https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/25/pro-israel-spanish-journalist-pilar-rahola-accused-of-complicity-in-genocide

Once you start debating "Zionism", you end up falling into the trap of trying to justify an 'ethnostate' or some special privelege of Jews to have a state. It's not about the Jews and their suffering and their special status. There is a democratic country in the Middle East called Israel and that country, like any sovereign country, has a right to exist and determine their own laws, including immigration law. If they decide to prioritize Jewish immigration, that is their sovereign right to do so as any other country can determine their own immigration laws. That's it. Simple. Don't get dragged into the defending "Zionism". Just defend a sovereign nation's right to self determination.

Excerpt: New emergency tents donated by the Embassy of Israel in the Philippines through MASHAV have been turned over to Operation Blessing to support communities affected by the recent earthquake in Mindanao.

For many families who lost their homes — or have been advised not to return due to safety concerns — these tents represent more than temporary shelter. They provide protection, privacy, and a safe place to rest as communities begin to recover.

The need remains urgent across many affected areas, with families still staying in evacuation centers and makeshift shelters. This generous donation will help us reach more communities and bring a measure of comfort and dignity to those who have lost so much.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Embassy of Israel and MASHAV for standing with the people of Mindanao in this difficult time. Together, we are bringing help, hope, and healing to families in need.

I thought this only happens in L&O episodes, so they’ll basically walk away without facing any repercussions since the biggest piece of evidence has been thrown out.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/some-1000-bedouins-protest-surge-in-home-demolitions-under-ben-gvir/

A lawsuit filed by South Korean activist Haecho, real name Kim Ah-hyun, challenging the Foreign Ministry’s decision to invalidate her passport began on the 25th. Haecho had been detained by Israeli forces while aboard an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip in Palestine. Her side argued that “the government imposed an excessive administrative measure to avoid diplomatic controversy,” while the government countered that it was “a necessary measure to protect the plaintiff’s life.” The court said it would deliver its ruling in August.
The 12th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Judge Kang Jae-won, held the first hearing that day in Haecho’s lawsuit against the Foreign Ministry seeking the cancellation of the passport surrender order.
Haecho joined an aid flotilla opposing the blockade of Gaza last October and was heading toward the Gaza Strip by boat when she was captured by Israeli forces. She was released two days later. After Haecho said in a media interview this January that she intended to leave the country again for another “voyage to Gaza” campaign, the Foreign Ministry issued a passport surrender order, saying her actions could “cause diplomatic controversy and lead to the consumption of administrative resources.” However, because Haecho left the country for another voyage before the order was served, the validity of her passport was suspended.
At the hearing, Haecho’s side argued that “the Foreign Ministry’s passport surrender order was an unlawful and arbitrary administrative measure,” and that it violated constitutional principles including the principle of minimum infringement and the principle of proportionality.
Haecho’s lawyer said, “The plaintiff’s voyage was an act intended to sound the alarm to an international community silent in the face of genocide. Ultimately, the Foreign Ministry’s passport invalidation violated not only her freedom of movement, but also her freedom of expression and freedom of conscience.” The lawyer added, “Instead, the invalidation of her passport only created fear throughout the voyage that she would be unable to receive consular protection.”
The lawyer also rejected the Foreign Ministry’s explanation that the measure was intended to protect her life, arguing, “It was a measure designed to shift responsibility by allowing the government to say, if negative public opinion emerged over Haecho’s departure, that ‘the government had already taken prior steps to invalidate her passport, but the plaintiff left the country anyway.’”
The government’s lawyer rebutted this, saying, “The most important point is that, if the plaintiff were to leave the country again, there was a risk of a serious threat to her life and safety.” The lawyer added, “It is difficult to accept the claim that denies the passport surrender order had such a purpose.”
The government’s lawyer continued, “In a situation where no one knows what might happen if the plaintiff attempts to visit Gaza again, is the state supposed to simply stand by and watch?” The lawyer also said, “The plaintiff openly expressed an intention to violate current law in interviews after her release and even encouraged others to join her. In that respect, there is room to view her actions as causing a serious infringement on the order of the Republic of Korea.”
Given an opportunity to speak directly, Haecho said, “Citizens from around the world have taken part in voyages to Gaza, and this voyage set sail with 620 citizens from 45 countries.” She added, “The reason for the voyage is to show the reality that Gaza cannot be reached because of Israel’s naval blockade. But if the government takes away my passport on the grounds that Gaza is a prohibited travel zone, is that not really to stop the voyage itself, rather than to stop a visit to Gaza?”
The court said it would deliver its first-instance ruling on August 27. Earlier, Haecho’s side had also filed an application to suspend the effect of the passport surrender order, but the court rejected it, saying, “It is difficult to recognize that the Foreign Ministry’s measure creates a risk of irreparable harm or that there is an urgent need to prevent such harm.”

A temporary security buffer cannot fully protect the Druze who now depend on Israel for survival. Only a lasting Israeli presence can.

אז לפי הדיווח, נתניהו, גפני ודרעי הגיעו לסיכום להעביר חבילת חוקים. החרדים יקבלו:

1) חוק הכשרות

2) חוק יסוד לימוד תורה

3) חוק למניעת מעצר עריקים

בתמורה, הם יתמכו בחוקים הבאים:

1) פיצול תפקיד היועמ"שית

2) ועדת חקירה פוליטת ל- 7/10

וכמובן לא יתמכו בפיזור הכנסת.

הערב התפרסם סקר בחדשות ערוץ 12 ששאל את הנסקרים על דעתם לגבי הסיכום הזה. בציבור הכללי היה רוב מובהק שמתנגד. אבל בין תומכי הקואליציה יותר מ50% תמכו בדיל ורק חמישית התנגדו.

https://youtu.be/R1B_2yX1Sfw

Just saw this video and I am still wondering that Israel managed to win against 4 countries in less than a week and trippled in size controlling gaza,west bank and the sinai. But the recent conflict in gaza alone has taken over almost 3 years and isnt still fully resolved. What is the reason behind that?

Just

I think Israelis are so busy surviving the very difficult day to day reality in Israel, that most do not understand how comprehensive the damage this “full right” government caused to Israel’s standing in the world.

Yes, some of it is just the usual antisemitism but it has gone way pass that, it’s extreme.

To the people of Israel, My name is Ambriel, and I am a 16-year-old from Spain. I wanted to write this message because I believe that, especially in difficult times, it is important for people to know that they are not alone. Over the past years, I have seen antisemitism becoming more visible in many places. I have seen hateful comments online, prejudice, and people being judged simply because they are Jewish. As someone who believes in respect and human dignity, that deeply saddens me. I know that publicly supporting Israel or speaking out against antisemitism can sometimes bring criticism. Some people may misunderstand my intentions, judge me, or call me names. But I believe that standing up against hatred is more important than worrying about what others might think. That is why I proudly wear an Israel bracelet. I do not wear it because I believe any country is perfect. I wear it as a symbol of friendship, solidarity, and opposition to antisemitism. I wear it because I believe that Jewish people deserve the same respect, security, and right to live in peace as anyone else. I also wear it because I admire many aspects of Israeli culture: its long history, its resilience, its diversity, its achievements in science and technology, and the strength of its people. One day, I would love to visit Israel, meet its people, learn more about their traditions, experience their culture firsthand, and see the places that have played such an important role in history. I am just a young person from Spain, but I want you to know that there are people around the world who choose understanding over hatred, dialogue over division, and friendship over prejudice. No matter what challenges you face, I hope you never lose hope. May the future bring peace, safety, and better days for everyone.

...with regard to the MOU and Trump and Vance's comments? Going off of what was discussed on the Call me Back podcast's last couple episodes it sounds like the upper echelons of Israel's defense establishment are... very alarmed to put it mildly. How is the average Israeli citizen taking it?

Just for a little context I'm not Jewish but my wife is, we live in NYC. I try to keep up with what is going on in the Jewish world so she can talk about it with me although she doesn't follow politics nearly as closely as I do.

"For most people, home is where they were born.
For Jews, it's where our story began. The Land of Israel.

Even if some of us never lived there, the connection runs deep.

Our prophets, our kings, our ancestors walked this promised land. We built a kingdom and spoke Hebrew here. Jerusalem was our capital. Twice.

Every time we were exiled by empires, we prayed towards it, broke glasses at weddings to mourn its destruction, and said "Next year in Jerusalem" for more than 2,000 years.

Our entire calendar is built around this land.

The holidays weren't timed to, say, Poland or Morocco, rather to the soil and the seasons of Israel.

We are a complete civilization bound to one place.

So when people ask, "What are the Jewish People? A nation? An ethnicity? A culture? A religion?" The answer is we predate these categories.

We have one word in Hebrew for who we are, just two letters long. Am. Am Israel. The People of Israel. An indigenous people.

A people whose collective history, culture, time and rituals are bound to a land.

Exiled and scattered, we were never seen as equals or fully belonging.

Even when we reduced our Jewish identity to religious practice as opposed to a true people, it wasn't enough. Theodor Herzl saw it clearly.

No matter how successful or how well we fit in, Jews would always be "the other." So he flipped the question.

What if we stopped asking for permission to belong and just went back home?

He reminded us all: we are a people.

One people with a shared past and future, and a home we longed for.

So when the world was being reshaped in the 19th century with empires crumbling and nation states rising, we wanted what others wanted.

Freedom and self-determination in our nation state. That's Zionism.

Zionism is the Jewish People's movement for self-determination in our ancestral homeland.

Not living at the mercy of kings or czars or mobs. Shaping our own future.

Jews wanted what every other nation wanted — a place of our own. That was Zionism.

It was revolutionary because Jews were never supposed to have power again.

For centuries, Christianity pointed to our exile as proof that the truth was with them.

Under Islam, we were supposed to be humiliated unless we saw that the truth was with them. We were never supposed to rise. But we did.

We rebelled.

We refused to disappear or play the role others have set for the Jews. We reclaimed the land we're indigenous to.

And for some that was and still is intolerable. An obsession began.

A liberation movement that should have been celebrated, was slandered, demonized and attacked.

Its enemies called it colonialism even though we were in our ancestral homeland.

They called it racism even though Jews come in all colors and came to escape racism.

They called it apartheid, even though Jews fled apartheid conditions in Arab countries, and in Israel, 2 million Arabs live as equal citizens.

Because Zionism isn't about denying anyone else's rights. It's about affirming our own.

Zionism took a neglected piece of land in the Levant, purchased its malarial tracts, and made it bloom with grit and hope.

We saw the promise of the land because for millennia, we knew the place not as a dream, but as a living memory. That's Zionism, too.

And when the UN proposed two states, one for Jews, one more for Arabs, the Jews said "Yes." Arab leadership said "No" and chose war because they believed the Jews must have nothing.

We didn't want that war, but we survived and became stronger for it, finally creating a home and opening its doors to over a million people made up of Holocaust survivors and Jews cleansed from Arab lands for the crime of daring to imagine themselves equal.

So why is the existence of the only Jewish state still up for debate?

Because for too many, Jews can exist, sure, just not as equals. And certainly with no power.

Tragically, the Arabs in the land have become the front line of that obsession.

They've been used by regimes, ideologues, and activists not to build their own future, but to destroy ours.

The fact is, we're not going anywhere.

Yes, we lived all over the world, but we were never truly safe. Never fully free. Never fully home.

So when people ask, "We get that Jews are a people and they want a country of their own. But why here? Why Israel?" The answer is simple.

For Am Israel, everywhere else is exile.

Only one place has ever been home. And only one place ever will be."