RSS
In First, Iranian Opposition Leader Addresses Israel’s Parliament, Urging Jewish State to ‘Attack Iran’s Leaders in Tehran’
Vahid Beheshti with MKs Sova and Tal, at the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus. Photo: Michael Katz
At a meeting of Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, discussing the plans for a post-Hamas Gaza on Tuesday, an Iranian opposition leader told Israeli lawmakers that Israel should not hesitate to “attack the heads of the Iranian leadership” in Tehran itself.
The meeting of the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus — which was attended by Vahid Beheshti and Israeli ministers, Knesset members, security officials, and diplomatic leaders — marked the first time an Iranian opposition figure has addressed Israel’s parliament.
Beheshti, who grew up in Iran but now resides in London, is known for his 72-day hunger strike calling for the UK government to categorize Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terror organization. At Tuesday’s meeting, which was jointly hosted with the Israeli Victory Project, Beheshti urged Israel to confront the Iranian government directly.
“Soon you will have to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the Iranian government, and you should not be afraid of attacking Iranian bases in Iran. Do not be afraid to attack the heads of the Iranian leadership in Iran. This is the only language they understand,” he said.
Beheshti highlighted the support of “80 million Iranians who are thirsty for freedom and democracy” who have failed to overthrow the Islamist regime and its “barbaric violence.”
“If you support the Iranian people, you will see how they will lower the head of the octopus and we will all experience peace,” he said.
Beheshti claimed that the Iranian regime, which was the “weakest it’s been in 44 years,” miscalculated Israel’s response to Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 — of which he said it was “aware in advance” — expecting to achieve a “total” ceasefire within two months. Nearly three months have passed since the war broke out with the Hamas atrocities in southern Israel.
Iran is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with funds, arms, and training.
Beheshti’s comments came a day before a huge explosion killed more than 100 people at a ceremony in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman commemorating top IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in 2020.
Beheshti denied claims by Iran’s state-run media that Israel was behind the attack.
“Those who are aware of the nature of the Iranian regime, know full well that today’s attack was an inside job, as Israel’s operations are always targeted,” he said on X/Twitter, citing various other attacks, including the downing of the Ukrainian plane, that he said proved Iran was willing to “sacrifice civilian lives for its own sinister goals.”
The people of Iran will not be fooled by the orchestrated attacks of the regime aimed at influencing public opinion.
Videos are being shared by Iran’s state media showing the victims of a “terrorist attack” at the burial site of Qassem Soleimani.
This is yet another attempt… pic.twitter.com/hw6Xooc71Y
— Vahid Beheshti (@Vahid_Beheshti) January 3, 2024
Co-Chairman of Tuesday’s caucus meeting MK Ohad Tal, a member of the Religious Zionist Party, emphasized the need for a strategic victory over Hamas, and proposed permanent Israeli control over the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas taught us that the time has come for a real and strategic victory,” he told The Algemeiner. “The goal of the war should be that the State of Israel controls the entire Gaza Strip, not temporarily, but permanently. Gaza is part of the State of Israel and should once again be in Israel’s hands.”
“This way our enemies will be fully aware that it is not worth their while to enter into a war with Israel, and it will restore deterrence and [Israel’s] political, military, and economic power,” he added.
Israel withdrew all Israeli soldiers and civilians from Gaza in 2005. Hamas has fully ruled the Palestinian enclave, from which it launched its Oct. 7 massacre, since 2007.
Zvika Hauser, former head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, presented a three-pronged plan for victory, including the expulsion of remaining Hamas members from Gaza, demilitarization of the area, and the creation of a buffer zone.
Yisrael Weiser — the father of Staff Sergeant Roey Weiser, who was killed on Oct. 7 — attended the meeting with his wife, Naomi. “This war must continue until the IDF’s complete victory over all the enemies that surround us. Anything less than that will not achieve the goal for which my son was killed. This must also be the last war. We must learn from our failures to be a deterrent for the future,” the grieving father said.
Israeli Minister of Intelligence Gila Gamliel outlined her plan for the voluntary resettlement of Gaza Strip residents, emphasizing the need for international support and an aid package for refugees. “The mobilization of the international community is required to create a pool of countries that will take in refugees while receiving an aid package for them,” Minister Gamliel stated.
Israeli media on Wednesday reported that officials are conducting clandestine talks with several countries to absorb Palestinians from Gaza on a humanitarian basis. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also advocated the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, and called on the international community to find solutions.
“Seventy percent of the Israeli public today supports a humanitarian solution of encouraging the voluntary immigration of Gazan Arabs and their absorption in other countries,” he said.
“They understand that a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where four minutes away from our towns and cities there is a hotbed of hatred and terrorism where two million people wake up every morning with an aspiration for the destruction of the State of Israel and with a desire to slaughter and rape and murder Jews wherever they are,” he added.
The US State Department on Tuesday slammed Smotrich over the plan, calling his rhetoric “inflammatory and irresponsible.”
UN special rapporteur Balakrishnan Rajagopal on Wednesday said that the “forcible transfer” constituted an “act of genocide.”
The post In First, Iranian Opposition Leader Addresses Israel’s Parliament, Urging Jewish State to ‘Attack Iran’s Leaders in Tehran’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Canadians who moved to Israel celebrate the ongoing hostage releases—amid caution that the deal remains fragile
Thursday saw the release of eight more hostages, including five Thai nationals, and three Israeli citizens who were held for 482 days: Gadi Mozes, 80, Arbel Yehoud, 29, and 20-year-old Agam Berger, who was one of seven soldiers kidnapped by terrorists from the Nahal Oz military post on Oct. 7, 2023.
Berger’s name resonated around the Jewish world thanks to images of her life, like a video of her playing violin in her bedroom. Stories abound of the young woman’s adherence to a life of service and faith, who was reported to frequently engage in prayer in captivity and showing defiance to her captors when asked to perform chores on Shabbat, while comforting her fellow captives by braiding their hair.
Agam Berger’s cousin Ashley Waxman Bakshi is an Israeli-Canadian online influencer who has been a vocal advocate for the hostages. She slammed the Canadian government last March over the motion to halt arms sales to Israel and resume funding for UNRWA.
“We’re obviously overjoyed,” she told The CJN from Israel just hours after Berger’s release. “It’s just hard to believe when you want something so bad, that it actually happened.”
Like many, she was appalled at the staged display by Hamas during the release, and had a message for Canadians who “still don’t get it. If everyday Canadian citizens can’t see the difference between the Gazan mob surrounding the hostages and the absolute farce of this terrorist organization dressing up Agam in a fake IDF uniform, when she was kidnapped in pyjamas, and parade her by herself in front of a crowd as some sort of victory while all of Gaza around them is completely destroyed; if they can’t see the difference between good and evil, then there’s some serious moral work that needs to be done in our country.”
While elated that her cousin is home, Waxman Bakshi warned about the fragility of the entire process, not only negotiations but actual timing and procedure involved. She noted that just a few days ago she intervened to put the brakes on a viralsocial media campaign to have all girls braid their hair for today.
“While these kind of things sound like they help and make people feel good, they actually endanger the hostages and the deal if it gets back to the terrorists holding her that what she did may have been a signal of life. We don’t want to endanger her by giving her increased value to the terrorists keeping her.”
That’s an important distinction she says, between listening to family members and just wanting to do good. “That’s what we mean when we say everything is so fragile, we can’t breathe until they’re home. We don’t want anything to draw attention.”
***
Zina Rakhamilova, a Tel Aviv resident raised in Toronto, has spent a lot of time in Hostage Square with the hostage families. The digital marketer—who specializes in Israeli non-governmental organizations and political causes—agrees that everyone “must try to be as discreet as possible not to endanger their status.”
Hours before the Thursday morning release, the mood she said, “like always is very mixed, because on the one hand we’re very excited that Agam and Arbel are on their way home,” but added people were very worried about Gadi Mozes’ status, given confusion over unofficial, unsubstantiated claims about who was alive and who was not.
“It’s definitely part of Hamas’ psychological campaign of terror” she told The CJN, “because we know they’re supposed to release the living hostages first.” It’s important to note says Rakhamilova, that this comes “not even days after back-to-back terror attacks in Tel Aviv, so beyond the emotional torture all of this is taking on everybody, just being outside feels harrowing. We’re continually on edge; we have to watch our backs and we’re doing the best we can.”
As a Canadian she said, “the truth is I’m more concerned for friends and family in Canada than my own status here in Tel Aviv, watching how antisemitism has grown in Canada since Oct. 7, with kosher restaurants and schools and synagogues targeted and attacked.” She lauded Justin Trudeau’s recent statement “that Hamas can no longer rule Gaza, but really, it’s under his leadership that antisemitism has become so bad that people feel so comfortable doing Nazi salutes openly in the streets of Montreal. I’m a lot more worried for the well-being of Jewish Canadians than my own safety or status here.”
As for the mood surrounding the hostage release, she said “people need to understand we do really feel like one united family here, and until anything is made public by the government, prime minister’s office or IDF, saying anything or discussing details is just unethical, and everyone feels that way. We will not go into any details until we know anything for sure.”
After meeting with relatives of Shiri and Yarden Bibas—who were kidnapped on Oct. 7 along with their two young sons, Kfir and Ariel—she said “we’re really worried about them and we don’t know what their status is, but we don’t want to be willing negative things. The family themselves have said they have not lost hope and so our obligation and that of the people outside the family, is to follow their lead and be there for them whatever that is.
“Personally, it’s awful, so many of us feel sick to our stomachs, constantly on high stress, high alert and knowing about the release of known terrorists.”
Ariel Bibas turns five today in Hamas captivity.
I took this video outside the Bibas home on day 265, it is now day 304.
Why isn’t the world freaking out over these children being held by terrorists? Bring them home NOW! pic.twitter.com/HMolDz37VJ
— Zina Rakhamilova (@itsmezina__) August 5, 2024
While personally supportive of the deal, Rakhamilova said she understands “how devastating a price” Israel is paying. “There are people we know who are going to be personally affected by the terrorists being released.” The murderer of Hillel Fuld’s brother, Ari, and the bombers responsible for the deadly 2002 attack on Hebrew University are also scheduled to be released.
“These are hard emotions, but you still see what’s really beautiful: So many people being directly affected, that they’re so happy that the hostages are coming home.
“The lesson is we need to be as kind as possible to one another during all this.”
***
Thai nationals Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak also kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, were released as well, following a week of uncertainty that threatened to derail the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release plan.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group who holding Arbel Yehoud did not release her last Saturday along with four female military observers, as originally agreed. Israel was prepared to block access to Northern Gaza, also part of the original plan, until her release was arranged.
She is a teacher who snatched from Kibbutz Nir Oz where her family has lived for generations. The only presumed but unverified evidence of her being alive came in the form of a video released by Palestinian Islamic Jihad earlier this month.
Gadi Mozes, also of Nir Oz, was also released on Thursday. His partner Efrat Katz was killed during a battle between IDF gunships and Hamas fighters, her daughter and two grandchildren were kidnapped and released in the first hostage deal.
Last Saturday, four other female IDF observers—Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy—were the second group of hostages to be released in the plan, following the release of Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher a week earlier.
The post Canadians who moved to Israel celebrate the ongoing hostage releases—amid caution that the deal remains fragile appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
RSS
The Gaza-Auschwitz Comparison Is a Moral Failure
British teens placed pictures of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas on the train tracks leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi death camp. Photo: JRoots
The banner proclaiming “Palestine: the victory of the oppressed people over Nazi Zionism,” was prominently displayed behind Hamas terrorists as they forced hostage Naama Levy — whose pants were bloodied at the time of her capture — to smile in an army uniform. The goal of this image is clear: to “Nazify” Israel, whitewash Hamas’ crimes, and invert the roles of victims and oppressors. This is the essence of the Iran-backed terror group’s propaganda.
This is not merely an act of cruelty and humiliation; it is a calculated political message, designed to invert historical roles: Israel as the modern-day Third Reich, and Zionism as its ideology.
But Hamas is not alone in spreading this message. It is part of a long-standing antisemitic propaganda campaign that has gained renewed traction far beyond Gaza.
On American college campuses, in activist circles, and across social media, this rhetoric finds eager amplifiers: “Israelis are Nazis,” “Israel is genocide,” “Hamas is resistance.” Pseudo-human rights organizations, pseudo-anti-racists, and pseudo-feminists echo these slogans. At the same time, these voices remain disturbingly silent about the mass rapes, murders, and kidnappings carried out by Hamas on October 7. Their hypocrisy speaks volumes about their supposed commitment to justice and human rights.
These comparisons are not simply misguided or exaggerated; they have a double-edged effect. On one hand, they trivialize the Nazi atrocities by equating them with a contemporary conflict, tragic as it may be, that differs fundamentally in purpose and scope. On the other, they invert historical roles, casting Jews — victims of an unparalleled genocide — as today’s oppressors. This shift doesn’t necessarily deny the Holocaust outright, but distorts its meaning, drains it of its uniqueness, and repurposes it as a malleable ideological tool. The result is an assault on memory itself — on its ability to prevent the resurgence of hatred and, most urgently, the rising antisemitism witnessed since October 7, 2023.
The accusations of genocide directed at Israel are not new. They trace back to Yasser Arafat and Soviet propaganda in the 1970s, gaining momentum with each flare-up in Gaza. These claims rely on a deliberate distortion of historical facts. The Holocaust was a systematic and industrialized campaign of extermination, carried out in secrecy to annihilate an entire people. Gaza, despite its immense suffering and devastation, is the scene of a conflict between a terrorist group and a sovereign military — not an extermination effort. Comparing Gaza to Auschwitz distorts history and reduces the Holocaust to a vague, manipulable idea, undermining its status as a universal moral anchor.
This confusion does more than undermine the past; it undermines the present. The legal mechanisms designed to prevent genocide lose their potency when misused in this way. Raphaël Lemkin, who coined the term “genocide,” emphasized its specificity: the deliberate, systematic destruction of a group. By conflating the horrors of asymmetrical warfare with organized genocide, we blur the critical distinction between war and extermination. This misapplication of language is not just a semantic issue; it is a moral failure.
The issue doesn’t end with hashtags or protest slogans. It reaches the highest levels of political discourse. In 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of “surpassing the Nazis in its barbarity” during Operation Protective Edge. In 2022, Mahmoud Abbas claimed Israel had committed “fifty holocausts,” and made these remarks in Berlin — the very city where the Holocaust was meticulously planned.
These statements are more than rhetorical flourishes; they trivialize the Holocaust and weaponize its memory against Israel — and, by extension, against Jews worldwide.
Why this fixation? Part of the answer lies in a broader effort to reshape the moral foundations of the postwar order. For decades, the Holocaust served as a cornerstone of postwar ethics, justifying the establishment of Israel and supporting universal human rights. Yet some now seek to replace this foundation with a new paradigm: decolonization. In this narrative, Israel is no longer the homeland of a persecuted people but the final vestige of colonialism. This reframing severs the historical connection between the Holocaust and Zionism, presenting Israel not as a resolution to Jewish history, but as a historical anomaly to be rectified.
Replacing the memory of the Holocaust with that of other struggles — even legitimate ones — poses a grave threat and betrays the spirit of “Never again,” which was meant as a universal call for vigilance, not as a pretext for contemporary hostility toward Jews. The danger of succumbing to this propaganda is not just the betrayal of historical memory, but its devastating real-world impact. The rise of antisemitism under the guise of political activism threatens the safety of Jewish communities worldwide, and chips away at the universal principles of justice and human rights.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the last 80 years, it is that antisemitism remains rife, though it now takes new forms. The latest version today hides behind the rhetoric of human rights and anti-colonialism. Israel is not the only target; Jews across the globe are under attack. Unless we confront this reality with clarity and determination, we risk allowing history to repeat itself.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen is the Director of AJC Europe.
The post The Gaza-Auschwitz Comparison Is a Moral Failure first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Behind the Mask of ‘Pro-Peace’ Groups in Israel
A general view shows the port in Haifa, Israel, July 24, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green, the Israeli national directors of the Standing Together movement, were included in the Time 100 Next list for 2024 due to their extensive pacifist activities, such as the national campaign “The North Demands Peace – Deal Now.” As part of this campaign, the organization’s activists hung billboards in northern Israel with the statement “The North Demands Peace” in Arabic and Hebrew. Ironically, or perhaps tragically, one of the billboards placed at the Maxim intersection in Haifa was near a site damaged by a Hezbollah rocket last October. This area also witnessed the horrific terror suicide bombing at Maxim restaurant, co-owned by Arabs and Jews, in 2003, which killed 21 Jews and Arabs and injured 51 others.
The push for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah for a ceasefire at any cost, without restrictions or the possibility of Israeli action for violations, indicates a lack of security awareness among Standing Together activists. Last November, northern residents, local authorities, and community forums expressed firm opposition to the proposed ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, fearing future violations by Hezbollah and the potential for a terrible massacre. This fear was reinforced when an IDF spokesman revealed Hezbollah’s plans to conquer the Galilee. Although the ceasefire was eventually signed, Hezbollah violated it within five days.
Besides calling for a ceasefire in the north, Standing Together does not address the circumstances that led to the Sword of Iron war. While they importantly call for the return of hostages to Israel, they mislead the public by claiming that “the government and media in Israel are ignoring war crimes in Gaza and claiming everything is fine.” They assert that Israel is waging a war of extermination in Gaza and that “we must not get used to killing and starving innocent Palestinians in Gaza, hundreds of rocket launches daily, or abandoning cities in the north and south.”
At a demonstration, one of the national directors held signs showing Israeli and Palestinian death tolls since the war’s beginning, citing 44,249 Palestinian deaths without specifying how many were Hamas terrorists. This figure, from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, is unsupported. According to UN data from last May, a third of those killed in Gaza were women and children. A University of Pennsylvania expert’s study suggests the ratio of killed militants to civilians is around 1:1, according to the UN’s assessment. The ratio in urban combat zones around the world is 1:9, meaning nine civilians killed for every combatant killed — and that Israel is doing far more than any other military to avoid and reduce civilian deaths.
Regarding claims of starvation in Gaza, COGAT has facilitated the entry of over a million tons of aid on 57,545 trucks since the war began. From January to July 2024, the average daily food consumption in Gaza was about 3,004 calories per person, compared to 3,540 in Europe and North America, and 2,600 in African countries. Standing Together fails to blame Hamas for systematically stealing humanitarian aid from the residents of Gaza.
Originally supported by a German organization that backs the BDS movement and opposes the IHRA‘s working definition of antisemitism, Standing Together now promotes efforts embraced by the international delegitimization campaigns against Israel. They claim the destruction of Jabalia was for revenge and ethnic cleansing, ignoring the IDF’s continued discovery of weapons and terrorists since the military campaign renewed there on October 5, 2024.
The widespread recognition of organizations like Standing Together in Israel and internationally is concerning. While supposedly promoting coexistence and peace, they spread disinformation that could lead to sanctions harming both Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank. Their focus on blaming Israel while neglecting to name Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran as the real culprits blurs the line between victim and attacker, undermining their legitimacy as a coexistence organization.
Tom Yohay is the manager of CAMERA on Campus Israel.
The post Behind the Mask of ‘Pro-Peace’ Groups in Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login