“Oct 7 2023”

The contrast between the august library at the Royal United Services Institute and the 43-minute film screened within it was acute. RUSI is an independent think tank devoted to fostering measured research and civilised debate, men and women employing humankind’s best attributes to try to solve differences and problems. The images screened in RUSI’s Whitehall headquarters last night, however, showed our species at its absolute rock-bottom worst.

How did we reach a point where so many Western leftists see Hamas as a ‘progressive’ movement? Its terrorist slaughter of 1,200 Israelis and others on 7 October is already being downplayed or forgotten entirely. Meanwhile, few mention Hamas’s intolerance towards political opposition, its curtailment of women’s rights, its criminalisation of homosexuality or its persecution of Christians. Human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was even barred from the anti-Israel march in London on Armistice Day for a placard that criticised Hamas.

Now is not the time for progressive infighting

While Jews often seem clannish to outsiders, the reality is somewhat different: we have always suffered from a divisive streak of self-destructiveness. As far back as the levelling of the Temple and the expulsion from the homeland, Jewish unity has been undermined by both class divisions and theological disagreements. Two thousand years later, though General Titus’s legions may be forgotten, fissures and infighting remain.

Since October 7, there has been a very real upsurge in antisemitism in Europe and America. Some members of my own synagogue openly discuss whether they should attend services, or events such as menorah lightings; others are considering buying guns.

The first group of hostages have been released from Gaza after 48 days of captivity as part of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas that went into effect this morning – with children and a grandmother thought to have died in captivity among them.

Thirteen Israeli women and children and 11 Thai and Filipino hostages, who were kidnapped and taken into the territory by the terror group in its October 7 attack on Israel, were finally freed today after an agonising wait.

Israeli media reported the hostages had been transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross, then on to the Egyptians, before crossing into Egypt. Live footage showed the hostages leaving Red Cross vans and entering a trauma centre at the Rafah Crossing to undergo medical examinations.

Around 2,000 protesters gathered for a pro-Palestinian rally at Washington Square Park Friday with a laundry list of demands, including calling for a “permanent end to the occupation” of Gaza and dismantling the Israeli government.

The assembled crowd railed against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Hamas-controlled territory, waving Palestinian flags and holding up signs bearing messages like “Free Palestine,” “Cease fire now” and “Israel thinks killing babies is collateral damage.”

Large crowd chants “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!” in Washington Square Park, NYC ahead of a planned disruption of Black Friday shopping for Gaza. pic.twitter.com/dM3NLD3oJc

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 24, 2023

There’s a place on this earth where terrorists are shooting babies in the head, mass-raping women to “punish and terrorize” populations, and burning entire communities to the ground. Where women and girls have been taken hostage and are being held in “slave-like conditions.” Where an ethnic group is being targeted for its race by Arab terrorists bent on driving them out of their homeland.

The Israel-Hamas War has touched off a wave of antisemitic acts in Canada, including, threats, intimidation, vandalism and violence.

Cities with higher Jewish populations, including Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, are reporting higher rates of hate crimes following the Oct. 7 attack.

The BBC is facing criticism from some Jewish staff who feel they have been banned from attending a march against antisemitism.

The event, billed by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is organising it, as the largest British gathering against antisemitism since the Battle of Cable Street in 1936, is scheduled to get under way at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on Sunday afternoon.

But staff working in news and current affairs, factual journalism and senior leaders who have sought permission from the broadcaster to attend have been told that they need to adhere to the BBC’s existing guidance on attending marches, which state that staff in those divisions should not participate in public demonstrations or gatherings about controversial issues.

Israel’s satire on BBC, don’t miss it 🤭😂🤭😂 OMG 🤭😂🤭😂 pic.twitter.com/eKRbnxCQTz

— Boiled Anda 🥚🇮🇳 (@AmitLeliSlayer) October 26, 2023

Under normal circumstances the effort to be seen as “neutral” would be commendable however the BBC has a long history of Pro-Pallie bias.

My late publisher Lord George Weidenfeld knew about the Nazis. Escaping from Vienna soon after the Anschluss in 1938, he managed to save his immediate family from the Holocaust, although he lost many other relatives to it. He broadcasted to the Third Reich while working for the BBC during the Second World War, and published Albert Speer’s memoirs after it. If anyone could get into the psyche of the Nazis, George could.

It therefore came as a surprise when, over tea in the Carlyle Hotel in New York nearly a decade ago, George said, “There are people who are worse anti-Semites than the Nazis.” He went on to explain why al Qaeda, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, although of course not as genocidal on the same physical scale as the Nazis, were qualitatively worse than the Nazis in their belief systems, impulses, and instincts.

Palestinian protesters have targeted the home of a Jewish organization President in Brentwood, California during Thanksgiving.

Masked activists threw smoke grenades at the Jewish man’s house, poured fake blood and placed fake baby body bags on his driveway and lawn.

The… pic.twitter.com/ucgXYtk8vR

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 23, 2023

What makes them worse is that so many of their supporters are here in Canada and throughout the west.

The IDF’s operation to receive the 13 Israeli hostages being released by Hamas, codenamed “Heaven’s Doors”, began on Friday at 4:00 p.m. (Israel time). Two hours later, Israel will release 39 Palestinian prisoners. 12 additional Thai nationals will be released as well.

According to Arab media, the hostages have been released from the Khan Yunis Hospital, where they were held for a short time.

The hostages were then handed over to the Red Cross, which then transferred them to Egypt via the Rafah Crossing.

As of 5:00 p.m., Israeli officials confirmed that the 13 hostages are in Egypt and will be making their way to Israel soon.

Israel Says Hamas Violated Ceasefire after Just 15 Minutes

h/t Max and Canuknucklehead

Update: Named and Shamed? Indigo Vandals include School Teacher, York U Academic and all the usual suspects.

h/t MP

Toronto police have charged 11 people for the vandalism at a downtown Toronto Indigo location earlier this month.

On Nov. 10, the Indigo store at the intersection of Bay and Bloor streets was found splashed with red paint and plastered with posters featuring the company’s chief executive officer and founder, Heather Reisman. The bookstore remained open while employees spent hours cleaning the paint.