BOYCOTT PALESTINIAN PRODUCTS!!!
 The Mossad Satirical and Awesome-tweet-25February2026-BOYCOTT PALESTINIAN PRODUCTS
 BOYCOTT PALESTINIAN PRODUCTS
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Israel’s Real BordersKontorovich Reveals the REAL Legal Borders of Israel and Why the World Lies About ItThe Elizabeth Farah Show
The United Nations did not create Israel. The Holocaust did not create Israel. The Balfour Declaration did not create Israel. And the borders of the modern Jewish state were not drawn by diplomats, activists, or postwar sentiment. International law scholar Eugene Kontorovich joins Elizabeth Farah to expose the real story, the one the media will not touch and most politicians do not understand.
Eugene dismantles every myth surrounding Israel’s sovereignty, showing how global powers tried to prevent the state’s creation, embargoed its weapons during its war for survival, and still push false narratives about its legal borders. He walks through the mandates, treaties, and governing doctrines that shaped the modern Middle East, and explains why the only binding international rule for new states, uti possidetis juris, places the borders of Mandatory Palestine, Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem squarely within Israel’s legal territory.
Together, Eugene and Elizabeth reveal how the collapse of the Ottoman Empire created every modern state in the region, why British obstruction trapped millions of Jews in Europe as the Holocaust unfolded, and how the same legal principles that define today’s borders for Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Ukraine, and dozens of African nations apply with full force to Israel. This is the historical and legal record the world refuses to acknowledge.
They call out the diplomats, academics, and institutions that rely on political narratives instead of law, and they issue a challenge: if international law matters, then it must be applied consistently. And if it is applied consistently, Israel’s borders are not a debate. They are already defined.
This is the conversation that cuts through propaganda, resets the legal record, and exposes the truth about Israel’s sovereignty.
Guest: Eugene Kontorovich, Professor of International Law, Director of the Center for the Middle East and International Law at George Mason University, and one of the world’s leading authorities on the legal status of Israel’s borders.
Host: Elizabeth Farah , Founder of The Elizabeth Farah Show and co-founder of WND.com
What You Will Hear
Prof. of Law Eugene Kontorovich is one of the world’s preeminent experts on universal jurisdiction and maritime piracy, as well as international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. Below, Kontorovich discusses Israel’s real borders and exposes many false narratives which defy reality and truth about those borders.
Key points
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The Jewish people: Myth or reality? A lie with a purposeBy: Dr. Alex Grobman February 11, 2026 https://diariojudio.com/opinion/the-jewish-people-myth-or-reality-a-lie-with-a-purpose/517123/ While the Prime Minister is in Washington fighting for Israel’s survival, it is crucial to remember that the Jewish people’s attachment to its tiny land was continuous, documented, and unmatched by any competing national claim. It was also legally recognized.< Hanukkah-menorah-in-Rostov-on-Don-Russia
One of the oldest and most dishonest arguments used to deny Jewish rights in the Land of Israel is the claim that Jews are not a people-only a religion. This falsehood resurfaces whenever Israel asserts itself as a Jewish state and whenever Jews insist on their right to national self-determination.
It reemerged loudly in December 2019, after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at combating antisemitism on American college campuses. Almost immediately, critics claimed that Jews were merely adherents of a faith and therefore not entitled to the legal protections afforded to national or ethnic groups.
This was not an academic disagreement.
It was ideological warfare.
The argument that Jews are “not a people” is not an innocent error. It is a calculated strategy. Its goal is singular: to delegitimize Jewish nationhood and invalidate the Jewish state. Strip Jews of peoplehood, and Zionism becomes colonialism. Strip Jews of history, and Israel becomes theft. This argument has been recycled for generations-and it has never been honest.
>h3>International Law Settled This Long Ago International law has never been confused on this question.
Professor George Scelle, one of the most influential international jurists of the twentieth century and a member of the UN International Law Commission, defined a “people” as any collective bound by conscious solidarity, as determined by its own members. By that standard, he concluded unambiguously that the Jewish people constitute a nation.
Scelle acknowledged that Jews were dispersed and lacked territorial continuity. But instead of weakening Jewish peoplehood, dispersion reinforced it. Jews retained their identity precisely because they refused to dissolve into surrounding societies. Their shared traditions, historical memory, religious practices, and-above all-the persecutions they endured forged a cohesion stronger than that of many territorially concentrated peoples.
Paul Fauchille, another leading French jurist, reached the same conclusion. Writing after World War I, he stated plainly that the war brought “official recognition of the nationhood of yet another persecuted people: namely the Jewish people.”
This recognition was not symbolic.
On July 24, 1922, the League of Nations formally recognized the Jewish people and their historic and religious connection to the Land of Israel through the Palestine Mandate. The Mandate explicitly affirmed Jewish national rights and recognized the Zionist Organization as the representative body of the Jewish people.
This was not charity. It was law.
Even the Nazis Knew Jews Were a People
After World War II, the Nuremberg Tribunals (1945-1949) reaffirmed this reality. The judges ruled that “atrocities against the Jewish people were committed.” Throughout their judgments, they referred repeatedly to the murder of “the Jews” across Europe.
Professor Nathan Feinberg, former dean of The Hebrew University Law School and a leading authority on international law, explained that the tribunal used the term “Jewish people” in an ethnic-not religious-sense. Jews were murdered not for what they believed, but for who they were. Converts were murdered alongside observant Jews.
The Nazis understood Jewish peoplehood clearly-even if today’s deniers pretend otherwise.
Jewish Nationalism Is Not Colonialism
From 1517 until World War I, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Land of Israel. Ottoman sovereignty collapsed with the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), transferring authority to the Allied Powers. This enabled the implementation of Jewish national rights that long predated modern international law.
Britain did not “give” the land to the Jews. As former Israeli ambassador Dore Gold explained, the Mandate constituted de jure recognition of a historical and legal reality-not an act of imperial generosity. Jewish attachment to the land was continuous, documented, and unmatched by any competing national claim.
The British hoped Arabs and Jews could live together and that Arab society would benefit from Jewish development. But even British officials recognized an overriding fact: the Jewish claim was unique-sui generis. No other people returned to its land after two millennia with its language, laws, religious observances, and national consciousness intact.
David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, noted that more than 3,000 years before the Mayflower sailed to the New World, Jews fled Egypt. Every year, Jews commemorate that liberation at the Passover seder, concluding with the words:
“This year we are here; next year in the Land of Israel.”
Ben-Gurion observed that he knew of no other people exiled from its land, scattered among the nations, hated, persecuted, expelled, and slaughtered-yet refusing to vanish from history, refusing to assimilate, yearning for two thousand years to return, and ultimately restoring its independence.
Former Israeli Ambassador Yaacov Herzog articulated this bluntly in his famous debate with historian Arnold Toynbee. The Jews, Herzog said, are the only people who insisted they could not live without their land-even after 2,000 years of exile. The normal laws of history do not apply here.
“If the world agrees that there is something unique about the Jews in the history of mankind,” Herzog argued, “it cannot deny the right of the Jews to this land.”
That uniqueness was recognized thousands of years earlier. The prophet Balaam described Israel as “a people that dwells alone.” Whether this reality inspires moral responsibility or provokes resentment is the central tension of Jewish history.
The Double Standard
Those who attack Israel’s Jewish character conveniently ignore a basic and damning fact: many modern states-Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and numerous Eastern European countries-were created in the twentieth century with artificial borders, invented identities, and no prior history of sovereign nationhood. Their legitimacy is rarely questioned.
The Jewish people, by contrast, existed as a nation thousands of years before the rise of modern nationalism. Jewish nationhood did not begin in 1948. It was restored in 1948.
-To deny Jewish peoplehood is not critical inquiry.
-It is historical falsification.
-It is ideological erasure.
-And it is the intellectual foundation of anti-Zionism-and increasingly, of modern antisemitism.
The question, therefore, is not whether there is a Jewish people. The question is why so many persist in denying what history, law, and even Jewish enemies have always known.
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State Department identifies Code Pink and other far-left groups as vectors of Chinese influence operationsBy Victor Nava
The State Department transmitted a report to Congress Tuesday linking lefty nonprofits Code Pink and the People’s Forum to Chinese influence operations.
“Partisan hacks spent years peddling the phony Russia collusion hoax while turning a blind eye to the sprawling web of far-left activist organizations who push the agendas of the Chinese Communist Party,” Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers said in a statement provided to The Post.
“Organizations like Code Pink and the People’s Forum denigrate the United States, whitewash the violence of Marxist regimes, and run cover for China while enjoying an influx of cash from a donor network with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” Rogers added.
“The State Department will pursue complete transparency for the donor and NGO networks that lobby for our adversaries and seek to weaken the resolve of the United States.”
The report on “Countering Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference” alleges that China “spreads propaganda through influence campaigns run by nonprofit organizations like Code Pink, the People’s Forum and groups linked with the notorious Singham network.”
The so-called “Singham network” are nonprofits funded by tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, whose wife is a co-founder of Code Pink.
Singham, an American expat living in China, “works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide,” the New York Times reported in 2023.
“Chinese diplomats, state media, and pro-China influencers use social media, content-sharing agreements, and local partnerships to publish pro-CCP propaganda,” the report continues. “China invests in [public diplomacy], exchanges, reporting tours, and educational and cultural initiatives to boost its image.”
“The Department assesses that China, Iran, and Russia aggressively use state media, proxies, and digital platforms to spread propaganda and falsehoods, undermine U.S. credibility and policies, and expand their influence.”
Code Pink, founded as an anti-war organization in 2002, has accused the US of launching a “war on China.”
The nonprofit peddles its pro-China talking points through its “China Is Not Our Enemy” working group, according to the State Department.
Code Pink encourages Americans to travel to China and solicits contact information of individuals interested in visiting the US adversary.
The group touts one such trip where participants “studied revolutionary history in Ruijin” and explored “villages transformed by poverty alleviation programs” on its website.
One participant reflected that the trip made him think people must “defend [China] from our government’s aggression.”
Code Pink has also hosted pro-China webinars, including one where an activist applauded the Chinese communist revolution, which resulted in tens of millions of deaths, arguing that it provides a “path forward to liberation,” according to the State Department.
“I had already been out of love with our country for a long time but this really … put the nail in the coffin,” another American activist complained on a webinar following her China trip.
Meanwhile, the New York-based People’s Forum praises the Chinese Communist Revolution and studies it as a potential model for revolutionary leftists in the United States, according to the State Department.
The department noted that the group once hosted a three-part lesson on the revolution intended for those “who aim to study revolutionary processes in order to make one!” and organized pro-Maduro protests in the wake of the ousted Venezuelan dictator’s capture by US forces.
The group’s founder, Manolo de Los Santos, reportedly met with Maduro in 2021.
Code Pink and the People’s Forum did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
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ISLAM NOT WELCOME IN JAPAN
 Alexander Duncan-tweet-25February2026-ISLAM NOT WELCOME IN JAPAN
 ISLAM NOT WELCOME IN JAPAN
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JerusalemCats Comments: Remember the lockerbie bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 21December1988
‘Free Palestine’ stickers placed on 140 El Al passengers’ suitcases at LAXStickers placed on passengers’ luggage at Los Angeles airport triggered security checks, a two-hour delay and the removal of 140 bags from the flight to Israel, according to travelersItamar Eichner | 18February2026 | 21:57 https://www.ynetnews.com/travel/article/bkw4otx00bl
An El Al flight from Los Angeles to Israel was delayed by about two hours Monday after 140 passengers’ suitcases were removed from the aircraft when “Free Palestine” stickers were found attached to them, prompting a security concern.
According to passengers, the incident occurred on a regularly scheduled afternoon flight that was set to depart at 2 p.m. The flight was largely filled with Israeli travelers returning home after attending the NBA All-Star weekend events to see Israeli player Deni Avdija.
Passengers said they were initially informed of a 25-minute delay. Shortly afterward, airline staff announced a longer delay due to an issue involving luggage. The aircraft ultimately departed at approximately 3:45 p.m.
One passenger described mounting frustration onboard as the delay stretched on. “It was a regular El Al flight on Monday afternoon from Los Angeles, full of Israelis who had gone to the All-Star to see Deni Avdija and were heading home,” the passenger said. “We checked our suitcases as usual and were supposed to take off at 2 p.m. At first they said there would be a 25-minute delay, then they said there was a bigger delay because of an issue with luggage. Only around a quarter to four did we take off.”
During the delay, a passenger shouted in frustration, according to those on board. The captain and the head purser later explained that 140 suitcases had not been loaded onto the aircraft after “Free Palestine” stickers were found on them. Security officials were required to inspect each suitcase individually to ensure there were no explosives, passengers said.
Because the inspection process was taking longer than expected, the airline ultimately decided not to load the luggage onto the flight and departed without the 140 suitcases.
One passenger who protested the delay said his wife’s suitcase contained a dress for their daughter’s wedding. The head purser responded that “it’s better to arrive safely without the suitcase than the alternative,” according to passengers.
After landing in Israel, travelers received notification from El Al that their luggage had not been sent on the flight. The suitcases are expected to be placed on the next direct flight from Los Angeles to Israel.
Passengers described the incident as a scandal and questioned how an airport worker had been able to place the stickers on the luggage.
“How did they allow this employee to put the stickers on?” passengers said. “If they allowed him to do that, how can they ensure that next time something won’t be put inside the suitcases?”
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What New Yorkers look forward to when Zohran Mamdani is Mayor
Suicide and Other Bombing Attacks in Israel Since the Declaration of Principles (Sept 1993)Type: Information – Topic: Terrorism – Secondary topic: Palestinian Terror and Incitement – Publish Date: 06April1994 – https://www.gov.il/en/pages/suicide-and-other-bombing-attacks-since-the-declaration-of-principles
 Suicide-bombings
 Suicide terror attacks 2000-2007
Apr 6, 1994 – Eight people were killed in a car-bomb attack on a bus in the center of Afula. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 13, 1994 – Five people were killed in a suicide bombing attack on a bus in the central bus station of Hadera. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 19, 1994 – In a suicide bombing attack on the No. 5 bus on Dizengoff Street in Tel-Aviv, 21 Israelis and one Dutch national were killed.
Nov 11, 1994 – Three soldiers were killed at the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip when a Palestinian riding a bicycle detonated explosives strapped to his body. Islamic Jihad said it carried out the attack to avenge the car bomb killing of Islamic Jihad leader Hani Abed on Nov 2.
Jan 22, 1995 – Two consecutive bombs exploded at the Beit Lid junction near Netanya, killing 20 soldiers and one civilian. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 9, 1995 – Seven Israelis and one American were killed when a bus was hit by an explosives-laden van near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jul 24, 1995 – Six civilians were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a bus in Ramat Gan.
Aug 21, 1995 – Three Israelis and one American were killed in a suicide bombing of a Jerusalem bus.
Feb 25, 1996 – In a suicide bombing of bus No. 18 near the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, 26 were killed (17 civilians and 9 soldiers). Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb 25, 1996 – One Israeli was killed in an explosion set off by a suicide bomber at a hitchhiking post oustide Ashkelon. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 3, 1996 – In a suicide bombing of bus No. 18 on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 19 were killed (16 civilians and 3 soldiers).
Mar 4, 1996 – Outside Dizengoff Center in Tel-Aviv, a suicide bomber detonated a 20-kilogram nail bomb, killing 13 (12 civilians and one soldier).
Mar 21, 1997 – Three people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb on the terrace of a Tel Aviv cafe. 48 people were wounded.
Jul 30, 1997 – 16 people were killed and 178 wounded in two consecutive suicide bombings in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.
Sep 4, 1997 – Five people were killed and 181 wounded in three suicide bombings on the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem.
Oct 29, 1998 – One Israeli soldier was killed when a terrorist drove an explosives-laden car into an Israeli army jeep escorting a bus with 40 elementary school students from the settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip.
Nov 2, 2000 – Ayelet Shahar Levy, 28, and Hanan Levy, 33, were killed in a car bomb explosion near the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. 10 people were injured. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nov 20, 2000 – A roadside bomb exploded at 7:30 in the morning alongside a bus carrying children from Kfar Darom to school in Gush Katif. Miriam Amitai, 35, and Gavriel Biton, 34, were killed and 9 others, including 5 children, were injured, 5 of them seriously.
Nov 22, 2000 – Shoshanna Reis, 21, of Hadera, and Meir Bahrame, 35, of Givat Olga, were killed, and 60 wounded when a powerful car bomb was denotated alongside a passing bus on Hadera’s main street, when the area was packed with shoppers and people driving home from work.
Dec 22, 2000 – Three soldiers were injured in a suicide bomb attack at the Mehola Junction roadside cafe in the northern Jordan Valley. The terrorist, who detonated a belt of explosives strapped to him, was killed in the blast.
Jan 1, 2001 – A car bomb exploded near a bus stop in the shopping district in the center of Netanya. About 60 people were injured, most lightly. One unidentified person, apparently one of the terrorists involved in the bombing, died of severe burns. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb 8, 2001 – A powerful car bomb exploded at 4:40 PM in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Beit Yisrael in Jerusalem, causing mild injuries to four people.
Feb 14, 2001 – Eight people were killed and 25 injured when a bus driven by a Palestinian terrorist plowed into a group of soldiers and civilians waiting at a bus stop near Holon, south of Tel-Aviv.
Mar 1, 2001 – One person was killed and 9 injured when a terrorist detonated a bomb in a Tel Aviv to Tiberias service taxi at the Mei Ami junction in Wadi Ara.
Mar 4, 2001 – Three people were killed and at least 60 injured in a suicide bombing in downtown Netanya. Mar 27, 2001 – A car bomb exploded at 7:40 in the morning in the Talpiot industrial/commercial zone in Jerusalem. Seven people were injured, one moderately. The Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 27, 2001 – 28 people were injured, two seriously, in a suicide bombing directed against a northbound No. 6 bus at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 28, 2001 – Two teenagers were killed and four injured, one critically, in a suicide bombing at the Mifgash Hashalom (“peace stop”) gas station several hundred meters from an IDF roadblock near the entrance to Kalkilya, east of Kfar Saba. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 22, 2001 – A terrorist detonated a powerful bomb he was carrying near a group of people waiting at a bus stop on the corner of Weizman and Tchernichovsky streets in Kfar Sava. One person was killed and about 60 injured in the blast, two severely. The terrorist was also killed in the explosion, for which Hamas claimed responsibility.
Apr 23, 2001 – Eight people were lightly hurt in a car bombing in Or Yehuda, a few kilometers north of Ben-Gurion Airport, which senior police officers said could only be described as a “miracle” in an area packed with pre-Independence Day shoppers.
Apr 29, 2001 – A car bomb blew up close to a school bus travelling near the West Bank city of Nablus. There were no injuries in the attack. The body of the suicide bomber was found in the car. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 18, 2001 – A Palestinian suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated himself outside the Hasharon Shopping Mall in the seaside city of Netanya. Five civilians were killed and over 100 wounded in the attack. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 25, 2001 – 65 people were injured in a car bombing in the Hadera central bus station. The two terrorists were apparently killed in the explosion. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
May 27, 2001 – A car bomb exploded in the center of Jerusalem shortly after midnight. There were no injuries. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility.
May 30, 2001 – A car bomb exploded shortly before 16:00 outside a school in Netanya while a number of students were still in the building studying for matriculation exams. Eight people were injured, suffering from shock and hearing impairment. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
June 1, 2001 – 21 people were killed and 120 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a disco near Tel Aviv’s Dolphinarium along the seafront promenade just before midnight on Friday, June 1, while standing in a large group of teenagers waiting to enter the disco.
June 22, 2001 – Sgt. Aviv Iszak, 19, of Kfar Saba, and Sgt. Ofir Kit, 19, of Jerusalem, were killed near Dugit in the Gaza Strip as a jeep with yellow Israeli license plates, supposedly stuck in the sand, blew up as they approached. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 2, 2001 – Two separate bombs exploded at about 8:20 Monday morning in cars in the Tel-Aviv suburb of Yehud. Six pedestrians were lightly injured. Police sources say the bombs were probably set by terrorists. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical PLO faction, claimed responsibility.
July 9, 2001 – A Palestinian suicide bomber was killed in a car-bombing attack near the Kissufim crossing point in the southern Gaza Strip, causing no other casualties. Disaster was averted as the bomb exploded without hitting any other vehicles. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 16, 2001 – Cpl. Hanit Arami, 19, and St.Sgt. Avi Ben Harush, 20, both of Zichron Yaakov, were killed and 11 wounded – 3 seriously – when a bomb exploded in a suicide terrorist attack at a bus stop near the train station in Binyamina, halfway between Netanya and Haifa, at about 19:30 Monday evening. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 8, 2001 – A suicide bomber was killed when he detonated his car bomb, lightly wounding one soldier, at a roadblock near the B’kaot moshav in the northern Jordan Valley shortly after 9:00. One soldier was lightly wounded.
Aug 9, 2001 – 16 people were killed, including 7 children, and about 130 injured in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria on the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 12, 2001 – 21 people were injured in a suicide bombing in the Wall Street Cafe in the center of Kiryat Motzkin at 17:30. The terrorist was killed. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 21, 2001 – A bomb placed under a car exploded at 14:15 near the Russian Compound in downtown Jerusalem; one woman was treated for shock. A second, very large unexploded bomb was discovered inside the car and dismantled.
Sept 4, 2001 – 20 people were injured when a suicide terrorist exploded a powerful charge on Hanevi’im Street near Bikur Holim hospital in central Jerusalem shortly before 8:00 AM. The terrorist, disguised as a Jew in ultra-orthodox clothing, aroused the suspicion of passersby due to the large backpack he was wearing. As two Border Police officers approached the man, he detonated his shrapnel-packed bomb. Both officers were wounded – one critically. The terrorist was killed in the blast. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Sept 9, 2001 – Three people were killed and some 90 injured, most lightly, in a suicide bombing near the Nahariya train station in northern Israel. The terrorist, killed in the blast, waited nearby until the train arrived from Tel-Aviv and people were exiting the station, and then exploded the bomb he was carrying. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sept 9, 2001 – A car bomb exploded at the Beit Lid junction near Netanya, injuring 17 people. One person killed in the explosion is believed to be the terrorist bomber.
Oct 1, 2001 – A large car bomb exploded in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem. Several people were lightly injured.
Oct 7, 2001 – Yair Mordechai, 43, of Kibbutz Sheluhot was killed when a Palestinian suicide terrorist affiliated with the Islamic Jihad detonated a large bomb strapped to his body near the entrance of the kibbutz in the Beit She’an Valley.
Nov 26, 2001 – A Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and lightly wounded two Border Policemen at the Erez crossing point in the Gaza Strip. The bomber joined workers waiting to be cleared for entry into Israel. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nov 29, 2001 – Three people were killed and nine others were wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged 823 bus en route from Nazereth to Tel Aviv near the city of Hadera. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 1, 2001 – 11 people were killed and about 180 injured when explosive devices were detonated by two suicide bombers close to 11:30 P.M. Saturday night on Ben Yehuda Street, the pedestrian mall in the center of Jerusalem. A car bomb exploded nearby 20 minutes later. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 2, 2001 – 15 people were killed and 40 injured, several critically, in a suicide bombing on an Egged bus No. 16 in Haifa shortly after 12:00. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 5, 2001 – A suicide bomber exploded a powerful bomb shortly after 7:30 AM on King David Street in Jerusalem. A number of people waiting at a nearby bus stop were lightly injured. The terrorist was killed in the blast. Police are investigating whether the bomb, packed with nails and shrapnel, went off prematurely. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Dec 9, 2001 – A suicide bomber exploded a powerful bomb near a bus stop at the Checkpost Junction in Haifa shortly after 7:30 AM. About 30 people were injured, most lightly and suffering from shock. A second explosive device was found and detonated nearby. The terrorist was killed.
Dec 12, 2001 – Four people traveling in two cars were lightly wounded in an attack at 18:00 PM by two suicide bombers near the Gaza Strip community of Neve Dekalim.
Jan 25, 2002 – 25 people were wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a cafe on a pedestrian mall near Tel Aviv’s old central bus station at 11:15 AM on Friday.
Jan 27, 2002 – Pinhas Tokatli, 81, of Jerusalem was killed and over 150 people were wounded, four seriously, in a suicide bombing on Jaffa Road, in the center of Jerusalem, shortly before 12:30. The female terrorist, identified as a Fatah member, was armed with more than 10 kilos of explosives.
Feb 16, 2002 – Two teenagers were killed and about 30 people were wounded, six seriously, when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Saturday night at a pizzeria in the shopping mall in Karnei Shomron in Samaria. A third person subsequently died of his injuries. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb 18, 2002 – Policeman Ahmed Mazarib, 32, of the Bedouin village Beit Zarzir in the Galilee, was killed by a suicide bomber whom he had stopped for questioning on the Ma’ale Adumim-Jerusalem road. The terrorist succeeded in detonating the bomb in his car. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb 27, 2002 – A Palestinian suicide bomber blew herself up at the Maccabim roadblock on the Jerusalem-Modi’in highway Wednesday night, injuring three policemen.
Mar 2, 2002 – Eleven people were killed and over 50 were injured, 4 critically, in a suicide bombing at 19:15 on Saturday evening near a yeshiva in the ultra-Orthodox Beit Yisrael neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem where people had gathered for a bar-mitzva celebration. The terrorist detonated the bomb next to a group of women waiting with their baby carriages for their husbands to leave the nearby synagogue. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade took responsibility for the attack.
Mar 5, 2002 – Maharatu Tagana, 85, of Upper Nazareth was killed and a large number of people injured, most lightly, when a suicide bomber exploded in an Egged No. 823 bus as it entered the Afula central bus station. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 7, 2002 – A suicide bomber blew himself up in the lobby of a hotel in the commericial center on the outskirts of Ariel in Samaria. 15 people were injured, one seriously. The PFLP claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 9, 2002 – 11 people were killed and 54 injured, 10 of them seriously, when a suicide bomber exploded at 22:30 PM Saturday night in the crowded Moment cafe at the corner of Aza and Ben-Maimon streets in the Rehavia neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 17, 2002 – A suicide bomber exploded himself near an Egged bus no. 22 at the French Hill junction in northern Jerusalem. 25 people were lightly injured.
Mar 20, 2002 – Seven people, four of them soldiers, were killed and about 30 wounded, several seriously, in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus No. 823 traveling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth at the Musmus junction on Highway 65 (Wadi Ara) near Afula. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 21, 2002 – Three people were killed and 86 injured, 3 of them seriously, in a suicide bombing on King George Street in the center of Jerusalem. The terrorist detonated the bomb, packed with metal spikes and nails, in the center of a crowd of shoppers. The Fatah al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 27, 2002 – 30 people were killed and 140 injured – 20 seriously – in a suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya, in the midst of the Passover holiday seder with 250 guests. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorist was a member of Hamas from Tulkarem, on the list of wanted terrorists Israel had requested be arrested.
Mar 29, 2002 – Two people were killed and 28 injured, two seriously when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in the Kiryat Yovel supermarket in Jerusalem. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 30, 2002 – One person was killed and about 30 people were injured in a suicide bombing in a cafe on the corner of Allenby and Bialik streets in Tel-Aviv. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 31, 2002 – 15 people were killed and over 40 injured in a suicide bombing in Haifa, in the Matza restaurant of the gas station near the Grand Canyon shopping mall. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 31, 2002 – An MDA paramedic was very seriously injured along with three other people at 17:00 Sunday afternoon in a suicide bombing at the emergency medical center in Efrat, in the Gush Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem.
Apr 1, 2002 – A police officer was killed in Jerusalem when a Palestinian suicide bomber heading toward the city center blew himself up in his car after being stopped at a roadblock. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 10, 2002 – Eight people were killed and 22 injured in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #960, en route from Haifa to Jerusalem, which exploded near Kibbutz Yagur, east of Haifa. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 12, 2002 – Six people were killed and 104 wounded when a woman suicide bomber detonated a powerful charge at a bus stop on Jaffa road at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda open-air market. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 7, 2002 – 16 people were killed and 55 wounded in a crowded game club in Rishon Lezion, southeast of Tel-Aviv, when a suicide bomber detonated a powerful charge in the 3rd floor club, causing part of the building to collapse. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 19, 2002 – Three people were killed and 59 injured – 10 seriously – when a suicide bomber, disguised as a soldier, blew himself up in the market in Netanya. Both Hamas and the PFLP took responsibility for the attack.
May 20, 2002 – A suicide bomber, apparently bound for Afula, killed himself after Border Policemen approached him for questioning at a bus stop. There were no other injuries.
May 22, 2002 – Two people were killed and about 40 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself in the Rothschild Street downtown pedestrian mall of Rishon Lezion.
May 23, 2002 – A bomb planted by terrorists exploded underneath a fuel truck at the Pi Glilot fuel depot north of Tel Aviv. The truck burst into flames, but the blaze was quickly contained.
May 24, 2002 – A security guard opened fire on a terrorist attempting to ram a car bomb into the Studio 49 Disco in Tel Aviv. The terrorist was killed and five Israelis slightly injured when the bomb exploded prematurely.
May 27, 2002 – A grandmother and her infant granddaughter were killed and 37 people were injured, some seriously, when a suicide bomber detonated himself near an ice cream parlor outside a shopping mall in Petah Tikva. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
June 5, 2002 – 17 people were killed and 38 injured when a car packed with a large quantity of explosives struck Egged bus No. 830 traveling from Tel-Aviv to Tiberias at the Megiddo junction near Afula. The bus, which burst into flames, was completely destroyed. The terrorist was killed in the blast. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
June 11, 2002 – A 14-year-old girl was killed and 15 others were wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber set off a relatively small pipe bomb at a shwarma restaurant in Herzliya.
June 18, 2002 – 19 people were killed and 74 injured – six seriously – in a suicide bombing at the Patt junction in Egged bus no. 32A traveling from Gilo to the center of Jerusalem. The bus, which was completely destroyed, was carrying many students on their way to school. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
June 19, 2002 – Seven people were killed and 50 injured – three of them in critical condition – when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded bus stop and hitchhiking post at the French Hill intersection in northern Jerusalem shortly after 7:00 P.M., as people were returning home from work. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 16, 2002 – Nine people were killed and 20 injured in a terrorist attack on Dan bus no. 189 traveling from Bnei Brak to Emmanuel in Samaria. An explosive charge was detonated next to the bullet-resistant bus. The terrorists waited in ambush, reportedly wearing IDF uniforms, and opened fire on the bus. While four terror organizations claimed responsibility for the attack, it was apparently carried out by the same Hamas cell which carried out the attack in Emmanuel on Dec 12, 2001.
July 17, 2002 – Five people were killed – two Israeli and three foreign workers – and about 40 were injured, four seriously, in a double suicide bombing on Neve Shaanan Street near the old central bus station in Tel Aviv. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 30, 2002 – Five people suffered light to moderate injuries in a suicide bombing at a felafel stand on Hanevi’im Street in the center of Jerusalem. The bomber, who was killed, apparently exploded prematurely.
July 31, 2002 – Nine people were killed and 85 wounded, 14 of them seriously, when a bomb exploded in the Frank Sinatra student center cafeteria on the Hebrew University’s Mt. Scopus campus. The explosive device was planted inside the cafeteria, which was gutted by the explosion. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 4, 2002 – Nine people were killed and some 50 wounded in a suicide bombing of Egged bus No. 361 traveling from Haifa to Safed at the Meron junction in northern Israel. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 5, 2002 – A bomb exploded in a car at the Umm al-Fahm junction in northern Israel, killing the terrorist and wounding the driver, an Arab Israeli resident of Nazareth.
Sept 18, 2002 – Police Sgt. Moshe Hezkiyah, 21, of Elyachin was killed and three people were wounded in a suicide bombing at a bus stop at the Umm al Fahm junction. The terrorist, who was apparently planning to detonate the bomb after boarding a bus, set the charge off early when approached by the police for questioning. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sept 19, 2002 – Six people were killed and about 70 wounded when a terrorist detonated a bomb in Dan bus No. 4 on Allenby Street, opposite the Great Synagogue in Tel-Aviv. Hamas claimed responsbility for the attack.
Oct 10, 2002 – Sa’ada Aharon, 71, of Ramat Gan was killed and about 30 people were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up while trying to board Dan bus No. 87 across from Bar-Ilan University on the Geha highway (Route 4). Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 21, 2002 – 14 people were killed and some 50 wounded when a car bomb containing about 100 kilograms of explosives was detonated next to a No. 841 Egged bus from Kiryat Shmona to Tel-Aviv, while traveling along Wadi Ara on Route No. 65 toward Hadera. The bus had pulled over at a bus stop when the suicide bomber, from Jenin, driving a jeep, approached from behind and exploded. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 27, 2002 – Two IDF officers and a non-commissioned officer were killed and about 20 people were wounded in a suicide bombing at the Sonol gas station at the entrance to Ariel in Samaria. The victims were killed while trying to prevent the terrorist from detonating the bomb. The terrorist was identified as a member of Hamas.
Nov 4, 2002 – Two people – a security guard and a teenage boy, both recent immigrants from Argentina – were killed and about 70 were wounded in a suicide bombing at a shopping mall in Kfar Sava. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nov 21, 2002 – Eleven people were killed and some 50 wounded by a suicide bomber on a No. 20 Egged bus on Mexico Street in the Kiryat Menahem neighborhood of Jerusalem. The bus was filled with passengers, including schoolchildren, traveling toward the center of the city during rush hour. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 5, 2003 – Twenty-two people were killed and about 120 wounded in a double suicide bombing near the old Central Bus Station in Tel-Aviv. The attack was apparently carried out by two members of the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, with the help of the Islamic Jihad.
Mar 5, 2003 – Seventeen people were killed and 53 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus #37 on Moriah Blvd. in the Carmel section of Haifa, en route to Haifa University. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 30, 2003 – Over 40 people were wounded in a suicide bombing on the pedestrian mall at the entrance to the London Cafe in the center of Netanya. The bomber was killed. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 24, 2003 – Alexander Kostyuk, a 23-year-old security guard from Bat Yam, was killed and 13 were wounded, two seriously, in a suicide bombing outside the train station in Kfar Sava. Groups related to the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PFLP clamied joint responsibility for the attack.
Apr 30, 2003 – Three people were killed and about 60 peoople were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a beachfront pub “Mike’s Place” in Tel Aviv. The Fatah Tanzim and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out as a joint operation. Investigation revealed that the two British Muslims involved in the suicide bombing were dispatched to perpetrate the attack by the Hamas military command in the Gaza Strip.
May 17, 2003 – Gadi Levy and his wife Dina, aged 31 and 37, of Kiryat Arba were killed by a suicide bomber in Hebron. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 18, 2003 – Seven people were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus no. 6 near French Hill in Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 19, 2003 – Three IDF soldiers were lightly injured when a Palestinian on a bicycle detonated explosives next to a military jeep near Kfar Darom in the southern Gaza Strip. The bomber was killed. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 19, 2003 – Three people were killed and about 70 wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to the Amakim Mall in Afula. The Islamic Jihad and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades both claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 22, 2003 – Nine Israelis were injured when a roadside bomb was detonated next to a bus near Netzarim in the Gaza Strip.
June 11, 2003 – Seventeen people were killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #14A outside the Clal building on Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
June 19, 2003 – Avner Mordechai, 58, of Moshav Sde Trumot, was killed when a suicide bomber blew up in his grocery on Sde Trumot, south of Beit Shean. The suicide bomber was killed. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 7, 2003 – Mazal Afari, 65, of Moshav Kfar Yavetz was killed in her home on Monday evening and three of her grandchildren lightly wounded in a terrorist suicide bombing. The remains of the bomber were also found in the wreckage of the house. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 12, 2003 – Erez Hershkovitz, 18, of Eilon Moreh, was killed and three people wounded when a teenaged Palestinian suicide bomber detonated himself at a bus stop outside Ariel. Amatzia Nisanevitch, 22, of Nofim, died of his wounds on August 28.
Aug 19, 2003 – Twenty-three people were killed and over 130 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated himself on a No. 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem’s Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sept 9, 2003 – Nine IDF soldiers were killed and 30 people were wounded in a suicide bombing at a hitchhiking post for soldier outside a main entrance to the Tzrifin army base and Assaf Harofeh Hospital. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sept 9, 2003 – Seven people were killed and over 50 wounded in a suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim St., the main thoroughfare of the German Colony neighborhood in Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 4, 2003 – Twenty-one people were killed, including four children, and 60 wounded in a suicide bombing carried out by a female terrorist from Jenin in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Oct 9, 2003 – A Palestinian suicide bomber exploded himself at the DCO located at the entrance to Tulkarm. The bomber approached the reception window and exploded himself, injuring two IDF soldiers and a Palestinian.
Oct 15, 2003 – Three Americans were killed and one wounded at the Beit Hanoun junction in the Gaza Strip when a massive bomb demolished an armor-plated jeep in a convoy carrying U.S. diplomats.
Nov 3, 2003 – A suicide bomber blew himself up in the West Bank village of Azun, near Kafr Qasem, when he saw Israeli security officials searching for him. One IDF soldier was lightly wounded. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade claimed responsibility for the failed attack.
Dec 25, 2003 – Four Israelis were killed and over 20 wounded in a suicide bombing at a bus stop at the Geha Junction, east of Tel Aviv, near Petah Tikva. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 14, 2004 – Four Israelis – three soldiers and one civilian – were killed and 10 wounded when a female suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip. Hamas and the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
Jan 29, 2004 – Eleven people were killed and over 50 wounded, 13 of them seriously, in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus no. 19 at the corner of Gaza and Arlozorov streets in Jerusalem. The Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, naming the bomber as Ali Yusuf Jaara, a 24-year-old Palestinian policeman from Bethlehem.
Feb 22, 2004 – Eight people were killed and over 60 wounded, 11 of them school pupils, in a suicide bombing on Jerusalem bus no. 14A near the Liberty Bell Park. The Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by Mohammed Za’ul, from the Bethlehem area.
Mar 6, 2004 – Two Palestinian policemen were killed in a terror attack on the Erez crossing in northern Gaza involving rifle fire and suicide car bombs, including jeeps camouflaged as IDF vehicles. Two of the vehicles exploded on the Palestinian side of the crossing, and four terrorists were killed. There were no IDF casualties. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the military wing of Fatah all claimed responsibility.
Mar 14, 2004 – Ten people were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 17, 2004 – Border Policeman Sgt. Kfir Ohayon, 20, of Eilat was killed, three others wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the Erez Crossing. Hamas and Fatah claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
May 22, 2004 – A suicide bomber was killed when he detonated an explosive device at the Bekaot checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley. The commander of the IDF checkpoint was lightly injured, as well as several Palestinians. The PFLP claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 11, 2004 – Sgt. Ma’ayan Na’im, 19, of Bat Yam, was killed and 33 wounded when a bomb exploded at a bus stop in downtown Tel Aviv at about 7 a.m. One person was critically wounded, four were moderately wounded, and the rest were lightly hurt.
Aug 11, 2004 – Two Palestinian bystanders were killed and 18 people were wounded, including six Border Policemen, when a bomb was detonated south of the Qalandiyah checkpoint at the northern entrance to Jerusalem.
Aug 31, 2004 – Sixteen people were killed and 100 wounded in two suicide bombings within minutes of each other on two Beersheba city buses, on route nos. 6 and 12. The buses were traveling along Beersheba’s main street, Rager Blvd, near the city hall. Hamas in Hebron claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sept 8, 2004 – A booby-trapped car exploded next to Israeli security personnel at the Baka al-Sharkiyeh checkpoint, near the Green Line border with the West Bank. The Palestinian driver of the car was killed in the blast. The Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sept 14, 2004 – A suicide bomber riding on a bicycle blew himself up near an armored IDF jeep at an agricultural gate, south of Qalqilyah, injuring two IDF soldiers.
Sept 22, 2004 – Two Border Policemen were killed and 17 Israelis wounded in a suicide bombing carried out by a female terrorist at the French Hill junction hitchhiking post in northern Jerusalem. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 7, 2004 – A total of 32 people were killed in terror bombings at two Sinai holiday resorts frequented by Israelis: 29 at the Taba Hilton and three at Ras a-Satan. Among the dead were 12 Israelis; over 120 were wounded.
Nov 1, 2004 – Three people were killed and over 30 wounded in a suicide bombing at the Carmel Market in central Tel Aviv. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Nablus claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out by Amar Alfar, 18, from Askar refugee camp in Nablus.
Dec 7, 2004 – St.-Sgt. Nadav Kudinsky, 20, of Kiryat Gat of the Oketz canine unit was killed by a bomb, along with his dog, when a booby-trapped chicken coup exploded northwest of the Karni Corssing in the Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire while evacuating him. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 5, 2005 – A terrorist infiltrated the Erez crossing terminal in the Gaza Strip, activated an explosive device, hurled grenades and opened fire. An IDF force shot and killed the terrorist. The Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 12, 2005 – One Israeli civilian was killed and three IDF soldiers wounded when a bomb was detonated as a military vehicle patroled the route near Morag in the southern Gaza Strip. Two terrorists were killed by IDF forces. The area was booby-trapped with explosive devices, in addition to the bomb that exploded. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 13, 2005 – On Thursday night, shortly before the closing of the Karni Crossing, terrorists activated an explosive device on the Palestinian side of the crossing, blowing a hole in the door through which Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Israeli side of the crossing and opened fire at Israeli civilians. As a result of the explosion and during exchanges of fire, six Israeli civilians and three Palestinian terrorists were killed, and five Israeli civilians were wounded. Hamas and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed joint responsiblity for the attack.
Jan 18, 2005 – An ISA officer was killed, an IDF officer seriously wounded, and 4 IDF soldiers and 3 members of the ISA were lightly wounded in a suicide bombing attack at the Gush Katif junction in the central Gaza Strip. While search procedures were being carried out, the suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body detonated himself. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb 25, 2005 – Five people were killed and 50 wounded Friday night, when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Stage club on the Tel Aviv promenade at around 11:20 P.M., on the corner of Herbert Samuel and Yonah Hanavi streets. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 12, 2005 – Five people were killed and about 90 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself outside Hasharon Mall in Netanya. The bomber was identified as Ahmed Abu Khalil, 18, from the West Bank village of Atil. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aug 28, 2005 – A suicide bomber detonated himself outside the Beersheba Central Bus Station. Two security guards who stopped the bomber were severely wounded and about 50 people were lightly wounded or treated for shock. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 26, 2005 – Seven people were killed and 54 wounded, six seriously, in a suicide bombing at the Hadera open-air market. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 5, 2005 – Five people were killed and over 50 wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to the Sharon shopping mall in Netanya. The terrorist detonated the bomb when he was stopped by security guards, one of whom was killed. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 29, 2005 – Lt. Ori Binamo, 21, of Nesher was killed when a terrorist en route to carry out an attack in Israel detonated himself at roadblock set up near Tulkarm following an intelligence tip. A second intended suicide terrorist was also killed in the blast as well as the taxi driver and a third passenger. Three soldiers and seven Palestinians were wounded.
Jan 19, 2006 – Thirty-one people were wounded in a suicide bombing in a shawarma restaurant near the old central bus station in Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem Battalions of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 30, 2006 – Four people were killed when a suicide bomber hitchhiker disguised as an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student detonated his explosive device in a private vehicle near the entrance to Kedumim.
Apr 17, 2006 – Eleven people were killed and over 60 wounded in a suicide bombing during the Passover holiday near the old central bus station in Tel Aviv, at the Rosh Ha’ir shawarma restaurant, site of the Jan 19 bombing. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 29, 2007 – Three employees of a bakery in the southern city of Eilat were killed in a suicide bombing. The Islamic Jihad and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb 4, 2008 – Lyubov Razdolskaya, 73, of Dimona was killed and 38 wounded – Razdolskaya’s husband critically – in a terror attack carried out by a suicide bomber at a shopping center in Dimona. A police officer shot and killed a second terrorist before he detonated his explosive belt. A Hamas statement from Gaza praised the attack, calling it an “heroic act”.
Mar 6, 2008 – Eight students of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem were killed when a terrorist armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle infiltrated the yeshiva and opened fire in the library where about 80 people were gathered, mostly teenagers. Eleven others were wounded, three critically. The terrorist, a resident of East Jerusalem, was killed by an IDF officer.
May 14, 2008 – At about 6 pm an Iranian-made Grad rocket launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip hit a busy shopping mall in central Ashkelon. 90 people were wounded, four of them seriously, among them a 24-year-old mother and her infant daughter.
July 2, 2008 – Three people were killed and over 50 wounded in a terror attack in Jerusalem. Driving a bulldozer on Jaffa Road between the Central Bus Station and the Mahane Yehuda market, the terrorist plowed into cars and pedestrians as well as two public buses carrying some 50 passengers. Police shot and killed the terrorist.
Mar 23, 2011 – One woman, a 59-year-old British national, was killed and about 50 wounded when a bomb exploded across from the Jerusalem Convention Center, near the Central Bus Station. The bomb had been placed near a telephone booth at a crowded bus stop next to Egged city bus #74.
Aug 18, 2011 – In a series of terrorist attacks was perpetrated against civilians and IDF soldiers in Israel’s southern region, six civilians were killed as well as one soldier and a police officer, and at least 31 were wounded. The terrorists responsible for the attacks originated in the Gaza Strip and crossed into Israel via Egypt. IDF forces pursued and killed a number of the terrorists responsible for the attacks.
July 18, 2012 – Six people, five Israelis and the Bulgarian bus driver, were killed and over 30 wounded in a suicide bombing attack on a bus carrying Israelis at Sarafovo Airport in Burgas, Bulgaria. The seventh body was identified as the suicide bomber.
Nov 21, 2012 – Shortly before noon a bomb exploded in a Dan city bus no. 142 on Shaul Hamelech Street in the center of Tel Aviv. 21 people were wounded, three in moderate to serious condition. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri praised the bombing.
Oct 11, 2015 – A female terrorist detonated an explosive device, lightly wounding a police officer near the checkpoint on the road between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem. A traffic police officer stopped the driver, who was in the lane reserved for public transportation, and approached the car. The driver exited the vehicle, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and detonated an explosive device. The terrorist was seriously injured in the attack and was evacuated to hospital in Jerusalem with burns to her entire body.
April 19, 2016 – Jerusalem: In the early evening, an explosion on a bus and a subsequent fire led to the injury of 21 people, including passengers on a passing bus and in a nearby car. Two of the injured are in serious condition, 7 were moderately injured and 12 were lightly injured.
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 the Jewish Virtual Library. logo https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org Israel’s Wars & Operations: First Intifada(1987 – 1993)
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The Second Intifada: A defining event that reshaped the nation20 years on, the memory of the Second Intifada still lingers A gaping hole is left in the shop front of the Sbarro pizzeria after a suicide bombing, August 9, 2001
By HERB KEINON
The place names still send shivers up and down the spine.
The police station in Ramallah; Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood; the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv; the Sbarro Pizzeria and Cafe Moment in the capital; the Park Hotel in Netanya; Maxim Restaurant in Haifa. The names bring to mind some of the bloodiest atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorists during the Second Intifada that began 20 years ago this month, on September 28, 2000.
Each of Israel’s wars have had their memorable battles. There was Operation Nachshon in the War of Independence; the Battle for Sharm e-Sheikh in the Sinai Campaign; Ammunition Hill in the Six Day War; the Chinese Farm during the Yom Kippur War; the Battle of Jezzine in the First Lebanon War; Bint Jbeil during the Second Lebanon War.
But those were battles: tanks vs. tanks, artillery vs. artillery, even hand-to-hand combat. And while during the Second Intifada the Battle of Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield, the intifada’s turning point, has been seared into the country’s memory, for the most part it is the names of eateries, road junctions or markets – Mike’s Place, Megiddo Junction, the Carmel Market – that are associated with this period. Because it was the restaurants, bars, buses and road junctions in the heart of the country that constituted the main front in that war
More Israelis were killed during the Second Intifada – 1,053, according to Foreign Ministry figures – than were killed in the 1956 Sinai Campaign (231), the 1967 Six day War (776) or the 2006 Second Lebanon War (164). More civilians, about 70% of the total fatalities, were killed in the Second Intifada than in any campaign with the exception of the War of Independence, when 2,400 civilians were among the 6,400 Israeli dead.
The Second Intifada, which for the average citizen felt very much like a war in everything but name, was a defining event in Israel’s history, akin to the War of Independence and the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars. Israel after September 2000 is not the same as Israel before September 2000.
This harrowing period fundamentally altered Israeli society because it impacted everyone. No one, regardless of their political opinions, level of religious observance or ethnicity, was left unaffected.
Mind-numbing terrorism made it scary to ride a bus, nerve-wracking to send kids to school, a psychological effort to take the family downtown for a falafel. Everyone eyed fellow passengers warily on the bus at one time or another during these years – especially fellow passengers wearing coats on a sunny day – wondering if they may be hiding explosives.
And the trauma of that period remains. Time may have dulled the intensity of the trauma, but it has not erased it.
To understand Israel today – to understand its political turn to the Right, why it has voted time and time again for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, its complete lack of confidence in the Palestinians, its indifference to the lack of a diplomatic process with the Palestinians – is to understand the strain and pressure that everyone in the country labored under during the four years and five months of that intifada.
Israelis were well acquainted with security challenges before September 2000. But for the most part there was a strong sense of personal security in the cities up until then. Sure, you didn’t want to walk along the borders or traipse around in the West Bank cities or even part of east Jerusalem, but there was a sense of being safe at home, in the streets, in the cinema, at restaurants.
The Second Intifada changed all that. Then no place seemed safe: riding the bus felt like a dice roll, coffee shops a potential deathtrap. The whole security equation changed.
A reservist wearing a flak jacket and carrying an M16 serving in a small outpost just across the Syrian border fence on the Golan Heights in March 2002 – the deadliest month of the intifada – felt more secure in his well-guarded base ringed by tanks than his elementary school children felt riding public buses to school in Jerusalem.
And everyone, literally everyone, knew someone either killed or injured during the violence – a relative, friend, coworker, schoolmate, client, business partner. The intifada was not something out there happening far away to other people, it was real and happening next door.
This reality of intense insecurity seeped into everyone’s lives and left an indelible impact.
ONE OF the ways to gauge that impact is to look at the country’s political map. Israel goes to elections quite a bit. Since 1999, the year before the Second Intifada, it has held 10 elections, including an election just for the prime minister – not the Knesset – in 2001.
The results: The Left won one election, Ehud Barak in 1999. The Center won one, 2006 with Kadima headed by Ehud Olmert, and tied another, Blue and White’s showing in September 2019. The Right won six times, and battled to a draw in one (March 2020).
Why? Did the country all of a sudden grow callous? Did it give up on a dream of peace? No, coming out of the Oslo euphoria of the 1990s, Israel was simply mugged by the reality of the Second Intifada.
“The voting patterns shows that the right wing not only now has a majority, but has even gotten stronger, and this is a result of the scope and intensity of the intifada,” said Meir Elran, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv who has written extensively on Israeli national resilience during and after the intifada. “This was mainly terror against civilians. And unlike the First Intifada, which took place mainly in the territories, this took place for the most part inside the Green Line – it was extremely traumatic.”
One of the reasons it was so traumatic, said Elran, who was deputy director of Military Intelligence during the beginning of the First Intifada that began in 1987, was its intensity and duration.
Elran dates the Second Intifada from September 28, 2000, when opposition leader Ariel Sharon went to the Temple Mount and the Palestinians responded with riots that swiftly spread, to September 2004, when the number of terrorist attacks began to decline. Others, however, extend the intifada’s duration another five months until February 2005, after Yasser Arafat’s death three months earlier, when Sharon – then prime minister – met new Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at a summit at Sharm e-Sheikh.
Regardless, this was a long war, of at least four years, even four years and five months. Not only was it long, it was harsh – with more than 130 suicide bombings.
“It is an event that left emotional and cognitive scars,” Elran said. “There was also the sense of a great insult involved. What did they do to us? They hit us at home. They undermined our sense of security. The trauma was physical as well as psychological.”
The intifada, Elran said, disabused many Israelis of a belief in being able to reach any agreement with the Palestinians and created a sense in the mind of millions that there was simply no one on the other side to talk to.
TAMAR HERMANN, director of the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute and a political science professor at the Open University, agrees with Elran and said the now deeply held belief among many Israelis that there is simply no partner on the other side is one of the most significant lasting impacts. She characterized this as a “major change.”
“It is quite obvious that the Second Intifada made even those Jewish Israelis most supportive of the peace process rethink not their perspective on the desirability of peace, but rather on its feasibility,” she said.
Paradoxically, Hermann added, it was Ehud Barak who pumped up the notion of there being no Palestinian partner when he came back from the failed Camp David summit in July 2000 and said the refusal of the Palestinians to accept his generous offer was proof there was no one to talk to on the other side.
“Israelis still support the idea of peace – we all allegedly support peace – but they don’t see it as a feasible political goal anymore, and put most of the blame on the other side,” she said.
Elran takes this even further and said that not only do Israelis not believe there is a partner on the other side, but because of the intifada “the Israeli public doesn’t want to hear about the Palestinians, they don’t want to see them.”
The pain caused to Israel during the intifada led Israelis into wanting an “emotional separation from the Palestinians. It created this feeling, we don’t want to see them, they don’t concern me, I don’t care,” he said.
“The violence led Israelis to place an ‘X’ on the Palestinians,” he said. “And there are two factors now reinforcing that ‘X’ – one is the behavior of Hamas in Gaza, which always reminds Israelis of what they are dealing with, and the second is the leadership in Ramallah, whose behavior only reinforces the feeling that there is no one to talk to.”
Hermann said that another significant element of the intifada is that the Israeli public credits Israel’s security apparatus for ending it.
“It appears that the Israeli Jews, when they think about the Second Intifada, think that the Israeli security agencies are responsible – in a positive way – for the sharp decline in the terrorism, and that they acted very effectively against it. They do not attribute the decline of the intifada to any decision by the other side to stop using terror, or to minimize the use of terror.”
“It appears that the Israeli Jews, when they think about the Second Intifada, think that the Israeli security agencies are responsible – in a positive way – for the sharp decline in the terrorism, and that they acted very effectively against it. They do not attribute the decline of the intifada to any decision by the other side to stop using terror, or to minimize the use of terror.”
“It appears that the Israeli Jews, when they think about the Second Intifada, think that the Israeli security agencies are responsible – in a positive way – for the sharp decline in the terrorism, and that they acted very effectively against it. They do not attribute the decline of the intifada to any decision by the other side to stop using terror, or to minimize the use of terror.”
“The First Intifada did one thing clearly: it made clear to the Israelis that there are no free lunches, and that there is a price to holding on to the territories,” he said.
And the main lesson for Israelis from the Second Intifada, he said, “is that if you do not control the territory, you can’t fight terrorism.” The intensity and lethal nature of the Second Intifada could only happen, he argued, “because we did not control the territory.”
Another key lesson the public took away from the rampaging violence, said Amidror, today a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, is that it “is impossible to trust the Palestinians.”
Amidror noted that the intifada broke out “after we had an agreement with Arafat. This wasn’t the First Intifada, where there was nothing between us and the Palestinians beforehand. We were after the Oslo Accords when we let them back into the territory. This led to a dramatic loss of confidence in them.”
Amidror said that a key operational lesson learned from the violence is that force is not the only way to deal with local uprisings, and that force – the “stick” – must be combined with “carrots” in the form of economic benefits and enhanced personal security.
Amidror, who stressed that he is not a psychologist, said that what remains in the minds of Israelis two decades after the eruption of the Second Intifada is “the sense that in the final analysis our security has to be in our own hands,” and that this “cannot be compromised in any way.”
Asked if this was not something obvious to most Israelis even beforehand, he replied: “We had illusions. Oslo was built on the premise that we could work with the Palestinians.”
Amidror argued that this premise was embraced by the politicians who negotiated the Oslo Accords, but was never accepted by the security establishment or “professional echelon,” of which he was a part at the time in his role as head of Military Intelligence’s research division.
“We said this won’t work, and the reality turned out to be even more difficult than we imagined.”
As to the intifada’s long-term impact on the Palestinians, Amidror said they realize now that if they initiate violence against civilians, they will “pay a much heavier price than we will.”
“I think they now understand that if they use violence we will respond in a much stronger way because our capabilities are so much greater, and that if they pass a certain line we will respond with great strength, so they need to keep things below that line,” he said.
Amidror said the Palestinian Authority now also understands that the only guarantor keeping Hamas from taking over all the territories is Israel.
THOSE TWO lessons, in addition to an Israeli policy aimed at improving the economic and security situation for the Palestinians in the West Bank, is preventing another intifada-type explosion, he maintained.
“If you take an average Palestinian in Nablus, and ask him where it is better to live today – in Cairo, Amman, Damascus or Baghdad, without occupation, or in Nablus with all the limitations of Israeli occupation, what do you think his answer will be? He has to be stupid not to think that life is better in Nablus.”
Reminded, however, that people are motivated not only by material good but also ideology, Amidror replied, “I’m not saying that the occupation doesn’t bother him, and that if you give him independence tomorrow he will not grab it. But when he wakes up and asks where life is better for him and his children, the answer is clear.
“People are not driven only by ideology,” he continued. “It is part of the drive, but not the only thing. If you don’t think I give enough importance to ideology in what motivates people, perhaps you give it too much importance and do not give enough weight to people wanting to live well and give their kids a better future.”
And finally, Amidror said, the Second Intifada also left its mark on Israel’s neighbors. He drew a direct line from the way Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000 – he used the expression “ran away” – to the outbreak of the intifada, saying this created a perception that Israel was not as strong as it appeared.
This intifada was the result of a decision taken by Arafat, not a spontaneous combustion, he stressed, adding that Arafat’s decision was made within the context of the Lebanon withdrawal.
“There is not doubt that the intifada came against the background of a perception in the Arab world of Israeli weakness following the retreat from Lebanon,” he said.
But, Amidror continued, the manner in which Israel dealt and eventually put down the intifada “made clear to the neighborhood, that if Israel is cornered, it will respond with great might. I think the Arab states saw that there is a line which, when passed, Israel will respond forcefully. You can push a long time – it took a long time before Sharon gave the order to move back into Judea Samaria [March 2002] – but when you cross a certain point, and nobody knows exactly where that point is, Israel will respond with great power and might.”
It is that power and might that eventually did put an end to the nightmare of the Second Intifada, but its memory more than just lingers 20 years after its start and continues to impact strongly on how the country acts, votes and views solutions to the Palestinian issue.
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Remember all those killed by “Just throwing rocks”
Esther Ohana, H”YD, a 20-year-old girl who was driving to her wedding rehearsal when she was murdered by rock throwing. Vardi Bamberger, 25, was severely injured when rocks were thrown at the vehicle in which she was riding at the same spot where Ester Ohana was killed. Bamberger suffered a fractured skull, but B’H survived. Yehuda Haim Shoham, H”YD, just five months old, was hit by a rock to the head while he was strapped into his car seat killing him. Eleven year-old Chava Wechsberg, H”YD, was killed when the car in which she was riding was attacked by rocks in the Gush Etzion region on February 24, 1993, causing it to crash. Amnon Pomerantz, H”YD, drove by mistake into the Arab town of El-Bureij on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 1990. Arabs stoned the car until he crashed. Then, as he lay slumped unconscious over the driving wheel, they burned him alive. Yeshohua Weisbrod, H”YD, made a wrong turn into Rafah on March 4, 1993. Arab rock-throwers attacked, causing the car to crash. A terrorist with a machine-gun then walked up to the vehicle and finished him off. Asher Palmer, H”YD, and his baby son Yonatan, H”YD. On September 23, 2011, they were driving on Highway 60, on their way to Jerusalem to meet Palmer’s wife, who was then expecting their second child. Near the village of Halhoul, rocks were thrown at their car from passengers in an Arab car traveling towards them from the opposite direction. The tremendous impact of the rocks smashed the front windshield of Palmer’s car and fractured Palmer’s skull, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. Both he and his son were killed in the crash.  Rabbi Shalom Arush – Breslev English-tweet-21October2025-Remember all those killed by ‘Just throwing rocks’
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🚨A PUBLIC ADMISSION BY DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MSF) EXPOSES THE TRUTH ON GAZA HOSPITAL:
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) has now made the rare, public acknowledgment, of how terrorists operate inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, with details most international aid organizations have ignored or denied altogether. The IDF and Israeli Foreign Ministry have been warning about this for years: 🔹 Terrorist groups exploit medical facilities as cover and operational space 🔹 This further proves why Hamas must be comprehensively disarmed MSF’s workers allege facing intimidation, armed men, and kidnapping of patients being treated, many still requiring care. MSF has chosen to scale back it’s presence due to safety and security threats. Nasser Hospital is in Khan Yunis is the largest functioning hospital in Gaza. Will the international media report these findings, or continue to neglect these reports, risking injury or death to those wishing to offer aid to those needing care? Source: Israel Today  Mossad Commentary-tweet-17February2026-MSF how terrorists operate inside Gaza Hospital
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Palestinians finance terror via their Pay-for-Slay policy
 Israel Foreign Ministry-tweet-9February2026-PA finance terror via their Pay-for-Slay policy
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$100 million spent on anti-Israel efforts yearly at UN, says Israeli envoy Danon“It is a shame that so much money is dedicated to activities against Israel instead of going to places that really need the investment.”Mike Wagenheimhttps://www.jns.org/100-million-spent-on-anti-israel-efforts-yearly-at-un-says-israeli-envoy-danon/  Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council on June 4, 2025. Credit: Evan Schneider/U.N. photo. (26December2025 / JNS) Israel’s envoy to the United Nations claimed this week that the global body spends upward of $100 million on anti-Israel activity each year.
Ambassador Danny Danon said the United Nations intends to soon approve its 2026 operating budget, and that his office has identified the $100 million “which is dedicated to activities against the state of Israel—to investigations, to discussions, to comprehensive decisions that work against us.”
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, commonly known as UNRWA, is tabbed to receive $86.5 million next year, according to documents viewed by JNS.
The Palestinian-only aid and social-services agency is under fire for ties to Hamas, and several countries and entities, including the United States, have suspended and reduced funding for the agency.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told JNS at a press briefing last week that “I think we can deliver humanitarian aid without UNRWA,” calling it “a corrupted organization that’s unsalvageable, period.”
Critics have accused the agency of primarily serving a political agenda, but U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres refused to propose financial cuts or related reform for UNRWA, despite the severe cash crunch the United Nations currently finds itself in.
Outside UNRWA, documents viewed by JNS attribute $4 million in budget requests for entities housed within the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights, including the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which largely acts as an advocacy organization.
Without parallel in the U.N. system, the Division for Palestinian Rights employs 15 people. Israeli officials accuse the entity, which falls under the purview of the U.N. Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, not of aiming to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but of disseminating a one-sided narrative.
Elsewhere, the budget documents viewed by JNS show approximately $800,000 a year dedicated to funding travel and training for Palestinian journalists—some $4 million for the U.N. Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has issued a series of reports highly critical of Israel, including charges of genocide and calls for boycotts; and nearly $1 million promoting a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone, which Israeli officials say singularly targets Jerusalem.
Additionally, the United Nations itself estimates that the cost of a debate runs between $11,000 and $17,000, and an 8,500-page report costs around $24,000 for production and translation services.
With debates and reports aimed at criticizing Israel running at around 100 per year across the U.N. system, according to figures viewed by JNS, the cost runs at around $3 million a year, and with 30 regular U.N. General Assembly debates last year dedicated to recurring Israel-related items, plus other Israel-focused debates at other U.N. institutions, the cost for those likely exceeds $1 million.
Other costs were more difficult to pin down. These include the salaries and related expenditures for four U.N. High Commission for Human Rights staff members dedicated to investigating, compiling and publishing the annual U.N. blacklist of companies that do business in Judea and Samaria, as well as five staff members employed by the same entity’s Working Group of Business and Human Rights that focus on encouraging boycotts of Israel.
While U.N. special rapporteurs and so-called independent experts are not salaried, their travel and other administrative costs are paid for by the United Nations. This includes Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, who was sanctioned by the United States for threatening American businesses with reputational harm and prosecution for doing business in and with Israel.
“It is a shame that so much money is dedicated to activities against Israel instead of going to places that really need the investment,” said Danon.
Israel paid nearly $21 million in dues to the United Nations this year, while the Palestinian Authority, which holds non-member observer status but was granted enhanced rights last year by the U.N. General Assembly, contributes nothing to the general budget since it is not required to do so.
Guterres’s office has repeatedly demurred when asked by JNS about the significant financial costs of anti-Israel activity within the U.N. system, saying that it is a matter for member states.
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UN Faces ‘Imminent Collapse’ as U.S. Funding StallsTrump withdrew the U.S. from multiple U.N. agencies and bodies, citing mismanagement, waste, and redundancy… including UNESCO and WHO.Posted by Ben Smith 31January2026 at 07:00pm https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/01/un-faces-imminent-collapse-as-u-s-funding-stalls/
The United Nations is sounding the alarm again about an “imminent financial collapse,” but it is not hard to see why the institution is panicking. The bill is coming due, and the organization that has spent decades scolding the United States is now warning it may have to literally close up shop in New York if Washington and other deadbeat contributors do not pay.
The numbers are staggering, and they cut through the usual U.N. talking points. The General Assembly approved a $3.45 billion regular budget for 2026, and U.N. officials told the New York Times that the United States is responsible for about 95% of the money currently owed, roughly $2.2 billion, combining unpaid 2025 dues and the 2026 assessment. The U.S. also owes far more beyond the regular budget, including about $1.9 billion for active peacekeeping missions, $528 million for closed missions, and $43.6 million for tribunals.
In other words, the U.N. financial model still assumes America will keep paying, even while U.N. actors and allied governments posture as if the U.S. is just another member state to be lectured.
President Trump has responded the way a lot of Americans have wanted presidents to respond for years. The Times reported that Trump withdrew the U.S. from multiple U.N. agencies and bodies, citing mismanagement, waste, and redundancy, including pulling out of UNESCO, the World Health Organization, and the U.N. Human Rights Council. He also moved to reduce funding for peacekeeping operations, while U.N. officials said Washington indicated it would pay only about $160 million toward active peacekeeping and would not pay for tribunals.
The BBC’s reporting underscores that the U.N. understands this is not a routine cash flow squeeze. It is a credibility crisis and a structural failure.
So here is the part the U.N. does not want to say out loud. If your institution can collapse because the United States stops writing checks, then you were never a serious independent global body. You were a dependency. And after years of waste, perks, and anti-American political theater, the shock on display now is not that the money is drying up. The shock is that the U.N. ever believed the American taxpayer would keep financing an institution that so often treats America like the problem.
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Trump announces US exit from dozens of UN, international groups“The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over,” the U.S. secretary of state said.Mike Wagenheimhttps://www.jns.org/trump-announces-us-exit-from-dozens-of-un-international-groups
(8January2026 / JNS) U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw Washington from 66 United Nations and international organizations, agencies, commissions and conventions.
Trump signed and published a presidential memorandum on Wednesday which, he said, followed a review of which “organizations, conventions and treaties are contrary to the interests of the United States.”
The withdrawals will come with full U.S. funding cuts for all of the entities.
“The Trump administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms and general prosperity,” stated Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state.
Washington will exit the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which serves as the central international agreement on climate crisis solutions, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other assorted environmental organizations.
America joined the convention via Senate ratification. It was not immediately clear if Trump had the authority alone to order a unilateral withdrawal. Trump announced last year that the United States would exit the Paris climate deal as well.
The memo on Wednesday also calls for withdrawals from the U.N. Population Fund, which focuses on maternal and child health, and the U.N. offices of the special representative of the secretary-general for children in armed conflict and sexual violence in conflict.
The children in armed conflict office has accused Israel for two years in a row of being a mass violator of children’s rights, despite wildly-inconsistent, internal U.N. data and standards.
António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, warned Israel it was in danger of appearing on this year’s sexual violence in conflict blacklist, as well. (The Israeli mission to the United Nations declined to comment.)
“President Trump is clear: It is no longer acceptable to be sending these institutions the blood, sweat and treasure of the American people, with little to nothing to show for it,” Rubio stated. “The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over.”
Since the start of his second term in January last year, Trump has withdrawn the United States from other U.N. bodies, including the World Health Organization and the U.N. Human Rights Council, and he has called for dismantling UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinians, which Washington, Jerusalem and others have said has extensive ties to Palestinian terror organizations.
“The secretary-general regrets the announcement by the White House regarding the United States’s decision to withdraw from a number of United Nations entities,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres, said on Thursday.
“As we have consistently underscored, assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the U.N. charter for all member states, including the United States,” he said.
Dujarric said that all U.N. agencies would continue to implement their mandates.
According to Trump’s memo, the United States intends to exit other entities, such as the Carbon Free Energy Compact, the United Nations University, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Pan-American Institute for Geography and History and the International Lead and Zinc Study Group.
A U.S. State Department source said that no decision has been made about personnel affected by the withdrawals and would likely be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, told JNS that the administration’s decision to “disengage from dysfunctional U.N. agencies highlights a broader credibility crisis.”
U.N. Women, for example, failed to take meaningful action against its deputy chief, Sarah Douglas, who endorsed more than 150 anti-Israel social media posts that violated the U.N. code of conduct, Neuer said.
“That absence of accountability, compounded by electing regimes like Saudi Arabia to lead its women’s rights commission last year, reinforces why reform—or recalibration of U.S. engagement—is necessary,” Neuer said.
Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at George Mason University Scalia Law School and executive director of its Middle East and international law center, stated that the Trump administration’s action is “beginning to dismantle the opaque web of globalist institutions—including numerous organizations, whose exit I have called for over the years.”
“Some of these are minor niche organizations that do no harm but cannot be justified from the point of taxpayer expense,” wrote Kontorovich, who is also a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “Others, like the Vienna Commission, seek to manufacture lay down astroturfed international ‘soft law’ that overwhelmingly aligns with progressive values. U.N. Women neglected mass rape by Hamas but remembered Amal Clooney’s birthday.”
To Kontorovich, the biggest thing was the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, “because it was joined via a Senate ratified treaty, making reentry by a subsequent president almost impossible.”
“UNFCCC violated federal law by admitting the PA as a ‘state,’ and will now reap the consequences,” he stated.
There has never been such a broad shakeout of America’s position in international organizations, and it is much overdue. Needless to say, a Democratic president will undo much of this, because these organizations embody their globalist worldview,” he added. “But for decades Republican presidents played along. The Left had normalized their preferences as ‘good global citizenship.’ Trump’s action puts an end to all that.”
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Why Israel Bulldozed UNRWA’s Jerusalem HQKey Takeaways: Israel’s dismantling of UNRWA represents a shift from diplomatic opposition to direct action against an agency whose unique mandate entrenches permanent Palestinian refugeehood rather than resolving it. Assertions that Israel lacks evidence of…Ben M. Freeman 22January2026 3:00 pm https://honestreporting.com/why-israel-bulldozed-unrwas-jerusalem-hq/  Why Israel Bulldozed UNRWA’s Jerusalem HQ
Key Takeaways:
Israel’s Challenge to UNRWA’s ImmunityOn January 21, Israel began dismantling UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. By demolishing UNRWA’s East Jerusalem offices, Israel took a further step following its October 2024 decision to bar the organization from operating within Israel’s borders. The site is now reportedly slated for redevelopment for public use, including the construction of approximately 1,400 apartments.
In short, this represents a decisive shift from diplomatic and legislative opposition to a direct challenge to UNRWA’s physical and institutional presence in Jerusalem.
The international media responded somewhat predictably to the move, accusing Israel of violating international law in coverage that led with colorful descriptions of bulldozers massing as the eastern Jerusalem site. Jonathan Fowler, a UNRWA spokesman, described the move as “an unprecedented attack against UNRWA and its premises,” claiming it constituted “a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations.” Absent from this coverage was any sustained engagement with the underlying question of whether UNRWA’s conduct warrants immunity from state action.
Founded in 1949, UNRWA presents itself as a humanitarian agency providing relief and support for Palestinian refugees. In practice, however, it has entrenched a permanent refugee status that is unique in international law, one that is inherited by descendants rather than resolved. No other refugee population is governed by a dedicated UN body whose mandate explicitly preserves refugeehood across generations. Rather than resettlement, rehabilitation, or integration, UNRWA has institutionalized a frozen political and national identity rooted in 1948.
AP and the BBC aren’t just reporting what happened; they’re quietly framing how you’re supposed to understand it. Look closely. ⬇️ That line does a lot of work by quietly telling readers not to believe what comes next. Except the evidence exists. And it always has. By declaring “occupied East Jerusalem” as fact in the headline, the BBC isn’t describing a dispute. It’s unilaterally drawing the borders of another country’s capital. And it is the only one that: That isn’t humanitarianism. It’s institutionalised dependency. But this isn’t abstract. The speaker: an UNRWA employee. He describes infiltrating Israel and holding Israeli captives. This is what the media calls “little evidence.” ⬇ Journalists suspend skepticism. Evidence is minimized. Take this claim, reported uncritically: that UNRWA leased the land from Jordan since 1952, even though Jordan claims no sovereignty there, and all water and electricity in Jerusalem are provided by Israeli authorities. Absurd on its face. Reported anyway. It’s media institutions protecting a failed UN agency, even after terror infiltration and involvement in October 7 massacre. Notice what’s framed. Notice what’s omitted.
 HonestReporting-tweet-21January2026-The media institutions protecting a failed UN agency-1
 HonestReporting-tweet-21January2026-The media institutions protecting a failed UN agency-2
 HonestReporting-tweet-21January2026-The-media-institutions-protecting-a-failed-UN-agency-3
Terror Affiliation and Institutional RadicalizationDefenders of UNRWA frequently argue that Israel has provided little or no evidence that the agency is implicated in terrorism, or that it plays a role in fostering hatred of Israel and Jews. This claim does not withstand scrutiny. According to Israel Defense Forces intelligence, more than 450 individuals employed by UNRWA in Gaza are also members of terrorist organizations, primarily Hamas. This assessment is reinforced by evidence of UNRWA employees’ direct involvement in the October 7 massacre, including participation in the kidnapping of Israeli hostages. Among these was the abduction of the body of Israeli civilian Jonathan Samerano, which was taken into Gaza. An investigation conducted by the UN’s own Office of Internal Oversight Services found that at least 19 UNRWA staff members took part in the atrocities committed that day.
Criticism of Israel’s actions also ignores UNRWA’s broader role in perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is the central issue. Israel banned UNRWA and dismantled its extensive office complex, reportedly spanning nearly two city blocks, because the agency functions not as a neutral humanitarian body but as a structural enabler of Palestinian terrorism and political radicalization. Despite its stated mission, UNRWA does not work to improve Palestinians’ prospects for peace or stability. It exists to preserve a narrative of permanent grievance and displacement.
UNRWA’s ties to extremism are not limited to Gaza or the West Bank. The agency operates across the Arab world wherever Palestinians are deliberately kept in perpetual refugee status, including Lebanon and Syria, exporting the same patterns of incitement. In Syria, UNRWA math teacher Adnan Shteiwi publicly praised Diaa Hamarsheh, who murdered five Israelis in the March 2022 Bnei Brak terror attack, calling him a “martyr” whose name should “forever remain in letters of fire, might, and magnificence.” Another UNRWA employee in Syria, Labibeh Iskandarani, shared an image of Hitler online, urging him to wake up because “there are still some people you need to burn.” In Lebanon, Fathi Sharif, Hamas’s leader in the country, also served as head of UNRWA’s 2,000 teachers. He was killed in Israeli airstrikes in 2024. Taken together, all of these incidents demonstrate a consistent ideology rather than random extremism or “bad apples”. Terror Affiliation and Institutional RadicalizationThese cases illustrate one of UNRWA’s most serious failures: its role in indoctrinating Palestinian children. As the primary education provider in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA has shaped generations of students. This constitutes institutionalized harm. UNRWA curricula and teaching practices promote violence against Jews, as documented by UN Watch. In one widely circulated video, a young Palestinian girl attending UNRWA’s Tulkarm Camp Girls’ School states that she has been taught that Palestinians should shoot Israelis and that she hates Jews “a lot.” This is consistent with recordings released by the IDF of UNRWA teachers participating in the October 7 attacks, declaring, “I’m inside, I’m inside with the Jews,” and, “We have female hostages, I captured one.”
Journalist Nicole Lampert interviewed Dr. E. J. Brearley, an aid professional with direct experience working alongside UNRWA, who described an education system designed not to prepare children for civilian life but for perpetual conflict. He characterized the indoctrination as so sophisticated that it eclipsed even the propaganda of Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines, noting that whistleblowers inside Gaza who warned about UNRWA’s collaboration with Hamas were ignored because the aid industry was financially invested in maintaining the status quo.
The reality is that UNRWA obstructs peace by denying Palestinians a future beyond victimhood. It conditions children to view martyrdom as destiny and embeds hatred of Jews at the core of its institutional culture. Its employees have not merely tolerated violence but, in documented cases, actively promoted or participated in it. In response to growing scrutiny, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated bluntly that “UNRWA is a subsidiary of Hamas.” In both its aims and its practices, the evidence strongly supports that conclusion.
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ISRAEL SUSPENDS CONTACTS WITH UN AGENCIES
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar @gidonsaar announced the immediate suspension of contacts with seven UN bodies, following a Foreign Ministry review and the US withdrawal from similar organizations. 🔹 Ties cut with: 🔹 Israel says additional UN bodies are under review. Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil  Mossad Commentary-tweet-13January2026-ISRAEL SUSPENDS CONTACTS WITH UN AGENCIES
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Israel to strip licenses from aid groups in West Bank, Gaza over terror linksThe government has begun revoking licenses from several international aid groups operating in the West Bank and Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders, citing refusal to complete legal registration and the employment of staff linked to terror groupsItamar Eichner | 30December2025 | 04:37 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1svo2e4z
The Israeli government has begun a process to revoke operating licenses from international organizations working in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after they failed to complete registration procedures required by law. The decision also followed findings that some employees at the organizations were involved in terrorist activity.
The move, led by an interministerial team headed by the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, includes sending formal letters to more than 10 international organizations, among them Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF. The letters state that their licenses to operate in Israel will be revoked as of Jan. 1 and that they must wind down their activities by March 1.
The action comes after the organizations were given extensive time to comply. The original deadline was Sept. 9 and was later extended to Dec. 31 to allow for full preparation, a total of about 10 months. Despite the extensions, some groups refused to meet a central requirement: submitting full lists of their Palestinian employees for security screening.
Security checks found that employees of Doctors Without Borders were involved in terror activity. In June 2024, an Islamic Jihad operative employed by the organization was killed, and in September, another employee was exposed as having served as a Hamas sniper. In both cases, the organization refrained from providing information about the employees’ identities and roles.
Political and security officials stressed there is no intention to disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip. They said the organizations facing license revocation account for only a small portion of overall aid, most of which continues to be delivered through other bodies and controlled channels.
This is your employee, @MSF. A physical therapist by day and terrorist by night. Fadi Al-Wadiya, who was eliminated by the @IDF 2 days ago, worked both as a physical therapist for Doctors Without Borders and as a prominent terrorist in the PIJ terrorist organization. Fadi Al-Wadiya developed and advanced the terrorist organization’s rocket array for 15 years, and was a central figure in the terrorist organization’s knowledge of electronics and chemistry. The same year that Al-Wadiya joined the MSF, he tried to leave Gaza to Iran, along with two other terrorists, in order to engage in terrorism training there.  COGAT-tweet-27June2024-This is your employee MSF
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said it expects the organizations to launch what it described as false campaigns aimed at smearing Israel and claiming the move will worsen humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The unit said, however, that enforcement of the law will not affect the scope of humanitarian aid, noting that the organizations warned of closure have not delivered aid to Gaza during the current ceasefire.
COGAT also said the organizations’ refusal to operate transparently and cooperate with required screenings is not incidental but raises serious suspicion about the nature of their activities and their partners.
Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli said he was proud the government had empowered his ministry to lead the effort to end activity against Israel under humanitarian cover. “The message is clear,” he said. “Humanitarian aid, yes. Exploiting it for terror purposes, no.”
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BACKGROUND: FOLLOW THE LINK: UNRWA, Hamas & Palestinian Authority train Terrorists:Children Soldiers You’re average Palestinian family Hamas & Palestinian Authority train Terrorists:
Participation of Children and Teenagers in Terrorist Activity during the Al-Aqsa IntifadaType:Information – Topic: Terrorism – Publish Date: 30January2003 – Updated date: 30November2021
Participation of Children and Teenagers in Terrorist Activity during the “Al-Aqsa” Intifada
(Communicated by Israeli security sources)
During the Al-Aqsa intifada we have witnessed an evolving phenomenon of the exploitation of teenagers and children by various terrorist organizations in order to perpetrate terrorist attacks, among them suicide attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets. Children and teenagers between the ages of 11 and 18 have over the past few months carried out suicide and other terrorist attacks in which innocent Israeli civilians have been killed and injured. In addition, Israeli security forces apprehended a considerable number of these teenagers and children prior to the perpetration of the terrorist attacks. Terrorist organizations exploit the innocent look of children and teenagers, which does not arouse suspicion and enables them to blend into populated areas. In addition, these children and teenagers, who have not yet reached adulthood, are more susceptible to the terrorist organizations’ influence and the recruitment of suicide bombers.
Children and teenagers who are supposed to dream of a better future and enjoy innocence and happiness are thus sucked into the reality of killing and hate. The terrorist organizations which convince the children and teenagers that they will enjoy a life of happiness after death, are actually uprooting these children from their homes and families, and by religious or nationalist incitment are encouraging them to perpetrate terrorist attacks.
Salah Shehade, one of the heads of the Hamas in the Gaza Strip, recently deceased, discussed the use of children in terrorist attacks in an interview on the Islam On Line internet site (May 26, 2002). He said that the children must be trained well prior to perpetrating terrorist attacks and be recruited into a special branch within the organization’s military apparatus in order to instill the Jihad culture and teach them right from wrong. Expressions such as these represent one of the primary elements in convincing parents to send their children to perpetrate terrorist attacks.
Ala Saftawi, the chief editor of the Islamic Jihad’s “Alastaklal”, said on Tehran radio that Gaza Strip residents, especially children, have a high level of willingness to die a martyr’s death, because they have nothing to lose.
On June 27, 2002 Palestinian television screened a movie entitled “Children who love the homeland and the martyr’s death,” in which Dr. Fadel Abu Hin, a psychologist, speaks of the evolving phenomenon of children’s involvement in the intifada. Abu Hin mentioned that the word “shouhada” – martyrdom – has a multitude of meanings for Palestinian children in particular and for the entire Islamic community, and it is not simply a matter of putting an end to one’s life. Through this action, the children are able to take an active part in the intifada.
Abu Hin produced a poll carried out in the Islamic University in April 2001, on 1,000 teenagers between the ages of 916 in the Gaza Strip: 49% claimed to have taken an active part in the intifada and 73% expressed the desire to be a “shahid” (martyr). These statistics clearly show the growing radicalism among children and teenagers in the territories, who are easily recruited by the terrorist organizations to perpetrate terrorist attacks. During the interview the anchorwoman stated, “The hearts of the Palestinian children are filled not only with anxiety and fear, but also with a strong will to achieve ‘Shouhad’a (martyrdom)… Shouhada has become the greatest aspiration for many children who believe that this is the way to win prestige, and to be immortalized among their people.”
Not only does the Palestinian media incite and influence the children and teenagers, but the education system and summer camps “brainwash” the adolescents. The adolescents are inculcated with Islamic precepts that call for and encourage Jihad against Israel. At the beginning of July the Islamic Foundation in Gaza organized summer camps called the “Al-Aqsa Martyrs summer camp”. These camps continued until the end of July. On July 2, the “Al-Quds” newspaper quoted Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Baher, the chairman of the Islamic Foundation, as saying that the foundation attempted to keep the summer camps going despite the ongoing conflict, because they deeply believe in the values the summer camps are instilling in the children.
In addition, Dr. Baher stated that there is a constant stream of children who want to participate in the Hamas summer camps, where the children receive uniforms, shoes, exercise books and attention from the camp organizers. According to him, non-religious children join the summer camps due to the vast number of attractions that the organization offers. In addition, they teach the children the history of Islam, with pictures of the “martyrs” displayed everywhere, and in this way “instill the seeds of hate against Israel.”
Similar summer camps are being conducted by the Palestinian Authority Ministry for Youth and Sport, designed to incite the children, recruit them against Israel and train them in the use of weapons for future terrorist attacks against Israel.
An additional phenomenon worth mentioning is the fact that parents are allowing their children to dress up as “martyrs”. More and more, we are witnessing the phenomenon of children participating in marches and parades while dressed as “martyrs” and wearing props similar to explosive charges and slogans proclaiming their “martyr” status. A picture was recently found of a baby wearing an explosive charge and a headband with a slogan dedicating his life to Allah. There is no doubt that this phenomenon has a destructive effect on the education of these children, who imbibe the Jihad culture, making them easy targets for recruitment by terrorist organizations for perpetrating attacks.
The Involvement of Children and Teenagers Between the ages of 11-18 in Terror
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Anwar Ahmed Abd El Khalek Hamed, currently 18 years old, an illiterate resident of Rafah, was previously involved in drug trafficking and use. He is affiliated with the Abu Rish faction of the Fatah and was apprehended on his way to perpetrate a suicide attack when he was 16.5 years old. He confessed during questioning that he was on his way to carry out a suicide attack against a convoy of IDF soldiers along the Gaza coastal road. The attack was planned and directed by Mohammed Sinwar, a senior military operative in the Hamas terror organization in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Anwar confessed that PFLP activists had proposed that he perpetrate a terrorist attack in the community of Morag during the month of Ramadan.
Regrets on the global stage as countries rethink bans on IsraelThere was a price to be paid for withdrawing from one of the most forward-thinking, productive and defense-oriented countries in the world. Anti-Israel protests march through Madrid calling for a boycott of Israel after the cancellation of the Vuelta a España cycling race. 14September2025. Credit: Barcex via Wikimedia Commons.
https://www.jns.org/regrets-on-the-global-stage-as-countries-rethink-bans-on-israel/
(10November2025 / JNS) The timing was extraordinary. As I was moderating a conference entitled “U.S.-Central Asian Relations in the Era of the Abraham Accords,” Kazakhstan announced that it was, in fact, joining the pact. The reasons are many, and more Central Asian countries are likely to join, but it is the timing that leads to a larger understanding of Israel and the often hypocritical world. To be clear, it is neither the Abraham Accords countries nor those of Central Asia that are hypocritical.
Before the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of Israel and the gruesome massacre of more than 1,200 people, Israel and the countries of Europe had deep and long relations: political, economic, defense, cultural and sporting. But, in the eyes of many European governments, it was Israel that had to be penalized in all of those areas.
In 2023, the pan-European UniCredit put Israel on a “forbidden list.” Norway’s Storebrand group and French insurer sold shares of some Israeli firms, including banks. In 2024, several of Europe’s biggest financial firms cut back their links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country.
Spain maintained what it called a “total embargo” on Israeli weapons. Madrid canceled a $207 million deal to buy targeting systems, following Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s description of Israel’s operations as “the genocide in Gaza.”
The British government canceled partnerships between the United Kingdom and Israel worth 6 billion pounds and supporting 38,000 jobs, as well as the provision of “significant information” to U.K. intelligence by Israel, including information that thwarted an Iranian-linked terrorist plot.
Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia and others announced varying degrees of suspension of military and economic cooperation with Israel. The United Kingdom banned Israeli soccer fans, and the Netherlands had an actual pogrom. But it was always a convoluted set of decisions.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund had loudly announced its divestiture from Israel. Yet, at the end of 2024, the fund had more than $2 billion invested in 65 Israeli companies. The Norwegian Parliament rejected calls for a blanket ban, but the fund blacklisted 11 Israeli companies for assisting Israel’s “occupation,” primarily by providing gas and electricity to Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.
French and British pandering for a “Palestinian state” garnered headlines and victory cheers from Hamas, which credited Oct. 7.
Countries wanted to look strong, often in the face of violently anti-Israel and antisemitic mobs at home. But now, things are getting real and, as one analyst noted, “When things get real, countries put politics aside and go for Israel.”
The reality is that there was no famine in Gaza. There was no genocide. Hamas committed various heinous crimes against Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians. And there was a price to be paid for withdrawing from one of the most forward-thinking, productive and defense-oriented countries in the world.
According to World Israel News, Israel’s Ministry of Defense reported that Israeli arms exports hit a record $14.8 billion in 2024, with 54% of those exports going to European countries; a dramatic rise from just over 33% in 2023. World Israel News also reported: “Despite public statements about severing ties with Israeli defense firms, Spain has authorized a €350 million ($420 million) deal with Elbit Systems for tactical radio communication systems.”
Norway declined to enforce its rules requiring divestiture from companies that have investments/facilities in Israel, including Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet. Finance minister Jens Stoltenberg said withdrawing “would undermine the purpose of the fund to be a broad, diversified global investment fund.”
After a September announcement that German arms exports to Israel had fallen to zero, Ha’aretz reported in October that Germany had, in fact, approved arms exports worth at least $2.9 million.
The Israeli and Greek Air Forces held a joint aerial refueling drill, and Israel, Greece, Cyprus and the United States met to discuss restoration of the East Med Gas Pipeline, which had been nixed by the Biden administration.
The “State of Palestine” offered little in the way of progress to real Palestinians. And, on the side, after months of nasty rhetoric emanating from Cairo, and weapons smuggling in Sinai near the Israeli border, Egypt acknowledged its dependence on Israel and signed a new natural gas deal. Israel still has to address the weapons in Sinai.
Even in Hollywood, reality may be intruding on fantasy. In October, as the ceasefire was drawing closer, a new boycott of the Israeli film industry and Israeli actors took shape. But Warner Bros. Discovery told Variety, “Our policies prohibit discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on race, religion, national origin or ancestry. We believe a boycott of Israeli film institutions violates our policies.” After a boycott letter circulated at Paramount, the studio released a statement condemning it for “silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality.”
To close the loop, the countries of Central Asia were always smarter about their interests. They have longstanding ties with the State of Israel. They are increasingly interested in increased relations with the Gulf states and the United States, particularly in light of their concerns about China and Russia, the historic powers in the region. Neither they nor the Abraham Accords countries were taken in by the propaganda shared by Hamas, Russia, Iran and Qatar about Gaza (although Gulf state concerns were sincere and expected).
Central Asia and the Abraham Accord countries are moving ahead, and Europe and Hollywood are catching up.
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How Israel avoided Eurovision ouster and the diplomatic push that changed the voteIsrael’s delegation mounted an intensive lobbying effort in Geneva, backed by a special team formed by President Herzog, as the EBU advanced new rules critics said targeted IsraelRan Boker | 4December2025 | 22:24 https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/rjx22d1mwg
Israel secured its place in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest only after an intensive, months-long diplomatic campaign that unfolded largely behind the scenes, Israeli officials said Thursday, describing a coordinated effort involving KAN executives, government advisers and the President’s Residence to prevent the country’s expulsion.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) approved rule changes at its general assembly in Geneva that cleared the way for Israel to participate in next year’s competition in Vienna. The decision followed rising calls from several European broadcasters to bar Israel, and what officials described as the most serious push yet to force a vote on its removal.
Eden Golan’s Eurovision2024 performance
KAN chief executive Golan Yokhpaz and attorney Ayala Mizrahi, who has handled legal strategy for two years of mounting boycott efforts, led Israel’s delegation in Geneva. Both engaged in direct lobbying of EBU members, aiming to prevent the assembly from moving to a binding vote that Israel feared it might lose.
President Isaac Herzog created a dedicated team at his residence to coordinate diplomatic outreach, convinced that an expulsion could snowball into a broader political setback for Israel in Europe. Israeli officials said Herzog personally urged international partners to oppose a vote on Israel’s removal and instead back reforms that would ease tensions inside the EBU.
Those reforms — including restrictions on governmental involvement in song promotion and adjustments to jury-public voting rules — were widely interpreted as compromises aimed at addressing complaints raised by critics of Israel without triggering expulsion. EBU members adopted the package in a secret ballot.
But the move immediately triggered a backlash: the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia announced they would withdraw from the 2026 contest in protest of Israel’s continued participation.
A senior EBU official, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told ynet the organization now faces “a major challenge,” pointing to a wave of cancellations and reputational damage.
Herzog praised the Israeli delegation for what officials described as a painstaking diplomatic effort. “Israel deserves to be represented on every stage,” he said, adding that the decision reflected “solidarity and cooperation” among those who defended Israel’s participation.
In its statement, the EBU said the reforms were designed to strengthen trust and preserve the contest’s neutrality, and that all members agreeing to the new rules may participate in 2026.
The next Eurovision is set for Vienna in May.
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Yuval Raphael’s Eurovision2025 performance
יום חדש יזרח 🇮🇱 🌟 הביצוע המלא של יובל רפאל בחצי גמר האירוויזיון 2025 A new day will shine 🇮🇱 🌟 Yuval Raphael’s full performance in the Eurovision 2025 semi-final
 kann-tweet-15May2025-Yuval Raphael’s Eurovision2025 performance
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UN made ‘Rosetta Stone’ for Jew-hatred in 1975, expert says at Geneva eventAntisemitism at the global body “hides behind a veneer of commissions, rapporteurs, expert reports and biased agenda items and resolutions that disproportionately single out Israel year after year,” a U.S. diplomat said.Mike Wagenheimhttps://www.jns.org/un-made-rosetta-stone-for-jew-hatred-in-1975-expert-says-at-geneva-event/
 A banner by the collectif Palestine 69 with the words “Fascism, Racism, Zionism: Same Enemy, Same Fight,” using 50-year-old terminology begun by the United Nations. The cross-party call to bring together political parties, associations and trade unions against racism and push for equal rights for all took place at a demonstration in Lyon, France, on March 22, 2025. Photo by Antoine Boureau/Hans Lucas/ Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images.
(14November2025 / JNS) Nearly 35 years have passed since the United Nations voted, in 1991, to revoke its 1975 resolution declaring Zionism to be racism. But that statement 50 years ago set the stage for the attacks on the Jewish state today, several speakers said during an event hosted this week by the U.S. and Israeli missions to the global body in Geneva.
“U.N. General Assembly Resolution 3379, which wrongly declared that Zionism is a form of racism, was a symbolic assault on the Jewish people and the legitimacy of the State of Israel,” Mireille Zieseniss, acting U.S. deputy chief of mission, said at the event.
“The adoption of this antisemitic resolution marked an unfortunate chapter in the U.N.’s history, undermining the organization’s founding principles,” she said. “Then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned in his remarks opposing the resolution that ‘a great evil has been loosed upon the world.’”
Though revoked, the “resolution’s impact, including the establishment of anti-Israel bodies within the U.N. system, reverberates to this day, emboldening those who seek to delegitimize Israel and marginalize Jewish communities worldwide,” Zieseniss said.
She added that “in the U.N. context, antisemitism, which is among the world’s oldest hatreds, hides behind the veneer of commissions, rapporteurs, ‘expert’ reports, and biased agenda items and resolutions that disproportionately single out Israel year after year.”
“Ancient prejudices are perpetuated, masquerading as criticism of Israel,” she said.
She spoke as part of a discussion that ran for about an hour and 45 minutes on “1975-2025: Confronting antisemitism and racism at the U.N.,” which the two missions hosted.
‘It planted seeds of hostility’Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, delivered recorded remarks at the event, a half-century after his father, Chaim Herzog, then the Israeli envoy to the United Nations, tore a copy of the resolution and delivered a stinging rebuke in the General Assembly’s hall after it passed.
Chaim Herzog’s granddaughter, Ariel, attended the event on Nov. 12, as did representatives of 37 countries, according to the Israeli mission.
Daniel Meron, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told JNS that the 50th anniversary of the resolution offered a chance to highlight its current impact on the global body.
“There are forces which are continuing to try to use the United Nations as a platform to portray Israel as the mother of all evils, and where the anti-Zionism and antisemitic notion is very prevalent,” he said. “We thought it was very good to have this event.”
Meron told JNS that the U.S. mission is to be applauded for seeking and obtaining a waiver so that its members could participate during the government shutdown.
The resolution fueled racism rather than fought it, Meron told the audience.
“It emboldened extremists, legitimized hatred and provided ideological cover for the oldest hatred known to humanity,” he said in his remarks. “It planted seeds of hostility that continue to bear poisonous fruit today, in the streets, on university campuses and across the digital world.”
‘It created the playbook’Gil Troy, an author, historian and senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, told attendees that “one of the key words that’s often missing from definitions of antisemitism is the word ‘obsession.’”
He stated that “anti-Zionism has become a modern obsession. What do we know from obsession? We put the Jew, as we did in the Middle Ages, and now the Jewish state, at the center of all the world’s troubles.”
Troy denounced the United Nations for “betraying its founding ideals” by adopting the resolution.
“The United Nations created the Rosetta Stone for antisemitism and anti-Zionism, because the two merged. It created the playbook,” he said. “It created the precedent for institutions to single out Israel. It created the playbook for uniting on campus, uniting in the media, uniting in the art world against Israel and the Jewish people.”
David Harris, former CEO of the American Jewish Committee, told attendees that many Israelis thought of the 1975 resolution as “a mosquito bite.”
“‘We’ve had them before.’ ‘We’ll have them again.’ ‘It’ll go away.’ ‘It doesn’t matter,’” he said. “But it mattered.”
Meron told JNS that the U.N. plan to combat Jew-hatred, which it debuted in April, has had little if any practical impact.
“I’ve seen a lot of talk,” he said. “I put together a report, which I delivered here in Geneva and in Washington, of how the United Nations needs to reform and get rid of all this singling out of one country, and nobody’s taking it seriously except the American administration.”
“The United Nations is not taking it seriously,” he said. “If they were really serious about antisemitism, they would stop singling out one country: the Jewish state.”
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Always remember… Lies are spread by ‘Palestinians’, repeated by fools, and accepted by idiots.
 Brock Profit-tweet-6March2026-Lies are spread by Palestinians repeated by fools and accepted by idiots
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Gaza flotilla Consequences
Switzerland has issued invoices of up to €11,000 to the 20 Swiss nationals who joined the pro-Gaza flotilla “Sumud.” According to officials, the charges cover: A Swiss government spokesperson said the move reflects a clear policy: Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil.  Mossad Commentary-tweet-11December2025-Gaza flotilla Consequences
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BREAKING: UNRWA CAN NOW BE SUED IN ISRAELI COURTS
This legal breakthrough isn’t just about one case.  Shurat HaDin-tweet-19January2026-BREAKING UNRWA CAN NOW BE SUED IN ISRAELI COURTS
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Israel begins dismantling process of banned UNRWA’s Jerusalem headquartersThe measures against UNRWA began in late 2024 with Israel’s decision to outlaw all of the organization’s activities within the country’s borders.
By TPS, SHIR PERETS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Israeli personnel arrived to dismantle the UNRWA (UN Relief Works Agency) headquarters on Ammunition Hill in northern Jerusalem on Tuesday morning.
Ammunition Hill is the central headquarters from which all of the organization’s activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem were managed. UNRWA’s main logistical infrastructure was concentrated within the building.
Israel Police noted that security forces were at the scene to ensure the safety of workers demolishing the site, which had been vacant for at least a year.
Since the beginning of the war, UNRWA’s ties with the terrorist organization Hamas have been exposed, and it was discovered that some UNRWA operatives even took part in the October 7 massacre. In addition, numerous tunnels and terrorist infrastructures were found under buildings belonging to UNRWA in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a historic day, a holiday, and a very important day for Jerusalem’s governance,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated.
“For years, these terror supporters were here, and today they are banished with everything they built.”
“This is happening as a result of the laws I initiated to expel UNRWA from Israel. And redemption has come to Zion!” MK Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu, one of the initiators of the bill to sever ties with UNRWA, said.
The Foreign Ministry stated that the demolition was not because of any new policy, “but rather the implementation of existing Israeli legislation concerning UNRWA-Hamas.”
“The State of Israel owns the Jerusalem compound in which the Israel Land Authority operates today. Even prior to the passage of legislation in January 2025, UNRWA-Hamas had already ceased its operations at this site and no longer had any UN personnel or UN activity there,” the ministry stated.
“The compound does not enjoy any immunity, and the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law.”
“The evacuation of UNRWA’s offices is not collective punishment or politics, it is the legal consequence of an organization that lost its neutrality,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Shurat HaDin, which represents victims of the October 7 attacks in a major lawsuit against the UN body. “When UNRWA facilities and staff are tied to Hamas terror, Israel has both the right and the obligation to remove that presence from its capital.”
Measures against UNRWA started in 2025The measures against UNRWA began in late 2024 with Israel’s decision to outlaw all of the organization’s activities within the country’s borders.
In December 2025, the Knesset voted to disconnect UNRWA facilities from water and electricity.
Less than two weeks ago, Israeli forces arrived to evacuate the UNRWA facility in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.
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Final approval: No water or electricity to be supplied to UNRWA propertiesThe Knesset has approved the bill by MK Limor Son Har-Melech, which imposes sanctions on UNRWA, including cutting infrastructure, revoking immunities, and seizing assets.Israel National News / Published: 29December2025, 6:35 PM (GMT+2)
The Knesset plenary approved tonight (Monday), in the second and third readings, the bill proposed by the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Limor Son Har-Melech, which aims to stop the activities of UNRWA within the State of Israel.
The bill, which received broad support, includes a series of sanctions against the organization, marking the end of UNRWA’s operations in the country.
The new law revokes the United Nations immunity that UNRWA, its employees, and its assets have enjoyed, and imposes significant economic and infrastructural restrictions. Among the sanctions are: cutting off electricity, water, and gas services to any property where UNRWA is listed as a consumer, a ban on financial institutions providing banking or payment services to the organization, and a demand for communication providers to disconnect telecommunication services to UNRWA.
In addition, the law stipulates that the state and local authorities will have the authority to seize land held by UNRWA within 30 days.
Following the approval of the law, MK Son Har-Melech stated, “UNRWA is a terrorist organization that was a full partner in the massacre, abduction, and murder on October 7th. Today, the State of Israel has made it clear in no uncertain terms that it has no place within its borders. We didn’t come to make declarations, but to change the reality on the ground and restore national sovereignty and honor.”
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UNRWA has significant debts owed to the City of Jerusalem
UNRWA does not pay its bills. The Municipality sent the debt to Israel’s civil enforcement authority, which is fully empowered to: @israelpolice are on site to ensure security for municipal staff carrying out a lawful enforcement action. The reality: UNRWA failed to pay what it owes. And Jerusalem is enforcing the law like it would with any debtor. Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil  Mossad Commentary-tweet-8December2025-UNRWA has significant debts owed to the City of Jerusalem
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Europeans finally waking up to Hamas-enabling UNRWA scamBy Post Editorial Board Published 10December2025, 10:55 p.m. ET
It looks like the days are numbered for the terrorist-infested UN Relief and Works Agency, as UNRWA loses support from major European nations that have long backed it.
Cheers for Germany, Italy, Czechia and Hungary, joined by Bulgaria and Latvia last Friday in withholding support for the renewal of UNRWA’s charter. Austria, Romania and Lithuania joined in on a separate resolution.
Close observers have always known that UNRWA — the special UN agency charged with caring for Palestinian refugees, and only Palestinian refugees — works hand-in-glove with Hamas in Gaza.
But then it turned out that UNRWA directly employed Hamas fighters who joined in the Oct. 7, 2022, terror assault on Israel; the course of the war exposed many more, deep Hamas-UNRWA ties.
Israel has since banned UNRWA from working in its territory, and Washington cut off aid to the agency early this year, following a temporary suspension under President Joe Biden.
Israel, citing non-payment of taxes, even took over a former UNRWA center in East Jerusalem, raising the national standard in place of the flag of the United Nations.
Without Israel’s cooperation, UNRWA’s capacity to work in Gaza is next to zero, but that didn’t stop more than 150 nations voting Friday to keep the agency rattling along.
Remember: Every other refugee population in the world is helped by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which assists people displaced by war or persecution in resettlement and integration into their new homes; former refugees become residents and eventually citizens, losing their refugee status.
Only Palestinians, under UNRWA’s “care,” retain refugee status forever, even unto the third, fourth and fifth generations — and so perpetuating the eternal victimhood of the Palestinian people by shackling them to aid and legalizing their segregation inside neighboring nations long decades after their forebears arrived.
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ISRAEL AT WAR 5786: Time and Again
Tel Aviv-We’re going to be fine
Eylon Levy-tweet-14October2025-Tel Aviv-We’re going to be fine
📌 Tel Aviv
We’re going to be fine
Eylon Levy-tweet-14October2025-Tel Aviv-We’re going to be fine
7 Hostages Released
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-13October2025-7 Hostages Released
After 738 days in captivity in Gaza, Matan, Gali, Ziv, Alon, Eitan, Omri and Guy are coming home. 🇮🇱
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-13October2025-7 Hostages Released
13 Hostages Released
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-13October2025-13 Hostages Released
It’s official: There are no more living Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity.
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-13October2025-13 Hostages Released
God’s Level of Morality, Not Man’s
For ages, spiritual movements reshaped themselves to match human appetite. Only Judaism was bound to G-d Who demanded we confront these appetites. He dares us to fight our lowly human natures and rise higher.
David Ben Horin | Posted on 03February2026 | https://breslev.com/5205718/
God’s Level of Morality, Not Man’s by David Ben Horin
For more than 1,300 years, the banner of jihad or “holy war” has been used to justify an unbroken trail of bloodshed. The Sunni–Shia feud that started in the first generation after Muhammad evolved into a centuries-long cycle of massacres, reprisals, and “holy” score-settling.
The same script played out in Lebanon and Syria, where entire cities were dragged into wars fought less for God and more for power dressed in “holy” clothing.
On October 7, that same ideology tore through our own communities, transforming homes and families into targets.
And in Iran, tens of thousands of men and women—people who dared to push for something as simple as human freedom—were eliminated under the pious marketing slogan of “religious duty.” Thousands more face the death penalty after being branded “enemies of god” for wanting their own taste of what Judeo-Christian values label “God-given freedoms.”
A religion made to validate and even accommodate their darkest impulses.
Although Christianity is far less egregious in its blanket permissions for evil such as murder, it still falls far short of pushing mankind to the highest levels of morality, honesty, and refined behavior.
A Covenant That Elevates Rather Than Accommodates
Judaism, on the other hand, demands as the basis of Jewish law or halacha the highest, exacting standards of honesty and morality. Even jealousy, which is a normal human emotion in a particular set of circumstances – is banned – as one of the Ten Commandments! Jewish law demands 10% of income be tithed to the poor, demands honest weights and measures and honesty in business, demands lost items be returned and not taken as “finders keepers,” and so much more. There is no “well, I’m not evil so I’m good” in Judaism. Goodness, honesty and morality are demanded as the most basic level of keeping Jewish law!
An excellent example of this requirement not just to be OK, but to be moral and honest to the highest degree, is found in the story of the young rabbi who bought a desk, and discovered $98,000 cash that had been hidden by the owner, and the recipient of his inheritance didn’t know was there. He asked his rabbi who confirmed that the money had to be returned since the owner didn’t intend to include it in the sale of the desk. The Los Angeles Times titled the article on this story “The Most Honest Man in America?”1 The answer is that any Jew who follows Jewish law would have done the exact same thing, because this is the standard of honesty and morality that G-d demands and Judaism does not water it down for the desires of humans!
This is what makes the covenant, or Brit, between Hashem and the Jewish People so extraordinary. It isn’t shaped to suit our whims or comforts. Instead, God invites us to rise, to grow, to refine ourselves so we can live in alignment with Him.
It begins on the eighth day of life, with a moment that signals something profound: our journey toward discipline, holiness, and purpose. It extends by controlling the desires attached to the organ we circumcise.
What the ancient Romans dismissed as strange, and what later cultures would never dare attempt, becomes for us a declaration of devotion. It is not an act against others, but an act of commitment — a reminder that our path starts with transforming ourselves.
God doesn’t shape His Torah to match our impulses. He gives us the Torah as a blueprint for reshaping who we are. He asks us to mold our lives, our desires, and our choices toward Him — not the other way around.
The Brit is a lifelong pledge to elevate our instincts, to channel the strongest human drives toward something higher, something sacred. From the eighth day onward, we carry a sign that our bodies, our passions, and our purpose are meant to serve something far greater than ourselves.
It is the beginning of a life lived with intention, direction, and holiness — a covenant that lifts us toward God every single day.
Walking the Straight Path to God Under Fire
We stand in the days of Shovevim — our season of intensity, commitment, and spiritual fire.
This is the time when we’re called to go all-in, to awaken every ounce of discipline, drive, and conviction inside us. Not to unleash violence on the world, but to unleash force on ourselves — on the impulses that pull us away from God.
What are our Jewish fantasies?
To wage war on our own yetzer hara with the same relentless determination that empires used on their enemies. To confront our desires head-on and overpower them with the ferocity of a soldier who refuses to surrender his ground.
Loyalty to Hashem means guarding every doorway into the soul — from the phone, the screen, the bar, the office, the street — and shutting down temptation the way an IDF defender shuts down a Hamas terrorist.
🔥This is our battlefield.
🔥This is our mission.
Every victory is carved inside the heart long before it appears in the world.
The name “Israel” means Yashar Kel — the straight path to God. Walking that path demands that we move toward Him, not toward comfort or indulgence. It means choosing His will over our wants, His discipline over our impulses, His direction over our distractions.
🔥This is our war — the only war that matters.
Every act of resistance against the pull away from the path God commands us is a step closer to His mercy, His compassion, and His wrath against those trying to destroy us.
God is great.
He calls us to greatness.
Editor’s Notes:
1 Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2013
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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, 60,000 passionate Israelis, and Matilda, our local camel.
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Quiet megillah readings: Combat veterans, loud sounds and firecrackers can cause traumatic flashbacks
Rabbinical Organization: Skip the Noisemakers This Purim for IDF Veterans
Tzohar calls on communities to avoid loud noisemakers during Megillah readings, citing trauma triggers for veterans and war-affected Israelis.
Israel National News
25February2026, 7:34 PM (GMT+2) / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422982
Ahead of the upcoming Purim holiday, the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization is issuing a call to communities across Israel to show consideration for individuals suffering from PTSD and other war-related emotional challenges by refraining from the traditional use of loud noisemakers as part of the Megillah reading.
The call comes amidst a growing number of combat veterans reporting how loud sounds and firecrackers can cause traumatic flashbacks. Tzohar is therefore urging relevant congregations to embrace “quiet megillah readings”.
“Many communities are home to heroes who have returned from the battlefield. Our brothers and sisters continue to suffer the emotional impacts of combat, and it is therefore critical that everyone, children and adults alike, be sensitive to those challenges. For these individuals, the sudden loud sounds that are traditionally part of the Megillah reading are not innocent or fun, but can be painful triggers bringing them back to the traumas of war. While we know that the widely accepted custom of blotting out Haman’s name through noisemaking is an important one, there is no doubt that respecting the sacrifices of these IDF heroes is paramount, and we therefore suggest that in settings where these individuals might be present, such loud sounds should be avoided.”
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Director of the Tzohar Center for Jewish Ethics, recorded a public awareness video on this issue where he explained, “On Purim, we are accustomed to the sounds being noisy and including firecrackers and explosions… chaotic noise. But for the next few years, we have no choice but to abstain from all that. Because among us are many people for whom these things cause a real sense of horror.”
The call comes amidst planning for Tzohar’s annual Megillah B’Kehilah program, where an estimated 100,000 people will be gathering at over 600 different sites for megillah readings presented by Tzohar rabbis and volunteers. With the goal of making the readings accessible and enjoyable to as many people as possible, the readings include explanations of the Purim story and its relevance for Jewish tradition and identity, with a focus on communal responsibility, unity, joy, and hope even in the face of dangerous threats.
Rabbi David Stav, Chair and Founder of Tzohar, explained the program saying, “Purim is in essence a communal holiday, characterized by friendship and social responsibility where we can display our inherent caring for one another. Particularly in these days where we are dealing with so many internal and external threats and challenges, these programs give us the opportunity to unite in spaces that are infused with light, joy, and a sense of common purpose and camaraderie. Megillat Esther is an annual reminder that our strength as a people lies in our unity. Through the tens of thousands of people who we are blessed to welcome to these programs, we are able to share this critical and eternal message.”
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HELL you wanted and HELL you will get!
Rotem-tweet-16January2026–HELL you wanted and HELL you will get
GOOD!!!
Keep going…
Rotem-tweet-16January2026–HELL you wanted and HELL you will get
-HELL you wanted and HELL you will get!
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Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu: This is why fewer Arabs visit Temple Mount
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu says number of Arabs visiting Temple Mount has dropped by half – and shares why.
Dvir Amar
6February2026, 1:23 PM (GMT+2) https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422052
Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu has offered an explanation for the decline in the number of Arabs ascending the Temple Mount.
According to Rabbi Eliyahu, the number of Arabs visiting the Temple Mount is now down by half.
Sharing a conversation that one of his friends had with a senior Arab official on the Temple Mount, Rabbi Eliyahu said that the Arab official claimed that Jews bowing on the ground on on the Temple Mount caused less Arabs to visit the site.
Rabbi Eliyahu quoted the Arab as saying to his friend, “The reason is that you started bowing on the ground to the Holy One, Blessed Be He. When we see you bowing, we are afraid of you, because you humble yourselves before G-d. If you humble yourselves before G-d, who can stand against you? So, we don’t come anymore.”
The Temple Mount Yeshiva issued a statement: “Blessings to Minister Ben-Gvir for restoring governance and honor to the Temple Mount, the holiest and most important place for the People of Israel. Since Ben-Gvir took office, the Temple Mount has returned to being a holy and pleasant place, and instead of chants inciting the murder of Jews, we now hear wedding songs, prayers, and Torah lessons. It is moving to witness the awakening of the rabbis ascending, and the bowing which is growing stronger. The People of Israel have returned to the Temple Mount.”
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Prayer gathering called in Hevron for Dec 22nd
Rivka Levy / 19December2025 https://thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/prayer-gathering-called-in-hevron-for-dec-22nd/
More details when I have them, but Rav Berland is calling for a prayer gathering in Hevron on December 22nd.
The time: Starting 8pm.
The place: Me’arat HaMachpela.
The reason: Your guess is as good as mine, but I have lost count of the number of times the Rav has called prayer gatherings to ‘ward off’ some bad decree before we even know about it.
The other reason for the prayer gatherings is to try to ‘sweeten’ bad decrees that have already manifested, lo alenu, like the ‘Stabbing Intifada’ in Jerusalem a few years back, when the Rav said it would stop if 10,000 Jews gathered at the Me’arat HaMachpela to do 7 Tikkun Haklalis.
And, exactly as he said, it stopped to the day.
====
What was interesting is that the Rav barely called for any prayer gatherings during the Gaza War.
I guess he already knew that was a massive decree, a tikkun, that would take the time it took, prayer gatherings or no.
So instead, he asked for a special Torah scroll to be written, and told us that the day the Torah scroll was ready and given to him, the war in Gaza would stop.
Again, to the day, that’s what happened.
All this stuff has been documented ‘live’ on the blog here, there is no funny business going back and rewriting history.
Or faking ‘history’, right from the start…
====
So, it looks like something ‘big’ is brewing again, in my opinion, and the Rav is trying to ward it off.
The natural-resource-gobbling Evils have their eye on the oil fields in the Golan Heights now, as they had their eye on the gas fields off the Gaza coast.
Once you look at world events from the prism of ‘where are the natural resources, and who wants to exploit them’, all this starts to make far, far more sense.
Remember, we said years ago that Trump and his team of ‘businessmen’ had an eye on the Golan resources (remember ‘Trump Heights’?) and the Gaza gas fields.
They are just seeing which of their ‘puppet politicians’ will find it easier to sell their own people out and deliver the goods, without anyone noticing.
Al-Golani, or our own dear leader, who has served them so very faithfully for years and years, but now maybe doesn’t have the cred and power to carry on just giving away bits of Eretz Yisrael under the guise of more American-sponsored and orchestrated ‘war and peace’.
====
So, 8pm, December 22nd, 2025, at Hevron.
That is this coming Monday night.
If you live abroad and can’t make it yourself, consider helping Shuvu Banim to sponsor a bus, to bring people in from around the country.
That stuff costs hundreds of thousands of shekels, and there are no slick ‘Go Fund Me‘ campaigns being set up for the Rav, within 10 seconds of ‘bad stuff happening’ that get millions in donations in less than 24 hours.
(Mamash, ask anyone who knows anything about crowdfunding, and they will explain to you just how very unusual all this is… And BTW, it’s also a super-great way of laundering funds, to make sure no one knows where exactly all that cash is coming from…)
Just a simple link, on a very simple site that has been under attack, in so many senses of the word, for years and years, which you can access here:
https://ravberland.com/en/donate
And may we just hear good news.
====
PS: Here’s a bit more about Ahmed Al Ahmed ‘Go Fund Me’ campaign, screenshot from HERE:
Ahmed Al Ahmed ‘Go Fund Me’ campaign
Tom Traynor starting things off with a $50k donation… then Bill Ackerman (yes, that Bill Ackerman) joined in with $99.99k – the most you can give, apparently. And then, Greg and Anna Brockman of Open AI joined in with another almost $40k…
You can always tell when the billionaires get involved, that it must be something very good and very special for humanity.
Deep, deep sigh.
====
Meanwhile, look at this:
One Mitzvah for Bondi Screenshot-2025-12-19 ICA
====
I went looking for this, and here is the OFFICIAL New South Wales government website for this project:
One Mitzvah for Bondi | NSW Government
Screenshot:
One Mitzvah for Bondi Screenshot-2025-12-19
====
Here’s the text (screenshot):
One Mitzvah for Bondi Screenshot-2025-12-19 text
====
Here is a headline from the JC, 2024, for comparison:
https://www.thejc.com/community/interfaith-action-is-at-the-heart-of-mitzvah-day-2024-o5co4pmq
====
And here is the page from ‘badd outreach, again, just for comparison:
https://www.chabadoutreach.org/therebbe/onemitzvah_cdo/jewish/One-Mitzvah.htm
====
Great, how all these billionaires and interfaith people are jumping on the bandwagon, here.
Pushing that idea that ‘we’re all just one big, happy family’…
That is the hallmark of the satanic freemasons, and has been for at least 200 years.
====
Tov.
Don’t forget, if you want an authentic Jewish response to the madness going on in the world, that really will make a positive difference for the very difficult situation we currently find ourselves in, join in, however you can, with the Rav’s prayer rally on Monday, December 22nd.
It feels like a lot is hanging in the balance again.
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22 wounded as Houthi drone from Yemen hits Eilat
Magen David Adom medics treated victims at the scene and evacuated them—including two in serious condition—to Yoseftal Hospital.
Charles Bybelezer
https://www.jns.org/five-injured-as-houthi-drone-from-yemen-strikes-eilat/
Israeli security forces at the scene of a Houthi drone strike in Eilat, Sept. 24, 2025. Photo by Yehuda Ben Itach/Flash90.
(24September2025 / JNS) Twenty-two people were injured on Wednesday evening when a drone launched by Houthi terrorists in Yemen struck the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
Magen David Adom said its medics treated victims at the scene and evacuated them—including two in serious condition—to the city’s Yoseftal Hospital.
Video circulating online showed people scrambling for cover as air-raid sirens sounded, with the UAV appearing to strike near a major shopping center adjacent to Eilat’s main boardwalk.
The Israel Defense Forces said interception attempts were made, and that search-and-rescue teams were operating at the impact site.
The Israeli Air Force opened an investigation after the two Iron Dome interceptor missiles failed to down the UAV.
Itay Blumental-tweet-24September2025-Houthi UAV in Eilat
Initial report on the fall of a Houthi UAV in Eilat, the second within a week
דיווח ראשוני על נפילת כטב”ם חותי באילת , שני בתוך שבוע
Itay Blumental-tweet-24September2025-Houthi UAV in Eilat
The Israel Police urged residents to stay away from the crash site and avoid touching debris, warning it may contain explosives.
The military urged the public to continue adhering to Home Front Command guidelines.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday night wished a full recovery to those injured in Eilat.
“The Houthi terrorists refuse to learn from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza—and they will learn the hard way,” Katz said, adding, “Those who attack Israel will be struck back sevenfold.”
Israeli security forces at the scene of a Houthi drone strike in Eilat, Sept. 24, 2025. Credit: Israel Police.
Last Thursday, an unmanned aerial vehicle that was launched toward Israel “from the east” impacted in the courtyard of a hotel in Eilat. No injuries were reported.
A second drone was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force minutes later, the IDF said.
The term “from the east” is typically used by the IDF to refer to attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Approximately an hour later, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that triggered air-raid alerts across central Israel, sending millions of civilians to bomb shelters.
On Sept. 16, the IDF struck Hudaydah Port in Houthi-controlled Yemen, accusing the terrorist group of using the facility to transfer Iranian-supplied weapons for attacks on Israel and its allies.
The strike targeted a “military infrastructure site,” with the IDF saying it was “in response to the repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel, including the launch of UAVs and surface-to-surface missiles.”
The Houthis have carried out missile and drone attacks on the Jewish state—including a direct missile hit near Ben-Gurion International Airport on May 4—since the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
A Houthi explosive drone crashed into Ramon Airport near Eilat on Sept. 7, shortly after the IAF intercepted three UAVs launched from Yemen.
Jerusalem has conducted several rounds of strikes against the Houthis, including an Aug. 28 operation that killed their “prime minister” and several other Cabinet officials.
Defense Minister Katz said on Friday that Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Houthis, and his government would be sent to “the depths of hell.”
“Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, your time will come,” Katz said, adding that he and his subordinates will meet “all the envoys of the Axis of Evil.”
The slogan “Death to Israel, curse upon the Jews,” written on the Houthi flag, Katz added, “will be replaced by the blue-and-white Israeli flag that will fly in the capital of united Yemen.”
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Israeli forces kill two PIJ terrorists in Samaria
Alaa Ga’udat Bani Ouda and Mohammad Qassem Suleiman were part of a cell planning an imminent attack.
JNS Staff
https://www.jns.org/israeli-forces-kill-two-pij-terrorists-in-samaria/
(25September2025 / JNS) Israeli forces operating overnight Wednesday in the Palestinian town of Tammun, eight miles northeast of Nablus in Samaria, neutralized a terrorist cell planning an imminent attack.
Acting on intelligence, the forces located members of the cell affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including Alaa Ga’udat Bani Ouda and Mohammad Qassem Suleiman, both armed operatives involved in planning shooting and explosive attacks.
During the operation, forces encircled the building where the terrorists had barricaded themselves, engaged them with precise fire, and killed them.
During Israeli operations on Wednesday in the Anzah area, near Jenin in northern Samaria, a terrorist hurled an explosive device at soldiers. The troops returned fire, killing the assailant. No IDF injuries were reported.
A day earlier, Israeli forces identified a rocket in the Palestinian city of Tulkarem, in western Samaria. The Israel Defense Forces said the rocket was neutralized by Border Police sappers, while troops scanned the area. The military has opened an investigation into the incident.
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BACKGROUND: What Israel has to deal with. Mein Kampf
Elder of Ziyon-tweet-4February2025-What Israel has to deal with-Mein Kampf
Elder of Ziyon-tweet-4February2025-What Israel has to deal with-Mein Kampf
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Mein Kampf in Arabic
Mein Kampf in Arabic in Gaza
Israel-tweet-12November2023-Mein Kampf in Gaza
Antisemitism kills.
IDF forces found a copy of Hitler’s antisemitic work “Mein Kampf” in a child’s room of a home in Gaza used by Hamas as a terrorism hub.
The terrorist highlighted portions of the book and included his own notes.
It starts with words. It ends with Jewish blood in the streets.
Israel-tweet-12November2023-Mein Kampf in Gaza
They found “Mein Kampf” in every second house in Gaza
Dr. Simon Goddek-tweet-16October2025-They found Mein Kampf in every second house in Gaza
The Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, @SharrenHaskel, told German Media that they found “Mein Kampf” in every second house in Gaza.
How much more proof do you need that lying comes as naturally to them as breathing?
WELT-tweet-16October2025
„In jedem zweiten Haus in Gaza fanden wir ‚Mein Kampf‘ von Hitler“
Translated from German by Grok
“In every second house in Gaza we found ‘Mein Kampf’ by Hitler”
https://www.welt.de/videos/video68f095c6dbad4b72062aefe0/israels-vize-aussenministerin-in-jedem-zweiten-haus-in-gaza-fanden-wir-mein-kampf-von-hitler.html?wtrid=socialmedia.socialflow….socialflow_twitter
Dr. Simon Goddek-tweet-16October2025-They found Mein Kampf in every second house in Gaza
Mein Kampf in Arabic in Judea and Samaria
Rubi Yona-tweet-15October2024-Mein Kampf in Arabic in Judea and Samaria
No, our fighters didn’t find it in Gaza but in “Judea and Samaria” (what the jihadist-loving left calls the “The West Bank”), 20 minutes from our central cities.
This is a school textbook based on Hitler’s “Mein Camp”, on the extermination of the Jewish people, with additions, upgrades and streamlining suggestions for the jihadist Muslims known as “Palestinians”.
We fight monsters.
#AINewsIL #MuslimInvaders #TheWestIsNext
Rubi Yona-tweet-15October2024-Mein Kampf in Arabic in Judea and Samaria
Mein Kampf sold at many Palestinian stores
SEE: From 9January2014 Sales Of Hitler’s Mein Kampf Are Surging
Eli Kowaz-tweet-4January2024-Mein Kampf sold at many Palestinian stores
While visiting different Palestinian cities in the West Bank, I was shocked to see Mein Kampf sold at many stores (even those that are not bookshops).
When you hear how many Palestinians talk about Hitler, you quickly understand why.
Listen to Yussuf from Bethlehem.
Eli Kowaz-tweet-4January2024-Mein Kampf sold at many Palestinian stores
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Who’s afraid of diplomatic isolation?
There is no Palestinian state not only because Israel maintains full control over the territory, but also because of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to establish functioning governing institutions, and Hamas’ dominance.
by Prof. Eyal Zisser – Published on 09-28-2025 10:05 – Last modified: 09-28September2025 10:15 https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/whos-afraid-of-diplomatic-isolation/
Eyal Zisser is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.
On December 13, 1949, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel and ordered the transfer of state institutions there from Tel Aviv. In the UN Partition Plan of November 1947, Jerusalem was not included in the Jewish state’s territory. During and after the 1948 War of Independence, proposals were even raised internationally to place the city under international rule, or to hand it over to Jordan. Israel effectively set its capital in Tel Aviv, where the president, government, Knesset and other state institutions sat.
Ben-Gurion’s announcement came, naturally, as the UN General Assembly was meeting in New York to debate the Middle East. At the time, Israel was waging a tough diplomatic battle to preserve the gains of the War of Independence, against most of the world, which demanded territorial concessions and the return of Palestinian refugees as the only path to peace.
But Ben-Gurion did not back down and decided to move the capital to Jerusalem. As expected, the world erupted in protest, condemned Israel harshly, and threatened retaliatory steps. Leading the opposition, as usual, were European countries, joined by the United States, whose ties with Israel in those years were cool and even hostile. But the die was cast, and Jerusalem became the capital. Inside Israel, too, many opposed the move. Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett even submitted his resignation to Ben-Gurion, perhaps as protest, having warned that the step would bring disaster, or perhaps, as he later claimed, because he had not foreseen the diplomatic tsunami that swept over Israel.
Today we are once again warned that Israel is on the verge of diplomatic isolation, highlighted by the recognition of a Palestinian state by Britain, France and other Western countries. But such warnings should be taken with a grain of salt. First, most of the world, 147 of the UN’s 193 member states, has already recognized a Palestinian state for years, yet it has not come into being nor is it likely to in the near future. Second, a Palestinian state has not emerged not only because Israel controls the territory, but also because of the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing failure to maintain functioning institutions and, above all, because of the looming threat of Hamas, which could seize control of any area handed over to the Palestinians.
In 1955, as Israel battled waves of terrorist attacks while being urged to exercise restraint out of fear of international criticism, Ben-Gurion declared: Only the courage of the Jews established the state, not some ‘UN-shmun’ decision… Our future depends not on what the nations say, but on what the Jews do. Still, Ben-Gurion was mindful of limits and the need for alliances. He launched the 1956 Sinai Campaign only after securing French backing, which for a time provided Israel with political cover and military aid.
The historical lesson is clear. A country like Israel, facing existential security challenges in a complex and hostile regional and global arena, cannot base its actions solely on how the world will respond.
The decision by some European states and others to recognize a Palestinian state stems from political calculations, appeasing the radical left and Muslim immigrant communities. It carries no real weight or meaning and will ultimately fade into history. Yet Israel must know what it seeks and can achieve, what is worth fighting for, and where to show flexibility. With all due respect to Gaza, it is not Jerusalem. As Menachem Begin once put it: Learn from Masada how not to reach it, and from Modiin how to build it.
The real question we must keep in sight is how to preserve cohesion and unity within Israeli society, and around what shared principles and goals to forge broad national consensus.
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Politicians Are Speaking Out! A Massive Awakening is Happening in Israel…
Posted 28September2025 JNS-TV:
Most people outside of Israel probably don’t realize what’s happening right now. In the middle of a war, with the country on edge, one unexpected name has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight: David Zini. He’s not a politician or a public figure, but a career IDF general who has just been appointed to head Israel’s most powerful security agency, the Shin Bet. In this episode, we break down who he is, why this move surprised so many, and how his sudden rise is already sparking political battles inside Israel.
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CABINET APPROVES MAJOR STEPS TO EXPAND ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA
Mossad Commentary-tweet-8February2026-EXPAND ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA
🚨 CABINET APPROVES MAJOR STEPS TO EXPAND ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA
Just before Prime Minister Netanyahu’s departure on an official flight, the cabinet approved a series of dramatic policy decisions affecting land policy in Judea and Samaria, led by Ministers Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, according to reports.
Key elements of the decisions reportedly include:
• Changes to land registration and acquisition procedures
• Removal of confidentiality protections on certain land registries
• Measures that could enable demolition of unauthorized Palestinian construction in Area A
• A significant expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria
The moves are described as deepening de facto Israeli sovereignty in the region and could have major legal and diplomatic implications.
Some analysts say the decisions may conflict with understandings from the 1997 Hebron Agreement, part of the Oslo-era framework.
Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil.
Mossad Commentary-tweet-8February2026-EXPAND ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA
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FIRST U.S. EMBASSY CONSULAR SERVICE IN JUDEA
Mossad Commentary-tweet-8February2026-FIRST U.S. EMBASSY CONSULAR SERVICE IN JUDEA
🇺🇸 FIRST U.S. EMBASSY CONSULAR SERVICE IN JUDEA
The town of Efrat in Gush Etzion is set to host the first U.S. Embassy consular service branch in Judea, part of the embassy’s “Outreach Program.”
The new office, expected to open in the coming weeks, will provide passport renewals, birth registration, and other consular services for American citizens, eliminating the need to travel to Jerusalem.
With a large English-speaking population and many American residents, Efrat was seen as a natural location for expanded U.S. services.
Local leaders are calling the move both a practical improvement for residents and a symbolic milestone in U.S.–Israel relations in Judea and Samaria.
Source: The Jewish Edition
Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil
Mossad Commentary-tweet-8February2026-FIRST U.S. EMBASSY CONSULAR SERVICE IN JUDEA
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Gaza, A collection of memories from the Gaza Strip, BOOM
Eli Afriat-tweet-27November2025-Gaza-A collection of memories from the Gaza Strip
A collection of memories from the Gaza Strip.
Have a Good night.
Eli Afriat-tweet-27November2025-Gaza-A collection of memories from the Gaza Strip
Bye bye Gaza
REAL JEW-tweet-5February2025-Bye bye Gaza
Bye-bye, Gaza!!!
REAL JEW-tweet-5February2025-Bye-bye Gaza
Boom morning Gaza-For the children’s sake keep going
daniel hanuka-tweet-14April2025-Boom morning Gaza
Boom morning Gaza
Cheri Vince-tweet-14April2025-For the children’s sake keep going
For the children’s sake keep going
daniel hanuka-tweet-14April2025-Boom morning Gaza
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SOVEREIGNTY-logo https://www.ribonut.co.il/
Enough with the Blood Libels – There Is No Settler Violence
Enough with the Blood Libels – There Is No “Settler Violence”
They are trying to manipulate your consciousness through the blood libel known as “settler violence.” Do not be dragged into this false discourse. Before you condemn, stop and think for a moment…
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
28December2025 https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=1010
Once again, we are witnessing videos that serve the “settler violence” campaign—a campaign that raises its head whenever the left identifies an opportunity for diplomatic pressure that could lead to further Israeli withdrawals.
The purpose of the blood-libel campaign against the Jews living in Judea and Samaria (labeled in English “settlers” but really should be called “inheritors of the land”) is to serve as a tool in the hands of those demanding their uprooting and expulsion from Judea and Samaria and the establishment of an Arab terror state in the heart of our land. It is entirely possible that the current timing of the renewed push of the false and libelous “settler violence” campaign was chosen due to the Prime Minister’s visit to the White House and the left’s hopes for American pressure to force Israel’s willingness to establish a Palestinian state.
In the face of this campaign of lies and defamation, we must stand firm with a decisive response whose headline is clear: there is no settler violence! To clarify this, we will begin with the obvious—unlike what occurs among the Arab enemy, where education toward hatred of Jews and the aspiration to kill Jews begins even before kindergarten and only intensifies over time, among Jews there are no people who wake up in the morning burning with a desire to attack Arabs for no reason. Jewish lives revolve around a normative daily routine of work, study, and family life.
Because this fact is well known, clear, and self-evident, when we are exposed in the media or on social networks to a widely circulated video showing a Jew who supposedly attacks an Arab, before rushing to condemn and defame, stop for a moment, take a deep breath, use your brain, and ask the necessary question: if a Jew arrived at such a situation, it is entirely possible that this is a completely different event—that it is part of a broader story deliberately not presented to us. Someone is trying to manipulate our consciousness in order to weaken the people of Israel and the State of Israel.
In these lines we wish to present one incident that occurred several months ago—one example that illustrates many others:
One day we received an agitated phone call. On the other end of the line was a distressed friend who told us how shocked she was by a video she had seen showing a Jew attacking an Arab and stealing his mobile phone. “Settler violence is shocking,” she concluded.
As we listened to her shock, it was already clear that this was a biased video backed by “consciousness engineers” and experts at manipulating the minds of innocent viewers. Nevertheless, we needed to present this friend with verified facts to prove that she too had fallen victim to the illusions of blood libels. The facts indeed arrived after an inquiry that took a little over a day. The story, as we suspected, was completely different:
It involved two young Jewish shepherds grazing their flock on pastureland belonging to a nearby Jewish community. A group of Arabs arrived at the scene and began throwing stones at them. One of the stones struck the head of one of the Jewish shepherds, who fell to the ground bleeding. The injured shepherd’s friend pulled out his phone and began filming the Arab attackers. When they realized they were being filmed, they attacked him, beat him, stole his phone, and began fleeing toward the Arab village from which they had come.
The shepherd did not give up and bravely pursued the fleeing rioters. He reached the village, entered a building where one of the rioters was hiding with the phone, struggled with him, and extracted the device from his hands. Friends of that rioter (in other words, a terrorist) filmed the struggle and the moment when the shepherd reclaimed the phone that had been stolen from him, and immediately distributed the end of the story detached from everything that had occurred beforehand. Thus, we are presented with an entirely different spectacle: a Jew beating someone and stealing a phone, instead of the true story of a Jew fighting to recover his phone, which contained footage of rioters who had attacked him and his friend.
Such incidents occur again and again throughout Judea and Samaria. There is no settler violence here, but rather straightforward self-defense.
Another incident occurred just in recent days, in which footage was circulated showing a reservist allegedly running over a praying Arab. Knowing the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria, we know full well that no one simply gets on a tractoron and runs over Arabs during prayer. However, the quick tendency to react from the gut without thinking lead to condemnations and rejection. Therefore, once again, the recommendation is to pause, breathe, and think before responding.
In this most recent incident, the truth became clear the following day. Once again, it was an attack on Jewish shepherds. This time, after the shepherds called for help, that same reservist arrived at the scene and, alone, managed to drive away the Arab rioters. Instead of being praised for his swift action in defending the shepherds and for his effective activity without fear, even as one man facing the rioters, he was met with condemnation, attacks, and accusations. After the true circumstances of the event became clear, did any of those who condemned and defamed him apologize?
Defamation of this kind has been repeatedly directed in recent years at hilltop youth and at the residents of the farms—noble-spirited and idealistic people who abandoned comfortable bourgeois lives and invest all their strength, resources, and energy in the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. Yet the day will come when we all look back, remember their deeds, and thank them for safeguarding national lands and maintaining a presence on the ground.
In summary, the next time you encounter a supposedly “shocking” video, do not fall into the trap of blood libels and consciousness manipulation. Do not rush to condemn. Do not become a plaything in the “settler violence” campaign, whose goal is to turn the residents of Judea and Samaria into a cruel demon that must be fought and expelled from its land—our G-dgiven Biblical heartland. At a time when settlement is developing and discourse about sovereignty is returning to the table, do not be dragged into the places the radical left is trying to pull us toward.
Say it clearly and loudly: there is no settler violence. There is self-defense by Jews living in their land.
Beware! Blood Libel ahead
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The first brick in Israel’s ‘deep state’ wall has fallen
Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi must be stripped of her rank and face jail time for the damage she did to IDF soldiers and the State of Israel.
Avi Abelow
https://www.jns.org/the-first-brick-in-israels-deep-state-wall-has-fallen/
(2November2025 / JNS) In a disturbing revelation this past week, Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG) Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted to personally authorizing not just the release, but the amplification of a fabricated video accusing IDF soldiers of committing sexual atrocities against Hamas prisoners.
The individual entrusted with defending our military instead became the mouthpiece for a lie so grotesque it painted our defenders as monsters and helped fuel anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, branding them as rapists.
In doing so, this senior legal official created the worst blood libel in all of Jewish history, with billions of people around the world seeing that doctored video and believing the outrageous charges.
It only came to light because of an internal Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) report that surfaced, showing that officials admitted the MAG authorized sending the fabricated video to the media. Not because of the attorney general (AG). Not because of the Supreme Court. And certainly not because of the mainstream media.
They all covered up this scandal for a year and a half while some of them screamed for a proper investigation. The explosive piece of intelligence did not emerge by chance. It was escalated thanks to the courage and integrity of the new head of the Shin Bet, David Zini. Remember his name.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nominated Zini for the Shin Bet position, the legal establishment and its mainstream media allies launched an all-out smear and legal campaign to destroy his appointment. They called him “unqualified,” “dangerous,” and “politicized” because he is a religious man with 11 children!
Now we know why. Zini represents a serious threat to the political Left deep state, not to Israel’s security, but to their deep state’s control of the running of the country. They were right to fear his appointment.
Had someone from the deep state’s approved list been appointed instead of Zini, this whole scandal would have stayed hidden. Their approval always comes with a price, loyalty to their cover-ups.
Zini took office because Netanyahu stood firm through a year of legal warfare and smear campaigns, and the truth finally broke through their wall of silence. The first brick of Israel’s deep state has fallen, and now the decay underneath is being exposed for all to see.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara appointed the same MAG who opposed his appointment to investigate the scandal, despite the conflict of interest, since only someone in her office could have escalated the fabricated video.
When that decision was challenged in the Supreme Court, justices sided with her, approving an arrangement that would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. It’s like letting the arsonist lead the fire investigation, with one corrupt legal official covering for another.
For years, many of us have warned that senior figures in Israel’s legal system operate as a self-protecting, ideologically driven network. This deep state shields its own and crushes dissent. And every time we spoke out, we were called conspiracy theorists or extremists.
• The MAG caught approving a fabricated attack on IDF soldiers.
• The AG blocking accountability and covering for her.
• The Supreme Court signing off on the cover-up.
• The mainstream media cheering them on and ignoring any factual investigative reporting on this huge scandal.
Yet despite it all, Zini and the brave people inside the Shin Bet who refused to stay silent changed everything
The political Left, which never stops preaching about “democracy” and “rule of law,” has been defending a system that subverts both, a system that protects corrupt insiders while targeting the patriots who defend this country.
This scandal is a turning point. The mask has fallen. The wall of lies and power that has propped up Israel’s deep state for decades is starting to crack.
Tomer-Yerushalmi must be stripped of her rank and face jail time for what she did to IDF soldiers and for the diplomatic damage she did to the State of Israel.
And that’s only the beginning. We must demand true, comprehensive judicial reform to dismantle the unelected fortress that has hijacked Israel’s democracy, betrayed its soldiers and manipulated the public for years.
Israel belongs to its people, not to the legal elites, not to the mainstream media and not to the deep state. The first brick has fallen. Now it’s time to bring down the entire wall.
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Haaretz dismisses Chaim Levinson for taking NIS 200,000 from Qatargate suspect
Between 2019 and 2024, Surlik Einhorn’s company Perception transferred the money to a company that Levinson owned, the Israeli daily paper reported.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
OCTOBER 31, 2025 07:39 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-872278
Israeli journalist Chaim Levinson was dismissed from Haaretz due to allegations that he received at least 200,000 NIS from the Qatargate and leaked document affair suspect Yisrael “Srulik” Einhorn’s company, Haaretz reported on Thursday.
Between 2019 and 2024, Srulik Einhorn’s company Perception transferred the money to a company that Levinson owned, the Israeli daily paper reported.
Levinson, a host on Channel 12 news and former Haaretz political correspondent, denied any connection to Qatar, but confirmed that he worked with Perception, and added that he was unaware that Einhorn was working for Qatar.
He further alleged that the money transferred to him was payment for campaigns he had ghostwritten for Einhorn in eastern Europe.
Haaretz’s Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn terminated Levinson’s position at the newspaper.
Levinson also admitted that he and Einhorn had been friends for many years.
A poster reading ”Qatar sponsored the massacre and Netanyahu’s office”, seen in Tel Aviv. April 20, 2025. (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
Einhorn’s role in Qatargate, leaked document affair
Einhorn is suspected of fraudulently receiving funds from Qatar as part of a public relations campaign to improve the state’s image.
He also reportedly acted as a liaison between the Prime Minister’s Office and Bild, a German tabloid that published classified documents reportedly leaked from within Israel’s security establishment. Einhorn is further suspected of harassing Shlomo Filber, a state witness in Case 4000.
He was deposed in Serbia in July by both Israeli and Serbian investigators, according to Channel 13.
In September, Einhorn addressed the allegations against him for the first time, claiming that his work had been entirely legal.
“Hamas is a Nazi terrorist organization. Israel must eliminate it. Hamas leaders are in Doha because Israel and the United States asked Qatar to gather them there, to enable a monitoring and communication channel,” he added. “The alternative would have been Beirut or Tehran.”
“We worked together with Jay Footlik and Eli Feldstein to present the reality to the public, even if it’s uncomfortable to hear. Footlik approached us in an attempt to help with the release of hostages, endorsed with a legal opinion from attorney Gilad Sher,” he continued.
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.
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Israeli union leader detained in major bribery, fraud probe
Over 350 people were reportedly questioned Monday following a raid on the Histadrut’s Tel Aviv offices.
JNS Staff
https://www.jns.org/israeli-union-leader-detained-in-major-bribery-fraud-probe/
(3November2025 / JNS) Arnon Bar-David, who heads the Histadrut, Israel’s most powerful trade union, was detained for questioning by police alongside his wife on Monday morning as part of a major probe into bribery and fraud.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News, over 350 people were questioned Monday, including several mayors and “very senior” players in the Israeli economy, following a raid on the Histadrut’s Tel Aviv offices.
The affair, dubbed “Hand Shaking Hand” by police, is “one of the most serious cases we have encountered,” Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levi said in remarks to fellow officers cited by the channel.
“There is a link between businesspeople and senior figures in the economy, including labor union officials, involving the creation of electoral and promotional connections in parallel,” Levi stated.
“We will act with determination and without fear of investigating senior officials in order to uncover the truth,” he vowed.
A prominent businessperson from Israel’s insurance sector, described as a close associate of Bar-David, allegedly leveraged his Histadrut ties to secure lucrative jobs and install allies in key union and board positions with local authorities, state-owned enterprises and major companies.
Police allege the businessman used his connections to obtain insurance contracts with labor unions and municipalities, offering senior roles in return, including positions at Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) and Israel Railways. Police also allege that the suspect spent illicit funds on luxury dining, travel and personal expenses.
The arrests followed a two-year undercover probe led by the police’s Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit, which led to the wave of coordinated raids at 50-plus homes and municipal offices of six local authorities.
Authorities said that the arrested suspects are under investigation for bribery, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax offenses.
Lahav 433 head Meni Binyamin said the probe revealed “a pattern of quid-pro-quo relationships between businesspeople and public-sector officials,” emphasizing that the unit “will continue its uncompromising fight against public corruption with professionalism and integrity.”
The investigation is being conducted under the supervision of the Economic Department in the Office of the State Attorney, which is reportedly preparing indictments against key suspects in the case.
In a statement cited by Ynet, the Histadrut said it would fully cooperate with the investigation: “The Histadrut, its traditions, and its people are committed to transparency and law enforcement.” It added, “We are confident the probe will prove that no wrongdoing was committed.”
In September 2024, an Israeli labor court cut short a strike called by the Histadrut in protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s failure to secure a truce deal with Hamas terrorists.
It came after the military announced that the bodies of six hostages had been found in a tunnel in southern Gaza, sparking anti-government protests and calls by left-wing political leaders for a general strike.
Judge Hadas Yahlom, president of the Labor Court in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, said in her decision that “the strike is political; there is no connection between the killing of the hostages and the economy.”
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Military Advocate General
Top IDF lawyer faces criminal probe after admitting to misleading High Court
Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s abrupt departure and confession come amid a criminal probe into alleged obstruction and false statements to the High Court, deepening a scandal that has shaken the military and sparked fierce political backlash
Tova Zimuky, Yoav Zitun, Yuval Karni | 31October2025 | 14:51 | https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1njr7zywx
The resignation of Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi on Friday and her admission that she authorized the leak of the video depicting alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman base have marked a major turning point in the investigation rocking the IDF.
The focus of the inquiry is now shifting from who leaked the video to whether Tomer‑Yerushalmi obstructed justice by providing false information to the State Prosecution’s High Court department and other legal bodies, and whether she deliberately misled the courts.
The leak in question involved footage that allegedly showed reservists abusing a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman. It sparked a High Court petition demanding an investigation into the source of the leak and questions over whether the clip was edited with bias.
Tomer‑Yerushalmi had previously told the court that an internal investigation failed to identify the responsible party—but in her resignation, she wrote that she bore “full responsibility” for the release of the material.
Among those who weighed in, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said Tomer‑Yerushalmi had lied to him when he asked why the leaker had not been found. “Her resignation letter is a mockery,” he said, adding that the matter must be fully investigated.
In the wake of her departure, Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir announced they would jointly seek to bring immediate stability to the Military Advocate General’s Office, with the chief of staff compiling a list of candidates for a successor and the minister to approve the final choice.
The probe’s outcome could carry significant implications for the IDF’s legal and operational procedures during the war in Gaza and for the military’s public standing.
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Police arrest Military Advocate General and former Chief Military Prosecutor
Police arrest Military Advocate General, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, along with the former Chief Military Prosecutor. Both are being questioned on suspicion of obstruction of investigative proceedings and breach of trust.
Israel National News / Published: 3November2025, 12:49 AM (GMT+2) Updated: 1:07 / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/417197
Police arrested the Military Advocate General, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, along with the former Chief Military Prosecutor, early Monday morning.
Both are being questioned on suspicion of obstruction of investigative proceedings and breach of trust, partly in connection with the disappearance of Tomer-Yerushalmi’s mobile phone.
The Israel Police spokesperson said, “Following inquiries from reporters, we update that as part of the ongoing investigation conducted by a special team within the Israel Police – on suspicion of leaking and other serious criminal offenses – it was recently decided to arrest two key individuals involved in the case.”
The statement noted, “Depending on the progress of the investigation, the two are expected to be brought tomorrow for a remand hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.”
On Sunday evening, police announced that Tomer-Yerushalmi had been found safe and sound after being declared missing with serious concern for her life. She contacted her husband, who immediately informed the police.
Despite being found safe and sound, police continue to search for her mobile phone, which has not yet been found and is currently believed to be turned off.
Tomer-Yerushalmi was scheduled to be questioned in the coming days on suspicion of obstruction of investigative proceedings, unauthorized disclosure of classified materials, and submitting a false affidavit.
She is currently at the center of a public storm after it was revealed that she was behind the leak of a video from the Sde Teman base, in which soldiers were allegedly seen assaulting a Hamas terrorist.
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Nearly 50,000 Jews celebrate Sukkot in Hebron
Fifty percent more worshippers than last year visited Judaism’s second-holiest site during the first days of the Feast of Booths.
JNS Staff
https://www.jns.org/nearly-50000-jews-celebrate-sukkot-in-hebron/
Israel flags decorate the 2,000-year-old Cave of the Patriarchs complex in Hebron in anticipation of Independence Day, May 2018. The same Herodian masonry is used for the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Photo by Yishai Fleisher
( 12October2025 / JNS) Almost 50,000 Jews visited the Cave of the Patriarchs in the Judea city of Hebron Octoberduring the first two days of the joyous Sukkot festival on Oct. 7-8, according to Israel Defense Forces data.
A total of 47,000 Jews visited Judaism’s second-holiest city during the first two days of the weeklong Feast of Booths—1.5 times as many worshippers as last year, the data cited by Arutz 7 on Sunday indicated.
The Cave of the Patriarchs (“Mearat Hamachpela“) is the burial place of the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. According to the biblical account, the cave was purchased by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite more than 3,000 years ago.
Hebron is home to some 800 Jewish residents—there is a waiting list to move there—who live surrounded by some 200,000 Arabs.
At dawn on Wednesday, thousands of Jewish worshippers gathered at the Cave of the Patriarchs for a traditional Hallel prayer led by Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed in the Upper Galilee, and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Schwartz, the chief rabbi of Hebron-Kiryat Arba.
Among those attending the service were bereaved Israeli families, IDF troops and their relatives, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and other senior officials.
Eliyahu told attendees at the prayer service, “The Zohar [book of Jewish mysticism] teaches that in the future, the enemies of Israel throughout generations will reappear in the enemies of today. At the same time, the patriarchs themselves are revealed through the righteous of our time.”
He added that this includes “all the righteous and soldiers who risk their lives not just to save one soul, but to save an entire people—and through them, an entire world.”
Also on Wednesday, Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, declaring victory at the holiest site in Judaism two years after the Hamas-led Palestinian terrorist invasion of the northwestern Negev.
“We are two years after the terrible massacre—here at the Temple Mount there is victory, in every house in Gaza there is a picture of the Temple Mount, and we today, two years later, are victorious at the Temple Mount,” the leader of the Oztma Yehudit Party exclaimed.
Almost 70,000 Jews ascended the Mount in the Hebrew year 5785, a 22% increase compared to the previous year and a modern-day record, the Beyadenu—Returning to the Temple Mount group stated on Sept. 24.
According to the Israeli advocacy group, 68,429 Jewish worshippers entered Judaism’s holiest site since the previous Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year, on Oct. 2, 2024. In 5784, 56,057 visited the site.
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Michael Eisenberg: ‘Aliyah is about growth, not just integration’
Speaking with Arutz Sheva at the Ministry of Immigration’s conference, Michael Eisenberg called on Israeli companies to lead a ‘million Olim’ initiative to boost growth.
Israel National News / Published: 22October2025, 10:13 PM (GMT+3) https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416663
Aleph Venture Capital Co-founder and General Partner Michael Eisenberg stopped by the Arutz Sheva-Israel National News broadcast booth at a special conference organized by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration titled ‘Aliyah as a Growth Engine for the Israeli Economy,’ and spoke about the vital role of Israeli industry and the private sector in supporting new Olim and strengthening Israel’s economy.
Eisenberg emphasized that Aliyah should not be viewed merely as an integration process, but as a key driver of national growth. “This is about growth. This is about economic growth. Olim, with the talent that they bring to Israel, are an incredibly rare asset, and one that we need here to grow our economy,” he said. “A strong Israel, both from a defense perspective and from an economic perspective, is what will enable us to be safe in this area.”
He cited remarks by President Trump in the Knesset, saying, “You are a small country, and that is a problem. You know how we can become a big country? In three ways: innovation, a strong economy, and Aliyah – and of course, having babies. We do that well. Now we need immigration to increase, and particularly bring talent that grows the economy.”
When asked about the role of Israeli companies in the process, Eisenberg stressed that Zionism itself includes building a sustainable economy. “This is Zionism. When Herzl writes Altneuland, he talks about the economy too, a uniquely Israeli economy. This is Zionism. Zionism is building this country. They built railroads. They built roads. They built hospitals. They built a labor union that we’re still stuck with. It always needs to build the economy,” he said.
Eisenberg highlighted that the government alone cannot carry the responsibility for absorbing new immigrants. “The world is moving so fast, the government cannot do this on its own. I question whether it can do it at all. They can kind of point the direction and clear the bureaucracy. Citizens need to take responsibility for this. Businesses need to take responsibility for this. High-tech entrepreneurs need to take responsibility for this. We can do this. We can bring one million Olim in the next 10 years.”
Asked what should happen next, Eisenberg called for a shift in mindset and an appreciation of Israel’s achievements. “There’s a tendency sometimes in Israel to look at the glass half empty. The glass is not only half full, it’s very full. It’s been a very difficult two years, but also very inspiring. We have the greatest citizens in the world. This is the greatest place in the world to raise a family. This is one of the most innovative economies in the world, top three. This is an incredible place to live. And we need to say that openly to people. Come here. This is the best place to raise a family on planet Earth.”
He urged company leaders to take practical steps and personally reach out to potential immigrants. “I told 150 people in there, leaders of companies: get on a plane. You take Australia, you take France, you take the UK, you take the United States, you take Argentina – get on there. Tell them there’s economic opportunity here. Tell them you can help them. Be their best friend. Because when you land here, look, I’m an immigrant, you’re an immigrant. I came 32 years ago. I still have an accent in Hebrew. There are still things I don’t understand. I struggle to read my bank statement. People need help when they come here.”
Eisenberg concluded with a call for collective responsibility: “When they land here, you actually encounter the reality and the bureaucracy, and everyone needs help. We have to help these people. We have to stand by their side. Before the end of the plane and when they get here, everyone needs to take responsibility for an Oleh.”
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Netanyahu Says IDF Losses Due to Ammunition Shortage Before Trump Intervention
Israeli prime minister vows no reconstruction or Palestinian state in Gaza before full demilitarization.
28January2026 https://israfan.com/p/netanyahu-idf-losses-gaza-trump-ammunition
In a powerful joint press conference with Hostage Coordinator Gal Hirsch, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that IDF soldiers who fell in Gaza did so, in part, due to an ammunition shortage one he claims was corrected after U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office.
“Our soldiers fell [in Gaza] because we didn’t have enough ammunition,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening. “That changed when Trump took office.” The statement marked a sharp reflection on recent military challenges and underscored the importance of strong international partnerships.
Netanyahu and Hirsch stood before the nation with a bittersweet announcement: for the first time in over a decade, no Israeli hostages remain in the Gaza Strip. The return of St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili’s remains, after he was killed defending Israeli civilians on October 7, completed what both leaders called a sacred mission.
“One hundred and sixty-eight hostages were returned alive. Eighty-seven were returned dead,” Hirsch said emotionally. “I remember each name and face.”
“This was the most difficult task of my life,” he added, visibly moved by the weight of the mission.
Netanyahu declared that Israel had achieved what many thought impossible, bringing all hostages home. But the mission is far from over. The prime minister reiterated his unwavering objective: the total dismantling and disarmament of Hamas and the Gaza Strip.
“There are only two ways to disarm Gaza the easy way or the hard way,” Netanyahu said, echoing prior statements made in coordination with President Trump.
He dismissed any speculation about rebuilding Gaza before it is demilitarized. “That won’t happen,” Netanyahu asserted. “I’m also hearing that we will bring Turkish and Qatari soldiers into Gaza. That won’t happen. I’m hearing that I will allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza. That hasn’t happened, and it won’t happen.”
The prime minister also issued a stark warning to Iran. “If Iran makes the grave mistake of attacking Israel, we will respond with a force that Iran has never seen before.”
Netanyahu acknowledged that while Israel and the U.S. may take different tactical approaches to Tehran, both nations remain in close communication. “I don’t want to dictate to President Trump what he will or will not do,” he said, “but we report fully to one another on Iran.”
Tuesday’s press conference followed the recovery of Sgt. Ran Gvili’s body from northern Gaza, where he fell heroically protecting civilians during the October 7 terror assault. His return symbolizes not only national closure, but renewed resolve.
Israel’s defense and future cannot depend on others’ permission. The path ahead is clear: no reconstruction before disarmament, no surrender to terror, and no tolerance for threats to Jewish sovereignty.
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Israel will build ‘Independent Arms Industry’ amid worry of international constraints: Netanyahu
Posted 25September2025 The Economic Times:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday (September 16) that Israel will create an “independent arms industry” that can “withstand international constraints”. In his address, Netanyahu spoke about the Israeli economy and that it withheld through two economic crisis, the COVID and the two year war on Gaza. He also added that President of the United States, Donald Trump had invited him to the White House in two weeks, after his speech at the U.N.
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Israel investing over $100 billion in homegrown arms production, Netanyahu reveals
Premier says country will build an independent munitions industry over the next decade, ‘reduce dependence on all players’ after threat of arms embargoes, boycotts during Gaza war
By Lazar Berman
25 December 2025, 1:33 am https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-investing-more-than-100-billion-into-independent-arms-industry-netanyahu-reveals/
Israel is working to gain as much independence as possible in its weapons production, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday, in a development he said was the result of the lessons learned during the past two years of war on multiple fronts.
“I approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of NIS 350 billion [$108 billion] over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry,” Netanyahu said in an address at a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots.
The move, he said, stemmed from a desire to “reduce our dependence on all players, including friends,” after allies including the US, UK, and Germany all imposed various restrictions on weapons sales to Israel since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Still, he noted, many countries around the world, including Germany, “want to buy from us more and more systems.”
The premier has long been calling for Israel to develop its own self-reliant military industry, and in January 2024 announced that the government would invest in a “multi-year plan to free Israel from dependence on external purchases.”
The matter returned to the public eye earlier this year as Jerusalem’s European allies began to grow impatient with Israel’s conduct in Gaza, with some calling for arms embargoes and sanctions.
People march behind a banner reading “Against Genocide Let’s block everything” during a nationwide strike in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and calling for a halt to arms shipments to Israel, in Rome on September 22, 2025. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
In that light, Netanyahu briefly caused an uproar in September when he admitted that Israel was facing increased isolation on the world stage and that, to combat that, it would have to become a more self-reliant “super-Sparta” in the years to come.
The remarks sparked outrage and spooked the markets, forcing him to clarify them in a follow-up press conference the next day, when he insisted that he had been referring only to the defense ministry rather than the overall Israeli economy.
In his speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu also addressed Israel’s aerial superiority, in what appeared to be a thinly veiled reference to Turkey’s quest to receive F-35 fighter jets from the US.
Israel will “prevent whoever must be prevented from receiving these instruments,” the premier promised, adding that the Jewish state’s “aerial superiority in the Middle East is a cornerstone of our national security.”
Maintaining this, he said, rests on Israel’s skilled pilots and “the best aircraft in the world.”
Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East with F-35s in its arsenal, currently operating 45 of the aircraft with another 30 units on order.
During US President Donald Trump’s first term, Washington removed Turkey, a NATO ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program, after Ankara purchased the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
But now, anxious to bolster its air power, Turkey has proposed to European partners and the US ways it could swiftly obtain the fighter jets as it seeks to make up ground versus regional rivals such as Israel.
Turkey is one of the world’s most outspoken critics of Israel, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan often accusing Israel of genocide over the past two years, and praising Hamas.
Further bolstering Israel’s fears, Trump recently announced the sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia, although US officials and defense experts told Reuters that the jets to be sold to the Saudis will be less advanced than those used by the IDF.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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Amid embargoes, how independent can Israel’s defense industry be?
Analysts agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel could become more self-sufficient, but there are clear limits to the push.
By Seth J. Frantzman on September 30, 2025 12:43 pm https://breakingdefense.com/2025/09/amid-embargoes-how-independent-can-israels-defense-industry-be/
JERUSALEM — Facing foreign arms embargoes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called for Israel to become far more self-reliant on homegrown defense products, describing his vision of the Middle Eastern power as a “super Sparta.”
But analysts told Breaking Defense that while it would be in Jerusalem’s interest to build more defense components and platforms at home, there are clear limits to what the defense industry is capable of on its own.
“Israel will not be totally independent,” Yaakov Amidror, who served as Netanyahu’s national security advisor between 2011 and 2013, told Breaking Defense. “It will not produce F-35s or submarines, for example, but Israel can be and should be less dependent on others regarding munitions and spare parts.”
In a speech on Sept. 15 Netanyahu acknowledged that economically Israel is “in a sort of isolation.”
“I am a believer in the free market, but we may find ourselves in a situation where our arms industries are blocked. We will need to develop arms industries here — not only research and development, but also the ability to produce what we need,” he said. After the comments sparked a vocal backlash, Netanyahu clarified that the defense industry was already “soaring,” but reiterated Israel needed to “achieve security independence.” (Days later, scores of delegates walked out ahead of Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly.)
Eran Lerman, a former deputy for foreign policy and international affairs at the national security council in the Israeli prime minister’s office, noted “there is a reason Netanyahu quickly walked back his earlier comment about becoming generally self-reliant — it simply cannot work in an economy fully geared towards export.” Lerman, who is vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, added that in more narrow terms relating to military supplies, “it does make sense to generate alternatives to the occasionally problematic chains of supply. But to wrap this in the red battle cloak of Sparta was an obvious mistake.”
Yaakov Katz, author of Shadow Strike, a book about Israel’s raid on Syria’s nuclear program and a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, said that Netanyahu was right regarding Israel’s need to be more self-reliant in terms of weapons production. However, he agreed with Amidror that when it comes to major platforms like warplanes, it won’t be possible.
“Take the Air Force as an example: All of the IAF’s aircraft except the trainer aircraft are US made. [These] are F-15s, F-16s, F-35s and so much more. Without spare parts, maintenance and more from the US, Israel will not be able to fly and hence, will not be able to fight. So while independence is important, so is ensuring we have bipartisan support in the US for decades to come.”
While some European nations have announced embargoes on arms sales to Israel over its conduct in Gaza, Washington has maintained its close relationship with Jerusalem, even if President Donald Trump appears at times to have been frustrated with Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister concluded a visit to the White House on Monday, after which Trump presented a 20-point plan to end the conflict in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli defense firms have been logging record export sales, despite the ongoing war against Hamas. Israel has also been plowing funds into local defense contracts, which Israel’s Ministry of Defense says is part of an attempt to invest in what are called “blue and white” local industries to create “manufacturing independence.” This has included everything from manufacturing munitions to repairing and producing tanks.
One way Israel is responding to the new self-reliance drive is to establish a National Armament Council. Israel Ministry of Defense Director General Amir Baram said on Sept. 15 that the new council would “accelerate our preparedness for third- and fourth-tier threats dramatically. This comprehensive body will unite all stakeholders around a unified table: the defense establishment, Treasury officials, the Ministry’s R&D directorate, defense industries, and additional relevant entities.”
Speaking that day — a day before Netanyahu’s controversial comments — about Israel’s outlook, Baram noted that “security and economic strength are inextricably linked, particularly in Israel. Fundamental security is a cornerstone of national security — alongside robust economics, social cohesion, and cutting-edge technology.”
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Failed leftist Jewish leadership is causing needless antisemitism
By Seth Grossman 21October2025 https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/10/failed_leftist_jewish_leadership_is_causing_needless_antisemitism.html
A new and vicious antisemitism has become fashionable for many young Americans on both the left and, sadly, the right. Conversations praising Hitler and joking about “a so-called Holocaust” are all over X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Most Jews of my “Boomer” generation know nothing about this.
We grew up in an America where it was normal for Jews to live safe and comfortable lives. We laughed at Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song because it seemed like almost everyone in public life had a Jewish connection. American Jews generously funded the ADL, AIPAC, and countless Jewish Federations and other organizations to protect Jews and fight antisemitism.
What happened?
The short answer is that America today is no longer the “goldene medina” (golden land) it was for us Boomers, our parents, and our grandparents. It is quickly becoming like the “Old Country” that our parents and grandparents left.
To make things worse, the “best and brightest” of American Jews—that is, the ones lauded and given power with the Democrat party and further left—openly and loudly promoted and cheered that “fundamental transformation” and advanced many of the worst tropes.
We need to talk. We cannot blame Netanyahu. We saw this antisemitism on October 8, 2023. That was months before Israel attacked Gaza.
Until recently, there was very little antisemitism from conservatives. Most hatred and deadly attacks against Jews came from Blacks, Muslims, and “woke” activists on the left.
Notably, in 2017, “Unite the Right” could bring only a hundred Tiki Torch boys to Charlottesville, Virginia, from all over America. Many were undercover police agents or as fake as Jussie Smollett. The media made them important headline news for weeks to embarrass President Trump. They chanted “Jews will not replace us.”. This was after the ADL joined President Obama’s lawsuit to stop Arizona from enforcing immigration laws. It was after Jewish charities like HIAS resettled thousands of Muslim “refugees” throughout America.
Leftist Jewish elites—and it’s very important here to distinguish between religious Jews and those whose creed is variations of Marxism—created similar hatred against Jews in America. Here are seven examples:
1. Openly and proudly supported socialist and left-wing causes and politicians. This included “Diversity Equity and Inclusion” programs and the transgender madness that put men into women’s sports.
2. Attacked and ridiculed Christian and American values and traditions in the media, Hollywood, and TV pop culture, and in schools and colleges.
3. Openly supported, defended, and advised politicians who got rich and powerful from massive government spending, debt, bureaucracies, and Wall Street bailouts that crushed the middle class.
4. Falsely accused Bible-based Christians who supported and defended Jews and Israel of being “far-right” and “white-supremacists.”
5. Taught a narrative that falsely blamed irrational “hate” and the “far-right” for the Holocaust while avoiding the obvious cause—National Socialism. (Goetz Aly explained this in his book Why the Germans, Why the Jews?).
6. Openly and proudly supported massive legal and illegal immigration to America of Muslims and others who hate Christians and Jews and basic American values.
7. “Built bridges” with Muslims while snubbing Hindus and Christians whose families were persecuted and murdered by Muslims in Africa and Bangladesh.
For the past fifty years, nonreligious or superficially religious American Jews within the Democrat party enabled and supported our worst enemies. At the same time, they insulted and attacked our best friends. Now we are hated by both sides. We need to talk.
Seth Grossman is a retired attorney in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was active in Republican politics for many years. He was a member of the city council and county commissioners during the 1980s. He was the Republican nominee for the House of Representatives in 2018 and was narrowly defeated by the “Blue Wave” that defeated most Republicans then. He is the Executive Director of Liberty and Prosperity. That is a New Jersey organization that has promoted American liberty and constitutional government since 2003.
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Biased media fuels American Jewish opposition to Israel
A poll shows that liberals and those who think being Jewish is unimportant are more likely to believe Hamas propaganda that the mainstream press reports as facts.
https://www.jns.org/biased-media-fuels-american-jewish-opposition-to-israel/
Jonathan S. Tobin
(10October2025 / JNS) The data is staggering. No matter how you look at it, a Washington Post poll conducted last month showing that 61% of American Jews believe that Israel has committed “war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza” is shocking for those who worry about declining Jewish support for Israel. The same survey shows that 39% of American Jewry believes that Israel is committing “genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
The headline on the article discussing the results characterized them as demonstrating that “many American Jews are sharply critical of Israel on Gaza.” It fits with the results that showed them disapproving of Israel’s war in Gaza by a slender but still telling 48% to 46% margin.
The ‘genocide’ blood libel
The answers to the questions about “war crimes” and “genocide” demonstrate that—at least as far as the respondents in question—the state of American Jewish opinion about Israel has gone far beyond criticism. It’s one thing for Jewish liberals living in the United States to think ill of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his coalition of nationalist and religious parties, whose supporters have very different worldviews about a variety of topics, not the least of which is their support for U.S. President Donald Trump.
But if a critical mass of those who self-identify as Jewish is willing to swallow blood libels that allege that Israelis are attempting to wipe out an entire people, then clearly something is very wrong. That’s the sort of news that should be enough to send Jewish leaders and organizations into a state of panic, as well as worry Israelis, many of whom have already begun to conclude that their Jewish brethren are far less reliable supporters of their right to live in peace and security than evangelical Christians.
This data will, like many other surveys over the years that have provided results that demonstrate a decline in Jewish support for Israel, provoke discussions and plans for more projects aimed at reversing this trend. While efforts along these lines are, in principle, praiseworthy, those friends of Israel who are panicking about this particular poll—and those antisemites and other enemies of Israel that are rejoicing over it—need to place it in perspective.
It tells us a lot more about the state of American Jewry in 2025 than it does about Israel’s conduct of the post-Oct. 7 war against Hamas in Gaza.
Just as important, the survey answers are in large measure a direct result of the biased coverage of Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip that has been provided by corporate legacy press outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and MSNBC. So, as much as anything else, what the Post is revealing in this poll is that people who depend on mainstream liberal media for their information are frankly ignorant of the truth about the war, believing what the misleading and often downright lying coverage about Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs tells them. No wonder they believe the misinformation they are being fed about the Jewish state committing “war crimes” and “genocide.”
The survey’s breakdown of their respondents’ beliefs helps us understand why they are so “critical” of Israel.
Decline in Jewish peoplehood
Like more detailed studies of American Jewry, the Post’s sample showed that a significant portion of those who identify as Jewish don’t consider their identity to be very important to them, with 29% saying it meant little or nothing to them and 24% saying they did not consider Judaism to be their religion. Some 42% of them said they had little or nothing in common with Israelis, and 44% said they were not emotionally attached to the Jewish state. If you drill down further into the numbers, you see that those who are not “Jewish by religion” are much more likely to blame Israel for the suffering in Gaza than those who do claim Judaism as their faith.
The point being that those who are either more likely to be religious or deeply connected to Israel—or are politically conservative and reject the toxic leftist myths of critical race theory, intersectionality and settler-colonialism that claim Israelis and Jews are “white” oppressors—are more likely to have alternate sources of information about the war and Israel. As a result, they are also less likely to believe the Hamas blood libels about Israeli war crimes and genocide that have been normalized and mainstreamed by international media.
Not all the results in the poll are bad news for the U.S.-Israel relationship. A whopping 76% of the respondents say that Israel’s existence is vital to the future of the Jewish people, although considering that about half of the world’s Jews live there, that’s a fairly obvious truth. More of them believe that Hamas—the side that started the war with unspeakable atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023—is more responsible for the war than those who blame the Israelis, who were attacked in the early-morning hours that Saturday, and their leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But most of the results simply reflect what anyone who depends on liberal media like the Post for information, with otherwise little knowledge about the conflict, would be expected to think.
It’s also true that the way the questions were framed and the sequencing of them were designed to produce “both sides are bad” answers that inflated the number of those who supported the most egregious accusations against Israel.
Yet at its heart, the poll is a reflection of not so much failures in Israel’s information policy and the success of Hamas propaganda (or even genuine evaluations of the shortcomings of Netanyahu’s government) as it is American Jewish demography.
As Jews assimilate, drop Judaism as a religion, and even more importantly, lose a sense of Jewish peoplehood in which they identify with and feel responsible for the safety of other Jews and Israel, it stands to reason that fewer of them are supportive of a Jewish state under fire. For these reasons, it’s not surprising that so many of them are willing to believe the outrageous lies about Israel that have gone viral amid a worldwide surge of antisemitism primarily aimed at demonizing the one Jewish state on the planet and its supporters.
But their lack of a sense of Jewish peoplehood and the left-leaning tilt of the majority of American Jews also makes them more likely to be consumers of anti-Israel mainstream media, rather than the few independent and/or Jewish news outlets, like JNS, that reject the pro-Hamas spin, and whose coverage tells the truth about the care Israeli forces take to avoid civilian casualties and the way the Palestinian terrorists seek to sacrifice as many of their civilians as possible.
Biased coverage influences opinions
It’s simply a matter of “garbage in—garbage out” as with any system. If people are fed biased coverage produced by a generation of liberal editors and writers more interested in activism than journalism, and who have already been indoctrinated to believe that Zionism is racism, then why be surprised that a demographic slice of their most loyal readers and viewers—liberal Jews—have been heavily influenced by their efforts?<
So, what should be the response of the Jewish community to these troubling results?
While an increased campaign to combat anti-Israel disinformation on social media is important, let’s not kid ourselves. Clever use of the tools of modern communication certainly can help. Still, no matter how much effort is put in, it wouldn’t be enough to counteract belief systems that are the result of choices about identity, religion and politics that predispose people on the left to think that Israel is always wrong and the Palestinians are right, no matter what either of them actually does.
Encouraging more Jews to care about Israel, and to be willing to listen to the truth and disregard blatant falsehoods about it, involves investments in education and Jewish experiences like schools, summer camps and trips to the Jewish state, not hiring influencers to post on TikTok. And if you want to put them in touch with accurate information about what actual Israelis and Palestinians do and believe, then you have to invest in alternatives to a corrupt and biased mainstream media that is more interested in producing work that conforms to their ideological prejudices about intersectional victims than in telling the truth.
It is awful that so many people who claim some sort of Jewish identity are willing to believe the lies spread about Israel. That they do so even while telling pollsters that they feel less safe because of the increase in antisemitism fueled by such coverage is not so much ironic as indicative of the problem posed by the spread of disinformation about Israeli “genocide.”
Support alternative voices
The good news is that outlets like the Post, which lie at the heart of the problem in Jewish disaffection, are declining in influence. Even as the liberal-leaning plurality sinks further into assimilation and a willingness to believe smears of Israel as being true, alternatives to mainstream thinking are proliferating. Outlets like JNS, The Free Press, Tablet and a host of non-leftist foundations and educational institutions are gaining in strength and growing both their reach and support. That’s the real story of Jewish revival that papers like The Washington Post and The New York Times ignore while they highlight the activities of anti-Israel and even antisemitic organizations that claim to be Jewish.
As this poll shows, much of American Jewry is abandoning its heritage and drifting toward the acceptance of antisemitic blood libels to stay in sync with liberal fashion. We have all witnessed the way antisemitic propaganda has been promoted by the political left, as well as by a loud but influential minority on the political right.
But the battle for the soul of America and American Jewry is not lost. Those Jews who understand that their safety—and that of Israel—is bound up with a struggle to defend Western civilization against toxic leftist doctrines, and the bizarre red-green alliance of Marxists and Islamists, are not giving up. More to the point, they are on the same side as the majority of Americans who, with good reason, don’t believe what the liberal press tells them about any topic. The triumph of woke progressivism that is integral to the turn against Israel reached its peak during the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020 and then during the Biden administration. It is now in retreat.
As sobering as some of the recent samples of public opinion about Israel may be, we should not be too discouraged. The majority of Americans, and even most Jews, still stand by Israel. Poll results notwithstanding, Jewish backers of Israel are still on the right side of history.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him: @jonathans_tobin.
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Many American Jews sharply critical of Israel on Gaza, Post poll finds
Most Jews say Israel is committing war crimes — and 39 percent say genocide — while often distinguishing between the country and its leadership.
Updated 6October2025 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/06/jewish-americans-israel-poll-gaza/
By Naftali Bendavid, Scott Clement and Emily Guskin
Many American Jews sharply disapprove of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, with 61 percent saying Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 saying the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians, according to a Washington Post poll.
The findings are striking given the long-standing ties between the U.S. Jewish community and Israel, suggesting the potential for a historic breach over the Gaza war. Two years after Hamas militants poured into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage, Israel’s retaliatory incursion has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry — which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but says the majority of the dead are women and children — displaced many more, and led to widespread hunger in the territory.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 Most American Jews say Israel has committed war crimes against Palestinians
American Jews are particularly unhappy with the current Israeli government. Sixty-eight percent give negative marks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership of Israel, with 48 percent rating it “poor” — a 20-percentage-point jump from a Pew Research Center poll five years ago. But Jews also overwhelmingly blame Hamas, with 94 percent saying Hamas has committed war crimes against Israelis.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 American Jews are much more critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership than in 2020
Jews in the poll are almost evenly divided over Israel’s actions in Gaza, with 46 percent approving and 48 percent opposing. That remains more supportive than many other groups: Among all Americans, 32 percent approved of Israel’s actions and 60 percent disapproved, according to a July Gallup poll.
Many of those who spoke to The Post in follow-up interviews said they supported Israel’s military incursion at first, given the brutality of the Hamas attack and the need to respond. But as the war has dragged on, with reports of atrocities accumulating and little evident progress, they have recoiled at Israel’s actions.
“Initially, Israel in a sense had no choice. You can’t let your national security be threatened that way,” said Julia Seidman, 42, a writer from Issaquah, Washington. “But in no way does that justify what is happening now, two years later. The amount of human suffering that we are seeing now … I’m just disgusted.”
Still, the poll finds that many American Jews retain strong emotional, cultural and political bonds with Israel and its identity as a Jewish state. About three-quarters, 76 percent, believe Israel’s existence is vital for the future of the Jewish people, and 58 percent say they have some or a lot in common with Israeli Jews.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 How connected American Jews feel to Israel
“When things get tough, the first suspects and therefore the first victims are Jews, so I think the existence of Israel is very important to the Jewish people,” said Bob Haas, 71, a business consultant in Devon, Pennsylvania, whose grandfather fled to the United States to escape pogroms in Poland. “But the way the Netanyahu government has conducted itself does nothing to safeguard Jews, in Israel or around the world.”
The poll reflects a community in deep turmoil, with multifaceted and sometimes conflicting feelings about the Jewish state 77 years after its founding. The Gaza war in a sense accelerated trends that were already underway, as a relatively liberal U.S. Jewish community has for years been edging away from an increasingly militant and conservative Israeli leadership.
The Gaza war has also torn apart the population of Israel itself, with tens of thousands of Israelis regularly taking to the streets to protest policies that are isolating the country globally. Many Israelis say Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political benefit, hoping to postpone his corruption trial and an inquiry into the security failures of Oct. 7.
The growing divide between American Jews and Israel may have consequences for U.S. politics as well. Top Democrats, including Jewish lawmakers, are far more critical of Israel than in the past, and they arguably face less risk of a backlash from Jewish voters deeply skeptical of Netanyahu.
When the Senate in July voted on two resolutions to block the sale of arms to Israel, most Democrats voted yes, although the resolutions failed in the face of Republican opposition. The resolutions were offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who is both a prominent Jewish politician and a leading voice urging consequences for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Also in July, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and other Jewish senators, including California’s Adam Schiff and Hawaii’s Brian Schatz, led a call for a major expansion of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Schumer last year called for Netanyahu to step down and allow new elections.
The mix of emotions among many Jews — concern for Israel combined with abhorrence at its behavior — has yielded complicated feelings about how much America should keep supporting the Jewish state, the poll suggests. Most American Jews, about 6 in 10, say they want the U.S. to keep sending military aid for Israel’s fight against Hamas.
But when the merits of the U.S.-Israel alliance are divorced from the Gaza war, 47 percent say U.S. support for Israel is at about the right level, with 32 percent — about a third — saying the U.S. is too supportive of Israel and 20 percent saying it is not supportive enough. The share saying the U.S. supports Israel too much is up 10 points since 2020 and 21 points since 2013 compared with Pew surveys conducted those years.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 Share of American Jews saying the U.S. is too supportive of Israel
Max Parke, 38, a software engineer in Brooklyn, said the fastest way to improve conditions in Gaza is for the U.S. to restrict aid to Israel or impose conditions on it.
“Jewish principles would say we need to respect everyone’s humanity,” he said. “In Israel, that is not the case; it privileges Jewishness in countless policies, without following actual Jewish principles.”
President Donald Trump, unlike many Democrats, has strongly embraced Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war in Gaza. Still, his pro-Israel message sometimes appears aimed more at his conservative and evangelical Christian supporters than at American Jews, who he has complained are insufficiently appreciative of his positions on the Middle East.
Trump and Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday, and Trump put forward a multipart peace deal for Gaza that Netanyahu said he accepted.
But with 22 hostages remaining in captivity, many complications remain. Hamas said on Friday that it would accept the deal to release all the hostages, but with unstated conditions and a call for continued negotiations over many of the details.
Among the poll’s most striking findings is the relatively large minority of American Jews who believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The term genocide was introduced in 1944, amid revelations of the Nazis’ killing of millions of Jews and a sense that a new word was needed to describe the enormity of trying to wipe out an ethnic group. The state of Israel, born four years later, was seen by many Zionist leaders as a safeguard against anything like the Holocaust happening again.
The accusation that Israel itself is committing genocide — reiterated by a team of United Nations experts last month — has prompted furious reactions. Netanyahu’s government sharply denounced it, saying it mischaracterizes a war aimed at defeating a terrorist group after a savage attack.
Yet a significant minority of American Jews agree with the U.N. panel’s conclusion.
In the poll, respondents were told that the United Nations defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Asked whether they thought Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, 39 percent said yes, 51 percent said no, and 10 percent had no opinion.
Dana Witten, 59, who lives in Boston, was among those respondents who rejected the genocide allegation. The Israelis are clearly not trying to eliminate all Palestinians the way the Nazis sought to erase every Jew, he said.
“To call it a genocide is a false equivalence to in some ways demean the Jews, because they should know better or something,” Witten said. “I don’t understand that. And it’s harmful to the discourse. It’s craziness to say it’s genocide.”
In an illustration of how the genocide question has split the Jewish community, Seidman, the writer from Washington state, said she and her husband have had “repeated disagreements” about it. Seidman said she is not an expert on the definition of genocide but is open to the possibility that it is occurring.
“He believes you shouldn’t use the word unless it absolutely meets the textbook definition,” Seidman said. “It’s not because he thinks what is going on is excusable; it’s certainly not. But if we muddy the waters by calling it genocide when it’s not, he thinks we risk losing the moral authority. I am much less certain about that.”
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 More than twice as many American Jews blame Hamas than Israel
The Post poll also revealed a generational divide. While 56 percent of Jewish Americans overall say they are emotionally attached to Israel, among those ages 18 to 34, that drops to 36 percent. But that share rises steadily for older groups, jumping to 68 percent for those over 65. Younger Jews are also more likely to say Israel has committed genocide, with 50 percent of those ages 18 to 34 saying so and the number hovering in the 30s among older groups.
On other issues, the generations are far more aligned. More than 80 percent of Jews of all ages said they are concerned about civilian deaths in Gaza and Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas. And majorities across age groups say they are concerned about the safety of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the threat Hamas poses to Israel.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 Most American Jews voice concern over Israeli hostages
Jewish Americans’ views of the war also split sharply by partisanship, gender and education. More than 8 in 10 Jewish Republicans support Israel’s military actions in Gaza, compared with about half of independents and roughly 3 in 10 Democrats. A 56 percent majority of men approve, while 55 percent of Jewish women disapprove. And although 54 percent of Jews with some college education or less approve of Israel’s actions, that falls to 47 percent among those with bachelor’s degrees and 36 percent of postgraduates.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 American Jews are split on whether they approve or disapprove of the military action Israel
Overall, American Jews’ view of the situation unfolding in Gaza appears to be that everyone involved bears some culpability. Asked who is responsible for the war’s continuation, 91 percent say Hamas bears responsibility, 80 percent say Israel does and 86 percent say Netanyahu bears responsibility. A 61 percent majority holds the U.S. responsible.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 Most American Jews say Hamas and Netanyahu bear a great deal of responsibility
But as reports of hunger and starvation multiply, 59 percent of American Jews say Israel is not doing enough to allow food into the territory, while 30 percent say it is doing enough. Israel has denied that people are starving in Gaza, questioning international organizations that say otherwise and insisting it has made efforts to improve the humanitarian conditions.
Despite the bleak assessment, many Jews remain optimistic that Israelis and Palestinians can ultimately reach a peace agreement. The poll finds that 59 percent say a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestine to coexist peacefully, while 41 percent disagree.washingtonpost poll 9-2025 A majority of American Jews say Israel and an independent Palestinian state
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 A majority of American Jews say Israel and an independent Palestinian state
Yet challenges are apparent even in this modestly hopeful outlook.
Sixty-two percent of American Jews say it would be acceptable for Gaza to be governed by an elected Palestinian government, and only 4 percent say it would be acceptable for it to be governed by Hamas. Yet when elections were held in the Palestinian territories in 2006, it was Hamas that emerged victorious.
washingtonpost poll 9-2025 Most American Jews accept Gazans being governed by leaders of their choice but reject Hamas
For many Jews, the rise in antisemitism has only bolstered the sense that a Jewish state is necessary.
“I think that it’s the only place they can call home,” Witten said. “It’s certainly the only place that can feel, you can’t say safe, but at least they have a place they can defend. It’s hard. When there is antisemitism running rampant in Europe and our own country, at the highest levels of academia, what does a Jew do?”
But for Jews like Parke, Israel has forfeited any claim to represent the Jewish people. He said he has taken to distinguishing between Israel as a nation, a land and a state.
“As a nation, the Jewish people around the world, that is a connection I feel,” Parke said. “Israel as a place, a land where we have history, that is a connection I could see myself having. But Israel the state — even though it has the same name as the land and the people, it does not speak for me.”
The Washington Post poll was conducted Sept. 2-9, among a random national sample of 815 Jewish Americans drawn through SSRS’s Opinion Panel, an ongoing survey panel recruited through random sampling of U.S. households. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
The sample includes adults who identify as Jewish by religion as well as those who identify as adults with no religious affiliation but Jewish ethnically, culturally or through their family background — and either were raised Jewish or have a parent who is Jewish.
In all, 76 percent of the sample was Jewish by religion and 24 percent was Jewish without a religious affiliation.
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Sept. 2-9, 2025, Washington Post Jewish Americans poll
Results from a nationwide survey of Jewish Americans on views of Israel, Gaza and other topics.
6October2025
By Washington Post staff https://www.washingtonpost.com/tablet/2025/10/06/sept-2-9-2025-washington-post-jewish-americans-poll/
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Gaza ‘Doctor’ Murdered Hostage Noa Marciano, 19, as She Begged For Mercy
Shocking: Father of Noa Marciano reveals how she was murdered
Avi Marciano, the father of IDF lookout Noa Marciano, who was abducted from the shelter at the Nahal Oz outpost on October 7, recounts for the first time how his daughter was murdered in Hamas captivity.
Israel National News / 11December2025, 12:07 AM (GMT+2) / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/419132
Avi Marciano, the father of IDF lookout Noa Marciano, who was abducted from the shelter at the Nahal Oz outpost on October 7, appeared in a video posted on Instagram by pro-Israel activist Shai DeLuca, where he revealed for the first time how his daughter was murdered in Hamas captivity.
In a recording sent to him, Noa described the airstrikes in the area and pleaded for her distress to be conveyed: “They’re bombing us,” she said in the video. She made a desperate request: “Stop the bombings because you might hit us.”
Later, as IDF forces approached the area, Hamas terrorists attempted to move Noa into central Gaza City. On the way, the car she was in was struck, and Noa sustained injuries to her leg and head, though they were not life-threatening. She was evacuated to Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Her father recounted that one of the medical staff at the hospital decided to murder her. “He injected air into her vein,” he said. Marciano received confirmation of Noa’s death through another video sent to him, in which his daughter is seen begging for her life. At the end of the footage, she appears to be sweating but lifeless.
Afterward, Hamas terrorists attempted to smuggle Noa’s body out of the hospital, but IDF forces prevented this. Ultimately, she was brought to Israel for burial.
“What I went through is the greatest nightmare I know,” Avi Marciano said tearfully. “Noa was my eldest daughter. She was so loved, and there isn’t a moment in the day when I don’t miss her.”
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A warning shot to Erdogan: Israel’s message to Turkey comes via Athens and Nicosia
Commentary: Jerusalem denies joint military force plans with Greece and Cyprus, but has ordered the IDF to begin planning in signal to Ankara to shift course; existing trilateral ties already act as a counterweight to Erdogan’s rising influence with Trump
Ron Ben-Yishai | 20December2025 | 22:57 | https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/rksxtfexzl
Security cooperation between Israel, Greece and Cyprus, including joint air, land and naval exercises, has been ongoing for several years. While Israeli officials have denied a Greek news report claiming the three countries intend to form a “joint intervention force,” ynet has learned that the political echelon has already informed the IDF of such a plan and even issued instructions to begin preliminary planning.
However, no concrete steps have been taken, and military planners in Tel Aviv are awaiting further directives from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz. For now, the government has instructed the IDF not to move beyond the initial planning stage.
The caution is understandable. If established, the main mission of a Greek-Israeli-Cypriot intervention force would likely be to counter Turkish activity in the eastern Mediterranean basin.
The envisioned force would protect the economic and strategic interests of Israel, Greece, Cyprus and potentially Egypt in the region. This includes defending offshore natural gas and oil production zones and fishing rights in areas claimed by Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a self-declared entity created following Turkey’s 1974 invasion of the island.
It would also involve safeguarding Israel’s proposed gas pipeline to Europe, which Turkey opposes, and could extend to territorial disputes between Greece and Turkey over sovereignty claims to several Aegean islands.
Although both Greece and Turkey are NATO members, their decades-long hostility, centered in large part on the Cyprus dispute, remains unresolved and could ignite at any moment. Turkey’s military, particularly its navy and ground forces, is larger, stronger and more modern than Greece’s. Ankara also holds a clear edge in defense manufacturing, thanks to Turkey’s rapidly developing military industry.
However, Turkey’s air force is relatively weak. Israeli security officials believe that if Israel joins forces with Greece and Greek Cyprus, contributing the IDF’s aerial and intelligence capabilities, it could significantly shift the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean, potentially deterring President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from escalating tensions with Athens under such conditions.
Still, Israel’s primary strategic objective in pursuing this alliance is not to confront Turkey directly, but rather to create a flanking deterrent. The aim is to contain Erdoğan’s growing military presence along Israel’s northern and southern borders.
Since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria, Turkey has worked aggressively to expand its military and political foothold in the country. This includes deploying early-warning radar systems and air defense batteries that could dramatically restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation over Syria, Iraq and even Iran, narrowing the IDF’s strategic options and its ability to pose a credible threat to Turkey itself in the event of a future conflict, fueled by Erdoğan’s increasingly hostile posture toward Israel.
The possible inclusion of Turkish troops in the proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza, as outlined in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, is viewed in Jerusalem as a direct threat. Israel strongly opposes Turkey’s participation in the ISF, arguing it would limit the IDF’s operational freedom to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Erdoğan’s open support for Hamas has further deepened Israeli concerns.
If Turkey were permitted to contribute forces to the ISF, expected to be a brigade-sized deployment of 1,000 or more personnel, Israeli officials warn it could facilitate weapons smuggling into Gaza or aid in rearming Hamas through the transfer of dual-use materials.
This may be one of the reasons Erdoğan is lobbying Trump to allow Turkish involvement, despite Israel’s firm objections. In response, Israel appears to be signaling its own potential counter-move: advancing the idea of a joint intervention force with Greece and Cyprus. Such an alliance would present a political and military counterweight to the threats and hostility Israel perceives from Turkey on both its northern and southern fronts.
Israel has no desire for direct military conflict with Turkey. However, given Erdoğan’s policies and his close ties to Trump, Israeli officials see a need to send a clear warning, strategic and symbolic, by aligning with Turkey’s historical (and predominantly Christian) rivals in the region.
However, the proposed joint intervention force remains at the conceptual stage. While preliminary planning is underway at IDF headquarters, no concrete steps have been taken. So far, the idea exists mainly through regional media reports, particularly in Greece, intended, it seems, to signal to Ankara that the option is on the table and to pressure Erdoğan and his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, to reconsider their approach.
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Since 1947, one truth has never changed: Israel chooses peace. Arab leaders chose war
Israel Foreign Ministry-tweet-28November2025-Israel chooses peace-Arabs chose war
Since 1947, one truth has never changed: Israel chooses peace.
Arab leaders chose war, terror, and rejectionism – again and again.
But Israel still says YES.
YES to peace. YES to coexistence. YES to the future we deserve. 🇮🇱✨
Israel Foreign Ministry-tweet-28November2025-Israel chooses peace-Arabs chose war
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BREAKING: HAMAS ALREADY PLANNING THE NEXT MASSACRE
Mossad Commentary-tweet-30December2025-HAMAS ALREADY PLANNING THE NEXT MASSACRE
BREAKING: HAMAS ALREADY PLANNING THE NEXT MASSACRE
A newly uncovered internal Hamas document, exposed by @Adkaneng, reveals preparations for a coordinated, multi front attack involving Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and Lebanon.
According to Gilad Ach, Hamas views October 7 as a success, not a failure, and believes the next round will be even larger.
Key takeaways from the document:
• Hamas claims it remains operational and organized
• A vast underground tunnel network is still intact
• Next war envisioned as a simultaneous multi front assault
• Goal remains unchanged: Israel’s destruction
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Mossad Commentary-tweet-30December2025-HAMAS ALREADY PLANNING THE NEXT MASSACRE
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HEBRON OCT 7 STYLE ATTACK AVERTED
Mossad Commentary-tweet-19January2026-HEBRON OCT 7 STYLE ATTACK AVERTED
🚨 BREAKING: OCT 7 STYLE ATTACK AVERTED
Security forces launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation overnight in the Jabal Johar area of Hebron.
• Led by the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet and dismantle terror infrastruct and seize illegal weapons
• Operation expected to last several days
• Explosions and heavy troop movement may be heard in the area
Security officials say the move follows intelligence warning of planned Hamas-style raids on communities in Judea and Samaria, similar to October 7 tactics.
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Mossad Commentary-tweet-19January2026-HEBRON OCT 7 STYLE ATTACK AVERTED
IDF operating in Hebron
IDF-tweet-19January2026-IDF operating in Hebron
⭕️Overnight, in the Jabal Johar area in Hebron, security forces began an operation to dismantle terror infrastructure sites, eradicate illegal possession of weapons, and enhance security in the area.
The operation is expected to continue for several days, and increased movement of IDF forces will be noticeable in the area.
IDF-tweet-19January2026-IDF operating in Hebron
IDF SEALS ROADS OUT OF HEBRON
Mossad Commentary-tweet-19January2026-IDF SEALS ROADS OUT OF HEBRON
BREAKING: IDF SEALS ROADS OUT OF HEBRON
IDF engineering units are closing all roads leading out of Hebron as part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation. Security forces say the move is intended to restrict movement and prevent the escape of suspects as the operation continues.
Source: Israel Live News
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Mossad Commentary-tweet-19January2026-IDF SEALS ROADS OUT OF HEBRON
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Battalion Commander: ‘We don’t buy calm in Judea and Samaria, we make it nightly’
Lt. Col. Yossi Levi, commander of Battalion 21, tells Arutz Sheva about his unit’s rapid shift from Gaza to Judea and Samaria.
Nitzan Kedar / Published: 11March2026, 12:54 PM (GMT+2) / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/423753
Lt. Col. (res.) Yossi Levi is widely known for his civilian role as CEO of the Netzah Yehuda association, which works to integrate haredi soldiers into the IDF through support for the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. At the same time, he serves as the commander of Battalion 21, currently operating in Judea and Samaria during the ongoing war.
“Until the week of October 7, promoting haredi enlistment was the main focus of my civilian life alongside my military role,” Levi said. “Since then, everything has changed.”
Following the outbreak of the war, Levi joined intense combat operations beyond the Judea and Samaria sector. He fought alongside the 450th Battalion in heavy fighting in Khan Younis and Rafah in Gaza. That unit later took part in the operation that eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. After completing those combat rotations, Levi returned to command Battalion 21 in the Binyamin and Etzion areas.
Today, the battalion is responsible for security in the Beitar Illit sector and nearby villages, including sensitive seam-line areas. According to Levi, the unit maintains constant offensive activity designed to prevent terrorism from gaining momentum.
“We are a very offensive battalion,” he explained. “We operate in the villages every night with significant operations, and that’s what brings calm to the sector. We don’t buy quiet. Quiet doesn’t fool us. There is calm because we are constantly working to maintain it.”
Levi says the strategy adopted by the Etzion Brigade during the war has made it one of the most aggressive formations in the Judea and Samaria Division.
“There is a brigade commander here who constantly thinks about how to generate more offensive activity and how to truly create calm,” he said. “That’s what brings stability. The quiet can be very deceptive. Judea and Samaria didn’t suddenly become peaceful – it only appears that way. Our role as the army is to make sure that calm continues.”
Much of that work takes place at night and largely out of public view. According to Levi, these operations are essential to preventing another front from erupting in the center of the country.
“There isn’t a house we don’t map or intelligence detail we don’t identify,” he said. “Every night we rethink how to reach more places and prevent attacks before they happen. Our goal is that residents of Judea and Samaria and all citizens of Israel can feel safe in their homes. It’s a challenge, but we constantly think creatively about how to reach anyone planning to cause harm long before they can carry it out.”
As the war continues, one of the major concerns facing the IDF is the strain on the reserve system. Still, Levi says he remains repeatedly impressed by the dedication of his soldiers.
“Reserve fatigue is no secret,” he said. “But what surprises me each time is the turnout. Despite the fatigue and the personal and financial pressures, the response rates remain very high.”
Levi believes the real strength of the IDF in this war comes from the unique mindset that reservists bring from civilian life.
“The creativity among reservists is something you won’t find anywhere else,” he said. “There is the army, and there is the regular army that sustains it – but the army itself is the reservists. You can’t ignore that reality during a war. As reservists, we bring a civilian mindset that allows us to think more creatively and less rigidly. That flexibility helps us reach solutions and places that would otherwise be impossible.”
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