Nicole Wizman

On Hanukkah night, amid terror and confusion, the true story was written by Jews who ran toward danger to protect one another

Gefen Bitton / Cayli Barr / gofundme.org

On the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish community was thrust into another nightmare, when at least 15 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a mass shooting by a father-son duo at a Chabad event in Bondi Beach. Those killed in the attack included a 10-year-old named Matilda Bee Britvan, whose family moved to Australia to escape the war in Ukraine, and Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor killed while trying to shield his wife. Australian authorities later confirmed that the gathering had been deliberately targeted and meticulously planned, marking one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in the country’s history.

In the hours and days that followed, one story quickly rose above the rest. Footage circulating online showed a heroic bystander, later identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed, rushing toward one of the attackers and wrestling a gun out of the terrorist’s hands.

As the footage spread rapidly across social media and news broadcasts, it soon came to dominate the public conversation, increasingly framing the attack as a story of Muslim-Jewish reconciliation rather than an act of antisemitic violence, with Ahmed al-Ahmed becoming the central figure through which the massacre was understood. This reframing allows Australia to look away from its deeper failures that made the attack possible. It also obscures another critical fact: that there were many Jews at the event who also behaved with unbelievable heroism and bravery, whose names have been largely absent from the narrative.

It is obvious that the Australian state failed in its fundamental responsibility to protect its people. For one, the attack was perpetuated by an Indian national and his son who had documented ties to ISIS and were on Australia’s intelligence agency radar since 2019—yet had somehow been allowed to stay in the country. For another, missing from most of the coverage is the past two years of increasingly explicit antisemitic rhetoric in Australia, including pro-Palestinian demonstrations featuring chants such as “Gas the Jews” and “Long live the intifada,” alongside repeated acts of vandalism against Jewish places of worship. There are also allegations that the police failed to act with adequate haste to protect the Jews at the event.

Hanukkah commemorates that insistence on Jewish strength and dignity. We are not victims waiting in the dark for someone else to save us.

Survivor Vanessa Miller recalled that as gunfire rained down, police were “standing there, listening, and watching this all happen, holding me back” as she tried to convince them to let her take the gun off the wounded officer and shoot at the terrorists. Miller was not alone in her impulse to defend the community, acting on the understanding that no meaningful protection was forthcoming from the authorities.

Reuven Morrison, a member of the local Chabad known for his generosity and for donating earnings to charity, lost his life while confronting the gunmen in his own bid to protect the Jewish community. According to his daughter, Sheina Gutnick, in an interview with CBS, Morrison ran toward the danger as soon as the shots rang out, hurling bricks at one of the attackers in an attempt to disrupt the assault and slow the carnage. “I believe after Ahmed managed to get the gun off the terrorist, my father had then gone to try and unjam the gun, to try and attempt shooting. He was screaming at the terrorist,” she said. Originally from the former Soviet Union, Morrison had come to Australia to seek safety from antisemitism and to be able to afford a better life for his family. One year earlier (almost to the day), Morrison had warned in an ABC interview that antisemitism was rising and that Jewish vigilance was becoming a way of life again.

Chaya Mushka Dadon, 14, daughter of Chabad Rabbi Menachem and Shterny Dadon, was shot protecting young girls stranded beside their wounded parents, leaving her own hiding place to get to them. She dragged the children to cover and then lay over them, taking a bullet to her thigh while she recited prayers. Chaya refused to move a limb until help came and her father found her. Her surgeons later removed the bullet, and she is expected to make a full recovery. The little girls she flung herself over also are safe thanks to Chaya’s bravery.

Boris and Sudia Gurman, a couple in the area when the shooting started, were incredible heroes, with dashcam footage showing Boris exiting his vehicle, running at the terrorist, wrestling with him on the ground, and briefly gaining control of the gun while Sofia rushed close behind. Both were shot during the struggle and pronounced dead at the scene.

Leibel Lazaroff, 20, amid the shooting, rushed to aid a wounded police officer, tore off his shirt to fashion into a tourniquet, pressing it against the officer’s wound. As the attack unfolded, Lazaroff heard his rabbi and mentor, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, screaming that one of the terrorists was advancing toward a van filled with people. Lazaroff pleaded with the wounded officer to act, asking for the officer’s weapon, and telling him he was licensed, trained, and knew how to use it. Before anything further could happen, Lazaroff was shot and wounded. He survived, but watched his rabbi and mentor be murdered feet away. Lazaroff is currently recovering in the ICU. Those who know him say he understood the risk he was taking and accepted it anyway.

Geffen Bitton, 30, an Israeli who had been living in Australia for roughly three years, has recently been identified as the man in the red T-shirt who ran behind Ahmed al-Ahmed to confront and disarm the terrorist. Bitton initially escaped to safety, but when he saw one of the attackers advancing near the footbridge, he turned back. In the moments that followed, Bitton was shot, fell to the ground, and was shot again. He remains in intensive care, unresponsive, after undergoing multiple surgeries for severe internal injuries caused by shattered pelvic bone fragments. Friends say his decision to run back was instinctive, a reflection of who he is. His father has since flown to Sydney to be by his bedside as friends and family keep vigil.

These are the stories that deserve recognition. All who intervened, Ahmed al-Ahmed and the Jewish community members who rushed toward danger, are heroes. But their stories hold a message for the Jewish community specifically: We must remember who we are. We are lions. The Maccabees understood this when they faced impossible odds and refused to submit. Hanukkah commemorates that refusal, that insistence on Jewish strength and dignity in a world that has never guaranteed our safety.

In an antisemitic climate where leaders offer empty platitudes in lieu of protection, we cannot afford to forget our own power. We must tell these stories of Jewish heroism because, evidently, no one else will. The murdered and wounded of Bondi Beach were defended by those who understood that Jewish survival demands Jewish courage. To be proud, celebrate without fear, and take up space. As we light the final Hanukkah candles this year, these heroes remind us: We are not victims waiting in the dark for someone else to save us. We are the light that pushes back.

Nicole Wizman is The Scroll’s editorial intern.

Zawartość publikowanych artykułów i materiałów nie reprezentuje poglądów ani opinii Reunion’68,
ani też webmastera Blogu Reunion’68, chyba ze jest to wyraźnie zaznaczone.
Twoje uwagi, linki, własne artykuły lub wiadomości prześlij na adres:
webmaster@reunion68.com

A French Court Acquitted a Nanny Who Poisoned a Jewish Family of Antisemitism. Now Prosecutors Are Appealing.

Dec28

A French Court Acquitted a Nanny Who Poisoned a Jewish Family of Antisemitism. Now Prosecutors Are Appealing.

Ailin Vilches Arguello

Procession arrives at Place des Terreaux with a banner reading, “Against Antisemitism, for the Republic,” during the march against antisemitism, in Lyon, France, June 25, 2024. Photo: Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

Prosecutors in France have appealed a court ruling that convicted a nanny of poisoning the food of the Jewish family for whom she worked but cleared her of antisemitism charges, in the latest flashpoint as French authorities grapple with an ongoing nationwide surge in antisemitism.

On Tuesday, the public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre, just west of Paris, announced it had appealed a criminal court ruling that acquitted the family’s nanny of antisemitism-aggravated charges after she poisoned their food and drinks.

Last week, the 42-year-old Algerian woman was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “administering a harmful substance that caused incapacitation for more than eight days.”

Residing illegally in France, the nanny had worked as a live-in caregiver for the family and their three children — aged two, five, and seven — since November 2023.

The French court declined to uphold any antisemitism charges against the defendant, noting that her incriminating statements were made several weeks after the incident and recorded by a police officer without a lawyer present

The family’s lawyers described the ruling as “incomprehensible,” insisting that “justice has not been served.”

The nanny, who has been living in France in violation of a deportation order issued in February 2024, was also convicted of using a forged document — a Belgian national identity card — and barred from entering France for five years.

First reported by Le Parisien, the shocking incident occurred in January last year, just two months after the caregiver was hired, when the mother discovered cleaning products in the wine she drank and suffered severe eye pain from using makeup remover contaminated with a toxic substance, prompting her to call the police.

After a series of forensic tests, investigators detected polyethylene glycol — a chemical commonly used in industrial and pharmaceutical products — along with other toxic substances in the food consumed by the family and their three children.

According to court documents, these chemicals were described as “harmful, even corrosive, and capable of causing serious injuries to the digestive tract.”

Even though the nanny initially denied the charges against her, she later confessed to police that she had poured a soapy lotion into the family’s food as a warning because “they were disrespecting her.”

“They have money and power, so I should never have worked for a Jewish woman — it only brought me trouble,” the nanny told the police. “I knew I could hurt them, but not enough to kill them.”

According to her lawyer, the nanny later withdrew her confession, arguing that jealousy and a perceived financial grievance were the main factors behind the attack.

At trial, the defendant described her statements as “hateful” but denied that her actions were driven by racism or antisemitism.

The appeal comes as France continues to face a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.

In a disturbing new case, French authorities have also opened an investigation after a social media video went viral showing a man harassing a young Jewish child at a Paris airport, shouting “free Palestine” and calling him a “pig.”

Widely circulated online, the video shows a young boy playing a video game at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport when a man approaches, grabs his toy, and begins verbally assaulting him.

“Are you gonna free Palestine, bro?” the man, who remains off-camera, yells at the boy.

“If you don’t free them, I’ll snatch your hat off, bro,” the assailant continues, referring to the child’s kippah.
.

The man is also heard repeatedly telling the child, “Dance, pig,” while the confused and frightened boy is seen trying to comply

Local police confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the incident, classified as violence based on race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion, as authorities work to identify the individual and bring him to justice.

Paris police chief Patrice Faure expressed his “outrage at these unacceptable and intolerable remarks,” promising that the incident “will not go unpunished.”

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — condemned the incident, calling it “yet another illustration of the climate of antisemitism that has prevailed in Europe” since the Hamas-led atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023.

Szwecja: Muzułmański imigrant gwałci 100-letnią kobietę

Dec27

Szwecja: Muzułmański imigrant gwałci 100-letnią kobietę

Robert Spencer

Sędzia Mohamed Ali orzeka, że nie zostanie deportowany

Szwecja osiągnęła punkt, w którym nie jest już w stanie się bronić przed inwazją, ponieważ napastnicy zajmują teraz pozycje władzy. I tak Szwecja, podobnie jak wiele innych krajów w Europie, znajduje się w agonii.

„Dlatego Shakir nie zostanie deportowany – wyjaśnienie sędziego”

(tłumaczenie z „Därför utvisas inte Shakir – domarens förklaring”, autorstwa Marii Rydhagen i Linette Israelsson, Expressen, 18 grudnia 2025):

Obywatel Iraku Shakir Mahmoud Shakir zgwałcił 100-letnią kobietę objętą opieką domową.

Został skazany, ale może pozostać w Szwecji.

„To pobłażanie poważnym przestępcom musi się skończyć” – napisał Ulf Kristersson (M) na platformie X.

Sędzia jednak broni wyroku.

Do zdarzenia doszło w październiku tego roku. 100-letnia kobieta ze Sztokholmu poczuła ból w klatce piersiowej. Jak sama zeznała podczas przesłuchania, zadzwoniła po karetkę – ale zamiast niej przybył Shakir Mahmoud Shakir z urzędu opieki domowej.

– Powiedział: „powinno się panią namaścić” – relacjonuje kobieta podczas przesłuchania.

Mężczyzna przyniósł krem i wprowadził jakiś przedmiot do jej pochwy.

– Przestań, co pan robi? Co pan robi? – krzyczała kobieta według jej relacji.

Mimo głośnych protestów napaść trwała przez dziesięć minut – ocenia 100-latka. Dopiero wtedy mężczyzna opuścił mieszkanie.

– Potem byłam gotowa się rozpłakać. Pomyślałam: pracujesz tutaj. I robisz coś takiego ludziom. I kobietom – powiedziała śledczemu z policji.

W środę zapadł wyrok: Shakir Mahmoud Shakir został uznany za winnego gwałtu na 100-letniej kobiecie i skazany na cztery lata więzienia. Jednocześnie został uniewinniony z zarzutu gwałtu na 94-letniej kobiecie.

Prokuratorka Linn Nyberg wnioskowała również o dziesięcioletnią deportację. W tym zakresie Sąd Rejonowy w Södertörn nie podzielił jej stanowiska.

Sędzia Mohamed Ali uznał, że Shakir jest zakorzeniony w Szwecji i ma dobry kontakt z córką, która jest obywatelką szwedzką. Dlatego nie powinien zostać deportowany.

Wyrok wywołał reakcje wielu polityków. Premier Ulf Kristersson (M) napisał w poście na X: „jeśli nie jesteś obywatelem Szwecji i popełniasz tak potworne czyny, tracisz prawo do przebywania w Szwecji”.

„W przyszłym roku Szwecja będzie mieć najsurowsze przepisy w całym regionie nordyckim, jeśli chodzi o deportację cudzoziemców popełniających poważne przestępstwa” – napisał, dodając, że chce „pójść jeszcze dalej” i „przeanalizować części Konwencji Genewskiej, które utrudniają deportację przestępców ubiegających się o azyl”.

– Jestem wściekły i umocniony w przekonaniu, że musimy doprowadzić do zmian – dodał.

– To pobłażanie poważnym przestępcom musi się skończyć. Mój rząd zawsze będzie działał na rzecz ochrony ofiar przestępstw i ich zadośćuczynienia – stwierdził premier.

Minister pracy Johan Britz (L) również odniósł się do wyroku na X, pisząc, że zapowiadane przez rząd zaostrzenie przepisów o deportacji „powinno było zostać wprowadzone dużo wcześniej”.

Minister ds. migracji Johan Forssell (M) poinformował w e-mailu do redakcji Expressen, że nie komentuje toczących się postępowań sądowych – ale wyraził krytykę co do meritum sprawy.

– Poprzedni rząd socjaldemokratów pozwolił, aby Szwecja stała się bezpieczną przystanią dla skazanych przestępców. To oburzające. W przyszłym roku rząd przedstawi propozycje, które sprawią, że Szwecja będzie mieć najsurowsze przepisy w całej Skandynawii w zakresie deportacji cudzoziemców, którzy nadużyli gościnności Szwecji – napisał.

Poseł SD Henrik Vinge napisał na X, że „to niepokojąca myśl”, iż gwałciciel za kilka lat będzie w Szwecji na wolności.

– To, że ten gwałciciel, który napadł na stuletnią kobietę, za dwa lata i osiem miesięcy będzie wolny w naszym kraju, to niepokojąca myśl.

– Żadna starsza osoba nie powinna doświadczyć czegoś takiego – podsumował Vinge.

Europosłanka Alice Teodorescu Måwe (KD) również skomentowała wyrok, uznając, że „podważa on zaufanie do państwa prawa”.

Ale Mohamed Ali, sędzia prowadzący sprawę, broni orzeczenia. Choć Urząd ds. Migracji twierdzi, że nie ma przeszkód, by deportować Shakira do Iraku, sąd ocenił, że jego więzi ze Szwecją są silniejsze.

– Przeanalizowaliśmy argumenty za i przeciw deportacji. Z jednej strony mamy przestępstwo i wysokość kary, z drugiej strony – więź ze społeczeństwem. Szczególnie uwzględniliśmy fakt, że mieszka tutaj od czasów nastoletnich i ma małoletnie dziecko w Szwecji. To bardzo istotne okoliczności – powiedział Mohamed Ali.

Więc to waży więcej niż gwałt na 100-letniej kobiecie?

– Jeśli chodzi o przestępstwo, został za nie skazany na długi wyrok więzienia i musi wypłacić odszkodowanie.

Link do oryginału: https://jihadwatch.org/2025/12/sweden-muslim-migrant-rapes-100-year-old-woman-judge-mohamed-ali-rules-that-he-is-not-to-be-deported

Jihad Watch, 21 grudnia 2025

Christian genocide in Nigeria and the war on Israel

Dec27

Christian genocide in Nigeria and the war on Israel

Jonathan S. Tobin

The U.S. strikes on Islamists in Africa ordered by President Trump put into perspective the hypocrisy and double standards of Israel’s critics on the left and the right.

Military personnel inspect the scene of the explosion at a mosque in the Gamboru market in Maiduguri on Dec. 25, 2025. An explosion ripped through a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri and killed at least seven worshippers on Dec. 24, 2025, witnesses and security sources told AFP. No armed groups immediately claimed responsibility for what anti-jihadist militia leader Babakura Kolo said was a suspected bombing. Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, home to a years-long insurgency by jihadist groups Boko Haram and an offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, though the city itself has not seen a major attack in years. Photo by Audu Marte/AFP via Getty Images.

Amid the deluge of bizarre and vile ideas platformed by Tucker Carlson on his podcast was one recent episode that sought, among other things, to claim that there was no persecution, let alone genocide, of Christians in Nigeria. The person making the claim was international lawyer Robert Amsterdam, whose firm has extensive interests in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

This flatly contradicted the assertion of President Donald Trump only weeks earlier when he posted on Truth Social that, “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” and said he was designating it a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN.” By the end of November, in a Fox News Radio interview with Brian Kilmeade, Trump referred to the campaign against Christians in northern Nigeria as “genocide.”

Those claims were disputed by the Nigerian government, a rather dubious position echoed by liberal media like The New York Times and The Economist, as well as Carlson’s program. Trump’s critics were skeptical that he would actually seek to do anything about the crisis in Nigeria, but as is often the case when it comes to his threats, this week we learned that he wasn’t bluffing.

As is his wont, Trump announced the airstrikes on targets in Nigeria on Truth Social, saying: “The United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries!”

It must be conceded that even if the strikes were successful, by themselves they are not going to alter the situation in that part of Nigeria, where Islamist terrorists like the Lakurawa—a faction of the better-known Boko Haram Islamist group—are well entrenched. But the administration’s willingness to take up this cause has implications well beyond that troubled country.

It shines a spotlight on a problem that few in the mainstream media have troubled to report on.

More importantly, it illustrates that the threat from Islamists, which a bizarre coalition of Marxists, right-wingers and Muslims are at such pains to downplay or deny, threatens more than just Israel.

The discussion about Nigeria also highlights the gross hypocrisy of supporters of the Palestinian cause throughout the West. They have done their best to promote falsehoods and blood libels about Israel committing genocide in Gaza, which is a deliberate mischaracterization of a war aimed at Hamas terrorists, in which the Israel Defense Forces have achieved a historically low level of civilian casualties compared to combatants. Yet the vast anti-Israel propaganda machine—funded by the emirate of Qatar and other sources, like the left-wing billionaire philanthropist George Soros—has no interest in true genocides of Christians in countries like Nigeria and Sudan, where Islamists are ruthlessly targeting religious minorities.

When that episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show” aired, even many fans of Carlson who tune in for the Israel-bashing from a wide variety of guests may have been puzzled by the program devoting any of its time to minimizing the well-documented suffering of Christians and other non-Muslims throughout the continent at the hands of Islamists, including offshoots of the ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups.

But given Carlson’s relentless promotion of the idea that Islamists are not a threat to the West, whether in Qatar, which hosts and pays for the Muslim Brotherhood’s international activities and influence operations, or elsewhere, it wasn’t much of a stretch to think that this might extend to what is going on in Africa. One motive might have been that the Christian Zionists that Carlson so despises have been outspoken about the plight of Christians in Muslim countries like Nigeria. There’s also the fact that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the former Fox News host’s fiercest critics, has taken up this cause, with proposed legislation aimed at sanctioning Nigerian officials who have condoned these crimes. That helps clear up the mystery about Carlson’s interest in denying the persecution of Christians by Muslims.

Carlson again took up the theme that Muslims are no threat to the West in his speech to the Turning Point USA AmericaFest earlier this week to little effect.

More cogent, however, were the remarks of a one-time favorite of the commentator: Tulsi Gabbard, who now serves as Trump’s director of national intelligence. She pointed out that Islamists are a direct threat to American freedom, something made obvious by the 9/11 attacks. But, she added, it is now also being illustrated by the actions of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was founded as a front group by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and always treated as a civil liberties organization by much of the liberal media.

Gabbard further described the way Islamist clerics and their political allies are promoting this dangerous ideology in places like Patterson, N.J.; Dearborn, Mich.; Houston; and Minneapolis.

Interest in the horrors of Islamist terrorism in Africa was briefly aroused in 2014, when 200 Nigerian Christian girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram. No less a personage than first lady Michelle Obama took up the cause of the victims with her #BringBackOurGirls campaign. But the focus on that crime was a passing phase, with few if any of those who joined Mrs. Obama in promoting that hashtag subsequently paid much attention to the broader problem of Islamist persecution of and terrorism against African Christians.

It almost goes without saying that when more than 250 people, including men, women, children and the elderly, were kidnapped by Palestinian Arabs during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, neither the former first lady nor most of those who spoke up about the abducted schoolgirls said a word about the Israeli hostages. But as has been made obvious over the course of the last few decades, outrage against Islamist terror is at best sporadic.

When it is only Jews who are the victims, the discussion almost immediately shifts to one dictated by the false narrative about Israel being a settler-colonial or “apartheid” state oppressing Palestinians, regardless of the facts. When the victims are not Jewish, there is more interest in the victims; though, as we saw after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama seemed to be just as worried about not framing the conflict as one rooted in religion as they were in combating terrorism.

That is why, regardless of what the U.S. strikes in Nigeria accomplished, it is important that Americans wake up to the global threat that Islamist ideology and terror pose. That’s something that activists like Charles Jacobs and Ben Poser have been trying to tell the world about in recent years—something that was highlighted on my “Think Twice” podcast earlier this year.

The plight of Christians in Africa is appalling in and of itself, and the steadfast refusal of most of the international media to cover it is a scandal. So, too, is their unwillingness to point out that the threat is rooted in a popular variant of Islam, rather than a random collection of thugs with incomprehensible motives and obscure origins.

It also makes it painfully clear that the post-Oct. 7 war Israel has been fighting against a coalition of Iranian-funded terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Yemen is not an isolated series of battles involving only that besieged nation. Rather, it constitutes the front lines of a global conflict between Islamists and the West in which the stakes are far higher than most Americans realize.

As Trump has articulated in the past year, the foundation of his “America First” foreign policy isn’t isolationism, but rather a serious effort to sort out real threats to American security and its values from those that are peripheral to it. Trump rightly saw the Iranian nuclear program as a threat to the United States and helped Israel destroy or at least set it back several years. And he rightly understands that Islamist terror in Africa is linked to those same concerns.

Those elements of his conservative coalition, like Carlson and others, who strangely echo the anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric of the far left and Islamists, and accuse those who care about these issues of being “Israel firsters” or “neoconservatives” (in today’s political parlance, a term that is shorthand for Jews), aren’t just out of sync with Trump. They undermine the defense of the West against a deadly threat that seeks the destruction of the United States, as well as of the one Jewish state on the planet.

The current surge in antisemitism isn’t, as some have falsely called it, a debate about the U.S.-Israel alliance or the war in Gaza. It is part of an effort to disarm and divert Americans from the peril that Islamists pose to their country and Western civilization. The war against this ideology is one that must be fought across the globe. Like those who lie about Gaza and the siege of Israel, anyone telling us to look away from what is happening in Africa is part of a problem that cannot be ignored.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, a senior contributor for The Federalist, a columnist for Newsweek and a contributor to many other publications. He covers the American political scene, foreign policy, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Middle East diplomacy, the Jewish world and the arts. He hosts the JNS “Think Twice” podcast, both the weekly video program and the “Jonathan Tobin Daily” program, which are available on all major audio platforms and YouTube. Previously, he was executive editor, then senior online editor and chief political blogger, for Commentary magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger. He has won more than 60 awards for commentary, art criticism and other writing. He appears regularly on television, commenting on politics and foreign policy. Born in New York City, he studied history at Columbia University.

Iran Accuses Israel of False Flag Attacks on Jews Abroad as Regime’s Executions Reach Record Levels

Dec27

Iran Accuses Israel of False Flag Attacks on Jews Abroad as Regime’s Executions Reach Record Levels

Ailin Vilches Arguello

People walk near a mural of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran continues to accuse Israel of orchestrating false-flag attacks against Jews and Israelis abroad to stoke fears of antisemitism in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre, even as the regime escalates its own domestic crackdown, with public executions reaching record levels.

Speaking to commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday, Iranian military chief Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi referred to the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which killed 15 people and wounded at least 40 others, as “not the first time that Jews have been targeted in an attempt to portray Israel as a victim,” accusing the Jewish state of committing similar crimes in the past.

“The Zionist regime has assassinated members of the Jewish community and their affiliates in other countries to prevent reverse migration, escape internal turmoil, and instill antisemitism,” Mousavi said.

However, as the Islamist regime in Iran continues to issue baseless accusations, Australian and Israeli authorities are actually investigating whether Tehran had a role in orchestrating the mass shooting targeting Sydney’s Jewish community, citing the regime’s long history of plotting terrorist attacks abroad.

According to Iranian media, Mousavi also accused the United States and Israel of wrongdoing, saying “the events of the past two years have exposed their criminal nature to the world.”

“Enemies of the country are lawbreakers, warmongers, and deceivers, and they do not adhere to any international law or humanitarian norms,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of the Dec. 14 massacre at Bondi Beach, the Iranian Foreign Ministry publicly condemned the “violent attack” in Sydney, though the statement was vague and made no mention of antisemitism, the local Jewish community, or any specific target.

However, Iranian state and semi-official media pushed a starkly different narrative, spreading conspiracy theories that framed the attack as a plot orchestrated by Israel. Other outlets expressed support for the attack, even praising it, claiming that the rabbi who was killed during the massacre, Eli Schlanger, was a “staunch advocate of genocide in Gaza.”

The Iranian news agency Mehr openly called “the Zionist regime” the main suspect, portraying the attack as a “false flag” operation allegedly designed to serve Israeli interests.

Earlier this year, Britain, the United States, France, and 11 other allies issued a joint statement condemning a rise in Iranian assassination and kidnapping plots in the West, as a new report warned Tehran has been intensifying efforts to target Jewish communities abroad.

With a surge in assassination, kidnapping, and harassment plots targeting individuals in multiple countries, Western allies urged Iranian authorities to halt these illegal actions, noting how the regime continues to promote antisemitism abroad and recruits criminal networks to carry out attacks against Jews.

Iran is facing mounting international pressure not only over its terror operations abroad but also for its escalating brutal internal crackdown amid growing domestic tensions and crises.

According to Iran Human Rights Monitor (IHR), a Norway-based NGO that tracks the death penalty in the country, at least 1,791 people have been executed this year, marking a staggering rise from the 993 executions recorded in 2024.

Most of those executed were accused of collaborating with Mossad — Israel’s national intelligence agency — and aiding covert operations in Tehran, such as assassinations and sabotage targeting the country’s nuclear program.

With at least 61 women among those executed, Iran remains the world’s leading executioner on a per capita basis, using capital punishment as a tool of repression, fear, and ideological control.

Last week, a group of survivors, together with the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), filed a criminal complaint in Argentina accusing Iranian authorities of crimes against humanity committed during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

In a first-ever legal action of its kind, survivors of the regime’s atrocities filed a criminal complaint against 40 named Iranian officials, alleging gender persecution, murder, torture, and other brutal acts, including targeted blinding, in response to the regime’s brutal 2022 crackdown.

With this lawsuit, plaintiffs are asking the Argentine court to investigate senior figures in Iran’s intelligence services, military, police, the IRGC, and civilian government for their roles in a widespread and systematic assault on civilians.

Among those filing the complaint is Mahsa Piraei, one of Minoo Majidi’s three children, seeking justice for her 62-year-old mother who was shot dead in September 2022.

According to autopsy reports, more than 167 metal pellets were fired into her back at point-blank range.

“In our own country, we could not find justice for my mother’s killing, as the judiciary is neither fair nor independent,” Piraei said. “But today, I am happy that this crime has not crushed our hope for justice, and that our efforts are finally bearing fruit.”

“With the help of human rights lawyers, we are taking our case to courts outside of Iran,” she continued. “I believe that our perseverance as families seeking justice, and our commitment to upholding human dignity, is a global cause that knows no borders.”

The 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests erupted nationwide after Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, died in a Tehran police station following her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s hijab rules, igniting a nationwide uprising calling for human rights and individual freedoms.

On Hanukkah night, amid terror and confusion, the true story was written by Jews who ran toward danger to protect one another

Sędzia Mohamed Ali orzeka, że nie zostanie deportowany

„Dlatego Shakir nie zostanie deportowany – wyjaśnienie sędziego”

Obywatel Iraku Shakir Mahmoud Shakir zgwałcił 100-letnią kobietę objętą opieką domową.

Został skazany, ale może pozostać w Szwecji.

„To pobłażanie poważnym przestępcom musi się skończyć” – napisał Ulf Kristersson (M) na platformie X.

Sędzia jednak broni wyroku.

Do zdarzenia doszło w październiku tego roku. 100-letnia kobieta ze Sztokholmu poczuła ból w klatce piersiowej. Jak sama zeznała podczas przesłuchania, zadzwoniła po karetkę – ale zamiast niej przybył Shakir Mahmoud Shakir z urzędu opieki domowej.

– Powiedział: „powinno się panią namaścić” – relacjonuje kobieta podczas przesłuchania.

Mężczyzna przyniósł krem i wprowadził jakiś przedmiot do jej pochwy.

– Przestań, co pan robi? Co pan robi? – krzyczała kobieta według jej relacji.

Mimo głośnych protestów napaść trwała przez dziesięć minut – ocenia 100-latka. Dopiero wtedy mężczyzna opuścił mieszkanie.

– Potem byłam gotowa się rozpłakać. Pomyślałam: pracujesz tutaj. I robisz coś takiego ludziom. I kobietom – powiedziała śledczemu z policji.

W środę zapadł wyrok: Shakir Mahmoud Shakir został uznany za winnego gwałtu na 100-letniej kobiecie i skazany na cztery lata więzienia. Jednocześnie został uniewinniony z zarzutu gwałtu na 94-letniej kobiecie.

Prokuratorka Linn Nyberg wnioskowała również o dziesięcioletnią deportację. W tym zakresie Sąd Rejonowy w Södertörn nie podzielił jej stanowiska.

Sędzia Mohamed Ali uznał, że Shakir jest zakorzeniony w Szwecji i ma dobry kontakt z córką, która jest obywatelką szwedzką. Dlatego nie powinien zostać deportowany.

Wyrok wywołał reakcje wielu polityków. Premier Ulf Kristersson (M) napisał w poście na X: „jeśli nie jesteś obywatelem Szwecji i popełniasz tak potworne czyny, tracisz prawo do przebywania w Szwecji”.

– Jestem wściekły i umocniony w przekonaniu, że musimy doprowadzić do zmian – dodał.

– To pobłażanie poważnym przestępcom musi się skończyć. Mój rząd zawsze będzie działał na rzecz ochrony ofiar przestępstw i ich zadośćuczynienia – stwierdził premier.

Minister pracy Johan Britz (L) również odniósł się do wyroku na X, pisząc, że zapowiadane przez rząd zaostrzenie przepisów o deportacji „powinno było zostać wprowadzone dużo wcześniej”.

Minister ds. migracji Johan Forssell (M) poinformował w e-mailu do redakcji Expressen, że nie komentuje toczących się postępowań sądowych – ale wyraził krytykę co do meritum sprawy.

Poseł SD Henrik Vinge napisał na X, że „to niepokojąca myśl”, iż gwałciciel za kilka lat będzie w Szwecji na wolności.

– To, że ten gwałciciel, który napadł na stuletnią kobietę, za dwa lata i osiem miesięcy będzie wolny w naszym kraju, to niepokojąca myśl.

– Żadna starsza osoba nie powinna doświadczyć czegoś takiego – podsumował Vinge.

Europosłanka Alice Teodorescu Måwe (KD) również skomentowała wyrok, uznając, że „podważa on zaufanie do państwa prawa”.

Ale Mohamed Ali, sędzia prowadzący sprawę, broni orzeczenia. Choć Urząd ds. Migracji twierdzi, że nie ma przeszkód, by deportować Shakira do Iraku, sąd ocenił, że jego więzi ze Szwecją są silniejsze.

Więc to waży więcej niż gwałt na 100-letniej kobiecie?

– Jeśli chodzi o przestępstwo, został za nie skazany na długi wyrok więzienia i musi wypłacić odszkodowanie.

The U.S. strikes on Islamists in Africa ordered by President Trump put into perspective the hypocrisy and double standards of Israel’s critics on the left and the right.