Trump administration officially rejects pandemic-related WHO rules - Thérèse Boudreaux

 

by Thérèse Boudreaux

The revisions would have granted the WHO the power to order global lockdowns, travel restrictions, and any other measures deemed necessary to address “potential public health risks.” 

(The Center Square) -

One day before the deadline, the U.S. government has issued a refusal of new international health regulations that dramatically expand the World Health Organization’s international powers.

The WHO’s 2024 amendments to International Health Regulations – adopted by the organization’s highest decision-making body, the World Health Assembly – were set to become binding if not rejected by Saturday.

The revisions would have granted the WHO the power to order global lockdowns, travel restrictions, and any other measures deemed necessary to address “potential public health risks.”

The State department along with U.S. Health and Human Services issued the Friday rejection, arguing that the amendments would give the WHO “undue influence on our domestic health responses.”

“Terminology throughout the amendments to the 2024 International Health Regulations is vague and broad, risking WHO-coordinated international responses that focus on political issues like solidarity, rather than rapid and effective actions,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

“Our Agencies have been and will continue to be clear: we will put Americans first in all our actions and we will not tolerate international policies that infringe on Americans’ speech, privacy, or personal liberties,” he added.

The WHO’s regulations also advised countries to assert greater control over public health information and would have required countries to adopt digital health documents.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted that the provisions ignore the international agency’s “susceptibility” to “political influence and censorship.”

“The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic,” Kennedy said. “The United States can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties, without undermining our Constitution, and without ceding away America’s treasured sovereignty.”

Multiple Republican lawmakers expressed support for the move. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO via executive order in January, but the new regulations would have applied to the nation regardless, unless rejected. 

Thérèse Boudreaux

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/trump-administration-officially-rejects-pandemic-related-who-rules

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Iran says it has replaced air defenses damaged in Israel war - Reuters

 

by Reuters

Israel's air force dominated Iran's airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country's air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.

 

An Iranian missile is displayed during a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran April 29, 2022.

(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month's conflict with Israel, Iran's Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday, quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army's deputy for operations.

During the conflict in June, Israel's air force dominated Iran's airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country's air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.

"Some of our air defenses were damaged; this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure," Mousavi said.

Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system, Bavar-373

Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system, Bavar-373, in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press did not mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.

Following limited Israeli strikes against Iranian missile factories last October, Iran later displayed Russian-made air defenses in a military exercise to show it recovered from the attack.

(Illustrative) The Elbit-made Hermes 900 drone. (credit: ELBIT)

Putin meets top Iranian adviser Larijani, discusses Middle East tensions, nuclear issues

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on Sunday with Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Russian state-run RIA news agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The two discussed the escalating situation in the Middle East and issues surrounding Iran's nuclear program.

Putin reaffirmed Russia's position in favor of stabilizing the region and pursuing a political resolution to matters related to Iran's nuclear activities, Peskov said. 

Reuters

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-861594

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Afghans hiding in UAE after aiding U.S. military face forced return to Taliban. Can Trump save them? - Lara Logan

 

by Lara Logan

Afghan refugees learned this week they are going to be deported back to their home country.

 

In a stunning shift, officials in the United Arab Emirates who have given refuge to Afghan allies of the United States for more than four years appear to have made a deal to turn them over to the Taliban.

President Donald Trump now has in his hands the fate of these Afghans, who were stranded and abandoned by President Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

According to first-hand accounts of some in the group, UAE officials came without warning to deliver the news, sowing panic among the group of thirty-two Afghan men, women and children who were staying in the refugee camp in Abu Dhabi, where they have effectively been held for the past four years.

“They took my son, they took my son."

Those were the only words I could make out amidst the screaming and tears when the voice message came to me halfway across the world in the dead of night on Friday.

UAE security guards forced refugees to leave their homes and prepare to be sent back to Afghanistan. 

A report had just been published in The Telegraph detailing the murder of some two hundred Afghan soldiers and police officers who were hunted down by the Taliban regime after a data leak in the UK.  

The victims were people who helped the U.S. oust the Taliban and defeat the al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001. Biden’s administration promised they would not be left behind to die.

“The Secretary of State is personally committed to keeping our promises to those who stood by us in Afghanistan and to relocating them safely," they were told in writing by the Biden State Department. 

The refugees in UAE followed the legal process and the instructions of representatives of the U.S. State Department but now they face a terrifying future.

On Wednesday, members of the group said their passports were taken by the officials running the camp, a sprawling complex that was once filled with over a thousand refugees just like them.

Over the years, that number had dwindled. Some went to the U.S., others to Canada, Australia and elsewhere.

The Tahiri family of 11 that I helped get there, who I have known for over twenty years, had been fully processed and vetted, security screening completed without issue and the final step. The medical screening was also completed. 

I remember their excitement and relief back in July 2023 when they called me to tell me they had been told to get ready to fly to the United States. They were prepared to go anywhere to survive and had never turned down any offers but the U.S. had always been their first choice. After losing everything, they believed they would finally be safe. 

Only that never happened. They waited and waited. Then two years later, the day after they were forced to surrender their passports to camp officials, they said they were ordered to come to the hall. And when the camp’s director entered he was surrounded by Taliban officials, including the Taliban “ambassador” to the UAE.

Members of the group said they were told “things would be easier for them in Kabul” if they chose to “self-deport”. 

Their fate at this moment remains uncertain. Various U.S. officials have been reaching out to counterparts in the UAE to understand what happened and try to pause the deportations. 

While many Americans have understandably moved on, these Afghan allies have not had that choice. Their country has not known a moment of freedom, and their enemies are more powerful than ever.

Afghan women who served in their Special Operations Forces are among those facing deportation now at a second camp. Their fate should they be returned is one many would consider worse than death. 

Lara Logan

Source: https://justthenews.com/world/middle-east/lara-logan-piece

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Palestinian Authority kids taught: Refugee camps are “a waiting station” until refugees flood ‎the “original homeland” – Israel ‎- Nan Jacques Zilberdik

 

by Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Abbas: "One day I will return, the right of return is a sacred right…Palestine is ours"

 

• PA message to children: "The refugee camp is the waiting station"
• Abbas: "One day I will return, the right of return is a sacred right…Palestine is ours"
• Abbas: "Our people in Lebanon is a temporary guest until its return to its homeland Palestine"
• PA: "Right of return is firm and not subject to a statute of limitations, according to UN Resolution No. 194"

The Palestinian Authority's goal to destroy Israel and turn it into "Palestine" hasn't changed. At every opportunity, the PA invokes the "right of return" for all Palestinian "refugees." PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently stated that "the right of return is a sacred right," that "Palestine is ours," and that "the one who needs to leave is the occupation" - in other words, Israel:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "The return [of the Palestinian refugees] – don't forget the return, don't forget the return. Not for me; I'm a refugee and all are refugees. I want to go, why not, this is my land. One day I will return, the right of return is a sacred right…Palestine is ours and Jerusalem is ours, and we will wait, Allah willing. A short period, not a long one; not 20 years, much less. Rest assured the [Palestinian] state will return. We remain on our land, and we will not leave. The one who needs to leave is the occupation."

[Official PA TV, April 23, 2025]

Young Palestinian scouts were taught that same message for "Nakba Day" – the day of the "catastrophe" of the establishment of Israel. They marched with a sign proclaiming that "the refugee camp is the waiting station":

Text on sign: "The refugee camp is the waiting station

(The following are cities and towns in Israel -Ed.)

Acre

Jaffa

Tzipori

Khirbet Al-Loz (see note below -Ed.)"

[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 14, 2025]

Speaking on "Nakba Day," Abbas stressed that he views the Palestinian refugees'"right of return" as a "permanent and non-negotiable right"[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2025].

The PA claims that UN Resolution 194 grants a "right to return" not only to the 750,000 Arabs who left Israel during the war in 1948, but also to their 6-7 million descendants worldwide, even though the resolution itself makes no mention of refugee status being passed down in perpetuity. Abbas has specifically mentioned that "1.5 million refugees" in Gaza alone should be allowed to flood Israel.

Photos from Nakba Day events in Tulkarem show scouts marching with keys symbolizing the right of return for refugees to their "homes" in Israel and girls with drawings, many of them featuring the PA map of "Palestine" that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as "Palestine," and large keys symbolizing the "right of return":

The PA message to Palestinian children is that Israel has no right to exist, that all of Israel will become "Palestine," and that all 6-7 million refugees will "return." This is exemplified in the text on the sign held by the girl below. It marks 77 years since the "Nakba," negating Israel's entire existence:

Text on sign: "77 years since the Nakba – on Nakba Day we will not forget the right of return. Our roots are deeper than the occupation (i.e., Israel)"

[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 18, 2025]

A girl holds a drawing of a woman embracing the PA map of "Palestine" and a large key symbolizing the "right of return":

Text on drawing: "Do not be sad, O Palestine, victory is coming. O Jerusalem, peace will hover over you again"

[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 18, 2025]

Tulkarem Directorate of Education emphasized that the events above were designed by educators to "instill values" and "emphasize the right of return":

"The scout groups and guidance teams of the Tulkarem Directorate of Education marked the 77^th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba through national activities and awareness activities that were organized in the directorate's schools, with the participation of students, teachers, and the local community…

The directorate emphasized that these activities are part of the efforts to instill values of belonging and national awareness among the students to emphasize the [Palestinian refugees'] right of return and reject all forms of expulsion and occupation."

[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 18, 2025]

In Nablus, Abbas' Fatah partnered with schools and the PA Police for Nakba Day events, and here too children were taught that "return" is certain, posing with symbolic keys:

Text on key: "Return is a right and the will of a people"

Text on keys: "We remain as long as the hyssop trees and olive trees remain

Returning and staying

We will return"

Text on drawing: "Returning"

Posted text: "A national day to improve resolve at the Fadwa Touqan School

The Fatah Movement Nablus Branch's Sbeih Abu Al-Saud sub-branch, in partnership with the [PA] Nablus Police represented by Deputy [Police] Commissioner Lana Mokhlalati, organized a national day to strengthen resolve in our blessed land on the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel)."

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, May 14, 2025]

In Hebron as well, educators promoted the key as a symbol of return, which appears below on the PA map of "Palestine" that includes all of Israel wrapped in a keffiyeh pattern, signifying Israel's destruction:

Girls at the event held posters with pictures of Palestinian refugees:

Text on poster (right):"The right of return is a sacred right"

Text posted by the South Hebron Directorate of Education stressed that the purpose of the event, which was attended by educators, official figures, and representatives of institutions including Director-General of the South Hebron Directorate of Education was "to preserve the memory of the Nakba in the hearts of the students, and to strengthen their sense of affiliation to their homeland and the right to return to the Palestinian land." [South Hebron Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 19, 2025]

A filler on official PA TV also focused on the key of the refugee that "has not yet rusted":

Text: "In the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel), a foreign minority attacked a national majority, expelled it from its land, and erased its cultural status... and documents of ownership whose owners are still waiting for the day of return that will constitute testimony to a right and a home...

The key has not yet rusted... Their [Israeli] Independence Day is our Nakba Day"

[Official PA TV, May 14, 2025]

Numerous additional statements by the PA, its officials, and its media support this vision. In the following example, a PA TV reporter announces that refugee camps in the West Bank are merely "waiting stations" until the return of the "refugees" to "the occupied Interior" - one of the Palestinian terms for Israel, negating its right to exist:

Official PA TV reporter in Nour Shams refugee camp: "These houses contain and preserve within them the dreams, hard work, and many memories of the resident. In other words, the Palestinian refugee views the refugee camp as a waiting station until his return to his original place of residenceand his original homeland within the occupied Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel)."

[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, May 7, 2025]

According to Abbas, the same holds true for Palestinians residing in refugeecamps in Lebanon. Abbas announced two weeks ago that:

"Our people in Lebanon is a temporary guest until its return to its homeland Palestine."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 22, 2025]

Following a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Abbas and Aoun jointly stressed:

"Their adherence to the right of return of the Palestinian refugees to their lands from which they were uprooted, and this is according to UN Resolution 194 (see note below -Ed.). They also emphasized their opposition to all the plans for [permanently] settling [Palestinian refugees in Lebanon] and uprooting [Palestinians from their land]."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 22, 2025]

PA leaders constantly invoke UN Resolution 194, claiming that "no statute of limitations applies" to it:

"Fatah clarified that our people will not give up its right to return and compensation, based on international [UN] Resolution Number 194 that was issued in 1948 ."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2025]

"The Palestinian National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO)…emphasized that the [Palestinian refugees'] right of return and compensation is firm and is not subject to a statute of limitations, according to UN Resolution No. 194 of 1947. It also emphasized that the refugees' cause will remain the heart of the conflict."

[WAFA, official PA news agency, May 14, 2025]

Posted text: "[Tulkarem District] Deputy Governor Faisal Salameh... emphasized that no statute of limitations applies to the right of return, and noted that the occupation's (i.e., Israel's) crimes and targeting of our refugee camps cannot affect the right of return and the Palestinian people's right to its land."

[PA Tulkarem Governorate, Facebook page, May 11, 2025]

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed numerous statements by PA leaders concerning the Palestinian "right of return," their wish to flood Israel with refugees, as well as their goal to ship Jews in Israel "back to Europe" or even send them to America.

 UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." The PA claims that all 750,000 Arabs who left Israel during the war and their nearly 6 million descendants have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel points out that the resolution only called for a limited return, only applied to actual refugees and not descendants, and only under certain conditions, which did happen after the war. Israel points out that since very few of the actual refugees are alive today, UN 194 has no relevance. It should be noted that according to the UN Charter itself, UN General Assembly resolutions are only "recommendations" and have "no legal power that affects the outside world." UN Security Council Resolutions are only binding if they were adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

Nakba Day - Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day on May 15, the day after the establishment of Israel. On May 15, 1948, combined forces from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq joined local Arab forces in an attempt to eradicate the newly established State of Israel. The Nakba (Arabic = catastrophe) refers to the establishment of Israel, and the subsequent defeat in the war, including the killing and displacement of Arab civilians that occurred during the war. 

Khirbet a-Luz - an Arab village in the Jerusalem area which Israeli forces took ‎over during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence without any significant ‎resistance from the villagers.‎

 
Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Source: https://palwatch.org/page/37217

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Israel’s message in defending the Druze goes beyond borders, wanting to correct history - analysis - Herb Keinon

 

by Herb Keinon

While strategic considerations were still in play, the heart of the decision lay in defending the extended family of Israel’s own Druze—a gesture shaped as much by kinship as by security.

 

Bedouin fighters ride motocycles, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Sweida, Syria July 18, 2025.

(photo credit: REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI)

 

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria over the past decade, so this week’s attacks on Syrian tanks en route to Sweida and on the country’s military headquarters in Damascus should not have come as a surprise.

Yet they did, because this time was different.

These were not routine operations targeting Iranian arms transfers or Hezbollah positions. They were driven by something else: a sense of responsibility toward the Druze community in Syria.

Past strikes typically followed a narrow script: preventing weapons transfers, blocking entrenchment near the border, or responding to provocations. But this latest round marked a clear departure.

While strategic considerations were still in play, the heart of the decision lay in defending the extended family of Israel’s own Druze – a gesture shaped as much by kinship as by security.

Bedouin fighters stand together, following the Syrian presidency's announcement of a ceasefire after days of violence in Sweida province triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions, in Sweida, Syria, July 19, 2025 (credit: REUTERS/KARAM AL-MASRI)

The bond between Israel and its Druze population is one of the most unique relationships in the country’s complex mosaic of communities.

Some 152,000 Druze live in Israel, and since a 1956 agreement with community leaders, Druze men have been conscripted into the IDF, fighting and dying alongside their Jewish counterparts in every conflict since.

The phrase Brit damim – a covenant of blood – has become shorthand for a loyalty that has gone well beyond slogans.

And these Druze have brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Syria who have come under attack by Sunni Bedouin clans and Syrian government forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 1,000 people have been killed over the last week in the Druze mountains area.

Israel's Druze population say they cannot stand by and watch from sidelines

Israel’s Druze, who feel as deep a connection to their co-religionists in Syria as Jews do to their brethren abroad, say they cannot stand by and watch from the sidelines. They are both urging Israel to act and preparing to take up arms themselves to defend their kin across the border.

Israel did intervene, and its history with its own Druze population is central to understanding why it acted to protect Syrian Druze, even though it refrained from intervening just months ago when Alawites were being slaughtered elsewhere in Syria.

Israel’s strikes last week were not only about preventing a massacre – important in its own right – but about defending the extended family of a community it considers its “brothers.”

But there is more to the story than that. Israel’s actions are also about sending messages and correcting history.

There’s no way to understand this moment without going back to May 2000, when then-prime minister Ehud Barak abruptly pulled Israel out of southern Lebanon, leaving the South Lebanon Army (SLA) – its Christian and Druze allies – to face Hezbollah alone.

Some 6,000 SLA members and their families fled across the border, and many were resettled in Israel. But many others were captured, tried, and imprisoned.

This traumatic exit badly dented Israel’s image as a dependable ally. The message was clear: when interests shift, even blood partners can be abandoned.

That moment has haunted Israel ever since. It undermined its reputation as a loyal ally in the region and sent a chilling message to other minorities or militias contemplating alliance with the Jewish state: don’t count on a rescue when things go bad.

This week’s actions in Syria send a very different message and are also about correcting a historical stain.

There is also a message being delivered to other actors in the region, who are keen on seeing how reliable Israel is as an ally.

First and foremost in Gaza, where there have been efforts to align with certain clans willing to resist Hamas, such as the militia headed by Yasser Abu Shabab in the Rafah area.

For these actors, the Druze operation is instructive. It shows that Israel may be willing to use force not just in defense of itself, but in defense of those who side with it.

If Israel wants to erode Hamas’s hold on Gaza, it needs local allies. And those allies need a reason to believe that partnership with Israel doesn’t lead to a death sentence, that Israel does not forget those who stand with it. Watching the steps Israel is taking on behalf of the Druze in Syria might give them confidence in the future.

The actions in Syria, however, are risky. First of all, because intervening in Syria – however limited – always carries the potential for escalation. Secondly, because it puts Israel at odds with US policy.

Washington, to put it mildly, is not pleased with Israel’s recent actions in Syria. While Jerusalem may have seen the strikes as an act of defense and moral clarity, the Trump administration saw something else: unnecessary interference.

The administration is interested in propping up the regime of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as a way of creating stability in the region and has not hidden its desire to broker some kind of non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria. Just last month, Trump lifted long-standing sanctions against Damascus.

On Thursday, the US said it didn’t support the Israeli strikes, and State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Trump and the State Department have “been very clear about our displeasure.”

On Sunday, Axios quoted one US official as saying that Trump “doesn’t like turning on the television and seeing bombs dropped in a country he is seeking peace in and made a monumental announcement to help rebuild.”

The US is concerned that the Israeli action might weaken Sharaa’s authority at a critical juncture and undermine months of careful diplomacy. From their perspective, Israel was introducing volatility at the very moment the US was trying to create stability.

This sets up an uncomfortable, though not unfamiliar, dynamic: Israel acting unilaterally to protect its red lines, even when that diverges from the US playbook.

This is not the first time that has happened, nor will it be the last.

What is compelling is that Israel was willing to take the risk this time to protect a community not even its own. The Syrian Druze never supported or fought for Israel. Quite the contrary. Nevertheless, their brothers in Israel have done so for decades, bravely and loyally.

This week’s strike was more than strategy or deterrence; it was a gesture of gratitude – a reminder that Israel remembers those who have stood with it. Israel’s covenant forged with its Druze citizens does not stop at the border. By moving to shield their kin across it, Jerusalem honored a bond written in blood.

Herb Keinon

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-861650

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'Blaming The Jews' - Again - Nils A. Haug

 

by Nils A. Haug

It is not complicated: If you do not want your people killed, do not start a war, especially with Israel.

 

• The ways to avoid arrest in London these days, according to British author Douglas Murray, are: "[W]hen first being questioned by a police officer, he should promptly shout 'Jihad, jihad, jihad'. Next he should whip out a sign saying 'Slay the infidel' before rounding it all off with a few cries of 'Intifada'... Had [Montgomery Toms] followed my advice, the first officer would doubtless have said: 'Very well, sir, please carry on and have a nice day.'"

• It is not complicated: If you do not want your people killed, do not start a war, especially with Israel.

• It is concerning that in the foreseeable future, radical Islamists might, demographically, have the political power to use Britain's nuclear weapons.

• In simple terms, for career expediency, as a way of gaining political power, the Jews are to be blamed as the main instigator of Islamophobia in France and elsewhere. In this view, dating in France at least back to the Dreyfus Affair and the Vichy government during World War II, the Jews are to blame for France's social woes, but not the consistently violent conduct of radical Islamists in their midst.

• That bloodthirsty assault [of October 7, 2023] revealed to the Israelis definitively that if they allow an openly murderous terrorist state along Israel's border, it would be about the dumbest thing they could ever do.

• The world has moved on. If the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians want to be any acceptable part of it, they would be wise to hurry and join the other nations in a constructive way or risk being left behind.

• If Muslims do not like Islamophobia, all they need to stop threatening, attacking, raping and murdering, and the "temperature" could drop overnight.

• Historically, Jews generally have not been racist, at least not more than anyone else. They have lived amicably among foreign cultures for centuries, and are certainly not "genocidal." On the contrary, Israel is home to virtually all cultures and all ethnicities.... Modern Israel has never initiated a war against its neighbors. It is not an imperialist or expansionist nation -- in fact, it fought British imperialism. Israel is a country that, for decades, has simply sought a secure peace.

The ways to avoid arrest in London these days, according to British author Douglas Murray, are: "[W]hen first being questioned by a police officer, he should promptly shout 'Jihad, jihad, jihad'. Next he should whip out a sign saying 'Slay the infidel' before rounding it all off with a few cries of 'Intifada'..." Pictured: Anti-Israel protesters in London, on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)

Added to claims by many in the West that Israel's land does not belong to Jews and that they are therefore "settler-colonialists," a fresh strategy of these individuals, seeming to project their own racism, is to label Jews and Israelis as "racist," then couple that defamation with accusations of genocide, just to make their point got across.

These labels are, of course, simply a deceptive tactic to conceal the deep underlying contest over which facts should be allowed to survive much deliberate fog, and probably have their roots in Muslim and Christian religion beliefs. Israel's existence, as the home of Judaism, undoubtedly frustrates the jihadist agenda to establish a caliphate under strict Islamist Sharia law in the region. The long-term Christian calumny against the Jews still seems to exist on many fronts, supposedly for the Jews' refusal to accept Jesus as their messiah and for not having done more to protect him.

These derogatory false accusations heaped upon Jews are nothing new. This is an age-old conflict over "first truths," such as the Biblical version of the Creation as opposed to conflicting versions. The Christian crusades in the Middle Ages to re-take the holy city of Jerusalem and Israel from Islamic control, and to re-establish Judeo-Christianity in its rightful birthplace, has also starkly highlighted the religious character of these endless battles.

Israel's struggle for survival is similar to those events. The preservation of Judaism in its ancestral homeland once again seems to be an issue. Some things just do not change.

In early 2025, in Paris, France, a march by many thousands took place, accompanied by a slew of Palestinian flags and banners. The advertised objective was to protest racism against Muslims – so-called Islamophobia. However, according to the American journalist Ben Cohen:

"[P]erhaps the most egregious aspect of the demonstration was its contemptuous approach to the problem of antisemitism, which has risen precipitously in France, as elsewhere in Europe, in the 18 months that have elapsed since the Hamas mass atrocities in Israel...

"Indeed, the entire event suggested that in order to combat racism, the French far left—a large bloc that won 182 parliamentary seats in last year's legislative elections—has embraced Jew-hatred as a strategy."

In simple terms, for career expediency, as a way of gaining political power, the Jews are to be blamed as the main instigator of Islamophobia in France and elsewhere. In this view, dating in France at least back to the Dreyfus Affair and the Vichy government during World War II, the Jews are to blame for France's social woes, but not the consistently violent conduct of radical Islamists in their midst. If Muslims do not like Islamophobia, all they need is to stop threatening, attacking, raping and murdering (and here, here and here), and the "temperature" could drop overnight.

Cohen continues:

"The unmistakable message delivered by the Paris march against racism, along with satellite marches in other French cities, was this: Jews are not allies; Jews fabricate claims of bigotry and discrimination against them; and Jews are guilty of perpetrating a 'genocide' against Palestinians rooted in 'Zionist ideology.'"

In reality it is the Palestinians who time and again attack the Jews (here, here , here and here) and promise to in the future.

After Vice-President J. D. Vance's pointed lecture to Europeans in early 2025 at the 61^st Munich Security Conference, accusing "European leaders of suppressing free speech and censorship," one wonders who would now proclaim Europe the land of the free. No doubt, few Jews in the UK, Germany, Sweden or France would agree they can publicly pursue their religion freely in those countries.

In Europe, charges of disturbing the public order apparently apply only to pro-life, conservative, family orientated Judeo-Christians, in pursuit of their religion and normal life – not against vociferous Islamists and radical leftists crying out, in the name of social justice, for the death of Jews and elimination of Israel.

The ways to avoid arrest in London these days, according to British author Douglas Murray, are:

"[W]hen first being questioned by a police officer, he should promptly shout 'Jihad, jihad, jihad'. Next he should whip out a sign saying 'Slay the infidel' before rounding it all off with a few cries of 'Intifada'... Had [Montgomery Toms] followed my advice, the first officer would doubtless have said: 'Very well, sir, please carry on and have a nice day.'"

With mass migration "suffocating Europe," demographics will increasingly lead to Islamists holding pivotal positions in government, particularly in France and the UK. Murray alleges that uncontrolled immigration has put Europe on the verge of "committing suicide":

"[B]y the end of the lifespans of most people currently alive Europe will not be Europe and the peoples of Europe will have lost the only place in the world we had to call home."

According to Edward Cranswick:

"Murray cites the results of the 2011 census as showing that only 44.9 per cent of London residents now identified themselves as 'white British' and that 'nearly three million people in England and Wales were living in households where not one adult spoke English as their main language.' He quotes the Oxford demographer David Coleman as saying that, on current trends, within our lifetime 'Britain would become 'unrecognisable to its present inhabitants'".

If you venture out now onto London's Edgeware Road, you might suppose you were in downtown Amman.

The recent statement by London's Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, while celebrating Eid in Britain's hallowed Trafalgar Square, heavily criticized Israel:

"More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israel's ongoing military campaign, including more than 15,000 children."

Khan was implying falsely, with inflated Hamas "statistics," that the deaths had been completely unprovoked, and that none of these victims had actually been killed because Hamas was using them as human shields for the exact purpose of inflating the death count so that Israel could be blamed for it. It is not complicated: If you do not want your people killed, do not start a war, especially with Israel.

Khan added:

"These betrayals of humanity should weigh heavily on our collective conscience. But I'm proud that while the international community has chosen to avert its gaze, Londoners have not."

Again, this distortion masks Jew-hatred to accord with the Hamas Covenant, which seeks the death of all Jews:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews. When the Jew will hide behind stones and trees, the stones and trees will say, "O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim). — Article 7, 1988 Hamas Covenant.

And the elimination of Israel:

"'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it' (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al­-Banna, of blessed memory)." — Preamble, 1988 Hamas Covenant.

It is concerning that in the foreseeable future, radical Islamists might, demographically, have the political power to use Britain's nuclear weapons. There are currently 25 Muslim members in the House of Commons, and Islam is already the second-largest religion in England, and the second-largest population group in London. Within the next ten years, Islam will be the dominant religion in the UK. A similar overpowering also appears possible for France.

A few months ago, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to officially recognize "Palestine" as an independent state. Palestine is not now nor ever was a legitimate state, and the "Palestinian people" were, according to Zoheir Mohsen, a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), "invented." Israel will not agree to part with its historic lands Judea and Samaria, nor ever again relinquish security control of Gaza and allow another attack like that of October 7, 2023.

The idea of an independent Palestinian state as a "two-state solution" has been overtaken mainly by two events. The first was President Donald Trump's extraordinary Abraham Accords, which created peace between Israel and five nations –- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Kosovo and Morocco. The second, and the last straw, was the stomach-turning invasion of Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023. That bloodthirsty assault revealed to the Israelis definitively that if they allow an openly murderous terrorist state along Israel's border, it would be about the dumbest thing they could ever do.

The world has moved on. If the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians want to be any acceptable part of it, they would be wise to hurry and join the other nations in a constructive way or risk being left behind.

Weak Western leaders such as France's Macron and UK's Keir Starmer are quickly sinking into irrelevance.

Sundry forces who hate Jews – an ancient hatred most likely based on projection, jealousy and the fatal assumption that Jews are weak – are probably soon to be under criminal investigation.

Even Jewish children do not seem to be immune from being targeted by this pervasive hatred. In June, three young, high-achieving, siblings were expelled from a prestigious private school in Virginia because they complained about constant anti-Semitic bullying. The other students allegedly taunted them for being "Israeli," and "categorized Jews as 'baby killers,' saying they deserved to die because of what is happening in Gaza." The report adds that students told one of the three "that everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel, which is why they hate you."

When the parents complained, the principal sent an email stating that all three students were "expelled, effective immediately." He blamed the children themselves and their parents. He wrote:

"[Y]ou have a profound lack of trust in both me and the school and I do not see a path forward without trust, understanding and cooperation. In our meeting, I felt very clearly that you do not think Nysmith is the right school for your family, and the longer we try to ignore that reality, the more pain it will cause your children."

Such is the dark atmosphere for Jews. They have to face constant hatred, even in "the land of the brave and home of the free." Regrettably, such is the success of pro-Islamic and both left- and right-wing propaganda in the West that Jews will apparently continue to be unjustly blamed for all that is wrong with the world, at least for the near future.

Historically, Jews generally have not been racist, at least not more than anyone else. They have lived amicably among foreign cultures for centuries, and are certainly not "genocidal." On the contrary, Israel is home to virtually all cultures and all ethnicities. Israel's Arabs and Christians are offered mostly the same benefits as Israel's Jews, with the exception that, other than Circassians and Druze, they are not required to serve in Israel's armed forces, although they may do so if they choose. Modern Israel has never initiated a war against its neighbors. It is not an imperialist or expansionist nation -- in fact, it fought British imperialism. Israel is a country that, for decades, has simply sought a secure peace.

Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark, and many others.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21757/blaming-the-jews-again

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There’ll Always Be an England—But Will It Be Free? - Roger Kimball

 

by Roger Kimball

In modern Britain, you can be flagged by police for a joke, banned from pubs for banter, and blacklisted for thoughts deemed hostile—even when no crime occurred. 

Sitting here in London, I wonder what Ross Parker and Hughie Charles would think if they could join me for a pint. I suspect that the authors of the famous 1939 song “There’ll Always Be An England” would be puzzled, not to say alarmed, over some recent developments in this green and pleasant land.

“There’ll always be an England,” these songsters wrote, “and England shall be free/if England means as much to you/as England means to me.”

But the question is, does it? Does England mean as much to the ruling establishment as it once did? The words “free” and “freedom” are repeated several times in “There’ll Always Be An England.” That’s the theme, the hope, the conviction: that Britain would triumph because of its native love of freedom.

How do things look now? Let me introduce you to two recent developments that would have astonished Messrs. Parker and Charles—police tracking of “non-crime hate incidents” and a so-called “banter ban” that is on the threshold of becoming the law of the land.

The practice of recording “non-crime hate incidents” by the police became law in June 2023. Ponder this:

Where there is no criminal offence, but the person reporting perceives that the incident was motivated wholly or partially by hostility, the incident will be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. Police officers may also identify a non-crime hate incident, even where no victim or witness has done so.

I added the italics to underscore the surreal, Orwellian nature of the practice. If you say something mean about somebody, prepare to have your remarks—or even just your “whole or partial” hostility recorded and put into an official database that might then be scrutinized by prospective employers.

Who or what oversees this database? The College of Policing, a private company that provides guidance for the police forces of England and Wales. Recording such incidents is not required by Parliament. Rather, it is part of the increasingly vast, quasi-governmental surveillance apparatus that has grown up in formerly free countries, such as the UK.

The College of Policing defines “hostility” as the expression of “ill-will,” “ill-feeling,” and “dislike.” This means, a paper for the Free Speech Union notes, “that certain thoughts are now being policed.”

An NCHI can show up if prospective employers carry out enhanced Disclosure and Barring (DBS) checks. These are common for all sorts of professions—they could mean teachers, doctors, nurses, and many others are kept out of work simply for having made a joke on Twitter. Journalists could easily be recorded without their knowledge.

NCHIs can be recorded against someone’s name whenever an accusation of hate is made, without any further investigation or notification.

This means people are being put on a list, often without their knowledge, when the police know that no crime has taken place.

NCHIs are recorded after anonymous accusations, encouraging a culture of denunciation, like in the Soviet Union. Supposed victims need not justify their opinion, and police officers are told not to challenge accusers on the grounds that it is immaterial whether a “victim’s” feelings are reasonable.

The police have claimed that NCHIs are needed to prevent “escalation,” but can provide no evidence that they do this.

Just in case the recording of people saying mean or “hostile” things is not enough to stifle free speech, Britain is about to pass a Labour-sponsored law banning hurtful or possibly hurtful “banter” in pubs and other public places. “Under Labour’s new law,” an article in The Express reports,

…employees will be able to take offence on behalf of one of their colleagues. Given that we live in an age in which some are hyper-sensitive, the implications for the hospitality sector of turbo-charging the Equality Act in this way are mind-boggling. What “reasonable steps” will a publican be expected to take to protect his or her staff from overhearing conversations between customers that might upset them?

Will it be sufficient to include a notice on the wall warning customers to keep their opinions to themselves, on issues such as gender neutral toilets, mass immigration and the Israel-Gaza conflict? Or will publicans need to go further and employ “banter bouncers” to eavesdrop on customers and eject anyone for saying something “inappropriate” or “problematic”, such as telling a saucy joke?

Good questions. Already, some 37 pubs a week are closing in Britain. Can there be any doubt that the criminalization of banter will accelerate the trend? Or that those that remain will be transformed into “sanitized ‘safe spaces’ in which no one dares express a controversial opinion or tell a joke.” And of course, it is not only pubs that will be targeted. There is plenty of banter elsewhere in British society. For example,

In football grounds, it’s not unusual for fans to shout “Are you blind?” at the linesman for failing to rule a goal offside or spot a handball. Once this new law is on the books, a partially sighted steward who overhears this could sue the club for not taking “all reasonable steps” to protect him from being “harassed,” i.e., overhearing that expostulation. Indeed, any of his colleagues could sue the club on his behalf. That, in turn, means football clubs will have to clamp down on any expostulations or chants that might cause offence. … Expecting employers to police the speech of customers in this way will have a hugely chilling effect on free speech. The fearful atmosphere that prevails in so many workplaces since the passing of the Equality Act, with people looking over their shoulders before whispering what they really think about a controversial issue, will be extended to the venues people go to in their leisure time.

Will there always be an England? Not if Keir Starmer’s Labour government has its way. 

Roger Kimball is editor and publisher of The New Criterion and the president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia (St. Augustine's Press), The Rape of the Masters (Encounter), Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse (Ivan R. Dee), and Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity (Ivan R. Dee). Most recently, he edited and contributed to Where Next? Western Civilization at the Crossroads (Encounter) and contributed to Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order (Bombardier).

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/07/20/therell-always-be-an-england-but-will-it-be-free/

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'No more space in the morgue': Israel prepares to send aid to damaged Sweida hospital - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Israel's Health Ministry is preparing the transfer of medical equipment and medications to Sweida's hospital following the recent violent Syrian Druze-Bedouin clashes that have left hundreds dead.

 

A person, injured in recent clashes in Syria's Sweida province, is transported as casualties receive treatment at a field medical point, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Deraa, Syria July 18, 2025

(photo credit: REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI)

 

Israel’s Health Ministry is preparing the transfer of medical equipment, medication, and general assistance to Sweida’s hospital, as reports of severe damage to its hospital come through, the ministry’s spokesperson’s office announced Saturday night. 

The call for aid followed intense clashes between members of the Druze community and Syrian Bedouin tribes in the city of Sweida over the past week.

After receiving the urgent request for aid from the Syrian hospital on Friday, Health Minister Uriel Busso called on the ministry to mobilize a rapid response: 

“Our brotherhood with the Druze community is strong and well known, but even more so, we are determined to strengthen this alliance, standing shoulder to shoulder in all areas of our lives. The instructions I gave to mobilize quickly to provide aid in light of the developments in Syria reflect Israel’s commitment to not stand idly by when members of the community, even outside of its borders, are in danger."

"There's no more space in the morgue, the bodies are out on the street," Dr. Omar Obeid, leader of the Sweida division at Syria's Order of Physicians, said, according to Ynet. 

People carry a person, injured in recent clashes in Syria's Sweida province, as casualties receive treatment at a field medical point, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Deraa, Syria July 18, 2025 (credit: REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI)

Following the request, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, director-general of the Health Ministry, met with Dulan Abu Salah, head of the Majdal Shams local council, doctors from the Druze community, and Prof. Salman Zarka, director of Safed’s Ziv Medical Center, to discuss the possibilities of aid transfer to Sweida. 

“Providing medical aid to all of those wounded is an urgent call, and the mobilization for this means saving lives,” Zarka said. 

The medical equipment and medications will be transferred to the hospital by security forces and the IDF, pending “approval from the relevant authorities.”

Eruption of the clashes, international response

Sectarian fighting erupted in Sweida last week after a wave of kidnappings, leading to clashes between local Bedouin tribes, Druze residents of Sweida, and security forces with ties to Damascus, which have left hundreds of people dead. 

The Syrian presidency announced an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, supported by Turkey, Jordan, and other neighboring countries, following Israeli strikes on Damascus and government forces in southern Syria.

Israel’s Druze community has organized protests across northern Israel in response to the violence, calling on the Israeli government and other international bodies to intervene. Additionally, a group of Israeli Druze managed to illegally cross into Syria late Friday night in solidarity with their Syrian brethren, and have since been returned to Israeli territory by the IDF. 

"If you want to help Sweida, demonstrations at the border are not the way,” senior IDF officers told Druze community leaders, according to Army Radio. “The IDF is not meant to deal with Israeli lawbreakers; this distracts and diverts attention to the wrong places. We understand the community’s pain and want to help and bring in aid, but continuing in this way achieves the opposite effect.”

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-861554

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A-G: Gov't decision to fire A-G is faulty, must be subjected to judicial review before advancement - Sarah Ben-Nun

 

by Sarah Ben-Nun

The decision “opened the door to firing the attorney-general - the general prosecutor - based on foreign factors and calculations, including regarding ongoing criminal investigations,” she wrote.

 

Attorney general Gali Baharav Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee leads a committee meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem.

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90) 

The government's decision to change the hiring and dismissal process of the attorney-general is faulty to its core, has ominous effects on the future of the role, and should not advance at all before judicial review, the Attorney-General’s Office wrote on Sunday. 

The letter was penned in response to a Friday decision by Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, in which he ruled that if the government decides to fire Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, the decision wouldn't come into effect right away. This is in order to allow the court to consider legal challenges to her removal.

The government decision from June 8 came after it failed to fill the public-professional committee, which is tasked with the authority to issue the government recommendations on the role of hiring or firing before a decision is made. 

The committee is made up of a retired Supreme Court justice as chairman or chairwoman, appointed by the Supreme Court president and by approval of the justice minister; a former justice minister or attorney-general, chosen by the government; an MK, chosen by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; a lawyer, chosen by the Israel Bar Association; and a legal academic, selected by the deans of the law faculties.

It now awaits Knesset votes, as petitions were filed to the High Court of Justice to freeze the firing. 

'You will never walk alone,' bus add says, along with picture of A-G Gali Baharav Miara, July 20, 2025. (credit: MOVEMENT FOR QUALITY GOVERNMENT IN ISRAEL)

The decision “opened the door to firing the attorney-general - the general prosecutor - based on foreign factors and calculations, including regarding ongoing criminal investigations,” she wrote. 

Dramatic implications and consequences

Baharav-Miara stressed the dramatic implications and consequences of such a decision, beyond her current position: “It will permanently change the firing process... As such, it would be right to bring it to judicial review already now, without waiting for it to further advance.

“The government's actions over the past five weeks are leading to irreparable damage to the institution that is the legal advisory.”

NGO Movement for Quality Government in Israel said, “The committee's recommendation was the foregone conclusion of an unlawful procedure conducted without a real hearing by a political committee. A committee consisting of coalition ministers, loyal to a prime minister accused of corruption and a government in which an unprecedented number of ministers are under criminal investigation, which is called a ‘ministerial committee’ but in fact serves as Netanyahu's long arm, cannot serve as a legal forum to remove the country's most senior gatekeeper.”

Sarah Ben-Nun

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-861596

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