel National News. Dec 22, 2025, 6:47 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Elderly couple survives attack: 'We sneaked into a pickup truck'. An unlocked pickup truck and a split-second decision saved the lives of Benjamin and Reizel Simons, an elderly Jewish couple who fled the gunfire during the Bondi Beach attack. Israel National News. Dec 22, 2025, 11:54 AM (GMT+2) INN

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After the attack: New counterterrorism and public order measures in Australia. Gun purchase laws will be significantly tightened, and Australian police will be able to ban protests for three months. Nissan Tzur. Dec 22, 2025, 9:26 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Israeli man loses sight in eye after brutal assault in Cyprus. An Israeli man was beaten outside his hotel after the assailant heard him speaking in Hebrew on his phone. The victim was flown to Israel for surgery. Israel National News.

Dec 22, 2025, 10:39 AM (GMT+2)

An Israeli man was attacked over the weekend outside the hotel where he was staying in Limassol, Cyprus.

The victim's father told Kan News that the assault occurred after his son was speaking on the phone in Hebrew on Friday. According to him, while the son-who was on a post-army trip-was talking on the phone in Hebrew, a man approached him, asked for a cigarette, and then attacked him. He was evacuated to a local hospital and was flown to Israel yesterday (Sunday), where he underwent surgery on his eye but lost his eyesight in that eye.. INN

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Iranian-backed militias may be weighing disarmament amid Iraq political shift. US Envoy to Iraq, Mark Savaya, posted on X overnight between December 21 and 22 that the steps being taken by “armed groups” in Iraq are “welcome and encouraging.”

By Seth J. Frantzman. December 22, 2025.

The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq are increasingly in the spotlight as Iraq moves toward selecting a new prime minister, with the militias also being a center of focus in the US. JPost

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Israel gave critical information on the burial place of Ran Gvili, but Hamas ignores. Israeli security officials assess Hamas knows which terrorists hold information on Ran Gvili’s burial site but is refusing to interrogate them, with Israel avoiding their elimination to preserve the chance of his return. Israel National News. Dec 22, 2025, 10:13 AM (GMT+2) INN

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ADL: Over 20% of Mamdani's team have antisemitic history. ADL details antisemitic remarks, extremist ties, and vetting concerns surrounding key transition appointments. Israel National News. Dec 22, 2025, 11:08 PM (GMT+2)

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has issued a detailed report expressing concern over appointments to New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani’s transition team, citing alleged antisemitic statements, anti-Israel activity, and associations among a significant number of appointees.

According to the ADL report, the organization has closely monitored the mayor-elect’s transition team, Transition Committee appointments, public statements, and early policy signals. ADL stated that it remains deeply concerned that some of these developments could affect the safety and security of New York City’s Jewish community.

The report highlights the December 17 appointment of Catherine Almonte Da Costa as Director of Appointments, a senior role responsible for recruiting and staffing the incoming administration. ADL said it identified antisemitic social media posts made by Da Costa between 2011 and 2012, including references to “money hungry Jews” and other classic antisemitic tropes. ADL described the posts as “indefensible.” Da Costa resigned on December 18, less than 24 hours after the findings were made public. Mamdani later told reporters that his team was changing its vetting process and said the administration would operate under a “standard of excellence,” including accountability when standards are not met.

ADL reported that on November 24, Mamdani announced more than 400 individuals appointed to serve on 17 Transition Committees tasked with recruiting senior staff and shaping policy direction. Following its review, ADL said that at least 20 percent of the appointees have a documented history of engaging in antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or anti-Israel rhetoric, or have ties to organizations that promote such views.

According to the report, the activities identified by ADL include spreading classic antisemitic tropes, vilifying supporters of Jewish self-determination, undermining the legitimacy of the State of Israel, expressing support for Hamas and its October 7 terror attack, and celebrating or justifying violence against Jews. ADL emphasized that it distinguishes between legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy and antisemitism.

The report stated that several appointees have publicly supported or participated in anti-Israel campus encampments during the spring of 2024. ADL said these encampments were associated with a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents on campus and, in some cases, included demands viewed as undermining Jewish student life. ADL documented that at least five appointees attended such encampments, while others publicly defended them and denied the presence of antisemitism, despite reported displays of pro-terror slogans and calls for violence.

ADL also cited ties between transition committee members and organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Within Our Lifetime. The report said these groups have publicly glorified Hamas’s October 7 attack, advocated for the dismantling of Zionism, or led demonstrations that ADL says have included antisemitic rhetoric and harassment of Jewish institutions.

In addition, ADL reported that at least four transition committee appointees have ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan or the organization itself. The report noted that Farrakhan has a long history of antisemitic rhetoric and that some appointees have publicly praised him, defended his statements, or participated in Nation of Islam events.

The report detailed specific social media posts by transition committee members made in the aftermath of the October 7 attack, including statements characterizing the attack as justified “resistance” or dismissing documented acts of rape and kidnapping as propaganda. ADL said such remarks are particularly troubling given the advisory role these individuals hold in shaping the incoming administration.

While noting that many transition appointees did not raise concerns and that at least 25 individuals have a history of supporting the Jewish community or working with ADL and partner organizations, ADL said the overall composition of the transition committees raises serious questions about the standards applied during the vetting process.

ADL acknowledged that Mamdani has publicly condemned antisemitic violence, including describing a December 14 shooting in Sydney, Australia, as “a vile act of antisemitic terror,” and has held meetings with Jewish community leaders, including representatives of the Satmar community and the New York Board of Rabbis. However, ADL said that the number of appointees with concerning records appears inconsistent with campaign commitments to prioritize Jewish safety.

The organization posed a series of questions to the mayor-elect regarding whether the documented statements and associations were identified during vetting, how they were deemed acceptable, and what standards will be applied to permanent administration appointments. ADL said it will continue to monitor the transition and assess how the incoming administration’s actions impact Jewish communal safety in New York City. INN

Severe report: One-fifth of Mamdani's staff "promotes terrorism and harasses Jews". The Anti-Defamation League has determined that 80 of the 400 staff members of the New York mayor-elect are affiliated with extremist anti-Zionist organizations • One of the employees was photographed at a pro-Palestinian demonstration next to a red triangle affiliated with Hamas • N12. Published: 23.12.25, 07:25 Mako

See: Representative Ayanna Pressley D-MA; The Progressive Caucus [Select Members]: During 2024–2025 legislative sessions, many progressives faced a "quandary" over foreign aid bills. Some chose to support Ukraine-focused provisions while opposing the Israel-related sections of large spending packages; Senator Chris Van Hollen D-MD: While a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s defense against Russia, he has become one of the most critics of Israel

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"Every Action Will Be Met". "Severe Response": Netanyahu Vows Hardline Retaliation as Iran Launches Ballistic Tests: Israeli intelligence has detected signs that Iran is rapidly rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal, leading Prime Minister Netanyahu to issue a final warning that any provocation will face an immediate and crushing military response.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 22, 2025. JFeed

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Australia sets eyes on Hizb ut-Tahrir, neo-Nazis for post-Bondi ‘hate organization’ list. The new proscription, part of a package of counter antisemitism legislative measures in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre, would make it a criminal offense to join and support hate organizations.

By Michael Starr. Dec. 22, 2025 14:20

The Australian federal government is targeting Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia (HTA) and neo-Nazi group White Australia as part of its new project to create a list of prohibited “hate organizations,” according to remarks by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.

The new proscription regime, part of a package of counter antisemitism legislative measures proposed in the wake of the Bondi Beach Massacre, would make it a criminal offense to join and support organizations listed by the Home Affairs Ministry and attorney-general.

At a press conference following Cabinet and National Security Committee meetings, Burke explained that the prohibited hate organizations list would be established for groups that did not meet the threshold for proscription as a terrorist organization.

“I’ve spoken before about my disgust for a very long time at organizations like Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Nationalist Socialist Network [White Australia], otherwise known as the Neo-Nazis,” said Burke. “I’m asking my department, as the drafting is done, to check it against previous behavior of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network. Their behavior needs to be unacceptable, their behavior needs to be unlawful, their behavior needs to be enough that we can prescribe the organization and prohibit their activity in Australia.”

.. crackdown on Hizb ut-Tahrir and Nationalist Socialist Network.

HTA and White Australia, formerly known as the Nationalist Socialist Network, have raised the ire of Australian politicians in recent years for provocative public events.

“The organization’s condemnation of Israel and Jews attracts media attention and aids recruitment, but it deliberately stops short of promoting onshore acts of politically motivated violence. Hizb ut-Tahrir wants to test and stretch the boundaries of legality without breaking them,” said Burgess. “I fear its anti-Israel rhetoric is fueling and normalizing wider antisemitic narratives.”

Liberal Party Senator Michaelia Cash said in response to a planned HTA conference that the Australian government should list the pro-Caliphate group as a terrorist organization, noting that its chapters had been banned in countries including Germany, the UK, and Indonesia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued a rebuke of HTA for hosting an October 7 Massacre anniversary event in Bankstown.

New South Wales parliament opposition members, such as Christopher Rath, have repeatedly raised concerns about HTA’s presence in universities in the state.

Last April, the Zionist Federation of Australia called for HTA to be designated as a terrorist organization, explaining that the group was “covertly pushing unwitting Australians towards extremism, and radicalizing its members in support of terror.”

HTA said on Thursday that it was horrified by last Sunday’s Bondi Beach Massacre, but declined to condemn the attack because it implied collective guilt and sanctioned government responses. The group, which seeks to establish a caliphate in the Muslim world, argued that antisemitism was not to blame for the attack.

“There can be no conversation about Bondi without centering the genocide in Gaza,” wrote HTA.

HTA implied that the terrorist attack was orchestrated by Zionists, as Israel was the primary beneficiary of the outcome.

“The ISIS bogeyman has conveniently reared its head again, at the precise time the Zionist entity is embarking upon a global campaign to demonize Islam and Muslims,” said HTA. “You don’t have to be a believer in conspiracy theories to appreciate that only Zionists will benefit from this tragedy. At the very least, the facts as they stand now should raise sufficient questions to slow the conversation down until real details are learned.”

On Friday, HTA issued a statement warning that Israel advocates were attempting to exploit the massacre for political gain, with the government supposedly bending to Israeli demands like with “the fake ‘wave’ of antisemitic attacks last summer.”

White Australia, another target mentioned by Burke, has received scrutiny at the same time as it has sought to establish a federal political party. On November 21, NSW White Australia leader Jack Eltis announced that the party had obtained 1,500 signatures for its members.

New legal regimes have been introduced in response to White Australia’s operations, the latest being the NSW parliament bills to make it an offense for conduct that indicates support for Nazi ideology.

The amendment came in response to the group’s protest outside the NSW parliament in November, in which the group protested against previous protest and anti-extremism laws. Outside the government building, the group raised a banner calling to “abolish the Jewish lobby,” accusing the Jewish community of orchestrating antisemitic incidents to manipulate politicians.

Albanese said at the Monday Canberra press briefing that other post-Bondi Massacre legislative measures, including the hate organization list, were being refined following their announcement on Thursday. The government sought to create an offense for provoking violence, increasing penalties for hate speech and property destruction advocacy, and making hate motivation a factor in all crimes. Burke also sought the power to cancel or reject visas of those engaging in radical behavior, and to ban the importation of extremist material. JPost

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Australian PM invites President Herzog to visit after Sydney attack. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke with President Isaac Herzog following the terror attack on Sydney’s Jewish community and invited him to visit Australia in the near future. Israel National News. Published: Dec 23, 2025, 11:20 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Antisemitism. Trio convicted in UK for terror plot to kill hundreds of Jews. Rob Potts, of the Manchester police, stated that if the terrorists had been successful, it could have been "one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on UK soil." JNS Staff.

(Dec. 23, 2025 / JNS) Two brothers and a third man were convicted in a court near Manchester, in the United Kingdom, in “connection with a foiled terrorist plot intended to target the Jewish community in Greater Manchester,” the local police department said on Tuesday.

The trio aimed to “kill hundreds of innocent people” in an “Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack on Jewish communities in the north-west of England,” according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The three hoped to smuggle four high-powered, military-grade AK-47 rifles, two pistols and 900 rounds of ammunition into the country and to use them to attack a march against antisemitism in the center of Manchester and “then to move the attack to an area of north Manchester occupied predominantly by the Jewish community,” according to prosecutors.

Sir Stephen Watson, chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, stated that “it was clear throughout this trial that the scale of the offender’s hatred towards our Jewish community knew no bounds.”

“All too recently in Sydney, and of course here in Manchester in October, the very week before this trial began, we have felt the devastation of terrorism directed toward our Jewish community,” he said.

On Oct. 2, two Jews were killed in a terrorist attack by a jihadist on Yom Kippur at a synagogue in Manchester, England.

“A terrorist attack upon our Jewish friends and neighbors is an attack on us all and is an affront to all decent people in our country,” Watson said. “Today we are again reminded of the harm that such hate seeks to cause.”

According to the police department, Walid Saadaoui (38) and Amar Hussein (52) were convicted of planning terror attacks, and Bilel Saadaoui (36) was convicted of failing to report information about a terror attack.

Saadaoui told an undercover officer, whom he thought was a fellow extremist traveler, in 2023 that he wanted to carry out a “significant terrorist attack targeting Jewish people,” according to Manchester police. According to police, Saadaoui involved Hussein in the plot and later confessed to discussing it with his brother Bilel.

The three are slated to be sentenced on Feb. 13.

Rob Potts, assistant chief constable, stated that if the terrorists had been successful, “then what followed would have been devastating and potentially one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on U.K. soil.”

The brothers are reportedly of Tunisian descent. UK prosecutors said that Hussein, “a Syrian who claimed to have fought in the Iraqi army,” was “known to be an Islamic State supporter.”

The group’s plan “included killing law-enforcement officers who might intervene,” police said.

According to prosecutors, Saadaoui told the police informant that he joined ISIS in 2013, before moving to the United Kingdom, and that he joined a Facebook page for Jews in North West England “covertly” to monitor events. JNS

Gun-Toting ISIS Fanatics Planned UK’s Worst Massacre on Jewish Street - JFeed.

UK authorities say averted ISIS plot could have become the deadliest terror attack in British history, as extremists armed with AK-47s planned a suicide massacre targeting Manchester’s Jewish community, schools, and synagogues. Gila Isaacson Dec 23, 2025 15:30

Two Islamic State extremists have been convicted of orchestrating a planned gun massacre targeting Manchester's Jewish community, in what authorities described as a potential "catastrophic" and "deadliest terrorist attack in UK history."

Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were found guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday of preparing acts of terrorism. Saadaoui's brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 36, was also convicted for failing to disclose information about the plot. The duo had acquired four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns, and 1,200 rounds of ammunition, intending a suicide rampage on Jewish sites, with any Christian casualties considered a "bonus," prosecutors said. Their targets included areas around synagogues, schools, and gatherings in Manchester's Jewish quarter, the same neighborhood where a separate stabbing occurred outside a synagogue on October 2, 2025.

Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts warned that an attack in a crowded Jewish area would have caused "untold harm." "The consequences would have been catastrophic," he stated. Saadaoui, a former Italian restaurant owner in Great Yarmouth, idolized Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130. Prosecutors said Saadaoui aimed to mimic that carnage in retaliation for Israeli actions in Gaza. After selling his business and home, he used £4,400 from the proceeds as a down payment on the weapons.

Surveillance footage captured Saadaoui scouting Jewish sites with an undercover officer posing as an arms dealer, dubbed "Farouk." He expressed intent to "kill them all, young, old, women, elderly," focusing on schools and events. The pair planned to recruit accomplices, disguise themselves in Jewish clothing, and target responders in an extended spree.

Hussein, an Iraqi ex-soldier who arrived in the UK in 2006 claiming Kuwaiti origin, lived above his workplace in Bolton and had a prior knife conviction. During arrest, he proclaimed, "I'm proud, be terrorist here, I'm proud. We are army from God [sic]."

The plot unraveled through a major undercover operation, codenamed Operation Catogenic, described as the North West's largest counter-terror probe. MI5 flagged Saadaoui's ISIS posts on Facebook in late 2023, leading to surveillance and the sting. Saadaoui was caught red-handed on May 8, 2024, retrieving deactivated weapons from a rented Lexus at a Lancashire hotel.Investigators linked Saadaoui to Hamid al Masalkhi, a Cardiff extremist who joined ISIS in 2013 and later died of cancer. The brothers used bird-keeping as code, calling guns "goldfinches" and ammo "bird seed." Mark Gardner, CEO of the Community Security Trust, praised the thwarting of these "incredibly dangerous individuals." "It may well have been the worst terrorist act in British history," he said, equating jihadist ideology to Nazism: "They want to kill Jews, end of story."

Saadaoui and Hussein twice reconnoitered Dover's port security, posing as tourists at the White Cliffs. Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC called it "hardly the innocence of a teddy bears' picnic." Sentencing is pending. Potts hailed the operation for averting disaster, noting Saadaoui's "extreme danger" and Hussein's "fanatical, unrepentant" mindset. JFeed

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SwordOfSalomon @SwordOfSalomon: 🚨✈️📹 BREAKING NEWS • ANTISEMITIC INCIDENT AT PARIS-CDG AIRPORT :

The man who filmed, humiliated and publicly exposed Jewish children at Paris–CDG Airport has now been traced !

The video was recorded on 25 June 2025 at Terminal 2B, but was only posted on 19 December, which explains why it resurfaced months later. The publication was accompanied by the hashtag #freepalestine.

📱 The available elements point to a British national 🇬🇧, active on TikTok under the account @saint ._17, likely from Hackney, East London 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, which would explain his accent.

⚖️ The parents of the two children now have tangible elements to file a complaint: a face and a social media account.

❗ As the acts were committed on French soil 🇫🇷, it is now up to the French authorities to formally request cooperation from their British counterparts 🇬🇧 in order to identify the perpetrator through the proper legal channels of international judicial cooperation.

🇬🇧 @metpoliceuk @MetCC: We formally ask UK authorities to cooperate with French authorities and transmit the identity of this individual through official legal channels.

🚔 🇫🇷 @PoliceNationale @Interieur_Gouv @ParquetdeParis @prefpolice @NunezLaurent 🚔 🇬🇧 @metpoliceuk @MetCC cc @HenMazzig @StopAntisemites @mishtal Quote SwordOfSalomon @SwordOfSalomon · Dec 21 🚨✈️📹 ANTISEMITIC INCIDENT AT PARIS–CDG AIRPORT :

📆📍 Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at around 7:00 a.m, in the PlayStation Zone 🎮 of Terminal 2B at Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport, a man in his early 30s, speaking with a British accent 🇬🇧, verbally and physically targeted two... Dec 21, 2025 on X

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Anglican lay minister nominated for Jerusalem security coordinator role Maj. Gen. Sean Salene is currently deputy U.S. Central Command commander in Tampa. JNS Staff. (Dec. 23, 2025 / JNS) Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, said earlier this month that U.S. President Donald Trump had nominated Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Sean Salene to be U.S. security coordinator at the Israel-Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem, with the rank of lieutenant general JNS

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Bay Area officials laud school’s response to students arranging selves to form swastika “It undermines your confidence in so many ways, because you have a certain perception of your own community,” Rep. Sam Liccardo told JNS of the incident. Aaron Bandler. (Dec. 23, 2025 / JNS) Students arranging themselves to form a swastika at a San Jose, Calif., high school was “uniquely awful,” but elected officials told JNS that they have been encouraged by the response from the school and local community. JNS

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Poll: Likud, Bennett strengthen as coalition and opposition tie. A Channel 13 poll shows Likud and Naftali Bennett’s new party gaining strength, while the coalition and opposition blocs are tied at 55 seats each, with Arab parties holding the balance. Israel National News. Dec 23, 2025, 10:58 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Qatari propaganda. "Terror Channel:" Israel Bans Al-Jazeera Until 2027. The Knesset approved legislation overnight extending Israel’s ban on Al Jazeera broadcasts for an additional two years, despite ongoing delays in advancing a permanent version of the law. The law is based on the damage Al-Jazeera does to national security and their encitement to terror.

Judah Pe'er. Dec 23, 2025 01:27 JFeed

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Unstoppably Antisemitic. After Netflix Shocker, Yoseph Haddad Slams Dave Chappelle | WATCH. Yoseph Haddad has had more than enough of watching vicious Israel haters spread hatred and relentless, baseless bias. Gila Isaacson. Dec 23, 2025 17:14

Dave Chappelle's latest Netflix special, "The Unstoppable…", which dropped unexpectedly on December 19, is stirring up controversy again. This time, Israeli-Arab activist Joseph Haddad is calling out the comedian over parts of the show that touch on Israel, Jewish influence in Hollywood, and the Middle East conflict.

The roughly hour-long special, Chappelle's eighth with Netflix, showcases his no-holds-barred approach, diving into free speech, politics, and slices of his life in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He defends his gig at a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, despite the heat over human rights issues linked to the Jamal Khashoggi killing. Chappelle also takes shots at folks like Bill Maher and conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, brushing off any MLK comparisons as "just meme stuff" and calling Kirk "a bigot with a podcast." But it's Chappelle's take on Israel that's really sparking debate. He calls out Israel's role in the conflict, using what some see as old stereotypes about Jewish power in showbiz, and ties it into bigger talks about paranoia and cancel culture worldwide.

Haddad, a vocal pro-Israel advocate with a big online presence, fired back in a video on X (once Twitter). He calls Chappelle a "vile little man". In the quick two-minute rant, Haddad hits him for hypocrisy, pointing to that Saudi show amid their own rights problems, plus ignorance on Israel-Palestine, and pushing damaging stereotypes. Haddad, who posts in Hebrew and English, even pokes fun at Chappelle's name, suggesting "Dave Shappal," and wonders if his 1998 switch to Islam is coloring his opinions. He throws in contested numbers like "over 18,000 children killed" and says Chappelle's bits are fueling attacks on Jews in real life.

The criticism isn't just from Haddad, pro-Israel folks are piling on across the web. X is buzzing with threads breaking down Chappelle's Israel jokes, highlighting ongoing clashes over what's fair game in comedy for touchy global issues. Fans love the special's bold edge, but critics say it veers into insensitivity, especially on trans topics and Jewish tropes, much like the fallout from "The Closer."

The truth is that it's not only the content which is wildly antismeitic, it's also the timing, coming in the wake of the slaughter of 15 people attending a Hunkkah party on Bondi Beach. But Chappelle has made it clear that he has taken a side, and it's the side that bashes everything Jewish and eveything Israeli does, while excusing himself as speaking 'as a comedian'. Netflix hasn't weighed in, sticking to their pattern of backing Chappelle through past storms.

Tens of thousands of his fans are masisvely disappointed. His comedy has veered away from comedy and itno straight up hatred. And there's nothing funny about that, as Haddad points out. JFeed

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Gaetz slams antisemitism envoy, blames Israel for sex-trafficking probe on Tucker Carlson's podcast. “Anti-semitism used to mean somebody who didn’t like Jews. Now it just means somebody Jews don’t like," Gaetz said in the episode. By Michael Starr. Dec. 23, 2025 15:21 JPost

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Laura Loomer rages that Tucker Carlson is turning the ‘GOP into modern-day Hitler Youth’. The Independent US Justin Baragona. Tue, December 23, 2025 at 9:48 PM GMT. Gaetz declared. He also told Carlson that “antisemitism used to mean somebody who didn’t like Jews – now it just means somebody Jews don’t like.” HuffPost

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Target 2027 . "Over One Hundred Missiles": Pentagon Leak Reveals China’s Massive New Nuclear Launch Sites A leaked Pentagon report reveals that China has loaded over one hundred intercontinental missiles into new silos while preparing its military to seize Taiwan by the year 2027. Eliana Fleming. Dec 23, 2025 14:19 JFeed

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Officer kidnapped due to connection to Ron Arad's abduction. Former Lebanese security officer Ahmad Shukr has disappeared. Lebanese sources claim he may have been kidnapped by Israel in an intelligence operation. Israel National News. Dec 23, 2025, 6:40 PM INN

_____ Antisemitic Article In Qatari Government. Daily: Zionism Seeks To Control The World, As Noted In The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion'. December 23, 2025. Qatar I Special Dispatch No. 12312

On November 2, 2025 the Qatari government daily Al-Sharq published an antisemitic article by Jordanian journalist lhsan Al-Faqih, which states that Zionism seeks to weaken the world's nations and dominate them by undermining the institution of the family. As proof Al-Faqih cites the Antisemitic fabrication known as The Protocols of the Enders of Zion,M which alleges that the Jews aim to undermine the institution of the family in non-Jewish societies. She stresses that, "although some are skeptical about attributing these Protocols to the Zionists, reality attests to the fact that many of the things that appear in them have come true, in a way that leaves no room for doubt about the authenticity of the Zionist modus operandi that is based on systematic sabotage." The article surveys the measures that the Zionists are allegedly taking to destroy the institution of the family, which include redefining the concept of family to encompass same-sex and unmarried couples, promoting the use of contraceptives, legalizing abortion, and pushing Arab and Islamic regimes to ban polygamy and promote gender equality. Finally, the author emphasizes that she is not speculating or advancing conspiracy theories, but describing realty, and that "Western memoirs are full of leaders' confessions about the Jewish influence and its role in wars, coups, and the dismantling of states." It should be noted that the Qatari press frequently publishes articles with antisemitic motifs derived both from Islamic sources such as the Quran and the Hadith (prophetic traditions) and from Western sources.] Memri

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Christian, Jewish, other holidays in the West are being hijacked by Islamist terror - opinion. Regrettably, as long as Western societies continue to placate, mollify, and coddle such pressures, this trajectory will only intensify.

([1]. A rabbi performs the Havdalah ceremony while Margaret Beazley, governor of New South Wales, holds the Havdalah candle, during a tribute for the victims of a mass shooting during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, in Sydney, Australia, December 20, 2025).

By Alan Baker. December 22, 2025. The recent tragic and bestial Muslim terrorist attack against Australian Jews celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah on December 14 in the Bondi Beach area of Sydney, as dramatic and heart-rending as it was, cannot and should not be viewed as an isolated event.

Rather, it follows a growing pattern of systematic Islamist-inspired violence and intimidation deliberately directed against innocent civilians celebrating their traditional religious festivals and civic holidays in Western societies.

This phenomenon is not new. One of the earlier examples was the December 2016 terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, which left 12 people murdered and dozens wounded. In 2018, a similar Islamist attack at a Christmas market killed five people in Strasbourg, France. More recently, on December 21, 2024, five people – including a nine-year-old child – were killed when a vehicle rammed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, injuring more than 200 others. The market was closed for the remainder of the season. A Saudi national who had lived in Germany since 2006 was arrested.

Such Islamist, anti-religious, anti-Christian, and antisemitic violence – and the ever-present threat accompanying it – is now spreading across Western societies like wildfire, casting a long shadow over the celebration of traditional religious and civic holidays.

In November 2025, the German town of Overath, near Cologne, cancelled its traditional Christmas market, citing prohibitive security costs driven by counterterrorism requirements. Similar cancellations have occurred in Dresden, Rostock, and elsewhere in Germany, where organizers say they can no longer afford the security measures imposed by authorities.

How Islamist violence terrorizes holiday celebrations in the West. Across Europe, large public festivities have been downgraded, restricted or cancelled outright. In Venice, public celebrations in historic squares have been curtailed and alcohol sales prohibited. In Belgrade, Serbia, the central Christmas concert was cancelled for security reasons. In Bratislava and elsewhere in Slovakia, the Chabad Jewish organization was compelled to limit its traditional eight-day Hanukkah celebrations to a single day due to security concerns. Beyond Europe, similar patterns are emerging. Out of fear of Islamist violence, combined with rising security costs and concerns over public disorder, major Christmas and New Year celebrations – including firework displays – have been cancelled or severely restricted in cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Sydney.

Private Health Premiums Rising? Seniors Are Finding more affordable options. Private Health Premiums Rising? Seniors Are Finding more affordable options. Sponsored by Which Health Insurer Even where celebrations continue, they do so under siege-like conditions. Salzburg’s iconic Christmas market, which attracts over 1.5 million visitors annually, is now guarded around the clock by private security and monitored by dozens of cameras. Elsewhere in Austria, Christmas markets have been cancelled entirely because organizers cannot meet mandated security requirements.

THIS ATMOSPHERE of fear has also penetrated educational and cultural institutions. In Andover, England, the head teacher of a primary school informed parents that there would be no reference to Christmas in the school’s festive performance “in order to be inclusive.” In Denmark, kindergartens and schools have been cancelling or diluting Christmas celebrations for years to avoid offending Muslim sensitivities.

Municipal authorities across Western Europe have followed suit. Nantes now celebrates a “Winter Journey” rather than Christmas. Bordeaux promotes “Festivities” without religious reference. Saint-Denis invites residents to “Beautiful Winter,” while its mayor reportedly wishes citizens a “Happy Winter.”

In Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union, reports in December 2025 described Islamist groups overrunning the Christmas market, forcing Christian families to flee in fear. In Milan, Islamist agitators disrupted festivities, climbed on statues, imposed Palestinian flags on celebrants, and blasted loud music to intimidate families attending the market.

These developments are not coincidental. The heightened threat levels confronting Western cities emanate largely from growing Muslim migrant populations influenced by religious incitement and social pressure, often reinforced by clerical authority. This reality imposes ever-increasing security burdens and costs on host societies.

A clear illustration of such religious influence appears in a fatwa issued by Sheikh Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz, former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, reproduced in 2024 in the Kuwaiti magazine Al Mujtama, regarding participation in non-Muslim holidays. The ruling explicitly forbids Muslims from celebrating or assisting in Christian or Jewish festivals, describing such participation as sinful and a form of cooperation with the “enemies of Allah.”

The implications of this worldview – and its growing presence within Western societies – must not be underestimated or trivialized.

How long will Western democracies, seemingly fixated on appeasing Muslim pressures and fearful of violent backlash, continue to erode their own Judeo-Christian traditions to avoid offending migrant sensitivities? How long will political correctness, misplaced guilt, and cultural appeasement override common sense and historical continuity?

Once-proud democracies with rich religious and civic traditions – including Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, and Italy – appear increasingly unable or unwilling to defend their own cultural heritage. Even smaller nations across Europe are succumbing to the same pressures.

Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, and other traditional festivals are now genuinely at risk – threatened by Islamist incitement and violence directed at the very societies that have offered refuge and opportunity.

Rather than integrating into the cultures of their host nations, radical elements reject them and seek to impose their own norms. Regrettably, as long as Western societies continue to placate, mollify, and coddle such pressures, this trajectory will only intensify.

Indeed, a deeply troubling and sad state of affairs.

The writer served as legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and as Israel’s ambassador to Canada. He currently heads the international law program and the Global Law Forum at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. JPost

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Moving East . "Explosions Near Tehran": Revolutionary Guard Announces Sudden New Military Drills Iran has alerted citizens near Tehran to prepare for explosions and gunfire as the Revolutionary Guard launches new drills that Israel fears are a cover for a coming missile attack. Eliana Fleming. Dec 24, 2025. JFeed

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Sa’ar congratulates Honduras’. President-elect, vows to strengthen ties Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar congratulates Honduras’ new President Nasry Asfura, inviting him to Israel and pledging to deepen bilateral ties following Asfura’s narrow election victory. Israel National News. Dec 25, 2025, 2:18 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Conservative rot. Nick Fuentes: Tucker is Much Worse than Ben Shapiro | WATCH. Far-Right Commentator Nick Fuentes Claims Tucker Carlson Poses Greater Threat to White Interests Than Ben Shapiro Bianca Jones Dec 24, 2025 03:48 JFeed

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Antisemitic Power Play. Mamdani's First Test: Petition to Oust Jewish NYPD Boss Over Protest Crackdowns. Over 3,500 NYC attorneys demand Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani fire Jewish Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a move that reeks of antisemitic exclusion and aligns with Mamdani's pro-Hamas sympathies. Eliana Fleming. Dec 24, 2025 13:09

In a chilling escalation of antisemitic efforts to purge Jews from positions of influence, more than 3,500 attorneys and public defenders in New York City have penned a letter to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, demanding the ouster of Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, under the guise of concerns over policing practices. This push aligns perfectly with Mamdani's history of cavorting with pro-Hamas "activists" and chanting calls to "globalize the intifada," a euphemism for worldwide violence against Jews, raising alarms about his administration's intent to sideline pro-Israel voices and embolden terrorist sympathizers in America's largest city.

The letter accuses Tisch of overseeing an "expansion" of policing at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, where protesters often glorify Hamas terrorists responsible for the October 7, 2023, massacre that slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 others. Signatories claim increased stops involving Black and Brown New Yorkers and heightened enforcement at political rallies, asserting that such policies plague courts and communities daily. They decry the NYPD's alleged surveillance of picket lines, arrests of striking workers, and interventions in protests, while prioritizing low-income neighborhoods for minor offenses like fare evasion and retail theft. The union highlights the NYPD's hefty budget share amid cuts to other services, framing it as skewed priorities. JFeed

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Column. American Jewry. Mamdani’s team of Jew-haters will change New York. Why be surprised when this particular candidate, whose political career has been based on an obsession with destroying Israel, hires scores of antisemites to staff his administration? Jonathan S. Tobin. (Dec. 24, 2025 / JNS) The most important thing about the Anti-Defamation League’s latest “Mamdani Monitor” is that its results were so unsurprising and generated few headlines in New York or anywhere else. That 20% of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s 400 appointees to various transition committees have ties to anti-Zionist and antisemitic groups—or have engaged in acts of Jew-hatred online—is, in and of itself, an astounding figure. It’s even more astounding when you consider that they are engaged in an effort to govern a city with the largest Jewish population in the world. JNS

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Jewish state will always stand with Christians, Netanyahu says on Christmas Eve. Netanyahu noted that the Jewish state is the only country in the region where Christians continue to live "with full rights and in total freedom." JNS Staff. (Dec. 25, 2025 / JNS) Jerusalem will always stand with its Christian friends in the Middle East and around the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Christmas Eve message on Wednesday night. JNS

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Times Square Christmas Hijack: "Jesus Is Palestinian" Billboard Blasts NYC. A massive Times Square billboard declaring "Jesus Is Palestinian" during Christmas season exposes the relentless pro-Hamas push to hijack holidays and spread anti-Israel falsehoods.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 24, 2025 21:34

In a diabolical move that reeks of attention-seeking hatred, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has plastered a giant. Times Square billboard. with the inflammatory message "Merry Christmas, Jesus Is Palestinian," turning one of Christianity's holiest seasons into a political weapon against Israel and Jews. The bright green display, adorned with festive stars and what appear to be Palestinian motifs, dominates the heart of New York City, one of the world's most iconic holiday destinations, where millions gather to celebrate Christmas lights and joy. It's absolutely disgusting how these pro-Hamas idiots feel compelled to make everything about them, hijacking a significant religious holiday for Christians worldwide to peddle anti-Israel lies and propaganda, harassing believers with their obsession during a time meant for peace and reflection.

The ADC, long criticized for downplaying Hamas terrorism and amplifying narratives that demonize Israel and erase it from biblical history, timed this stunt perfectly to maximize disruption amid the Christmas rush. The billboard's claim that Jesus, a Jewish figure born in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago, central to Christian theology as the Jewish Messiah, is "Palestinian" is a historical fabrication designed to erase Jewish roots and fuel modern political grievances.

This isn't advocacy; it's a calculated assault on religious harmony, mirroring how Hamas terrorists exploit civilians in Gaza while their supporters abroad twist facts to vilify Israel's existence. Coming weeks after the Sydney Chanukah massacre that killed 15 Jews, and amid a 400% global spike in antisemitic attacks since Hamas's October 7, 2023, slaughter of 1,200 Israelis, the billboard feels like another front in the war on the existence of Jewish identity and Israel throughout history. Critics see it as part of a broader pattern: pro-Hamas groups infiltrating public spaces to normalize hatred, from campus chants glorifying "intifada" to street protests blocking holiday events. In New York, home to over 1.1 million Jews, such displays risk inflaming tensions already high from synagogue vandalism and assaults. The ADC's move offers no bridge-building, only division, forcing Christmas revelers to confront terrorist-aligned messaging instead of seasonal cheer. As families admire Rockefeller Tree lights nearby, this billboard stands as a grim reminder of how far extremists will go to ruin moments of unity, spreading lies that Jesus, raised in Jewish tradition and crucified under Roman rule centuries before any "Palestinian" national identity, belongs to their cause. Diabolical doesn't begin to cover it, these harassers aren't fighting for peace in Gaza; they're waging cultural war on Jews and Christians alike, proving their "activism" is just veiled support for Hamas's barbarism. JFeed

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Three Months Later: Israel returns body of Allenby Crossing terrorist to Jordan. Israel National News. Dec 25, 2025, 8:32 AM INN

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Papal Hypocrisy Exposed. Pope Leo 'Forgets' to Mention Bondi Victims in Christmas Address. For those wondering, he didn't actually 'forget' to mention it and he's not senile; he chose to focus everyone's attention on Palestinians and ignore the Jewish bodies filling cemeteries due to rampant unchecked antisemitism.

Gila Isaacson. Dec 25, 2025 09:03 JFeed

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Georgetown University severs ties with UN’s Francesca Albanese over antisemitic remarks. Georgetown University has removed Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, following her antisemitic remarks, including justifying the October 7th attacks, after a campaign by UN Watch.

By Shoshana Baker. December 25, 2025 Georgetown University has severed its ties with Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, due to her antisemitic statements, including those justifying the events of October 7th, according to an article by UN Watch.

Albanese was previously listed on the "Other Affiliated Scholars" page of Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration. However, she has now been completely removed, and her information can no longer be found on the university's site. Her biography page has also reportedly been deleted. JPost

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After Bondi Beach massacre: 600 global officials send solidarity letter to Australian mayor. Israel National News. Dec 24, 2025, 8:08 AM iNN

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Jewish Sydney hero: Give me your gun or we'll both die. Leibel Lazaroff, 21, severely injured in the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre, saved a police officer's life and attempted to stop the terrorist. Israel National News. Dec 24, 2025 [/419836 INN

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Bondi Beach aftermath Melbourne: Rabbi's Car Firebombed on Christmas Day. A car belonging to a local rabbi and bearing a “Happy Chanukah” sign was firebombed in Melbourne’s St Kilda East neighborhood early Christmas morning, in what police and Jewish community leaders say is a suspected antisemitic attack.

Judah Pe'er. Dec 25, 2025 04:00 JFeed

Antisemitic attack in Australia. Melbourne car with Hanukkah sign torched Elad Benari. Dec 25, 2025, 5:29 AM INN

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Ammunition, Hamas, & Hezbollah flags found in home of Sydney massacre supporter. Weapons, ammunition, and flags of Hamas and Hezbollah were found at the home of an Australian citizen who was arrested after praising the massacre at Bondi Beach and posting antisemitic content. Nitzan Tzur. Dec 24, 2025, 8:42 PM (GMT+2) INN

Bomb-making list, firearms, extremist flags seized from Perth man accused of backing Bondi attackers. By Nicolas Perpitch and Bridget McArthur Topic:Crime. Wednesday 24 December.

In short: Police charged Martin Thomas Glynn with making antisemitic comments on social media after he allegedly pledged support for the Bondi shooters just hours after the attack.

When they searched his home, they allegedly found a bomb-making shopping list, terrorist organisation flags, six registered rifles and a large amount of ammunition.

A tip of from the public led to his arrest, and the WA police commissioner said authorities had "no record of concern for this individual".

A bomb-making shopping list, terrorist organisation flags and thousands of ammunition rounds were seized from the Perth home of man alleged to have pledged support for the Bondi shooters, a Perth court has heard.

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

WA Police on Tuesday raided the suburban home of Martin Thomas Glynn, 39, who has been charged as part of the state's Operation Dalewood, launched in response to the Bondi terror attack.

Police allege they found six registered rifles, about 4,000 rounds of ammunition and flags belonging to terrorist organisations Hamas and Hezbollah.

It's also alleged they found images of smoke grenade bombs and open source information about making explosives on Mr Glynn's mobile phone.

He was charged with making antisemitic remarks on social media and appeared in the Fremantle Magistrates Court on Christmas Eve.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the case by the acting WA Premier and Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner.

In a social media post on Wednesday afternoon, he said counter terrorism police had offered their full support to WA Police.

Raid on suburban home. The court was told, Mr Glynn, who represented himself, took to his Instagram in the hours after the December 14 attack in which 15 people were killed at a Hannukah event at Bondi Beach.

"I just want to say that I, Martin Glynn, 100 per cent support the New South Wales shooters," one of the posts stated.

A large number of bunches of flowers are laid across a walkway at Bondi Beach. A Jewish flag flies alongside them. Floral tributes laid for those killed in the attack at Bondi. (ABC News: Che Chorley)

The prosecutor said the subsequent raid on his Yangebup home found handwritten notebooks titled "ideology, views, ideas and insights".

They allegedly included strongly antisemitic comments, as well as references to Hitler and the Holocaust, the prosecutor said.

Police also found flags of terrorist organisations Hamas and Hezbollah in the home.

The 39-year-old is facing three charges, including conduct intended to racially harass, carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon, and failing to store a firearm correctly.

WA government meets with Jewish leaders after Bondi attack A wide shot of a group of people including Roger Cook, Col Blanch and Jewish leaders seated around a table during a meeting. WA Premier Roger Cook condemns the "cowardly and heinous" attack in Bondi, after meeting with Jewish leaders in Perth.

The prosecutor said police found six rifles and a large amount of ammunition, including about 4,000 rounds of various calibre all over the house.

She said an illegal spring-loaded flick knife was also found in his bedside drawer.

She also noted the Palestinian flag was flying on a pole outside his house, which she claimed was creating angst among some neighbours.

WA Police commissioner Col Blanch said the Palestinian flag was not an illegal symbol to display and not a reason to investigate someone in itself.

Bomb shopping list. Police allegedly found images of smoke grenade bombs and open source information about making explosives on his mobile phone, the prosecutor said.

Bondi heroes to be recognised in new honours list. Floral tributes on promenade at Bondi Beach Those who showed "extraordinary" bravery during the Bondi terror attack will be recognised in a new honours list.

As a result, police executed a second search warrant at his home, assisted by the bomb squad, she said, and found what she called initiators for bomb making.

Mr Glynn told the court these were matches wrapped up that he used as a fire starter for his barbecue.

The prosecutor said police also found a bomb manufacturing shopping list, but not the items on it.

Mr Glynn said he had a collection of 50 flags and there were none on display, and that they were all packed away in a box.

The exterior of a recently built home Martin Glynn's home in Yangebup, in Perth's southern suburbs. (ABC News: Dominic Briggs)

He doubled down on the content of the social media posts, saying he said he had been "very opinionated".

"Watching the massacre of Palestinian people for the last two years, I was hoping to raise the hypocrisy," he told the court.

He then drew a parallel between the death toll from the Bondi attack to Palestinian deaths from the Gaza-Israel conflict.

'I'm a doomsday prepper'. He denied he had interests in bomb-making material, saying he had downloaded information but never procured anything.

"Yes, I am a doomsday prepper," he said.

"I don't intend to harm anyone."

He added the notebooks were ideas for a political party.

"It helps me get ideas off my chest so I don't become pent up" he said. "I keep to myself. My neighbours hardly know me."

Tip-off led to arrest WA's acting Premier Rita Saffioti revealed a tip-off from a member of the public led to Mr Glynn's arrest.

A side view of Rita Saffioti who is addressing media Acting WA Premier Rita Saffioti called a press conference on Christmas Eve following Mr Glynn's court appearance. (ABC News: Grace Burmas)

"A community member saw a post from the man online, recognised it wasn't right, and spoke and reported it to police," Ms Saffioti said.

Commissioner Blanch described the social media post as "of grave concern ... totally unacceptable and abhorrent".

He said police had "no record of concern for this individual", but it was early in the investigation.

"We don't want a repeat of Bondi in Western Australia," Commissioner Blanch said.

Mr Glynn said he had never had an issue with the law, did not have a violent past and had worked as an emergency services officer on mine sites.

Magistrate Tyres refused bail on the basis there appeared to be a strong prosecution case and in the interests of public safety, especially in light of the Bondi attacks.

He said Mr Glynn had identified himself as the author of the social media posts.

Mr Tyres noted the maximum penalty for the antisemitic comments was five years' jail and this alleged conduct did not seem to be at the lower end of the scale.

Mr Glynn has been remanded in custody until February 3. ABC.net.au

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Islamic terror. Boko Haram Bombs Nigerian Mosque, Five Dead. The blast occurred during evening prayers near the Gamboru market area, as congregants gathered inside the mosque. Emergency services rushed the wounded to the hospital, where several victims were reported to be in serious condition.

Judah Pe'er. Dec 25, 2025 02:29 JFeed

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Twice In A Week: Border Police demolished structures in Israeli homestead. Border Police and the Civil Administration soldiers demolished houses and a goat pen and arrested two right-wing activists at the Mikneh Avraham hilltop homestead. Israel National News. Published: Dec 25, 2025, 9:24 AM (GMT+2) INN

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9 months later. Houthis confirm deaths of senior commanders in US strikes. Israel National News Dec 25, 2025, 11:07 AM INN

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Iran sent Israeli to document former PM Bennett's home. Authorities arrested Israeli man on suspicion of carrying out surveillance missions for Iranian handlers, including filming near former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s home. Israel National News. Dec 25, 2025, 9:40 AM INN

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Controversial far-right activist Nick Fuentes argued that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is "worse" for white Americans than conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. The remarks, which highlight tensions within right-wing circles over identity politics and immigration, have sparked online debate amid ongoing discussions about demographic shifts in the U.S JFeed

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Lessons from Biden Netanyahu: Israel Declares Munition Independence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel will invest billions over the next decade to build an independent domestic arms and munitions industry, intended to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers after repeated political restrictions during the war. Judah Pe'er. Dec 25, 2025 03:00 JFeed

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Watch. First time combat helicopter intercepts drones. Israel National News. Dec 25, 2025, 5:42 PM INN

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Captivity survivor: 'Hamas admits that the protests helped them' Israel National News Dec 25, 2025, 4:18 PM INN

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Lebanon. Key terrorist from Iranian 'Quds Force' eliminated. The IDF stated that the terrorist operated under the Revolutionary Guards and was involved in Iranian-directed terrorist activity against the State of Israel. Israel National News. Dec 25, 2025, 4:22 PM INN

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"They Kidnapped My Wife". The Raid on Abu Nassira: Hamas Terrorists Target Daughters and Wives to Stop the Resistance. Eliana Fleming. Dec 25, 2025. JFeed

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Australia. Online antisemitic discourse multiplies after Bondi massacre. Israel National News. Dec 25, 2025, 6:21 PM INN

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Notes part II: Dec 26, 2025 - Jan 6, 2026

Trump orders US strikes on ISIS in Nigeria. US forces strike ISIS targets in northwest Nigeria after Trump’s order, responding to terrorist attacks on Christians. Trump calls the strikes “powerful and deadly” in a Truth Social post. Israel National News. Dec 26, 2025, 1:24 AM INN

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Romi Gonen reveals: The terrorist put a gun to my head and threatened me. Former hostage Romi Gonen speaks publicly for the first time about the assaults she endured in captivity. President Herzog: “This is sexual violence and a systematic attempt to crush the soul.” Israel National News. Dec 26, 2025, 4:08 AM (GMT+2) INN

Gun to the Head: The Chilling First Interview With Nova Massacre Survivor Romi Gonen. 471 Days in Hell. Gun to the Head: The Chilling First Interview With Nova Massacre Survivor Romi Gonen Nearly a year after her return from 471 days in captivity, Romi Gonen reveals the harrowing details of the physical and mental abuse she endured at the hands of her Hamas captors.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 25, 2025 22:21

Almost a year has passed since Romi Gonen returned from captivity, yet the process of healing remains a long journey. The young woman, who was abducted from the Nova music festival and became a face of the hostage movement with her captivating smile, has finally decided to speak. In her first in-depth interview, she recounts the moments of her abduction, the terrifying phone calls with her mother, and the profound trauma she experienced while being held by terrorists in Gaza.

Now that all living hostages have returned, Romi feels she can finally share the full extent of the horrors she faced, including being used as a human shield by a senior Hamas leader.

Romi arrived at the party near Re'im with her best friend, Gaya Khalifa. As the massacre began, the two left a trail of messages and location pins as their families tried desperately to save them. Ben Shimoni, a friend of Gaya’s, eventually reached them in his car. Romi recalls being the 13th person Ben saved that day. While they were fleeing, Romi’s mother, Merav, stayed on the phone with her, refusing to let her daughter feel alone even as terrorists surrounded the vehicle. Merav describes her role as a mother during that call, stating that her only goal was to ensure Romi did not feel abandoned, even if her voice was the last thing Romi ever heard.

After her vehicle was ambushed, Romi was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Wounded and terrified, she believed she would wake up without an arm. Following a surgery performed under heavy sedation, she was moved to an apartment where she was held alone by a group of men.

Romi bravely detailed the abuse she suffered, including an incident where a member of the medical staff forced his way into the shower while she was vulnerable and injured. She noted that people often avoid asking if she was harassed because they are afraid to hear the truth.

Her situation worsened when she was moved to the Shati refugee camp. There, her captors, Muhammad and Ibrahim, subjected her to a reality of constant fear. One captor began sleeping on a mattress right next to her and shackling her every night. Romi shared the most severe moment of her ordeal in the presence of her mother and sister, describing how one captor held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone what happened in that room. She recalled looking through a small window and seeing the blue sky and hearing birds chirp, a painful contrast to the filth and brutality she was experiencing. Shortly after, she was taken by motorcycle through the narrow alleys of the camp and told she was being moved deep underground. JFeed

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Lebanese President: 'Diplomatic efforts have reduced risk of war with Israel'. Israel National News. Dec 26, 2025, 6:21 AM INN

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New poll indicates coalition parties' support stable Israel National News. Dec 26, 2025, 1:28 PM INN

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Following intelligence: Prison Service moves terrorist to solitary confinement. Israel National News. Dec 26, 2025, 12:34 PM INN

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Watch: Unique military exercise in Judea and Samaria. IDF completes first-of-its-kind military exercise in Judea and Samaria, integrating aircraft and ground forces. Yoni Kempinski. Dec 26, 2025, 1:02 PM INN

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Victims of terror attack - Aviv Maor and Mordechai Shimshon. Aviv Maor (19) was stabbed to death near Tel Yosef; Mordechai Shimshon (68) was rammed in hit-and-run attack. Israel National News. Published: Dec 26, 2025, 1:33 PM (GMT+2) Updated: 15:36

Aviv Maor (19) was stabbed dead Friday afternoon near Kibbutz Tel Yosef in northern Israel, nearly immediately following a ramming attack in which Mordechai Shimshon, a 68-year-old pedestrian, was rammed and critically injured, later dying of his injuries.

A third victim, a 16-year-old teen boy, was lightly injured.

The terrorist escaped in his vehicle towards Afula, and was neutralized following the attacks. He was later identified as Ahmad al-Roub, a 37-year-old resident of the Palestinian Arab village of Qabatiya.

The parents of the murdered girl, who arrived at the scene minutes after the attack, lamented, "A terrorist took our daughter. She was standing down here, waiting for a ride, and he murdered our daughter."

Initial investigations indicate that the attack began in Beit She'an, on Hashomron Street. Magen David Adom (MDA) medics and paramedics began providing medical treatment and resuscitation to a 68-year-old man who had been rammed. A short time later, they were forced to declare his death.

On the city's Ya'akov Machluf Street, a 16-year-old boy was also rammed. He was transferred to the hospital with light injuries.

From there, the suspect continued to Highway 71, and near Ein Harod he rammed into a vehicle carrying a young woman.

"The terrorist rammed into them, when they were in a kibbutz vehicle," the young woman's father said. "He rammed them and they got out and escaped, and he chased after her and stabbed her in the ditch."

From there, the terrorist escaped in his vehicle towards Afula, where the vehicle was stopped near the city and the terrorist neutralized.

The Police Commissioner is en route to the scene.

The Jezreel Valley Council said that the incident appears to be a ramming attack.

At 12:31 p.m., MDA received a report of an injured woman on Highway 71 near Tel Yosef and Kibbutz Ein Harod. MDA EMTs and paramedics arriving at the scene provided medical treatment to a woman who was unconscious, but were forced to declare her death.

MDA paramedic Daniel Toito said: "We received reports of several incidents in the Beit Shean area. I arrived on Shomron Street and saw a 68 year old man lying unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. I immediately began resuscitation efforts, including chest compressions and ventilation, but sadly he was pronounced dead at the scene."

MDA paramedic Lidor Cohen and senior MDA EMT Aviad Amar recounted: "We saw a 16-year-old boy lying on the sidewalk, suffering from injuries to his lower extremities. He and bystanders told us that he had been struck by a vehicle. We provided him with medical treatment and evacuated him by MDA ambulance to the hospital. He had minor injuries and was fully conscious."

The IDF confirmed: "Following an initial inquiry regarding the ramming and stabbing attack that was executed in the area of Beit She'an, and later on in Ein Harod and Afula, it appears that the terrorist is an unauthorized individual who had infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago.

"IDF soldiers were dispatched to the scene, and situational assessments are being conducted in various regions.

"Additional troops are reinforcing the Menashe Regional Brigade area as well as preparing for an operation in the area of Qabatiya."

"Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to act powerfully and immediately in Kafr Qabatiya, from which the murderous terrorist emerged, to locate and thwart all terrorists and strike all terror infrastructure in the village," a Ministry statement read.

"Whoever aids terror or provides protection and backing for terror will pay the full price."

The statement added, "My heart is with the bereaved families during their most difficult hour. I send condolences from the depths of my heart, and support the families following their incomprehensible loss."

"I would like to thank the security forces, who acted quickly, professionally, and with determination, and neutralized the terrorist." INN

6 injured. 2 Dead After Ramming, Stabbing Attacks in the North. Two people were killed and another injured in a suspected terror attack in northern Israel involving ramming and stabbing incidents near Beit She’an and Ein Harod. The suspect was arrested near Afula as police investigate the coordinated assault amid heightened security alerts.

Gila Isaacson Dec. 26, 2025. JFeed

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After deadly terror attack. IDF, Shin Bet launch operation in Qabatiya Israeli forces launch a major raid in Qabatiya after two people were murdered in a deadly terror attack in northern Israel. The IDF and Shin Bet are mapping the attacker’s home and detaining suspects. Israel National News. Dec 26, 2025, 8:11 PM INN

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Israel FM accuses Palestinian Authority of aiding terror with ‘Pay-for-Slay’ after deadly attack. Gideon Sa'ar's comments follow Friday's terror attacks that killed 2 Israelis. By Benjamin Weinthal. Fox News. Published December 26, 2025 12:16pm EST Updated December 26, 2025 12:25pm EST FoxNews

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Trio of Palestinians arrested for allegedly torching Christmas tree at Catholic church in West Bank.

By Landon Mion. Fox News Published December 25, 2025. ([2]. 'We will never leave Gaza': Israeli defense minister vows to take on 'fierce battle'Video 'We will never leave Gaza': Israeli defense minister vows to take on 'fierce battle' Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst has the latest on Israel's accusation against Hamas on 'America Reports']).

Three Palestinians were arrested on accusations of lighting a Christmas tree on fire ... FoxNews

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From Tehran to Turning Point USA: The political utility of Jew-hatred. Antisemitism has been repackaged as a multipurpose political and economic tool: profitable for podcasters, strategically valuable for hostile states and algorithmically optimized for maximum reach.

Alex Goldenberg. (Dec. 26, 2025 / JNS). Gunmen opened fire on families celebrating the first night of Chanukah at an event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, killing 15 people who ranged from an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor to a 10-year-old child. The attack followed an 893% increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia over the past decade.

In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League documented 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024—the highest in 46 years of tracking, with physical assaults up 21%. That’s more than 25 incidents per day. This isn’t abstract data. It’s Jews burying family members.

The resurgence follows a pattern intelligence analysts recognize: convergence on a high-value target by actors with disparate objectives. Antisemitism has become operationally useful across the ideological spectrum. For the far-right podcaster, it’s a monetizable business model. For Iran, it’s asymmetric information warfare. For Qatar, it’s diplomatic leverage. For China, it’s a destabilization vector targeting American institutions. For domestic grifters and ideologues, it’s the conspiracy theory that explains everything while requiring no evidence. For the media, it is clickbait and a ratings boost.

The Turning Point USA conference revealed how this convergence manifests domestically. The central question: Are there any voices on the right espousing rhetoric too hateful to be platformed? The answer increasingly appears to be no, not even those voices trafficking in Holocaust denial.

Ben Shapiro, a conservative political commentator, stood virtually alone in calling out this normalization. He criticized former Fox News host and current podcaster Tucker Carlson for platforming self-avowed neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, who has called for executing Jews. He challenged conservative media personality Megyn Kelly and others for refusing to denounce far-right conspiracist Candace Owens’s theories about Israeli intelligence murdering Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk in September.

The response was predictable: conservative political strategist and pundit Steve Bannon called Shapiro “a cancer.” Kelly declared their friendship over. Carlson mocked him from the stage.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s position exemplified the problem. Days after the conference, he told the British outlet UnHerd that Fuentes could “eat s**t” for attacking his wife, Usha Vance, of Indian descent, with racial slurs. But when it mattered, on Sunday on the main stage at the conference, he chose coalition management over moral clarity.

Vance argued that U.S. President Donald Trump “did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless self-defeating purity tests” and declared that “we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”

Consider the threat indicators that went unaddressed. Owens urged millions of followers to read Der Talmudjude, an 1871 antisemitic forgery that even Jew-hating Germany exposed as fraudulent, but that the Nazis recognized as a source text. Myron Gaines, a far-right podcaster, influencer, and author, wore a “Cookie Monster” oven sweatshirt to the conference, a Holocaust-denial meme where cookies represent Jews and ovens represent crematoria. He posed for photos with influential conservatives. No one objected.

Gaines (real name Amrou Fudl) isn’t subtle about his objectives. He boasts his Fresh & Fit podcast is “the biggest platform talking about the JQ” and monetizes Holocaust denial through his storefront, where he advertised the sweatshirt with a discount code “271k” for “6% off.” He offers 6% off for merchandise mocking the factually verified total of 6 million murdered Jews, while the “271k” discount code is a dog-whistle nod to the baseless, alternatively lesser total of 271,000 Jews killed during the Holocaust that is promoted online by neo-Nazi, far-right or Holocaust-denial social-media accounts.

Gaines has called the Holocaust a “hoax,” praised Adolf Hitler as “a revolutionary leader” and routinely uses “fat Jew” as a slur. The business model works because the attention economy rewards escalation. Controversy generates engagement, engagement generates revenue, algorithms optimize for watch time.

The foreign-influence dimension follows established patterns. Iran’s Masaf Institute launched hashtag campaigns exploiting USS Liberty conspiracies (an incident during the 1967 war) with more than 2,000 accounts pushing antisemitic narratives. Those narratives migrated from Iranian information operations to the conference floor at Turning Point, where young activists now confront Jewish conservatives with similar talking points.

Carlson’s trajectory illustrates how influence operations cultivate American voices. He recently appeared at Qatar’s Doha Forum, declaring his intention to buy property there. Qatar hosts Hamas leadership and has spent billions promoting Islamist extremism through Al Jazeera and affiliated networks. Carlson now argues that the Gulf State should replace Israel as America’s primary Middle Eastern ally, calling Israel’s actions “mass murder” by an “evil regime.” Whether this represents sincere conviction or successful cultivation, the operational effect is identical.

The left presents a mirror image. Neville Roy Singham’s Chinese Communist Party-affiliated network organized campus groups after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. I testified before Congress about this constellation of nonprofits exploiting regulatory loopholes to bankroll what congressional investigators described as “radical, antisemitic entities,” including National Students for Justice in Palestine. House Republicans documented how Singham’s organizations (The People’s Forum, ANSWER Coalition, International People’s Assembly) function as “conduits through which CCP-affiliated entities co-opted pro-Palestinian activism to advance anti-American, anti-democratic and anti-capitalist agendas.”

These groups organized “Shut It Down for Palestine” campaigns featuring eliminationist rhetoric and attacks on critical infrastructure.

The threat picture: Iran amplifying far-right antisemitism through social-media operations, Qatar cultivating conservative influencers through access and economic incentives, Russia weaponizing deceptively edited content, and China bankrolling radical antisemitic campus networks. Different vectors, same target. This is antisemitism’s operational advantage: Its utility transcends ideology. A Nazi and a Marxist, a theocrat and an atheist, a grifter and a communist operative can all deploy identical conspiracy theories while advancing separate strategic objectives.

This is how institutional defenses fail—not through the initial breach but through immune system collapse. When calling out Holocaust denial makes you the target rather than the threat actor, then you’ve already lost. When boundary enforcement becomes boundary violation, there are no boundaries. The attack chain from “perfidious Jews” to “death penalty” to “Cookie Monster” ovens to mass-casualty events isn’t theoretical. We have the historical case studies. The progression is consistent and accelerating.

When this hatred achieves mainstream acceptance (amplified by podcasters with millions of followers, weaponized by hostile state actors, defended as “free speech”) and produces attacks like Bondi Beach, you’re not observing normal political friction. You’re watching the mechanics of how democracies fail to protect their most vulnerable citizens.

The threat requires decisive action. Platforms must enforce existing terms of service against coordinated inauthentic behavior. Law enforcement must treat incitement to genocide as the criminal act it is, not protected speech.

Both conservative and progressive institutions must choose between coalition maintenance and moral clarity. Right-wing leaders must decide whether platforming Holocaust deniers is an acceptable price for audience growth. Left-wing activists must confront how foreign adversaries have weaponized their movements to advance antisemitic agendas. Americans with platforms across the political spectrum must understand that silence functions as operational support.

The historical pattern is clear, and the contemporary threat indicators are impossible to ignore. Antisemitism has been repackaged as a multipurpose political and economic tool: profitable for podcasters, strategically valuable for hostile states and algorithmically optimized for maximum reach. What began as ancient hatred has evolved into modern infrastructure—and that infrastructure is producing body counts.

The question is whether American institutions, left and right, will respond to these threat indicators before the next attack, and the one after that, and the one after that. JNS

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Israel recognizes Somaliland as two nations establish full diplomatic relations Netanyahu congratulated Somaliland President H.E. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi and praised his leadership and commitment to security, stability, and peace.

By Danielle Greyman-kennard, Reuters December 26, 2025.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially recognized Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Friday, making Israel the first nation to recognize the country.

Together with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Somaliland’s president, Netanyahu signed a joint and mutual declaration on Friday. JPost

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Somalia, Egypt, Turkey and Djibouti condemn Israel's recognition of Somaliland. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially recognized Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday.

By Reuters, Danielle Greyman-kennard December 26, 2025.

The foreign ministers of Somalia, Egypt, Turkey and Djibouti condemned Israel's recognition of Somaliland, Somalia's breakaway region, Egypt said on Friday.

"The ministers affirmed their total rejection and condemnation of Israel's recognition of the Somaliland region, stressing their full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia," Egypt's foreign ministry said in a statement following a phone call between Egypt's foreign minister and his Somali, Turkish and Djiboutian counterparts. JPost

Israel is first to recognize Somaliland, Accords ‘spirit,’ says Netanyahu. "The State of Israel plans to immediately expand its relations with the Republic of Somaliland through extensive cooperation in the fields of agriculture, health, technology and economy," the Israeli prime minister said. JNS Staff. (Dec. 26, 2025 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Friday that the Jewish state recognized Somaliland, becoming the first country to recognize the self-declared Horn of Africa nation.

“This declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President Trump,” the Israeli premier said. (Washington doesn’t recognize Somaliland as an independent state.)

Netanyahu, who said that he and Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, signed a “joint and mutual declaration” with Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, Somaliland president, stated that he invited the latter to visit Israel.

“The State of Israel plans to immediately expand its relations with the Republic of Somaliland through extensive cooperation in the fields of agriculture, health, technology and economy,” he said.

“Somaliland’s moment has arrived,” the state’s foreign affairs and international cooperation ministry stated. “Momentum is building.”.. Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that “for those mocking why Israel would engage Somaliland, look at the map.”

“Somaliland sits on the Gulf of Aden, next to the Bab el-Mandeb—a chokepoint for global trade and energy. Across the water are Iran-backed Houthis firing on Israel and shipping,” he said. “Somaliland offers stability, ports, intelligence access and a non-Iranian platform on the Red Sea.”

“Similar reason why the U.S. has a military base in Djibouti,” he said.

“Somaliland is also the only stable and relatively successful state in the region, that is self-sustaining and doesn’t rely on international aid or international peacekeeping to govern,” stated Jonathan Conricus, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.

“A rare success story in a very failing area,” he said.

David Makovsky, distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and director of its Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations, stated that it is “hard to avoid the question: does Israel’s recognition of Somaliland today open the door—formally or informally—to access to military facilities there, aimed at countering Houthi drones and missiles from nearby Yemen across the Gulf of Aden?”

“Houthi attacks on Israel in this theater are new over the last year. Israel’s move looks like a diplomatic step, but one driven by what seems to be a security rationale and unclear if it will be escalatory,” he stated.

“The Houthis openly declare on their very flag: ‘God is the greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse upon the Jews. Victory to Islam,'” he added. “Their flag is not exactly stars and stripes.” JNS

Israel recognizes Somaliland as Trump scoffs: 'Does anyone know what it is?' Israel became the first UN member to recognize Somaliland, but the move drew a cool response in Washington; President Trump said the issue 'is under study' and dismissed a proposed naval base near Houthi areas as 'big deal,' as Turkey voiced anger and Somalia vowed a diplomatic response. Lior Ben Ari | 12.27.25 YNet

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IDF helicopters intercept drones along Egypt border; residents warn of rising threat. An IDF attack helicopter pilot intercepted two drones that crossed into Israel from Egypt within minutes; a control officer said the mission is to detect and thwart drone intrusions, but southern communities warn smuggling by drones is intensifying, saying 'there’s no end in sight'. Ilana Curiel | 12.27.25 YNet

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Italian police arrest seven for raising millions in terror funding for Hamas. Three associations that claimed to support Palestinian civilians are also implicated, allegedly serving as a front for Hamas funding, local police said.

By Jerusalem Post Staff. December 27, 2025.

Italian police arrested seven people on suspicion of raising millions of dollars for Hamas and issued arrest warrants for two other individuals, Italian officials and police confirmed on Saturday.

Three associations that claimed to support Palestinian civilians are also implicated, allegedly serving as a front for Hamas funding, police announced in a statement. JPost

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Sharaa's Syria stands at political impasse as Aleppo violence reflects deep divisions. BEHIND THE LINES: The Turkish foreign minister said, “We see that the SDF has no real intention of making significant progress in the negotiations on integration with the Damascus administration.”

CLASHES IN the north Syrian city of Aleppo left two civilians dead this week, after fighters associated with the Syrian National Army fired on the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Ashrafiyeh, according to sources close to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

ByJonathan Spyer. December 27, 2025.

Clashes in the north Syrian city of Aleppo left two civilians dead this week. They broke out after fighters associated with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) fired on the Kurdish majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Ashrafiyeh, according to sources close to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Asayish, the SDF’s internal security force, which is deployed in the two neighborhoods, responded to the fire. For its part, SANA, the official Syrian government news agency, asserted that the SDF had initiated the exchanges. JPost

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Nigeria: US strikes ISIS targets again. The Nigerian government announced that the United States is conducting additional strikes against ISIS targets in the country and against the local jihad group "Lakurawa." "ISIS has found a way to cross the Sahel region and assist gangs with equipment and training," officials said. Last night, President Donald Trump announced that his military had attacked ISIS targets in the northwestern part of the country after they "brutally murdered innocent Christians in numbers not seen for many years." AFP|12.27.25. YNet

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Iranian President: 'We are in a state of total war with US, Israel and Europe'. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that "We are in a state of total war with the US, Israel and Europe. They do not want our country to stand on its feet." He added that "If they attack us again, they will receive a harsher response. The unity of Iranian society will foil all enemy plots." Lior Ben Ari|12.27.25 YNet

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Mamdani picks his mentor: The woke, radical, anti-Israel YouTuber Ms. Rachel. By Liel Leibovitz. Published Dec. 26, 2025, 5:47 p.m. ET NYPost

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Pennsylvania principal axed after ranting about ‘Jew money’ in voicemail to parent By David Spector. Published Dec. 27, 2025, 9:33 a.m. ET

A Pennsylvania principal whose antisemitic tirade about “Jew money” was inadvertently recorded has been fired.

Lower Gwynedd Elementary School Principal Phillip Leddy was axed Tuesday by the Wissahickon School Board.

Leddy, 45, was returning a call from a parent when he got the dad’s voicemail and left a message, but then apparently failed to end the call, Philadelphia’s ABC 7 reported. NYPost

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Hamas set to elect new terror leader with Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mashaal in pole position - report. According to Asharq, Hayya is expected to win due to his popularity in the Gaza Strip and involvement in Hamas operations in the West Bank.

By Jerusalem Post Staff. December 27, 2025.

Hamas is planning to hold internal elections to choose its new political bureau head, Saudi Arabia-based outlet Asharq News reported on Saturday.

The election, which was originally set to be held in early 2025, was ordered by a leadership council that was established after the deaths of Hamas’s previous political bureau heads, Ismail Haniyeh and the mastermind behind Hamas's October 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar. JPost

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Ilhan Omar’s hubby’s $30M firm quietly scrubs names from website – as ‘Squad’ member faces mounting questions on sudden wealth amid Minnesota welfare fraud By Gabrielle Fahmy and Geoff Earle. Published Dec. 27, 2025, 9:18 a.m. ET

Embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband’s venture capital firm quietly scrubbed key officer details — including former Obama officials — as scrutiny grows over the family’s skyrocketing wealth, The Post has learned.

Omar (D-MN) went from nearly broke to being worth up to $30 million in just a year — as a massive, up to $9 billion fraud scheme involving the Somali community in her district unfolded right under her nose in Minnesota.

Close to 90 people have been charged so far, including at least three with direct ties to the lefty Squad member, though she has not been charged. NYPost

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Security forces arrest brothers of Beit She'an terrorist. Brothers of terrorist from Qabatiya who carried out double terror attack in northern Israel are arrested; all three described as illegal infiltrators. Orly Harari. Dec 27, 2025, 5:59 PM (GMT+2) INN

Security forces seal Beit She'an terrorist's house. Dozens of suspects from the terrorist's city were arrested for questioning, and his house was sealed as a prelude to demolition. Israel National News. Dec 27, 2025, 9:45 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Following terror attack: Chief of Staff orders reinforcements for Central Command forces. IDF Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir holds situational assessment following double terror attack, orders series of steps to improve security. Israel National News. Dec 27, 2025, 11:04 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Tucker Carlson: “I Don’t Know Anyone Who’s Been Killed by Radical Islam.” Tucker tells Soros alum that Islamic terrorism "doesn't reflect the 'lived reality' of anyone I've ever met." December 27, 2025. By Daniel Greenfield.

In an interview with Harrison Berger, formerly of Drop Site News (which received $250,000 from George Soros), Tucker Carlson claimed that the recent TPUSA poll showing that a majority of attendees thought that “Radical Islam” was the greatest threat to America was really an Israeli “op”.

“I don’t know anyone in the United States in the last 24 years who’s been killed by radical Islam.” Tucker Carlson claimed.

He argued that, “I believe in measuring reality a little more empirically” meaning that since, presumably Tucker didn’t know them personally, they don’t matter and don’t exist.

The podcaster went on to argue that video games and pornography were much more dangerous than Islamic terrorism which is really not an issue.

“So anyone who believes that lie, I feel sorry for, but it doesn’t reflect the ‘lived reality’ of anyone I’ve ever met.”

‘Lived reality’ is a leftist term suggesting that personal experiences and feelings of especially ‘oppressed groups’ matter more than the facts.

The people believing that ‘lie’ included the late Charlie Kirk who warned that “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America”. Tucker has made common cause with the Left and Islam while echoing Obama and the Left in denying Islamic terrorism.

Tucker Carlson made his comments in an interview with Berger at ‘American Conservative’, a formerly conservative site which now hires Soros alums like Berger and promotes Islamic causes, and which had called for the creation of a ‘Palestinian’ state.

Perhaps some of these people don’t fall into Tucker’s ‘lived experience’, but they are the victims of Islamic terrorism.

This is Martin Richard, 8, who was killed by Muslim terrorists in the Boston Marathon bombings [3]

This is the Chechen Muslim terrorist who killed him [4]

This is Ann-Laure Decadt who was murdered in New York City by a Muslim terrorist. Tucker may not have known her personally, but her life still mattered. [5]

This is the Muslim terrorist who killed her. [6]

Why doesn’t Tucker want us to talk about this? As the authorities, who are very much in sync with Tucker, like to say after every attack, “no motive has been reliably established.” [7] FPM

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Toronto: Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Boxing Day Dalit Halevi. Published: Dec 27, 2025, 10:52 PM (GMT+2) Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted Boxing Day at a central mall in downtown Toronto.

The protesters arrived with Palestinian flags, posters supporting the struggle against Israel and megaphones, and shouted anti-Israel slogans. INN

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Netanyahu to show Trump. This is how Iran is working to rebuild its missile program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ask US President Donald Trump for green light to attack Iran, stress Gaza plan won't advance until Hamas disarmsa and last hostage's body is returned to Israel. Israel National News. Dec 28, 2025, 12:14 AM INN

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Newest member of Mamdani's inaugural committee praised people tearing Israeli hostage posters. In a now-deleted X/Twitter post, Lopez responded to a video of two women caught tearing down hostage posters, writing “All I see are heroes.”

By Shir Perets. December 28, 2025.

The newest member of New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural committee, Alvaro Lopez, a Democratic Socialists of America activist, previously praised women who tore down posters of Israeli hostages, the New York Post reported on Saturday.

In a now-deleted X/Twitter post, Lopez responded to a video of two women caught tearing down hostage posters, writing “All I see are heroes.” JPost

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British Muslim woman faces backlash after posting positive experience at Ben Gurion Airport. “They gave me a coffee, they gave me a cheese sandwich… we weren't strip-searched or anything like that, it was all good,” Sanam said.

By Shir Perets. December 29, 2025.

A British Muslim woman faced criticism and backlash after sharing her experience going through Ben-Gurion Airport security on TikTok on her way to visit the al-Aqsa Mosque earlier this month.

“The stories kind of put me off, but I'm here to share my story of immigration and security,” the woman, who goes by the username Sanam, said, adding that she hoped her positive experience would motivate others to visit.

“They gave me a coffee, they gave me a cheese sandwich… we weren't strip-searched or anything like that, it was all good.”

Many of the comments were shaming her for “promoting” the Israeli airport, asking, “How much did they pay you?” and criticising her for speaking positively of the state. JPost

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Iran and Turkey hold talks ‘for closer coordination among Islamic countries in addressing regional challenges’. By Christine Douglass-Williams | Dec 29, 2025

Turkey’s alliance with Iran is to “defend the interests of the Islamic world in international forums,” while the West continues to turn a blind eye to the true nature of Turkey, which is still a member of NATO. A top Israeli strategist described Turkey as the “new Iran,” for good reason.

On July 2025, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf met with Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Numan Kurtulmus on the sidelines of the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva, calling on Islamic and regional countries, especially Iran and Turkey, to unite and remain strong in opposition to the United States and Israel.

Three months later, in October 2025, Iran and Turkey discussed military cooperation and signaled their intent to build a stronger regional security partnership.

Muslim nations are more united than Western nations care to admit, to the latter’s detriment.

“Iran, Turkey stress parliamentary cooperation to boost bilateral ties,” Tehran Times, December 28, 2025:

TEHRAN – In line with efforts to strengthen bilateral and parliamentary relations, Mohammad Hassan Habibollahzadeh, Iran’s ambassador to Ankara, met and held talks with Abdulrahim Dosak, head of Turkey’s parliamentary group at the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The cordial meeting highlighted the strategic importance of cooperation between Tehran and Ankara, as well as the need for closer coordination among Islamic countries in addressing regional challenges.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the current level of Iran–Turkey relations and stressed the importance of exchanging parliamentary delegations and continuing cooperation between the two countries’ parliamentary friendship groups, describing such channels as key to expanding ties.

They also discussed the importance of cooperation within the framework of the Parliamentary Union of OIC member states, emphasizing the need to use the platform to defend the interests of the Islamic world in international forums…. IsraPundit

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Washington should hold off on selling F-35s to Turkey. History shows how quickly allies can turn into adversaries.

Moshe Phillips | Dec 29, 2025

When Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, tweeted on Dec. 9 that America “is in ongoing discussions with Turkey regarding their desire to rejoin the F-35 program,” it should have sent chills through any American who cares about the future of the Middle East. An F-35 stealth fighter jet taking off from Turkey could reach Israeli airspace in about 15 minutes. Cyprus is even closer, and Turkey doesn’t even recognize the Republic of Cyprus. IsraPundit

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U.S. at UN: Israel has right to recognize Somaliland, just as countries recognized 'Palestine'. U.S. Deputy Representative to the UN, Tami Bruce, said that Israel has the right to recognize Somaliland's independence - and compared the declaration to many European countries' recognition of a Palestinian state. She said that "earlier this year, several countries made a unilateral decision to recognize a Palestinian state that does not exist." The statement was made during an emergency discussion of the UN Security Council, whose members oppose the recognition of Somaliland. The Slovenian representative, whose country recognized a Palestinian state, attacked the comparison: "Palestine was illegally occupied, Somaliland is part of Somalia." AFP|12.29.25 YNet

US compares Somaliland recognition to Palestine, calls out UNSC's 'persistent double standards'. "This council’s persistent double standards and misdirection of focus distract from its mission of maintaining international peace and security," said US Deputy Representative to the UN Tammy Bruce.

By Tobias Holcman, Reuters. December 30, 2025 02:07 The United States Deputy Representative to the United Nations, Tammy Bruce, compared the Israeli recognition of Somaliland as an independent state to the actions taken by several countries to recognize a Palestinian state during a United Nations' Security Council (UNSC) meeting called to discuss the recognition on Monday.

"This council’s persistent double standards and misdirection of focus distract from its mission of maintaining international peace and security," Bruce said during her speech. JPost

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Britain announced it will not recognize Somaliland independence. Britain announced that it will not recognize the independence of Somaliland, and that it views it as part of Somalia. This follows Israel's recognition of Somaliland's independence. Reuters| 12.29.25 15:50 YNet

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"The Time Has Come": Mossad Spokesman Signals Active Presence in Iranian Streets Not Just Words. "The Time Has Come": Mossad Spokesman Signals Active Presence in Iranian Streets In a highly unusual and direct public statement, a verified Farsi language account associated with the Mossad has claimed that Israeli agents are present on the ground to support the Iranian people.

Eliana Fleming Dec 29, 2025 12:22 JFeed

Mossad's message to Iranians 'We're with you, not just from afar, but on the ground'. Israel National News. Dec 29, 2025, 5:12 PM INN

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The Next 48 Hours are Critical . "I Will Back the Strike": Trump Pledges Support for Israeli Action Against Iran President Donald Trump has explicitly backed further Israeli strikes on Iran if they continue their missile program, while also confirming that a presidential pardon for Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly on the way.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 29, 2025 13:07

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday for a pivotal meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the future of the war and regional security. The summit, their fifth meeting since Trump’s second term began in January 2025, focused on the transition to the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, potential strikes against Iran, and the precarious situation in southern Lebanon. At the start of the meeting, Trump issued a series of powerful statements, emphasizing that the primary goal is to move to the next stage of the Gaza agreement "as soon as possible" while demanding that the terrorists of Hamas be completely disarmed.

Trump went even further regarding the Iranian threat, stating that he would "definitely" back an Israeli strike on Iran if the regime continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He noted that he has heard reports of Iran attempting to rehabilitate its military power and warned that "if that’s true, we’ll have to dismantle it". Netanyahu is expected to present intelligence evidence showing that Iran has significantly increased its production of ballistic missiles and is working to revive its nuclear program since the "12 Day War".

One of the most surprising moments of the meeting involved Netanyahu’s legal situation in Israel. When asked about a pardon for the Prime Minister, Trump replied, "How can you not give him a pardon? He is a war hero". Trump claimed he had already spoken with President Isaac Herzog, who reportedly said a pardon "is on the way". Netanyahu responded by praising the American leader, stating that Israel has "never had a friend like President Trump, not even close".

Despite the warm public displays, significant tensions remain regarding the timeline for the "Day After" in Gaza and the situation in the West Bank. Trump’s advisors are reportedly pushing for the implementation of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza, which Pakistan recently expressed interest in joining. However, Netanyahu is facing pressure at home not to move to Stage B of the ceasefire plan until the body of Ran Gvili, the final fallen hostage still held by terrorists, is returned for burial. Furthermore, White House officials have urged Trump to press Netanyahu on stabilizing the Palestinian Authority and curbing settlement construction, arguing that Israel cannot "choke" the Authority while expecting it to reform. JFeed

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A Direct Message in Hebrew. "No Permission Needed": Iran Issues Defiant Response to Trump’s Threats Ali Shamkhani, a senior political advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, has issued a sharp and immediate rebuttal to Donald Trump’s latest warnings, delivering his message directly in Hebrew.

Eliana Fleming Dec 29, 2025 14:50 JFeed

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Racing the Clock in Gaza: The IDF’s Massive Mission to Erase Decades of Terror Tunnels The Hidden War. Racing the Clock in Gaza: The IDF’s Massive Mission to Erase Decades of Terror Tunnels Israeli military officials have admitted to a massive pre war intelligence failure regarding the sheer scale of the tunnel network in Gaza, sparking an intense, around the clock engineering operation to dismantle the underground threat before potential diplomatic shifts.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 29, 2025 13:46 JFeed

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Good Riddance. IDF Dumps Haaretz: Government Ban Hits Spokesman Subscription. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit cancels Haaretz subscription, enforcing a government decision to sever ties with the newspaper for spreading anti-Israel lies and supporting Hamas terrorists.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 29, 2025.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit has canceled its subscription to Haaretz, implementing a November 2024 government decision that bars all state bodies from engaging with the newspaper due to its relentless anti-Israel bias and promotion of Hamas terrorist narratives. It's no wonder: Haaretz's one-sided "reporting," anything but factual journalism, should be kept far from the IDF and Israeli government.

The outlet has openly spread vicious anti-Israel lies about "genocide[sic]" and made horrific, disgusting accusations against IDF soldiers fighting Hamas terrorists who slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped 251 others. No legitimate news source should spew such nasty Hamas-filled.propaganda while Israel defends its citizens from rocket barrages and tunnel ambushes.

Reporter Doron Kadosh revealed the move on Galei Tzahal, noting it's not isolated: accounts of additional senior IDF officials were recently disconnected from the newspaper. The government resolution declares it "will not accept a situation in which the publisher of an official newspaper in the State of Israel calls for sanctions against it and supports the state's enemies in the midst of a war, at a time when international bodies challenge the legitimacy of the State of Israel, its right to self-defense, and effectively impose sanctions against it and its leaders."

It accuses Haaretz of publishing editorials during the war "that challenged the State of Israel's legitimacy in the world and its right to self-defense."

The decisionhighlights publisher Amos Schocken's s tatements at a Haaretz conference in London, where he reportedly called Palestinian terrorists "freedom fighters" and demanded sanctions on Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, claiming Netanyahu's government imposes a "cruel apartheid[sic] regime" on Palestinians. The government responded: "Therefore, the government hereby declares its intention to sever all advertising relations with the newspaper Haaretz and calls on all its branches, ministries, and bodies, as well as any government corporation or body funded by it, not to engage with Haaretz in any way and not to publish any material in it."

This boycott reflects growing frustration with Haaretz's pattern of amplifying terrorist talking points, from downplaying Hamas atrocities to echoing blood libels that fuel global antisemitism, up 400% since October 7. While Israel buries 700 fallen soldiers and returns hostages like Hadar Goldin after 11 years in terrorist captivity, outlets like Haaretz undermine national unity with falsehoods that embolden enemies. The IDF's action sends a clear message: state institutions won't fund or legitimize propaganda that betrays the soldiers protecting the nation. JFeed

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Protests erupt across Iran as collapsing rial sparks unrest, regime blames 'enemy' influence Clashes have reportedly broken out across multiple streets in Tehran, with authorities using tear gas to disperse the protesters.

By Danielle Greyman-kennard December 29, 2025 17:03 Updated: December 29, 2025 22:51

A second day of protests in Iran raged on Monday as demonstrators voiced anger over the rapidly falling value of the rial. Regime officials blamed the unrest and broader economic decline on “enemy psychological warfare.”

Shopkeepers in Tehran closed their stores, and mass demonstrations broke out in response to the rial’s fall. Clashes reportedly occurred across multiple streets in Tehran, with authorities using tear gas to disperse the protesters, according to footage of the events. JPost

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‘There will be hell to pay’: Trump warns Hamas to disarm after Netanyahu talks After talks with Netanyahu, Trump says Hamas will be given a 'short time' to disarm or face 'hell to pay,' warns Iran cannot be allowed to rebuild its nuclear program and says he is open to talks with Tehran while pushing to expand the Abraham Accords ynet Global | published:12.29.25 15:10 YNet

'We'll knock them down': Trump backs attack on Iran if weapons development continues Trump was meeting with Netanyahu for talks on breaking a deadlock over the Gaza ceasefire and addressing Israeli concerns about Iran and Hezbollah. By Danielle Greyman-kennard, Amichai Stein, Reuters. December 29, 2025 JPost

Trump to JNS: If Israel had wrong prime minister, it wouldn’t exist. “He’s a wartime prime minister,” the U.S. president told JNS. “Israel, with other people, might not exist right now.”

([8]. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Dec. 29, 2025).

(Dec. 29, 2025 / JNS) U.S. President Donald Trump credited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday for guiding the Jewish state to victory over a “force the likes of which very few countries could have handled.”

JNS asked Trump about his relationship with the Israeli premier.

“He’s a wartime prime minister,” Trump said of Netanyahu. “He’s taken Israel through a very dangerous period of drama.”

Standing alongside Netanyahu at a press conference outside the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump said that under other leadership, Israel “might not exist right now.” JNS

Netanyahu visit breaks with Qatar, Turkey narrative on region. “The big test for the U.S. now is to go to the Turks into the Qataris and say, ‘You’ve been blowing smoke at us, and Hamas is not cooperating,’” Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. envoy to Yemen, told JNS. Andrew Bernard.

(Dec. 29, 2025 / JNS) U.S. President Donald Trump placed the blame for slow progress on the Gaza peace plan squarely on one party: Hamas.

After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, the U.S. president said at his second press conference of the day that Israel has “lived up to the plan 100%.”

“I’m not concerned about anything that Israel is doing,” Trump said. “I’m concerned about what other people are doing, or maybe aren’t doing. But I’m not concerned. They’ve lived up to the plan.” JNS

Gazans have ‘great opportunity’ to leave during reconstruction, Trump says. “We don’t want the controversy right now,” the U.S. president said. “We’re helping Gaza.” JNS Staff.

(Dec. 29, 2025 / JNS). U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday after he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Palestinians had a “great opportunity” to depart Gaza during the reconstruction phase of his 20-point peace plan.

JNS asked the president, who spoke alongside Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., about a poll from May showing that about half of Gazans would be willing to emigrate.

“They’re there because they sort of have to be,” Trump told JNS, of the Palestinians in Gaza. “I’ve always said, ‘If they were given the opportunity to live in a better climate, they would move.’” JNS

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Strategic Surprises: Trump Teases a Major New Year’s Gift for Israel and the Middle East. Following a marathon two hour summit at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump delivered a final ultimatum to Hamas terrorists while pledging devastating consequences for Iran if they continue their nuclear climb.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 29, 2025. JFeed

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Trump to receive 2026 Israel Prize for 'special contribution towards the Jewish people' Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump he would receive the Israel Prize, but Education Ministry regulations raise questions over whether a non-Israeli citizen can be awarded the honor.

US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.

By Amichai Steim. December 29, 2025 22:47 United States President Donald Trump will receive the Israel Prize in 2026, for his "special contribution towards the Jewish people," Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced on Monday.

Trump will be awarded the prize for his "work in the fight against antisemitism, his contribution to promoting the return of the hostages to Israel, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his consistent support for the right of the State of Israel to defend itself," a statement released by the Education Ministry explained. JPost

First Publication. Israel Prize Committee members who chose Trump: Miriam Peretz, Moshe Edri and Michal Abadi-Boiangiu. The members of the Israel Prize Committee who selected U.S. President Donald Trump for the prize for unique contribution to the Jewish people are Miriam Peretz, Moshe Edri and Michal Abadi-Boiangiu, ynet has learned. Kish said that "this is a historic decision expressing recognition of the extraordinary and lasting impact on the Jewish people in Israel and worldwide by a person who is not an Israeli citizen." The prize committee highlighted Trump's efforts in fighting antisemitism, his contribution to advancing the return of hostages, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. embassy there, and his consistent support for Israel's right to defend itself. The ceremony will be held on Independence Day. Tamar Trabelsi-Hadad|12.29.25 YNet

During meeting with Netanyahu Trump informed he will receive the 'Israel Peace Prize'. Israel National News. Dec 29, 2025, 10:13 PM INN

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Omar’s Double Standards. Ilhan condemns Somaliland independence - while pushing for a Palestinian state that rewards terror. December 30, 2025. By Joseph Klein. FPM

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'Qatar Charity' Water Projects In Al-Shabaab's Somalia | MEMRI. December 30, 2025. Special Dispatch. No. 12316 'Qatar Charity' Operates 73 'Strategic' Water Projects In Regions Of Somalia Controlled By Al-Qaeda Affiliate Al-Shabaab. December 30, 2025

Qatar Charity, a Qatari government entity that bills itself as " the largest humanitarian and development NGO in the Global South" and has been linked to U.S. Treasury-designated terrorist fundraising networks, [2] is currently operating water projects that include drilling 73 surface wells in four regions in Somalia. According to the Facebook page "Somalia now – the truth first" (الصومال_ الآن – الحقيقة أولاً), 28 of these "strategic" wells are in the country's Hiran region, 20 are in the Bakool region, 15 are in the Bay region, and 10 are in the Gedo region.

About Qatar Charity. Qatar Charity was one of the entities designated in June 2017 as terrorist by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE; these entities had, according to the designation, "specifically financed, aided, and/or provided material support to Al-Qaeda and its associated organizations and networks." The aim was "to address the long-term and continuing threat of terrorist financing emanating from Qatar."

A U.S. lawsuit filed in June 2020 stated that Qatar Charity was one of three Qatari financial institutions with links to members of the Qatari royal family that provided funding to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas.

The organization has not been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., U.N., or E.U.

The Somalia Drought Emergency According to the UN, Somalia has recently declared a drought emergency, and is appealing for urgent international assistance as conditions continue to deteriorate across the northern, central and southern regions.

Although all parts of Somalia are affected by the drought, the wells drilled by Qatar Charity are concentrated primarily in regions that are either controlled by Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, or in areas where the organization is attempting to take control. MEMRI

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The Masks Are Off. Carlson and Owens have become leading Western apologists for Islam. December 31, 2025 by Mark Tapson l

It was bad enough that ostensibly conservative political commentators Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both have been the main drivers of a growing divide in the MAGA movement, through their obsession with demonizing Israel and the Jews. Now they have also become leading Western apologists for Islam.

Are they even conservative? Were they ever? (Owens in particular has never been committed to anything but her own grift, not a political philosophy.) Conservatives are defenders; we preserve. Our mission, in large part, is to defend and preserve the liberties our forefathers earned for us. It is to defend and preserve the grand civilizational legacy of the best that has been thought and said. Progressives destroy; they are revolutionaries at heart, whose mission is to destroy the flawed status quo and pave the way for their utopian vision of an ideal society. By this standard, Carlson and Owens are not conservatives; they are destroyers, and the banner of conservatism they formerly flew has been exposed as a mere flag of convenience for them.

What has Owens, for example, built or preserved, apart from her own personal internet fiefdom? The sole focus of her work today seems to be to undermine and drain the surge of goodwill and momentum that fell to Turning Point USA after the heinous assassination of its founder Charlie Kirk, which Owens has lucratively exploited to weave in the antisemitic conspiracy theories that have made her a magnet for Jew-hating losers on the internet. Carlson, meanwhile, has also exploited the America First movement by demonizing Jews and Israel, going so far as to promote slimy white supremacist Nick “Hitler was cool” Fuentes (Carlson himself was recently named Antisemite of the Year by a Jewish civil rights group).

Lately he has shocked conservatives by completely dismissing Islam as a threat to the West: denying Hamas is a terrorist organization, defending sharia law, repeatedly defending Iran as no threat to America or American interests, and hyping wealthy Arab states as crime-free havens of modernization, morality, and sanity compared to Western decadence.

But his most recent, and arguably most outrageous, Islamophilic comments came in an interview published last Friday at The American Conservative, when he condemned what he claims is Right-wing hatred of Muslim Americans, declaring that “radical Islam” is not a problem for Americans. “I don’t know anyone in the United States in the last 24 years who’s been killed by radical Islam,” he stated:

I do know a lot of people who have killed themselves. I know people who’ve died of drug ODs, more than a few. I know people who can’t get jobs. None of the boys in my daughter’s class can get jobs, none of those white boys can get jobs. They’re being destroyed by Adderall and video games and porn. I see millions of Americans being destroyed, and none of it is at the hands of radical Islam. Is radical Islam more dangerous than OnlyFans? It’s not even close. Turning some huge percentage of American women into prostitutes. That’s not radical Islam doing that, actually.

This is such a poorly reasoned argument that one wonders how Carlson can ever be taken seriously as a political pundit. Two obvious flaws immediately come to mind. One is that Carlson is presenting a false choice: suggesting that because other societal ills exist, Islam can’t be a problem too. All of the issues Tucker lists are valid concerns – and so is Islam. How can anyone look at what has become of Europe, Australia, and Michigan thanks to mass Muslim immigration, and not accept that Islam is, as Charlie Kirk plainly put it, “incompatible with Western civilization”?

The other flaw is that Carlson says “radical Islam” is not a threat because it hasn’t killed any American he personally knows. That is his “lived reality” and that of everyone he has ever met, he says (“lived reality,” by the way, is a term which serves as a favorite tactic of the identity-politics Left to prioritize impressionistic, personal experience over empirical evidence and universal Truth).

This claim may or may not be true, because as we’ve seen with another Carlson psy-op, he has also denied knowing people like British activist Tommy Robinson, when there is abundant evidence that Carlson not only had spoken about Robinson publicly but even interviewed him.

In any case, it is shockingly willful blindness to pretend that because he doesn’t know the victims personally, the murders of Americans at the hands of jihadists either never happened or don’t matter because the victims weren’t part of his “lived reality.” To refresh his memory, here are merely a few notable examples:

The November 5, 2009 Fort Hood shooting by Nidal “Soldier of Allah” Hasan left 13 dead, including a pregnant woman (whose baby also died, making 14 victims); The December 2, 2025 massacre of 14 at a San Bernardino holiday party, carried out by “ISIS-inspired” husband-and-wife team Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik; The April 5, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing committed by Chechen brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Rolling Stone cover model Tamerlan Tsarnaev, which left 3 dead including an eight-year-old boy; The June 12, 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting in which ISIS enthusiast Omar Mateen slaughtered 49. Another ISIS devotee, Shamsud-din Jabar, plowed his vehicle through a Bourbon Street New Year’s crowd on January 1, 2025, killing 14.* Those are just a few of the attacks on American soil with the highest body count, and those numbers do not include the wounded, whose “lived reality” was forever marred. But Carlson didn’t know the victims personally, so the attacks never happened.

Note also that Carlson intentionally excluded from his time frame the obvious example of the 9/11 attacks, which murdered 3000 people, almost all Americans. He knew that if he factored that in, his argument would be immediately nullified, so in effect he was dismissing those murders as well.

And that doesn’t even begin to address Carlson’s willful ignorance of the jihad being waged beyond America’s borders: the devastating Islamization of Europe which is fast eclipsing its Christian identity, the genocide of Christians being waged by Islamic “rebels” in Nigeria, and terror attacks in Australia. If Carlson thinks none of this matters because it’s not impacting most Americans personally, he is either stunningly naïve for a political pundit, in willful denial, or knowingly pushing propaganda. My money is on the latter.

Elsewhere in the interview Carlson condemns the Right for attacking Muslims collectively. He is “disgusted” by people who “think that every Muslim is Usama bin Laden.” This is a shamefully inflammatory accusation. No serious American is claiming that every Muslim is another bin Laden. This is the same kind of false argument Leftists insist on making: when the Right says “Islam,” the Left twists it into “all Muslims.” This rhetorical judo is an intentionally disingenuous tactic that enables the Left to pervert legitimate concerns about Islamic dogma into simple bigotry.

Add these interview comments to his screechy AmFest 2025 speech in which Carlson yelled that he found it “disgusting” that “millions of Americans” were being attacked simply for being Muslim (fact check: this is not happening), and it is undeniable that he is purposefully whitewashing jihad and sharia law, and running interference for the Islamic imperative to bring all of dar al-Harb, the “House of War,” into the fold of dar al-Islam.

What has happened to Carlson, who almost overnight went from being the Great White Hope of conservative media to a massive disappointment? Many say he is being paid off by his Qatar masters – he claims in this most recent interview that he has “never taken a penny from a Muslim” – but Carlson has never been hurting for money; surely greed, or greed alone, cannot account for his newfound love affair with Islam. A friend suggested to me, only half-joking, that perhaps Carlson is being blackmailed. That actually might explain the unhinged intensity of his defense of Muslims he claims are not a problem for Americans. I have my own theory, but that’s for another time.

In any case, seemingly referencing Carlson’s controversial interview in a tweet that same day, Candace Owens, whose unhinged but lucrative, conspiracy-mongering obsessions include waging a bizarre campaign to expose the French President’s wife as a man, posted,

No matter how hard the GOP tries to make “radical Islam” happen, the base doesn’t care about it. We are way more concerned about Israel. You can deny reality and scream about Tucker, but the party can no longer be governed by those who refuse to acknowledge the Zionist elephant in the room.

Again, two things to note here. First, the Republican party is not trying to make the threat of Islam “happen”; Islamic supremacists the world over are doing a damn good job of making it happen all on their own, and have been for 1400 years. The Right is not hyping this threat out of proportion to reality; if anything, the Republican Party does not take it seriously enough to take effective action such as the basic first step of officially declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.

Second, note how Owens claims that she represents the GOP “base.” She does not. What she does represent, and is empowering, is a growing segment of the Right which hates Jews more than it cares about the existential danger of Islam. They are “way more concerned about Israel” because Owens has done more than even Fuentes to fan the flames of the longstanding antisemitic trope that “the Jooz” run everything. Owens’ army believes, as all antisemites do, that jihadists only attack American interests because we support Israel and because Jewish influence runs Washington, D.C.; if that ended, they claim, Muslims would no longer have any incentive to attack us. There could not be a more willful historical ignorance.

Carlson’s and Owens’ total dismissal of Islam as an existential threat to America and the West is in complete contradiction to the prominence it has been given by solidly conservative influencers and activists like Allie Beth Stuckey and the recently assassinated Charlie Kirk. Stuckey posted on X a couple of months ago, “I asked my 840k Instagram followers (mostly Christian women) what their biggest concern is for the country right now, and by FAR the most common answer is the growing influence of Islam. I’d like to see this concern reflected in the GOP asap.” So would I.

Kirk famously noted in recent months that Islam is incompatible with the West, and that “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.” Now it’s the sword that the antisemitic, woke “Right” is using, too.

For better or worse (and it’s both), we live in a social media-driven political arena in which the subversive lies, conspiracy-mongering, and propaganda that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens spew matters. Their combined following on X alone numbers nearly 25 million. Their podcast episodes rack up millions of views each. Everything they say or post becomes a flashpoint of political controversy. They cannot be ignored, and must not be; the No-Enemies-on-the-Right game plan that some conservatives argue is the only way to win is actually a losing strategy, as well as a morally reprehensible one. Carlson and Owens, and their mob of supporters, must be countered with full-throated condemnation from conservatives who care about the flourishing not only of America but of Western civilization at large – because those are the stakes.

• The mainstream media habit of describing jihadists as “ISIS-inspired” begs the question they refuse to address: What exactly inspires ISIS? Hint: it’s in the name “Islamic State.”

FPM

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Mamadani appoints pro-Palestinian activist as legal advisor in New York administration. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamadani announced the appointment of pro-Palestinian activist and attorney Ramzi Kassem to the position of Corporation Counsel – the highest legal position in the city government. Kassem has represented, among others, Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who led pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus, as well as Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda operative who admitted involvement in the attack on a French oil tanker in Yemen. Mamadani justified the choice citing Kassem's experience defending "those abandoned by the justice system." Daniel Edelson, New York|12.31.35 YNet

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December 30, 2025. A crazy Christian harasses some Muslims in Texas. CAIR blames the Jews. CAIR posted this video of a Christian wearing a crusader costume harassing some Muslims eating in a park in Austin, TX.

CAIR wrote: This hate is what Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, John Cornyn and other Israel First politicians have unleashed on Texas to distract the American people and silence critics of Israel, especially American Muslims. Israel was not mentioned in the video at all. No one said the Muslim group members were "critics of Israel" nor that the Crusader wannabe was a supporter of Israel. (The Crusaders didn't exactly like Jews who lived in the Holy Land.)

When CAIR sees a Christian harassing Muslims, the only way it can conceive of this is through Israel.

That is obsession. And, yes, when you interpret everything negative through the prism of the Jewish state, you are antisemitic. EoZ

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CNN Strikes again. Tense Clash on CNN as Commentators Spar Over Israel-Gaza War | WATCH. CNN's anti-Israel bias is nothing new. The same goes for people like Vigeland who refuse to admit the truth and sing the same old song about Israel the evil aggressor. We are sick of it.

Jfeed Staff. Dec 30, 2025 05:42

A fiery debate erupted on CNN's NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Monday evening, as conservative analyst Scott Jennings sharply confronted progressive commentator Emma Vigeland over her comparison of Israel's military actions in Gaza to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. JFeed

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US-led command center reveals IDF positions in Gaza during briefing with Arab states. Exclusive: In breach of protocol, American surveillance footage, meant to show humanitarian aid only, exposes Israeli forces on the ground during briefing with Arab officials; Israeli officers demand their removal, triggering sharp tensions with US personnel. Amir Ettinger | published: 12.30.25 05:18 YNet

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Major Scandal. Anger in Israel: US Displayed Sensitive Info at Kiryat Gat HQ. During a sensitive briefing at a U.S. military headquarters, representatives from Arab countries were exposed to live footage of IDF troops operating in Gaza. A senior Israeli officer demanded the immediate removal of the footage, which had been obtained outside the scope of authorized procedures.

Judah Pe'er. Dec 30, 2025 04:55

An unusual and troubling incident was revealed at a U.S. military headquarters in Kiryat Gat. During a routine morning briefing, live video of IDF combat units operating inside the Gaza Strip was displayed on screens in the room. In attendance, alongside American officers, were intelligence representatives from several Arab countries, including Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. JFeed

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'Your demands are legitimate': Iran scrambles to quell unrest amid economic meltdown.

After rare economic unrest in Tehran, President Pezeshkian urges dialogue with demonstrators amid currency collapse and business shutdowns; government vows to tackle inflation, while critics warn that lockdowns and repression won't ease public anger. Lior Ben Ari, AFP | published: 12.30.25 05:57 YNet

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US Ambassador: 'We stand with Iranian protesters'. US Ambassador to the UN publishes message of support for the Iranian people who are protesting against the Ayatollahs' regime on the streets of Tehran. Israel National News. Dec 30, 2025, 8:03 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Ben-Gvir leads large police offensive in Tarabin. The Minister of National Security joined an operation carried out by the police in a Bedouin village in the Negev. Israel National News. Published: Dec 30, 2025, 12:55 PM (GMT+2)

The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined an operation carried out by the police as part of Operation New Order in the village of Tarabin in the Negev. The operation is a large-scale police effort to restore the rule of law in the region, particularly targeting Bedouin communities.

The operation was conducted following shooting incidents and vehicles being vandalized in the community of Givat Bar that occurred last Saturday.

This is the second time Minister Ben-Gvir has come to Tarabin in the past three days.

Upon his arrival the minister said, "We are fighting for our children. If the police are not in Tarabin the communities in the area will not be able to exist. This is not a war you finish in one day - and there are all kinds of background noises. We are taking a hard line against anyone who breaks the law, throws stones, burns vehicles and anyone who does not want us to be here. This is our home." INN

Israel Police operates in the Bedouin-Israeli town of Tirabin. December 30, 2025. Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich delivered a frightening warning at a meeting of his Religious Zionist party on Monday about Israel’s enemy within.

“After remarkable successes on external war fronts, the biggest threat today comes from within,” he declared. “The images and incidents from the Negev in recent days must trigger every alarm bell, reminding us of the tens—perhaps hundreds—of thousands of illegal weapons in the hands of criminal and terror groups in Arab society, including some of the most advanced and lethal explosives.”

Smotrich was referring to a large-scale police raid on Monday on the Bedouin-Israeli town of Tirabin al-Sana in the Negev after residents of the town vandalized property and set fire to cars in nearby Jewish yishuvim on Shabbos as a “revenge operation” for a police crackdown on crime in the town in recent months. Hundreds of police officers participated in the operation, which was aimed at addressing the lawlessness in Bedouin areas in the Negev, including the rampant theft of IDF weapons and equipment. YWN

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Concerning. Hamas is Planning a Giant New Multi-Front Assault on Israel After its 'Success' on October 7th. An Israeli NGO warns of an internal Hamas document revealing preparations for a massive, coordinated assault on Israel, potentially deadlier than October 7, raising alarms that the terror group is regrouping for a multi-front war from Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and Lebanon.

Jfeed Staff. Dec 30, 2025 05:11 JFeed

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More questions than answers. Israel Prepares New Gaza Scenarios After Trump-Netanyahu Summit Leaves Key Questions Unanswered. IDF maintains control over 54% of Gaza as security establishment weighs three potential paths forward, including first "terror-free city" in Rafah.

Jfeed Staff. Dec 30, 2025 04:10 JFeed

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US Treasury targets Iran-Venezuela weapons trade. The US sanctions Iran and Venezuela-linked entities for aiding Iran’s drone and missile programs, posing regional security threats. Israel National News. Dec 30, 2025, 7:13 PM (GMT+2) INN

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CENTCOM: 25 ISIS terrorists neutralized in Syria Israel National News Dec 31, 2025, 5:08 AM INN

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Netanyahu to Fox News. 'Hamas must disarm or disappear, Gaza peace depends on it'. In interview with Bret Baier, PM Netanyahu stresses disarming Hamas is key to Gaza peace, praises Trump’s support, warns Iran, and rejects claims his leadership prolongs war for political gain.

Israel National News Dec 31, 2025, 1:34 AM INN

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Gazan medical professionals were complicit in Hamas's crime | The Jerusalem Post.

How Gazan medical professionals were complicit in hostage captivity, sexual assault - opinion. If medical professionals can participate in terror without accountability, then the laws meant to protect humanity have been hollowed out from within.

By Zina Rakhamilova December 30, 2025 14:21

We have spent the better part of the last two years being inundated with propaganda and disinformation pushed by Hamas and amplified by its supporters around the world. But the greater crime lies not only in terrorists and those who cheer them.

It lies in the silence and inaction of human rights organizations and international health bodies that were created to prevent exactly these kinds of abuses. Their failure to respond meaningfully to Hamas’s crimes against Israelis and against the Palestinian people is a betrayal of the very principles they claim to uphold.

Romi Gonen's testimony. Last weekend, former Israeli hostage Romi Gonen spoke publicly for the first time about her time in Hamas captivity. Her testimony confirmed what many feared, but what made it especially disturbing was not only what happened to her but who inflicted part of that harm. Gonen revealed that during the 471 days she was held hostage, she was sexually assaulted four times, with the third assault being the most severe. Within the first four days of her captivity, before any Israeli response and before a single IDF soldier had entered Gaza, the first man to sexually assault her was a nurse, someone tasked with treating her bullet wound.

It has been a recurring pattern in Gaza for medical professionals, teachers, and journalists to use their positions as a cover for involvement in terror organizations. We know that hostages were held by Gazans working in ordinary professions in this way, but it is especially horrifying to learn that someone entrusted with her care used his position to abuse her. After the assault, Gonen was forced to continue living in the same house as the man who had violated her. JPost

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MDA deploys an ambulance every 22 seconds through 2025, with more than 1 million calls. According to their 2025 statistics report, MDA emergency vehicles were dispatched 1,383,026 times.

By Jerusalem Post Staff. December 30, 2025 23:39 Magen David Adom JPost

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American Jews mark Qatar as second greatest threat to Israel, after Iran - JPPI survey reveals The survey collected data from the JPPI’s "Voice of the Jewish People" panel, in which American Jews were surveyed on their views regarding political and religious topics.

By Jerusalem Post Staff December 31, 2025 00:35 American Jews consider Qatar the second most serious threat to the national security of Israel and the United States, according to a recent Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) survey.

The survey collected data from the JPPI’s "Voice of the Jewish People" panel, in which American Jews were surveyed on their views regarding political and religious topics. JPost

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Secret IDF Unit 504 interrogated 3,100 terrorists, IDF attacked 20,900 targets in 2025. The IDF additionally announced that it launched 20,900 attacks on targets across all fronts and killed around 2,100 Hamas terrorists this past year in newly unveiled 2025 military statistics.

By Yonah Jeremy Bob. December 31, 2025 06:02 The military’s intelligence Unit 504 (“the IDF’s Mossad”), responsible for covert and clandestine operations, interrogated 3,100 terrorists over the course of 2025, the IDF revealed on Wednesday.

Of the terrorists, 1,600 were interrogated in Israeli detention centers, and another 1,500 were interrogated in real-time in the field shortly after being captured.

In the field, interrogations are extremely difficult and complex as the interrogators are often not operating in a safe space, and the detainees are frequently physically or emotionally destabilized by a recent physical battle.

However, such field interrogations can be invaluable in leading to intelligence that can help thwart additional terror attacks in real-time and enable the capture of top terrorist commanders before they have time to change their hideouts, as well as the seizure of dangerous weapons before they can be transferred. During the Israel-Hamas War, it led to the locations of hostages, both living and deceased, before they could be moved.

Interrogations in detention centers can also lead to critical intelligence gains, though usually as part of longer-term projects and strategic goals.

Broader IDF statistics. Regarding wider issues, the IDF disclosed that the total number of attacks it undertook on all fronts during the year was 20,900.

Of those, 19,530 targets were in Gaza, with the remainder in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and the West Bank.

In Gaza, the IDF killed four brigade-level commanders out of a total of five – among them, replacements for brigade commanders killed by the IDF in 2023-2024 – 14 battalion-level commanders, and 53 company-level commanders.

In fact, the only surviving Hamas brigade commander from the pre-Israel-Hamas War era is its current leader, Az al-din al-Hadad, the former Gaza City brigade commander.

The IDF refused requests to provide an updated total number of Hamas members killed in 2025. However, in August, it was reported that the number was around 2,100, and, given that there were few battles from then until the war ended in October, that number likely has only risen by a few hundred, at most.

In Lebanon in 2025, the IDF killed around 380 Hezbollah terrorists while attacking around 950 targets overall.

The IDF also said that Hezbollah violated the 2024 ceasefire 1,920 times, though it was unclear how many of these violations were blatant moves in southern Lebanon or more subtle moves north of the Litani River.

Next, the IDF said that it had killed 230 terrorists in the West Bank.

Moreover, it said it had arrested 7,400 Palestinians, though only 1,190 were said to be linked to Hamas – raising some questions about how seriously dangerous some of the detainees were.

There are other terror groups besides Hamas, but at the start of the war, close to 40-60% of those arrested were linked to Hamas.

The IDF did not report on how many of the arrestees were subsequently handed back to Hamas during the hostage exchanges, in which Israel released thousands of Palestinian security prisoners, nor on how many of those arrested would be held for lengthy periods.

Notably, the IDF said that it had confiscated NIS 16,480,000 from Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank.

IDF anti-Houthi operations. Summing up attacks against the Houthis of Yemen, the IDF said it had undertaken 20 aerial operations in 2025, striking 230 targets, although many of these targets were repeat strikes on the same location after Houthi efforts to repair targets that had been previously struck.

Ninety-one IDF soldiers were killed in 2025, and 821 were seriously wounded – a high number in an average year, but a significant drop from 2023-2024.

Moderately wounded IDF soldiers evacuated by land vehicles numbered 3,050; another 300 wounded were evacuated by helicopter.

The IDF Home Front Command supplied 1,500 new mini-safe-houses and renovated or improved around 200 larger bomb shelters.

The navy undertook 50 attacks, over a total of 130,000 hours spent at sea. JPost

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'When I got out, I knew I wanted a family': Ex-hostage Omer Wenkert on life after Gaza Abducted from the Nova music festival and held for 505 days, Omer Wenkert reunites with Adi Taub, his closest friend and now partner, as they share how trauma brought them together and why building a family is their next goal Dina Halutz|12.31.25 YNet

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Vigilance saves lives. Israeli Prison Service Thwarts Attempt to Smuggle Forbidden Messages via Lawyer Prison Service intercepts prohibited messages hidden in lawyer's belongings during prison visit. 34 attorneys faced legal action in 2025 for security violations.

Jfeed Staff. Dec 30, 2025 07:59 JFeed

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COGAT @cogatonline; Regarding MSF:

MSF chose not to cooperate with the registration process and refused to provide Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs with a list of its employees, as required by a government decision.

The organization’s attempts to attribute to itself a central impact on the medical response in the Gaza Strip are inconsistent with reality and are not supported by data. In practice, out of approximately 220 primary care clinics and medical points operating throughout the Gaza Strip, the organization operates only five. Out of 15 field hospitals established during the war, only two were operated by MSF, alongside 18 active government hospitals. The organization has fewer than 30 international staff operating in the Gaza Strip, with the bulk of its activity relying on local employees. In addition, from the start of the current ceasefire until today, the organization has brought in only 95 aid trucks, a negligible number compared to the tens of thousands of trucks that entered during the ceasefire.

These figures illustrate that the organization’s contribution to Gaza’s healthcare system does not justify the media campaign it is leading.

At the same time, Israel continues to work to strengthen the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip. Among other efforts, new field hospitals and additional clinics are being established in cooperation with the international community. This is alongside the continued operation of international medical organizations that have already been approved and are operating in the Gaza Strip on a significant scale, including the entry of medical equipment and medicines. Dec 30, 2025. on X

Israel says MSF failed to meet new Gaza aid rules. MSF voices concerns it may be barred from Gaza, Israel says it failed to comply with requirements. MSF did not cooperate with a government-required registration process and declined to provide Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs with a list of its employees, as mandated by a government decision.

By Reuters, Jerusalem Post Staff December 31, 2025. Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières expects to be barred from operating in Gaza once it misses Wednesday's deadline to comply with new registration rules for relief agencies that Israel says are meant to prevent Hamas from exploiting international aid JPost

Doctors Without Borders Misses Registration Deadline, Will Exit Gaza. Israeli authorities say the organization did not complete a mandatory registration process and refused to provide a list of its employees to the government, a step required under regulations. The rules are intended to prevent Hamas and other groups from exploiting international aid frameworks.

Judah Pe'er Dec 31, 2025 JFeed

What is MSF Hiding from Israel? Is Its Gaza Sector a genocidal Hamas-Linked UNRWA Model? January 02, 2026. What is MSF Hiding from Israel? Is Its Gaza Sector a Hamas-Linked UNRWA Model? Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, has been very controversial about its involvement in Gaza, especially in the context of its interactions with Israel. The organization, which often claims neutrality and humanitarian focus, has increasingly been accused of promoting anti-Israel narratives and downplaying or outright ignoring Hamas’s role in the Gaza conflict. This has led to growing concerns about MSF’s true intentions and the nature of its work in Gaza. So, what exactly is MSF hiding from Israel, and is its presence in Gaza mirroring the politically charged model of the Hamas-affiliated UNRWA?

MSF’s Lack of Transparency. Israel has raised significant concerns over MSF’s transparency, particularly its refusal to comply with basic registration requirements mandated by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. The organization has declined to provide a list of its employees operating in Gaza, despite this being a standard procedure for organizations working in the region. This refusal to cooperate with Israeli authorities raises questions about the organization’s operations, especially in a politically volatile environment like Gaza.

While MSF claims to be a leading humanitarian actor in Gaza, the reality on the ground suggests otherwise. Out of 220 primary care clinics operating in the region, MSF operates just five. Additionally, of the 15 field hospitals established during the war, MSF ran only two. This stands in stark contrast to the 18 government-run hospitals operating in Gaza. Furthermore, MSF has only facilitated the entry of 95 aid trucks during the current ceasefire, a negligible number compared to the tens of thousands of trucks sent by other international organizations.

MSF and Hamas Propaganda: An Alarming Partnership? In recent months, MSF has found itself at the center of controversy, particularly due to its media appearances, including on platforms like PBS. In a critical article titled “Hamas Propaganda by Doctors Without Borders, Courtesy of PBS NewsHour” (Dec. 21, 2023), it was pointed out that PBS amplified Hamas propaganda by featuring MSF representatives without adequate scrutiny. The article claims that MSF has falsely presented itself as a neutral medical organization while consistently promoting anti-Israel narratives and minimizing or erasing Hamas’s role in the conflict.

The author of the article specifically targets two PBS segments:

Avril Benoit (Dec. 14, 2023): Benoit was accused of blaming Israel exclusively for the suffering in Gaza, dismissing evidence of Hamas’s military use of hospitals, and disregarding Israeli intelligence as unconvincing. Ghassan Abu Sittah (Dec. 18, 2023): Abu Sittah, a prominent MSF figure, was portrayed as an activist doctor who spread false claims about Israeli responsibility for the Al-Ahli hospital explosion and downplayed evidence of Hamas’s use of hospitals for military purposes. PBS presented these MSF figures as objective medical witnesses, while allegedly overlooking their political activism and the disputed nature of their claims. The article contends that substantial evidence shows Hamas has embedded military operations within hospitals, but MSF representatives continue to deny this in order to support accusations of Israeli war crimes. The piece concludes that PBS failed its journalistic responsibility by providing an uncritical platform to what the author characterizes as propaganda.

The Medicalization of Disinformation: MSF’s Shift in Neutrality. A deeper critique of MSF is offered in the analysis “The Medicalization of Hamas Disinformation: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)” (Nov. 3, 2025). This article notes that MSF abandoned its longstanding neutrality after the October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas, failing to condemn the attacks and instead framing them as a reaction to Israeli policies. It also claims that MSF, using the moral authority of medicine, helped spread unverified or false accusations of Israeli war crimes, particularly in relation to allegations that Israel deliberately targeted hospitals.

A central case is the explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17, 2023. MSF physician Ghassan Abu Sittah participated in a Hamas Health Ministry press conference, where he provided “eyewitness” testimony blaming Israel for the explosion. However, intelligence from multiple countries, including Israel, the United States, France, Canada, and the UK, later indicated that the explosion was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli airstrike.

Despite this, Abu Sittah and MSF continued to cite the incident as evidence of Israeli war crimes, refusing to retract their claims even after the truth came to light. MSF leaders like Avril Benoit and Christopher Lockyear also denied evidence of Hamas using hospitals for military purposes, despite credible documentation from multiple sources confirming this. The failure to retract or correct these false claims is troubling, especially given the significant role that medical organizations like MSF play in shaping international perceptions of the conflict.

MSF and Hamas: A Symbiotic Relationship? MSF’s role in Gaza seems increasingly intertwined with Hamas’s political agenda. The organization’s reliance on local staff, including individuals with potential ties to Hamas, raises concerns about its objectivity. Similar to the UNRWA, MSF’s operations in Gaza are deeply embedded within a political reality governed by Hamas. This proximity to Hamas’s power structure, combined with the organization’s refusal to acknowledge the group’s military use of hospitals, calls into question the integrity of MSF’s medical neutrality in the region.

In contrast, Israel continues to strengthen Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure through collaboration with other vetted international organizations that adhere to international standards. While MSF remains a key player in the region, its actions suggest that its role in Gaza is not purely humanitarian—rather, it appears to be part of a broader political narrative aimed at vilifying Israel and exonerating Hamas for its actions.

Conclusion: MSF’s Role in Distorting the Narrative. MSF’s recent actions and its media appearances have raised serious questions about its role in Gaza. By downplaying Hamas’s actions, amplifying disinformation about Israel, and refusing to acknowledge the evidence of Hamas’s military operations within medical facilities, MSF has compromised its once-vaunted status as a neutral humanitarian actor.

The organization’s activities in Gaza reflect a growing trend of political advocacy masquerading as medical neutrality. MSF’s unwillingness to cooperate with Israeli authorities, its refusal to retract false claims, and its role in amplifying Hamas propaganda have eroded its credibility. As a result, MSF is no longer viewed as a purely medical organization, but as an active participant in a political narrative that distorts the truth and undermines international understanding of the Gaza conflict.

Is MSF's work in Gaza truly humanitarian, or is it part of a broader strategy to promote Hamas’s agenda? The evidence suggests that the organization’s role in Gaza is far more politically motivated than it would have the world believe. Through its actions and media appearances, MSF has become a key player in a larger disinformation campaign that distorts the reality on the ground and influences global opinion against Israel.

Summary: “In Arabic and English, Different Messages About MSF Gunman, and the Hacker Defense” (Sept. 5, 2018) This article examines contradictory public accounts surrounding Hani Majdalawi, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) worker killed at the Gaza border after Israeli forces said he threw a grenade at them. It focuses on how Majdalawi’s brother, Osama, presented sharply different narratives depending on language and audience.

In English-language media, particularly in a Los Angeles Times article, Osama described Hani as a peaceful, apolitical humanitarian who did not know how to use weapons and whose life centered on work and family. This portrayal framed the killing as suspicious and suggested Israeli authorities were concealing the truth.

By contrast, Arabic-language content attributed to Osama’s Facebook account described Hani as a “martyr” who had personally purchased a weapon and acted independently. This version aligned with posts from other family members and Palestinian social media and was reported by outlets such as Reuters.

After the discrepancy drew attention, the Majdalawi family issued a statement claiming their Facebook accounts had been hacked. They denied knowledge of any militant activity, said they relied only on Israeli accounts they distrusted, and demanded an independent investigation and the return of Hani’s body.

The article notes that the “hacker defense” is a commonly used explanation when controversial or damaging social media posts surface and questions its credibility in this case, highlighting the broader issue of inconsistent messaging across languages in coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Conclusion In conclusion, the actions and narratives presented by MSF in Gaza raise serious questions about the organization's impartiality and its role in advancing Hamas's propaganda. MSF's refusal to cooperate with Israeli authorities, its uncritical amplification of unverified anti-Israel claims, and its consistent downplaying of Hamas's use of hospitals for military purposes suggest that the organization's neutrality is not as steadfast as it claims. Israel, on the other hand, continues to support the humanitarian needs in Gaza through transparent, accountable efforts, working with organizations that adhere to international standards of neutrality and objectivity. MSF’s continued complicity in spreading falsehoods harms global understanding and undermines the credibility of humanitarian efforts in conflict zones.

NOTES: In Arabic and English: Different Messages About MSF, Gunman, and the Hacker Defense Published on September 5, 2018 by CAMERA Hamas Propaganda by Doctors Without Borders, Courtesy of PBS NewsHour Published on December 21, 2023 by CAMERA COGAT Official Statement on MSF Published on December 30, 2025 by COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Gaza Published on December 25, 2025 by The Jerusalem Post BBC Again Fails to Provide Information Needed to Understand NGO’s Story Published on December 30, 2025 by CAMERA UK The Medicalization of Hamas Disinformation: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Published on November 3, 2025 by CAMERA MSF politicized humanitarian Just sayin'

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Zohran Mamdani names two controversial lawyers to NYC’s top legal jobs — including 1 de Blasio admin alum. By Craig McCarthy, Hannah Fierick and David Propper. Published Dec. 30, 2025

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani named a pair of controversial lawyers to high-profile jobs in his administration Tuesday – including an ex-de Blasio aide who calls himself a “social justice attorney” and another who represented an al Qaeda terrorist.

The democratic socialist announced he would appoint crusading activist attorney Steven Banks — just the latest de Blasio administration retread– to head the city’s Law Department as corporation counsel and ex-Biden policy adviser Ramzi Kassem to serve as City Hall’s chief counsel.

While Mamdani lauded the two picks as personnel that understands the law and will “employ it as a critical tool in the fight for working people,” critics sounded the alarm over the pick’s track records.

Banks comes with a lengthy resume, but Big Apple insiders have raised concerns about him being too much of an activist.

Banks, who previously served as former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s homeless services director, notably battled the Eric Adams administration in court when Adams tried to roll back portions of the “right to shelter” rules to get a handle on the spiraling migrant crisis.

Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul holding hands up in the air at a rally for "New York Is Not For Sale." Kathy Hochul’s suck-up to the left this year could push New York into even WORSE shape

Tax hike on NY workers will be needed to fund universal childcare program backed by Mamdani, Hochul: report An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows New York City mayor elect Zohran Mamdani leaves his apartment building in Astoria, Queens Wednesday. , Image 2 shows Ahmed Tigani , Image 3 shows Julia Kerson will be one of Mamdani's deputy mayors. Zohran Mamdani reveals more de Blasio, Adams alums to join his administration

Banks was part of an effort earlier in his career as a member of the Legal Aid Society as it pushed to create and expand the city’s contentious shelter law that guarantees a bed to anyone without a home. He teamed up with the nonprofit again in a 2024 showdown with Adams.

Outgoing Queens Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Democrat, predicted Banks’ tenure as corporation counsel “would be a disaster, but not a surprise.”

“He didn’t just have a hand in these policies, he helped design them.”

“The architects of the failed de Blasio era are back for more certain failures,” Holden added.

While serving as de Blasio’s Department of Social Services commissioner, he faced heat for financial scandals and awful conditions at a crucial not-for-profit homeless shelter that the agency worked with.

An audit from then-city Comptroller Scott Stringer found bloated costs and misspending while shelter residents were subjected to horrid conditions under Banks.

Banks, who labels himself a “public interest social justice attorney” on his LinkedIn page and has 40 years of legal experience, would need the majority of the City Council to approve his appointment.

The Law Department represents city agencies, the mayor and other elected officials in litigation. It also handles juvenile delinquency proceedings brought in Family Court and code enforcement proceedings brought in Criminal Court.

Banks joins a slew of other de Blasio alums making their return to city government.

Other notable appointments include incoming first deputy mayor Dean Fuleihan, Office of Budget Management director Sherif Soliman and Intergovernmental Affairs head Jahmila Edwards.

Meanwhile, Kassem, who was a senior policy advisor under former President Joe Biden, will serve as chief counsel, which is widely seen as the most important advisory role in the mayor’s office.

The City University of New York law professor’s appointment raised eyebrows because of some of his past clients.

Kassem was part of the legal team that defended Columbia University anti-Israel leader Mahmoud Khalil, a major player in the rowdy protest encampments last school year.

The team advocated for the rabblerouser when the Trump administration tried to deport him this year.

He also defended terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi, an al Qaeda member convicted in 2017 of the bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen in 2002.

The private swearing-in will be led by Attorney General Letitia James at midnight, while he will be publicly sworn in on the steps of City Hall at 1 p.m.

Kassem’s position doesn’t require approval from the City Council.

State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger, a Brooklyn Democrat, slammed Kassem’s appointment, claiming Mamdani is choosing to “telegraph to America Haters that they have a place in his City Hall.”

“In a city as great as New York, there are any number of brilliant legal minds willing and able to serve who have not previously defended terrorists as an Al Qaeda lawyer,” the former councilman said.

“The mayor-elect probably realized he couldn’t nominate him as Corporation Counsel, as that is subject to City Council confirmation, and even the City Council doesn’t hate America that much,” he added.

But Mamdani showered praise on both picks when he rolled out the latest appointments. “The rule-of-law is the bedrock of good governance, effective leadership, and a city that works for working people,” he said in a statement.

“With Steve Banks and Ramzi Kassem as my Corporations and Chief Counsel, our City will not only operate in accordance with the law, but will understand and employ it as a critical tool in the fight for working people and to protect their safety and fundamental freedoms.”

Also announced as an addition to the administration Tuesday was Elmhurst Hospital CEO Helen Arteaga, who will be Mamdani’s deputy mayor for health and human services.

Arteaga previously worked as an assistant vice president at Urban Health Plan Inc. for 15 years before joining Elmhurst in 2021.

Mamdani is set to be sworn in Jan. 1. NYPost

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"A Bullet in the Back". 60,000 Rifles: The Secret Intelligence Netanyahu Shared With Trump in Florida Following a warm two hour summit at Mar-a-Lago, Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it clear that any civilian reconstruction in Gaza is impossible while the terrorists of Hamas remain armed with tens of thousands of rifles.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 30, 2025 19:07 JFeed

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Texas man charged with trying to provide bomb materials to ISIS. By Christopher Hoffman, 3 News, December 30, 2025.

Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a 21-year-old Texas man with an international terrorism offense, accusing him of attempting to provide bomb-making materials and financial support to what he believed was the Islamic State, according to court documents and law enforcement officials.

The defendant, John Michael Garza Jr. of Midlothian, Texas, was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors say Garza brought explosive components to a meeting on Dec. 22 and handed them to an individual he believed was an ISIS supporter. That person was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent.

Today’s announcement underscores the FBI’s commitment to combatting terrorism and demonstrates our continuous work to disrupt and thwart terrorist plots against the American public,” said FBI Director, Kash Patel. “Let this serve as a warning to those who plan to conduct attacks against the United States on behalf of terrorist organizations– you will be brought to justice.

According to the complaint, Garza explained how to assemble the materials into an explosive device and offered to send an instructional video detailing how to build a bomb. He was arrested shortly after leaving the meeting.

The case, announced by United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould, was the result of a joint investigation involving the F.B.I. and the New York Police Department…. news3lv

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The Masks Are Off. Carlson and Owens have become leading Western apologists for (political) Islam. December 31, 2025, by Mark Tapson.

It was bad enough that ostensibly conservative political commentators Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both have been the main drivers of a growing divide in the MAGA movement, through their obsession with demonizing Israel and the Jews. Now they have also become leading Western apologists for Islam.

Are they even conservative? Were they ever? (Owens in particular has never been committed to anything but her own grift, not a political philosophy.) Conservatives are defenders; we preserve. Our mission, in large part, is to defend and preserve the liberties our forefathers earned for us. It is to defend and preserve the grand civilizational legacy of the best that has been thought and said. Progressives destroy; they are revolutionaries at heart, whose mission is to destroy the flawed status quo and pave the way for their utopian vision of an ideal society. By this standard, Carlson and Owens are not conservatives; they are destroyers, and the banner of conservatism they formerly flew has been exposed as a mere flag of convenience for them.

What has Owens, for example, built or preserved, apart from her own personal internet fiefdom? The sole focus of her work today seems to be to undermine and drain the surge of goodwill and momentum that fell to Turning Point USA after the heinous assassination of its founder Charlie Kirk, which Owens has lucratively exploited to weave in the antisemitic conspiracy theories that have made her a magnet for Jew-hating losers on the internet. Carlson, meanwhile, has also exploited the America First movement by demonizing Jews and Israel, going so far as to promote slimy white supremacist Nick “Hitler was cool” Fuentes (Carlson himself was recently named Antisemite of the Year by a Jewish civil rights group).

Lately he has shocked conservatives by completely dismissing Islam as a threat to the West: denying Hamas is a terrorist organization, defending sharia law, repeatedly defending Iran as no threat to America or American interests, and hyping wealthy Arab states as crime-free havens of modernization, morality, and sanity compared to Western decadence.

But his most recent, and arguably most outrageous, Islamophilic comments came in an interview published last Friday at The American Conservative, when he condemned what he claims is Right-wing hatred of Muslim Americans, declaring that “radical Islam” is not a problem for Americans. “I don’t know anyone in the United States in the last 24 years who’s been killed by radical Islam,” he stated:

I do know a lot of people who have killed themselves. I know people who’ve died of drug ODs, more than a few. I know people who can’t get jobs. None of the boys in my daughter’s class can get jobs, none of those white boys can get jobs. They’re being destroyed by Adderall and video games and porn. I see millions of Americans being destroyed, and none of it is at the hands of radical Islam. Is radical Islam more dangerous than OnlyFans? It’s not even close. Turning some huge percentage of American women into prostitutes. That’s not radical Islam doing that, actually.

This is such a poorly reasoned argument that one wonders how Carlson can ever be taken seriously as a political pundit. Two obvious flaws immediately come to mind. One is that Carlson is presenting a false choice: suggesting that because other societal ills exist, Islam can’t be a problem too. All of the issues Tucker lists are valid concerns – and so is Islam. How can anyone look at what has become of Europe, Australia, and Michigan thanks to mass Muslim immigration, and not accept that Islam is, as Charlie Kirk plainly put it, “incompatible with Western civilization”?

The other flaw is that Carlson says “radical Islam” is not a threat because it hasn’t killed any American he personally knows. That is his “lived reality” and that of everyone he has ever met, he says (“lived reality,” by the way, is a term which serves as a favorite tactic of the identity-politics Left to prioritize impressionistic, personal experience over empirical evidence and universal Truth).

This claim may or may not be true, because as we’ve seen with another Carlson psy-op, he has also denied knowing people like British activist Tommy Robinson, when there is abundant evidence that Carlson not only had spoken about Robinson publicly but even interviewed him.

In any case, it is shockingly willful blindness to pretend that because he doesn’t know the victims personally, the murders of Americans at the hands of jihadists either never happened or don’t matter because the victims weren’t part of his “lived reality.” To refresh his memory, here are merely a few notable examples:

The November 5, 2009 Fort Hood shooting by Nidal “Soldier of Allah” Hasan left 13 dead, including a pregnant woman (whose baby also died, making 14 victims); The December 2, 2025 massacre of 14 at a San Bernardino holiday party, carried out by “ISIS-inspired” husband-and-wife team Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik; The April 5, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing committed by Chechen brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Rolling Stone cover model Tamerlan Tsarnaev, which left 3 dead including an eight-year-old boy; The June 12, 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting in which ISIS enthusiast Omar Mateen slaughtered 49. Another ISIS devotee, Shamsud-din Jabar, plowed his vehicle through a Bourbon Street New Year’s crowd on January 1, 2025, killing 14.* Those are just a few of the attacks on American soil with the highest body count, and those numbers do not include the wounded, whose “lived reality” was forever marred. But Carlson didn’t know the victims personally, so the attacks never happened.

Note also that Carlson intentionally excluded from his time frame the obvious example of the 9/11 attacks, which murdered 3000 people, almost all Americans. He knew that if he factored that in, his argument would be immediately nullified, so in effect he was dismissing those murders as well.

And that doesn’t even begin to address Carlson’s willful ignorance of the jihad being waged beyond America’s borders: the devastating Islamization of Europe which is fast eclipsing its Christian identity, the genocide of Christians being waged by Islamic “rebels” in Nigeria, and terror attacks in Australia. If Carlson thinks none of this matters because it’s not impacting most Americans personally, he is either stunningly naïve for a political pundit, in willful denial, or knowingly pushing propaganda. My money is on the latter.

Elsewhere in the interview Carlson condemns the Right for attacking Muslims collectively. He is “disgusted” by people who “think that every Muslim is Usama bin Laden.” This is a shamefully inflammatory accusation. No serious American is claiming that every Muslim is another bin Laden. This is the same kind of false argument Leftists insist on making: when the Right says “Islam,” the Left twists it into “all Muslims.” This rhetorical judo is an intentionally disingenuous tactic that enables the Left to pervert legitimate concerns about Islamic dogma into simple bigotry.

Add these interview comments to his screechy AmFest 2025 speech in which Carlson yelled that he found it “disgusting” that “millions of Americans” were being attacked simply for being Muslim (fact check: this is not happening), and it is undeniable that he is purposefully whitewashing jihad and sharia law, and running interference for the Islamic imperative to bring all of dar al-Harb, the “House of War,” into the fold of dar al-Islam.

What has happened to Carlson, who almost overnight went from being the Great White Hope of conservative media to a massive disappointment? Many say he is being paid off by his Qatar masters – he claims in this most recent interview that he has “never taken a penny from a Muslim” – but Carlson has never been hurting for money; surely greed, or greed alone, cannot account for his newfound love affair with Islam. A friend suggested to me, only half-joking, that perhaps Carlson is being blackmailed. That actually might explain the unhinged intensity of his defense of Muslims he claims are not a problem for Americans. I have my own theory, but that’s for another time.

In any case, seemingly referencing Carlson’s controversial interview in a tweet that same day, Candace Owens, whose unhinged but lucrative, conspiracy-mongering obsessions include waging a bizarre campaign to expose the French President’s wife as a man, posted,

No matter how hard the GOP tries to make “radical Islam” happen, the base doesn’t care about it. We are way more concerned about Israel. You can deny reality and scream about Tucker, but the party can no longer be governed by those who refuse to acknowledge the Zionist elephant in the room.

Again, two things to note here. First, the Republican party is not trying to make the threat of Islam “happen”; Islamic supremacists the world over are doing a damn good job of making it happen all on their own, and have been for 1400 years. The Right is not hyping this threat out of proportion to reality; if anything, the Republican Party does not take it seriously enough to take effective action such as the basic first step of officially declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.

Second, note how Owens claims that she represents the GOP “base.” She does not. What she does represent, and is empowering, is a growing segment of the Right which hates Jews more than it cares about the existential danger of Islam. They are “way more concerned about Israel” because Owens has done more than even Fuentes to fan the flames of the longstanding antisemitic trope that “the Jooz” run everything. Owens’ army believes, as all antisemites do, that jihadists only attack American interests because we support Israel and because Jewish influence runs Washington, D.C.; if that ended, they claim, Muslims would no longer have any incentive to attack us. There could not be a more willful historical ignorance.

Carlson’s and Owens’ total dismissal of Islam as an existential threat to America and the West is in complete contradiction to the prominence it has been given by solidly conservative influencers and activists like Allie Beth Stuckey and the recently assassinated Charlie Kirk. Stuckey posted on X a couple of months ago, “I asked my 840k Instagram followers (mostly Christian women) what their biggest concern is for the country right now, and by FAR the most common answer is the growing influence of Islam. I’d like to see this concern reflected in the GOP asap.” So would I.

Kirk famously noted in recent months that Islam is incompatible with the West, and that “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.” Now it’s the sword that the antisemitic, woke “Right” is using, too.

For better or worse (and it’s both), we live in a social media-driven political arena in which the subversive lies, conspiracy-mongering, and propaganda that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens spew matters. Their combined following on X alone numbers nearly 25 million. Their podcast episodes rack up millions of views each. Everything they say or post becomes a flashpoint of political controversy. They cannot be ignored, and must not be; the No-Enemies-on-the-Right game plan that some conservatives argue is the only way to win is actually a losing strategy, as well as a morally reprehensible one. Carlson and Owens, and their mob of supporters, must be countered with full-throated condemnation from conservatives who care about the flourishing not only of America but of Western civilization at large – because those are the stakes.

• The mainstream media habit of describing jihadists as “ISIS-inspired” begs the question they refuse to address: What exactly inspires ISIS? Hint: it’s in the name “Islamic State.”

FPM

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Mamdani must denounce the worrying anti-Israel sentiment among some Muslim New Yorkers. By Post Editorial Board. Published Dec. 31, 2025.

Much of the coverage of Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration will focus on how it heralds the rise of far-left socialists who aim to tax us until we cry.

But as he becomes the first mayor to take the oath of office on a Quran, Mamdani also represents the power of another voting bloc: Muslims.

With little fanfare, the number of Muslims in New York City has risen to nearly 1 million, representing 9% of the population. Twenty-two percent of all Muslims in America live in Gotham.

By some counts, they now equal the number of Jewish residents.

The shift has been happening for some time.

In 2016, the city recognized Eid al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan) and Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice) as school holidays, and increased the number of halal options for students. During political campaigns, candidates now visit mosques as often as churches and synagogues.

Of course, as with any group, Muslims represent many interests and don’t vote in unison. Some have been here for generations. Others are new immigrants.

Many bodega owners are Muslim, and they were a strong voice when soft-on-crime laws led to an increase in shoplifting and violence. Yet there are also politicians like Mamdani that have called to defund the police.

One worrying trend, however, is a strong streak of anti-Israel sentiment among Muslim voters, which sometimes bleeds into violent calls against Jews, such as chants of “globalizing the intifada.” Mamdani already has been mealy-mouthed in denouncing the phrase, and had at least one member of his transition team resign after their antisemitic posts surfaced. NYPost

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Lawsuit against Arab security guard for attacking Jew. A civil lawsuit of 100,000 shekels has been filed against an Arab security guard who admitted to attacking a Jewish man at a police station in Kfar Saba. Israel National News. Published: Dec 31, 2025, 6:51 PM (GMT+2)

The Honenu organization filed a civil lawsuit today (Wednesday) for 100,000 NIS against an Arab security guard involved in the attack on a Jewish youth at the police station in Kfar Saba.

The attack occurred three years ago when the plaintiff arrived at the station and requested to undergo a search but faced discriminatory treatment by the security guard. The security guard, who is said to have acted out of nationalistic motives, headbutted the young man, causing a broken tooth and bleeding.

The incident began when the plaintiff approached the security guard after he was asked not to carry pepper spray in the station. The security guard responded, "It’s forbidden to bring it in." In response, the plaintiff asked, "Why are you doing this to me? Because I’m Jewish?" The security guard replied, "Yes." The security guard then attacked the plaintiff by headbutting him, causing injuries.

Attorney Chaim Bleicher from the Honenu organization, representing the plaintiff, claims that this was an impulsive act driven by racist motives. The lawsuit, which was filed after the security guard admitted to the attack under a conditional plea agreement, seeks to impose significant compensation on the security guard in order to deter antisemitic offenders.

Bleicher added: "This attack is not just a physical act of violence - it is an act of racist violence that requires severe treatment. This is a warning sign against antisemitic offenders acting out of nationalist motives." INN

Security guard punches citizen in the face "because he is Jewish". The incident occurred about two and a half years ago at the entrance to the Kfar Saba police station • The plaintiff was asked to hand over pepper spray he had, and after raising questions about the demand - the security guard attacked him • His lawyer claims that he also suffered psychological damage, due to a false arrest that was carried out after the attack. Avi Cohen. 12/31/2025, 16:00, updated 12/31/2025, 16:05 ILH

@honenu1: [Translated from Hebrew]. Watch the documentary: An Arab security guard at a police station punched a Jew in the face – and was sued for 100,000 shekels

Three years ago, an Arab security guard attacked a Jew who came to the police station in Kfar Saba. Following a demand from the Honenu organization, the Arab security guard was arrested, confessed to the attack as part of a conditional plea agreement, and was required to pay compensation to the plaintiff.

We are now filing a civil lawsuit against him for 100,000 ₪

Attorney Haim Bleicher: "State authorities are expected to ensure that they do not employ anti-Semitic lawbreakers" Rate this translation: Dec 31, 2025 on X

(A citizen claims he was attacked by a police station security guard because he is Jewish. A citizen who was required to report to the police station in Kfar Saba was attacked by a security guard at the entrance to the station, hitting him in the head. The documentation of the incident shows that when the security guard was asked if it was because of the citizen's Jewishness, the security guard answered in the affirmative. By Shilo Freid 19th of Adar 5773 (12/03/2023 19:10).

A citizen who was required to report to the police station in Kfar Saba was attacked by a security guard at the entrance to the station, hitting him in the head. The citizen wants to question the security guard and even claims that this was a nationalistic incident.

Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu organization has asked the police to fire an Arab security guard who works at the Kfar Saba police station after he attacked a Jew who was required to report to the station, hitting him in the head and breaking his tooth, about a week ago.

In his letter, Attorney Bleicher describes the incident: "On March 3, 2023, my client was severely and severely attacked at the entrance to your station. My client, an 18-year-old male who must report to your station twice a week for a signature. My client arrived at the station, and a minority security guard was standing at the entrance. The security guard demanded that my client undergo a physical search, unlike other people who he allowed to enter without a search. My client asked the security guard why he was conducting a search on him? He replied, "Because I wanted to."

"My client later asked if it was because he was Jewish, and to his surprise the security guard answered, "Yes." My client has a photograph that clearly and completely documented the racist statement. After the security guard finished the search and my client went inside, the security guard called him back to him. My client returned toward the security guard, at which point the latter approached and attacked my client with a strong headbutt straight into his face. My client felt intense pain from the blow, blood began to flow from his nose, and one of his teeth was broken," Bleicher described.

Bleicher describes in his letter how the police conducted themselves after the attack on the Jew: "My stunned client turned to the police officer who had arrived at the scene and demanded that he take action to arrest the attacker. In a most puzzling manner, the police officer chose to push my client away, pushing him and informing him that he was being detained. My client expressed his protest at the injustice of the matter, and then the police officer informed him that he was under arrest, and took him to the detention cell at the station. Fifteen minutes later, the station commander arrived at my client's place, who told him the facts in detail. The commander informed my client that he would conduct an examination of the cameras and check his version. After a few minutes, the officer returned and informed my client that indeed, from viewing the cameras, it appeared that he had been attacked by the security guard. My client was released and directed to file a complaint on the spot. My client learned that the attacker had been released at the police station with only a minor condition of no contact."

In his letter, Bleicher demands that the police take action to arrest the Arab attacker and prosecute him for serious assault with a racial motive: "This is an extremely serious incident of an assault that causes serious injury, which has a racist connotation. Its seriousness increases sevenfold when it involves a security guard at a police station, who believes in the law, and in an act of abuse of authority. I will request that the cameras recording the incident, which, as mentioned, exist, be retrieved, so that they can be used as evidence to convict the attacker. I will request that the suspect be arrested and an indictment be filed against him for an assault that causes serious injury with a racial motive. All of this in parallel with the necessary step of initiating a dismissal procedure against the attacking security guard and terminating his employment immediately." Makor Rishon).

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Terror death toll falls in Judea and Samaria amid IDF crackdown. Israel National News. Dec 31, 2025, 9:55 PM INN

New Orders from Israel Katz. Terror Down by 80%: The Military Strategy Transforming Judea and Samaria Defense Minister Israel Katz has issued a directive to military commanders to prepare for potential mass casualty invasions in Judea and Samaria while announcing a massive 80% drop in regional terror.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 31, 2025 14:14 JFeed

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After two years: Hostages Families Forum concludes operations. Israel National News. Dec 31, 2025, 7:34 PM INN

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Netanyahu tells Evangelicals: This is a shared Judeo-Christian struggle. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with evangelical leaders in Florida, praising Christian Zionist support for Israel and warning of a broader battle for Judeo-Christian values and Western civilization. Israel National News. Dec 31, 2025, 8:25 PM (GMT+2) INN

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'Israel has come out stronger than ever before'. Speaking at the Chabad synagogue of Bal Harbour in Florida, PM Netanyahu says Israel is “stronger than ever,” urges Jews to “fight back” against antisemitism, and vows to return the last hostage from Gaza. Israel National News . Jan 1, 2026, 2:09 AM INN

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Eyeing Abraham Accords? Report: Somaliland President plans Israel visit Elad Benari. Jan 1, 2026, 4:08 AM INN

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Israeli Ambassador meets hero who tackled Bondi terrorist. Israel’s Ambassador meets Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who tackled one of the Bondi terrorists during the antisemitic attack that killed 15. Israel National News. Jan 1, 2026, 4:52 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Reports of IRCG Firing on Civilians as Iran Protests Reach Fourth Day | WATCH. Protests across Iran entered a fourth day on Wednesday as new footage appeared to show regime security forces firing on demonstrators in the southern city of Fasa, underscoring an intensifying crackdown as unrest spreads nationwide.

Judah Pe'er. Dec 31, 2025 06:32 JFeed

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Iran protests: IRGC fighter dead as protesters torch IRGC HQ in Hamedan. Protesters in Hamedan set an IRGC headquarters on fire as anti‑regime unrest intensifies amid economic collapse. One Basij member killed and several injured. Israel National News. Dec 31, 2025, 11:44 PM (GMT+2) INN

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After October 7: One woman’s mission to help Israel’s orphans heal. Founder Marlene Kolangi describes how Israel Orphans of 10/7 provides financial aid, play therapy and support to children shattered by October 7. Yoni Kempinski. Published: Dec 31, 2025, 9:10 PM (GMT+2) Updated: 1/1/2026, 5:23:46 AM INN

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From elimination of Mohammed Sinwar to senior Iranian officials: The IDF summarizes 2025. IDF summarizes 2025: Around 21,000 strikes and the elimination of senior leaders from Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime. Israel National News. Published: Dec 31, 2025, 6:17 AM (GMT+2) INN

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NYC’s Parting Gift to the Jewish Community One Final Act: Mayor Adams Drops Historic Antisemitism Report on Last Day. On his final day as mayor, Eric Adams released a groundbreaking report documenting the first municipal office in the United States dedicated entirely to fighting the rise of antisemitic hate.

Eliana Fleming. Dec 31, 2025 14:29

New York City Mayor Eric Adams concluded his term in office on Tuesday with a landmark release: the first annual report from the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. Created in May 2025 as a direct response to the surge of hate following the October 7, 2023, attacks by the terrorists of Hamas, this office is the first of its kind in a major American city. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the policy framework and enforcement tools developed to protect the largest Jewish community outside of Israel during a year that saw antisemitic incidents account for the majority of hate crimes in the city. JFeed

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When Israel is charged with secretly doing what the Protocols say Jews do, it sure sounds antisemitic. December 31, 2025. Nashaat Eldehy is a fairly well known Egyptian media personality and commentator. He recently said on Egyptian TV that he was not antisemitic, but his criticisms of Israel are based on facts and disciplined analysis, far removed from whims and emotions.

And what does he think about Israel?

He says Israel possesses maps and works systematically to create crises within a number of countries in preparation for dismantling and dividing them. It deals with countries as if it is "reshaping" them to prevent any movement or stability, and Israeli interventions extend to a number of regions and countries, trying to secretly control Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and others.

That's funny, because that is exactly what the Protocols of the Elders of Zion say about a secret Jewish cabal, trying to control the nations of the world.

But he's not an antisemite! He gets his opinions based on facts, like, um, the Protocols! EoZ

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“Supreme Court Has Declared War On Chareidim & Torah Institutions:” Freezes Transfer Of NIS Billion. December 31, 2025. The petition filed by the Yesh Atid party on Tuesday against the transfer of approximately one billion shekels to Chareidi educational institutions was accepted by the Supreme Court, and Justice Yael Wilner announced an interim order freezing the transfer of the funds on Wednesday evening

Chairman of Degel HaTorah MK Moshe Gafni responded to the decision: “The Court has declared war on the Chareidi public and on Torah institutions. The Court requested a response within a few hours—something not customary even in court—and budgets that passed legally, according to accepted procedure and required approvals, were struck down with a stroke of the sword within half a day.”

“The judges’ convictions to harm the livelihood of teaching staff and the damage to the entire system will not be forgiven, nor will the wicked petitioners be forgiven. It turns out there is no democracy in the State of Israel, and the judges make decisions according to their own view and worldview, with no connection to the matters themselves or to the professional decisions made by the government and the Knesset. We will do everything to restore the situation to how it was.”

The Shas party responded to the High Court’s decision: “Antisemitic harassment. The Supreme Court is running wild like a reckless driver on a busy road, brutally and unprecedentedly trampling the Chareidi public—from stealing the daily bread of young children to harming Torah study and the education of tens of thousands of students.

“There are no judges in Jerusalem—only a dangerous group of pyromaniacs who, in their desperate struggle to save their crumbling rule, chose to take the Chareidi public hostage. We call on Jews around the world to raise a cry against this antisemitic harassment. The Chareidi public will stand firm like a fortified wall against these malicious decisions.”

MK Meir Porush responded: “Now it is absolutely clear—the judicial system is not concerned with security needs; it is at war against everything sacred. Lapid and the Supreme Court are trying to fight the holy education of Jewish children. No legal process will prevent us from passing on the mesoras Yisrael from generation to generation. Yesterday in the Selichos of Asara B’Teves[th], we said: ‘וַעֲדַת עָרִיצִים בִּקְשׁוּ נַפְשֵׁנוּ וְלֹא שָׂמוּךָ לְנֶגְדָּם.” [Psalm 86:14].

Likud MK Chanoch Milwidsky responded: “It is not surprising that a protégé of Justice Amit is freezing funds that were lawfully transferred to Chareidi institutions. The Court is grabbing more and more powers for itself. Unfortunately, for now, it is playing on an empty field. This will not stop until we decide to rise up against this judicial tyranny. We are already very late.”

Yair Lapid tweeted this evening on his X account: “I am pleased to report encouraging news from the Supreme Court—following the petition I filed on Tuesday together with MKs Vladimir Beliak, Naor Shiri, and Moshe Kinley Tor-Paz, it was decided to issue an interim order freezing the transfer of over 1,090,000,000 shekels that were transferred illegally to Chareidi institutions. We will continue to fight for the working and serving public.” YWN

"Haaretz, a so-called 'news' outlet that consistently peddles fake narratives, once again exposes its blatant hypocrisy. First, it publishes smear after smear against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), spreading lies and distorting the truth about the courageous men and women who protect their country against genocidal regimes/groups. Then, in a stunning display of double standards, it turns around and criticizes the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) community for not serving in the IDF, ignoring the deeply held religious and cultural beliefs that shape their choices.

The conclusion here is undeniable: Haaretz isn't driven by a commitment to truth or fairness; its agenda is steeped in anti-Jewish bigotry. It attacks the very heart of Israeli society, seeking to divide and weaken the Jewish community, all while pretending to advocate for unity. Their reporting isn't about facts—it's about furthering an ideological agenda that undermines the Jewish state and distorts its realities." [1.1.26] at EoZ

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New Gaza neighborhoods, stabilization force planned under US-led CMCC - exclusive A US-led coordination center is working with Israel and international partners on Gaza rebuilding plans, including new housing in Rafah and preparations for a stabilization force.

By Yonah Jeremy Bob. December 31, 2025 19:32 Updated: DECEMBER 31, 2025 22:50 JPost

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Despicable Pro-Palestinians. Pro-Palestinian Protesters Harass Family of Slain Israeli Officer Ran Gvili in Miami | WATCH. Pro-Palestinians really have zero shame when it comes to Jews. These are the same people who would have laughed at Jews being slain in the Holocaust, a despicable, brainless bunch of entitled idiots. Gila Isaacson Jan 1, 2026 04:04 JFeed

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Thanks to Sadiq Khan. Controversy Erupts Over Removal of Star of David from Israeli Flag in London's New Year's Eve Fireworks. The Star of David was missing from the Israeli flag in London's New Year's Eve fireworks display at London Eye. Former Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy demands Mayor Khan explain the omission.

Gila Isaacson Jan 1, 2026 05:05 JFeed

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IDF: Half of Hamas Tunnels Past Yellow Line Still Functional. Israeli security officials assess that only around 50% of the terror tunnels built by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the area between the Gaza border fence and the Yellow Line have been located and destroyed so far, raising concerns about the scale of the remaining threat.

Judah Pe'er. Jan 1, 2026 06:33 JFeed

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Arms smuggling route to Bedouin communities exposed. In a wide-ranging affair that came to be known as the Southern Route, a network of arms dealers was exposed that supplied weapons to the southern communities of Rahat and Segev Shalom. Israel National News. Published: Jan 1, 2026, 10:12 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Netanyahus attends Trumps' New Year's Eve gala. Israel National News. Jan 1, 2026, 6:44 PM INN

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'Turkey won't be part of intl. force in Gaza'. The minister and cabinet member states: Turkey and Qatar will not be part of the peace force that will deal with the future of Gaza. Shimon Cohen. Jan 1, 2026, 7:19 PM INN

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Smuggling ring busted. Smugglers tapped IDF comms, smuggled machine guns from Egypt. Israel National News. Jan 1, 2026, 3:29 PM INN

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80 years have passed since the Nuremberg Trials, it's time to talk about the Nukhba Trials. The Jewish jurist who coined the term genocide would have been horrified to discover how anti-Semites had adopted this attitude towards us | "They will try to kill us Jews again, don't let them forget" Ori Egoz. 01/01/26 14:03. 12 Tevet 5786. 80 years have passed since the Nuremberg Trials, it's time to talk about the Nahbub Trials Attorney Uri Egoz | , Photo: Private

Last night, New York Mayor Mamadani celebrated the Christian New Year by swearing allegiance to the Quran. The man who declared standing next to Trump in the Oval Office that Israel is committing genocide was sworn in yesterday with his best supporters by his side. They all have a huge influence on American discourse, especially on the younger generation. The main mistake that some of us make is to completely disregard this thing called world opinion. It's anti-Semitism, we say, so who cares. But what? It may be true that it is anti-Semitism, but anti-Semitism tends to manifest itself in actions. Pogroms, the Holocaust, 10/7. Anti-Semitism is the basis. Disdain is not a method of action.

Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish jurist who coined the term genocide, would have been horrified to discover how his term was cynically twisted and turned into Israel, which had suffered an attempted genocide on October 7, becoming accused of it itself. 80 years ago, between 1945 and 1946, the Nuremberg Trials took place to put senior Nazis on trial. Lemkin fought there to define the crime of genocide as a crime against humanity. Our story this time is his story.

([9] Nukhba terrorists in prison).

"I fight for the souls of the dead," I told Jackson. "Forty-nine of my family members were killed by the Nazis. They tortured us, murdered us, wanted to exterminate us. It was genocide and that should be the central argument at Nuremberg."

Instead of the vodka I wanted, I took another sip of my tea and tried to guess what Jackson was thinking as he paced the office. I looked at the former United States Attorney General, now Supreme Court Justice Truman himself had appointed to be the lead prosecutor in the Nazi trial. I knew Jackson thought the main argument should be the start of the war that Germany had led. That's where everything came from. Crimes against peace was what they called it in legal jargon, and it was an important argument, but in my opinion not the most important. How do I convince him now to change his main line of argument?

"Do you really think these people, as horrible as they are, can be prosecuted for a crime like genocide that hasn't even been written into the law yet?!" Jackson asked. "That's impossible in criminal law!" I smiled. "By that logic, the first murderer couldn't be prosecuted because at the beginning, the law against murder didn't even exist yet!"

A special international tribunal was established by the four superpowers - the USA, the USSR, Britain and France - to try the senior Nazis, headed by Hermann Goering, Hitler's right-hand man. Jackson was chosen to be the main prosecutor, and it was a great honor. The eyes of the whole world were on him, but on the other hand, Jackson and the others had to do everything properly under this magnifying glass. The question of what the point of such a trial was was always hanging over the place. Everyone would have wanted to kill the captured Nazis. Me too. Stalin himself suggested gathering the entire Nazi leadership, 50,000 people he estimated, and simply standing them against the wall and shooting them. Not a bad idea, I thought to myself on nights when I was suffocated by longing for Mom, Dad and everyone. Not a bad idea at all. But in the end, the decision was made to establish a court in Nuremberg, precisely where Hitler held his grand parades of power and began legislation against Jews, and to try the captured Nazi leaders. Now everyone was racking their brains over exactly how to do it and what crimes to put them on trial for.

That's why Jackson called me. I had been researching the issue of genocide since I was a state prosecutor in the Warsaw prosecutor's office. The first Jew. So in 1933, I presented my theory in Madrid following the murder of the Armenians in Turkey and the Assyrians in Iraq, and I explained that the persecution of a race, the erasure of its cultural heritage, the trampling of its rights, and finally its murder - this is called genocide. Something different from any ordinary criminal offense. I had a feeling that in the end it would also reach us Jews, and it would reach with indescribable force. When the war broke out, I saw it happening and years later I coined the term genocide. Genos is a tribe, a people in Greek, and sed means murder in Latin. Total destruction. But it was all in theory.

There was no such law yet, as Jackson said. "I understand, of course, the problem with prosecuting a crime that has never been enacted before." I told him, but... "But what?" Jackson asked sharply. ..."But there are behaviors that the human heart and morality cannot tolerate even if the law has not yet been enacted." Jackson waved his hand in awe. "No, not for me. In criminal law, you cannot judge a crime that does not exist. I will not take the risk that they will claim against us that we created a show trial! They will prosecute them for specific war crimes and for committing a crime against peace by actually starting the war! Germany, which started an aggressive war, dragged the entire world to the death of 70 million people!"

"You're wrong," I blurted out too quickly. "Wrong, big mistake."

Silence reigned.

"Any war can be said to be aggressive," I looked at Jackson. "And if you go down that line, they'll say that the United States itself is responsible for starting an aggressive war against Germany. After all, Germany never attacked it directly. You'll shoot yourself in the foot with that argument." I could see from his look that I had hit the right spot. Excellent. I continued: "This is our only chance to tell the world what really happened there. That's our job. The most important job."

Jackson put down the glass and then went to the safe. He opened it and took out a metal box with reels of film inside. I looked at the labels: Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Majdanek. "Are you going to show this in court?" I asked. "I've barely slept since I saw some of them," he replied. "And I still haven't been able to see everything."

The conscience of humanity is like a dying man. Humanity remembers its true sins only at the last moment, when it is no longer possible to correct them. "Allege genocide in court," I said, "and later we will make sure to enact the crime of genocide in a treaty in order to demand responsibility from anyone who dares to do it again."

A few years later, when this treaty was actually about to be signed at the UN, my Jewish brothers, the members of the World Jewish Congress in the American Committee, came out against me, and tried to torpedo the treaty with their own law. Instead of joining forces, they fought with me over who would get credit for the idea. I didn't believe that after everything we had been through, the quarrels of the Jews would make us forget where the real danger lay.

"Do you really think that there will be such events in the future?" Jackson asked after long minutes of silence. And I closed my eyes. The souls of my dead stood beside me and Mother placed her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "The Jews will try to kill us again," she said. "Don't let them forget."

The Convention on the Prevention of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 after a stubborn struggle led by attorney Dr. Lemkin. At the Nuremberg Trials, its definition of genocide formed the legal basis for the prosecution of senior Nazi officials for crimes against humanity.

The author is a Lt. Col. (res.), a former judge in terrorist offenses, and a writer for theater and screen. Kipa

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'I'll carry this my entire life. You can't heal': Ex-hostage Romi Gonen discusses her trauma. Former Gaza hostage Romi Gonen delivers a raw account of isolation, sexual abuse, and survival in Hamas captivity, telling Channel 12’s Uvda that no one will silence her story anymore.

By James Genn. January 2, 2026 01:32

Former Gaza hostage Romi Gonen recounted her recovery process since her release from Hamas's terror captivity in the Gaza Strip, in the second part of an interview with Channel 12's "Uvda" broadcast on Thursday evening.

"It was very important for us to hear that nothing happened. Wow, it's...it's hard to say. On the one hand, I feel relieved to hear that no one has reached the situation I was in, but...it's just not fair," she said, holding back tears.

"It's...I'll carry this my entire life, because when I arrived on the 34th day [after the October 7 massacre], I went down to the tunnel alone, and I was there for 24 hours alone in silence. That crushes you," Gonen continued, as tears began to fill her eyes.

"I had to be alone with it, and it's not easy, I kept telling myself, 'You're strong, you're strong,' No! I'm not strong, and no, you can't heal from such a thing, you can't," she says, beginning to cry and struggling to speak through the emotions.

"How do you cope? How can we go through captivity when, after less than a month, three different guys [sexually] assaulted me? How can we move on? How can you continue to be with them without fear of it happening again? It's just not fair!" she affirmed, trying to work through the tears.

([10]. Former hostage Romi Gonen speaks to Channel 12's Uvda about her experiences in Hamas's terror captivity, December 25, 2025).

"Only when the other girls arrived, and we started talking and sharing experiences, did I suddenly understand that I was in by far the worst situation of them all. Not even by a little - I was in a horrible situation. How do you recover from such a thing?" she asked, continuing to cry.

The "girls" Gonen referred to were IDF Observers Agam Berger and Liri Albag. Dafna and Ela Elyakim, 15 and 8-year-old sisters, joined them on the following day. Shortly after, they were joined by Chen Almog-Goldstein and her three children, Agam (17), Gal (11), and Tal (9), along with Mia Schem, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, and IDF Observer Naama Levy.

Emily Damari also joined them on the 40th day.

Qualify For Simple Weight Loss With GLP-1 Meds! End Your Struggle Now! Qualify For Simple Weight Loss With GLP-1 Meds! End Your Struggle Now! Sponsored by bestglpmeds.com Left alone for 34 days in apartments above ground, moved to tunnels, joined by others Gonen recounted how she was held by herself for 34 days in apartments above ground before being taken down to the terror tunnels. "Suddenly, one of the commanders came up to me and told me that 'maybe two girls will come here soon.'" She recalled how she told him, 'Not maybe, bring them - I need them."

Berger entered the tunnel wearing a hijab, Gonen said. Berger sat down on the mattress, and Gonen turned to her and said, "Can I please just get a hug?"

"That's all I needed. I needed someone to hug me for a moment. Think about it, for 35 days, I was alone without any physical contact with human beings - except for the contact that is bad [referring to sexual assault," she commented.

"Then, Liri comes in. They lowered them one after the other, and she joined in the hug," Gonen added.

When the young Elyakim sisters came in, she recounted how she understood that they had been alone until now, and how that realization "shattered" her.

She also noted how she and Damari have been inseparable since joining each other 40 days after the massacre. "If I hadn't had Romi with me in captivity, I would have died," Damari commented.

Damari also noted how she realized at an early stage that Gonen had been abused before they met. "I think that was also one of my first questions - whether something had happened to someone?" Damari added.

Gonen speaks to Hamas arch-terrorist Izzadin al-Haddad.

Two weeks after Gonen was taken down into the terror tunnels, the first hostage return deal began. In the following days, the terrorist guards realized that she was shaken by an incident that occured in one of the apartments that she had been held in. The following day, while the first round of hostages were being released, the terrorists returned to the captivity cage. "They told me to put on a hijab because I am not going home. I am going to the commander's room upstairs," she recalled.

She recounted how she was led through the tunnels to a room located on a higher level, with a telephone waiting there for her.

"I picked up the phone, and he said 'Hello' to me. I realized that he speaks Hebrew. He asked me to tell him everything that happened," she said.

He listened and told her that "He wants to make some kind of deal. 'I will put you at the top of the list [of people to be released], and in return, you will promise me that you will keep quiet [about your experiences].' I, of course, thought 'What do I care, as long as he puts me at the top of the list? I want to go home, and then we will deal with the promise," she remembered, saying that she promised the terror commander.

Gonen added that she realized retrospectively that the commander on the end of the phone was Izzadin al-Haddad, then-head of Hamas's Gaza Brigade, who has since been promoted to commander of Hamas's so-called military wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades.

"I spoke with the number one terrorist in Gaza now," she commented.

Gonen: 'Nobody will silence me any more' Gonen recalled how the realization of her coming release came as a surprise. On the morning of her release, 471 days after being taken captive from the Nova music festival, the terrorists called her to come watch television at 10:26 a.m.

A terrorist told her, "You are going out now alone, and a vehicle will be waiting for you in the street." She was sent out of the tunnel along with Emily Damari.

"It was a messed-up scene. We walked down the street like that, and we were like, 'We are walking down the street in Gaza alone,'" she added.

Hamas terrorists collected them from the street, uniting them with fellow hostage Doron Steinbrecher, who was being released at the same time.

Before reaching the handover point, the terrorists transferred them to another vehicle, where Haddad was waiting for them in the front seat.

"He turned around and said 'Hello, girls' to us. He then asked me if I remembered our promise. I told him yes, and he told me, 'See, you went out first,'" she recalled.

"He then said he hoped I would keep the promise, and I told him I would," she added.

"They often silenced my story and told me not to tell it. Now I am here, sitting in front of the camera, and honestly, no one will silence me anymore. It happened to me, and it is terrible, and I deal with the consequences of it day by day, but I am here. I beat it. I am in the aftermath, and I am much stronger than it," she concluded. JPost

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Doctors Without Borders advanced anti-Israel narrative, maintained terror ties - exclusive The well-known medical organization is one of several dozen NGOs prohibited from operating in Gaza and the West Bank since January 1.

PEOPLE AFFILIATED with Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hold signs during a vigil to honor colleagues and others who have been killed during the war in Gaza outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, US, December 6, 2023. PEOPLE AFFILIATED with Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hold signs during a vigil to honor colleagues and others who have been killed during the war in Gaza outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, US, December 6, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/JEENAH MOON)

By Mathilda Heller. January 1, 2026.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) “practiced advancing an extreme anti-Israeli narrative under the guise of humanitarian activity,” claimed Israeli ministry documents viewed exclusively by The Jerusalem Post.

The well-known medical organization is one of several dozen NGOs prohibited from operating in Gaza and the West Bank since January 1. The move was announced by Israel on Monday and has been met with significant international outrage.

In a letter to the media on Wednesday, the minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, claimed that security investigations determined that employees of certain international organizations operating in Gaza were directly involved in terrorist activity.

With regard to MSF specifically, Chikli claimed it maintained active ties to designated terrorist organizations: in June 2024, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative was identified as an MSF employee, and in September 2024, another MSF employee was identified as a Hamas sniper.

Chikli added that, “despite repeated and explicit demands,” the organization did not provide full transparency regarding the identities, roles, and activities of those individuals.

Under Israel’s current regulatory framework, licenses can be revoked for the following reasons: participation in efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel; legal warfare against IDF soldiers; Holocaust denial; and denial of the October 7 massacre.

As seen, revocation is explicitly allowed for organizations that are actively pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which MSF is.

“Israel will not allow humanitarian frameworks to be exploited for terrorism,” said Chikli. “The message is unequivocal: humanitarian aid is welcome; terror under the guise of humanitarianism is not.”

Documents viewed by the Post shed more light on the reasoning behind the ban on MSF, the most well-known and arguably the most reputable of the banned groups.

One reason cited in the documents is that none of the organization's four branches, which registered in 2025 for a license to operate in Gaza, passed the check.

MSF Spain, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands allegedly did not provide comprehensive staff lists – including details of Palestinian employees – as explicitly mandated by the registration guidelines.

MSF accused of terrorist ties. Israel assessed that the MSF branches were operating “under the pretext of humanitarian activity,” while “in practice advancing an extreme anti-Israeli narrative, maintaining affiliations with terrorist entities, promoting boycotts, and willfully disregarding the registration obligations.” What terror ties is the organization accused of maintaining?

Israel’s Inter-Ministerial Team said it identified substantial indications of direct or indirect affiliations between MSF Belgium and terrorist organizations.

An MSF employee in Gaza, Fadi Al-Wadiya, was revealed to be a senior operative of Islamic Jihad and an expert in rocket systems, as evidenced in the MSF Belgium report and corroborated by IDF publications.

Another staff member, Mahmoud Abunejeila, has publicly expressed support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Under Section 7.1(3) of the guidelines, Israel can deny an organization that has members who are terror operatives or who maintain ties with a proscribed terror group.

With regard to MSF France, Israel claims it has an “explicit agenda promoting political boycotts and arms embargoes against Israel.”

It cited the organization’s calls for an end to military support to Israel, as well as public support for BDS events.

MSF France has also repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” as well as intentional starvation of the people in Gaza. Israel found this to be “contrary to the neutrality expected” and thus grounds for denial.

"Such narratives, when disseminated by an international humanitarian body, carry dangerous implications: they undermine Israel’s legal standing, fuel hostile initiatives in diplomatic and legal arenas, and serve as a catalyst for campaigns of boycotts, sanctions, and isolation," the documents read.

“Such narratives, when disseminated by an international humanitarian body, carry dangerous implications: they undermine Israel’s legal standing, fuel hostile initiatives in diplomatic and legal arenas, and serve as a catalyst for campaigns of boycotts, sanctions, and isolation,” the documents read.

MSF Belgium has also accused Israel of crimes against humanity and, according to Israel, presents the Jewish state as “systematically oppressive, colonial, and discriminatory.”

The documents accused MSF Belgium of aiming to “undermine the very status of the State of Israel as a democratic state.”

Following an assessment of all of the above, the Inter-Ministry Team concluded that MSF’s operations are at an “extremely high risk level” and “pose significant exposure to the security of Israel.”

The documents cited the organization’s failure to comply with basic registration as an additional sign of bad intentions and lack of transparency.

As an alternative to the MSF branches, the documents recommend expanding the entry of professionals and teams from other health and medical organizations that “meet regulatory requirements and adhere to the principles of neutrality and transparency.”

It lists IMC, MedGlobal, and UK-MED as potential alternatives.

MSF International said on Wednesday that the Palestinian health system is “decimated, essential infrastructure is destroyed, and people struggle to meet basic needs.”

“People need more services, not less. If MSF and other NGOs lose access, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be cut off from essential care,” it said.

The IDF, however, disputed this, saying the banned groups have produced only 1% of the aid and that many of them have been banned throughout the war, such that the current ban changes nothing on the ground.

Overall, the 24 organizations that have not been banned are producing 99% of the total aid volume, according to Israel, the IDF added. JPost

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Watch: Iran protesters torch Qassem Soleimani statue. Protesters in Iran burn a Qassem Soleimani statue, one day before the anniversary of his death, as nationwide unrest escalates. Elad Benari. Jan 2, 2026, 1:16 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Iranian man to Netanyahu: Iranians stood by you for 2 years, will you stand by us now? Iranian man to Netanyahu: Iranians stood by you for 2 years, will you stand by us now? An Iranian man published a video asking PM Netanyahu to support the Iranian people protesting against the regime. Israel National News. Jan 1, 2026, 10:20 PM (GMT+2)

An Iranian man published a video message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking for the Israeli leader's support as Iranians take to the streets to protest against the Ayatollah's regime. INN

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The downplaying of momentous events in Iran. The terrible fact is that conscience in the West has become harnessed to absolute evil. There have been no demonstrations in Western streets chanting “Free, free Iran!” or “Death, death to the IRGC!” Opinion. Melanie Phillips. Jan 2, 2026, 6:58 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Combat Antisemitism Movement @CombatASemitism: On day one as Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani revoked the IHRA definition of antisemitism and overturned the city’s anti-BDS executive order.

In doing so, he erased years of actions taken under Mayor Eric Adams to protect the Jewish community.

These decisions endanger New York City’s Jewish population, the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. [11] Jan 2, 2026 X

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Once an antisemite, always an antisemite Mamdani Attacks New York's Jews on His Very First Day in Office. Why yes, Zohran is wasting no time making life unbearable for New York Jews, even doing a full-on Nazi salute. What can we even say? You asked for this and now you got it. And if you didn't vote him, open your eyes and get out, now.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 2, 2026 03:41

Zohran Mamdani, New York City's first Muslim and South Asian mayor, began his term on January 1 with a series of executive actions that have ignited fierce controversy, particularly among Jewish leaders and pro-Israel groups. He signed an order revoking all executive actions issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, after Adams' September 2024 federal indictment.

This broad stroke nullified several policies related to Israel, protests, and antisemitism, prompting accusations from critics that Mamdani's moves amount to "active antisemitism" and endanger the city's large Jewish population.

Key Actions on Day One and the Backlash

Mamdani's inaugural day was marked by a midnight swearing-in ceremony in the historic Old City Hall subway station, followed by a public event at City Hall where he was sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders using a Quran, a first for any New York mayor.

In his speech, he emphasized inclusivity, pledging to build a city that "protects, celebrates, and cherishes" its diverse communities, including Jewish and Palestinian New Yorkers.

However, his first major policy decision, the blanket revocation, directly impacted measures seen as safeguards for Jewish residents.

Revoking the Anti-BDS Order: Adams had barred city agencies from engaging in Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) activities against Israel. Mamdani's action lifted this, aligning with his longstanding support for BDS, which he has called "consistent with the core of my politics."

Critics, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Zionist organizations, argue this enables economic targeting of Israel and signals tolerance for antisemitism. Mamdani has defended BDS as a nonviolent tool for Palestinian rights, not hatred of Jews, but anyone with two eyes and half a brain knows excatly what he thinks about Jews and about Israel.

Ending Protest Restrictions Near Synagogues: An Adams-era directive instructed the NYPD to evaluate and potentially restrict protests outside houses of worship, such as buffer zones during services, following incidents like a 2025 demonstration near a synagogue.

By revoking this, Mamdani has drawn ire from those who say it allows harassment of Jewish congregants. Supporters, including civil liberties groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union, praise it as protecting free speech.

Scrapping the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: Adams adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, which includes certain criticisms of Israel as potentially antisemitic. Mamdani eliminated it, citing free speech concerns and echoing his past statements that "anti-Zionism is not antisemitism."

Jewish advocacy groups like the ADL have

These moves have fueled claims that Mamdani is "actively antisemitic," with social media posts and commentators labeling them as "declaring open season on Jews" or predicting increased violence. For instance, the group StopAntisemitism highlighted the changes as removing protections for NYC's Jewish community, the largest outside Israel.

Mamdani's critics point to his past rhetoric, including calling Israel an "apartheid state" and supporting phrases like "globalize the intifada," which some interpret as calls for violence against Jews.He has consistently rejected these accusations, emphasizing his commitment to fighting all forms of hate and distinguishing criticism of Israeli policies from antisemitism.

Notably, Mamdani retained the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, created under Adams, and has met with Jewish leaders during his transition. Some anti-Zionist Jewish groups, like the Satmar Hasidim, have supported him, viewing his stance as promoting equity.

What Lies Ahead for New York's Jewish Community?

With NYC home to over 1.3 million Jews, Mamdani's term raises questions about safety and inclusion amid rising antisemitic incidents nationwide. Optimists point to his pledges for dialogue and protection, noting his administration's focus on housing affordability, free public transit, and social justice, policies that could benefit all residents, including Jewish New Yorkers.

Progressive voices, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, hail it as a "new era" for equity.

Pessimists, however, foresee challenges:

Increased Protests and Tensions: Without prior restrictions, pro-Palestinian demonstrations near synagogues could escalate, as seen in past incidents.

Economic and Policy Shifts: Plans to divest from Israel-linked companies could strain ties with Jewish and Israeli-American businesses.

Federal and Legal Battles: Under President Trump, threats of funding cuts loom, potentially exacerbating city divisions.

Community Polarization: While some Jewish groups engage with Mamdani, others plan advocacy to codify protections like IHRA into law.

Experts like AJC's Josh Kramer stress the need for monitoring, urging Mamdani to unequivocally combat hate.

As one analyst noted, "This isn't about one day; it's about sustaining trust over four years."

Trust? NY's Jews will be lucky to survive the next four years unscathed. It's time to consider leaving NYC, seriously. For anyone still wondering, just look at hime doing Hitler's salute. NY's loss is Florida's gain. JFeed

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Conf. of Presidents CEO: 'Mamdani cancelling Adams' antisemitism orders troubling sign'. Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations CEO William Daroff condemns Zohran Mamdani for cancelling the order recognizing the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Israel National News. Jan 2, 2026, 9:26 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Diaspora Minister: 'New York mayor an overt anitsemite & terror supporter'. Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli responds to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's cancellation of executive orders that combatted antisemitism. Israel National News. Published: Jan 2, 2026, 1:23 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Akunis: Mamdani’s moves endanger New York City Jews. Israel’s Consul in New York warns that Mayor Mamdani’s cancellation of IHRA recognition and anti‑boycott rules endangers Jewish communities, after the Mayor revoked Israel‑related orders issued by Eric Adams. Elad Benari, Canada. Published: Jan 2, 2026, 9:14 PM INN

Mamdani's choice to cancel IHRA antisemitism definition must alarm New York Jews - comment.. Jews should start watching the exits when institutions start treating their safety as optional. And especially after the biggest Jewish city outside of Israel made protecting Jews a political matter.

By Zvika Klein. January 2, 2026. New York's new mayor took office on Thursday and immediately decided that defining antisemitism was too politically costly. Zohran Mamdani took power and, within hours, canceled the city's use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. He also got rid of rules that stopped city agencies from boycotting Israel.

He called it a "new beginning." A new beginning. When the biggest Jewish city outside of Israel says it can't agree on what Jew-hatred looks like anymore, that's what we're calling. JPost

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Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol: Here’s a list of all the news networks who have not covered Zohran Mamdani’s salute:

- NYTimes - CNN - Washington Post - MSNBC - NPR - USA Today - Reuters - Axios - ABC News

Every single one of them wrote stories on Elon Musk’s “salute”…

…do you get it yet?

7:23 PM · Jan 1, 2026 X

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Zohran Mamdani's Wife Sparks Outrage. Mamdani's wife wore $630 boots to his swearing in ceremony, and absolutely no one is impressed with her tone deaf choice of clothing.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 2, 2026 03:29

Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor on January 1, 2026, shortly after midnight. The ceremony highlighted his "everyman" persona and commitment to policies aimed at equity, such as taxing the rich more heavily and implementing rent freezes.

However, attention quickly shifted to his wife, Rama Duwaji, a 28-year-old artist, animator, and illustrator known for her outspoken criticism of US imperialism. During the event, she appeared to wear $630 Miista "Shelley Boots", luxury lace-up boots made from vegetable-tanned cow leather, featuring a memory foam insole and a 6 cm heel,along with a black coat, skirt, and gleaming earrings.

This wasn't the first instance of her sporting high-end fashion; during his November 2025 victory speech, Duwaji wore a denim top by Palestinian-Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi and earrings from upscale NYC jeweler Eddie Borgo, whose pieces can retail for over $46,000.

The New York Post article framing this as a controversy sparked backlash on social media, with critics accusing the couple of hypocrisy. Comments included calling Mamdani's agenda a "scam" for pushing rent policies that could harm housing while his wife flaunts expensive items, labeling it "performative socialism," and sarcastically noting that seizing the means of production might make such luxuries accessible to all. JFeed

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Trump Threatens Iran: "We are Locked and Loaded". Trump’s statement came as protests inside Iran entered a sixth consecutive day, with mounting lethal force used against demonstrators. The language marked one of his most explicit public warnings to Tehran since unrest escalated earlier this week.

Judah Pe'er. Jan 2, 2026 03:47

US President Donald Trump warned Iran overnight that the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go” if Iranian authorities continue killing protesters, issuing the threat in a post published early Friday morning. JFeed

'We are locked and loaded': Trump threatens to attack Iran regime if protesters harmed. 'The United States of America will come to their rescue,' President Donald Trump announced about the protestors on Truth Social.

By Jerusalem Post Staff January 2, 2026. US President Donald Trump declared that the United States was "locked and loaded and ready to go" if Iran killed any more protestors, in a post on Truth Social early Friday morning. JPost

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The journalistic mistake that softens Hamas and humanizes the wolf - opinion Targeted language promotes certain feelings and thoughts. When Hamas is referred to as a militant Palestinian group, it almost evokes sympathy against the backdrop of the war ruins in Gaza.

By Afshin Ellian January 2, 2026.

Language use reveals intention. Journalists learn to use words carefully. When Hamas is referred to as a militant Palestinian group, the audience does not immediately think of a terrorist organization. We are talking about a Palestinian group that is militant in conveying its ideas.

A militant does not have to be a terrorist. A resilient democracy (a democracy that defends itself) is often referred to as a militant democracy. This does not mean that democrats are going to resort to terrorist methods.

Targeted language promotes certain feelings and thoughts. When Hamas is referred to as a militant Palestinian group, it almost evokes sympathy against the backdrop of the war ruins in Gaza. The truth of the Gaza war disappears.

But if the Dutch national news medium - an important part of Dutch Public Broadcasting (funded by government money) - NOS Journal were to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization every evening for two years, Hamas's Ministry of Health would also be seen as part of a terrorist organization. Then the audience would not accept the reports from this Hamas ministry as truth.

Moreover, they would wonder why the Gazans are not rebelling against a terrorist organization. The Gazans no longer need to fear that: the Israeli army is already in Gaza, and Hamas has been considerably weakened. This does not mean that the audience will no longer empathize with civilian victims. However, if the media uses the right words, the audience will take the complexity of the conflict into account. Ultimately, the audience will be less susceptible to anti-Semitic propaganda. JPost

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Father sings for fallen son: 'You were never torn from my heart'. Israel National News. Jan 2, 2026, 3:05 PM INN

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FBI foils New Year’s Eve ISIS‑inspired attack in North Carolina. Israel National News. Jan 2, 2026, 8:11 PM INN

FBI disrupts alleged ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack plot targeting NC grocery store, fast food restaurant. Christian Sturdivant is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization Greg Norman By Greg Norman Fox News Published January 2, 2026. FoxNews

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Hezbollah threat. Report: Israel weighs Lebanon operation. Israel is weighing a Lebanon operation as Hezbollah rebuilds under the ceasefire. Netanyahu discussed expanded strikes with Trump, while US officials urge waiting to allow further talks with Beirut. Elad Benari, Canada. Jan 2, 2026, 9:52 PM INN

Israel strikes Hezbollah sites in Southern Lebanon. A Radwan Force terror training compound was among the targets. JNS Staff. (Jan. 2, 2026 / JNS) JNS

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Antisemitic map marks Jewish-owned schools and businesses in Barcelona The map identified 152 schools, companies, nonprofits and businesses allegedly linked to Jews or Israel using a public, interactive mapping platform; following widespread criticism, the map was taken offline ynet | published:13:07 YNet

Spanish Jews warn map of local Jewish and ‘Zionist’ businesses will lead to violence. The project lists more than 150 Jewish and Israeli businesses, schools and organizations in Catalonia, with the goal of ‘understanding how Zionism operates’ By Zev Stub. January 2, 2026, 10:34 am TOI

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IDF: Militant who crossed yellow line in Gaza Strip eliminated. IDF soldiers eliminated a militant who crossed the yellow line in the Gaza Strip "and approached the forces in a way that posed an immediate threat," according to the IDF spokesperson. "IDF forces in the Southern Command are deployed in the area in accordance with the agreement and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat," the statement said. Yoav Zitun|01.02.26. YNet

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Rabbi lightly wounded in Jaffa attack The victim said the assailant shouted “Allahu Akbar.” JNS Staff. (Jan. 2, 2026 / JNS) A rabbi was lightly wounded in an assault on a Jaffa street on Thursday.

Police are investigating the attack as a possible nationalist or antisemitic incident, with the circumstances still under review, as the search for the suspect continues on Friday.

Rabbi Netanel Avitan, a rabbi at Jaffa’s Shirat Moshe Hesder Yeshivah and Israel Defense Forces reservist who was reportedly recently wounded in Gaza, was attacked while walking on Yefet Street shortly before 7 p.m., when an Arab allegedly punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and broke his glasses before escaping. JNS

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‘Ready for imminent war’: IDF displays captured terrorist weaponry. “Hamas chose to smuggle weapons to carry out a massacre of civilians instead of helping its population,” lieutenant colonel tells JNS. Amelie Botbol. Jan. 2, 2026

“The anti-tank rocket launchers and rockets we found belonging to Hezbollah are the most technologically advanced weapons you see here today,” Lt. Col. (res.) Idan Sharon-Kettler, deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces Asset Confiscation Unit, told JNS at an exhibition at the army’s Tzrifin Camp in central Israel.

Sharon-Kettler’s unit has been operating since 1973. He was called up for duty on Oct. 7, 2023, and since then, the unit has been actively extracting weapons and equipment from all areas in which the IDF is operating. JNS

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Mamdani deletes social-media posts about Israel, Jew-hatred from mayoral account “The decision to erase official statements affirming the safety and protection of Jews is not merely tone-deaf; it is shameful,” stated Mark Goldfeder, of the National Jewish Advocacy Center. (Jan. 2, 2026 / JNS)

Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, wrote to Zohran Mamdani on the latter’s inauguration day as mayor of New York City, informing him that he was violating city records law by deleting posts from his predecessor about Israel and about Jew-hatred.

“At a moment of unprecedented antisemitic intimidation, violence and exclusion in the city, the decision to erase official statements affirming the safety and protection of Jews is not merely tone-deaf; it is shameful,” Goldfeder wrote on Jan. 1.

After the official mayoral account transitioned from Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, screenshots circulated showing Mamdani’s name appearing over Adams-era posts supporting Israel and condemning antisemitism. These posts were later deleted from the account.

Goldfeder noted that posts from the mayor’s official social-media account “are not personal commentary, they are official city records,” adding that, under New York law, “public records may not be destroyed or otherwise disposed of except pursuant to an approved records-retention schedule.”

He called on the mayor to affirm the city’s commitment “to protecting Jewish New Yorkers, not as a favor, but as a fundamental obligation of office.”

“Your first days in office will define your administration,” Goldfeder wrote. “This is not how that definition should begin.”

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in response to Goldfeder’s letter that the attorney general’s office “will be extremely vigilant as to any and all violations of religious liberties in NYC.”

“We will investigate, sue and indict as needed,” she stated.

Along with the deletions, one of Mamdani’s first actions in office was to revoke all executive orders issued since Sept. 26, 2024, which included the city’s formal adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and an order barring the city from participating in boycotts of Israel. JNS

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What Happened to Romi Gonen in Gaza. Inside Islamic hell. January 2, 2026. By Hugh Fitzgerald.

Every Israeli hostage story is different in its details, but what unites them all is the savagery and cruelty of their captors. Some of them keep quiet when they return to Israel. It was all so sordid. They are embarrassed to talk. Others think the world should know. In the latter category is Romi Gonen. More of her story can be found here: “‘If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you’: Ex-hostage Romi Gonen recounts captors’ repeated sexual assaults,” by Leon Kraiem, Times of Israel, December 26, 2025:

'Former hostage Romi Gonen shared that she was sexually assaulted by four different men on separate occasions during her 471 days as a hostage in Gaza, speaking in an interview that aired on Thursday.

The sit-down on Channel 12’s “Uvda” program detailed her harrowing ordeal, beginning with her abduction from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, when she was 23 years old.

Gonen, now 25, detailed being taken into the Strip, being moved between several private houses, and then being taken underground several weeks into the war. The hour-long segment is set to be followed up with more of the interview next week.

As soon as she was abducted, Gonen said, she was taken to Shifa Hospital — she’d been shot in the arm amid the Hamas-led terror rampage, before being kidnapped — and already there, she was abused.

As a woman, presumably a nurse, tried to find a vein in her arm, “a guy just started to tear off all my clothes. One of them took off my shoes. Another one took my earrings off my face, another one took the jewelry off my body.”

“I was just there, with some 15 people touching me, at the same time. Until it got to the point they were tearing off all my clothes, but I lay there naked. It was like an out-of-body experience, where you’re seeing everything from above,” she said. “I was sure I was going to wake up without an arm.”

When she came to, she was taken to the first house of her captivity.

Gonen said that, when she speaks about her time in Gaza, she imagines people all wonder: “‘Did they harass you?’ And people don’t ask that question.”

“I also wouldn’t ask, if I were you. But also, I think no one asks because no one wants to hear the answer,” she said.

“I went through all kinds of assaults, from four different men, over the course of my captivity. Different levels of severity.”…

The thousands of Hamas-led terrorists who invaded southern Israel from Gaza on October 7, 2023, took 251 hostages back to Gaza, amid rampages in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, amid numerous acts of brutality, overt targeting of families in their homes and revelers at a music festival, and sexual assault.

Over the course of two years, through several ceasefire-hostage deals, the hostages were either rescued by troops or released in exchange for thousands of Palestinian security prisoners, including terror convicts serving life sentences. The body of one last hostage — Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili — remains in the Strip.'

Subject to every sort of sexual assault by four captors, amid nonstop threats of violence, and real acts of violence carried out over 471 days of captivity, that she almost entirely spent deep underground, Romi Gonen came home to Israel, and as brave as she had been while enduring her calvary in Gaza, she was just as brave, or perhaps even braver, for choosing to tell her story to the world. FPM

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NYC rabbis alarmed by Mamdani’s first actions, appointments as mayor. “Wherever anti-Zionism has been normalized, it has led to an increase of hostilities toward Israel and the Jewish people,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch told JNS. “I would welcome the mayor waking up one day and understanding that.” Debra Nussbaum Cohen. (Jan. 2, 2026 / JNS) Within moments of Zohran Mamdani’s swearing in as New York City mayor at midnight on Jan. 1, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch called JNS from Jerusalem, explaining that his worries about the safety of Jewish New Yorkers, due to Mamdani’s longstanding anti-Zionism and pledges to institute anti-Israel municipal policies, continue unabated.

Hirsch, with other rabbis, had two long meetings with the then mayor-elect in the months leading up to the inauguration, as Mamdani actively pursued connections with many of New York’s Jewish leaders. Several of the latter had warned publicly that his views, if put into practice as mayor, would pose dangers for Jewish New Yorkers by leading to more antisemitism, which has already increased dramatically since Oct. 7.

The New York City area is home to about 1.3 million Jews, second only to Israel’s greater Tel Aviv area.

Hirsch published a video in November addressing Mamdani directly.

“You call Zionism, the liberation movement of the Jewish people, a racist project and a colonial enterprise,” the rabbi said in the video. “You support Students for Justice in Palestine and co-founded its Bowdoin College chapter, a group that rejects co-existence and seeks the dismantling of Israel altogether. You have never disavowed these views. The opposite. You’ve doubled down on them.” JNS

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Pro-Palestinian activists vandalize aircraft parts factory in Scotland linked to Israel supplier. About half an hour into 2026, masked activists attacked a factory near Edinburgh over alleged links to Israel, sharing footage of smashed machinery and sprayed graffiti ynet | published:01.02.26. YNet

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French mayor suspended after calling France ‘too Jewish’. Bernard Bazinet, mayor of Augignac, made the remark while supporting a boycott of Israel’s Eurovision bid; government and party condemn him for antisemitism and suspend him from office for one month. ynet | published:01.01.26 | 20:08 YNet

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Katz instructs IDF to prepare to resume combat in Gaza as Hamas refuses to disarm. Defense Minister Israel Katz told the IDF to prepare for renewed fighting in Gaza as talks stall and Hamas refuses to disarm.

By Amir Bohbot. January 2, 2026 06:38 Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to prepare for the possibility of returning to intense fighting against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Walla learned on Friday.

The security establishment clarified that no instructions have been received from the political echelons to prepare for reopening the Rafah Border Crossing. JPost

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Michele Weiss and Justin Brasch mark milestones as first Orthodox Jewish mayors in their cities. The inaugurations of Michele Weiss in University Heights, Ohio, and Justin Brasch in White Plains, New York, this week marked a milestone for Orthodox representation in local politics.

By Grace Gilson/JTA Januar 3, 2026. (JTA) — This week, as New York City inaugurated its first Muslim mayor, two cities in the United States also made history with the swearing-in of their first Orthodox Jewish mayors.

While Orthodox mayors have been elected in cities and suburbs across the country, including New Jersey, New York State, and Florida, the inaugurations of Michele Weiss in University Heights, Ohio, and Justin Brasch in White Plains, New York, this week marked a milestone for Orthodox representation in local politics. JPost

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Arabic 'Mein Kampf' with Hitler’s image found as illegal Palestinian is arrested. Bat Yam police arrested the illegal Palestinian at a construction site in the city, detained his employer for questioning and ordered the site closed for 30 days. Meir Turgeman | published:01.02.26

The police on Tuesday arrested a Palestinian man who was in Israel illegally at a construction site in the coastal city of Bat Yam, authorities said. During the arrest, officers also found an Arabic-language copy of Adolf Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf,” bearing the Nazi leader’s photograph.

The man was identified by police as a Palestinian from the West Bank who did not have valid permits to be in Israel. Police said he was employed at the site and had also been sleeping there.

In a statement, the Tel Aviv District Police said the arrest was part of “focused enforcement activity against offenses involving the employment, transportation and housing of illegal residents.” The statement said police have stepped up inspections at businesses and construction sites where there is suspicion that Palestinians without permits may be present, “in order to strengthen public safety and security.” Police said officers from the Bat Yam station located the man at a construction site on Ha’orgim Street. His employer was detained for questioning, and the district police commander, Maj. Gen. Haim Sargarof, signed an administrative order closing the site for 30 days.

The discovery echoed a statement made last year by President.Isaac Herzog, about a month after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Herzog said Israeli troops had found a copy of “Mein Kampf” in what he described as a children’s room that had been converted into a Hamas base in northern Gaza.

In an interview with the BBC at the time, Herzog said the book contained notes and markings made by a Hamas operative. “This is the book that led to the Holocaust and World War II,” Herzog said. “This book was found a few days ago in northern Gaza, in a children’s room that became a base used for terrorist activity by the Hamas terrorist organization. The terrorist wrote notes, marked sections and studied again and again the ideology of Adolf Hitler — hatred of Jews, killing Jews, burning and slaughtering Jews wherever they are. This is the real war we are facing.” YNet

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Lapid: 'Iran should pay attention to what's happening in Venezuela'. Opposition leader Yair Lapid commented on the U.S. strikes in Venezuela. He wrote in English on his X account that "the regime in Iran should pay attention to what is happening in Venezuela." Ynet|01.03.26 YNet

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Iran's ally turned enemy of Trump: Who are you, Nicolas Maduro? Trump announced that Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country, after months of military and political escalation. • The Venezuelan leader came to power in 2013 and became a brutal dictator who suppressed any attempt to replace him. • Under his rule, Venezuela collapsed economically and was condemned by the West, and greatly strengthened its cooperation with Iran and Hezbollah.

Tomer Almagor. N12. Published:01.03.26

United States President Donald Trump announced this morning (Saturday) that the United States had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flown him out of the country. The operation, which according to CBS was carried out by the US Army's Delta Force, is the culmination of the escalation between the two countries that has gradually built up in recent months. Maduro has ruled Venezuela with a strong hand for more than a decade, in the face of fierce opposition from the US and the West.

A brutal dictator who was branded by the West.

Maduro, 63, was born in the Venezuelan capital Caracas and worked as a bus driver in his youth. He later became an activist and labor union leader, and in 2000 was elected to the local parliament.

He is considered a protégé of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and under his leadership he has gained more and more power within the country and the socialist party. Under Chavez, Maduro served as foreign minister and vice president, and after his death in 2013, Maduro succeeded Chavez and entered the presidential palace.

Over the years, Maduro has increasingly weakened Venezuela's democratic institutions, turning it into a de facto dictatorship. Under his unpopular rule, Venezuela has suffered an economic and social collapse that has led to the flight of some 8 million citizens. According to the United Nations, more than half of Venezuelans live in extreme poverty, and more than 80% of them live in poverty.

In 2018, Maduro declared victory in the elections, but the West and the opposition claimed fraud, which did not prevent him from continuing to rule the country. Widespread waves of protests against him repeatedly broke out in the streets of Venezuela under his rule, but Maduro, as a political opponent, restricted freedom of expression and effectively became a dictator who stifled any democratic attempt to replace him.

Cooperation with Iran, Russia and China.

In recent years, dictator Maduro's Venezuela has become a key ally of Iran, as well as of Russia and China, which has purchased large quantities of oil from it. The cooperation with Iran and its terrorist arms has also been reflected in the significant establishment of the terrorist organization Hezbollah. About a month ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed in an interview that Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards have established themselves in Venezuela and are using it as a base for terrorist operations.

Maduro's security forces in Venezuela have over the years acquired Iranian Shahad drones, as well as attack vessels and missile boats from Iran. The operation to arrest Nicolas Maduro took place exactly six years after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, who was killed in a targeted assassination in Baghdad on January 3, 2020, on the orders of President Trump.

Trump's accusations.

In recent months, Trump has repeatedly expressed his opposition to Maduro, calling him a “dictator” and making it clear that his rule is illegitimate. The president has even called on Maduro to flee the country, offered a reward for anyone who helps arrest the leader and announced that he considers him to be the head of a terrorist organization. However, Trump said that the two have spoken in recent weeks, as part of efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.

Trump focused on three main allegations against Maduro and Venezuela. According to the president, Venezuela is responsible for waves of criminal immigration into the United States, has stolen oil from the United States, and is responsible for smuggling drugs into the United States. Following these accusations, in recent months Trump has ordered more and more forces to the region, and has carried out a series of attacks near the coast of Venezuela and even carried out operations on its territory. Mako

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GOP senator warns leaders of Iran and Cuba after US captures Venezuela’s Maduro. January 3, 2026

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an ally of US President Donald Trump, tells the Axios news site that the leaders of Iran and Cuba should be concerned following the American military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“There is a new sheriff in town. He has put life into the Monroe Doctrine,” Graham says. “If I were the leader of Iran, I would go pray in the mosque.”

Graham also says “all options will be on the table” when pressed if there could be further strikes in Venezuela. ToI

US attacks Venezuela, Trump: Maduro captured and flown out of the country. Trump confirmed that the United States attacked Venezuela and according to a CBS report, Maduro was captured by the US Army's Delta Force • Trump added new details: "Maduro was at home, which was more like a fortress" • The Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency in the country and general mobilization, Maduro's deputy confirmed that he had disappeared • Senator Lindsey Graham to N12: "If I were the leader of Iran, I would go pray in a mosque".

Barak Ravid, Assaf Rosenzweig, Tomer Almagor and the Bezalel Foundation. N12. Published:01.03.26. Mako

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Iran, Hezbollah condemn, Russia offers mediation after US operation on Venezuela US allies are "monitoring the situation." US President Trump will be holding a press conference later on Saturday to share more information.

By Tobias Holcman, Reuters January 3, 2026. JPost

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'Dangerous precedent': UN, world leaders decry US op. that saw capture of Venezuela's Maduro. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried the strikes on Venezuela as a “dangerous precedent," while Argentinian President Javier Milei celebrated the "excellent news."

By Goldie Katz. January 3, 2026.

Global outcry arose after the United States captured Venezuelan President Vincent Maduro and his wife under the cover of airstrikes in the Venezuelan capital on Saturday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his “deep alarm” regarding the situation through a statement delivered by his spokesperson. He described the strike and capture as setting a “dangerous precedent,” warning of potentially “worrying implications for the region” that may result from the escalation JPost

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Indigenous solidarity: Mapuche leader visits Israel, finds common ground with Jewish people. DIASPORA AFFAIRS: A delegation from Chile, including the current president of a Mapuche community called Kupal Pichinao, Ivan Enrique Pardes Pichinao, recently visited Israel for the first time.

By Audrey Lynn Leinoff. January l 3, 2026 15:10 When Spain’s King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile launched their campaign to rid the realm of perceived heretics in the late 15th century, the Spaniards did not stop at persecuting Jews.

Beyond the execution of the gruesome, local autos-da-fé, by the early 16th century, for one, Spanish conquerors over 7,000 nautical miles away were brutalizing another ethnic group – the Mapuche.

A delegation from Chile, including the current president of a Mapuche community called Kupal Pichinao, Ivan Enrique Pardes Pichinao, recently visited Israel for the first time. He sat down with The Jerusalem Post to discuss why.

“We are the ‘People of the Land.’ ‘Mapu’ means land, ‘che’ means person. We are an indigenous nation that developed in what is now known as Chile and Argentina,” Pichinao said.

Beyond being “intrinsically linked” to the land from whence they come, he said, his people’s worldview is based on respect for and reciprocal ties with nature.

“Our way of life is also deeply rooted in a connection to family, a bond with Mother Earth, and the songs and ceremonies that have been passed down to us from generation to generation,” Pichinao added. Advertisement

The Mapuches’ history, much like the Jewish one, is riddled with instances of external forces invading, enslaving, and oppressing the local population.

“From the Inca Empire through the Spanish Crown to the modern state,” the Mapuche have had to engage in “constant resistance” to preserve their culture and identity, the leader said.

“Indeed, our community has been historically recognized for its strength and resistance to colonialism. We keep alive a rich culture, with traditions and an ancestral system of organization,” he continued.

They have been victorious overall. Case in point, try as they did, the Spaniards were never able to quash Pichinao’s people.

A strong nation of warriors When asked if he could share some of the legends pertaining to the community’s heroic figures dating back to those medieval times, Pichinao stipulated that he regarded passing on these stories as a hallowed task. “As president of the Kupal Pichinao community, I consider it a sacred duty to honor the memory of our weichafe (warriors) and lonko (leaders). They not only resisted the invading [Spanish] forces – they cemented the dignity we breathe today,” he said. “Their stories are not just history.

They are living songs that we pass on to new generations so that the spirit of our nation will never die.”

First and foremost, there was Lautaro, “the strategist of the wind.” Captured by the first governor of Colonial Chile, Pedro de Valdivia, Lautaro was enslaved as a stable boy. Instead of losing heart, he “keenly observed the weaknesses of the Spanish, learned their tactics, and, most importantly, mastered the use of a horse,” Pichinao detailed.

Armed with this knowledge, Lautaro escaped, returning to his people as a toqui (military chief).

“He introduced rotating companies – to avoid exhausting his forces – and ambush strategies that led to our victory in the 1553 Battle of Tucapel. Lautaro taught us that intelligence is as powerful as strength. He is the most iconic figure of our resistance. His legend stems from his ability to turn oppression into knowledge,” Pichinao said.

Then, there was Colo Colo, whose name means “the wisdom of consensus.” Reminiscent of Israel’s conundrum over its internal societal rifts, Colo Colo, at a time of great internal divides, sought a way to bridge the gaps between people.

“This wise lonko prevented a civil war between Mapuche factions by proposing the famous physical endurance log test. Today, his name transcends the battlefield, as Chile’s most popular soccer club is named after him. In sports, Colo Colo’s ‘Mapuche spirit’ is invoked to refer to the fighting spirit and unbreakable will to never give up. He represents the political maturity and judgment that sustains our people,” Pichinao said.

Last but not least, there was the female warrior Janequeo, whose name means “women’s leadership.” According to the Mapuche president, “Janequeo broke traditional norms by assuming military command in the Arauco War, demonstrating the strength of women in our culture. After her husband was murdered by the Spanish, she not only sought personal justice but also organized an army comprised of both men and women.

“Janequeo’s figure is essential in understanding that we are all equal when it comes to defending our land. Her courage is a benchmark of female leadership and strategy that endures to this day,” Pichinao noted.This is not a story to pass on

The Mapuches’ ancestral language, Mapudungun, is another way by which the community honors, preserves, and conveys its rich cultural history.

“Feytiñma che, ñi dungun mülen is a fundamental proverb in our oral tradition,” the president said. “It means ‘The words of those who have gone before us are still present.’ This saying underscores the immensity of our ancestral legacy. It teaches us that the truth and essence of our ancestors never disappear; they remain alive in the community’s memory.”

That said, in other instances, sounds, rather than articulated words, are used to convey emotions and meaning.

“The Afafán is one of the most important and powerful vocal expressions in Mapuche culture. It is a collective ritualistic shout performed in solemn ceremonies, social gatherings, or moments of great importance. But this is not just any shout – it is a controlled burst of energy that seeks to connect participants with their surroundings and spiritual forces,” Pichinao elaborated.

“The Afafán has multiple functions, depending on the context. Sometimes, it is meant to provide encouragement and strength, and in others, it marks notions of celebration and joy. Further, this yowl, conveyed in unison, has a spiritual dimension, used as an affirmation of one’s identity. The cry is a guttural and rhythmic sound. In Mapuche literature and stories, it is usually represented as follows: ‘Ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!’”

A Mapuche in Israel. As for the reason Pichinao has made his first-ever visit to the Jewish state now, this relates to a deep concern of his regarding what he sees unfolding among members of his own community. Often encountering images of the Mapuche draped in Palestinian flags with captions hailing Hamas’s assault, Pichinao said he feels that, beyond this forced conflation between two disparate cultures, his people’s cause and identity are, de facto, being hijacked once again by conceited, self-serving foreign powers.

This diminishes what they have fought for over the centuries – to remain the distinct nation that they are – Pichinao said.

“This visit to Israel is due to the work I have been doing with the Israeli Embassy in Chile, where we are collaborating to reduce antisemitism in Mapuche communities,” he noted.

“For many years now, this hatred has been taking root in my people’s hearts,” Pichinao continued. “Mapuche children, adults, and elders are seen at various gatherings carrying flags expressing hate for Israel and comparing totally different conflicts in the same way.

“Unfortunately, nowadays signs can be seen hanging on some restaurants in Mapuche tourist areas that read: ‘No Israelis allowed.’ It is a painful reality that motivates us to act. Together with the embassy, and quietly on our own, we have been working to find common ground between our two cultures,” the president said.

Although he is familiar with some aspects of Judaism, Pichinao’s recent trip to the Holy Land solidified his conviction that the Mapuche share with Jews what he could best describe as a spiritual bond: “Clearly, there is a supernatural connection between our peoples despite the distance between us.”

Pichinao listed numerous similarities he said he found. “We both believe in one God. We both have an ancestral and spiritual bond to the Earth.

“Further, lineage and family are central pillars in our social structure. Respecting our ancestors and preserving the continuity of our bloodline are of the utmost importance to us, as they are to you.”

And it does not stop there. Craftsmanship practices, notable among them artifacts pertaining to pottery, reminded him of creations made back home. Israeli cuisine and, interestingly, musical instruments also resonated with him.

Moreover, much like deeply entrenched AI biases against Jews, Pichinao noted that artificial intelligence displays similar bigotry when it comes to his people.

For instance, an Anti-Defamation League study released in March found that AI models exhibited “patterns of bias, misinformation, and selective engagement on issues related to Jewish people, Israel, and antisemitic tropes.”

“AI has significant biases about Mapuche culture as well. When asked to show an image of a Mapuche woman or man, for instance, the results often show people with features more like those of Native Americans or Canadians than ours. This ‘digital colonization’ renders our true appearance and aesthetic richness invisible,” Pichinao specified.

Perhaps the most common ground to be found between both ethnicities is the approach to land.

“At the heart of our existence – for both Jews and Mapuches – lies the concept of the Holy Land,” the president said. “With that, the protection of our sacred spaces is another core value. We defend the land not only as a resource, but as a spiritual home that faces constant threat.”

Common ground. The work to combat growing antisemitism within the Mapuche community began over two years ago with the former Israel ambassador to Chile, Gil Artzyeli, “with whom we share some of these cultural commonalities,” Pichinao said. “But we have not publicized this much on social media, due to the high level of online violence faced by those of us who work on these types of initiatives.”

Fortunately, Ambassador Peleg Lewi, the current Israeli envoy to Chile, has decided to continue this wonderful work, he said.

“My trip to Israel has deeply reinforced my conviction about the work we are doing,” Pichinao said. “During my visit to the Israel Museum, as I observed the ancient Hebrews’ history, I could not help but wonder: Who would have imagined that, while this rich history was being built here, more than 14,000 kilometers away, our Mapuche culture was doing exactly the same thing?”

“My motivation today is to continue to discover and highlight our bond. That is why I want to invite the Jewish community worldwide to join and support my pilot project that seeks to eradicate antisemitism in Mapuche communities.”

The project to which Pichinao was referring is the Mapuche-Jewish Fraternity Bond, which he said was “born from the direct observation of the cultural richness and love that both nations share.” Its stated purpose is to foster a profound awareness grounded in respect and mutual understanding.

In order to achieve this goal, this initiative aims to “promote the creation of documentaries, reports, and genuine encounters that allow both peoples to get to know each other without prejudice and to eradicate antisemitism through affection,” Pichinao said.

To this end, he further stated, “I offer my Mapuche community and myself as a bridge for the Jewish world to find a real space for dialogue and peace.

“I am convinced that these two great cultures seek the same things: peace, understanding, tolerance, and love for family. In today’s world, which has become so individualistic and disconnected, this project is key to spreading a message of unity. We are two ancient peoples who, by joining hands, can teach the modern world a great deal about brotherhood,” the leader remarked.

“The most important message I want to convey to Jews and Israelis is that the Mapuche are a people of dialogue, not hate. We are actively working to dismantle the misinformation and antisemitism that is being imported into our communities. Building bridges, promoting mutual respect instead of allowing distant geopolitical conflicts to contaminate our local identity movement – that is what we want.” JPost

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At least 10 killed, over 130 arrested in Iran as Khamenei blames West for unrest. As security forces crack down on demonstrations fueled by economic collapse, Iran’s supreme leader marks Soleimani’s death by denouncing 'rioters' while offering sympathy to struggling merchants Lior Ben Ari, news agencies | 1.3.26. YNet

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Northern Gaza: IDF takes out rocket launcher prepared in violation of ceasefire. IDF destroys Hamas shaft containing rocket launcher aimed at Sderot, which was prepared after the ceasefire. Israel National News. Published: Jan 3, 2026, 8:03 PM (GMT+2) INN

Israel strikes loaded rocket launcher in Gaza aimed at Sderot. In a separate incident, the IDF killed a terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line in violation of the ceasefire. (Jan. 3, 2026 | Updated Jan. 3, 13:23 / JNS) The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday carried out a precise strike on a Hamas tunnel shaft in the northern Gaza Strip containing a rocket launcher “loaded and ready to be launched toward the city of Sderot,” the military said.

“The shaft was used by Hamas to conceal a rocket launcher that was ready to fire toward southern Israel and posed an immediate threat to Israeli civilians,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

The army added that the terrorist group’s action was a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.

The IDF noted that steps were taken before the strike to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information. JNS

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Hamas claims it has only 'light weapons'. Dalit Halevi. Jan 3, 2026, 6:48 PM INN

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Huckabee slams Mamdani for supporting 'drug trafficker' Maduro. NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemns US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee hits back. 'Will he go to Maduro's jail cell to sip margaritas?' Israel National News. Published: Jan 3, 2026, 10:11 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Chikli urges Australia to confront radical Islam. In a letter to Cabinet minister Tony Burke, Israel’s Diaspora affairs minister offered assistance in training security personnel. JNS Staff. (Jan. 3, 2026 / JNS) Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, has written a sharply worded letter to Australian Cabinet Minister Tony Burke, warning that Canberra’s failure to explicitly name radical Islam as the ideological driver behind the recent Bondi Beach terrorist attack is undermining efforts to confront the threat. JNS

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Protests continue in Iran for seventh night as death toll rises to 16. [1.3.26] Summary. At least 15 protesters and one member of security forces have been killed during seven days of demonstrations in Iran that have spread to 174 locations nationwide, with rallies reported in 60 cities across 25 provinces.

At least 44 people have been shot and wounded by live ammunition or pellet guns fired by Iranian forces during the protests, Iran International could confirm.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday called the protesters 'rioters' in his first public speech since the beginning of the unrest and called for their repression.

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States and President Donald Trump stand firmly with Iranians seeking freedom.

Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on Iran human rights, urged Iranian authorities to respect the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and to refrain from using excessive force against protesters.

After two days of relative calm in Iran's capital, protesters poured into the streets in eastern and western districts of Tehran on Friday night. Similar protests were also held in the holy cities of Mashhad and Qom. IranIntl

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Congressional candidate pledges to push US recognition of West Bank as part of Israel. On West Bank visit, Brian Cole briefed by security officials who explained that a terrorist could hold a handheld rocket launcher and fire it directly over the Green Line; reaffirms Israel's right to defend itself Maayan Hoffman/The Media Line | updated:01.04.26 09:41 YNet

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Palestinian sentenced to life for 2024 murder of Shoah survivor. Terrorist Ibrahim Shalhob stabbed his victim in the upper body some 11 times while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” JNS Staff. (Jan. 4, 2026 / JNS) The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced a Palestinian terrorist to life in prison for the fatal stabbing of 83-year-old Ludmila Lipovsky outside her nursing home in the central city of Herzliya on Dec. 27, 2024.

Ibrahim Shalhob, from the Palestinian terrorist hotspot of Tulkarem in Samaria, stabbed his victim in the upper body approximately 11 times while exclaiming “Allahu Akbar,” the ruling stated.

Lipovsky, a Holocaust survivor, was evacuated in critical condition to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital, where she succumbed to her wounds. Armed guards from the Israel Postal Company’s Brink’s courier unit shot Shalhob, who was subsequently arrested by police.

Lipovsky’s family was awarded 258,000 shekels ($81,000) in damages, the most allowed, according to a report by the Ynet Hebrew outlet.

The terrorist had previously served jail time under administrative detention three times, most recently from June 2023 to June 2024.

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said that Shalhob was also a past informant, who was involved in “thwarting terrorist infrastructures in Judea and Samaria, was exposed and transferred for rehabilitation in Israel.” JNS

Terrorist sentenced to life in prison for murder of 83-year-old Holocaust survivor. The court also ordered him to pay the maximum compensation permitted by law - NIS 258,000 - to Lipovsky’s family.

By Sarah Ben-nun, January 4, 2026. The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced Ibrahim Shalhoub, 29, from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, to life imprisonment for the terror murder of Ludmila Lipovsky, an 83-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in Herzliya in December 2024.

Shalhoub pleaded guilty and was convicted of murder under aggravated circumstances as an act of terrorism, as well as unlawful possession of a knife.

The court also ordered him to pay the maximum compensation permitted by law - NIS 258,000 - to Lipovsky’s family.

According to the indictment and court findings, the attack took place on December 27, 2024, near a commercial area adjacent to an assisted-living complex in Herzliya.

Shalhoub had been living in Israel after being relocated from the West Bank following the exposure of his past cooperation with Israeli security authorities. The court noted that he was present in Israel lawfully when he carried out the attack.

'Exceptionally brutal' act of terror against defenseless woman.

In its sentencing decision, the court described the killing as an exceptionally brutal act of terror carried out against a defenseless elderly woman. Senior Judge Yaron Levy wrote that the offense gravely violated protected social values and was intended to terrorize the civilian population.

The ruling emphasized that the attack was committed during wartime, when Israel’s home front was under sustained threat. The court cited the broader social harm caused by such attacks, noting that beyond the murder itself, the act conveyed a message that no civilian or public space is safe.

During sentencing arguments, the prosecution sought a life sentence, stressing the severity of the attack and its timing. Prosecutor Hadas Forer Gafni told the court that the murder was carried out at a moment of heightened national anxiety, when Israel was facing attacks on multiple fronts.

“The horrifying murder was committed during a war, when fears are at their peak, and the state is under attack from every direction,” the prosecution said. “A terror attack of this kind in the heart of Herzliya is all the more severe.”

The court rejected defense arguments for leniency, finding no mitigating circumstances that could reduce Shalhoub’s culpability. In addition to the life sentence, the judges stressed the deterrent importance of imposing the harshest punishment available under Israeli law in cases of terror murder.

The sentence was handed down on Sunday, bringing the criminal proceedings to a close just over a year after the stabbing, which shocked residents of Herzliya and renewed public focus on lone-actor attacks carried out by individuals legally present inside Israel. JPost

Life imprisonment for terrorist who murdered Ludmila Lipovsky in Herzliya attack in 2024 Roy Rubinstein | published:01.04.26 02:42

The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Ibrahim Shalhoub from Tulkarem to life imprisonment for stabbing to death Ludmila Lipovsky (83) in an attack at a shopping center in Herzliya in December 2024. The court also ordered the terrorist to pay 258,000 shekels in compensation to the victim's family. In the sentencing, the judges wrote that Shalhoub "took advantage of his stay permit in Israel to carry out the attack, brutally assaulted the deceased and did not stop his actions until he was neutralized by two Israel Post security guards." The terrorist was previously an assistant to the security establishment. YNet

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Col. Richard Kemp: Israel's accomplishments in 2025 were extraordinary, confounded critics. Former commander of the British military forces in Afghanistan speaks with Arutz Sheva about Israel's successes and failures in 2025 and looks ahead to 2026. Gary Willig. Published: Jan 4, 2026, 7:46 AM (GMT+2)

Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of the British military forces in Afghanistan, spoke to Israel National News - Arutz Sheva about Israel's accomplishments in 2025 and the challenges it faces in 2026.

"Israel’s accomplishments in 2025 were extraordinary, and many of them confounded its critics as well as objective experts. Perhaps the most unexpected success - and a supremely important achievement - was the release of virtually all the hostages. Prime Minister Netanyahu said he would get them back, and few believed him. Only one now remains, Ran Gvili, a heroic fighter killed defending his country on 7th October, and there is optimism that his corpse will be recovered," Col. Kemp stated.

He went on to listIsrael's accomplishments: "In Gaza, the courageous and hugely effective IDF decimated Hamas and forced them to cease fire, leaving them in control of less than half the Strip. This was achieved by fighting on the battlefield as well as the 12-day war against Iran and the strikes against Hamas leaders in Doha, both of which dramatically demoralised Hamas in Gaza and brought external pressure on them."

"The 12-day war itself was decisive. It effectively removed Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, degraded its air defences and ballistic missiles armoury and eliminated senior members of Tehran’s high command as well as key nuclear experts. With very limited damage against Israel, this war exposed Iran, a major regional power, as a paper tiger. That effect has played a significant role in the current uprisings in Iran. We don’t yet know whether this will lead to regime change but that is a distinct possibility given the intensity and spread of the protests.

"Last year, Israel also inflicted severe damage against the Houthis in response to terrorist aggression against Israeli territory and shipping.

On the northern front, "Israel has also built on its 2024 successes against Lebanese Hezballah, working to constrain their attempts to rebuild lost capability. And in Syria, a buffer zone has been created to protect the country as well as Syrian minorities against future threats, while at the same time working diplomatically to reduce the potential for aggression."

"Overall Israel’s military actions in 2025 have built on its successes in 2024, re-shaping the Middle East, reducing the threats against it and gaining increasing strength for itself. Despite a global campaign to undermine and delegitimise the country, Israel’s battlefield successes have been consolidated by a strengthened economy and some remarkable achievements in international trade including a multi-billion dollar gas deal with Egypt and significantly boosted arms sales with Germany and the UAE," he said.

He noted that "on top of all that, Israel’s historic recognition of Somaliland at the end of 2025 may have immense strategic benefits for Israel in the region."

According to Col. Kemp, the Trump Administration, which came into office in January 2025, deserves some of the credit for Israel's successes over the last year.

"The Trump Administration played a major role in Israel’s successes in 2025. It supplied vital munitions and military hardware, some of which had previously been hampered by the Biden Administration. Trump also provided essential diplomatic cover for Israel in a world characterised more by animosity than support for the Jewish state. Critically, Trump backed Israel’s defensive war against Iran, even putting his money where his mouth was by sending B2 bombers to bolster the assault on Iran’s war machine. Trump also leveraged Israel’s battlefield success in forcing through the Gaza ceasefire and enlisting the support of many international players, including countries like Turkey and Qatar which sided with Hamas against Israel," he said.

He added: "Despite the hopes and fake predictions of many journalists and so-called experts that the year would have seen a growing wedge between Trump and Netanyahu, there was not any significant daylight between the two. That itself was a remarkable achievement between two countries with very different national interests, achieved largely by the diplomatic skill of Netanyahu and his brilliant Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer. The maintenance and development of the US-Israel strategic relationship in such difficult circumstances has perhaps been the shining light of diplomacy in 2025."

Despite Israel's successes over the last year, there were failures and setbacks on the international and diplomatic front. "In 2025 Israel has been unable to rally the support of many countries who should be her natural allies. That includes Britain, France, Australia and Canada, all of whom opted to turn their backs on Israel and reward Hamas terrorism by recognising a non-existent 'Palestinian state'. Each of these countries turned against Israel not because of foreign affairs but to satisfy elements of their anti-Israel domestic electorates."

"Likewise, the anti-Israel clamour in much of the international media, international bodies like the UN and so-called human rights groups has only grown in 2025, fed by a highly effective and long-standing political warfare campaign," Col. Kemp said.

Look ahead to 2026, Col. Kemp said: "In the coming year, Israel will have to disarm Hamas and remove them from control of Gaza. That should be the role of the International Stability Force under Trump’s peace plan. However, the prospects of any international forces confronting Hamas if they fail to voluntarily disarm are extremely slim."

"Likewise, Hezballah will have to be dealt with. Despite Israel’s efforts to contain them they continue to regenerate. Unless international pressure can prevail - which looks unlikely - Israel is likely to have to launch major operations against them in 2026.

"The Houthis remain a serious threat to Israel and global shipping. Again, in the absence of efffective international action, Israel is likely to have to return to the charge against the Houthis.

"Judea and Samaria remain volatile. So far, during this war, Israel has succeeded in preventing the major explosion there that many predicted and some malicious players have been working to ignite. That situation will remain extremely volatile in 2026.

"Turkey too represents an ongoing threat to Israel, with Erdogan’s imperialist ambitions in the region. In particular Turkish interference in Syria and Lebanon will need to be watched carefully this year, and countered when necessary.

"Depending on how the current protests develop in Iran, Israel, perhaps with US support, may also need to re-launch significant military operations there. It is possible the ayatollahs may attempt to rebuild their nuclear programme but probably the most urgent threat will come from current efforts to regenerate their ballistic missile arsenal.

He stated that "the challenges in 2026 will be many and serious but, going on the successes of 2025, we can be confident that Israel will again prevail, especially with the continued backing of President Trump."

While challenges remain, "there are also opportunities, including the potential for diplomatic normalisation with Islamic countries in the region and beyond, many of whom have been increasingly impressed by Israel’s actions since 7th October 2023. Of course, that runs counter to the predictions of many, especially those who wish Israel ill but do not understand regional dynamics."

"We can also expect Israel to build further on its economic success as well as its achievements in international trade, including arms sales," he added.

"European countries themselves should be looking at Israel as an exemplar, as they continue to grapple with dramatically growing internal problems, not least uncontrolled immigration, plus the threat from Russia. I’m not talking about copying Israel’s battlefield successes in 2025, but the national spirit in the country, especially among its young people, that has enabled them," Col. Kemp concluded. INN

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After Rafah crossing visit, Angelina Jolie prepares to leave Los Angeles. The Hollywood actress has begun showing her home to potential buyers after deciding to leave the United States for Europe; her friend says she 'can’t get far enough away from the drama' and sees leaving as the only option Inbal Hananel | updated:01.04.26 07:43 Over the past weekend, Angelina Jolie visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing as part of what was described as a “humanitarian tour” on behalf of Gaza residents. It is unfortunate she did not go a bit further and travel a few more miles to places such as Kibbutz Be’eri, or the site of the Nova music festival, to witness the atrocities committed there on October 7 — but that is a subject for another story. YNet

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Iranian woman appeals to PM for support of anti-regime protests. Iranian woman urges PM Netanyahu to support growing protests against the Islamic Republic, as demonstrations spread across Iran amid a deepening economic crisis and increasing signs of pressure on the regime. Israel National News. Jan 4, 2026, 1:35 PM INN

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Newborn baby named after Bondi Beach victim. Henry Amzalak was born eight days after the murder of his great-grandfather Tibor Weitzen at Bondi Beach. Israel National News. Jan 4, 2026, 1:27 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Rabbi Yehoshua Schmidt: 'I survived two attacks, the army found 28 bullets'. Rabbi Yehoshua Schmidt praises Otzma Yehudit, backs death penalty bill, reflects war and the two terror attacks he survived and his son's injury in the war. Dvir Amar. Jan 4, 2026, 12:14 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Arabs pelt minibus with Israel children between Chomesh and Shavei Shomron. Thankfully, no one was injured as a result of this terrorist activity. Jan 4, 2026. JFeed

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Poor Qatarlson. Tucker's 'Pro-Maduro' Rant Backfires Spectacularly | WATCH. As Maduro chills in a NYC lockup (politely wishing "Happy New Year" on camera), this saga highlights MAGA's internal rifts: Hawks vs. isolationists, with Tucker's old words spoiling the party.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 4, 2026 04:26 Just when you thought the dust was settling on President Trump's blockbuster capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, an old clip from Tucker Carlson has resurfaced and boy, has it curdled. What was once a fiery foreign policy takedown is now being roasted online as a prime example of "aged like milk," with critics calling out the Fox alum for seemingly soft-pedaling a dictator who's now in U.S. cuffs on narco-terrorism charges. JFeed

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It's always Israel. "Zionist Tint:" Acting Venezuelan President Blames Israel for Maduro Arrest Speaking in a televised address flanked by senior figures from the ruling elite, Rodríguez claimed the operation that transferred Maduro into U.S. custody was the work of “the Zionists." She offered no evidence to support the allegation. Judah Pe'er. Jan 4, 2026 JFeed

“Zionist Tint”: Maduro’s Regime Reverts to Antisemitic Panic Mode

The moment Nicolás Maduro fell into U.S. custody, Caracas reached for its oldest, ugliest weapon: blame the Jews.

In a deranged televised rant, Venezuela’s so-called “acting president” Delcy Rodríguez declared that “the Zionists” were behind Maduro’s arrest. No facts. No evidence. Just raw, reflexive antisemitism—the universal language of collapsing dictatorships and jihadist-aligned regimes.

This wasn’t a slip. It was a tell.

For years, Venezuela has functioned as an outpost of Iranian influence in the Western Hemisphere. Under Hugo Chávez, the regime handed out Venezuelan passports like party favors to Iranian operatives and Islamist extremists. Under Maduro, that infrastructure metastasized into a full-blown alliance: narco-state meets jihad-state.

Iranian propaganda outlet HispanTV still broadcasts freely from Venezuelan soil, spewing Tehran’s anti-Israel, anti-West poison across Latin America. Hezbollah financiers and facilitators—protected, laundered, and enabled by the regime—have operated with impunity. The Venezuela–Colombia border and Margarita Island have long been black holes of lawlessness where terror finance, drug trafficking, and Islamist logistics converge.

This is not about immigration. It is about terror networks with state protection.

Figures like Alex Saab, Hezbollah-linked money man and Maduro’s financial lifeline, expose the regime’s true nature: Venezuela is not merely corrupt—it is strategically aligned with Iran’s global jihadist project. When Rodríguez screams “Zionists,” she isn’t improvising. She’s signaling loyalty to Tehran and its proxies.

Blaming Israel is the last refuge of regimes that cannot explain reality. Maduro wasn’t “captured” by Zionists. He was caught because he ran a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government—propped up by Iran, sustained by Hezbollah cash, and addicted to antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The mask is off. Venezuela under Maduro isn’t just a failed state. It’s an Iranian satellite, a jihadist safe haven, and an antisemitic propaganda hub—and now it’s panicking because accountability finally arrived. at EoZ

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Hezbollah's Real Estate Plot. Hezbollah Planned to Take Over Kiryat Shmona from Within - Here's How. Minister Wasserlauf reveals Hezbollah attempted to purchase apartments in Kiryat Shmona during war to control northern Israeli city from within. Shin Bet investigating.

Gila Isaacson. Jan 4, 2026 10:34 Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf claimed Sunday during a cabinet meeting that Hezbollah attempted to take control of the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona from within, by purchasing apartments in the city. JFeed

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Watch: Cheers for Bondi Beach heroes. Ahmed Al-Ahmad, who tackled the terrorist at Bondi Beach, and Jewish teen Haya Dadon, who was shot while protecting two small children, were honored by thousands of spectators in Sydney stadium. Nisan Tsur. Jan 4, 2026, 2:44 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Watch: Chabad truck 'song-bombs' Mamdani press conference. A Chabad truck playing the Hasidic song 'Hinei Ma Tov' passed by Zohran Mamdani's conference to announce members of his cabinet and other changes, bringing the proceedings to a breief halt. Israel National News. Jan 4, 2026, 5:15 PM INN

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Shocking footage: Infiltrator passes girl over security wall. Suspect arrested on suspicion of smuggling illegal entrants through the separation barrier and abusing a minor. Israel National News. Jan 4, 2026, 4:11 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Collapse of narco-terror hub: Maduro's fall weakening Iran, Hezbollah's drug network - analysis. Maduro’s removal and US oversight in Venezuela are already weakening Iran and Hezbollah’s South American foothold.

By Amichai Stein. January 4, 2026.. Less than 48 hours after the US operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, his government is still functioning at this stage, his vice president is acting as head of state, and therefore, it is not yet clear what Venezuela’s relations with Iran and Hezbollah will look like in the new era.

That said, it is already evident that the fact that Maduro is no longer the country’s dictator, and that everything that happens in Venezuela from now on will be under American supervision, constitutes a severe blow to the operational base of Tehran and the Lebanese terrorist organization in South America. JPost

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Graham Joins Trey Gowdy to Discuss the Fall of Maduro, Protests in Iran & Legislative Goals for 2026. USSenLindseyGraham. Jan 4, 2026. ... All right, chairman, let me span the globe with you. How do you see the protests that are unfolding in Iran? And is this an opportunity to rid the world of the single biggest sponsor of terrorism? Well, all the people who were protesting for the Palestinians, where are you today? Uh, standing behind the people of Iran are trying to throw over the Ayatollah, who's a religious Nazi, who who killed a 16-year-old girl for not wearing a head cover on a bus, who's tortured, raped, and maimed the population, who is the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet. The people are in open revolt. They've chosen not to live this way anymore... on YouTube

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Report: IRGC launches missile drills amid regional tensions. IRGC launches missile and air‑defense drills across Iran amid concerns of possible escalation with Israel. Elad Benari. Jan 4, 2026, 11:38 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Anti-Semitism Strikes Again: The Chilling Message Left at the Brandenburg Commissioner’s Door. German authorities are on high alert after a suspected arsonist set fire to the property of Brandenburg’s anti-Semitism commissioner, leaving behind a chilling symbol linked to the Hamas terrorist organization.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 4, 2026 17:15

A dangerous escalation in politically motivated violence has shaken the German state of Brandenburg following a targeted arson attack on the home of Andreas Büttner, the state's anti-Semitism commissioner. The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, has drawn sharp condemnation from top government officials who view the act as a direct assault on democratic values and the fight against hate speech. Investigators are treating the case as a potential act of extremism, particularly after discovering a controversial symbol painted on the commissioner's front door, suggesting a clear connection to current global tensions and the ongoing war.

The fire broke out at approximately 3:40 a.m. in the town of Templin, located north of Berlin. Local police and fire departments were alerted to a blaze in a shed on Büttner’s property. While firefighters were able to extinguish the flames quickly and prevent the fire from spreading to the main residence, the psychological impact on the family has been profound. Büttner, who was inside the house with his family at the time, later expressed the gravity of the situation to local reporters. "My family was in the house at the time," Büttner said, adding that while they are physically unharmed, they are under the impression of a serious attack. He remained resolute in his professional mission, stating firmly, "I will not be intimidated by this."

Beyond the physical damage to the shed, investigators found an "anti-constitutional symbol" painted near the scene. Security sources confirmed that a red triangle was discovered on the front door of the main house. This specific symbol is frequently associated with Hamas, as the terrorist group uses the inverted red triangle in its propaganda videos and publications to mark Israeli targets. The presence of this mark has led the state’s security service to prioritize the investigation as a high level extremist crime.

The political leadership of Brandenburg has stood firmly behind Büttner. Premier Dietmar Woidke issued a statement emphasizing that extremism in any form has no place in their society, declaring that violence against people or property remains absolutely unacceptable. Interior Minister René Wilke echoed these sentiments, describing Büttner's work as a special service for the state and its people. As the manhunt for the perpetrators continues, the German government has vowed to maintain its support for officials tasked with protecting Jewish life and fighting anti-Semitism, despite the increasing risks of physical retaliation from radical groups. JFeed

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Eva Schloss, Auschwitz survivor and Anne Frank’s stepsister, dies at 96. Auschwitz survivor and Anne Frank’s stepsister Eva Schloss dies at 96. A leading Holocaust educator, she leaves behind a legacy of combating hatred and prejudice. Israel National News. Jan 5, 2026, 1:09 AM (GMT+2) INN

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What Britain’s silence on Iran’s protests says about its foreign policy priorities - analysis. Why is there no statement about supporting regime change in Iran? And why are there no comments about the international law violations by the Iranian regime as it cracks down on protesters?

By Mathilda Heller. January 5, 2026 00:24 "Starmer’s silence on Iran is shocking,” the UK’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel opined on Saturday, referring to a dramatic absence of commentary from British politicians and British media regarding the weeklong anti-regime protests in Iran.

“With Iran’s cruel authoritarian regime emboldened by its brutal crackdown of freedom and democracy advocates within the country, Britain stands in silence as we see the chilling images of protesters being silenced and young activists being detained,” she added. JPost

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Report: Khamenei preparing to flee to Moscow if forces desert. Western intelligence report says Ayatollah Khamenei has a secret plan to flee Tehran with close aides if Iran’s security forces falter, as nationwide protests and economic unrest intensify. Israel National News. Jan 5, 2026, 4:16 AM (GMT+2) INN

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London café fires barista after swastika‑shaped coffee incident. Hampstead café fires a 19‑year‑old trainee barista after a Jewish customer received a cappuccino topped with cocoa powder resembling a swastika. Israel National News. Published: Jan 5, 2026, 5:22 AM (GMT+2) INN

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"It looks weak": Dems fume at their party's response to Maduro capture. Andrew Solender. January 4, 2026.

Some Democrats are grumbling at their party's largely oppositional stance to President Trump's raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying privately that their colleagues should be celebrating.

Why it matters: These lawmakers argue it could be a major political miscalculation if the party fails to applaud the downfall of a brutal dictator with sufficient volume, even given grave concerns about the operation's legality and longer-term ramifications.

Party leaders have raged at Trump for bypassing Congress and leaving them in the dark about the operation to capture Maduro, which involved striking several military targets in Venezuela's capital city. And many rank-and-file lawmakers, buoyed by polling that shows Americans largely oppose a protracted intervention in Venezuela, have also seized on Trump's comments that the U.S. will temporarily "run" the country. Some centrists and battleground-district members — who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity to offer candid criticisms of their party's messaging — have a different view. What we're hearing: One swing-district House Democrat told Axios in a text message on Saturday, "Nuance is dead in politics."

"Maduro is bad, glad he is gone ... You can't have it both ways," the lawmaker said, venting that "everything Trump touches must be bad according to the base." Another vulnerable House Democrat told Axios in a phone interview: "As Democrats we can't just condemn what happened ... I wish the Democratic Party would be a little bit more measured on this." "I think it looks weak," a third centrist House Democrat said. "If you don't acknowledge when there is a win for our country, then you lose all credibility." Acios

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German antisemitism commissioner's property set on fire, Hamas symbol graffitied nearby. Büttner said that the incident represented a "massive escalation" directed against him, his family, and his home, but he would not be intimidated.

BY Michael Starr. January 5, 2026.

A shed on the property of Brandenburg Commissioner for Combating Antisemitism Andreas Büttner was set on fire in a suspected arson attack on Sunday before dawn, according to the German politician and Brandenburg Police.

The shed was set alight while Büttner's family was home, but the commissioner and police said in statements that they were not harmed in the incident. JPost

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WATCH: IDF kills two Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon amid ongoing disarmament talks. Meanwhile, the IDF intercepted a drone attempting to smuggle rifles and cartridges over the Egyptian border.

By James Genn. January 5, 2026.

The IDF conducted a strike, killing two Hezbollah terrorists in al-Jumayjimah, southern Lebanon, on Sunday, the military confirmed on Monday. JPost

IDF strikes Hezbollah and Hamas terror targets in Lebanon, the military says. Amid rising tensions in the north, the IDF urged residents of four southern Lebanese villages to move at least 300 meters from marked buildings ahead of planned strikes Lior Ben Ari, Yoav Zitun | updated:1.5.26 11:11 YNet

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'Trump is a man of action,' US warns Iranian regime in Farsi-language message. A US State Department post warns Iran as protests continue, with reports of dozens killed, hundreds arrested, and Trump threatening similar action to capturing Venezuela's President Maduro.

By Tobias Holcman, James Genn. January 5, 2026.

The US State Department's Farsi account on Sunday published a picture of President Donald Trump along with the caption, Don't play games with President Trump," written in red text in Farsi.

The post featured a picture of Trump alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with other officials standing behind them, and contained an additional warning that "President Trump is a man of action. If you didn't know, now you know." JPost

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Zohran Mamdani previously called to end sanctions on Venezuela, partly blamed penalties for US migrant crisis By Carl Campanile Published Jan. 4, 2026, 6:32 p.m. ET NYPost

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No longer silenced: Freed Israeli hostage details fear of being made a ‘sex slave’ for Hamas terrorists: ‘No one will silence me anymore’. By Caitlin McCormack. Published Jan. 4, 2026, 6:19 p.m. ET [12] A young woman held captive by Hamas for more than a year revealed her deep-seated fear that her captors would use her as a “sex slave” after repeated sexual assaults — and said they promised her an early release for her silence.

Romi Gonen, 25, is defiantly breaking her silence. “They often silenced my story and told me not to tell it. Now I am here, sitting in front of the camera, and honestly, no one will silence me anymore,” she bravely told CNN Sunday.

Gonen was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023. At just 23 years old, she was carted from one hideout to another in Gaza — and frequently abused to appease the terrorists’ abhorrent whims.

Romi Gonen, 25, told CNN she was sexually assaulted by her Hamas kidnappers multiple times.

After 471 days in captivity, she was one of the first three Israeli hostages released as part of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal

Gonen revealed in an interview with CNN that she was one of many hostages who suffered horrific sexual assaults at the hands of their Hamas captors.

She told the outlet that the first assault was just a few days into her capture. She was in total solitary confinement for the first 34 days and would only see her captors on occasion — including a pseudo medic who treated a gunshot wound she sustained to her arm during the Oct. 7 attack.

The supposed medic followed Gonen into the shower one day and brutally assaulted her under the pretext of treating her injury. “He was a ‘nurse’ so he allowed himself to ‘help me.’ I was wounded, powerless, and couldn’t do anything. He took everything from me. And I had to continue living with him in that house afterward,” she told the outlet.

There was a 16-day stretch where Gonen said two men named Ibrahim and Mohammed repeatedly harassed and threatened her. “I’m sitting on the bed. Ibrahim comes and sits next to me and harasses me. Everything is in complete silence. I start crying insanely, and he says, ‘Be careful. If you don’t calm down, I’ll get angry’,” she told the outlet.

“And that’s how the days go by: I go to the bathroom and Mohammed follows me. I sit on the toilet pulling down my pants with one hand, so he won’t see anything. Ibrahim keeps bothering me endlessly, touching my leg and thigh. I kick them off.”

In another instance, Gonen told the outlet she was forced into a bathroom by one of her captors, who followed her inside and assaulted her.

“I was crying like crazy, and he was having the time of his life, ecstatic, as if he had received the gift of a lifetime,” Gonen said. The then-23-year-old said she couldn’t help thinking to herself: “Romi, everyone in Israel thinks you’re dead, and you’re going to be his sex slave for life… Then he comes up to me, puts a gun to my head, and tells me, ‘If you tell anyone, I am going to kill you.’”

Gonen said she spoke with Hamas’ leader who offered her a place “at the top of the release list” for her silence on the assaults. At a certain point, the endless harassment became so apparent that senior Hamas commanders were made aware.

Gonen said she was led through a tunnel and put on the phone with Izz a Din al-Haddad, then head of the Hamas Gaza Brigade, and now the group’s Gaza leader.

She told the outlet she could recall being offered “some kind of deal. ‘I will put you at the top of the release list, and in return, you will promise me that you will keep quiet.’”

“They often silenced my story and told me not to tell it. Now I am here, sitting in front of the camera, and honestly, no one will silence me anymore. It happened to me, and it was terrible, and I deal with the consequences every day, but I am here. I beat it. I am in the aftermath, and I am much stronger than it,” she told the outlet.

Thirteen other women and two men confirmed they had also experienced or witnessed sexual violence while being held hostage in Gaza, according to a July 2025 report by the Dinah Project. MYPost

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Report: IRGC launches missile drills amid regional tensions. IRGC launches missile and air‑defense drills across Iran amid concerns of possible escalation with Israel. Elad Benari. Jan 4, 2026, 11:38 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Anti-Semitism Strikes Again: The Chilling Message Left at the Brandenburg Commissioner’s Door. German authorities are on high alert after a suspected arsonist set fire to the property of Brandenburg’s anti-Semitism commissioner, leaving behind a chilling symbol linked to the Hamas terrorist organization.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 4, 2026 17:15

A dangerous escalation in politically motivated violence has shaken the German state of Brandenburg following a targeted arson attack on the home of Andreas Büttner, the state's anti-Semitism commissioner. The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, has drawn sharp condemnation from top government officials who view the act as a direct assault on democratic values and the fight against hate speech. Investigators are treating the case as a potential act of extremism, particularly after discovering a controversial symbol painted on the commissioner's front door, suggesting a clear connection to current global tensions and the ongoing war.

The fire broke out at approximately 3:40 a.m. in the town of Templin, located north of Berlin. Local police and fire departments were alerted to a blaze in a shed on Büttner’s property. While firefighters were able to extinguish the flames quickly and prevent the fire from spreading to the main residence, the psychological impact on the family has been profound. Büttner, who was inside the house with his family at the time, later expressed the gravity of the situation to local reporters. "My family was in the house at the time," Büttner said, adding that while they are physically unharmed, they are under the impression of a serious attack. He remained resolute in his professional mission, stating firmly, "I will not be intimidated by this."

Beyond the physical damage to the shed, investigators found an "anti-constitutional symbol" painted near the scene. Security sources confirmed that a red triangle was discovered on the front door of the main house. This specific symbol is frequently associated with Hamas, as the terrorist group uses the inverted red triangle in its propaganda videos and publications to mark Israeli targets. The presence of this mark has led the state’s security service to prioritize the investigation as a high level extremist crime.

The political leadership of Brandenburg has stood firmly behind Büttner. Premier Dietmar Woidke issued a statement emphasizing that extremism in any form has no place in their society, declaring that violence against people or property remains absolutely unacceptable. Interior Minister René Wilke echoed these sentiments, describing Büttner's work as a special service for the state and its people. As the manhunt for the perpetrators continues, the German government has vowed to maintain its support for officials tasked with protecting Jewish life and fighting anti-Semitism, despite the increasing risks of physical retaliation from radical groups. JFeed

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Eva Schloss, Auschwitz survivor and Anne Frank’s stepsister, dies at 96. Auschwitz survivor and Anne Frank’s stepsister Eva Schloss dies at 96. A leading Holocaust educator, she leaves behind a legacy of combating hatred and prejudice. Israel National News. Jan 5, 2026, 1:09 AM (GMT+2) INN

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What Britain’s silence on Iran’s protests says about its foreign policy priorities - analysis. Why is there no statement about supporting regime change in Iran? And why are there no comments about the international law violations by the Iranian regime as it cracks down on protesters?

By Mathilda Heller. January 5, 2026 00:24 "Starmer’s silence on Iran is shocking,” the UK’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel opined on Saturday, referring to a dramatic absence of commentary from British politicians and British media regarding the weeklong anti-regime protests in Iran.

“With Iran’s cruel authoritarian regime emboldened by its brutal crackdown of freedom and democracy advocates within the country, Britain stands in silence as we see the chilling images of protesters being silenced and young activists being detained,” she added. JPost

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Report: Khamenei preparing to flee to Moscow if forces desert. Western intelligence report says Ayatollah Khamenei has a secret plan to flee Tehran with close aides if Iran’s security forces falter, as nationwide protests and economic unrest intensify. Israel National News. Jan 5, 2026, 4:16 AM (GMT+2) INN

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London café fires barista after swastika‑shaped coffee incident. Hampstead café fires a 19‑year‑old trainee barista after a Jewish customer received a cappuccino topped with cocoa powder resembling a swastika. Israel National News. Published: Jan 5, 2026, 5:22 AM (GMT+2) INN

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The connection between Venezuela's drugs and terror - and how it affects us. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs President Dr. Dan Diker warns that Venezuela has become a central hub for Iranian-backed terror, drug trafficking, and Hezbollah operations across Latin America. Shimon Cohen. Jan 5, 2026, 7:49 PM (GMT+2) INN

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David Collier: The Lie Beneath the Tree: From Wikipedia Fiction To Witch Hunt. Jan 5, 2026. In September 2025, a large delegation of U.S. legislators visited Ofakim – a small town in southern Israel and one of the communities devastated during the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023. During their visit, they planted trees – a simple, universal memorial act in honour of the murdered civilians.

That act has since been recast by anti-Israel activists as something sinister. Campaigners immediately claimed the trees were planted atop a “depopulated Palestinian village” – and some have gone further, calling for the legislators involved to be forced to resign.

Through a chain of factual errors, activist myth-making, and the quiet authority of “reference” sources that repeat those errors as fact, a unifying gesture of mourning has been transformed into an accusation of moral wrongdoing.

The fabrication of Ofakim as a “depopulated Palestinian village” was subsequently laundered through a media corps that hounded and interrogated participants – not over facts, but over fictions and libels treated as truths.

The truth is simple and decisive. There was no depopulated village at the site of Ofakim. No erased community beneath the tree. Yet the claim persists because it was never presented as an allegation, but instead stated and repeated as established fact – embedded, cited, and endlessly recycled.

In advancing the false “village” narrative, campaigners are not uncovering a buried injustice. They are erasing the victims of a real one – all in service of a story that never happened.

In the end we are left witnessing a witch hunt for people who visited an ally of the United States and planted a tree in memory of those slaughtered in a terrorist massacre...

The Genocide Lie.

Whatever position one takes on Israel’s war in Gaza, it does not meet the definition of genocide. The most basic and decisive test for genocide is intent. Without demonstrable intent to destroy a population as such, the charge collapses.

Attempts to infer genocidal intent by trawling for intemperate remarks made by Israeli politicians in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 atrocities amount to little more than propaganda-by-quotation. Angry rhetoric, spoken in the wake of mass murder, is not evidence of state policy – and international law does not operate on selective outrage.

More fundamentally, the allegation fails a test of basic logic. Israel is the dominant military power in the region. If the intent were the destruction or removal of Gaza’s population, the outcome would have been immediate and unmistakable.

Instead, Israel has issued extensive pre-strike warnings, established civilian evacuation routes and designated safety areas, and – crucially – committed ground forces to urban combat at enormous cost. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting house to house. That choice makes no sense under a theory of genocide. An army seeking extermination does not voluntarily incur such losses; it uses overwhelming force from a distance.

To argue genocide, therefore, requires accepting an implausible proposition: that Israel deliberately sacrificed hundreds of its own soldiers, prolonged a costly war, and absorbed international condemnation – all to maintain the appearance of restraint while secretly pursuing the destruction of a population it manifestly had the power to eliminate far more quickly.

It is a political accusation, not a legal one, and it collapses under even minimal scrutiny.. DavidCollier

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Rockets in the Making. The Iranian Axis: New Intelligence Reveals the Global Network Re-Arming Hamas. Israeli intelligence has exposed three major smuggling routes being used by Hamas to rebuild its military strength in total defiance of the ceasefire and President Trump’s regional peace plan.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 5, 2026 18:33 JFeed

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Funds Hamas Killers. UK Rewards Terror: Palestine Embassy Opens in London Despite PA's Terror Paychecks The UK upgrades the Palestinian mission to full embassy status after recognizing a state led by an authority that pays stipends to terrorists, a move seen as rewarding Hamas without demanding the final hostages release or governance reform.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 5, 2026 14:12 JFeed

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Iran Street No Longer Fears the Basij Militia. Cracks in the Armor: Is the Mossad Reporting the Final Collapse of the Basij? A viral message from the Mossad has signaled a potential breaking point for the Iranian regime, reporting that thousands of security personnel are choosing to lay down their arms rather than fire on their own people.

Eliana Fleming Jan 5, 2026 17:25 JFeed

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Netanyahu using Putin channel to calm Iran. Kan 11 News reports that Netanyahu used Putin as a channel to send calming messages to Iran, while warning Tehran that any attack on Israel would bring “severe" consequences. Israel National News. Jan 6, 2026, 3:18 AM INN

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Iran enters tenth day of protests with 29 killed, 1,203 civilians detained so far - HRANA. At least 1,203 Iranians have been detained in the previous nine days of protest activity, according to HRANA's data. Still, "the actual number of detainees is estimated to be significantly higher."

By James Genn. January 6, 2026 10:03 As the protests across Iran that started last week entered their tenth day, the number of activists who have died has risen to at least 29, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported on Tuesday morning.

This includes two who were" affiliated with law enforcement-security forces," HRANA noted.

In addition, at least 1,203 Iranians have been detained in the previous nine days of protest activity, according to HRANA's data. Still, "the actual number of detainees is estimated to be significantly higher," the agency commented.

Further, there have reportedly been at least 64 instances of protesters being injured by pellets and rubber bullets since the protests began. JPost

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HAMAS 'LIES' ROW Egyptian extremist’s mum appears to back baseless claims ‘Hamas did not torture Israeli hostages after October 7’. The re-post came a day before her son returned to the UK after spending years in prison in Egypt for 'spreading fake news'

Thomas Godfrey , News Reporter| Ava Solieri , Foreign News Reporter Published: 22:45, 3 Jan 2026 Updated: 01:41, 4 Jan 2026.

Unprecedented new look inside 'Gaza Metro' terror tunnels where Hamas plotted attacks & hostages were chained & tortured.

THE mother of extremist Alaa Abd El-Fattah appeared to back baseless claims that Hamas did not torture Israeli hostages after October 7.

Laila Soueif reposted the conspiracy theory a day before her British-Egyptian son, 44, returned to join her in the UK. He had spent years in jail in Egypt for “spreading fake news”.

But he was caught up in a row on his return over old online posts in which he called for Zionists and UK cops to be killed, and called himself a terrorist. TheSun

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Questions raised over £2m funding of new Islamic 'front' for Iranian regime Glasgow headquarters. The Iranian embassy hit back at the claims arguing they were 'politically motivated'. John Glover Money reporter 12:34, 04 Jan 2026 ScottishDailyExpress

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MIGRANT TAUNTS Hamas supporter who entered UK illegally in dinghy flaunts Christmas presents online after being released from jail. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp says British taxpayers are being 'laughed at' in Labour's Britain

Benedict Elliot | Thomas Godfrey , News Reporter Published: 23:15, 4 Jan 2026| Updated: 23:34, 4 Jan 2026 TheSun

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Notes part III: Jan 6, 2026+

Report: Venezuela's Maduro Gave Hizbullah 10,000 Passports. MEMRI. January 5, 2026. The Lebanese daily Al-Nahar on Jan. 3, 2026, quoted Lebanese Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Wehbe Katicha as saying that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro provided Lebanese Hizbullah with 10,000 Venezuelan passports, some of which were used by officers of of Syria's Assad regime to flee the country. MEMRI

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Israel, Syria, and US establish intelligence-sharing mechanism, set talks for civilian cooperation. Furthermore, it was agreed to begin talks between Jerusalem and Damascus in civilian areas, including medicine, energy, and agriculture, The 'Post' has learned.

By Amichai Stein, January 6, 2026. Israel, Syria, and the United States agreed to establish a joint “fusion mechanism” to serve as a communication cell for intelligence sharing, military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement, and commercial issues, according to a Tuesday statement. JPost

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In first visit, Sa'ar says Somaliland 'not a virtual state' in jab at Palestinian state recognition Sa'ar is the first Israeli official to visit Somaliland since Jerusalem recognized its independence on December 26.

By Amuchai Stein, Miriam Sela-Eitam, January 6, 2026. During his first diplomatic trip to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar explained that, because Somaliland has operated for 35 years in accordance with international law, Israel could recognize Somaliland rather than Palestine.

"Unlike ‘Palestine’, Somaliland is not a virtual state," he said. JPost

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Pahlavi dismisses calls for US-led regime change in Iran, predicts 'Cyrus Accord' with Israel. Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said regime change will be driven by Iranians themselves, rejecting foreign military intervention and predicting closer ties with Israel after the Islamic Republic’s.

By Games Genn. January 6, 2026.

Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi does not believe that it is necessary for the US to extract Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and put him on trial for his crimes, downplaying chatter that the US military may conduct such an operation, similar to the extraction of Maduro from Caracas, Venezuela.

Pahlavi's comments came during an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Tunku Varadarajan via Zoom, published on Monday.

"I think that change in Iran is ultimately in the hands of the people of Iran themselves," he affirmed.

"Many governments have reasons to hold Khamenei accountable, but I think it will be far more appropriate for this to be solely in the hands of the Iranian people, and to have world governments be supportive" of their fight to free themselves, he added. JPost

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Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This MDA Paramedic Wore a Patch That Said "Peace Was Never an Option". This is not the kind of person you want treating you or your loved ones when you are sick. Not to mention the blatant disrespect and ingratitude this behavior shows.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 6, 2026 10:43

An Arab Israeli paramedic working for Magen David Adom (MDA), Arin Kabha, has been placed under house arrest for five days following controversy over a patch on her uniform featured in a viral TikTok video. Jfeed

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The Hezbollah-Venezuela Connection: What You Don't Know. For over 20 years, Hezbollah has built a sprawling terror network on Venezuela's Margarita Island, just 1,200 miles from Florida, with training camps, drug trafficking operations, and Iranian military support under the protection of the Maduro regime.

For over two decades, Venezuela has served as a critical outpost for Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere, with reports detailing the group's entrenchment on Margarita Island and ties to the former regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. intelligence assessments and media investigations describe this presence as evolving from fundraising networks among the Lebanese diaspora in the 1980s to sophisticated operations involving training, smuggling, and financial schemes by the 2000s. Margarita Island, once a bustling tourist spot, has been highlighted as a primary hub, surpassing even the Tri-Border Area in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay for Hezbollah's regional activities.

Training Camps and Iranian Support.

Allegations of Hezbollah-operated training camps on Margarita Island surfaced as early as 2011, involving paramilitary instruction for recruits from Venezuela and other Latin American countries. These facilities reportedly include political indoctrination, weapons handling, and drug-related operations, all under the protection of the Venezuelan government. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been implicated in providing logistics, weapons, and instructors on Venezuelan territory, including collaborations with local militias known as colectivos. Some recruits have been sent to Iran, including to Qom for ideological training, or to Lebanon. Reports also note that Hezbollah operatives and fighters have relocated to Venezuela following Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Illicit Networks: Drugs, Money, and Gold.

Hezbollah's operations in Venezuela are deeply intertwined with narcoterrorism, including partnerships with the Cartel of the Suns, a network allegedly involving Venezuelan military officials, and dissident factions of Colombia's FARC. Activities include cocaine trafficking and money laundering through trade-based schemes, often utilizing duty-free zones on Margarita Island. Additionally, gold-for-arms deals have been reported, with Hezbollah and Iran exploiting Venezuela's illegal gold trade to circumvent international sanctions and finance their activities.

A key enabler of these operations has been the issuance of Venezuelan passports and identification documents. Between 2010 and 2019, more than 10,000 such documents were provided to individuals from Lebanon, Iran, and Syria, often through networks linked to the regime. Figures like former Vice President Tareck El Aissami, accused of Hezbollah connections, have been tied to this system, which provides cover for operatives using fake identities. Earlier intelligence from 2013 documented similar patterns dating back to 2008–2012.

The Nassereddine Network and Regime Ties At the center of these activities is the Nassereddine family, a Lebanese-Venezuelan clan with deep connections. Ghazi Nassereddine, a former diplomat, and Abdallah Nassereddine, a businessman based on Margarita Island, have been accused of overseeing indoctrination, training, and smuggling operations. This network, which began under Chávez and grew under Maduro, has benefited from state protection, allowing Hezbollah to operate with relative impunity.

Strategic Implications and Proximity Concerns.

Margarita Island's location, approximately 1,200 miles from Florida, has amplified U.S. concerns, with officials labeling Venezuela not merely as a failed state but as a "staging ground" for Iranian and Hezbollah activities in the Americas. This positioning is seen as enabling potential threats through forward operations, including the use of duty-free zones and state-backed infrastructure.

After Maduro: Silence and Potential Disruption.

Following Nicolás Maduro's ouster in January 2026, Iran voiced protests, but Hezbollah has issued no public statements on the matter. Analyses suggest that the loss of regime protection could lead to the abandonment or disruption of some outposts, though entrenched networks may endure. Pro-Venezuelan sources, including state media under the former regime, have dismissed these claims as U.S.-driven propaganda. JFeed

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Northern Border heats up. Hezbollah Forges Ahead, Despite Impending War with Israel. Lebanon received an indirect message stating that if Hezbollah relinquishes its precision missiles and UAVs, this could help prevent war. However, Hezbollah rejected the proposal and refuses to involve the Lebanese state in addressing the issue, increasing the likelihood of near-term escalation.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 6, 2026 07:55 JFeed

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Aid organization attacks Israel claiming it's the third largest, COGAT: 'Provided only 0.14%'. The 'Save the Children' organization attacked Israel following its refusal to register it in the international organizations registration mechanism at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, claiming that "Israeli requirements harm the organization" - which it describes as "the third largest humanitarian emergency organization in the Gaza Strip providing support to 1.6 million residents in the Gaza Strip." The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) responded that "the organization was indeed rejected. The registration process exists to prevent Hamas from exploiting aid to promote terrorism. In reality, there is a large gap between the dramatic declaration and its actual contribution. Its role amounts to less than 240 aid trucks, 0.14% of all aid that entered." Itamar Eichner|1.6.26 YNet

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Mamdani Official: “Impoverish the White Middle Class. "Private property is a weapon of white supremacy". January 6, 2026. By Daniel Greenfield.

There’s no floor. No such thing as too much. Leftist politics is an endless drop shaft and as a society free falls into it, it passes gulags, generational ones (in North Korea), death camps, mass famine, genetic engineering (China) and every horror imaginable.

So the thing you think is absolutely insane turns out to be the gateway to the next house of horrors.

View the Mamdani administration in that light. The new wave of DSAers are here to implement every insane ideological work product you can imagine in New York, in Seattle and any other place they control. Then they’ll try to do it at the national level.

And here’s a preview from Cea Weaver, Mamdani’s new ‘Tenant Director”.

“Private property is a weapon of white supremacy”... FPM

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HORROR IN YERUSHALAYIM: At Least 1 Killed When Bus Plows Into Chareidim Protesting IDF Draft. January 6, 2026

A deadly tragedy unfolded Tuesday afternoon in Yerushalayim, when a bus plowed into a group of Chareidi protesters during a large anti-draft demonstration, killing at least one person and injuring several others.

The incident occurred at the intersection of Yirmiyahu and Shamgar streets, where members of the Eida HaChareidis community had gathered for a hafganah protesting military conscription.

Emergency medical personnel rushed to the scene and began treating victims immediately. At least several individuals sustained injuries of varying severity, including a number reported to be in serious condition. Paramedics could be seen administering lifesaving care at the site as police secured the area.

Officials confirmed that one victim was tragically killed in the attack. The niftar was identified as an 18-year-old bochur. His name has not yet been released pending notification of family.

The bus driver was detained by police at the scene. Authorities have not yet clarified whether the incident is being treated as a deliberate attack or if other factors were involved. An investigation is ongoing. YWN

Bus driver rams into ultra-Orthodox protesters in Jerusalem, 14-year-old killed. Thousands of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters gathered in Israel's capital on Tuesday evening • Driver arrested after killing one, injuring three others • Shas: "Haredi blood is not cheap."

By Miriam Sela-eitam, Tobias Holcman January 6, 2026. Yosef Eisenthal, a 14-year-old boy, was killed, and three were injured after a bus driver ran over ultra-Orthodox Jews during a haredi draft protest in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

"We responded to a severe collision involving a bus and several pedestrians," said United Hatzalah volunteer Dr. Aryeh Yaffe. "A male pedestrian was trapped unconscious under the vehicle. Fire and Rescue personnel extracted the patient, who was unfortunately found with no signs of life and pronounced deceased at the scene." JPost

This exemplifies Haaretz's signature incitement against the Haredim. The brazen hypocrisy of its racist worldview is unmistakable: On one hand, it whitewashes Arab racist terror as "freedom fighting," while fabricating lies to smear the IDF—brave defenders against genocidal Palestinian leaders—all to pander to global elites. On the other, it viciously hounds the Haredim, those devout Talmud scholars who largely shun weapons, demanding they join the very army it undermines. [1.6.26]. at EoZ [13]

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"We Don't Have the Capacity": Iranian President's Stunning Admission of State Failure 35 Dead and 4 Children Lost "We Don't Have the Capacity": Iranian President's Stunning Admission of State Failure. In an unprecedented admission of weakness, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the Iranian state is no longer capable of handling the massive wave of unrest and economic collapse sweeping the nation.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 6, 2026 18:06 JFeed

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Muslim radicals call for the execution of a cardinal in Iraq. By Elizabeth Owens, Zenit, January 5, 2026.

A single word, spoken from the pulpit on Christmas, has placed one of the Middle East’s most prominent Christian leaders under mounting pressure. Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, is facing an escalating campaign of intimidation in Iraq and neighboring Iran after remarks from his Christmas homily were lifted out of their pastoral context and reframed as a political provocation.

At the heart of the controversy lies the Arabic term commonly rendered as “normalization.” In his homily, Cardinal Sako employed the word as part of a spiritual appeal for healing after years of conflict: a call for social stability, restored trust among citizens, and reconciliation between families, communities and the Iraqi nation as a whole. According to the Chaldean Patriarchate, the intent was unmistakably religious, rooted in the Christmas message of peace and renewal, and entirely detached from regional geopolitics.

Yet in Iraq’s highly charged environment, language is never neutral. The word “normalization” has become politically radioactive, often used as shorthand for normalizing relations with Israel, an issue that can ignite immediate outrage. Critics seized on that association, recasting a pastoral exhortation as an alleged endorsement of forbidden political positions. Within hours, online narratives transformed a Christmas message into accusations of political betrayal.

The Patriarchate responded swiftly, stressing that the homily had no political content and explicitly rejecting claims that Cardinal Sako was advocating normalization with Israel. Officials reiterated that the message focused on peace, national cohesion and the dignity of Iraq, themes that have long marked the patriarch’s public ministry. The clarification, however, did little to stem the backlash….

Cardinal Sako’s own reported response underscores both the gravity of the moment and the depth of his commitment to his country. “If they want to put me on trial and execute me for the sake of Iraq, so be it,” he is quoted as saying. The remark, stark and unsettling, reflects the precarious position of Christian leaders in a region where theological language can be repurposed as political evidence, and where calls for peace may carry personal risk…. Zenit

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U.S. Calls Attack on Ilam Hospital “Clear Crime Against Humanity”. January 6, 2026. The United States government has strongly condemned the recent assault by Iranian security forces on a hospital in Ilam, calling it a “clear crime against humanity.” U.S. officials described the incident as a brutal and unlawful attack on a medical facility during ongoing nationwide protests in Iran.

In a post on the U.S. State Department’s social media accounts, the department shared graphic images of the raid and denounced the actions of Iranian security personnel, saying, “Hospitals are not battlefields.

These measures by the Islamic Republic regime are a gross violation of international law and show a complete disregard for human life.”

The criticism comes amid widespread unrest in Iran, where protests have entered their second week and security forces have intensified their crackdown following deadly clashes in the city of Malekshahi.

In response to the protests, Iranian security forces stormed Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, the provincial capital in western Iran, where many injured demonstrators were receiving medical treatment.

According to local information obtained by IranWire, this was not the first attempt by security forces to breach the hospital. On the night of January 4, security forces surrounded the facility while protesters wounded in clashes in nearby Malekshahi were being treated inside.

Witnesses reported that doctors, nurses, and patients’ family members attempted to block the entrances to protect those sheltering in the hospital. Local eyewitnesses said security forces repeatedly entered the hospital compound, breaking down doors and attempting to seize wounded protesters.

Some medical staff and visitors resisted the intrusion, preventing full access to the wards. Several of the seriously injured, including individuals in critical condition or unconscious, remain hospitalized.

During unrest in Malekshahi County, near Ilam, at least seven protesters were killed when security forces opened fire on demonstrators.

Local sources identified the victims as Reza Azimzadeh, Fars (Farez) Aghamohammadi, Mostafa Aghamohammadi, Mehdi Emami-Pour, Mohammad Bazoneh, Mohammad Moghaddasi, and Latif Karimi.

Citizens and human rights activists have expressed outrage on social media and in international forums, describing the hospital raid and the broader suppression of protests as violations of international humanitarian law.

The U.S. condemnation adds to growing international pressure on Tehran as the protest movement continues to spread across Iranian cities and provinces IranWire

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U.S. Calls Attack on Ilam Hospital “Clear Crime Against Humanity”. January 6, 2026. The United States government has strongly condemned the recent assault by Iranian security forces on a hospital in Ilam, calling it a “clear crime against humanity.” U.S. officials described the incident as a brutal and unlawful attack on a medical facility during ongoing nationwide protests in Iran.

In a post on the U.S. State Department’s social media accounts, the department shared graphic images of the raid and denounced the actions of Iranian security personnel, saying, “Hospitals are not battlefields.

These measures by the Islamic Republic regime are a gross violation of international law and show a complete disregard for human life.”

The criticism comes amid widespread unrest in Iran, where protests have entered their second week and security forces have intensified their crackdown following deadly clashes in the city of Malekshahi.

In response to the protests, Iranian security forces stormed Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, the provincial capital in western Iran, where many injured demonstrators were receiving medical treatment.

According to local information obtained by IranWire, this was not the first attempt by security forces to breach the hospital. On the night of January 4, security forces surrounded the facility while protesters wounded in clashes in nearby Malekshahi were being treated inside.

Witnesses reported that doctors, nurses, and patients’ family members attempted to block the entrances to protect those sheltering in the hospital. Local eyewitnesses said security forces repeatedly entered the hospital compound, breaking down doors and attempting to seize wounded protesters.

Some medical staff and visitors resisted the intrusion, preventing full access to the wards. Several of the seriously injured, including individuals in critical condition or unconscious, remain hospitalized.

During unrest in Malekshahi County, near Ilam, at least seven protesters were killed when security forces opened fire on demonstrators.

Local sources identified the victims as Reza Azimzadeh, Fars (Farez) Aghamohammadi, Mostafa Aghamohammadi, Mehdi Emami-Pour, Mohammad Bazoneh, Mohammad Moghaddasi, and Latif Karimi.

Citizens and human rights activists have expressed outrage on social media and in international forums, describing the hospital raid and the broader suppression of protests as violations of international humanitarian law.

The U.S. condemnation adds to growing international pressure on Tehran as the protest movement continues to spread across Iranian cities and provinces IranWire

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Israeli provokes antisemitic restaurant in Libya. Dan Shina, an Arabic teacher, decided to confront the 'October 7' restaurant in Libya. 'They feel no shame - for them, it’s a source of great pride.' i24NEWS. Published: Jan 6, 2026, 11:15 PM (GMT+2) Libyai24NEWS

Dan Shina, an Arabic teacher, regularly contacts individuals across the Arab world to examine how events connected to the State of Israel are presented and discussed.

This week, Shina turned his attention to a newly opened restaurant in Tripoli, Libya, whose name has sparked controversy: “October 7" - the date of Hamas’s brutal terror attack. During a conversation with a representative of the restaurant, Shina sought to determine whether the choice of name was deliberate.

According to Shina, the restaurant’s owners made it clear that they feel no shame over the name and even regard it as a source of pride, calling it “the day of happiness, the day of victory over the occupiers." INN

Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz: Khamenei paid Hezbollah fighters about $1,280 per fighter per month. Now, he’s offering Iranians $7 per month per person. Jan 5, 2026 X

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The boy who was run over to death at a demonstration in Jerusalem is Yosef Eisenthal, 14 years old. N12. 01.06.2026. Eyewitnesses who were at the scene of the car-ramming are convinced that it was a terrorist attack. In the footage of the incident, the driver can be seen driving for several meters while another Haredi boy hangs on to his vehicle and finally falls.

Yaakov Zimberg, an eyewitness, told N12: "The bus arrived, the guys blocked it. He called for help, he had an Arab voice. They touched his windshield, blocked him and hit him on the windshield. He decided out of nowhere to press the gas pedal."

Dubi Cohen, another eyewitness, said: "There were a lot of guys in front of him. He just threw a lot of guys away. I saw with my own eyes two guys being dragged on his wheel."

Moshe Ben Tovim, who was present at the event, said: "Another guy hung onto the bus and fell, he is in good condition. The same driver continued at the same speed and someone else got between his tires and the end is known. This is not an accident, this is a terrorist attack for all intents and purposes. It was a great miracle that nothing more happened. Mako

Minister Zohar blames opposition incitement for death of haredi teen. Culture Minister Miki Zohar accused opposition lawmakers of fueling anti-haredi incitement, claiming it led to the death of 14-year-old Yosef Eisental at a Jerusalem anti-conscription protest. Israel National News. Jan 7, 2026, 6:28 PM (GMT+2) Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport Miki Zohar (Likud) launched an accusatory attack against the members of the opposition during a Knesset plenary session on Wednesday, claiming that the rampant anti-haredi incitement has "authorized their deaths" and led to the killing of 14-year-old Yosef Eisental at an anti-conscription rally.

"Your incitement against the haredi public is what led to this tragedy. You have permitted the blood of the haredi public. Shame on you," Zohar accused the opposition.

"Daily, you present them as the enemy of the nation. Calm down. They are valuable, important, and beneficial to Israeli society. Stop attacking them from morning to night until you turn them into an enemy."

Zohar added: "You authorized their deaths so that a driver allows himself to drive at a crazy speed into a protester and to kill a boy. So think what you're saying. Every word has meaning. Be responsible for what you say." INN

The judge was furious: '20 children were standing in front of him, he doesn't see and he drives on them? He is not the victim. This is not a political case'. Haredim 10. January 7, 2026

([14] The late Joseph Eisenthal).

The death of the late Yosef Eisenthal: The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court extended the detention of the bus driver, Fakhri Khatib, a 49-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, suspected of intentionally or negligently causing death and causing serious injury to a minor, by 9 days, until January 15. ch10

"Those Who Demanded Conscription Of Chareidim By Force Received The Image They Wanted". January 7, 2026.

The killing of a Chareidi boy, Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, who was run over by an Arab bus driver during a protest against the Chareidi draft law on Tuesday evening, was met with shock and consternation.

Shas chairman, MK Aryeh Deri, spoke on Tuesday evening with the Police Commissioner, Chief Superintendent Danny Levy, and demanded “to act with full determination to get to the truth and to bring the driver who ran him over to justice.”

Commissioner Levy said during the conversation that “the driver was immediately arrested and transferred for questioning; the police are treating the incident with the full severity of the law.”

The chairman of Degel HaTorah, MK Moshe Gafni, said on Tuesday in response to the incident. “The incident of the running over and killing of the boy at the demonstration in Jerusalem is shocking to the depths of the soul. We demand that the driver be brought to justice and punished with the full severity of the law. One cannot move on from such a horrifying act of killing.”

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said, “Those who demanded the conscription of Chareidim in one fell swoop received the image they wanted this evening. This is a time for cheshbon hanefesh and repentance. An attempt to ignite a civil war endangers the future of the state. It is tearing the nation apart from within and bringing about severe hatred toward the Chareidi public that will take many years to repair.”

UTJ MK Yisrael Eichler contacted the chairman of the Knesset’s National Security Committee and demanded that an urgent meeting be held to probe the circumstances of the case.

In his letter, Eichler wrote that “the shocking case of a boy being run over by a rampaging bus driver during the Chareidi demonstration in Jerusalem cannot be swept under the rug under any circumstances. I request that you schedule an urgent discussion in the National Security Committee to examine how this happened and how the bus was not stopped before it plowed into the crowd.”

“I request that all relevant authorities from the police, the Ministry of Transportation, and the transportation company be summoned for this purpose. In addition, I request to determine whether the police response against road blockers was similar to road-blocking incidents during the Kaplan protests in Tel Aviv.”

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said, “I am deeply shaken by the terrible disaster that occurred this evening in Jerusalem, in which a 13-year-old boy lost his life in such a tragic manner during a demonstration. There is no ideological dispute—no matter how difficult—that justifies violence or harm to human life. This is a dangerous escalation and a severe deterioration that we must not pass over in silence. I send my heartfelt condolences to the family.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, “My heart bleeds following the killing of the boy Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, this evening, as a result of being run over by a bus driver in Jerusalem. I share in the deep sorrow of his family at this difficult time.”

“This is a serious incident that must be investigated thoroughly and comprehensively. The police informed me that all investigative directions regarding the incident are being examined and that it is being treated with the utmost severity.” YWN

Tearful documentation. A flower that was cut off in the storm of battle: Thousands tearfully accompanied the young man Yosef Eisenthal to his rest. Jerusalem was wrapped in mourning: Thousands today accompanied the important young man Yosef Eisenthal, who was killed in a horrific accident on his way back from the protest. • His father, one of the yeshiva leaders, cried out: "He was all about the aspiration for aliyah in the Torah." • Torah luminaries paid tribute: "A public sacrifice for the sanctity of his name, may God bless him." • Chaim Goldberg presents tearful testimony (Haredi). Chaim Rosenbaum. Kikar haShabbat |(1.7.26) Kikar

"Tarof Toraf Yosef [Joseph has surely been torn up (Gen.37:33)]": Crowds laid to rest the young man who was run over. Crowds came to pay their respects to the important young man, the late Chaim Yosef Eisenthal, who was brutally run over to death at the end of a protest rally against conscription in Jerusalem. His father: "You will never be able to finish the tractate of Baba Batra that you studied in yeshiva." Nati Kalisch. 18th of Tevet 5786, 01/07/26. emess

Charedi teen killed in bus ramming during Jerusalem anti-enlistment protest. Charedi politicians claimed that the death of Yosef Eisentahl, 14, was the result of anti-Orthodox ‘incitement’.

January 7, 2026 10:38 By Jacob Jaffa.

A Charedi teen was killed on Tuesday evening when a bus ran over anti-conscription protestors in Jerusalem, Israeli police have confirmed

Ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported that the bus hit three pedestrians on Shamgar Street, before continuing on to Ohel Yehoshua Street, where it hit a fourth individual.

The deceased boy has been identified in Hebrew media as Yosef Eisenthal, a 14-year-old from the city’s Ramot neighbourhood. TheJC

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Following the unveiling of l 'Hamechadesh'. A request was made to the police to arrest the driver who abused the children. Against the backdrop of the shocking incident that occurred yesterday, in which the driver of the "Extra" company ran over the young man Yossi Eisenthal to death, the late Yossi Eisenthal, the exposure of the "Renewal" from about two weeks ago about another serious incident at the same company, has surfaced. Following the incident, Attorney Haim Bleicher from the Honenu organization wrote a letter to the Jerusalem District Commander demanding that the bus driver who held up children and refused to drop them off at the bus stop while threatening them, be arrested hn-news

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U.K. to Investigate Role of Islamic Doctrine on Grooming Gangs. Move Comes after Australian Scholar Documented Issue in 2025 Report January 6, 2026. Jules Gomes.

The Home Office has established a panel into the “grooming” gangs largely comprised of Muslim men from rural Pakistan who raped more than 250,000 young women from white, working class families in England over the course of decades. The new inquiry comes after decades of denial about the root causes of the abuse, observers state.(Shutterstock) A new government inquiry, marking a significant policy shift, will investigate the influence of Islam on the U.K.’s grooming gangs, predominantly composed of Muslim men of Pakistani origin.

The Home Office announced on December 9 that, according to its terms of reference, the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs will “examine how ethnicity, religion or culture played a role in responses at a local and national level, as well as other issues of denial, as discussed in the National Audit. It will also consider the background (including ethnicity, religion and culture) of perpetrators and victims.” ME Forum

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‘Growing security threat’: illegal Palestinian construction creating a stranglehold around Jerusalem. According to new study, illegal Palestinian construction in Area C forms near-continuous ring that experts warn poses growing security threat to the capital, as state and municipal officials debate responsibility and response in wake of Oct. 7. Gilad Cohen|01.06.26 |

North of Jerusalem, between Pisgat Ze’ev and Beit Hanina, stands the unfinished shell of King Hussein’s palace. At Tel al-Ful, the Jordanian king began building a summer palace, but construction was halted during the 1967 Six-Day War and the structure has stood abandoned ever since.

On a clear day, the hill — also identified as biblical Gibeah of Saul — offers a panoramic view of the Jerusalem hills. It is a striking vista, but one that also raises security concerns.

Standing on the roof of the deserted building and turning from north to east, east to south and south to west, one can see a continuous chain of Arab villages, towns and neighborhoods — some Palestinian, some Israeli. To the north are the tall white towers of Ramallah, with Kafr Aqab below it, a village that is partly Palestinian and partly within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, effectively linking Ramallah and Jerusalem.

To the east are the settlement of Adam, the Palestinian town of al-Ram and the Qalandiya refugee camp. Farther east lie Anata, al-Eizariya, Abu Dis and Jerusalem’s Sur Baher neighborhood. To the south are Jabal Mukaber, the Har Homa neighborhood, Beit Sahour and Bethlehem. To the west are Mevaseret Zion, Har Adar and the Palestinian villages of Biddu and Qubeiba.

In the early 2000s, Israel built the separation barrier from Har Adar to Gush Etzion to improve security and prevent illegal entry of Palestinians into Israel, as well as terror attacks. However, a report published last week by State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman found that the barrier around Jerusalem does not provide an adequate response to prevent the entry of undocumented Palestinians or terrorists.

Englman wrote that although the barrier was built to block and thwart infiltration, it has, for a long time, failed to deliver the required level of protection. He described this as a serious failure that endangers Israeli residents in general, and nearby neighborhoods in particular, especially in light of the events of October 7.

A study presented here for the first time, conducted by Regavim — a right-wing organization focused on land and construction issues — documents infrastructure and high-rise buildings constructed without permits on the other side of the barrier. According to the group, the construction effectively encircles Jerusalem and raises additional red flags about potential security risks to the capital.

The Regavim study is based on aerial photographs collected over the years and cross-referenced to track building trends. It identifies a sharp increase in construction around Jerusalem since 2008. According to the findings, illegal construction on the city’s outskirts has reached an estimated 40,000 structures, forming what the report describes as a near-continuous ring around Jerusalem. All of the buildings are located in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control. The report says their locations allow observation and control over major access routes.

(Girl being smuggled through the West Bank security barrier, suspect arrested. Video: Israel Police).

A senior Jerusalem municipality official said that “there are things the public does not know that help ensure calm in Jerusalem. Security forces are doing sacred work so we can live safely and quietly. It is no coincidence that since October 7, there has been calm.” Despite those reassurances, retired police commander Levi Amitai, who previously headed the Jerusalem perimeter unit in the Border Police, offered a starkly different assessment. “From a security standpoint, this is a very serious danger,” he said. “A patrol moving along a fence beneath high-rise buildings is extremely dangerous. We saw what happened along the Philadelphi Corridor — in the end they had to demolish all of Rafah just to move there. Otherwise, you are controlled from all directions. Dealing with such a phenomenon is almost impossible.” Yehuda Noam, Regavim’s Jerusalem district director, said the construction around the city is not accidental but, in his view, part of a strategy aimed at controlling key points and “creating a stranglehold around Jerusalem.” “This reality has created a dense civilian infrastructure that serves as perfect cover for the infiltration of undocumented Palestinians and hostile terrorist activity,” Noam said. “There is no security buffer, and the maneuvering and response capability of the security forces drops to zero.” Referring to the state comptroller’s report, Noam added that “the comptroller dealt with the route of the fence, its design, protection and reinforcement. Terror does not start at the fence. It starts with education, with Israel’s withdrawal from the area, with enforced distance, with irrelevant agreements and with a lack of presence and enforcement.”

The office of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said in a statement that “the mayor and those responsible for security in the city are in close and continuous contact with security authorities and work in full coordination with them. Responsibility for security and for addressing construction issues in the Jerusalem perimeter lies with the state and the enforcement agencies.”

(Illegal construction around Jerusalem | Photos: Courtesy of the "Regavim" Association. [15]).

(Map Info Jerusalem Illegal Construction Wraps Buildings Houses. [16]) YNet

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EU-Funded NGO Backed Online Platform Targeting Jewish Businesses in Catalonia. Ailin Vilches Arguello. January 7, 2026.

Supporters of Hamas demonstrate outside the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, Oct. 18. Photo: Reuters/Guillermo Yllanes Gonzalez

The controversial online platform mapping Jewish-owned businesses, schools, and Israeli-linked companies in Catalonia, a region in northeastern Spain, was promoted by an EU-funded non-governmental organization.

On Tuesday, NGO Monitor — an independent Jerusalem-based research institute that tracks anti-Israel bias among nongovernmental organizations — released new information showing that Engineers Without Borders – Catalonia (ESF-C) and Universities with Palestine (UAP) jointly promoted the BarcelonaZ project on social media, identifying themselves as its primary backers. Algemeiner

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Cooper Union settles federal lawsuit brought on behalf of Jewish students. “Settling this litigation is an important step as we move forward,” Steven McLaughlin, president of Cooper Union, told JNS. Vita Fellig.

(Jan. 9, 2026 / JNS) The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a private school in New York City that is one of the highest ranked in the nation for arts and engineering, settled a lawsuit, which the Lawfare Project brought on behalf of 10 Jewish students who alleged antisemitic harassment and intimidation on campus after Oct. 7. JNS

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Protesters in Tehran declare 'President Trump Street'. Crowds took to the streets for yet another night to protest the Iranian regime and expressed support for the Shah and the United States. Dalit Halevi. Published: Jan 7, 2026, 9:08 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Explosive Allegations Rock Trump Administration. Morgan Ortagus Has a Lebanese Boyfriend with Ties to Hezbollah. Morgan Ortagus stands accused of spending time with a Hezbollah-shadowed Lebanese tycoon, sparking her abrupt administrative leave and igniting fears of compromised U.S. secrets in the volatile Middle East arena.

Bianca Jones Jan 7, 2026 06:20

In a stunning development that has sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles, sources allege that Morgan Ortagus, the U.S. Counselor to the United Nations Mission and Special Representative for Lebanon, has been placed on administrative leave by the Trump administration pending an investigation into her purported activities with a prominent Lebanese national. JFeed

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MK: Reality cannot be that a teen is dragged under a bus. MK Tzvika Foghel, head of the National Security Committee, discusses violence in Arab society, recent ramming of haredi teen. Hezki Baruch. Published: Jan 7, 2026, 1:14 PM (GMT+2)

National Security Committee Chairman MK Tzvika Foghel spoke about a number of recent security and social incidents, including the ramming of a haredi boy during a protest in Jerusalem, the detention of Ran Gvili by Hamas in Gaza, and violent murders in the Arab sector.

Foghel began by referencing Gvili and said, "823 days. We are waiting for Ran Gvili. I will continue to remind everyone of this every morning." He also noted that he had recently heard, again, the story of Ran Gvili and his friends’ heroism, adding, "We must bring him home."

Regarding agreements with Hamas, he said, "We signed an agreement with evil ones, but even with evil ones who sign an agreement, it must be honored."

Regarding Tuesday night's ramming in Jerusalem, Foghel described, "I went to sleep last night with these unimaginable images, of a bus driving while dragging a boy under its wheels."

"It cannot be that this is happening in our reality," he said, adding that he would wait for the completion of the police investigation before convening a Committee discussion... INN

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This is how Hamas is getting richer - at the political echelon's directive. Data presented at security meetings shows Hamas raking in millions daily, political echelon ignoring IDF recommendations. Israel National News. Jan 7, 2026, 12:06 PM (GMT+2)

([17]. Hamas terrorists take over humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza)

Israeli security officials have warned that the Hamas terror group in Gaza is seeing a significant economic improvement.

According to data recently presented in closed security discussions and published by Ynet, Hamas currently holds between 400 million to 1 billion shekels in cash in Gaza, and the sum, according to intelligence estimates, may be even higher.

Sources in the IDF have recommended reducing the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip. Since the ceasefire with Hamas took effect in October, approximately 4,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza per week.

"The population in Gaza can survive with much less," the sources explained. "Seventy percent (70%) of it belongs to the private sector, which Hamas taxes twice - 15-25% on every truck carrying food, fuel, or medicine, and an additional tax on the goods when they are sold in the market. Hamas is making tens of millions of shekels a day, and the coffers keep growing."

Hamas has been preparing for war for years and has maintained cash reserves with which it paid the salaries of tens of thousands of its operatives and officials throughout the war.

The report also revealed that Qatar, Hamas' primary patron, demanded the continued flow of thousands of trucks each week as a condition for its support, which is why there is no discussion about halting the aid. Political sources have warned that Hamas is not honoring its commitments under the agreement and is expected to receive additional concessions, including the opening of the Rafah Crossing.

It was also revealed that Hamas continues to funnel money into the Strip through indirect means, including using apps to transfer money from supporting countries, taxing currency exchange transactions, and smuggling goods through unauthorized routes-sometimes even inside the trucks themselves. INN

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Shocking. How Israeli Aid Trucks Fuel Hamas' Hidden Cash Empire During Cease-Fire. In closed discussions held in recent weeks, intelligence sources presented more severe estimates regarding Hamas's solid economic situation, which holds, according to some estimates, cash amounting to about a billion shekels inside the Gaza Strip.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 7, 2026 06:59 Jfeed

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Trump administration moves to revoke residency of antisemitism researcher. A prominent antisemitism researcher and US permanent resident is seeking court protection after the Trump administration signaled possible action against him over his work on social media platforms.

By Andrew Lapin/JTA January 7, 2026 05:12 For years, Imran Ahmed has presented his research on how tech platforms enable the spread of antisemitism to receptive audiences across the ideological spectrum.

He’s worked with the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federations of North America; the latter credits Ahmed with the backbone of much of its own policy proposals. He’s appeared at a conference organized by the first Trump administration, with Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also in attendance. JPost

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Israeli-backed Palestinian militia says it killed two Hamas operatives in southern Gaza The militia shared a photo that it said depicted one of the slain men.

By Reuters, January 7, 2026 14:30 An Israeli-backed Palestinian militia said on Wednesday it had killed two Hamas operatives in southern Gaza, marking a renewed challenge to Hamas after Israel empowered its rivals in areas under Israeli military control.

The armed group, known as the Popular Forces, said in a statement that it had carried out a raid in Rafah, killing two Hamas members who refused to surrender and detaining a third. It shared a photo that it said depicted one of the slain men. JPost

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Iranian protesters 'claiming entire cities,' US House Foreign Affairs Committee says In a video, protesters can be heard shouting "Marg bar Khamenei," which translates to "Death to Khamenei."

By Sam Halpern January 7, 2026 09:22 Amid the ongoing demonstrations in Iran, protesters are “claiming entire cities,” the US House Foreign Affairs Committee stated in a post to X/Twitter early Wednesday morning.

“Anti-regime protesters are rising up and claiming entire cities. Iranians have had enough of the tyrannical Ayatollah and his murderous mullahs,” the Republican-run committee wrote. “The Iranian regime’s grip is unraveling.” JPost

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Report: Officer Ahmed Shoukr kidnapped by Mossad in complex operation, with Lebanese cooperation. The Saudi newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat," published in London in Arabic, reported that Lebanese officer Ahmed Shoukr, who was reportedly kidnapped last month due to his involvement in the abduction of Israeli navigator Ron Arad, was captured in a "precise and complex security operation planned and executed by the Israeli Mossad, exploiting security gaps and direct cooperation with a Lebanese operative specifically recruited for this mission." It was further reported that the Lebanese operative, who was arrested, "explicitly admitted meeting Mossad officers in Africa who assigned him several missions, and that he received amounts ranging between $5,000 and $10,000 for each mission." Lior Ben Ari | published: 01.07.26 12:23 YNet

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Canadian Jewish leaders ‘dumbfounded’ after judge lets Holocaust memorial vandal off with time served. “It is an attack on the lessons we have learned to help prevent repeated mistakes and foster resilience against the illiberal ideologies sweeping the world,” Michael Teper, of the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, told JNS. Dave Gordon. (Jan 7, 2026 / JNS). JNS

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Top US official faults EU over Jewish business map. State Under Secretary Sarah Rogers said the document showed that hate speech laws were used against conservatives but ignored vis-a-vis Jew haters. Canaan Lidor. (Jan. 7, 2026 / JNS) Following the emergence in France of an online map of Jewish-owned entities, U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers on Sunday accused European officials of selectively using hate speech laws to target critics of mass migration while ignoring antisemitism.

Rogers, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, leveled the criticism on X following an uproar over the map, which unidentified programmers had uploaded to the France-based cartography website GoGoCarto.

The creators of the undated map, which included the offices of mainstream Jewish groups in Barcelona among the 150-odd addresses listed, wrote that it showed how Zionism “operates and in what forms it presents itself.” GoGoCarto removed the addresses following complaints last week by Spanish and French Jews, the Enfoque Judio website reported. JNS

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Many appear duped by AI ‘rabbi’ with 100,000 social media followers. “AI should not replace human involvement and effort but can be an incredible tool when used responsibly,” Rabbi Gil Student told JNS. Jessica Russak-Hoffman. ([18] Screen capture of a website purporting to be for a Rabbi Menachem Goldberg. Source:goldbergrabbi.netlify.app/.Screen capture of a website purporting to be for a Rabbi Menachem Goldberg. Source: goldbergrabbi[dot]netlify.app/)

(Jan. 7, 2026 / JNS) An account purporting to depict a Rabbi Menachem Goldberg has some 100,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, and although the accounts post videos that have backgrounds with apparently secular or Christian tapestries hanging on walls of synagogues with multiple Torah arks, some with nonsensical Hebrew inscriptions, some users appear to be duped by the account.

Some commenters thank the “rabbi,” who wears a long beard and a black hat, and thank “him” for his words of wisdom. Others appear to be aware that something is amiss with the account, that launched on Dec. 29.

Both the Instagram and TikTok accounts hawk publications called “The Five Pillars” ($9.99) and “Rabbi’s Blueprint” ($19.99).

According to a biography on the attached website, the “rabbi” has “dedicated over 40 years to studying and teaching the intersection of Jewish wisdom and financial prosperity. Based in Brooklyn, he has helped thousands of people from all backgrounds achieve meaningful success through timeless Torah principles.”

In some backgrounds of the films, the “rabbi” sits in an apparent sanctuary, in which a Torah scroll lies open and unattended on a desk. Leaving a Torah scroll open and unattended in that manner is taboo for Jews.

Many of the things that the “rabbi” says in the videos are platitudes, delivered in succession with minimal translations. The apparently-Haredi rabbi refers to “God” rather than “Hashem,” and does not tend to cite particular biblical verses or rabbinic commentators in any of his messages. He also refers often to “abundance” and “renewal.” He often signs off his videos by directing people to buy his books, and in several, says just “link in bio.”

He says at one point that the Torah says not to put a stumbling block before “another.” The verse says before a “blind person.”

Rabbi Gil Student, director of Jewish media and publications at the Orthodox Union, is part of the team developing Ohrbit, an artificial intelligence tool that delivers personalized Torah learning experiences.

“AI is a powerful tool to amplify Torah and help people study more Torah,” he told JNS. “AI should not replace human involvement and effort but can be an incredible tool when used responsibly.”

“AI requires transparency and responsibility,” he added. “Jewish tradition requires that any book, whether written by a human or AI, have a responsible human review and approbation.” JNS

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Faces Intense Rehabilitation. Bondi Beach Hero Gefen Biton to Return Home to Israel. Gefen knew what he was doing when he risked his life to diarm the gunmen on Bondi Beavh. Seconds later he was shot. Although he is in still in serious confition, he is well enough to return to Israel.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 7, 2026 09:04 JFeed

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IDF chief: New strategy focused on possibility of surprise war. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said local readiness and civilian resilience are critical to Israel’s strategy for the next war. JNS Staff. (Jan. 7, 2026 / JNS) JNS

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Hamas fires on IDF troops ahead of Rafah crossing opening, senior terrorist targeted in response. Shooting occurred as Israel’s security establishment awaits approval from the political echelon to reopen the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza. Yoav Zitun | published: 01.07.26 13:53 YNet

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Pres Herzog: 'Situation in Negev is a national emergency'. President Isaac Herzog convened an emergency meeting with heads of local authorities from the Negev region in southern Israel. Israel National News. Jan 7, 2026, 9:09 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Gaza's Millionaires After October 7: Hamas-Linked Aid Thieves Networks Showcase Millions of Dollars Allegedly Raised in Donations, While Gaza Residents Received Nothing of the Donations | Watch 🎥 (The Scoops) [1.8.26]. On Telegram

Watch: Gaza's millionaires after October 7 – This is how a class of aid thieves was built under the auspices of Hamas. While the residents of Gaza are presented to the world as “humanitarian victims,” a corrupt stratum is exposed that is enriching itself with millions – with donations, in collaboration with Hamas, and under the protection of terrorism. David Feuchtunger. 19th of Tevet, 5768 (January 8, 2026)

In the two years that have passed since the October 7 massacre, a particularly serious phenomenon has become clearer: a new class of “millionaires” has emerged in the Gaza Strip, those who lived in absolute poverty before the war – and who are now displaying mountains of cash in dollars and euros on social media.

These are entities that have established huge donation networks, mainly in Europe and Arab and Muslim countries – including Turkey, the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. The funds were collected under the familiar title of “humanitarian aid”: food, shelter, medicine and help for civilians in Gaza. In practice, as evidenced by the documentation and testimonies, the vast majority of the money does not reach those in need at all.

The method is consistent and outrageous: A man, woman, or child from Gaza is filmed receiving a sum of money for a video. Immediately afterward, almost the entire amount is taken from them, leaving only crumbs in their hands. The real money flows into the pockets of the organizers, who continue to present themselves as “philanthropists” and solicit additional donations from around the world.

Security sources estimate that this activity does not take place without permission. These “millionaires” pay huge sums to Hamas – sponsorship fees – in exchange for protection, freedom of action, and permission to operate in the Gaza Strip. Thus, the humanitarian aid funds effectively become another financing mechanism for the terrorist regime.

The recently released video, in which one of those officials proudly displays millions of dollars, is just the tip of the iceberg. While the citizens of Gaza continue to live in poverty and hardship, a small and corrupt elite is becoming ostentatiously rich – under the eyes of the international community. JDN

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I Worked at a Palestinian Summer Camp - Richard McDaniel. January 7, 2026. When I worked for a reconciliation organization and lived in the largely Palestinian Christian town of Beit Sahour last summer, there were multiple aspects of Palestinian society that disturbed me. What I found most discomforting was its overwhelming celebration of martyrdom - glorifying those Palestinians who sacrificed themselves in the name of "Palestine." After witnessing a large crowd of young children chanting "we will die to make Palestine live" at the summer camp where I volunteered, a Palestinian teenager asked me: "What have we [Palestinians] ever done wrong?" I responded by mentioning the dozens of suicide bombings that took place in Israeli civilian areas during the Second Intifada. She replied: "But those are acts of resistance." Living in the West Bank taught me that most Palestinians, regardless of religion, have long bought into the Islamist celebration of martyrdom... Palestinian society's extremism and fetishization of death are encouraged (or mandated) by the Palestinian leadership in a mindset shared by both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas. Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin told me that because Hamas's "political-religious philosophy...is based on the sanctification of death," they're more than happy to never surrender... The nearly universal celebration of martyrdom across Palestinian society demonstrates that extremism is deeply entrenched within Palestinian culture. Consequently, Israel will never exist comfortably unless it tackles this Palestinian issue... Algemeiner

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Hamas Saxa: Georgetown Taps Hamas Apologist Mehdi Hasan as Visiting Fellow. Hasan, who left MSNBC after the left-wing network axed his show, will lead a discussion group on media's role 'in our polarized society'

Jessica Costescu. January 8, 2026.

Georgetown University has enlisted Hamas apologist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan as a visiting fellow to lead a discussion series that "will explore the role of debate, media, and persuasion in our deeply polarized society."

As a Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service Spring 2026 Fellow, Hasan's discussion group will center on the topic "Who's Afraid of a Tough Question? Debate, Division, and Democracy in a Polarized Age." The four-week series will "challenge" students with questions like "Are calls for 'unity' and 'civility' sincere - or politically convenient?"

Hasan posted to X on Wednesday, "I'm looking forward to doing this and debating and discussing with the students. Thanks @georgetown and @GUPolitics."

Georgetown's decision to bring on Hasan follows years of the journalist making polarizing and inaccurate remarks. MSNBC canceled his show in November 2023 after he spent weeks disparaging Israel following Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack. After leaving the network, Hasan tweeted and then deleted a post arguing that the "Gaza genocide" was "worse than a lot of previous genocides - Rwanda, even the Holocaust." As a media figure in the United Kingdom, Hasan referred to non-Muslims as "animals."

Hasan came under fire last fall after bursting into laughter at a "joke" about Rep. Brian Mast's missing legs, which the Florida Republican lost after stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in September 2010 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

After leaving MSNBC, Hasan founded Zeteo, a far-left media platform that charges $12 a month to "support Mehdi's brand of accountability journalism." The online publication has featured figures like Hasan Piker, the far-left streamer who once said "America deserved 9/11" and used a Zeteo appearance to lament the United States' triumph over the USSR. FreeBeacon

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Amnesty International Refuses to Admit That Hamas Wants to Kill All Jews and Annihilate Israel. By Darcie Grunblatt, Algemeiner. January 8, 2026.

In its nearly 200-page report on the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, “Targeting Civilians: Murder, Hostage-Taking and Other Violations by Palestinian Armed Groups in Israel and Gaza,” Amnesty International omitted years of statements by Hamas leaders and language from its charter demonstrating genocidal intent against Jews.

This omission renders Amnesty’s account of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack fundamentally flawed — because it disregards strong evidence of Hamas’ genocidal intent and distorts both the nature of the massacre and Israel’s response.

According to the former Deputy Director of Amnesty’s now defunct Israel branch, Yariv Mohar, this report on Hamas’ attack was delayed by eight months. It had already been nearly finalized by the same time the organization released its December 2024 report, titled, “‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.” The organization, according to Mohar, told Israeli staff that the two reports would be published within weeks of one another.

According to Mohar, Amnesty delayed the Hamas report to keep the focus on Gaza, fearing that highlighting Hamas’ atrocities would undermine efforts to end the war. Mohar added that this was driven by a belief that Western audiences prefer a simplified moral narrative, and also because of Amnesty’s fear of backlash from its ultra-radical activist base.

Notably, the non-profit’s substantially longer Gaza report in 2024 used several out-of-context and debunked quotes by Israeli leaders to portray them as having genocidal intent.

Conversely, Amnesty’s treatment of Hamas sharply downplays the terror group’s own explicit ideology and objectives.

Hamas’ charter calls for the complete destruction of Israel as a condition for the liberation of Palestine, achieved through holy war (jihad). The charter specifically states that Hamas’ “struggle” is “against the Jews.” Algemeiner

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Hamas document casts shadow over former EU envoy’s role in Gaza.

An internal Hamas assessment suggests the EU’s former top diplomat in the Palestinian territories pursued a personal approach to Gaza that crossed Brussels’ red lines.

Politics. Björn Stritzel. Euractiv. January 8, 2026. Conflict in West Bank.

An internal Hamas document seen by Euractiv suggests that the EU’s former envoy to the Palestinian territories, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, pursued positions that diverged from official EU policy and were viewed favourably by Hamas leaders in Gaza.

Kühn von Burgsdorff served as the EU’s ambassador to the Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip from January 2020 to July 2023.

During his tenure, he repeatedly drew criticism from Israeli officials and within the EU for positions seen as out of step with Brussels’ guidelines – including assurances to Palestinian NGOs found to have employed terrorists that they need not worry about losing EU funding, despite stricter anti-terror financing rules.

Paragliding in Gaza.

The controversy peaked in July 2023, shortly before he left his post, when Kühn von Burgsdorff went paragliding in Gaza. In video footage from the Hamas-controlled enclave, he spoke enthusiastically of a “free Palestine”. Weeks later, Hamas carried out its 7 October attack on Israel, killing more than 1,000 people and abducting around 250 others.

Now, an internal Hamas document seized by the Israeli military during its subsequent campaign in Gaza suggests that Islamist leaders in the enclave held the EU envoy in high regard. The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor analysed the document and shared its findings with Euractiv... Euroactive

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Glasgow University rector backed violence and Hamas terror, tribunal hears. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a surgeon, is facing a medical hearing over his social media activity and other published commentary.

By Ian Leonard. January 7, 2026.

A world-leading plastic and reconstructive surgeon re-posted antisemitic and pro-terrorism messages on social media, a medical tribunal heard. TheJC

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Muslim radicals call for the execution of a cardinal in Iraq. By Elizabeth Owens, Zenit, January 5, 2026.

A single word, spoken from the pulpit on Christmas, has placed one of the Middle East’s most prominent Christian leaders under mounting pressure. Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, is facing an escalating campaign of intimidation in Iraq and neighboring Iran after remarks from his Christmas homily were lifted out of their pastoral context and reframed as a political provocation.

At the heart of the controversy lies the Arabic term commonly rendered as “normalization.” In his homily, Cardinal Sako employed the word as part of a spiritual appeal for healing after years of conflict: a call for social stability, restored trust among citizens, and reconciliation between families, communities and the Iraqi nation as a whole. According to the Chaldean Patriarchate, the intent was unmistakably religious, rooted in the Christmas message of peace and renewal, and entirely detached from regional geopolitics.

Yet in Iraq’s highly charged environment, language is never neutral. The word “normalization” has become politically radioactive, often used as shorthand for normalizing relations with Israel, an issue that can ignite immediate outrage. Critics seized on that association, recasting a pastoral exhortation as an alleged endorsement of forbidden political positions. Within hours, online narratives transformed a Christmas message into accusations of political betrayal.

The Patriarchate responded swiftly, stressing that the homily had no political content and explicitly rejecting claims that Cardinal Sako was advocating normalization with Israel. Officials reiterated that the message focused on peace, national cohesion and the dignity of Iraq, themes that have long marked the patriarch’s public ministry. The clarification, however, did little to stem the backlash….

Cardinal Sako’s own reported response underscores both the gravity of the moment and the depth of his commitment to his country. “If they want to put me on trial and execute me for the sake of Iraq, so be it,” he is quoted as saying. The remark, stark and unsettling, reflects the precarious position of Christian leaders in a region where theological language can be repurposed as political evidence, and where calls for peace may carry personal risk…. Zenit

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Glasgow University rector backed violence and Hamas terror, tribunal hears. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a surgeon, is facing a medical hearing over his social media activity and other published commentary.

By Ian Leonard. January 7, 2026.

A world-leading plastic and reconstructive surgeon re-posted antisemitic and pro-terrorism messages on social media, a medical tribunal heard. TheJC

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"The Haredi citizen is the most discriminated citizen in the country - and therefore the most neglected": Dr. Yoav Heller in an interview In a charged interview with Eli Gotthalf on "Kikar FM", Dr. Yoav Heller, chairman of the "Fourth Quarter" movement, claims that the death of the child Joseph Eisenthal, z"l, is not only a human tragedy, but a warning sign of a civil contract that has fallen apart | "The State of Israel is talking to mechanisms and activists - not to the Haredi citizen himself" (Kikar FM) . Kikar haShabbat |1.8.26 08:34

The death of the boy Yosef Eisenthal, may his memory be blessed, left behind not only deep pain, but also a trail of difficult questions. Among the chorus of voices heard in the days following the event, one voice stood out, unusual in its sharpness and the discomfort it created: Dr. Yoav Heller, chairman of the "Fourth Quarter" movement. Kikar

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"Our blood is cheap! One law for the Kaplan and one law for the Haredim" | The angry announcement - and the judge's outrageous claim. The Jerusalem faction sent a particularly angry message today after the court's decision to release the driver who ran over the late Yosef Eisenthal to house arrest | "One law for Kaplan [- radical leftists. Ed.] - and another law for the Haredim," the faction members wrote, clarifying: Haredim blood has been cheap | The full message sent by the faction members after Judge Bar Asher's outrageous decision (News, Haredim) bassl Beni Solomon. Kikar haShabbat |1.8.26 06:53 Kikar

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Watch | Minister Eliyahu's speech that infuriated Arab MKs: No other people commits terrorism like you, in the entire world. Yitzhak Bialik. 01.08.26 Minister Amichai Eliyahu's speech infuriated Arab MKs, after he asked them why the Arab sector, in the whole world, is more violent than other ethnicities and sectors. During the speech, the Arab MKs were expelled from the plenary.

Minister Eliyahu said in response to the video: "The hard truth must be told as it is." 0404

Minister Amichai Eliyahu to the angry Touma-Suleiman - Look at the savagery in your villages​.

January 08, 2026. Knesset Plenum – Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu​ Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu: Mr. Chairman – Mr. Acting Chairman, my fellow Knesset members, while we're here clucking our tongues, Minister Ben-Gvir has just gone down south to restore some order — something the State of Israel has desperately needed for many years.

In Arab society, there is violence — disproportionate violence compared to any other society or culture.

Only — only — in places where there is a policy of moderate Islam, which is very firm against the barbarism growing in Arab society, only there is there quiet.

Calls from the floor… Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (continuing): The terrorism in Arab society…

Walid Al-Hawashla (Ra'am): … Chairman Nissim Vaturi: Walid Al-Hawashla, first warning.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu: I'm sorry it bothers you, but the terrorism in Arab society is a result of your education…

It's a shame you refuse to look reality in the eye.

Chairman Nissim Vaturi: Walid Al-Hawashla, you didn't say anything yesterday about "light foot on the gas" by the Arab driver, so calm down.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu: I want to tell you, MK Walid, that I travel on Highway 6 quite a lot. A gang of criminals rides there on motorcycles, without a rear license plate, without license plates at all, popping wheelies, showing off…

Walid Al-Hawashla: … Chairman Nissim Vaturi: Walid Al-Hawashla, third warning. Please leave.

(MK Walid Al-Hawashla leaves the plenum hall)

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (continuing): Why doesn't this happen in other sectors? Why doesn't this happen among other communities? You — stop throwing responsibility onto others. Take responsibility for your education. Take responsibility for the values you teach. You incite against the State of Israel. What did you think would happen?

Aida Touma-Suleiman (Hadash-Ta'al): …Shut up, at least shut up. Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu: This is not racism.

(Later – MK Aida Touma-Suleiman is also removed after repeated warnings)

Key statement: “The truth is that no other people commits terrorism like you commit terrorism, not in Israel — in the entire world… This is a cultural question.” Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (closing section): Change the education. Change the culture. See how much illegal weaponry there is in your society.

Rely on the values of Abraham our father [patriarch] and not on the madness of radical Islam. Abraham our father is also your father — a man who loves peace, pursues peace, opens his home to guests, not to massacre, murder, and rape, not to family honor killings.

I'm not saying this cynically. You have a lot of work to do within yourselves — not just here in Israel, but throughout the world. But here it's even worse, because here for years we ignored it.

Thank God, we have a police minister who is doing wonders, restoring trust, straightening the backs of the police officers. Thank you very much.

(Verbatim-style translation of the heated Knesset exchange • January 7, 2026).

The Three Hundred and Fifty-Fourth Session of the Twenty-Fifth Knesset. Wednesday, 18th Tevet 5786 (7th January 2026). Jerusalem, Knesset, 11:00 AM [19] Just Sayin'

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Hamas missile lands near hospital. Missile launched towards Israel from near Gaza City misfires, IDF strikes back. Israel National News. Jan 8, 2026, 11:58 AM (GMT+2)

A missile launched from Gaza fell near a Gazan hospital, the IDF confirmed Thursday morning.

"A short while ago, a projectile was identified from the area of Gaza City toward the State of Israel," the IDF stated. "The projectile fell within the Gaza Strip territory near a hospital."

"Shortly after, the IDF precisely struck the launch point.

"The IDF strongly condemns any attempts by terrorist organizations to execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel." INN

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Sa'ar on Aleppo clashes: 'Contradicts promises of a new Syria'. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said that "the attacks by Syrian regime forces on the Kurdish minority in Aleppo are serious and dangerous." Sa'ar added: "The international community in general and the West in particular have a debt of honor toward the Kurds who fought bravely and successfully against ISIS. Systematic and murderous oppression of various minorities in Syria contradicts the promises of a 'new Syria'." Itamar Eichner|01.08.26 01:40 YNet

Sa’ar: Silence amid Syrian regime-Kurdish clashes emboldens Damascus The international community “has a debt of honor to the Kurds” for their role for fighting ISIS, the Israeli foreign minister said. JNS Staff. (Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Thursday urged the international community not to remain silent in the wake of renewed clashes between Syrian government forces and Kurds in the city of Aleppo. JNS

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Israeli president reopens kibbutz kindergarten hit by Hezbollah missile. “We were here during the darkest days. We walked among the ruins and felt immense pain,” Isaac Herzog said. JNS Staff. (Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) JBS

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Rocket launched from northern Gaza City landed near IDF positions in the Strip, no injuries. Hamas launched a rocket from northern Gaza City, which landed in the Gaza Strip area near IDF positions. There are no injuries. Yoav Zitun|01.08.26 04:07 YNet

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Iran unrest: Protesters chant 'Death to Khamenei,' topple Soleimani statue. Protesters chant “Death to Khamenei" and destroy Soleimani statue as anti-regime demonstrations in Iran continue. Elad Benari Jan 8, 2026, 5:15 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Australia launches royal commission into Bondi Beach shooting. PM Albanese bowed to mounting pressure for answers after the antisemitic attack. JNS Staff.

(Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) Australia will launch a royal commission to investigate the terrorist shooting attack at a Dec. 14 Chanukah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.

Officials and critics had demanded the high-powered federal inquiry into the antisemitic attack.

“I’ve repeatedly said that our government’s priority is to promote unity and social cohesion. And this is what Australia needs to heal,” Albanese told reporters in announcing the inquiry.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed Albanese’s announcement, with the organization’s president, Daniel Aghion KC, saying that Canberra “made the right decision” and that “this is the only way that Australia’s time-honored standards of decency and fairness can be upheld.”

The ECAJ “will cooperate fully” with Virginia Bell, the judge appointed to lead the royal commission, “and will make every effort to ensure that the full force of the community’s views and experiences of antisemitism in various sectors of society are brought to the forefront of the inquiry.”

Aghion added that the commission, among other advisable actions, should “examine key drivers contributing to antisemitism in Australia, including ideological, political and religious extremism; and assess the adequacy of government, law enforcement and institutional responses.” JNS

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Illlegal Arabs arrested for ripping mezuzahs off doorposts. Illegal Arabs from Hebron suspected of removal and theft of mezuzahs in central Israel. Israel National News. Jan 8, 2026, 11:31 AM (GMT+2) JaffaPA ArabsBat INN

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Arab Who Infiltrated Israel And Tore Down Dozens Of Mezuzahs Arrested. January 8, 2026. YWN

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Gazan rocket fired at Israel falls short, hits near hospital. The IDF struck the launch site, targeting the second Hamas ceasefire violation in the past 24 hours. (Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket toward Israel from the Gaza City area, which is under Hamas control, on Thursday.

“The launch fell within the territory of the Gaza Strip, near a hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces said. “In a rapid closing of the circle, the IDF struck the launch point in a targeted manner.”

The IDF said it “views with great severity any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terror plots against IDF forces and the civilians of the State of Israel.” It was Gazans’ second ceasefire violation in the past 24 hours. JNS

Ceasefire? Failed Rocket Launch from Gaza City Lands Near Hospital. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the failed launch originated from Gaza City and was intended for Israeli territory but malfunctioned and fell short, detonating inside Gaza near a hospital. No injuries in Israel were reported.

Judah Pe'er. Jan 8, 2026 04:33 A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip exploded inside the enclave on Thursday in what Israel described as a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement. JFeed

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Lebanese army claims first phase of Hezbollah disarmament complete. The military said it has completed the first stage of a five-phase plan to remove weapons from all non-state armed groups. Joshua Marks. (Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) The Lebanese Armed Forces said Thursday it has completed the first phase of its national disarmament plan, expanding its control in the country’s south as part of efforts to “extend the state’s authority exclusively through its own forces over the entirety of Lebanese territory.”

In a statement, the army said it had “achieved the objectives of the first phase” of the plan, which focused on “expanding the Army’s operational presence, securing vital areas, and extending operational control” in the South Litani Sector, excluding land “that remains under Israeli occupation.”

Israel continues to hold five strategic hilltop positions inside Southern Lebanon along the border, citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its attack capabilities near Israeli communities.

The “Shield of the Homeland” (Dir al‑Watan) plan is the Lebanese army’s official five‑phase roadmap to disarm all non‑state militias in Lebanon, with a focus on Hezbollah.

Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Dec. 20 that the military was finishing the first phase of its disarmament plan. JNS

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Laurie Cardoza-Moore: “Tucker appears to have Vance in a trance'. Zionist Christian Evangelical leader Laurie Cardoza-Moore criticizes US Vice President's lack of response to the antisemitism emerging from the right. Israel National News. Jan 8, 2026, 5:17 PM (GMT+2)

Zionist Christian Evangelical leader Laurie Cardoza-Moore and President of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations blasted US Vice President JD Vance for what she described as his "inability to take a moral, Christian stance on antisemitism." Her comments come in light of an interview that the Vice President did on Tuesday on CNN commentator Scott Jennings’ podcast.

The host of the award-winning Christian television program “Focus on Israel", which reaches a global audience of two billion, said: “Tucker appears to have Vance in a trance. It’s time for JD Vance to take a moral, Christian stand on antisemitism. There is no place for double-talk on this matter. You don’t get to condemn hatred, while befriending the haters. This is not a time to turn the other cheek. The scourge of Jew Hatred must be banished from the conservative movement before it destroys it from within."

She continued: “Mr. Vice President, you invoked Christian teachings about judging people by their actions, yet you appear to be blindsided by the hatred and actions of people like your friend Tucker Carslon. A clear line needs to be drawn in the sand on what is and is not acceptable. This is not about canceling people; it’s about advocating for the Judeo-Christian values upon which our Republic was founded."

Cardoza-Moore then doubled down on what she described as the grifters and Jew Haters on the woke right: “It is time for the White House to make it clear that grifters and Jew Haters like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes have no place in the Conservative movement. Their views and content are an abomination to God and trample on our Constitution."

“As President Trump has proven time and again, putting America First means standing with our allies in the face of adversity and not vilifying our own countrymen because of their color or creed. America First means American values first."

Laurie Cardoza-Moore was among the first Evangelical leaders to condemn Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens as anti-Semites. Carlson personally called Cardoza-Moore to beg her walk back her statements, which she only increased as his public Jew Hatred increased. Last year, the Founder of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations made international headlines by resigning from the Heritage Foundation’s Anti-Semitism Taskforce over their stance on Carlson. INN

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Kidnapping is only wrong when the victims are not Jewish babies. Remember: It is unacceptable to demand the release of babies, such as the Bibas brothers, as long as those babies are Jewish. You can deface the posters asking for their release. But is it perfectly acceptable to demand the release of mass murderers who are not Jewish. Opinion. Gary Willig. Jan 8, 2026, 5:30 PM (GMT+2)

Kidnapping is wrong, except for Jewish civilians and children. Kidnapping them is fine. That’s the only takeaway from the disparate responses to the mass kidnappings of civilians and children on October 7, 2023 and the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife by US forces over the weekend.

Don’t expect the people who went around ripping down and tearing up the posters of the Israeli hostages and drawing Hitler mustaches on kidnapped Jewish toddlers to act the same with Maduro. They are far more likely to be protesting against Maduro’s arrest and trial. Jewish children are Hitler, you see, while corrupt socialist dictators are innocents.

International law is apparently nothing more than a tool to protect dictators with the blood of countless people on their hands, not a tool to protect innocent people, or at least not Jews.

Case in point:

UN “Special Rapporteur" Francesca Albanese, who called Maduro’s arrest “a lethal blow" to international law. She is far more animated and concerned with protecting Maduro, who violated human rights on a massive scale for over a decade, than with protecting the innocents and the children who were abducted by Hamas. Her response to the mass slaughter and the mass kidnappings in southern Israel was not to appeal to international law on behalf of the victims, but to Tweet on October 7, as the massacre was ongoing, that 'Today’s violence must be put in context.’

We need to "understand" the people who murder and kidnap Jewish babies. There’s a “context" to that, you see, because they are Jews, and that makes it all right. There is apparently no “context" to Maduro’s capture, because whatever his crimes, he is not a Jew. That makes it wrong to kidnap him.

35 of the kidnapping victims were children under the age of 18, including Avigayil Idan (3 years old), Emily Hand (9), Ofri (10), Yuval (9), and Uriya Brodetz (5), Ariel (4) and Kfir Bibas (9 months), Ohad Munder (8), Hila Rotem (12), Agam (17), Gal (11), and Tal Goldstein-Almog (9), Ella (8) and Dafna Elyakim (15), Yagil (12), and Or Yaakov (16), Yuval Engel (10), Amit Shani (16), Ofir Engel (17), Yahel (3), and Naveh Shoham (8), Noam Avigdori (12), Emilia Aloni (5), twins Yuli and Emma Cunio (3), Eitan Yahalomi (12), Sahar (16) and Erez Calderon (12), Raz (4) and Aviv Asher (2), Aisha Zaidna(17), Mia Lemberg (17), Noam (17) and Alma Or (13), and Gali Tarshansky (13).

Where was Albanese’s vaunted “international law" when these teenagers, children, toddlers, and babies needed it? Why did their kidnappers deserve “context" when those who arrested Maduro do not?

Albanese rushed to write a book defending Hamas immediately after these children were abducted, co-opting a phrase made famous in one of the most explosive antisemitic episodes of the 19th century, “J’Accuse." Two months after the massacre, she condemned a call on Hamas to release all of the hostages, including all of the children, “unacceptable."

It was an act of such monstruous evil that it is still shocking over two years later.

Don’t expect any such condemnations of calls on the US to release Maduro. It is unacceptable to demand the release of babies in diapers as long as those babies are Jewish. But is it perfectly acceptable to demand the release of mass murderers who are not Jewish.

Kfir Bibas was 10 months old and his brother Ariel was 4 years od when they were murdered in cold blood by their captors. Kfir had not learned to walk or talk. He and his brother were never put on trial, nor could they have been. Their lives were snuffed out by monsters who declared themselves to be the judge, jury, and executioners of all Jews for the crime of being born Jews.

But since Albanese’s version of “international law" allows the kidnapping and murder of Jews, it is far worse for Maduro to be tried in an actual court of law for crimes he actually committed than it is for Jewish children to be kidnapped and murdered before their first birthday.

Spare us your crocodile tears. Any “law" that condemns the punishment of mass murderers and protects brutal dictators while abandoning and allowing the kidnapping and murder of children and babies who are born into the “wrong" ethnicity is no law. It is pure evil. It is barbarism pretending to be law INN

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Qatar is biggest foreign funder of US colleges, per Education Department. “Every single dollar given by our adversaries comes with strings attached,” Rep. Tim Walberg told JNS. “Enough is enough.” Aaron Bandler.

(Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) Qatar has been the largest source of foreign funding for U.S. higher education institutions, according to data displayed in a new U.S Department of Education portal.

The portal, which went live on Jan. 2, explains that, under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, federally funded universities are required to disclose, twice annually, any gifts and contracts from a foreign source that are worth at least $250,000 in a calendar year.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, told JNS that “our college campuses are being flooded with foreign cash, but every single dollar given by our adversaries comes with strings attached.”

“America’s adversaries exploit these financial ties to steal research, spread divisive propaganda, push indoctrination and undermine free speech,” Walberg said.

“Enough is enough,” he added. “The Trump administration is making the reporting of foreign funds easier and more transparent so we can protect our students and the integrity of American education.” JNS

New Federal Data Shows Terrorism-Loving Qatar Has Poured $6.6 Billion Into U.S. Higher Education. January 8, 2026. The U.S. Department of Education’s newly launched foreign-funding disclosure portal is placing a spotlight on the role of Qatar in American higher education, revealing that the Gulf state is by far the largest foreign source of funding for U.S. colleges and universities.

According to data published on the portal, Qatar has provided approximately $6.6 billion in gifts and contracts to American higher education institutions—far more than any other foreign country. Germany followed with $4.4 billion, England with $4.3 billion, China with $4.1 billion, Canada with $4 billion, and Saudi Arabia with $3.9 billion.

The portal was created to enforce Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which requires federally funded universities to disclose, twice annually, foreign gifts and contracts totaling at least $250,000 in a calendar year. The reporting tool was rolled out as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to increase transparency around foreign influence on U.S. campuses.

Among the institutions receiving Qatari funding, Cornell University topped the list with roughly $2.3 billion, followed by Carnegie Mellon University at $1 billion, Texas A&M University at $992.8 million, and Georgetown University at $971.1 million.

Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and a former assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights, said the scale of Qatari funding raises unavoidable questions about influence.

“It is hard to imagine that this amount of money doesn’t imply some amount of influence,” Marcus told JNS. “And it’s fair to ask what kind of influence Qatar is obtaining in exchange for its money.”

Overall, the portal shows that foreign governments and entities have provided $62.4 billion in contracts and gifts to 527 U.S. colleges and universities, underscoring the scope of foreign involvement in American higher education.

Announcing the portal’s anticipated launch in December, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the initiative was long overdue.

“After years of neglect by the Biden administration, the new portal will assist our institutions of higher education in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities,” McMahon said, adding that it would help protect national security by improving compliance. YWM

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GAO report finds ‘gaps’ in State Department reporting on UNRWA textbooks. The independent agency found the State Department “omitted required information,” missed deadlines and reported inaccurate information about UNRWA schools to Congress. Andrew Bernard. (Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS) The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report on Thursday finding that the U.S. State Department failed to properly inform Congress about efforts to reform Palestinian textbooks. JNS

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Tens of thousands take to the streets

President Trump warns US will "hit Iran very hard" if Iranian regime kills protesters. Internet and phones cut off in the Islamic Republic. Groups report at least 45 dead in riots so far.

Israel National News Jan 9, 2026, 12:55 AM INN

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German Jewish leader: AfD in government could trigger mass Jewish emigration. Germany’s top Jewish leader warns that AfD participation in government would make Jewish life untenable, as rising polls for the far-right party spark deep concern ahead of key state elections. Israel National News. Published: Jan 9, 2026, 1:09 AM (GMT+2) INN

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John Cleese tears into BBC over Iran bias row as actor fumes he's 'ashamed' of broadcaster: ‘It doesn’t want to offend Islamists!'. Alex Davies, GB News, January 8, 2026.

John Cleese has joined the growing list of voices expressing their dismay at the BBC over its coverage of the ongoing protests in Iran.

The widespread civil unrest in the Islamic Republic is said to have been sparked by the country’s economic woes, which as seen inflation skyrocket to more than 42 per cent and food prices surge by 72 per cent.

However, hostilities had been threatening to boil over for months prior to the latest protests against the regime’s corruption, civil rights abuses, and critical energy shortages.

Despite the monumental moment in the country’s history, the UK’s national broadcaster has been accused of “ignoring” developments in its coverage, both online and via broadcast.

In one of the most high-profile rows, the Israeli embassy publicly slammed the BBC over its reporting on the Iran protests, with embassy spokesman Alex Gandler claiming the broadcaster has maintained “near-total silence” on the demonstrations while devoting excessive attention to Gaza.

Iranian journalist Mani Barsharzad has added to the criticism, telling GB News that many Iranians perceive the BBC as biased in its coverage of the protests.

“There is a bias there because it doesn’t fit the narrative,” she said. “The narrative, which they want to say is ‘it is their own culture’. ‘If the Islamic Republic is oppressive, it’s because the people want that.’ But this is not the reality.”

Now, Mr Cleese has joined the critics. He took to X, where he reposted criticism of the broadcaster from the likes of Sharron Davies and Jake Wallis Simons, among others taking aim at the Beeb over the supposed lack of coverage from Iran.

Mr Cleese also reacted to a post claiming the BBC was “deliberately ignoring” the protests as it “does not want to offend Islamists in the UK”.

The actor endorsed the suggestion, replying: “This is the best explanation I’ve read so far. Incredible as it seems. I am so ashamed of the BBC.”… GBNews

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Tony Blair's sister-in-law sparks outrage after describing October 7 as 'legendary'.

17:03 EST 08 Jan 2026, updated 08:06 EST 09 Jan 2026. By Natalie Lisbona and Miles Dilworth.

Sir Tony Blair's sister-in-law has sparked outrage after footage emerged of her describing October 7 as a 'legendary day' for Muslims.

Lauren Booth, a British-born journalist who has converted to Islam, said 'only Allah knows' how many 'millions' would pick up the Quran in the wake of the attacks, arguing that the world had reached a historic 'tipping point'.

The comments, made during an interview with Turkish media last year, have sparked outrage given that October 7 marked the deadliest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. DailyMail

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UK must stop giving millions to the corrupted fiefdom of Unrwa. By Gideon Falter. January 8, 2026. The West is divided into nations that recognise the dangerous reality that has crept up on them, and nations that cling onto the hope that appeasement underpinned by the mirage of international law will prolong the illusion of peace.

While Israel has been forced to confront threats on seven fronts, the West has mostly had the luxury of appeasement.

A newly assertive United States has been awakened from the “All eyes on Rafah” delusion under President Biden, which obstructed Israel’s fight against antisemitic Hamas terrorists, to siding with Israel when President Trump neutered Iran’s threats of a second Holocaust by bombing their underground nuclear facilities.

Then there is the United Kingdom, which, along with others, continues to feebly call for “restraint” every time Israel strikes a blow against common enemies who hate Jews and the West, while keenly lapping up one piece of propaganda after another.

As Israeli hostages were starving in the dungeons of Gaza, Sir Keir Starmer demanded an end to the “man-made humanitarian crisis” there while recognising a State of Palestine without even conditioning it on the return of the hostages. He handed hardened terrorists the diplomatic jackpot free of charge. So much for moral clarity.

CAA’s polling now reveals that 91 per cent of British Jews opposed the move, with barely 5 per cent in favour. This was a climax of Britain’s immoral and self-defeating foreign policy, after decades under the spell of anti-Israel propaganda. Unsurprisingly, Israel pays little heed. British calls for “an immediate ceasefire” no longer land when Israeli children have been kidnapped in the wake of Palestinian terrorists committing the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust.

Nothing demonstrates willing Western gullibility more than the United Nations. For decades, the UN has been a parody of itself. Its Human Rights Council bulges with the worst perpetrators of human wrongs. As Israel witnessed in southern Lebanon, UN peacekeepers are simply a shield behind which terrorists prepare for mass murder.

Perhaps the worst UN agency is Unrwa. Whereas all the world’s refugees fall under the remit of UNHCR, Unrwa focuses only on those designated as refugees under their own special definition in Gaza and other territories neighbouring Israel. Founded in 1949, Unrwa spends over $3 billion a year on six million people, while UNHCR spends $11 billion on 21 times that number.

Unrwa is a corrupted fiefdom within the already distorted world of the UN. Its practices have been exposed endlessly. Its educational curricula have referred to the Jewish state as the “enemy”, taught mathematics by counting “martyred” terrorists, used phrases such as “jihad is one of the doors to paradise” in grammar lessons, and more. Its facilities have been used to store munitions and as rocket launch pads in practically every conflict with Israel.

Perhaps the worst open secret has been that Unrwa teachers and officials repeatedly moonlit as terrorists. Israeli intelligence alleged that 12 of Unrwa’s staff participated in October 7, including taking hostages. UN Watch investigators claimed that 490 Unrwa staff had links to terrorist organisations. Yahya Sinwar was found carrying an allegedly fake Unrwa identification card but there was no such excuse when the leader of Hamas in Lebanon was found to have served as head of the Unrwa teachers’ union.

Hostages who made it out of Gaza alive described being held by Unrwa personnel or in Unrwa facilities, including British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari.

The importance of Unrwa to Palestinian terrorists perhaps became most blatant amid the storm that followed the establishment by the US of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which essentially briefly replaced Unrwa. Its Gazan workers were murdered by Hamas, and disinformation campaigns convinced many a credulous Western leader and journalist that Israel was massacring Gazans collecting food amid a supposed famine depicted using the emaciated figures of children suffering from congenital diseases.

In a pre-October 7, totalitarian, Hamas-run Gaza, one might argue that there was no way Unrwa could operate without becoming enmeshed with terrorist organisations using it for cover. I would agree.

It is therefore no wonder that our polling found that 89 per cent of British Jews do not want taxpayers to fund Unrwa. When the previous government suspended funding to Unrwa, it had good reason.

TheJC

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Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs. January 8, 2026 Iran's Candidate: This is how Tehran seeks to shape the new Hamas leadership. Iran supports Khalil al-Hayya as a candidate for head of Hamas' political bureau due to his close ties with the military wing and the resistance axis, and its assessment is that he ensures continuity of the military line without internal division. Yoni Ben-Menachem. Summary. The upcoming internal elections in Hamas for the position of chairman of the political bureau are taking place at a particularly sensitive time, against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip, the fragile ceasefire, and the increasing involvement of regional players in the Palestinian arena. The race focuses on two main candidates: Khalil al-Hayya , head of Hamas’s political bureau in the Gaza Strip, and Khaled Meshaal, who is defined as the head of Hamas abroad. Behind the scenes, Iran sees in Al-Hayya a key figure capable of ensuring the continuation of the movement’s military line and strengthening the “resistance” axis.

Khalil al-Hayya played a central role in the management of the Gaza Strip throughout years of severe conflicts with Israel. In his roles as Hamas deputy chairman and as a member of the “Joint Administrative Council,” he was responsible for the movement’s most sensitive issues, primarily managing negotiations with Israel and rebuilding the organizational structure after a series of targeted assassinations carried out by Israel, which hit Hamas’ political and military leadership.

According to senior security sources, al-Hayya enjoys broad support in the Gaza Strip, both from the “Military Council” of the military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, and from Hamas operatives imprisoned in Israeli prisons. In addition, he enjoys significant support in Judea and Samaria, partly due to his ties to Zaher al-Jabarin, the head of Hamas’ military wing in that region.

His position within the military wing in the Gaza Strip is considered particularly strong, and his ties to senior commanders who have not yet been eliminated – most notably Izz ad-Din al-Haddad – strengthen his political position. During the war, al-Hayya lost three of his sons and other relatives, a loss that enhanced his public image and earned him the nickname “the father of martyrs” among Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip. JCFA

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Bondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed honoured with gold menorah by Jewish billionaire Bill Ackman. By Jamie Shapiro. January 9, 2026.

Ahmed al-Ahmed, the unarmed bystander who wrestled a weapon from one of the Bondi Beach terrorists on December 14 has been presented with a golden menorah by Jewish billionaire Bill Ackman at a Chabad awards gala in New York.

The 43-year-old Muslim shopkeeper was shot several times as he tackled one of the gunmen during the antisemitic Chanukah terror attack in which 15 people killed..

Al-Ahmed wore a kippah at the awards event, which was also attended by relatives of several of the victims as well as leading community figures.

The shopkeeper, whose arm was in a sling, was met with a standing ovation.

Presenting him with the gold menorah, inscribed with the words “light will win”, hedgefund manager Ackman was visibly moved.

'[Jews] are 0.2 per cent of the world. So seeing someone step forward on behalf of people he didn't know, to risk his own life, and the calculus of going after a guy with a gun,' he told those gathered.

“It's really one of the great acts of heroism, and I think it was very reaffirming to the Jewish community to have someone stand up on behalf of our community in the most profound, life‑affirming way.”

Explaining the meaning behind the gift, Ackman said: “The menorah represented endurance, represented courage, represented persistence and, most of all, represented life and light in the darkness. And this man deserved this.”

Al-Ahmed told reporters: "It felt like my duty as a human being, helping [keep] people safe … I’m looking at the world from the side of peace."

The injuries al-Ahmed sustained have resulted in the loss of some motion in his fingers. He said: “Honestly, there’s a pain. You know, my fingers … They’re not working, but it’ll be all right … I need time, you know, one, two months, that’s what the doctor say ... Hopefully everything will be good."

A GoFundMe page set up to raise money for al-Ahmed and to "show support and gratitude" shows the largest donation comes from "William Ackman", who contributed $99,999 (£75,000), $1 (75 pence) less than the maximum donation the platform allows for individuals.

The total fund is nearing its $3 million (£2.3 million) target.

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of Bondi Chabad, the father-in-law of one of the victims, British-born rabbi Eli Schlanger, travelled from Australia to the US alongside al-Ahmed and also spoke at the event. TheJC

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Employees of Popular NYC Bakery Move to Unionize Over Company’s Support for Israel, ‘Zionist Projects’. By Shiryn Ghermezian. January 9, 2026. Algemeiner

‘We make babka,’ says NYC bakery, accused by some staff of supporting Gaza... “We find it troubling that divisive political issues are being introduced into our workplace,” a Breads Bakery spokesman told JNS. Anna Rahmanan. (Jan. 9, 2026 / JNS) A spokesman for the Israeli-owned Breads Bakery told JNS that the New York City chain “is built on love and genuine care for our team” and that it celebrates “peace and embrace people of all cultures and beliefs,” after a newly-formed union of workers at the chain accused it of supporting “genocide” in Gaza. The group stated that management “recommended that workers refrain from speaking Arabic on the shop floor”.. JNS

After the workers' demand: The great support for the Israeli bakery in New York. Just days after Breads Bakery workers announced a strike and demanded to sever ties with Israel, dozens arrived at the New York branch to express support for the owner. "It's disturbing, we've never encountered a situation like this." Mako. 01.10.26 Mako

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Iran’s Leadership Draws Up Contingency Escape Plans Amid Widespread Anti-Government Protests: Reports. January 9, 2026. By Ailin Vilches Arguello.

As anti-government protests continue to rage and spread across Iran, the country’s leadership is reportedly preparing for a potential collapse of the regime, with senior officials said to be drawing up contingency escape plans and stockpiling resources.

On Thursday, British Conservative Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat said intelligence reports indicate that Iranian senior officials are putting contingency measures in place, “which suggest that the regime itself is preparing for life after the fall.”

“We’re also seeing Russian cargo aircraft coming and landing in Tehran, presumably carrying weapons and ammunition, and we’re hearing reports of large amounts of gold leaving Iran,” the British lawmaker told Parliament.

Amid growing domestic unrest, the regime’s leadership has reportedly applied for French visas for their families in recent days, while also taking steps to secure assets abroad.

“In the past 24 hours, high-ranking dignitaries from the reformist clan — including the president of the Islamic Assembly — have been attempting to obtain French visas for their families via a Parisian lawyer,” Iranian-French journalist Emmanuel Razavi told the French news outlet Le Figaro.

Razavi also told the Nouvelle Revue Politique in a separate interview that the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, is one of the leaders seeking a visa. The journalist added that the nephew of former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani applied for a visa to France.

There have also been reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has a backup plan to flee the country if security forces fail to suppress the protests or begin to defect.

“The ‘plan B’ is for Khamenei and his very close circle of associates and family, including his son and nominated heir apparent, Mojtaba,” an intelligence source told the British newspaper The Times.

The Iranian leader would reportedly flee to Moscow, following the path of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

However, some experts have cast doubt on reports that Khamenei, who has not left Iran for decades, plans to flee, arguing the 86-year-old leader will likely die in the country. Algemeiner

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Insanity in Tehran: Regime Cuts Internet to 80 Million, Streams Tucker Carlson on Loop Unbelievable. Insanity in Tehran: Regime Cuts Internet to 80 Million, Streams Tucker Carlson on Loop In a twist of dystopian irony, the Islamic Republic has pulled the plug on the nation’s internet and phone lines, plunging 80 million citizens into digital darkness, only to fill the void with the voice of Tucker Carlson.

Yair Kleinbaum. Jan 8, 2026. JFeed

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Emboldened by Mamdani, Protesters in New York City Chant ‘We Support Hamas’ Outside Jewish Yeshiva. January 9, 2026. The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has condemned an anti-Israel protest in New York City’s Queens borough on Thursday night, where demonstrators openly chanted “We support Hamas,” alongside calls for “intifada” and “people’s war,” outside a Jewish religious institution in a residential neighborhood. CAM

‘We support Hamas here,’ protesters chant outside synagogue in Queens, NY. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the genocide of Jews,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “No matter your political beliefs, this type of rhetoric is disgusting, it's dangerous and it has no place in New York.”

(Jan. 9, 2026 / JNS) Anti-Israel protesters chanted pro-Hamas slogans near a synagogue in Queens, N.Y., on Thursday, in a demonstration that forced the early closure of a daycare, two elementary schools and a religious site, according to a local official. JNS

Zohran is quiet. Mamdani Has Nothing to Say After Hamas Rally Outside Queens Synagogue | WATCH 200 protesters target Young Israel synagogue in Queens with pro-Hamas chants and calls for intifada. Schools dismiss early, community on edge as NYPD maintains heavy presence outside real estate event. Jfeed Staff. Jan 9, 2026 03:48 JFeed

Pro-Hamas chants outside New York synagogue, Mayor Adams condemns: 'No place for this in our city'. New York City Mayor Eric Adams condemned pro-Hamas chants heard during a demonstration outside a synagogue in the city, which was hosting a real estate sales event for Ma'ale Adumim, stating that "this rhetoric and these images are unacceptable and have no place in our city." The protest included chants of "intifada," "death to the IDF," and "we support Hamas." The demonstration also drew sharp condemnation from Jewish organizations, Consul Ophir Akunis and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Daniel Edelson, New York|01.09.26 YNet

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Update on social network X: Iran flag emoji replaced with Shah's flag. Social network X has updated the emoji of Iran's flag to the Shah's flag, which displays the lion and sun symbol in its center and was in use until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, as a gesture of solidarity with the massive wave of protests across the country. Earlier today, a user opposing the regime called for this move in a tweet to the head of the network's product department, Nikita Bier, who replied: "Give me a few hours." The flag was updated in all emoji usages across the platform, including official accounts - such as that of Tehran's Foreign Ministry. Ynet|01.09.26 YNet

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France, Britain and Germany condemn killing of protesters in Iran. France, Britain and Germany condemned the killing of protesters in Iran. This was according to a statement released by the French presidential office. According to the statement, the three countries are "concerned about reports of violence by Iranian security forces and call on authorities to exercise restraint." Reuters|01.09.26 YNet

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Samoa plans to open embassy in Jerusalem, drawing praise and criticism. Currently, seven countries have embassies in Jerusalem: the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Fiji. Itamar Eichner | published: 1.9.26 05:59 YNet

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Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal: 🚨🇮🇷 IRANIAN OPPOSITION JOURNALIST SAYS: “MORE DEAD THAN IN THE 12-DAY-WAR”

Opposition journalist Ilia Hashemi says Iranian security forces killed more people during last night’s protests than died in the entire 12-day war (~1,060).

His claim is based on eyewitness accounts and a direct conversation with a hospital surgeon in Tehran.

“I was in the operating room all night,” the surgeon told him, adding that the number of protesters killed in Tehran, Karaj, and Shahriar was higher than the war’s death toll.

This comes amid an internet blackout and near-total information control. No official numbers. No independent access.

Hospitals overwhelmed, cameras off, narrative sealed.

If even partly true, it reframes the moment: the deadliest violence wasn’t external war - it was internal suppression, carried out in a single night..

Source: @Osint613 Jan 9, 2026. on X

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Despite storm. Israelis unite for weekly Shabbat call to bring Ran Gvili home. Israel National News. Jan 9, 2026, 8:46 PM INN

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IDF responds to Hamas violation of ceasefire. IDF responds to Hamas rocket launch, conducting targeted strikes on Hamas targets in northern and southern Gaza. Israel National News. Jan 9, 2026, 7:43 AM (GMT+2) INN

After failed projectile launch. IDF eliminates senior Hamas terrorists. IDF identifies senior Hamas terrorists eliminated in strikes in Gaza in the past 24 hours after a failed projectile launch toward Israel. In addition, terror infrastructure was destroyed. Israel National News. Jan 9, 2026, 8:07 PM INN

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IDF thwarts terror attack. Terror cell arrested in Hebron planned immediate terror attack, IDF reveals. Israel National News. Published: Jan 9, 2026, 2:42 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Police charge California man with terrorist threats after firing on home with Chanukah decorations. David Englin, of the Anti-Defamation League, told JNS that “we are grateful for the seriousness with which the Redlands Police Department conducted their investigation.” Aaron Bandler.

(Jan. 9, 2026 / JNS) A 23-year-old was arrested on Jan. 8 for allegedly firing a weapon at a Jewish home in Redlands, Calif., about an hour east of Los Angeles, the Redlands Police Department stated.

Police said the man, identified as Redlands resident Garrett Bailey Stater, was arrested without incident on charges of terrorizing and making terrorist threats. JNS

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UN school in New York investigates swastika carved in locker room. “This is a direct result of years of the United Nations turning a blind eye toward the demonization of Israel and the Jewish people,” said Danny Danon, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations. Jessica Russak-Hoffman. (Jan. 9, 2026 / JNS) An incident at the United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York is under investigation after a swastika was etched into a boys’ locker room on campus, school officials confirmed to JNS.

In a letter dated Jan. 8 to the school community that was provided to JNS, executive director Dan Brenner described the “antisemitic incident” as “deeply troubling.”

“Acts and symbols of hate have no place at UNIS,” Brenner wrote. “They cause real harm, particularly to our Jewish students, families, faculty and staff, and they run counter to the values of dignity, respect and international-mindedness that define our school.”

Brenner said the school, which educates children of diplomats and international civil servants in New York, is conducting an investigation. “There will be severe consequences for those involved,” he said, and the administration will be “taking deliberate steps to address this incident through education, dialogue and collective action.” JNS

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🚨 Breaking: Iran’s national TV is directly threatening that protesters will be killed 👇

“Don’t let your children go out tonight. If they do, don’t complain if they are shot.” pic.twitter.com/6Q6oQ85a23

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 9, 2026 on X

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Goldie Ghamari | گلسا قمری @gghamari: 🚨🚨🚨

Muslim savages from IRAQ are bragging on X about being on their way to Iran to defend Khamenei and the terrorist Islamic Republic occupying Iran from IRANIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS.

When I tell you that Iran is occupied by non-Iranian Arab Muslim savages, I'm not exaggerating. January 9, 2026. on X

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Grand Mufti's Nazi War Crimes Exposed in Belgrade Files | Israel Hayom.

The Nazi war criminal the Arab world protected from justice. Yugoslavia sought to prosecute Jerusalem's Grand Mufti for war crimes, but Arab pressure buried the evidence. The archived investigation reveals his direct role in Nazi atrocities across the Balkans. By Ariel Bulshtein. 01-09-2026.

([20]. Adolf Hitler and Mohammed Amin al-Husseini in a meeting in Berlin in 1941 | Photo: AFP)

Stored in a protected Belgrade basement, among the tens of thousands of dusty files comprising Yugoslavia's national archives, sits a slim investigation folder documenting the crimes of Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, known throughout the region as Jerusalem's Grand Mufti. Though thin, the file's brevity reflects not a lack of evidence but rather the political forces that prevented full investigation. The Mufti's legacy includes rivers of blood flowing not only through the Land of Israel – where he orchestrated anti-Jewish pogroms throughout the 1920s and 1930s in a manner chillingly similar to the October 7 massacre – but across Nazi-occupied Europe as well.

Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia provided another stage for his lethal operations. Al-Husseini refused to limit himself to desk work – managing German propaganda, drafting pamphlets, broadcasting to the Muslim world, or developing strategies to mobilize Muslim minorities across the Soviet Union and Balkans for the Third Reich. The craving for direct action – the kind of Jewish bloodshed he had directed in the Land of Israel – compelled the Mufti to take his operations into the field, which he actively pursued. His "field" operations centered on occupied Yugoslavia, specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina, home to a substantial Muslim population. The Mufti's efforts resulted in the formation of three Waffen-SS divisions composed entirely of local Muslims. These units perpetrated horrific war crimes – massacring Serbs and Jews, incinerating entire villages with their inhabitants still inside, carrying out systematic rape, torture, and pillage.

When World War II concluded in summer 1945, Yugoslavia's liberated government moved to investigate the Mufti's role in Nazi atrocities, formally listing him as a war criminal and petitioning a United Nations special committee for his extradition. The investigation folder apparently originated during this period, though it tragically never advanced to substantive inquiry or trial. Al-Husseini's allies throughout the Arab world unleashed tremendous pressure and threats that forced Yugoslav authorities to retreat from extradition demands. Some sources maintain that Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito himself yielded to Arab requests, striking al-Husseini's name from the wanted list – whether from concern about global Muslim backlash or fear of retaliatory violence from Yugoslavia's own Muslim population.

([21]. "The first Nazi-Palestinian." Mohammed Amin al-Husseini. Photo: AFP)

Either way, although justice was not done with the Mufti, the file's documents, which were collected by Yugoslav investigators before they were ordered to stop, shed some light on the harmonious connection between the German Nazis and the Muslim Nazi, who is considered the father of the Palestinian nationalist movement, and on the way they collaborated.

In Hitler's service.

One of the most intriguing documents bears the date July 28, 1944 and was composed by Professor Gerhard von Mende, a senior and enthusiastic Nazi who was considered in the Third Reich's hierarchy an expert on Muslim minority affairs. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he was appointed director of the Caucasus Department of the Ministry for Occupied Eastern Territories. In practice, von Mende and al-Husseini aimed for the same goal – to recruit the Muslim world for the Reich's war effort, and it is no wonder they had much to discuss.

According to the memo, "encouraging Islam appears useful" for Nazi Germany. "The Muslim peoples are natural allies of the German Reich in the struggle against Bolshevism," von Mende quoted the Mufti, and described in detail the practical steps he proposed. Among other things, "the Grand Mufti pointed to the urgent need to strengthen general propaganda through the employment of imams and mullahs within the military units themselves." Al-Husseini went even further and proposed establishing a school for mullahs that would serve both the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS.

To this school, according to al-Husseini's vision, candidates from various nationalities were to be recruited and trained, through integrated propaganda, to advance two totalitarian doctrines – political Islam and National Socialism. The Mufti did not just talk – a similar school had already been established by him in the Muslim region of Bosnia, and its graduates had already brought the gospel of Islam and Nazism to the occupied peoples of the Balkans. To him it was only natural to continue and deepen the alliance, not only in the field of education. He warmly recommended to von Mende establishing a Muslim religious council that would highlight Germany's friendly policy toward Islam and lead counter-propaganda efforts against the Allies. "Generally speaking, the conversation showed that the Grand Mufti is prepared to place at the Germans' disposal his influence for strengthening the fighting power of Muslim units in the Wehrmacht – provided that Muslim education is carried out in a logical and purposeful manner," von Mende summarized the conversation in a message to his superiors in the Reich capital.

Al-Husseini found common ground not only with von Mende, explains in a conversation with Israel Hayom Dr. Matthias Küntzel, a world-renowned expert on the relationship between Nazi ideology and antisemitism in the Arab world. "It is known that he was a friend of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, head of the Gestapo, and Interior Minister of the German Reich. He had good relations with Himmler. The Mufti met Hitler only once, but with other figures in the Nazi leadership he had significant and important relationship networks."

A bottomless pit.

Reviewing the Mufti's file uncovers another facet of his character. Though his hatred toward Jews – and toward anyone he perceived as obstructing his path – was authentic and deeply felt, al-Husseini refused to serve the cause without compensation, however malicious and malevolent that cause might be. He demanded money, substantial amounts of it. Yugoslav investigators assembled invoices documenting his various expenditures (some involving trivially small, even laughable sums). He insisted the Germans reimburse every single expense, major and minor alike. His penny-pinching behavior inadvertently created a paper trail tracking his influence into territories far beyond traditional Muslim regions. One receipt documents a 2,000-mark payment covering "the Mufti's expenses in Vilnius." Another invoice from the Harem Hotel in Oybin, a German resort town, confirms that during late July 1944 the Mufti entertained numerous guests there – German Nazis and Muslim Nazis alike. Von Mende's name appears on that roster as well, the matching dates corroborating their meeting.

([22]. Mohammed Amin al-Husseini. Photo: GPO)

Available records indicate the Mufti collected from the Germans a monthly stipend of no less than 50,000 marks, supplemented by an additional 25,000 marks in foreign currency. These reimbursements swelled those already substantial sums, filling his coffers so generously that certain Nazis likened their Arab ally to a "bottomless pit." The Germans furnished al-Husseini with young women as well. Moral integrity never numbered among the Mufti's virtues.

Al-Husseini wasn't unique in this arrangement. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Kilani, an ardent antisemite, secured even greater compensation from the Nazis – 75,000 marks monthly, plus an additional 25,000 marks in foreign currency. The Germans possibly calculated that al-Kilani delivered superior value. In April 1941 he orchestrated a revolt in Iraq, temporarily establishing a pro-Nazi government that ultimately triggered the Farhud pogrom and massacred numerous Baghdad Jews. Al-Husseini and al-Kilani demonstrated capacity both for cooperation toward shared objectives (in 1942 they jointly authored correspondence expressing German support, driven by ambitions to destroy the emerging Jewish homeland in Palestine; roughly a year later they journeyed together to Italy's king seeking his backing for Arab causes) and for bitter disputes – primarily concerning precedence, prestige, and finances.

Operating alongside them, financed by and serving the Nazis, were additional Arab leaders and influencers including Shakib Arslan, Kamil Marwa, Mansour Daoud, and Sherif Sharaf. Understanding this network's activities requires knowing merely that Kamil Marwa received the "distinction" during the 1930s of translating "Mein Kampf" into Arabic for serialized publication in a Lebanese newspaper.

Nevertheless, al-Husseini distinguished himself from all others. Where al-Kilani bore the designation 'Iraqi representative', al-Husseini claimed to embody the pan-Islamic movement itself – to such degree that Himmler regarded him as something resembling a 'Muslim pope'. From this elevated position, offering the Nazis his services for Muslim recruitment became straightforward. Recruitment campaigns commenced with establishing propaganda machinery and broadcasting Nazi radio programming in Arabic, then advanced toward more practical and brutal undertakings.

Al-Husseini and al-Kilani sought to formalize their Nazi alliance through official documentation, refusing to rely solely on actions. They drafted a joint German-Italian declaration intended to secure from the Third Reich formal commitment for establishing an Arab state spanning the entire Middle Eastern region. Within Article 7 of this declaration they indulged their obsession – shared enthusiastically by their German partners – stipulating that Palestine's Jewish problem would be resolved "by the same methods being implemented to solve the Jewish problem in Axis nations." In 1942, responding to their explicit request, both Arab leaders received permission to tour the Sachsenhausen concentration and extermination camp outside Berlin, personally observing the "Jewish problem's" resolution. They approved of everything they witnessed, enthusiastically preparing to execute their portion wherever across the globe opportunity presented itself.

The Mufti, incidentally, never attempted concealing his familiarity with Nazi methods and objectives. In memoirs composed during his final years at his Damascus residence, he disclosed that his friend Himmler informed him around mid-1943 that "by that point approximately 3 million Jews had been exterminated."

From Jerusalem to Jerusalem.

Was the Mufti-Nazi alliance founded solely upon their mutual hatred of Jews? Evidence suggests the common ground between these two murderous ideologies extended considerably further. "The Mufti personally catalogued what he identified as the most significant convergence points between political Islam and Nazi doctrine," explains Dr. Küntzel. "He enumerated seven elements – primarily, unified leadership and the leader's elevated status, present in both systems; secondly, the culture of obedience and discipline; thirdly, the veneration accorded to battlefield martyrs; fourth, communitarian values and collective primacy over individual rights; fifth, motherhood glorification and absolute abortion prohibition; sixth, work ethic reverence and productivity worship; and seventh, their shared posture toward Jews and warfare against Judaism."

Q: Did the Nazis reciprocate al-Husseini's enthusiasm for Nazism with equal fervor?

"I'm far from certain. Nazi ranks contained divergent perspectives and disputes regarding the Mufti. Certain officials expressed bewilderment at his demands and voracious appetite – he constantly sought additional funds, more residences, expanded household staff, and increasingly extravagant material provisions. Conversely, his Himmler friendship bolstered his standing considerably. Whether al-Husseini actually met Adolf Eichmann remains unclear. Nazi leadership assigned personnel to manage the Mufti, though their responsibilities proved challenging. Al-Husseini demonstrated difficult temperament, repeatedly disappointing his German supervisors through his conduct. He envisioned himself commanding the entire Muslim world and broadcast arrogance indiscriminately." Dr. Matthias Küntzel, a world-renowned expert on the relationship between Nazi ideology and antisemitism in the Arab world.

Q: Didn't Nazi racial doctrine render him inferior and unacceptable by German standards?

"Hitler quotations exist suggesting the Mufti didn't appear Semitic. He possesses light hair and undoubtedly Aryan blood courses through his veins. Such rationales constructed the framework permitting him as an ally. This represented obvious nonsense, though admittedly the entire racial theory constituted accumulated nonsense."

Q: How would you evaluate his Yugoslav achievements? Did he successfully mobilize significant Balkan Muslim populations under Nazi banners?

"He enjoyed substantial fame throughout the Muslim world, amplified through his Nazi radio addresses broadcasting from Berlin. Consequently, his undertaking the mission of persuading Yugoslav Muslims to enlist in the SS represented tremendous development from the Nazi perspective. Naturally, answering the theoretical question whether Muslim unit formation would have occurred without him proves impossible, yet his role throughout this process carried undeniable importance. He journeyed to Bosnia, delivered speeches, exercised persuasion, while simultaneously guaranteeing Muslim recruits received halal-certified provisions and distinctly Muslim uniforms. He micromanaged every detail ensuring Muslims experienced comfort as SS soldiers. "Simultaneously, he incited recruits toward ruthless violence against opponents and enemies. He orchestrated mass murder. Brutality and lethal violence served as his defining characteristics consistently – originating in 1930s Palestine. These traits never evolved. Middle Eastern populations lived in terror of the Mufti's gang operatives during the 1930s. Yugoslav populations experienced terror from his SS forces throughout World War II. And Palestinian populations confronted identical brutality and murderousness post-1945 through Israel's establishment. Extensive documentation confirms this pattern."

The Mufti's life trajectory and criminal activities spanned three continents – across all of which he left rivers of blood. Throughout the Balkans, Serbian blood flowed primarily, though Jews and Roma numbered among victims as well. Muslim-Nazi collaboration's success in occupied Yugoslavia spawned proposals replicating this model elsewhere. "The Mufti alongside additional Muslim Nazi collaborators attempted orchestrating major initiatives connecting with Muslim populations throughout Soviet territories," Dr. Küntzel corroborates von Mende's memo details. "However, that aspect doesn't constitute the essential point – nor his encounters with senior Nazis during his German residence. My research uncovered that the period preceding his German arrival, and the period following his German stay, carried greater significance. Why? Because throughout his German phase, spanning 1941 through 1945, he operated under Nazi directives. He lacked complete autonomy. He naturally sought maximizing financial compensation, prestige, and similar benefits, yet couldn't execute everything he genuinely desired. Contrastingly, during earlier periods – specifically 1936 through 1939 – he executed a pivotal Middle Eastern role; then resumed that role from 1945 through 1948. Throughout those periods he worked preventing Jewish state establishment – and succeeded. Throughout those periods he inflicted greater damage than during his German phase."

Extermination project.

These testimonies represent merely a fraction of available evidence. The Mufti-Nazi alliance functioned and produced results even without requiring direct action. Al-Husseini's reputation and imagery preceded him everywhere. On January 30, 1942, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels documented in his diary how propaganda units distributed the Mufti's photograph throughout the Crimean Peninsula to recruit Muslim volunteers for Germany's military campaigns. This image depicting his Hitler meeting underwent duplication into tens of thousands of copies, distributed across Muslim population centers throughout Wehrmacht-conquered territories. Bosnian soldiers of the 13th Mountain SS Division reading the pamphlet "Islam and Judaism," written by the Mufti (Screenshot: Wikipedia)

The Mufti's schemes – both realized and unrealized – should have delivered him directly to the gallows. Yet during the war's closing weeks he remained in Berlin rather than Yugoslavia. "In April 1945 al-Husseini successfully departed the besieged Reich capital by aircraft, landing in Switzerland," Dr. Küntzel discloses. "Authorities there apprehended and transferred him into French custody. Yet France accommodated him in exceptionally comfortable conditions near Paris. Even from this pleasant confinement the French facilitated his escape, whereupon he 'resurfaced' in Cairo during 1946."

This dual escape couldn't have transpired without systematic planning and assistance from sympathetic parties, Dr. Küntzel maintains. Furthermore, even amid their annihilation the Nazis envisioned continuing Jewish extermination – operating through the Mufti. "They sustained his financing even throughout the Reich's terminal days, anticipating he would persist in pursuing Jews and executing everything possible preventing Jewish state establishment in Palestine," Küntzel contends. "By 1944-45 the Nazis were already strategizing the subsequent Middle Eastern war against Jews. This explains why the Mufti received such substantial funding during the war's final period, despite its inability to influence the conflict's trajectory or conclusion. Abundant documentation confirms this. "As early as 1942 the Nazis recognized their inability to defeat the Allied forces, yet victory against Jews remained their priority. Should Germany face death, they determined the Zionist project must perish as well. This perspective obviously didn't represent most German population sentiment – they confronted other concerns at war's end. However, specific Nazi leadership circles understood precisely why financing the Mufti mattered and why concealing weapons throughout the Middle East for imminent anti-Zionist struggle proved essential. They preplanned the Mufti's subsequent warfare steps against Jews."

Arab nationalist apologists attempting to sanitize the Mufti's record contend his Nazi assistance role shouldn't be exaggerated. How do you respond?

"The Mufti executed terrible satanic acts. This doesn't establish Mufti responsibility for Europe's Jewish 'Final Solution'. When al-Husseini reached Germany in 1941, Jewish extermination preparations were already complete. No evidence demonstrates the Mufti originated Hitler's Jewish extermination concept. This represented Hitler's and Germany's initiative, though the Mufti endorsed it enthusiastically, matching his worldview and strategic objectives. Subsequently, when Nazis considered rescuing certain Jewish children, the Mufti exerted maximum effort guaranteeing those children's murder in Poland rather than permitting their Palestine arrival."

Q: Did Mohammed Amin al-Husseini possess unusual characteristics?

"The Mufti's Jew-hatred proved extraordinary, utterly delusional. This constitutes his legacy bequeathed to Arab and Muslim populations. In 1937 he published a pamphlet titled 'Islam and Judaism'. This represents an incomparably significant document, conclusively demonstrating how Israel-hatred, Zionism-hatred, and Jew-hatred originated long preceding Israel's establishment. People erroneously assume Middle Eastern antisemitism emerged responding to Jewish state creation and its policies, yet this interpretation proves demonstrably false. The causal and chronological sequence operates in precisely opposite direction. The Mufti's pamphlet exhibits extreme antisemitism predating Israel's existence. Al-Husseini and his adherents prepared for Jewish warfare specifically to prevent their existence."

Q: How do you account for German public indifference toward these documented facts?

"The German public's unawareness proves deeply unfortunate. Despite how I and fellow researchers have exposed the connections between the Mufti's political Islam and Nazism, this information remains essentially an open secret for most individuals. Why? Because numerous 'experts' prefer attributing Middle Eastern antisemitism's existence to Israel. They characterize antisemitism as Israeli conduct's byproduct, and achieving this conclusion requires separating Nazi antisemitism – delusional even by their assessment – from Muslim antisemitism, supposedly justified. Consequently many deliberately suppress Nazi influence on 1930s and 1940s Middle Eastern developments." ILH

Explosive Archives Confirm the Nazi Origins of Palestinian Terror Finance. Files unearthed in Belgrade highlight the breadth of the Nazi–Muslim partnership and its modern-day consequences. Gerald Posner and Trisha Posner. Jan 09, 2026.

Archival material newly unsealed in Belgrade casts a harsh spotlight on collaboration between Nazi Germany and Islamist leadership during the Second World War. Hidden for decades in Yugoslavia’s national archives, a slim investigative file on Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, confirms both the scale of his operational role in Nazi Europe and the political suppression that later ensured the case would never be pursued.

The file [23] is not thin because evidence was lacking. It is thin because the investigation was stopped.

The documents reinforce a historical continuum stretching from the Mufti’s wartime collaboration with Nazi Germany to the postwar survival of Nazi capital networks that later financed the emergence of Palestinian terror organizations. This is precisely the through-line Patricia Posner and I documented in our 2024 joint investigation published by the Jewish Chronicle, Revealed: Nazi Financial Fixer Who Funded Palestinian Terror [24]. In that exposé we traced how François Genoud, a Swiss Nazi financier, preserved Hitler’s political and financial legacy and redirected looted Nazi assets into Middle Eastern militant causes in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Belgrade materials focus heavily on al-Husseini’s activities in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, particularly Bosnia and Herzegovina. Far from acting merely as a political intermediary or propagandist, the Mufti pushed aggressively for operational control. He helped facilitate the creation of multiple Waffen-SS divisions composed of local Muslims, units that went on to commit mass atrocities against Jews and Serbs, including village burnings, executions, rape, and systematic terror.

What emerges from the archive is not only violence, but design.

Just the Facts with Gerald Posner is a reader-supported publication. Subscriptions make this work possible.

Documents assembled by Yugoslav investigators before their work was halted reveal how deliberately the alliance between the Nazi leadership and the Mufti was constructed. A wartime memorandum authored by a senior German official responsible for Muslim minority affairs in occupied territories records extensive coordination between Nazi authorities and al-Husseini aimed at mobilizing Muslim populations for the Nazi war effort.

The Mufti was not simply endorsing Third Reich objectives. He was shaping policy. He advocated embedding religious authorities directly within German military units, arguing that imams should be used to indoctrinate and motivate Muslim soldiers serving in both the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. He pushed for the creation of formal training institutions designed to fuse political Islam with National Socialist ideology, producing cadres capable of spreading both doctrines in tandem.

This was not theoretical. A similar religious training model had already been implemented under his direction in Bosnia. Graduates of that system were deployed across the Balkans, reinforcing Nazi control and participating directly in atrocities against civilian populations. The Belgrade files confirm that the fusion of Islamism and Nazism was neither accidental nor rhetorical. It was institutionalized.

The archives also expose another dimension of the alliance that resonates powerfully with what followed in the postwar period: money. JustTheFacts

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SHOCKING. Former Labour Blackburn MP Kate Hollern speaking about the ‘toxic’ general election campaign where she lost to Gaza thug Adnan Hussain MP." At one point, I was told I was going to be beheaded... When someone tells you, 'You are going to be beheaded', and you see a picture of yourself on social media covered in blood, of course it worries you."… [pic.twitter.com/kUtZatQC6E] — Subversive Force (@sirwg202110) January 8, 2026. on X

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Hengaw Human Rights Report: Nearly 2,000 Executions In Iran 2025 | MEMRI. January 8, 2026. Special Dispatch. No. 12319. Hengaw Human Rights Report For 2025: Iran Executed 1,858 Prisoners; 1,552 People Were Arrested Or Abducted By Authorities; 454 Political And Religious Activists Were Sentenced To 1,766 Years And 11 Days Of 'Discretionary' Punishment. January 8, 2026 MEMRI

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Pro-Iran Hackers Target Opposition News Site | MEMRI. Iraqi Militia-Linked Hackers Claim Cyberattack On Iranian Opposition Site Amid Surging Anti-Regime Protests January 9, 2026 MEMRI

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Ben Rhodes Heartbroken As Iranians March for Freedom. Architect of maligned nuclear deal wants Iranians to stop protesting and 'negotiate' with their oppressors.

Andrew Stiles. January 9, 2026. Iranians are revolting against the despotic regime that Barack Obama worked tirelessly to legitimize, and the former president's foreign policy guru is struggling to contain his despair.

Ben Rhodes, architect of the much-maligned Iran nuclear deal, hasn't posted anything on social media to express solidarity with the protesters who have been risking their lives since late December in one of the largest mass uprisings the country has ever seen. Instead, he has repeatedly denounced Donald Trump for vowing to protect the protesters from state-sanctioned violence.

When U.S. forces apprehended Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro—one of Iran's closest allies in Latin America—Rhodes was deeply concerned that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could be next to fall. The operation took place less than 24 hours after Trump expressed support for the protesters in Iran and promised to "come to their rescue" if the regime turned violent.

"The thing that worries me is this kind of behavior can become contagious, and maybe it already has been," Rhodes said on Pod Save the World, his foreign policy podcast with former Obama bro Tommy Vietor. "It's probably not, like, entirely a coincidence that Trump is threatening Iran at the same time that he's doing this in Venezuela."

Days later, Rhodes and Vietor made fun of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) for wearing a "Make Iran Great Again" hat and saying that Trump has not "turned his back on the people of Iran" the way Obama did during the green revolution in 2009. "Cool hat, dork," Vietor quipped smugly.

Rhodes, whose hatred of Israel earned him the nickname "Hamas" in Obama's White House, proceeded to play Debbie Downer by listing off reasons why toppling the Iranian regime was actually worse than the status quo. "The problem going forward is there's no clear path to, like, what would come next," he lamented. If his good friend Khamenei were to be deposed, Rhodes contended, his other friends in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) would take control and "Trump bombing them isn't going to change that."

The Obama bro, who used to write the president's speeches, delivered a semi-coherent rant about the dangers of attacking the regime to hasten its downfall. "The question is whether or not, you know, Israel tries to take advantage of [the protests] by bombing Iran again, and see if that is like, you know, hitting a boxer who they think is about to go down," he said. "Um, I don't think that would be good because, actually, I think the more chaotic the collapse is of this regime, the more likely there's a civil war and the IRGC are the people that ... are running the place."

Rhodes continued to ramble about why the Iranian people shouldn't trust Trump and why, if they knew what was best for them, they would stop protesting and "negotiate" with their oppressors—just like he did in Obama's second term. "Like, what is in place after, like, whatever this, like," he said. "Um, can there be just some Iranian process to, like, negotiate, like, a pathway in a different direction? That will take time, but that's better than the regime collapsing and there being a civil war, or it's better than the supreme leader being ousted, but then the IRGC is in charge, right?"

On Thursday, Rhodes promoted a post from Bulwark journalist Tim Miller about how Vice President J.D. Vance was "the most appalling person in public life since segregation." That remains his most recent entry on his X feed. Meanwhile, in Iran, protesters across the country continue to risk their lives for freedom, but Rhodes has made no effort to acknowledge their courage.

Rhodes was one of several prominent Iran apologists who condemned the Israeli and U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. Attacking Iran, he said, was an "utterly pointless, dangerous, and immoral act" that would escalate into full-blown war. (It did not.) Rhodes argued, without citing evidence, that the Middle East would be far more peaceful if Trump hadn't pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal he crafted with Obama. "Donald Trump's tearing up agreements contributed, I believe, directly to October 7, between Israel and Hamas," he said on MSNBC the day after U.S. bombers struck Iranian targets.

The inflammatory rhetoric from Rhodes and his fellow Obama bros appears to have radicalized Ryan Routh, the deranged liberal who tried to assassinate Trump in September 2024. Routh echoed the Obama bro talking points in a handwritten note outlining his motivations, denouncing Trump as unfit to be president because "he ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled."

Apart from his slavish devotion to the Iranian regime, Rhodes is best known for crying like a bitch when Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Weeks later, he flew to Havana to attend Fidel Castro's funeral alongside his grieving comrades from Iran. FreeBeacon

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Netanyahu signals Israel may phase out US military aid. In an interview with The Economist, PM Netanyahu vows to secure Israel’s future, restore its global standing, fight “propaganda," reassess US aid, and confront threats from Iran. Israel National News. Published: Jan 9, 2026, 9:48 PM (GMT+2) INN

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British report: Khamenei raised alert level to highest amid protests. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has raised the alert level of the country's security forces to the highest level, amid citizen protests against the regime. This was reported by the British "Telegraph," which emphasized that Khamenei instructed the Revolutionary Guards to take control of the protests, amid fears of desertions from the army and police. The newspaper further claimed that according to Iranian sources, the alert level that Iran is currently at is even higher than during the 12-day war with Israel, and that "underground missile cities are ready to deal with external threats." Ynet|01.10.26 YNet

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Iranian intimidation campaign: Israelis receive threatening messages. Israelis received threatening messages as part of an Iranian intimidation campaign, which read: "We are coming. Look to the skies at midnight." Ynet|01.10.26 YNet

Masses of Israelis Received Threat: "We're Coming. Look at Midnight". N12. 01.10.26 The SMS Messages.. an Iranian Awareness Operation. Or Ravid. N12.1.10.26 ...Messing also claimed that the messages are being sent to "relatively high-profile" people who appear in the phone books leaked in previous hacks.

Cyber ​​Command: "Nothing more than an attempt to create panic". The National Cyber ​​Command updated that these messages, sent by an unidentified party, were received in the last hour. "This is nothing more than an attempt to create panic in the public," it said. "We are not pressuring, we are not sharing, we are simply continuing with our routine. It is important to emphasize: no device or account was hacked. This is a widespread distribution of a message, similar to spam messages Mako

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'We are Hamas here,' 'long live Oct 7': chants outside NYC synagogue spark outrage.

A broad chorus of NYC politicians, from Eric Adams and Richie Torres to Alexandria Ocasio Cortez condemn the chants as antisemitic.

i24NEWS. January 10, 2026.

A pro-Hamas protesters chanted slogans in support of the jihadist group outside a New York synagogue on Thursday, in the city's latest antisemitism outrage that drew condemnation from a wide range of political figures. New York City comptroller Marc D. Levine said "there is no ambiguity here. This is support of a terrorist organization. This cannot be normalized and excused. Truly reprehensible." [25]

Footage circulating on social media showed dozens of protesters chanting “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here” and "Love live October 7" outside the Young Israel synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. [26]

An extremist anti-Israeli group named Pal-Awda identified the synagogue's location on social media earlier on Thursday...

Elizabeth Pipko | i24NEWSROOM. New York State Assemblyman Sam Berger, a Democrat who represents the area, said that local Jewish institutions voluntarily closed for the day after police notified them of the demonstration. [27]

New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote that "Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the genocide of Jews. No matter your political beliefs, this type of rhetoric is disgusting, it's dangerous, and it has no place in New York." [28]

"Whatever the amnesia surrounding 10/7, the truth must never be forgotten: Hamas murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and tortured thousands of innocent Israelis. It is—and has always been—a barbaric oppressor of its own people," wrote congressman Ritchie Torres. "Support for Hamas is not an expression of empathy for Palestinians; it is an expression of antipathy toward Jews and Israelis. Hate has no place in NYC." The far-left, anti-Israel congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez joined the chorus of condemnations, thereby drawing ire from pro-Palestinian activists on social media. [29]

Former NYC mayor Eric Adams wrote that "The chants heard yesterday in the heart of the Jewish community in Kew Gardens, Queens, in support of Hamas were vile and deliberate acts of intimidation meant to terrorize our Jewish community." New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a brief, carefully worded statement of condemnation on X. [30]

"We're calling on the mayor to condemn this. Support for Hamas, a terrorist organization, an organization that is sworn to the destruction of Jews and Israelis around the world, that is very problematic," said Scott Richman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, demanding stronger language from Mamdani. "And he needs to be clear. He's the leader of this city, and he needs to be the leader for all Jews, for all residents of the city, and make it clear that this is unacceptable language." i24

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Why the same network that tormented Jewish students now defends Maduro. Campaigns were orchestrated by foreign-funded organizations testing rapid-response capabilities for broader deployment against American interests. Alex Goldenberg. (Jan. 10, 2026 / JNS)

In a remarkable piece of investigative journalism published in Fox News, Asra Q. Nomani documented how a network of self-described Marxist and communist organizations mobilized pro-Nicolás Maduro protests across more than 100 American cities within 12 hours of his capture on Jan. 3 by U.S. forces. The minute-by-minute reconstruction reveals the operational capability that I described in my congressional testimony in December 2024: a sophisticated, foreign-funded rapid-response infrastructure operating on American soil.

Nomani’s reporting raises a critical question: What is this network actually built to do? The answer matters profoundly for understanding both the campus antisemitism many Jewish students experienced after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the broader threat to American foreign-policy coherence.

This infrastructure exists to mobilize immediate domestic opposition to U.S. actions that threaten authoritarian regimes aligned with Chinese and Russian interests. Not all anti-Israel protests fall into this category. But specific campaigns, particularly the “Shut It Down for Palestine” (SID4P) movement that blocked airports, bridges, tunnels and critical infrastructure, were organized by groups with documented ties to Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American tech billionaire who sold his company for $785 million.

What The New York Times investigation revealed in August 2023 was a global operation. Singham has been co-opting left-wing movements worldwide—from political parties in South Africa to news organizations in India and Brazil, systematically steering them toward pro-China Communist Party narratives. The Times tracked hundreds of millions of dollars flowing to groups that “mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.”

In South Africa, Singham’s network funded the Nkrumah School, which hosts boot camps attended by activists and politicians from across Africa. According to U.S. tax records, one of Singham’s nonprofits donated at least $450,000 for training at the school. But activists who attended these sessions began noticing something troubling. What was marketed as liberation politics increasingly took a pro-China tilt. New Frame, a South African news outlet funded by Singham, shut down in July 2022 after staff questioned why there was no coverage of Uyghur oppression or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This pattern of co-optation was repeated globally. In India, Singham funded NewsClick, which “sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points.” In Brazil, funding went to Brasil de Fato, which interspersed articles about land rights with praise for Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The operational model was consistent: Find genuine progressive movements, provide substantial funding and gradually shift their focus toward CCP strategic priorities. JNS

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Former terrorist has 'reimagined' herself as an influencer.

Reality TV-loving jihadi bride who fled Britain for Syria is now influencer. 04:46 EST 10 Jan 2026, updated 06:35 EST 10 Jan 2026 By David Rivers and Jacob Dirnhuber.

She's a convicted terrorist who fled Britain with her toddler son and travelled to war-ravaged Syria to join ISIS - in the hope that the youngster would one day commit murderous atrocities.

Tareena Shakil notoriously posted sinister images on Facebook of her son wearing an Islamic State-branded balaclava along with others of her brandishing an AK47 assault rifle and a handgun beside the terror group's flag.

Now the Daily Mail can reveal that after an extraordinary transformation the former Islamic State poster girl has taken to using social media in an entirely different way.

Shakil, who earned the nickname the 'Towie jihadi' over her love of popular reality TV shows, has reinvented herself - as a jet-setting influencer.

The former hijab-wearing radical - who was jailed for six years in 2016 for joining ISIS and encouraging acts of terror on social media - now poses in an array of glamorous Western outfits and appears to aspire to a lifestyle far closer to the catwalk than the caliphate.

Her most recent Instagram postings show Shakil appeared to have travelled to Paris over Christmas after previously heading to the bright lights of London for a shopping trip - posing for pictures as she tried on outfits at a swanky Chanel store.

Earlier in the year she enjoyed a balloon ride over a desert landscape and a get-away-from-it-all escape to a paradise island in Thailand where she went on boat rides and paddled with elephants on a private beach. DailyMail

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In Poland: Israeli coaches were beaten in front of boys – and the delegation was expelled. An Israeli delegation of about 90 children and teenagers was verbally and physically attacked during a judo competition in Europe, after being subjected to anti-Semitic chants throughout the day. Two coaches were beaten, and instead of dealing with the attackers, it was decided to remove the delegation, which was forced to lock itself in a hotel for fear of its safety. Oren Aharoni. 1/10/2026

A serious anti-Semitic incident occurred today (Saturday) in the city of Bielsko-Biała, Poland, during a judo competition for children and teenagers. A large Israeli delegation, including about 90 athletes aged 7 to 16 from three clubs from Or Akiva and Sharon, went to the competition with the aim of competing, gaining experience and representing Israel with honor, but found itself in the middle of a violent event.

According to the testimony of the delegation members, the hostile atmosphere began in the early morning hours. Throughout the day, anti-Semitic chants were heard at the athletes and coaches, including "Free Palestine" and "Here come the Jews." The children, some very young, had to deal with curses and yelling while trying to concentrate on the battles on the mat.

The climax of the incident came when two of the delegation's coaches approached the judges in an attempt to address the events and conduct in the hall. At this point, it is alleged, a group of about 12 Polish men approached them, raised their hands, and physically attacked the two coaches. The coaches were beaten in front of other participants, including young athletes, which increased the sense of fear and shock among the entire delegation. ILH

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Iranian doctors say hundreds killed in protests, hospitals in Tehran enter crisis mode - report. Both TIME Magazine and the BBC reported hundreds of protesters killed in Iran, with several hospitals in Tehran entering crisis mode due to an overflow of wounded patients.

By Tobias Holcman. January 10, 2026 Hundreds of people were reportedly killed during the ongoing protests in Iran, according to Iranian doctors who spoke to Time magazine and the BBC.

The Time report mentioned that a doctor from Tehran, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that Iranian hospitals have recorded some 217 protesters killed since the protests began two weeks ago. JPost

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In one day: Hamas terrorists violate ceasefire three times. Terrorist attempts to steal IDF weapon, others threaten troops. Israel National News. Jan 10, 2026, 7:39 PM (GMT+2)

On Saturday, IDF troops operating in the southern Gaza Strip identified three terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the troops, posing an immediate threat to them.

One of the terrorists attempted to steal IDF equipment and subsequently fled. Following the identification, the IAF eliminated the terrorist west of the Yellow Line in order to remove the threat. INN

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London: Protester climbs Iranian Embassy to replace flag. Protester climbs Iranian Embassy in London to replace Islamic Republic flag with pre-evolution flag; Tehran protester says 'hundreds' dead in the streets. Israel National News. Jan 10, 2026, 9:29 PM INN

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Watch: Dancing at a wedding - with drawn weapons. Security forces raid event hall near Maaleh Adumim, following reports of illegal weapons at a wedding. Israel National News. Kan 10, 2026, 9:16 PM (GMT+2)

Security forces on Friday night raided an event hall in the village of Al-Eizariya, where a wedding was taking place, following identification and intelligence indicating the presence of illegal weapons at the site.

The operation was carried out by detectives from the Maaleh Adumim police station, together with Border Police fighters from Judea and Samaria and the Jerusalem Envelope unit.

Israel Police and Border Police forces who arrived at the location forced their way into the hall, detained those attending the celebration, and conducted a search. During the search, the forces located three weapons: two handguns - a Glock and a Jericho - and an M16 rifle. INN

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PA loses soulmate Maduro – front page JPost Magazine. PMW staff|Jan 11, 2026. PA loses soulmate Maduro – front page of The Jerusalem PostMagazine. [31]. The Palestinian Authority is firmly and fundamentally a part of the anti-American and anti-Western Axis. In this important article, which The Jerusalem Post chose to highlight as the front-page story in its Weekend Magazine, Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus exposes the longstanding and close relationship between the PA and the communist anti-American dictators of Venezuela. Marcus calls the relationship one of "soulmates."

Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state or having Gaza placed under PA control because the PA is an anti-Semitic terror-supporting entity. The US and Western democracies must likewise reject PA rule because a PA entity will support forces hostile to the free world and erode the democratic world order Western governments seek to achieve.

By Itamar Marcus. January 9, 2026.

The Palestinian Authority has had a special and warm relationship with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, and before him with Hugo Chavez, as one of soulmates.

The PA has actively and openly placed itself firmly in the camp of the notorious human rights-abusing Venezuelan dictators. Following the US raid and arrest of President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking – with an audacious military operation in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas – the PA has remained silent for now, fearing a US reaction to its support for Maduro.

However, the PA camaraderie with Maduro has been fundamental to PA policy.

A few months ago, when US President Donald Trump started to threaten Venezuela, the PA held an anti-American demonstration at the Venezuelan embassy in Ramallah in support of Maduro. Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam participated and posted her anti-American messages and pictures on her Facebook page:

"As a sign of rejecting the American threats against friendly Venezuela, I participated in the solidarity vigil that was organized by the national forces in front of the Venezuelan Embassy building of Caracas in the State of Palestine in order to affirm our people's support for the people and government of Venezuela." [Ramallah and Al-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam, Facebook page, Sept. 18, 2025]

Mahmoud Abbas's appointee Ahmad Assaf, who is the director of official PA TV, has a small statue of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez prominently displayed in his office to show all visitors where the PA's ideology and values stand. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 10, 2025]

The PA has prominently supported the Latin American dictators for years. In 2024, Venezuela held an election, and according to opposition sources, 70% voted against Maduro. Many Western democracies declined to recognize Maduro's election. The PA, however, welcomed Maduro's rule, and Abbas sent his special envoy to the inauguration.

"President Abbas' Advisor on International Affairs and Special Envoy Minister Riyad al-Maliki participated in the inauguration ceremony of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro as the representative of President Mahmoud Abbas…

"Al-Maliki conveyed President Mahmoud Abbas' congratulations to President-elect Maduro and wishes for success in serving his country and his people… He also emphasized that the State of Palestine is showing interest in strengthening the relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in all areas of common interest." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2025]

In 2024, the PA sent Fatah leader Abbas Zaki to an event in Venezuela under the auspices of President Maduro. The PA leader praised the communist dictators of Latin America and compared Maduro to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara:

"Thank Allah who created in Latin America – which is geographically far but closest to the Palestinians' hearts – great leaders who are restoring the memory of [former Cuban President] Fidel Castro and [former Communist leader Che] Guevara, like President Maduro."

Maduro, in turn, expressed the dictator's support for the PA. "Maduro described what is happening in Palestine as the Israeli occupation committing a genocide against the Palestinian people for 75 years," i.e., since Israel's creation. [Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, June 18, 2024]

Ramallah-Caracas: Warm ties that stretch back

In 2023, Mahmoud Abbas sent the Chairman of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, to Venezuela to deliver a personal message from Abbas to Maduro:

"Fattouh also laid a wreath of flowers on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas on the monument of historic leader Hugo Chavez." [WAFA, official PA news agency, July 27, 2023]

The picture shows Fattouh and the wreath with the words "President of the State of Palestine Mr. Mahmoud Abbas" written in Spanish. [Palestinian National Council Chairman Rawhi Fattouh, Facebook page, July 28, 2023]

In 2018, Western democracies also rejected Maduro's election victory and announced that they would recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader. Russia, China, Mexico, Syria, Iran, and Turkey supported Maduro, while the US, EU, Canada, Israel, and some countries in Latin America backed Guaidó. Aligning with the anti-democratic regimes, the PA rallied behind Maduro.

PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki participated in Maduro's inauguration ceremony and brought Maduro personal congratulations from Mahmoud Abbas:

"Al-Maliki congratulated President Maduro on receiving the presidency, wished him success in his service of the Venezuelan people, and conveyed to him the congratulations and wishes of [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership that always stands by Venezuela and its people, as Palestine does not forget its friends." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2019]

The PA Foreign Ministry "condemned several states" for their "interference" against him:

"The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concern given the events taking place in Venezuela and condemned several states' interference in the state's internal affairs and direct [interference] through support for the coup attempt against legally elected President Maduro." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2019]

PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani, meanwhile, attacked the US and also accused it of "interference" in Venezuela's affairs while condemning the "coup attempt" against Maduro:

"The blatant American interference in states' affairs, as is happening in Venezuela, is a direct continuation of the policy of [US President Donald] Trump's administration, whose goal is to usurp the will of the peoples... and [condemned] the coup attempt against the legitimacy of elected President Maduro." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2018]

The PA official daily reported on demonstrations supporting Maduro:

"The Palestinian and Venezuelan peoples face the same enemy - which is the US." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2019]

An op-ed in the official PA daily ripped into US President Trump's speech at the UN about Venezuela:

"The new cowboy (i.e., US President Donald Trump) blatantly threatened a sovereign state – Venezuela – and its president. He announced that his administration would attack [Venezuelan] President Nicolás Maduro and unequivocally incited the army to carry out a coup against a president who was legally elected. He also attacked socialism as if his capitalist system is in better shape..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 27, 2018]

Subsequently, protesters held posters with Venezuelan and Palestinian flags at a solidarity rally in Ramallah, where PA leaders also participated. One poster showed pictures of Donald Trump with an "X" across his face and the words

"American Imperialism, Enemy of the Nations."

The rally participants chanted: "America is the head of the snake, blessings from Ramallah to proud Caracas." [Official Fatah Facebook page, May 21, 2019]

As a sign of this friendship, the Palestinian Embassy in Venezuela erected a statue of "President Martyr Yasser Arafat in Liberator Simon Bolivar Monument Square." PA Ambassador Linda Sobeh "again emphasized Palestine's support for Venezuela in light of the situation that it is going through (i.e., violent clashes between the regime and opposition forces following Maduro's fraudulent election)." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 17, 2019]

As a further sign of camaraderie, the PA named a hospital after the dictator, which was called "the Palestinian-Venezuelan Hugo Chavez Eye Disease Hospital… according to the instructions of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, and constitutes a source of Palestinian national pride." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 1, 2018]

The PA's next move

With the Palestinian Authority desperate for US aid and support as it seeks a position of power in some future Gaza entity, Mahmoud Abbas is attempting to conceal his longstanding embrace of Venezuela's anti-American regime. Abbas seems petrified that President Trump might realize the PA's place squarely within the anti-American ideological axis.

Abbas has thus ensured that the PA's official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, remained silent on the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, even as the story featured prominently in other Palestinian newspapers. The fear was so acute that Abbas's paper did not publish a single news item about Venezuela on Jan. 5, let alone an opinion piece.

By contrast, independent Palestinian newspapers filled their pages with coverage of events in Venezuela, including columns sharply attacking the US. Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian daily, published 15 articles on the issue, seven of them openly critical of the US, and devoted an entire page to short commentary responses – all critical.

Al-Ayyam, the second-largest daily, ran 18 articles on Venezuela, at least two of them critical, and dedicated a full page to photographs highlighting pro-Maduro protests around the world.

The blackout in Al-Hayat is revealing precisely because it is unnatural. The paper's refusal to criticize the US over Venezuela exposes how tightly the PA's official media is controlled. The PA keenly fears the consequences of letting Washington know where it stands in the conflict between the US and the anti-American axis.

This sudden discipline does not signal an ideological change. The PA remains aligned with anti-American regimes and worldviews. The difference is tactical: What has changed is only the PA's need to hide its essential ideologies from Donald Trump. PalWatch

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Elder Of Ziyon. January 11, 2026. The only coherence in the incoherence is antisemitism. Here is video of a clash between anti-Ayatollah and anti-Israel protesters yesterday in Bellevue, WA:

Many are noting online the utter insanity of white women who pretend to care about the oppressed fighting against protesters of the quite oppressive Iranian regime which is especially misogynist.

It is similar to the LGBTQ activists who have taken up pro-Hamas, anti-Israel positions when they are the ones who would be attacked if they lived under Palestinian rule.

Finding hypocrisy is easy, but these people have a coherent philosophy in the midst of their obvious incoherence. People and movements are not inconsistent - in their own mindset, they are supremely consistent. The only question is to find what that mindset is.

In the case of these white women in Washington, it isn't "supporting the oppressed." The Iranian people are the oppressed.

It isn't Marxism. They don't look like they've read Das Kapital. They aren't interested in fighting capitalism..

It isn't anti-Trump. Trump may have expressed support for the Iranian people but it is not exactly a centerpiece of his policy at this point.

It isn't anti-America. There are plenty of people who hate America but they are generally not motivated to go out in the streets unless there is a specific event. Anti-ICE protests are one of the sparks that do prompt demonstrations, but what thread is there between anti-ICE and pro-mullahs?

If this were simply about opposing American power or capitalism, we would see comparable mass mobilization around Yemen, Syria, Iran, or Venezuela. We do not. Only anti-Israel protests reliably produce crowds. That fact alone tells us where the emotional and ideological center of gravity lies. If this were simply about opposing American power or capitalism, we would see comparable mass mobilization around Yemen, Syria, Iran, or Venezuela. We do not. Only anti-Israel protests reliably produce crowds. That fact alone tells us where the emotional and ideological center of gravity lies.

The only coherence in the incoherence is hating Jews under the guise of "anti-Zionism."

Think about it. These women are the most obvious beneficiaries of white privilege on the planet. Many of the Western progressive activists involved here are well-off suburbanites. Israel functions as a moral proxy that allows Western activists to discharge guilt without implicating themselves or their societies. Israel becomes the universal symbol for "white oppressors" and Palestinians the symbol for "oppressed people of color" and in that way they can externalize their own white guilt by blaming the Jews as being everything they hate about themselves. (There is similar logic behind land acknowledgements - empty performance to feel righteous, but no one handing their houses to native Americans.)

This is not simple hypocrisy, because hypocrisy presumes a failure to live up to stated values. Here, the values themselves are not operative. What is operative is a symbolic map in which Israel stands in for ‘everything evil about power,’ regardless of facts.

So if Israel is against the Iranian regime, then the regime must be good. If Israel fights Hamas, Hamas must be good. If Hezbollah or Houthis shoot missiles into Israel, they must be good.

I'm not saying that these activists consciously hate Jews. But their moral framework reliably collapses political evil onto Jews and the Jewish state. Structurally, it is the same thing. And as we've seen more recently, this collapse often becomes classic antisemitism, as protests migrate to synagogues and targeting Jews particularly.

Similarly, most of these activists are not consciously pro-Khamenei. They are structurally indifferent to Iranian agency. Once Israel occupies the ‘oppressor’ slot, anyone opposing Israel is provisionally good – including theocrats, terrorists, or regimes that murder women.

Antisemitism, whether explicit or not, is the only consistent throughline to their otherwise inconsistent positions.

For those who want some pretense of support for their ridiculous and contradictory positions, there are plenty of left-wing writers who can string two sentences together and therefore become all the evidence needed. At this moment, the only article in The Intercept about the Iranian protests, from a week ago (!), blames - Israel.

An entire progressive news site looks at Iranians being shot in the streets and the only thing it can write about is how this is somehow connected to the Zionists.

Once Israel is fixed as the embodiment of oppression, reality becomes optional. Iranian dissidents can be ignored. Islamist brutality can be excused. Women’s rights can be suspended. The only constant is that whatever harms Israel must be good.

That isn't moral reasoning. It is ideological coherence maintained by positioning Jews as the permanent moral antagonist - not coincidentally, the same position Jews have held for centuries. EoZ

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Former Haaretz Columnist Alon Pinkas Embroiled in Qatari Funding Scandal. Pinkas, the Qatari mouthpiece Former Haaretz Columnist Alon Pinkas Embroiled in Qatari Funding Scandal Is anyone actually surprised to discover that Haaretz's elite journalist is really just another Qatar mouthpiece?

Gila Isaacson. Jan 11, 2026. A brewing scandal at Haaretz, Israel's left-leaning newspaper often cited by critics of the country's policies, has come to light involving former columnist and diplomat Alon Pinkas, who allegedly received substantial payments linked to Qatari interests while contributing to the publication. The revelations, first reported by Haaretz itself following an internal probe, have prompted accusations of foreign influence and bias, particularly in coverage related to the Israel-Hamas war and hostage negotiations.

Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York and a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, received monthly payments totaling hundreds of thousands of shekels (equivalent to tens of thousands of U.S. dollars) from January 2024 through March 2025.

These funds were routed through Israeli businessman Gil Birger from Jay Footlik, a U.S.-based lobbyist whose firm, Third Circle, has represented Qatari entities. During this period, Pinkas authored at least seven opinion pieces in Haaretz's English edition that portrayed Qatar favorably, emphasizing its role as a key mediator in hostage deals, a U.S. ally, and a financier of Gaza at Israel's past request, aligning closely with talking points drafted by Footlik.

The issue surfaced amid broader investigations into "Qatargate," a series of alleged Qatari influence operations in Israel aimed at shaping public opinion on Gaza funding, hostage mediations, and criticisms of regional rivals like Egypt.

This marks the third such incident at Haaretz: Journalist Chaim Levinson was dismissed after receiving over NIS 200,000 from a similar network, and an anonymous column praising Qatar was tied to another Footlik associate, David Saig.

Israeli police have concluded their inquiry and forwarded findings to the State Attorney's Office, though no charges have been filed against Pinkas as of now...

Haaretz's hack columnists have been spewing venom at Netanyahu and Trump to whitewash a terror-sponsoring petro-state that hosts Hamas honchos in luxury, turning "journalism" into a paid propaganda parade that'd make Goebbels blush. These so-called intellectuals are just mercenary mouthpieces selling out their own country for a fistful of riyals, happily undermining Israel from within while the real enemies laugh all the way to the bank, because nothing says "moral imperative" like biting the hand that feeds you and then whining when you're called a traitor. JFeed

Avishai Grinzaig @avishaigrinzaig: The editor of Haaretz found out about this back on April 25, and whitewashed it. Only when Bar Peleg discovered this information in his own way was this information revealed and now published in Haaretz. Bar Peleg is truly a special kind of journalist. Jan 10, 2026. On X [32]

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‘Language is wrong,’ Mamdani says of pro-Hamas chants outside Queens synagogue "We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest," the New York City mayor said. JNS Staff New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel visit children at District 2 3K/Pre-K Center in Manhattan on Jan. 9, 2026. Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel visit children at District 2 3K/Pre-K Center in Manhattan on Jan. 9, 2026. Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.

(Jan. 10, 2026 / JNS) New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who axed several of his predecessor’s pro-Israel executive orders on day one of the job, drew widespread criticism for his lack of response to pro-Hamas chants at a protest outside a Queens synagogue on Thursday night.

Long after the New York governor and others commented, Mamdani, who long declined to say that “globalize the intifada” calls for violence against Jews, had yet to comment on the incident.

By the time Shabbat had started, the mayor still had yet to issue a public comment.

“As New York Orthodox Jews shut off our phones for Shabbos, still no official statement from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on blatantly antisemitic protest in the Jewish community of Kew Gardens Hills,” stated Sam Berger, a member of the state Assembly.

Berger noted that the state governor and attorney general, members of Congress, and the city comptroller and city council speaker all issued statements. “Hard to call that standing ‘steadfast with our Jewish neighbors,'” he said of the mayor.

Mamdani later told Politico that “that language is wrong” and that “I think that language has no place in New York City.”

“The mayor’s clipped condemnation of the Thursday protest chants comes as local and national lawmakers supportive of Israel gave full-throated condemnations of protestors’ support for Hamas,” the publication reported. “Mamdani’s relative silence on the demonstration prompted pro-Israel activists to question why the mayor hadn’t publicly released a statement about the pro-Hamas rhetoric.”

Earlier in the day, Mamdani joined Ms. Rachel, who makes films for children and whose real name is Rachel Griffin-Accurso, in a meeting with preschoolers in the city’s second district.

Ms. Rachel has posted criticism of Israel often on Instagram, including accusing the Jewish state of “genocide.”

“I am vice president of the District 2 Community Education Council, and I can guarantee you that the majority of parents and families in our district don’t want you to invite and welcome antisemitic celebrities into our schools,” Danyela Souza Egorov wrote, in response to Mamdani.

“What melody did you pick for ‘destroy Israel, kill the Jews?'” wrote David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. JNS

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Describing Israel-Gaza war as ‘genocide’ trivialises term, says Chief Rabbi. Sir Ephraim Mirvis warns that assigning concept to war on Gaza reduces ‘humanity’s gravest crime to political insult’. Gabriella Swerling. Social and Religious Affairs Editor. 10 January 2026. Daily Telegraph

Britain's Chief Rabbi: Calling Gaza genocide trivializes the word. Britain's Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, denounced accusations of genocide in Gaza as being motivated only by hostility to the Jewish state. Israel National News. Published: Jan 11, 2026, 9:18 PM (GMT+2)

The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, has criticised the use of the term "genocide" to describe Israel's military actions in Gaza, arguing that it diminishes the gravity of the word and turns "humanity’s gravest crime" into a mere political insult.

In an article written for The Telegraph, Sir Ephraim stated that the accusation is made too readily today. He wrote: “Today it takes almost no thought to repeat the accusation that Israel has committed ‘genocide’."

“Some repeat it from a place of singular hostility toward the world’s only Jewish state; others from an earnest desire to hasten an end to an unquestionably horrific conflict in which many innocent people have suffered. But whatever the motivation, the result is the same: this gravest of crimes is invoked casually, without due regard for the weight of the word itself."

He further explained: “In an age when hyperbole dominates our discourse and outrage is rewarded with clicks, campaigners reach instinctively for the most extreme language available. Faced with images on social media of immense, tragic suffering in Gaza, journalists, academics and celebrities understandably feel compelled to speak out."

“Yet the race to linguistic escalation has consequences. The ubiquity of a term is often wrongly understood as evidence of its veracity. And some terms have a meaning that must remain protected at all costs. ‘Genocide’ is one of them."

Sir Ephraim emphasised the legal definition of genocide, which requires intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. He said: “It is why Britain and her allies are not accused of genocide for our strategic bombing of Nazi Germany, despite the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who were killed. Intent is the moral and legal hinge. The clearest evidence that Israel did not intend to destroy the people of Gaza is that it did not in fact do so."

Describing the conflict as one that “Israel did not seek, nor start", he said Israel's goals have been the return of hostages and the disarmament of Hamas - a group he noted has sought the total destruction of Israel. He added: “If Hamas lays down its arms, there will be no fighting and no suffering. If Israel were to lay down its arms, there would be no Israel."

The Chief Rabbi also criticised some human rights organisations, saying they “appear to revel in misappropriating the term genocide" by expanding its definition and engaging in “a truly troubling moral deceit."

He acknowledged the suffering in Gaza, stating: “The tragic suffering of Palestinians abounds" and “no decent person could fail to be moved by it or wish to see its end". However, he argued there is no evidence of “systematic massacres, mass executions, or the targeted killing of civilians as a matter of policy".

Sir Ephraim warned that loose use of the term harms the concept itself: “When academics, activists, faith leaders and public figures declare, with unshakeable certainty, that genocide has occurred, they do something far more destructive than merely repeat a falsehood. They trivialise the very concept they claim to defend. What language is left for the Rohingya, expelled en masse, systematically raped and slaughtered? For the Uyghurs, subjected to mass internment, forced sterilisation and cultural erasure? For the ethnically targeted killing and mass rape in West Darfur? To invoke the term ‘genocide’ as an accusation against Israel is to strip it of its true meaning, reducing humanity’s gravest crime to a political insult."

He concluded: “The suffering of innocent people demands empathy, accountability and a genuine commitment to preventing future conflict. But to level the charge of genocide against Israel is to commit a moral inversion whose casualties include not only Israelis and Palestinians, but the very idea of human rights itself." INN

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IDF issues evacuation warning to residents in southern Lebanon: 'We will attack Hezbollah infrastructure'. IDF Arabic spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, issued an evacuation warning to Lebanese residents in areas located in the village of Hata in the southern part of the country. "The IDF will soon launch another attack against Hezbollah's military infrastructure in the village and against its forbidden attempts to restore its activities there. Residents of the complex - for your safety, move at least 300 meters away from the area marked in red on the map," said Lt. Col. Adraee. Lior Ben Ari|01.11.26 YNet

After warning civilians of imminent strikes, Israel hits Hezbollah infrastructure in south Lebanon. The Israeli military confirmed strikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon after Arabic spox. Col Avichay Adraee issued evacuation alerts to nearby civilians.

By James Genn. January 11, 2026. Following an evacuation warning to Lebanese civilians, the IDF confirmed that it had begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure in "several areas" of southern Lebanon on Sunday evening. The initial warning was issued by Arabic-language spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee on X/Twitter. JPost

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Suspect in Custody Following Arson Attack at Reform Synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi. January 11, 2026. YWN

Jackson, Mississippi's sole synagogue set ablaze in arson attack, suspect arrested According to Southern Jewish life, there were no injuries, but the building suffered significant fire and smoke damage. The library was reportedly charred, and two Torah scrolls were destroyed.

By Michael Starr. January 11, 2026.

The Beth Israel synagogue erupted in flames on Saturday morning before dawn, according to Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor John Horhn, Jackson Fire Department (JFD) Chief RaSean Thomas, and the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL), in what was suspected to be a hate-motivated arson.

The fire occurred at 3 a.m. but was contained and extinguished by the fire department, Horhn said in a statement. The ISJL said on Facebook that there were no injuries. A suspect was reportedly arrested by Sunday. JPost

After synagogue arson, Mississippi mayor decries bias based on faith, race, ethnicity, sexual identity. "Acts of antisemitism, racism and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents' safety and freedom to worship," the Jackson mayor stated. JNS Staff, Larry Brook, Southern Jewish Life. (Jan. 11, 2026 / JNS) John Horhn, mayor of Jackson, Miss., stated on Sunday that a fire had “occurred” at Beth Israel Congregation, a Reform synagogue, and the city’s lone Jewish house of worship, which traces its origin to 1860. JNS

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Netanyahu signs declaration with Germany: 'Cooperation in cybersecurity and counter-terrorism'. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a declaration with German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, establishing "deep cooperation with Berlin in the fields of cybersecurity, counter-terrorism and advanced technologies, translating security commitment into joint action." The Prime Minister's Office also stated that "Iran and its proxies threaten regional stability and international security. Israel's enemies should know - our eyes are on them at all times and in all places. The declaration reflects Germany's historical responsibility - including strengthening Holocaust remembrance and cooperation with Yad Vashem." Itamar Eichner|01.11.26 YNet

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Israeli Cities on Alert Following Iran Unrest

Mayors Brief Residents.

Israeli Cities on Alert Following Iran Unrest Israeli officials are balancing hope for the fall of Iran's regime with preparations for extreme scenarios where the Iranian government might redirect focus toward Israel. Security officials emphasize that while monitoring continues, residents should maintain normal routines unless instructed otherwise by authorities. Gila Isaacson. Jan 11, 2026 JFeed

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Melbourne sees renewed anti-Israel protest as fires rage across Victoria state Organizers defy requests from police and mayor to postpone the event. Etgar Lefkovits. (Jan. 11, 2026 / JNS) A couple of thousand pro-Palestinian activists rallied against Israel in Melbourne on Sunday, defying police’s and local authorities’ requests to cancel their event due to raging bushfires in the Australian summer.

The anti-Israel protest came less than a month after the Bondi Beach attack at a Chanukah event in Sydney, and as hundreds of Iranian protesters were being killed by security forces of the Islamic Republic on the streets of Iran JNS

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Trump wants ‘full transparency’ from Bondi terror attack inquiry. Antisemitism envoy says U.S. is watching Australia’s royal commission amid concern over PM Albanese’s past pro-Palestinian activism and delayed action. Joshua Marks. (Jan. 11, 2026 / JNS) U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy on antisemitism says Washington is closely watching Australia’s royal commission into the Bondi Beach terrorist attack amid concern over Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s past pro‑Palestinian activism and his government’s handling of antisemitism. JNS

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New town breaks ground in Samaria. The town of Rehavam has begun construction as part of the government plan to bring one million residents to Samaria.

Israel National News. Jan 11, 2026, 10:24 PM INN

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Netanyahu: Israel in awe of the immense courage of the citizens of Iran. Israel National News. Jan 11, 2026, 4:20 PM INN

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Beautiful Defiance. Hessy Levinsons Taft, Jewish Infant Chosen as 'Perfect Aryan Baby' in Nazi Propaganda, Dies at 91. She was six months old when Goebbels chose her Jewish face for Nazi propaganda. Hessy Taft spent 91 years savoring the beautiful revenge of that photograph.

Gila Isaacson. Jan 11, 2026.

Hessy Levinsons Taft, whose photograph as a six-month-old baby was selected by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to represent the ideal Aryan child, despite her being Jewish, passed away on January 1, 2026, at her home in San Francisco. She was 91.

Born in 1934 in Berlin to Latvian Jewish opera singers, Pauline and Jacob Levinsons, Taft's early life unwittingly exposed the flaws in Nazi racial ideology.

Her parents commissioned a portrait from renowned photographer Hans Ballin, who, knowing the family's Jewish heritage, submitted the image to a contest seeking the "perfect Aryan baby" as a deliberate prank. The photo was chosen by Goebbels himself and featured on the cover of the pro-Nazi magazine Sonne ins Haus in 1935. It soon proliferated across Germany, appearing in magazines, advertisements, postcards, and even displayed in homes. Taft's parents were horrified upon discovering this, fearing severe repercussions from the regime.

When confronted by the Levinsons, Ballin explained his intent: to highlight the absurdity of Nazi racial theories. "I wanted to make the Nazis ridiculous," he reportedly said. The family kept the incident secret for decades, even from Taft herself, due to lingering fears. They fled Germany in 1938, first to France, then Latvia, and eventually Cuba before settling in the United States in 1949. Taft learned the full story only as an adult and later embraced it as a tale of ironic triumph over Nazi pseudoscience.

"I feel a sense of revenge," Taft said in a 1990 interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Good revenge." In her later years, Taft became a chemistry professor at St. John's University in New York, donated the original magazine to Yad Vashem in Israel, and shared her story through lectures and media appearances. She is survived by her husband, Earl Taft, and their children. JFeed

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Chaos erupts as U-Haul drives into crowd during anti-Iranian regime rally in Westwood By Tim Pulliam. Sunday, January 11, 2026 11:30PM PT

Chaos erupted after a U-Haul drove into a crowd during an anti-Iranian regime rally near the federal building in Westwood on Sunday afternoon. WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A protest that began peacefully in Westwood on Sunday afternoon turned chaotic after a U-Haul truck drove toward hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the federal building, prompting clashes between the crowd, the driver and police.

Note: Our latest coverage of this story has moved here.

Video shows the moment the truck moved into the crowd on Veteran Avenue as people screamed and rushed away around 3:30 p.m. Exclusive AIR7 shows officers pulling the driver from the truck while protesters surrounded him, attempting to strike him with objects, including flag poles, trash and their hands. One protester can be seen climbing onto the vehicle and kicking in its windshield.

After the driver was removed, protesters chased him and tried to hit him as police escorted him away and took him into custody. Demonstrators also tore political messages from the truc [33]

Sam Asghari Proudly Reps Roots, Waves Iranian Flag at L.A. Protest. Sam Asghari. Proudly Reps Iranian Roots At L.A. Protest By TMZ Staff. Published January 12, 2026 8:41 AM PST Sam Asghari went all in for his roots ... storming the streets of Los Angeles to stand loud, proud, and unmissable in support of the Iranian people.

In an IG video posted Sunday night, the Iranian-born model showed himself waving the Iranian flag shoulder to shoulder with massive crowds in L.A., home to one of the largest Iranian-American communities in the country.

"Free Iran" Protest In Los Angeles. Launch Gallery.

Sam and the crowd gathered near the federal building in Westwood ... making it clear they were pushing back against political repression and calling for regime change among all the protests and chaos that have erupted in Iran.

IYDK, protesters in Iran are demanding change amid a crushing economic crisis and brutal crackdowns ... with human rights groups claiming more than 500 people have been killed in recent days.

The same terror very nearly played out in L.A. ... 'cause among the powerful show of unity a man plowed a U-Haul truck through a group of demonstrators. Thankfully, no one was injured and the driver was arrested. [34] TMZ

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Suspect admits torching Mississippi synagogue 'due to its Jewish ties'. FBI says the suspect in the arson at Beth Israel in Jackson, Mississippi, confessed to targeting the synagogue for its “Jewish ties." Israel National News. Published: Jan 12, 2026, 11:41 PM (GMT+2)

Federal authorities say the man accused of setting fire to a historic Mississippi synagogue admitted he targeted the building because of its “Jewish ties", reported the Associated Press.

The suspect was charged Monday with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive. According to an affidavit filed in US District Court in Mississippi, the FBI said he confessed to lighting the fire “due to the building's Jewish ties."

The blaze erupted shortly after 3:00 a.m. on Saturday at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, ripping through the building but causing no injuries to congregants or firefighters. Security footage released Monday showed a masked and hooded individual pouring liquid from a gas can onto the floor and a couch in the lobby...

He also “admitted to starting a fire inside the Beth Israel Congregation/ISJL building," according to investigators from the Jackson Fire Department and Hinds County Sheriff's Office.

The suspect told investigators he stopped at a gas station on the way to purchase fuel used in the attack and removed his vehicle’s license plate there. He then used an ax to break a window, poured gasoline inside, and ignited it with a torch lighter, the affidavit says.

The FBI later recovered a burned cell phone believed to belong to the suspect, along with a hand torch that a congregation member found and turned over to authorities.

A Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust was protected behind glass and was not damaged, the congregation said. Five Torahs in the sanctuary were being evaluated for smoke damage. Two Torahs kept in the library - the area hit hardest - were destroyed, according to a synagogue representative.

The affidavit notes that the suspect’s father contacted the FBI to report that his son had confessed to setting the fire. Data recovered from Pittman’s phone corroborated the account, an agent wrote.

Beth Israel Congregation is the oldest synagogue in Jackson and was previously targeted in a 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombing that damaged the synagogue’s offices and the home of its rabbi at the time. No one was killed in that attack. INN

Fire damages historic synagogue; arrest made. January 12, 2026 — He was identified as Stephen Spencer Pittman, who told investigators he did it because of the building's “Jewish ties,” the AP reported.. Kiro7

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The G-Word Ultimatum: Wiener Yields to Antisemitic Pressure Cooker, Labels Jewish Self-Defense “Genocide”. Heckled into Submission: Radical Liberal Democrat Wiener Joins the “Genocide” Chorus to Save His Congressional Bid.

(After debate backlash, California Democrat Wiener says Israel-Hamas war meets genocide[sic] definition. JPost, 1.12.26. Genocide accusation comes after Wiener’s second thoughts. Wiener’s genocide accusation came after a lightning round of questions at the Thursday San Francisco debate, in which candidates were given policy questions and expected to hold placards indicating either a “yes” or “no” response. When the question arose of “is Israel committing genocide in Gaza,” San Francisco Board Supervisor Connie Chan and political activist Saikat Chakrabarti signaled “yes,” but Wiener didn’t raise his placard. Wiener’s response was met with boos and heckles from the audience, who called “shame” and demanded that he answer the question. Wiener’s rivals highlighted the moment, with Chan noting that she had voted on a January 2024 Board of Supervisors resolution demanding a ceasefire, and promised to support a congressional bill to block the transfer of munitions from the US to Israel. Chakrabarti said that the instance was indicative of the nature of the congressional race, “because you can’t call out a genocide when the whole world sees one, how can we trust you in DC?” [35])

The radical left’s pressure cooker is boiling over in San Francisco’s Democrat primary circus. You won’t get elected unless you spit out the magic word: genocide[-lie] against Israel. No nuance, no facts—just parrot the blood libel to appease the mob.

Look at Saikat Chakrabarti, the AOC alum, proudly citing the same tired, mocked playbook: pay-to-play “experts” from the IAGS (that $30 fee joke), the notorious Francesca Albanese (widely slammed as a modern Goebbels for her obsessive anti-Israel obsession), and the UN’s sham “commission” peddling classic anti-Jewish tropes like “Jewish control” from the likes of Pillay and Kothari. That’s the gospel they’re copying—straight from the antisemitism remix album.

Then comes the backlash theater. California State [radical liberal] Senator Scott Wiener—once hesitant—gets heckled and booed at a congressional candidate debate for not instantly waving the “yes” placard on “Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?” His rivals, Chan and Chakrabarti, gleefully flash “YES” like it’s a virtue signal badge.

Result? Wiener caves. On January 12, 2026, he drops the video: “I believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.” He admits he held back because of the Holocaust’s shadow and the trauma of accusing the Jewish state—but now? “We all have eyes… the absolute devastation… genocidal statements… the Israeli government has tried to destroy Gaza and push Palestinians out, and that qualifies as genocide.”

This isn’t moral evolution. It’s political survival. The far-left mob screamed “shame,” demanded purity tests, and Wiener folded to save his Pelosi-seat bid. In the radical liberal club, hesitation equals betrayal. Say the G-word or get primaried into oblivion.

Israel defends itself against real genocidal enemies, such as, “Palestine” regime in Gaza Hamas [with it clear genocidal charter and methods of maximizing its civilian casualties] terrorists who started this with October 7’s massacre—yet the narrative flips the victim into the villain. Classic inversion. The real genocide? Hamas’s charter and actions. But in this crowd, truth is optional when votes and applause are on the line. at EoZ

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Eliminated. Hamas Police Commander Killed in Khan Younis Shooting. Hamas police commander Mahmoud al-Astal killed in shooting attack on his vehicle in Khan Younis. Gaza Interior Ministry blames "Israeli agents" as unidentified gunmen flee scene after opening fire Monday morning. Gila Isaacson. Jan 12, 2026. JFeed

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Kasparian is Ignorant and Hateful Iranian Activist Masih Alinejad Slams Ana Kasparian's Ridiculous Iran Comments | WATCH Iranian activist Masih Alinejad torches Piers Morgan for platforming regime-apologist drivel amid Iran's bloody crackdown, because nothing says 'uncensored' like fueling tyrants' excuses to kill. Gila Isaacson. Jan 12, 2026 06:47 JFeed

M.A. Rothman @MichaelARothman: 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗛 𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗝𝗔𝗗 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗡𝗔 𝗞𝗔𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡’𝗦 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 ⁣⁣⁣ Before you weigh in, 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝘀. She isn’t a pundit. She’s a dissident the Iranian regime tried to kll on U.S. soil — multiple times.

And she erupted after hearing Ana Kasparian repeat talking points that the Islamic Republic uses to justify slaughtering protesters. ⁣⁣⁣ Here’s the 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 Ana made on international television — the part that matters: ⁣⁣⁣ 𝘒𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯: 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭… ⁣⁣⁣ That framing — calling it “external regime change” — is the same accusation Tehran blasts on state TV while the internet is shut down and bodies hit the streets. ⁣⁣⁣ Masih answered with lived reality, not punditry: ⁣⁣⁣ 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘩: 𝘕𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘶𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. ⁣⁣⁣ She explained the consequence Western commentators ignore: ⁣⁣⁣ 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 “𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦,” 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘴. ⁣⁣⁣ Masih reminded viewers that Iranians have risen again and again since 2009 — six major uprisings — demanding change from within, while the regime shuts off the internet and hunts dissidents. ⁣⁣⁣ This isn’t abstract debate. Masih spelled out how the same narrative once led Tehran to order her assassination — and to hire killers on U.S. soil. ⁣⁣⁣ Her ask was simple and devastating: ⁣⁣⁣ 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. ⁣⁣⁣ That’s not punditry.

That’s 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 — and a warning about the real-world cost of reckless narratives.

Jan 11, 2026 on X

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Iranian protesters are showing courage in the face of tyranny — but Israel-obsessed liberals don’t seem to care. New York Post | Jan. 11, 2026 |

As the Iranian uprising continues to escalate, it’s been reported that hundreds of protesters have been killed by the regime’s security forces.

The internet, phone signals and lighting have been cut, and it’s feared the killings are intensifying behind the blackout.

Yet the Iranian people have increasingly poured onto the streets to confront the regime’s murder and torture squads. There’s never been such a mass display of raw courage in the teeth of such vicious repression.

If the regime does fall, this will be a seismic event, reshaping the region and world politics. The insurrection might be the most consequential global event so far this century. Yet from Western liberals, there’s been little more than pursed lips.

There have been no demonstrations in support of the embattled protesters. People who screamed falsehoods about Israel’s “massacres” of women and children in Gaza have been struck totally dumb about the carnage of civilians being deliberately wrought in Iran.

Most Western media initially ignored the Iranian insurrection, then downplayed it as mere “cost of living” protests, and then began to amplify regime propaganda claims.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that the Islamic Republic is "fully prepared for war" against any outsiders who interfere in the deadly nationwide protests against the regime.

DNC chair Ken Martin disturbingly compares US to Iran, claims Trump admin is ‘killing protesters’ Gut-wrenching footage shows grieving Iranian families search through rows of bodies after massacre of anti-regime protesters.

The reason is that the uprising is not just against the regime but against the repressive tyranny of Islam itself. This is intolerable to Western liberals, because it gets in the way of their fixed narrative that, when Islamists commit mass murder against the innocent, it’s justified resistance against Western-backed imperialism. NYPost

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"We Are Ready for War". Secret Dialogue: The Surprising Reason Iran is Still Talking to Trump’s Inner Circle While Iranian leaders publicly threaten to turn Israel into a target, a secret communication channel remains open between Tehran and President Trump’s special envoy to prevent a total military collapse.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 12, 2026 13:47

Behind the fiery rhetoric and threats of regional war, a desperate diplomatic dance is taking place between Tehran and Washington. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed today that a direct communication channel remains open between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. This admission follows claims by President Donald Trump that the Iranian leadership reached out to request negotiations after he threatened "very strong" military options in response to the killing of protesters. While Tehran insists it has "never left the negotiating table," the outreach is widely viewed by international observers as a frantic attempt to buy time and de-escalate before American bombers are authorized to launch.

Publicly, however, the regime continues to project a posture of total defiance. Speaking to a crowd in Tehran, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf declared that Iran is currently fighting a "war on four fronts," including economic, psychological, military, and a "war against terrorism." He warned that in the event of any U.S. intervention, both Israel and American military bases in the region would be considered "legitimate targets." Qalibaf emphasized that the regime would not wait to be hit first, suggesting a doctrine of pre-emptive strikes if the "clear signs of threat" from the Trump administration continue to intensify.

This dual strategy of secret dialogue and public threats comes as the IDF raises its alert level to the highest point since the 12 day war in June. Israeli officials believe that Trump is currently receiving hourly updates on the death toll in Iran and may reach a point where he can no longer ignore the violence. In June 2025, U.S. B-2 bombers successfully used 13-ton bunker buster bombs against Iranian nuclear sites during Operation Am Kalavi, and the threat of a repeat performance is clearly driving the current diplomatic scramble. As Araghchi and Witkoff discuss a potential face to face meeting, the world remains on edge, waiting to see if the regime will offer real concessions or if the four front war will lead to a final, violent conclusion. JFeed

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Israelis receive more threatening messages. Amid the tension in the region and protests in Iran, Israelis once again received a threatening message in English with a mysterious and vague wording. Israel National News. Published: Jan 12, 2026, 4:47 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Trump imposes 25% tariff on nations doing business with Iran. Trump announces a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran amid the ongoing unrest in the Islamic Republic. Elad Benari. Jan 12, 2026, 11:58 PM INN

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Woman charged with four hate crimes, punching Orthodox Jew in NY. "Every person in this city should be able to safely worship and this type of antisemitic violence cannot be tolerated," a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney said.

(Jan. 12, 2026 / JNS) Isharae Summers, 35, was charged with 13 counts, including four hate crimes, for allegedly punching an Orthodox Jewish man in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood and shouting antisemitic slurs on Jan. 9.

Among the charges are two hate crime assaults in the third degree with intent to injure, two counts of hate crime menacing in the third degree and six counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree motivated by race or religion.

Summers pleaded not guilty to all counts in Kings Criminal Court on Sunday and was released with non-monetary conditions on bail.

The incident reportedly occurred at about 11:20 p.m. on Friday while the man was walking home with his family. The suspect is accused of verbally harassed the family and screaming “I’m gonna kill you Jews” and “I’m gonna kill your kids and choke your kids” while trailing the family for several blacks. She also allegedly punched the man in the head and chest, according to New York Post reporting.

The Post reported that the judge let the suspect go on supervised release, although the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office sought $50,000 cash bail.

“This was a horrific attack against a Jewish family walking home on the Sabbath,” a spokesman for Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, stated on Monday, per the Post.

“Every person in this city should be able to safely worship and this type of antisemitic violence cannot be tolerated in Brooklyn,” the spokesman said. “The defendant in this case is being charged with a hate crime and we will seek to hold her fully accountable.”

The New York City Police Department’s 79th Precinct and the Williamsburg Shomrim Shabbos Patrol reportedly responded to the scene. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is said to be investigating the case.

The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey stated it has “connected with community and law-enforcement partners to gather information and provide support,” calling the increase in violent attacks on Jews "unacceptable." JNS

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Hours After The Attack: Police Arrest Palestinians For Assaulting Jewish Shepherd. January 12, 2026. YWN

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Trump to antisemites: You’re not welcome in MAGA. By Emily Goodin. Published Jan. 12, 2026, 4:46 p.m. ET President Trump had a resounding no for any antisemites claiming to be part of the Republican Party or his MAGA movement.

“I think we don’t need them,” he told The New York Times in an interview. “I think we don’t like them.”

His comments, made in a Wednesday interview but published on Sunday, came after a series of high profile ultra-conservative figures have made controversial comments about the Jewish people and antisemitic speech has split Republicans.

Trump said: “I condemn” antisemitism.

He said he’s an ally of Israel and was awarded its Israel Prize, considered the country’s highest honor.

“Look, if you talk about the antisemitic views, there’s been nobody better for us. As an example, I just got the Israel award, which is the biggest award they give. It was just given to me. First time it was ever given to anybody outside of Israel,” Trump said.

The president also noted that daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the couple’s three children are Jewish.

“My daughter happens to be Jewish, beautiful, three grandchildren are Jewish,” he said. “I’m very proud of them. I’m very proud of the whole, that whole family. I am the least antisemitic person probably there is anywhere in the world.”

But the Republican Party has been roiled by series controversies that have garnered wide-spread public attention.

Trump received the Israel prize from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year. Getty Images A group of young Republican leaders, in the fall, were revealed to praise Adolf Hitler in a series of chat groups.

And the Heritage Foundation, a premier conservative think tank in Washington DC, was roiled by a staff outcry after President Kevin Roberts defended a far-right figure who made anti-semitic remarks.

Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

Roberts sparked the wave of resignations among the think tank after defending Tucker Carlson for interviewing Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes on his platform.

Trump noted to The Times that his daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and their children are all Jewish. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Fuentes has been designated by the Anti-Defamation League as a “white supremacist leader.” In the October interview with Carlson, Fuentes denounced the influence of “organized Jewry” in American politics.

“I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer, either,” Roberts said of the interview, which got millions of views on social media.

The president defended Carlson at the time, saying he can interview whoever he wants. And he’s stayed close to him. Carlson was spotted at the White House last week, attending the president’s meeting with oil executives.

Trump distanced himself from antisemitic internet personality Nick Fuentes, who had dinner with the president at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 as a guest of Kanye West.

“I had dinner with him, one time, where he came as a guest of Kanye West. I didn’t know who he was bringing. He said, ‘Do you mind if I bring a friend?’ I said, ‘I don’t care.’ And it was Nick Fuentes? I don’t know Nick Fuentes,” the president told The Times.

He’s also no longer close with Candace Owens, a prominent right-wing political commentator, who’s faced multiple accusations of antisemitism due her public statements and posts on social media. Owens was named “Antisemite of the Year” in December by watchdog StopAntisemitism.

But she has become a prominent Trump critic who spewed conspiracy theories after Charlie Kirk’s assassination and was previously dismissed from the Daily Wire.

Meanwhile, he Trump administration has spent the past year defending Israel and leading a crackdown on universities, accusing them of spreading antisemitism and taking away millions in federal grants. NYPost

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Vandals in Santa Barbara, Calif., draw swastika in AEPi residence. The fraternity says two individuals broke into a private home and defaced the bathroom mirror. Jessica Russak-Hoffman.

(Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS) Antisemitic vandalism targeted members of the Sigma Beta chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) in Santa Barbara, Calif., over the weekend, when two individuals broke into a private residence where fraternity members live and defaced a bathroom mirror with a swastika drawn in shaving cream.

Jonathan Pierce, chief communications officer for AEPi, told JNS the house was broken into after a social event, and that the residence is privately owned and not an official fraternity house. He said previous incidents have occurred at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the administration needs to do “a better job of protecting students.”

“Luckily, nobody’s hurt,” he said. The image was discovered early Saturday morning, Jan. 10. JNS

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PBS Erases Gaza’s Jewish History, Destroys An Unharmed Church By: Darcie Grunblatt. January 12, 2026

In a Dec. 30, 2025 broadcast highlighting damage to the rich cultural history of the Gaza Strip during two years of war, PBS NewsHour laments that “the destruction is not just a humanitarian catastrophe, but an erasure of civilization’s memory.”

Ironically, though, Jeffrey Brown’s lengthy segment is itself guilty of erasing the memory of the rich Jewish cultural heritage in the Gaza Strip dating back to antiquity, while simultaneously trampling over present-day facts. CAMERA

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BBC again fails to inform on Hamas exploitation of schools. By: Hadar Sela January 13, 2026

On the morning of January 8 the BBC News website published a report headlined “Children in Gaza return to school after years without formal education” which is credited to the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Shaimaa Khalil who, according to the by-line, appears to be visiting Jerusalem.

Part of Khalil’s report describes lessons being held in temporary classrooms in the grounds of a boys’ school formerly run by the Hamas government that chose to start the war on October 7, 2023... CAMERA

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At El País, Antisemitism Is a Feature, Not a Bug. By: Masha Gabriel January 11, 2026

“Antisemitism is a real problem and El País is sensitive to [the issue],” Guillermo Altares, foreign desk chief of El País’ insisted in a damage control interview last week. The editor’s pronouncement was in response to the troublesome fiasco over the hugely influential Spanish newspaper’s publication — and then stealthy deletion with no public apology — of an anti-Jewish slur that the federal judge presiding over former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s case in New York strives to be impartial “despite being a well-known member of the Jewish community.”

Professed sensitivity notwithstanding, in no time at all the Spanish news outlet embroiled itself in another ugly incident involving antisemitism, this time via its Catalonia edition.

In the city of Barcelona, an unidentified pro-BDS group created an online map called Barcelonaz identifying Jewish businesses, Israeli companies with interests in Spain, and Spanish or international companies operating in Israel. Notably, a Jewish school and restaurants also appeared on the map, which explicitly invited users to contribute more information about additional Jewish and Israel-affiliated sites — an unmistakable act of antisemitic targeting. Esteban Ibarra, president of the Movement Against Intolerance, described it as “organized criminal antisemitism.”

The French-based GoGoCarto, which hosted the map, deactivated the project following complaints from Jewish community organizations. The European Jewish Congress said of the project’s name:

The use of “NAZ” appears to deliberately associate Jews and Israelis with Nazism, a form of antisemitic inversion that trivializes Nazi crimes while demonizing Jewish identity.

In covering the antisemitic map which put a target on the backs of Spanish Jews, El País opted for a headline casting the hunted Jewish community as the predators of harmless “pro-Palestinian” advocates: “The Jewish community in Barcelona succeeds in shutting down a pro-Palestinian website that pointed to its businesses.”

In this gross inversion, in which an antisemitic website targeting Jews, including their businesses and even a school, is whitewashed as nothing more threatening than a “pro-Palestinian website,” Barcelona’s Jewish community becomes the bad actor.

In a second inversion casting the victimized local Jewish community into perpetrators, editors initially opted to place the story under the “Genocide” category rather than tagging the article under an appropriate label such as “Antisemitism” or “Discrimination.” (Screenshot at left). In doing so, it promoted the odious and unfounded libel that Israel is carrying out a genocide and promoted the antisemitic trope that Spanish Jews ought to be held responsible for the Jewish state’s purported war crime.

Following several complaints, and likely mindful of the scandal ignited just hours earlier by the remark about a judge being impartial “despite” being Jewish, the newspaper nominally softened the “Genocide” language to “Massacre in Gaza.” But the change is negligible, as the new slur likewise carries no direct relevance to the content of an article about the local Jewish community. It continues to recast the local Jewish community’s own victimhood into responsibility for faraway alleged war crimes.

“Neither Jesús [Sérvulo González] nor El País are antisemitic, it was a mistake that we corrected when we saw it,” Altares, the El País editor, strived to assure his Haaretz interviewer.

But the repeated association of “the Jews” with narratives of suspicion, violence, or collective guilt suggests an editorial pattern that demands serious reflection, not technical mistakes.

Borrowing the newspaper’s own words, one might almost say that El País strives to appear professional despite being antisemitic. CAMERA

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Turkey said ‘very likely’ to join Saudi Arabia-Pakistan mutual defense pact. Times of Israel, January 11, 2026.

Turkey is in advanced talks to join the mutual defense pact that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan reached in September, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A pact of the three US-allied Muslim nations could potentially put Ankara under Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella.

Saudi Arabia, which does not have nuclear weapons, signed the original agreement with Pakistan — the world’s only nuclear-armed Muslim nation — in the wake of Israel’s botched September 9 strike on Hamas’s leadership in Qatar. The strike sparked alarm and outrage among Gulf nations.

Under the agreement, which did not directly address nuclear arms, an attack on one country is considered an attack against all. Turkey, which also hosts Hamas leaders, is “very likely” to join the agreement, Bloomberg said. Ankara hosts US nuclear weapons as part of its role in NATO, but does not have any of its own…. TOI

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Julie Szego: The faux martyrs of Oz. Jan 12, 2026. Maybe I’m naive in still believing the answer to the radicalisation of Australian cultural life isn’t institutional purges of virulent anti-Zionists; for one thing, there’s too many of them. Instead, we should focus on letting contrary voices in. Because when Abdel-Fattah seeks to deny Zionists “cultural safety”, she’s insisting on that right for herself. She shouldn’t have it. Neither should she be censored. She and her fellow travellers should be forced to open their ideas to vigorous attack.

No more foreclosing of contestation on Israel-Palestine through the linguistic stitch-ups of “apartheid”, “settler-colonialism”, of “genocide”, a most convenient allegation that retrospectively cancels the “Never again” moral case for Jewish sovereignty in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Bring on the countercultural revolution. It is to the nation’s enduring shame that it has taken the murder of innocents for such a thing to even seem plausible.

But maybe it’s not too late for redemption.

Flood the festival programs and “progressive” opinion pages with Zionists, Jewish and non-Jewish. Most of all, move heaven and earth to platform Palestinians and Arabs bitterly opposed to the “pro-Palestine” movement in the West because it’s essentially pro-Hamas, the organisation that ritually sacrificed thousands of Palestinian children in a futile crusade to eliminate the state of Israel.

Platform, as this paper has done, diaspora Palestinians Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib and John Aziz; Palestinian nationalists who, while critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, advocate – genuinely – for a two-state solution and stand firmly against Jew-hating jihadism. Let them have it out with the likes of Abdel-Fattah.

Our cultural gatekeepers love to hear from the small number of Jewish anti-Zionists. Let them also hear from Palestinian dissenters from the “pro-Palestine” left.

Abdel-Fattah has accused the Adelaide Festival of “anti-Palestinian racism”. There’s plenty of that about but not in the way she thinks.

Is anything more racist than gatekeeping the boundaries of acceptable Palestinian opinion to exclude all but the most hardline?

Enough with flattering the world views of pampered radicals, spewing hate while believing themselves the embodiment of virtue, even as bodies pile up on the beach. on Substack

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Stop arguing about definitions of Jew-hatred, Jewish Dem lawmaker says. Antisemitism will only go away when everyone “rejects all of it, no matter what,” Rep. Greg Landsman said. Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) speaks at the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s 2024 Leadership Summit, in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2024. Credit: Jewish Democratic Council of America.Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) speaks at the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s 2024 Leadership Summit, in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2024. Credit: Jewish Democratic Council of America.

(Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS) In a statement about the arson attack on Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), who is Jewish, urged Americans to stop debating definitions of antisemitism. JNS

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Former FBI official Bongino defends support for Israel. The podcaster, who is not Jewish, said antisemitism is behind accusations that he took $6 million from AIPAC. (Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS) Dan Bongino, who announced a podcast after leaving his role as deputy FBI director, responded to online accusations that he is a “traitor” who received $6 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. That’s not “even remotely true,” he said.

When one exposes the liberal agenda, the “demon savages” scream back about the Jews, he wrote.

“Of course, none of what’s included below in this pile of human waste’s post is even remotely true,” he said. “Demon savages are so moronic they don’t realize campaign finance records are public.” JNS

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Anti-Israel activist introduces congressional candidate at NYC event. (Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS) Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, who led Palestinian protests at Columbia University and was a spokesman for the campus encampment, spoke at the campaign launch event for Claire Valdez, who is running for Congress in New York’s 7th District.

Khalil, 30, who was arrested by federal agents in 2025 and accused of providing false information on his green card application, took the stage to introduce the candidate at the launch at SILO Brooklyn on Jan. 9.

In footage on social media, Khalil appears to lead the crowd in a “free, free Palestine” chant and introduce Valdez, 36, as someone who was there for him “when the full weight of the state comes down hard.”

Valdez was “among the first of elected officials” to organize for his release, he said. “She put her body on the line,” he added, noting she “was arrested while protesting the genocide in Gaza.”

Khalil called out politicians who are “not doing something about the Israeli occupation.”

A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Valdez is a New York State assemblywoman. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed her in the 2024 election. JNS

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David Cunio recounts the hell of his captivity: 'The thought of my family kept me alive'.

"For a long time, we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita per day," he says

i24NEWS. January 13, 2026 at 08:14 AM

In a moving testimony given to Israeli Channel N12, former hostage David Cunio spoke about the two years he spent in the hands of Hamas terrorists after the October 7, 2023 attack. He described the terror, the forced separation from his loved ones, hunger, and psychological warfare, but also the strength he drew from thinking about his family.

On October 7, while other members of the Cunio family were fighting to survive in neighboring houses, terrorists burst into David and Sharon’s home, set their house on fire, and violently tore them away from their lives. David tried to protect his wife and their daughters, Yuli and Emma, but he was ultimately captured while trying to escape with Yuli. Sharon and Emma were abducted separately. Injured, David, Sharon, and Yuli were taken to Gaza without knowing what had happened to Emma.

“We were tormented by the idea that Emma wasn’t with us,” he says. “We kept repeating that a little girl was missing, Yuli’s twin sister, but nobody knew anything. It was total chaos.”

The family was finally reunited at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, a scene cynically exploited by the terrorists for a propaganda video. The reunion, although long hoped for, was heartbreaking: Emma did not recognize her parents until Sharon gradually managed to reassure her.

David Cunio marks 35th birthday in Gaza captivity The most difficult moment for David, however, was the separation. On the 49th day, Sharon and the girls were released as part of the first hostage agreement, while he remained a prisoner. “Saying goodbye to Sharon, Yuli, and Emma was the worst moment of my life,” he confides. “I was begging not to be left behind.”

In the tunnels of Gaza, he endured extreme deprivation and mistreatment. “No food, no water. For a long time, we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita per day,” he recounts. The hostages were forced to stand up whenever their captors passed by, despite weakness and dizziness, sometimes to the point of fainting.

To hold on, he clung mentally to his family. He would speak inwardly to his daughters, pray while holding a rubber band he’d found in his pocket, and wore improvised necklaces made with date pits around his neck. "It brought me back to reality, it gave me a bit of strength."

On the day of his release, he suddenly learns that his brother Ariel will be released with him. The reunion scene is overwhelmed with tears and emotion. But it is only during a video call with their family that they discover all their loved ones survived the massacre.

Today, David bears this testimony as a painful memory but also as proof of extraordinary human resilience: in the deepest darkness, the thought of those he loves kept him alive. i24

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‘Cut Jews’ throats’: Argentine doctor suspended Dr. Miqueas Martínez Secchi was suspended after posts calling to 'cut the throat artery' of Jews surfaced online. ynet Global|01.13.26 YNet

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Russia blasted for Holocaust distortion over ‘Genocide of the Soviet People’ Day. “Yad Vashem condemns this latest attempt to manipulate the historical facts of Nazi persecution for current political purposes,” said Israel's Holocaust Museum. Etgar Lefkovits. (Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS) Israel’s Holocaust Museum has accused Russia of Holocaust distortion over its decision to establish a new annual memorial day to commemorate the Nazi “Genocide of the Soviet People” while omitting any mention of their Jewish victims.

The new memorial day, which was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, will go into effect this year.

“Yad Vashem condemns this latest attempt to manipulate the historical facts of Nazi persecution for current political purposes,” Israel’s Holocaust Museum said in a Thursday post on X. “This new Russian law effectively erases the distinct Jewish dimension of the Shoah, despite the fact that they were the primary target of Nazi genocide.”

The Jerusalem Holocaust museum noted that while millions of Russians were killed during World War II, many of them in targeted murders, “the Holocaust is defined by the comprehensive campaign aimed at the total eradication of Jewish existence and the murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children, and as such must be recognized and remembered.”

The statement also added that the designated memorial date—April 19—set by the new Russian law has “profound significance” in Holocaust remembrance, as it marks the start of the famous uprising of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. JNS

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‘Israel saved us from genocide’: Interview with Syrian Druze leader. After more than 2,000 Druze were killed in a brutal massacre, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri says Israel’s airstrikes halted the bloodshed, condemns Syria’s rulers as jihadists and calls for an independent Druze entity in Sweida. Einav Halabi|01.13.26 04:57 [36]

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Syrian Druze appeal. 'We want Israel to control southern Syria' Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 5:19 PM INN

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Israeli-Argentine man freed from Venezuelan prison after 496 days. Itamar Eichner. |01.13.26 07:09 [37]

Netanyahu speaks with Yaakov Harari after his release from Venezuelan prison. PM Netanyahu spoke with Yaakov Harari, released from prison in Venezuela, praising diplomatic and security efforts to his release, thanking Israeli agencies, international partners, and the Harari family for their perseverance. Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 5:21 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Iran admits at least 2,000 killed as opposition reports over 12,000 dead in 'largest massacre' Lior Ben Ari|01.13.26 07:17 YNet

Over 12,000 estimated dead in Iran mass killings, largely over two nights, amid protests - report. Protesters gathered in Iran’s largest cemetery, Behesht-e Zahra, on Monday, chanting slogans such as “This year is the year of bloodshed, Seyyed Ali will be overthrown.”

By Fraidy Moser. January 13, 2026.

Over 12,000 people have been killed during the protests in Iran, largely over the course of Thursday and Friday nights, Iran International reported on Tuesday, describing the events as “the largest killing in Iran’s contemporary history.”

These figures are unconfirmed estimates by the outlet. Data from the US-based rights organization HRANA confirms the deaths of 646 people since the outbreak of the demonstrations last month. JPost

Iran protests death toll could be as high as 20,000 - CBS News. At least 12,000 people, and possibly as many as 20,000, have been killed during nationwide protests in Iran, CBS News reported, citing two sources including one inside Iran, hours after Iran International earlier reported a death toll of up to 12,000, largely over two consecutive nights of protests on January 8 and 9. IranIntl

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'They just kept killing': Eyewitnesses describe deadly crackdown in Iran. Jan 12, 2026. Roja Assadiand Sarah Namjoo, BBC Persian.

A protester holds up a picture of crown prince Reza Pahlavi in Kaj Square, north-western Tehran on Friday. "I saw it with my own eyes - they fired directly into lines of protesters, and people fell where they stood."

Omid's voice was shaking as he spoke, fearful of being traced. Breaking the wall of silence between Iran and the rest of the world takes immense courage, given the risk of reprisals by the authorities.

Omid, in his early 40s and whose name we have changed for his safety, has been protesting on the streets of a small city in southern Iran over the past few days against worsening economic hardship.

He said security forces had opened fire at unarmed protesters in his city with Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.

"We are fighting a brutal regime with empty hands," he said.

The BBC has received similar accounts of the crackdown by security forces following the widespread protests across the country last week.

Since then, internet access has been cut by the authorities, making reporting from Iran more difficult than ever. BBC Persian is banned from reporting inside Iran by the government.

One of the largest nationwide anti-government protests took place on Thursday, the twelfth night of demonstrations. Many people appear to have joined the protests on Thursday and Friday after calls from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The following day, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said: "The Islamic Republic will not back down." It appears that the worst bloodshed occurred after that warning as security forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps take their orders from him.

Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of fomenting trouble and condemned "terrorist actions", state media reported.

(Mortuary videos shows violent government crackdown in Iran).

A young woman from Tehran said last Thursday felt like "the day of judgement".

"Even remote neighbourhoods of Tehran were packed with protesters - places you wouldn't believe," she said.

"But on Friday, security forces only killed and killed and killed. Seeing it with my own eyes made me so unwell that I completely lost morale. Friday was a bloody day."

She said that, after Friday's killings, people were afraid to go out and that many were now chanting from alleys and inside their homes.

Tehran was a battlefield, she said, with protesters and security forces taking positions and cover on the streets.

But she added: "In war, both sides have weapons. Here, people only chant and get killed. It is a one-sided war."

Eyewitnesses in Fardis, a city just to the west of Tehran, said that on Friday, members of the paramilitary Basij force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) suddenly attacked protesters after hours without a police presence on the streets.

The forces, who were in uniform and riding motorcycles, fired live ammunition directly at protesters, according to the witnesses. Unmarked cars were also driven into alleys, with occupants shooting at residents who were not involved in the protests, they said.

"Two or three people were killed in every alley," one witness alleged.

Map of Iran showing verified locations of protests since 28 December 2025, as of 11 January 2026

Those who have given accounts to BBC Persian say the reality inside Iran is hard for the outside world to imagine, and the death toll reported by international media so far only represents a fraction of their own estimates.

International news outlets are not allowed to work freely inside Iran and they are mostly relying on Iranian human rights groups who are active outside the country. On Monday the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 648 protesters in Iran had been killed, including nine people under the age of 18.

Some local sources and eyewitnesses report very high numbers of people killed across different cities, ranging from several hundreds to thousands.

The BBC is currently unable to independently verify these figures and, so far, Iranian authorities have not provided official or transparent statistics on the number of deaths of protesters.

However, Iranian media has reported that 100 security personnel had been killed during the protests, saying that protesters - whom they refer to as "rioters" - set fire to dozens of mosques and banks in various cities.

Eyewitness image A large group of people gather in front of buildings in Babol. Someone near the camera has their hands in the air. It is after dark and lights from buildings illuminater the area.Eyewitness image Footage posted on Thursday showed large crowds in Babol, northern Iran

Images posted on Thursday from Khorramabad in western Iran showed a man holding Iran's pre-revolutionary flag Videos verified by BBC Persian's fact-checking team also show police vehicles and some government buildings being set alight in different locations during the protests.

Testimonies and video sent to BBC Persian are mainly from larger cities such as Tehran, nearby Karaj, Rasht in the north, Mashhad in the north-east, and Shiraz in the south. These areas have greater access to the internet via the Starlink satellite network.

Information from small towns - where many early casualties occurred - is scarce as their access to Starlink is very limited.

But the volume, consistency, and similarity of the accounts received from various cities point to the severity of the crackdown and the widespread use of lethal violence.

Nurses and medics who spoke to the BBC said they had seen numerous dead bodies and injured protesters.

They reported that hospitals in many cities had been overwhelmed and were unable to treat those with severe injuries, especially to the head and eyes. Some witnesses reported bodies "stacked on top of each other" and not handed over to families.

Graphic videos published on the activist-run Telegram channel Vahid Online on Sunday showed a large number of bodies at the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran, with many families either mourning or attempting to identify the corpses.

In one of the videos apparently from Kahrizak, relatives are seen looking at the photos of unidentified bodies displayed on a screen.

Many bodies in black bags were visible in the facility and on the street outside, only some of which seem to have been identified.

One video showed the inside of a warehouse containing several bodies, while another showed a truck being unloaded with people removing corpses from it.

A mortuary worker in a cemetery in Mashhad said that before sunrise on Friday morning between 180 and 200 bodies with severe head injuries were brought in and buried immediately.

A source in Rasht told BBC Persian that 70 bodies of protesters were transferred to a hospital mortuary in the city on Thursday. According to the source, security forces demanded "payment for bullets" before releasing bodies to families.

At the same time, a medical staff member at a hospital in eastern Tehran told BBC Persian that on Thursday, around 40 bodies were brought there the same day. The hospital's name has been withheld to protect the identity of the medic.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday that he was "shocked by reports of violence and excessive use of force by the Iranian authorities against protesters resulting in deaths and injuries in recent days".

"I want to emphasise that regardless of the death toll, the use of lethal force by security forces is concerning," Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, told BBC Persian. BBC

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Israeli and Arab officials have privately suggested U.S. hold off on Iran strikes. January 13, 2026. Israeli officials have suggested the Trump administration delay large-scale strikes until the Iranian regime is even more strained, while one Arab official said there is “lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood" for American military action in Iran right now. NBC News

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Iran set to execute 26-year-old protester on Wednesday without trial. While an estimated 2,000 people have been killed in anti-Islamic regime protests in recent weeks, Erfaneh Soltani is the first protester to be sentenced to execution.

By Danielle Greyman-kennard. January 13, 2026.

A 26-year-old protester is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday by the Islamic Republic after authorities reportedly neglected to offer the demonstrator any opportunity to defend himself in a court of law.

Erfaneh Soltani, who is scheduled to be executed, was denied any legal process or a defense lawyer, according to the US State Department. JPost

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Trump to Iranians: ‘keep protesting, help is on the way’; faces of Iran massacre victims emerge. First testimonies from Iran describe a brutal crackdown that killed at least 2,000 protesters and possibly far more; one detainee faces imminent execution as Farah Pahlavi issues a rare call saying ‘light will overcome darkness’ Lior Ben Ari, News Agencies|01.13.26. YNet

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EU Parliament bans Iranian diplomats over crackdown on protesters. Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 5:48 AM INN

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Bloodbath. WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED - Videos Expose Executions in Iran. Harrowing footage from Kahrizak morgue shows families searching rows of body bags, contradicting regime narrative as Trump weighs ‘strong options’ to halt the violence.

Yair Kleinbaum. Jan 12, 2026 22:49 JFeed

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'This is our Berlin Wall,' Iranian activist Masih Alinejad tells 'Post' of protests - interview. Alinejad described a grim ritual familiar to Iranians living abroad: zooming in on photographs of the dead, searching for the faces of family members. "This is deliberate cruelty," she said.

By Amichai Stein January 13, 2026.

As images of mass protests and violent crackdowns continue to emerge from Iran, Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad says the world is witnessing not only a popular uprising, but a defining moral test for Western leaders - "this is our Berlin wall," she states in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

“When I see pictures of lifeless bodies stacked on top of each other, my heart is pounding,” Alinejad said in an emotional conversation. “But what makes me furious is not only the pain—it’s the silence outside Iran.” JPost

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US designates Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist organizations. Secretary Rubio announces that the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood are being designated under Trump's executive order. Israel National News. Published: Jan 13, 2026, 6:48 PM (GMT+2) INN

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South of Hebron: Israeli Bedouins disguised as IDF soldiers rob Arab stores. Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 1:03 PM INN

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Foreign Minister announces: Immediate suspension of contacts with UN agencies. Minister Gideon Saar announced the immediate suspension of contacts with several UN agencies and international organizations, following the US' withdrawal from similar bodies. Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 6:14 PM (GMT+2)

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced today (Tuesday) the immediate suspension of contacts with several UN agencies and international organizations, following a review by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the wake of the United States' withdrawal from similar bodies.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was reported that "Israel has severed ties with seven entities, and at the same time, further engagement with additional organizations will be examined as needed, in consultation with relevant government ministries."

Among the organizations from which contacts were severed, Israel has already terminated its relations with the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, after it included the IDF in the "blacklist" alongside terrorist organizations; with UN Women - which ignored sexual violence against Israeli women on October 7; with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which have published anti-Israel reports for years.

Additionally, contacts were cut off with the UN Alliance of Civilizations - for which Israel was not invited to participate and which, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, served as a platform for attacks on Israel; with UN Energy - described as a wasteful and bureaucratic organization; and with the Global Forum on Migration and Development - which, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, harms Israel's ability to enforce its immigration laws. INN

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Drama in conservative media land. Megyn Kelly's Friends and Fans Are Ditching Her As Megyn Kelly spirals, observers are shaking their heads: She's ditching her fact-driven, inquisitive style for vendetta-fueled nonsense. This could torch her fanbase, with viewership dipping and ex-allies piling on the rebukes.

Bianca Jones. Jan 13, 2026 09:47 JFeed

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In ‘State of State’ address, Hochul pledges more protection against Jew-hatred.

A recent, pro-Hamas demonstration outside a Queens synagogue was “not free expression,” she said. “That’s harassment, and targeting a Jewish community in this way is antisemitism.”

Debra Nussbaum Cohen. (Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS)

In her annual State of the State speech on Tuesday in Albany, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called out antisemitism and announced that she is proposing a new law to ban demonstrations within 25 feet of a house of worship. 

The buffer zones will start at the property line of synagogues, churches, mosques and temples, “so those who simply want to pray can do so without fear or harassment,” she said.

“In 2026, we’ll take new steps to protect our houses of worship against the rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia,” she said. “New York has already invested $131 million to better secure these sacred places, but clearly, more must be done.”

The prior week, the governor noted, “protestors led pro-Hamas chants outside a synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills.”

“That’s not free expression. That’s harassment,” she said. “Targeting a Jewish community in this way is antisemitism.” JNS

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Cabinet convened; IDF increases alert level. Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 10:28 PM INN

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UK summons Iranian amb. over 'brutal' killing of protesters. Israel National News Jan 13, 2026, 10:21 PM INN

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'Very strong action' if protesters are hanged. In an interview with CBS News, Trump warns Iran of “very strong action" if it hangs protesters, pledging help for Iranian citizens. Elad Benari. Jan 14, 2026, 12:14 AM INN

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German Chancellor: 'Iranian regime in its final days and weeks’. Israel National News. Jan 13, 2026, 7:26 PM INN

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Amid fears of new offensive. Syria orders Kurdish withdrawal from Aleppo. Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 3:21 AM INN

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As death toll soars. EU to propose new sanctions against Iran. Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 3:45 AM INN

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Report: Trump and Mamdani quietly texting despite past clashes. Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 4:07 AM INN

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Kurds Accuse Syrian Army of War Crimes in Aleppo. John Hayward. 13 Jan 2026. The semi-autonomous Kurdish government in northeastern Syria on Sunday accused the Syrian Army and its affiliated militias of committing “war crimes” against Kurdish communities in the city of Aleppo. Breitbart

Post helping toppling Assad: Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman Overreach: Syria, Gaza, and the "Islamic [influenced] NATO" Despite attempting to cast himself as the moral arbiter of the Middle East, Turkish Islamic semi-dicrator President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to use regional instability to mask his domestic failures and pursue a transparently expansionist "Neo-Ottoman" agenda.

1. Exploiting the Syrian Power Vacuum While the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024 was a victory for the Syrian people, Erdogan has swiftly pivoted from "liberator" to occupier. Turkey was the primary backer of the Syrian National Army (SNA), a proxy force critics argue is more loyal to Ankara than to the Syrian revolution. Following Assad’s collapse, Erdogan’s forces launched Operation Dawn of Freedom, a naked land grab aimed at expanding the Turkish-occupied "buffer zone" and crushing Kurdish aspirations for self-governance.Reference: Council on Foreign Relations (2024) – Analysis of Turkey’s "double-game" in Syria, balancing anti-Assad rhetoric with unilateral military incursions.

2. Systematic Crackdown on Kurdish Allies Erdogan’s primary objective in post-Assad Syria remains the destruction of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Despite the SDF being the West’s most reliable partner in the defeat of ISIS, Erdogan views them as an existential threat. By capitalizing on the chaos of the regime’s collapse, Turkish-backed forces moved to dismantle US-allied Kurdish enclaves in Aleppo and Manbij, effectively trading the fight against jihadism for a campaign of ethnic displacement.Reference: Modern Diplomacy (2025) – Reports on Erdogan’s leverage of the offensive to expand the 30-kilometer Turkish "security corridor."

3. Gaza: The Ejected Mediator In a desperate bid for Islamic leadership, the "Islamic Dictator" attempted to insert himself into the Gaza conflict by urging the Trump administration to grant Turkey a lead oversight role. However, Israel and several Arab neighbors flatly rejected his participation. Erdogan’s open embrace of Hamas leadership and his vitriolic rhetoric against the Israeli state have disqualified him as a "neutral broker," leaving Turkey sidelined while Qatar and Egypt maintain real diplomatic leverage.Reference: Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) (2025) – Policy brief on how Israel and regional Arab powers blocked Turkey’s "guarantor" proposal due to ideological ties.

4. The "Islamic [influenced] NATO": The Nuclear Pivot to Pakistan Finding himself increasingly isolated within NATO, Erdogan has turned toward a hardline "Pak-Turk" strategic alliance. In early 2026, reports emerged that Turkey is in advanced talks to join a Mutual Defense Pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This so-called "Muslim NATO" allows Erdogan to project power toward India and the West, essentially seeking a seat under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella to compensate for waning influence in the Mediterranean.

- Reference: Bloomberg / The Times of Israel (January 2026) – Investigation into the "Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement" and Turkey’s shift toward a trilateral nuclear security bloc. [1.14.26] at EoZ

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Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig: The new plaque at the Gisèle Halimi Center for women victims of violence in Bordeaux, France 🇫🇷, has been defaced with a swastika for the second time in six months.

Gisèle Halimi, a Tunisian-French Jewish lawyer, fought tirelessly for women’s rights, including the right to abortion and the defense of rape victims, and carried that fight into the French government.

The antisemites could not care less that France is safer for women because of her. All they see is a Jewish woman, and that alone makes her name a target.

This has nothing to do with Zionism or Gaza. It is the expression of thousands of years of hatred. How can the world not see the echo of the 1930s? Jan 13, 2026 on X

Ex-Navy SEAL, who saw US government as ‘controlled by Israel, Jews,’ convicted in plot to bomb police (Jan. 13, 2026 / JNS)

A U.S. Navy SEAL, who displayed neo-Nazi symbols and praised terrorist groups, was convicted on Jan. 12 of planning to use explosives against police at a California protest, federal prosecutors said on Monday.

A federal jury found Gregory Vandenberg, 49, guilty of “transporting explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate” law enforcement officers, and of trying to bring illegal fireworks into the state.

Prosecutors said Vandenberg was driving from El Paso to San Diego ahead of the June 14, 2025, “No Kings Day” protests when he stopped at a travel center in New Mexico. There, Vandenberg wore a shirt that read “Amalek,” a reference to a biblical tribe and nemesis of the Jews. JNS

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Traitors contestant compared Israel to Nazis in posts missed by BBC. Marzook Bana's past social media comments emerge. By Annabel Sinclair. January 13, 2026, 11:21 am The BBC is facing further criticism after social media posts by a contestant on The Traitors emerged in which he compared Israel to Nazi Germany, prompting outrage from Jewish organisations and fresh questions over vetting standards.

Marzook Bana, known as “Maz” on the prime-time reality series, posted comments on Facebook in 2021 likening an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank to the actions of the Nazis and accusing “Zionists” of forgetting the Holocaust.

Under an image appearing to show an Israeli checkpoint, Bana wrote: “Nazis all over again, the oppressed have become the oppressors!! The Zionists have short memories of what Hitler did. Never again, they said!! The world’s political leaders should be ashamed of themselves of being subservient to ISRAEL!”

In the same thread, he later stated that “to criticise Israel’s behaviour towards the Palestinian people is not antisemitic.”

Further posts attributed to Bana accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of being positioned to “annihilate the Labour Party” and bowing to “his paymasters”. He later liked a reply identifying those “paymasters” as “the pro-Israeli lobby, the Board of Deputies and anyone else who finds the idea of Palestinians having human rights abhorrent”.

Bana, a 59-year-old retired police officer from Preston and a father of five, was eliminated from the programme last week. In a statement, he said: “I apologise for any offence my comments may have caused. It’s never been my intention to offend, marginalise or discriminate against any individual or group. I refute any allegations that I am antisemitic. My viewpoint has always been from a humanitarian perspective rather than a political one.”

Jewish groups said the language used echoed well-established antisemitic tropes, particularly Nazi comparisons and claims of covert Jewish influence over political leaders.

Studio Lambert, the production company behind The Traitors, said the comments were not uncovered during background checks. It said: “We employ reputable companies to conduct thorough background and social media checks as part of our due diligence, which we take extremely seriously.” JewishNews

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Less than 40% of CBC's reporting on Israel-Hamas conflict was 'balanced': study by Jewish group.

Head of public affairs at CBC says the study's sample is 'only a portion' of its coverage and CBC's Ombud has not found its reporting has 'violated its journalistic standards of impartiality'

Author of the article: By Courtney Greenberg Published Jan 12, 2026.

Less than 40 per cent of CBC’s reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict was “balanced or neutral,” finds a new study by a Jewish advocacy group.

B’nai Brith Canada also found that more than 50 per cent of CBC’s news articles and videos included in the study met its threshold for pro-Palestinian bias, while less than seven per cent met the threshold for pro-Israel bias. This was based on a sample of 299 items published between Oct. 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025. NationalPost

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Open University drops ‘ancient Palestine’ reference after complaint. By Annabel Sinclair. January 13, 2026.

The Open University has agreed to stop using the term “ancient Palestine” in its teaching materials after a student raised concerns that the wording was historically inaccurate and risked erasing Jewish history.

The change follows a complaint backed by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which warned the university that describing the Virgin Mary as being born in “ancient Palestine” could create a hostile learning environment for Jewish and Israeli students. The development was first reported by The Telegraph.

The wording appeared in Discovering the Arts and Humanities, an entry-level Open University module that introduces students to myths, religion and cultural history. Course materials referred to Mary’s birthplace as “ancient Palestine”, described Aramaic as “a language widely spoken in ancient Palestine”, and included a map labelled “Map of ancient Palestine”.

UKLFI argued that the terminology was anachronistic and politically loaded, particularly given the current climate following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October, 2023. The group said the term “Palestine” was not applied to the region of Judea, Samaria and Galilee until after the Bar Kokhba revolt, when the Roman emperor Hadrian renamed the province “Syria Palaestina” around 135 CE – more than a century after Mary’s lifetime.

Mary is widely believed to have been born in the late first century BCE in Galilee, a predominantly Jewish region under Roman rule, with most historical accounts identifying Nazareth as her home village.

In a letter to UKLFI, the Open University confirmed it would no longer use the term in future materials and would add context to existing content. The university acknowledged that the wording had become “problematic in a way that, perhaps, it was not when the materials were written in 2018.” JewishNews

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steven farber @steven_far29985: Shadi Hamid (of WAPO columns) and Dave Smith (of Joe Rogan fame) both know there is no genocide in Gaza but keep repeating that line to fan flames when the actual facts, data, and proper application of international law debunk the claims of genocide. [38] Jan 12, 2026. on X

Your opnion piece was eviscerated by two Holocaust and genocide professors in the @washingtonpost washingtonpost.com Opinion | Why it’s wrong to call Israel’s war in Gaza a ‘genocide’ 3:14 AM · Jan 13, 2026 [39] On X

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"She's One of Us". Hollywood Star Sydney Sweeney Meets Rescued Hostages Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or.

Hollywood actress Sydney Sweeney has demonstrated her deep support for the Jewish people by meeting with Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or, two survivors of the brutal captivity in Gaza. [40] Eliana Fleming. Jan 13, 2026  JFeed

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Iraq arrests suspect wanted by Australia over Melbourne synagogue firebombing. "This arrest is a significant disruption to an alleged serious criminal and his alleged criminal enterprise in Australia," said the Australian Federal Police Commissioner.

(Members of the Synagogue recover items from the Adass Israel Synagogue on December 06, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia). By Reuters. January 14, 2026 05:27 Iraqi officials have arrested a man wanted by Australian Federal Police as a person of interest in the investigation into a spate of firebombings, including an antisemitic attack on a Melbourne synagogue, police said on Wednesday.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security and that she had identified him as her "Number One priority." JPost

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Iran Targets Starlink Users as Protests Break Through Internet Blackout. January 13, 2026 YWN

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‘They said my wife died to break me’: Israeli, 72, freed from Venezuela prison speaks out After over a year in a Venezuelan prison, Yaakov Harari returns to Israel, describing harsh conditions, antisemitic abuse and psychological torment; Caracas accused him of being a mercenary and sentenced him to 25 years over photos found on his phone. Itamar Eichner | published: 01.14.26 | 20:43 YNet

Yaakov was imprisoned in Venezuela - and returned home yesterday: "A political prisoner". Harari's imprisonment, who was returned to Israel yesterday accompanied by his daughters, was kept under a veil of secrecy, due to the sensitivity of the affair - and his release came after the overthrow of the Maduro regime. "They told him he was a 'mercenary,' but it was a political imprisonment, he was a hostage. Completely cut off from us," his relatives say. "They took their mattresses. Because of the war, prisoners in the cell next to him lied to him that his wife was dead." Vered Pelman, Kalman Libeskind, Yair Ettinger.

After a year and three months: Yaakov Harari, a 72-year-old Israeli who was imprisoned in Venezuela, was returned to Israel yesterday. Harari was arrested at the Venezuelan border, where he tried to enter from Panama, as part of a business trip he made in South America. The forces in the country claimed that he was a "mercenary" - this is what Yossi Dahan, Harari's son-in-law, told Kalman Libeskind and Yair Ettinger on Channel 2's Kan News today.

Harari's imprisonment was kept under wraps due to the sensitivity of the affair - and his release came after the overthrow of the Maduro regime by American forces . "They started releasing political prisoners, that's what they called it," says Beit Shemesh Deputy Mayor Moshe Shitrit, who helped maintain contact with Harari. "There were prisoners from 48 countries there, it felt like political imprisonment, they were hostages." Shitrit adds: "A few minutes before he was released, they told him, 'Get organized and get out of here, you're on your way home.'"

From the time of his arrest until his release, Harari was almost completely cut off from his family and the outside world. "We didn't talk to him at all, we had no contact with him. It took a long time to figure out where he was. He had a granddaughter born during this time, and they brought him pictures of her through a country's ambassador who came to the prison. Yaakov said he saw the picture for two minutes, they brought it to him to see and took it away," says his son-in-law.

The first significant sign of life from Yaakov, his son-in-law says, came after a man who had been in prison with him and was released managed to track down a representative of the Jewish community in the United States and asked him to provide information to his relatives. "He was the first to tell us that he was healthy and alive," Dahan recalls.

Sheetrit, as mentioned, was the one who was in charge of the Israeli side of the relationship, and he recounts the chilling details he heard from the prisoner. "At a certain point, they took away their mattresses and blankets, they simply weren't in the cell." Harari suffered abuse from other prisoners of Muslim origin. "They didn't stop teasing him and telling him all sorts of crazy things about shooting down Israeli planes. At a certain point, someone decided to tell him that his wife was dead. It wasn't and won't be, she's with us alive." KAN

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@idfonline: Serious violation of the ceasefire agreement: IDF forces killed six terrorists in the Rafah area. Following yesterday's incident in which six armed terrorists were identified in the West Rafah area and after searches were carried out in the area, it can now be confirmed that the 7th Brigade combat team eliminated the six terrorists during the exchange of fire.

Various weapons were found on the eliminated terrorists.

The IDF views any violation of the agreement as serious and will continue to act against any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terrorist plots against IDF forces and citizens of the State of Israel. Jan 14, 2026 on X

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Ultra-Orthodox Israelis attacked near Ukraine-Poland border, assailant shouts antisemitic abuse. Group returning from pilgrimage site in Ukraine says a local man became violent at a gas station, hurled objects into their vehicle and shouted antisemitic slurs as their Ukrainian driver fled in fear. Itamar Eichner | published: 01.14.26 01:46 YNet

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WSJ: Gulf States Beg Trump: Don't Strike Iran - Oil Markets Could Explode. Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar are privately lobbying the Trump administration to refrain from military strikes or regime change efforts targeting Iran, warning of catastrophic consequences for global oil markets and the U.S. economy

Gila Isaacson. Jan 14, 2026 JFeed

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Trump to announce second phase of Gaza plan today. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce the second phase, including international oversight and a Palestinian technocratic government, despite Hamas not releasing the hostage Ran Gvili.

Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 7:49 AM INN

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Haredim attacked in Ukraine: 'Even in Israel they hate you'. The attacker approached the vehicle with several haredi passengers, opened the doors, shouting insults and acting violently. 'A frightening incident.' Israel National News. Published: Jan 14, 2026, 7:33 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Pallets of energy drinks spotted being sent as humanitarian aid. Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 11:25 AM INN

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ISA official recommends hanging for terrorists A former ISA official told a Knesset committee today that the cultural impact of hanging gives it more significance than other options for the death penalty. Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 12:00 PM INN

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Top crime boss linked to car bombing. Prosecutors say Abu Latif syndicate targeted real estate developer Itzik Teshuva in 2023 bombing after failed extortion. Roy Rubinstein|01.14.26 YNet

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Report: Israel, Iran exchanged pledges via Russia. IDF says it is closely monitoring developments amid growing reports of a potential US strike on Iran. Itamar Eichner|01.14.26 YNet

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USA withdraws personnel from Al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar. Israel National News Jan 14, 2026, 1:42 PM INN

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Mutilate Iranian Protestersm Tehran’s "Shoot to Kill" Orders. Targeted for Blindness: The Horrific Strategy to Mutilate Iranian Protesters. Medical staff in Tehran have revealed a systematic regime campaign to permanently blind and kill protesters, as death toll estimates soar to 12,000 amid a brutal national crackdown. Eliana Fleming Jan 14, 2026 JFeed

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Doctors in Iran 'Shooting at protesters is aimed to kill' Israel National News Jan 14, 2026, 4:52 PM INN

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The Dark Secrets Behind Tehran's State Media. Theater of Terror: Inside Iran’s Unprecedented Wave of 100 Forced Confessions. Human rights groups have documented an unprecedented surge in televised forced confessions, revealing a systematic regime effort to justify the mass execution of protesters through torture and state media propaganda. Eliana Fleming. Jan 14, 2026. JFeed

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Gaza Demilitarization Begins. BREAKING: Steve Witkoff Announces Launch of Phase Two in Gaza Peace Plan. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff declares the launch of Phase Two in President Trump's Gaza plan, advancing to demilitarization and reconstruction while warning Hamas of consequences for failing to return the final deceased hostage. Eliana Fleming. Jan 14, 2026 JFeed

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Amid Iran tensions. Lufthansa group cancels night flights in and out of Israel. Israel National News. Jan 14, 2026, 9:14 PM INN

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Trump says he has been told killing of protesters in Iran has stopped. A potential US strike on Iran is still several days away, according to officials, who warned that any military action could prompt a strong Iranian response. Reuters, Itamar Eichner|01.14.26 YNet

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MK Ahmad Tibi removed from podium after inciting against Rabbi Eliyahu. During a speech in the Knesset plenum, MK Ahmad Tibi lashed out at Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, accused the coalition of failure, and claimed that “blood is flowing in the streets." Israel National News. Published: Jan 14, 2026, 9:24 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Betar to 'Post': NY order a 'chilling decision' that should 'terrify' Zionists and Jews - exclusive. Torossian said the "whole idea that we targeted random Palestinians and Muslims [is wrong]," adding "what they are saying is you can't counter people who attack synagogues."

By Mathilda Heller. January 14, 2026. "This is a very chilling decision which should terrify every Zionist and every Jew in New York," head of Betar US Ronn Torossian told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. This comes after the New York Attorney General ordered the Zionist activist group to cease its campaign "of violence" in the city or face paying a $50,000 fine.

While labeled "far right" by many figures and groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, Torossian said that Betar is a mainstream Zionist organization, following the vision of Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He stressed that the HQ of Betar is in the Likud building, and many prominent Likud figures (such as Ofir Akunis and Danny Danon) were raised in the Betar movement.

He stressed that, despite the settlement with the AG (who accused Betar of "bias-motivated harassment and violence designed to terrorize communities"), Betar never signed any confession of guilt, and denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Torossian told the Post that Betar was served a cease and desist letter in March 2025, after which it "voluntarily agreed to halt operations in NY, as we are active in Delaware. JPost

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Antisemitic caricature appears in New Jersey Christmas pageant. Jewish caricature in Ukrainian Christmas tradition resurfaces at New Jersey church, drawing criticism. Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA. Jan 17, 2026, 6:36 PM (GMT+2)

It had all the trappings of a conventional Christmas pageant: the three wise men, Christmas carols, and children dressed as angels.

But there was a twist: This pageant, performed on Sunday in New Jersey, also included a Hasidic Jewish caricature INN

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David Cunio recounts the hell of his captivity: 'The thought of my family kept me alive'. "For a long time, we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita per day," he says. i24NEWS. January 13, 2026 at 02:14 PM David Cunio Recounts The Hell Of His Captivity: 'The Thought Of My Family ... 3 days ago — The most difficult moment for David, however, was the separation. On the 49th day, Sharon and the girls were released as part of the first hostage agreement, while he remained a prisoner. “Saying goodbye to Sharon, Yuli, and Emma was the worst moment of my life,” he confides. “I was begging not to be left behind.”

In the tunnels of Gaza, he endured extreme deprivation and mistreatment. “No food, no water. For a long time, we survived on 250 milliliters of water and half a pita per day,” he recounts. The hostages were forced to stand up whenever their captors passed by, despite weakness and dizziness, sometimes to the point of fainting. i24

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British police chief admits: ‘I passed false information on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans because of AI’. West Midlands Police chief apologizes to Parliament after admitting inaccurate intelligence used to bar Israeli fans from a Europa League match was generated by an AI tool, not verified reporting ynet|01.14.26 | YNet

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Hamas Figures Express Support For Iranian Regime: The Protestors Are Agents Of Israel And The U.S.; Iran Must Attack Israel. January 14, 2026. Iran, Palestinians I Special Dispatch No. 12329. In response to the mass protests in Iran, which are being brutally suppressed by the regime there, figures affiliated with and close to Hamas have voiced clear and unequivocal support for the Iranian regime, which for decades has assisted Hamas with weapons and funding... MEMRI

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How Turkey’s dangerous course in the Middle East fuels massacres - opinion. Ankara has created, sustained, and directed a well-established network of Islamist proxies.

By Veysi Dag. January 14, 2026.

After the massacres against the Alawite community in March and the Druze in July 2025, Kurdish residents of Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafieh neighborhoods have become the latest victims. They were targeted by the same coalition of forces that includes the Turkish-backed Syrian Free Army (SFA), Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and affiliated jihadist groups.

Numerous images and video recordings circulating widely on social media show jihadists mutilating the bodies of Kurdish civilians and fighters, torturing children until they lose consciousness or die, and burning bodies while chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews,” referring to an Arab massacre of Jews in the 7th century. While the immediate perpetrators identify themselves as Islamist jihadists, the true architect behind these atrocities is the Turkish state – its ministers, military, and intelligence apparatus.

Ankara has created, sustained, and directed a well-established network of Islamist proxies, providing them with equipment, intelligence, logistical support, and transportation. Hakan Fidan, the former head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and current foreign minister, has been central to this system, as revealed by leaked recordings dating back to 2014.

Turkey’s longstanding jihadist infrastructure Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has played a profoundly destructive role in shaping the conflict. Ankara actively endorsed radical jihadist groups across Syria and beyond and Istanbul served as the primary gateway for thousands of global jihadists from Europe, North Africa, Central Asia, and the Gulf.

These fighters passed freely through Turkish airports and were transported to the Syrian border with the assistance – or acquiescence – of Turkish intelligence. They were subsequently trained, armed, and deployed inside Syria. Turkey’s jihadist infrastructure was neither hidden nor accidental: international media reported on it extensively, human rights organizations documented it, and Western intelligence agencies acknowledged it.

Yet Turkey faced no serious repercussions, largely due to its NATO membership, its leverage over refugee flows, and its role in facilitating the movement of jihadists into Europe. This reluctance among Western capitals to confront Ankara enabled Turkish impunity while rendering it complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians – a toll rivaled only by the Bashar al-Assad regime itself.

Turkey’s policy in Syria has never been driven by a commitment to civilian protection or democratic transformation. Instead, Ankara has pursued a geopolitical agenda aimed at subordinating Syria to Turkish influence and crushing Kurdish political aspirations at any cost. The consequences are evident in Aleppo, where massacres of Kurdish civilians mirror earlier attacks on Alawite and Druze communities.

US political cover and the role of Tom Barrack These massacres are further compounded by the role of Tom Barrack, the US special envoy for Syria under President Donald Trump, whose policy has contributed to advancing Turkey’s regional ambitions and to the political legitimization of jihadist actors.

Despite a documented record of massacres, Barrack has repeatedly provided political cover for Turkish-backed forces and has continued to promote Ankara’s agenda. Numerous social media users, along with Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) director Rami Abdulrahman, have accused Barrack of complicity in the Aleppo massacre. His actions have effectively shielded jihadists from accountability.

The widespread circulation of videos documenting atrocities against Alawite, Druze, and Kurdish communities reveals methods strikingly similar to those employed by ISIS and Hamas. These acts are not isolated incidents but deliberate campaigns of terror, designed to inflict maximum suffering, terrorize civilian populations, dismantle social and political structures, and cleanse contested areas of minoritized communities in accordance with Ankara’s vision for Syria under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Ankara’s alignment with Iran and Hezbollah Turkey’s destabilizing role extends well beyond Syria. Ankara has expanded its regional maneuvering in ways that directly undermine US policy objectives, particularly with regard to Iran.

Turkey has quietly cooperated with Iran’s clerical regime to prevent its collapse, even as millions of Iranians demand meaningful political change. The recent visit of Fidan to Iran further cemented this cooperation, framed around a shared “common enemy” in Jerusalem.

This collaboration has manifested in intelligence sharing, coordination, and support for Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy. Turkey’s political, financial, and logistical ties to Hezbollah sharply contradict its claim to be a bulwark against extremism. By sustaining Hezbollah’s operational capacity and armament, Ankara contributes to instability in Lebanon, Syria, and beyond, while undermining efforts to curb Iran’s regional influence.

Multiple reports also indicate that Turkish forces have tracked Kurdish fighters across borders, entered Iranian territory, and shared actionable intelligence with Iranian security services. This cooperation has enabled Tehran to target and eliminate Kurdish fighters who pose no threat to Turkey but challenge Iran’s authoritarian system. These actions place Turkey directly at odds with America’s stated objectives in Iran, including support for human rights, democratic transformation, and constraints on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and proxy networks.

A policy that perpetuates violence Turkey’s regional policy seeks to expand its influence across the Middle East while suppressing communities – particularly Kurds – that challenge its domestic and external ambitions. The human cost of this strategy is immense. From the Syrian coast and Sweida to Aleppo and into Iran, Turkish maneuvering has inflicted severe harm to civilians.

This approach disproportionately targets minoritized communities, stifles democratic aspirations, strengthens authoritarian regimes, and perpetuates cycles of violence. Turkey’s policy fosters instability, generates chaos, and then exploits that chaos for geopolitical gain.

By supporting Iran’s authoritarian regime while strengthening jihadist networks in Syria, Ankara’s actions run counter to Trump’s stated vision for regional stabilization, peace, and the resolution of proxy wars. If the US administration is serious about achieving lasting stability in the Middle East, it may need to reconsider its approach to Turkey.

The massacres on the Syrian coast, in Sweida, and in Aleppo are not aberrations. They are the predictable outcomes of a decade-long Turkish policy that prioritizes power, expansion, and control over coexistence, stability, and peace. Until Turkey’s role is confronted, the cycle of violence is likely to persist – adding more communities to an already growing list of victims. JPost

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Why global media obsess over Israel and ignore deadlier wars - opinion. How disproportionate media attention and a misleading conflict frame turn Israel into a moral symbol while eclipsing far deadlier wars.

By Samuel J. Hyde. January 13, 2026. Updated: January 17, 2026.

When arguments about international coverage of Israel arise, they almost always begin in miniature. They circle around language. Is it a “settlement” or a “neighborhood”? A “security fence” or an “apartheid wall”? Was 1948 a war of independence or a Nakba? These debates have the feel of forensic disputes, as if the great drama of the Middle East might finally be settled by the correct choice of noun.

They are not unimportant. Words matter. But they are also a distraction. They keep us arguing on the surface of the story, while the deeper, more corrupting structures shaping it remain largely untouched, and thus unseen.

There are two such structures, two distortions so large that they become strangely invisible. Together, they help explain why Israel occupies such an outsized and morally charged place in the media’s imagination, particularly in the West.

Obsession with Israel.

The first is the sheer scale of attention. Not criticism, attention. A systemic fascination, bordering on obsession, with covering Israel as though it were the gravitational center of world affairs. The fascination is both disproportionate and scalable.

For example, as Prof. Gil Troy noted in his 64-page The Essential Guide to October 7 and Its Aftermath: Facts, Figures, History, published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), “In the first nine months after October 7, 2023, the New York Times published 6,656 articles about the Gaza War. That compared to 80 articles about the American-led battle to free Mosul [Iraq] over nine months in 2016-2017, [some] 198 articles about the Tigray War in Ethiopia, which killed 600,000 in a year, and 5,434 articles during the first 13 years of Syria’s civil war. One Microsoft Copilot Artificial Intelligence analysis found [that] between 50,000 and 70,000 articles about Gaza were written worldwide in nine months – compared to 1,000 articles about Mosul in nine months.”

Former Associated Press reporter Matti Friedman observed that AP employed more full-time journalists covering Israel than it did covering China, India, and Russia combined.

The imbalance becomes even more bizarre at AP when extended further. Israel is covered by more full-time staff than all of sub-Saharan Africa combined, which is made up of dozens of countries, encompassing hundreds of millions of people, multiple wars, famines, mass displacement, and – in some cases – genocidal violence.

If news coverage were meant to be a rational analysis, this is not. Even if news were merely supposed to be the coverage of suffering, power, and danger on planet Earth, this would still be indefensible. You cannot plausibly cover Israel more than an entire continent without warping the reader’s sense of reality.

Illusion of centrality.

This saturation coverage creates the illusion of centrality. It trains audiences to believe that whatever they see most frequently must be the most important event in the world. Israel becomes not just another country among many but a kind of moral index of the age – a stage upon which the world’s conscience is imagined to be tested and revealed.

Meanwhile, catastrophes of far greater scale and brutality – such as the ongoing genocide in Sudan – flicker briefly, if at all, across the screen before disappearing into silence a week later.

This is not accidental. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict occupies a peculiar and disproportionate place in the West’s political imagination, unmatched by conflicts that are deadlier or more brutal. Israel is small enough to be grasped symbolically, but complex enough to absorb endless projection.

It is intimate, familiar, and endlessly legible to Western eyes in a way that “distant” tragedies are not. And so it becomes over-seen, over-examined, intensely dissected, and uniquely moralized until the examination itself becomes both activism and a substitute for understanding.

Regional conflict.

The second distortion is conceptual. Israel’s wars are routinely framed as the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” as though the entire story were a localized struggle between two neighboring peoples, one strong and one weak, one powerful and one victimized. This framing is tidy, emotionally resonant, and yet profoundly misleading.

Most of Israel’s wars have not been fought against Palestinians but against Egyptians and Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanese, Iraqis and, increasingly, Iranians. Israel’s most significant enemy today is the Islamic regime in Iran – a non-Arab, non-Palestinian regional power pursuing its own ideological, nuclear, and strategic ambitions. The rockets fired at Israel during the war did not come only from Gaza. They came from Lebanon, from Yemen, from Iraq, and from Iran itself.

Imagine for a moment a satellite photograph that does nothing but trace the arcs of ballistic missiles and rockets fired at Israel over the past years – a dark map illuminated by red lines streaking inward from multiple directions. Such an image would reveal instantly what the dominant narrative conceals: the contours of a regional war. A multi-front conflict involving state and non-state actors, militias and proxies, ideologies and regimes, stretching across the Middle East.

Yet this is not how the story is told. Instead, a vast and intricate regional struggle is reduced to a single dyad: Israelis vs Palestinians. In this reduction, Israel is cast as the dominant actor, the controlling force, and ultimately the villain. Power flows in one direction only. Agency belongs almost exclusively to Israel. The wider forces shaping the conflict fade into the background or vanish altogether.

Shrinking facts.

This is how media distortion always works – not by inventing the facts but by shrinking and enlarging them selectively. A small story is made to seem enormous. A large story is compressed until it fits the awaiting political template.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to international media on the Gaza war, in Jerusalem, August 10, 2025 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to international media on the Gaza war, in Jerusalem, August 10, 2025 (credit: CHAIM TZACH/GPO) The result is a narrative that is both emotionally compelling and intellectually impoverished, a morality play in which a villainous country called Israel comes to embody the worst sins of the modern age, while the broader regional dynamics dissolve into abstraction.

Once this narrative is established, it becomes self-reinforcing. The more Israel is covered by the media, the more it seems to matter uniquely. The more it is framed as the central actor in a simplified conflict, the easier it becomes to load it with symbolic meaning. Israel ceases to be a state acting within a volatile region and becomes instead a metaphor for everything the imagination fears about power and injustice.

That is why disputes over terminology feel so intense and yet change so little. The problem is not whether a journalist chooses one word over another. It is that the story being told is already too small to hold the truth, and too large to escape moral projection. It magnifies Israel until it eclipses the region, and then isolates it until it bears responsibility for forces far beyond its control.

To notice this is not to deny Palestinian suffering, nor to sanctify Israeli policy. It is to insist on proportionality, context, and intellectual honesty – qualities without which journalism becomes a kind of secular theology, assigning sin and virtue according to narrative convenience rather than reality.

If the coverage of Israel feels uniquely charged, moralized, and obsessive, it is because it is. And until we confront the media structures that produce this obsession – the imbalance of attention and the fiction of a purely local conflict – we will continue arguing over words while missing the story those words were meant to describe.

[Samuel J. Hyde is a South African-Israeli writer on Israel and the Middle East based in Tel Aviv. He began his career studying the rise of Nazism at the Holocaust and Genocide Center and is currently a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute based in Jerusalem]. JPost

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London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia to burnish Qatar’s image.

Wikipedia is such a cesspool of far-left, pro-jihad propaganda that it is quite likely that other pages have been revised at the behest of well-heeled, malign actors as well.

“London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia for governments and billionaires,” by Claire Wilmot, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, January 14, 2026.

Twenty-five years after it was founded, Wikipedia stands as an unrivalled achievement. Not only is it the single largest collection of information in human history, it has also built a stellar reputation for reliability in a digital world awash with lies and deception.

For this reason, new AI tools have begun to carry the site’s contents far and wide. Chatbots and AI-generated search summaries – which are rapidly transforming the way people get their information – both use Wikipedia as a key source.

Now, we can reveal Wikipedia has been subject to shady, paid-for edits ordered by partners at an elite London PR firm with links to Downing Street. And the clients who benefitted from this “wikilaundering” are some of the world’s richest and most powerful people.

The firm in question is Portland Communications, whose founder Tim Allan is now the director of communications for Keir Starmer. And it has been busted once already for this practice, which is in breach of the British PR professionals’ code of conduct.

But after the firm was exposed, former employees told us, it simply started hiring middlemen instead. As one of them put it: “No one said, ‘We should stop doing this.’ The question was how we could keep doing it without getting caught.”

Portland’s subcontractors have polished the public image of Qatar by burying references to critical reporting ahead of the 2022 World Cup, according to the firm’s insiders. They have also obscured mentions of a major terrorist-financing case involving Qatari businessmen; scrubbed evidence that a billion-dollar Gates-funded project failed in its mission; and promoted one side of Libya’s post-Gaddafi government over the other.

Often, however, their changes were more subtle: burying bad press under descriptions of a client’s philanthropic work or swapping out critical news references with something more positive…

In December 2010, the tiny Gulf state of Qatar became the centre of huge international attention when it was chosen as the shock host for the 2022 World Cup. Almost immediately, the country’s human rights record began to draw intense scrutiny. And as stadium construction projects got underway, reports began to emerge detailing the deaths of migrant workers.

With its reputation in the spotlight, Qatar turned to Portland. In 2013, the firm was handed a lucrative contract with the country, its remit covering “government affairs through to nation branding”.

According to six former Portland employees involved in some of this work between 2013 and 2024, Wikipedia edits were a common request from the Qataris. They said Portland hired subcontractors to target pages detailing Qatar’s human rights record, particularly around stadium-building, with pages of prominent politicians also targeted.

TBIJ’s analysis confirms several networks of accounts editing pages to raise the prominence of positive coverage of Qatar, as well as hedging negative press or burying it under more favourable material. Many of these changes – some of which Wikipedia editors flagged as suspicious in separate investigations – were performed by accounts outside of the Web3 network.

Wikipedia reaches into AI and distributes information throughout the internet

Stephen Harrison, journalist. Other edits by the Web3 network focussed on the country’s business interests, including the removal of references to a case in which two Qatari billionaires were sued in the British high court for allegedly channelling funds to Jabhat al-Nusra, a Syrian terrorist group. The case appears to have collapsed in July 2024 after claimants withdrew some claims (lawyers told the Guardian that their clients had been intimidated by Qatari state operatives). But in October 2019, Web3’s network erased all mentions of the case from the page of the men’s business.

Three Wikipedia editors told us that in general, if a case is subject to media coverage as this one was, it should not be deleted…. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

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What is the actual death toll of the Iranian protests? | DW News. Jan 15, 2026 #iran #protests #qatar. Human rights groups say more than 2,500 people have been killed since anti-government protests erupted in Iran some three weeks ago. The Iranian government has been carrying out a vicious crackdown. "These figures, 12 thousands or 10 thousand, that are being circulated. They are laughable compared to we have seen." pn YouTube

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Report: UN Experts Silent on Iran. January 14, 2026. United Nations. According to a report published today by the Swiss non-governmental organization UN Watch, the majority of UN human rights experts—known officially as Special Procedures—have been mostly silent on the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown against civilian protests since December 28, 2025. This includes experts who routinely speak out on Israel and are quick to condemn the United States. UNWarch

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The hypocrisy of the luvvies over Iran is sickening. Compared to the anti-Israel outcry, the double standards are despicable.

This regime is one of the most monstrous on earth. We must all combat it. Allister Heath. 14 January 2026 6:33pm GMT Where are the luvvies when you need them? Where is their outrage, their fury, their passion as thousands of freedom-loving Iranians, sons and daughters, are being massacred by millenarian Islamist theocrats?

Many Leftist entertainers, personalities and activists spent years occupying our streets, flooding social media, denouncing Israel’s just war of self-defence in Gaza as “genocide”, and yet now, when actual crimes against humanity are being committed in Iran, their near-silence is deafening. Every horror they claimed, falsely, Israel was inflicting upon Palestinians, the Iranian regime is actually meting out to its own people: protesters are being shot in the back of the head or machine-gunned in the streets, hospital rooms are being broken into, young people summarily executed, dissidents tortured.

It is pure, unadulterated evil, an obscene moment in history, a stain on humanity. So where are the chants of “from the Gulf to the Caspian Sea, Iran will be free”? Where is Greta Thunberg’s flotilla? Why isn’t Bob Vylan firing up the crowds against the Ayatollahs? Where are the pins, the Shir o Khorshid emblems, the pictures of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the emojis, the student protestors, the sit-ins, the storming of lectures, the mass demonstrations taking over central London?

The hypocrisy is sickening, the double standards despicable. The luvvies don’t really care about Iran, just as they are largely unbothered by deaths in Sudan, the persecution of the Uyghurs and the pogroms of October 7. They are more interested in demonising Israel and the West than in saving innocent lives.

The human rights lawyers, the ICC, the ICJ and all the other acronyms have proved equally useless, and we are still waiting for the UN resolutions and investigations. Three months ago, the UN Human Rights Council elected an Iranian regime diplomat to its advisory committee, an Orwellian parody if ever there was one. Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, falsely claimed last year that “14,000 babies” were facing starvation within 48 hours in Gaza, fuelling much anti-Israel hatred. As of Wednesday evening, his X feed has so far made no mention of the horrendously real Iranian massacre.

Why is there no such thing as LGBTQ+ for Iran, or Iranian Lives Matter, or Justice for Iran, or groups advocating “intersectional resistance” to the Ayatollahs’ “patriarchy and occupation”?

If you are the wrong kind of victim, the luvvies don’t care about you. As long as a regime is anti-Western, its atrocities don’t matter, or are whitewashed.

Where have those who supposedly care about ethnic cleansing been as millions of Iranians fled their beloved homeland since 1979, fuelling a diaspora of 4-6 million?

Erfan Soltani, 26, will be executed for demanding basic rights. Where are the anti-death penalty advocates who always protest America’s penal regime? Iran persecutes gays, women and religious minorities. Where are those bishops who claim to care about religious freedom in the Middle East? Where are all those who keep telling us (wrongly) that America is turning into a Handmaid’s Tale, when confronted with a real-world, woman-hating theocracy?

The Iranian director and filmmaker, Javad Ganji, was murdered last week. Why didn’t anybody at the Golden Globes care? Why did Mark Ruffalo not mention him? Where was the solidarity?

Mojtaba Torshiz, a former midfielder for Tractor, the Iranian football league winners, left his daughters with his parents and went out to protest. He and his wife were murdered. Rebin Moradi, 17, one of Tehran’s most promising youth footballers, was assassinated. Where are the international footballing authorities? Where are the Premier League footballers taking the knee?

For many not especially ideological celebrities or activists, loudly supporting Gaza was an act, a performative ritual, to signal their virtue, their membership of the high-status “good people’s” club. Iran’s young are heroes, taking on IRGC thugs and dying for their beliefs, yet speaking up for them isn’t modish, so the celebs keep shtum.

Such behaviour is despicable, but not as bad as those of the true believers. Millions of educated people across Europe and America have succumbed to the omnicause, an anti-Western, totalitarian mindvirus, the byproduct of hundreds of years of intellectual error from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Karl Marx, from Jacques Derrida to Edward Said, laced with Leninism, superstition, conspiratorial thinking and prejudice.

The omnicause deems America, Israel and the capitalist world as the epitome of Westernness, the fount of all evil, guilty of every “ism” and “cide”, and thus promotes and supports third worldist regimes and causes that undermine our societies. It is nihilistic and shape-changing, embracing any doctrine that advances its ends, regardless of contradictions.

Countries and movements are judged according to what they represent, not their actions; the Iranian revolution of 1979 is the original fusion of Leftism and Islamism, so it remains a model for deluded proponents of the omnicause.

This is why so few Western activists support Iran’s freedom-fighters. These dissidents are pro-freedom, pro-America and pro-democracy. They curse Hamas and Hezbollah, and demand the end to Tehran’s handouts to its proxies, anathema to our useful idiots.

The “oppressed” aren’t meant to have agency, so sinister motives must be attributed to the protesters, such as being in hock to foreign spies.

The Left dismiss their critics as “Islamophobic”, so cannot process scenes from Iran where women burn their compulsory hijabs and where crowds reject state-enforced religion as part of a secularist uprising.

There is a growing grassroots alliance between the Jewish and Iranian diasporas. There are Israeli flags in every anti-regime demo in Britain and America, and imperial Iranian flags in every pro-Israel demo. The regime-funded death squads of October 7 were horrifically similar to those roaming Iranian cities today; one day, a free Tehran will resemble Tel Aviv.

The failure of the Islamist dictatorship is total. The banks are collapsing. Chants of “Jāvid Shāh”, long live the Shah, dominate anti-regime demos; only a total break with the past 47 years will suffice.

The luvvies have disgraced themselves. This regime is one of the most monstrous on earth. We must all combat it. Its collapse, when it comes, will be akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall – but this time, rather than being freed from communism, millions will be liberated from Islamism. Long live a free Iran. DailyTelegraph

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Azar @Azar_Javidan: There has been a massacre in Iran in last few days, with estimates of more than 30,000 innocent, unarmed civilians being slaughtered by machine guns in the streets.

The World Should Wake Up Do Not Look Away

1. JavidShah
2. MassacreInIran

Quote: Azar @Azar_Javidan · Jan 14 Machine guns vs civilians in Tehran. A genocide is unfolding in Iran. Be the voice of Iran. [41]

1. MassacreInIran
2. JavidShah
3. JavidShahRevolution

[42] [43] [44] [45] 5:06 PM · Jan 15, 2026 on X

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Forced confession fears as Iran chief justice interrogates protesters. Paris (France) (AFP) – Iran's hardline judiciary chief has personally interrogated protesters arrested in a crackdown that has sparked an international outcry, amplifying fears among rights groups about the use of "forced confessions" to instil fear in society.

Issued on: 01/15/2026 - 16:25

On Thursday, state television showed Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who has spent his career at the heart of the Islamic republic's legal apparatus and has been sanctioned by both the European Union and United States, quizzing several people the authorities accuse of being "rioters".

It aired footage of the former intelligence minister and top Tehran prosecutor interrogating two detained women, their faces blurred, both of whom broke down in tears while questioned.

The day earlier, he had spent five hours inside one of the prisons of Tehran to examine the cases of prisoners arrested in the protests, state television said, showing him interrogating some detainees.

According to rights groups, state television has broadcast dozens such "confessions" of individuals accused of attacks on security forces and other acts of violence in the demonstrations.

"State media began airing the forced confessions of protesters within days of the outbreak of protests," said Norway-based Iran Human Rights.

"Confessions that were obtained under coercion and torture being aired prior to legal proceedings violate the right of defendants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty," it added.

In another example, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said two teenage girls arrested in the central city of Isfahan were shown in "forced confessions" saying they received money from an individual to participate in street protests.

The use of such alleged admissions comes against the backdrop of a crackdown that rights group say has left thousands dead in rallies that have openly challenged the authority of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

'Work quickly'. In the latest footage, Ejei was shown seated in a room flanked by other officials, beneath a double picture of Khamenei and revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini. The detainee sat in a chair opposite.

One woman, accused of sending a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: "I've done something that even I can’t forgive myself for."

"For what... to who," pressed Ejei, speaking softly while clasping his hands.

Another woman is accused of dropping concrete blocks on security forces in Tehran from a balcony.

"I don't know what happened, why I did something so foolish," she said, after Ejei pressed her by asking, "What was the day?" and "How did you know they were officers?"

No further evidence of their alleged involvement was shown.

US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran in 2024 described Ejei, who has vowed fast-track trials for those arrested, as a "ruthless enforcer of the Islamic republic with no regard for human rights".

Opposition groups also accuse him of involvement in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners in the Islamic republic.

Media freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said he has "journalists' blood on his hands", recalling that Ejei in 2004 even bit a journalist on the shoulder during a debate.

"If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly," Ejei said on Wednesday.

With any delays, "it wouldn't have the same effect," he said. France24

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Iran attack postponed but not canceled: The reasons, and the brutal repression that achieved its goal. Analysis: Washington concluded that potential costs - harm to American bases, Israel, and energy industry in the Gulf - far outweigh any strategic gain and will return to diplomacy; Meanwhile, Iranians are terrified of the brutal suppression of the protest and have stopped. Ron Ben-Yishai|01.15.26 | 22:21 YNet

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Iran regime leaders ordering own children to slaughter civilians, commander’s daughter says. January 16, 2026 | 2:54pm Ruthless Iranian regime leaders are now ordering their own children to slaughter innocent civilians, a commander’s distraught daughter revealed as she sobbed in a gut-wrenching interview on Thursday.

The woman broke down on Persian media outlet Manoto TV as she said leaders are “Giving them batons, electric batons, guns, to go and kill fellow citizens,” adding her father has ordered her “to kill.”

“They are killing their own children, suppressing them,” she said of the regime’s commanders. NYPost

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Germany urges ban on AI-generated fake Holocaust images to prevent historical distortion. German memorial institutions and the government are urging social media platforms to halt the spread of AI-generated fake Holocaust images, clearly distinguish them from authentic material and label them, warning that such content distorts history and harms the memory of the victims Reuters|01.16.26 22:57 YNet

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Killers on the go. REGIME IMPORTS KILLERS: 5,000 Iraqi Militia Fighters Cross Border to Slaughter Iranian Protesters. As the Ayatollahs lose control of the streets, they are bringing in foreign mercenaries from Kataib Hezbollah and the PMF to do the dirty work. European and Iraqi military sources confirm the invasion

Yair Kleinbaum. Jan 16, 2026 JFeed

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🎗️ Jonah @jonahelshout: 30,000 Killed?

Goldie Ghamari Says #Iran’s #Uprising Could Topple the Regime. @gghamari is a[n] Iranian Canadian lawyer [youtube.com] 30,000 Killed? Goldie Ghamari Says Iran’s Uprising Could Topple the... Jan 16, 2026 on X

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Rawan Osman. January 15, 2026. The Iranian people are victims of the “Free Palestine” camp and its leaders. Silence is complicity — and they still have the nerve to cry “hypocrisy.” on FB

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6,000 sought care for eye injuries in Tehran during protests. January 15, 2026 More than 6,000 people with eye injuries have sought treatment at a major eye clinic in Tehran over the past few days following recent protests, the head of the Munich Eye Center told Iran International.

Amir Mobarez Parasta said the figure reflected the scale of eye trauma cases linked to the unrest, based on information he said he had received from his colleagues.

He said the number pointed to widespread eye injuries in recent days. IranIntl

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Pay for bullets: How Iran pressures families after killing protesters. Arash Sohrabi. January 15, 2026 Updated: 14:56 GMT After Iran’s deadliest protest crackdown in decades, authorities have extended their response beyond the streets into morgues, hospitals and family homes, turning the protesters’ bodies into a key tool for suppressing dissent and controlling the narrative.

Iran International has received a large volume of videos, audio testimonies and written accounts describing how the bodies of protesters killed in the latest unrest are being collected, stored and released under strict security conditions.

While a nationwide internet blackout, now about a week, has made independent verification difficult in some cases, Iran International has cross-checked and verified key elements through corroborating footage, eyewitness commentary and the consistency of reports from multiple cities. IranIntl

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Iranian forces attacked peaceful protesters with knives, live fire - sources January 15, 2026.

Iran’s security forces attacked protesters with knives and live gunfire in the northern town of Chamestan during demonstrations on January 8 and 9, local sources told Iran International.

Reports also indicate that security personnel fired live ammunition, targeting a number of protesters.

During the January 9 demonstrations in Chamestan, around 26 bodies were lying on the city’s main street, according to local sources. IranIntl

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From Archetype to Libel: The Misinterpretation of Amalek in Genocide Accusations. Jan 15, 2026. Conclusion: From Archetype to Libel The controversy surrounding the modern invocation of Amalek in Israeli discourse, especially after the October 7 massacre, highlights a fundamental conflict between internal Jewish cultural memory and external political misinterpretation. In Jewish legal and historical tradition, the term has long been regarded as a symbolic command rather than a literal one. Amalek is thus viewed as a metaphysical archetype of unprovoked, existential evil and baseless hatred, which appears throughout history in figures like Haman and the Nazis. When Prime Minister Netanyahu used the term, he engaged in a profound act of typological memory (Zakhor), placing the unprecedented trauma of October 7 within the ongoing struggle between cosmic good and evil. By imposing this literalist, hostile interpretation, detractors are engaging in defamation of the Jewish state.

Post-Script: The Anti-Zionist Echo Chamber The rejection of the present article by Analyse & Kritik, which published the original article by Azzam, serves as a sobering case study in the circular nature of modern anti-Zionist scholarship. Rather than engaging with the provided evidence, the peer-review process revealed a systemic refusal to permit any narrative that challenges the “genocide” label, treating the accusation not as a hypothesis to be tested but as an absolute truth. Central to this failure was the reviewers’ total omission of the vast body of internal Jewish interpretive traditions—sources that explicitly reject or spiritualize the Amalek archetype. By failing to engage with these central points, the reviewers maintained a closed system that dismissed dissenting data as “denial,” thereby precluding genuine academic exchange.

The review process appeared driven by a palpable ideological bias that favored political positioning over substantive analysis. For instance, one reviewer asserted, without providing a shred of evidence, that for “any Israeli ear,” the mention of Amalek carries an immediate association with complete annihilation. This claim was made while simultaneously ignoring the centuries of rabbinic legal tradition cited in the article—such as the rulings of the Sages and Maimonides—that explicitly state that the literal commandment against Amalek is inapplicable today. Furthermore, the use of charged, ad hominem language—specifically labeling the arguments as those of “Netanyahu apologists”—reveals a hostile environment where scholarship is judged by its political utility rather than its factual merit.

Ultimately, this experience highlights the intellectual “incest” inherent in much of the anti-Zionist academic ecosystem. The editor’s response, which took it for granted that Israel has committed “horrible” crimes and demanded that any publication must include “commenting on the destruction of Gaza,” functions as a form of gatekeeping. By dismissing the concept of “self-defense” as a “conventional cliché” and refusing to engage with the primary and secondary sources presented, the reviewers merely confirmed that their objective is not the pursuit of truth. Instead, they serve to protect an echo chamber in which the same scholars quote each other ad nauseam, effectively weaponizing the peer-review process to perpetuate the very libel this article seeks to expose. ISGAP

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Anti-Israel protesters enter BBC Scotland HQ. Israel National News. Jan 15, 2026, 8:01 PM INN

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Israel declares Iranian bank a terrorist organization. Israel National News. Jan 15, 2026, 7:01 PM INN

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The dramatic phone call between Netanyahu and Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump and reportedly asked him to delay the possibility of a military strike on Iran.

Israel National News. Jan 15, 2026, 8:41 PM INN

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UK: NHS doctor suspended over social media posts praising Hamas. Israel National News. Jan 15, 2026, 8:42 PM INN

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The Israel Institute of New Zealand: "In 2 years of fighting in Gaza, 30k militants and 30-40k civilians died. The world screamed genocide[sic]. In 2 weeks, the Iranian regime has massacred 20k civilians. The world looked away." @israel_advocacy. January 16, 2026. on FB

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middleeastbull18: January 16, 2026 London witnessed a massive demonstration as around 30,000 protesters, including Iranians, Israelis and international supporters, gathered in central areas to express solidarity with Iran’s protest movement. Demonstrators called for freedom, human rights and an end to repression, highlighting growing global concern over the situation in Iran.

1. LondonProtest #IranProtests #IranFreedom #HumanRights #GlobalSolidarity #WorldNews #BreakingNews #FreeIran #TrendingNow #FreeIran #HumanRights #BreakingNews #StandWithIran

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Blackout. HEADLINE: IRAN GOES DARK UNTIL MARCH: Regime Burns Its Own Cities as Martial Law Descends After 5 PM. Russian sources confirm the internet blackout will last months. In Rasht, security forces torched a historic market to trap protesters as the country enters a new phase of total repression. Yair Kleinbaum. Jan 16, 2026 HFeex

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Corpse of slain Iranian mother of two found in grim 'warehouse of bodies'. January 16, 2026 The body bags at Tehran’s main cemetery were stacked in their many hundreds on rows and on shelves, according to an eyewitness, who found among the corpses of slain protestors his friend, a 41-year-old mother of two. IranIntl

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At least 1.5 million people took to Tehran streets on January 8, source says. January 16, 2026 IranIntl

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Defiance met with massacre: Iran’s biggest protest wave in generations. January 16, 2026 IranIntl

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Pay for bullets: How Iran pressures families after killing protesters. January 16, 2026 IranIntl

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Jan 16, 2026. Director Of NY MAS Youth Center Mohammad Badawy In Brooklyn Friday Sermon: As A Muslim, My Life's Mission Is To Fight The U.S. Government, The U.S. Army, And ICE Until My Last Breath - That Is My Reason For Existence.

1. 12497 I 01:16 Source: Online Platforms - "MAS Youth Center on YouTube".

Imam Mohammad Badawy, Director of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center in Brooklyn, NY, said in a January 16, 2026 Friday sermon that "as a Muslim," it is his life's mission to fight the U.S. government, the U.S. Army, ICE, or "whatever they control," declaring: "Do your worst."

He added that even if his body is broken, his spirit cannot be reached, and that he must fight these entities with "every single iota of strength, wealth, and spirit" he possesses, "to the last breath" and until he dies or until they cease their oppression and injustice. Badawy concluded: "That's my reason for existence. " MEMRI

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Steven Phillips, MD @StevePhillipsMD Declassified U.S. State Department telegram quoting an Arab League meeting in Lebanon in August 1960, when Arab states decided to create a "Palestinian entity" aimed at undermining Israel through UN manipulation & military action.

With the help of the Soviets, this resulted in the 1964 founding of the PLO, as a tool for collective Arab action against Israel, consistent with Russia's efforts to counter Israel's alliance with the West.

Arab-Soviet alliances during the Cold War shaped modern Palestinian nationalism primarily as an anti-Israel strategy rather than an indigenous pre-1948 movement.

Defund the UN.

[46] Jan 16, 2026 Download the app and never miss what’s happening. on X

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Trump Says Laura Loomer ‘Can Be a Little Nasty,’ But Is ‘Always Nice’ to Him: ‘That’s All That Matters’. Kathryn Wilkens. Fri, January 16, 2026 at 10:34 PM UTC

During a Friday press appearance to mark the renaming of a Palm Beach boulevard in his honor, President Donald Trump said that right-wing commentator Laura Loomer “can be a little nasty” but is “always nice” to him, adding, “And that’s all that matters.”

While touting the success of the “extraordinarily red” state of Florida, Trump reflected on one year ago, when “we were a dead country.”

Now, he said, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are investing “two trillion dollars” each into the United States. “So we took in six trillion,” Trump claimed. “That’s why we have 18, because we took six from three countries. That helps, right? Laura? Is that right?” Trump said, gesturing to Loomer in the crowd. Importantly, per a November Bloomberg investigation, the “actual investment promises are significantly smaller, raising questions not just over the size of Trump’s claimed boom but the nature, durability, and real economic impact of the influx he wants credit for.”

“Hi, Laura,” the president continued on Friday, amidst cheers from the crowd. “Boy, you are something. What spirit you have. Laura Loomer. Thank you, honey, for being here. I appreciate it.” “You know, she can be a little nasty, but to me, she’s always nice, and that’s all that matters,” Trump said. “I want her to stay that way, too.”

According to two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Risen in July, Loomer acts as “Trump’s de facto national security adviser.” Earlier on Friday, Loomer actually slammed the president for meeting with former Fox host Tucker Carlson in the West Wing, writing, “Every time Tucker Qatarlson visits the White House, GOP voter turnout decreases.”

In a follow-up post, she added, “Looks like the 2 million Iranian American voters will be sitting out in the midterms,” insinuating that Carlson’s July interview with the president of Iran somehow influenced Trump not to use military force as the country “continue[s] to murder thousands of innocent people.” MediaIte

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🚨 BREAKING: Multiple Iranians INJURED In London - UK Police Crackdown On Anti-IRGC Protesters. Tousi TV. January 16, 2026. on YouTube

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Trump's help did not come, and the protest in Iran faded: "There is a lot of death". Guy Elster. January 16, 2026. Iran's nationwide protest movement appeared to be slowing down on Thursday, weighed down by a brutal crackdown by the authorities that has left thousands dead and tens of thousands in prison. In Tehran, Iranians reported relative calm on the streets, just a week after the protests peaked in Tehran and elsewhere in the capital, escalating into clashes between demonstrators and security forces. But they were brutally suppressed. A resident of the capital, Tehran, where the protest began in a bazaar two and a half weeks ago, told Al Jazeera that there was a heightened security presence alongside uncertainty about the future. "There is a large military presence on the streets of the capital and elsewhere," the resident said. He said Revolutionary Guards had been deployed in the capital, along with numerous checkpoints and police checkpoints. He added that armed forces were patrolling the streets on motorcycles. “There is a lot of uncertainty. A lot of people are worried,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety. He said many expect American action soon, but opinions are divided about its implications. “There is a lot of death, sadness and anger.”

According to reports in American and other media outlets, Trump was under heavy pressure from leaders in the Middle East not to launch strikes, a move that would almost certainly lead to Iranian retaliatory strikes against American bases throughout the region. The New York Times reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the American president during a phone call, and Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Egypt were also among those pressuring him to give Tehran "another chance." On social media, some Iranians expressed disappointment at Trump's apparent withdrawal from military intervention. An artificial intelligence image showing Trump removing a mask and revealing former President Barack Obama - who was perceived among the Iranian diaspora as taking a soft line towards Iran - was widely circulated. The slowdown in protests came just two days after US President Donald Trump called on Iranians to "keep protesting - take over your institutions," and promised that "help is on the way." Intelligence assessments have indicated that the United States is preparing to attack Iran, a move Trump has threatened if the Iranian government continues to kill protesters. But on Wednesday night, Trump appeared to back away from the brink of military intervention, telling reporters that Iranian authorities were halting executions. “We’ve been told that the killing in Iran has stopped — it has stopped — it has stopped now. And there is no plan for executions, or executions, or executions — I’ve been told by a very competent source,” Trump said.

The White House later claimed that 800 executions planned in Iran had been canceled. White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt said Trump and his team had warned of “serious consequences” if the killings continued. “The president understands that today 800 executions that were planned and were scheduled to take place yesterday have been stopped,” she said. However, she said Trump continues to monitor the situation closely. “All options are still on the table for the president,” Levitt said. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walz reiterated this at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday night, saying the United States stands with “the brave people of Iran” and that Trump “has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the massacre.” Iran's deputy ambassador to the UN, Hossein Darazi, sharply criticized the United States for what he called its "direct involvement in turning the unrest in Iran into violence." "Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of supporting human rights, the United States is trying to present itself as the friend of the Iranian people, while at the same time laying the foundations for political subversion and military intervention under a supposedly 'humanitarian' narrative," Darazi said. Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the United States of convening the meeting in an attempt to "justify open aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state." Russia defended Iran's actions and was the only member of the council to do so. France's UN ambassador, Jerome Bonfon, called for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained detainees and a moratorium on the death penalty, while Britain's deputy ambassador, Archibald Young, said that "Iran must urgently change course" and respect the fundamental rights of its citizens, "including the right to demonstrate without fear of violence or repression." At least 2,637 people have been killed in the protests, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Human rights groups have expressed concern about forced confessions among detained protesters after state media broadcast footage of the head of the hardline judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohsani Ajayi, personally interrogating detainees. Ajayi, who is subject to US and European sanctions, is accused by opposition figures of involvement in the mass executions of political prisoners in 1988. Footage broadcast yesterday showed Ajayi interrogating women, one of whom was accused of sending a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another woman, accused of throwing concrete blocks at security forces, said during her interrogation by Ajayi: “I don’t know what happened, why did I do such a stupid thing.” From the beginning of the protests, state media broadcast footage of such confessions, as part of an attempt to portray the protests as a movement that originated from foreign intervention aimed at destabilizing Iran. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization said: “The broadcast of confessions obtained under duress and torture before legal proceedings violates the right of defendants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.” The protests began on December 28 following a sharp drop in the value of the local currency, and quickly expanded to demands for political reforms and even an end to the Iranian regime’s rule. The protest spread to all 31 provinces of the country and is the most serious wave of unrest the government has faced in decades. Iranian President Masoud Pazakhian said yesterday that the government was working to improve living conditions in the country and to address the factors that ignited the protests. He pledged to fight corruption and price gouging, which he said would improve citizens’ purchasing power. Iran’s national currency has lost about two-thirds of its value in the past three years, while the prices of basic goods have soared, with food prices rising by 72% since last year. Experts have said that while the protests point to deep-seated problems in Iran's system of government that are likely to plague it in the long term, a state collapse is unlikely. This concern has also been raised by Israeli and Arab officials, who have told the US administration in recent days that the Iranian regime is not yet weak enough for US strikes to topple it. Hamal

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Melika Razavi (Poker player, Magician, Writer, Miss global Iran 2016, Miss global fitness 2016, Miss power woman 2017). melirazavii: Jan 16, 2026. This is Iran. This is what the Islamic Republic looks like. This is genocide, not “governance.”

Over 25,000 people are dead — men, women, children — murdered by their own government. Internet shut down. Communications cut. Streets turned into war zones so killing can happen in silence.

And still, some of you defend this regime. Not because you care about Iranians — but because of ideology, money, and comfort.

Call it what it is. IRGC. ISIS. Hamas. Different names, same violence, same terror, same blood on their hands.

Silence is complicity. Excuses are cowardice. History will remember who spoke up — and who chose comfort over humanity.

1. Iran #IranGenocide #IslamicRepublic #IRGC #HumanRights StopTheSilence FreeIran.

On Instagram

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Spawn of Iran’s ruling elite living large in US — and fed-up Iranian-Americans want them deported. By Bianca Heyward. Published Jan. 14, 2026, 8:58 p.m. ET

The pampered offspring of Iran’s ruling elite are living the American Dream as the country’s brutal regime kills protesters by the thousands — and fed-up Iranians in California and across the US want them out.

Two explosive online petitions have been gaining steam as they call on the US government to immediately deport Eissa Hashemi and Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani — the children of current and onetime prominent Iranian government figures enjoying the comforts of the “Great Satan’’ as opposed to the oppressive streets of Tehran.

Eissa Hashemi is the 43-year-old son of Masoumeh Ebtekar — a k a “Screaming Mary,” the radical spokeswoman for the militants who stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

His mom was notorious for trying to create propaganda during the hostage crisis by cruelly urging the US victims to describe their horrific ordeal in positive terms.

“If she were on fire on the street, I wouldn’t piss on her to put it out,’’ traumatized former hostage Michael Metrinko once said.

After her son Hashemi graduated from the University of Tehran in 2006, he reportedly moved to the US in 2010 and pursued his Ph.D. in organizational leadership from The Chicago School in LA.

He currently is an adjunct associate professor at his alma mater, enjoying the freedom his mother helped strip from American diplomats decades ago.

Records show he resides in Agoura Hills in LA County.

Hashemi also did not respond to Post requests for comment.

Then there is Ardeshir-Larijani.

She is the daughter of Ali Larijani, the powerful former speaker of the country’s parliament who now serves as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Her father serves as a righthand man to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has called the US the “Great Satan.”

Not long after President Trump urged Iranians to keep demonstrating against their nation’s dictatorship and condemned its officials for the “senseless killing of protestors,” Larijani fired back at him on X.

“We declare the names of the main killers of the people of Iran: 1- Trump 2- Netanyahu,” Larijani wrote, referring to the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu.

Ardeshir-Larijani, 40, lives in Atlanta, Ga., as her father rails against the West and oversees a legislative body that regularly burns the stars and stripes.

She is a licensed doctor and an assistant professor in the hematology and medical oncology department at the prestigious Emory University School of Medicine — and a world away from the deadly crackdown on human rights in Iran.

She did not respond to Post requests for comment Wednesday.

“Why are visas given to these people?’’ raged Mersedeh Shahinkar, who lost her right eye to a bullet during a protest involving women’s rights in Iran in 2022, to The Post on Wednesday.

“Why should they freely travel and live comfortably here? If Iran is good for them, if the Islamic Republic is good for them, they should go live there,” the California resident said.

The petitions on Change.org argue that it is a slap in the face to the American people — and the Iranian people suffering under the regime — to allow the relatives to stay here.

“We, the Iranian people, demand the deportation of these individuals,” the petitions read. “They benefit from the wealth of the Iranian people and live safely in the United States, while their families rule a brutal dictatorship in Iran.”

The petitions were created on Jan. 11 and 12 by “Iran Etehad” and have already collected tens of thousands of signatures.

The White House did not respond to a Post request for comment on whether the administration might try to boot the relatives NYPost

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When Iran shakes, the axis holds its breath: proxies brace for a mothership crash. Opinion: Iran’s proxies watch unrest with alarm, fearing collapse, as Gulf rivals warn it could leave Arabs 'under the Israeli hammer alone'. Dr. Michael Milshtein|01.17.26 YNet

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Michigan event to feature daughter of convicted Hamas fundraiser. The panel event will discuss what organizers call the “wrongful imprisonment” of the “Holy Land Five,” convicted in 2008 for funneling approximately $12.4 million to Hamas.

(Jan. 16, 2026 / JNS) A panel discussion on the “Holy Land Five” scheduled for Jan. 17 in Grand Rapids, Mich., will feature the daughter of one of the five Palestinian-Americans convicted in 2008 for providing material support to Hamas.

Nida Abu Baker, daughter of Shukri Abu Baker, “will share her story and recount the decades of struggle to free her father and his colleagues in the Holy Land Foundation—the largest Muslim nonprofit in the U.S. that was targeted with trumped-up material support for terrorism charges,” event organizers stated.

Five officials of the foundation, nicknamed the “Holy Land Five,” were convicted in Dallas in November 2008 on “108 charges of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization,” according to Canary Mission. JNS

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US sanctions Houthi revenue, procurement networks. Scott Bessent, U.S. treasury secretary, stated that “the Houthis threaten the United States by committing acts of terror and attacking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.”

(Jan. 16, 2026 / JNS) The United States imposed new sanctions on the Houthis on Friday, targeting networks that U.S. officials say help fund the group’s attacks and destabilizing activity in the region. JNS

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Israel rejects Trump's Gaza Peace Council Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that Trump's Gaza Peace Council was contrary to Israeli policy. Orly Harari. Published: Jan 17, 2026, 6:53 PM (GMT+2) The Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday night that the announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Peace Council, which is subordinate to the peace conference, was made without coordination with Israel and contradicts Israeli policy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to raise the matter with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the government, saying: “For a year I have warned that if the government does not advance the Egyptian solution with the United States and the international community, Turkey and Qatar will end up influencing Gaza. Last night the makeup of the so-called ‘Peace Council’ was revealed. Turkey is included, Qatar is included, and according to the IDF Hamas still has 30,000 fighters in Gaza. This represents a complete diplomatic failure by the Netanyahu government, wasting the immense courage and sacrifice of IDF soldiers and commanders."

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday night the members of the Peace Council that will oversee the Gaza Strip. According to Trump, who will chair the body, its members include U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff; his son-in-law Jared Kushner; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; former British prime minister Tony Blair; businessman Mark Rowan; World Bank President Ajay Banga; and U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gabriel. The Turkish president’s office said Trump sent a letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inviting him to join the Peace Council, which is intended to supervise the interim administration in Gaza. INN

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Nick Fuentes: My problem with Trump ‘is that he is not Hitler’. Nick Fuentes escalates rhetoric, says US President Donald Trump falls short of extremist agenda. Joseph Strauss, JTA.

Jan 17, 2026, 7:51 PM (GMT+2)

In the fall, a video of Nick Fuentes criticizing US President Donald Trump drew the praise of progressive ex-Congressman Jamaal Bowman.

“Finally getting it Nick," Bowman commented, apparently recognizing some common ground between himself on the left and Fuentes, on the far right, who said in the video that Trump was “better than the Democrats for Israel, for the oil and gas industry, for Silicon Valley, for Wall Street," but said he wasn’t “better for us." INN

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Bondi at IAC: 'DOJ will seek death penalty in murder of Israeli diplomats'. Yoni Kempinski, Florida. Jan 18, 2026, 3:18 AM INN

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Released hostage: I agreed to die in Gaza so that Israel could destroy Hamas. Hamas captivity survivor Eitan Mor expresses support for his father's position, says he refused offer to spy for Hamas. Israel National News. Published: Jan 17, 2026, 10:38 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Watch: Arab rioters attack Samaria homestead. On Friday, dozens of Arab rioters from the villages of Qaddum and Beit Lid attacked residents of the Shirat Tzion homestead in Samaria. Israel National News. Jan 17, 2026, 11:59 PM (GMT+2) [Samaria. Hilltop Youth] INN

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From Slogan to Industry: The invention of “Anti-Palestinian Racism". APR is a dangerous term that suggests that trying to combat antisemitism is itself racist against Palestinian Arabs. A full report is linked below. Op-ed. David Collier. Jan 18, 2026, 7:20 AM (GMT+2)

In recent years the term anti-Palestinian racism (APR) has moved from activist discourse into the language of public institutions across multiple Western democracies. In the UK it has now been raised in both Houses of Parliament. In the U.S. a group of elected officials turned the phrase into a political weapon. In Canada, the Canadian government provided funding to support the creation of APR educational resources. And in Australia, the public broadcaster recently gave favourable coverage to a report claiming anti-Palestinian racism was “widespread."

If you are not paying attention, you should be. While APR markets itself as part of serious anti-racist discourse, in reality it functions as a dangerous, antisemitic tool. APR doesn’t just try to name a prejudice. It rewires the moral rules. It turns Zionism into racism, Jewish self-definition into exclusion, and antisemitism safeguards into “censorship" - then demands institutions enforce that inversion as policy.

Once inverted framing takes hold, everything becomes distorted. Neutrality is recast as hostility. Jewish communal safety is treated as an obstacle. And the most aggressive forms of anti-Israel activism are rebranded as “anti-racist" virtue. None of this directly causes violence, but it changes the climate: what can be said, what must be tolerated, and further marginalises a Jewish community that is already under considerable threat.

And the truly scary part of all this? It was designed that way.

The pro-Corbyn network that incubated APR Today I publish a report (available for download) that traces the origins of the term anti-Palestinian racism, and shows how it evolved from a fringe activist slogan into a deliberately weaponised framework within the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The turning point came on 4 September 2018. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party had just voted to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, along with all its examples. The NEC adoption was a major defeat for Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters.

Until then, APR was largely confined to the online activist ecosystem around the Electronic Intifada, a fringe anti-Israel outlet.

Inside a key Corbyn support group there was an immediate reaction. Palestine Live was a Facebook group set to “Secret" visibility. Members included leading figures from Israel-hostile organisations, along with journalists and community organisers. The UK-founded network had an international feel, with representation from groups in North America and beyond.

Since 2015, Palestine Live had operated as a pro-Corbyn network. In early 2018, I published an exposé documenting the high levels of antisemitism and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories circulating inside the group, which triggered complaints and a formal party investigation.

The Invention of Anti-Palestinian Racism A day after the NEC vote, one of the then administrators of Palestine Liveposted a reaction to it. The message was simple and stark: “The Labour Party has an anti-Palestinian racism problem":

This linkage is at the heart of APR: it suggests that trying to combat antisemitism is itself racist against Palestinian Arabs.

Later the same month, a member of Palestine Live posted an anonymously written definition of anti-Palestinian racism. The following day, the pro-Corbyn activist group Jewish Voice for Labour, many of whose leaders were members of Palestine Live, published a slightly refined version on their website. APR, in recognisable form, had arrived.

The Internationalisation and Institutionalisation of Anti-Palestinian Racism A few weeks later, on 16 October 2018, the U.S.-based anti-Zionist outlet Mondoweisspublished an updated version, tightening the JVL version and polishing it for an international audience. There were now ten clauses in the definition, with the author suggesting the examples were absolutes, or “indisputable examples of anti-Palestinian racism."

Under this definition of APR, denying the (often false) narratives of anti-Israel activism, supporting the right of Israel to exist or even accusing someone of antisemitism could make you a racist.

The framework was now complete. It pushed back against efforts to combat antisemitism, while creating an atmosphere in which activist claims and antisemitic commentary became moral absolutes that could not be challenged.

Once this definition of anti-Palestinian racism had been introduced, it began to be incorporated as a key tool in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) arsenal:

In 2019, the Canadian government introduced a new anti-racism strategy “Building a Foundation for Change." The policy framework created a pathway for NGOs to propose new conceptualisations of racism and, potentially, to receive public funding.

Anti-Israel activists saw the opening, and launched an intensive campaign in Canada. In 2022, the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) finally introduced a codified definition of anti-Palestinian Arab racism.

The ACLA definition reads as a formal rewrite of the JVL and Mondoweiss versions. It is less concerned with addressing prejudice than with recasting Jewish identity and Jewish self-determination as racist.

The Canadian government has since awarded ACLA a grant of CAN$100,000 to develop educational tools and provide training on the subject of APR.

The deed was done. APR had moved from an activist smear to a government-funded weapon.

The Weaponisation of Anti-Palestinian Racism. Having been incubated in the UK, internationalised in the U.S., and then codified in Canada, the Canadian government’s financial support officially legitimised the concept of anti-Palestinian racism. From this point, the ACLA definition could export itself internationally.

In both the U.S. and Australia, activist NGOs produced official-looking reports claiming APR was a widespread, urgent problem. Both supported the inclusion of educational material in schools as a key recommendation. These documents failed to meet basic academic standards, yet still received favourable treatment.

The term became a political weapon. In one U.S. state, a Senate resolution has been introduced labelling a tragic incident as an act of APR, even though there is no evidence at all to support it.

In the UK, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has been campaigning to get the UK government to recognise APR, and in March 2025 tabled a written question asking if the government will introduce educational material to tackle the problem in schools:

And it gets worse. On 16 July 2025, Manchester City Counciladopted a motion recognising the need to challenge anti-Palestinian racism.

What does this mean in practice? It means a sitting MP wants to introduce a framework that functions as an antisemitic propaganda weapon into schools, while Manchester City Council moved to reframe antisemitism safeguards as suspect, and to legitimise unsubstantiated activist narratives. If anyone objects, they could be accused of racism.

Changing the Air People Breathe Seventy-eight days later, just three miles away from the Town Hall, came the Yom Kippur terrorist attack at the Heaton Park synagogue. Two people were killed.

Manchester was not the only city where APR was being promoted against a backdrop of rising antisemitism. On 26 September there was an event launching a report into APR in Sydney. The venue was the Maritime Union Conference Centre. Just six miles from there, and seventy-nine days later, fifteen people were slaughtered in an antisemitic terror attack during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.

APR may not be directly responsible for either terrorist attack, but it is still a dangerous ideological weapon. APR reshapes the institutional climate. It is designed to change the air that people breathe.

The Jewish people are vulnerable and under attack around the world. Deliberately problematic concepts such as APR must not be allowed to make things worse than they are already.

The pushback starts here. Download the full report [47] and distribute it to local politicians, councils, journalists, and anyone involved in combating antisemitism. INN

Since when did grandchildren of immigrants become a separate "race?"

Arabs are Arabs are Arabs, whether with an Israeli ID or "palestine" paper.

The bigoted invented "APR," no wonder the same infamous racist 'iskandar323' pushes this on Wikipedia and had just removed data from the 30,000 massacred in 1988 Iran. A typical supporter of genocidal Islamists, Hamas or Iran. Just like the ORGANIZED gang of 32 wikipedians backing this. All "decide" what is a RS. at MyRightWord

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'Every family knows a victim': Iranians in exile speak out on mass killings. Negar Mojtahedi. Iran International. Jan 17, 2026, 23:18 GMT

([48]. A group of protesters in Iran holding a placard on which the slogan "Long Live the Shah (King)" is sprayed).

Iranians in exile say few families have been spared by the brutal crackdown back home, describing to Iran International an unprecedented wave of killings as security forces unleash violence under a nationwide communications blackout.

For Alex, an Iranian living in Texas, the violence is no longer something he is witnessing from afar.

His cousin Mehdi was killed on Friday, January 9, in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah after joining nationwide protests following exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call for Iranians to rise up.

Iran International is withholding Alex’s last name to protect family members inside Iran.

“The Basij shot him in the head and the stomach," Alex said, recounting what his aunt told him. "They (Basij) hunted him like a dog."

Authorities later cut internet access across much of the country, severing communication and leaving families unable to confirm who was alive or dead.

Alex only learned what had happened days later, on Wednesday afternoon, when landlines briefly reopened during the blackout. The connection was poor and repeatedly cut out, but he could hear his aunt howling in tears and screaming.

"I only got like three minutes out of the call but what I got out of it was my aunt screaming and she said he's been killed."

Mehdi was 32 years old. Alex said his aunt later identified the body at a forensic center after days of searching. He says his aunt recognized her son by his hair.

"His face was completely unrecognizable," said Alex.

He said authorities are now demanding payment from the family to release Mehdi’s body.

From Texas, Alex said he feels hollow and barely able to function, but believes speaking publicly is the only way to honor his cousin and push back against the silence imposed by the blackout.

"He wanted a free Iran and King Reza Pahlavi."

'Fear and helplessness'

In Canada, Iranian-Canadian Ghazal Shokri described a similar sense of fear and helplessness as she waits for fragile contact with her family inside Iran. She said she has heard her mother’s voice only for seconds and her sister’s for minutes since the violence escalated.

Shokri said the scale of the killings is unlike anything Iranians have experienced before, warning that nearly every family now knows someone who has been killed.

She said she is increasingly worried not only about the physical destruction of the country but about the long-term psychological toll on Iranian society, including widespread trauma, depression and lasting social damage.

“There is every family now in Iran knows a few people got killed," Ghazal said.

"Honestly, it's not easy to talk about it. I mean, as a human being, we haven't been designed for this," she said.

Another Iranian in exile, Sobhan Nofar, said the nationwide communications blackout has intensified fear among Iranians living abroad.

“That silence is terrifying,” he said.

He said the loss of contact with people inside Iran has left many Iranians outside the country sleepless and consumed by anxiety for their families, with every fragment of information feeling like evidence of a growing bloodbath.

Hediyeh, a journalist based in Washington, DC, says she is worried not only about the health of her parents and her husband's family, but also about their financial situation, as they largely relied on allowances the couple sent through friends and relatives.

With the internet shut down, it is no longer possible to send money to the family, leaving Hediyeh concerned about how the elderly parents will make ends meet under Iran’s severe economic conditions.

Iran International has reported that at least 12,000 people were killed in just two days as security forces unleashed what analysts describe as the deadliest wave of state violence in the Islamic Republic’s history. Other estimates suggest the toll may be even higher as the blackout continues to limit verification.

Growing calls for US action

The testimonies come as calls by Iranians inside the country and across the diaspora for US military action have intensified, with demands for targeted strikes against the Islamic Republic’s security and repression apparatus.

For Iranians in exile like Alex, Shokri and Nofar, the debate is no longer abstract. It is shaped by the names and faces of people they knew and by the fear that more families will soon join them in mourning.

"Every piece of news, videos or photos coming from Iran feels like another sense of a blood bath," said Nofar "I'm really scared, deeply scared but I don't allow myself to completely fall apart because I truly believe Iranian people are bigger than this terrorist regime."

As Iran remains largely cut off from the outside world, they say speaking publicly is one of the few ways left to ensure the dead are not reduced to statistics. IranIntl

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Detained protesters injected with unknown substances in Iran jail. Iran International. Jan 18, 2026. Protesters held in Iranian prisons have described abuse, including forced nudity, exposure to cold, and injections with substances of unknown composition while in custody, a source close to a detainee’s family told Iran International.

The source said a detained young protester sent a message from inside prison saying he and several others had been subjected to such treatment after their arrest.

According to the detainee, prison officers stripped detainees naked in the courtyard of the detention facility and kept them outside the building for a prolonged period in winter conditions. The officers then sprayed the detainees with cold water using a hose, the source said.

The detainee also said that the following day, prison officers injected him and several other prisoners with substances whose contents were not identified. IranIntl

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Israel, US back Argentina’s Quds Force terror designation. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and the U.S. State Department hailed Buenos Aires’ move to list Iran’s Quds Force as a terrorist group, calling it a key step against Iranian terror. JNS Staff.

(Jan. 18, 2026 / JNS) Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and the U.S. State Department on Saturday welcomed Argentina’s decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force as a terrorist organization, calling it an important step in combating Iranian-backed terrorism. JNS

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US ‘has no better friend’ than Israel, Graham says. The senator’s meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu came “at one of the most consequential moments in recent memory,” Lindsey Graham wrote. JNS Staff ([49]. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, Jan. 18, 2026. Credit: Lindsey Graham/X).

(Jan. 18, 2026 / JNS) The United States “has no better friend than the State of Israel,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said following a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.

In a post on X, the American lawmaker said the sit-down with the leader of the Jewish state was “great” and came “at one of the most consequential moments in recent memory.” JNS

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Mamdani asked to appoint head of Jew-hatred office who can engage with Jews. “We Jews are all navigating these new conditions we’re facing,” a member of one of the groups that signed the letter told JNS. Debra Nussbaum Cohen.

(Jan. 18, 2026 / JNS) As concerns about Zohran Mamdani and the safety of Jews continue to run high among many Jewish New Yorkers, 13 groups sent a letter to the new mayor asking that he appoint someone who is “grounded in the day-to-day realities of Jewish communal life and capable of engaging meaningfully with communities across all levels of observance, background and political belief” to lead the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

The subtext of the letter? Please do not appoint an anti-Zionist, as Mamdani did with many of the Jews who were on his transition committees. The first Muslim to win the city’s top office, Mamdani has long been anti-Israel and has said that he would have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he visits the Big Apple. JNS

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The Horn Brothers' Chilling Account. Two Years in the Dark: Freed Hostage Reveals the Details of Hamas’s Tunnel City. After more than 700 days in the depths of Gaza, Eitan Horn reveals how the strength of the Israeli people kept him alive when the government and the world seemed to forget.

Author: Eliana Fleming. Jan 18, 2026 JFeed

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The Shah’s Son Returns Hijacking the Regime: Iranian State TV Hacked to Broadcast Calls for Revolution In a daring act of cyber defiance, opposition hackers seized control of Iran’s state television to broadcast a message from the exiled son of the Shah, calling for the military to abandon the regime.

Eliana Fleming. Jan 18, 2026 JFeed

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'No longer safe'. Trump weighs asylum plan for UK Jews amid rising antisemitism. Israel National News. Jan 18, 2026, 11:37 PM INN

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Four months in prison for Arab who spat at IDF officer. Ahmad Muhammad, 25, from the PA city of Huwara, spat at an officer in uniform in Ramat Gan and fled the scene. Israel National News. Published: Jan 18, 2026, 10:01 PM (GMT+2)

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Thursday sentenced Ahmad Muhammad, 25, a resident of the Palestinian Authority city of Huwara, to four months in prison after he spat at an IDF officer while riding a public bus.

According to a report by Walla, Muhammad was convicted under a plea agreement on charges of assaulting an IDF officer and being illegally present in Israel. In delivering the sentence, the judge emphasized the seriousness of the offense, particularly as it occurred during a time of war.

The incident took place in May on bus line 161 in Ramat Gan. An IDF officer serving on active reserve duty, dressed in uniform, boarded the bus and sat near Muhammad. During the ride, Muhammad played music at a high volume, prompting the officer to move to another seat.

According to the amended indictment, to which Muhammad pleaded guilty, when the bus reached a stop he approached the officer from behind, leaned toward her, and spat in her face. As the bus doors opened, he fled the scene. Although the officer shouted after him, neither passengers nor the driver intervened. Muhammad returned to the Palestinian Authority but surrendered to authorities later that same evening... INN

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Iran warns Trump. 'Any attack on Khamenei is full-scale war'. Iran warns that any attack on Khamenei would mean war, as the US weighs military action amid escalating tensions. Elad Benari. Jan 19, 2026, 1:14 AM INN

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'The nicest tunnel is here'. Matan Angrest returns to the soccer pitch. Israel National News. Jan 18, 2026, 10:54 PM INN

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Despite drop in terror: IDF reports rise in rock and firebomb attacks. Yoni Kempinski. Jan 19, 2026, 7:23 PM INN

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Netanyahu. 'Turkish and Qatari soldiers? Not in Gaza' Israel National News. Jan 19, 2026, 6:06 PM INN

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IDF strikes Hezbollah terror assets in Lebanon. The Israeli military said it attacked Hezbollah “military” camps. JNS Staff. (Jan. 19, 2026 / JNS) The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that it had attacked targets belonging to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror organization in Southern Lebanon.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah “military” camps used to train terrorist operatives for planning and carrying out attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. JNS

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Syrian army targets Kurdish forces in Aleppo, Israel sounds the alarm.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused the Syrian government of targeting the Kurdish population in Aleppo, warning that violence could escelate if the international community remains silent.

i24NEWS. January 08, 2026 at 12:30 PM latest revision January 19, 2026 at 01:26 PM Syrian government forces began a new military campaign in Aleppo on Thursday, announcing precision strikes against Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in several northern neighborhoods of the city.

The operation prompted authorities to enforce a citywide curfew in affected districts and warn residents to avoid areas of active fighting. i24

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Sen. Graham Warns Damascus Against Military Action on Kurds, Threatens to Revive Caesar Sanctions. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham says any attack on SDF would signal the nature of Syria’s new leadership and deepen regional instability.

2026-01-17 18:40 Kurdistan24

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Al-Monitor: Trump Urges End to Syria–SDF Violence, Secures Pledge to Avoid Hasakah. 2026-01-19. The call followed a meeting between Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi to finalize a ceasefire agreement announced earlier, with both sides agreeing to continue cooperation against ISIS. Kurdistan24

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Senior Iranian UN Diplomat in Geneva Defects, Seeks Asylum in Switzerland. By i24 News and Algemeiner Staff. January 18, 2026.

i24 News – A senior Iranian diplomat posted to the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva has reportedly defected and applied for political asylum in Switzerland, according to diplomatic sources cited on Sunday by the Iranian opposition outlet Iran International.

The diplomat, Alireza Jiranieh Hokambad, served as a minister-counselor, the second-highest-ranking position in Iran’s UN delegation in Geneva. Algemeiner

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Argentina Blacklists Iran’s Quds Force as Country Marks Death of Nisman, Who Charged Tehran for AMIA Bombing The Algemeiner. Tuesday, January 20th | 2 Shevat 5786 By Ailin Vilches Arguello.

Argentine President Javier Milei has proscribed Iran’s Quds Force — the elite unit responsible for directing Tehran’s proxy militias and overseas terrorist operations — as the country’s Jewish community marks the 11th anniversary of the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who investigated the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

On Saturday, the Argentine president’s office announced that it had designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force as a foreign terrorist organization, describing the unit as specializing in “training for the execution of terrorist attacks in other countries.”

“Argentina was a victim of their operations in the 1990s, including the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center,” the statement read, referring to the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) bombing.

With the designation, “members of the Quds Force and their allies are subject to financial sanctions and operational restrictions aimed at limiting their capacity to act, as well as protecting the Argentine financial system from being used to support their activities.”

Milei “maintains an unbreakable commitment to recognizing terrorists for what they are,” the statement continued.

The Argentine president has previously designated Hamas, the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s branches in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan as terrorist organizations.

US and Israeli officials praised Milei’s latest move in the fight against terrorism, highlighting its significance in combating international extremist networks.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar applauded Milei’s decision, describing it as a “significant step that strengthens the international front against Iranian terrorism and honors the memory of the victims of the attacks on the Israeli Embassy and the AMIA.”

On Sunday, Argentina commemorated the 11th anniversary of Nisman’s death. Nisman died on Jan. 18, 2015, while investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing — the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300 — as Argentine Jews renewed calls for justice after more than a decade without resolution.

“Eleven years after the assassination of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, we reaffirm our steadfast demand for justice,” the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, wrote in a post on X.

Last year, prosecutors handling the case released a report as part of the ongoing, still unresolved trial, confirming that Nisman was killed for trying to expose the Argentine government’s role in covering up the 1994 AMIA bombing.

In 2006, Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah for carrying it out. Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.

The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.

One day before Nisman was set to appear before the Argentine Congress to present evidence supporting his allegations against Kirchner and several of her colleagues, he was found dead in his apartment, with a gunshot wound to the head and a pistol at his side.

An official investigation into his death initially concluded that the prosecutor took his own life. However, a federal judge later reversed this decision, stating that Nisman’s gunshot wound could not have been self-inflicted.

Investigations are still underway to identify both those who carried out the act and those who ordered it.

Kirchner is set to stand trial for the allegations against her, though there is no set date.

As for the AMIA investigation, an Argentine federal judge ordered last year the trial in absentia of Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the 1994 bombing.

The 10 suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.

Lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the murder of his predecessor, Nisman — also requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.

Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.

Tehran has consistently denied any involvement in any of these attacks and has refused to arrest or extradite any suspects. Algemeiner

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MLK was clear: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism King's support for Israel. The question is not what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say today – he already told us. The question is whether we are prepared to listen. Marc Schneier. Jan 18, 2026.

In March 1968, just weeks before his assassination, King addressed the Rabbinical Assembly in New York. His words were unequivocal: “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity.” He went on to describe Israel as “one of the great outposts of democracy in the world,” language preserved in contemporaneous accounts and archival collections.

King’s support for Israel was not political posturing. It flowed directly from his understanding of oppression and liberation. He recognized what it meant for a people to be denied sovereignty, safety, and dignity. He saw in the Jewish people’s return to Israel a moral parallel to the Black struggle and the pursuit of equality.

The civil rights leader also warned against moral double standards. He understood how political language can be used to deny the legitimacy of a people while claiming the mantle of justice. Just as he confronted coded racism directed at Black Americans, he recognized the danger of rhetoric that singled out Jews by denying their collective right to self-determination.

King believed deeply in peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. He supported a political solution that would allow both peoples to live with dignity and security. But he never suggested that peace required the dismantling of the Jewish state. Peace, in his vision, was built on mutual recognition, not erasure.

A moral contradiction. Calls to deny Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish democracy are often framed as progressive. King would have recognized this for what it is: a moral contradiction.

Judaism is not merely a body of faith: It is a peoplehood rooted for thousands of years in its ancestral Land of Israel. To bifurcate Israel from the Jewish religion is to deny Jewish identity itself.

King believed justice is indivisible. You cannot fight racism while tolerating antisemitism. And you cannot champion liberation while denying Jews the same right.

The question is not what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say today – he already told us. The question is whether we are prepared to listen. JPost

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Sydney massacre was a warning for the world. Jan 18, 2026.

For decades, Israel has justified its existence to the world primarily through tragedy rather than justice. We spoke about the Holocaust, instead of about our inherent right to our land. We spoke the language of pain, rather than the language of purpose. Instead of standing upright as a nation with moral clarity, we presented ourselves as perpetual victims.

Even after Oct. 7, when moral clarity should have been unavoidable, Israel continued to apologize for its existence instead of stating a simple truth: This is the Jewish state by right, not by international permission and not by sympathy.

Antisemitism is not a reaction to a particular Israeli military operation. It is a reaction to moral weakness. It thrives on confusion. It responds to a message projected outward—that we ourselves are not certain of the justice of our cause.

When Israel speaks in the language of victimhood, the world hears an admission of guilt. When Israel hesitates to say plainly that this is our land and that the Jewish state requires no external validation, hatred and antisemitism re-emerge—and Jews become targets, even on the far side of the globe.

The attacks in Australia, America and Germany are therefore not a “Diaspora problem.” They are an indictment of an apologetic Israeli discourse.

Only a nation that is able to say, clearly and without hesitation, that we are here by right—rooted in history, faith and moral conviction, not in mercy—can protect not only its own citizens but Jewish communities everywhere.

Those who fail to understand that the battle over Jewish identity in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv directly affects the safety of Jews in Sydney, Australia; Jackson, Miss.; Giessen, Germany—and increasingly, London, New York and Los Angeles—do not understand what a Jewish state is.

It is time to stop apologizing. It is time to stop pleading with the world for understanding. It is time to return to the language of justice.

Because when Israel stands upright, Jews everywhere do. And for Americans, the lesson is unavoidable: a weak and apologetic Israel does not stabilize the democratic world. Rather, it accelerates the same forces of extremism and moral confusion that threaten U.S. cities, campuses and Jewish communal institutions. JNS

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Simon Sebag Montefiore warns of ‘devalued’ anti-racist language and threats to Holocaust memory. Lee Harpin. Jan 19, 2026. The celebrated historian Simon Sebag Montefiore has issued a striking warning about the devaluation of anti-racist language in contemporary discourse, arguing that terms such as “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” are now frequently manipulated to serve agendas running counter to their original intent.

Delivering the keynote speech at the Holocaust Education Trust’s event in Parliament, Montefiore observed:“Words are important—as we learned last week, the people behind the banning of a Jewish MP from his school because of his Jewishness were a cabal of teaching unions and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) coordinators who constantly repeat the language of anti-racism.

“We exist in a struggle where words have often come to mean their very opposite. In that case, and others, diversity came to mean discrimination, equity, injustice, inclusive, exclusion.

“And as it turns out, every bigot is a proud anti-racist to their bones. Every antisemite is against antisemitism, and naturally, everybody is against the Holocaust and genocide.”

At Monday evening’s event—held to mark this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations—the author warned that Holocaust memory is “in peril” and under attack from new forms of antisemitic distortion and ideological abuse.

Also among the speakers were Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Holocaust survivor Annick Lever, and several of the charity’s young ambassadors. HET’s chief executive, Karen Pollock, pointedly addressed recent concerns about the state of Holocaust education, stating: “Despite challenges, our experience at the Holocaust Educational Trust is that we’re working with hundreds more schools since October 7th,” following earlier newspaper reports suggesting Shoah education was being snubbed by many schools since the Hamas attacks.

In his main address, Montefiore recounted witnessing repeat protests outside the part Israeli-owned Miznon restaurant in Notting Hill, near his home.

“I hate to say it reminded me of Kristallnacht in Notting Hill Gate,” he said. “I came across a restaurant almost besieged by about 60 screaming activists who were referring specifically to the Holocaust, to the genocide, and applying this to an innocent restaurant, British owned, though with an Israeli connection, that they were specifically trying to drive out of Britain and trying to drive out of the neighborhood, trying to destroy a small business by terrorizing passers by, people going to the restaurant, and the owners of the restaurant.” JewishNews

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The Bad History of ‘Palestine 36’ An Oscar short-listed film, funded by Qatar, Turkey, and the BBC, rewrites the past to serve a modern political fantasy.

Oren Kessler. Jan 19, 2026.

And yet the film’s gravest failing may be depriving the Jews of a voice. I don’t mean metaphorically; I mean there are precisely two words spoken by a Jew, in any language, in the entire film.

In fact, Jews appear on-screen only twice. Early in the film, a Jewish figure is briefly ushered to a microphone at the inauguration of the Palestine Broadcasting Corporation. Later, Jewish immigrants are seen in the distance, silently toiling behind a kibbutz wall.

And that’s it. For a film centered on an Arab revolt against Jews, it’s a glaring, flagrant omission.

It would have been easy for the screenwriters to have included two stock Jewish characters: The “bad” Jew who is arrogant, land-greedy, and patronizing toward Arabs, and the “good” one who respects their culture, learns their language, and is willing to limit Jewish immigration. I suspect that behind this choice lies the deep-rooted Palestinian and wider Arab taboo against “normalization” of Israelis—in this case, even before they were Israelis.

Nonetheless, wishing something away doesn’t make it so. Like it or not, the Jews were there, and their continued arrival was the key driver of the revolt. Portraying the rebellion as directed primarily against British imperialism (with the Jews as the silent beneficiary thereof) is historical malpractice.

The film’s last quarter is a crescendo of British brutality that bears only a patchy resemblance to the historical record. Soldiers detonate a home despite knowing an elderly couple is in their bed, embracing as they await the end. Wingate shoots a civilian in the head after gathering the townspeople to watch. In the climax, troops force civilians onto a bus and force it to drive over a landmine. Among the dead is a Christian priest whose young son then kills a British soldier in revenge. It’s essentially the film’s only moment in which blood is spilled by Arab hands.

The British have much to answer for in Palestine—a handful of well-documented atrocities, like that at al-Bassa, are amply described in my book. They indeed demolished homes during the revolt, just not with people inside. Wingate did inflict collective punishment on uncooperative villages. But there is no evidence of him ever ordering an execution, much less conducting one himself, nor of the British murdering a priest (or imam), nor of any Christian Arabs (let alone children) taking up arms against them.

Only in the final credits, and only in minuscule type, does Palestine 36 concede that the movie is a work of fiction, merely “inspired by actual events and characters.” Such a disclaimer should have appeared prominently at the outset, not buried where few viewers would notice, although that would erroneously suggest that the spirit if not the details of the Arab uprising of 1936–1939 had been captured. It has not.

As publicly funded British institutions, the BFI and BBC Film should have insisted on transparency. Their failure to do so places them uncomfortably close to the film’s other state-backed co-producers, in Turkey and Qatar, which reliably promote their governments’ harmful, extremist agendas in the region. The omission raises an obvious question: whether the lack of candor reflects more than oversight, and instead a shared comfort with reshaping the historical record to suit a contemporary agenda.

All the world’s a stage, a British dramatist once wrote, and nowhere more so than the Holy Land. But it is an affront to history that a portrait of a revolt against Jews should treat the latter as silent props or erase them altogether. However the filmmakers feel about Jewish immigration, land purchase, and nation-building in mid-’30s Palestine, these too are part of the history. These too are “actual events” performed by “actual characters” in the century-long drama still playing out between the river and the sea. RuthfullyYours

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Emily Damari on one year of freedom and those who did not return.

Annabel Sinclair. Jan 19, 2026.

Emily Damari has marked one year since her release from Hamas captivity by reflecting on survival, recovery and the enduring absence of those who did not return home alive.

Damari, a dual British-Israeli citizen, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. She was shot during the abduction, losing two fingers, and held in Gaza for 471 days before being released on 19 January 2025, as part of a negotiated deal.

In a statement issued to mark the anniversary, Damari described the moment of her release as a return from prolonged darkness. “One year ago, after 471 days in the dark – 471 days of pain, of tunnels, of holding on with everything I had – I came back to life,” she said.

She recalled reuniting with her mother and experiencing ordinary moments once again. “I hugged my mum, I breathed real air, I saw the sun without fear. That moment, that first real breath of freedom, still hits me every single day.”

Damari spoke openly about the injuries she sustained during her kidnapping, saying they have come to symbolise resilience rather than victimhood. “My scars tell the story,” she said. “The hand missing two fingers, the marks on my leg – they aren’t just wounds. To me, they represent freedom, hope, and unbreakable strength.”

Since her return, she has become a prominent voice advocating for hostages taken on 7 October. She said the release of Gali and Ziv was central to her own sense of freedom, while acknowledging that one person she was waiting for will never return alive.

That person is Master Sgt. Ran Gvil, who was killed and whose body remains held in Gaza. Jewish News

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@YosephHaddad: Children should be playing in playgrounds, not having playgrounds named in their memory because they were kidnapped and murdered by a terrorist organization. We will never forget Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and their mother, Shiri. Jan 19, 2026. on X

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Bondi survivor Ya'akov Tetleroyd lost his father and nearly his arm in Bondi Beach terrorism event. He forgives the gunmen. Jan 19, 2026. Ya'akov Tetleroyd suffered a gunshot wound to the arm while his father, Boris, was killed in the Bondi terror attack.

Yet nearly six weeks on, the 38-year-old has let go of his anger towards the gunmen.

"I was initially very angry and very unforgiving," Mr Tetleroyd told 7.30 in an exclusive interview.

"Just saying, may God, just wanting to devour them, wanting for them to descend to the grave alive, that's what I wished for these people initially. But I came to a point where I thought to myself, if I can forgive my own person, my own people, I can forgive these people as well."

He said the reason for his personal forgiveness was so he no longer had to dwell on the terrorism event.

"It's not something that I want to carry with me every day.

"It's very easy to get caught in a cycle of hatred." Bondi terror survivor labels shooters 'evil and sick' but forgives them | 7.30 anc.net

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‘We owe it to the victims’: Jacinta Price reflects on parliament’s return after Bondi massacre. Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price discusses parliament’s early return following the Bondi massacre, saying politicians “owe it to the victims” to ensure history “is never repeated”. Sky News Australia. Jan 19, 2026 on YouTube

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Hate group members should ‘lose their citizenship’ Former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo believes there should be amendments to take away citizenship from anyone convicted of a hate crime.

“I would go further, I’d amend section 36C of the Citizenship Act,” Mr Pezzullo told Sky News Australia.

“If you're convicted to be a member of one of the prohibited hate groups, you go on that list of offences that carry citizenship revocation, lose your citizenship.”

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Nicole Lampert: British schools have failed to properly teach children about the dangers of anti-Semitism. In truth, the Holocaust has become increasingly politicised for many years. HMD became watered down. First – and probably rightly – it included all the victims of the Nazis, including gay men, the Roma and Sinti gypsy groups, people with disabilities, and political enemies.

While this was encouraged – including by Jewish groups who wondered if the only way to get people to feel sorry for Holocaust victims was to universalise them – it also meant that the political ideology behind the Holocaust, the intentional and industrial attempt to eradicate an entire people, was neutered.

I even had to explain to my son’s own history teacher that the Holocaust is the word just for the murder of the Jews – and that it was a core plank of Nazi ideology separate from all its other evil behaviour.

But even that was not universal enough for some. Increasingly, HMD has become an “all genocides of the 20th century” day. Children should know about these genocides – Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur – but once again it meant the specific racist industrialised machine of the Holocaust became just another event in history.

Or, as Whoopi Goldberg (who appropriated a Jewish second name because she thought it would help her in Hollywood) once said: “White on white violence.”

Friends who worked in Holocaust education warned me quite soon after the October 7 massacre of the new problems they were facing, as schools they had worked with for years cancelled their Holocaust Memorial Day events. Too complicated.

At one point, I sat on a panel in front of a group of children about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. There had been a day of events, and a law expert had explained why what was happening in Gaza did not fall into the definition of genocide.

Yet, still, we were asked at least three times about why we weren’t talking about “the genocide” in Gaza.

This is hardly surprising when we look at what is going on in our schools and universities. The NEU, Britain’s biggest teaching union with half a million members, has become so openly and obsessively hostile to Israel that most Jewish teachers have left.

We were given an example of why, just a few days ago, when it emerged that teachers and members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (and frequently they are both) had helped stop Jewish Bristol MP Damian Egan from hosting a talk about democracy.

Teachers told this newspaper how one colleague told her Israel didn’t exist and how anti-Israel propaganda was being pushed in schools by teachers. Children are being educated in the new way of how to hate Jews instead of what anti-Semitism leads to.

As Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis writes: “The Shoah was not inevitable. It began not in concentration camps but in classrooms, newspapers and public squares where people learnt to look away.”

Here it is again in our classrooms, newspapers and public squares. Schools need to stop looking away but confront what their behaviour could lead to. I am not surprised this is too difficult for them. Telegraph

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David Collier: Open Letter to Manchester City Council: Don’t Undermine Antisemitism Safeguards.

Dear Councillors of Manchester City Council,

I am writing regarding Manchester City Council’s decision to adopt a motion referencing what activists are calling “anti-Palestinian racism” (APR), and the council’s intention to explore definitions and related commitments.

This is a serious and dangerous error.

As part of my own investigation into how the concept of APR was developed and is being promoted in activist circles, I watched the council discussion that took place on 16 July. I do recognise that while it did adopt a motion, Manchester City Council did not adopt the formal definition of APR on the night. I also note that Labour produced an amended version that stripped away some of the more overtly dangerous activist framing.

However, this is precisely the problem.

Even a watered-down motion still leaves the council trapped inside the activist premise that “APR” is a legitimate category requiring institutional recognition, policy development, and follow-on action. The council has effectively been manoeuvred into a corner – having accepted the framing, it is then left feeling obliged to “do something,” because backing away will be portrayed as indifference or hostility.

That is how this works. It is not neutral anti-racism. It is political pressure, and Manchester City Council should not allow itself to be manipulated into granting a dangerous concept such as APR any legitimacy at all.

Let me be clear at the outset – racism is real. Prejudice against anyone on the basis of race or ethnicity must be confronted.

But APR is not a neutral anti-racism concept. It is an activist framework designed to do something very specific. It reframes mainstream safeguards against antisemitism as illegitimate and pressures public bodies into treating anti-Israel political narratives as protected truth.

That is not “anti-racism”. It is political capture. Manchester does not need a new racism category. If a person is discriminated against because of their Arab, Middle Eastern, or Palestinian heritage, we already have the legal and institutional tools to address it. Jan 19, 2026. David Collier

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France faces court over embassy built on confiscated Jewish family home.

Annabel Sinclair. Jan 19, 2026.

The French government is appearing before a Paris court this week over its continued use of a former Jewish-owned mansion in Baghdad as its embassy, in a case brought by the descendants of Iraqi Jews who say the French state stopped paying rent after their property was confiscated under antisemitic laws.

The lawsuit, now formally being heard by a French administrative court, concerns a large riverside home built in the 1930s by brothers Ezra and Khedouri Lawee, members of Iraq’s once-thriving Jewish community. France has operated the buildings as its embassy since the mid-1960s and continues to do so today.

The Lawee family says it originally leased the property directly to France, believing that a foreign government tenant would protect it at a time when Iraqi Jews were increasingly targeted. But after Iraq nationalised Jewish-owned property in the late 1960s and 1970s, France allegedly stopped paying rent to the family and instead began paying the Iraqi state.

The descendants are now seeking around €22 million (approximately £19 million) in unpaid rent and damages, arguing that France benefited from discriminatory laws that stripped Jews of citizenship and assets, without ever compensating the original owners.

“To save the house, my father leased it to the French,” said Mayer Lawee, 86, the son of Ezra Lawee. “My father was upset. It’s his home. He built it from scratch, and it was taken away.”

Iraq was home to around 150,000 Jews in the 1940s, part of one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jews in Iraq faced escalating persecution, including arrests, denaturalisation and the seizure of property. By the early 1950s, the vast majority had fled or been expelled.

Much of the Lawee family settled in Canada, but their Baghdad home remained standing and under family ownership until it was leased to France. The family says it was never compensated when Iraq later claimed ownership. Jewish News

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Stanford SJP Calls for "Student Intifada," Plans Walkout Against Company That Helped Find Bin Laden.

Jan 19, 2026.

Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine is organizing a campus walkout on January 20 at noon, calling on the university to sever ties with Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company the group describes as part of a “genocide tech axis.” The protest at White Plaza is being co-organized by Tech For Palestine, Vigil for Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace Stanford, the Stanford Asian American Action Committee, and involves the ACLU, according to promotional materials shared on social media.

The same SJP chapter recruited members last September by asking Stanford students to “join the student intifada,” using terminology historically associated with violent Palestinian uprisings. That Instagram post, dated September 18, 2025, featured an image of a person in a keffiyeh with the text “STANFORD SJP NEEDS YOU - JOIN THE STUDENT INTIFADA TODAY,” and promised to build solidarity while organizing against what they called Stanford’s “complicity in genocide[sic].”

The Target: Palantir.

The January protest centers on Palantir, a Silicon Valley firm founded in 2003 by Alex Karp, Peter Thiel, and others in the wake of September 11. The company was created specifically to help U.S. intelligence agencies “connect the dots” after the 9/11 attacks exposed fatal gaps in America’s ability to analyze disparate intelligence data.

Palantir’s software has played a role in some of America’s most significant counterterrorism operations. The company provided intelligence software that contributed to locating Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan in 2011. According to CEO Alex Karp, “Terror suspects leave patterns they don’t really realize they’re leaving,” and “at least one U.S. agency reported that hundreds of terror attacks around the world have been stopped with our product.”

The company’s work extends beyond counterterrorism. Palantir’s Maven platform is used by the entire U.S. military and international allies including the UK and Ukraine. Mike Gallagher, Palantir’s head of defense and former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, described Maven’s function simply: it “helps fewer good guys kill more bad guys.” According to Karp, Palantir is “responsible for most of the targeting in Ukraine” in its war against Russia.

What Stanford SJP Claims.

In their promotional materials for the walkout, Stanford SJP accuses Palantir of profiting from “ICE raids, police violence, and mass surveillance at home,” while helping to “power a digital dragnet that enables apartheid and mass killing in Palestine.” The group claims Stanford provides Palantir with “research, legitimacy, and talent,” framing the January 20 action as part of a “national day of action” against what they describe as escalating ICE terror under the Trump administration.

The protest organizers describe their goal as cutting off the “Stanford pipeline to Palantir and the genocide tech axis.” Stanford SJP previously attracted international attention for hosting a vigil in “honor of our martyrs”, in apparent reference to the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on October 7. JewishOnliner

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University of Washington lifts suspensions of anti-Israel protesters. “Long live the student intifada,” wrote the student group behind the May 5 protest, which allegedly resulted in $1 million in damages. (Jan. 19, 2026 / JNS)

The University of Washington has completed conduct hearings for the “UW33,” a group of students accused of occupying and damaging the university’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in May, finding them guilty of violations and lifting their suspensions.

The anti-Israel protest on May 5, organized by Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return, demanded the university sever ties with Boeing over the company’s dealings with Israel. University officials said demonstrators caused approximately $1 million in damage to the building on the public school’s Seattle campus.

The university suspended the involved students pending the results of a conduct hearing that has been completed, Victor Balta, a university spokesperson, told JNS.

“The students have been found responsible for violations of the student conduct code and held accountable,” Balta said. “The students were out of class and banned from campus for three quarters.”

Balta added that “SUPER is not a recognized student organization and does not enjoy the benefits” of such status.

SUPER UW celebrated the lifting of the suspensions. JNS

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Judge orders Ohio State to revoke student’s expulsion over anti-Israel videos.

“We’re disappointed in the ruling,” a spokesman for the university told JNS. (Jan. 19, 2026 / JNS)

A district judge issued a preliminary injunction last week, ordering Ohio State University to revoke its expulsion of a student who made anti-Israel videos.

Edmund Sargus Jr., a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, stated the student, Guy Christensen, was expelled from the university on the grounds that his videos were incitement and risked disrupting the campus.

According to Sargus, Christensen had said in a May video that he retracted his earlier condemnation of the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., stating, “I take it back. I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials, who worked at the Israeli embassy last night.”

He also said in that video, “Israel has murdered thousands of Palestinian civilians in cold blood without any shame, with pride, rejoicing in the streets of Israel over this, and they get no attention in this country, while this attack is being used to weaponize violence against the movement.”

Christensen added that “we will meet it with our own greater resistance and escalation.”

In a separate May video responding to a comment by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, Christensen stated that “screenshots are forever, and what you’ve said and done will haunt your family for eternity as you will eventually, if you’re still alive, end up in a Nuremberg trials for all the elected officials in America who facilitated and protected this genocide[sic].”

Sargus said Christensen’s videos did not constitute incitement because in past ones, he advocated for nonviolence and in subsequent ones, he stated that he is nonviolent. In the judge’s view, Christensen’s use of the words “resistance” and “escalation” was meant in a nonviolent manner, and that his videos had “no specific call to action” and “were unlikely to result in the imminent use of violence or lawless action.”

As for the university’s claims that Christensen’s presence could disrupt campus activities, Sargus stated this would be unlikely given that Christensen was on summer break at the time of the videos and did not identify himself as an OSU student, nor did any students express concern to the university about it.

Sargus said Christensen’s lawsuit is “likely to succeed on the merits” and ordered the school to remove his expulsion from his academic record. JNS

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What would MLK do? Demand that Arabs free their black slaves.

Charles Jacobs, Ben Poser. Jan 19, 2026.

The activist group “NYC Educators for Palestine” is apparently staging a “teach-in” for New York public school children of all ages, using Martin Luther King Jr. Day to equate the non-violent movement for black American civil rights with anti-Jewish jihad.

What these propagandists will never tell children as young as 6 is that their actions are covering up for history’s greatest anti-black catastrophes while blaming innocent Jews.

For a start, many of King’s own African ancestors were trafficked to the Americas in the first place, partially as the result of the enslavement of black people by Palestinians’ fellow Muslims. Arabs and Islamized Africans bear substantial responsibility for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with the Europeans buying many slaves from Muslim rulers who eagerly profited from selling off their non-Muslim war captives.

By contrast, Jews were among the most passionate opponents of racial discrimination in America, making up nearly a quarter of all white freedom riders, with some murdered alongside blacks for their anti-racist activism.

Professed Arab “concern” for black civil rights during the 1960s was no more than a cynical disinformation campaign concocted by Communist China and the KGB to pull politically active black Americans closer toward Third Worldist Marxism and away from patriotic integrationism.

But these “educators” are hiding something far worse: Arabs and Muslims, kin to the Palestinians, still own black slaves. The following could serve as the basis for any serious curriculum on black-Arab relations:

In Algeria and Libya, tens of thousands of Africans attempting to make their way to Europe are enslaved by local Arabs, some terrorist militiamen. The Global Slavery Index says that they number 84,000 and 47,000, respectively. Those who escape have detailed torture, blackmail and use as grunt labor, with CNN disseminating chilling video in 2017 of a nighttime auction in which two Nigerien men were sold for the equivalent of $400 apiece.

The U.S. State Department’s 2024 human-rights report on Libya documents that “criminal and nonstate armed groups controlling extralegal facilities routinely tortured and abused detainees [including refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants], subjecting them to arbitrary killings, rape and sexual violence, beatings, electric shocks, burns, forced labor, and deprivation of food and water, according to dozens of testimonies shared with international aid agencies and human rights groups. In many instances, the purpose of this abuse was reportedly to extort payments from detainees’ families.” Those black migrants within Algeria who are not enslaved also face deeply seated (systemic) racism. Outrage as rabbi disinvited from MLK Day event over ties to Israel A California rabbi claimed his invitation to lead the closing prayer at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration was pulled because of his ties to Israel.

Rabbi Hanan Leberman, of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in in San Diego, posted a revealing letter on Instagram to organizers of the All Peoples Celebration in Balboa Park, claiming they disinvited him from the event.

He said his message “is deeply aligned with the Reverend Dr. King’s teachings, regardless of how I may be perceived by others.”

“When I agreed to participate in this event, I did so fully aware that I would be sharing a stage with individuals whose politics and ideas I do not always share.” the rabbi wrote. “That, to me, is precisely the work Dr. King called us to do: sharing space with those with whom we disagree, seeking common ground, and recommitting ourselves to the dream that all people are treated equally.”

It’s unclear who was responsible for dropping Leberman from the event or when the decision was made. Calls to event organizer Alliance San Diego by The Post weren’t immediately returned. JNS

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Canary Mission · Jan 18, 2026 @canarymission · Meet Lana Abugharbieh: Licensed to care but publicly promotes extremist rhetoric, Holocaust distortions, and inflammatory comparisons. on X

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Elliot Kaufman @ElliotKaufman6: This profile tries to be snotty about it, but it mostly seems like Bari was proved right?

Iran protests were a bigger deal than media first realized. Post-Oct 7, Israel was the target of a massive propaganda war. The Columbia prof was a crazy Jew-hater. Jan 19, 2026. on X

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StopAntisemitism · Jan 19, 2026 @StopAntisemites · Update: Jewish Miami nightlife mogul David Grutman has banned Nick Fuentes, Myron Gaines, SNEAKO, and the rest of their Nazi crew from all of his Miami establishments. Jan 19, 2026. on X

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Nicole Lampert @nicolelampert: Good to see @LauraTrottMP asking for a thorough investigation into the teaching union the NEU and the dangerous Jew hatred it has encouraged. The education secretary @bphillipsonMP

has pledged to root out antisemitism in our schools. She cannot do this without tackling the NEU as my stories from this weekend proved.

Jan 19, 2026. On X

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Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News. Tuesday, January 20, 2026 How the Left and the Right Keep Borrowing Each Other’s Antisemitic Ideas.

[50]

One of the most persistent errors in how antisemitism is discussed is the belief that it flows from ideology – that antisemitism is something generated by the Left, or the Right, or Islamism, depending on who is misbehaving at a given moment. History suggests something more unsettling.

Antisemitism is not only downstream of ideology. It is portable.

Across centuries, antisemitism has shown a remarkable ability to detach itself from one philosophical framework and reattach to another, reshaping its language while preserving its structure. It borrows the moral vocabulary of whatever movement it inhabits, presents itself as principled critique rather than inherited prejudice, and offers radicals a ready-made explanation for why the world is broken – and who is to blame.

Anti-Zionism has become one of antisemitism’s most effective modern vehicles precisely because it allowed ancient tropes to be rebranded as contemporary politics. What we are witnessing today, as right-wing antisemites increasingly adopt the language of left-wing and Arab anti-Zionism, is not a novelty. It is a recurrence.

And the history that produced it is far more entangled than our political categories allow.

For most of modern history, Zionism had nothing to do with left-wing antisemitism. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century leftist antisemitism was rooted in Enlightenment secularism, early socialist thought, and misdirected anti-capitalism. Jews were cast not as nationalists or colonizers, but as embodiments of abstraction, money, cosmopolitanism, and bourgeois exploitation – obstacles to the realization of a rational and egalitarian society.

Marx’s On the Jewish Question treated Judaism itself as a metaphor for capitalism. Proudhon and Bakunin were more explicit, describing Jews as parasitic, conspiratorial, and socially corrosive. This was what August Bebel famously called “the socialism of fools” – a critique of capitalism that replaced systemic analysis with scapegoating.

Zionism, when it appeared at all in left-wing discourse, was typically dismissed as a bourgeois distraction from class struggle. It was not yet the organizing metaphor it would later become.

European-style antisemitism begins circulating in the Arab East in the nineteenth century, carried by colonial penetration, missionary activity, and European education networks. One early and concrete marker is the Damascus Affair of 1840, a blood libel modeled on European Christian accusations and actively escalated by a French consul. This was not an Islamic inheritance; it was a European import.

In the Arab world, Zionism was greeted with alarm, and they needed a philosophical framework to fight it especially for Western audiences. Christian antisemitism found particular resonance in some Arab Christian milieus, where exposure to European religious polemics, nationalism, and racialized discourse was often earliest and most intense. Early Palestinian nationalist journalism in the 1910s and intellectual leadership included a significant Christian Arab component, long before the era of Islamist mass mobilization.

By the early twentieth century, a hybrid vocabulary already existed – one in which European antisemitic motifs could be localized, repurposed, and politicized.

Hajj Amin al-Husseini did not start Palestinian antisemitism but he ran with it. Initially he placed it in the context of Islamism, claiming that Jews planned to attack Muslim holy places and raising funds based on that fantasy. The Mufti's antisemitism and anti-Zionism clearly predate his formal alliance with Nazi Germany. Where they came from is not reducible to a single source: local elite rivalries, imported European tropes, religious mobilization, and the dynamics of mandatory politics all played roles.

What Nazism provided was not the creation of his antisemitism, but its acceleration, systematization, and internationalization. Fascist and Nazi ideology offered him a global explanatory framework, material resources, and a language of total struggle. His alliance with the Axis was opportunistic, ideological, and mutually reinforcing – but it built on pre-existing foundations.

This pattern – local antisemitic motifs fused with external ideological systems – repeats again and again.

The most consequential transformation came after the Holocaust.

In the West, overt antisemitism became morally radioactive. In the Soviet sphere, it was re-engineered. Stalin’s campaigns against “rootless cosmopolitans,” followed by the Doctors’ Plot and the Slánský trials, performed a decisive maneuver: they translated classic antisemitic tropes – conspiracy, dual loyalty, elite domination – into the language of anti-Zionism and anti-imperialism.

Jews were no longer targeted as Jews, but as Zionists, Western agents, and subversive elites.

This framework was exported aggressively. Soviet propaganda recast Israel as a racist, colonial outpost of American empire, a narrative that spread through Eastern Europe, the Arab world, and Western leftist movements. Anti-Zionism became a way to say what could no longer be said openly.

The Western Left’s embrace of decolonial theory in the 1960s and 1970s created a powerful point of convergence.

Third-Worldism reframed global politics as a struggle between colonizer and colonized. After the Six-Day War, Israel was reclassified – often abruptly and without historical nuance – from post-genocide refuge to imperial aggressor. Arab nationalist narratives, Soviet anti-Zionism, and New Left ideology fused into a single moral grammar.

All the antisemitic and anti-Zionist tropes converged. Concepts such as settler-colonialism, indigeneity erasure, racialized power, and structural domination – developed in other contexts – were retrofitted to the Jewish case, often by erasing Jewish history altogether. Older antisemitic tropes survived the translation intact, rebranded as structural critique.

Within the Palestinian movement itself, ideological incoherence was not a weakness but a feature.

Secular Marxist groups like the PFLP and Islamist movements like Hamas routinely cooperate, coordinate attacks, and avoid mutual criticism. Yasser Arafat mastered the art of balancing Islamists and leftists under a single nationalist umbrella. Palestinian nationalism subordinated theology and ideology alike to the primacy of anti-Zionism.

This mattered far beyond the Middle East. It taught Western activists that Islamism was not an obstacle to leftist solidarity, but a legitimate partner in “resistance.” It normalized silence about illiberalism, Islamist antisemitism, and violence in the name of unity.

Today's antisemitism on the Right is different from previous, crude neo-Nazi forms. Contemporary right-wing antisemites have discovered that left-wing and Arab anti-Zionist rhetoric offers moral camouflage. Language about apartheid, genocide, settler-colonialism, and global elites allows them to recycle older claims about Jewish power while borrowing the credibility of human-rights discourse.

This is not accidental. David Duke openly praised left-wing critiques of the “Israel lobby” for giving his views respectability. Neo-Nazi outlets have long cited progressive anti-Zionist publications as evidentiary support. More recent figures have simply made the synthesis explicit. And the desire for solidarity trumps ideology - when Hamas attacked Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023 in Israel proper, it characterized it as an attack on "settlements" and the Left immediately dropped any pretense of differentiating between Israel's pre-1967 borders and "occupation" to legitimize Hamas' position.

The ideological content barely matters anymore. Antisemitism adapts itself to whatever language will pass.

This is why the Left/Right binary fails so badly as an explanatory framework.

Antisemitism is not a consequence of ideological error so much as a reusable narrative technology – a way of personifying abstraction, assigning moral blame, and repurposing innate antisemitism as a moral position. It thrives wherever movements need an omnipotent villain who is both inside and outside the system.

-Sometimes that villain is capitalist. -Sometimes colonial. -Sometimes globalist. -Sometimes Zionist.

The labels change. The structure does not.

The current moment feels novel because the alliances feel strange: “anti-woke” conservatives echoing decolonial slogans, white nationalists waving Palestinian flags, leftists defending the indefensible to preserve solidarity. But this is not a rupture. It is a recurrence.

Antisemitism has always been a shared underground passage between radical movements. When one entrance collapses, another opens.

The tragedy is not merely that Jews keep finding themselves at the center of other people’s moral dramas. It is that societies keep mistaking the costume for the cause – congratulating themselves for opposing the wrong version of an ancient hatred while unknowingly reproducing its logic in a new dialect.

History does not absolve either side. It indicts both – repeatedly.

And it leaves us with a sobering conclusion: antisemitism is never re-invented. It is translated. EoZ

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'NYT’: Pennsylvania’s Shapiro says Harris vetting team asked if he was an ‘Israeli agent’ The Jewish governor was said to have responded. (Jan 19, 2026 / JNS) JNS

Biden envoy slams Harris over 'Israeli agent’ question to Shapiro. Deborah Lipstadt her deputy, Aaron Keyak, condemn Harris campaign staff after Josh Shapiro revealed he was asked if he was “an Israeli agent" during the vetting process for Harris’s running mate. Elad Benari. Jan 20, 2026, 2:15 AM (GMT+2) Kamala HarrisDeborah INN

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Jewish Americans Shouldn’t Be Shocked by Scott Wiener’s Genocide Lie. By Irit Tratt. Opinion.

At first glance, California State Sen. and Democratic candidate for US Congress Scott Wiener is representative of what many consider a genuine American Jewish success story: a Jewish boy from New Jersey whose childhood memories were shaped by parents who helped build a local Conservative synagogue.

Wiener possesses the boy-next-door charm and familiarity of a Jewish American who came of age in the 1980s and early 1990s, was academically gifted, and later graduated from Harvard Law School.

The budding lawmaker soon found his footing in politics and eventually rose to become a state senator in the nation’s most populous state.

The youthful-looking Wiener, who calls himself “one of the strongest LGBTQ civil rights champions in the nation,” also co-chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus.

The one critical wrinkle to Wiener’s path to Jewish political prominence is that the 55-year-old politician recently promoted the disgusting blood libel that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

After enduring jeers from left-wing attendees at last week’s candidate debate featuring Wiener and two other Democrats vying to succeed retiring Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Wiener pivoted from his initial refusal to characterize Israel’s actions as genocide and made the decision, days later, to turn against the Jewish state in a 90-second cringe-inducing video unveiled Sunday on the social media platform X.

For those following evolving attitudes toward Israel within liberal Jewish spaces, where Zionism is increasingly disassociated from Judaism, Wiener’s comments condemning Israel are perhaps the least shocking development in the progressive Democrat’s political career.

Jewish communities across America have spent decades nurturing ideological identities that focused on cultivating loyal liberals rather than strong Jews.

Moreover, when support for Israel is passed down from one generation to the next, with little explanation of the moral, legal, and historical rights undergirding the Jewish people’s right for self-determination, Zionism is treated as another dispensable political movement.

It’s a phenomenon that leaves people like Wiener susceptible to the anti-Israel animus entrapping a rising cohort of Jewish Democrats. It’s why anti-Zionists like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be quick to denounce a swastika plastered at a Jewish school in Brooklyn but grant a pass to violent pro-Hamas mobs descending on New York City synagogues that aim to disrupt Israel-related events.

Absent a firm framework explaining why it is a Jewish imperative to advance a pro-Israel narrative, the strategy to widen the wedge between Zionism and one’s Jewish identity will yield more Jews like Wiener who cave to the whims of keffiyeh-wearing voters... Algemeiner

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Witnesses report mass eye injuries during protests in Iran’s Bushehr. Iran International. Jan 20, 2026. Witnesses in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr have told Iran International that security forces fired at protesters from elevated positions over two nights, leaving more than 20 people with severe eye injuries.

According to the messages received by the outlet, forces fired from locations including rooftops, mosques and some school buildings on the night of Jan. 9 and 8.

Witnesses said medical centers were overwhelmed by the number of wounded, with staff struggling to cope with the influx of patients. IranIntl

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The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post: Jewish community leaders visited the Great Mosque of Stockholm to gift a Quran from Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque as an act of solidarity. Reporting by @pieceofshirr . From jpost.com Jan 20, 2026 on X

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The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post: Report: Senior Hamas leaders are preparing a “safe exit” from Gaza following the launch of Phase II of Trump’s Gaza plan. Leaders of the "military" factions insist they will stay, sources told a Saudi outlet. ✍️ @JamesGenn From jpost.com [51]. Jan 20, 2026 on X

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Demolition of UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem begins | Watch. At Ammunition Hill in the capital, representatives of the Israel Land Authority began demolishing the UNRWA headquarters, after the Knesset decision to cut ties with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. Idan Bloemhof|01.20.26 Updated:10:46

(Related Topics: Jerusalem UNRWA, October 7)

Representatives of the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), accompanied by security forces, arrived Tuesday morning to demolish the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, located at Ammunition Hill.

The evacuation of the site — which took place earlier this month, and Tuesday’s demolition, stem from a government decision to cut ties with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, by creating alternative services through other bodies. Legislation passed in the Knesset stipulates that the organization’s assets be transferred to the state and that its diplomatic immunity be revoked, because some of its staff are suspected of participating in the October 7 massacre. YNet

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Agreement to transfer Kurdish autonomy in Syria collapsing amid renewed fighting. Syrian president announced two days ago a ceasefire with SDF forces that maintain Kurdish autonomy, and said the Kurds agreed to hand over all territories to the stat and to integrate into security mechanisms; But a meeting between al-Sharaa and the SDF commander failed, and fighting resumed Lior Ben Ari, News Agencies|01.20.26 Updated:10:06

An agreement to transfer control of the Kurdish autonomous region in Syria appeared to be collapsing Tuesday morning, after a night of heavy fighting between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and forces loyal to President Ahmad al‑Sharaar. In response to the escalating violence, the Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria declared a general mobilization overnight and called on young Kurds living outside Syria to return home to defend their people.

Only two nights ago, the Syrian government announced a ceasefire deal with the SDF — an organization whose fighters are mostly Kurdish — following days of intense fighting in which Syrian army units stormed Kurdish strongholds and forced SDF fighters to withdraw. Al‑Sharaa described the agreement as a major victory and what was effectively a Kurdish surrender, saying the Kurds agreed to hand over control of all territory to the state, transfer rights to oil and gas fields, disband their military forces, and integrate as fighters within state security structures. YNet

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Netanyahu: Iran will face unprecedented force if it attacks Israel. "No one can predict what tomorrow will bring in Iran, but one thing is clear: no matter what happens—Iran will not return to being what it was," said the Israeli premier. Akiva Van Koningsveld.

(Jan. 20, 2026 / JNS) If the Islamic Republic attacks Israel, Jerusalem “will act with might that Iran has not seen before,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. JNS

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The Blood Trail of Islamist Death Cult: From Tehran to Gaza.

The Regime Behind the Carnage: Iran’s War on Its Own People and on Israel. Iran’s Hypothetical Atrocities and Its Proxy War Against Israel.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a dark history of brutally suppressing its own people, with estimates suggesting that in just two weeks of crackdowns (Jan/2026), it massacred between 20,000 and 50,000 unarmed civilians. Extrapolating this rate over two years yields a staggering 1.04 million to 2.6 million potential deaths—a chilling reminder of the regime’s capacity for mass murder against innocents, far exceeding even the most tragic conflicts.

This same ruthless regime fuels terrorism through its backing of genocidal Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza, providing weapons, funding, and training as part of its “axis of resistance” to destabilize the region and target Israel. On October 7, 2023, “Palestine” regime Hamas launched a barbaric invasion, massacring over 1,200 Israelis and taking hundreds hostage in acts of unspeakable cruelty, including rape, torture, and the slaughter of families. This unprovoked assault forced Israel into a defensive war to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and secure its citizens from endless rocket barrages and threats.

In a cynical strategy to garner international sympathy, Hamas and PIJ deliberately embed their military operations—rocket launchers, tunnels, and command centers—amidst civilian areas like hospitals, schools, and UN facilities, using Gazan civilians as human shields to inflate casualties and demonize Israel’s precise responses. Despite these tactics, Israel’s military has gone to extraordinary lengths to minimize harm, issuing evacuation warnings, creating humanitarian corridors, and adhering to international law, even as Hamas diverts aid and holds its own people hostage to its ideology of destruction.

As of late 2025, Israel eliminated over 25,000 terrorists, early 2026, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claims around 67,000–71,000 deaths, though these figures include combatants and are often inflated or unverified; independent analyses suggest the true toll, while heartbreaking, reflects the consequences of Hamas’s war crimes rather than Israeli aggression. Israel’s fight is not against Palestinians but against Iranian-backed extremists who prioritize jihad over peace, sacrificing their own to perpetuate conflict.

In the face of such evil, Israel’s resilience and commitment to defending democracy shine through, underscoring the moral clarity: a sovereign nation protecting its people from genocidal threats, while the world must hold Iran and its proxies accountable for the bloodshed they engineer. at N.E.R.

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Brutal. Triggernometry's Viral Skit Destroys Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate and 'Friends' | WATCH. Hitler himself would rage-quit over today's motley crew of antisemites: Mexicans, Sudanese influencers, and IQ-deficient Arabs peddling Nazi vibes. TRIGGERnometry's viral Downfall parody exposes the pathetic irony.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 20, 2026 09:29 JFeed

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Violent ambush. TORONTO CHAOS: Pro-Palestinian Mob Targets Israeli Comedian Guy Hochman | WATCH. Jan 20, 2026. JFeed

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No apology issued Tate Brothers Deny That They Danced to Heil Hitler at Miami Club Despite clear footage, Andrew and Tristan Tate dodge accountability for a Miami nightclub fiasco where Kanye West's 'Heil Hitler' blared amid Nazi salutes. Denials fly, but no apology, exposing their toxic ties and hollow condemnations.

Bianca Jones Jan 20, 2026 08:54 JFeed

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Apology follows major backlash. Channel 13 Reporter Sparks Outrage with Tweet Wishing for End of Haredi Society "Only in museums": Channel 13's Yosef Israel ignites a firestorm by calling for the total erasure of Haredi society and branding them "leeches." Inside the brutal backlash, the Nazi comparisons, and the apology that failed to stop the outrage.

Jfeed Staff Jan 20, 2026 09:05 JFeed

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Melbourne Jewish teens threatened, ‘Heil Hitler’ yelled as car nearly struck boy. The five boys, who were dressed in traditional Chassidic garb, were walking home when they were subjected to antisemitic abuse and threats. JNS Staff. ([52]. A pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 15, 2023).

(Jan. 20, 2026 / JNS) Melbourne police said on Tuesday that they were investigating reports that a group of Jewish teenagers was threatened and narrowly missed being struck by a vehicle while walking home from school on Monday night.

Police said the five boys, who were dressed in traditional Chassidic garb, were walking home after evening classes when they were subjected to antisemitic abuse and threats by occupants of a white utility vehicle.

The occupants of the car were said to have shouted slurs, threatened to stab them and yelled “Heil Hitler,” before the vehicle narrowly missed one of the boys as the group frantically ran from the scene.

Victoria Police acting Commander Adrian Healy told ABC News that the car, which was fitted with New South Wales registration plates, then ran a red light and continued driving around the area looking for the boys.

The vehicle had been stolen and was previously used to carry out two aggravated burglaries and a series of car thefts in the same area, according to police.

The incident reportedly occurred near Melbourne’s Haredi Adass Israel Synagogue, which was firebombed on Dec. 6, 2024 in a terrorist attack Canberra has said was orchestrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The father of one of the victims, Chayim Klein, told ABC News that the boys did not carry mobile phones and had to run to a payphone to call police. He said they were put on hold and had to hang up to escape.

“They are little children. Yes, they’re 16, but they’re not exposed to this. They’re good boys. They’re in school, they study, they learn hard. They’re not used to that kind of behaviour or intimidation,” Klein told the outlet.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “antisemitic hate incident … targeting young Jewish boys has no place in our country.”

“At a time when Australians are joining with the Jewish community in sorrow and solidarity, it is beyond disgusting to see these cowards shouting Nazi slogans at young people,” he said, per The Guardian.

The incident came as parliament convened in Canberra on Monday for a special sitting to commemorate the 15 people shot and murdered by two terrorists at a Chanukah celebration in Sydney on Dec. 14.

The father-and-son terrorists, inspired by Islamic State ideology, opened fire on a crowd gathered for a celebration of the holiday, killing and wounding dozens in a premeditated, antisemitic terrorist attack.

The Jewish community is “not alone,” Albanese said in his speech to the House of Representatives. “I give you this solemn promise on behalf of every Australian—we will not meet your suffering with silence. We will not leave you in darkness,” the premier’s remarks continued.

“We will continue to do everything required to ensure your security, uphold your safety, and protect and honor your place here with us, as Australians,” he vowed. JNS

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Florida club Vendome apologizes, fires employees for playing ‘Hitler’ song. The venue has since banned media personalities Nick Fuentes, Myron Gaines and Andrew Tate, who requested the song while in the VIP section.

(Jan. 20, 2026 / JNS) A Miami nightclub has fired three employees and permanently banned a group of antisemitic influencers, including far-right podcaster and “groyper” leader Nick Fuentes, blogger [Amrou Fudl ] Myron Gaines and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate, after the club played the Kanye (“Ye”) West song, “Heil Hitler” on Jan. 17.

A widely circulated video shows the group in the VIP section of Vendome singing along to West’s song, which has been banned on major music streaming platforms.

“A group of influencers who bolster antisemitism with their hateful behavior walk into a club in Miami and request Ye’s ‘Heil Hitler’ song … No, this isn’t the setup of a joke. It actually happened. And guess what? The nightclub shamefully obliged,” the Anti-Defamation League said.

“Why would a nightclub play a song that glorifies Hitler and was banned by multiple streaming platforms?” the ADL asked rhetorically. “Imagine being Jewish, out for a fun night, and now you’re surrounded by people performing Nazis salutes to a song that glorifies the individual responsible for murdering 6 million other Jews. This is not ok.”

Vendome said on Jan. 19 that it had completed an interview review. “This isolated incident involved three people which have been terminated from their employment,” the club stated. “We have also permanently banned the individuals involved in this incident from the Vendome premises.”

It also acknowledged that the episode “should never have occurred,” and that it has implemented new safeguards to make sure that its venue “is never used as a platform for discrimination, hate, antisemitism or any other behavior harmful towards our community.”

JNS sought comment from Vendome but did not immediately hear back.

After the footage was circulated, Vendome released a statement saying it was “conducting an internal review to understand the circumstances surrounding how this requested song came to be played during a bottle parade. We will take immediate action to hold the responsible parties accountable.”

The club noted that “our ownership and leadership reflect a diverse group of partners, backgrounds and faiths, including members of the Jewish community, and we are deeply disturbed by the harm caused by this incident and the circulation of this footage.”

Vendome was founded by Jonathan Mansour, Adel Bourkia, Byram Zaied and Fallou Bathily, all French. Local outlets are reporting that Mansour can be spotted in the video.

Steven Meiner, the Orthodox Jewish mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., said he was “deeply disturbed by these videos of twisted individuals glorifying Hitler and the murder of millions.”

“Miami Beach is a welcoming, inclusive city built by people of all backgrounds and faiths,” he said. “These ‘influencers’ who spread hate should never have been welcomed into this club or allowed to play a song with ‘Heil Hitler’ lyrics that has been universally condemned.”

Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade County, called the incident “deeply disturbing and unacceptable.” She stated that “we stand against antisemitism and all hate, and expect swift accountability to keep our community safe and respectful for all.” JNS

The Hitlerist Islamo Arab clubbing:

Owned by the French citizens: Jonathan Mansour, Adel Bourkia, Byram Zaied and Fallou Bathily.

Jonathan Mansour has Arab-Iraqi roots; Adel Bourkia and Byram Zaied appear to have North African French backgrounds - AKA Arabs.

• Fallou Bathily is of Senegalese West African descent [Senegal is 95-97% Muslim].

• Amrou Fudl is that infamous "Myron Gaines" black Muslim fascist.

• Andrew Tate converted to Islam, once praised ISIS and became vocal pro "Palestine..." The Arab Mansour was seen in the Hitlerism video.

at MyRightWord

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Netanyahu: Iran will face unprecedented force if it attacks Israel. "No one can predict what tomorrow will bring in Iran, but one thing is clear: no matter what happens—Iran will not return to being what it was," said the Israeli premier. Akiva Van Koningsveld. (Jan. 20, 2026 / JNS) If the Islamic Republic attacks Israel, Jerusalem “will act with might that Iran has not seen before,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. JNS

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Number of UK Schools Marking Holocaust Has Dropped by Nearly 60% Since Oct. 7 Massacre. January 20, 2026 . By David Swindle

Tens of thousands joined the National March Against Antisemitism in London, Nov. 26, 2023. Photo: Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

The number of British schools commemorating the Holocaust has plummeted by nearly 60 percent following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel.

Since Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists perpetrated the largest single-day massacre of Jews since World War II, the number of secondary schools across the UK signed up for events commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, which takes place annually on Jan. 27, dropped to fewer than 1,200 in 2024 and 854 in 2025, according to data from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

The figure had been rising each year since 2019, reaching more than 2,000 secondary schools in 2023.

There are about 4,200 secondary schools in the UK.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the UK, commented on the figures in an essay published in The Sunday Times, expressing alarm about an increasingly hostile environment for the British Jewish community.

“I fear for what will happen this year,” Mirvis wrote. “For if we cannot teach our children to remember the past with integrity and resolve, then we must ask ourselves what kind of future they will inherit.” Algemeiner

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French Jewish Community Marks 20 Years Since Ilan Halimi’s Brutal Murder. By Ailin Vilches Arguello. January 20, 2026.

France’s Jewish community on Tuesday commemorated the 20th anniversary of the death of Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man who was brutally tortured to death, as his memory continues to be defaced amid a rising tide of antisemitism threatening Jews and Israelis across the country.

“Twenty years on, Ilan Halimi’s memory still needs to be protected and honored, yet it continues to come under attack, as recent vandalism at his memorial site shows,” the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — wrote in a post on X.

“Antisemitism remains a persistent threat in France today,” the statement read.

Le 20 janvier 2006 marque l’enlèvement et le début de la séquestration d’Ilan Halimi, 23 ans, parce qu’il était Juif.

20 ans plus tard, alors que la mémoire d’Ilan Halimi doit être protégée et honorée, elle continue d’être atteinte, comme l’ont montré les récents actes de… [pic.twitter.com/Htu9ntMHhq] [53]

— CRIF (@Le_CRIF) January 20, 2026

Last week, another olive tree planted to honor Halimi’s memory was vandalized and cut down, as French authorities continue efforts to replant trees in remembrance of the young Jewish man who was murdered in 2006.

“We will bring those responsible to justice,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez wrote in a post on X. “Our collective outrage is matched only by our unwavering determination to combat antisemitic and anti-religious acts that continue to tarnish the memory of an innocent man.”

This latest antisemitic act came after a plaque honoring Halimi was vandalized in Cagnes-sur-Mer, a town in southeastern France, prompting local authorities to open an investigation for “destruction and antisemitic damage.”

According to local reports, a 29-year-old man with no prior criminal record has been arrested. While he admitted to the acts, he denied any antisemitic motive and is now awaiting trial.

Last year, a tree planted in memory of Halimi was also vandalized and cut down in Épinay-sur-Seine, a suburb north of Paris.

Two Tunisian twin brothers were arrested and convicted for cutting down the tree, but were acquitted of the antisemitism charges brought against them.

Both of them were sentenced to eight months in prison, but one of them received a suspended sentence, meaning he will not serve time unless he commits another offense or violates certain conditions.

According to local media, one of the brothers has reportedly been deported from France.

Halimi was abducted, held captive, and tortured in January 2006 by a gang of about 20 people in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux.

Three weeks later, Halimi was found in Essonne, south of Paris, naked, gagged, and handcuffed, with clear signs of torture and burns. The 23-year-old died on the way to the hospital.

In 2011, French authorities planted the first olive tree in Halimi’s memory. However, the young Jewish boy’s memory has faced attacks before, with two other trees planted in his honor vandalized in 2019 in Essonne, where he was found dying near a railway track. https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/01/20/french-jewish-community-marks-20-years-since-ilan-halimis-brutal-murder/ Algemeiner]

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US-Based Anti-Zionist Groups Spread Terrorist Propaganda on Social Media, New Report Shows. By Dion J. Pierre. January 20, 2026.

Anti-Zionist groups operating in the US are using social media to spread anti-Israel propaganda confected by foreign terrorist organizations based in Gaza and elsewhere across the Middle East, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

“Protesters and activists are not merely praising the activity of terror groups; they are actively sharing their official propaganda, disseminating communiqués, videos, and other materials directly into mainstream platforms,” says the report, titled “Digital Couriers.”

“This propaganda spread functions to normalize the eliminationist goals and terrorist tactics espoused by groups like Hamas and the [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] within certain activist circles in the US,” the report continues. “It blurs the line between legitimate protest and explicit endorsement of terrorism and antisemitic violence.”

The groups employ a number of social media platforms to further the mission, including “Resistance News Network” (RNN) on Telegram, a “radical, antisemitic, anti-Zionist” channel which “plays a key role in getting translated terrorist content into the hands of American activists, while also creating and packaging its own content and glorifying terror attacks and other violence.”

Instagram is another online service which pro-Hamas activists use as a news wire. It is especially popular with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an organization that has been central to the campus antisemitism crisis that has seen Jewish students harassed, excluded, and assaulted at colleges across the US.

SJP, the ADL says, has shared messages by Hamas spokesmen, commemorated the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel as a day of celebration for the anti-Zionist movement, and shared footage from that day in which a Hamas fighter was “inside the home of an Israeli family.”

The ADL argues social media platforms should aim for “disrupting the pipeline,” enforcing their “existing policies” which already proscribe sharing content of foreign terrorist groups. College and universities, it continues, are responsible for ensuring that students do not do so and break federal law in the process.

“More broadly, it is incumbent upon the general public to engage in due diligence when consuming and sharing content online and associating with activist groups and individuals,” the report concludes.

Anti-Zionist groups have been flagged before for functioning as arms of Hamas while promoting Islamism as well as the geopolitical aims of countries such as Iran.

In October, SJP’s national office (NSJP) appeared to call for executing Muslim “collaborators” working with Israel in retaliation for the death of Palestinian influencer Saleh Al-Jafarawi during a brewing conflict between the Hamas terrorist group and a rival clan, Doghmush, in Gaza City.

“Saleh’s martyrdom is a testament to the fact that the fight against Zionism in all its manifestations — from the [Israel Defense Forces] to its collaborators — must continue,” the group said in a statement posted on social media. “In the face of hundreds of thousands of martyred Palestinians these past two years alone, collaborators and informants maintain their spineless disposition as objects of Zionist influence against their own people.”

The statement launched a series of unfounded charges alleging that anti-Hamas forces are “exploiting Gaza’s youth for money” and pilfering “desperately needed aid to the killing of their own people in service of Zionism.” NSJP added, “Death to the occupation. Death to Zionism. Death to all collaborators.”

Additionally, NSJP has publicly discussed its strategy of using the anti-Zionist student movement as a weapon for destroying the US, saying in 2024 that “divestment [from Israel] is not an incrementalist goal” but enacted with the later goal of setting off “the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself.” On the same day the group issued that statement, Columbia University’s most strident pro-Hamas organization was reported to be distributing literature calling on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group’s movement to destroy Israel during the school’s convocation ceremony.

“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” said a pamphlet distributed by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an SJP spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”

Other sections of the pamphlet were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose is to build an army of Muslims worldwide.

“We call upon the masses of our Arab and Islamic nations, its scholars, men, institutions, and active forces to come out in roaring crowds tomorrow,” it added, referring to an event which took place the previous December. “We also renew our invitation to the free people and those with living consciences around the world to continue and escalate their global public movement, rejecting the occupation’s crimes, in solidarity with our people and their just cause and legitimate struggle.”

Middle East experts have long suspected that foreign agents are conspiring with SJP chapters.

In July 2024, then-US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines issued a statement outlining how Iran has encouraged and provided financial support to the anti-Israel campus protest movement and explaining that it is part of a larger plan to “undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” Haines also confirmed that US intelligence agencies have “observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.” [https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/01/20/us-based-anti-zionist-groups-spread-terrorist-propaganda-social-media-new-report-shows/ Algemeiner]

ALARMING: College Campus Activists Peddling Hamas Propaganda Encouraging Violence Against Jews. January 20, 2026.

Activists on New York City college campuses are helping funnel propaganda directly from Hamas onto mainstream American platforms, amplifying messaging that openly encourages violence against Jews, according to a new study released by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

The report, titled Digital Couriers: How U.S. Anti-Israel Activists Amplify Terror Propaganda on Mainstream Platforms, concludes that some anti-Israel protest movements have crossed a critical line, moving beyond rhetoric and into the active dissemination of official materials produced by Hamas.

“Protestors and activists are not merely praising the activity of terror groups; they are actively sharing their official propaganda, disseminating communiqués, videos, and other materials directly onto mainstream platforms,” the report states.

According to the study, the circulation of Hamas-produced content across Telegram, X, Instagram and other social media platforms has accelerated since the group’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel. Researchers warn that the trend reflects a growing normalization of terror rhetoric that explicitly endorses violence against both Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.

“This shared material, which openly praises violent actions and actors, comes at a time of heightened danger for Jews worldwide,” the report notes, pointing to record levels of antisemitic incidents in the United States. “American Jews specifically have been navigating an unprecedentedly high threat landscape.”

The ADL found that propaganda originating from Hamas’ official Arabic-language channels is often translated into English by intermediary accounts before being repackaged and shared by U.S.-based activist groups. One of the most prominent hubs cited in the report is Resistance News Network, a radical English-language Telegram channel with more than 150,000 subscribers that routinely promotes violence against Israel.

From there, the material has spread into activist ecosystems tied to American cities and campuses.

The study documents multiple cases involving groups and individuals in the city sharing or distributing Hamas material. In March 2025, the Bronx Anti-War Coalition reposted a Hamas propaganda poster accompanied by a caption from antisemitic rapper Jonathan Azaziah celebrating the destruction of Israel and using hashtags such as “#WeAreAllHamas.” The same group also reshared a Hamas military post praising a Houthi missile attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport that injured civilians.

The report also highlights in-person dissemination. At Barnard College, activists distributed an English-language document authored by Hamas’ media office that explicitly justified the October 7 attacks. Similar incidents were identified at other institutions nationwide.

On social media, campus-based chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine were repeatedly cited. The SJP chapter at CUNY John Jay College shared a Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades graphic in July 2024 featuring militant imagery and militant slogans in Arabic. At the University of Illinois at Chicago, the SJP chapter posted video footage that appeared to show a Hamas gunman filming himself inside an Israeli family’s home during the October 7 assault. And at University of California, Davis, activists marked the one-year anniversary of the attack by quoting a Hamas spokesperson praising it as a historic military operation.

“These are not abstract expressions of solidarity,” the report notes. “They are direct reproductions of terrorist messaging, presented without context, condemnation, or disclaimers.”

The ADL warns that such activity risks radicalizing audiences, legitimizing terrorist violence, and eroding the guardrails that once kept extremist propaganda off major platforms. It urged social media companies to aggressively enforce existing policies that already prohibit content produced by designated terrorist organizations.

The group also called on Congress to pass the Stopping Terrorists Online Presence and Holding Accountable Tech Entities Act, which would compel platforms to better police terrorist content they currently claim to ban.

College administrators, the ADL said, have a separate responsibility. The report urges universities to clarify when distributing terrorist propaganda violates campus rules or state and federal law, and to hold registered student organizations accountable when they cross that threshold.

“More broadly,” the report concludes, “it is incumbent upon the general public to engage in due diligence when consuming and sharing content online and associating with activist groups and individuals.” YWN

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Israel Issues Veiled Warning to Turkey as Countries Clash Over Gaza Role. Ny Ailin Vilches Arguello. January 20, 2026.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday warned regional powers — in an apparent swipe at Turkey — to abandon any ambitions of restoring an empire, as tensions mount over postwar reconstruction in Gaza and competing efforts to assert regional influence.

At a joint press conference with Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias in Athens, Katz said Israel was determined “not to allow actors seeking to undermine regional stability to establish a foothold through terrorism, aggression, or military proxies — in Syria, in Gaza, in the Aegean Sea, or in any other arena.”

“Those who dream of dragging the region backward, establishing control through terror, or rebuilding empires at the expense of sovereign states will encounter a resolute alliance of free, strong nations capable of defending themselves,” Katz continued. Algemeiner

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Miaminewtimes: January 20, 2026. Over the weekend, videos began circulating online showing a group of right-wing influencers partying to rapper Kanye West’s song “Heil Hitler” at at Vendôme’s, a Miami Beach nightclub. In the clips, “manosphere” figures Andrew Tate and Myron Gaines, as well as well-known white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, are seen singing along to the song — which glorifies Adolf Hitler — inside the nightclub Vendôme.

The videos quickly drew widespread backlash, with hundreds of commenters flooding the nightclub's Instagram page and some calling for a boycott. In response, the club issued a statement condemning antisemitism and hate speech, calling the incident “deeply offensive and unacceptable” and saying it was investigating how it occurred.

However, the same viral clips appear to show Vendôme owner Jonathan Mansour standing alongside the influencers during their time at the club.

👉 To read the full developing story by Alex DeLuca, visit miaminewtimes.com at the link in bio. 📸 Screenshot via Kick on Instagram

End Jew Hatred @EndJewHatred: When Jew-hating rhetoric shows up at your door, you don’t appease it, you shut it down.

Miami nightlife entrepreneur @davidgrutman David Grutman did exactly that. After neo-Nazis Myron Gaines, Nick Fuentes, and their supporters were welcomed at Vendome, a club owned by competitor Jonathan Mansour, Grutman made it clear these individuals have no place in his venues or his city. He banned them from all of his nightclubs and restaurants, standing up against hatred without excuses. Jan 20, 2026 on X

Vendôme Co-Owner Appeared Alongside Influencers Partying to ‘Heil Hitler’. Jonathan Mansour is an owner and co-founder of the South Beach nightclub. By Alex DeLuca. January 20, 2026 MiamiNewTimes

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Crazy footage from inside the run-over bus: “Crazy! Oh my!” | Must investigate. New footage from inside the bus that ran over the young man Naftali Zvi Kramer (18) from Jerusalem, a student at the Satmar Yeshiva on Route 3533 at the entrance to Kommiyot. Girls who were on the bus documented the driver's rampage, which raises serious questions about the possibility of a deliberate runover. JDN staff. 3 Bishvat 5775 (January 21, 2026) HDN

An ordinary accident? The heavy question marks following the shocking footage of the run-over of the late teenager Naftali Kramer. While the police were quick to determine that the runover of the late Naftali Kramer was a "normal traffic accident," new footage from inside the bus reveals a different and horrifying reality: "We will not rest until the driver is brought to justice" | United Torah Judaism Chairman in conversation with Minister Ben Gvir: "An act committed with malice". Avi Gadlovitch| News in Israel. 21.01.26 | 10:35

An ordinary accident? The hard question marks following the shocking footage of the run-over of the late teenager Naftali Kramer The moment of the crush Photo: Courtesy of the family.

The terrible tragedy that occurred last night at the Kommiut intersection, in which the young man Naftali Zvi Kramer, a Satmar yeshiva student, lost his life, is taking a dramatic turn this morning. While in the early hours the police tried to portray the incident as a routine traffic accident unrelated to the demonstrations held in the area, a new video released this morning raises serious and disturbing question marks about the driver's conduct.

In the chilling footage from inside the bus, girls on the bus can be heard recognizing the approaching danger even before the impact. The screams heard on the bus left no doubt about the panic that gripped the passengers at the way the driver was driving: "Here are all the boys, what is he doing? He's crazy, motherfucker... It's boys, enough! What is this, what did he do, you idiot!"

Seconds later, a horrific scream is heard – the moment when the bus violently hit the late Kramer, who was on his way to a yeshiva. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the shock turned into heavy mourning with his funeral procession held at night in Jerusalem.

The driver is expected to be brought in for an extended detention on suspicion of reckless homicide, negligent homicide, and endangering human life on a highway. In light of the new evidence, Kramer's family is demanding that the police complete their investigation of the driver.

"The blood of the Haredim is not in vain".

Following the shocking documentation, United Torah Judaism Chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf spoke this morning with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and demanded an uncompromising investigation.

"The new footage, which shows the bus driver accelerating toward the group of protesters, leaves no room for doubt that the action was done maliciously," Goldknopf attacked. According to him, Minister Ben Gvir promised that the police would investigate the incident thoroughly and emphasized: "The blood of our Haredi brothers will not be in vain."

MK Meir Porush also commented and linked the matter to the tragedy of the killing of the young man Yosef Eisenthal, the late: "The serious phenomenon whereby time after time, ultra-Orthodox Jews participating in protests are injured, and in two cases this even claimed human lives, requires a rigorous and incisive examination. Every person has the right to protest, and every Jew in the Land of Israel deserves the opportunity to express his pain over what is happening without fear of being harmed. Every effort must be made to ensure that these acts will not, God forbid, be repeated, and the drivers who run over people must be punished very severely." Bhol

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The courage of Iranians and the cowardice of Westerners Cowardice is an effective survival strategy for effete westerners, but courage emerges in Iran where fear no longer has any power. Opinion. Giulio Meotti Jan 20, 2026, 7:11 PM (GMT+2) INN

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Fatah shares Hamas’s goal to destroy Israel. Much of the international community has clung to the fiction that Hamas and Fatah are different—that Hamas is irredeemably extremist, while Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, is flawed but pragmatic.

Moshe Phillips. (Jan. 19, 2026 / JNS) Abbas Zaki, a senior Fatah leader and member of its Central Committee, the Palestinian Authority’s ruling political party, said recently that “Israel is doomed to perish.”

This is not an isolated incident; when examined closely, there’s little difference between the future that Fatah and Hamas want. And that is a future where Israel does not exist.

Zaki said this is as part of a Jan. 9 interview with Arabi 21, an Arabic news website based in the United Kingdom: “In the end, the winner is the one who remains on the land … and those who will remain are the ones with the idea, the idea that says there is no escaping the fact that this land will be liberated, and that the land of peace cannot be based on revenge. Israel is doomed to perish.”

There is no ambiguity here. No mistranslation. No context that softens the meaning. This is not the rhetoric of a partner for peace or the language of a movement committed to a peaceful future. It is a declaration of intent—one that mirrors, almost perfectly, the genocidal aims openly proclaimed by Hamas.

But there’s more. Zaki is not a marginal figure in Fatah. Twenty years ago, he served as the top representative to Lebanon for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which at the time was one of the terror group’s most visible and important foreign-affairs posts. He went on to a position in Beijing. Fatah is the dominant faction of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority.

Nor was this anywhere near the first time Zaki spoke honestly about his desire to see Israelis and Jews slaughtered. In 2014, he said, “These Israelis have no religion and no principles, they are an advanced instrument of evil,” and “I believe that God will gather them so we can kill them.”

And just days after Hamas led the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, The Times of Israel reported: “In an interview with the Lebanese channel, Fatah’s Abbas Zaki thanked the armed wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, responsible for the Oct. 7 onslaught.”

For years, much of the international community has clung to the comforting fiction that Hamas and Fatah are fundamentally different—that Hamas is irredeemably extremist while Fatah, which dominates the P.A., is merely flawed but pragmatic. Zaki’s words expose that illusion. It is really hard to tell what separates Hamas and Fatah.

As uncomfortable as it may be for New York Times pundits and leaders of groups like J Street, who have spent decades heavily invested in the “peace process,” the truth is this: Hamas and Fatah share more in common than what separates them, and chief among their shared goals is the elimination of the Jewish state.

The P.A. and Hamas are partners in terrorism. The past moments of tension between the two terrorist groups reflected either internal disputes unrelated to Israel or arguments over tactics regarding Israel, not differences in their overall goals.

In July 2024, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government together after the Israel-Hamas war ends, and they issued a joint statement about their commitment to future meetings. The unity pact their representatives signed in Beijing (of all places) made their true motives very clear. Mahmoud Abbas, head of the P.A., has not made any official new statements since Beijing, saying that he will no longer abide by his July 2024 pledge that he would work with Hamas.

That unity agreement should have been a diplomatic earthquake. Instead, it was met with shrugs, rationalizations and willful blindness. Western governments that bankroll the P.A. continue to pretend that Fatah is a moderating force, even as it openly aligns itself with Hamas—the very organization responsible for mass murder, hostage-taking and the deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.

Consider that the 90-year-old Abbas has also long been given a free pass from the United Nations and others regarding the P.A.’s harboring and protecting of terrorists. The P.A. has one of the largest per-capita security forces in the world (more than 60,000 men), largely armed and trained by the United States. Yet instead of using those forces to arrest and extradite terrorists—as the Oslo Accords require—Abbas and friends pay salaries to terrorists and their families, and shelter fugitive terrorists so Israel can’t capture them.

This is not a failure of capacity. It is a failure of will—and, more accurately, a reflection of intent. The P.A. does not arrest terrorists because it does not see them as criminals. It sees them as assets.

That truth became even clearer with the cosmetic rebranding of the notorious “pay-for-slay” system that has rewarded Palestinian Arab terrorism for decades. We were told this system had been reformed. We were told it is now humanitarian, not ideological. This, too, was a lie.

The only way to truly end “pay-for-slay” is for the P.A. to announce that anybody who has engaged in violence against Israel is disqualified from any P.A. payments. That would demonstrate that the entity sincerely rejects terrorism. Anything less is a sham, which is designed to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community.

Zaki said the quiet part out loud: Israel is “doomed to perish.” Hamas has been saying the same thing for years. The difference is no longer substantive, only stylistic.

It is long past time for the international community to stop rewarding duplicity. Diplomatic recognition of the P.A., financial aid without conditions and the pretense that Abbas represents a peaceful alternative have all failed. They have not moderated P.A. leadership; they have emboldened it.

If words still matter, then Zaki’s utterances must have consequences. Governments that genuinely oppose terrorism and support Israel’s right to exist should immediately suspend diplomatic recognition of the P.A.; cut off funding that enables terrorism; and demand real, verifiable rejection of violence, not empty promises.

The future cannot be built on fantasies. And it certainly cannot be built with partners who openly proclaim that Israel “is doomed to perish.” JNS

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Trump on Iran: 'I ordered more bombers, hope we won't need to take action'. U.S. President Donald Trump said that "Iran must stop with the nuclear program." He said this in an interview with CNBC, adding: "I ordered 25 more B2 bombers. I hope that no further action will be needed - they are firing indiscriminately at people in the streets." Ynet|01.21.26. [https://www.ynetnews.com/article/cpqsqy80n YNet[

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'80 million hostages': Iranians under a digital siege amid internet blackout “The Islamic Republic turned the streets into rivers of blood. No one has been able to show the depth of the crimes, because the regime shut down the internet," one anonymous citizen wrote.

Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran on January 9, 2026. The nationwide protests started in Tehran's Grand Bazaar against the failing economic policies in late December, which spread to universities and other cities

By Alex Winston. January 20, 2026 Many have described the current protests inside Iran as a “Berlin Wall” moment, meant to evoke the unforgettable, positive transformation European geopolitics underwent when the wall came down. Instead, for the past few weeks, what has taken place in Iran is better described as a digital Iron Curtain descending across the country.

What little information escapes the digital wall erected by the Islamic Republic comes only in fragments: text-only messages, broken calls lasting mere seconds, testimony passed through intermediaries abroad. Together, they describe a country under de facto martial law, where streets are controlled by guns and communication itself has become a punishable act. JPost

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Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News. Wednesday, January 21, 2026 The NYT coverage of Iran murdering civilians vs. Gaza shows how media bias works It has been nearly a month since Iran has been mowing down civilians in the streets.

The Jerusalem Post [54] sums it up: The human cost is staggering. According to figures cited by Iranian officials themselves, at least 5,000 people have been killed since protests erupted on December 28, including around 500 members of the security forces. Authorities blame “terrorists and armed rioters.” Human rights activists and opposition groups dispute that narrative and say the death toll could be far higher, potentially exceeding 20,000.

At least 24,669 Iranians have been arrested.

A doctor inside Iran described the killings as “genocide under digital darkness” to the British newspaper The Sunday Times. One couple told the paper they were given “ten minutes to cry” when shown the body of their daughter – after being forced to pay a $5,000 “bullet fee” to recover her remains. After paying, they were driven five hours to another town, where her body had been thrown into an old grave.

Numerous families have reported being charged exorbitant sums to retrieve the bodies of loved ones killed by the regime.

Images shared from within Iran during the past week also show injured protesters admitted to hospitals – tubes and catheters still attached, admission tags visible – and then shot point-blank in the head, their bodies lying on the ground. Doctors have also reportedly refused to treat protesters, branding them enemies of the regime.

Beyond live fire, the blackout is the Islamic Republic’s central weapon against the demonstrators. With mobile data cut nationwide and only sporadic landline access available, Iranians are isolated from one another and from the outside world. Evidence cannot be shared; deaths cannot be documented.

Several Iranians contacted by the Post used the same word to describe their condition.

Hostages. By any reasonable measure, Iran is treating its own people worse than Israel treated Gazans in the first month of its war. While "human rights activists" complained about Israel's supposed limits on reporting, there were plenty of photos and stories that were published and Hamas' press releases were treated as truth.

During October 2023, the New York Times routinely had top stories about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, above the fold, accompanied by photos of Gaza civilians that were three columns wide:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xAKf0tNyme_wizBc0uXyLbzvYs-zi6peTUEvExfIJRl8LWNLRVzdClswZuoamb89U92c7lEkB_DHxITp1_6wuQVVP7tz_IrXYZBUd-rq9oXRaTfVaIDpVE4Z24czm3mvMTjrGLjHQNtZKwwz1PUL7KK51jAZAQfFpWiJ9e7FRxeHevoos76O-w/w640-h402/download%20-%202026-01-21T074259.957.png

When Iran is the top story, it is more about politics than human lives. I only found one photo above the fold of Iranian civilians - very few stories about Iran make it to the front page, and of those only a tiny number center people being killed.

Here is one of the few.

Keep in mind that even according to Hamas, less than 10,000 were killed in the first month of the war. Human rights activists say 20,000 protesters were killed in Iran - all targeted killings of civilians.

To be sure, there are few photos of Iran that get smuggled out. The NYT did put one up of body bags. Notice that the deaths were placed in the subhead, not the headline.

But the Gaza war was on the front page every single day. These recent Iran articles are the exceptions, not the rule. Even though the regime is ruthlessly attacking its own people, murdering thousands.

The Times could use infographics to replace photos if they thought that the Iranian story was something to emphasize.

Clearly they felt Gaza was. EoZ

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Wednesday, January 21, 2026. Why Anti-Zionist Narratives Cannot Tolerate Jewish Victimhood.

The most extreme anti-Israel accusations are rarely argued. They are asserted, repeated, and emotionally charged, because their function is not to weigh evidence but to establish a moral starting point: Israeli Jews must be understood as uniquely malevolent actors.

Once that assumption is in place, accusations of colonialism, apartheid, or genocide no longer need to be demonstrated. They feel self-evident. Evidence becomes secondary to repetition, and contradiction is dismissed as propaganda.

There is a feedback loop. In order to believe anti-Israel accusations like "settler colonialism[sic]," "apartheid[sic]" or "genocide[sic]," one must initially believe that Israeli Jews [sic] are evil[sic[. Because if you think of them as normal human beings, it is easy to find alternative explanations for the cherry picked evidence that supposedly "prove" those accusations. It happens with Amnesty, it happens with Turkey, it happens with SJP and with Candace Owens.

This is why anti-Zionist narratives work so hard to condition moral intuition. Through slogans, analogies, and fictionalized portrayals, ordinary people are trained to associate Israeli Jews with the worst crimes imaginable. The aim is not persuasion but habituation – to make bad faith feel like common sense.

This conditioning also explains a striking and otherwise baffling pattern: any portrayal of Israelis as victims is treated as inherently suspect. Haters work overtime to make sure that no one else looks at Jews as being normal people, or victims of terror, who are just trying to survive in a neighborhood where most people want to see them dead. October 7 victims cannot be victims - they must be perpetrators. Bondi Beach victims must be part of a false flag operation.

This is not because the facts are unclear. It is because Jewish victimhood breaks the narrative.

To acknowledge Israeli Jews as victims is to acknowledge them as human. And once Jews are allowed to be human – capable of fear, vulnerability, and legitimate self-defense – the entire moral structure of the anti-Zionist narrative begins to collapse. The villain cannot be a victim without destroying the story.

As a result, suffering must be denied, inverted, or blamed on the Jews themselves. Even mass violence is reframed as provocation, manipulation, or performance. The denial is not incidental; it is structural. Anything that humanizes Jews threatens the propaganda’s core objective. Even antisemitism is blamed on Jews - if it is bad, it must be the Jews' fault.

If one begins instead with the assumption that Israelis are ordinary people living under extreme and often tragic constraints, the standard accusations no longer cohere. Civilian deaths remain tragic. Policies can be criticized, sometimes harshly. But claims of genocide or apartheid require importing a prior belief in uniquely evil intent.

That belief is not a conclusion drawn from evidence. It is the belief system that makes the narrative possible in the first place.

Antisemitism is not merely the emotional fuel of anti-Zionism. It is the moral infrastructure that cannot tolerate Jewish humanity. EoZ

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Terror group paraphernalia sold at fundraiser in New York youth center. Pop-up shop held to support Sudan features items in support of Hamas, Hezbollah and the PFLP By Luke Tress. 20 Jan 2026. NEW YORK — Vendors sold paraphernalia for US-designated terrorist groups during a fundraiser held at a New York City youth center on Sunday, according to videos posted online.

The footage showed tables at the event arrayed with keychains, pins and stickers in support of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The US State Department has designated all three groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. ToI

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Turkish Muslim student faces arrest, death threats after calling herself Zionist - interview. Aspiring-journalist Avci moved to Israel from Turkey five years ago. Last week, Instagram influencer Tal The Traveler posted a video in which he asked Avci if she is a Zionist.

([55]. TURKISH MUSLIM student Türkü Avci, now unable to go back to Turkey because of an arrest warrant in her name).

By Mathilda Heller. January 20, 2026. “There is a warrant out for my arrest,” Turkish Muslim student Turku Avci told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Aspiring journalist Avci moved to Israel from Turkey five years ago to study at the Hebrew University. Last week, Instagram influencer Tal Oran, who goes by the username Tal the Traveler, uploaded a video in which he asked Avci if she, a Turkish Muslim woman, was a Zionist. JPost

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Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Attend Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan's Verna In Lahore, Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman: 'Israel Is An Illegitimate Child Of The West'; 'America Is An Open Enemy Of Humanity'.

January 20, 2026 I By Tufail Ahmad and Yigal Carmon.

Pakistan I Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1906.

A delegation of Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen ("the Muslim Brotherhood," MB) was among 150 delegates of Islamic religious organizations from 45 countries that took part in the three-day ijtema ("religious congregation") organized by Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan on November 21-23, 2025.[1]

The gathering addressed several issues concerning Pakistan and the Islamic world, while an international session on the second day of the three-day event was focused on Gaza and Israel.

The MB delegation was led by Dr. Muhyiddin Al-Zayt, member of the MB Supreme Administrative Authority, on behalf of Dr. Salah Abdel Haq, the acting General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.[2]

According to the official website of the Muslim Brotherhood, the delegation members included Dr. Helmy Al-Gazzar and Mahmoud Al-Ibiary, members of the MB Supreme Administrative Authority; and Suhaib Abdel Maqsoud, also a member of the MB Supreme Administrative Authority and its media spokesperson.[3]

It should be noted that on November 24, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), especially the organization's chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt for engaging in or facilitating and supporting violence and destabilization campaigns that "harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests" - according to a White House announcement. MEMRI

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Activist Probed for Anti-Israel Posts No Longer Assistant Attorney General of Michigan, State Tells JNS. By JNS.org -January 20, 2026.

([56].Zena Ozeir listed on a flyer for a Jan. 17, 2026 event. Source: Screen capture).

Jessica Russak-Hoffman | JNS

Zena Ozeir lists her current role on LinkedIn as assistant attorney general of the state of Michigan — a role that she has held since June 2023, per her profile.

The office of Dana Nessel, Michigan attorney general and a Democrat, told JNS exclusively that Ozeir does not currently hold that position.

“Zena Ozeir is no longer employed by the Michigan Department of Attorney General,” Kimberly Bush, Nessel’s director of public information and education, told JNS.

JNS sought comment from Nessel’s office about whether Ozeir was dismissed, and if so, whether it was as a result of a probe by the state office of her social media posts.

In June 2024, Nessel’s office told the Detroit News that it was investigating social-media posts, in which Ozeir appeared to direct expletives at America and Israel.

She made her handle private after the Detroit News sought comment from Nessel’s office, the paper said.

On Jan. 17, Ozeir was a panelist at an in-person event, which the group Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids hosted in the city, per one of its social media posts. The event was hosted at the Fountain Street Church Sanctuary, per a flier, which identifies Ozeir as an “attorney, activist and USPCN member.” (The latter refers to the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, which “works closely with and unequivocally supports Students for Justice in Palestine,” per its site.)

The event flyer calls for the Holy Land 5 — leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, who were convicted in 2008 of funnelling millions of dollars to Hamas — to be freed.

According to the Grand Rapids group, more than 100 people attended the panel, which featured Nida Abu Baker, whose father, Shukri Abu Baker, is one of the five who were convicted. Anti-war activist Tom Burke was also listed on the flier.

“We have learned that the law is not meant to protect us,” Ozeir said at the event. “This was something that’s been going on before Palestine was in the headlines all the time, and before 2023, and it’s a shame that it took a genocide for Palestine to become front and center.”

“The Holy Land Foundation case established that humanitarian aid providing public-support benefit to a group like Hamas constitutes terrorism support,” she added. “Wherever the wind blows, you could wake up one day, and Trump says, ‘Hey, I’m going to designate this a foreign terrorist organization, and then you are at risk of material support of terrorism.’”

The State Bar of California website states that Ozeir has an active license. It lists her address as the Michigan Office of the Attorney General. JewishExponent

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Michigan has to be more clear about how, why its assistant attorney general left, Jewish groups says. JNS reported that Zena Ozeir is no longer an assistant attorney general in the Wolverine State, although the state attorney general’s office wouldn’t say if she was dismissed for antisemitic posts. Jessica Russak-Hoffman. (Jan. 21, 2026 / JNS) National Jewish organizations called for the state of Michigan to be more clear about the nature of Zena Ozeir’s departure from the state government after JNS reported on Tuesday that she is no longer an assistant Michigan attorney general.

“No public office holder should be engaging in this kind of hateful and inciteful rhetoric,” Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, told JNS.

“There is an obligation on the part of the Michigan attorney general’s office to make clear precisely what prompted her departure from such an influential public position,” Mariaschin said.

After JNS reported that Ozeir still listed her job as current on LinkedIn, she changed her profile to state that she is an “assistant attorney general” but that her job in that capacity at the Michigan Department of Attorney General ended in January 2026.

The office of Dana Nessel, Michigan attorney general and a Democrat, told JNS on Tuesday that Ozeir does not currently hold that position. “Zena Ozeir is no longer employed by the Michigan Department of Attorney General,” Kimberly Bush, Nessel’s director of public information and education, told JNS JNS

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Iran hospitals, morgues face body bag shortages, local sources say. Iran International l. January 21, 2026 Iran hospitals, morgues face body bag shortages, local sources say Medical facilities in several Iranian cities are facing shortages of body bags as the number of people killed in nationwide protests rises, witnesses told Iran International, describing a heavy security presence at hospitals and morgues.

In messages received from inside Iran on Wednesday, sources said the shortage has led to the accumulation of protesters’ bodies in hospital halls and morgues, while security forces have intervened in the process of handing over the remains.

They said hospital entrances are being tightly controlled, medical staff and families are under pressure, and the registration of information related to the dead has been restricted, in an apparent effort to prevent the true number of those killed from becoming public. Iran Intl

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US deploys F‑15 squadron to Mideast as tensions with Iran rise. CENTCOM deploys an F‑15 squadron to the Middle East, citing enhanced readiness and regional security as tensions with Iran persist. Israel National News. Jan 21, 2026, 5:22 AM (GMT+2) INN

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EU moves to expand drone, missile tech ban on Iran. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announces plans to expand drone and missile tech export bans on Iran as the regime’s crackdown leaves thousands dead. Israel National News. Jan 21, 2026, 5:40 AM (GMT+2) INN

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IAEA chief warns Iran standoff nearing breaking point. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warns Iran must account for missing enriched uranium and allow inspections at bombed sites, saying the standoff “cannot go on forever". Elad Benari. Jan 21, 2026, 6:57 AM (GMT+2) INN

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U.S. Troops in Israel. Exposed: Pentagon Planning Massive "Mega-Base" in Gaza Envelope - Here's What to Know. Secret US Plan Exposed: The Pentagon is planning a $500 million "mega-base" near the Gaza border to house thousands of international peacekeepers. Report reveals a dramatic expansion of US military presence in Israel. Jfeed Staff. Jan 21, 2026 13:06 JFeed

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IDF Responds to Gaza Incident: "We Struck Suspects Operating a Hamas Drone". IDF Confirms Drone Strike: The Israeli military responds to the deadly incident in Gaza, stating forces targeted suspects operating a "Hamas drone" that posed a threat. The event is under review.read more Jfeed Staff. January 21, 2026. JFeed

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WARNING: GRAPHIC. Chilling Footage: Iranian Security Forces Attack Protester with Axe [VERY GRAPHIC]. Horrific screams echo as Iranian thugs hack a defenseless protester with an axe, raw proof of Tehran's savage tyranny crushing dissent. Jfeed Staff. January 21, 2026. JFeed

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Netanyahu Joins Trump's 'Board of Peace' Despite Serious Concerns. Trump's UN Alternative: The "Board of Peace" expands beyond Gaza with a $1B entry fee. As Israel and Argentina sign on, Europe pushes back against the initiative to bypass the United Nations. Jfeed Staff. January 21, 2026 JFeed

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The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post: Opinion: To fixate on flawed accusations against Israel while ignoring genuine, massive atrocities elsewhere is to repeat ominous historical precedents. From jpost.com [57] Jan 21, 2026. on X

Buzzwords and false allegations are Western human rights inversion - opinion. To fixate on flawed accusations against Israel while ignoring genuine, massive atrocities elsewhere is to repeat ominous historical precedents.

By Alan Baker. January 21, 2026.

With tragedies abounding, the Western brainwashing machinery is working overtime against Israel.

Thousands murdered and brutally subjugated in Iran. Thousands of non-Arab ethnic groups butchered in Sudan. Massive death tolls in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Myanmar violently represses its Rohingya and other minorities. Mass atrocities by Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria. Extrajudicial killings of civilians in Tanzania. Massacres of Christians in churches and hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But Western media outlets, social-media platforms, UN and human rights committees, political leaders and parliamentarians, incited university students, and ignorant show-biz celebrities spout accusations against Israel of genocide, apartheid, starvation, and disproportionate military actions. Such paragons of humanitarian virtue claim to defend human rights and advocate for Palestinians, but glaringly ignore everyone else and deny the rights to which Israel and its citizens are entitled. They ignore genocidal violence and terror by Palestinian and Islamist fanatics, which is incited by Palestinian leadership and supported, encouraged, and financed by Iran, Qatar, and Turkey.

No less glaring is the fact that the Western world chooses to forget the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023 – the rape, torture, burning, and butchery of thousands of Israelis and foreigners; the taking of hundreds of hostages; and the use of Hamas’s own civilians as human shields. A child wears a Hamas head banner after Friday prayers in Gaza City.

What should be a universal moral standard of human rights has become a cynical and transparent political weapon, directed against Israel.

Popular buzzwords against Israel.

Popular buzzwords – “genocide,” “apartheid,” “colonialism,” “racism,” “starvation,” and “indiscriminate destruction” – are the lingua franca of this propaganda fixation against Israel. They are chanted at demonstrations, repeated in Western parliaments, and echoed in politicized international courts.

A well-financed system of brainwashing, funded by Qatar, Iran, and Turkey, feeds this narrative, which is eagerly absorbed by a woke-inspired international chorus of useful idiots in Europe and the West.

The allegation of “genocide” is particularly offensive and contrived. It was coined in 1944 by the Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin in response to the Nazi attempt to annihilate the Jews and was criminalized in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Today it is cynically repackaged and applied against Israel, most prominently in South Africa’s absurd claims at the International Court of Justice. Thus, a legal instrument intended to punish genocide, as well as a once-respected international court, have been turned into political weapons.

This genocide accusation willfully misinterprets the convention’s definition, while those accusing Israel conveniently ignore explicit genocidal calls to eliminate Israel “from the river to the sea,” which heralded Hamas’s October 7 “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack. No proceedings have been initiated against those inciting or supporting genocide against Israel and the Jewish people.

The apartheid claim.

Equally contrived is the buzzword “apartheid,” copy-pasted from South Africa’s repressive system of institutionalized racial segregation. The UN-driven attempt to label Israel an apartheid state traces back to the 1975 General Assembly’s politicized resolution branding Zionism as racism – later revoked in 1991 but never erased from the public narrative.

It resurfaced at the 2001 Durban Racism Conference and continues to fuel campaigns to delegitimize Israel and justify sanctions modeled on those once imposed on South Africa.

This propaganda ignores Israel’s multi-racial, pluralistic democracy, where Arab citizens enjoy constitutional equality, freedom of expression, and full political representation. Israel’s security restrictions on Palestinian movement and access in parts of Judea and Samaria are not racially based, but a legitimate response to ongoing terror and incitement by Hamas and other groups.

False starvation charge.

The allegation that Israel pursues a policy of starvation in Gaza is another false charge, promoted through manipulated Hamas statistics and willingly amplified by Arab and foreign media, UN bodies, and even the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in his arrest warrant against Israel’s prime minister.

Hardships faced by civilians in Gaza stem from the conflict situation – including chaotic handling of aid by international bodies and the systematic commandeering of trucks and cargo by Hamas, which sells supplies at inflated prices in local markets.

A controversial August 2025 study by the UN-affiliated “Famine Review Committee” fueled this narrative, despite being widely criticized and discredited for methodological flaws and data manipulation. Israel enables rapid and unimpeded passage of relief into Gaza, as reflected in UN and World Food Programme statistics on functioning food markets and the availability of humanitarian goods.

Accusations of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and destruction by Israel in Gaza, disseminated by the Hamas disinformation machine, are readily amplified by sympathetic politicians and media. In reality, the Jewish state undertakes significant efforts, consistent with international humanitarian law, to warn civilians and remove them from combat areas – even as Hamas deliberately embeds its terror infrastructure and operatives in homes, schools, hospitals, high-rises, and an extensive tunnel network beneath civilian neighborhoods. International law explicitly prohibits such use of human shields.

Property used for acts of terror constitutes a legitimate military target.

To fixate on flawed accusations against Israel while ignoring genuine, massive atrocities elsewhere is to repeat ominous historical precedents. This inversion of human-rights values, aimed solely at singling out Israel, should be obvious – but sadly, it is not.

The author is director of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs and head of the Global Law Forum. He participated in negotiating and drafting the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as having served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and as its ambassador to Canada. JPost

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Iran acknowledges: At least 3,117 dead in protests. Nitsan Keidar. Jan 21, 2026, 9:05 PM https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/421267

Eight Muslim‑majority nations join the US‑backed Peace Council for Gaza, supporting Trump’s initiative to secure a ceasefire, rebuild Gaza, and advance a political framework. Israel National News. Jan 22, 2026, 4:18 AM (GMT+2)

Foreign ministers from Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday that their countries will join a Peace Council for Gaza, following an invitation extended by US President Donald Trump to their leaders, reported Turkish media.

The joint statement, released by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, reflects a significant diplomatic alignment among major Muslim‑majority states around the American‑led initiative. Each country will sign membership documents according to its own legal and procedural requirements, with Egypt, Pakistan and the UAE already formally declaring participation.

The eight ministers reaffirmed their support for President Trump’s peace efforts and committed to implementing the Peace Council mission as a transitional administration. The mission is outlined in the Comprehensive Plan to End the Conflict in Gaza, approved under UN Security Council Resolution 2803.

According to the statement, the initiative seeks to secure a lasting ceasefire, support Gaza’s reconstruction, and advance what it describes as a just and sustainable peace based on the Palestinian right to self‑determination and statehood under international law. The ministers said these goals are intended to promote security and stability for all peoples in the region.

The ministers emphasized their determination to pursue “fair and lasting peace," noting that diplomatic coordination among the participating countries will continue.

Trump's Board of Peace, an international body chaired by the US President himself, is a central element of the Trump administration's efforts to secure lasting stability in Gaza following the ceasefire which went into effect in October.

The Board of Peace is tasked with providing strategic oversight for Gaza's demilitarization, reconstruction, and transitional governance, coordinating with a Palestinian Arab-led National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) while mobilizing international resources and funding.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday morning that he has accepted Trump’s invitation and will join the "Board of Peace." INN

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Iranian man pretends to be dead for three days, fearing a regime execution - report According to the account shared by the IHRDC, the family of the man spent three days looking for their son, who had gone missing, searching hospitals and the Behesht Zahra cemetery.

By Sam Halpern. January 21, 2026. An Iranian man lay among the dead at a Kahrizak forensic facility, pretending to be deceased for three days, fearing that if he were discovered, regime officers would execute him with a “finishing shot,” the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center reported on Wednesday, citing an account it had received. JPost

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Witnesses say some victims still breathing at Tehran morgue.

Iran International. January 21, 2026.

Some victims were still breathing among the bodies of dead protesters seen at Tehran’s Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center after a crackdown on protests in the capital, witnesses said in messages sent to Iran International on Wednesday.

According to the accounts, witnesses saw “two piles of bodies” at Kahrizak, some of whom were still breathing, with security forces stacking bodies on top of one another.

Three eye witnesses said security forces used live ammunition and metal pellets during demonstrations in eastern Tehran on Jan. 9, leaving streets “filled with blood.”

They said the shooting took place in the area from Golbarg Street toward Haft-Hoz, adding that it was impossible to film because “bullets and pellets were coming from all directions.”

The witnesses described seeing the body of a naked man lying in a roadside drainage channel.

The eyewitnesses said they were injured but did not seek medical treatment out of fear of arrest or being shot at close range. They added that one of their friends was killed the same night.

They said clinics were overwhelmed with wounded people and that residents searching for missing relatives were forced to step over bodies. IranIntl

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Iranian security forces kill flower shop owner who sheltered protesters.

Iran International. January 21, 2026.

A shopkeeper who sheltered protesters was shot dead by security forces in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz during nationwide demonstrations, people familiar with the matter told Iran International in messages received on Wednesday. IranIntl

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Protesters outside US embassy demand US, Israeli action after Kurdish massacre. Several signs pointed to Israel’s close relationship with the Kurdish community. One read “Israel loves Kurdistan,” while others went further, openly calling for military action against the regime.

Around 50 protesters gathered outside the US embassy to protest against what they described as Washington's inaction in the face of the latest massacre in Syria carried out by the Sharaa regime, on January 21, 2026.

By Danielle Greyman-Kennard January 22, 2026 00:32 Around 50 protesters gathered outside the US embassy on Wednesday night, their voices rising in protest against what they described as Washington’s inaction in the face of the latest massacre carried out by the Sharaa regime. This time, after months of attacks on Syrian minorities, the violence was directed at Syrian Kurds.

Several signs pointed to Israel’s close relationship with the Kurdish community. One read “Israel loves Kurdistan,” while others went further, openly calling for military action against the Sharaa regime. “Bomb Juliani now,” one banner declared. JPost

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Trump on Iran: 'We hope there’s not going to be further action'

Speaking to CNBC, Trump says Iran canceled 837 planned executions after his threat of military action, urges Tehran to stop pursuing nuclear weapons. Elad Benari. Jan 21, 2026, 11:44 PM INN

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ץ׳ Exclusive | After club vows to investigate Nazi incident, it turns out its owners were amid the far-right revelers. Miami club owners who vowed to probe Nick Fuentes’ Nazi night out revealed to have partied with far-right revelers instead. By Mara Siegler. Published. Jan. 20, 2026.

A Miami nightclub solemnly vowed to investigate after a group of white supremacists and accused sex-traffickers were given VIP treatment and danced to Kanye West’s song “Heil Hitler” while enjoying bottle service. But Page Six has learned that the club’s owners were partying with the vile posse.

A group of extremists partied at a Miami nightclub called Vendome this weekend. @Antunes1/X

At least it should make the investigation easy! Over the weekend, video circulated of reviled internet personality Nick Fuentes, Holocaust denier Myron Gaines, right-wing internet personalities Sneako and Clavicular, and Andrew and Tristan Tate — who both stand accused of rape and human trafficking — partying at Vendôme.

They were taped singing along and dancing to the West song.

([58]. The group posted video of Myron Gaines giving a Nazi salute on the way to the club).

By Monday, the club released a statement saying, “We want to make it unequivocally clear: Vendôme and our hospitality group do not condone antisemitism, hate speech, or prejudice of any kind. These values are fundamentally opposed to who we are and the environments we strive to create.” It even said its fired a number of staffers over the matter, and claimed that it “permanently banned the individuals involved” and has “implemented new protocols and safeguards” to ensure it does not happen again.

But video reviewed by Page Six appears to show the club’s owners, Byram Zaied and Jonathan Mansour, partying in the group with Fuentes and friends all evening.

([59]. Nightclub owner Byram Zaied, shown here also crossing his arms in his LinkedIn photo, appears to be standing next to Andrew Tate in video taken during the evening).

One clip shows a man who appears to be Zaied standing next to Andrew, and in a livestream of the evening on Kick by Sneako, a man who appears to be Mansour can be seen at a table with the former kickboxer, who was treated to several shout-outs over the club’s sound system, while club staff carried an illuminated sign reading “Welcome Andrew Tate.”

There’s also video of the hate-filled crew listening to “Heil Hitler” in a van on the way to the club. Gaines, who wrote the book “Why Women Deserve Less,” can be seen yelling “Jews mad!” and throwing a Nazi salute.

Reps for the club did not respond when we asked if Mansour or Zaied were present in the VIP area, and Mansour hung up on us when we called, saying the club had already made a statement. Mansour also did not respond when we sent him a screenshot from the video, asking if the man in the image was him.

DJ Vybz was deejaying the evening.

Both Tate brothers have been charged with human trafficking and rape and are under investigation in three countries... [60].

Fuentes is one of the most well known white supremacists and has espoused misogynistic and homophobic views. Sneako has been banned from several sites for hateful content. Gaines is known for his antisemitic and male supremacist views. Online streamer Clavicular is under age at only 20 years old. He focuses on “looksmaxxing” — a term used by so-called “incels” to describe an uncompromising and sometimes dangerous pursuit of conventional good looks — and advocates using crystal meth as an appetite suppressant and breaking bones to “improve” appearance.

[...] When we asked McBride if Zaied and Mansour were at the table with Tate, he told us he didn’t know.

The club issued an apology after getting backlash. Hours later they said they completed their investigation.

Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner condemned the incident. He tells Page Six that his office is investigating. He told us, “Multiple [Miami] club owners [have reached out to me since the incident] and said, ‘You don’t play that song, it’s off limits and you don’t have this group’.” He added, “It’s well known to not allow them a forum in a club. How did they get in and get treated as VIPs?” “Miami Beach is a welcoming inclusive city built by people of all backgrounds and faiths,” Meiner said in a statement. “I have and will continue to fight against hate speech against any group. Antisemitism, hate speech, or the normalization of extremist ideology has no place in our Miami Beach community, our nightlife or any public setting.”

On Sunday, Fuentes and Sneako tried to get into David Grutman’s Gekko and were turned away because they were with security guards carrying guns. PageSix

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Putin to meet Kushner and Witkoff on Ukraine, Trump’s Peace Board. Elad Benari. Jan 22, 2026, 5:23 AM INN

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Dozens of swastikas found in Brooklyn playground, hate crimes probe underway. Dozens of swastikas found in a Brooklyn playground on two separate days, prompting a Hate Crime Task Force investigation and strong condemnation from Jewish organizations. Israel National News. Published: Jan 22, 2026, 2:15 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Day of mourning for Bondi Beach shooting victims begins in Australia. "Today is an opportunity for us to remember and pay respect to the 15 lives," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Thursday.

By Reuters. January 22, 2026. Australia began a national day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting, with flags across the country flown at half mast ahead of a commemoration event at Sydney's iconic Opera House.

A father and son opened fire at an event celebrating Hanukkah on December 14, killing 15 people in Australia's worst mass shooting in decades.

Police claim the men were inspired by Islamic State to carry out the attack, that the government has called an act of terrorism against Jewish people.

"Today is an opportunity for us to remember and pay respect to the 15 lives," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Thursday.

"It's an opportunity for us as a nation to wrap our arms around the Jewish community because people were targeted because they were Jewish Australians." JPost

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Trump Admin Crackdown. DHS: Mahmoud Khalil Will be Deported to Algeria. No exact date for Khalil's re-arrest has been announced, but DHS indicates enforcement is forthcoming. Khalil's legal team has until April 2026 to appeal the underlying deportation order, though the appeals court ruling accelerates the process.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 22, 2026 05:25 JFeed

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"Send Them to Hell": Fury in Gaza Over Hamas Leaders' Exit Rumors Betrayal from the Streets of Gaza "Send Them to Hell": Fury in Gaza Over Hamas Leaders' Exit Rumors As reports emerge that remaining Hamas leaders are negotiating a permanent escape to foreign soil, the people of Gaza are breaking their silence to condemn the corrupt officials who left them to face total ruin.

Eliana Fleming Jan 21, 2026. JFeed

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President Trump. 'Iran shoots protesters and continues experiments with nukes'. The U.S. president addressed the possibility of military action against Iran and said his threats to the Tehran regime prevented executions of protesters. Nitzan Kedar. Jan 22, 2026, 10:02 AM INN

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Survey: Half of Irish adults unaware 6 million Jews were killed in Holocaust. Recent survey reveals alarming gaps in Holocaust knowledge among Irish adults, with half unaware of the six million Jewish victims and 8% denying its occurrence. Grace Gilson, JTA. Published: Jan 22, 2026, 7:39 AM (GMT+2) INN

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Iran still among world’s worst countries for torture of jailed journalists – CPJ January 22, 2026. Updated: 04:05 GMT Iran remains one of the world’s worst countries for abusing detained journalists, with reporters subjected to torture and harsh prison conditions amid intensified repression following nationwide protests, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

"Iran held five journalists as of December 1, down from a peak of 55 three years earlier, but has generated the highest number of documented torture and beating cases against imprisoned media workers since records began in 1992," CPJ’s 2025 global prison census published on Wednesday said. IranInt

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IDF forces thwart weapons smuggling from the east. The IDF spokesperson announced that IDF observation units identified a drone last night crossing into Israeli territory from the east, carrying ten pistols. IDF forces from the Yoav Brigade intercepted the drone. The pistols were transferred to security forces for further handling. Yoav Zitun|01.22.26 YNet

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Britain: Concerned about Putin's participation in Gaza 'Peace Council', will not join. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that Britain will not join President Donald Trump's 'Peace Council' for Gaza at this stage due to concerns regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin's participation. This was reported by the BBC. Cooper said that the country will not participate in the signing ceremony that will be held today on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Ynet|01.22.26. YNet

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Trump at presentation of 'Peace Council' for Gaza: If Hamas doesn't surrender weapons - it's their end. President Trump said at the presentation of the "Peace Council" for Gaza that "Hamas was born with weapons in its hands. If it doesn't surrender them - that will be its end." Ynet|01.22.26 YNet

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Croccdile tears. Ms. Rachel in Tears After Accidentally Showing Us She is a Massive Antisemite | WATCH. Can Ms. Rachel get any more pathetic? We all know she hates Israel and Jews. She should just stop pretending. Jfeed Staff. Jan 22, 2026 10:12

Popular children's entertainer Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, is once again at the center of controversy after admitting to accidentally "liking" an antisemitic comment on her Instagram page. The 43-year-old YouTube star, known for her educational "Songs for Littles" channel with over 11 million subscribers, broke down in an emotional video apology, claiming the mishap occurred while trying to delete the hateful remark.

The comment in question, "Free America from the Jews," was posted under one of Accurso's recent advocacy updates and was liked by her account along with a few others, as shown in widely circulated screenshots. In her tearful response posted on January 21, she explained: "I tapped a comment that was antisemitic to delete it and it liked it by accident... I'm old, so I am not as good with touching things online, I guess." She stressed her commitment to combating hate, adding, "I am against all forms of hate including antisemitism against the Jewish people," and shared evidence of a direct message alerting her to the issue the previous day.

This incident comes on the heels of prior accusations of antisemitism leveled against Accurso for her pro-Palestine activism. In December 2025, she was nominated for "Antisemite of the Year" by StopAntisemitism, a pro-Israel watchdog group, over social media posts focusing on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which critics argued echoed Hamas narratives and ignored Israeli perspectives. Advocacy efforts, including over 800 letters from groups like Pens for Swords, urged her to balance her messaging. Compounding the fallout, Accurso interacted with a comment from the pro-Palestine account Palestine News Network (PNN) in her apology thread, which speculated the antisemitic remark was a "planted op" by adversaries, a claim some interpreted as endorsing a conspiracy theory. Media coverage from outlets including the New York Post and Daily Mail has amplified the story, highlighting the challenges of online scrutiny for public figures No further updates have been provided by her team as of this morning.

Sadly for her, none of us believe her silly excuses after she spent years demonizing Israel, making videos for her millions of followers about poor suffering Gazan children, while not being able to find it in herself to mention the Israeli children massacred on October 7th. Mamdani, not a big fan of Jews himself, also knows how she feels about Israel and Jews, and that's why he appointed her to sit on his inaugural committee. JFeed

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Baruch Dayan HaEmet. IDF Soldier Asa'el Ba'abad Dies After Hamas Violates Ceasefire. Heartbreak in Bnei Adam: After a three-month battle for his life, St.-Sgt. Asa'el Ba'avad has died from injuries sustained in Gaza. He leaves behind a wife and five children. Israel Gantz pays tribute to the "heroic fighter."

Gila Isaacson. Jan 22, 2026 09:34 JFeed

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Frightening. "We Will Just Hang You": Nazi Poster Terrifies Parents at Jewish Daycare in North Carolina. "We'll just hang you": Horrifying antisemitic poster found at a Jewish school in Charlotte. The sign included a swastika and threats of murder against the community.

Jfeed Staff. Jan 22, 2026 09:02 JFeed

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Trump: Hamas ‘will be blown away very quickly’ if it won’t disarm. At Davos, the U.S. president says the terrorist group agreed to give up its weapons under phase two of his Gaza peace plan. JNS Staff. (Jan. 22, 2026 / JNS) President Donald Trump warned in Davos on Wednesday that Hamas “will be blown away very quickly” if it fails to disarm under the second phase of his Gaza peace plan. JNS

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IDF hits Hezbollah arms routes, top smuggler. Muhammad Awasha, a key weapons dealer and smuggler, died near Sidon. JNS Staff. (Jan. 22, 2026 / JNS) JNS

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US hits Hamas nonprofit support network with sanctions. “Hamas’s insidious practice of operating behind civilian organizations endangers Palestinians and undermines efforts to build a lasting and prosperous peace,” the federal government said. Mike Wagenheim. (Jan. 21, 2026 / JNS) The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned six Gaza-based organizations and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad on Wednesday for what it said was their support of Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

“Hamas’s insidious practice of operating behind civilian organizations endangers Palestinians and undermines efforts to build a lasting and prosperous peace,” the department stated.

It accuses Hamas of operating a network of organizations in Gaza that “purport to be independent,” hiding their ties to the terror organization to raise funds from overseas donors.

“We are committed to ensuring that humanitarian aid can be delivered by reliable and safe organizations and supporting stabilization efforts for the Gaza Strip,” stated Tommy Pigott, principal deputy U.S. State Department spokesman.

The ties to Hamas were exposed by “documentary evidence taken from Hamas offices after Oct. 7, 2023,” the Treasury Department stated.

The sanctioned organizations include Gaza-based Waed Society, Al-Nur Society, Qawafil Society, Al-Falah Society, Merciful Hands and Al-Salameh Society. JNS

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Israeli forces nab key bombmaker in Samaria raid Magav and Shin Bet arrest Tulkarm terror explosives manufacturer in Shuweika village operation. JNS Staff.

(Jan. 22, 2026 / JNS) Israeli Border Police arrested a Palestinian explosives expert in the Samaria village of Shuweika this week, authorities said Wednesday.​

The suspect, identified as Fadi Bahati, was described as a key explosives manufacturer for a terror group operating in the Tulkarm area. He was arrested following intelligence from the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) in an operation carried out by undercover and uniformed Magav forces under the IDF’s Ephraim Brigade. JNS

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Further reading

• Mapping the Massacres

• Special Announcement – The Hamas Atrocities Documentation Center (HADC) (MEMRI)

• Testimonials from the War in Israel, Oct 23

• Hamas Massacre

• Hamas.com warning, graphic!

• List of Companies That Have Condemned Hamas' Terrorist Attack on Israel

See also

• Guardian of Walls
• Dogs of Hamas
• Loay Alnaji
• Columbia Untisemity

"The Mufti.. concocted a new kind of antisemitism that combined traditional Muslim antisemitism, like the anti-Jewish verses you find in the Koran, with the Nazi antisemitism that demonised Jews... His whole ideology was antisemitic and from the very beginning he targeted Jews, not Zionists."

The difference between lies and reality is sometimes just a color on a map

Lord Peel to W. Ormsby-Gore as he was preparing the royal commission report, "Though I knew there was ill-feeling between Jews and Arabs, I had not realized the depth and intensity of the hatred with which the Jews are held by the Arabs..."

"It is not Israel's settlement blocks but rather the Palestinian ideological blockade that constitutes the biggest barrier to peaceful arrangements . The Jew-hatred in this region must no longer be played down as a kind of local custom ..."

The only tweet (July 2014) on the Twitter account of the late American Elan Ganeles - murdered by Arab-Islamist "Palestinian" on Feb 27, 2023 hy"d: "I think you're always going to have tension in the Middle East, when there's [are] people who want to kill Jews, and the Jews don't want to be killed, and neither side is willing to compromise."