Lebanese army members and residents inspect the damages in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, Lebanon, Feb. 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher

The terrorist group Hezbollah is rebuilding its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon with Iranian support while openly defying international calls to disarm — a move that has heightened fears of a renewed conflict with Israel and prompted intensified diplomatic efforts by the United States and Egypt to prevent further escalation.

As Lebanon stands on the brink of a major new conflict, the government is intensifying efforts to meet the ceasefire deadline to disarm the Iran-backed terrorist group, while trying to avoid plunging the nation into a civil war.

On Monday, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem once again refused to lay down the Islamist group’s weapons, rebuffinh mounting US pressure and warnings of a possible Israeli military response.

In an interview with the Lebanese outlet Al-Manar, Qassem insisted that the group’s military arsenal is a “legitimate tool for resisting Israel’s occupation and threats.”

“Our weapons are a legitimate means of defending the homeland and our existence,” he said. “There is no separation between our survival and that of the nation, and we reject becoming a target for the enemy’s conditions or calculations.”

The Iranian proxy group also warned that the risk of an escalated conflict “exists,” vowing to defend itself against “Israeli aggression until [its] last breath.” However, Hezbollah also said it has “no intention” of starting a war.

On Tuesday, the Alma Research and Education Center, which focuses on Israel’s security challenges along its northern border, released a new study revealing that Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, has been actively rebuilding its military capabilities, in clear breach of the ceasefire agreement with Israel brokered last year.

According to the report, Hezbollah, with support and sponsorship from the Islamist regime in Tehran, is intensifying efforts to rehabilitate its military capabilities, including the production and repair of weapons, arms and cash smuggling, recruitment and training, and the use of civilian infrastructure as a base and cover for its operations.

Despite suffering heavy losses in its war with Israel, the study also found that the group still maintains several tactical and underground tunnels — among its most valuable assets — particularly in areas where Israeli ground operations did not reach.

“Hezbollah retains operational strike capability in various formats … [but] it does not have broad invasion capability into the Galilee [northern Israel],” the study said.

Tal Beeri, a Middle East expert and author of the report, explained that the Iran-backed terrorist group “is not facing an actual dismantling of its weapons.”

“The State of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces are limited in their ability and willingness to enforce weapons disarmament, among other reasons due to demographic issues, internal cooperation, fear of confrontation, and accessibility constraints,” Beeri said.

With support from Iran, Hezbollah has prioritized survivability and a shift toward covert operations, using civilian infrastructure and activities as both cover and a base for its military rehabilitation, the report explained.

In recent weeks, Israel has conducted strikes targeting this network, particularly south of the Litani River, where Hezbollah operatives are historically most active against the Jewish state.

For years, Israel has demanded that Hezbollah be barred from carrying out activities south of the Litani, located roughly 15 miles from the Israeli border.

The Lebanese government is now facing mounting pressure from Israeli and US officials to disarm Hezbollah and establish a state monopoly on weapons.

According to Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Israel appears to be preparing to confront Hezbollah again, following recent military strikes.

“War is coming, unless Lebanon’s leadership wakes up from denial and faces its responsibilities to its own citizens,” Ghaddar said in a post on X.

“What can be done? Start disarming Hezbollah in a more serious way – that is, north of Litani and the Beqaa, while targeting Hezbollah’s political and financial infrastructure,” she continued.

WAR IS COMING…
All signs, the military escalation by the IDF on Hezbollah, the drones flying all over Lebanon, the military exercise held by the IDF north of Israel right on the border of Lebanon, among other red flags, all lead to one conclusion: that Israel is readying for…

— Hanin Ghaddar (@haningdr) October 24, 2025

As the Lebanese government pushes to meet a year-end deadline to disarm the terrorist group, the army has been actively dismantling Hezbollah arms caches across the country.

Media reports indicate that the country’s armed forces have reportedly run out of explosives, but operations are set to continue. The army has reportedly been cautious to avoid inflaming tensions, especially among Hezbollah’s Shi’ite base of support, and to buy time for Lebanon’s politicians to reach an agreement about the group’s weapons in other parts of the country.

Earlier this year, Lebanese officials agreed to a US-backed disarmament plan, which called for Hezbollah to be fully disarmed within four months — by November — in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from the five occupied positions in the country’s southern region.

Even though the Lebanese government agreed to a five-stage plan aimed at restoring authority and limiting the influence of the Iran-backed terrorist group, Hezbollah has pushed back against any government efforts, insisting that negotiations to dismantle its arsenal would be a serious misstep while Israel continues airstrikes in the country’s south.

The terrorist group has even threatened protests and civil unrest if the government tries to enforce control over its weapons.

On Monday, US Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut to discuss ongoing disarmament efforts and possible next steps to stabilize the southern region.

According to a press release from his office, Aoun expressed his intention to implement UN Resolution 1701, which would allow the Lebanese army to deploy in the country’s south and ensure that Hezbollah is not armed or present in the area.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration approved $230 million in aid for Lebanon’s security forces to support their efforts to disarm the Iranian proxy.

Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s rocket and drone attacks on northern Israeli communities — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.

In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.

Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.

However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.

Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — calling such activity “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has announced plans to fight antisemitism in New York City using a curriculum that seems to contradict his own views on Israel.

The “Hidden Voices” program, reviewed by the Forward, teaches students in kindergarten through 12th grade about Jewish Americans in U.S. history and defines Zionism as, “The right to Jewish national self-determination in their ancestral homeland.” That is not language Mamdani, an anti-Zionist, has used himself. Mamdani has repeatedly said Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state, but rather “as a state with equal rights.”

Yet at the mayoral debate last Thursday, Mamdani said he would be a mayor who “actually delivers on the implementation of the ‘Hidden Voices’ curriculum in our school system.”

Mamdani reiterated that position Sunday on ABC’s Up Close with Bill Ritter, saying the curriculum “would celebrate the breadth and the beauty of Jewish life in our city’s history.”

What does the curriculum say about Israel?

The curriculum says “an important aspect of Jewish American identity is a connection to Israel,” citing a 2023 statistic from the Pew Research Center that, “82% of Jewish adults in the United States said caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them.”

It notes that, “For millennia, Jews have directed their prayers toward Jerusalem and continue to do so.” The curriculum also points to traditions like concluding the Passover seder with “Next year in Jerusalem” as evidence of Jews’ enduring connection to Israel.

“Many Jewish Americans have family and friends in Israel, again reinforcing the familial concept of Jews around the world as an ‘am,’ a people,” the curriculum reads.

At the same time, the curriculum acknowledges that Jews “are not a monolith” and hold a range of opinions about Israel. The Jewish figures profiled “exhibit a range of attitudes about Zionism and the state of Israel, from passionate support to disengagement to harsh criticism,” the curriculum says.

For example, the curriculum notes that businessman and progressive philanthropist Julius Rosenwald “did not support Zionism.” It also says that “Jewish students bring a range of feelings and opinions about Israel to the classroom; they should be allowed to develop those ideas and speak for themselves.”

Why was the curriculum created?

“Hidden Voices” began in 2018 as an initiative of the New York City Department of Education to integrate the stories of underrepresented groups into history curriculum. Curricula include lessons on LGBTQ history, Asian Americans, Muslim Americans, the Black and African diaspora, and Americans with disabilities.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, set out to help create a Jewish version, with historian Natalia Mehlman Petrzela as one of the lead authors. Mayor Eric Adams also backed the curriculum, led by his Office to Combat Antisemitism.

The result is a nearly 300-page curriculum that focuses on teaching Jewish history as U.S. history, rather than concentrating on European history or the Holocaust.

On ABC, Mamdani described “Hidden Voices” as “an existing curriculum. It just hasn’t actually been implemented.”

But as of this school year, the curriculum is already available to all New York City public school teachers for optional use, after being piloted in five districts last year. Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to questions from the Forward about how his proposal would differ from current policy or whether he was calling for the curriculum to be mandated.

What else does the curriculum teach about Jewish history?

The curriculum includes profiles of Jewish figures from colonial America through the Industrial Age, a glossary of key terms, and a map of New York City marking sites significant to Jewish American history — including the Forward’s former office at 173 East Broadway.

Among the featured figures: Asser Levy, one of the first Jewish settlers of what was then New Amsterdam; Harry Lender, who pioneered the idea of freezing bagels; Ayn Rand, the political philosopher who championed unfettered capitalism; and Rose Schneiderman, a feminist labor union leader.

By spotlighting Jews from a range of backgrounds and beliefs — yes, Ayn Rand and a labor organizer are in the same lineup — the curriculum aims to challenge stereotypes about what it means to be a “New York Jew.”

The course of study also intends to offer a more positive portrait of Jewish identity, rather than learning about Judaism through the lens of victimization. While the curriculum does not ignore antisemitism, it seeks to include examples of “perseverance, empowerment, and joy,” the curriculum says.

A second “Hidden Voices” curriculum on Jewish Americans is expected to be released this spring.

The post Mamdani opposes Zionism, but wants New York public schools to teach about it appeared first on The Forward.

Executive Director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OH) Khalid Turaani, speaks at a press conference, July 9, 2025. Photo: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) took part in an online event last week alongside a senior member of Hamas who has been sanctioned by the US government and other individuals tied to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organizations.

Khalid Turaani moderated the event hosted by the Beirut-based Al-Zaytouna Center last Wednesday titled “Palestinians Abroad and Regional and International Strategic Transformations in the Light of Al-Aqsa Flood.” The term “Al-Aqsa Flood” is the name Hamas gave to its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and dragged 251 hostages back to Gaza.

Among the speakers was Majed al-Zeer, who was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in October 2024 for his role as a senior Hamas operative in Europe.

Al-Zeer “is the senior Hamas representative in Germany, who is also one of the senior Hamas members in Europe and has played a central role in the terrorist group’s European fundraising,” the Treasury Department stated in its formal designation. “He has appeared publicly with other senior Hamas members in order to generate funding and other support for Hamas. Al-Zeer has also served in Hamas delegations in the Middle East along with Adel Doughman and Hannoun.”

The US Treasury noted that al-Zeer “was designated for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas.”

Despite working as a terrorist operative, al-Zeer spoke at last week’s event during a session following Turaani’s panel, which remains publicly available on YouTube.

Al-Zeer praised Hamas’s conduct, branding the terrorist group as a “resistance” and arguing that the Islamist movement has propelled a “strategic shift” in how Europe and the US view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Screenshots from Al-Zaytouna’s website show Turaani listed alongside al-Zeer and Dr. Sami al-Arian, a convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad financier deported from the United States after pleading guilty to terrorist-related charges. Al-Arian praised Hamas’s terrorism, claiming “the overall Palestinian situation is much better strategically than it was before the Flood.”

Also featured was Ziad el-Aloul, a Hamas-linked activist involved with the European Palestinians Conference and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, both groups accused by Israeli authorities of operating as Hamas fronts in Europe.

CAIR’s participation in an event featuring multiple extremists will likely amplify long-standing concerns about the organization’s alleged links with Hamas. US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK.) has called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate CAIR’s status as a nonprofit organization, arguing the group has ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, two internationally designated terrorist groups.

“The IRS has broad authority to examine whether an entity’s operations align with its exempt purpose. Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right, and it should not subsidize organizations with links to terrorism,” Cotton wrote in the letter.

CAIR has denied any ties to Hamas or other terrorist organizations, portraying itself as a civil rights group defending Muslim Americans.

At last week’s event, speakers also expressed hope that Turkey, a vocal backer of Hamas, would deploy troops to Gaza with the aim of launching a war against Israel. According to reports, the Trump administration has commenced discussions with Turkey about potentially sending troops as part of an “international force” to help rebuild the Gaza strip. Israel has rejected the idea.

The Al-Zaytouna Center, which regularly hosts pro-Hamas scholars and activists, has not commented publicly on its invitation to the US nonprofit leader.

In the 2000s, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”

CAIR leaders have also found themselves embroiled in further controversy since Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities in southern Israel.

The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage of rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israelis in what was the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago in November 2023. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”