Middle East Press On: Crime Epidemic, Thiago, Rabbi, Madleen, Humanity: New Age Islam's Selection, 11 June 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
11June 2025
Israel's Crime Epidemic And Domestic Issues Demand Attention, Even During Wartime
Navigating Ireland’s Anti-Israel Politics: A Personal Story Of Tolerance And Tension
The King And The Rabbi: How Milei’s Spiritual Quest Made Him Israel’s Strongest Ally'
‘Free Thiago!’: Brazilian Voices Grow Louder After Israel Arrest Ávila Aboard Madleen
Catching Israel Out: Gaza And The Madleen “Selfie” Protest
Israel’s Antisemitism Card Wears Thin Amid Gaza Genocide
A Video Like No Other – Why The Israeli Army Has Revealed Its Own Failure
‘Palestine Is The Litmus Test For Humanity’: Momodou Taal Speaks To The Floodgate
How Iran’s New Intelligence Operation Shatters Israeli Security Services’ Prestige
-----
Israel's Crime Epidemic And Domestic Issues Demand Attention, Even During Wartime
By Jpost Editorial
June 11, 2025
The Israel-Hamas War is piling new heights and breaking new records for all the wrong reasons. But the thing about wars is that they are a lot easier to begin than to end, and until they do end, life back home continues.
It is easy to get swept up in the narrative of a great war, in the stories, the tragedies, and the miracles. But, when we look back on this time, we will remember not just the death and destruction, but also how prices hiked so high that our ability to pay our bills on time became much harder, and how these years were some of the worst recorded yet in the realm of crime and violence.
Just on Sunday, 14-year-old Ori Portel was shot dead in Rishon Lezion. He was killed accidentally by his friend, himself 13 years old, who was playing with a gun at a “bottle shooting range.”
This follows a severely bloody weekend. Just on Sunday night, three people were murdered.
Kawtar Zitaoui, 60, was stabbed to death in her home in Umm el-Fahm. Police suspect her son is at fault and that he also harmed his pregnant wife. In Daburiya near Nazareth, Yakub Ikhtilat, 27, was shot dead, while Daniel Aslan, a 22-year-old released soldier, was killed after being falsely identified.
Zitaoui is the 17th woman to be murdered since the start of the calendar year. Most were killed by members of their family.
Last Sunday, in a suspected murder-suicide, a mother and her 13-year-old son were burned to death in a Modi’in apartment.
Last Monday, Yelena Gealovsky, 51, was murdered in Bat Yam by her husband, Yvegney Gealovsky, who jumped to his death after barricading himself there for nine hours.
That evening, Tamer Abu Kishk and Tayeb Masri were killed in a car bomb explosion in Jaljulya. A 10-year-old boy who was riding his bike nearby was injured as well.
Last Tuesday, Nur Musa, 18, who worked as a delivery boy, was shot dead.
On Thursday, Sarah Richardson, 73, was found dead in Ma’aleh Levona. Her son later admitted to suffocating her.
That same day, Issa Farij, 38, was shot dead in Kafr Kassem after he was released from detention for a suspected killing.
On Saturday, Daniella Yaakobovich, 67, from Nahariya, was fatally stabbed, per police suspicions, by her son in his 30s, who suffers from mental health issues.
This heartbreakingly long list should have elicited comments and site visits by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, but his voice has been unheard in this sphere. Instead, he showed up at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Sunday to show support to a police officer who was attacked several years ago.
Ben-Gvir has said that since he took office, his team has taken action to combat the rising crime rates, specifically the phenomenon of “protection” money. But that is not nearly enough.
Time doesn't freeze, even if we are at war
The numbers don’t lie. Yes, we are at war, but the country doesn’t collapse and time doesn’t freeze.
The truth about war is that it doesn’t replace the mundane obligations from before; it only serves to weigh them down more and make them sharper, and more relevant. Public safety has become more of a concern since the war began, not less. The police are understaffed and their leaders and mentors are busy with photo ops, bumping shoulders, and gaining favors.
There are many people in the police force who are good and honest and do their job. But that is not the image reflected from the top and from the statistics, and at the end of the day, that is what people see.
Ben-Gvir’s rushed comments regard matters unrelated to the ministry he is leading, which certainly has its hands full; meanwhile Israel’s internal security is bleeding out.
There are those that would say, “What can you expect? This is Ben-Gvir.” But this is a man that, personality and past aside, has a job to do. It is on that metric that we judge him, and it is on that metric that he is, so far, failing.
As rumors of elections circulate, let this serve as a cry and a wake-up call to our elected officials of what they were elected to do and where their failures lie, following and unrelated to the October 7 massacre.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-857257
-------
Navigating Ireland’s Anti-Israel Politics: A Personal Story Of Tolerance And Tension
By Howie Kahn
June 11, 2025
It was just a little over a year ago that my wife and I arrived in Ireland to visit our son’s family. He and his wife were there for a few years to work in Dublin’s hi-tech industry. The date was May 28, 2024, the day that Ireland recognized the State of Palestine.
When we watched the news that evening, and in the following days, we repeatedly heard anti-Israel stories, often based on remarks made by Israel’s extremist government ministers. At the same time, other reports were taken from Hamas sources – many of them false.
After four visits to Ireland in the last four years, including two since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacres in Israel, we have never experienced any antisemitic remarks or actions directed toward us. I wear a kippah when commuting on public transportation, visiting popular tourist sites, drinking in pubs, shopping in stores, etc. I also don’t keep a low profile while traveling, as sometimes advised by our government. Instead, we proudly tell anyone who asks that we are visiting from Israel.
We did not hear any negative comments about my headgear or that we are Israelis. In fact, surprisingly, we have received only positive remarks. It began with our first taxi driver, who shared that his father told him that it’s only the Jews living in Israel who would protect the Christian religious sites in the Holy Land.
Did anything bad happen when we drank with intoxicated Irishmen in at least half a dozen pubs? In one, our new friend, Shamus, told us, “Make sure that you visit the Irish Jewish Museum, to learn about the positive contribution the Jews have made to this country.”
As a professional accordionist, I wear a kippa with a keyboard design. This has led to numerous conversations with the local musicians who perform in the pubs. As we were leaving our last pub, my wife overheard one young woman say to another, “Isn’t that the cutest yarmulke you ever saw?” My wife turned back and replied with a smile, “Isn’t it?”
JOKING ASIDE, one cannot forget that the Irish government is one of the most anti-Israel institutions in the Western world. Their president, Michael Higgins, just a few months ago, inappropriately used his speech at the Holocaust memorial ceremony in Dublin to lambast Israel for its war in Gaza. A short time later, while in Rome for the installation of Pope Leo XIV, Higgins spoke about the absence of the “war criminal” Benjamin Netanyahu.
So far, there have been only two small physical altercations between pro-Gazans and Jews. There have been no attacks on Jewish institutions, such as the synagogue or the Jewish day school. This also includes the Israel Embassy in Dublin, the site of numerous pro-Hamas demonstrations since October 7. Israel closed down its embassy there at the end of 2024.
I’ve had several conversations with Rabbi Zalman Lent, the Chabad emissary in Ireland for more than two decades, and with Rabbi Yoni Wieder, Ireland’s new chief rabbi. Both said that despite the political position of the Irish government, the Irish anti-Israel position is unique because until now it hasn’t morphed into antisemitism.
However, these regular verbal and diplomatic attacks by the Republic of Ireland on the State of Israel provide fertile ground for what could eventually become anti-Jewish feelings. Just because there might not be an actual physical threat to Ireland’s small Jewish community of 2,500, that doesn’t mean that Irish Jewry doesn’t, understandably, feel threatened.
Even so, we need to be careful to distinguish between what’s actually happening and what we fear could happen in Ireland.
Visiting Ireland
When we arrived at Dublin Airport in March, we took a taxi to our hotel. Upon hearing that we were from Israel, the driver told us that Hamas deserved everything that they got after what happened on October 7.
At the end of our stay in Ireland, on the way to the airport, another driver inquired where we were going. When we said “Israel,” and he saw my kippah, he asked if anyone had hassled us. My wife answered “No” but then added, “unless you intend to do so.” He laughed and said that he doesn’t like to discuss religion or politics.
We then told him that Israelis are nervous about coming to Ireland because of the government’s anti-Israel positions. He was saddened to hear this. As we said goodbye to him at the airport, he shook my hand and gave me this message to relay: “When you get back to Israel, tell them that the Irish people like the Jews.”
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-857205
------
The King And The Rabbi: How Milei’s Spiritual Quest Made Him Israel’s Strongest Ally'
Byzvika Klein
June 10, 2025
When the legendary poet Judah Halevi plotted the Kuzari nearly 900 years ago, he imagined a restless Khazar king awakened by a dream in which an angel tells him: “Your intentions are desirable to the Creator, but your deeds are not acceptable.”
Unsatisfied with easy answers, the king summons priests, imams, and philosophers before finally embracing a rabbi’s simple confession: “We believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who brought Israel out of Egypt and spoke at Sinai.”
The literary device allowed Halevi to argue that serious ideas inevitably reshape politics.
Enter Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who touched down in Jerusalem on Monday. A self-designated “anarcho-capitalist,” Milei says that his weekly Torah studies with Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, Buenos Aires’ ambassador in Jerusalem, offer him the moral compass missing in modern politics.
“What I saw in Judaism,” Milei said after a tear-filled visit to the Western Wall last year, “was the constant search for truth and spirituality, an endless journey of growth.”
Moments later, he added a line worthy of Halevi’s king: “Every minute of this trip is a message to the world. It represents something bigger than us.”
Those private convictions are now public policy. Buenos Aires has flipped decades of UN voting patterns, black-listed Hamas and Hezbollah, and promises to move its embassy to Jerusalem once the Gaza war allows.
Milei’s next stop on his current visit will be to the Chagall State Hall, where he will become the first non-Jewish recipient of the Genesis Prize, often dubbed the Jewish Nobel.
The Genesis Prize Foundation chose him, it says, for “unequivocal support of Israel” at a time when doing so carries a cost.
Halevi would have recognized the symmetry: An outsider welcomed into the Jewish story because his deeds, not just his intentions, align with its values.
Milei pitches 'Isaac Accords'
Milei’s ambitions extend further. He is pitching the concept of the “Isaac Accords,” a Latin American version of the Abraham Accords, which would begin with Paraguay and Ecuador and then expand to other regional democracies willing to sign security and innovation pacts with Israel.
A medieval king redirected alliances after a spiritual pivot; a modern president is attempting something similar, only this time, the map runs from Jerusalem to the Pampas.
Skeptics note that Argentina’s economy is in intensive care, and Milei’s own cabinet frets about overextension. Yet the rabbi-ambassador appears unfazed.
In my Friday column, Wahnish put it this way: “Our two countries aren’t merely partners – we’re brothers who share liberty and democracy.” Brothers, after all, organize their priorities differently from casual friends.
Will Milei formally enter the covenant? He says any conversion decision must wait for retirement, partly because Shabbat observance clashes with the presidency.
Even so, Israel has rarely seen a visiting head of state quote biblical precedent with such ease, or act on it so quickly.“When good and evil are so clear,” he told reporters after the October 7 massacre, “you cannot stay neutral.”
The analogy is not perfect. The Khazar saga is half-legend, whereas Milei governs a messy democracy that counts its inflation in triple digits.
Still, Halevi’s point endures: Ideas, once taken seriously, reorder loyalties. Milei’s own journey, from chainsaw-waving populist to the Jewish world’s most outspoken gentile champion, shows that the distance from dream to deed can shrink fast when a leader decides, like the Kuzari king, that moral clarity outweighs convenience.
“If you wish to know God, love His creatures, for they are His handiwork and mirror His will,” Halevi wrote (the Kuzari, Book III, ch. 35).
This works perfectly with the way Milei and his government have been approaching Judaism and the only Jewish state.For Israel, locked in an unforgiving news cycle, that clarity is no small gift. And for readers who wonder whether spiritual curiosity can still move the diplomatic needle, this week in Jerusalem supplies a timely footnote. Sometimes – even in 2025 – the rabbi still wins the debate.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-857226
------
‘Free Thiago!’: Brazilian Voices Grow Louder After Israel Arrest Ávila Aboard Madleen
By Eman Abusidu
June 10, 2025
In a surge of national and international concern, Brazil finds itself at the heart of growing global condemnation following the detention of Thiago Ávila, a prominent Brazilian activist, by Israeli forces. Ávila was aboard the humanitarian vessel Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, when it was intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters en route to the besieged Gaza Strip. The ship’s mission was to deliver essential humanitarian aid—such as food, water, and medical supplies—and to show solidarity with Palestinians living under Israel’s genocide and 17-year blockade of Gaza.
The vessel carried 12 international activists, including Ávila and Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Their detention has ignited widespread condemnation and raised serious questions about Israel’s continued restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza.
The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) swiftly responded, issuing a statement on Monday, 9 June, demanding the immediate release of all detained activists. The ministry reaffirmed Brazil’s support for the principle of freedom of navigation in international waters and called on Israel to comply with its international obligations as an occupying power, including the immediate removal of restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.
“Recalling the principle of freedom of navigation in international waters, The Brazilian government calls on Israel to release all members of the humanitarian mission detained during the interception of the vessel,” the statement said.
It also confirmed that Brazil’s embassies in the region remain on alert to provide consular assistance, if necessary, in line with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Ávila’s detention has sparked a wave of solidarity and protest. Civil society organisations, human rights defenders, and political leaders have condemned the Israeli operation. Mass mobilisations and online campaigns have surged under hashtags like #FreeTheMadleenCrew and #SolidarityWithGaza, with many Brazilians viewing the incident not only as an attack on a fellow citizen but also as a test of international law, human rights, and humanitarian accountability.
The incident has become a rallying point, intensifying Brazil’s call for the protection of humanitarian workers and for the international community to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza with urgency and moral clarity.
I interviewed Thiago Ávila last August, when he briefly returned to Brazil after the flotilla made a temporary stop for technical repairs. He spoke with determination and clarity: “We will sail until Palestine is free.”
When I spoke with him again last week aboard the Madleen, Ávila was full of energy and purpose, dreaming of the moment he would finally reach Gaza, even as Israeli bombs continued to fall on Palestinian civilians. “We’re now sailing with activists from more than 12 nationalities, united by hope and solidarity,” he said. “As a catastrophic famine unfolds across Gaza, evidence of heinous physical violence by the Israeli forces continues to emerge. The Israeli and US-backed genocide carries on with impunity. People power remains as integral to the cause as ever. It really is up to us to shape a new world.”
With over 840,000 followers on Instagram, Ávila has spent the past 19 years advocating for what he calls a “society of good living”—a world rooted in social and economic justice, environmental balance, and solidarity. In recent months, he has focused on amplifying Palestinian voices and mobilising support for an end to the siege and the broader occupation.
His commitment is not without personal sacrifice. He left behind his one-year-old daughter, Teresa, to join the mission. “The day I left home, my eyes were filled with tears just thinking that I wouldn’t be with Teresa to watch her grow at this early stage of her life,” he shared. “It overwhelms me every time I have to be away to fulfill our collective mission of ensuring that all children in the world one day have the same dream of life that she has. It is out of solidarity with every mother and father in Gaza, who love their children as much as I love mine, that I accepted this mission.”
Ávila knows the risks. He referenced the deadly 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli commandos stormed another humanitarian flotilla in international waters, killing nine activists and detaining hundreds. “We are aware of the dangers. But going to Gaza is a duty,” Ávila affirmed. “It is necessary to have people taking the lead, in the vanguard, and assuming this risk-taking role in the knowledge that the ultimate benefit is for all humanity in general.”
Despite the danger, flotillas like the Madleen continued to defy the blockade. Each voyage stands as an act of resistance, a testament to the resilience and unwavering spirit of those who believe in justice, human rights, and a free Palestine. Meanwhile, activist Avila remains in Israeli detention, and solidarity campaigns around the world persist in calling for their release and standing in support of all those facing repression for their commitment to freedom.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250610-free-thiago-brazilian-voices-grow-louder-after-israel-arrest-avila-aboard-madleen/
------
Catching Israel Out: Gaza And The Madleen “Selfie” Protest
By Dr Binoy Kampmark
June 10, 2025
The latest incident with the Madleen vessel, pictured as a relief measure by celebrity activists and sundry accompaniments to supply civilians with a modest assortment of humanitarian aid, is merely one of multiple previous efforts to break the Gaza blockade. It is easy to forget that, prior to Israel’s current program to kill, starve and empty the enclave of its Palestinian citizens after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, Gaza had already become, arguably, the world’s largest open-air prison. It was a prison which converted all citizens into inmates trapped in a state of continual privation, placed under constant surveillance, at the mercy of the dispensations and graces of a power occupying in all but name. At any moment, officials could be extrajudicially assassinated, or families obliterated by executive fiat.
In 2008, the Free Gaza Movement successfully managed to reach Gaza with two vessels. For the next eight years, five out of 31 boats successfully journeyed to the Strip. Others met no such luck. In 2010, Israeli commandos revealed their petticoats of violence in killing 10 activists and injuring dozens of others on the Mavi Marmara, a vessel carrying 10,000 tonnes of supplies, including school supplies, building materials and two large electricity generators. It was also operated by the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish NGO, being one of six ships that formed a flotilla. Scandal followed, and the wounds on that issue have yet to heal.
With the Israeli Defence Forces and its evangelical warriors preaching the destruction of Palestinians along with any hope of a viable, functioning state, an impotent collective of nations, either allied to Israel or adversarial in nature, have been unable to minimise or restrain the viciousness of the Gaza campaign. Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen, have made largely fruitless military efforts to ease the program of gradual liquidation taking place in the Strip. Given such an absence of resolve and effectualness, tragedy can lend itself to symbolic theatre and farce.
The Madleen enterprise, operated by the Freedom Flotilla, departed from Sicily on June 1 with baby formula, food, medical items and water desalination kits. It ended with its interception by the Israeli forces in international waters roughly 185 km (100 nautical miles) from Gaza. With a top billing activist such as Greta Thunberg, a French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, and journalists in the crew, including Al Jazeera’s Omar Faiad, this was not your standard run of the mill effort.
Celebrities, when they throw themselves at ethical and moral problems, often risk trivialising the cause before the bright lights, gilding, if not obscuring the lily in the process. Thunberg, for all her principles, has become a professional activist, a superstar of the protest circuit. Largely associated with shaming climate change denialists, laziness on the part of officials to deal with dense carbon footprints, her presence on the Madleen crew is a reminder that calculated activism has become a media spectacle. It is a model, an IKEA flatpack version, to be assembled on sight, an exportable product, ready for the journey.
This is not to be flippant about Thunberg, or the broader purpose involved here. Her presence, and those engaged in the enterprise, are dangerous reminders to the Israeli project in Gaza. Had they been wise, the bureaucrats would have let stoic silence render the affair a media event, one filed in the library of forget me, white noise articles that have become the stock and trade of an overly crowded infosphere. But the criminal instinct, or at least one guiltily prone towards one, is garrulous. The chatter can never stop, because the justifications for such behaviour never end.
Israeli’s Foreign Ministry, for instance, thought it wise to dismiss the entire effort of what it called the “celebrities yacht” as a “media gimmick for publicity (which includes less than a single truckload of aid) – a ‘selfie yacht’.” Perfectly capturing Israel’s own abominable record in supplying humanitarian aid in dribs and drabs to the residents of Gaza, when it bothered to, the ministry goes on to fabulise about 1,200 aid trucks and 11 million meals supposedly sent to those in the Strip, never mentioning the killing of those seeking the aid by IDF personnel, the enlistment of rogue Palestinian clans, and the sketchy background of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Defence Minister Israel Katz also issued a statement declaring that Israel would “not allow anyone to violate the naval blockade on Gaza, the primary purpose of which is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas, a murderous terror organisation that holds our hostages and commits war crimes.”
In responding to the vessel, the Israelis did not disappoint. They added to the scene with accustomed violence, but the publicity wonks were aware that killing Thunberg and treating the rest of the crew like any other member of displaced persons at Khan Younis did not seem kosher. The infliction of suffering had to be magisterially restrained, a gold class privilege delved out by the superior ones. No missiles or armed drones on this occasion were used.
Instead, the twelve member crew were taken to the port city of Ashdod, 30km north of Gaza, where prison authorities had been instructed by Israel’s dogmatic National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to hold them in solitary confinement. A number, including Thunberg, have been deported. Others are still being held, purportedly for refusing to sign paperwork authorising their deportation.
As the formalities are being chewed over, the broader designation of the effort by the Madleen and her crew as those of a “selfie yacht” offer the pool’s reflection to Israeli authorities: how the IDF took selfies of their atrocities, filming with haughty and avenging pride the destruction of Palestinian civilian infrastructure and the moonscape of their creation; how Israeli officials, such as the former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant felt comfortable claiming the Jewish state was “fighting against human animals”. This was one occasion where a celebrity venture, as small it was, proved worthy.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250610-catching-israel-out-gaza-and-the-madleen-selfie-protest/
-----
Israel’s Antisemitism Card Wears Thin Amid Gaza Genocide
Osama Al-Sharif
June 10, 2025
Amid mounting global criticisms and denunciations of its conduct during its 18-month blitz on the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed more than 55,000 people and injured over 100,000, Israeli leaders have chosen to brush aside any censure by playing the antisemitism card and accusing critics of “blood libel.”
This response has picked up pace in recent months, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist coalition partners have hurled insults at some of their closest allies, such as French President Emanuel Macron, for simply calling out the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Zionists have lambasted Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for suggesting that their countries may be closer than ever to recognizing a Palestinian state at a UN conference next week.
Both have been strong supporters of Israel after Oct. 7. Still, once they began to hint that war crimes may have been committed in Gaza, the Zionist propaganda machine started stalking them. Many other leaders, celebrities and organizations have been labelled as anti-Semitic because they dared to point out the obvious: Israel has committed a long list of war crimes in Gaza, most of which are well documented.
Israel is the only country in the world that has this false image of itself: a nation that can do no wrong simply because Jews suffered an unspeakable calamity at the hands of Europeans many decades ago. Its claim that Israel represents the entire world’s Jewry is also contestable. But the most outrageous assertion is that criticism of Zionism, a political ideology that is more than a century old, is a form of antisemitism.
Israel has used the antisemitism card for decades. But the war on Gaza has forced its leaders to flash that card left, right and center in an absurd manner. It has by now worn out the card itself and emptied it of any substantial meaning. One such example is that of famous British TV presenter Piers Morgan, whose weekly program has millions of followers on social media. Morgan has been a strong backer of Israel’s war on Gaza and a major critic of anyone who has criticized its actions since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. He even peddled some of Israel’s false claims about the atrocities Hamas allegedly committed on that ominous day.
But in recent weeks, Morgan has had a change of heart, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting women and children in Gaza while resorting to the collective punishment of Palestinians in both the enclave and the West Bank. Subsequently, Morgan has been demonized for grilling Israeli officials about Gaza and asking the right questions. Ardent Zionists now accuse him of “blood libel.”
Accusing Israel of killing children or carrying out a genocide is enough to earn the accuser the label of being an anti-Semite. In fact, in his speech at the UN’s General Assembly last year, Netanyahu denounced the entire UN, describing it as a “swamp of antisemitic bile.” His envoy to that body had famously and arrogantly shredded the UN Charter before members just a few months previously.
There are two key points to remember here. One, criticizing Israel is not a sin, a taboo or a moral lapse. The second thing is that antisemitism is a serious charge, but it is not something Israel can use freely, as a blank check to break the law of free will.
Israel’s sense of impunity, buffered by its increasing arrogance and sense of entitlement, would not have reached this degree of depravity if it were not for the blind political backing and subservience of most US politicians. In addition to Israel, only American politicians and administrations have dared use the slander of antisemitism. The Trump administration has gone as far as sanctioning four sitting judges at the International Criminal Court for their role in supporting the issuance of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.
The White House has defined any pro-Palestine activism at US universities as antisemitism and has taken measures to deport students accused of expressing anti-Israel and pro-Palestine views. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a directive to check the backgrounds of student visa applicants to find any criticism of Israel.
Such short-sighted — not to mention illegal under the US Constitution — policies do Jews around the world no service, as they conflate any criticism of Israel or Zionism with hatred of Jews. This is simply absurd. The irony is that even progressive Jews, including Holocaust survivors, who denounce Zionism and condemn Israeli crimes have been labeled as antisemitic.
In recent months, former Israeli premiers and army generals have come out to accuse their government of committing war crimes in Gaza. This is further proof that extremist Israeli leaders and pro-Israel US politicians have weaponized the antisemitism card and, by doing so, they have denigrated the memory of those Jews who perished in Europe simply because of their religion.
Zionism as a nationalistic political ideology must be delinked from the Jewish religion — an idea that is not preposterous, since many followers of various Jewish sects have already made that distinction. And as the bedrock ideology of the state of Israel, it is subject to international laws and conventions just like any other.
In 1975, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution determining that Zionism was a form of racism. It was revoked in 1991. Antisemitism must be neutralized as a card that Israel can throw around whenever its actions breach international law. Zionist Israel cannot use the blood of Jews who died because of their religion to justify the mass murder of others.
Since the start of the Gaza war, antisemitic acts have spiked in the West. But one must first separate hatred of Jews based on their religion from the perfectly “kosher” criticism of Israeli state crimes. Such crimes must not be blamed on the followers of the Jewish faith. One must dare ask about the direct correlation between the rise in antisemitic crimes and the Gaza genocide. It is Israeli arrogance and bigotry that have become a liability for international Jewry.
The fact is that Israel and its allied groups have widely adopted accusations of antisemitism to suppress those advocating for Palestinian rights and to shield Israeli policies from scrutiny. Critics argue this blurs the line between hatred of Jews and criticism of Israel’s government and its actions in the Occupied Territories.
The final irony, which is missed by many, is that the Palestinians, one of the ancient Semitic peoples of the region, are now being killed and starved to death in the name of the Jews. At the same time, their supporters are targeted and labelled as anti-Semitic.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2604028
------
A Video Like No Other – Why The Israeli Army Has Revealed Its Own Failure
June 10, 2025
This is not your typical video. The event itself might be similar to numerous other events: a fighter emerging from a tunnel, placing a bomb under an Israeli Merkava tank, and returning to his tunnel before a massive explosion takes place.
This is what is called an operation from zero distance. But the video, this time, is different, as it was not released by the Al-Qassam Brigades or any other group. There is no foreboding music in the background, no slick edits, no red triangles. The reason? The video was released by the Israeli army itself.
This raises many questions, including why the Israeli army would report the bravery of a Palestinian fighter and the successful blowing up of the pride and joy of the Israeli military, the Merkava.
The answer might lie in the sense of despair in the Israeli military, an army that knows well that it has lost the war or, at best, is unable to clinch victory, even after it laid Gaza to waste and exterminated nearly 10 percent of its population (between the killed, wounded, and missing).
This sentiment is now very well-known among Israelis, as Israeli media, which initially touted the idea of ‘total victory,’ is now the one promoting a version of Israel’s own total defeat.
Writing in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Itzhak Brik wrote that Israel is on the verge of “collective suicide” and that the army has effectively been defeated by Hamas in Gaza.
“With a political and military echelon of this type, there is no need for external enemies; they will bring disaster upon us in their stupidity,” he warned, adding:
Brik can no longer be accused of being the detached former soldier who is horribly misreading the situation on the ground. Even those on the ground are expressing the exact same sentiment.
On Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted an Israeli infantry soldier who expressed a feeling of brokenness after returning to fighting in Gaza, stating that “everyone is exhausted and uncertain.”
The Israeli soldier reportedly added that he feels there is no appreciation for the lives of soldiers fighting in Gaza and that they have moved from offense to defense, noting that the soldiers “doubt the objectives of the war.”
Many in the pro-Palestine circle, which now represents the dominant global narrative on the war, are celebrating the bravery of the young men in the video and, by extension, the bravery of Gaza, deeply wounded but still fighting, in fact, winning.
But there is more to the story than this. The fact that a tank belonging to the 401st Brigade would be blown up in such a way, under the watchful eye of Israeli drones, which could only report the event without being able to change it, is telling us something.
But unlike the Palestinian message, the Israeli message is not global, but very much a localized cry for help: get us out of Gaza.
Whether Israeli politicians, lead among them the master of political survival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will listen or not, that is a completely different question.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/a-video-like-no-other-why-the-israeli-army-has-revealed-its-own-failure/
------
‘Palestine Is The Litmus Test For Humanity’: Momodou Taal Speaks To The Floodgate
June 10, 2025
In the latest, powerful episode of The Floodgate Podcast, Palestinian journalist Ramzy Baroud and Pan-African activist Bouna Mbaye featured renowned scholar and organizer Momodou Taal.
A former PhD student at Cornell University, Taal became one of the most visible student organizers against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. His principled stance and public activism—amid a wave of pro-Palestine mobilizations—came at a heavy price.
Facing suspension, surveillance, and threats of deportation, Taal ultimately chose to self-deport from the United States.
In this deeply personal and politically urgent conversation, the Gambian-British scholar reflects on student resistance, institutional repression, the politics of Zionism, and the global implications of the Palestinian cause.
Here are the main takeaways from the interview:
Student Activism Reignited
Taal’s political engagement with Palestine dates back to his teenage years. But it was the Israeli assault on Gaza following October 7 that catalyzed a more committed, organized, and defiant form of activism, not just for him, but for students across the United States.
“Campuses exploded across the country in the United States,” he said. “I was at Cornell University. We had a sustained campaign on campus that was a series of escalations”.
Taal played a central role in Cornell’s student-led movement. He participated in rallies, encampments, and coalition-building efforts.
The organizing began immediately after Israel launched its genocidal war on October 7.
Tall said that a coalition was “established on campus. I was involved in the encampments. I was suspended for my involvement in the encampment. I was suspended for my involvement in a protest, which I attended for five minutes.”
Institutional Repression
Though he anticipated some form of punishment for his activism, Taal said he did not expect the intensity or scale of repression that followed.
“I anticipated a suspension. I anticipated schools coming down. But to mete out this level of repression on their own students and faculty… people’s livelihoods are being destroyed, people’s diplomas and degrees are being withheld, people are losing tenure, people are losing jobs,” he said. “I was banned from teaching.”
The surveillance extended far beyond campus administration.
“I had the FBI looking for me. They subpoenaed my social media looking for material support of terrorism. I could have been in jail for 20 years.”
He accused Cornell of singling him out: “I would say two things that Cornell I felt disproportionately targeted me because I think they saw me as someone who was quite front-facing, and also I would say that Cornell effectively placed a target on my back as well”.
Perhaps even most disturbing was how the US government justified its actions.
“The government said that I created—not an unsafe—an uncomfortable environment for Jewish students,” Taal said. “In which world can I marshal DHS, ICE, the FBI, the president, and the secretary of state—not for my safety, but for my comfort?”
Antisemitism is Weaponized as a Tool of Suppression
Taal offered a sharp critique of how accusations of antisemitism are being used to delegitimize Palestine solidarity movements, especially when led by Black or Palestinian voices.
He stressed that this does not reflect the material realities of discrimination in the West.
“No one is losing their job for being pro-Israel. No one’s losing their livelihoods. No one’s being denied tenure… But pro-Palestinians—people are being shot, kids are being killed, people are being spat on,” Taal added.
Palestine as a Litmus Test for Global Justice
For Taal, the repression of Palestine solidarity has exposed the limits and hypocrisies of Western liberalism.
“Palestine holds up a mirror to the world and asks: what kind of world do you want to live in?” he said.
Taal noted the contradiction between how Western institutions responded to Ukraine compared to Palestine.
“We saw all these institutions that call themselves apolitical having Ukrainian flags… all these places that say they have no funding were finding the money to offer scholarships for Ukrainians. And you have to ask yourself—what is different here?”
Taal said the answer becomes even clearer when we look at global legal institutions.
“What we say about Palestine when I say it’s a litmus test we’re saying literally what kind of world do you want to live in and if you want to live in a world in which this can happen,” Taal noted.
No Room for Zionism, Even the Liberal Kind
Taal rejected the idea that Zionism—of any stripe—can be reconciled with justice for Palestinians. He criticized attempts to recast Palestinian liberation as a humanitarian issue, stripped of its political and historical roots.
“There can be no space for liberal Zionism, leftwing Zionism, Marxist Zionism, whatever brand,” he insisted. “We have to hold our line.”
He also rejected the logic of symbolic statehood under occupation.
“I would hate to see the Palestinian struggle become another humanitarian liberal charity case… Israelis can do that. Abu Mazen (PA President Mahmoud Abbas – PC) wants a Palestinian state by any means necessary. He doesn’t care what the nature of the state is.”
For Taal, the reality is more existential:
“I’m not someone who believes in people to be ontologically evil,” he said, but “we’re dealing with people whose psychic health is reproduced by the blood of Palestinians.”
Afro-Palestinian and Global South Solidarity is Rising
Taal spoke about the organic bonds between Black liberation and Palestinian resistance—connections that are often erased or questioned.
“Do you know Afro-Palestinians exist?” he asked. “Solidarity isn’t transactional… It’s a tired rhetoric I constantly have to battle.”
He contrasted his experience in the West with what he found in Cuba after self-deporting.
“I went to Cuba… It was just so refreshing to be in a place where the question of Palestine is not even a question. Of course, we support Palestine. Of course we support the right to resist,” Taal explained.
“I was greeted by an Afro-Cuban who heard about my case… he said to me, the first thing he said was: ‘You’re safe here in Cuba.’”
The Stakes are Global, the Time is Now
In Taal’s view, what is happening in Gaza today is a warning to the world: unchecked violence and repression against one population will spread unless stopped.
“A world in which 20,000 children can be killed with such impunity is a dress rehearsal for what’s going to happen to us one day,” he warned.
“Even if you selfishly don’t care about Palestinians… this is the world your children will inherit.”
He concluded with a sense of conviction and urgency, stating: “We already know capitalism has exceeded what it can offer us. We need a new way to exist or we’re going to descend into barbarism.”
For Taal, Palestine represents “the last frontier of Western civilization.”
“It’s almost as if: if Palestine is liberated, if Palestine is free, that signals the terminal crisis, the Western civilization’s decline,” he said.
Still, he remains optimistic about the liberation of Palestine. “I believe Palestine is going to be free. It’s a matter of when, not if. It wasn’t even a question for me.”
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/palestine-is-the-litmus-test-for-humanity-momodou-taal-speaks-to-the-floodgate/
------
How Iran’s New Intelligence Operation Shatters Israeli Security Services’ Prestige
June 10, 2025
Amidst an escalation of threatening rhetoric between Tehran and Tel Aviv, Iran has revealed an intelligence operation of historic proportions. The Iranians not only claim to have retrieved thousands of classified Israeli documents, but now warn Israel that it can hit its secret nuclear weapons sites in the event its own are targeted.
On June 7, Al Mayadeen News and Iranian state broadcasters began releasing exclusive stories about a massive intelligence operation carried out by Tehran’s intelligence services “inside the Zionist Entity”.
According to Al Mayadeen’s original scoop, “thousands of documents related to the Israeli occupation’s projects and its nuclear facilities” were seized, and the operation had taken place some time ago and could only be revealed now due to security concerns.
Western corporate media and the Israeli Press have instantly attempted to downplay the recent revelations regarding Iran’s seizure of sensitive documents, claiming there is “no proof”.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has, however, acknowledged the Israeli nuclear document seizure, alleging that the reports about the nuclear documents obtained “seem to refer” to the Soreq Nuclear Research Center.
Grossi also claimed that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon if Israel decides to target its nuclear facilities, or that it may withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
The Iranian media revealed that the operation carried out by their nation’s intelligence was multi-pronged and included a direct on-the-ground operation, likely using spies recruited to steal sensitive documents and pass them on to their handlers. Therefore, this is not simply a cyber attack or hacking operation, but a direct infiltration of some of the most sensitive sites for the Israelis.
Until Monday, there was little said by the Iranian authorities directly regarding the matter. This changed with a groundbreaking statement from Iran’s Supreme Military Council (SMC), which confirmed the operation had seized classified documents from the Israelis.
According to the SMC, not only had they managed to seize highly sensitive documents relating to the Israeli nuclear weapons file and other government files, but Iran now possesses the capability to directly target and destroy the hidden Israeli nuclear facilities.
A direct threat was made against the leadership in Tel Aviv, stating that in the event that they decide to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, they will also strike theirs.
Another major development revealed by the SMC was that “the target bank” of the Israelis is “now on the table of Iran’s armed forces”. Further comments from Iranian officials affirmed that this meant that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has uncovered files which show what targets the Israelis are planning to hit and that they are reinforcing their air defences to defend these areas.
IRGC Major General Hossein Salami, later, hailed the intelligence grab as one of the greatest intelligence operations ever conducted, adding that the “myth of the Mossad has collapsed” and that Iran has already used the intelligence information collected to make their missiles more effective.
The same day, US President Donald Trump held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This occurred right before a high-level meeting at the Kirya with his top intelligence and military leadership, the contents of which were subjected to a complete media blackout, but it was made clear that both the call and the meeting were regarding Iran.
The American President later noted, in a press conference, that he would not allow any Iranian nuclear enrichment. On the other hand, the Iranians are sticking to their original demands and refuse even to discuss the option of abandoning uranium enrichment altogether.
This is all important because what Iran claims to have pulled off here dwarfs a similar Israeli intelligence operation that was revealed in 2018, when the Israeli Premier claimed to have seized top-secret Iranian nuclear program documents. While Netanyahu presented the information as a revelation, in reality, the IAEA stated that nothing new had been revealed at the time.
In all, this is a gigantic blow to the Israeli intelligence community and has shattered their prestige. It also potentially makes an attack on Iran even more difficult, though at the same time encourages this due to the fact that the Israeli leadership is in a position where they seek to project strength.
The two Israeli counterattacks that took place in response to Iran’s Operation True Promise 1 and 2, were weak to say the least and didn’t achieve much beyond hitting a few Iranian military sites and a few components of its air defence network. Knowing this, the US and Israel claim that Iran’s air defences have all been destroyed, or at least critically diminished, which is clearly a lie that nobody beyond your average ardent pro-Israel supporters believes.
As the tensions escalate between Iran and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is again facing another threat, which could lead to its collapse, this time from the ultra-orthodox (Haredi) Parties.
The “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” is proving to be a dramatic failure, and the alternative appears to be a desperate attempt by the Israelis to back ISIS-linked aid looting gangsters, who have no support in Gaza, to overthrow Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Israeli agenda in Lebanon is failing, and its army is far from ready to effectively carry out a ground campaign against Hezbollah, having spent its biggest cards already in that arena.
Slowly, the Israeli regime is crumbling on every front, and its Prime Minister is simply stalling at the stage. The one clear option forward appears to be a significant assault on Iran, but even this could backfire enormously. Yet, because of the weakness of Israel, this attack is more likely now than ever.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/how-irans-new-intelligence-operation-shatters-israeli-security-services-prestige/
------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/crime-epidemic-thiago-rabbi-madleen-humanity/d/135831
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism