Point of No Return

Macron gives ringing condemnation of Islamist antisemitism

bataween | Posted on 18 February 2026 | 1 Comment |

It is 20 years since Ilan Halimi was kidnapped and tortured to death by a mainly Muslim gang called the Barbarians. Planting a tree in Ilan’s memory, French President Emanuel Macron delivered a refreshingly frank condemnation of the Islamist antisemitism which has claimed the lives of several Jews in the last decade – most of them of North African origin. His speech, reproduced in full by Tablet, does not obfuscate the Jewish identity of the victims or blame the murders on mental health issues or the actions of ‘lone wolves.’ We hope that that the French authorities will follow up Macron’s words with deeds.

“Ilan Halimi had his whole life ahead of him. A loving family—his mother, Ruth, and his sisters. Friends, dreams. Dreams like those you have at 23, and the smile of someone who looks at others as a promise.

Ilan Halimi was Jewish. And it is because he was Jewish that, for 20 years now, he has been missing from us all.

It is because he was Jewish that he was subjected to an unspeakable ordeal, a 24-day calvary straight out of the darkest ages.

Everything about the barbaric horror that unfolded 20 years ago inspires dread: Ilan’s abduction—conceived, premeditated, organized. His confinement in a cellar in Bagneux. The belief that, because he was Jewish, he must have had the means to pay unimaginable ransoms. The absurdity of antisemitic prejudice, the machinery of torture, the denial of his humanity.

Everything is dreadful. The barbarity of the murderers, the cruelty of their accomplices, the cowardly pact of those who pretended not to see.

Everything is dreadful. And this dread cannot fade, because over the past 20 years, antisemitic barbarism has not retreated. On the contrary, it has continued to regenerate.

The barbarism of those who, by desecrating a memorial, vandalizing places erected in his memory, uprooting his tree, sought to kill Ilan Halimi a second time.

The barbarism of the terrorists of Ozar Hatorah, who, in 2012, took the lives of Myriam Monsonego and Jonathan, Arié, and Gabriel Sandler.

The barbarism of the jihadists of the Hyper Cacher, who, in 2015, murdered Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, and François-Michel Saada.

The barbarism of the murderers of Sarah Halimi, of Mireille Knoll, of René Hadjadj—and I do not forget Sébastien Selam.

The barbarism beyond our borders of those who attacked the synagogue of El Ghriba, that of Heaton Park.

The barbarism of the murderers of Bondi Beach.

Yes, in 20 years—and despite the determined action of our police officers, gendarmes, magistrates, teachers, and elected officials—the antisemitic hydra has continued to grow. Constantly taking on new faces, it has infiltrated the intimacy of our societies, every crack and crevice, once again too often accompanied by the same cowardly pact: not to speak, to refuse to see.

Islamist antisemitism—the one at the origin of the pogrom of Oct. 7—which preachers of hatred attempt to spread on our soil, in physical spaces as well as online, sometimes with the complicity of foreign media, seeking to reign through terror.

The antisemitism of the far left, which seeks to replace class struggle with a supposed racial struggle, through chilling amalgams, competing with that of the far right and its clichés about power and wealth.

Antisemitism that wears the mask of anti-Zionism to advance quietly. The kind that exploits criticism of Israeli government policy to delegitimize, assign, and deny the right to exist of the Hebrew state—and ultimately denies Jews themselves the right to live. The same antisemitism that, in a vertiginous historical inversion, seeks to portray Jews as genocidal perpetrators, in an unacceptable and odious manner.

Digital antisemitism, fueled by algorithms and the culpable inaction of platforms, reaching ordinary people, corrupting our youth, multiplying itself, harassing thousands of our fellow citizens deep into their private lives—haunting days and nights, dreams and imaginations.

All these contemporary expressions of antisemitism, recombining with its older forms, make possible the intolerable banality of evil.”

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More about Ilan Halimi and other victims

Bostom: ‘Jew-hatred is baked into Islamic religious thought’

bataween | Posted on 17 February 2026 | No Comments |

In this episode of “Think Twice” JNS editor Jonathan Tobin talks to Dr Andrew Bostom, author of a number of important works about Islamic radicalism, including the new A Modern Qur’anic Kampf Against the Jews. His book is a translation with commentary of a highly influential text written by Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the late head of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, widely considered the “Muslim Vatican,” which argues that Jew-hatred is baked deep into both Islamic culture and traditional religious thought.

*Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi was Grand Imam of the Islamic world’s most influential institution, Al-Azhar university, Cairo*

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, reporting and commentary on the shocking levels of Jew-hatred among Muslims has been silenced out of fear of accusations of racism and prejudice. But most of what is labeled Islamophobia is just truth-telling about how conspiracy theories and hate speech about Jews have become normative in the Islamic community.

Bostom points out that the polling done by the Anti-Defamation League, including some results that were apparently considered so shocking that the group didn’t publish them, has demonstrated just how pervasive antisemitic attitudes are among Muslims around the world and in the United States.

The notion that Muslim Jew-hatred is merely the product of resentment of the state of Israel or concern for the Palestinians is utterly false, says Bostom. And far from cherry-picking outrageous quotes from an otherwise unexceptional text, Boston’s translation of Tantawi’s screed illustrates that the vilest forms of hate directed at Jews is part of mainstream Muslim thought. What is most shocking about Tantawi’s antisemitic book is not just the way he shows how antisemitism is mainstream in Muslim thought or the way he mixes traditional anti-Jewish tropes with modern conspiracy theories about Jews (such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion). It’s the fact that Tantawi was considered a moderate Muslim and not as extreme as many other Islamic religious figures.

A big part of the problem, however, is the failure of the West, including Jewish groups and leaders who prioritize the idea of interfaith dialogue above defending their communities against hate, to directly call out Muslim antisemitism. Too many people are, Bostom says, simply afraid of being accused of Islamophobia. Christians and Jews must find the courage to tell Muslims, “We won’t accept you at interfaith dialogue meetings if you’re going to preach this way. Just stop it. We’re aware of it. Stop it. It’s ugly. Don’t do it.”

See video

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Syrian Jew: my co-workers wanted to kill me

bataween | Posted on 16 February 2026 | No Comments |

After the Aleppo anti-Jewish riots in 1947, all but 5,000 Jews of Syria’s 30,000-member community left. Haroun Abadi’s family remained. Seven-minute video clip on Themizrahistory (with thanks: Edna):

Haroun (Harry) Abadi was born and raised in Aleppo, Syria to a Jewish family and escaped the country through Lebanon on the back of a sheep wagon in the 80s. Harry recounts just some examples of antisemitism he and his community experienced, both systemically and by ordinary people in society, prompting him and many others to plan an exit route.

Common courtesies were not reciprocated, and Abadi felt embarrassed to be a Jew. His Jewish maths teach advised him not to resist if he was beaten up. Children threw stones but his synagogue was not permitted a protective wall. The government advised windows at high level. Abadi, who escorted a Christian girl to school, found that she never spoke to him after he told her he was Jewish.

Jewish families would disappear, having escaped the country. But any relative who stayed behind would be jailed.

Abadi qualified as an electrical engineer but most jobs were barred to him as a Jew. When his co-workers found out he was Jewish they wanted to kill him. He lasted just 17 days in his job.

Haroun Abadi escaped in the mid-1980s and now lives in the US.

See clip in full

Astronaut with Iraqi-Jewish roots blasts off into space

bataween | Posted on 16 February 2026 | 1 Comment |

Jessica Meir, whose father was Joseph Haim Meir, an Israeli-Iraqi-Jew born in Baghdad in 1925, is the first Mizrahi astronaut. She is on her second mission to the International Space Station along with three other US, Russian and French astronauts. The mission will last eight months.

Jessica Ulrika Meir is a NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. Born to a Swedish mother and Israeli father of Iraqi-Jewish descent.

Meir was selected by NASA in 2013, and worked on the International Space Station on her first spaceflight as part of Expedition 61 and 62. As part of the expedition, Dr. Meir participated in the first all-female spacewalk. Amongst the belongings she took with her into space was an Israeli flag. Recently, she posted an image of Israel and the Middle East from space in honor of her father.

Since becoming an astronaut in 2013, Ms Meir has performed three spacewalks and lived at the International Space Station, returning to Earth in April 2020 after 205 days in orbit.

She previously spoke about her identity, telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that while she is not religious, her Jewish background is “a big part” of her culture and traditions.

Reach for the stars, astronaut tells kids of Iraq

Controversial Moroccan Muslim asks: ‘where are your Jews?’

bataween | Posted on 15 February 2026 | No Comments |

A Moroccan Muslim asks his fellow Arabs the question:’Where are your Jews? His Instagram video effectively summarises the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Arab world. But Mustapha Ezzarghani, who is the president of the Morocco-Israel Friendship Association, is patently a controversial figure in Morocco itself, as the Morocco World News article below demonstrates (with thanks: Michelle ):

Ezzarghani’s video explains that Arabs operate under two fantasies : Jews are either Biblical ghosts, frozen in time, or they are European colonial settlers who invaded Palestine. In reality, the Jews were not outsiders, but integral to the local culture.

‘We tell ourselves comforting lies,” he says. Jews ‘were protected’ in the Arab world until the advent of Israel, or the Zionists caused the Jews to leave.

In reality events such as the 1941 Farhud pogrom in Iraq, with its slaughter, rape and looting, predated the creation of Israel. Jews were targeted by mob violence and stripped of their rights by Arab governments.

Ezzarghani has evidently been in hot water with the Moroccan establishment before he made the video. Here is an extract from a piece by Adli Faouzi in Morocco World News accusing him of driving ‘a dangerous campaign’ against a Morccan diplomat:

“Ezzarghani, who positions himself as a civil society figure, is also the public face of MIFA – a lobbying entity operating in Washington. His attack, according to sources, stems from personal disappointment – reportedly due to not receiving an invitation to the Moroccan embassy’s Throne Day celebration this year – rather than any substantive concern for national policy.

Launched under the guise of advocacy, this campaign has been described by analysts as a soft coup attempt on Moroccan diplomatic sovereignty – executed through media articles and extended via back-channel pressure.

It sends a dangerous message: normalization with Israel is no longer sufficient; Morocco must now demonstrate affection, or risk being defamed and accused of bigotry.

Such a message has serious implications. According to analysts, targeting Morocco’s ambassador in this way risks eroding national consensus around foreign policy by subjecting it to the whims of external lobbies operating from Washington and Tel Aviv.

It seeks to force the kingdom into a position where it must present its credentials daily to a Moroccan-Zionist lobby in Washington – one that views Morocco not as an equal partner, but as a subordinate extension or mere backyard of Israel’s strategic interests.”

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Iranian-Jewish leader walks back regime criticism

bataween | Posted on 13 February 2026 | No Comments |

The Jewish community’s official representative in Iran, Homayoun Sameh, has walked back criticism he made of Iran’s president, affirming Jews’ full support for the regime. Efforts are continuing to obtain the release of a Jewish protester. YNet News reports:

Two Jews who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in protests in Tehran and Shiraz have been released following efforts by senior figures in Iran’s Jewish community. One Jewish detainee remains in custody, and significant efforts are also underway to secure his release.

Meanwhile, Dr. Homayoun Sameh, the Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament, marched Wednesday alongside Hakham Hamami Lalezar , one of Iran’s rabbis, and many members of the Jewish community in a rally marking Revolution Day and expressing support for the regime. Sameh voiced full support for the authorities in Tehran, after having criticized Iran’s president several weeks ago.

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David Collier: ‘The BBC rewrites Moroccan-Jewish history’

bataween | Posted on 13 February 2026 | No Comments |

A recent BBC radio programme paints a picture of ‘coexistence’ between Jews and Muslims in Morocco. ( Read Point of No Return post here). But the reporter ignores the security guards outside each Jewish site. The narrative begins in 1948, erasing centuries of persecution. The departure of Moroccan Jews was not a sudden or inexplicable rupture of a harmonious society, blogger David Collier contends. The Jews left as soon as they had somewhere to go. It was the predictable outcome of centuries of legally enforced inferiority, periodic violence, and social degradation, extensively documented by contemporary observers:

*Morocco likes to project an image of interfaith harmony*

The central pillar of the BBC’s podcast is the claim of historical coexistence. That claim collapses the moment one consults the historical record. We can begin 236 years ago, in 1790.

Following the death of Mohammed bin Abdallah, contemporary reports described the treatment of Morocco’s Jews in stark terms. A British newspaper, citing accounts from Gibraltar, recorded that Jews “in every part of the Empire” were “most inhumanly plundered,” with many leading Jewish merchants “assassinated in a very barbarous manner.”

This is not the language of coexistence. It is the documentary record of persecution.

In the early 1800s
In the early 1800s, An Account of the Empire of Morocco was published by James Grey Jackson, drawing on his years in Morocco as British consul. Jackson describes a society in which Jews were economically indispensable yet heavily taxed, socially degraded, and subject to legal restrictions and ritualised humiliation.

In one passage, describing popular custom and everyday language, Jackson records that Jews in Morocco were treated “somewhat worse than dogs in Christian countries:”

1834: The execution of Solika
Sol Hachuel (also known as Solika or Lalla Suleika) was a young Jewish woman from Tangier. Accused of converting to Islam and then renouncing it, she denied ever converting and refused repeated demands to accept Islam in exchange for her life. She was imprisoned, transported to Fez, and executed in 1834.

Just five years later, in 1839, The Baltimore Sun, citing a correspondent resident in Morocco retelling the story of Sol, described the Jews of the empire as “among the most degraded portions of the human family,” “politically slaves,” and living under particularly “abject” conditions:

1858: Jews as unclean animals
The Herald (Glasgow) citing a report from the French political journal Revue Contemporaine, published what it described as a “harrowing picture” of Jewish life in Morocco. The article states that Jews were regarded by Muslims as unclean animals, and enemies of god, and suggests that they were spared extermination only because they were economically useful. It describes them as bearing the condition and appearance of slaves:

1864: The relief campaign
By the 1860s, awareness of the plight of Moroccan Jewry had spread across the British Empire. In 1864, a relief campaign was launched by Sir Moses Montefiore following his visit there. A British newspaper stated that there could be “no doubt that the Jews of Morocco have been most barbarously treated by the masters of that land.” Montefiore received promises from the Sultan that Jews would be protected:

1868: The decree fails
Moses Montefiore’s 1863 visit to Morocco was prompted by a blood-libel case in the city of Safi. His subsequent campaign secured a formal decree from the Sultan affirming protection for Jews.

It appears that the decree did little to alter conditions on the ground. In 1868, The Times published correspondence from Tangier describing a religious fanatic in Tetuan who had assassinated several Jews and appeared to have devoted himself to their destruction:

1888: The value of a rat
A report on the state of the Jews originally published by the Morocco Correspondent in the Boston Evening Transcript leaves no doubt about the Jews being “despised” and “subjected to every imaginable degradation”. The report states that a local Muslim can “think no more of killing a Jew, if he can do it quietly, than of killing a rat”:

1894: Pogroms
This report from 1894 lays out a description of pogroms taking place at various sites that appear to be in the Atlas mountains around Marrakech.

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Is the NY Times ‘foodwashing’ the Syrian regime?

bataween | Posted on 12 February 2026 | No Comments |

Kosher food is now being served in the heart of Damascus, a development reflecting the al-Sharaa regime’s ‘encouraging’ attitude towards Jews since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, according to the New York Times. But is the newspaper ‘foodwashing’ a regime which has yet to prove its tolerance of minorities? According to The Syrian Observer, Jews are still being debarred from visiting Damascus synagogues (with thanks: Boruch):

The New York Times reports that in the kitchen of the Royal Semiramis Hotel in central Damascus, chefs recently prepared a traditional Syrian spread — hummus, muhammara and stuffed grape leaves — carefully adapted to meet Jewish dietary laws. Plates and utensils were separated, wrapped and clearly marked, while signs in English cautioned staff not to touch items designated “only for kosher food.” For chef Abd Alrahman Qahwahji, who left Syria during the civil war and worked in Lebanon and Iraq before returning, the experience was unprecedented.

He told the newspaper that although he had seen many culinary traditions abroad, this was his first encounter with kosher preparation. The initiative comes as more Syrian and non-Syrian Jews have begun visiting the country in the post-Assad period. Syria once had an estimated Jewish population of about 30,000, concentrated in Damascus, Aleppo and Qamishli. Most departed in successive waves after the creation of Israel and regional wars, with the final significant exodus occurring in the early 1990s. Today, only a handful of Jews remain in Damascus.

Joseph Jajati, a 32-year-old businessman based in New York whose family left Damascus when he was a toddler, has been instrumental in promoting renewed Jewish engagement with Syria. Through his Syrian Mosaic Foundation, he organizes group visits and envisions broader cultural initiatives, including a handicrafts center in the old city of Damascus.

The idea for a kosher kitchen at the Semiramis emerged after a group visit in September, when Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Michigan and others dined at the hotel. The meal was generous, but the rabbi could eat little beyond fruit due to dietary restrictions. The hotel’s owner, Mounzer Nazha, subsequently inquired whether a kosher kitchen could be established. When Jajati returned in December, he brought approximately 50 pounds of kosher meat from New York. The hotel purchased new grills, skewers, plates and utensils dedicated exclusively to kosher use. Jajati personally instructed the staff on the requirements, and the restaurant soon hosted its first kosher dinner during Hanukkah.

For now, the kitchen is described as “unofficially kosher,” pending formal certification by a rabbinical authority. Still, participants see the move as a symbolic step toward encouraging Syrian Jews to reconnect with their ancestral homeland. Beyond cuisine, deeper issues remain unresolved. Some Syrian Jews are seeking to reclaim properties left behind decades ago. The current government has stated that individuals who can prove ownership may recover their assets, yet practical and legal obstacles persist. Many synagogues in Damascus’ old city, once numbering more than a dozen, are shuttered and no longer in regular use.

During a recent visit, Jajati and a group toured the Elfranj synagogue in the Jewish Quarter. Under the Assad government, synagogue keys were reportedly controlled by security agencies. They are now held by a committee under the Foreign Ministry. On the day of the visit, officials overseeing restoration work declined to allow entry until cleanup was complete, a decision that frustrated Jajati, who said his parents had married there and that he himself had undergone his ritual circumcision in the building.

Later that evening, conversation returned to the possibility of transferring custody of synagogue keys to members of the Jewish community. Meanwhile, in the hotel kitchen, staff prepared rib-eye steaks in separate racks, carefully avoiding contact with nonkosher service. Trays were labeled in Arabic “Special kosher,” and gloves, utensils and serving plates were kept distinct. In the dining room, waiters placed dishes of muhammara, hummus and salads before guests. For Jajati, the meal represented more than a culinary adjustment. He had pledged during his first post-Assad visit to create at least one place in Damascus where observant Jews could dine without compromise. As the evening unfolded, he appeared satisfied that a modest yet meaningful vision was taking shape. Between courses, he reflected on his promise to fellow Syrian Jews that conditions for return, even temporary return, would gradually improve. “Promises made,” he said. “Promises kept.

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YNet News

More about Jews visiting Syria

West Bank law repeal rescinds death penalty for land sales to Jews

bataween | Posted on 11 February 2026 | 1 Comment |

The Israeli government’s decision to rescind a law (predating the Israeli occupation of 1967) preventing Jews from buying land in the West Bank has provoked predictable condemnation from the UN and media. What most reports do not say is that Jordanian and PA law were imposing the death penalty on anyone who sells land to a Jew.

A view of Hebron, with the tomb of the Patriarchs in the foreground

The Times of Israel reports:

The approved plan also ordered the publication of land registries in the West Bank, the statement says, meaning that potential buyers will be able to identify landowners and approach them for purchasing. Until now, land registration in the West Bank had been classified.

It also repealed a legal provision that prevents non-Muslims from buying real estate in the area — a law left over from the period when Jordan controlled the territory — easing property purchases in the West Bank.

The decision also affects the site of Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem by establishing “a dedicated municipal authority” responsible for cleaning and routine maintenance of the holy site.

Blogger Elder of Ziyon comments:

The “pre-1967 law” was Jordan Law No. 40 of 1953 that restricted sales of land to Jordanians (with limited exceptions.) It wasn’t only for the West Bank – it was for Jordan.

And who could be a Jordanian citizen? Well, not Jews.
Any person who, not being Jewish, possessed Palestinian nationality before 15 May 1948 and was a regular resident in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between 20 December 1949 and 16 February 1954.
So for nearly sixty years, Israel enforced a Jordanian law that was explicitly racist and antisemitic. No one seemed to have a problem with that.

But now that Israel has rescinded a racist law, and the NYT is very upset:
“The measures, which make it easier for Jewish settlers to buy land and undercut the Palestinian Authority in parts of the West Bank that it administers, appear to flout important agreements that Israel signed under the Oslo peace process decades ago.”

Hmmm, very interesting. Because in 1973, Jordan strengthened the law to say that anyone who sold land to a Jew (they used a euphemism) would get the death penalty. Israel never applied that law because it already controlled the territory, but when then PA gained autonomy, it eagerly adapted the Jordanian law to extend the death penalty to anyone who sells land to a Jew.

And only a Jew, not an Israeli. Israeli Arabs buy land and homes in PA-controlled areas.

Now, this is a violation of the Oslo Accords. Specifically, Article XVI, paragraph 2 of Oslo 2 requires that Palestinians who have “maintained contact with the Israeli authorities” will not on this account be subject to “harassment, violence, retribution or prosecution.”

Zamir: Reconciliation will come, but terror cannot be defeated

bataween | Posted on 10 February 2026 | No Comments |

Levana Zamir, head of the Association of Jews from Egypt in Israel, was interviewed on Tandem TV by William Zerbib about her efforts to secure justice for Jews expelled from Arab countries. Here is a summary of the conversation in English:

Levana Zamir gave a 32-minute interview to Wlliam Zerbib

Spearheading the campaign for justice for Jews who were driven from Arab countries, including her native Egypt, Levana Zamir was given a 90-second window to address the plenum of the UN Human Rights Council. She did so – in Arabic. But the UN General Assembly has never heard the Jewish refugee case.

Levana’s wide-ranging interview with William Zerbib describes how, after 1956, 35,000 Jews were expelled by Nasser – at first 1,300 men were interned and 50 women – after Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt following Nasser’s nationalisation of the Suez canal.

Justice for Jews from Arab Countries has undertaken a five-year research project to value what the Jews lost in Arab countries. Sixty billion dollars’ worth belonged to Egyptian Jews out of a total of $263 billion. The Menasche family owned half of Alexandria but Egypt could not afford to pay compensation to them.

When asked by Zerbib what compensation Algerian Jews, who were French citizens, had received, Levana said that French nationals got crumbs. Algerian Jews who went to Israel got nothing.

She explained that an international fund to compensate refugees on both sides was proposed by president Clinton at the Wye plantation talks in 2000.

Overall, she is optimistic that Jews and Arabs might reconcile. Egypt has taken steps to curb anti-Jewish incitement in schoolbooks. But there is nothing that might be done to conquer terrorism – one just had to wait until it passed – like the Barbary pirates.

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