Weekly roundup of world briefs

IDF has downed more than 150 drones since Oct. 7

(JNS) — Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the Israel Defense Forces has intercepted over 150 drones using ground-based systems such as the Iron Dome, the military announced Monday night.

Additional UAVs have been downed by fighter jets, according to the IDF.

On Tuesday morning, the IDF announced the interception of a “suspicious aerial target” heading towards Israel “from the east.” No warning sirens were activated as the target did not cross into Israeli territory.

Hours earlier, another “suspicious aerial target” was downed after crossing from Lebanon into the Golan Heights. The attack caused no injuries or damage.

Also on Tuesday, the IDF intercepted a “hostile aircraft” above the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Haifa. In accordance with protocol, no sirens were sounded, and the attack caused no injuries or damage.

Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon have regularly launched drones at Israel since joining the war in support of Hamas the day after the Oct. 7 massacre.

Iranian-backed terror groups in Iraq and Syria have also claimed to have fired UAVs at the Jewish state, in addition to the Houthis in Yemen.

The IDF also revealed Monday that since the start of the war, more than 19,000 rockets have been launched into Israel, mainly from the Gaza Strip.

The tally does not include projectiles that fall short of Israeli territory. Nor does it include Hezbollah anti-tank missiles, which the Lebanese terror group has repeatedly launched at mostly-evacuated northern Israeli communities since Oct. 8.

Los Angeles man sentenced to 43 months for stalking Jewish woman

(JNS) — Andre Morrow Lackner, 35, was sentenced to more than three and a half years in prison for stalking a Jewish woman and making antisemitic and anti-Asian threats, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California stated on Monday.

“Hate and intolerance, including antisemitism, is both wrong and anti-American,” said Martin Estrada, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. “Our nation is one of inclusion, not exclusion, and through this case, we send a strong message that we will not tolerate attempts to divide us.”

Lackner, of the Northridge neighborhood in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley, has been in federal custody since December 2022 and pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 to stalking, per the U.S. Justice Department.

He wrote a “series of abusive text messages” to the Jewish victim between June 2021 and October 2022, including “Hitler was right about you people,” “I want to see every single Jew exterminated from this earth,” “Would you like to celebrate the next synagogue shooting?” and “I will make sure I kill a Jew before I leave this Earth,” according to the Justice Department.

It added that Lackner also wrote anti-Asian racist messages to the victim. “The text messages Lackner sent the victim placed her in reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury to herself or one of her immediate family members,” the Justice Department said.

The FBI assisted in the investigation.

Manhattan prep school leader resigns after calling task force ‘power play by Jewish families’

(JNS) — A Manhattan private school that charges a yearly tuition of $63,400 has seen a change in leadership following overt efforts to fight antisemitism.

On Monday, head of school David Lourie announced plans to step down from his top position at the Collegiate School, a private K-12 boys’ institution on New York City’s Upper West Side. He has held the job since 2020.

Lourie called the school’s newly formed antisemitism task force “a joke,” labeling the initiative a “power play by Jewish families.”

He had responded to a task force created by the school’s board of trustees following complaints from more than 100 Jewish parents. A report found that some faculty had blamed “wealthy and influential” Jews for creating the hostile environment at the school after the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the start of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

Still, he did not mention steps to counter anti-Jewish sentiment on campus upon his leaving.

“We are, of course, living in a time when so many decisions are fraught with uncertainty, disagreement and dissension,” Lourie wrote in his announcement. “With every decision then [and] through every decision now, that has been my lodestar: what is best for the boys and their learning and well-being.”

Likud sees boost in poll after Gantz’s departure

(JNS) — A Direct Polls survey released on Monday by Israel’s Channel 14 shows that the Likud Party gained a slight tailwind following National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz’s announcement that he was quitting the emergency unity government.

If elections were held today, the Likud Party with Benjamin Netanyahu at its head would win a months-long high of 59 Knesset seats, up one from last week’s Direct Polls survey. 

Meanwhile, the center-left bloc weakened, falling to 51 mandates from 53 in the last poll.

The survey asked which leader was best suited to serve as prime minister: Netanyahu or Gantz. Forty-seven percent of the respondents picked Netanyahu compared to 31 percent for Gantz. Twenty-two percent said neither was suitable. 

According to the survey, the breakdown of mandates would be as follows:

• Right-wing bloc: Likud – 26; Shas – 10; Otzma Yehudit – 10; United Torah Judaism – 8; Religious Zionism – 5

Total: 59 mandates

• Left-wing bloc: National Unity–17; Yesh Atid–12; Israel Beiteinu–13; Labor – 9

Total: 51 mandates

• Arab parties: Ra’am (United Arab List) – 6; Hadash-Ta’al – 4;

‘Intifada revolution’: Mob converges on NYC exhibit for Oct. 7 victims

(JNS) — A mob of protesters chanting “intifada revolution” on Monday night rallied outside a New York city exhibit memorializing the hundreds of victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel.

The crowd lit flares and waved Palestinian flags, along with one associated with the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, in front of the Nova Music Festival Exhibition on Wall Street during what was billed by organizers as a “citywide day of rage for Gaza,” according to video from the scene.

The demonstration, organized by the pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, began in the city’s Union Square, where some protesters unfurled a “Long live October 7th” banner, referring to the Hamas massacre that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw about 250 others abducted to Gaza.

One of the exhibit’s organizers, music mogul Scooter Braun, condemned the demonstration.

“I don’t understand why protesting a memorial for innocent music lovers who were raped and butchered and kidnapped helps,” he wrote on social media. “Go see the @novaexhibition and see the truth instead of standing outside listening to yourself.”

The exhibition, which honors the memory of the 364 people killed at the festival, will run until June 22.

The protest comes just days after a similar anti-Israel rally was held outside the White House, featuring banners calling for jihad and martyrdom. One protester, in a Hamas headband, carried a bloodied face mask representing U.S. President Joe Biden.

CENTCOM head, IDF chief discuss Gaza war, Iran threat

(JNS) — The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Eric Kurilla, visited Israel over the weekend at the invitation of IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military announced on Tuesday.

Kurilla and Halevi held an operational situation assessment, discussed recent regional challenges and the strengthening of the strategic partnership against the Iranian threat, according to the IDF.

They also discussed developments in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and ongoing Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon.

Kurilla was last in Israel in April, just before Iran launched an unprecedented combined attack of more than 300 drones and missiles at the Jewish state. 

According to the Israel Defense Forces, 99% of the threats were shot down in a joint mission of Israel, the United States, Britain and several Arab neighbors.

At the time, Halevi expressed “great appreciation for the joint defense effort to thwart and intercept the Iranian attack on Israel.” He conveyed to Kurilla that the “close cooperation between the armies throughout the war resulted in the creation of a strong defense coalition that proved itself.”

In January 2021, as part of the Trump administration’s adjustments to the Unified Command Plan, Israel was officially transferred from U.S. European Command to CENTCOM.

This meant Israel was expected to engage in security cooperation (e.g., exercises, military sales, operational planning) with U.S. regional allies and partners also in CENTCOM—specifically, with moderate Arab states.

The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, were a vital precursor to this move and a harbinger of future Arab-Israeli collaboration.

Temporary pier anchored to Gaza coast operating again after repairs

(JNS) — Repairs on the broken Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore completed and the temporary pier was re-anchored to the Gazan coast and began operating again on Saturday, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Monday that some 1.1 million pounds of humanitarian aid crossed the newly reopened pier since Saturday.

U.S. Central Command “has assisted in the delivery of more than 1,573 metric tons, or approximately 3.5 million pounds of humanitarian aid, to the shore for onward distribution,” Ryder said of the pier since it first anchored on June 7 and went operational the following day. 

“After going operational on Saturday, a total of approximately 492 metric tons, or approximately 1.1 million pounds, was delivered across the pier,” he added.

The Pentagon spokesman added that an American C-130, a military transport plane, dropped more than 10 metric tons of “meals, ready-to-eat” in northern Gaza on Sunday. 

“To date, the U.S. has air-dropped more than 1,050 metric tons of humanitarian assistance,” he told reporters. 

Weather continues to be a factor, Ryder said on Monday.

“The sea states yesterday and today have prevented additional aid from flowing across the causeway, but all indications are that that will commence again tomorrow,” he said. “The point being is that the JLOTS will continue to deliver aid into the assembly area, where NGOs like World Food Program will pick it up and take it onward for further distribution.”

IDF slays highest-ranking Hezbollah terrorist since Oct. 7

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Wednesday the targeted killing of Hezbollah commander Sami Taleb Abdullah, who headed the Nasr Unit, or “Victory Force,” one of the Iranian-back terror group’s three divisions in Southern Lebanon, responsible for the eastern sector. 

Abdullah, 55, who assumed his position in 2016, was killed in an airstrike Tuesday night in the Jouaiyya area, where he oversaw attacks since Oct. 7 on the cities of Kiryat Shmona and Safed, Moshavs Margaliot and Avivim, and other places. He was known within Hezbollah as Hajj Abu Taleb.

He also spearheaded attacks causing recent widespread fires in the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee, as well as the launch of Hezbollah’s Burkan missiles, which have a maximum range of 10 km. (6.2 miles) and carry up to 500 kg. (1,100 pounds) of explosive material, at Israeli communities.

He is the senior-most of some 300 Hezbollah terrorists killed since the Iranian proxy began near-daily attacks on Israel in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

“Abdullah was one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in Southern Lebanon who planned, advanced and carried out a large number of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians,” the IDF said.

Three additional terrorists were killed in Tuesday’s strike.

In response, Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets at northern Israel.

At least 25 anti-Israel protesters arrested at UCLA

(JNS) — Some 25 anti-Israel protesters were arrested on Monday at the University of California, Los Angeles, after setting up an “unauthorized and unlawful encampment” on campus. 

About 100 UCLA students marched on campus around 3:15 p.m. “and set up…tents, canopies, wooden shields and water-filled barriers,” the public university’s police department stated.

The students violated university policy by blocking access to parts of campus and used “amplified sound” to disrupt final exams, according to police. 

After officers warned the group, the students relocated to another site on campus, where they were asked again to disperse. The same thing occurred at a third location, where police officers made arrests around 8 p.m. 

Those students arrested were barred from campus for two weeks. 

“Approximately 150 protesters remain in the area as of the latest update,” according to police.

Protesters damaged a fountain, “spray-painted brick walkways, tampered with fire safety equipment, damaged patio furniture, stripped wire from electrical fixtures and vandalized vehicles,” police said.

House ed committee won’t tolerate Northwestern U’s ‘obstruction’

(JNS) — Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, sent a letter to Northwestern University accusing the private school in suburban Chicago of having “obstructed” and “impeded” congressional efforts to monitor the school’s antisemitism problems.

“Unfortunately, rather than being cooperative and transparent, Northwestern has obstructed the committee’s investigation of this matter,” Foxx wrote.

Michael Schill, president of the school in Evanston, Ill., “pointedly refused to answer questions from committee members, made statements at odds with the public record…and demonstrated an overall attitude of contempt for the committee.”

Northwestern didn’t comply adequately with the committee’s prior data request, according to Foxx. “Northwestern produced a mere 13 pages of documents responsive to the committee’s priority requests that were not already public—all of which were formal records of Board of Trustees meetings that lack substantive details of the board’s discussions,” added Foxx.

In the letter, Foxx asked the school to provide documents, including communications about the “Northwestern Liberated Zone” encampment, antisemitic incidents on campus since Oct. 7 and Qatar funding, by June 17.

AOC: ‘Bad faith actors’ falsely say ‘people of color’ are Jew-haters

(JNS) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said on Monday that antisemitism was antithetical to American and progressive values, and that “bad faith actors” falsely accuse black women in particular of being antisemitic.

“Antisemitism is an assault on our values as Americans and especially as progressives,” she said during an online webinar.

“It is also important to say here in this moment and during that conversation that criticism of the Israeli government is not inherently antisemitic and criticism of Zionism is not automatically antisemitic,” she added. 

The congresswoman said that “when the Jewish community is threatened, the progressive movement is undermined,” adding, “it is also true that accusations and false accusations of antisemitism are wielded against people of color and women of color by bad-faith political actors.” 

This “weaponizing [of] antisemitism is used to divide us and create a false choice between the fight for Jewish safety and the calls for Palestinian self-determination,” she said.

Sam Markstein, national political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, called the congresswoman part of “the Hamas caucus,” expressing shock that “the Democratic Party has this much difficulty calling out antisemitism.” He added that “instead of despicable race-baiting, AOC should focus on fighting bigotry in her own ranks.”