Some people look and sound like they were dropped on their heads as babies.
Jennifer (Wench) Welch is one of those people.
On her mind-melting, pinky-themed, worm-brained podcast this week, she <a href="https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/2094847749413880068">declared</a>, with her whole chest, that Israel and the United States are undemocratic, human-rights-violating pieces of dung that deserve to be criticized.
It&#8217;s an odd thing to watch a multi-millionaire, Botox-lacquered, middle-aged white woman complain about the governance of two of the freest and most prosperous nations on the planet (one of which she complacently resides in) while romanticizing parts of the world that would rather see her head covered in black garb, or on a stick.
Yet the year is 2026, and we&#8217;ve replaced asylums with podcast studios.
Not only is she ridiculously incorrect and deranged, but her position points to something more interesting and more dangerous: proof that the woke Right and the woke Left don&#8217;t just meet at the horseshoe’s tips over their hatred of Israel, but in their hatred of America too.
It is not &#8220;bullsh*t,&#8221; as she says, to call Israel the only democracy in the Middle East. It simply is the only democracy in the Middle East. Here in the West, we take for granted the oceans insulating our eastern and western borders, the weak monarchies to our north, and the weaker basket-case republics to our south. In the Middle East, Israelis live with constant awareness of the threats surrounding their democratic way of life. They sit in a region of roughly 50 Muslim-majority countries that have emptied themselves of Jews in recent decades. In the Arab world, the Jewish population fell from around 825,000 in 1948 to around 5,000 today.
That 99% collapse didn’t stem from sudden wanderlust. It might have something to do with religious leaders and texts calling for the killing of Jews, the elimination of the &#8220;Little Satan,&#8221; and the eradication of Israel from the river to the sea.
“Little Satan,” however, is a model and ally we should be cheering and supporting. Israel is a parliamentary democracy that has held uninterrupted elections since 1949, seats its Arab minority in parliament, offers universal adult suffrage, and boasts a free press savage enough to routinely tear into its own prime minister, plus a civil society that protests at will.
Compare that to Tehran, Gaza under Hamas, whose last election was 2006, Damascus, or Riyadh, and then ask Ms. Botched Botox who the real democracy is.
I would agree with her that Democracy has been looking a little murky in Liberal America lately. Y’all did just launch a candidate with zero primary votes straight into the nomination, ramped up ballot harvesting (which has a myriad of chain-of-custody problems and wrecks trust in elections), and legitimately fought voter ID as if it were a hate crime … so yeah, we’re not shining as bright as we once did.
But flaws in these democratic systems do not justify nuking these democratic systems built through years of toil, blood, and sweat by our founders. Who exactly is going to come up with an alternative form of government, Jennifer? You? A woman with wisdom, prudence, and the prowess of a corn kernel? No thanks. I&#8217;ll keep my shining democracy — a little duller in 2026 because we&#8217;ve collectively lost our minds, but a democracy on a hill nonetheless.
She also bemoaned that we and our allies in the Middle East are the real human rights violators. Right. Because we&#8217;re the ones using civilians as human shields in wartime, killing 1,200 innocents at a festival and laughing next to their raped and mutilated bodies in the street, gunning down 40,000 protestors for speaking out against the regime, executing men and women for dissent, and stoning gay pe—oh wait. That’s not us. Those are the countries she&#8217;s defending. Got it.
I don&#8217;t know exactly when the far Left and far Right lost the plot this deep into the forested maze, but it happened, and there is no turning back unless we start calling it out.
No, Israel has not committed genocide in Gaza. It responded to an act of terrorism by targeting terrorists who hide behind human shields, and Gaza&#8217;s population has still grown since 2023.
No, October 7 was not &#8220;resistance to imperialism.&#8221; It was rape, the burning of families, and hostage-taking, without a shred of morality in sight.
No, there was no sovereign state called Palestine in 1948. In fact, an independent Arab Palestinian state has never existed in human history.
No, America is not bankrolling Israel&#8217;s entire army and going broke doing it. The peacetime aid package is $3.8 billion a year, almost all of it spent on American-made weapons, which is a rounding error in a $7 trillion budget; Israel still funds the bulk of its own defense.
No, we have not merged our military with theirs. There&#8217;s no joint army, no Israeli general running CENTCOM, and no draft sending your kids to Gaza. There&#8217;s an alliance, arms sales, intelligence sharing, and a U.S. Navy that also shoots at Houthis, because they don’t just call for the death of Israel. They also call for the death of America.
No, AIPAC does not control our elections, and we are not &#8220;Zionist-occupied.&#8221; There are roughly 15 million Jews in the entire world, compared to about 2.4 billion Christians, 2 billion Muslims, 400 million Buddhists, and 400 million atheists.
Roughly 2% of the American population is Jewish, and about 1% is Muslim. Around 65% is Christian.
One hundred percent of Americans have personal autonomy over their own lives, wealth, prosperity, and freedoms. Far Left and far Right alike need to sack up, take some responsibility, and quit whining. It’s absurd on the merits, and we already have enough problems to worry about.
Millennial podcasters decrying a government that has stood by our cause throughout all of history, simply because they’re bored and “happily unmarried,” shouldn’t be one of them.
There’s a terror supporter running for Senate in Michigan for goodness sakes.
But obviously, this is the whole point. They welcome this anti-Westernism, anti-Americanism, and pro-terrorism garbage. Scratch a little at the “criticism of Israel,” and you find “hatred of America” underneath, like the worst lottery scratch-off of all time. Because for them, the West is the villain. If you are free and rich and winning, you are the oppressor, and if you are a theocracy that hangs gays and hides behind kids, you’re the oppressed.
Wench, who couldn’t pick Damascus out of a lineup, is not coherently weighing governments; she’s sorting the world into those allowed to dish it out, and those obliged to take it.
America sits at the very top of this horseshoe squad’s hit list, so get ready, because Israel is just the warm-up.

Jennifer Welch

Inside The Rotten Mind Of The Anti-American Botox-Bimbo Blaming Israel For Everything

antisemitism

israel

jennifer welch

october 7 attack

opinion

united states

Mark Ruffalo needs to spend more time as a nonverbal, big green Hulk with no time in actual speaking roles. When the Hollywood actor opens his mouth these days, his script is full of lines that were written for him by bitter, hate-fueled Hollywood miscreants. His bile-filled screeds against Jewish leaders in <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/nypost.com/2026/08/22/us-news/paramount-hits-back-at-actor-mark-ruffalo-over-unhinged-antisemitic-rant-against-warner-bros-merger/___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ZmVlMmVkMDhlNGIyYTY1ZjgzZWNhZTc2MGJmZDkzYTM6Nzo4ZGMyOmRkOGY2M2VmY2JkMTdlMTVjNjJjYzBjZmUyYTk4MGQzMjY1ZjQwOWI3NGY3ZjUwODBjNDVjNDRhYjgzYTg0NDc6cDpUOkY">Hollywood and the tech industry</a> have been expanded to link conspiracy theories as old as time to the reason he’s not getting hired these days.
Let’s look at a few examples. The Jewish owner of Paramount, David Ellison, has a father, Larry Ellison, who founded a tech company (from which he retired as CEO), Oracle, that has business operations in Israel. And because of Oracle’s “scary technologies,” Ruffalo warns, we might be unsafe in America. Hence, the Paramount-Warner Bros merger should be canceled. If you’re scratching your head and wondering where this nonsense comes from, the answer is that the Hulk’s mind is a crazy and addled place.
The linkages in Ruffalo’s spaghetti brain are as incomprehensible as the lines he grunts in his signature role as Marvel’s Incredible Hulk. Ruffalo couches his rants in what is currently the de rigueur language of progressivism, which is to say that the<a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/variety.com/2026/film/news/mark-ruffalo-paramount-warner-bros-merger-david-ellison-1236840301/___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ZmVlMmVkMDhlNGIyYTY1ZjgzZWNhZTc2MGJmZDkzYTM6NzoxYTZmOmQ3MzAxYjI5NzQ3OTlkMzVjOTc4NTFkMGUwYTNkODMxOGNiZWNkMzJjOGE2ZmYyZjI1ZmY1MWQ1MGVmNTY1NGE6cDpUOkY"> merger wouldn’t be fair</a>. He pulls out big words like antitrust and consolidation to entice state attorneys general to join him, but ultimately he whines that the merger would negatively impact jobs. Most notably, no doubt, his prospects for future employment.
At the root of Ruffalo’s screed against tech giants who happen to be Jewish is his fundamental hatred of Jews. His deep-seated and inexplicable hatred of Jews and Israel is inflammatory and demonstrates fully why certain actors should only be allowed to speak the words that screenwriters give to them. Mark Ruffalo tied Oracle technology to Israel to his claim of genocide in Gaza to the Paramount-Warner Bros merger. Paramount rightly called out Ruffalo’s untethered and unfounded remarks as antisemitic, as he sees paranoid connections where none exist and genocide/apartheid where no rational actor sees them.
When actors like Ruffalo are allowed to make their own speech or wardrobe decisions, they do dumb and cruel things. Take the <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/canarymission.org/blog/The_Antisemitic_History_Of_The_Red_Hand___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ZmVlMmVkMDhlNGIyYTY1ZjgzZWNhZTc2MGJmZDkzYTM6Nzo3NDdlOjAwNzgzZmM0NzM3MDUxNjk3MTZhZTc4NjBmZjU5YjE0YTFjY2UzNGNhOTY3M2MzN2RjMDNkNTc2ODA2ZTVmMmM6cDpUOkY">Red Hand pin,</a> which somehow was supposed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The lapel pin that Ruffalo sported at the Oscars did nothing to bring about a ceasefire, but inflamed sentiment against Jews and Israel. The pin in question was designed to show support for terrorists who kidnapped and lynched two Israeli reservists in Ramallah in 2000. The terrorists held up their bloody hands after tearing the Israeli men apart and tossing their bodies from a window, after which the defiled bodies were drawn through the streets of Ramallah and burned. For Mark Ruffalo, this animalistic terror act was no more than a special effect in a movie. He’s not bright enough to distinguish reality from a comic book.
Hollywood can do so much better than Mark Ruffalo and his ilk. He is lionized by Jew-hating fellow actors who, like him, are washed up. We need more great leaders to fill the silver screen’s biggest roles. Ruffalo was never convincing as brilliant scientist Dr. Bruce Banner because he clearly isn’t capable of playing a smart guy. He also wasn’t convincing as a strong, non-verbal Hulk because he is an emotionally weak person. Studio executives have done a much better job in filling other roles in the Marvel Universe. It’s time to audition newer, better, smarter actors for the Bruce Banner/Hulk role. Scarlett Johansson, Gal Gadot, Gwyneth Paltrow, David Corenswet, Quentin Tarantino, and other fantastic actors and directors are multi-dimensional and create compelling characters in action movies. These are Hollywood’s superheroes who entertain and enlarge stage and screen.
***
Bonnie Glick is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an avid Marvel and D.C. comics fan.

“Crime 101” UK Gala Screening – Special Access

How Mark Ruffalo Swapped The Avengers For Antisemitism

mark ruffalo

paramount

warner bros

In a high-stakes operation in Western Gaza City, a specialized joint force from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet security agency successfully captured Moein Al-Arabid, the head of Hamas’s internal security and intelligence apparatus.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
‼️⭕APPREHENDED: The Head of Hamas’ Internal Security in Gaza, as part of a targeted operation to remove threats posed by Hamas in northern Gaza.
The apprehended terrorist has recently worked to consolidate Hamas&#39; control over northern Gaza and to advance terrorist attacks…
&mdash; Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a href="https://x.com/IDF/status/2094832971773542597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
The capture marks a critical intelligence breakthrough for Israel. Often referred to as the leader of the &#8220;Palestinian Shin Bet,&#8221; Al-Arabid was grabbed near his home. <a href="https://www.news18.com/world/hamas-top-commander-captured-in-gaza-netanyahu-says-he-helped-hide-move-israeli-hostages-10304951.html#google_vignette">According</a> to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Al-Arabid played a pivotal role in managing internal intelligence, directing counter-intelligence, protecting senior leadership, and hiding and relocating Israeli hostages taken on October 7, 2023, during the horrific Hamas massacre.
Israeli officials further accused the former Qassam Brigades figure of attempting to reconstruct Hamas’s operational capabilities and restore its administrative governance in Gaza.
Al-Arabid&#8217;s capture provides Israel with an unprecedented window into the inner workings of Hamas’s security architecture and hostage-network infrastructure. The imperative to secure such high-level intelligence is underscored by the horrifying, documented atrocities of the October 7, 2023 attacks.
The full magnitude of October 7 is preserved in the IDF’s 47-minute <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/b1pnmg9up">unedited compilation</a> film, Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre. Assembled by reservists Yuval Horowitz and Matan Harel-Fisch, the raw footage captures a relentless killing spree across more than 30 southern Israeli communities and the Supernova music festival. Relying entirely on GoPro footage worn by terrorists, civilian dashcams, home security systems, and victim cell phones, the film provides undeniable courtroom evidence of unspeakable cruelty.
The visual record exposes terrorists firing point-blank into civilian vehicles, setting homes ablaze to force families out, and murdering toddlers in their beds. In one devastating CCTV sequence, a father leads his young sons into a bomb shelter before a militant throws a grenade inside, killing the father and leaving his wounded children to flee back into their home while the attacker calmly raids their refrigerator.
The film documents victims being executed, disfigured, stripped, and paraded through Gaza to cheering crowds, with terrorists celebrating and filming their actions in real time.
Beyond the raw footage, a <a href="https://cc4e0711-9401-400e-ae14-65ae0400675b.filesusr.com/ugd/aab121_882e9391df384e169d29f16c0faefeac.pdf">landmark May 2026 report</a> by the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes further illuminated the systematic nature of the violence. Based on more than 1,800 hours of analysis, the report concluded that Hamas utilized sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as a calculated, integral weapon of war.
Investigators documented 13 distinct patterns of abuse, including gang rapes at the Supernova festival, sexual torture, postmortem mutilation, and &#8220;kinocidal&#8221; acts forcing family members to abuse each other. Arabic-to-Hebrew phrasebooks recovered from dead militants contained explicit commands like &#8220;take off your pants.&#8221; The commission cited the documents as evidence supporting its conclusion that sexual violence was premeditated.
The apprehension of Moein Al-Arabid represents a monumental victory for Israeli intelligence. Interrogating the mastermind behind Hamas&#8217;s internal security offers Israel vital insights to dismantle Hamas’ remaining terrorist networks.

Silhouette of soldiers with Israel flag against the sunset

Israel Captures Top Hamas Intel Chief Behind Hostage Operations

benjamin netanyahu

hamas

world

Popular children’s content creator Ms. Rachel was confronted over her anti-Israel views and insisted that she’s not anti-Israel.
Podcast host Avi Lichtschein recently approached the YouTube star, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, at a neighborhood park, as he discussed on Sunday’s <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BwAMLpmArmo4pP0Kgn2KO">episode</a> of his show, “Depends on the Context.”
After meeting her, Lichtschein asked the educator why she was anti-Israel. Accurso reportedly told him that she was not anti-Israel, but anti-Israeli government and anti-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I pushed back on this, and I said, ‘That’s absurd,&#8217;” the podcast host said. “Saying you’re anti-Netanyahu, but you’re not anti-Israel? Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of the sovereign nation. I think what you do is way beyond that.”
Lichtschein said that Accurso has accused Israel of committing a “genocide” through its war with Hamas.
 “She said something along the lines of, ‘Twenty thousand children have died. How is that not a genocide?&#8217;” Lichtschein said. “The answer is — and this is what I was trying to convey to her — genocide is not just a word for, like, a war. War is terrible. Again, Hamas started this war. Genocide is the specific accusation that [she’s] hurling at the Jewish people, hurling at the state of Israel, and now it gives carte blanche to go open season on Jews literally around the world,” he went on.
The podcaster said Accurso repeatedly used the justification that her “husband’s father is Jewish” and insisted she supports the right of Israel to exist. Lichtschein said he told her she was “spreading blood libel.” 
He told Accurso’s husband that he was sorry she got upset.
“I wasn’t planning on her changing her mind,” Lichtschein said. “I wanted to point out [that] [her] words are creating a lot of damage and I think someone with an audience as enormous as hers has a responsibility to understand what happens downstream from the things that she says.”
Lichtschein said he doesn’t think Accurso is a malicious antisemite, but added that her words are having a negative outcome just the same. 
“I think that what she’s doing is motivated by compassion for children, but I think she’s very naïve and very gullible and doesn’t realize what her actions are doing to the Jewish community at large, what her words are doing to the enemies of the Jewish people. What she’s doing is harmful.”
Ms. Rachel’s YouTube series “Songs For Littles” has grown rapidly in recent years, and her YouTube channel has reached 20.2 million subscribers. She receives over 400 million views each month, with her most popular video receiving over a billion views.
The YouTube star has gained massive popularity largely due to her uncanny ability to “entrance” and entertain babies and toddlers. She has even been called the “world’s babysitter.” But she’s espoused far-Left views on topics ranging from pushing pro-trans talking points to opposing the deportation of illegal immigrant criminals. She also partnered with New York City democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Ms. Rachel

Podcaster Confronts Ms. Rachel About Accusing Israel Of ‘Genocide’

gaza war

ms rachel

Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is ramping up efforts to repair his relationship with Jewish voters, with his campaign now <a href="https://www.jta.org/2026/08/31/politics/all-of-us-have-to-bring-down-violence-wherever-we-see-it-el-sayed-says-following-address-to-jewish-democrats">planning</a> to hire a &#8220;Jewish liaison&#8221; following months of controversy over his anti-Israel views.
The far-Left candidate’s sudden pivot comes on the heels of two back-to-back apologies from El-Sayed over comments he made following an attempted terrorist attack on a West Bloomfield Township synagogue preschool in March.
Speaking at the Michigan Democratic Party Jewish Caucus’s “Summer Simcha” fundraiser on Sunday, El-Sayed apologized for offering &#8220;context&#8221; for the attack by pointing to the assailant&#8217;s family being affected by fighting in the Middle East and saying that &#8220;hurt people hurt people.&#8221;
He claimed he would &#8220;take it all the way back&#8221; if he could and insisted he never meant to defend terrorism.
El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign reportedly said it intends to hire a Jewish liaison and is interviewing candidates for the position while consulting with Jewish community leaders, a person familiar with the campaign told JTA.
Yet, for many voters, the PR tour is nothing more than cheap political theater. The outreach comes as El-Sayed faces resistance from Michigan&#8217;s Jewish voters, a historically Democratic constituency that could prove consequential in his general election fight against Republican Mike Rogers.
While El-Sayed drops buzzwords like &#8220;tikkun olam&#8220; to charm the crowd, attendees weren’t buying the sudden change of heart.
When one mother asked if he would support funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system to protect innocent children, as her own were soon flying to Israel, he wouldn’t, a position he has <a href="https://forward.com/news/844100/el-sayed-israel-aid-jewish-voters/">taken before</a>.
“He doesn’t care about the safety of my children,” the mother commented.
On national television, El-Sayed has slammed the Jewish state as an &#8220;illegal apartheid regime&#8221; and <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2026/08/el-sayed-calls-israel-bloodthirsty-ahead-of-senate-primary-win/">branded</a> its government &#8220;bloodthirsty,&#8221; while openly demanding a complete freeze on all U.S. aid to Israel.
El-Sayed&#8217;s buddy, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, pulled back the curtain on the entire charade. Piker exposed El-Sayed’s damage control as a complete deception, telling his followers, “There are going to be a lot of people who are already questioning Abdul El-Sayed’s sincerity on these issues that will then turn around and say, ‘Oh, he’s, you know, he’s moderating his position on Israel,’ all this stuff. I don’t think he is. Okay, I will say this. I am literally the person that is being dangled. And I’m going to tell you once again, he’s not moderating on his perspective on Israel or anything like that.”
Republican opponent Mike Rogers torched the candidate&#8217;s sudden pivot, calling El-Sayed&#8217;s apology campaign the &#8220;epitome of what a conman does.&#8221;
With a track record of cozying up to extremists and demonizing Israel, El-Sayed’s token hiring of a campaign liaison should be seen for what it is: a ruse.

MI Democratic Party holds nominating convention

El-Sayed To Hire Token Jew As Campaign Spirals

2026 midterm election

abdul el-sayed

michigan senate election

mike rogers

The largest Muslim charity organization in the United States published — and then quickly removed — an education &#8220;guide&#8221; blaming the 9/11 terrorist attacks on American support for Israel.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations initially released the materials as part of the &#8220;Back to school resource guide&#8221; that went live on Monday — and it laid out a number of dubious claims about the 2001 attacks in which nearly 3,000 Americans were killed between the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and four hijacked commercial flights.
One such claim, shared by <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/08/28/us-news/cair-blamed-9-11-on-us-support-for-israel-recommended-bin-ladens-writings-in-back-to-school-guide/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">The New York Post</a>, was that the attacks themselves had not been planned and carried out by Islamic terrorists, but rather by a &#8220;group self-identifying as Al Qaeda hailing from the mountains of Afghanistan.&#8221;
The resource material, titled &#8220;Muslim Studies Curriculum,&#8221; also asserted that American involvement in the region was reasonable justification for attacks on the United States. Continued support for Israel and the United States military&#8217;s role in the Gulf War were also cited.
The group&#8217;s assessment of the situation after the 9/11 attacks went even further, suggesting that the United States had created an &#8220;Islamophobic&#8221; culture with the ensuing Global War on Terror. Specifically, the group asserted that the words &#8220;terrorism&#8221; and &#8220;terrorist&#8221; were reserved solely for Muslims.
&#8220;While Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism existed long before the 9/11 attacks, this time period marked a stark shift in US policy and state sponsored Islamophobia in the U.S. and abroad. There was immediate backlash against anyone perceived to be Muslim,&#8221; the materials read, and presented arguments suggesting that political violence from non-Muslims was often met with less backlash.
Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden&#8217;s &#8220;Letter to America&#8221; was included in the guide as a &#8220;resource material&#8221;: &#8220;Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.&#8221;
Nicholas Haros Jr., whose mother Frances was killed on 9/11, said he believed the misinformation campaign was intentional: &#8220;The further we get from 9/11, this new generation of kids will learn to blame our country. These kids are going to be poisoned – and that’s the intent.&#8221;
Senator <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-mcmahon-pro-hamas-organization-has-no-place-in-american-schools">Tom Cotton</a> (R-AR) sounded the alarm on CAIR almost a year earlier in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon dated September 9, 2025.
&#8220;I write to alert you to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’s (CAIR) efforts to influence K-12 schools &#8230; It is well documented that CAIR has deep ties to pro-Hamas terrorist organizations and publicly supports Hamas’s terrorist activities,&#8221; Cotton wrote in part.
&#8220;Such an organization should never have access to our nation’s children,&#8221; he asserted, adding, &#8220;The organization offers &#8216;educational&#8217; materials on its website that perpetuate pro-terrorist, anti-Israel rhetoric. CAIR Philadelphia recently issued guidance for educators titled &#8216;Remembering and Reflecting: Teaching September 11, 2001, in Diverse Classrooms.&#8217; The guide directs teachers to avoid using &#8216;inaccurate and inflammatory terms such as ‘Islamic terrorists,’ ‘jihadists,’ or ‘radical Islamic terrorists,’&#8217; when describing the September 11 terrorists.&#8221;
&#8220;The U.S. Department of Education must ensure that CAIR is not given an opportunity to push its radical, pro-terrorist, anti-Israel ideology on American schoolchildren,&#8221; he concluded.

9/11 Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center

Islamic Charity Group Blames 9/11 On American Support For Israel

council on american islamic relations

islamophobia

politics

september 11 attacks

tom cotton

Six months ago, the United States and Israel went to war with Iran to cripple its nuclear program and military capabilities. Six months later, Iran has suffered devastating losses — but the Islamic regime remains in power.
The war’s impact has extended well beyond Iran itself. The conflict has disrupted global energy markets and shipping, while ongoing negotiations have yet to produce a lasting agreement to end the war. With the fighting largely shifting from major military operations to economic warfare, the conflict has entered a new phase with no end in sight.
The campaign, originally named Operation Epic Fury, has delivered major military gains, imposed significant costs and left a long list of questions unanswered.
Here’s a look at the biggest achievements, losses and unresolved questions six months into the war.
<h2>Achievements</h2>
<h4>Ayatollah Khamenei Was Killed</h4>
The death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the conflict was arguably the most consequential single strike of the war. Khamenei had ruled Iran for decades and was the central figure in the Islamic Republic’s political and military system. His death did not bring down the regime, but it removed the country’s most powerful leader and forced Iran into a succession process in the middle of a war. His son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to be seen or heard in public or take on the public role his father once played.
<h4>Iran&#8217;s Military Leadership Was Devastated</h4>
Iran has also suffered extraordinary losses among its senior military leadership. Israel <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/israel-at-war/briefings-by-idf-spokesperson-bg-effie-defrin/february-26-press-briefings/press-briefing-by-idf-spokesperson-bg-effie-defrin-february-28-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">said</a> it killed dozens of senior Iranian commanders and officials in the opening strikes alone, including IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh and other senior figures. As strikes continued, the Israel Defense Forces <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/iran-israel-war-2026/live-updates-iran-israel-war-2026/march-1-2026-iran-israel-war-2026-live-updates/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">claimed</a> it eliminated more than 40 Iranian senior commanders. On March 17, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/he-threatened-america-then-came-the-strike-his-words-now-haunt">was killed</a> in an Israeli airstrike. He had been accused of overseeing the January crackdown that killed thousands of Iranian protesters and had threatened the U.S. military and President Trump shortly before his death.
<h4>Iran’s Economy Is In Shambles</h4>
Iran entered the war with an economy already under severe strain, with inflation, a collapsing rial, and worsening living conditions fueling protests in December and January. Six months into the war, the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has further squeezed Iran’s economy by choking off its ability to export oil. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-economy-war-impact-oil-exports-inflation-unemployment-gdp-currency-2026-8">Business Insider</a> reported that Iranian oil exports fell as low as 65,000 barrels per day in May, down 69% from the 2.12 million barrels a day exported before the war. The IMF projects Iran’s economy will contract 5.4% in 2026, its sharpest contraction since 1988, while inflation could reach 68.9%. The rial has fallen to record lows, and Iran’s economic “Misery Index” reached 91.1, its highest level on record. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies estimates the war has caused roughly $144 billion in economic damage, equivalent to about 40% of Iran’s prewar GDP.
<h4>Iran’s Nuclear Infrastructure Is Buried</h4>
While several of Iran’s nuclear facilities were severely damaged by U.S. strikes ordered by President Trump last summer, the war provided an opportunity to continue degrading the program, targeting additional infrastructure and preventing Tehran from easily rebuilding what had been destroyed. The result is a nuclear program that has been repeatedly battered, with its ability to resume large-scale enrichment significantly constrained.
<h4>Navy and Air Force Neutralized</h4>
Iran’s conventional air and naval forces have been among the war’s biggest casualties. As of May, CENTCOM <a href="https://www.centcom.mil/ABOUT-US/POSTURE-STATEMENT/Al-Udeid-Air-Base/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">claimed</a> U.S. forces destroyed 161 Iranian vessels across 16 classes of warships, effectively crippling Iran’s ability to operate at sea. Before the operation, Iran’s air force was flying between 30 and 100 times a day. CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper told Congress that number is now zero, with U.S. and Israeli strikes destroying or disabling airfields, aircraft hangars, fuel supplies, weapons stockpiles and aircraft. Cooper also said 82% of Iran’s air-defense missile systems were knocked out.
<h4>Iran’s Proxies Have Been Sidelined</h4>
One of Tehran’s traditional advantages has been its network of armed proxies across the Middle East, but that network entered the war significantly weaker than it was before October 7. Hezbollah did join the fight and launched attacks against Israel, but years of Israeli operations had severely weakened the group’s leadership and military capabilities. The Houthis also fired missiles at Israel, but their attacks were largely ineffective. Meanwhile, the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2024 removed a key Iranian ally and severed an important link in Tehran’s regional network. The result was a much weaker “Axis of Resistance” that was unable to meaningfully relieve pressure on Iran or turn the conflict into a broader regional war.
<h2>Losses</h2>
<h4>Fallen American Soldiers</h4>
The war has also come at a human cost for the United States. According to the Pentagon’s updated casualty figures, 18 U.S. service members have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/two-american-heroes-killed-in-iran-attack-identified">been killed</a> and another 624 wounded since the war began on February 28. Those killed include Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, Capt. Cody Khork, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Sgt. Declan Coady, Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, John A. Klinner, Ariana Savino, Ashley Pruitt, Seth Koval, Curtis Angst, Tyler Simmons, Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales. 
<h4>The Strait of Hormuz Isn&#8217;t Open</h4>
The Strait of Hormuz is still operating, but traffic remains far below prewar levels. In August, only a handful of commercial vessels crossed the waterway each day, compared with more than 130 daily transits before the war, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hormuz-ship-crossings-hover-single-digits-data-shows-2026-08-21/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">according to Reuters</a>. And when traffic does return to normal, the strait’s administration could look different. Under the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-exactly-what-the-white-house-says-is-in-the-deal-with-iran">U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding</a>, Iran agreed to allow toll-free passage for commercial vessels for 60 days while working with Oman and other Persian Gulf states on the strait’s “future administration and maritime services.” A senior Trump administration official said the provision could pave the way for a longer-term arrangement, though Iran has so far indicated it wants to work only with Oman.
<h4>Key Allies Did Not Join the Fight</h4>
The war also exposed limits to how much support the United States could expect from some of its closest allies. Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain declined to join Trump’s efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, while Italy and Spain also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europe-pushes-back-us-military-operations-concerns-over-iran-war-mount-2026-03-31/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">restricted</a> U.S. military access to bases and airspace for operations against Iran. France denied Israeli aircraft carrying U.S. weapons overflight rights, while Britain limited its support largely to defensive operations. Trump publicly criticized Britain, France, Italy and Germany over their positions, leading to a series of diplomatic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-confront-divided-west-in-g7-showdown">spats</a>.
<h4>A Heavy Price Tag</h4>
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee in July that the war had cost an estimated $37.5 billion so far. NBC News reported that the Pentagon’s internal estimate had reached $80 billion to $100 billion when accounting for repairing damaged bases, replacing destroyed aircraft and <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6046742-house-democrats-letter-iran-conflict/">replenishing</a> depleted weapons stockpiles. The administration also sought $67.1 billion from Congress in June, including $21 billion for munitions and $17.3 billion for operational costs. The United States has also lost a significant number of aircraft during the conflict, including at least four F-15E Strike Eagles, a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, a CH-47 Chinook, two MC-130 transport aircraft and multiple MQ-9 Reaper drones.
<h2>Unresolved</h2>
<h4>Negotiations Have Dragged On</h4>
Despite months of negotiations, the United States and Iran have yet to reach a lasting agreement. The proposed June memorandum of understanding ultimately collapsed, and talks now appear stalled, with the two sides still divided over Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has also accused Iran of saying one thing behind closed doors and another publicly, saying he does not trust the regime. 
<h4>Pickaxe Mountain</h4>
One of the biggest unresolved issues is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-is-pickaxe-mountain-and-why-is-trump-talking-about-it">Pickaxe Mountain</a>, a deeply buried nuclear-related complex near Iran’s Natanz facility that was not struck during previous U.S. attacks. Satellite imagery indicates construction and fortification have continued at the site, which some experts estimate is buried at least 100 meters underground — potentially deeper than the U.S. military’s conventional bunker-busting capabilities can reach. The International Atomic Energy Agency has never inspected the facility, raising questions about what Iran could eventually store or develop there. President Trump has publicly identified Pickaxe Mountain as a potential target, but for now the facility remains intact and could provide Iran with a hardened fallback for its nuclear program if it becomes operational.
<h4>Iran’s Nuclear Material Remains Unaccounted For</h4>
The fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remains unknown. Before the strikes, Iran had more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, but the IAEA has been unable to determine how much survived, where it is or whether Iran has moved it. Trump has repeatedly called the material “nuclear dust” and said the U.S. wants it removed from Iran. Iran, meanwhile, has maintained that it has the right to a peaceful civilian nuclear program. During negotiations, Trump has discussed working with Iran to excavate and remove the potentially buried stockpile.

Mojtaba Khamenei

Six Months Into the Iran War, Who Is Winning?

ali khamenei

iran

iran nuclear program

strait of hormuz

Leftist streamer Hasan Piker is drawing renewed and growing backlash after comparing Israel to “Jewish ISIS” and threatening pro-Israel Jews to stop supporting the country before somebody “takes action” against them. 
The <a href="https://x.com/DSA_Watch/status/2091355246706540667?s=20">incendiary comments</a> came during a recent stream and coincide with his ongoing efforts to campaign for socialist candidates across the country and help tear down the Democratic establishment.
“People don&#8217;t f*ck with Israel any longer, and if Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone&#8217;s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” Piker said. “We&#8217;re teaching people the wrong lesson. I don&#8217;t know how people don&#8217;t recognize how dangerous this predicament is. How dangerous this is for Jews.” 
Piker invoked antisemitic tropes to expand on his assertion that Zionism itself is endangering the livelihoods of ordinary Jewish Americans, pointing to public opinion polls showing <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/07/09/americans-views-of-israelis-have-grown-increasingly-negative-but-views-of-palestinians-have-held-fairly-steady/">declining favorability</a> toward the Israeli government.
“You&#8217;re running around basically tying your entire identity to a country that inevitably will be seen as basically Jewish ISIS, and you&#8217;re saying, as Jews, this is all we care about. You&#8217;re making antisemitism worse,” he said without evidence. 
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said Piker’s comments came after Michigan Democratic congressional candidate Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish, said he is unsure whether he can support Abdul El-Sayed over his foreign policy views. 
“More calls for violence coming out of the El-Sayed campaign,” Rogers <a href="https://x.com/MikeRogersForMI/status/2091637803595763806?s=20">argued</a> on X. “Absolutely DISGUSTING. If Abdul El-Sayed had any courage at all, he would call this out and disavow Hasan Piker once and for all. We’re waiting, Abdul…” 
On Monday, El-Sayed <a href="https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2091938613776806390?s=20">addressed</a> Piker’s controversial comments without naming the streamer directly.
“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters. Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms. And I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk,” he said. 
Then, he pivoted to his campaign’s economic message, arguing that voters don’t care that much about his ties to Piker. 
“While politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools, and healthcare. Because that’s what Michiganders keep asking about. It’s why I’m fighting to get money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for All.”
Other Democrats also pounced on Piker, including Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). “The only one inciting violence against American Jews is Piker and his rhetoric,” he <a href="https://x.com/RepJoshG/status/2091615433581338900?s=20">said</a>. “For the future of our party, Democrats have to call out his hate and condemn these dangerous views. Anyone campaigning with him is part of the problem.” 
Piker, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/establishment-democrats-make-their-last-stand-in-michigan">believes</a> America deserved the September 11 terrorist attacks, has emerged as one of the socialist movement’s most influential cheerleaders, using his enormous online following to rally support for DSA-aligned candidates. He campaigned with El-Sayed down the home stretch of the primary after making it his mission to oust as many establishment Democrats as possible. 
“Of course, of course, it was a dumb statement, and of course, I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11,” El-Sayed has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/el-sayed-shrugs-off-hasan-pikers-9-11-comments">said</a>, before qualifying his remarks to suggest that continued focus on Piker amounts to “cancel culture.”
“But, you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with dumb things somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves and say, ‘Oh, well, what does that mean about what you think?’ I want to be held accountable for what I say and what I do, rather than this idea that we’re so stuck in cancel culture that all of us agreed was a bad idea back in 2020, but we seem to want to bring back,” he added.
Over the weekend, a jeering crowd shouted Piker down and <a href="https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2091712850884526083?s=20">booed him</a> after he attempted to walk back those 9/11 comments, knowing the backlash could prove damaging to El-Sayed’s campaign.
At the same venue, Piker <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/2091264841805656406?s=20">mockingly sang</a> “We are Charlie Kirk” to a crowd of cheering and laughing leftists, while a newly unearthed video shows him saying he wanted to “kill” the late Turning Point USA founder.

Hasan/Hamas

Hasan Piker Delivers Ominous Warning To Pro-Israel Jews

hasan piker

michigan senate race

A questionable consensus has hardened on the Democratic Left. Israel, we are told with certainty, sits at the eye of American political power, its lobby the most potent, its money the most corrosive, and its influence the real reason United States policy bends and folds the way it does. The claim is repeated so often, and with such confidence, that it has begun to pass for common knowledge. It is also being deployed, quite deliberately, as a midterm strategy.
According to the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/fara">OpenSecrets</a> compilation of Foreign Agents Registration Act filings since 2016, Israel ranks tenth in total foreign lobbying spending. China, Qatar, Japan, Liberia, and Saudi Arabia all stand higher, and several other states outrank it as well. 
<a href="https://aipac.org/truth-lobbying">Israel</a> is not the largest foreign lobbyist operating in the United States by this measure.
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/22/mamdani-called-aipac-dark-money-monsters-none-of-the-candidates-seem-to-care-00970873">Zohran Mamdani</a> has called AIPAC “monsters” who move “millions in dark money” to preserve their power, turn Americans against one another, and obstruct an end to what he terms genocide. <a href="https://www.memri.org/tv/abdul-el-sayed-michigan-aipac-two-masters-israel-most-egregious-example">Abdul El-Sayed</a> has described Israel as “the most egregious” foreign government shaping American politics and declared that “our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the State of Israel and AIPAC.”
<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/24/axios-show-bernie-sanders-aipac-oligarchy">Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)</a> has cast the same organization as part of a billionaire oligarchy that systematically defeats progressive critics while shielding Netanyahu. <a href="https://allisraelnews.com/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-says-us-congress-is-overly-influenced-by-aipac">Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)</a> has said Congress is “overly influenced” by AIPAC and labeled it an extremist organization that destabilizes American democracy. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/aipac-congress-democrats.html">Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)</a> has asked why other interest groups may be scrutinized while the most “powerful lobbying group” pushing “allegiance to a foreign country” remains insulated, reducing the entire relationship to “all about the Benjamins.”
These statements are more than isolated criticisms. They form a working political agenda that turns policy disagreement into a story of external control and compromised government institutions.
Sixty percent of U.S. adults now hold an <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/07/negative-views-of-israel-netanyahu-continue-to-rise-among-americans-especially-young-people/">unfavorable</a> view of Israel, up from 53% last year. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the number is far higher: eight in 10 view Israel unfavorably, up from 69% a year ago and 53% in 2022. Democrats under 50 years old are especially negative, with nearly half saying their view is very unfavorable. One recent survey also found that nearly three in 10 young Americans now view Jews as a <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/nearly-one-third-of-young-americans-view-jews-as-a-threat-to-society-poll/">threat</a> to society. 
Candidates who keep calling Israel the biggest foreign lobby are both speaking to and helping expand an audience that has already moved sharply against the Middle East nation, especially among younger Democrats. The claim encourages the belief that the American government itself is aligned with and controlled by Israel. For socialist and DSA-aligned activists, that picture is unifying. Their attitude is encapsulated by the Faust quote: &#8220;For all that comes into being deserves to perish.&#8221; It is a way of seeing the world that takes less intellectual effort and is more seductive.
That concentration of attention is harder to justify when larger foreign influences are taken into account. Qatar has directed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/qatars-billions-raise-new-questions-about-foreign-influence-on-campus">billions</a> into American universities, financing socialist student organizations on campuses, research centers, and academic programming that shape how students understand the Middle East and the Jewish state. 
At the same time, a longer-running network with documented ties to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-hearing-pulls-back-curtain-on-muslim-brotherhoods-ties-to-hamas">Muslim Brotherhood</a> and Hamas-supporting infrastructure has spent decades building influence through nonprofits, campus organizing, and educational programming. The 2008 Holy Land Foundation case and later Senate testimony showed this network continuing to operate. This operation helps produce a younger cohort already primed to see Israel as uniquely illegitimate and powerful, which makes the progressive claim that Israel is the top foreign lobby land more easily and turn more readily into votes.
China has spent heavily through its own channels, advancing influence that frequently aligns with socialist and communist political ideologies, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act database shows multiple countries exceeding Israel’s registered foreign agent spending. A movement truly focused on foreign influence would examine the largest spenders and the most embedded ideological networks with equal criticism.
In a midterm cycle in which Democrats are still trying to take back the House, calling Israel the biggest foreign lobby remains useful even when the numbers say otherwise. If they win the chamber, they regain the power to investigate and, if the politics allow it, try to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/4539460/republicans-cant-take-2026-midterm-elections-for-granted/">impeach</a> President Trump again. That is why the claim continues. It is not sustained by the data; it’s sustained by what it can still deliver in an election year.

US Currency One Hundred Dollar Bill in a circle on USA Red

The Left’s Israel Obsession And The Fiction Of Its Foreign Influence

aipac

zohran mamdani

Mark Ruffalo’s fight with Paramount may be new. His fight with Israel definitely is not.
The “Avengers” star spent the weekend denying accusations that he invoked “antisemitic tropes,” but a trail of Ruffalo’s own posts shows his criticism of Israel stretches back more than a decade.
The latest fight started after Paramount accused Ruffalo of invoking “antisemitic tropes” while he attacked the company’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ruffalo had shared a video of former Oracle CEO Safra Catz discussing technology the company made available to Israel following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Ruffalo went after Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose son David runs Paramount, and warned that the technology could eventually be “used on you.”
“Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle,” Ruffalo wrote.
Paramount wasn’t having it.
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” the company said.
Paramount also called Ruffalo’s use of words like “genocide” and “apartheid” in connection with the corporate fight “a bridge too far.”
Ruffalo pushed back, calling the accusation that he is antisemitic “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”
“Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people,” Ruffalo said.
But Ruffalo’s posts about Israel go back years.
In 2014, he questioned accusations that Hamas was using civilians as human shields.
“Do you honestly think these people, these fellow human beings, would use their own children as shields?” Ruffalo wrote to another user. “Use your heart.”
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163859 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085600.439-1024x300.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085600.439-1024x300.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085600.439-300x88.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085600.439-768x225.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085600.439.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
Days later, Ruffalo shared an article claiming Hamas had not kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.
“Wow. It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All,” the headline Ruffalo shared read.
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163861 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-1024x300.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-1024x300.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-300x88.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-768x225.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
And when criticism started flying over his Gaza posts, Ruffalo had an answer for that, too.
“Empathizing w/ Gaza does NOT make me anti-Semitic, nor pro-Hamas or anti-Israel,” Ruffalo wrote. “It makes me human.”
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163867 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-1024x341.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-300x100.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-768x256.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366.jpg 1053w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
Fast forward to 2021 when Ruffalo was calling for sanctions against Israel and comparing the country to apartheid-era South Africa.
“Sanctions on South Africa helped free its black people,” Ruffalo wrote before calling for sanctions on Israel to “free Palestinians.” 
He repeated the comparison days later while posting about Palestinian deaths in Gaza.
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163925 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T092319.514.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="351" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T092319.514.jpg 604w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T092319.514-300x174.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></div>
&nbsp;
Then Ruffalo walked it back.
Later that month, the actor apologized for posts suggesting Israel was committing “genocide.”
“I have reflected &amp; wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” Ruffalo wrote.
He called the characterization “not accurate,” “inflammatory,” and “disrespectful.” Ruffalo also acknowledged something else about the rhetoric.
“It’s being used to justify antisemitism here &amp; abroad,” he wrote.
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163885 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-1024x341.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-300x100.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-768x256.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415.jpg 1053w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
The apology, though, didn’t stop Ruffalo from continuing to weigh in on Israel. In November 2023, Ruffalo went after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu discussed civilian casualties in Gaza.
“They aren’t ‘collateral damage’ either,” Ruffalo wrote, referring to Palestinians. “They are human beings who happen to have been born there and live there and most of those human beings are stuck there.”
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163895 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090705.491.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="351" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090705.491.jpg 604w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090705.491-300x174.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></div>
Ruffalo has continued criticizing Israel and its handling of the war in Gaza in the years since. Now, the word he publicly apologized for using in 2021 has made another appearance.
Five years after Ruffalo called his “genocide” characterization inflammatory and acknowledged that it was being used to justify antisemitism, he is using the word again. Only this time, Paramount is accusing him of invoking “antisemitic tropes.”

GettyImages-2258704146

Mark Ruffalo Denies He’s Antisemitic. His Own Posts Tell A Different Story.

larry ellison

Today, the Trump administration announced sanctions against two International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, President Tomoko Akane of Japan and the ICC&#8217;s senior trial lawyer, Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the organization “corrupt and fatally politicized.” This follows Rubio last month setting the proverbial cat among the pigeons, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/13/politics/rubio-dismantle-international-criminal-court">declaring</a> his intentions to “dismantle” the ICC — urging other nations to join the effort. Rubio launched the campaign, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyl33q0jk0o">vowing</a> to employ “all the tools at our government&#8217;s disposal&#8221; to &#8220;dismantle the ICC, brick by brick.”
Against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s escalating actions against the ICC, Rubio <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/07/18/so-called-international-law-trump-icc/">accused</a> the court of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles,” but with “the force of so-called international law.”
A warped sense of justice?
The administration’s ire against the ICC <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/13/politics/rubio-dismantle-international-criminal-court">dates</a> back to President Trump’s first term, when it targeted the ICC for seeking to investigate alleged war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Indeed, the second Trump administration has imposed a slew of sanctions against ICC officials for their attempts to investigate the U.S. and Israel — neither of which is even a member of the ICC.
But the new trigger for the White House&#8217;s intensifying punitive action against the ICC is the scandalous issue of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/imposing-sanctions-on-the-international-criminal-court/">arrest warrants</a> against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
In a feeble ICC attempt to feign evenhandedness, warrants were also issued against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh — after their deaths — which, quite apart from the absurdity of equating the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre with those who responded to it, underscores the warped sense of justice the ICC purports to administer.
Gravely misinformed or grossly dishonest
The figure behind these measures was the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who initiated the arrest warrant requests. Khan has since been forced to leave office following multiple <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/karim-khan-icc-war-crimes-charges-israel-netanyahu-hamas-sexual-misconduct-claims/">allegations</a> of sexual misconduct. According to <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h13yvd1wxx">some sources</a>, the arrest warrants were motivated, at least in part, to divert attention from these allegations.
Notably, Khan is not the only chief ICC prosecutor against whom allegations of severe impropriety have been leveled.
For example, <a href="https://www.justiceinfo.net/tag/fatou-bensouda-en">Fatou Bensouda</a>, who prior to her appointment as chief ICC prosecutor in 2012, held top posts in the Gambian judiciary under the brutal military dictatorship that ruled Gambia from 1994 to 2017.
Bensouda claimed she had no knowledge of the human rights abuses of the regime she served. However, given her seniority and long association with the regime, this leaves one to ponder which is worse: Being oblivious of the abuses, gravely ill-informed, or grossly deceitful.
Sexual misconduct &amp; financial shenanigans?
Likewise, Bensouda&#8217;s predecessor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC&#8217;s first prosecutor from 2003 to 2012, also fell under a cloud of suspicion — both while in office and after leaving it.
Ocampo was <a href="https://brownstone.org/articles/a-one-time-icc-advocate-recants">accused</a> of sexual misconduct in South Africa by an ICC <a href="https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/11537858">whistleblower.</a> Although Ocampo&#8217;s ICC cronies dismissed the charges, the whistleblower was vindictively dismissed by Ocampo himself — despite the ICC’s own internal Disciplinary Advisory Board’s <a href="https://brownstone.org/articles/a-one-time-icc-advocate-recants/">call</a> to rescind the dismissal.
Undeterred, the whistleblower appealed to the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which found resoundingly in his favor, awarding him substantial monetary compensation, casting further doubts on the ICC’s integrity.
After leaving the ICC in 2012, Ocampo became the subject of several <a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/column/martin-sherman/trump-tripp-and-conflict-resolution">allegations</a> concerning his financial and professional activities. These included the abuse of his position as former ICC prosecutor, shady financial shenanigans, and severe conflicts of interest.
These allegations stemmed primarily from the far-reaching <a href="https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/895f3b/pdf/">2017 &#8220;Secrets of the Court&#8221;</a> investigation by the European Investigative Collaborations. While the allegations did not result in judicial convictions, the ethical issues they raised tarnished his reputation and, by association, the ICC’s judicial practices.
The Israeli angle
For Israel, Rubio’s initiative is a welcome development. For it serves to undermine the legitimacy of the ICC measures against senior Israeli personnel and expose just how the hypocrisy-ridden ICC has strayed from its lofty founding principles and noble aims.
For the fallen Karim Khan and his cronies, it perhaps reflects that biblical maxim in Numbers 24:9: “Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed. And whoever curses Israel will be cursed.”
***
Dr. Martin Sherman is the founder of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a member of the Habithonistim-Israel Defense &amp; Security Forum (IDSF) research team, and a participant in the Israel Victory Project.

NATO Summit In Ankara Day 2

Rubio Hits Back At Communist-Islamist International Criminal Court Corruption

international criminal court

karim khan

marco rubio

Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is getting scorched after taking a sleazy cheap shot at President Donald Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp.
<a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2089089375372279942">Speaking</a> at a rally where he accused President Trump of lying the nation into a war with Iran, Ossoff dragged Harp into his rant, claiming that the president “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
When <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2089522407518454165">asked</a> by former Biden flack Jen Psaki why he singled out the female aide by name, Ossoff clumsily tried to backpedal, calling her a &#8220;security blanket&#8221; and claiming he meant all White House staffers.
That weak excuse didn&#8217;t fly. Trump allies and administration officials immediately came out swinging, slamming Ossoff’s insinuations as down-in-the-gutter tactics against a hardworking cancer survivor.
&#8220;Natalie Harp survived bone cancer because President Trump allowed her the &#8216;right to try.&#8217; Now she’s an extremely hardworking and trusted assistant. Any other insinuation is vile,&#8221; blasted Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Natalie Harp survived bone cancer because President Trump allowed her the “right to try.” Now she’s an extremely hardworking and trusted assistant. Any other insinuation is vile. <a href="https://t.co/7443TJCcQp">https://t.co/7443TJCcQp</a>
&mdash; Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) <a href="https://x.com/realBrandonGill/status/2089524935219659125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Environmental Protection Administrator Lee Zeldin <a href="https://x.com/LeeMZeldin/status/2089516459454054743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2089516459454054743%7Ctwgr%5E44ed2c34fd320aad50ad714a6c877ccad0d64cf0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1159811action%3Dedit">praised</a> Harp as a &#8220;talented, principled, and loyal member of the Trump Admin,&#8221; while pundit Robby Starbuck <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/2089406901658558772?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2089406901658558772%7Ctwgr%5Ee2f59bc4f7929cc27cffb02ff564d011a1c41bca%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1159811action%3Dedit">tore into</a> the Georgia liberal: &#8220;Ossoff is a vile coward for insinuating they’re having an affair. He should apologize to Natalie for doing this. I don’t think any of us would want our daughters talked about like this.&#8221;
White House Deputy Assistant Pat Adams <a href="https://x.com/PatAdams96/status/2089525079319216609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2089525079319216609%7Ctwgr%5E380811471b09bcf5d3ef82bdaa3a9db70e551c77%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1159811action%3Dedit">didn&#8217;t mince words</a> either: &#8220;This scumbag weasel is afraid to come out plainly and say exactly what he was implying.&#8221;
 White House spokesman Davis Ingle <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/08/18/2026/why-the-white-house-torched-jon-ossoff">called</a> Ossoff “a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama.”
Even Trump chimed in from the Oval Office, brushing off Ossoff’s low blow by mocking him directly: &#8220;You mean Pee-wee Herman? Pee-wee Herman look-alike?&#8221;
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 400px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/sAjeIzWHxjdzkl7fZ4wowxdMOwxSflRo?metadata-video-content-type=short&amp;metadata-video-id=288d83ba-d9a3-4234-85b5-ffa57d2c05e1&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Trump%20Calls%20Jon%20Ossoff%20%E2%80%98Pee-Wee%20Herman%E2%80%99&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fshorts%2F72b685f1-0350-4556-b7f1-e6cfb98a00a4.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
The personal hits aren&#8217;t the only fire Ossoff is taking. The Georgia Democrat is also getting systematically dismantled by leaders back home over his radical foreign policy record.
Michael A. Morris, the publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, published a <a href="https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/an-open-letter-to-senator-jon-ossoff/#:~:text=AJT%20Publisher%20Michael%20Morris%20questions%20Sen.%20Ossoff's,your%20support%20is%20%E2%80%9Cironclad.%E2%80%9D%20It%20is%20not.">scathing open letter</a> ripping Ossoff’s &#8220;ironclad&#8221; claims of support for Israel as pure smoke and mirrors.
&#8220;I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents,&#8221; Morris wrote. &#8220;You vote against Israel on the Senate floor in Washington, then come home to Georgia and make this untruthful claim.&#8221;
Morris called out Ossoff’s slippery two-face routine, pointing out that while the senator votes for cheap, symbolic resolutions condemning Hamas, he consistently turns around and votes to cut off the tangible military aid, munitions, and rifles Israel needs to survive against terrorists.
&#8220;You are with Israel on the votes that cost you nothing, and against it on the votes that actually matter,&#8221; Morris wrote, hammering Ossoff for backing far-Left weapons blockades alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). &#8220;Because if you are not telling us the truth about this, Senator, I am left to ask: what else are you not telling us?&#8221;
Between trashy personal smears and turning his back on crucial American allies, Ossoff’s true colors are showing.

Defense Secretary Hegseth Testifies Before Senate Appropriations Committee

‘Scumbag Weasel’: Ossoff Scorched Over Cheap Shot On Cancer-Surviving Trump Assistant

donald trump

jon ossoff

natalie harp

Menu