Day 420 — Friday, November 29

Several BBC staff members quit the journalists’ union after being told to wear the colors of the Palestinian flag, Jewish News reported on Wednesday.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reportedly sent messages asking workers to “wear something red, green, black or a Palestinian keffiyeh.”

This directive is part of a Day of Action for Palestine, an event calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

One BBC staff member told Jewish News that this “hypocritical and antisemitic” suggestion was a breach of the BBC’s commitment to impartial reporting, saying, “BBC journalists, who pride themselves on impartiality and who fought to keep their NUJ free of politics, are being encouraged to break the BBC’s editorial guidelines by supporting a political cause.” 

In a message to NUJ members, the union responded, “Clearly, members working across the BBC and in public service broadcasting have important duties in relation to impartiality and work within social media guidelines the NUJ would not wish members to breach.”

According to Jewish News, more members of NUJ are expected to resign following this situation.

Charlotte Henry, a freelance journalist who resigned, wrote that the union had become “a hostile environment for Jews, and I can no longer be part of that.”

The TUC declined to comment on whether it had previously requested workers to wear colors representing one side in a conflict. However, it admitted that it has never asked its members to wear Ukrainian colors during the ongoing conflict with Russia, Jewish News reported. 

The Board of Deputies of British Jews issued a statement directed at both unions.

“Whatever the stated intent, attempts to bring this issue into the workplace in such a fashion will undoubtedly add to the belligerent atmosphere which many Jewish staff have been facing.”

In September, a report from The Telegraph, based on research led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, showed that the BBC had breached its editorial guidelines for news coverage more than 1,500 times since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War.

The research found that there was a “deeply worrying pattern of bias against Israel” and that Israel was associated with genocide 14 times more than the Hamas terror group was throughout the analyzed BBC coverage.

Further findings from the research included the BBC’s repeated downplaying of Hamas terrorism. Conversely, Israel was presented as a “militaristic and aggressive nation” by the BBC, the report said.

Jerusalem Post

Day 420 — Friday, November 29

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Haggai, issued a statement Wednesday evening against the backdrop of the ceasefire in Lebanon, revealing that fighter jets attacked Hezbollah’s largest precision missile component production site some 1.4 kilometers (nearly a mile) long.

The attack was carried out in the Beqaa Valley in southern Lebanon. Hagari also revealed that during the war, the IDF attacked and destroyed about 360 targets throughout Beirut.

According to him, “Air Force combat aircraft, under the direction of the Intelligence Wing, attacked yesterday in the Jenata area in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon Hezbollah’s largest precision missile component production site. At the underground site, which is about 1.4 kilometers long, ground-to-ground missiles and various warfare components were produced, as well as precision warfare tools designed to harm the State of Israel. Due to its proximity to the Syrian border, the site served as a central point through which thousands of combat components and even activists from Syria and Lebanon were smuggled.”

Hagari described that “in the hours preceding the attack on the site, several attacks were carried out in the area in order to thwart activists and destroy its infrastructure. Among the targets, a central camp of the ‘Radwan Force’ was attacked where the unit activists were located. The camp conducted training and qualifications of the activists whose purpose was to implement the ‘Galilee Occupation’ plan.”

“Hezbollah’s production capability in Lebanon was built over the last decade with Iranian support as a mechanism for arming the terror organization following several attempts by Iran to smuggle precise missiles to Hezbollah, which were thwarted by Israel,” he added. “As part of this effort, a number of production and conversion sites were established throughout Lebanon, at the heart of which is the site that was attacked yesterday. In recent years, Hezbollah has begun to build and operate this site, with Iranian assistance and collaboration.”

He said that Iranian operatives worked on the site alongside Lebanese Hezbollah operatives.

“This is the most strategic production infrastructure of the terrorist organization in Lebanon that was attacked during the war. The attack was made possible following a precise intelligence dossier that was collected and built over years. This attack constitutes a blow to Hezbollah’s warfare production capabilities, which have been severely damaged in recent months.”

i24 News

Day 419 — Thursday, November 28

A former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) described dozens of hostages held by Hamas as “utter irrelevancies” on Wednesday.

Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton and the former executive director of HRW, accused the Israeli government of giving “diversionary excuses” in response to charges against two top officials by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, of committing war crimes in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

One of the “excuses” cited by Roth is Israel’s mission to rescue roughly 100 hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, terror attack.

“The Israeli government responded to the ICC war-crime charges with the usual diversionary excuses – the need to liberate the hostages, Hamas’s use of human shields, Israel’s democracy and self-defense, supposed ICC antisemitism – all utter irrelevancies,” Roth said in a post on X.

Roth served as the executive director of HRC from 1993 to 2022. He received pushback online for his characterization of the hostages held by Hamas.

“I can think of 101 people, in addition to their families, who might argue that the hostages are not ‘utterly irrelevant’ to IDF operations in Gaza,” Melissa Weiss, executive editor of Jewish Insider, wrote on X.

International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky called Roth “an absolute heartless monster.”

Adam Cannon, the director of legal at the British tabloid The Sun, said that Roth’s post showcases the “huge anti Israel bias” as HRC.

Cannon wrote to Roth on X: “Your dismissal of the Hamas atrocities and the hostage they took on Oct 7 just illustrates your total lack of understanding or maybe just abject bias when it comes to this conflict, undermining an organisation which should be at the forefront of helping solve the issues.”

Daily Wire

Day 419 — Thursday, November 28

Maaike Smole, a 48-year-old college policy worker from the central Dutch city of Amersfoort, no longer has any hope that there is a future for Jews in her country.

“It’s too late. The Netherlands are schluss,” she said, using a Yiddish term for “closed,” or “over.”

“Education has failed, integration [of Muslim minorities] has failed. Respect for us Jews has disappeared and will never come back. There are simply too few of us, the other side is so much larger and more aggressive. All that’s left is to do is to count down to our aliyah,” Smole said, using the Hebrew term for immigration to Israel.

Smole’s feelings appear to reflect those of a growing number of Jews in the Netherlands — a community that has been in the country, once known for its religious and ethnic tolerance, for centuries. Both anecdotally and through the chief rabbi’s office, The Times of Israel learned that an unprecedented number of Dutch Jews are contemplating leaving their homes for the Jewish homeland.

Now numbering between 30,000 and 50,000 depending on the criteria by which they are counted, many local Jews say they feel crushed by the combined pressures of antisemitism among migrant groups and anti-Zionism within the Dutch political left. It is historically a country where pogroms are an alien phenomenon.

That changed on the night of November 7, when bands of mostly Arab and Muslim youth — with the assistance of taxi drivers of the same ethnic and religious background — went on a self-described “Jew hunt” in the streets of Amsterdam.

Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the violence, while hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted down, beat and harassed them.

Shraga Evers moved to Israel from the Netherlands 12 years ago and now helps Western European Jews make that same transition as CEO of Shivat Zion, an organization that assists with the immigration and integration process.

“Last week, we organized an event in Amsterdam for Dutch Jews interested in making aliyah,” Evers said. “Forty people showed up. That’s about as many as we would normally get in a year. We haven’t seen this kind of interest in decades.”

Before the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war, Evers saw potential immigrants who were ideologically motivated. Now, fear seems to be a primary driving force.

“Jews who would have never considered aliyah before now understand there’s no future for them in Europe,” said Evers, echoing the words of Smole.

“Even if Israel may statistically be more dangerous, the nature of that danger is different,” he said. “In Israel, the threat is mostly external. In the Netherlands, your attacker can live next door. The Dutch police can’t protect the Jews anymore; when Muslims work together their numbers are just overwhelming.

“Pandora’s box has opened and even when the wars in Gaza and Lebanon are over, things in Europe will never be the same,” said Smole.

Daniel, a 47-year-old doctor who asked that his real name not be used and that identifying information be withheld to protect his safety, is one of those Jews who only a year ago would have never considered making the move to Israel.

“I am not recognizable as a Jew in the street, but my surname is clearly Jewish,” he said.

Even before this month’s riots in Amsterdam, Daniel asked himself questions about his family’s future in the Netherlands.

“I am usually an optimist, a very happy person, but I worry about my children. Will they be able to go to university safely? When will it be too late to leave if things get worse? Are we back in the 1930s? Two of my grandparents survived Auschwitz. Even after October 7, we thought we could tough it out, the war would end and antisemitism would eventually die down. We didn’t want to make aliyah, we wanted to stay here in the hope that everything would be alright,” he said.

Then the violence of November 7 struck and Daniel felt how much things had really changed in his country.

“It looks like Jews no longer have a right to exist in the Netherlands, like we can’t live our own identities,” he said. “I always thought I could. A lot of my patients say they feel ashamed of what is happening and that they pray for me. Personally, I don’t get any animosity from Muslim patients, but in all fairness, I don’t get any support from them either.”

Politics also plays a part in Smole’s decision to accelerate her move to Israel.

“Everything got twisted around. Media and politicians turned the victims in Amsterdam into perpetrators and perpetrators into victims,” she said. “A couple of months ago there was a protest in my city, ‘Amersfoort against Zionism.’ We went to have a look from a safe distance. My 15-year-old said to me, ‘Mom, how can I raise my children here?’ Imagine a child thinking that, that’s not a thought any child should ever have.”

“Israel may not be the safest country in the world, but at least there we are protected by the army and the police,” she said. “We no longer have that feeling here in the Netherlands.”

Times Of Israel

Day 418 — Wednesday, November 27

The agreement, which Israel’s national security cabinet approved in a vote of 10 ministers to one on Tuesday night, will reportedly provide for a 60-day transition period, during which the IDF will withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army will deploy some 5,000 troops south of the Litani river, including at 33 posts along the border with Israel.

Hezbollah forces will leave southern Lebanon, and its military infrastructure will be dismantled. The US has also reportedly provided a side letter specifying Israel’s rights to respond to violations of the ceasefire, should there be any.

A copy of the ceasefire deal was not published before it came into effect.
While Hezbollah has said that it accepts the ceasefire proposal, a senior official with the terror group said Tuesday that it had yet to see the agreement in its final form.

“After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.

“We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state.” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.”

Nevertheless, the ceasefire appeared to hold early Wednesday morning, with signs of celebration in Beirut, a day after Israel carried out its most intense wave of airstrikes in the Lebanese capital since the start of the fighting.

Both Israel and Hezbollah continued fighting in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, and earlier on Tuesday, the IDF said it had struck 20 sites within two minutes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after issuing evacuation warnings.

Seven buildings targeted in the strikes were used by Hezbollah for the management and storage of funds, the IDF said, including headquarters, vaults and branches of the Al-Qard al-Hasan association, known to be used by the terror group as a quasi-bank.

The other 13 sites included a Hezbollah aerial forces center, an intelligence division command room, weapon depots, and other military infrastructure, the IDF said.

Hezbollah too, continued to launch rockets and drones at Israel in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, setting off alarms across central and northern Israel.

Times Of Israel

Day 418 — Wednesday, November 27

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris following the announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon.

In a post to X, Johnson pointed out that the Biden administration is still withholding weapons to Israel.

“While the Biden-Harris Administration celebrates this announcement, remember that it is STILL withholding weapons to Israel. This Administration put up roadblock after roadblock on Israel and dragged out this conflict. They repeatedly appeased Iran rather than show unequivocal support to our closest ally in the region. Israel’s military success has been in spite of the White House, not because of it,” Johnson wrote.

“We always hope for peace in the region, and still do during this 60-day ceasefire. But it is President Trump’s Administration that will pave the way to lasting peace, because peace only comes through STRENGTH,” he added.

Arutz Sheva

Day 418 — Wednesday, November 27

In 2004, Wikipedia provided a definition for Zionism that was as acceptable and unbiased as that platform could give. It stated, “Zionism is a political movement among Jews holding that the Jewish people constitute a nation and are entitled to a national homeland….The word ‘Zionist’ derives from the word ‘Zion,’ being one of the names of Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Bible. To diaspora Jews, Zion has been a symbol of the Holy Land and of their return to it, as promised by God in Biblical prophecies.”

It was a basic definition, but “a political movement toward a national homeland” is a good start.

Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban defined Zionism as follows, “Zionism is nothing more — but also nothing less — than the Jewish people’s sense of origin and destination in the land linked eternally with its name.”

While the media and anti-Zionist factions slowly changed the definition, Wikipedia held on to its 2004 definition. Pressure rose, and wokeness prevailed—so much so that in June 2024, the online “encyclopedia” quietly redefined the word.

On Wikipedia’s 2024 page on Zionism, the definition was changed drastically to read as follows: “Zionism is an ethno-cultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century and aimed for the establishment of a Jewish state through the colonization of a land outside Europe. With the rejection of alternate proposals for a Jewish state, it eventually focused on the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, a region corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism, and of central importance in Jewish history. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism became Israel’s national or state ideology.“

Words and phrases such as ethnocultural nationalist movement, colonization, rejection of alternate proposals for a Jewish state, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible paint a picture of a people group stealing land by force and killing many people in the process, which is precisely what most of the world is accusing Israel of.

Wikipedia even questions original Jewish ethnicity, when they state, “the application of the Biblical concepts of Jews as the chosen people and the Promise Land” in Zionism, particularly to secular Jews, requires the belief that modern Jews are the primary descendants of biblical Jews and Israelites.”

It is subtle, but what is implied is that one has to “believe” that the Jews of today are the true descendants of biblical Judean Jews. This wouldn’t be much of a challenge without the existence of the conspiracy theory about Jews being descendants of 9th-century Eastern European Khazar converts to Judaism. As ludicrous as it sounds, it is a real thing, and books have been published on the topic.

We must keep in mind that once people believe that today’s Jews are not the natural descendants of Judean Jews, it becomes easy and even logical to accuse them of stealing Palestinian land and colonizing it for the “illegal Jewish State.”

Day 417 — Tuesday, November 26

The Israeli government has approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal with the Iranian-backed army of Hezbollah to put a stop to the group’s relentless rocket barrages that have terrorized civilians across northern Israel for nearly 14 months.

The decision came after Israeli warplanes struck terrorist targets across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people while also warning civilians to evacuate before its strikes.

Israel also achieved a primary goal of the war on Tuesday as its ground troops reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River to push Hezbollah’s terrorist army away from its border.

Even while announcing the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained steadfast in warning, “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack. For every violation, we will attack with might.”

Israel declared that the ceasefire would take effect beginning Wednesday.

While the exact terms were not released, the deal does call for a two-month initial halt in fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon

Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior leader said the group must still verify the final agreement.

CBN News

Day 417 — Tuesday, November 26

US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) responded on Monday to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s comments to a news publication regarding Senator Graham’s proposal to sanction any nation or group that aids and abets the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

In an interview with Politico, Joly was asked what is her response to Graham’s proposal, after Canada vowed to comply with the ICC order, and replied, “Canada will take its decision. Then the US will take its decision.”

On the possibility that Canada could face sanctions from the United States for complying with the ICC order, she replied, “We abide by international norms, including the fact that we’re a founding member of the ICC.”

When pressed on the issue, Joly stated, “For us, it is not a political question. It is a legal question, and it is part also of our own legal system that we respect the jurisdiction of the ICC. Period.”

Responding to the comments, Graham said, “I consider Canada to be one of America’s greatest allies and friends. We are not only neighbors – we also share many common values.”

“However, the idea that the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defense Minister is an act of international rules-based order is beyond the pale,” he added.

“The prosecutor who instigated the arrest warrants is under investigation. The ICC, in the eyes of the majority of Congress, is acting as a rogue organization asserting jurisdiction based on their belief that something bad happened,” stated Graham.

“This abuse of jurisdiction has no limits. Why couldn’t the ICC come after an American president or Secretary of Defense if they feel we have done wrong?”

“This is about sovereignty and some semblance of the rule of law. From an American point of view, the ICC has no accountability. For them to come after us would be an attack on our sovereignty. Since we’re not a member, and we are a mature democracy with an independent judiciary, like Israel, we would have little to no say,” continued Graham.

“To my friends in Canada and throughout the world, America rejects – in the strongest possible terms – the Court’s efforts to issue warrants for duly elected political leaders of Israel for defending their nation against barbaric terrorism. We reject the jurisdiction claims of the Court. We will make it loud and clear that those countries who assist in enforcing the arrest warrants – even if they are close allies – will hit a wall of resistance in America,” Graham clarified.

“America must act decisively to reject this action by the ICC because we could be next. The court threatened to go after American soldiers for their conduct in Afghanistan but wisely chose not to.”

“Again, we are a mature democracy just like Israel, with an independent judiciary. To Canada and all others – we do not view this action as furthering international norms. We view this as a direct threat by an unelected, unaccountable body in The Hague against American sovereignty and as an existential threat to our allies in Israel who are fighting for their very existence.”

“President Biden objected to the ICC ruling, and I will be discussing with President Trump and his team how to respond forcefully,” concluded Graham.

Arutz Sheva

Day 417 — Tuesday, November 26

Israel has let into the Gaza Strip almost 900 kilotons of food in some 40,000 trucks over the past year, according to official data.

The data was released on Friday following the International Criminal Court’s decision the previous day to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant. Israel has roundly rejected the allegations, which it called false and antisemitic.

The food data appears to undermine the ICC’s reasoning for issuing the warrants, which it said was over suspicions that the two Israelis “knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

In addition to food, about 2,600 trucks containing more than 51,000 liters of water were let in, along with almost 30,000 tons of medical equipment. An additional 10,000 aid drops took place in 140 operations.
The water supply translates to 112 liters per person daily in the north of the Gaza Strip, 39 liters in the center, and 24 liters in the south.

More than 5.7 million vaccines, including polio vaccines, were administered, and 32,000 liters of fuel were let in as well as 26 kilotons of cooking gas.

In total, 57,480 trucks carrying 1,129,774 tons of aid have been delivered to the residents of the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in Israel and abducted another 251, triggering a regional war and an ongoing war against Hamas.

JNS

Day 416 — Monday, November 25

Rabbi Tzvi Kogan, the assistant rabbi to the growing Jewish community in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, was confirmed dead Sunday morning, apparently murdered by three Iranian agents from Uzbekistan who fled to Turkey.

Rabbi Kogan had been missing since Thursday. Israeli officials contacted his relatives on Friday. There was reportedly some frustration among Israeli officials with the slow pace of investigation by UAE authorities, especially since Rabbi Kogan’s car — evidently driven by his assailants — had reportedly been stopped for speeding on the road to Oman.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement:

The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024.

The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact with the family from the start of the event and is continuing to assist it at this difficult time; his family in Israel has also been updated.

The murder of Zvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is an abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism. The State of Israel will use all means and will deal with the criminals responsible for his death to the fullest extent of the law.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog added that the terrorist act “will not deter us from continuing to grow flourishing communities in the UAE or anywhere — especially with the help of the dedicated commitment and work of the Chabad emissaries all over the world.”

Chabad Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement that performs outreach to Jews of all backgrounds, and has become synonymous with the presence of Jewish communities of any significant size, anywhere in the world.

The murder of Rabbi Kogan took place almost sixteen years to the day of an Islamist terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, India. Rabbi Kogan was related to Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in that attack, the Times of Israel reports.

The murder is also a significant blow to the UAE’s image as a safe and tolerant country. And it marks Iran’s return to purely antisemitic terror attacks, rather than attacks on Israel or Israelis.

Israel normalized relations with the UAE under the Abraham Accords in 2020. Since then, Jewish communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have flourished.

Breitbart

Day 416 — Monday, November 25

Hezbollah fired a barrage of missiles and other projectiles into Israel Sunday in response to deadly IDF strikes on the militant group’s command centers in Beirut. 

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles Sunday, with some intercepted – marking one of the militant group’s heaviest barrages in months. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest, Lebanon’s military said. The Israeli military said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military’s operations are directed solely against the militants.

Israeli airstrikes also pounded central Beirut on Saturday, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel’s military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Fox News

Day 415 — Sunday, November 24

One minute before noon on Saturday, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, acknowledged an antisemitic riot the night before. “What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling. Acts of antisemitism, intimidation and violence must be condemned wherever we see them,” he stated.

“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are in communication with local police,” he added. “There must be consequences, and rioters held accountable.”

Critics, including the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who heads the Conservative Party of Canada, had noted that Trudeau was attending a Taylor Swift concert while the riot occurred. “Justin Trudeau refuses to condemn the antisemitic riots in Montreal,” Poilievre wrote minutes before Trudeau posted his comment. “He has time to dance and do selfies. But he’s too busy to condemn a violent Hamas takeover of our streets.”

“Violent mobs riot and rampage through beautiful Montreal, typifying the chaos that is engulfing our once-peaceful country after nine years of Trudeau’s radical, divisive agenda,” Poilievre wrote on Friday night. “Trudeau fiddles while Montreal burns.”

The opposition leader told the prime minister that he shouldn’t be surprised that Jew-hatred was on such public display. “You send out your MPs to say one thing in a mosque and the opposite in a synagogue, one thing in a mandir and the opposite in a gurdwara,” he wrote. “You have made Canada a playground for foreign interference. You allowed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps terrorists to legally operate here for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens in a major unprovoked attack.”

The Israeli embassy in Ottawa referred to a mob that rampaged Montreal streets. “The violent intentions of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protesters have never been clearer,” it stated. “Freedom of protest is a cornerstone of democracies like Canada and Israel, but democracies must ensure these freedoms are not exploited to incite violence.”

“The slogan ‘globalize the intifada’ is not just rhetoric—it is a call for violence against Jews, Israelis and anyone who upholds Western values,” the Israeli embassy added. “We urge the Canadian government to act decisively to curb this dangerous and antisemitic incitement before tragedy strikes.”

Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the Israeli special envoy for combating antisemitism, wrote to Trudeau that “you can’t fuel antisemitism—then condemn it.”

She noted that Trudeau had said on Thursday that Canada would abide by an International Criminal Court warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest.

“You can’t embolden antisemites—then be surprised when they attack Jews,” she added. “Your false moral equivalence, most recently in response to the heinous ICC decision—mainstreamed and unleashed an ever-mutating lethal hate—that endangers freedom, humanity and the dignity of difference. In Canada too, never again is now.”

Melissa Lantsman, one of the Conservative Party’s deputy opposition leaders, wrote that “it wasn’t a protest. It was an antisemitic riot.

The Jewish parliamentarian also directed criticism at Trudeau. “Complete lawlessness in Montreal as the pro-Hamas terror mobs emboldened by the Trudeau Liberals destroy the prime minister’s own hometown,” she wrote. “Rioters on a violent rampage and not a single word from our government. They only act when you disagree with them.

“Bring back law and order, safe streets and communities in the Canada we once knew and loved,” she added. “Hope the concert was good.”

JNS

Day 414 — Saturday, November 23

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon tells Fox News Digital that his country is keeping its “eyes open” for any potential aggression from Iran during the Trump transition period, adding it would be a “mistake” for the Islamic Republic to carry out an attack. 

The comments come after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi vowed earlier this week that Iran would retaliate against Israel for the strategic airstrikes it carried out against Tehran on Oct. 26. Araghchi was quoted in Iranian media saying “we have not given up our right to react, and we will react in our time and in the way we see fit.” 

“I would advise him not to challenge us. We have already shown our capabilities. We have proved that they are vulnerable. We can actually target any location in Iran. They know that,” Danon told Fox News Digital.

“So I would advise them not to make that mistake. If they think that now, because of the transition period, they can take advantage of it, they are wrong,” he added. “We are keeping our eyes open and we are ready for all scenarios.” 

Danon says he believes one of the most important challenges for the incoming Trump administration will be the way the U.S. deals with Iran. 

“Regarding the new administration, I think the most important challenge will be the way you challenge Iran, the aggression, the threat of the Iranian regime. I believe that the U.S. will have to go back to a leading position on this issue,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“We are fighting the same enemies, the enemies of the United States of America. When you look at the Iranians, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, all those bad actors that are coming against Israel… that is the enemy of the United States. So I think every American should support us and understand what we are doing now,” Danon also said.  

Fox News

Day 414 — Saturday, November 23

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said during a press conference on Thursday that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the premier arrived on Canadian soil, in line with a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

“First of all, as Canada has always said, it’s really important that everyone abide by international law,” Trudeau said. “This is something we’ve been calling on from the beginning of the conflict. We are one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.”

Both the ICC and the ICJ are located in The Hague, although the justice court is a body of the United Nations and the criminal court is a stand-alone body. The ICC issued warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense minister, among others.

“We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts,” Trudeau added.

Netanyahu has called the court’s decision a “modern Dreyfus trial,” while U.S. President Joe Biden recycled a six-month-old statement, in which he referred to the court’s decision as “outrageous.”

Leo Housakos, a Quebec senator, wrote that Trudeau’s were “disgraceful comments” that suggested that “Canadian authorities would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

“This ill-considered endorsement of the ICC’s politically motivated actions is a slap in the face to our ally and to every innocent Israeli still being held hostage,” Housakos stated. “We stand with the people of Israel and support their right to self-defense against terrorism. The actions taken by both the ICC and Justin Trudeau should be condemned as a dangerous precedent that threatens global stability and the principles of international law.”

“I have to say that we’re horrified, but not shocked,” Michael Teper, a board member of Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, told JNS of Trudeau’s comments.

“The statement is sadly highly predictable and indicative of the overall attitudes of the government of Canada these days,” Teper said. “It’s really just sad that Mr. Trudeau is taking this approach.”

Earlier in the day, Anthony Housefather, Canadian special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, wrote that “Israel was attacked by terrorists on Oct 7. The warrant issued by the ICC today against Netanyahu and Gallant claims their crimes started as early as Oct. 8. A day Israel was in shock, grief and mourning. The ICC discredits itself by its actions today.”

Amir Epstein, director of Tafsik, an Israel advocacy group with affiliates in Toronto and Winnipeg, told JNS that “the idea that Canada is aligned with Islamofascist countries that dictate what the ICC, the ICJ and the United Nations say and do is no longer surprising to anyone.”

He noted that dictators are able to “come freely into Canada,” which “is both laughable and embarrassing at the same time.”

The Abraham Global Peace Initiative in Toronto stated that it “expresses its strongest condemnation” of the court’s “reckless and politically motivated” action.

“The decision underscores the ICC’s troubling trend of weaponization against Israel, prepared by the Palestinian Authority and its allies since 2015,” the group said. “The ICC’s arrest warrants dangerously distort international justice by empowering extremists, exacerbating global antisemitism and undermining peace efforts during a time of heightened tensions.”

JNS

Day 420 — Friday, November 29

Several BBC staff members quit the journalists’ union after being told to wear the colors of the Palestinian flag, Jewish News reported on Wednesday.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reportedly sent messages asking workers to “wear something red, green, black or a Palestinian keffiyeh.”

This directive is part of a Day of Action for Palestine, an event calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

One BBC staff member told Jewish News that this “hypocritical and antisemitic” suggestion was a breach of the BBC’s commitment to impartial reporting, saying, “BBC journalists, who pride themselves on impartiality and who fought to keep their NUJ free of politics, are being encouraged to break the BBC’s editorial guidelines by supporting a political cause.” 

In a message to NUJ members, the union responded, “Clearly, members working across the BBC and in public service broadcasting have important duties in relation to impartiality and work within social media guidelines the NUJ would not wish members to breach.”

According to Jewish News, more members of NUJ are expected to resign following this situation.

Charlotte Henry, a freelance journalist who resigned, wrote that the union had become “a hostile environment for Jews, and I can no longer be part of that.”

The TUC declined to comment on whether it had previously requested workers to wear colors representing one side in a conflict. However, it admitted that it has never asked its members to wear Ukrainian colors during the ongoing conflict with Russia, Jewish News reported. 

The Board of Deputies of British Jews issued a statement directed at both unions.

“Whatever the stated intent, attempts to bring this issue into the workplace in such a fashion will undoubtedly add to the belligerent atmosphere which many Jewish staff have been facing.”

In September, a report from The Telegraph, based on research led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, showed that the BBC had breached its editorial guidelines for news coverage more than 1,500 times since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War.

The research found that there was a “deeply worrying pattern of bias against Israel” and that Israel was associated with genocide 14 times more than the Hamas terror group was throughout the analyzed BBC coverage.

Further findings from the research included the BBC’s repeated downplaying of Hamas terrorism. Conversely, Israel was presented as a “militaristic and aggressive nation” by the BBC, the report said.

Jerusalem Post

Day 420 — Friday, November 29

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Haggai, issued a statement Wednesday evening against the backdrop of the ceasefire in Lebanon, revealing that fighter jets attacked Hezbollah’s largest precision missile component production site some 1.4 kilometers (nearly a mile) long.

The attack was carried out in the Beqaa Valley in southern Lebanon. Hagari also revealed that during the war, the IDF attacked and destroyed about 360 targets throughout Beirut.

According to him, “Air Force combat aircraft, under the direction of the Intelligence Wing, attacked yesterday in the Jenata area in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon Hezbollah’s largest precision missile component production site. At the underground site, which is about 1.4 kilometers long, ground-to-ground missiles and various warfare components were produced, as well as precision warfare tools designed to harm the State of Israel. Due to its proximity to the Syrian border, the site served as a central point through which thousands of combat components and even activists from Syria and Lebanon were smuggled.”

Hagari described that “in the hours preceding the attack on the site, several attacks were carried out in the area in order to thwart activists and destroy its infrastructure. Among the targets, a central camp of the ‘Radwan Force’ was attacked where the unit activists were located. The camp conducted training and qualifications of the activists whose purpose was to implement the ‘Galilee Occupation’ plan.”

“Hezbollah’s production capability in Lebanon was built over the last decade with Iranian support as a mechanism for arming the terror organization following several attempts by Iran to smuggle precise missiles to Hezbollah, which were thwarted by Israel,” he added. “As part of this effort, a number of production and conversion sites were established throughout Lebanon, at the heart of which is the site that was attacked yesterday. In recent years, Hezbollah has begun to build and operate this site, with Iranian assistance and collaboration.”

He said that Iranian operatives worked on the site alongside Lebanese Hezbollah operatives.

“This is the most strategic production infrastructure of the terrorist organization in Lebanon that was attacked during the war. The attack was made possible following a precise intelligence dossier that was collected and built over years. This attack constitutes a blow to Hezbollah’s warfare production capabilities, which have been severely damaged in recent months.”

i24 News

Day 419 — Thursday, November 28

A former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) described dozens of hostages held by Hamas as “utter irrelevancies” on Wednesday.

Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton and the former executive director of HRW, accused the Israeli government of giving “diversionary excuses” in response to charges against two top officials by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, of committing war crimes in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

One of the “excuses” cited by Roth is Israel’s mission to rescue roughly 100 hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, terror attack.

“The Israeli government responded to the ICC war-crime charges with the usual diversionary excuses – the need to liberate the hostages, Hamas’s use of human shields, Israel’s democracy and self-defense, supposed ICC antisemitism – all utter irrelevancies,” Roth said in a post on X.

Roth served as the executive director of HRC from 1993 to 2022. He received pushback online for his characterization of the hostages held by Hamas.

“I can think of 101 people, in addition to their families, who might argue that the hostages are not ‘utterly irrelevant’ to IDF operations in Gaza,” Melissa Weiss, executive editor of Jewish Insider, wrote on X.

International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky called Roth “an absolute heartless monster.”

Adam Cannon, the director of legal at the British tabloid The Sun, said that Roth’s post showcases the “huge anti Israel bias” as HRC.

Cannon wrote to Roth on X: “Your dismissal of the Hamas atrocities and the hostage they took on Oct 7 just illustrates your total lack of understanding or maybe just abject bias when it comes to this conflict, undermining an organisation which should be at the forefront of helping solve the issues.”

Daily Wire

Day 419 — Thursday, November 28

Maaike Smole, a 48-year-old college policy worker from the central Dutch city of Amersfoort, no longer has any hope that there is a future for Jews in her country.

“It’s too late. The Netherlands are schluss,” she said, using a Yiddish term for “closed,” or “over.”

“Education has failed, integration [of Muslim minorities] has failed. Respect for us Jews has disappeared and will never come back. There are simply too few of us, the other side is so much larger and more aggressive. All that’s left is to do is to count down to our aliyah,” Smole said, using the Hebrew term for immigration to Israel.

Smole’s feelings appear to reflect those of a growing number of Jews in the Netherlands — a community that has been in the country, once known for its religious and ethnic tolerance, for centuries. Both anecdotally and through the chief rabbi’s office, The Times of Israel learned that an unprecedented number of Dutch Jews are contemplating leaving their homes for the Jewish homeland.

Now numbering between 30,000 and 50,000 depending on the criteria by which they are counted, many local Jews say they feel crushed by the combined pressures of antisemitism among migrant groups and anti-Zionism within the Dutch political left. It is historically a country where pogroms are an alien phenomenon.

That changed on the night of November 7, when bands of mostly Arab and Muslim youth — with the assistance of taxi drivers of the same ethnic and religious background — went on a self-described “Jew hunt” in the streets of Amsterdam.

Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the violence, while hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted down, beat and harassed them.

Shraga Evers moved to Israel from the Netherlands 12 years ago and now helps Western European Jews make that same transition as CEO of Shivat Zion, an organization that assists with the immigration and integration process.

“Last week, we organized an event in Amsterdam for Dutch Jews interested in making aliyah,” Evers said. “Forty people showed up. That’s about as many as we would normally get in a year. We haven’t seen this kind of interest in decades.”

Before the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war, Evers saw potential immigrants who were ideologically motivated. Now, fear seems to be a primary driving force.

“Jews who would have never considered aliyah before now understand there’s no future for them in Europe,” said Evers, echoing the words of Smole.

“Even if Israel may statistically be more dangerous, the nature of that danger is different,” he said. “In Israel, the threat is mostly external. In the Netherlands, your attacker can live next door. The Dutch police can’t protect the Jews anymore; when Muslims work together their numbers are just overwhelming.

“Pandora’s box has opened and even when the wars in Gaza and Lebanon are over, things in Europe will never be the same,” said Smole.

Daniel, a 47-year-old doctor who asked that his real name not be used and that identifying information be withheld to protect his safety, is one of those Jews who only a year ago would have never considered making the move to Israel.

“I am not recognizable as a Jew in the street, but my surname is clearly Jewish,” he said.

Even before this month’s riots in Amsterdam, Daniel asked himself questions about his family’s future in the Netherlands.

“I am usually an optimist, a very happy person, but I worry about my children. Will they be able to go to university safely? When will it be too late to leave if things get worse? Are we back in the 1930s? Two of my grandparents survived Auschwitz. Even after October 7, we thought we could tough it out, the war would end and antisemitism would eventually die down. We didn’t want to make aliyah, we wanted to stay here in the hope that everything would be alright,” he said.

Then the violence of November 7 struck and Daniel felt how much things had really changed in his country.

“It looks like Jews no longer have a right to exist in the Netherlands, like we can’t live our own identities,” he said. “I always thought I could. A lot of my patients say they feel ashamed of what is happening and that they pray for me. Personally, I don’t get any animosity from Muslim patients, but in all fairness, I don’t get any support from them either.”

Politics also plays a part in Smole’s decision to accelerate her move to Israel.

“Everything got twisted around. Media and politicians turned the victims in Amsterdam into perpetrators and perpetrators into victims,” she said. “A couple of months ago there was a protest in my city, ‘Amersfoort against Zionism.’ We went to have a look from a safe distance. My 15-year-old said to me, ‘Mom, how can I raise my children here?’ Imagine a child thinking that, that’s not a thought any child should ever have.”

“Israel may not be the safest country in the world, but at least there we are protected by the army and the police,” she said. “We no longer have that feeling here in the Netherlands.”

Times Of Israel

Day 418 — Wednesday, November 27

The agreement, which Israel’s national security cabinet approved in a vote of 10 ministers to one on Tuesday night, will reportedly provide for a 60-day transition period, during which the IDF will withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army will deploy some 5,000 troops south of the Litani river, including at 33 posts along the border with Israel.

Hezbollah forces will leave southern Lebanon, and its military infrastructure will be dismantled. The US has also reportedly provided a side letter specifying Israel’s rights to respond to violations of the ceasefire, should there be any.

A copy of the ceasefire deal was not published before it came into effect.
While Hezbollah has said that it accepts the ceasefire proposal, a senior official with the terror group said Tuesday that it had yet to see the agreement in its final form.

“After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.

“We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state.” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.”

Nevertheless, the ceasefire appeared to hold early Wednesday morning, with signs of celebration in Beirut, a day after Israel carried out its most intense wave of airstrikes in the Lebanese capital since the start of the fighting.

Both Israel and Hezbollah continued fighting in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, and earlier on Tuesday, the IDF said it had struck 20 sites within two minutes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after issuing evacuation warnings.

Seven buildings targeted in the strikes were used by Hezbollah for the management and storage of funds, the IDF said, including headquarters, vaults and branches of the Al-Qard al-Hasan association, known to be used by the terror group as a quasi-bank.

The other 13 sites included a Hezbollah aerial forces center, an intelligence division command room, weapon depots, and other military infrastructure, the IDF said.

Hezbollah too, continued to launch rockets and drones at Israel in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, setting off alarms across central and northern Israel.

Times Of Israel

Day 418 — Wednesday, November 27

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris following the announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon.

In a post to X, Johnson pointed out that the Biden administration is still withholding weapons to Israel.

“While the Biden-Harris Administration celebrates this announcement, remember that it is STILL withholding weapons to Israel. This Administration put up roadblock after roadblock on Israel and dragged out this conflict. They repeatedly appeased Iran rather than show unequivocal support to our closest ally in the region. Israel’s military success has been in spite of the White House, not because of it,” Johnson wrote.

“We always hope for peace in the region, and still do during this 60-day ceasefire. But it is President Trump’s Administration that will pave the way to lasting peace, because peace only comes through STRENGTH,” he added.

Arutz Sheva

Day 418 — Wednesday, November 27

In 2004, Wikipedia provided a definition for Zionism that was as acceptable and unbiased as that platform could give. It stated, “Zionism is a political movement among Jews holding that the Jewish people constitute a nation and are entitled to a national homeland….The word ‘Zionist’ derives from the word ‘Zion,’ being one of the names of Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Bible. To diaspora Jews, Zion has been a symbol of the Holy Land and of their return to it, as promised by God in Biblical prophecies.”

It was a basic definition, but “a political movement toward a national homeland” is a good start.

Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban defined Zionism as follows, “Zionism is nothing more — but also nothing less — than the Jewish people’s sense of origin and destination in the land linked eternally with its name.”

While the media and anti-Zionist factions slowly changed the definition, Wikipedia held on to its 2004 definition. Pressure rose, and wokeness prevailed—so much so that in June 2024, the online “encyclopedia” quietly redefined the word.

On Wikipedia’s 2024 page on Zionism, the definition was changed drastically to read as follows: “Zionism is an ethno-cultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century and aimed for the establishment of a Jewish state through the colonization of a land outside Europe. With the rejection of alternate proposals for a Jewish state, it eventually focused on the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, a region corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism, and of central importance in Jewish history. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism became Israel’s national or state ideology.“

Words and phrases such as ethnocultural nationalist movement, colonization, rejection of alternate proposals for a Jewish state, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible paint a picture of a people group stealing land by force and killing many people in the process, which is precisely what most of the world is accusing Israel of.

Wikipedia even questions original Jewish ethnicity, when they state, “the application of the Biblical concepts of Jews as the chosen people and the Promise Land” in Zionism, particularly to secular Jews, requires the belief that modern Jews are the primary descendants of biblical Jews and Israelites.”

It is subtle, but what is implied is that one has to “believe” that the Jews of today are the true descendants of biblical Judean Jews. This wouldn’t be much of a challenge without the existence of the conspiracy theory about Jews being descendants of 9th-century Eastern European Khazar converts to Judaism. As ludicrous as it sounds, it is a real thing, and books have been published on the topic.

We must keep in mind that once people believe that today’s Jews are not the natural descendants of Judean Jews, it becomes easy and even logical to accuse them of stealing Palestinian land and colonizing it for the “illegal Jewish State.”

Day 417 — Tuesday, November 26

The Israeli government has approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal with the Iranian-backed army of Hezbollah to put a stop to the group’s relentless rocket barrages that have terrorized civilians across northern Israel for nearly 14 months.

The decision came after Israeli warplanes struck terrorist targets across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people while also warning civilians to evacuate before its strikes.

Israel also achieved a primary goal of the war on Tuesday as its ground troops reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River to push Hezbollah’s terrorist army away from its border.

Even while announcing the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained steadfast in warning, “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack. For every violation, we will attack with might.”

Israel declared that the ceasefire would take effect beginning Wednesday.

While the exact terms were not released, the deal does call for a two-month initial halt in fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon

Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior leader said the group must still verify the final agreement.

CBN News

Day 417 — Tuesday, November 26

US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) responded on Monday to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s comments to a news publication regarding Senator Graham’s proposal to sanction any nation or group that aids and abets the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

In an interview with Politico, Joly was asked what is her response to Graham’s proposal, after Canada vowed to comply with the ICC order, and replied, “Canada will take its decision. Then the US will take its decision.”

On the possibility that Canada could face sanctions from the United States for complying with the ICC order, she replied, “We abide by international norms, including the fact that we’re a founding member of the ICC.”

When pressed on the issue, Joly stated, “For us, it is not a political question. It is a legal question, and it is part also of our own legal system that we respect the jurisdiction of the ICC. Period.”

Responding to the comments, Graham said, “I consider Canada to be one of America’s greatest allies and friends. We are not only neighbors – we also share many common values.”

“However, the idea that the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defense Minister is an act of international rules-based order is beyond the pale,” he added.

“The prosecutor who instigated the arrest warrants is under investigation. The ICC, in the eyes of the majority of Congress, is acting as a rogue organization asserting jurisdiction based on their belief that something bad happened,” stated Graham.

“This abuse of jurisdiction has no limits. Why couldn’t the ICC come after an American president or Secretary of Defense if they feel we have done wrong?”

“This is about sovereignty and some semblance of the rule of law. From an American point of view, the ICC has no accountability. For them to come after us would be an attack on our sovereignty. Since we’re not a member, and we are a mature democracy with an independent judiciary, like Israel, we would have little to no say,” continued Graham.

“To my friends in Canada and throughout the world, America rejects – in the strongest possible terms – the Court’s efforts to issue warrants for duly elected political leaders of Israel for defending their nation against barbaric terrorism. We reject the jurisdiction claims of the Court. We will make it loud and clear that those countries who assist in enforcing the arrest warrants – even if they are close allies – will hit a wall of resistance in America,” Graham clarified.

“America must act decisively to reject this action by the ICC because we could be next. The court threatened to go after American soldiers for their conduct in Afghanistan but wisely chose not to.”

“Again, we are a mature democracy just like Israel, with an independent judiciary. To Canada and all others – we do not view this action as furthering international norms. We view this as a direct threat by an unelected, unaccountable body in The Hague against American sovereignty and as an existential threat to our allies in Israel who are fighting for their very existence.”

“President Biden objected to the ICC ruling, and I will be discussing with President Trump and his team how to respond forcefully,” concluded Graham.

Arutz Sheva

Day 417 — Tuesday, November 26

Israel has let into the Gaza Strip almost 900 kilotons of food in some 40,000 trucks over the past year, according to official data.

The data was released on Friday following the International Criminal Court’s decision the previous day to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant. Israel has roundly rejected the allegations, which it called false and antisemitic.

The food data appears to undermine the ICC’s reasoning for issuing the warrants, which it said was over suspicions that the two Israelis “knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

In addition to food, about 2,600 trucks containing more than 51,000 liters of water were let in, along with almost 30,000 tons of medical equipment. An additional 10,000 aid drops took place in 140 operations.
The water supply translates to 112 liters per person daily in the north of the Gaza Strip, 39 liters in the center, and 24 liters in the south.

More than 5.7 million vaccines, including polio vaccines, were administered, and 32,000 liters of fuel were let in as well as 26 kilotons of cooking gas.

In total, 57,480 trucks carrying 1,129,774 tons of aid have been delivered to the residents of the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in Israel and abducted another 251, triggering a regional war and an ongoing war against Hamas.

JNS

Day 416 — Monday, November 25

Rabbi Tzvi Kogan, the assistant rabbi to the growing Jewish community in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, was confirmed dead Sunday morning, apparently murdered by three Iranian agents from Uzbekistan who fled to Turkey.

Rabbi Kogan had been missing since Thursday. Israeli officials contacted his relatives on Friday. There was reportedly some frustration among Israeli officials with the slow pace of investigation by UAE authorities, especially since Rabbi Kogan’s car — evidently driven by his assailants — had reportedly been stopped for speeding on the road to Oman.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement:

The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024.

The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact with the family from the start of the event and is continuing to assist it at this difficult time; his family in Israel has also been updated.

The murder of Zvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is an abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism. The State of Israel will use all means and will deal with the criminals responsible for his death to the fullest extent of the law.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog added that the terrorist act “will not deter us from continuing to grow flourishing communities in the UAE or anywhere — especially with the help of the dedicated commitment and work of the Chabad emissaries all over the world.”

Chabad Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement that performs outreach to Jews of all backgrounds, and has become synonymous with the presence of Jewish communities of any significant size, anywhere in the world.

The murder of Rabbi Kogan took place almost sixteen years to the day of an Islamist terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, India. Rabbi Kogan was related to Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in that attack, the Times of Israel reports.

The murder is also a significant blow to the UAE’s image as a safe and tolerant country. And it marks Iran’s return to purely antisemitic terror attacks, rather than attacks on Israel or Israelis.

Israel normalized relations with the UAE under the Abraham Accords in 2020. Since then, Jewish communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have flourished.

Breitbart

Day 416 — Monday, November 25

Hezbollah fired a barrage of missiles and other projectiles into Israel Sunday in response to deadly IDF strikes on the militant group’s command centers in Beirut. 

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles Sunday, with some intercepted – marking one of the militant group’s heaviest barrages in months. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest, Lebanon’s military said. The Israeli military said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military’s operations are directed solely against the militants.

Israeli airstrikes also pounded central Beirut on Saturday, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel’s military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Fox News

Day 415 — Sunday, November 24

One minute before noon on Saturday, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, acknowledged an antisemitic riot the night before. “What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling. Acts of antisemitism, intimidation and violence must be condemned wherever we see them,” he stated.

“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are in communication with local police,” he added. “There must be consequences, and rioters held accountable.”

Critics, including the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who heads the Conservative Party of Canada, had noted that Trudeau was attending a Taylor Swift concert while the riot occurred. “Justin Trudeau refuses to condemn the antisemitic riots in Montreal,” Poilievre wrote minutes before Trudeau posted his comment. “He has time to dance and do selfies. But he’s too busy to condemn a violent Hamas takeover of our streets.”

“Violent mobs riot and rampage through beautiful Montreal, typifying the chaos that is engulfing our once-peaceful country after nine years of Trudeau’s radical, divisive agenda,” Poilievre wrote on Friday night. “Trudeau fiddles while Montreal burns.”

The opposition leader told the prime minister that he shouldn’t be surprised that Jew-hatred was on such public display. “You send out your MPs to say one thing in a mosque and the opposite in a synagogue, one thing in a mandir and the opposite in a gurdwara,” he wrote. “You have made Canada a playground for foreign interference. You allowed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps terrorists to legally operate here for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens in a major unprovoked attack.”

The Israeli embassy in Ottawa referred to a mob that rampaged Montreal streets. “The violent intentions of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protesters have never been clearer,” it stated. “Freedom of protest is a cornerstone of democracies like Canada and Israel, but democracies must ensure these freedoms are not exploited to incite violence.”

“The slogan ‘globalize the intifada’ is not just rhetoric—it is a call for violence against Jews, Israelis and anyone who upholds Western values,” the Israeli embassy added. “We urge the Canadian government to act decisively to curb this dangerous and antisemitic incitement before tragedy strikes.”

Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the Israeli special envoy for combating antisemitism, wrote to Trudeau that “you can’t fuel antisemitism—then condemn it.”

She noted that Trudeau had said on Thursday that Canada would abide by an International Criminal Court warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest.

“You can’t embolden antisemites—then be surprised when they attack Jews,” she added. “Your false moral equivalence, most recently in response to the heinous ICC decision—mainstreamed and unleashed an ever-mutating lethal hate—that endangers freedom, humanity and the dignity of difference. In Canada too, never again is now.”

Melissa Lantsman, one of the Conservative Party’s deputy opposition leaders, wrote that “it wasn’t a protest. It was an antisemitic riot.

The Jewish parliamentarian also directed criticism at Trudeau. “Complete lawlessness in Montreal as the pro-Hamas terror mobs emboldened by the Trudeau Liberals destroy the prime minister’s own hometown,” she wrote. “Rioters on a violent rampage and not a single word from our government. They only act when you disagree with them.

“Bring back law and order, safe streets and communities in the Canada we once knew and loved,” she added. “Hope the concert was good.”

JNS

Day 414 — Saturday, November 23

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon tells Fox News Digital that his country is keeping its “eyes open” for any potential aggression from Iran during the Trump transition period, adding it would be a “mistake” for the Islamic Republic to carry out an attack. 

The comments come after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi vowed earlier this week that Iran would retaliate against Israel for the strategic airstrikes it carried out against Tehran on Oct. 26. Araghchi was quoted in Iranian media saying “we have not given up our right to react, and we will react in our time and in the way we see fit.” 

“I would advise him not to challenge us. We have already shown our capabilities. We have proved that they are vulnerable. We can actually target any location in Iran. They know that,” Danon told Fox News Digital.

“So I would advise them not to make that mistake. If they think that now, because of the transition period, they can take advantage of it, they are wrong,” he added. “We are keeping our eyes open and we are ready for all scenarios.” 

Danon says he believes one of the most important challenges for the incoming Trump administration will be the way the U.S. deals with Iran. 

“Regarding the new administration, I think the most important challenge will be the way you challenge Iran, the aggression, the threat of the Iranian regime. I believe that the U.S. will have to go back to a leading position on this issue,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“We are fighting the same enemies, the enemies of the United States of America. When you look at the Iranians, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, all those bad actors that are coming against Israel… that is the enemy of the United States. So I think every American should support us and understand what we are doing now,” Danon also said.  

Fox News

Day 414 — Saturday, November 23

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said during a press conference on Thursday that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the premier arrived on Canadian soil, in line with a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

“First of all, as Canada has always said, it’s really important that everyone abide by international law,” Trudeau said. “This is something we’ve been calling on from the beginning of the conflict. We are one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.”

Both the ICC and the ICJ are located in The Hague, although the justice court is a body of the United Nations and the criminal court is a stand-alone body. The ICC issued warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense minister, among others.

“We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts,” Trudeau added.

Netanyahu has called the court’s decision a “modern Dreyfus trial,” while U.S. President Joe Biden recycled a six-month-old statement, in which he referred to the court’s decision as “outrageous.”

Leo Housakos, a Quebec senator, wrote that Trudeau’s were “disgraceful comments” that suggested that “Canadian authorities would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

“This ill-considered endorsement of the ICC’s politically motivated actions is a slap in the face to our ally and to every innocent Israeli still being held hostage,” Housakos stated. “We stand with the people of Israel and support their right to self-defense against terrorism. The actions taken by both the ICC and Justin Trudeau should be condemned as a dangerous precedent that threatens global stability and the principles of international law.”

“I have to say that we’re horrified, but not shocked,” Michael Teper, a board member of Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, told JNS of Trudeau’s comments.

“The statement is sadly highly predictable and indicative of the overall attitudes of the government of Canada these days,” Teper said. “It’s really just sad that Mr. Trudeau is taking this approach.”

Earlier in the day, Anthony Housefather, Canadian special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, wrote that “Israel was attacked by terrorists on Oct 7. The warrant issued by the ICC today against Netanyahu and Gallant claims their crimes started as early as Oct. 8. A day Israel was in shock, grief and mourning. The ICC discredits itself by its actions today.”

Amir Epstein, director of Tafsik, an Israel advocacy group with affiliates in Toronto and Winnipeg, told JNS that “the idea that Canada is aligned with Islamofascist countries that dictate what the ICC, the ICJ and the United Nations say and do is no longer surprising to anyone.”

He noted that dictators are able to “come freely into Canada,” which “is both laughable and embarrassing at the same time.”

The Abraham Global Peace Initiative in Toronto stated that it “expresses its strongest condemnation” of the court’s “reckless and politically motivated” action.

“The decision underscores the ICC’s troubling trend of weaponization against Israel, prepared by the Palestinian Authority and its allies since 2015,” the group said. “The ICC’s arrest warrants dangerously distort international justice by empowering extremists, exacerbating global antisemitism and undermining peace efforts during a time of heightened tensions.”

JNS