I traveled to Israel 100 days after the horrific October 7 attacks to uncover the truth behind the headlines. My journey reveals a narrative of resilience, sorrow, and the unyielding human spirit in the face of adversity. 3 years later and pain remains.

You’re right, it didn’t start on October 7th. So why leave out the attacks on Jews? 1. Jerusalem Riots 1920 2. Jaffa Riots 1921, 47 Jews killed 3. Hebron Massacre 1929, 67 killed 4. Safed Massacre 1929, 18 killed 5. Motza Massacre 1929, 7 killed in one home 6. Tiberias Massacre 1938, 19 killed, 11 children 7. Farhud, Baghdad 1941, 180+ killed 8. Tripoli Pogrom 1945, 130+ killed 9. Aden Pogrom 1947, 82 killed 10. Aleppo Pogrom 1947, synagogues burned 11. Ben Yehuda Street Bombing 1948, ~50 killed 12. Hadassah Convoy Massacre 1948, 78 killed 13. Kfar Etzion Massacre 1948, about 127 killed 14. Oujda and Jerada Pogrom 1948, 44+ killed 15. Cairo Jewish Quarter Bombings 1948, ~70 killed 16. 850,000+ Jews ethnically cleansed from Arab and Muslim countries 17. Ma’ale Akrabim Bus Massacre 1954, 11 killed 18. Kfar Chabad Synagogue Attack 1956, 5 children and their teacher 19. Libya Pogrom 1967, 18 killed 20. Baghdad Hangings of Jews 1969 21. Avivim School Bus Massacre 1970, 9 children, 12 killed 22. Munich Olympics Massacre 1972, 11 athletes 23. Kiryat Shmona Massacre 1974, 18 killed 24. Ma’alot School Massacre 1974, 22 children killed 25. Coastal Road Massacre 1978, 38 killed, 13 children 26. Nahariya Attack 1979, a father and his two little girls 27. Neve Shalom Synagogue, Istanbul 1986, 22 killed 28. AMIA Bombing, Buenos Aires 1994, 85 killed 29. Jerusalem Bus 18 Bombings 1996, 45 killed 30. Dolphinarium Massacre 2001, 21 killed, mostly teens 31. Sbarro Massacre 2001, 15 killed, 7 children 32. Park Hotel Passover Massacre 2002, 30 killed 33. Jerusalem Bus 2 Massacre 2003, 23 killed, 7 children 34. Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva 2008, 8 students 35. Mumbai Chabad House 2008, 6 killed 36. Itamar Massacre 2011, Fogel family, including a baby 37. Toulouse Jewish School 2012, 3 children and a rabbi 38. Three Teens Kidnapped and Murdered 2014 39. Har Nof Synagogue Massacre 2014, 6 killed 40. Hyper Cacher, Paris 2015, 4 killed 41. Neve Yaakov Synagogue 2023, 7 killed 42. October 7 Massacre 2023, about 1,200 killed, 251 taken hostage

I have supported Israel for a long time. After thinking about my position for a while, I have come to a clear conclusion: I still support Israel and probably always will. My reasons are many, including: 1. I have been to Israel twice and have met numerous Israelis. The people of Israel are the most wonderful, kindest, most joyful people I have encountered. 2. I have extensively talked to both Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis want nothing more than peace. The other side not so much. 3. Israel is the safest and best place for Christians in the Middle East. Christians are thriving and the majority of them are happy with life. Being against the one nation were Christians are safe would be very stupid. Israel treats minorities exceptionally well. 4. Israel was brutally attacked by terrorists many times, despite their repeated (and in my opinion excessive) attempts to make peace by giving hostile countries and populations land to live on and many more compromises. The final attack on October 7 crossed all lines and taught Israel the lesson that you can never placate Islamic terrorists. I have seen more footage from October 7 than most Israelis have and I will never forget the gruesome acts of vile barbarism inflicted on innocent people, with the approval and celebration of most of the Palestinian population. I would support any nation fighting back until the end after such atrocities that are incomprehensible to sensible human beings. 5. Israel is fighting my enemy and your enemy if you are not an Islamist. Israel is fighting Islamists whose goal it is to dominate the Middle East and restart the caliphate. Islamists want to subjugate most of us and outright kill many of us including me. Israel is therefore a natural ally and I am happy to support them against the great evil in this world. 6. I have actually deeply studied the history of Israel, especially the 19th and 20th centuries. Only one side has consistently tried to build a peaceful future for all and that is Israel. "Palestine" is a late invention to fight and eradicate Israel. It should never be allowed. Had the Palestinian Arabs agreed to peace in the 1920s, 1940s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, or even possibly in the 2000s, we wouldn't be in this situation. 7. While I strongly disagree with Judaism and Jews may strongly disagree with my beliefs, I also value Judaism and Jewish beliefs and values which are mostly in line with Christian beliefs and values. The Apostle Paul had a very special love for his fellow Jewish people, even if they rejected his belief in Christ. He also told us that God loves them for their patriarchs and never revokes his gifts and callling. (Romans 11:28-32) 8. Israel built a beautiful nation that is unlike any other in the region. 9. The struggle and resilience of the Jewish people and their regathering and revival of their culture is unlike anything seen in human history, and I appreciate and love it. 10. I just want to. I don't care how many people jumped on the anti-Israel trend.

Es gibt viel zu sagen.

W Polsce tylko idioci albo zdrajcy mogą się cieszyć z tryumfu AfD w Niemczech. Trochę się ich nazbierało w Konfederacjach i PiS.

In 2014, the Cincinnati Bengals cut Devon Still. Then they immediately signed him to the practice squad, for one reason only. So his health insurance wouldn't stop. His four year old daughter had just been given a 50/50 chance to live. June 2, 2014. Doctors walk into a waiting room and tell Devon Still that Leah, his four year old, has stage four neuroblastoma. A pediatric cancer. Fifty fifty odds. Still was a defensive tackle fighting for a roster spot. He missed most of training camp to be at the hospital, and when cuts came, he didn't make the 53 man roster. For most players that's the end. No team, no salary, and critically, no insurance. The Bengals signed him to the practice squad anyway. Not because they needed him. Because it kept his family covered, and gave him the freedom to fly to Philadelphia to be with his daughter whenever he needed. Then head coach Marvin Lewis and the organization did something else. They started selling Devon Still's number 75 jersey, and announced they would donate ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the proceeds to pediatric cancer research at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. A backup defensive tackle's jersey. It became the best selling jersey in the NFL. Fans of other teams bought it. Rival organizations ordered them in bulk. Opposing players wore them. The Bengals eventually handed Cincinnati Children's a check for $1.3 million. Leah, meanwhile, was fighting. Chemotherapy. Radiation. Surgery to remove a tumor. Stem cell transplants. Her father documented all of it publicly, because he decided that if his family had to go through it, other families shouldn't have to feel alone in it. Then on March 25, 2015, Devon Still posted this: "June 2, 2014 and March 25, 2015 are days I will remember for the rest of my life." 296 days after the diagnosis, Leah Still was in remission. There was one more scare, a serious complication from the transplant that summer. She beat that too. By December 2015, her scans showed no evidence of disease at all. She got a Wheaties box. She and her dad won the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the ESPYs, and she recorded a video message thanking everyone who helped her beat up cancer, because she was too sick to attend in person. The Bengals eventually released Devon Still for real in September 2015. And they made sure his medical insurance would stay active for five more years anyway, whether or not another team ever signed him. Leah is a teenager now. Healthy. She and her dad have written children's books for kids going through what she went through. Her advice to those kids: "You're not fighting this alone." An NFL team spent a roster spot on a dad instead of a player. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap

Hysterical online reactions help nobody. The Ceuta crisis was a storm in a teacup, and almost all those who crossed the border last night are back home again. That did not stop populist politicians from inventing phantom consequences. Find out the truth for yourself: open.substack.com/pub/mrandr…

I'm tired of being told that, to be a progressive, I now must swear allegiance to crazy ideas. I'm a strong Democrat, with a winning bipartisan track record. I'm rooted in progressive ideals and policies: criminal justice reform, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free education, clean air and water. These are ideas I have fought for my entire adult life. But some people in groups like the DSA are pushing an agenda FAR outside those ideals. Supporting Hamas is not progressive. "No police, no prisons, no borders" is not progressive. Celebrating the murder of Israeli civilians is not progressive. These ideas are REGRESSIVE. If there were no police or prisons, if anyone in your neighborhood could do whatever they wanted, while politicians cheered on terror groups — would that represent PROGRESS to you? No, that would be a step back. Those are REGRESSIVE ideas. On the other hand, if everybody could see a doctor when they got sick, get a good, free education and breathe clean air — would that represent progress? Yes. Those are PROGRESSIVE ideas. They are NOT the same thing. And the difference matters. Some defend the far left by claiming they only want Nordic-style social democracy. If that were true, I might applaud them. I want those policies, too! But what does universal healthcare have to do with Hamas? With abolishing all law enforcement? With erasing all borders? With treating every wealthy person as a villain? Ideas matter. And these are terrible ideas. Right now, extremists are trying to sneak backwards proposals into our party, hoping mainstream Democrats are too frustrated with MAGA and the Democratic Party establishment to notice. But we see you. Yes, we want our Democratic Party to be a big tent. But we don’t need "party poopers. So STOP pooping in the punch bowl — and telling us the turds are ice cubes. They aren't. And we are smart enough to know the difference. 💩

“They’re using us as props. . . It’s disgusting.” @HavivRettigGur argues American politicians like Ro Khanna and Rahm Emanuel have turned Israelis and Palestinians into stage props for their own, self-serving political theater.

Lese gerade dieses (sehr gute und mutige) Buch von @MiRo_SPD und muss sagen: Es tun sich Abgründe auf, @spdbt Nur zwei Auszüge: „Unmittelbar nach dem 7. Oktober 2023 regte die israelische Botschaft an, dass Abgeordnete aller demokratischen Fraktionen im Bundestag Israel besuchen (…). Als Vorsitzender des Auswärtigen Ausschusses sind Reisegenehmigungen durch das Bundestagspräsidium eigentlich nur eine Formsache. (…) Mir wurde schließlich mitgeteilt, mein Besuch in Israel läge zu diesem Zeitpunkt nicht im Interesse der SPD-Fraktion. Wie bitte? Solidarität mit Israel wenige Wochen nach dem größten Massenmord an Jüdinnen und Juden seit dem Holocaust galt also jetzt als parteischädigendes Verhalten?“ —— „lm Herbst 2024 erhielt ich eine Einladung des ukrainischen Parlaments, zudem sollte mir von Präsident Selenskyj der ukrainische Verdienstorden verliehen werden. (…) Ich sagte kurzfristig ab, meine Gesprächspartnerinnen und -partner in Kyjiw waren ziemlich konsterniert. Erneut hatten mir Rolf Mützenich und andere einen Strich durch die Rechnung gemacht. Es spricht Bände, dass mich meine Fraktion an Reisen in diese beiden Länder hindern wollte.“

Here is a clip about what Zionism is and why a two state solution is a Zionist cause. Jewish voices are generally talked over when it comes to the definitions of our own ideologies, our history, our origins. That's what makes Jewish self-determination (= Zionism) important.

A goal so crazy you have to see it to believe it

Three imperatives regarding the Iranian National Women’s Team: 1. The players who have sought protection from Australia must be able to access legal advice independent of the Australian government. This is a fundamental part of refugee rights; 2. No player should be in a position whereby they leave Australia without having a safe, confidential opportunity to understand and exercise their rights and decide of their own volition; and 3. For any players that do choose or are forced to return to Iran, FIFA is obliged to apply its leverage to the Iranian Federation such that there is a clear understanding that any harm emanating from their actions within a FIFA tournament whether to they, or their families, would be considered a grave breach of a member’s duties of protection. It’s important in that event, that while the eyes of the world are elsewhere, the eyes of the football world remain on the returning Iranian team members. And that accountability is a given. It would be good for any football organisations or fan groups around the world to write to FIFA in this regard. There must be an expectation that FIFA will urgently communicate the need for their safe return. And given the public threats against them, the Iranian Federation has a positive duty to ensure their safety.

An Iranian sailor who was killed when the warship Dena was struck by the US near Sri Lanka had called his father shortly beforehand, saying American forces had issued two warnings for the crew to abandon the vessel, a source close to the family told Iran International. The Iranian navy warship's commander refused to allow the crew to abandon Dena despite the imminent threat, the source added. The sailor’s father said some crew members argued with the commander, and the 32 crew members who survived were mainly sailors who managed to escape on lifeboats, according to the source. A US submarine torpedoed Dena in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, about 19 nautical miles from the southern Sri Lankan port of Galle, killing dozens of sailors and significantly expanding Washington’s campaign against Iran’s naval forces. The sinking of the Dena — described by US War Secretary Pete Hegseth as a “quiet death” — marked the first time since World War II that the United States had torpedoed an enemy warship. iranintl.com/en/202603071125

Vor allem meine nicht-iranischen Freunde hier sollten das bitte lesen: Diba Mirzaei vom GIGA-Institut – das bereits Trita Parsi (NIAC/Prominente Mr Regime Lobbyist aus den USA) eingeladen hat – bedient exakt dasselbe Narrativ, mit dem auch Daniela unsere schlagkräftigste Oppositionsfigur diffamiert. Über 40.000 Menschen wurden massakriert, weil sie seinen Namen riefen. Lasst mich eines klarstellen: Die Behauptung, Shah Reza Pahlavi habe den iranischen Kurden den Krieg erklärt oder plane eine Zusammenarbeit mit der Türkei zur Unterdrückung kurdischer Regionen, ist durch den Übergangsplan in keiner Weise belegbar. Es ist eine bösartige Lüge. Und sie gerade jetzt – in einer so sensiblen Phase – zu verbreiten, verfolgt nur ein Ziel: die Schlagkraft gegen die Islamische Republik zu schwächen. Im „Iran Prosperity Project“ wird keine ethnische Gruppe als Feind definiert. Nirgends ist von militärischem Vorgehen gegen Kurden die Rede. Was betont wird, ist die territoriale Integrität Irans – ein staatliches Prinzip, das jedes Land schützt! Gleichzeitig beruft sich der Plan ausdrücklich auf die Menschenrechte, löst ideologische Repressionsorgane wie die IRGC auf und will Sondergerichte abschaffen. Das ist kein Programm zur Unterdrückung einer Bevölkerungsgruppe, sondern der Versuch, einen autoritären Sicherheitsstaat abzubauen. Wer das Gegenteil behauptet, muss Textstellen liefern. Es gibt sie nicht. Auch der Vorwurf, der Plan führe nicht zur Demokratie, verkennt seinen Zweck. Er ist kein Dauerregime, sondern ein Schutzmechanismus gegen Chaos. Nach dem Sturz eines 47-jährigen Machtapparats entsteht sonst ein gefährliches Vakuum – mit Milizen, internen Machtkämpfen und äußerer Einflussnahme. Genau das, wovor der Westen Angst hat, wird vorweggenommen durch Sicherheit und Struktur. Demokratie braucht zuerst eine stabile Basis: Ordnung, funktionierende Verwaltung, Sicherheit - und dann Wahlen. Genau deshalb sieht der Plan eine klare Abfolge vor: Referendum, Verfassungsversammlung, Verfassungsreferendum, Parlamentswahl, Regierungsbildung – und danach die Auflösung der Übergangsorgane. Das ist kein Machtanspruch, sondern ein Weg zur Wahlurne. Stabilität bis zur Demokratie – nicht statt Demokratie! Wer die einzige real existierende, konkret ausgearbeitete Übergangsstruktur auf diese Weise attackiert, schadet der Demokratisierung Irans – bewusst oder unbewusst. Entweder aus ideologischer Selbstinszenierung (Daniela Sepehri) oder, indem Regime-Narrative weitergetragen werden (Diba Mirzaei). Und wenn Journalisten wie #Lanz solche schwerwiegenden Vorwürfe unkritisch stehen lassen, ist das kein Beitrag zur Aufklärung, sondern zur Verzerrung. Meine Landsleute tun mir unendlich leid. Aber diesmal ist es anders. Entgegen der platzierten Behauptungen ist Reza Pahlavi derzeit die stärkste einende Kraft, es kann nicht mehr übersehen werden: München und weltweit, vor allem im Iran, wo sogar kurdische Gebiete den Shah rufen. Der ständige Verweis darauf, man müsse „auf die Opposition von innen warten“, bedeutet faktisch: weiter zuschauen, während gemordet wird. Dieses Mal geht es nicht um Eitelkeiten. Es geht um einen geordneten Übergang, damit aus dem Ende einer Diktatur nicht das nächste Chaos entsteht. Wer hier versucht, am Baumstamm zu sägen, sollte sich schämen. #JavidShah

🔴 BREAKING: The regime in Iran has now confessed that the IRGC mistakenly bombed an Iranian school yesterday, killing many children. To all the legacy media and pro regime influencers who peddled your fake news: RETRACT and DELETE.

Those who misrepresent these strikes as illegal need to go back to the law books. The ongoing Iran-Israel armed conflict is the context in which Israel launched Operation Roaring Lion in accordance with the international law of armed conflict. The US assistance of a major non-NATO Ally is further buttressed by President Trump's references to pre-emptive strikes against imminent Iranian threats. Misusing the name of international law and spreading misinformation about the applicable legal framework in pursuit of political agendas does a disservice to the international legal order.

Persian and Jew celebrating together in London

So it lost viewers from last year. Gotcha

Bad Bunny iconically referenced the song “God Bless America,” before listing countries in the continental Americas to give the famous phrase a new meaning. In the U.S., where immigrants from those countries are under attack, he powerfully reminded everyone that the story of America is broader than just one country, and that no American’s humanity is up for debate. The meaning is even deeper when you remember who penned the song “God Bless America” in the first place: A Jewish immigrant from Russia whose name was originally Israel Beilin. Irving Berlin and his family fled anti-Jewish pogroms to safety in New York in 1893. He reportedly wrote “God Bless America” not as a song of patriotism, but as one of gratitude. Think about it. Immigrants’ contributions are so integral that a quote from an immigrant is how Americans express national pride. When you learn the history, when you celebrate the culture, there’s just no denying anyone’s humanity. Bad Bunny said it best: the only thing more powerful than hate, is love.