Time To Ask The Hard Questions Before Recognizing A Palestinian State

September 3, 2025

The debate over recognition of a Palestinian state too often proceeds like a ceremonial exercise in diplomacy, without the hard work of verification. Democracies that contemplate recognition must first ask whether the entity they endorse is committed to coexistence, or whether it institutionalizes hostility toward Jews and Israel. These are not rhetorical questions. They are existential.

Start with the foundational texts. The Palestinian National Charter historically contained articles that delegitimized Israel and called for territorial maximalism. That legacy is not merely historical trivia. Nations preparing to recognize a Palestinian state must demand a clear, documented repeal of any charter or covenant language that calls for the destruction of Israel. Public assurances are not enough. Legal guarantees are required.

Equally urgent is the matter of state policy that financially rewards violence. For decades, Palestinian institutions have administered stipends and benefits to prisoners and to the families of those killed in attacks on Israelis, a practice decried by critics as an incentive for terror. Recent moves by Palestinian authorities to reform how such payments are distributed have been reported as attempts to address international criticism, but reforms remain contested and conditional. Any recognizing government must insist on verifiable abolition of laws and programs that effectively reward violence against civilians.

Educational content and public rhetoric also matter. Texts that glorify attackers, curricula that teach enmity, and maps that erase the State of Israel from the geography of the region are not innocent artifacts. They are tools that shape a new generation’s worldview. Western foreign ministers should require a transparent review, by independent experts, of schoolbooks and official maps to ensure they do not promote murder or deny Israel’s existence.

Religious and constitutional frameworks cannot be brushed aside. The Palestinian Basic Law, as published in recent years, identifies Islam as the official religion and names principles of Islamic law as a principal source of legislation. That raises real concerns for religious minorities and for the status of Jewish holy sites and communities. The Vatican’s representatives previously warned that proposed constitutional arrangements could leave non-Muslim faiths with little juridical protection. Recognition should not proceed until the rule of law guarantees freedom of religion and equal citizenship for all.

Finally, democratic partners must insist on concrete renunciation of slogans and policies that call for armed return or armed struggle as a political program. The right of return is a legitimate humanitarian and political issue, but when framed as a demand achieved through violence, it becomes a blueprint for unending conflict. Recognition should be paired with clear commitments to resolve refugee issues by political, negotiated means, not by calls to arms.

Practical diplomacy requires nuance, yet nuance is not an excuse for inaction on these basic security and moral questions. If Western nations are sincere about peace and stability, they must condition recognition on verifiable, structural reforms. This should include legal repeal of charter clauses that call for Israel’s destruction, abolition of state payments that reward attacks on civilians, removal of incitement from educational materials, and constitutional guarantees for religious and minority rights.

To do otherwise would be to bless ambiguity. It would be to export the risk of renewed violence to nations that can least afford it. It would also constitute a moral failure to the Jewish people and to the idea that peace requires law, not just proclamations.

This article is based on verified information from Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, the Palestinian Basic Law, Palestinian National Charter documents, reports on the Palestinian martyrs and prisoners fund, and reporting on Vatican warnings.

Neuer: How Hamas Controls UNRWA From Within

Center for Near East Policy Research

September 2, 2025

A Hamas terror chief was in charge of 2,000 UNRWA teachers. Norway’s current foreign ministry official Leni Stenseth traveled to Gaza to apologize to the now-deceased terror leader Yahya Sinwar. And 90 percent of Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre were educated in UNRWA schools.

These revelations come from an interview with Hillel Neuer, executive director of the watchdog organization UN Watch. Neuer had strong ties to Sweden through his friend Per Ahlmark, former leader of the Liberal Party who died in 2018. Ahlmark served as European co-chair of UN Watch for 20 years, and the organization annually awards the Per Ahlmark Award for moral courage.

”Per was my friend. I went to Stockholm for his 70th birthday celebration and he used to fly to Geneva for our events. Each year we give out the Per Ahlmark Award to people who have moral courage,” Neuer said.

He praised the Swedish government’s decision to stop funding UNRWA.

”I want to commend the Swedish government. My understanding is that in December the government announced they would no longer give money to UNRWA but instead increase aid to Palestinians through other agencies. That was the right decision,” Neuer said.

Hamas Controls UNRWA

Neuer described how Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA, the UN’s special refugee agency for Palestinians, which Sweden has funded with billions over the years.

”Fathi Sharif was Hamas leader in Lebanon, UNRWA teacher, principal and head of 2,000 teachers. When Israel eliminated him last year, Hamas announced that their leader had been killed. It wasn’t like Sharif was hiding [his Hamas membership] — he had pictures with Hamas leaders all over his Facebook,” Neuer said.

Sweden has been one of UNRWA’s largest donors for decades. Is there any separation between UNRWA and Hamas in Gaza?

”In Gaza they’ve taken over completely. They control the staff union with 13,000 employees. The head of UNRWA’s union sits on Hamas’s political bureau. He’s one of the few who survived — over half of the political bureau has been eliminated by Israel. He fled to Turkey a few years ago.”

”UNRWA’s own legal advisor said that 90 percent of Gazans are alumni of UNRWA schools. That means 90 percent of the barbaric murderers who raped and murdered on October 7 [attended] UNRWA schools,” Neuer said.

UN Watch has documented UNRWA’s indoctrination of Palestinian children for decades. What does it look like?

”We’re releasing a report next month showing that UNRWA’s education system is completely infiltrated by Hamas. We’ve interviewed children who say they learned to kill Jews. They all want to become Hamas fighters. The message in schools is that Gaza is not your home — your home is there, and they point to Israel. They call it the ’right of return’ but it means October 7.”

West kowtowing to Hamas

One example of how Western countries submit to terrorists, according to Neuer, is when Leni Stenseth, then UNRWA’s deputy chief and now an official in Norway’s foreign ministry, traveled to Gaza to apologize to Yahya Sinwar — the architect of the October 7 massacre.

”An UNRWA official admitted on Israeli TV that IDF strikes were precise. Hamas kicked him out, he was no longer welcome in Gaza. Stenseth drove from Amman to Gaza, met Sinwar and apologized for the official’s ’indefensible’ statements. She now leads Norway’s foreign ministry and campaigns for UNRWA,” Neuer said.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini reportedly met with terror groups in Beirut last May and reached an agreement allowing Hamas to maintain control over UNRWA schools, according to UN Watch.

Fatah Not a Peace Partner

Sweden’s Social Democrats and the left are pushing for Sweden to resume funding. What do you say to them?

”They have to answer to the evidence. We have hundreds of pages of documentation on our website with screenshots of UNRWA teachers praising jihad terrorism. If they care about Palestinian children, why do they let Hamas terrorists be their teachers and principals for decades?”

Is Fatah and its leader Mahmoud Abbas — the Social Democrats’ sister party — a legitimate peace partner?

”The best thing you can say about Fatah is that they’re not Hamas. But there’s not much more to say than that. Abbas is in his twentieth year of his four-year term. He’s a dictator who tortures those who dare to oppose him. He denies the Holocaust and says the Jews deserved it.”

Abbas’s government continues the ”pay for slay” policy where terrorists and their families receive compensation for attacks against Israelis.

”Fatah doesn’t want their own state either. When they were offered 97 percent of the land they wanted, [former leader] Arafat responded with an intifada with hundreds of suicide bombings. They also want Israel’s destruction,” Neuer said.

Israel must not trade concrete gains for empty political promises

Center for Near East Policy Research

September 2, 2025

A day after the official confirmation of the death of Prime Minister Ahmad al-Rahawi and several of his ministers in the Israeli Air Force strike in Yemen, Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a senior member of the Houthis’ political bureau, accused that “Israel has crossed all the red lines in this campaign” – and he was not wrong.

In this war, the State of Israel has indeed crossed what, in the eyes of Iran and the terror organizations, were supposed to be “red lines” in its policy. After the “decapitation operations” of Hezbollah’s leadership and the heads of Iran’s security system, the day of the Houthi leaders has also come.

But the struggle with the Houthis is far from over. In the same interview with Al-Mayadeen, the Lebanese channel identified with Hezbollah, al-Bukhaiti boasted that his movement “succeeded in imposing discipline on Britain and the US,” and promised that “it will do the same to the Zionist enemy.”

The common denominator for all of them is the instability that allows rapid fluctuation between extreme states. Israel’s dramatic achievements have indeed created a new reality, but it is still in formation. Discussing the need for a “political act” to complement the “military act” is premature, if it is even equally applicable to all arenas. Attempting to cut corners through questionable arrangements or premature agreements could prove too costly.

Maintaining freedom of action

Under no circumstances should tangible achievements be traded for political ideas that may stir the imagination, but their chances of materializing are doubtful. Thus, one can welcome the Lebanese government’s decision to task the Lebanese army with formulating a plan to disarm Hezbollah, but also assume – with a sober look – that the likelihood of this happening is slim.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem made clear that the weapons issue is a red line and that his organization will never agree to disarm, and therefore one should not be tempted by the “discourse of gestures” – it is not right to reduce IDF strikes in Lebanon or reduce the Israeli military presence in order to “give President Aoun a chance and encourage him in his policy.”

Israel needs to maintain its hold on all five points in Lebanon where the IDF controls, not allow the reconstruction of Shiite villages that threaten our communities in the north, enforce decisively, and act firmly against any attempt to arm and strengthen. If and when Hezbollah is disarmed, then it will be possible to show openness to other ideas as well.

The same applies to Syria: we need to wake up from the dreams about hummus in Damascus. The refined jihadist ruler indeed spoke positively about the possibility of peace relations with Israel, and this should not be dismissed, but meanwhile, these are just words. The barbaric attacks by regime supporters against the Druze illustrated the complex internal challenges in this divided country. They reminded us and the rest of the world what the base of the new president looks like, who, next month, will stand on the UN General Assembly podium.

Even those who believe that Ahmed al-Sharaa has exhausted the jihad chapter in his life and seen the light on the path of statesmanship now understand what his power base looks like. It is hard to assume that the gang of jihadists surrounding him has abandoned the vision of establishing an extreme Sunni religious state in Greater Syria, and that it will allow action in complete opposition to this vision. Therefore, we must maintain our military presence on Mount Hermon’s peak and in the buffer zone in Syria, forcefully prevent empowerment moves that will challenge the freedom of action of our forces, and assist the Druze.

If, before the Israeli strike, the war in Gaza was the main stated reason for the continuation of the struggle, now the motivation for revenge over the elimination of the leadership and the severe humiliation of the Zaidi movement has been added to it. This in no way raises doubts about the course of action Israel chose – on the contrary, this is the way to demonstrate, and not only to the Houthis, the change that has occurred in Israel’s approach following the October 7 attack, and this is the line that should characterize its policy in the other arenas where it is contending as well.

And for those who claim that Israel’s actions could undermine political opportunities: first, past experience teaches that the opposite is true – military moves may actually help clarify red lines, and, by themselves, serve as leverage for advancing political arrangements. Second, and more importantly, security without political arrangements is preferable to arrangements without security. These lessons must be remembered, especially ahead of a political month, full of initiatives and ideas.

Meir Ben Shabbat is head of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, in Jerusalem. He served as Israel’s national security advisor and head of the National Security Council between 2017 and 2021, and prior to that for 30 years in the General Security Service (the Shin Bet security agency or “Shabak”).

Clueless choirs

Michael Kuttner

August 29, 2025

Discordant and cacophonous choruses of hate are emanating once again from around the globe.

Fuelled by a tsunami of disinformation and boosted by political opportunism, we face a swelling volume of anti-Israel incitement. In addition, a lurking antipathy towards Jews in general is casting its poisonous web of lies over an ever-increasing swathe of humanity.

Its negative and destructive effects pose challenges for communal leadership and raise the age-old dilemma of how to respond.

In every country except Israel, Jews are in a minority. As demographic and electoral realities become more evident, the Sisyphean struggle to safeguard Jewish life grows increasingly harder.

This past week highlights the challenges now emerging and the perilous political roadblocks being erected.

The verbal warfare and diplomatic disconnect between Australia and Israel have been the star attraction and media focus.

Australia’s intention of recognising a Palestinian fantasy state regardless of any conditional requirements while Hamas still holds sway is at the core of the drama. Albanese and Wong, driven by an extreme left wing ideological agenda, are rushing headlong into appeasing terror.

Their constant drip feed of negative and condemnatory rhetoric has unleashed unprecedented vitriol with mass marches and demonstrations across the continent. Every biased media and UN report and statement has been elevated to holy writ which in turn is morphing into unsubstantiated slanders.

No self-respecting Israeli leader should be expected to remain mute in the face of this avalanche of mistruths and outright lies.

When it is accompanied by craven appeasement to jihadist terror, the response must be firm, loud and couched in a way that leaves no room for misinterpretation.

Wimpy responses disguised as diplomatic double speak will achieve very little.

The reaction of political and communal leaders was a sight to behold when Netanyahu’s verbal bombardment was revealed. Politicians recoiled in righteous wrath aided and abetted by a mainstream media waiting for such an event to occur. SKY Australia’s commentators, to their credit, tore shreds from the hypocritical pontifications of the ABC, among others.

The responses of communal groups and their assorted spokespersons were astounding.

A collective communal meltdown ensued.

How dare the Prime Minister of a democratic country fighting against jihadist terror actually accuse other political leaders of weakness and appeasement? A frenzied attempt to distance the Jewish community from such plain speaking was demanded. How could Israel stoop to such undiplomatic language? One spokesperson even went so far as to describe Albanese as a “statesman.”

A letter of reprimand was quickly composed, urging both Netanyahu and Albanese to cease “insulting each other” and instead engage in civilised discourse. No doubt those demonising Israel and Zionists could hardly believe their good fortune. The spectacle of Jewish/Zionist groups “running for cover” must be too good to be true.

It exposes an old galut disease known as “trembling knees syndrome.”

It was first identified in 1982 by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In June of that year, Joe Biden was a senator from Delaware and he confronted Begin during a Senate Foreign Relations committee testimony, threatening to cut off aid to Israel. Begin forcefully responded:

“Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. When necessary we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”

Senator Biden banged on the table with his fist and Begin continued:

“This desk is designed for writing not for fists. Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me and you will not frighten me with threats.”

Can you imagine what Begin would have done with any letter he may have received from Diaspora communal leaders asking him to tone down his language and be more diplomatic?

Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the leader of the Revisionist Movement, which both Begin and Netanyahu emanate from, noted in 1940:

“We hold that Zionism is moral and just. Since it is moral and just, justice must be done, no matter whether Joseph or Simon or Ivan or Achmed agree with it or not.”

In today’s context, we can add “no matter whether Albanese, Wong, Luxon, Starmer, Macron, Carey and the UN Secretary General agree with it or not.”

Israel is about to become the first country in the world to pioneer spinal surgery enabling patients to walk again.

Perhaps this revolutionary medical advance could be extended to enable politicians who have already surrendered to jihadist threats to grow a spine and finally confront this growing menace.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Chris Luxon, loses no opportunity to demonstrate his total lack of knowledge, both historically and currently.

Condemning the building of homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria, as well as Jerusalem, he warbles the same old discredited themes of “illegality under international law” and “two state solutions.” According to Luxon, New Zealand and all countries signed up for a Palestine state in 1947.

This claim is total fiction. The UN voted for a Jewish and an Arab country. The fictitious “indigenous” Palestinians had not been invented. All Muslim and Arab countries voted against this partition resolution and declared their intention to erase the Jewish State of Israel from the map. From 1948 until 1967, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan illegally occupied Judea and Samaria and renamed it the “West Bank.” They also occupied the Old City of Jerusalem, ethnically expelled all Jewish inhabitants and destroyed Synagogues and the Mount of Olives Cemetery. Jews were forbidden to visit and pray at the Kotel.

Not one country currently spouting nonsense about illegal Israeli occupation voiced any such condemnation during the years 1948 to 1967. Can Luxon, Albanese and the rest of the UN explain why? Could it by some coincidence have something to do with the fact that Jews have returned to the territories legally part of the Jewish homeland and guaranteed for settlement from the river to the sea?

Perhaps all those intending to recognise a fictional Palestine could explain why, when Jordan controlled the territory, no effort was made to create such a country. Of course, they will never provide a logical answer because the plain facts are that having failed to destroy Israel by military means and terror, the jihadists have now found a far better alternative.

Creating a fictional history and revisionist fables are the perfect ways to seduce spineless democracies. Spreading age-old lies and libels is far more lethal. Utilising the ancient virus of Jew hate is much easier than mounting military campaigns.

The success of this strategy can be seen in how political leaders and the media have been successfully subverted.

Those who still believe that peace and tolerance will magically break out once the fake Palestinians have been granted their State in the heartland of Israel are so out of touch with reality that it is painful to behold.

Proof that recognition of Palestine will bring in its wake more terror, incitement and intolerance has been provided by yet another outburst from those touted as harbingers of the messianic age.

During the month of Elul, which precedes Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is sounded during morning prayers. In an official statement, the PA claimed that “shofar blowing is not merely a religious ritual. It is rather a dangerous tool through which Israel seeks to impose its sovereignty and alter the historical and legal status of the Al Aqsa Mosque. It is a blatant violation of international law.”

This is a perfect example of what can be expected after Palestinian recognition is approved at the UN.

All those still advocating such a course of action need to wake up from their self-induced stupidity.

The vast majority of Israelis have no intention of committing national suicide in order to please a gutless and clueless international community.

Ilana Gritzewsky – Reporting to The U.N. : October 7th

Center for Near East Policy Research

August 29, 2025

Letter of Infamy: When Rabbis Parrot the Settler Violence Lie (Judean Rose)

Center for Near East Policy Research

August 28, 2025

Last week I addressed the accusation of “famine” in Gaza in a letter (HERE) signed by more than 80 Open Orthodox rabbis. This week, I want to look at the second charge in that same letter: so-called “settler violence.”

To hear the rabbis tell it, extremist settlers are raining down bloody hell on “Palestinians.”

But that is exactly false. Which suggests that the signatories have not at all done their due diligence before affixing their names to what stands as a very public condemnation of Israel at a time of extreme peril for the Jewish people.

If they had done the bare minimum research before signing their John Hancocks to that statement accusing Israel of not doing enough to combat “settler violence,” they would have discovered that only four months earlier, in April 2025, Israeli NGO Regavim had released a detailed report on this very subject, “False Flags and Real Agendas, The Making of a Modern Blood Libel: The ‘Settler Violence’ Narrative as a Weapon in the Battle to Delegitimize the Jewish Presence in Judea and Samaria and the State of Israel”.

Regavim, which monitors land use and policy in Judea and Samaria, examined the UN database that is perpetually cited as proof of “settler violence.” What they found was that the numbers collapse under scrutiny, reduced to dust.

“The UN incident list we obtained distinguishes between 2,047 incidents of violence against Israelis and 6,285 incidents defined as violence against Palestinians… once one delves into the list of incidents, the clear conclusion is that the vast majority do not describe violence related to settlers, and certainly do not describe violence initiated by settlers against Palestinians. Among the 6,285 incidents… 1,361 were simply Jewish ascents to the Temple Mount, every one counted as ‘settler violence.’ Another 1,613 were general complaints, such as ‘entry onto land’ during tours or hikes, which do not involve assault or harm. Ninety-six involved legal infrastructure projects carried out by the State of Israel.”

This is the extent of the UN’s “evidence” of settler violence. Temple Mount visits. Land surveys. Legal infrastructure. In other words: ordinary life contorted into charges of violence. And when those distortions are stripped away, we are left with a big pile of nothing.

“After subtracting these cases, only 833 incidents remain, which the UN classified as settler violence against Palestinians in the Judea and Samaria, allegedly resulting in bodily harm and in some cases also property damage. This constitutes only ten percent of the original list, which sought to reflect alarming levels of severe violence by settlers against Palestinians in the Judea and Samaria. Not only did this review cut 90% of the events, undermining the foundation of the UN’s arguments and their consequences, but the remaining cases suffer not only from lack of credibility but also from a disgusting level of false accusation against the real victims.”

Ten percent. That’s all that survived the first cut. Yet these reports, too, are riddled with distortions. Almost half of the reported cases were clashes with both sides involved. Of the rest, some cases of “settler violence” were attributed to Israeli security forces, while others were Arab terror attacks against Jews—recast as ‘settler violence.’ Blood libels dressed up as data.

As Regavim concludes:

“…examination of these cases revealed that in many of them, it is not settler violence of one kind or another, but rather the opposite: these are terror attacks by Arabs against settlers that ended with the injury or elimination of the attacker.”

Had the rabbis taken five minutes to investigate, they would have found this information—current, comprehensive, and devastating to their claim. Instead, they affixed their names to a letter built on entries in a database programmed to tell lies. Even the name of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is invoked, as if to give the letter’s distortions a veneer of authority.

But the Rav, as he is known to those who revere him, would never have put his name on something so harmful to the Jewish people.

Which brings us to the names of the rabbis, themselves.

As my friend Julie P. on seeing the list of names helpfully pointed out, “Not one is Sephardi or Mizrachi.”

Look down the list of 80 signatories. It’s tragic really. You’ll see Schudrich, Greenberg, Yanklowitz, Dolinger, Chernick, Feigelson, Schlesinger—names that could have come straight from an early, 20th century Lower East Side synagogue membership roster.

With one half-exception—a single hyphenated surname suggesting a mixed background—the entire coalition is Ashkenazi.

And this is telling. Sephardim, even those who are not religious in practice, are deeply respectful of rabbinic authority and tradition. Watching how they comport themselves in the presence of a sage is instructive. I have seen secular Sephardi women cover their arms and heads with a shawl when a rabbi entered the room. Nobody asked them to. They simply revere the rabbis who have guided their people according to the same traditions for generations. Perhaps it is that steadfastness that inoculates Sephardim against the hubris of lecturing Israel on “moral clarity” while parroting Hamas propaganda without looking deeper at the actual facts.

List of signatories

Rabbi Yosef Blau

Rabbi David Bigman

Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich

Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior

Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior

Rabbi Joav Melchior

Chief Rabbi David Rosen (former CR)

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz

Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg

Rabbi Hyim Shafner

Rabbi Daniel Landes

Rabbi Herzl Hefter

Rabbi Shua Mermelstein

Rabbi Yoni Zolty

Rabbanit Mindy Schwartz Zolty

Rabbi Frederick L Klein

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

Rabbi Michael Whitman

Rabbi Dr. Jeremiah Unterman

Rabbi Barry Dolinger

Rabbi David Silber

Rabbi Yonatan Neril

Rabbi Ysoscher Katz

Rabbi Isaac Landes

Rabbi David Polsky

Rabbi Baruch Plotkin

Rabbi Mikey Stein

Rabbi Elliot Kaplowitz

Rabbi Ariel Goldberg

Rabbi Ben Birkeland

Rabbi Ralph Genende

Rabbi David Glicksman

Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman

Rabbi Dr. Martin Lockshin

Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Giller

Rabbi Avidan Freedman

Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein

Rabbi Dr. Shalom Schlagman

Rabbi Dr. Daniel Ross Goodman

Rabbi Aaron Levy

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller

Rabbi Dr. Mel Gottlieb

Rabbi Dr. Joshua Feigelson

Rabbi Jonah Winer

Rabbi Dr. Michael Chernick

Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn

Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger

Rabbi Elhanan Miller

Rabbi Joel Hecker

Rabbi Michael Gordan

R. Sofia Freudenstein

Rabbi David Levin-Kruss

Rabbanit Myriam Ackermann-Sommer

Rabba Ramie Smith

R. Shayna Abramson

Rabbi Zachary Truboff

Rabbi David A. Schwartz

Rabbi David Jaffe

Rabbi Steve Greenberg

Rabbi Gabriel Kretzmer Seed

Rabbanit Rachel Keren

Rabbi Benyamin Vineburg

Rabba Dr. Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Rabbanit Leah Sarna

Rabbi Dr. Wendy Zierler

Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz

Rabbi Shimon Brand

Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez

R. Emily Goldberg Winer

R. Dr. Erin Leib Smokler

Rabba Adina Roth

R. Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy

Rabbi Drew Kaplan

Rabbi Dina Najman

Rabbi Emile Ackermann

Rabbi Daniel Geretz

Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz

Rabbanit Tali Schaum Broder

Rabbi Max Davis

Rabbi Tyson Herberger

Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky

At first, I wondered whether one surname on the list—Neril—might break the pattern. I had never heard that one before and thought perhaps it was Sephardi. But no. Rabbi Yonatan Neril is Ashkenazi, and best known for founding the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, an organization that promotes environmental action across faith communities. His presence on the list highlights the broader orientation of many of the signatories toward progressive and ecumenical causes, rather than toward Israel’s defense in its hour of need.

The rabbis who signed this letter of betrayal may have meant no harm to their own, but intentions matter little here; the effect is the same. That letter was like piling logs onto a raging fire—then dousing it with gasoline.

History will not remember the rabbis’ statement kindly. At best, the signatories will be judged naïve or misguided. Sad, but with tragic consequences for the Jewish people and in particular for Israel’s hostages and soldiers. The rabbis’ missive jeopardizes Israel’s ability to free the hostages, by emboldening the enemy, who now see that even Jewish clergy can be turned into weapons against the Jewish state.

Former hostage exposes Hamas aid theft as guards stockpiled stolen food

Center for Near East Policy Research

August 28, 2025

Former hostage Tal Shoham provided disturbing testimony on Wednesday on Israeli Army Radio about the systematic theft of humanitarian aid by Hamas terrorists while Israeli hostages endured deliberate starvation. Shoham revealed that guards possessed stockpiles of stolen aid supplies while following explicit orders to deny food to prisoners.

“In the room next to us, the guards had food for months ahead that they stole from humanitarian aid. They said they received orders from above to starve us,” Shoham told the radio station during his interview.

The captivity survivor described the horrific conditions he and other hostages endured during their imprisonment. “It was a continuous nightmare. There was no oxygen to breathe, and we felt extreme and ongoing hunger. I saw the pictures of Rom and Evyatar, they look like walking skeletons, it reminded me of the Holocaust pictures,” he explained.

Shoham’s weight dropped from 174 pounds to 110 pounds by the time of his release in February during the first phase of the hostage deal. According to the former hostage’s interview with Fox News, hostages were allowed merely 300 calories a day and just 300 milliliters of water – slightly more than 10 ounces – which they had to choose to use for drinking or washing.

Video: Hamas terrorists enjoying food underground / Credit: IDF

Shoham emphasized the psychological impact of knowing that support continued from the outside world. Regarding demonstrations for hostage release, he stated, “Every time I heard in captivity that they were still fighting for us and we weren’t forgotten, I received hope. The feeling that there was still someone fighting for us was a source of faith that someday it would end.”

The IDF Arabic spokesperson unveiled dramatic video evidence in July, documenting Hamas terrorists’ comfortable underground life, showing operatives enjoying fresh bananas, dates, and meat in tunnel complexes while their organization publicly accuses Israel of creating starvation conditions for Gaza residents.

Hamas Martyrs

Center for Near East Policy Research

August 27, 2025

Self –infliction of suffering – Current Palestinian strategy: Part one

David Bedein

August 27, 2025

Hamas, the jihadi organization gained control of the Palestinian Parliament in 2006, has ruled Gaza since 2007 and become the focus on global attention after massacring around 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. For fifteen years, Hamas has implemented an opposite and historically unique purpose in tormenting its subject population. Rather than sacrifice soldiers for battlefield gains, it sacrifices civilians for public relations purposes.

In words of an expert on Islam, historian Dr. Daniel Pipes. “The more misery endured by Gazans, the more convincingly Hamas can accuse Israel of aggression and the wider and more vehement the support it wins from antisemites of all persuasions – Islamists, Palestinian nationalists, far-leftists, and far-rightists. Hamas actively wants Gazans to be bombed, hungry, suffering, homeless, injured and dead. It bases troops and missiles in mosques, churches, schools, hospitals, and private homes. An Emirati political figure, Dirar Belhoul al-Falasi, explains that “Hamas fired a rocket from the hospital’s roof, so that Israel would bomb this hospital.” It calls on Gazans to serve as human shields. It parks vehicles in the roads to block civilians to move southwards and out of harm’s way. It even shoots would-be refugees’

An aerial picture of Shifa Hospital in Gaza, with Israeli markings in red of military installations.

In 2014, US diplomat Dennis Ross commented that Gazans paid a “staggering” price for Hamas’ aggression but its leaders “have never been concerned about that. For them, Palestinians’ pain and suffering are tools to exploit, not conditions to end.” Douglas Feith, a former high-ranking Pentagon official, finds it “unprecedented for a party to adopt a war strategy to maximize civilian deaths on its own side.” He dubs this “not a human shield strategy [but] a human sacrifice strategy.”

Dr. Pipes also notes that ” Hamas digs into its Islamist ideology to justify this practice. One official blithely explains how Palestinians “sacrifice ourselves. We consider our dead to be martyrs. The thing any Palestinian desires the most is to be martyred for the sake of Allah, defending his land.” Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a founding Hamas leader, puts it another way: “I was born at the heart of Hamas leadership… and I know them very well. They don’t care for the Palestinian people. They do not regard the human life. I saw their brutality firsthand. Hamas’ brutal logic brings multiple benefits; First, it benefits Hamas tactically, because Israel, which tries to avoid harming civilians, avoids attacking those mosques and schools. Second, if Israel does hit such vulnerable targets, Hamas crows about the victims. Third, should Hamas misfire, as in the Ahli Hospital incident, and kill Gazans, it can anyway blame Israel, convincing many. Fourth, campuses and streets worldwide erupt with anti-Israel demonstrations”

Essential Questions not Being Asked of Nations that will Recognize a Planned Palestinian State

David Bedein

August 26, 2025

Currently, there are a number of essential questions not being asked of nations that will recognize a planned Palestinian State.

Journalists should pose these questions to the foreign ministers of the UK, France, Norway, Canada, Australia and New Zealand:

Will the planned Palestinian state abolish the Palestinian Charter, which mandates the destruction of Israel?
Will the planned Palestinian state revoke the law that guarantees salaries to anyone who murders a Jew?
Will the planned Palestinian state remove texts that glorify those who murder kill Jews?
Will the planned Palestinian state eliminate educational materials that glorify the murder of Jews?
In the maps of the planned Palestinian state, will the State of Israel appear alongside it?
Will the planned Palestinian state cancel the slogan of the “Right of Return through armed struggle”?
Will the planned Palestinian state indeed abide by the Palestine State Constitution based on Koranic Sharia Law?

CONTEXT

In 2003, the Vatican Ambassador to the Holy Land, Archbishop Msgr. Pietro Sambi, known as the Papal Nuncio, warned a US Congressional delegation that the new Palestinian State constitution, funded by USAID, provided no juridical status whatsoever for any religion other than Islam in the emerging Palestinian Arab entity.

I covered that briefing at the time for the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon and for FrontPage Magazine.

At that briefing, the Papal Nuncio expressed his concern to visiting US lawmakers that the PA had adopted Sharia Islamic law, based on the model of the Sharia from Koranic edicts as practiced in Iran or in Saudi Arabia.

Article (5) of the official Palestinian State Constitution reads as follows: Arabic and Islam are the official Palestinian language and religion. Christianity and all other monotheistic religions shall be equally revered and respected.

In other words, as Archbishop Sambi noted, other religions such as Christianity, not to mention Judaism, were denied any juridical status under the Palestinian State Constitution.

The status of Islam as the official religion of any future Palestinian Arab entity is also expressed in Article (7) of the official Palestinian State Constitution, which states that:

The principles of Islamic Sharia are a major source for legislation. Civil and religious matters of the followers of monotheistic religions shall be organized in accordance with their religious teachings and denominations within the framework of law, while preserving the unity and independence of the Palestinian people.

The Palestine constitution translation and analysis can be accessed at; https://israelbehindthenews.com/?s=Palestinian%20State%20Constitution.

Islamic nations which have adopted the Sharia law have mandated the absolute supremacy of Muslims over non-Muslims as matter of law.

What worried the Archbishop was that all Christian churches and all Christian schools would be placed under the arbitrary authority of Islamic Fundamental Law, which allows nothing more than tolerance of other religions, at best.

USAID financed the creation of the PA State Constitution, which meant the imposition of the Islamic Law throughout the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

A research study released by the Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs entitled, The Beleagured Christians, notes that in Egypt, Muslim – but not Christian – schools receive state funding. “It is nearly impossible to restore or build new churches. … Christians are frequently ostracized or insulted in public, and laws prohibit Muslim conversions to Christianity.”

In other words, USAID fostered an Islamic totalitarian state of Palestine, devoid of religious freedom and human rights.

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