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August 2025

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Washington Post op-ed: Hunger in Gaza is not Israel’s fault Washington Post publishes op-ed stating that “Hamas fights on because it clearly doesn’t care about the suffering of the people of Gaza”.

By on August 10th, 2025

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/413015?utm_source=facebook

A Washington Post op-ed by columnist Marc A. Thiessen, on Tuesday, was titled: “Hunger in Gaza has many authors, but Israel isn’t one of them”. Thiessen noted the 1,829,520 meals that Israel provided to Gazans through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and added that the meals are “enough to feed nearly the entire Gazan population.”

To counter the claims that Israel is deliberately causing starvation in Gaza, the op-ed stated that “Israel is doing something no nation has ever done, or even been expected to do: Feed the population of the aggressor force that attacked it while the war is still going on.”

Thiessen added: “The United States did not feed Germany and Japan while the war was going on; we forced their armies to surrender and then fed their populations.”

He emphasized that “Hamas fights on because it clearly doesn’t care about the suffering of the people of Gaza” and defined the suffering as central to “Hamas’s strategy of survival.”

Thiessen noted that the Hamas strategy seems to be working in terms of coverage by Western media outlets, and the response of governments like France, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Spain and Norway regarding support of the establishment of a Palestinian State.

Thiessen concluded his op-ed: “To lay the blame for this situation at Israel’s feet, rather than on Hamas, requires a stunning level of moral blindness, which apparently is plentiful when it comes to what is happening in Gaza.”

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on August 10th, 2025

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Some highlights.

Israeli researchers have discovered how to turbo-charge the immune system.

Israeli scientists have grown a kidney in the lab to 34-week maturity.

Israel won an overall top 10 result at both math & chemistry student Olympiads.

Israelis have harvested grapes from 1,500-year old seeds found in the desert.

The products and services of three Israeli startups have just gone global.

The world’s earliest burial site has been discovered in Israel.

Jewish Sabbath laws have been changed to approve use of bionic limbs.

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
Gearing up for Iron Beam. (TY Yanky) Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is preparing to launch Israel’s Iron Beam laser missile defense system, It has established a new administration to manage high-power laser systems projects, led by a woman, known only as Dr Y. – a graduate of Israel’s Technion Institute.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-rafael-gears-up-for-iron-beam-launch-1001510874
 
IDF overhauls Arabic and Islamic training. It looks like some of the lessons of Oct 7 have been learned.
https://www.jns.org/idf-overhauls-arabic-islamic-training-after-oct-7-failures/
 
Bomb shelter culture. Well worth reading this article which highlights some of the positive aspects of sheltering together with neighbors during an Iranian missile alert. It may have been something similar for UK citizens during the bombing of Britain in the WW2 blitz of 1940.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-860107
 
Kerem House. (TY WIN) In the heart of Tel Aviv’s residential areas devastated by Iranian missiles, volunteers from Kerem House bring shattered homes and broken hearts back to life – one act of kindness at a time. Kerem House organizes everything from holiday meals, clean-ups to emergency war support and home restorations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEqcClJ83bg  https://www.keremhouse.org/
 
Empowering bereaved women. (TY Sharon) 500+ Israeli women, all bereaved by acts of terrorism and war, gathered in Jerusalem for the annual Women’s Empowerment Symposium organized by OneFamily. The women shared their personal stories of loss, finding strength in community and learning to navigate their pain.
https://www.israpundit.org/israels-good-news-newsletter-to-3rd-aug-25/
 
Haredi brigade receives berets at Western Wall.  The first regular company of the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade completed seven months of combat training, culminating in a “Beret March” to the Western Wall. The 50 ultra-Orthodox troops entered the Kotel Plaza blowing shofars and singing songs about the Jewish Temple.
https://www.jns.org/hasmonean-brigades-first-company-completes-basic-training-at-western-wall/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/412832
 
Bakery rehabilitated. Israel’s Tosha Bakery on the Lebanese border was rebuilding when last featured in this newsletter (see here previously). It is hard to believe the transformation now. The serene pastoral atmosphere, trays of home-made croissants and jugs of sugar-sweet freshly squeezed juice from Golan Heights oranges.
https://www.jns.org/returning-home-israeli-pastoral-cafe-near-lebanese-border-reopens-amid-postwar-regional-renewal/
 
Improving media coverage. Six-time Emmy-nominated multimedia journalist Jacki Karsh and her husband Jeff in partnership with Jewish Federation Los Angeles, have launched the Karsh Journalism Fellowship – a first-of-its-kind program focused solely on improving media coverage of antisemitism, Jewish life and Israel.
https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/shocked-by-poor-gaza-war-reporting-l-a-couple-launches-fellowship-to-improve-coverage-on-israel-jewish-life/   https://karshfellowship.org/

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ISRAEL, MEDIA Comments turned off

NY Times’ erroneous cover photo of Gazan child joins series of media blunders framing stories against Israel Joseph A. Wulfsohn

By on August 10th, 2025

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ny-times-erroneous-cover-photo-100031670.html

The New York Times recently attempted to downplay a significant error that was plastered on its front page. But when it comes to the legacy media’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, the Gray Lady is in good company.

Last month, the Times ran the somber headline, “Young, Old and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: ‘There Is Nothing.’” Accompanying it was a grim image of a malnourished infant and his mother. The caption read, “Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, about 18 months, with his mother, Hedaya al-Mutawaq, who said he was born healthy but was recently diagnosed with severe malnutrition. A doctor said the number of children dying of malnutrition in Gaza had risen sharply.”

Critics quickly called out the Times for prominently featuring Mohammed, whose image was featured by numerous other media outlets, without mentioning that he has a genetic disorder.

The Times finally addressed the major omission on Tuesday with an editors’ note buried underneath the lengthy story that had already circulated for more than four days.

“This article has been updated to include information about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza suffering from severe malnutrition. After publication of the article, the Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems,” the editors’ note stated.

A spokesperson for the Times released a statement saying, “Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented. We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition. We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems. This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation.”

“Our reporters and photographers continue to report from Gaza, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war,” the statement added.

Notably, that statement was shared by the Times’ communications account, which has less than 90,000 followers on X, and not the Times’ main account, which has more than 55 million followers.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The EU ‘Elites’, Part I Corruption and Foreign Influence Operations by Robert Williams

By on August 10th, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21823/eu-corruption-foreign-influence

[T]he EU organization itself… — once again –- is at the center of a new corruption scandal….

While Huawei has been effectively banned in the US – and has closed all its official and direct lobbying operations in Washington in early 2024 – the company has been free to do its influence peddling in the EU, where it is not banned. China’s influence in Europe in a multitude of areas is already highly present…

The Belgian raid came roughly two years after the so-called Qatargate: In December 2022, Belgian authorities uncovered the bribery of Members of European Parliament by Qatar…

Politico reported on the leaked files, dubbed “the Qatargate files” in December 2023: “The actions recorded in the documents include some with a significant impact on the workings of the European Union — such as scheming to kill off six parliamentary resolutions condemning Qatar’s human rights record…”

Qatargate is far from over. Trials are only scheduled to begin in late 2025. The EU, therefore, currently has not just one, but two huge corruption scandals on its hands.

The president of the unelected European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her second term in the position, having first maneuvered her way into this post after serving as a scandal-ridden minister of defense in Germany for many years, is herself under scrutiny in what has become known as “Pfizer-gate”…

Qatar has not only bought and invested in large swathes of European real estate, it is also a huge contributing factor to the Islamization of Europe. Qatar funneled — at an extremely conservative estimate — at least €71 million (approximately $78 million) to build 140 mosques and Islamic centers in Europe just as of 2014, according to the latest authoritative report on the issue, the 2019 book Qatar Papers by French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.

“The European Union is one of the least corrupt regions in the world,” boasts the European Commission on its website.

Oh really? Let us take a look at the EU organization itself, which — once again –- is at the center of a new corruption scandal.

Belgian police raided more than 20 locations in Belgium and Portugal in March in an investigation of alleged “active corruption within the European Parliament,” for the benefit of China’s tech giant Huawei, according to Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office. Huawei’s main lobbying office in Brussels was raided, alongside European Parliament offices.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Why Derek Chauvin Will Languish in Prison—Regardless of the Facts The George Floyd case shows how America traded the rule of law for the rule of narrative—leaving Derek Chauvin to serve the sentence the storyline demanded. By Roger Kimball

By on August 10th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/10/why-derek-chauvin-will-languish-in-prison-regardless-of-the-facts/

I missed Rachel K. Paulose’s column about George Floyd—sorry, Saint George Floyd—when it appeared in The Spectator World at the end of May. Knowing of my interest in the case, a public-spirited individual brought the column to my attention. I thought it was an appalling regurgitation of the established, but erroneous, narrative about the larcenous, drug-and-woman-abusing miscreant George Floyd and the former police officer primarily involved in his arrest.

Paulose is worried that President Trump might pardon Derek Chauvin, the former policeman who is now rotting away in prison for a long list of federal and state crimes, including multiple counts of murder, manslaughter, and “civil rights deprivation.”

Paulose pretends to be concerned about Donald Trump’s legacy among blacks. He has made such impressive inroads with black voters, she notes. Pity to throw it all away by pardoning someone like Derek Chauvin, a brute who all the world knows callously murdered the noble George Floyd in cold blood by kneeling on his neck and depriving him of oxygen. “President Trump,” she writes, “should respect the verdict of the people and protect his own legacy by rejecting the ignoble calls to absolve the fired officer of his guilt.”

Paulose notes with satisfaction that Trump’s pardon power extends only to federal crimes. To be released from prison, Chauvin would also need to secure a pardon or commutation from the governor of Minnesota. Yes, the governor’s office is overdue for a serious upgrade. Currently, however, the position is held by the great hunter and dispenser of feminine hygiene products in boys’ bathrooms, Tim “Nimrod” Walz. The contingency of Walz granting Chauvin a pardon is, as Jeeves might put it, remote.

I wonder whether Derek Chauvin ran over Paulose’s bicycle when she was a little girl? In her column, she hauls out gigantic hairballs of evidence from Chauvin’s trial to remind readers of what a despicable chap he is. Her most prized evidence comes from Dr. Martin J. Tobin, “an internationally renowned doctor, pulmonologist, and academic” (well then!) who testified that “the cause of Floyd’s death was the position in which Chauvin detained him.” “A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to,” quotes Dr. Tobin, “would have died.”

Case closed? Not quite. As I noted in The Spectator in 2021,

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