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A Quiz About Israel and Hamas for Politicians, Protesters, and the Uninformed
The six-month anniversary of the savage Hamas terrorist attack of October 7 came and went, and after seeing their vast lack of knowledge on the subject, I was convinced that most American politicians, TV talking heads, protesters, and so-called journalists, should not be talking about Israel.
Far too many just don’t know the simple historical facts needed to intelligently speak about this war. They refer all the time to what they call “Palestine,” the Israeli “occupation,” “Israeli apartheid,” and “Israeli settlements,” which shows they lack a basic understanding of simple facts.
How many of these so-called arbiters of truth do you think would be able to pass a simple quiz? Could they even score a passing grade? And if they could not, what drives them to speak out so harshly against Israel?
How many pundits and protesters could score a 50% on the below short quiz?
1. What year was the First Zionist Congress held?
This founding Zionist meeting was held in Switzerland in 1897. The idea that Zionism originated as a response to German Nazism is false, as is the claim that the Zionists wanted a Jewish State outside of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. The anthem selected at the 1897 Congress included the words “The land of Zion and Jerusalem.” The false claims about Zionism’s origins and goals were created to portray Zionism as having been created to further European colonialism and solve the European problem of antisemitism. Antisemitism was never only a European hatred, and was just as strong or stronger in Islamic majority countries.
2. What percentage of Israelis are not descended from European Jewish communities, but hail from the Middle East and North Africa?
According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of Israeli Jews are Sephardim or Mizrahim (48%) compared to 45% Ashkenazim (European). The remaining 7% are mostly Ethiopian and Indian Jews. The idea that all Israelis are descended from European Jews who came to Israel to escape Nazism is false.
3. Does Israel practice apartheid, and do Palestinian Arabs serve in the Israeli Knesset (legislature)?
The Israeli government system is the antithesis of apartheid. Multiple parties led by Arab citizens participated in Israel’s first election in 1949, and Arab citizens have been candidates and have been elected throughout Israel’s history. Currently, 10 Knesset Members are Arab. The Likud Party, which is very often labeled as racist by those ignorant of Israeli politics, had an Israeli Arab Druze Knesset Member for over 22 years named Ayoob Kara.
4. Who occupied Gaza from 1948 to 1967?
Egypt occupied Gaza from 1948 until June 1967. No attempt was made by any Gazans to free the area from Egypt, nor was there any international pressure to create a Palestinian state there.
5. When was the first President or Prime Minister of Palestine elected?
There has never been a Prime Minister of Palestine. Yasser Arafat became President of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994. The idea of separate Palestinian nationhood did not exist prior to the creation of Israel.
6. What are Israeli settlements?
Settlements are Jewish communities where there are neighborhoods of families in areas that Israel did not control before 1967; put another way, these are cities and towns founded by Israelis in Judea and Samaria, not the so-called “territories.” No settlements were attacked on October 7. There are families with deep roots in the settlements with several generations of children born and raised in the settlements.
7. How long has Israel occupied Gaza?
On October 7, there were no Israeli troops or any Jews or Israelis, in Gaza at all. All Israelis were removed from Gaza in 2005 as part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan. Gazans had complete control within their territory for 19 years before October 7. Israel has already relinquished control of over 23,000 square miles of territory it captured in 1967 (including Gaza). By contrast, Israel is only 8,000 square miles. Israel has already sacrificed tremendous amounts of territory in its efforts to try to achieve peace with the Arab nations that surround it.
8. When was the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) formed?
The PLO was founded in 1964 when the Old City of Jerusalem, Gaza, and Judea-Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”) were all occupied by Jordan or Egypt. So, the PLO was created to end the existence of any Israeli control of any land it held after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
9. What did Hamas call its October 7 surprise terrorist attack and why?
Hamas and its terrorist allies named the attack Al-Aqsa Flood after a Jerusalem mosque built on the Temple Mount above the Western Wall. Hamas (like Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood) is dedicated to a violent, expansive militant version of Islam that sees the murder of civilians as a legitimate part of the wars they launch. Moreover, the use of the name Al-Aqsa is their way of saying that the war doesn’t end until Jews are driven out of Jerusalem.
Moshe Phillips is a commentator on Jewish affairs whose writings appear regularly in the American and Israeli press
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Iran Executes Man Accused of Spying for Israel Amid Rising Crackdown, International Outcry
An Iranian protester waves an Iranian flag while participating in an anti-Israeli multinational rally at the holy mosque of Jamkaran near the holy city of Qom, 156 km (97 miles) south of Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2025. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl via Reuters Connect.
Iran has executed a man accused of spying for Israel despite international condemnation over what human rights groups called an “unfair trial,” marking the latest escalation in the regime’s crackdown on dissent.
On Wednesday, a 41-year-old man named Pedram Madani was hanged outside Tehran following his transfer earlier this week from a prison in the capital.
“After identification, arrest, and judicial proceedings against Pedram Madani, who was spying in favor of the Zionist regime, and following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed,” a report from the Iranian judiciary news outlet Mizan stated.
Arrested in 2020, Madani was accused of transmitting classified information on strategic Iranian sites to Israel and obtaining money through illicit means.
He is the second individual Iran has executed on espionage charges linked to Israel in just two months, with activists warning that the rising executions are part of a broader campaign to intimidate the population.
Human rights groups and Madani’s family have condemned the case against him as deeply flawed, emphasizing that he was even denied the right to appoint his own lawyer throughout the legal proceedings.
Madani “was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court without access to a lawyer of his choice, through an unfair and non-transparent process orchestrated by security agencies,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Iran Human Rights (IHR) — a Norway-based NGO which tracks the death penalty in the country — told AFP.
“The Islamic Republic’s goal in executing Pedram Madani and others who are hanged daily is solely to instill fear within society and to conceal the regime’s widespread corruption and systemic failures,” he continued.
According to IHR, there have been at least 478 executions in Iran this year, including more than 60 hangings in the past 10 days. Most of those executed were accused of collaborating with Mossad — Israel’s national intelligence agency — and aiding covert operations in Tehran, such as assassinations and sabotage targeting the country’s nuclear program.
Among other activists condemning Madani’s trial, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, currently on temporary release from prison, also denounced the regime’s escalating repression.
“The Islamic republic uses the death penalty as a tool to instill fear and intensify repression against the people,” Mohammadi said in a video statement.
“There was not even a chosen lawyer on the case. Pedram’s cellmates testified he confessed falsely and under pressure. In Revolutionary Courts, these false confessions serve as the basis of death sentences,” she continued.
The regime’s growing crackdown unfolds amid rising tensions with Israel over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran — the chief international backer of Hamas and Hezbollah, providing the terrorist groups with weapons, funding, and training — has consistently pledged to destroy Israel.
For its part, Jerusalem has declared it will never allow the Islamist regime to acquire nuclear weapons, as the country views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
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Monroe Milsten, Founder of Burlington Coat Factory, Dies at 98
Burlington Coat Factory exterior. Photo: Flickr
Monroe Milstein, the enterprising businessman who transformed a modest New Jersey coat store into the national retail powerhouse Burlington Coat Factory, passed away earlier this month at the age of 98 from dementia.
Monroe Gerald Milstein was born on Jan. 14, 1927, in the Bronx, New York, to his mother, Ann Milstein, and father, Abe Milstein — founder of Amherst Fashions. When Monroe was 11, the family moved to Manhattan. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and earned a bachelor’s degree in business from New York University in 1946.
In 1949, Milstein married Henrietta Haas, an elementary school teacher who had fled the Holocaust. Henrietta later played an integral role in shaping Burlington’s children wear division. She passed away in 2001.
In 1972, Milstein and his wife purchased a defunct factory in Burlington, New Jersey, for $675,000 with the goal of transforming it into a retail destination. The venture became Burlington Coat Factory, selling discounted designer and brand-name coats for women, men, and children. Eventually, the store’s offerings grew to include home linens, menswear, baby clothes, and shoes, laying the foundation for a nationwide retail empire.
Three years after the initial purchase, Burlington Coat Factory opened its second location in Copiague, Long Island. According to Family Business Magazine, Milstein’s eldest son, Lazar, was the store manager and, as an Orthodox Jew, would not open the store on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath.
In 1982, Milstein shut down Burlington’s wholesale operations and reoriented the company’s focus entirely to discount retail. Just a year later, in 1983, he took the company public when it operated only 32 stores — injecting the capital needed to fuel a rapid retail expansion.
In 2006, Bain Capital bought the company for $2.06 billion, with the Milstein family cashing out its stake for $1.3 billion. Milstein exited the business., and two of his sons, Andrew and Stephen, continued in executive positions for a period. The company returned to the public market in 2013.
“I’m a very average fella,” Milstein said on his 80th birthday regarding his business ventures. “I got lucky.”
During Milstein’s tenure, Burlington Coat Factory carved out a niche in the retail world by delivering brand-name goods at significant discounts. By the early 2000s, when he transitioned out of day-to-day management, the business had evolved into a national chain with hundreds of stores and a customer base numbering in the millions annually.
Burlington has grown to become the third-largest off-price retail chain in the US, following industry leaders TJX Companies (which operates TJ Maxx and Marshalls) and Ross Stores. Today, Burlington operates around 1,100 locations across the US, raking in roughly $10.6 billion in sales over the past 12 months.
He is survived by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, many of whom continue to carry forward his values of hard work and integrity.
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Trump Says He Told Israel’s Netanyahu Not to Act Against Iran
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, US, Feb/ 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.
“I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution now,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “That could change at any moment.”
Israel earlier rejected a report in the New York Times that Netanyahu has been threatening to disrupt talks on a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran by striking Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities.
Citing officials briefed on the situation, the newspaper said Israeli officials were concerned that Trump was so eager to reach a deal with Iran that he would allow Tehran to keep its nuclear enrichment facilities, a red line for Israel.
Israel was particularly concerned about the possibility of any interim deal that would allow Iran to maintain its nuclear facilities for months or even years while a final agreement was reached, the paper reported.
US officials were concerned Israel could decide to strike Iran with little warning and said US intelligence estimated that Israel could mount an attack on Iran in as little as seven hours, the paper reported.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement in response to the article which said simply: “Fake news.”
The New York Times said it stood by the report.
“The New York Times reporting on this matter is thorough and based on discussions with people directly familiar with the matter. We remain confident in what we published,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The paper said Netanyahu’s minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, and David Barnea, head of the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, met Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Rome on Friday.
The two then traveled to Washington for a meeting on Monday with CIA director John Ratcliffe, before Dermer met Witkoff again on Tuesday.
One of the main sticking points in the talks between US and Iranian officials has been US insistence that Iran give up its nuclear enrichment facilities, a demand Iran rejects.
On Monday, US Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said she had a “very candid conversation” with Netanyahu on the negotiations with Iran.
She said she told the Israeli prime minister that Trump had asked her to convey “how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out.”
Trump bypassed Israel on his trip to the Middle East this month and has made policy announcements that have shaken Israel‘s assumptions about its relations with the US.
Netanyahu has dismissed speculation about a falling out with the US administration, while Trump has also brushed off any suggestion of a break.
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