The Jewish News of Northern California

Pro-Israel social media influencer Hen Mazzig offers advice in S.F.

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When he stepped out of his home in Petah Tikvah to get ice cream on a random day in 2002, Hen Mazzig didn’t expect any surprises. 

But for the 12-year-old growing up in Israel during the second intifada, it suddenly became a life-changing, death-defying experience. Moments before he entered the ice cream shop, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive inside, killing two and injuring 30.

The Hollywood Reporter

Why Pro-Israel Hollywood Stars Like Debra Messing and Ginnifer Goodwin Turn to Hen Mazzig for Advice

Amid the cacophony of debate surrounding the Israel-Hamas War, it’s grown virtually impossible to avoid the thoughts of Hen Mazzig.

As the face of the Israeli cause, one might argue that he’s an unlikely candidate: The 34-year-old influencer is gay (he was out throughout his tour of service in the IDF) and spends his time between Tel Aviv and London. It’s in the latter city, where anti-Israel sentiment has swelled to all-time highs — alongside incidents of antisemitism — that Mazzig is reg...

Jewish Journal

How Do You Measure the Actual Influence of Israel Information Influencers?

A survey commissioned by the Tel Aviv Institute (TLVI) has provided insights into the effectiveness of Israel-related advocacy on social media, including evidence that TLVI’s model seems to be working.
Hen Mazzig, a Senior Fellow at TLVI and a prominent player in the Israel information space on social media, is one of the standout performers according to the survey. 
TLVI’s Social Media Laboratory aims to “take on antisemitism where it starts” and “provide resources, data, and proven strategies...

Fathom

Imperial Rollback in the Middle East: A Necessity for Regional Peace

Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki is a co-founder and editor of the Tel Aviv Review of Books and a visiting fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute. She argues that while there is an understanding that European imperial powers made a mess of the Middle East  and Africa  over the course of the twentieth century, little is said about the fact that Iranian, Turkish, and Arab state violence towards national groups seeking their independence has been deadly and one of the major sources of violence in the Middle East...

The Telegraph

The coalition behind Kamala Harris is about to split

Take a series of social media posts on TikTok last week. In them, Arab activist-influencers – many raw and unhinged – essentially demand their Black counterparts abandon campaigning for Kamala Harris because of her support for the “genocide” in Gaza. “The way y’all switched up and did a 180 on Palestinians … the second we have a black woman run for office is disgusting,” declared TikTok user @dan1ahan. “Keep Palestinians’ names out of your f-cking mouth when defending your decision to vote for K...

The Jewish Chronicle

We must come out as Jewish every day and not be scared to show our pride

It seems like every day another antisemitic incident shakes our community. Reports in the last month alone on assaults in London, Toronto, Paris and New York could fill several pages. In a world where antisemitism is becoming normalised, the importance of being confident in our Jewish identity has never been more critical.
As Jews, we are no strangers to adversity. For millennia, we have faced persecution, discrimination and hatred. Yet throughout history our resilience and unwavering spirit ha...

The Jewish Chronicle

Does Kamala Harris support Israel? Yes and it's stupid to assume she wouldn't as president

Few issues are as hotly contested as support for Israel. President Biden's departure from the presidential race and the immediate emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as the undisputed Democratic nominee has sparked intense debate, especially within the pro-Israel community. But it is entirely wrong to claim that Harris is insufficiently supportive of the Jewish state. Here’s why.
Despite opposing narratives, Kamala Harris’s pro-Israel credentials are consistent and robust. This fact is of...

The Jewish Chronicle

We need our Israeli hero: what is Marvel’s end game?

The short film starts innocently enough. A group of teenagers jostle and joke, arms around each others’ shoulders. But soon we see a French teen realising his Jewish friends have to hide every visible aspect of their identities, from their Star of David necklaces to their last names, to the mezuzah on their door. He protests as they draw the blinds to light Shabbat candles, but the family insists. It is just too dangerous to be publicly Jewish right now.
The film, which aired in France on Basti...

Algemeiner.com

Evolution Favors Hate Baiters; Are Facts Headed Toward Extinction? - Algemeiner.com

Joe Friday, the protagonist in the 1960’s television series Dragnet, delighted a generation of baby-boomers with his good cop demeanor and his famous tagline: “just the facts, ma’am.”

Underscoring just how deeply the authority of facts has been degraded since Dragnet first aired, when asked for just the facts about Detective Joe Friday, DeepAI eviscerated him for his misogynistic and coercive assault on subjective reality.

The character, said DeepAI, “is not interested in listening to the wome

Newsweek

I serve IDF soldiers every day. They look like homesick teenagers

I serve IDF (Israel Defense Force) soldiers at a canteen in southern Israel on the border with Gaza. The canteen is under a big tent that they call the Station. It gets its name from a nearby gas station because soldiers come to fill up with a hot meal and a warm welcome from the volunteers who run it.

Work at the Station can be hard, scrubbing pots, clearing tables, unloading pallets of food, peeling huge sacks of onions, and serving hundreds of meals.

But for me, the hardest part is keeping

The Jewish Chronicle

At last we can see true Arab solidarity with Israel

As nearly nine million Israelis — including my own family — were sheltering in bunkers on Saturday evening in anticipation of an impending military offensive by the Islamic Republic in Iran, a somewhat surprising development was unfolding behind the scenes.

Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have historically been antagonistic toward the Jewish state, were in the process of feeding Israeli officials vital intelligence about Iran’s forthcoming attack. These action

New York Post

Israel is winning against Hamas — but the bad guys are succeeding in courts of public opinion

The calls this week for the arrest of Israeli President Isaac Herzog on charges of “genocide” suggest that the bad guys are beginning to win in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Not in Gaza, mind you, where Israeli forces continue to obliterate Hamas’ armed infrastructure in response to its massacre on Oct. 7.

But in legal chambers and courts of public opinion across the globe.

You see the bad guys everywhere — hiding, of course, in Gaza, burrowed in their terror tunnels surrounded by the Pal

The Hill

Deepfakes: Antisemitism’s new calling card is hiding in plain sight

In many ways, the events of Oct. 7 closely mirrored past Palestinian acts of aggression toward the Jewish state. Once again, terrorists masquerading as “freedom fighters” wounded and killed innocent Israelis in a crowded public space. Also once again, Israel’s response has led to the unfortunate deaths of people in Gaza. Once again, anti-Israel zealots, fueled by Hamas propaganda, have united in widespread condemnation and false accusations of “apartheid.”

Sadly, it’s a script that we are all t

The Telegraph

When it comes to Hamas terrorism, there’s no ‘justice’ for Israel

World War Three is approaching fast, and too few are willing to admit why

Jewish News Syndicate

Harvard president’s resignation will not end antisemitism

With the news of Harvard University president Claudine Gay’s resignation, I’ve been left in an awkward position. While many of my Jewish friends are celebrating, this “victory” feels hollow to me, if one can even call it a victory.

I first learned about Gay in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. It was one of the darkest days of my life, and learning that student groups at Harvard had released a letter condemning Israel and claiming that the murders and rapes were entirely Israel’s fault wa

Jewish Journal

Harvard’s President’s Resignation Will Not End Antisemitism

With the news of Harvard’s president, Dr. Claudine Gay, resigning, I’ve been left in an awkward position. While many of my Jewish friends are celebrating, this “victory” feels hollow to me, if one can even call it a victory.

I first learned about Dr. Gay in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7th attack. It was one of the darkest days of my life, and learning that student groups at Harvard had released a letter condemning Israel and claiming that the murders and rapes were entirely Israel’s fault was like putting salt in the wound. Many American Jews reached out to me at that time, terrified that colleges were no longer safe for their children or that they didn’t feel safe on campuses. Dr. Gay’s inaction most certainly fed into this fear, and I was far from the only person who had issues with how she handled things.

Newsweek

Calls for Ceasefire Are an Antisemitic Demand—Jews Must Accept Our Genocide

When dozens of protestors halted traffic on a major Los Angeles highway this week, it was the latest in a string of major public calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The demonstration, led by the notorious anti-Israel group IfNotNow, followed a vote for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas from 153 countries (the U.S. voted against) during an emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As an Israeli Jew who helped Palestinian civilians during my five year service

The Spectator World

The folly of LGBT sympathy for Hamas

Beyond Hamas’s ruthlessness — and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fecklessness — one thing that’s become increasingly clear since the October 7 attack on Israel is that social justice groups and identity crusaders no longer possess even a shred of seriousness.

How could they, with feminist organizations still questioning the legitimacy of Hamas’s sexual violence against Israeli women? Or lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans groups insisting that “queer issues are Palestinian issues” — d

The Hill

How to vanquish an enemy: Make him into a friend

Hunkering down under blasts from Hamas rockets, I ought to be thinking about my safety. But hellish images of old people being tortured, young girls being raped, and babies being beheaded have commandeered all of my emotional bandwidth.

After asking myself a thousand times what can be done about this bitter enemy, a statement made by Abraham Lincoln eventually came to mind. “The best way to destroy an enemy,” he said, “is to make him a friend.”

Friendship requires empathy and appreciation. Aft

Tablet Magazine

After the Gaza Attack, Choosing Between My Two Identities

In my many decades as a mixed African American and Jewish American, I’ve never felt the need to choose between the two—until this past week. Not until I saw images such as a paragliding activist carrying a Palestinian flag in a post on X from the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter. Or Instagram screeds from Black “educators” like Ericka Hart—celebrated for her queerness in Vogue last summer—who’s spent the past few days championing the Hamas terrorists who would think nothing of slicing her q

Tablet Magazine

LGBT / Gay Israeli News

In the middle of a recent two-week trip to Tel Aviv—a city where I lived for many years, many years ago—I suddenly realized why I felt oddly content, oddly validated, oddly accepted. Nearly all of the gay men I spent time with were dads like myself. My hip hotelier buddy and his creative director husband: Their daughter just celebrated her bat mitzvah. My old friend, a diplomat and former ambassador: His son is now 8. The hunky media dude I encountered one unbearably humid evening: dad to a daug

New York Post

90-year-old Holocaust survivor from NYC moved to Israel last month – and refuses to retreat from frontlines

A 90-year-old Holocaust survivor from NYC moved to Israel last month – and said she has no plans to retreat from the frontlines in the wake of a devastating attack by Hamas.

Lucy Lipiner – who arrived in NYC as a 16-year-old Holocaust survivor from Poland – told The Post from Tel Aviv on Monday that she remains resolute and ready to stare down any evils that may come her way.

“Friends in the US are begging me to come back. They said I`m not going to help Israel by staying and will not rest unt

Jewish News

Spurs’ Israeli star Manor Solomon joins The Tel Aviv Institute for new year dinner

In true Israeli style the partying carried on long after the event was over. I’m talking about the Rosh Hashanah celebration at Lilienblum, Eyal Shani’s latest culinary gem in Shoreditch, in partnership with Jewish News and Tel Aviv Institute. Chefs Eyal Shai and Oren King collaborated on a menu to celebrate new beginnings while keeping true to traditions.

Those who were lucky enough to nab tickets to this exclusive event included Spurs player Manor Solomon and his girlfriend Dana Voshina, infl

ynetnews

Holocaust survivor faces torrent of online abuse on Elon Musk’s X platform

Our esteemed alumna Emily Schrader writes about a recent wave of hate aimed toward 90-year-old Holocaust survivor Lucy Lipiner and how platforms like X allow these hate comments to thrive.