Chit Chat

By Peloni

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 9,423 Comments »

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102 Comments / 9423 Comments

  1. “He poured cocktails for tourists by day. By night, he loaded his T-56 rifle and smuggled refugees past enemy soldiers. For four years, Mossad ran a fake hotel—and nobody suspected a thing.
    Imagine this: You’re on vacation at a luxury beachfront resort on the Red Sea. The hotel manager is charming and attentive. Waiters bring you perfectly mixed drinks. Diving instructors take you to stunning coral reefs. You eat, you swim, you relax under endless blue skies.
    You never suspect that the waiter serving your breakfast has a pistol hidden under his uniform. You don’t know that your diving instructor is one of the world’s most lethal commandos. You certainly don’t realize that the smiling manager spends his nights driving trucks through the desert, smuggling people across borders.
    This sounds like Hollywood fiction. It’s not.
    In the 1980s, Israel’s Mossad intelligence service pulled off exactly this operation—and it remains one of the most audacious covert missions in espionage history.
    The operation was called “”Brothers.””
    The story begins in the early 1980s. Thousands of Ethiopian Jews were fleeing famine and brutal civil war, walking hundreds of miles to reach refugee camps in neighboring Sudan. They were dying in desperate conditions—disease, starvation, violence. Israel wanted to rescue these people, to bring them home.
    But there was a catastrophic problem: Sudan was an Arab League member state and one of Israel’s most hostile enemies. Any Israeli caught in Sudan faced immediate execution. Any Mossad agent discovered operating there would trigger international crisis.
    So how do you evacuate thousands of refugees from the heart of enemy territory without anyone noticing?
    Mossad had an idea so crazy it just might work.
    Israeli intelligence discovered an abandoned Italian resort complex on Sudan’s Red Sea coast—a place called Arous Village. It had been partially built then abandoned, left to decay in the desert sun for years. Nobody used it. Nobody cared about it.
    Mossad’s plan was insane: rent the hotel, renovate it, operate it as a legitimate diving resort, attract real European tourists—and use it as cover to smuggle refugees by night.
    They would build a rescue network inside a functioning business, right under the noses of Sudanese security forces.
    The operation began immediately. Mossad created a fake Swiss tourism company with elaborate documentation. They paid Sudanese officials hundreds of thousands of dollars in “”licensing fees”” (bribes) and secured a three-year lease on Arous Village.
    Then the real work began.
    Mossad sent some of its most elite operatives—combat veterans, special forces soldiers, intelligence officers—to Sudan disguised as hotel staff. They renovated the crumbling resort, installed generators for power and water, furnished rooms, stocked bars, hired local staff for basic tasks.
    They even printed thousands of glossy brochures advertising their “”Red Sea diving paradise”” and distributed them across Europe. “”Experience the untouched beauty of Sudan’s coral reefs. Luxury accommodations. Expert diving instruction. Book your adventure today!””
    And then something completely unexpected happened: people actually came.
    European tourists—Germans, French, British—started booking vacations at Arous Village. Wealthy travelers looking for exotic diving destinations found this boutique resort and thought it looked perfect.
    Mossad agents suddenly had a massive new problem: they weren’t just running a fake hotel for cover—they were running a real hotel with real guests who expected real service.
    So Israel’s deadliest operatives learned to make beds. To cook European cuisine. To mix cocktails. To teach scuba diving. To smile and chat with tourists about their travels.
    By day, they were the world’s most overqualified hotel staff.
    By night, they became who they really were.
    Once tourists fell asleep in their rooms, the “”waiters”” and “”diving instructors”” retrieved weapons hidden beneath beds and loose floorboards. They grabbed satellite phones, night-vision equipment, encrypted radios. They loaded into trucks and drove deep into the desert darkness.
    Miles from the coast, hidden in wilderness camps, Ethiopian Jewish refugees waited in groups of 50-100 people. Mossad agents loaded them into trucks, covered them with tarps, and drove back to Arous Village’s deserted beach.
    There, Israeli Navy commandos arrived in Zodiac inflatable boats, rowing silently through darkness. They ferried refugees out to Israeli military vessels waiting beyond territorial waters. The ships would transport them to Israel.
    By dawn, the commandos had cleaned up all evidence, changed back into hotel uniforms, and were serving breakfast to tourists who had no idea what happened while they slept.
    This went on for four years.
    The operation required nerves of steel. Every night was a tightrope walk between success and catastrophe. One mistake—one suspicious Sudanese patrol, one refugee who panicked and ran, one tourist who woke up and looked out their window at the wrong moment—would expose everything.
    And it got worse.
    Sudanese military officers—including generals—sometimes visited Arous Village for parties and recreation. Mossad agents had to serve drinks and make small talk with the very men who would execute them if they discovered the truth. They had to smile and be charming while armed enemies sat three feet away, while radio equipment was hidden in the walls, while refugees waited in the darkness for that night’s evacuation.
    One slip—one accidentally spoken Hebrew word, one revealed tattoo, one moment of nervousness—meant death for everyone involved.
    They never slipped. Not once in four years.
    The operation evacuated approximately 6,000-8,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel. Entire families rescued. Children who would have died in refugee camps instead grew up safe. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren who exist today because Mossad agents spent four years living a double life.
    The end came suddenly in 1985. Sudan’s government changed hands in a coup. The new regime grew suspicious of the “”European hotel operators”” at Arous Village. Intelligence reports suggested questions were being asked.
    Mossad headquarters sent emergency orders: evacuate immediately.
    On their final night, the hotel was full of tourists. Agents quietly slipped away after dark, leaving no note, no explanation, no forwarding address. They drove to a remote desert airstrip where Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules transport planes landed in darkness.
    By morning, they were gone.
    Tourists woke up to find the entire hotel staff had vanished overnight. Manager, waiters, diving instructors, maintenance crew—all disappeared. Rooms were clean, breakfast ingredients were stocked, but nobody was there to serve it.
    The Europeans were baffled. Local Sudanese workers were confused. The government eventually figured out what happened—but far too late to do anything about it.
    By then, the Mossad agents were back in Israel, thousands of rescued refugees were beginning new lives, and Operation Brothers had entered espionage legend.
    How did they maintain the deception for four years? Several factors made it possible:
    First: money. Mossad paid enormous bribes to Sudanese officials. As long as cash flowed, officials looked the other way. The hotel was actually profitable, which generated legitimate payments alongside the bribes.
    Second: chaos. Sudan’s refugee camps held hundreds of thousands of people with virtually no documentation. Small groups of 50-100 people disappearing periodically over four years went completely unnoticed in the larger humanitarian crisis.
    Third: the hotel genuinely worked. Real tourists generated real business. The resort had actual reviews in European travel publications. Nobody suspected it was a front because it wasn’t just a front—it was a functioning business that happened to hide a rescue operation.
    Fourth: audacity. The plan was so absurd, so impossibly brazen, that nobody imagined it could be real. Who would actually try to run a fake hotel in enemy territory for years? The sheer craziness of the idea provided cover.
    Today, many Israelis of Ethiopian descent don’t even know their parents or grandparents reached Israel through “”the hotel.”” Operation Brothers remained classified for decades. When the story finally emerged, it sounded like fiction.
    But every word is true.
    Real Mossad agents really ran a real hotel on a hostile coast. They really served cocktails to tourists while armed. They really made small talk with enemy generals. They really smuggled thousands of refugees to freedom, one boatload at a time, for four years.
    Espionage history calls it one of the most successful deceptions ever executed—not for military advantage or political leverage, but to save lives.
    Eight thousand people exist today because hotel staff weren’t really hotel staff.
    Because diving instructors had rifles hidden under their beds.
    Because a waiter making your cocktail was simultaneously running the most dangerous rescue mission of his life.
    And because for four years, nobody—not tourists, not Sudanese military, not intelligence services—suspected that paradise on the Red Sea was actually an escape route from hell.
    Would you have the nerves to live a double life like that? Smiling at enemies who could kill you? Serving breakfast hours after smuggling refugees? Maintaining perfect cover for four years knowing one mistake means death?
    That’s what Mossad agents did at Arous Village.
    And 8,000 people are alive because they never broke character.
    Not once.”

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=869190225715635&set=a.168051069162891&type=3

    Reminds me of the Korean film, “Extreme Job” (2019)

    “Overview
    Narcotics detectives work under cover in a chicken joint to try and bust a gang of organized criminals. Things take an unexpected turn when their new recipe suddenly transforms the run-down restaurant into the hottest eatery in town.”

  3. Maryland man arrested for attempting to join ISIS, attack Jews
    The suspect told an undercover officer that he planned to carry out terror attacks against Jews or people in the USA who support Israel.

    “…Teekaye faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization…”

    “…Following his arrest, Teekaye made the following unprovoked statements, among others: “I’m just gonna get out in 20 years and I’m just gonna do it here. Okay? Okay? It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I’ll just do it here then, when I get out. . . . You think 20 years is something? I’ll be like 40 when I get out, then I’ll just do it. I don’t care. It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I’ll come and I’ll kill your soldiers. I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill . . . .” While making these statements, Teekaye kicked and spat on one of the arresting agents…””

    Arutz Sheva

    This is why we need a mandatory death penalty for terrorists.

  5. In 1605, a stranger arrived at a Jesuit compound in Beijing. His name was Ai Tian, a scholar from the city of Kaifeng who had come to meet Matteo Ricci, the famous Italian missionary.

    The meeting was a comedy of cultural errors.

    Ricci saw a man who worshipped one God and assumed he was a lost Christian. Ai Tian saw a painting of a woman with a child and assumed it was Rebecca and Jacob. He thought Ricci was a lost Jew.

    It took some time to unravel the confusion, but the revelation stunned the world. Ai Tian wasn’t a Christian. He was a member of a Jewish community that had thrived in the heart of China for centuries.

    These were the Jews of Kaifeng.

    Their story didn’t begin in Europe. It began on the Silk Road. They were likely traders who arrived in the Northern Song Dynasty capital around the 11th or 12th century. Genetic tests on descendants suggest they came from Central and South Asia, sharing links with Jews from Armenia, Iran, and Iraq.

    They didn’t come to conquer. They came to trade.

    The Chinese Emperor welcomed them. Unlike the persecution Jews faced in Europe, the Jews of Kaifeng found tolerance. The Emperor bestowed seven Chinese surnames upon the families and gave them a decree to “respect and preserve the customs of your ancestors.”

    So they did.

    They braided their hair, wore Chinese clothing, and spoke the local language. They gave their children Chinese names but kept Jewish names as well. They built a magnificent synagogue facing west toward Jerusalem. They observed the Sabbath and circumcised their sons.

    Neighbors struggled to classify them. Since Islam was common in Kaifeng, the Chinese initially considered them a sect close to Muslims. They called the Jews “Blue-hat Muslims” to distinguish them from the actual Muslims who wore white hats.

    Later, the name shifted. Because the community removed the sciatic nerve from kosher meat, locals called them “the sect of the tendon-pullers.” Others simply called them “Yu-te,” meaning the sons of Judah.

    Nature and isolation eventually took a toll. A catastrophic flood of the Yellow River in 1642 destroyed the synagogue and many precious scrolls. Though the community rebuilt, numbers dwindled. Poverty and a lack of contact with the outside Jewish world led to slow assimilation. By the mid-19th century, the last rabbi had died.

    The synagogue stood no more.

    The slow fade of this community captured the imagination of Nobel Prize laureate Pearl Buck. Growing up in China, she conducted extensive research on the group.

    In 1948, she published Peony. The novel tells the story of a Chinese bondmaid in love with the son of a Jewish merchant. It explores the painful choice the family faced: marry into the faith to preserve the lineage or marry into the local culture for status. It was a fictional look at the very real price the Kaifeng Jews paid for continuity.

    But the lineage didn’t disappear completely.

    Today, hundreds of descendants in Kaifeng still identify with their heritage. They visit ancestral graves. Families gather for meals. Some have even begun to relearn the language lost by their great-grandfathers.

    The existence of the Kaifeng Jews serves as an important reminder. The history of this people isn’t confined to one continent. It stretched from Jerusalem to the banks of the Yellow River.
    #jewishhistory #kaifengjews #amyisraelchai

    Melissa Steinberg Brodsky

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02GgLUjj9HLjBzVjwvGM8KvFu3YHhs8vuAHvHW5swmrfNjAj6R8q3b2y86b57LjrVTl&id=607788716

  6. TURMOIL: Left-wing activists disrupted an event with Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi at a Jewish temple in New York over his vote in favor of a bill that increased ICE funding.

    Fox News via FB

  7. Maryland man arrested for attempting to join ISIS, attack Jews
    The suspect told an undercover officer that he planned to carry out terror attacks against Jews or people in the USA who support Israel.

    “…Teekaye faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization…”

    “…Following his arrest, Teekaye made the following unprovoked statements, among others: “I’m just gonna get out in 20 years and I’m just gonna do it here. Okay? Okay? It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I’ll just do it here then, when I get out. . . . You think 20 years is something? I’ll be like 40 when I get out, then I’ll just do it. I don’t care. It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I’ll come and I’ll kill your soldiers. I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill . . . .” While making these statements, Teekaye kicked and spat on one of the arresting agents…””

    This is why we need a mandatory death penalty for terrorists.

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/421744

  8. SEB-

    I believe I have another for you. The Jews of Malta and attached smaller Islands were undercover right to our lifetimes even still many may be. At Uni I met a Maltese girl named Iris Seruya who imparted a few guarded hints.

    • AI Overview (for googled query:Jews of Malta, articles attached)

      +4
      Malta – jewish heritage, history, synagogues, museums, areas …
      The Jewish community in Malta, with a history spanning over 2,000 years, is a small, resilient group of approximately 100-500 people, mostly in the Valletta area. With roots dating back to Phoenician times and significant medieval, Arab, and Norman-era presence, the community was expelled in 1492 but re-established under British rule in the late 18th century, according to Wikipedia and the World Jewish Congress.
      Key Historical and Cultural Points:
      Ancient & Medieval Roots: Jews arrived in Malta around the 9th century BCE, with permanent settlement by the 1st century CE. Medieval Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities lived together, and Jews held influential positions under Arab rule.
      1492 Expulsion: Following the Spanish Inquisition, the community was expelled, but many remained as forced converts (“Anusim”), leaving behind, for example, Jewish-sounding family names like Ellul and Zamit.
      Knights of St. John Period: Between 1530 and 1798, many Jews were brought to the island as prisoners of the Knights, with redemption societies often paying for their release, according to Jewish Heritage Europe.
      Modern Community: Re-established in the 19th century, the community grew with refugees fleeing Nazis in the 20th century. It is now served by a synagogue in Ta’Xbiex, a Chabad House, and three cemeteries (including Marsa and Kalkara).
      Current Standing: The community remains small but active, with around 20 families forming the core in 2024, notes the European Jewish Congress.
      “The Jew of Malta” (Play):
      Christopher Marlowe’s play, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta, written around 1589-1590, is a,, fictional, often criticized work featuring a Jewish merchant named Barabas. It is not a historical account of the actual Maltese Jewish population, but a dramatic, often antisemitic,, reflection of Elizabethan attitudes toward religion, money, and power.

      • SEB

        I believe that Donna Gracia had something to do with re-establishing Jews on Malta in her time, many still hidden under the “cloak” until they could reach safer soil.

        A kind of waystation , like the later negro US Civil War era.

        • AI Overview

          +7
          Dona Gracia Nasi & the Spanish Inquisition’s Underground Railroad …
          No, Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi did not establish the Jewish presence in Malta. Instead, she was a 16th-century Portuguese philanthropist who rescued Conversos from the Inquisition, established an escape network, and founded a Jewish community in Ottoman-controlled Tiberias. While she supported Sephardi communities across Europe, she was not associated with establishing a Jewish presence in Malta.
          Key Contributions: She used her immense wealth to build an “underground railroad” for Jews escaping Portugal, supported Jewish scholars in Ferrara, and established synagogues in Salonika and Constantinople.
          Tiberias Project: Her most significant attempt at establishing a Jewish settlement was in Tiberias, where she leased land from Sultan Suleiman I to create a safe haven in the Galilee.
          Legacy: Known as “La Signora” or “our angel,” she focused on saving lives, establishing, and sponsoring Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire rather than in Malta.

          0

          • SEB=

            I didn’t say she ESTABLISHED Jews on Malta , I said she RE_ established them; using Malta as a way=station to safer soil.
            She also had bases in Italy, actually living there for several years, as a Jew, and had various places along the Mediterranean coast, as well as widespread European contacts, and stop=offs.

            She has been regarded as the most famous Jewish woman in history..

            Her biography goes into very great detail as to her multiple activities Including her intertwined family connections., .

            • ED= I googled it as you phrased it. But those were the replies it gave me. It relies on articles it found. Any idea on how to substantiate that? For starters, which biography did you read? I queried: list biographies of Dona Gracie Mendes and it gave me this long list:

              AI Overview

              +10
              Biographies of Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510–1569), a16th-century Jewish philanthropist and business tycoon who rescued many Conversos from the Inquisition, include The Woman Who Defied Kings by Andrée Aelion Brooks and Doña Gracia of the House of Nasi by Cecil Roth. Other notable works include titles by Aaron Nommaz and Yael Zoldan.
              Key Biographies and Biographical Studies
              The Woman Who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Dona Gracia Nasi by Andrée Aelion Brooks (1999): A comprehensive biography detailing her life as a wealthy merchant and her defiance of European monarchs.
              Doña Gracia of the House of Nasi by Cecil Roth (1948): A foundational historical study of her life and influence.
              Dona Gracia: The Woman Who Led Jews to Safety in Muslim Lands by Aaron Nommaz (2014): Focuses on her role in establishing an underground escape network.
              The Girl with the Secret Name: The Incredible Life of Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi by Yael Zoldan (2024): A biographical account of her life.
              Doña Gracia’s Secret: The Adventures of an Extraordinary Jewish Woman in the Renaissance by Marilyn Froggatt: A detailed account of her life.
              Secrets: The Life of Dona Gracia Nasi by Anthony Davis.
              Doña Gracia Saved Worlds by Bonni Goldberg: A biographical work focusing on her impact.
              Academic and Reference Sources
              “Nasi, Gracia Mendes (1510–1569)” in the Encyclopedia.com.
              “The Venetian Identities of Beatrice and Brianda de Luna” by Howard Tzvi Adelman.
              “Gracia Mendes: Power, Influence and Intrigue” by Libby Garshowitz.
              These works highlight her life as a “Converso” (forced convert) born in Portugal, who managed a massive banking empire after her husband’s death and used her wealth to aid other refugees in the Ottoman Empire.

            • SEB_-

              Don’t know the author of the bio I have but a good clue. I bought it in a case of books from the Jewish Publication Soc around 1980 as my 3 year old daughter was already reading grade 6=7 books. So this limits the authorship I hope.

              I have it here in a huge pile of books I’ve been looking at for the past year without the Kaochas to tackle them without good help. My recollection was that the soft cover showed a side picture of Gracia with the author’s name only.

              I hope this helps. It was a pretty thick book over an inch as I recall.

              • ED= Recognize one of these?

                AI Overview

                +6
                Yes, the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) did publish a notable book about Doña Gracia Mendes, but the original, defining publication of that work was earlier, though it remained a key title in their catalog around that time.
                The Book: Dona Gracia of the House of Nasi by renowned historian Cecil Roth.
                Original Publication: The Jewish Publication Society of America first published this definitive biography in 1947.
                Availability: While not originally published in 1980, it was a “JPS classic” that remained in print and was widely available through the society in subsequent decades as a seminal work on her life.
                The book covers her life as a 16th-century businesswoman, philanthropist, and leader who used her wealth to help Sephardic Jews escape the Inquisition.
                Other noteworthy books on Doña Gracia around that era:
                1969: The Story of Dona Gracia Mendes by Bea Stadtler was published by the United Synagogue Commission on Jewish Education.

              • ED= Was this the cover? Here’s a 1977 edition of the Roth.

                https://www.abebooks.com/9780827600997/Dona-Gracia-House-Nasi-Cecil-0827600992/plp

                I found a review of the Roth from 1948 in Commentary Magazine

                https://www.commentary.org/articles/maurice-samuel/the-house-of-nasi-dona-gracia-by-cecil-roth/

                The most recent edition I found was 2009 by the University of Nebraska Press. It’sfor sale on their website.

                I bought a used copy of the ’77 edition just now for $10 but that was probably a mistake. I should have gotten the 2009 for another 10 bucks. History is being corrected all the time as new facts are uncovered. My concentration within my major – History – was historiography, I should have known better.

                Speaking of which

                Guess what? Mayor Mamdani just announced that he can’t do most of the things he promised because he just now discovered – after 3 weeks in office – that New York City is going through an economic emergency and it’s all the fault of his predecessor, surprise, surprise.

                But, not to worry, this Muslim Brotherhood-backed Trojan Horse is in place along with 42 others throughout the country this past election cycle – see Brigitte Gabrielle short I just posted.

      • AI Overview

        +4
        Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510–1569) was a remarkably wealthy 16th-century Portuguese Jewish philanthropist who, after fleeing the Inquisition, established an underground network to rescue Converso (crypto-Jewish) families. When Pope Paul IV arrested Portuguese Conversos in Ancona (some of whom were sold into slavery in Malta), she organized a successful, historic boycott of the port.
        Key aspects of Doña Gracia’s relationship with Malta and the Inquisition:
        The Ancona Crisis: Following the arrest of ~100 Conversos by the Inquisition in Ancona, Italy, some were sold into slavery in Malta, while 24 were burned at the stake.
        Response to Malta Slavery: Doña Gracia, already a powerful leader in the Ottoman Empire, leveraged her influence to have Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent send a strongly worded letter to the Pope, demanding the release of these Jewish subjects.
        Failed Rescue: Despite her intervention, the Pope did not release all prisoners, leading many to be executed or sold as slaves.
        Resistance: She famously attempted a boycott of the port of Ancona in 1556 to punish the Pope for the persecution.
        Known as “La Señora” (The Lady), Doña Gracia spent her fortune protecting Sephardic Jews and was a key figure in facilitating their escape to the Ottoman Empire.

        • Sandra K. Toro is an award-winning, best selling author who teaches creative writing at the University of New Mexico. Her historical novels deal with World War II, the Holocaust, the Jewish immigrant experience, and The Spanish Inquisition, anti-Semitism in the 16th Century, and international political/military history of Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Her most recent novel, Secrets Behind Adobe Walls, concerns the crypto-Jews of New Mexico.

          In addition to being a writer, Toro has had a career on camera and as a producer of public affairs programs for ABC and PBS. She was a high-level political appointee in the administrations of President Carter and President Clinton.

          She coordinates the annual spring writer’s conference for the University of New Mexico each April, and works regularly with agents and editors at major publishing houses.

          More about her novels of historical fiction about crypto-Jewish life:

          Doña Gracia: Beacon Of Hope

          Secrets Behind Adobe Walls

          I enjoyed her novel about Dona Gracia.

          http://www.gaonbooks.com/SandraKToro.html

  9. The Spanish Inquisition wasn’t the only time Jews were forced to convert or die

    A nearly identical tragedy played out centuries later along the Silk Road. Hidden within the walled cities of Central Asia, a community known as the Chala lived in a terrifying limbo.

    In the local dialect of Bukhara, the word “Chala” means neither this nor that, incomplete or unripe. It was a badge of shame for a group suspended between two worlds.

    The Chala were a subset of the Bukharian Jews. For millennia, they were part of the same ancient community that traced its roots back to the Babylonian exile. They spoke the same Judeo-Tajik dialect, ate the same food, and shared the same history as their neighbors.

    The only thing that separated the Chala from the rest of the Bukharian Jewish community was a sword.

    The origins of the split date back to the late 18th and mid-19th centuries in the Emirate of Bukhara, which is now part of modern-day Uzbekistan.

    During waves of intense religious persecution, the Emirs offered Jewish leaders a stark choice. They could convert or they could face execution.

    To save their families, many submitted.

    But their submission was only skin deep.

    This created a fractured existence. Publicly, the Chala were Muslims. They attended Friday prayers at the mosque and adopted Islamic names. They fasted during Ramadan. They were legally recognized as followers of the Prophet.

    Privately, they lived in the shadows.

    Inside their homes, behind locked doors and drawn curtains, they remained Jews. They lit Shabbat candles in basements. They circumcised their sons in secret ceremonies. They kept kosher kitchens while maintaining a public façade of compliance.

    This double life was incredibly fragile.

    Typically, a community could only maintain this high-wire act for two or three generations before the pressure became too great. Inevitably, they merged completely with the surrounding Muslim population, abandoning Jewish customs entirely.

    For those trying to hold on, the Russian conquest of Central Asia in 1867 offered a lifeline.

    The region was split. The Russian-controlled territory of Turkestan abolished the death penalty for apostasy. However, the Emirate of Bukhara maintained a level of independence and continued to execute anyone who renounced Islam.

    This created a desperate migration. Many Chala families fled the Emirate for Russian-ruled areas so they could openly return to Judaism.

    While Russian law technically required these refugees to be sent back, authorities largely ignored the mandate, allowing the community to survive.

    For those who remained behind in the Emirate, time ran out. By the time the Soviet Union fully took over the region, most of the Chala in Bukhara had finally converted to Islam to survive.

    The final blow to their distinct identity was bureaucratic.

    When the USSR introduced internal passports, citizens had to declare a nationality.

    The Chala faced a pragmatic dilemma. Registering as “Jewish” invited state-sponsored antisemitism. Registering as “Uzbek” or “Tajik” offered safety.

    Most chose the latter.

    Today, the Chala as a distinct community have largely vanished.

    Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, those who still identified as Jews joined the mass exodus to Israel and the United States, particularly to Queens, New York. In the freedom of the West, the need for secrecy evaporated.

    Their story is a testament to the resilience of identity under pressure. For nearly two centuries, the Chala managed to pass a heritage down to their children in whispers. They defied a world that demanded their erasure.

    It is difficult to imagine the mental toll of living a generational double life where your survival depends entirely on how well you can act the part of someone you are not.
    #jewish #history

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid035yNDCuBVN2pvLbbBHW1kHN8kLYgnaztrGMgBE52K7ev9LE9L18x8VQ4zAUcmzwNml&id=607788716

  12. NY Slimes article about Adams aide says she was bribed with crab cakes, among other things.

    Seems to me that’s an extenuating circumstance, if true.

    I mean, who wouldn’t lie, cheat or kill for crab cakes, for
    cryin’ out loud, especially the Costco crab cakes, right? 😀

    “ AI Overview about bike lanes, Adams aide was supposedly bribes
    to quash

    “Yes, there has been significant local opposition to bike lanes in Brooklyn, often characterized by conflicts over parking, traffic safety, and, in some areas, cultural differences. Key disputes in 2025 involved residents and business owners in Crown Heights and Williamsburg protesting protected lanes on Bedford and Brooklyn Avenues. Opponents cited hazards to children, seniors, and reduced parking, leading to the scaling back or removal of several projects.
    Key Instances of Local Opposition:
    Williamsburg (Bedford Avenue): A protected bike lane was removed and replaced with an unprotected one in 2025 following intense pushback from local residents and members of the Hasidic community, who argued it created dangers for children and seniors.
    Crown Heights (Kingston/Brooklyn Aves): Residents expressed strong opposition to planned protected lanes, citing safety risks for pedestrians and traffic congestion, even submitting nearly 1,000 petition signatures to the Department of Transportation (DOT).
    Court Street (Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens): Merchants and residents filed lawsuits against a redesign that installed a protected lane, citing negative impacts on deliveries and business.
    Prospect Park West: A major, long-standing dispute in 2010 involved residents protesting against the installation of a bike lane, which involved lawsuits and heated public debate.
    These conflicts often pit community members worried about the loss of parking or pedestrian safety against cyclists and city planners aiming to improve street safety, according to reports in the New York Times and Streetsblog New York City. “

  13. Hi, Sebastien

    I saw your latest post (“Michael I didn’t frame it that way…”). Thanks for keeping in touch. The “Reply” mechanism on Israpundit is nearly hopeless. We just have to make do, the best we can.

    I’m sorry you don’t understand the Bible verses. The vast majority of Christians don’t either, even though they’re pretty straightforward.

    I’ve been following the situaation in China, Iran, Russia and Europe. Venezuela seems to have vanished from everyone’s memory, and I think hardly anyone is concerned about Israel anymore. The MSM is intentionally ignorant of what’s happening in the world.

    If President Trump keeps dilly-dallying in Iran, then tens of thousands of freedom-loving Iranians have died in vain. We’ll see how it all turns out.

    • @Michael

      “ The MSM is intentionally ignorant of what’s happening in the world.”

      I think this is not necessarily a bad thing. in 1979, my girlfiend at that time, a fellow Anarcho-Communist, complained to me that she kept putting up fliers on the bulletin boards at MSM, which was in our neighborhood, where she was a composition major, minoring in piano, and some unknown person quietly took them down right away.

      AI Overview

      On anthropomorphizing the Legacy media, David Steinberg’s,”The Coast”

      https://youtu.be/H9EVEM3_5Rs?si=cEz7SCuwGl_8rgOG

      “ Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private conservatory in New York City offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in classical, jazz, and musical theatre performance, composition, and conducting. Founded in 1917, it’s known for its rigorous training, world-renowned faculty (often from the NY Philharmonic and Met Opera), and numerous performance opportunities in NYC. MSM also has a Precollege program for younger students and innovative distance learning initiatives.
      Key aspects
      Programs: Offers Bachelor of Music (BM), Master of Music (MM), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degrees, plus professional diplomas.
      Disciplines: Classical, Jazz, and Musical Theatre are core areas, with specializations in performance, composition, and conducting.
      Faculty: Features professional artists from major New York music organizations.
      Performance: Hosts over 1,100 performances annually, many free to the public, in its own halls and other NYC venues.
      Location: Situated in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
      Precollege: A Saturday program for talented students aged 8-18, with both Classical and Jazz tracks.
      Innovation: A pioneer in distance learning, connecting students globally through technology. ”

    • @ Michael You said,

      “ I’m sorry you don’t understand the Bible verses. The vast majority of Christians don’t either…”

      I was reminded of something so

      I googled: “ the amazing doctor clitterhouse line: “Only three people in the world understand the theories of…”

      and got: AI Overview:

      “ The line refers to the Theory of Relativity. The quote, often attributed to physicist Sir Arthur Eddington (a contemporary of the era), was popularized in a joke where, when asked if he was one of them, he replied, “I was trying to think who the third one is”.
      Contextual Details:
      Source: The quote is not directly spoken by Dr. Clitterhouse, but rather a famous anecdote often cited regarding the complexity of Einstein’s work during that era.
      The Movie: The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) follows a doctor (Edward G. Robinson) who commits crimes to study the physiological effects of crime on himself.
      Theme: The film deals with the “dual nature” of the protagonist and scientific exploration of criminal behavior. ”

      It’s a comedy/thriller with Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Clair Trevor, Allen Jenkins (1938)

      The judge asks a famous shrink if Clitterhouse is crazy and when he says he
      doesn’t understand the response, as indeed nobody would, this is what the shrink says.

      Amazon Prime video has it streaming $3.99 to rent, $9.99 to buy. Just checked though I saw it on tv in the ‘70s. Film Builds up to one of
      the funniest court room scenes, if not the funniest I’ve ever seen at the end though “Adams Rib” (1949) Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn’ My Cousin Vinnie (1992) and Woody Allen’s “Bananas” (1971) come close.

      I guess you might relate best to “Adams Rib”. Prime Video has all of
      them.

      But, apropos of nothing, you still haven’t said what you meant by that line about Trump remaining in office until he
      dies and
      then being replaced by Vance.

  14. Hey, EDGAR G.

    If you’re still reading these things, I just asked AI about a man who’s almost certainly a close cousin:

    Identity and Ministry: Ignacij Druks (born February 1, 1902, in Polj?ane) served as a chaplain and catechist in Slovenska Bistrica (Windisch-Feistritz) within the Diocese of Maribor.
    Arrest and Persecution: Following the Nazi annexation of Slovenia (Lower Styria) in 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo as part of the systematic removal of Slovenian clergy who were seen as obstacles to Germanization.
    Death in Dachau: He was deported to the Dachau Concentration Camp on July 2, 1942 (prisoner number 31189). He died there on October 23, 1942, due to the harsh camp conditions.
    Recognition: He is listed among the priest-martyrs of the 20th century in the Slovenian Catholic Martyrology. His name is also recorded in the Libri d’Oro (Golden Books) of victims of the Nazi regime.

    Ignacij is almost certainly the grandson of my direct ancestor, bearing the same name. Another member of the family, my ggrandfather’s brother Peter, died a day before Ignacij was transported. Others in the family were either shot by the Nazis, died n Auschwitz or were put to forced labor. This is the first I’ve heard of the younger Ignacij.

    The family probably originates in Bursztyn, Galicia, which also produced Johan Bonner (who played “Sargeant Schulz” on “Hogan’s Heroes” and Sam “Zero” Mostel; but of course, my line is completely Catholic. It’s not much, but nice to know in my latter years.

  16. Avi Abelow No More Hostages in Gaza. No More Excuses.

    Thanks to our unbelievable holy IDF soldiers, and our leadership, there are no longer any Israeli hostages, dead or alive, in Gaza.

    The last body of Ron Gvili hy”d has been recovered. The human chapter of captivity in Gaza has closed. The national chapter of responsibility to end the danger from Gaza has not.

    And the official Trump administration plan to rebuild Gaza for the jihadi Gaza population there is delusional, ignoring the 1,400+ year jihadi Muslim ideology and the Jew-hatred of the whole agenda called “palestine”.

    Not leaving us a moment of delusion, immediately, Hamas steps forward with its new costume.
    Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem now speaks the language of “agreements,” “implementation,” “ceasefire commitments,” and “reconstruction.” He tells the world: “we fulfilled our part, let’s put October 7 aside, and now we rebuild.”

    This is the sick implementation of Islamic doctrine of Taqiya, lying to the kafir/infidel in practice.

    Hamas has not changed its jihadi ideology. It has changed its vocabulary. Now that they no longer have any leverage of our hostages in Gaza, it now speaks in Oslo language, “agreements,” “rights,” “administration,” while still declaring it will not disarm and still upholding what it calls its “right” to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

    The message to the world is simple: forget the horrific atrocities we committed on October 7th, move on, fund our reconstruction efforts to kill Jews and destroy Israel another day.

    But reality is clearer than the spin.

    Hamas still exists in Gaza in the third year of the war. And not only does it exist, it is reestablishing its power. The organizational backbone remains. The 1,400+ year old jihadi ideology remains in the whole Gaza population. The Hamas command structure, though damaged, is being rebuilt.

    Let’s remind ourselves of Israel’s goal to end this war, that Hamas launched against us: the elimination of Hamas and the removal of the jihadist threat from Gaza so Israeli citizens are never again exposed to a massacre like October 7.

    With no hostages left in Gaza, no comes the time to follow through on Trump’s promise to bring hell on Hamas in Gaza.

    If Phase B continues on its current trajectory, with the Trump administration global “peace board” that includes the jihadist led countries of Turkey and Qatar, Hamas is not weakening. It is strengthening.

    We are not dealing with an organization that has disappeared. We are watching a Muslim Brotherhood arm in Gaza regaining control while the world celebrates “calm” and enables it to rebuild.

    The only viable long-term path forward in Gaza, after everything we have witnessed, is the implementation of President Trump’s Gaza emigration plan.

    As even former peace activist like Avida Bechar, whose wife and son were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7th in their home right in front of his eyes, have painfully concluded that Israel cannot live beside a society of jihadi ideology. As Avida has said countless of times “I don’t want to see one jihadi in Gaza. They are all Hamas. There are no innocent civilians in Gaza, as non-combatants took part in massacring us on Oct. 7th”

    That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu’s words last night matter beyond Gaza. At the Second Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem, he said:
    “We are in the process of blocking the radical Iranian Shiite axis. There is another one, the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Sunni axis. We will defend ourselves, but will the West defend itself?”

    This is a crucial recognition of reality. For years, the world has been obsessed with the Iranian Shiite threat, and rightly so. But Netanyahu is pointing to the bigger picture: there is also a radical Sunni axis rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood ideology. He didn’t list names, but the meaning is clear, Qatar, Turkey, and others like Saudi Arabia that funded ISIS.

    This does not fit comfortably with American political realities, where close ties are maintained with Ankara and Doha. But reality does not bend to diplomacy. Both axes, Shiite and Sunni, are driven by versions of the same jihadi Muslim worldview. Both persecute minorities. Both deny Israel’s right to exist. Both are actively working to destroy America and the whole freedom-loving world.

    Replacing one with the other is not victory.

    Now that there are no more hostages alive in Gaza, Israel stands at a moral and strategic crossroads. The emotional pressure that shaped policy is gone. What remains is clarity.

    We either finish the job in Gaza, or we accept the countdown to the next war.

    Hamas’s new language is designed to buy time. The world’s desire for “stability” is designed to forget. But Jewish history has taught us the cost of illusions.

    We also cannot continue to delude ourselves about the whole cause called “Palestine”. Even as the focus is on Hamas, we cannot ignore a hard truth: the Palestinian Authority leadership has consistently advanced the same ultimate objective of destroying Israel, by paying terrorists and using diplomatic and political tools.

    When Mahmoud Abbas and PA officials glorify “martyrs,” fund terrorists’ families, and justify the Oct. 7th atrocities, it becomes clear that the conflict is not merely about borders, but about an absolute rejection of a Jewish state. We cannot ignore the historical context of the creation of the Palestinian national identity by the Soviet KGB to legitimize terror against Jews to eventually destroy the Jewish state of Israel.

    The Iranian and Qatari funded jihadist war against us has not ended. Their 1,400+ year ideology has not changed, only their language and tactics have.

    Israel will survive and flourish by confronting reality, not slogans. We are destined to stand as a moral light to humanity, spreading goodness, morality, and godliness from God’s holy land, our ancestral homeland, while eliminating the jihadi evil that endangers the entire world.

    Am Yisrael Chai!!!

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0iMxh3vnkhXW31DYnzQErbJW75GDBjp4nhHKnd29jmshxsy4rBCCRpiT2HtLgytxtl&id=545522241

  17. NY Democratic Congressional Favorite Refuses to Support Anti-Israel Aid Legislation, Accuse Israel of ‘Genocide’

    Micah Lasher. But:

    “Lasher criticized conduct of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, writing that he would be willing to “co-sponsor Rep. Nadler’s ‘West Bank Violence Prevention Act,’ as well as work to reintroduce Biden-era sanctions on West Bank settlement activity.” Lasher is running to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler, a long-time congressman who is not seeking reelection this year.”

    He just got elected to State Assembly as the anti-BDS candidate – His opponent was a Working Families Party backed candidate- and then he endorsed Mamdani. Another frenemy.

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/01/26/ny-democratic-congressional-favorite-refuses-support-anti-israel-aid-legislation-accuse-israel-genocide/

  18. Hamas seeks role for its police in Gaza ahead of disarmament talks, sources say
    Hamas is pushing to integrate its roughly 10,000 police officers into a new US-backed Palestinian administration for Gaza, a move likely to face Israeli opposition as disarmament talks continue.

    “A US official said on Tuesday that Hamas terror operatives would be granted some sort of amnesty.”

    https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-884695

    Frenemy

  19. Hello, Sebastien. You haven’t answered my question. I will repeat it:

    Donald Trump is Israel’s strongest ally. Can you seriously suggest another?

    When I said “another”, I didn’t mean unsuccessful election hopefuls. I meant actual existing leaders of countries. Donald Trump will be our leader, until he dies; then we will have J.D. Vance.

    • @Michael The United States is not a consistent ally. There are no others but that’s no reason to knuckle under. Is that direct enough for you? Ben Gurion said no to the U.S.. from a much weaker position and Israel was stronger for it.

          • “AI Overview

            +4
            The United States began funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 1950, shortly after the agency’s creation in 1949, and has remained its largest historical donor. The U.S. has contributed over $7.3 billion to UNRWA for aid and, except for a funding suspension between 2018 and 2021, has maintained support since inception.
            Key details regarding U.S. funding of UNRWA:
            Initial Funding:

            AI Overview

            • Since October 7, 2023, the United States has provided over $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, with at least $641 million explicitly programmed by USAID for Gaza as of early 2025. This aid, aimed at food, healthcare, and water, has faced scrutiny regarding its distribution and potential diversion.
              Key details regarding USAID and U.S. aid to Gaza:
              Total Post-Oct 7 Aid: More than $2.1 billion in total U.S. assistance has been directed to the region since October 2023.
              USAID Specifics: USAID has provided over $641 million for humanitarian efforts.
              Funding Hurdles: In 2025, some USAID funding faced delays or freezes, with over $383 million in funding for Gaza-related aid undergoing review.
              Ongoing Assistance: Despite concerns and aid stoppages to certain groups, the U.S. has continued to authorize aid, such as a $30 million grant in June 2025.
              Long-Term Aid: Since 1994, the U.S. has provided over $5.2 billion through USAID for the West Bank and Gaza.
              The aid often faces challenges with distribution due to the ongoing conflict and security concerns.

              AI Overview

        • BTW Rev. 11

          [6] These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
          [7] And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
          [8] And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
          [9] And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
          [10] And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

          • Hi, Sebastien

            @Michael Why would you expect Trump to die in the next 3 years?

            It’s interesting, how you frame that. I didn’t even mention Donald Trump, nor Binyamin Netanyahu — I quoted the passaage about the “Two Witnesses”. In particular, I was pondering who these two people would be, such that

            [10] And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

            What sort of person (other than Charlie Kirk) would be killed and left unburied, only for the whole world to break into rejoicing? Curious, eh?

            • @Michael I didn’t frame it that way, you did, Peloni quoted you, responding, “that’s scary” to which I replied, “I agree.” You wrote: “ Donald Trump will be our leader, until he dies; then we will have J.D. Vance.”

              The biblical reference was in another of your posts, and I didn’t understand it.

    • Hello, Sebastien.

      re

      Unreported: Palestinian Authority Supports China’s Plan to Seize Taiwan

      Donald Trump is Israel’s strongest ally. Can you seriously suggest another?

      • @Michael Are you suggesting uncritical support for every Trump policy is appropriate? What do you think about his sudden about face in Gaza and Syria? What do you think about his false claim that the U.S. invented Iron Dome and Bibi and an ungrateful Israel was plagiarizing America’s achievement? What do you think about him believing Witkoff’s lies about the Iranian executions being called off? What do you think about him listening to people working for Quatar in quashing Israel’s security, what do you think about his broken promises to support sovereignty. and his lying about it through Kushner? . He may be Israel’s strongest ally, as every American president has been, to one extent or another, and he has been one of the best of them, up until now, but he plays Israel off against her enemies like all the others and he looks like he will leave Israel with another war ten years down the road. Israel can’t become independent fast enough.

        Now, Israel is supposed to open the Rafah crossing to Egypt just because the IDF recovered Ran Gvili’s body when it was a major arms smuggling route from Egypt which refused to take refugees and has massed its troops on the border in “demilitarrized” Sinai? Is Trump pressuring Egypt? No, just Israel. business as usual.

        I always had my reservations about him. In 2016, I voted for Ted Cruz in the primary after Mike Huckabee dropped out.

        I hope Marco Rubio runs in 2028. Vance, Trump’s pick, has Tucker Carlson in his entourage.

        Trump did a lot for Israel, but I am disappointed to see my fears about him being realized. The fact,that the Dems are worse, except maybe Fetterman, who I might vote for in 2028, in the unlikely event he is the Dem candidate, as I am not a conservative, and that Israel has no other “allies” with clout is cold comfort, indeed.

        I regard Trump as a very mixed bag, even if he is the only game in town, as allies go.

        And some of his recent moves are blind to reality.

        His real estate buddies are corrupt and bought off by Quatar. Like most New Yorkers, I utterly despise real estate people. I have been making an exception for Trump.

        • Israel, US and the Stinking Fish – 1976

          “Monday, December 10, 2012
          Israel, US and the Stinking Fish – 1976

          “KAHANE” MAGAZINE September 1976

          Israel, US and the Stinking Fish
          Rabbi Meir Kahane

          Many times I have spoken of the Talmudic parable of the king, his servant, and the fish. Never was it more apt. [Events of today between Bibi and Obama.]

          Once there was a king who sent his servant to buy a fish. The servant returned with a fish that stank. In fury the king gave the servant a choice of three punishments: “Eat the fish, get whipped for the fish, or pay for the fish.” In common with most people, the servant chose not to reach into his pocket and he decided to eat the stinking fish but after two bites the stench made him give up and he decided to get whipped for it. The pain of the lashes, however, made him stop that, too, and he cried out, “I will pay for the fish!”

          And so the fool ate the fish, got whipped for the fish and, in the end, had to pay for it, anyhow. Those in Israel and without, who refuse to understand that nothing will deter America from demanding that Israel make the maximum concessions, play the same fool. Those who do not understand that there is nothing that Israel can possible do, that there are no compromises it can make, that there is nothing short of full retreat to the 1967 borders that will satisfy the United States-are the same fools as the servant who ate, got whipped and in the end had to pay anyhow,

          Their refusal to make the difficult choice of telling the Americans “no”, now, at this moment, will see them making the retreats they hope will avert American anger; it will see this effort fail even as the frontier moves from its present lines within the Arab heartland to new ones close to the Jewish cities; and most important, the Americans will make the same demands they always have envisioned since the days of the Roger Plan-total Israeli withdrawal. And since this is a thing that not even the most dovish of Israelis will agree to, the result will be an ultimate Israeli firm “no”, an ultimate American anger of the kind all men of “new initiative” propose to avert today by compromise, and exactly the same conditions of confrontation that would come anyhow if the Israelis said their “no” today. There would be one great difference, however, a “no” today will bring the crisis while Israel stands poised near the Arab capitols. A “no” tomorrow, after all the hapless and confused compromises and “initiatives,” will bring the same crisis near Tel Aviv, Beersheva and Netanya.

          This is what happens when foolish and confused Israelis, by refusing to pay the price of saying “no” to the stinking fish of pressure, attempt to eat it, submit to getting beaten over it and then learn to their dismay that there is no escape from the difficult decision that they should have made in the first place.

          Let the Israeli government, its men of “new initiative” and the Jewish leaders in America understand several basic axioms:

          1) America is committed to the Roger Plan and the world’s interpretation of Security Council Resolution 242, i.e. Israeli withdrawal from all (but insignificant) parts of the lands of 1967. This includes the Golan Heights, Gaza, the entire West bank and the entire Sinai as well as changing Jerusalem’s present Jewish sovereignty status.

          2) American interests lie, in the minds of most officials in Washington, with Arab oil, the huge potential Arab market and with supplanting Soviet influence with American. This means, at best, an “even-handed” policy rather than a pro-Israeli one.

          3) America is moving steadily to recognition of the “Palestinians” as a people and of whomever they decide to have as their leaders. Those leaders are clearly the PLO and already the move to “moderate” the PLO, “public-relations-wise” is underway so that Washington can more easily pressure Israel into recognizing them.

          4) The Ford-Kissinger administration is determined to prevent stagnation and will pressure Israel into concession after concession.

          5) No administration will got o war for Israel and no administration will continue the present aid level no matter what Israel does or concedes. The frantic search for human allies will end as unsuccessfully as those Jews in the past who forgot what faith in the Jewish G-d was and who turned to Egypt or Assyria or other “allies” for help, only to learn to their dismay that the allies betrayed them.

          Stinking fish are not made to be eaten or to get whipped or. One must have the courage to look at the truth and pay the bitter price of honesty. America is tired of the Israeli nuisance and wishes it would ea t the fish already. The time to loudly proclaim “no” is now.”

          Anyone reading this Rav Kahane article and is not on my personal list to receive the weekly articles written by Rav Kahane and would like to be, please contact me at:
          barbaraandchaim@gmail.com

          Visit my blog for previously e-mailed Rav Kahane writings:
          http:/www.barbaraginsberg-barbara.blogspot.com

          Mk Michael Ben-Ari Blog: http://www.mkmichaelben-ari.blogspot.com

          https://barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com/2012/12/israel-us-and-stinking-fish-1976.html

            • A very concise summary of the Israeli situation vis-a-vie the USA and just about all other countries. If Israel continues to appease the USA, the EU, the UN and the Arabs of all colors, the results are those prophesied 50 years ago. Back then, I wasn’t conversant with what Kahane was telling, only that he had massive pushback from all sides, much like Israel has today. Of course, he could have been more diplomatic about his concerns, but nonetheless, they were real and still present today.

    • “A Mexican standoff is a confrontation where no strategy exists that allows any party to achieve victory.[1][2] Anyone initiating aggression might trigger their own demise. At the same time, the parties are unable to extract themselves from the situation without either negotiating a truce or suffering a loss, maintaining strategic tension until one of those three potential organic outcomes occurs or some outside force intervenes.” Wikipedia.

      Certainly applies. Webster’s needs to add the variation.

  23. *Who’s really displacing the Bedouin of Al Auja? Shocking Footage Exposes the Palestinian Authority*

    *Batons drawn, in driving rain: Palestinian Authority police leave Bedouin families without shelter in order to force them to maintain their illegal outpost – on state land in Area C. Regavim: “This is another example of the PA’s cynical use of innocent men, women and children as pawns in their annexation scheme. The anti-Israel propaganda machine has been worksing overtime – but the truth is out.”*

    The Regavim Movement’s OSINT – Arab World Division released disturbing footage showing Palestinian Authority police raiding a Bedouin encampment in eastern Binyamin with batons drawn and riot shields raised. According to videos circulating on social media, PA police forces demolished a temporary encampment of Bedouin families in order to force them to return to the area in which they had been living, known as Ras Ein al-Auja.

    The footage shows PA security personnel confiscating and dismantling tents that provided vital shelter from fierce winds and heavy rain, leaving residents—including women and children—completely exposed to the elements in the open terrain.

    “The Palestinian Authority will stop at nothing in its efforts to carry out a unilateral takeover of Israeli land,” Regavim’s spokesperson noted. “It forcibly expels Bedouin families and compels them to invade areas under Israeli control—while pumping out the libelous narrative that the “occupation” is harming vulnerable vlilagers. The Palestinian Authority was created for the very purpose of providing dignified, autonomous solutions for these people; instead, it is using them to take over Israeli land in Area C – as human shields for the program of hostile takeover and the establishment of a de facto terror state in the heart of Israel.

    The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency took the hyprocrisy up a notch, issuing an appeal to the international community to support and act on behalf of “the distress of the village of Ras Ein al-Auja and all Palestinian communities in occupied Palestine facing escalating existential threats as a result of the occupation, and to protect them in accordance with international humanitarian law.” Organizations in Israel and abroad rushed to defend the victims—but misidentified the perpetrator. The threat currently facing the Bedouin population in the Auja area does not come from Israel, but from the Palestinian Authority itself.

    “It is time to tear off the masks of Abu Mazen and the brutal Palestinian terrorist authority,” Regavim said. “We have seen this “Pallywood” too many times – and the public continues to fall for it over and over. The names of Bedouin “villages” like Khirbet Zanuta and Khan al Ahmar have become famous for precisely this kind of Palestinian Authority duplicity and cruelty. The hypocrisy has been laid bare— as has the PA’s objective: Using vulnerable Bedouin families as tools for the establishment of a terror state and the destruction of Israel.”

    Naomi Kahn
    Regavim

    On FB

    • This is a new facet for me. However, it was to be expected. The military government of Judea and Samaria have been knowingly sleeping on the job, and while it is obvious that they prefer peace in their own back yard, what they have been allowing over the years is unacceptable and needs to be fixed before the Arabs get the ICC or the ICJ or the UN on our backs for taking back that which has been stolen from us. Of course, we need to take back the stolen land, sooner rather than later.
      The same is true in the Negev.

  24. ” While Iranian people are being massacred brutally by world’s cruelest regime, Roger Waters is supporting mullahs and claims that people don’t want a regime change in Iran. He denies the murder of more than 25,000 people and 35 million being on the streets persistently.

    You were a legend to me and many Iranians but now you’re a traitor who’s a complicit in this gruesome genocide. Did did did did you see the frightened ones? ….

    Thank you our beloved Madonna for standing with Iranian people. Hold tight!

    Ps. Bright side of the history Vs. Dark side of the loon.
    #madonna #rogerwaters “

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E5AFmHB17/?mibextid=wwXIfr

    • @Peloni The BBC has provided excellent coverage of NATO’s flying pig squadron so I would trust their reporting. In fact, I understand that their* will be a groundbreaking documentary released shortly, “Pigs With Wings.”

      * So sorry, there seems to be some technical issues with my pronouns.

      1

  27. Julie Menin moves on antisemitism
    Julie Menin, the new leader of the NYC Council, is announcing her initiative to combat antisemitism at the Museum of Jewish Heritage today.

    Menin’s plan includes establishing a perimeter around schools and houses of worship to protect students and congregants from protests.

    Gov. Kathy Hochul announced similar legislation at the state level this week, proposing a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship. Menin wants to go further with a 100-foot barrier, she told The New York Times.

    Hochul’s push is likely to run into free speech concerns, sources told us, and Menin may face similar obstacles.

    Menin will also propose a program to provide places of worship with security training, a hotline for reporting antisemitic incidents and $1.2 million allocated to Holocaust education over the next two years.

    Menin was not backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to become speaker. As a moderate and a Zionist, she differs on many issues from the democratic socialist, anti-Zionist mayor.

    But she told The Times, “This has absolutely nothing to do with the mayor. This has everything to do with protecting Jewish New Yorkers.”

    https://www.jta.org/2026/01/16/ny/kathy-hochul-proposed-a-25-foot-buffer-zone-around-synagogues-julie-menin-wants-to-quadruple-that

  31. USS Abraham Lincoln has been cited about 5 days travel from Centcom Theater. Nothing will take place before she arrives.

    Also significant additional assets have been brought to and are in transit to the region.

    Expect Trump to respond. The question is whether the response will be large or small and whether the extent and targets of the attack will be intended to topple the regime.

    Trump called for a change of leadership in a recent Politico report, but that is not necessarily the same thing as regime change. See Venezuela for an example of the difference between the two.

  33. ” Based on recent reports, New York Attorney General Letitia James has not targeted Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Instead, her office recently took legal action against a pro-Israel group for harassing and intimidating pro-Palestinian activists and students.
    Investigation of Betar US (Jan 2026): In January 2026, Attorney General James announced a settlement with Betar US, a right-wing Jewish group, requiring them to cease operations in New York.
    Findings of Harassment: The investigation found that Betar US engaged in “bias-motivated assaults, threats, and harassment” against Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, and Jewish individuals advocating for Palestinian rights.
    Protection of Pro-Palestinian Speech: The investigation revealed that Betar US used facial recognition software to identify, doxx, and target pro-Palestinian students and activists, including calling for their deportation.
    Statement on Free Expression: In response to the settlement, James stated, “New York will not tolerate organizations that use fear, violence, and intimidation to silence free expression or target people because of who they are”.
    While James has condemned specific instances of antisemitic violence on campuses, such as at Columbia University, her direct enforcement action regarding campus protests has focused on ending the intimidation of pro-Palestinian supporters”.

    AI Overview

    • NY State Attorney General is a publicly elected position.I voted against her because of her lawfare against Trump and his family. Now, she allegedly wriggled out of federal allegations of fraud, herself. . Can’t blame this on Governor Hochul who is supporting a bill to ban protests that block houses of worship (within 25 feet). There is a similar bill in the NY CityCouncil sponsoredby the new president of the council who was just elected by the council members unanimously. She is the first Jewish City Council President in NY history. Mamdani was elected by a less than 50 percent margin, recall.

  34. Texas set to formalize Israel economic partnership
    A strategic move to establish a formal economic office in Jerusalem strengthens ties between Texas and Israel. According to David Yaari, CEO of the Texas Israel Partnership: “This is not a symbolic step, but the creation of real growth engines that connect Israeli innovation with the economic power of Texas”

    by ILH Staff Published on 01-14-2026 04:15 Last modified: 01-14-2026 12:09

    https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/01/14/texas-set-to-formalize-israel-economic-partnership/

  35. Avi Below on FB: Gaza Stage 2 “Peace” Plan Detached From Reality Only Prolongs the War

    Yesterday, Steve Witkoff, speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump, unveiled “Phase Two” of a 20-point plan to end the Gaza conflict, in a polished, well intentioned, yet fundamentally disconnected from reality sort of way.

    The idea that a technocratic Palestinian authority can replace Hamas in Gaza is detached from reality.

    The notion that Hamas will demilitarize through international mechanisms is not policy, it is fantasy.

    Rebuilding Gaza for the very same population of jihadis who participated in, supported, and celebrated the October 7 atrocities, without a single Gazan coming forward with information about a hostage, even in exchange for a $5 million reward, is not humanitarianism; it is moral corruption.

    Praising regional “mediators” who have consistently enabled and protected Hamas may sound like progress in Washington, but to anyone who understands the Middle East, jihadi Islam, and the last century of Arab-Israeli conflict, it is a familiar and disastrous illusion.

    The core failure of this plan is not tactical; it is conceptual.

    It assumes Gaza’s problem is administrative rather than ideological. It treats Hamas as a militia that can be disarmed, rather than as what it is: a genocidal jihadi culture driven by a religious worldview, not material grievance.

    It imagines that a “technocratic” Palestinian authority can govern Gaza after October 7, as if mass murder, rape, and kidnapping were aberrations rather than expressions of belief.

    This fantasy has been tried repeatedly. Demilitarization has been promised before. International supervision has been attempted before. Reconstruction funds have flowed before. Each time, the result was not peace, but rearmament, deeper radicalization, and the next massacre.

    The statement praises Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar for their “indispensable mediation.” Yet Sunni Qatar is Hamas’s primary financial and political patron besides Shia Iran. Turkey openly hosts Hamas leaders and acts like an enemy of Israel. Egypt assisted the buildup of Hamas and focuses on its own interests. Thanking these actors as guarantors of Gaza’s future only underscores how detached this process is from Israeli reality: our enemies are not seeking coexistence; they are seeking time.

    The United States now “expects Hamas to comply fully.” Expectations are not strategy. Hamas does not comply because Hamas does not compromise. It exploits ceasefires to rebuild tunnels, replenish weapons, indoctrinate children, and prepare the next attack. Threatening “serious consequences” after the atrocities of Oct. 7th is not deterrence, it is repetition.

    But the plan ignores deeper truths that make its failure inevitable.

    First, it ignores the historical reality that the Palestinian national movement was never primarily about statehood, but about destroying the Jewish state. Modern Palestinian nationalism did not emerge as a grassroots liberation movement seeking coexistence. Its founding political architect, Haj Amin al-Husseini, openly aligned with Adolf Hitler, broadcasting Nazi propaganda across the Arab world and recruiting Muslims into SS units.

    After World War II, this same movement was repackaged by Soviet intelligence and embraced by communist and “anti-colonial” frameworks, with active support from the KGB, to give genocidal Jew-hatred a modern revolutionary veneer. At no point was the central aim the creation of a peaceful Palestinian state alongside Israel. The goal was always the delegitimization of the Jew, the legitimization of terror against the Jew, and the elimination of Jewish sovereignty in Israel. Any peace plan built on a different assumption is built on fiction.

    Second, the plan pretends that the Palestinian Authority is a viable alternative to Hamas. It is not. The Palestinian Authority differs from Hamas only in tactics and presentation, not in ultimate objectives. It glorifies terrorists as “martyrs,” pays salaries to convicted murderers, educates children to see Jews as illegitimate occupiers, praised the Oct. 7th atrocities, and rejects Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Hamas wages jihad openly; the Palestinian Authority wages it diplomatically, legally, and educationally. Replacing Hamas with the PA officials in Gaza would not end the war. It would entrench it.

    Third, and perhaps most dangerously, the plan clings to the fantasy that Gaza can be “re-educated.” This reflects a profound Western misunderstanding of jihadi Islam. This is not a social deviation that can be corrected with curriculum reform or economic incentives. It is a 1,400-year-old ideological system that explicitly seeks global domination in the name of Allah and sanctifies violence as a religious duty against all kafirs/infidels. It is spreading across the world precisely because it is uncompromising, absolutist, and totalizing. There is no re-educating such an ideology. History shows there is only one way to deal with it: defeat it, dismantle its power, and make clear, unequivocally, that those who embrace it will pay a price and will fail.

    This is why the plan’s language about “demilitarization” rings hollow. Demilitarization without ideological defeat is a pause, not a solution. Reconstruction without implementing Trump’s Gaza emigration plan is a subsidy for the next war.

    Let Trump’s envoys continue to promote peace plans that make Western capitals feel productive. They will fail for the same reason their predecessors failed: they refuse to confront the ideological nature of the enemy. There is only one realistic path forward, total Israeli control of Gaza, with no jihadi Muslims remaining to threaten Israeli civilians in the future.

    Not international trusteeships. Not Palestinian technocrats. Not recycled fantasies of moderation.

    Real peace must be rooted in truth, and the first truth that must be acknowledged is this: Gaza belongs to the Jewish people. Period.

    Real peace can then begin when the threat is removed, not managed. Gaza must be fully demilitarized by Israel, permanently secured by Israel, and fundamentally transformed by removing the jihadi population that has chosen endless war. That is why the only serious proposal on the table is Trump’s large-scale voluntary Gaza emigration, rather than endless “reconstruction” conferences that rebuild terror infrastructure.

    The uncomfortable truth is this: peace plans that ignore ideology, history, and the enemy’s stated goals do not shorten wars, they prolong them. Gaza is not a humanitarian puzzle to be solved by committees. It is a battlefield shaped by belief.

    One day, everyone is invited to visit me in my beachfront property on the beautiful and peaceful Mediterranean coastline of Gaza, where Jewish communities once again will thrive, not because of technocratic councils or international guarantees, but because reality was finally acknowledged.

    And if you stay with us for Shabbat, we will sing together Ka Ribon, the beloved Shabbat song written in the 17th century by Rabbi Yisrael Najara, who served at the time as the Chief Rabbi of Gaza City.

    Gaza is Jewish land, historically and morally, and denying that truth, along with the truth about our jihadi enemies, has only delayed peace.

    Those who persist in these illusions are not advancing peace. They are standing in its way.

    These are times of geulah/redemption. It is time for us all to stand up for truth and for our Jewish identity, and to reject the lies of political correctness that deny reality and obscure the truth.

    Am Yisrael Chai!!!

    PS – what a disgrace that the Trump administration is even launching stage 2 without threatening Hamas/Qatar/Turkey/Egypt to ensure that phase 1 is completed first! Hamas has still not returned our final hostage held in Gaza, Ron Gavili.

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid026cviDuH1XDbPJx6nzr2uyQcAwdUN4BJHahHrjdaFv4bHAaqu73rt1s78E52jAXLwl&id=545522241

  36. “Ya Ribon[a] (Imperial Aramaic: ???? ??????? ?????, romanized: y?h ribbôn ?alam, lit.?’Yah, eternal lord’) is an Aramaic piyyut by the 16th-century payytan Israel ben Moses Najara of Gaza, first published in his 1586 work ?????? ????? “Songs of Israel”.[1] Ashkenazi Jews traditionally sing it at table after the Friday night meal and Sephardi Jews sing it (sometimes in Ladino) among the Baqashot.[2] The piyyut, originally sung to an Arab melody,[3] has been set to dozens of tunes, both ancient and modern.[4] “The 21st century Shabbat table”, says one modern writer, “is incomplete without the singing of the universal Yah Ribon.”[5]”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya_Ribon

    (Avi Abelow transliterates it as Ka Ribon)

  41. “ The Times of Israel reported that two U.S. cities, University Heights, Ohio, and White Plains, New York, elected their first Orthodox Jewish mayors, Michele Weiss and Justin Brasch, respectively, in early January 2026, marking a significant milestone for Orthodox representation, alongside Seth Salver in Bal Harbour, Florida, becoming the third Orthodox mayor in Miami-Dade. ” AI Overview

    “ NYC Council recently elected Julie Menin as its new Speaker, making her the first Jewish person to hold the position, unanimously elected on January 7, 2026, and she’s described as a stabilizing moderate, though not Orthodox, representing a significant moment for Jewish representation in city leadership alongside the Muslim Mayor.
    Key Details:
    Who: Julie Menin.
    What: First Jewish Speaker of the New York City Council.
    When: Elected January 7, 2026, by a unanimous 51-0 vote.
    Significance: A historic moment, as she’s the first Jewish person in the role, serving concurrently with the city’s first Muslim mayor, fostering interfaith leadership.
    Background: A Democrat, Menin has a background in public service, including leading the NYC Census, and comes from a family of Holocaust survivors, with strong advocacy for Jewish causes and Israel.
    Role: As Speaker, she sets the legislative agenda, oversees committees, and negotiates with the Mayor’s office, aiming to bridge divides in the city. ”

    AI Overview

  45. Reports of Al Jolani being seriously wounded in a shoot out at his Palace are circulating on the web. A photo of him interacting with people was released to support denials of these reports, but the photo was taken before the reported incident at the Syrian palace.

  49. ” POST-SHABBAT WAR UPDATE: The Dominoes Are Falling

    Even though many of the dramatic events unfolding right now have nothing to do with Israel on the surface, they are all deeply connected. We are watching a geopolitical earthquake, one that could reshape the Middle East and the world, and Israel sits at the center of it, whether the headlines admit it or not.

    For the first time in decades, Iranians are flooding the streets in record numbers, openly challenging the Islamic regime. And something unprecedented is happening: the regime is hesitating. It is not unleashing the mass slaughter we have seen so many times before. Why? Because President Trump made it unmistakably clear that if the regime starts gunning down peaceful protesters, the United States would get involved.

    That warning may have just stripped the regime of its greatest weapon against its own people, fear.

    This could be the best chance yet to witness the collapse of the Islamic Republic, the liberation of the Iranian people, and even the potential fragmentation of Iran into its historic tribal and ethnic components. If that happens, the ripple effects would be massive. The engine that has fueled jihadist terror across the Middle East and the world for decades would finally be sputtering.

    And then came Venezuela.

    Trump’s decisive move, seizing the narco–prime minister to put him on trial in NYC for flooding America with drugs that killed Americans, sent shockwaves through the same global axis.

    Venezuela is not some isolated socialist failure; it has long been the Western hemisphere ally of the tightly linked axis of Iran, China, and Russia.

    A Venezuela on the road to freedom is a direct hit to that alliance.

    And watch who rushed to condemn Trump for it.
    Britain. France. And other Western European governments were quick to denounce decisive action against a narco–terror regime.

    Once again, they exposed exactly which side they stand on, not with freedom, not with victims, not with moral clarity, not against a global axis of terror and narco-terrorism, but with hollow process, appeasement, and moral paralysis.

    With every such statement, Western European leaders make themselves more irrelevant to the real forces shaping the world.

    Take the terror supporting regimes of Iran and Venezuela out of the equation, and suddenly the energy markets shift, returning to Western control, Iranian and Venezuelan leverage evaporates, and China and Russia are isolated, feeling pressure they have not faced in years.

    This brings us back to Israel.

    Israel continued striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon over the weekend, while Trump’s deadline for the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah has come and gone.

    Everyone knows the truth: the Lebanese government cannot disarm Hezbollah. The Shiite grip inside the government and the army makes that fantasy impossible. The question was never if Israel would have to finish the job in Southern Lebanon, but when.

    With Iran weakened and distracted at home, that “when” becomes far more feasible.
    Zoom out, and the pattern is impossible to ignore.

    2026 is shaping up to be a year of expanding freedom, not because the world suddenly grew wiser, but because strong leadership returned. Trump and Netanyahu, each in his own arena, understand something the global elite refuses to grasp: evil retreats when it is confronted.

    And none of this began in a vacuum.

    It all started when Iran’s carefully decades-old planned, multi-front assault on Israel collapsed after Hamas decided to launch its October 7 attack alone, without coordinating with Iran.

    What the Iranian-Qatari jihadi axis intended as Israel’s destruction became the catalyst for its own unraveling. Israel was finally forced to fight back, seriously, strategically, and in doing so, it exposed and weakened Iran’s entire proxy network across the region.

    At the same time, it left Iran’s global partners more vulnerable than ever.

    History has a way of turning arrogance into downfall.

    Now the responsibility returns to us.

    Israel must finish what it was forced to begin, restoring deterrence, eliminating existential threats, and ensuring that October 7 can never happen again.

    That means decisive action in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria, paired with clear policies that remove all Hamas and Palestinian Authority jihadi infrastructures and incentives rather than managing them. Maybe Israel should do a middle of the night kidnapping of Mahmoud Abbas to put him on trial for all the money he has used to support the killing of Jews?

    And after that, finally implement Trump’s emigration plan for Gaza, Judea and Samaria.

    Moments like this do not come often. When they do, hesitation is a luxury we cannot afford.

    The world is shifting. The axis of terror is cracking.

    And if Israel stays clear-eyed and resolute, the future can be far safer, not just for us, but for millions who have lived under tyranny for far too long.

    Am Yisrael Chai!!!”

    Avi Abelow

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HNfFEZLMr/?mibextid=wwXIfr