Covert Bot Army Boosting Mamdani on X May Be Traced Back to City Hall

The allegations coming out of New York City are so bizarre that they make the average political campaign look honest. [H/T The Jerusalem Post.]

According to The Jerusalem Post, dozens of suspected bot accounts flooding X with glowing praise for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies may have something rather awkward in common: cyber experts say they appear to trace back to City Hall's own internet infrastructure. Apparently, taxpayer-funded enthusiasm may be the hottest new renewable energy source.

The Post independently consulted the cyber experts involved, who said they are "100% sure" the IP addresses could be traced to City Hall. The report, however, does not establish who controlled the accounts or whether city officials directed their activity. [My money is on Mamdani.]

The findings were compiled by the World Zionist Organization's Department for Combating Antisemitism, which has been monitoring coordinated online campaigns amid rising anti-Semitism. Their cyber specialists examined IP addresses, posting habits, and account behavior that looked less like passionate grassroots activism and more like someone accidentally leaned on the "copy" button for several months.

According to the analysis, dozens, and possibly hundreds, of accounts displayed nearly identical characteristics. Many pumped out hundreds of posts every single day, rarely produced any original content, had virtually empty profiles, and spent their existence doing little more than enthusiastically repeating posts from Mamdani's official account, city accounts, and political allies.

One account reportedly averaged 955 tweets per day with a 100% repost rate. Another managed 864 daily tweets with the same flawless commitment to never having an original thought. Even the most terminally online political activist usually remembers to stop for coffee.

The researchers emphasized that posting at an absurd pace does not automatically prove automation. A determined human equipped with unlimited caffeine, no employment, and an alarming disregard for sunlight could theoretically accomplish similar numbers. Still, when dozens of accounts exhibit virtually identical behavior while reposting the same material around the clock, suspicion naturally grows.

The report found that Mamdani's account frequently served as the launch point for what appeared to be coordinated amplification. A post would appear on the mayor's account before rapidly spreading through networks of accounts displaying the same unusual characteristics. Some reportedly devoted between 98% and 100% of their activity to amplifying the mayor's content, proving once again that loyalty programs have come a long way.

Some accounts were only a few days old yet somehow managed to put out hundreds of daily posts almost immediately. One account, created just three days before researchers examined it, reportedly generated 201 tweets per day despite having virtually no followers or posting history. 

Researchers say this kind of amplification can dramatically increase visibility. The initial wave of coordinated reposts encourages algorithms to promote the content, attracting genuine users whose engagement then pushes the posts even farther. In other words, the internet's recommendation engine may have mistaken an echo chamber for public enthusiasm.

The report cited a July 27 video in which the anti-Semite Mamdani discussed why he could not arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while accusing Israel of killing thousands. The video ultimately received millions of views, with researchers saying the suspected bot network played a major role in expanding its reach.

The analysts stressed that the available evidence does not prove Mamdani, his staff, or his communications team instructed anyone to operate the accounts. Rather, they say the evidence raises questions about whether city officials were aware of the activity, whether it was reported internally, and whether any organizational relationship existed between those operating the accounts and City Hall.

In short, the evidence points to what researchers describe as significant signs of organized amplification, while leaving unanswered who was behind it, who funded it, and whether anyone in government knew what was happening.

The World Zionist Organization says it plans to ask Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the United States' Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, to forward the findings to federal law enforcement for further investigation.

"There is a need for a thorough, professional, and independent investigation into these hate-amplification operations," Yifat Ovadia-Luski, head of the WZO's Department for Combating Antisemitism, told the Post.

"Today's anti-Semitism begins online and then moves into the streets, and the spread of hatred on social media is a central driver of that incitement. This is a well-oiled influence machine designed to shape the international arena, and it is making Jews feel less safe in New York City and across the United States.

"We cannot stand by. We are calling for intervention by the US federal authorities."

Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, said his organization is referring the matter to New York City's Department of Investigation and the Conflicts of Interest Board while requesting access to City Hall server logs.

"City employees may not use public resources for political messaging, and public officials may not deceive the public they serve; that has been New York law since long before anyone wrote a bot," Goldfeder told The Jerusalem Post.

If the allegations are substantiated, New Yorkers may discover they weren't witnessing a spontaneous outpouring of public support after all. They may simply have been watching the world's most enthusiastic municipal fan club, one that never sleeps, never complains, and apparently tweets faster than any human who has ever lived.

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Trump Prepares to Tighten the Screw on Iran as Tehran Falls Back on Familiar Threats

There is a curious ritual that accompanies every confrontation with the Iranian regime. The West debates whether it should act. Tehran insists that any action will trigger catastrophe. Then, when pressure is finally applied, the Islamic Republic discovers that its appetite for escalation is often tempered by an instinct for survival.

That pattern appears to be repeating itself.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the Trump administration is preparing to broaden its military campaign against Iran. The expansion is expected to include a wider range of strikes against a broader list of targets, although officials caution that the timing and ultimate scope of President Donald Trump's authorization remain undecided.

Predictably, Tehran has responded with threats rather than introspection; it's how they roll.

"If President Donald Trump carries out his threat to hit Iranian infrastructure, then Iran will destroy all infrastructure throughout the region,” an Iranian military spokesperson declared Thursday.

Such rhetoric has become the regime's preferred diplomatic language. Every attempt to constrain Iran's ambitions is met with warnings of regional devastation, as though the burden of preventing conflict rests exclusively with those attempting to deter aggression rather than with the government that has spent decades exporting terrorism, financing proxy militias, and destabilizing nearly every corner of the Middle East.

Yet behind the theatrical language lies a more revealing reality.

An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that Tehran is expected to continue avoiding direct attacks on Israel, provided the United States does not dramatically escalate its operations. Israeli officials assess that Iran's leadership is carefully measuring its response, seeking to avoid opening another front while absorbing American military pressure.

This is the behavior of one attempting to preserve itself while maintaining the illusion of strength.

That calculation could certainly change if Washington significantly expands its campaign. Israeli officials acknowledge that a larger American operation could force Tehran to reconsider its present restraint.

But it is worth remembering that Iran has long relied on the assumption that Western governments fear escalation more than the regime does. That assumption has allowed it to project power across the region while expecting its adversaries to hesitate.

The Trump administration appears intent on testing whether that assumption still holds. The coming days may reveal whether Tehran's threats represent genuine confidence or merely the familiar language of a regime that has grown accustomed to bluffing while hoping its opponents blink first.

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Interview: "They feel abandoned" and need Trump's help, former IRGC officer says

Photo: Reuters

IRAN AFFAIRS: What began as an economic grievance quickly snowballed into demands for change and an end to the Islamic regime that has held the country under its thumb for nearly 50 years.

'THEY LOVE Trump, they love America, but right now they feel abandoned, and it hurts.' Trump said he has no reason to strike, but protesters have been asking for US intervention and thousands of Iranian citizens have been killed since the protests began.

Over the past month, the people of Iran took to the streets to fight for their future. What started as an economic grievance turned fast into calls for revolution and the end of the Islamic regime that has crushed the country for nearly 50 years.

When President Trump promised to help the protesters, Iranians around the world felt real hope. Change seemed possible at last, but then he changed course, which left the people feeling abandoned and alone.

"They need the Americans. They depend on the Americans," Roni Insaz, an Iranian-born former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told The Jerusalem Post. He said the US may be the Iranians' last hope for a better life.

Trump's reversal has the world watching with bated breath and we now see that anything could happen next. The president said he has no reason to strike as long as the regime stops executions, which it looks like haven't happened according to reports from within Iran. Protesters have begged for US intervention and Insaz asked, isn't that reason enough?

"There is enormous anger among the Iranian people currently toward Trump. He promised things, and now they feel he's backing away," Insaz said. "They love Trump, they love America – but right now they feel abandoned, and it hurts."

"It's very difficult for Iranian forces to kill Iranians, because they are the same people," he told the Post. In times of mass unrest, the IRGC brings in loyal militias from Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Those fighters have no problem shooting into crowds of Iranians. "They shoot at free people. You could say that the Iranian police or the revolutionary forces are not usually the ones who kill like this, and certainly not 35,000 or 40,000 people in two days. That's why they bring in special forces from outside to shoot and kill people," he said.

What sets this wave apart is the end of fear. Insaz said protesters no longer ask for small changes or policy tweaks. They demand the full dismantling of the system. This is a point of no return, and the regime knows it which is why it has unleashed unprecedented force. Executions and mass arrests serve as punishment and as a warning to stop others from joining. The regime's use of foreign militias and the mass killings became possible because of the digital blackout that started on January 8. Internet access has only started to return. Insaz said that terrifies the regime.

"They don’t care about people's lives, especially the outsiders; they don't care at all," he said. "But they are very afraid that what's happening will spread around the world and that people will see the murders."

When the IRGC cuts communications, it goes far beyond shutting down service. They confiscate phones, go door to door, and do whatever it takes to keep the truth hidden. Once the Internet is fully back, the world will see horrors not witnessed in many years. "I believe there is evidence of genocide in Iran, and I believe we will see it soon," he said.

‘Pahlavi Barmigardeh’

Even with Iran cut off from the world, one chant rings out across the diaspora: "Pahlavi Barmigardeh.' "Pahlavi will return." It echoes with "Javid Shah," "Long live the Shah." It calls for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to return nearly half a century after his father's exile.


"Reza Pahlavi was a guest in my home," Insaz shared. "I had a long conversation with him about Iran, first in 2022 and again in 2024. He said very clearly that the uprising depends on American support, and that it will happen.

"If the Americans give it a boost, it will happen," Insaz said. He still believes a US strike on Iran could come soon.

Insaz stressed that his hope for US help and a free Iran comes from the voice of an entire people, and aside from the Greta Thunberg crowd, it appears to be a strong voice.

Despite decades of regime hostility, he rejects the idea of permanent enmity between Iranians and Americans or Israelis that he sees as regime propaganda, not reality.

"The Iranian people are good people, strong people," he said. Many feel real affinity toward Israel and the Jewish people. The old bonds from the Shah’s time could return.

“They love Israel, they love Jews, and they want peace,” he said. "We could do very good business together. In the past, during the time of the shah, there was cooperation, tourism, strong ties. It will happen again, God willing."

His hope rests on faith. "With God's help, Iran will enter a new state," he said. A future shaped by the people, not the Islamic rulers.

Without strong global pressure, the regime will see silence as approval. The violence will grow, and for those in the streets risking everything, foreign support is not just words, it's a lifeline.

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Born and raised in Iran, with family and friends still under the Islamic Republic, Insaz speaks for many. He calls on the world to stay engaged and alert. Refuse to accept repression through silence.

Until then, the most urgent demand is clear: Iran's future must not be forgotten. The voices seeking peace must be heard beyond its borders.

"The world must not be silent about what is happening in Iran. Do not stop thinking about Iran or its future. That’s what the Iranian people are asking for today," he concluded.

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Survey: Israeli Schools Failing Kids on English Fluency, Leaving Them Woefully Unprepared for the 'Real World'

Ah, the joys of modern education, where your tax dollars fund a system that treats essential skills like optional extras. A fresh survey, from Novakid drops the mic: Israeli elementary schools are delivering a pathetic 12% of the English exposure kids actually need to hit fluency. That's right, your little ones are being set up to stumble through the global stage like deer in headlights, all because the bureaucrats couldn't be bothered to prioritize. [H/T The Jerusalem Post.]

Picture this: It's September 1, 2025, and kids are filing into classrooms in Mevaseret Zion, backpacks slung over shoulders, dreams of conquering the world intact. Fast-forward a few months, and 73% of Israeli parents are telling Novakid's pollsters that their schools aren't prepping the little guys one iota for real-world chit-chat in English. Conducted with about 500 parents of 6- to 12-year-olds, this isn't some fringe gripe; it's a full-throated indictment of a curriculum that's more virtue-signaling than skill-building.

Nearly 70% of these parents aren't betting a shekel on their kids' ability to string together a coherent sentence in Shakespeare’s tongue, even after years of ESL starting as early as grades 1-3. English is compulsory from grade 3 on, but time crunches mean teachers are rationing it like wartime rations. 

Novakid crunches the numbers: 71% of kids kick off lessons by end of third grade, yet 57% get a measly three hours a week. Only 15% score four or more. No wonder the rug rats freeze up outside the classroom, it's like handing someone a bicycle with three flat tires and calling it transportation.

Science backs this farce: Fluency demands about 25 hours weekly of immersion, roughly 30% of a kid's waking hours. Schools cough up three measly hours. 

Congrats, parents, you're on the hook for the other 22. If junior's logging 30 school hours, that means 40% of your home life turns into an English-only boot camp. Bon appétit, family harmony.

And the kicker? Only 28% of parents rate their kid's ESL setup as "good" or "excellent." Worse, 57% say the teaching quality's tanked over the last three years. Shocker: When the ivory tower cracks, trust evaporates faster than a politician's promises.

Enter the ESL tutor boom, because when Big Education fumbles, savvy moms and dads don't sit idle. Novakid's data shows 28% already shelling out for private lessons after hours, with 42% plotting to join the party soon. Preference? Old-school in-person with native speakers edges out the techies, but 30% are all-in on digital platforms that don't require schlepping across town."Parents in Israel, as around the world, recognize that strong English skills empower their children and boost their future prospects."

Spot on. In a world where Mandarin's rising and borders are blurring, saddling kids with broken English is educational malpractice. But hey, at least the system's consistently failing forward, one underfunded hour at a time.

Cue the Novakid rep: "When the school system does not deliver, parents refuse to compromise. Increasingly, they turn to digital alternatives, which have become more advanced in recent years."

Novakid, for the uninitiated, is a global ESL powerhouse for ages 2-14, with over a million students in 50+ countries. Israel is their third-biggest playground. Launched in 2017, it's all gamified AI wizardry, VR immersion, and natural language smarts tailored to each squirt. No cookie-cutter drudgery here; it's fluency engineering and it works.

Bottom line: If Israel's schools can't hack basic bilingual basics, no wonder parents are voting with their wallets. Time for the ed establishment to wake up, or watch the next generation outsource their futures to apps and tutors.

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Hamas's Latest Defiance: A 24-Hour Ultimatum Ignored, as Israel's Resolve Hardens

In the grim theatre of Gaza's endless absurdities, where Hamas plays the role of the unyielding fanatic and the world its bewildered audience, comes yet another chapter of predictable perfidy. The Israel Defense Forces, holding firm to their "Yellow Line"—that fragile ribbon of restraint amid the rubble—have issued a stark warning to the terrorists ensconced behind it. And, as one might have foreseen, Hamas has responded with the silence of the grave it so eagerly digs for others.

A US official, speaking to The Jerusalem Post, laid bare the mediators' desperate diplomacy: Hamas was informed, through the good (or at least intermediary) offices of Egypt and Qatar, to withdraw from behind the Yellow Line before Thursday evening, lest the IDF unleash its righteous fury.

"That 24-hour window expired at 8 p.m. local time, at which point Israel will enforce the ceasefire and engage Hamas targets behind the yellow line," the source stated, with the crisp finality of a man who has seen too many deadlines dissolve into dust.

"Last night, Hamas was notified through Egypt and Qatar that they had 24 hours to evacuate their terrorists from the area behind the yellow line currently being held by the IDF," the source elaborated, underscoring the multinational seal of approval on this ultimatum. "That 24-hour window expired at 8 p.m. local time, at which point Israel will enforce the ceasefire and engage Hamas targets behind the yellow line. This guidance was issued with approval from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar," the source stressed—a rare moment of alignment in a region where alliances shift like desert sands.

One might pause here to marvel at the spectacle: the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, three powers whose records on Islamist extremism range from the comically inconsistent to the outright enabling, now united in urging restraint on the very restraint that has kept Israel's hand from total devastation. Yet Hamas, true to form, has decamped not an inch. Their refusal is not mere obstinacy; it is the essence of their creed, a jihadist calculus where every concession is a betrayal of the divine delusion that animates them.

Compounding this farce is the matter of the hostages, those spectral figures whose fates hang like Damocles' sword over the negotiations. Hamas, in a predictable breach that is as brazen as it is heartbreaking, failed to release all the deceased captives in one fell swoop during the ceasefire's fragile dawn. Israeli officials, their patience frayed to the thread of steel, accuse the group of deliberate procrastination, a tactic as old as terror itself.

"There is little pressure on the organization from the mediators to release more hostages, and some of the bodies are located in places that will make a swift return difficult," an Israeli official confided to The Post, his words laced with the quiet outrage of the bereaved. "We still have leverage to apply pressure on the organization to return the hostages, and there are two more hostages we believe they can return immediately. Still, there is concern that we may see another situation where days go by without any bodies being returned."

How telling, this admission of mediator torpor. In the salons of Cairo and Doha, where the air is thick with the scent of incense and inaction, the urgency to reclaim even the dead evaporates like morning mist. Hamas, for its part, hoards these remains as bargaining chips in a game where human dignity is the first casualty. One wonders: if the bodies of innocents—tortured, desecrated, discarded like refuse—cannot stir the world's moral reflexes, what will? Another cycle of rocket fire? Another festival of global condemnation aimed squarely at the one force daring to fight back?

As the clock ticks past 8 p.m., and the IDF prepares to redraw the lines in fire, let us dispense with illusions. This is no mere skirmish in a ceasefire's footnotes; it is the unvarnished truth of a war where one side seeks annihilation and the other survival. Israel, cornered by geography and gaslit by geopolitics, must now act as judge, jury, and executioner in the court of necessity. Hamas, meanwhile, will cry victim from the shadows, their martyrdom myth intact—until the next yellow line is crossed, and the next ultimatum echoes into the void.

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'Will Kill Again': Israeli Survivor's Gut-Wrenching Reckoning as Her Attacker Walks Free in Hamas Deal

Look, if you're searching for a gut punch that sums up the twisted moral math of negotiating with terrorists, you won't find a better one than Tal Hartuv's story. 

Fifteen years after Palestinian thugs hacked her to pieces in the Mata Forest, shattering 30 bones, carving 18 machete wounds into her flesh, and slaughtering her friend Kristine Luken right in front of her, Hartuv wakes up to learn her attacker's back on the street. Not from some official phone call from the Israeli government, mind you. No, she had to break the news herself to Luken's grieving family.

That's how Israel treats its survivors these days: with a shrug and a media leak. This all went down as part of the hostage swap that finally cracked open the gates for 20 living captives and whatever remains of the 28 still held by Hamas. In return, about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners cut loose, including Iyad Hassan Hussein Fatafta, the monster who helped turn Hartuv and Luken into bloody statistics. Families of victims are howling about the government's radio silence, finding out via TV instead of a courtesy call. It's like being stabbed all over again, but with bureaucracy instead of a blade.

Hartuv, a Britisher who's made Israel her home, got the word from a journalist. She still doesn't know where Fatafta was dumped, maybe among the 154 shipped off to Egypt, if you buy the unconfirmed chatter from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. All she knows is the knot in her gut: the fear that one day, their paths might cross again. "I didn't think he'd get released, because he was complicit in the murder of an American citizen," Hartuv told The Jerusalem Post. "When [US President Donald] Trump was elected, I was pretty sure that no one with American blood on their hands would get out. So that was a great shock for me, and it was very enraging."

Let's rewind to that nightmare in the forest near Beit Shemesh, because Hartuv's recounting it now isn't just therapy, it's a stark reminder of what these animals do when the world's not watching. She and Luken, an American Christian tourist just soaking in the Holy Land, were hiking when three Palestinians sidled up asking for water. In Israel's brutal heat, that shouldn't raise alarms, but Hartuv's instincts screamed trouble. She palmed her penknife, braced for a mugging, and nudged Luken back toward the trail.

Too late. The trio pounced like wolves, slamming them to the dirt, Hartuv's nose crunching under a boot. Bound and gagged, she fought dirty, slicing one low enough to draw blood: "nicking him in the balls," as she puts it. That DNA trail nailed the creeps later. 

Hartuv tried everything--offering her "Mercedes," faking tourist status (busted by her ID), even coaching Luken to flop into a seizure. The terrorists just jammed a knife to her throat: Stop shaking, or else.

What flashes through your head when death's knocking? Hartuv breaks it down in stages: freeze, fight, then that eerie surrender when the end feels scripted. "The biggest moment [of fear] was when they forced us to our knees. And that's the moment I understood he was going to behead me," she said. "In that moment, I'm thinking about how he's going to do it. Is he going to chop off my head? Is he going to saw it off? And my only prayer then really was, just make it quick. But at that moment, the moment of death, it's like you're emptied. You're emptied of everything that makes you who you are."

"Too scared to be frightened," she endured the "Allahu akbar" chants and the stabs, her mind split between the ridiculous injustice of dying by murder and the heartbreak for her family: "I never thought I was going to be murdered... And the other thing I was thinking about was the people I loved. I was worried for them. How are they going to feel? What about when they get the news? That’s all I could think of."

The assault clocked in under an hour, but the aftermath? A lifetime. Bleeding out with a collapsed lung, sliced diaphragm, crushed sternum, and ribs like shattered glass, Hartuv didn't crawl for survival. She'd made peace with the grave. No, she dragged herself a mile, barefoot, bound, gagged, for one reason: so cops could find her body fast and hunt the killers before they struck again. "And each time I tried [to get up], I fell, and I just wanted to sleep. And what is sleep? It’s death," she said. "Nothing actually hurts anymore at this point. I just felt very warm, very resolved to my fate, but also determined to just die nearer, so they can be caught quicker." A pro pianist, she tuned out the pain by mentally fingering the keys to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", chords from Jewish songwriters on the brink of the Holocaust. "It was written by Jews just before the Second World War," she said... "And I'm really walking this path of death, saying to myself, C minor seven, G flat; I mean, these are all chords. And that's how I managed to walk over a mile."

She staggered into a family picnic, veering left to shield the kids from her gore: "I thought I better just veer off to the left where the children are, away from the kids, because if the kids see me, they're going to be traumatized for life... I did that at risk in that the adults won't see me, in order that also the children won't see me. But I need the adults to see me. So it was these choiceless choices in that moment, and then as I'm approaching the picnic table, they still don't look up, and the sun is getting lower, and my shadow crept across their picnic table, and this woman looks up and she screams, and I collapse right there on the ground."

Even then, sprawled in the dirt amid chopper blades and ambulance sirens, Hartuv wasn't begging for life. "I wanted to be with my Maker, make my peace," she admitted. An Arab surgeon patched her up, but the scars run soul-deep.

Fast-forward to court, and the terrorists admitted that they'd murdered another woman months earlier, and slit Luken's throat because they pegged her for a Jew. Hartuv emerged from that forest more Jewish than ever. "I went for a walk. I went for that walk in the forest. I was Jewish, and I walked out of that forest a Jew," she reflected. "There’s a big difference. And after the attack, I thought, I love my people, I love my history, I love my culture, I love my Judaism. I'm so proud to be Jewish....

"And then there was this little parenthesis, and I always thought: What if they are released in a deal? It would feel like unrequited love. You know, when you love a country so much, it’s like when you love a guy so much and he’s beautiful and he just doesn't quite love you in the same way, right? And that's what I felt that it would be like.

"I don't think we should ever negotiate with terrorists, ever. And we are going to see these terrorists murder again, because they say so."

That's the raw truth Hartuv's wrestling with now, cheering the hostage reunions while seething at the cost. "I can be happy for [the hostages and their families] and I can be raging for myself," she explained... "Right now, that is the dialogue, the discourse in Israeli society we have. We've paid a price for this. We're celebrating, and we should, but we know that, down the road, these terrorists are going to murder again.... One situation doesn't resolve the other. The joy doesn't resolve the rage or mollify anything. But as a society, we have to hold these things in unison, the unfairness of it all, and the compassion that we should extend to the hostages, and if we don’t hold it intentionally, it’s going to break."

And here's where it gets infuriating: Hartuv correctly lays the blame square on the West's "moral abandonment of Israel," starting October 8, 2023. "From October 8, there’s been a moral abandonment of Israel [which] started in Western civilization," she said. "It's one thing to say ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists,' all good and fair, but I feel that Israel has been pushed into a corner over two years...."

Western "allies" let intifada chants echo in streets, celebrated the bloodiest day for Jews since the ovens, then handcuffed Israel's response with deadlines Ukraine never faced. "We know there's terrible pressure to do things in the nick of time, and people were already warning us about putting boots on the ground before we even went in [Gaza]. So we have mixed messages from governments that claim they support Israel, but they tie our hands behind our backs."

She gives Netanyahu a pass; he was boxed in, but says he should've rallied Europe for a Gaza squeeze: no food, no water till the hostages walked. Instead, global busybodies chipped away at Israel's leverage, leaving Hamas fat and defiant. The result? A deal no sane democracy would touch, all because of "the cowardly, cowardly, cowardice of the West, the media, and the governments." Not Bibi, not even Trump, just the spineless chorus forcing Israel to cough up murderers.

Hartuv torches the media's word games, too, slapping "murder" on Gaza collateral while ignoring Hebrew's kill-vs.-murder split. "They've charged us with the violation of one of the commandments with all these deaths in Gaza. What's that commandment? Thou shalt not murder... and we have been very lazy and we haven't caught on to that. We should have been saying that, in Hebrew, there are two different words [for kill and murder]. This is a war. This is not a genocide. People die. There is killing, and there's nothing morally wrong with that in a war situation."

It's all tied to Israel's hasbara flop, Hartuv argues, preaching moral high ground while Palestinian society cheers the carnage. "Because we already are cornered from October 7.... We always have to come up saying we're going to keep that moral code of behavior, all well and good, but unrealistic with the realities of Palestinian society."

She nails the big lie: the war's not just Hamas. GoPro footage, Bibas family handover mobs, tunnel networks under kitchens, it's a whole rotten ecosystem. "You can see it from the terrorist GoPro footage.... You saw it at that obscene, grotesque release of the Bibas family. All these terrorists had different headbands, and every color headband is a different faction or terrorist group. So you have the PFLP, Islamic Jihad, [and] Fatah. The war isn't just against Hamas."

Civilians were rapists in plain clothes, looters, body-snatchers, and enablers turning blind eyes. "Apart from the terrorist groups, there were people in civilian clothes who raped and pillaged and burned. Then you had thousands more waiting in Gaza to take the dead and the alive [hostages]. And then, at the release ceremony, you had thousands more in civilian clothes. And if you look at the extent of the tunnels, all these innocent civilians, you want to tell me that somebody just cooking a little bit of laffa bread didn’t know that somebody was digging a tunnel under the kitchen? They've turned a blind eye. And every hostage who's come back says there are no innocent civilians in Gaza.'"

Israel dodged this truth, virtue-signaling to a world that hates Jews anyway. "Israel failed to address the Palestinian civilian involvement in the preparation of, during, and in the aftermath of, the massacre... Regardless of how the country virtual signals, she said that 'it's time to learn, though, that no matter what we do as Jews, people are not going to like us.'"

This ceasefire turns out to be a breather, not victory. Hartuv's plea: Time for real talk on hasbara, ditch the delusions, own the truth, guard that moral core. Because if Israel doesn't, the next forest walk could end the same way.

Hartuv's no victim frozen in time. Yad Vashem educator, bird geek, pianist, wordsmith, she has channeled the hell into her memoir, The Rage Less Traveled, and now aids October 7 survivors in logging their horrors for history. With Trump's 20-point Gaza blueprint kicking in, she's hit the global stage: Piers Morgan, Tommy Robinson chats, subtitle translations to blast the facts wide. 

In a world that would rather hug terrorists than hear survivors, Tal Hartuv's voice cuts like that penknife she wielded. Listen carefully, before the next "joy" deal unleashes more rage.

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Hamas scared silly over possible US-Israeli teaming up to spring hostages

The guy on the left in Hamasshole dunce cap

Hamas is sweating bullets, folks. The Arabic word on the street is that the terror group is shaking in its boots over a possible US-Israeli tag-team operation to spring hostages out of Gaza. 

According to a Saturday report from Asharq Al-Awsat, Hamas is so paranoid about this they've got their goons on high alert, sniffing out any whiff of Israeli collaboration and locking down wherever they’re stashing hostages, dead or alive. 

Here’s the thing: Hamas and Palestinian sources told Asharq that captors got orders to kill any living hostages if the IDF gets too close. How barbaric can these scumcrumpets be? They had a brief moment of playing nice during the January ceasefire, but that’s out the window and kill orders are back on the table.

This all comes after US and Israeli negotiators bailed on Qatar talks Thursday, with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff throwing shade at Hamas, saying they showed "a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza." He didn’t mince words: "While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home."

Netanyahu is on the same page, saying Israel and the US are hunting for other ways to get those hostages back. Brig. Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch, the guy coordinating for hostages and missing persons, said the Qatar exit was about figuring out how to "narrow the gaps" in talks. “In the face of many difficulties that Hamas has posed and is posing, we have continuously and resolutely exhausted every chance and possibility of reaching an agreement, and we will continue to do so,” he said.

But here’s the twist: Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that Hamas might still want a deal—sort of. "They’re trying to squeeze every possible advantage, provoking and appeasing all the extremist factions within Gaza," the officials said. Sounds like Hamas is playing a dangerous game of tug-of-war with everyone’s lives on the line.

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IDF put on alert for "immediate" return to Gaza fighting: report

Photo: Jerusalem Post

As KAN News reported on Friday evening, the nation’s political echelon, under the steely gaze of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has directed the Israel Defense Forces to gird themselves for an “immediate” return to the crucible of combat in Gaza, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.

This is no idle threat, no mere posturing. Earlier this week, the outlet laid bare the grim calculus of Israeli officials: absent a deal with Hamas, the guns of war will roar once more within a week and a half.

The sticking point, as ever, is Hamas’s intransigence. 

“Hamas is currently rejecting [US Middle East envoy Steve] Witkoff’s proposal, so it is very difficult to make progress,” one official remarked, his words dripping with the weary frustration of a man who has seen this play enacted too many times. And what is this proposal, this slender thread of hope? 

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Witkoff’s plan offers a phased redemption: half of the living hostages and half of the bodies returned on day one, the rest—the full tally of the living and the dead—restored to their families by the 42nd day, the ceasefire’s final act. A simple bargain, you might think, to end the torment of those held captive by savages. Yet Hamas, true to its nature, dithers. Or does it? 

A source close to the negotiations muddies the waters: “Hamas has neither accepted nor rejected the Witkoff proposal.” Ambiguity, that old refuge of the morally unmoored.

Meanwhile, the IDF’s new chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, wasted no time on his first day in command. Speaking to the heads of Gaza border communities—those resilient souls who live in the shadow of rocket fire—he was unequivocal: “We are preparing to return to fighting.” 

His words carry the weight of necessity, not bluster. “We must defeat Hamas,” he declared, before adding, with a nod to the innocents still in captivity, “The hostages are our top priority.” He understands the stakes and knows that peace is not won by wishful thinking but by the hard, bloody business of confronting evil head-on.

Israel, as ever, finds itself caught between the imperatives of justice and the mirage of diplomacy. 

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Hamas, with its predictable rejectionist posturing—or is it mere coyness?—plays its familiar game, dangling the lives of hostages like bait before a world too often willing to look the other way. 

The clock ticks. The IDF readies itself. And a nation braces for what may come.

Am Yisrael Chai!

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Report: Americans injured by militants in Iraqi base attack

Americans and Iraqi security forces were injured in an attack on Iraqi's Ain al-Asad air base Saturday according to a report.

A US official who demanded anonymity said the Americans who were injured only suffered minor injuries, but one of the Iraqi security forces was reported to be seriously wounded, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The initial reports said the ballistic missiles hit the base but there is an ongoing assessment to determine whether it was actually a rocket attack, rather than a guided missile offensive, the official said.

“Two security sources in Iraq and one government source said the base was hit by multiple rockets fired from inside Iraq,” The Jerusalem Post’s report says. “A second US official said the attack was carried out by militants from inside Iraq.”

According to US military data, there have been to date, 58 strikes by drones and rockets by Iran-supported militants. Theses same militants have also attacked American forces in Syria no less than 83 times concurrent to the Iraq attacks.

According to The Jerusalem Post, those militants are seeking a way to “impose a cost” on America for its support of Israel in the fight against Hamas, which is backed by Iran.

And while it appears the Biden administration is fully committed to supporting the Jewish State, don't necessarily count on that support in the future if the political winds change. Biden has no other ideology other than what's good for the Bidens. 

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Terrorist sympathizer and CNN host claims unarmed Israeli family killed in a "shootout"

When you hear the word "shootout" you think of two sides firing at each other with weapons. Bullets fly in both directions and there's usually a sense of an equal chance of victory to both sides. But when a fake news, anti-Zionist, Jew-hating "reporter" calls the execution of a Jewish family in Israel a "shootout," fake news has reached a new and more disgusting level.

Last week the Compromised News Network's Christiane Amanpour claimed that members of the British-Israeli Dee family were "killed in a shootout." HonestReporting, a media watchdog organization, showed video of Amanpour making the claim about mother Lucy Dee and her daughters Maya and Rina.

The media watchdog noted, “A shootout is two sides firing at each other. A mother and her two daughters were shot at close range by Palestinian terrorists.”

But people like Amanpour don't see terrorist acts as terror, they see it as freedom fighters that fight for their cause.

Terrorist in training

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta intends to send a letter of complaint to the Crappy News Nitwits. It's doubtful that they'll apologize or do anything about their so called reporter, but to do nothing would be a crime. The outlet also said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed they are working on the letter.

The murders of the Dee mother and daughters occurred over the Passover holiday as they drove through the Jordan Valley and terrorists fired multiple rounds at their car, shooting them over 20 times. 

Tell us, Amanpour, how the hell is that considered to be a shootout?

The family patriarch, Rabbi Leo Dee, told HonestReporting that he demands an apology, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“This is the perfect example of ‘terror journalism,’ where you have moral equivalence between the terrorist and victim,” Rabbi Dee told The Post. “This type of journalism perpetuates the conflict in the Middle East,” he added. “The real cycle of violence is a comment like this followed by a terrorist atrocity and then more of the same.”

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