RELIGION, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The West Still Doesn’t Get Islam We must be careful not to succumb to magical thinking. by Bruce Thornton

Posted By on July 1st, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-west-still-doesnt-get-islam/

The spectacular destruction of Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure by Israel and the U.S. is a long-neglected restoration of America’s deterrent power. Yet the subsequent cease-fire President Trump imposed on Israel bespeaks again the West’s long failure to understand the nature of traditional orthodox Islam–– particularly its sanctified violence in fulfillment of Allah’s command to wage religious war “Until,” as the Islamic Republic’s godfather, the Ayatollah Khomeini, announced, “the cry ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world.”

Nor was this sentiment a modern deformation of Islam in response to Western imperial aggression. One of the most significant Islamic exegetes, the late-14th century writer Ibn Khaldun, wrote in the Muqaddimah, “In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.”

This jihadist imperialist ambition guided Islamic conquests and occupations of lands that had been Christian for millennia, and remained a threat to the West up to Europe’s expansion into Muslim lands began to accelerate in the 18th century.

But the rise and spread of secularism in the West diminished the influence of religion, which once was the heart of our understanding of human affairs and change. By the late Thirties, Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc observed, “Millions of modern people . . . have forgotten all about Islam. They have never come in contact with it. They take for granted that it is decaying, and that, anyway, it is just a foreign religion which will not concern them.”

These changes over multiple decades also profoundly impacted Islam, and incited calls for reformation: “From the beginning of Western penetration in the world of Islam,” Middle Eastern historian Bernard Lewis writes, “until our own day, the most characteristic, significant, and original political responses to that penetration have been Islamic. They have been concerned with the problems of the faith and the community overwhelmed by infidels.”

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Buried News: President Trump ends Africa’s deadliest war By Wendy Kinney

Posted By on July 1st, 2025

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/06/buried_news_president_trump_ends_africa_s_deadliest_war.html

A thirty-year war. Over six million lives lost. Entire villages erased. Generations destroyed by the silent carnage that the world chose to ignore. But in the wake of mounting atrocities in Kasanga and Beni, and after months of quiet diplomacy, the silence has finally been shattered.

Today, something happened that the United Nations never accomplished. Something the European Union only debated. Something the Biden administration didn’t even attempt.

President Donald J. Trump brought peace to Central Africa.

After decades of devastation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fueled by regional proxy warfare with Rwanda and the brutality of militias like M23, the unthinkable has occurred: a signed peace agreement. Rwanda and the DRC, after thirty years of war and unfathomable loss, have reached a ceasefire. And it was President Trump who brokered the deal.

This is not a footnote. This is one of the most significant diplomatic achievements in modern African history. It didn’t come from the echo chambers of Brussels or the empty chambers of the United Nations. It came from action. Resolve. Leadership.

The world has long turned a blind eye to what happened in the DRC. Since the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, eastern Congo has become a graveyard of the innocent. Militias, backed at times by foreign actors, ravaged the land. M23 rebels, in particular, carried out atrocities across North Kivu, Ituri, and the Kasai provinces.

The death toll surpassed six million. That number is staggering. It eclipses nearly every modern conflict, yet barely registers in Western headlines. Even as late as Holy Week this year, the world was silent as Christians were massacred in Kasanga and Beni.

But President Trump noticed.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Democrats’ Phony Freakout About Mamdani

Posted By on July 1st, 2025

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/07/01/the-democrats-phony-freakout-about-mamdani/

Democrats are worried about Mamdani not because of what he stands for, but because they know that saying these things out loud will turn off too many independent voters that they need to win elections.

It has been amusing to watch Democrats struggle to cope with the success of 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani’s decisive win in the New York mayoral primaries. Why all the handwringing? Mamdani is now the mainstream of the once great Democratic Party.

The only difference is that Mamdani isn’t afraid to say what other Democratic politicians try to hide.

Think about what Mamdani has proposed or supported:

A yearlong freeze on rent
A $30 minimum wage
Free bus service
City-owned grocery stores
Defunding the police
Calling Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide.

Every one of these positions is now supported in one way or another by “mainstream” Democrats.

Consider, first, the label “socialist.” While Democratic politicians try to pretend that they aren’t that, 57% of self-identified Democrats have a positive view of socialism, according to a 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center. Just 46% had a positive view of capitalism.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Left has no idea how dumb and bigoted ‘free Palestine’ sounds Brendan O’Neill

Posted By on July 1st, 2025

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/30/the-left-free-palestine-bigotry-glastonbury-israel/

If Gaza is to be liberated, it should be liberated from the racist and misogynistic Hamas

Is there a more maddening slogan than “Free, free Palestine”? It’s inescapable. Wander into a city centre on a Saturday and you’ll see swarms of the smug belting it out from behind their keffiyehs.

It hangs thick in the air of every campus quad. It’s chanted like a godless prayer by the plummy white saviours of Palestine Action. And of course it rang out across Glastonbury at the weekend.

The eejits of Kneecap said it from inside their tricolour tea cosies. And Bob Vylan too. When he wasn’t hollering for the death of the IDF, or telling us gammon that we’ll never get our country back, he was barking: “Free, free Palestine!”

The crowd went wild. Those three words induce a Pavlovian response in the faux-virtuous middle classes of the modern Left. No sooner does the grim cry hit their ear drums than they’re out of seats and babbling along, making a spectacle of their moral rectitude.

It’s partly the omnipresence of this tuneless motto that makes it so grating. It’s the new “Trans women are women” – a neo-religious mantra that the woke blather on a loop to show the world how righteous they are.

Its aim is less to raise awareness about Palestine than to raise awareness about the ethical perfection of the person saying it. They say “free, free” but all I hear is “me, me”.

But there’s a bigger problem with this noise pollutant masquerading as a rallying cry: it is historically ignorant. Stunningly so. Nothing better captures the cluelessness of the Israelophobes than their unthinking utterance of this daft slogan.

Ask yourself: free Palestine from what? The impression given by this suffocating chant is that evil Israel has its jackboot on Palestine’s throat.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Removing al‑Burhan: The Key to Stability and Countering Extremism by Robert Williams

Posted By on July 1st, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21715/sudan-burhan-extremism

Iran sees al‑Burhan’s regime as a strategic opportunity to extend its influence along the Red Sea.

Al‑Burhan has opened the door for Iranian operatives, drones and advanced weaponry to flow into Sudan, transforming the country’s tragic internal conflict into yet another front in Tehran’s regional confrontation with the West and its allies.

Every day that al‑Burhan remains in power, Iran grows more entrenched in Sudan, using the country as a potential staging ground to threaten Israel and international shipping routes, particularly those critical lanes through the Red Sea.

The Trump administration, drawing on the president’s history of unconventional diplomacy and deal-making, could play a pivotal role in this process. The Abraham Accords demonstrated the ability to broker agreements that shift regional dynamics through pragmatic, incentive-based negotiations.

[N]one of these initiatives is possible while al‑Burhan remains in power. His regime has become a conduit for Iranian ambitions and a shield for Muslim Brotherhood-linked gunmen. So long as he rules, efforts to rebuild Sudan’s economy, restore its sovereignty, and protect regional security will fail.

Now is the moment for decisive action and Trump’s unparalleled negotiating skills.

Sudan’s General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s continued hold on power represents a serious threat not only to Sudan’s stability but to regional security and global interests. For years, al-Burhan has cultivated an image of pragmatism and order, while in practice he has forged deep ties with the Muslim Brotherhood — an Islamist movement whose ideological and logistical networks have directly supported violent groups like Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. These groups have been responsible for a wave of bloodshed, terrorism, and instability across the Middle East, undermining regional security and threatening international trade corridors.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Decline and Fall of Our So-Called Degreed Experts Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on June 30th, 2025

https://victorhanson.com/the-decline-and-fall-of-our-so-called-degreed-experts/

The first six months of the Trump administration have not been kind to the experts and the degree-holding classes.

Almost daily during the tariff hysterias of March, we were told by university economists and most of the PhDs employed in investment and finance that the U.S. was headed toward a downward, if not recessionary, spiral.

Most economists lectured that trade deficits did not really matter. Or they insisted that the cures to reduce them were worse than the $1.1 trillion deficit itself.

They reminded us that free, rather than fair, trade alone ensured prosperity.

So, the result of Trump’s foolhardy tariff talk would be an impending recession. America would soon suffer rising joblessness, inflation—or rather a return to stagflation—and likely little, if any, increase in tariff revenue as trade volume declined.

Instead, recent data show increases in tariff revenue. Personal real income and savings were up. Job creation exceeded prognoses. There was no surge in inflation. The supposedly “crashed” stock market reached historic highs.

Common-sense Americans might not have been surprised. The prior stock market frenzy was predicated on what was, in theory, supposed to have happened rather than what was likely to occur. After all, if tariffs were so toxic and surpluses irrelevant, why did our affluent European and Asian trading rivals insist on both surpluses and protective tariffs?

Most Americans recalled that the mere threat of tariffs and Trump’s jawboning had led to several trillion dollars in promised foreign investment and at least some plans to relocate manufacturing and assembly back to the United States. Would that change in direction not lead to business optimism and eventually more jobs? Would countries purposely running up huge surpluses through asymmetrical trade practices not have far more to lose in negotiations than those suffering gargantuan deficits?

Were Trump’s art-of-the-deal threats of prohibitive tariffs not mere starting points in negotiations that would eventually lead to likely agreements more favorable to the U.S. than in the past and moderate rather than punitive tariffs?

Would not the value of the huge American consumer market mean that our trade partners, who were racking up substantial surpluses, would agree they could afford modest tariffs and trim their substantial profit margins rather than suicidally price themselves out of a lucrative market entirely?

RELIGION, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Why Would Khamenei Claim Victory? Here’s Why A little knowledge of Islam makes his apparently odd actions completely clear. by Robert Spencer

Posted By on June 30th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm-plus/why-would-khamenei-claim-victory-heres-why/

It’s always hard to know if President Trump knows more than he is saying, as his recent feigning of a rift with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to lull the Islamic Republic of Iran illustrates. Whatever Trump really knows or does not know, however, his statement Friday about the behavior of the Ayatollah Khamenei since the U.S. decimation of Iran’s nuclear program demonstrates the crying need in the West for foreign policy analysts who understand the doctrine and practice of Islam. Through the prism of Islam, much of what Trump professes to be puzzled about becomes perfectly clear.

“Why,” the president asked, “would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war torn Country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the War with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie, it is not so. As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie.” Yet in fact, lying is a centerpiece of Khamenei’s religion.

The concept of taqiyya, or religiously sanctioned deception, originated among Shi’ite Muslims, developed during the time of the sixth Imam, Jafar al-Sadiq, in the middle of the eighth century, when the Shi’ites were being persecuted by the Sunni caliph al-Mansur. Taqiyya allowed Shi’ites to pretend to be Sunnis in order to protect themselves from Sunnis who were killing Shi’ites. Some Shi’ite thinkers turned the deception that had become a necessity into a virtue.

Jafar al-Sadiq, who died in 765, had a servant who was suspected of having revealed some of the secrets of the faith. The Imam declared: “Whoever propagates our tradition is like someone who denies it…. Conceal our doctrine and do not divulge it…. Taqiyya is our religion and the religion of our fathers; he who has no taqiyya has no religion.”

Some sayings of the Imams include, “He who has no taqiyya has no faith”; “he who forsakes taqiyya is like him who forsakes prayer”; “he who does not adhere to taqiyya and does not protect us from the ignoble common people is not part of us”; “nine tenths of faith falls within taqiyya”; “taqiyya is the believer’s shield (junna), but for taqiyya, God would not have been worshipped.” So why shouldn’t Khamenei, who reveres Jafar al-Sadiq and the other Imams, lie? It’s a central aspect of his identity as a “man of great faith.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Can the Left Ever Stop Its Craziness? They bark at the moon – while the MAGA movement barrels ahead. Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on June 30th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/can-the-left-ever-stop-its-craziness/

California Senator Alex Padilla recently crashed a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He deliberately wore no identification. He gave no advance warning that he would disrupt her briefing.

Instead, Padilla barged forward to the podium, shouting about the deportation of illegal aliens.

Immediately, Padilla got his media moment wish — once Secret Service agents, who had no idea who Padilla was, forcibly removed him.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., recently attempted a pseudo-filibuster, speaking nonstop for 25 hours straight — not to delay legislation, but to fixate on President Donald Trump.

South Carolina Democratic state Representative Julie von Haefen just posted on social media an image of a bloody guillotine. It bore the title “In these difficult times, some cuts may be necessary” and was juxtaposed with an image of a hanging, beheaded Trump, who, a year ago, was the target of two failed assassination attempts.

The more Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom scream at Trump for nationalizing the California Guard to stop L.A.’s nightly violent anti-ICE protests, the more the two appear on the side of those who riot, destroy property, and attack police.

Yet who really wants to side with illegal aliens who spit on and burn American flags while waving Mexican flags?

Recently, some Democrats and leftists have romanticized Kilmar Abrego Garcia — an illegal alien, accused domestic abuser, gang member, and alleged human trafficker.

They also canonized illegal alien Mahmoud Khalil. But that pro-Hamas “student” helped organize and defend sometimes violent and antisemitic demonstrations at Columbia University.

For some on the Left, the assassin of a UnitedHealthcare CEO, the rich kid Luigi Mangione, has become a folk hero.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on June 30th, 2025

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

A question: Can you name another nation besides Israel, that is besieged on every front by genocidal enemies; whose civilians spend many hours and days in bomb shelters; where sirens continue to warn of enemy drones and missiles meant to wreak havoc and destruction; who still manage to continue research and development of every conceivable beneficent science and technology to bring peace and succor to every corner of the Diaspora?

That’s a rhetorical question. As Michael Ordman details, the answer is a resounding NO! rsk

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
A historic victory. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” for the Jewish state following a 12-day conflict with Iran. The IDF had decimated Iran’s nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile arsenal. “We rose up and stood like lions, and our roar shook Tehran and echoed around the world,” he said.
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-hails-historic-victory-over-iran-in-12-day-war/
https://www.jns.org/israel-wins-stunning-12-day-war/
 
Existential threat removed. With a stroke, America removed the last existential threat to Israel by striking Iran’s “impenetrable” Fordo nuclear site, plus its Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. A ceasefire is now in place.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-strikes-irans-elusive-fordo-facility-joining-israels-fight-against-nuclear-program/  https://www.jns.org/israel-claims-victory-over-iran-agrees-to-ceasefire-deal/
 
The nation of Israel has risen. On 12th Jun, Israel’s Prime Minister placed a note into the Western Wall “Am Kalavi” (the operation’s name) “yakum” (The people will rise like a lioness). 10 days later, after the USA bombed Fordo, he returned to the Kotel to place another note: “The people of Israel have risen”.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4LyAK4vV864
 
All restrictions lifted. The IDF Home Front Command has lifted nationwide restrictions on civilian movement that had been imposed amid the conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran. In most of the country, unlimited numbers of people can meet, pray, work, and study.  Schools, public offices, and the airports, have reopened.
https://www.jns.org/idf-lifts-all-restrictions-on-civilian-movement-in-wake-of-iran-truce/
https://www.jns.org/ben-gurion-international-airport-resumes-full-operations/
 
Using cyber to counter drones. The IDF has revealed that its 5114th Spectrum Battalion, a unit operating under the military’s Computer Service Directorate, is defending Israeli airspace from Iranian suicide drones. Its technology disrupts communications or guidance systems, rerouting or neutralizing the UAVs mid-flight.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1rmejd4ee
 
Support for employees. During the war with Iran, Israeli tech companies are offering employees additional financial, emotional, and logistical benefits. Microsoft: 10 days emergency paid leave; Wix: funding credit cards; Matrix: NIS 5,000 to each evacuee; Others: safer housing, yoga sessions, childcare support, and more.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s10qchhnxx
 
So much support. The latest Israeli conflict with Iran has accelerated support from Israeli organizations such as Hashomer Hachadash, the Kibbutz Movement Rehabilitation Fund, Yad Sarah, Leket Yisrael, and La’Aretz Foundation. https://www.jns.org/wire/hashomer-hachadash-responds-to-national-crisis-with-wide-scale-volunteer-efforts-across-israel/  https://www.jns.org/wire/kibbutz-movement-sets-up-emergency-volunteer-headquarters-to-assist-israeli-evacuees/  https://www.jns.org/wire/yad-sarah-mobilizes-as-ongoing-iranian-strikes-threaten-israeli-civilians/  https://www.jns.org/wire/leket-israel-launches-emergency-measures-during-war-with-iran/  https://www.jns.org/wire/foundation-launches-emergency-relief-campaign-for-israeli-families-displaced-by-iran-missile-strikes/
 
Humanitarian aid for Israelis. (TY eJP) For 22 years and in 62 different countries, IsraAid has supported the world’s most vulnerable communities. But since Oct 7 2023 the nonprofit has provided emergency services at home in Israel. And after Iran began its missile attacks on Israel, IsraAID launched new emergency services.
https://www.israaid.org/media/israaid-supporting-israelis-affected-by-iranian-attacks/
 
Funds for missile victims. The Jewish Federations of North America has allocated another $10 million to 19 Israeli organizations – the first since the start of the Israel-Iran war. It included $2 million for Jewish Agency grants to victims of the Iranian attacks. Another $2 million went to Israeli hospitals, primarily Soroka.
https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/jfna-makes-first-allocations-of-israel-iran-war/
 
Haredi MK’s late night maneuvers. At 11pm, Israelis at Larnaca airport phoned Knesset member Moshe Roth (United Torah Judaism) as their flight to Israel via Jordan would arrive after the Jordan crossing closed. The MK arranged via officials and diplomats to wake the Jordanian guard leader so he could open the crossing.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/410474
 
Free luxury Cyprus hotel rooms for stranded Israelis. The (anonymous) Hong Kong billionaire owner of the Cyprus Rodon Hotel has provided free rooms to Israelis stranded by the closure of Israel’s airspace. The owner, who loves Israel, was contacted by Israeli brothers David and Ben Shlomo Cohen who are Cyprus realtors.
https://worldisraelnews.com/luxury-cyprus-hotel-offers-free-rooms-to-stranded-israelis/
 
10 people you’ll meet in your bomb shelter. (TY Ilana O) Lovely article highlighting the individuality and positivity of Israelis.  I know this is fiction based on fact, but see the cleverly generated image.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/10-people-youll-meet-in-your-bomb-shelter/
 
Beautiful and safe. (TY Sharon) Only in Israel can you find colorfully painted bomb shelters next to schools and bus stops. Underground wards in hospitals were literally operating normally. And Jerusalem’s Tower of David museum complex was regularly opened to the public, as it had been reinforced to protect visitors.
https://rjstreets.com/2025/06/22/finding-safety-in-shelters-in-time-of-war/
 
15 minutes IDF rescue response time. The IDF deployed 26,000 reservists to respond to Iranian missile impact sites, saving dozens of lives. More than 21,000 alerts of incoming missiles and other threats were activated through the Command’s alert systems, with an average response time of 15 minutes to each location.
https://www.jns.org/idf-deployed-tens-of-thousands-of-troops-during-war-for-rapid-rescue-missions/
 
What missiles can’t destroy. The Iranian missile that struck the Weizmann Institute may have wiped out decades of life-saving research, but it couldn’t extinguish the determination of the scientists to rebuild. That’s what makes Israel different: the relentless message to its enemies: resilience and defiance.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-missiles-cant-destroy/
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Better health even if no weight lost. A study by researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has found that although over a quarter of people on a diet do not lose weight, they gain other health benefits. These include higher “good” cholesterol, lower leptin levels, and reduced visceral and liver fat. So be positive!
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-and-articles/the-weight-loss-resistance-phenomenon/
https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf308/8154771
 
Antibiotics from coral? Researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University have discovered molecules in corals that prevent bacteria from making the biofilm that connects them. This disrupts their communication, weakening infections and enhancing antibiotic effectiveness without harming beneficial microbiota.
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-and-articles/coral-derived-molecules-disrupt-bacterial-communication/
https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-025-02234-7
 
Stimulating success. Israel’s BrainsWay reported success in the trial of its accelerated Deep TMS protocol on 104 patients suffering from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Both programs of accelerated (10mins) and standard (20 mins) treatment sessions had very high response rates, remission rates, and time to remission.
https://www.brainsway.com/news_events/brainsway-reports-positive-results-from-multicenter-randomized-study-of-accelerated-deep-tms-for-major-depressive-disorder-mdd/
 
Israeli joins US longevity academy. The US Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (AHLR) has inducted Prof. Haim Cohen of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. “It’s inspiring to be part of such a remarkable group of scientists, all working to advance aging research and improve lives around the world,” said Prof. Cohen.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-academy-for-health-and-lifespan-research-announces-the-addition-of-leading-scientists-driving-breakthroughs-in-aging-research-302454328.html
https://www.ahlresearch.org/haim-cohen
 
Tech to treat mental illness. Israelis have developed many digital platforms to aid mental health. They include Kai.ai, physiological approaches from Calmigo (see here), passive sensing technologies by Behavidence, and the digitally scaled trauma response of NATAL (see here), Israel’s Trauma and Resiliency Centre.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/5nrfwvjte  https://www.behavidence.com/
 
One pill to control your body.  Israel’s Lembas (named after elves bread in the movie Lord of the Rings) has developed the GLP-1 Edge dietary supplement. It contains a bioactive peptide that triggers the body’s secretion of GLP-1 and other gut hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-startup-lembas-unveils-food-additive-for-slimming-1001513552
https://www.hellolembas.com/
 
Another less expensive medicine. The US FDA has approved SELARSDI that Israel’s Teva has developed with Europe’s Alvotech. SELARSDI is a biosimilar (see here previously) to the costly branded Stelara. It treats adult and pediatric psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis, as well as Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-teva-jumps-on-fda-approval-for-biosimilar-1001509454                                                                                       
 

ANTI-SEMITISM, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Glastonbury—and the Purge of the Jews

Posted By on June 30th, 2025

https://www.thefp.com/p/ayaan-hirsi-ali-glastonbury-and-the

The strategy is brilliant in its simplicity: Paint Israel as the nexus of evil. Then paint every Jew who doesn’t renounce it as complicit. Force them to choose: dignity or safety.

At first glance, and from the panoramic shot provided by a shaky iPhone, the scenes out of Glastonbury resemble an energetic protest. The red and green flags waving in the hot breeze; the keffiyehs; the chants. But turn up the volume and listen closely to what tens of thousands of people are shouting, led by the lead singer of the punk duo Bob Vylan: “Death, death to the IDF.”

This took place on one of the festival’s main stages. It was broadcast live on the BBC.

Lest there be any confusion about what the singer meant: Later that evening he posted a selfie eating ice cream: “While Zionists are crying on socials,” he wrote, “I’ve just had a late night (vegan) ice cream.”

Bob Vylan was followed on stage by Kneecap, an Irish rap trio named after the IRA punishment of shooting someone in the knee. They, too, are fond of sprinkling anti-Israel chants throughout their shows, and last month one member was charged with a terror offense after waving the flag of Hezbollah, a proscribed terror group, on stage. In video footage, members of the group can be heard shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”

The Bob Vylan incident was bad enough that papers across the world were forced to cover it. The New York Times, in framing that was typical, described their chants as “against Israel’s military.”

This is nonsense. Just as it is nonsense to hear chants of “Free Palestine” as being about Palestine any more than during the 1930s slogans about lebensraum were about a bigger backyard.