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Telegraph
a few seconds ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Why is James O'Brien recycling an anti-Semitic lie?
What kind of person would unquestioningly believe that British Jewish children are taught that 'one Jewish life is worth thousands of Arab lives and that Arabs are cockroaches to be crushed'? Step forward James O'Brien, LBC's prince of the bien pensant. Today, the radio presenter received a message from a listener calling himself 'Chris' who made these overtly anti-Semitic claims. O'Brien apparently duly repeated them on air without so much as a how's your father, prefaced by the baffling statement: 'I'm fascinated by objectivity, which is why I'm going to read out this from Chris'. The listener's message began by pointing out that 'warped views are not just an Israeli problem'. What? So it's OK now to smear an entire nation as holding 'warped views'? The fact that this alone did not set off alarm bells in O'Brien's mind was worrying enough. Make such a claim about any other people and the author of How To Be Right would surely be the very first to cry racist. But that was only the prelude. 'Chris' went on to extend this 'Israeli problem' to include Jews in this country as well as their cousins in Tel Aviv. 'My wife was brought up Jewish and at shabbat school in a leafy Hertfordshire town…' his message continued. Let's press pause again there. For one thing, it just sounded phony. 'My wife was brought up Jewish'? Yeah, right. But the mention of a 'shabbat school' was hilarious. There is, of course, no such thing. Jews do not go to school on the sabbath. These red flags also fluttered too high above O'Brien's head for him to notice. He continued to read out the message to his 1.5 million listeners. Thus, middle Britain was treated, in O'Brien's honeyed tones, to Chris's claim that at 'shabbat school', his 'wife' had been introduced to the aforementioned bigotry towards Arabs. The fact that O'Brien at no point realised the nature of what he was reading is downright disturbing. Let's make this absolutely clear. Of the 15 million Jews in the world, you'll be hard pressed to find any who holds such repugnant views of anybody, including Arabs. Attend any pro-Israel rally and you'll never hear anything like it. Especially not in Britain. It is true that a handful of extremists, especially in Israel, sometimes chant disgraceful things about their enemies. Jews have their thugs and nutters just like any other people. But these are in the vanishingly small minority, like the BNP in Britain. To suggest that this amounts to an institutional indoctrination, akin to the brainwashing in Gaza, is quite obviously an anti-Semitic lie. Obvious, at least, to anybody with common sense. In concluding his shameful monologue, O'Brien intoned: 'Whilst young children are being taught such hatred and dehumanisation, undoubtedly on both sides, as Chris points out, then they will always be able to justify death and cruelty.' He added: 'There is a danger, perhaps, that we only ever hear one side of the dehumanisation and propaganda.' No, there isn't. Not everything has two sides, James. There is such a thing as right and wrong. Obviously Israel, being a real-life country in the real world, isn't perfect; obviously it has its own extremists and criminals, like every other state on Earth. But to compare the Middle East's only democracy to Gaza, where every strata of society is poisoned with the toxic ideology of the death cult, is frankly abhorrent – let alone suggesting that British Jews are engaged in the same thing. Think of the scenes on October 7, when the half-naked corpses of Jewish women were paraded through Gaza while mobs spat at them, jeered and beat them with sticks. Could you imagine such a thing happening in Tel Aviv? Could you imagine Israelis cheering as children and the elderly were taken hostage? Of course not. But I wonder whether O'Brien can. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. In 2014 and 2015, the author of How They Broke Britain gave vast amounts of airtime to the bogus claims of the VIP sex ring based on testimony by Carl Beech, who was later imprisoned both for sex offences and for perverting the course of justice. He later expressed regret. But in August last year, he caused outrage by praising a video on social media that blamed 'Zionist backers' for the Southport riots. He later claimed not to have watched the clip in full and condemned it. A certain pattern is emerging here. As inexplicable as it might be, O'Brien has a huge listenership and more than a million followers on social media. LBC has removed the 'warped views' clip from the internet. For untold numbers of people, however, the damage has already been done.
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Harvard publisher cancels journal issue on Palestine, cites ‘a number of complex issues'
In the wake of the standoff between United States administration and Harvard University, the Harvard Education Publishing Group, a prestigious American education journal's publisher, last month, abruptly canceled the release of a special issue titled, 'education and Palestine,' The Guardian reported. The special issue, which was set to be published this summer was almost ready, as contracts with most authors were finalized and articles were edited, the report noted. On June 9, in an email to the issue's contributors, the publisher cited 'a number of complex issues', taking authors and editors by surprise, The Guardian learnt. This remarkable move comes amid an escalation of United States' confrontation with Harvard University, where it has warned that the elite institution could lose its accreditation over allegations related to 'antisemitism' on campus. Officials have accused elite universities in the US of fostering leftist ideologies and failing to protect Jewish students amid brewing tensions on campus. What did the special issue entail? The special issue of the journal covered topics such as the annihilation of Gaza's schools to the challenges of teaching about Israel and Palestine in the US. The issue was intended to promote 'scholarly conversation on education and Palestine amid repression, occupation, and genocide,' as per internal emails accessed by The Guardian. It included research articles, essays and other writings on topics ranging from education in Israel-Palestine and among the Palestinian diaspora, to academic freedom in the US. The journal articles explored the evolution of the concept of 'scholasticide', a term describing the systematic annihilation of education, first coined during Israel's 2008 invasion of Gaza; the 'ethical and educational responsibilities' of English language teachers in the West Bank; and the impact of 'crackdowns on dissent' on teaching about Palestine in US higher education institutions, according to finalized abstracts of the articles shared with The Guardian. What did the cancellation email state? The email sent to the body of authors and editors, announcing the cancellation of the issue, did not exactly cite 'antisemitism' as its reason. The executive director of the publishing group, Jessica Fiorillo, wrote that the decision stemmed from an 'inadequate review process' and the need for 'considerable copy editing'. Intimating them that the issue was being pulled altogether, Fiorillo claimed the manuscripts were 'unready for publication', in part due to a copy editor's resignation. She also cited an unspecified 'failure to adhere to an adequate review process', a 'lack of internal alignment' between the authors, editors and the publisher, and 'the lack of a clear and expedient path forward to resolving the myriad issues at play'. 'This difficult situation is exacerbated by very significant lack of agreement about the path forward, including and especially whether to publish such a special issue at this time,' she wrote in her email, as seen by The Guardian. She added that the cancellation was not 'due to censorship of a particular viewpoint nor does it connect to matters of academic freedom'. Chronology of the cancellation The speculations began when Rabea Eghbariah, a Palestinian doctoral candidate at Harvard Law School, and the writer of the afterword for the special issue, requested to amend his contract with the Harvard Educational Review (HER) to add a clause seeking to safeguard his academic freedom, which was later declined by the journal. Days later, the journal's editorial board wrote to the authors, citing an 'increasingly challenging climate' and asking for their availability for a meeting, which never ended up happening, as per The Guardian report. However, this was not the first time the publisher tried to pressurise the journal editors. In January this year, the editors were told that an 'institutional review' of the manuscripts would be required. Moreover, in February, the publisher attempted to alter the back cover of the spring issue promoting some of the forthcoming articles. As per an editor quoted by The Guardian, the publisher acknowledged that it was seeking a 'risk assessment' legal review by Harvard's counsel out of fear the issue's publication would prompt 'antisemitism' claims, which authors and editor referred to as an 'unprecedented' at that stage of publication. 'This sends a dangerous message to scholars globally: that academic publishing contracts are conditional, revocable, and subject to external political calculations,' they wrote in a letter to the journal's editorial board and publisher in the month of May. However, less than a month later, the special issue was pulled out entirely. Reacting to the move, one of the editors of the HER, said that the censorship of the issue is 'exactly how authoritarianism grows'. Next steps Many scholars have come to refer to the incident as the 'Palestine exception' to academic freedom. The authors are now in talks with other journals and are hopeful their pieces can be published as planned. The Guardian's interviewees, including authors and journal's editor, all expressed fear that the incident would deter other scholars from pursuing work on Palestine. Other steps taken by Trump administration against Harvard Harvard has been facing a brutal battle with the Trump administration, after it targeted the Ivy League University for failing to keep Jewish students safe and allowing antisemitism to flourish. Soon after university protests against Israel's war in Gaza gained traction, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sought information on various foreign national visa holders who have been a part of 'illegal and violent' activities within the campus. Eventually, the US Secretary of Homeland Security ordered the DHS to revoke Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification even after receiving a detailed list with the number and information of enrolled foreign students. In a letter to the university, the Secretary wrote that current students would need to transfer or risk losing their legal status. The University has so far managed to sue the administration on the matter, with Judge Burroughs issuing a ruling against Trump's June 4 proclamation, where he had said that any foreign national who enrolled at the university would be banned from entering the US. Harvard also sued the Trump administration in April this year against the funds freeze, saying the administration was using 'leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard'. The New York Times reported about Harvard receiving seven stop-work orders for research awards between April 14 and May 6, after which 950 such orders totalling $2.4 billion were passed. Most recently, the US Departments of Education and Health and Human Services announced that they had notified Harvard's accrediting agency that the university had potentially violated federal law by failing to address claims of harassment against Jewish students. Losing accreditation would have severe consequences, including making Harvard students ineligible for federal financial aid.
Ammon
an hour ago
- Politics
- Ammon
Beyond Gaza's shadow: The unseen war for the West Bank's future
Israel is meticulously following a textbook model of instigating unrest in the occupied West Bank. The latest such provocations consisted of stripping the Palestinian-run Hebron (Al-Khalil) municipality of its administrative powers over the venerable Ibrahimi Mosque. Worse, according to Israel Hayom, it granted these powers to the religious council of the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement, an extremist settler body. Though all Jewish settlers in occupied Palestine can be qualified as extremists, the approximately 7,500 inhabitants of Kiryat Arba represent a more virulent category. This settlement, established in 1972, serves as a strategic foothold to justify subjecting Hebron to stricter military control than virtually any other part of the West Bank. Kiryat Arba is infamously linked to Baruch Goldstein, the US-Israeli settler who, in February 1994, unleashed a horrific attack. He opened fire at Muslim worshipers kneeling for dawn prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque, mercilessly killing 29. This bloodbath was swiftly followed by another, where the Israeli army brutally cracked down on Palestinian protesters in Hebron and across the West Bank, murdering an additional 25 Palestinians. Yet, the Israeli Shamgar Commission, tasked with investigating the massacre, resolved in 1994 that the Palestinian mosque, a site of profound religious significance, was to be grotesquely divided: 63% allocated to Jewish worshipers and a mere 37% to Palestinian Muslims. Since that calamitous decision, oppressive restrictions have been systematically imposed. These include pervasive surveillance and, at times, unjustifiable, extended closures of the site, solely for exclusive settler use. The latest decision, described by Israel Hayom as "historic and unprecedented," is profoundly dangerous. It places the fate of this historic Palestinian mosque directly into the hands of those fanatically keen on acquiring the holy site in its entirety. But the Ibrahimi Mosque is merely a microcosm of something far more sinister underway across the West Bank. Israel has exploited its war in Gaza to dramatically escalate its violence, carry out mass arrests, confiscate vast tracts of land, systematically destroy Palestinian farms and orchards, and aggressively expand illegal settlements. Though the West Bank, previously largely subdued by joint Israeli military pressures and Palestinian Authority crackdowns, was not a direct party to the October 7, 2023, assault nor the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, it has inexplicably become a major focus for Israeli military measures. In the first year of the war, over 10,400 Palestinians were detained in Israeli army crackdowns, with thousands held without charge. Furthermore, hundreds of Palestinians have been forcibly ethnically cleansed, largely from the northern West Bank, where entire refugee camps and towns have been systematically destroyed in protracted Israeli military campaigns. Israel's overarching aim remains the strangulation of the West Bank. This is achieved by severing communities using ubiquitous military checkpoints, imposing total closures of vast regions, and the cruel suspension of work permits for Palestinian laborers, who are almost entirely dependent on the Israeli work market for survival. This insidious plan also explicitly targeted all Palestinian holy sites, including the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, and the Ibrahimi Mosque. Even when these shrines were nominally accessible, age restrictions and suffocating military checkpoints make it difficult, at times utterly impossible, for Palestinians to worship there. In August 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that his relentless violent campaign against the West Bank was part of confronting the "broader Iran terror axis." Practically, this statement served as a green light for the Israeli army to treat the West Bank as an extension of the ongoing Israeli genocide on Gaza. By mid-July 2025, over 900 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank, while at least 15 were murdered by settlers. As Palestinians were pushed further against the wall, with no centralized strategy by their leadership to meaningfully resist, Israel exponentially increased its illegal settlement constructions and the brazen legalization of numerous outposts, many built illegally even by Israeli government standards. Israel's actions in the West Bank were not a sudden deviation but consistent with a long-standing, insidious scheme. This includes a plan solidified by the Israeli Knesset in 2020 that allowed Israel to officially annex the West Bank. Israel's ultimate goal has always been to confine the majority of Palestinians into Bantustan-like enclaves, while asserting full control over the vast majority of the region. In August 2023, extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir articulated this sinister vision: "My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank) is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs." More coercive measures swiftly followed, including Knesset laws to significantly curtail UNRWA operations, and further legislation to entrench de facto annexation. Last May, Smotrich audaciously announced 22 more settlements. On July 2, 14 Israeli ministers made a public call on Netanyahu to immediately annex the West Bank. In fact, every action Israel has undertaken, especially since the commencement of its devastating genocide in Gaza, has been carefully calculated to culminate in the irreversible annexation of the West Bank - a process that would inevitably be followed by declaring native inhabitants persona non grata in their own homeland. This level of systemic pressure and oppression will ultimately lead to a popular explosion. Though suppressed by the brutality of the Israeli army, the terror of armed settlers, and the suppressive actions of the Palestinian Authority, the breaking point is fast approaching. Those in the West who preach hollow calls for calm and de-escalation must understand the region is hurtling towards the brink. Neither diplomatic platitudes nor sterile press releases will suffice to avert the catastrophe. They are advised to act decisively against Israel's destructive policies, and they must act immediately. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is 'Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out'. His other books include 'My Father was a Freedom Fighter' and 'The Last Earth'. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA)
Scotsman
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
We all need to speak up over the IDF outrages in Gaza
Relatives of Palestinian child Salem Hussein, 12, killed in an Israeli army bombardment of Gaza, mourn beside his body at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City yesterday. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) I woke up yesterday morning planning to devote part of my column to the atrocities currently being enacted by the Israeli Defence Force (a misnomer if ever there was one) in Gaza when my attention was drawn to a letter in yesterday's edition of this paper. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Penned by Marjorie Ellis Thompson it eloquently put the case for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. I trust that she will forgive me for quoting her, but I found her letter to be a powerful indictment, both of Israel and the passive politicians who are allowing this to happen. She refers to footage of a British surgeon, 'practically in tears' as he says children in Gaza are being targeted 'as if it is a game' where one day they are shot in the head, another day the neck and on yet another day the testicles. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She says that 'Yet we, along with the US and Germany continue to aid and abet this 21st century holocaust.' Israel has embarked upon a programme of state terrorism, leading to a statement from UNICEF's Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Eduoard Beigbeder, who said 'In total more than 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured since October 2023. "How many more dead boys and girls will it take? What level of horror must be livestreamed before the international community fully steps up, uses its influence and takes bold, decisive action to force the end of this ruthless killing of children?' Too many people are keeping their own counsel for fear of being labelled anti-semitic, but this has to stop! Israel has used this tactic to great effect for too long. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Criticising Israel's government is not the same as attacking the Jewish religion, indeed many Jews have also protested against the action that the Israeli state is carrying out in their name. We all need to speak up!
India.com
2 hours ago
- Business
- India.com
Meet World's second richest person, a college dropout who surpassed Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg in earnings, his net worth is…
New Delhi: Larry Ellison, Oracle co-founder, has now become the second-richest person in the world. According to the reports, in July 2025, Ellison's total net worth surged to USD 275.9 billion (approximately Rs 23 lakh crore). Driven by Oracle's massive stock price rise of 32 percent, Ellison witnessed this incredible rise. However, it is important to note that Ellison still owns 41 percent of the company, which helped him earn USD 56 billion in June alone. He has now surpassed Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to take the second spot after Elon Musk. The Larry Ellison value today reflects not just wealth—but enduring vision, control, and influence in tech and AI infrastructure. Net worth soared due to Oracle's 32% stock surge in June 2025 Currently ranks second richest in the world, ahead of Zuckerberg The Larry Ellison Story Larry Ellison was born in 1944 to an unmarried Jewish mother, Florence Spellman. His biological father was an Italian-American U.S. Air Force pilot. His mother gave him up for adoption to her aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison. He was raised in a modest environment in Chicago with his uncle and aunt. He dropped out of college twice and later worked as a programmer at companies like Amdahl and Ampex. Raised in the Bronx and fueled by a drive to build, he co-founded Oracle, landed landmark deals, and transformed enterprise computing forever. Along the way, he also acquired a taste for big bets—from fighter jets to Hawaiian islands. All You Need To Know about Larry Ellison: In 1977, he started Oracle with just $2,000 and two friends, Bob Miner and Ed Oates. The company's first big break came when the CIA gave them a contract for a special database project called 'Oracle.' Oracle launched the first SQL-based commercial database software, which revolutionized the world of data management within two years. Ellison has transformed Oracle from just a database company into a giant in AI and enterprise technology. Even after stepping down as CEO in 2014, he has remained active as Chairman and Chief Technology Officer. He steered Oracle to focus on AI-ready infrastructure and cloud services, giving tough competition to giants like Amazon and Microsoft. Oracle acquired major companies like Sun Microsystems and NetSuite, and made significant investments in AI How Much Share Does Larry Ellison Have in Oracle? Ellison owns approximately 40–42 percent of Oracle's outstanding shares—a rare level of founder control in today's era. This concentrated ownership not only fuels his wealth but also cements his influence on Oracle's board decisions and strategic direction. That equity stake, combined with Oracle's stock rally, rapidly propelled his net worth past USD 290 billion.
