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The Cries of Byai Phu
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the 8th Congress of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo supplied by North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 13, 2021. Photo: KCNA/via REUTERS/File Photo.
JNS.org – Civilians forced to sit in the open for two days, with no sustenance, under a blazing sun. Soldiers handing bottles filled with their own urine to those begging for water. Men bearing tattoos deemed to be politically offensive screaming in agony as their skin is burned off with lighted petrol. Soldiers, many of them drunk, demanding shovels to bury the bodies of those whom they executed. Women, men and children beaten brutally when answering questions barked at them by the soldiers, irrespective of what actually came out of their mouths.
I wish I could give you the details of the demonstration this weekend that’s been organized to protest these foul atrocities, but there isn’t one. These horrors didn’t afflict Palestinians in Gaza, and they weren’t carried out by Israeli troops. They occurred in the village of Byai Phu in the state of Rakhine in the far west of Burma, the East Asian country renamed “Myanmar” following a military coup in 1989. An account of these atrocities—not the first time something like this has happened during the brutal civil war that’s raged for three years and likely not the last—was tucked away in the corner of the BBC News website last week, which I happened to stumble on.
Everyone, it seems, has heard of Rafah, but few people know of Byai Phu, and those who have heard of it now will probably forget its name within a day or two. Yes, life is cruel, and for millions of people around the world, it’s an unceasing struggle to keep themselves and their families alive and afloat amid economic crisis, war and political repression. But that rather trite observation cannot, must not, be the final word.
Instead, let me speak plainly and bluntly. The cause of Palestine has become emblematic of the sickness at the heart of Western culture. It has become a fixation and an obsession, fueled by the ludicrous notion that the presence of a Jewish state and the absence of a Palestinian one “from the river to the sea” is the only explanation for the persistence of conflict and strife in today’s world. The terrible vice that is tunnel vision has become a virtue, something sacred, and challenging this dogma will get you “canceled” in progressive circles.
For the Iranian terror proxies in the Middle East, this state of affairs is cause for delight. “[S]ignificantly, the U.K. youth showed greater interest unfolding of the war on Gaza than in other global conflicts,” the pro-Hezbollah website Al-Mayadeen observed in its report of a June 5 opinion poll showing that 54% of Britons between the ages of 18 to 24 believe that Israel has no right to exist, compared with 21% of the same age group who think the opposite. The same article crowed at the statistic that 38% of young Brits are “very interested” in the war in Gaza, while only 19% feel the same about Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
We’ve periodically seen similarly worrying polls about how Israel is regarded throughout the first quarter of the present century. But what’s different, and what makes the question “why?” more urgent now than before, is that Israel is facing a proximate existential threat from Iran and its regional allies. What’s also different is that the world’s authoritarian states are much more emboldened now than they were 20 years ago, bolstered by the puerile notion among many Westerners that there is no essential difference between a country like the United States and one like North Korea.
If you were to ask the same audience whether they believe North Korea, which I’ve described in the past as “not so much a country, but a concentration camp with a seat at the United Nations,” has the right to exist, my informed guess is that the answer would either be “yes” or bemusement that the question was being asked in the first place. They wouldn’t know and wouldn’t care that North Korea is an artificial entity carved out at the close of the Korean War, or that the state exists to service its unchallenged dictator, Kim Jong-un, and his inner circle. Equally, the fact that one of the most grotesque forms of torture practiced in North Korea involves detainees being forced to watch their families being beaten and raped wouldn’t disturb too many of these Palestine Firsters, especially as North Korea vocally supports the Palestinians.
Part of the explanation for this is, of course, antisemitism, which artfully molds itself to fit in with the political agendas of every new generation. It’s also rooted in the notion that human beings aren’t fundamentally equal and equally deserving of the same human and civil rights, irrespective of where they happen to live. The nasty authoritarian streak that courses through progressive circles these days determines that the state—and not the individual—is paramount. If a persecuted or terrorized individual happens to be a citizen of a state damned as an ally of Western imperialism, then they deserve what’s coming to them. It’s not just Israelis, and by extension, Diaspora Jewish communities, that have suffered from this distinction; Ukrainians, Kurds and Burma’s various ethnicities are among those who have suffered from it, too. “All eyes” turn to Rafah because Rafah is being targeted by Israel, and Israel is, according to this schema, the link between police violence against black people in America, or Muslim communities in Europe, and the Palestinians, who—just like Jesus Christ—suffer for all of us.
By the end of this year, if not sooner, Israel may well find itself mired in a new war in Lebanon since Hezbollah shows no sign of ending its terror campaign to make the north of Israel an unlivable zone. There lies the rub; Israel’s first responsibility is to protect its citizens, but each time it does so, its reputation takes another pasting. As the tentacles of the Iranian octopus—Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Islamist militias in Syria and Iraq—squeeze around Israel’s neck, the bitter reality is that many of our own neighbors will enjoy the spectacle. The discourse of peace and equality has been replaced by a fetish for war (“resistance”) and hierarchies of race and religion (“liberation”).
That’s bad news for us, but even worse news for the people of Byai Phu.
The post The Cries of Byai Phu first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli-Organized Music Festival in Portugal Canceled Amid BDS Threats
Supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign. Photo: Alex Chis.
An Israeli-organized music festival set to open in Portugal today was canceled after one of the latest anti-Israel campaigns by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement pressured local authorities to intervene.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the cancellation of Anta Gathering,” the organizers of the five-day music festival wrote in a social media post on Instagram. “You came to celebrate life, music, and connection — and instead we find ourselves forced to cancel. This is heartbreaking for us, and we are still processing the shock.”
On Wednesday, organizers said they were expecting final approval for the event, but the local municipality informed them that additional regulations still needed to be met. According to a festival spokesperson, organizers tried to postpone the festival to secure the necessary permits after encountering unexpected regulatory hurdles.
“The reason is clear: in the last days we faced a well-funded and orchestrated BDS campaign built on lies and hatred,” the organizers, brothers Shahar and Dean Bickel, wrote.
“For months, they worked to sabotage our vision, spreading disinformation fueled by money and nationalism. Their goal was never about music or community, but only to divide, intimidate, and cause pain,” the statement reads.
“The damage has been devastating and made it impossible to move forward,” it continued.
The organizers have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the losses.
According to local media, pro-Palestinian organizations, notably BDS Portugal, have made threats against the local municipality, with activists pressuring officials to block the festival’s permits and warning artists from attending.
However, even with all permits in place — including police and safety approvals, cleared health inspections, booked artists, and waiting audiences — the local municipality informed organizers just 24 hours before opening that the festival could not proceed.
“Not because of safety. Not because of logistics. But because of hate based on nationality,” the organizers said in a statement.
“This is not just about a festival. This is about the right to create without fear. It is about protecting culture from being destroyed by prejudice,” the statement reads.
In a post on social media, BDS Portugal admitted to threatening several of the participating artists, prompting some to cancel their appearances. The group also claimed the festival is being organized by Israeli soldiers who “took part in the genocide.”
Given the unexpected cancellation, the festival is facing significant financial challenges — from supplier payments and booked artist flights to legal costs and ticket refunds — with losses already exceeding €50,000.
“Every contribution, small or big, makes a difference — helping us cover debts, refunds, and keep the dream alive,” the organizers said.
“This is not the end. Anta is about love, freedom, and community — and no campaign of hate will ever destroy that. With your support, we will heal, rebuild, and dance together again,” the statement reads.
This five-day electronic music festival is organized by two Israeli brothers, Shahar and Dean Bickel, and brings together 100 artists from around the world and more than 800 participants.
According to a festival’s spokesperson, Shahar Bickel served two weeks of reserve duty in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at the start of the war in Gaza but never left Israel’s borders, while his brother Dean did not serve in the army.
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Iran and Terrorism: Empty Gestures or Genuine Change?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
In a world grappling with persistent threats of terrorism and financial crimes, the international community must not be swayed by superficial gestures.
While Tehran’s recent ratification of the Palermo Convention against transnational organized crime may seem like a step in the right direction on the surface, it is likely a calculated move designed to distract from the regime’s continued and unwavering support for global terrorism.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reportedly plans to meet with Tehran’s bureaucrats to review whether the Islamic Republic of Iran has complied with its action plan to be removed from its blacklist.
However, the global financial watchdog must resist the temptation to remove Tehran from the list, because the Islamic Republic fundamentally remains committed to funding terrorism and engaging in illicit financing. To remove Tehran would be to ignore a mountain of evidence that supports this unequivocal fact.
In fact, removing Iran would endanger the integrity of the international financial system.
For years, the Islamic Republic has been a leading state sponsor of terrorism. No single treaty that Iran may ratify can disguise this fact.
The regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has a long and bloody history of plotting assassinations on American soil and overseas, targeting high-profile figures like President Donald Trump, journalists, dissidents, and ordinary citizens. This is not the conduct of a state genuinely committed to combating organized crime. It is the action of a rogue regime that uses terror as a primary tool of its foreign policy.
The recent move by Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council to ratify the United Nations’ Palermo Convention — after years of refusing to do so — is a classic example of Tehran’s diplomatic gamesmanship.
Tehran understands its presence on the FATF blacklist has crippled its economy, It is desperate for a reprieve. However, the regime has refused to ratify the most crucial of the FATF-required treaties: the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
By refusing to do so, Tehran is signaling its intention to continue funding terrorist proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Nor has Iran abandoned the facilitation network it has provided to Al-Qaeda. While Tehran may one day feel compelled to ratify the CFT for economic reasons, removing it from the blacklist should take place only if commensurate conduct changes on the terrorism front — and that change is sustained.
The international community has already witnessed the devastating consequences of Iran’s terror financing. The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was inspired, funded, and enabled by Tehran. The regime’s support for the Houthis in Yemen has destabilized the region and disrupted global trade, costing the United States and its allies billions of dollars. Tehran’s backing of Hezbollah in Lebanon threatens the security of Israel and the stability of the entire Middle East. Iran should not be welcomed back into the global financial fold until it changes its conduct, not merely purports to agree to an item on a technical checklist.
The FATF has a clear mandate: to protect the global financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. To fulfill this mandate, it must hold Iran to the same standard as every other nation. This means insisting on full and unconditional compliance with all FATF requirements, including the ratification of the CFT and demonstrable adherence to its principles. There can be no exceptions, carve-outs, or special treatment for a regime that has blatantly and repeatedly violated international law and circumvented sanctions.
Tehran’s diplomatic overtures are nothing but a smokescreen. As long as the regime continues to fund terrorism, plot assassinations, and destabilize the Middle East, it must remain on the FATF blacklist. The security of the United States and its allies, and the integrity of the global financial system, depend on it. The message to Tehran must be clear: words are not enough. Its actions and malign conduct must change.
Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Toby Dershowitz is managing director at FDD Action, FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. FDD Action is a non-partisan 501(c)(4) organization established to advocate for effective policies to promote US national security and defend free nations. Follow the authors on X @SGhasseminejad and @tobydersh.
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From Sacred to Strategic: Hamas Turns Civilian Infrastructure Into Targets
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Two weeks ago, the IDF revealed a chilling incident: Hamas operatives posed as World Central Kitchen aid workers, wearing yellow vests and using WCK-branded vehicles. WCK swiftly confirmed that the imposters had no affiliation — that this was terrorism hiding in humanitarian garb.
Then, earlier this week, Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Southern Gaza — not randomly, cruelly or without reason, but because Hamas was using the hospital to operate surveillance cameras to track IDF movements.
A tragic battlefield misstep occurred when tank fire was used to disable those cameras instead of drones, killing 6 Hamas terrorists who were either operating or near the targeted cameras, but also resulting in unintended civilian casualties. This outcome was tragic — but sadly predictable.
This is the logic of Hamas’ strategy: weaponize Gaza’s hospitals, schools, mosques, and aid centers, force civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, and then broadcast them as evidence of Israeli atrocity.
Hospitals: Protected — Until Abused
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) stands firm: during a war, hospitals may not be targeted — unless they are being used for military purposes. Hamas’ use of these sites as command or surveillance posts nullifies their protection.
Mosques and Schools: Sacred — Until Militarized
Houses of worship and schools are also granted special status under IHL. But that protection dissolves once they are used for military advantage — a tactic Hamas consistently employs, turning places of worship into weapons depots and schools into hideouts.
Humanitarian Aid: Safe — Until Exploited
Under IHL, even aid workers can become legitimate targets when Hamas impersonates them. The WCK incident not only endangered genuine aid efforts, but it also weaponized the trust people place in humanitarian organizations, and eroding that trust endangers aid workers everywhere in Gaza.
This Is Calculated — Not Casual
These are not random errors — they are deliberate Hamas strategies: embed fighters and military and tactical equipment in civilian infrastructure, provoke strikes, and unleash graphic narratives. The recent hospital strike and the WCK impersonation reflect this grim choreography.
A Double Standard with Deadly Consequences
When US or UK forces faced civilian casualties in Mosul or Aleppo, the world understood the moral complexity caused by ISIS embedding itself among civilians and fighting in civilian clothes.
But when Israel confronts Hamas — whose tunnel networks under hospitals and all other civilian infrastructure in Gaza rival entire urban subway systems — the narrative is nearly monolithic: Israel is the villain.
This is the double standard defined in the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
No Safe Haven for Gaza Civilians
Hamas’ cynical human shield strategy and its use of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure as cover is enhanced as a tactical tool by the actions of Gaza’s Arab neighbors.
In Syria and Ukraine, civilians fled across borders to safety in Jordan, Poland, Turkey.
In fact, in every war in modern history, civilians have left combat zones to go to neighboring non-hostile countries.
But after October 7, Egypt and Jordan closed their borders, citing political fears. That leaves Gaza civilians trapped — forced to rely on limited “humanitarian zones” Israel sets up — zones Hamas routinely targets and even tries to stop Gazans from entering.
The result: Israel is held to an impossible standard: avoid civilian casualties even when terrorists hide themselves and their military and tactical infrastructure next to, among, and beneath them, while Gaza’s Arab neighbors are held to no standard of refuge for their fellow Arabs whatsoever.
Casualty Figures — Propaganda Masquerading as Data
To make matters worse, most media outlets parrot casualty numbers from Hamas’ so-called “Health Ministry.”
The Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers lump together civilians, combatants, natural deaths, and even those killed by Hamas’ own misfired rockets. For years before October 7th, between 5,000 and 7,000 people in Gaza died from natural causes. Meanwhile, at least 15% to 25% of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s rockets fall short, killing Gazans.
And Hamas routinely kills Gazans it decides are “collaborators” with Israel. All these deaths — along with the death of Hamas fighters — are aggregated in Hamas’s “death tolls” for the October 7th war it started.
Yet the narrative advanced by major media outlets and on social media paint every death as of a civilian killed by Israel. This is propaganda masquerading as data.
Conclusion: Accountability, Not Convenient Narratives
Hamas will continue to weaponize its own civilians — and civilian spaces — if excuses remain for its behavior. Only when the global dialogue refuses to blame Israel for the foreseeable results of Hamas’ human-shield warfare can moral clarity return.
The responsibility lies — with Hamas, not Israel — to stop turning Gaza’s hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure generally into strategic targets. Let’s call this what it is: terrorism hiding behind civilian facades. Until the world stops tolerating and even rewarding Hamas’ cynical human shield tactics, they will continue.
Micha Danzig is a current attorney, former IDF soldier & NYPD police officer. He currently writes for numerous publications on matters related to Israel, antisemitism & Jewish identity & is the immediate past President of StandWithUs in San Diego and a national board member of Herut.