Far-right Alternativ für Deutschland party wins majority in election for leadership of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany

Today there was an election in one of the eastern German states, Saxony-Anhalt. These were the results (New York Times):

The Alternative for Germany party dominated a crucial state election on Sunday, according to near-final results, but fell short of the absolute majority needed to become the first far-right party to govern part of the country since the Nazi era.

If those results hold, the AfD (Alternativ für Deutschland), as the party is known by its German initials, could still assume power in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in the coming weeks, depending on the negotiations among rival parties that have vowed not to support an AfD government.

Saxony-Anhalt is a relatively small state, and the heart of the AfD’s power base in eastern Germany. But the election result sent shock waves through the country’s political system, which was designed after World War II to prevent extremist parties from ever returning to power....

The political establishment has treated the AfD as a pariah. Still, the party tapped into voter frustration on a wide range of economic and social issues to win about 44 percent of the vote in the state, and was set to claim 39 of the 83 seats in the Parliament.

“We’ve made history, and we’re taking our country back,” Ulrich Siegmund, the party’s candidate to lead the state, told a cheering crowd on Sunday. “It all starts here in Saxony-Anhalt.

Exit polls suggested that many of the AfD’s gains came at the expense of the center-right Christian Democrats, the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz that also led the incumbent government in the state. Amid record turnout, the AfD won the support of many Germans who were casting ballots for the first time. 

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has designated the AfD as a “suspected extremist” group and its Saxony-Anhalt branch as “extremist.” Some of the party’s leaders have played down the Holocaust and adopted Nazi slogans. Others have strong ties to Russia. The AfD has also said that Islam is incompatible with the German Constitution and has vowed to conduct mass deportations of immigrants....

Rival parties could still prevent the AfD from assuming power in Saxony-Anhalt. The Christian Democrats, who finished a distant second, could end up leading the state if they can build a coalition with four others: the center-left Social Democrats and Greens, the far-left Die Linke, and the populist Sahra Wagenknecht alliance, known by its German initials BSW.

But some Christian Democrat leaders in the state have said they would not work with Die Linke, calling it extremist. BSW leaders have also said they would not support the current state leader, Sven Schulze of the Christian Democrats, or the AfD. They have pushed for a nonpartisan state leader, an idea Mr. Siegmund rejected late on Sunday. Mr. Siegmund also seemed to invite some members of the Christian Democrats to defect and supply the votes for an AfD government.

From the Washington Post - support by the Trump administration for the AfD:

Despite the extremist label, which AfD disputes, the party has surged in polls — and has also received a warm reception from the Trump administration and influential members of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, gave a boost to AfD leader Alice Weidel by interviewing her live in English on his X platform last year, and he has urged Germans to vote for the party.

At a speech at the Munich Security Conference in 2025, Vice President JD Vance lashed out at German officials, criticizing efforts to exclude the party from the country’s political life.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the party’s designation by the intelligence agency “tyranny in disguise.” “What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD,” Rubio posted on X, “but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.”

More on the AfD's plans and the "joy of being German"

The AfD has built its support in Saxony-Anhalt on a mix of historical grievances and modern-day challenges, with voters concerned about a stagnant economy, high unemployment, the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and overall distrust of Western liberal democratic values.

The state has lost jobs, and more than a quarter of its population, since German reunification, and East Germans still express a deep-rooted sense of being second-class citizens compared with those in states in the west because of lasting economic gaps and a lack of representation in senior government positions.

There is also fatigue with the CDU, which has led Saxony-Anhalt since 2002 but, in the eyes of many voters, failed to significantly improve their lives.

Anti-migrant sentiment is a resonant issue as well, despite Saxony-Anhalt having one of the lowest shares of immigrants in the country.

The AfD’s plan for Saxony-Anhalt includes using a special task force to deport migrants, cracking down on what it calls left-wing propaganda in German authorities’ pro-LGBTQ+ stance and overhauling the local education system to foster a patriotic upbringing in future generations. This would include shifting the history curriculum away from what the AfD sees as an excessive focus on the Nazi era, toward more “positive aspects” of German history.

One of the AfD’s central and most controversial positions is the concept of remigration, which the party officially defines as using incentives and legal measures to deport migrants.

Some regional branches of the party, and some of its members, have voiced support for a broader understanding of remigration — one that would also target German citizens they deem insufficiently assimilated into society.

That moves the concept closer to the framework coined by Martin Sellner, an extreme far-right Austrian activist whose ideology draws on the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims that White Europeans are being replaced by immigrants...

On his months-long campaign trail, Siegmund has fielded hundreds of questions about ties to white nationalists and about the AfD’s challenge to what it labels “the cult of guilt” over Germany’s Nazi past and remembrance of Nazi crimes during World War II.

Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, an AfD lawmaker in Saxony-Anhalt who is regarded as the main architect of the party’s initiatives for the state, has pushed to reshape history education around the slogan “more Bismarck, less Hitler,” though the controversial phrase was later removed from the election platform.

“We want to spread the joy of being German,” Tillschneider said at a recent campaign event in Querfurt. “It is a celebration. Celebrate being German.”

IDF Fails to Protect a Palestinian Family or Rein In Settlers Near Qusra (Marc Schulman)

From Marc Schulman's Substack today:

The major story in Israel today is one that, until now, had received remarkably little attention: the ongoing terror campaign of violence and intimidation by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Today, the story moved to the center of the national agenda when the IDF intervened, and failed.

It begins in the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, where a group of settlers established an illegal outpost that blocked access to the entrance of a Palestinian family’s home. The settlers effectively trapped the family inside, preventing them from coming and going in an apparent effort to force them to leave.

The army finally decided to intercede. Central Command chief, Avi Bluth arrived with a group of soldiers to remove the settlers and restore the family’s access to their home. The settlers confronted the soldiers and blocked the road. The army withdrew.

So, despite all its strength, the IDF was unable to clear a path for a Palestinian family to enter and leave its own home in the face of resistance from a group of settlers.

We keep hearing from Prime Minister Netanyahu and others that those responsible for settler violence are “a small group of delinquents” who come from across the country and do not necessarily live in the settlements.

Tonight, however, I heard something that did not fit Netanyahu’s reassuring characterization. A man in his fifties spoke proudly of having sent his sons to block the army and drive the Palestinians from their homes. “This is the way we regain control of the Land of Israel,” he said. I fear he is not alone. The IDF Chief of Staff has now ordered additional troops into the West Bank to bring the settler violence under control.

.... Do any of the settlers who attack Palestinians, including those who attacked soldiers today, end up in jail? No. That lack of consequences is a large part of the problem. It is time to stop describing settler violence as the wayward actions of a handful of fringe kids and recognize it as something broader and far more deeply rooted.

What is a legitimate target in war? Steel plant in Iran vs. oil refineries in Russia according to the New York Times

The New York Times asks: Israel Struck an Iranian Steel Facility. Was It a Valid Military Target? 

First few paragraphs:

Over the course of the Iran war, U.S. and Israeli warplanes hit missile depots and launchers, security forces’ headquarters and air defense systems.

Yet not all of the targets during the six-week campaign were traditional military sites. On March 27, and again a few days later, Israeli airstrikes pounded a vast steel complex just outside Isfahan called Mobarakeh Steel, and another one in the southwest of the country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asserted that his country’s strikes had slashed Iran’s steel production capacity and eliminated revenue for the powerful Revolutionary Guards, whose repression underpins the Iranian government.

Has the NYT ever published an article questioning Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries as valid military targets? Oil refineries may make fuel for military vehicles, but they also make gasoline for civilian use as well, as we see now with the long lines for gas all over Russia. I'm waiting for the Times article questioning the legitimacy of this Ukrainian tactic.

If anyone has seen an NYT article questioning Ukrainian targets, please let me know!

Graham Platner's "Totenkopf"

I was just watching the movie "Zone of Interest." There is a quick scene with a man (I think it's the actor playing Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz) standing in a white background, smoke rising, and screams and yells behind him. On his uniform collar is a Totenkopf patch, looking very much like the Totenkopf patch that Graham Platner had tattooed on him in Croatia in 2007.

Here's a clip from a video of Platner's wedding, showing the tattoo on his chest:

Source: https://x.com/PodSaveAmerica/status/1980436997669061072

And here's the clip from the movie:

At the Oscars in 2024, the film's editor, Jonathan Glazer, said: "Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people." He also said: "Whether the victims of October 7th in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanisation, how do we resist?"

I'm sure that many of those who applauded Glazer's remarks in 2024 (because they were critical of Israel - although notice he also mentioned the victims of October 7) now fail to make the connection between the death's head symbol that Hoess (and other members of the SS) wore on their collars, and the tattoo that Platner wore (until he had it covered over). Because they agree with his politics, they are willing to accept Platner's claim that he didn't know until recently that the source of the tattoo was a Nazi symbol.

It seems appalling to me that someone who was an American soldier wore a Nazi tattoo. How many American soldiers died at the hands of the German Army in World War II? Wikipedia (based on American military records) says about 250,000 American troops died in the European theater of World War II. Doesn't he have any respect for the other American soldiers who gave their lives for the United States in that war? 

Do you think that "a free Palestine is instrumental for all of our freedom"?

Ithaca College Students for Justice in Palestine reposted the following message on their Instagram page, originally created by Binghamton BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions). It's part of a slide set arguing that it's necessary to support "armed resistance" against Israel because "a free Palestine is instrumental for all of our freedom." Link to slide is here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DX7Ex5CEYpr/?img_index=11 (from there you can navigate through the entire post and evaluate their argument for yourself).

What is the "armed resistance" in Palestine? Hamas, the terrorist organization that killed 1200 people on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped 251 people into Gaza.

IC SJP is a recognized student organization that is eligible to receive money from the college for their activities. Should a student organization posting messages in favor of terrorism receive money from the college?

Viktor Orban Defeated!

New York Times:

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, a lodestar for MAGA culture warriors and right-wing populists in Europe, conceded defeat on Sunday in a general election, breaking the momentum of a global nationalist revival promoted by President Trump.

Speaking to supporters Sunday evening in Budapest, Mr. Orban said the “election results, although not complete, are understandable and clear. They are painful for us but unequivocal.”

He congratulated the opposition, saying: “The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us.”

Intifada in Ithaca, New York?

Intifada in Ithaca?

The "Queer Anarchy Collective" chalked some slogans on the Ithaca Commons today, including this one:

What does "intifada" mean to the Queer Anarchy Collective? Do they know that between the first and second intifadas about 4,500 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis were killed? Do they want to bring that kind of violence to Ithaca, New York?

I lived in Israel during the first two years of the First Intifada, which lasted from 1987-1993. During those years, around 1200 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army, while about 200 Israelis were killed by Palestinians. (Figures taken from the Wikipedia article on the First Intifada).

The Second Intifada began in September 2000, after the failure of peace talks between Israel and Palestinians in the summer, mediated by President Clinton in Camp David. 

From the Wikipedia article on the Second Intifada:

A prominent feature of the Second Intifada was a series of suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian militant groups. After March 2001, approximately 138 suicide bombings were conducted by these factions, primarily targeting Israeli civilians.[18][19][20][21][22] Israeli security forces engaged in gunfights, targeted killings, tank attacks, and airstrikes; Palestinians engaged in gunfights, stone-throwing, and rocket attacks.[23][24] With a combined casualty figure for combatants and civilians, the violence is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreign nationals.

Not all the Palestinian attacks were by suicide bombers. 

I knew a young man who was killed on July 31, 2002. His name was Ben Blutstein, and he was the son of friends of mine from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, whom I met during the year I taught at Bucknell University. He, along with eight other people, was murdered by a terrorist who placed a bomb at a cafeteria at the Hebrew University campus on Mt. Scopus. 

A couple of days after his murder, I wrote this:

[8/2/02] I’m writing now after the bombing on Wednesday [7/31/02] in Jerusalem, at the Hebrew University, in which 5 Americans and 2 Israelis were killed. [Actually, nine people in all were killed, and 85 were injured]. Two of the Americans were students at Pardes, an institute for higher Jewish studies in Jerusalem, and one of them (Ben Blutstein) was the son of a family I knew last year when I taught at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and frequently went to Harrisburg for Shabbat. I think I only met Benjamin once, but I spent some very pleasant Shabbats with his family, and I feel sick at his murder. Fragments of poetry keep going through my head – “they were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths not divided.”[1] I've felt so numb and in shock today - a feeling I recall after the September 11 attacks last year. It seems there is no end to violence.

Names of all the victims from the memorial page at the Hebrew University website: https://en.huji.ac.il/remember-them-all.

Marla Bennett, 24, from San Diego, CA, was an M.A. student in Jewish Education at the Rothberg International School's Division of Graduate Studies, and was jointly enrolled in the Pardes Educators Program at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. She received a B.A. in political science from the University of Berkeley at California in 2000. In 1998 she spent her junior year attending the Rothberg International School's One Year Program.

Benjamin Blutstein, 25, from Harrisburg, PA, was an M.A. student in Jewish Education at the Rothberg International School's Division of Graduate Studies, and was jointly enrolled in the Pardes Educators Program at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. He earned a B.A. in religion and Judaic studies from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, in 2000. He was the president of Hillel at Dickinson College in 1998-1999. During the past year, Blutstein spent evenings playing in clubs as a disk jockey under the alias "Benny the B."

Dina Carter, 38, was employed at the Jewish National and University Library (JNUL) on the Edmond J. Safra Campus at Givat Ram as a librarian and archivist in the manuscripts department and archives. Born in North Carolina, she earned a BA from Duke University and an MSW degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dina immigrated to Israel in 1990.

Janis Ruth Coulter, 37, a native of Boston, MA, graduated in history and Judaic studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1991. In 1996, she converted to Judaism. As a master's candidate in Judaic studies at the University of Denver, she was a visiting graduate student at the Hebrew University in 1996-1997, during which time she also worked at the University's School of Education. In 1999 she moved to New York and began working for the Rothberg International School's Office of Academic Affairs. As assistant director, she was responsible for all Rothberg International School graduate programs and scholarships, liaising with American institutions of education and actively recruiting students. As a student, she received numerous scholarships, including a travel grant from the Dorot Foundation. She had arrived in Israel the day before the attack, after escorting a group of U.S. students to Jerusalem to begin their studies at the Hebrew University.

David Gritz, 24, from Paris, France, who had dual U.S.-French citizenship, was about to begin the Summer Ulpan at the Rothberg International School. He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Paris IV in July 2000 and had just completed his first year of studies for his master's degree in philosophy, at the University of Paris X, where he had received recognition as an outstanding student. He spent summers at his parent's house in Peru, MA, in the Berkshires.

David (Diego) Ladowski, 29, was born in Argentina and immigrated to Israel in 1992. He studied in the Prepartory Program-Mechina at the Rothberg School and completed his undergraduate studies in communications at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1996. He served as an academic officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Following his discharge from the army in 1999, he held administrative positions at the Hebrew University and the Ministry of Communications. Ladowski joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001 and was shortly due to assume his first diplomatic assignment at the Embassy of Israel in Lima, Peru.

Levina Shapira was the head of the student services department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Born in Jerusalem in 1949, she was a long-time employee of the university. After completing her army service she studied sociology and political science at the Hebrew University, earning her BA in 1972. She began working for the university as a student and became a member of staff after graduation. Her appointments included academic secretary at the Faculty of Science and associate dean of the Faculty of Humanities. During her tenure as head of the student services department, Levina introduced and upgraded a wide range of on-line and computerized services, the most advanced in Israel today, for students. Recently, she was involved in planning the new student information center at the Mount Scopus campus.

Dafna Spruch was born in Tel Aviv and, following her military service, enrolled at the Hebrew University where she completed a BA in psychology and sociology. After her studies, she worked as a systems analyst at the Ministry of Education's data processing unit and, then, as a senior analyst at the National Library. Some two years later she consented to a request from the Student Administration to join its staff, and remained there for most of her professional life. It is from there that she set out 26 years later for a lunch from which she was never to return. Dafna soon became the backbone of the department, acting as both deputy director and the historical memory of an indispensable rationale; yet she always shunned pivotal positions and refused all offers to head the system.

Her exceptional performance over the years not only singled her out but also earned her the commendation of superiors and colleagues alike. Praise ranged from the professional to the personal: "excellent worker," "talented and highly competent," "outstanding," "excellent and very intelligent" and - "a good friend." Colleagues say that there was always room in her heart; she always had a shoulder to offer, time to listen and offer sound advice.

Dafna reached high - new and innovative ideas, whether her own or others', always fell on receptive ears. At the same time, her feet were firmly planted on the ground, her common sense able to anchor the imaginative and translate it into practice. She could separate the wheat from the chaff and understood the intricacies involved in the Administration's large systems, finding simple solutions to make them work. Among other things, she and her staff initiated the full computerization of a variety of forms, including student schedules, grades and courses, as well as follow-up on teaching loads, and the implementation of ideas adopted by the system as a whole.

Dafna was a warm, loving and devoted wife and mother, who always put her family first.

Revital Barashi was the youngest of thirteen children in a Jerusalem family. She lived downtown, and about six months ago celebrated her 30th birthday. For the past seven years she worked with and trained young staff at the Hebrew University's Law Faculty.

Her conscientiousness and the responsibility she showed in the performance of her duties won her the university's Outstanding Employee award in 2000.

According to the commendation cited at the awards ceremony: "Revital excels in all she does. She may always have her hands full but she is nevertheless attentive to and patient with all who turn to her, her natural courtesy unimpaired by her diligence. She is intelligent and will try to execute every task as quickly as possible, drawing on all the help she is able to muster."

Colleagues describe her as "pretty, talented, warm and always ready to help. Revital did her work efficiently and meticulously and, at all times, with a smile."

Who shot Alex Pretti? Now we know

From Doug Chandler on Facebook:

THANKS to ProPublica, we're no longer in the dark about the names and identities of the two federal agents who killed Alex Pretti. The two are Jesus Ochoa, 43, a Border Patrol agent, and Raymundo Gutierrez, 35, a Customs and Border Patrol agent, both of whom were assigned to Operation Metro Surge. ProPublica says the information came from government records.

In publishing those names, the outlet's editors say they believe "there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed.

 
"The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement.

"The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability."

ProPublica article: https://www.propublica.org/article/alex-pretti-shooting-cbp-agents-identified-jesus-ochoa-raymundo-gutierrez

The Trump administration once again "protects" Jews from antisemitism.

We're supposed to trust the Trump administration to protect us against antisemitism? In the latest proof that the call is coming from inside the house, the New York Times reports that Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol "commander" who has just been demoted and sent back to his home base in southern California, mocked the Jewish prosecutor in Minneapolis.

A day before six career federal prosecutors resigned in protest over the Justice Department’s handling of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, lawyers in the office had a conversation with Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol field leader, that left them deeply unsettled.

According to several people with knowledge of the telephone conversation, which took place on Jan. 12, Mr. Bovino made derisive remarks about the faith of the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, Daniel N. Rosen. Mr. Rosen is an Orthodox Jew and observes Shabbat, a period of rest between Friday and Saturday nights that often includes refraining from using electronic devices.

Mr. Bovino, who has been the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, used the term “chosen people” in a mocking way, according to the people with knowledge of the call. He also asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Rosen understood that Orthodox Jewish criminals don’t take weekends off, the people said.

Mr. Bovino had requested the meeting with Mr. Rosen to press the Minnesota office to work more aggressively to seek criminal charges against people Mr. Bovino believed were unlawfully impeding the work of his immigration agents.

Mr. Rosen delegated the call to a deputy. During the call, with a handful of prosecutors listening in, Mr. Bovino complained that Mr. Rosen had been unreachable for portions of the weekend because of Shabbat. Mr. Bovino’s remarks followed his complaints about having difficulty reaching Mr. Rosen.

Murder by the state - statement by the parents of Alex Pretti, murdered today by ICE

 

"One hundred million deportations" - DHS takes us back to the 1950s

First post of 2026 is on a racist (and ridiculous) post by the Department of Homeland Security. They appear to want to deport all people of foreign descent (whether here legally or illegally) plus about 50 million native born citizens. One guess as to who they would prefer to deport.

On Wednesday (December 31), they posted this message (from Raw Story via MSN):

DHS posted an image of a 1950s-style car on an idyllic beach under a caption reading, "America after 100 million deportations." The post also read, "The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world." It was posted at a time when courts are blocking the Trump administration from federalizing the National Guard as part of its operations.

 

The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world. pic.twitter.com/UrPiRA7X1C

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 31, 2025

Notice the community note: "This post uses Hiroshi Nagai’s artwork without permission. Hiroshi Nagai himself has also posted that his illustrations are being used without authorization."

Some obvious criticisms (reported by Raw Story):

"The entire U.S. foreign-born population is only 45 million people, so this ridiculous edge-lord post by taxpayer-funded trolls is suggesting deporting 55 million native-born citizens," immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick posted on X.

"NEWS: The Trump administration threatens to illegally deport tens of millions of American-born U.S. citizens," Jon Favreau, co-host of "Pod Save America," posted on X.

"This means they would want to deport all illegal immigrants, all legal immigrants, and ~50 million native-born Americans," Alex Nowrasteh, senior vice president of policy at the CATO Institute, posted on X.

"In order to deport 100 million people, tens of millions of U.S. Citizens would need to be deported. Is the social media team filled with idiots or white supremacists? My guess is both," ex-Air Force General Counsel Charles Blanchard posted on X. "Shame on Secretary Noem."

Antisemitism, antizionism, and the redemptive act of one man in Australia

Simon Schama, the distinguished British historian, writes, "Globalise the intifada just means kill Jews wherever and whenever you can."

One of the "vile bigots who scream 'globalize the intifada'" and justify the murder of Jews.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: "There are two types of antisemites today after the heinous massacre in Australia by Islamist terrorist: those (most) who are keeping a low profile & weathering the storm; & a few who are determined haters no matter what. Remember: anti-Zionism regularly devolves into antisemitism."

He cites two posts on X, one by Sarah Wilkinson and one by Hadi Hoteit. 

Hoteit wrote: "Is he a terrorist for killing people who continue to support a state that has carried out a continuous genocide against the indigenous peoples of Palestine and Lebanon for 77 years?" 

And finally, one man who redeems our faith in humanity - Ahmed El Ahmad who grabbed the rifle from one of the attackers at the risk of his own life, and undoubtedly saving the lives of many.

Happy Hanukkah - sadness and joy together

 

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Today has been a very heavy day. Sixteen people were murdered in Sydney, Australia, at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.

The two gunmen, a father and son, were originally from Pakistan and, according to Australian news sources, had likely sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.

Sixteen beautiful souls are dead tonight because of hatred of Jews. May their memories be for a blessing.

Why is there a vigil for Saleh al-Jafarawi in Ithaca on October 17?

Why is the Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine holding a vigil in memory of Saleh al-Jafarawi on Friday afternoon, October 17? I had never heard of him before a couple of days ago. He was apparently a Palestinian journalist/influencer in Gaza, and he was killed a few days ago, on October 12, but not by Israel. According to a report from Haaretz,

Clashes and gunfire erupted in Gaza City's Sabra neighborhood between Hamas security forces and the Doghmush clan militia, which opposes the group, according to Palestinian reports.

Journalist and social activist Saleh al-Jafarawi, a well-known social media personality in Gaza, was killed during the exchange of fire. According to reports, al-Jafarawi was killed while covering the events.

According to the Times of Israel, "He gained wide attention with a video he recorded on October 7, 2023, in which he praised Hamas’s attack." Arab News also reported, "He gained notoriety after the release of a video in which he appeared to praise Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel." Link to the video on X: https://x.com/aggelos210/status/1977456702015373587 (not embedding it here).

Some details about his life from the Wikipedia entry about him (accessed October 16, 1:32 am).

Early Life

Saleh al-Jafarawi was born in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, on 22 November 1997. He attended the Islamic University of Gaza, where he received a bachelor's degree in media and journalism in 2019. He began producing content around 2018 on the Great March of Return, during which he covered the situation on the group as a freelance journalist for local media outlets.[9] He also worked independently as a freelance photographer and journalist on social media platforms. His reporting style often involved documenting civilian suffering and destruction during Israeli military operations in Gaza.[10][11][12]

Career

Al-Jafarawi became particularly well-known during the Gaza war, when his videos from the conflict zones went viral on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. He amassed a large following, and his content was widely shared.[11][12][13]

In November 2023, pro-Israel influencers falsely claimed that al-Jafarawi had faked a scene of being hospitalized and labelled the video as "Pallywood". A Voice of America investigation found that the video in the hospital was not of al-Jafarawi but a Palestinian child.[14]

One of his videos surpassed 51 million views, while others exceeded 30 million. Israeli media outlets described him as someone who "exploits tragedies for fame," and referred to him as "Mr. FAFO".[15] The Times of Israel wrote that "he first gained wide attention with a video he recorded on October 7, 2023, in which he praised Hamas’s rocket attacks. Later in the war, he filmed himself crying and reacting in terror to Israel’s airstrikes."[16]

His Instagram account was suspended "indefinitely" in March 2025 forcing al-Jafarawi to use a backup account.[17][13]

In late September 2025, al-Jafarawi's followers raised alarm after the Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee alleged that al-Jafarawi was affiliated with Hamas. His followers feared that, like other Palestinian journalists in Gaza accused of associations with Hamas, that al-Jafarawi could be targeted in the near future. They drew comparison to the journalist Anas al-Sharif, who was targeted and killed in Gaza by Israel with similar allegations.[18]

I still don't understand why Ithaca CJP is holding a vigil for him in particular, especially considering his early support for Hamas's murderous attack on Israel. Judging from the Instagram post, aa number of other local organizations seem to be cosponsoring or supporting this vigil - Ithaca Food Not Bombs, Ithaca People's University, IC Students for Palestine, and Cornell Progressives.

This is what National SJP posted to Instagram a couple of days ago (I couldn't find it on Instagram - my screenshot is from an article in the New York Post). At least the Ithaca CJP didn't reproduce the National SJP image of him and their bloodthirsty slogans against "collaborators."

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib - "Hamas’s brutality on October 7 was the plan!"

 

The complete post:

Hamas’s brutality on October 7 was the plan! Newly released documents from Hamas’s underground dungeons include a handwritten memo by Yahya Sinwar, the slain mastermind behind October 7, as reported on by the NYTimes and confirmed by Israeli authorities, reveal a disturbing picture that contradicts Hamas’s claims. The five-page memo (which I've read in Arabic), supposedly written in 2022, outlines Sinwar’s vision for inflicting maximal brutality on Israelis, including civilians, to create a new level of fear and unlock the potential of trauma in “the hearts and minds of the enemy.” 

This includes burning down kibbutzim, stepping on necks, stabbings and beheadings, taking hostages, and all the horrific attacks that we saw on October 7. Critically, for Sinwar, all acts of brutality that he highlighted were to be rapidly captured on camera and immediately broadcast to the world to ensure maximal efficacy and to achieve the intended propagandistic outcome that would revitalize and globalize Hamas’s armed resistance narrative. Additionally, he hoped explicitly that the violence would inspire Palestinians in the West Bank and inside Israel to rise and join Hamas in the battle, not to mention the entirety of the Iranian-sponsored “axis of resistance” to help accelerate the vision of the collapse of the Jewish state. 

What has been disturbing is that the terror group not only denied committing any atrocities against civilians despite broadcasting their footage to the entire world in real time, but they went on to accuse Palestinian civilians from Gaza of being behind the abuses that took place, alleging their terrorists would not do such horrible acts. Worse, large numbers of Palestinians still don’t believe that such horrendous atrocities took place on October 7, despite overwhelming video evidence of Hamas, not to mention the Western-based pro-Palestine movement, which is worse in denying that any atrocities took place. 

As much as Hamas has always been a horrendous terror organization, there was an exceptionally ruthless and barbaric nature to the October 7 massacre, unlike anything before it; October 7 was an entirely different chapter in which Hamas became an ISIS-like entity in its deployment of fear, terror, intimidation, and up close animalistic dehumanization that was truly different in scale and horror. 

It is one of the many reasons why I could never, ever be silent after that fateful day, in which my beautiful Gaza and people were shamefully associated with such barbarism. I did not need the NYT or the Israeli military to reveal what the whole world saw with our own eyes - shame on anyone who still refuses to believe that there were any atrocities on that day or that civilians were killed in the supposed “Hannibal directive” or “friendly-fire.”