Colombia Professor Faces Firing After Pro-Israel Social Media Pile-On
By John Miles – Sputnik – 14.07.2024
Pro-Israel lawmakers and Zionist accounts on social media caused a firestorm after law professor Katherine Franke questioned the conduct of ex-IDF members on Columbia’s New York City campus.
A tenured professor at New York’s Columbia University faces firing after a pro-Israel online campaign criticizing comments the academic made on behalf of pro-Palestine demonstrators at the Ivy League school.
“There’s a very good chance that they will fire me,” said law professor Katherine Franke after being subjected to questioning she characterized as hostile as a part of Columbia’s investigation into the incident.
The controversy stems from an interview Franke granted to Democracy Now! on January 25. The professor sharply criticized Columbia’s response to an incident in which pro-Palestine protesters were sprayed with an unknown chemical substance by two alleged veterans of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
University administrators initially blamed the students for conducting an “unsanctioned” protest before finally banning the perpetrators from campus while police conducted an investigation of the incident.
“Columbia has a program, It’s a graduate relationship with older students from other countries, including Israel,” Franke noted on the radio program. “It’s something that many of us were concerned about because so many of those Israeli students who then come to the Columbia campus are coming right out of their military service. And they’ve been known to harass Palestinian and other students on our campus, and it’s something the university has not taken seriously in the past.”
“The university waited three or four days to actually even say anything about it,” she added. “They have not reached out to the students who were sick… some of whom are still in the hospital.”
The comment was subsequently mischaracterized by pro-Israel accounts on social media, who alleged that Franke advocated banning Israeli citizens from the Columbia campus.
“This @Columbia professor has a problem with former IDF soldiers being on campus,” read one post typical of the outrage, shared by Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidai, who identifies on the X platform as “Jewish Israeli” and “Zionist.”
“She doesn’t have a problem with ex-soldiers from any other place,” he complained. “Her only problem is with Israelis. @ProfKFranke – I served in the IDF. Do you think I also shouldn’t be allowed on campus?”
Davidai publicly criticized a wave of pro-Palestine protest on US college campuses earlier this year, calling the students “Nazis” and “terrorists” and calling for the National Guard to be deployed to break up the demonstrations. The demand implies a deadly threat against protesters in the United States, where National Guard troops shot and killed several antiwar demonstrators at Ohio’s Kent State University in 1970.
The business professor’s comments have been shared by official Israeli government accounts online as the country has invested significant effort in defending its cause on social media. It emerged last month that Israel has set up fake accounts online to lobby US lawmakers to continue supporting its military operation in the besieged Gaza Strip, which a study recently claimed could kill as many as 186,000. In 2013 it was revealed the country pays students to defend it on Facebook and Twitter.
Columbia administration released a statement defending Israeli students in response to the firestorm, which was championed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The following month Franke was informed a complaint had been lodged against her by two Columbia law professors for “discrimination,” and in April Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik called for disciplinary action against her during a House hearing with controversial Columbia University President Minouche Shafik.
A number of college professors and other faculty have been fired or faced disciplinary action in the United States for expressing pro-Palestine sentiments. Dr. Ameer Loggins is filing a defamation suit against California’s Stanford University after being fired for giving a lecture that discussed Israel in the context of historical acts of settler colonialism.
“What’s of greatest concern is not really my 20-year-plus career at Columbia, but what this says about peaceful protest on our campuses around the lives and dignity of Palestinians,” Franke said about the investigation into her comments, which remains ongoing. “What’s happening to me is happening to our students, it’s happened to people on many other campuses.” … Full article
Hezbollah-affiliated group launches 1st operation against Israel since Al-Aqsa Flood
MEMO | July 14, 2024
The Lebanese Resistance Brigades, a paramilitary group linked to Hezbollah, claimed responsibility yesterday for a military operation against Israel in southern Lebanon. This announcement marks the group’s first since the launch of Al-Aqsa Flood last year.
Founded by Hezbollah in 1997, the Brigades include volunteer fighters from various Lebanese sects. On Friday, they reported launching rockets at the Israeli ‘Rweisat al-Qarn’ site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, achieving a “direct hit.” Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire since the war on Gaza began.
Hezbollah which supports Hamas has vowed to cease attacks only with a Gaza ceasefire. The Lebanese government and Hezbollah rejected the occupation state’s demand to evacuate the border area of Hezbollah fighters. Nabih Berri’s parliamentary bloc welcomed international efforts to end Israel’s aggression against Gaza and opposed establishing buffer zones in Lebanon.
In October, the Lebanese Resistance Brigades lost two of its fighters, Ali Kamal Abdel Aal “Jihad” and Hussein Hassan Abdel Aal “Bilal”, from the town of Helta in southern Lebanon, who were martyred while performing their national duty, reports Al Mayadeen.
Cross-border fire continues, with a Lebanese army vehicle recently hit by Israeli gunfire. The personnel escaped unharmed. The Brigades affirmed their mission to resist Israeli occupation and liberate Lebanese territories.
Supporting Israel Is Big Business in the United States
Government and elite institutions work together to protect and empower the Jewish state

BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • JULY 12, 2024
In a recent article discussing how US Treasury Department tax breaks are exploited by groups that raise money in America in support of the Israeli so-called Defense Forces (IDF), I concluded that it does not require any particular brilliance on the part of even a casual observer to realize that both politically and economically Israel and Israelis are not treated like everyone else by governments at various levels in the United States, quite the contrary in many cases. Nevertheless, some key questions must be asked even at risk of being repetitive about Israel’s clearly privileged status. One must consider how is it possible that organizations that are committed to financially supporting war crimes and even genocide by a foreign nation are allowed to have tax breaks that enable them to collect more money which in turn helps them to corrupt the system that feeds them while also empowering those foreign militaries? How is it possible that the foreign army carrying out the war crimes is also allowed to benefit directly from the US laws that have created exemption from taxation? In short, is there no sense of responsibility and/or consequences on the part of American government when it comes to the behavior of the pariah apartheid Jewish state?
In the event, comments and insights from some readers both on my posting and privately in emails and on Facebook have convinced me that I have greatly understated the case. Those who argue, perhaps somewhat in jest, the Congress is the Knesset West and that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are in fact Israeli puppets are very close to being on the mark, making Israel and its all-powerful billionaire funded lobby indisputably in control of many key aspects of American government beyond the obviously targeted foreign policy. Combine that with control over the media and entertainment industries that shape the Israeli preferred narrative at all times, and you have a situation where when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says “jump” 95% of Congress and everyone in the White House begin hopping. We will no doubt see that in play when the monstrous Netanyahu arrives in Washington to address a joint session of Congress on July 24th. The performing monkeys who will appear on television leaping up and down while cheering Bibi will definitely be something to see, though one hopes that at the same time there will also be a million demonstrators surrounding Capitol Hill calling for the head of the world’s leading war criminal.
One thing that should be completely clear is that the United States gets absolutely nothing out of the relationship with Israel, which all flows in only one direction to the tune of what probably amounts to more than a billion dollars a month if all the extras and the inevitable fraud are taken into account. And that does not even include special donations like the $14 billion recently granted by Congress and President Joe Biden to fund Israel’s never-ending war of extermination against the Palestinians. In my recent piece, I took particular aim at 501(c)(3) non-profits set up in New York City and in Massachusetts which exist to provide funds to the Israeli army. Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), based in New York but with twenty branches in the US, boasts on its website that it has provided tens of millions of dollars to the Israeli military. The money contributed is federal income tax exempt and most of the donors are able to write the contributions off on their own federal taxes as an inducement to give. Such non-profits are generally granted that special status through demonstrating that they are religious, charitable or educational. Sending money to the Israeli army satisfies none of those requirements.
Not only does Israel take advantage of a tax break on money coming from groups that are ostensibly US-based, one of my correspondents advised me that the corruption goes far deeper than that, consisting of the fact that 501(c)(3) organizations must be registered through what is referred to as a “domicile.” Most are in the United States but domiciles in Canada and Mexico are also accepted given the economic realities of the North American market. Only one other country has an acceptable domicile and that is, of course, and, inevitably, Israel. In other words, an allowable exemption and the related deductible contribution for US tax purposes, might uniquely consist of US taxpayer money that goes to a charity registered in Israel. As Israeli charities have no reporting requirements vis-à-vis the US Treasury and no mechanism exists to validate their function and activity, they only answer to the government of the state of Israel.
And of course the pandering to Israel includes much more in the way of manipulating the political process to provide benefits to the Jewish state. It has long been a cliché in Washington that any long bill like defense appropriations that passes through the Congress will inevitably have some goodies for Israel inserted in it. Recent and current legislation reflects the perceived need by Congressmen to show the flag, which would be the Star of David rather than the Stars and Stripes, given the Israeli engagement in the military extermination of Palestinians that has no sign of ending as it is entering into its tenth month. The United States is not only funding and arming the Israelis, it is also providing political cover by vetoing nearly every United Nations proposal that would have led to a cease fire accompanied by some kind of exchange of hostages and prisoners. Along the way, no excess by Israel is considered to be too outrageous to require an objection coming from Congress and/or the White House, including Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s proposal that he would relieve the overcrowding in the prisons with Palestinians who are being held without charges by taking them out and killing them, one pistol shot to the head each. Former defense minister Avigdor Liberman has gone one step farther, calling on his country to use its nuclear weapons to obliterate Iran, presumably with full US approval. Israel has also been charged with killing journalists, humanitarian workers, medical workers including doctors, and torturing and starving Palestinian prisoners, but hey, that all constitutes minor stuff when one is best friends with the “Chosen” in Israel.
And there is much more. The International Criminal Court ruling that Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister should be on the receiving end of arrest warrants over war crimes and possible genocide in Gaza was responded to by US Congress with a letter threatening the jurors and their families if the court were to proceed. The US also cut off all funding and even cooperation with the United Nations’ UNWRA which, Israel has declared to be a terrorist organization, but which has been the major source of what food and medicine was actually getting through to Gaza in spite of Israeli efforts to block it. Congress also has moved to ignore any reports coming from the remaining Gazan authorities revealing the casualties resulting from the Israeli bombing and other killing, as if hiding the death toll will make it go away. The respected British medical journal The Lancet is now reporting that as many as 186,000 Gazans might be dead, mostly among the rubble of their homes, uncounted because the Gazan officials who would have performed that task are dead and whole families are wiped out so no one is reported missing. It is a far larger number than the ca. 37,000 that keeps appearing in the western media in an attempt to mitigate what Israel is up to.
And there is also the really petty stuff that surfaces regularly from the pro-Israel message control network. Three Columbia University senior officials have been removed from their positions because of comments and private emails they have written deriding the claims of “surging” antisemitism at colleges. Among the “evidence” was an intercepted message suggesting that a panelist could have used recent campus protests as a fundraising opportunity and another that appeared critical of a campus rabbi’s essay about antisemitism. The university will also launch a “vigorous” antisemitism and antidiscrimination training program.” Meanwhile a leading New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, headed by an Orthodox Jew, is setting up an index that will identify law students who have been demonstrating against Israel, creating a “do not hire” list of the names so they will not be offered employment after graduation. “The firm is scrutinizing students’ behavior with the help of a background check company, looking at their involvement with pro-Palestinian student groups, scouring social media and reviewing news reports and footage from protests. It is looking for explicit instances of antisemitism as well as statements and slogans it has deemed to be ‘triggering’ to Jews.” And then there is Donald Trump using the word “Palestinian” as a slur in his debate with Joe Biden and efforts by politicians like Governor Ron DeSantis to reject the arrival of any refugee Palestinians as immigrants to Florida as they are all “terrorists.” You know, little stuff like that and the efforts at criminalization of free speech if it comes to criticizing either Israeli or Jewish group behavior. You know, minor stuff. Pretty soon we Americans will all be terrorized into dancing to the same tune that Congress and the White House dance to. Then it will be too late.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
Dozens killed as Israel strikes Al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’ in Gaza
The Cradle | July 13, 2024
Israeli forces killed at least 71 civilians and injured 289 more in a series of massive airstrikes on the Al-Mawasi region on the southern Gaza coast, Al Jazeera reported on 13 July.
An official at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told Al Jazeera that more than 20 bodies and dozens of wounded people have been brought to the hospital.
He said civil defense teams continue to recover from the rubble, but the hospital cannot receive any more wounded patients.
An eyewitness told the BBC that the strike site looked like an “earthquake” had hit. The British state broadcaster reported that “videos from the area show smoldering wreckage and bloodied casualties being loaded onto stretchers. People can be seen trying desperately to pick through the rubble of a large crater with their hands.”
Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, denied a claim by Israeli Army Radio that the strikes targeted the head of Hamas’ armed wing, Mohammed al-Deif.
“All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Abu Zuhri said.
Zuhri also said that the attack showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire agreement.
Al-Mawasi, a Bedouin town west of Khan Younis, is filled with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians living in tents.
Israel designated the area a “safe zone” shortly after the war began in October and demanded Palestinians flee there to escape massive Israeli bombardments and ground assaults throughout the strip. A new wave of displaced families fled to the area after the start of Israel’s offensive in nearby Rafah in early May.
But Israel has bombed Al-Mawasi multiple times.
In late June, Israeli forces killed 22 Palestinians when they shelled the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Al-Mawasi. The ICRC office was surrounded by hundreds of displaced Palestinians living in tents.
Witnesses told AP that some people were killed as they went to help others who panicked after an initial bombardment.
Israel has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, since the beginning of the war in October.
Thousands more are feared dead, trapped under the rubble and in streets inaccessible to rescue and ambulance crews.
UNRWA: UNRWA staff tortured in Israeli jails
Palestinian Information Center – July 12, 2024
GAZA – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday that its staff who were detained by Israeli forces were subjected to “ill-treatment and torture.”
This came in a press conference held by the Agency’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, during a pledging conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Today, UNRWA is staggering under the weight of relentless attack, Lazzarini said.
“In Gaza, it has paid a terrible price, 195 of our colleagues were killed and nearly 190 installations were damaged or destroyed, killing over 500 people seeking United Nations protection.”
It comes at a critical time as UNRWA undergoes unprecedented attacks and systematic attempts to dismantle it, he added.
“It is a tribute to our staff working across the region, including on the humanitarian front lines in Gaza.”
“We are committed to continuing to deliver assistance and basic services, including education to Palestinian boys and girls.”
Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, also spoke at the UNWRA pledging conference at the UN headquarters in New York.
Guterres appealed to everyone to protect UNRWA and its employees, saying that “there is no alternative to it.”
Iran’s Pezeshkian discusses foreign policy, principles in first op-ed
Al Mayadeen | July 13, 2024
Iran’s newly-elected president stated that his administration is dedicated to maintaining Iran’s national dignity and global standing “under all circumstances.” Additionally, it will advocate for creating a “strong region” instead of one dominated by a single country’s pursuit of hegemony and dominance.
In an op-ed published by the Tehran Times, President Masoud Pezeshkian outlined his government’s outlook and policy, emphasizing it will focus on opportunities to maintain balanced relations with all nations in line with Iran’s economic and national interests, in addition to the needs of regional and global peace and security, saying he “will welcome sincere efforts to alleviate tensions and will reciprocate good-faith with good-faith.”
Moreover, he emphasized his opposition to neighboring countries depleting their resources through engaging in unnecessary competition, arms races, or “containment” efforts against each other. “Instead, we will aim to create an environment where our resources can be devoted to the progress and development of the region for the benefit of all.”
Pezeshkian mentioned that, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran “severed ties with two apartheid regimes, Israel and South Africa,” a decision “motivated by respect for international law and fundamental human rights.”
While “Israel” remains an “apartheid” regime to this day, Pezeshkian said it added genocide to “a record already marred by occupation, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, settlement-building, nuclear weapons possession, illegal annexation, and aggression against its neighbors.”
Don’t reward ‘Israel’ through normalization
The Iranian president-elect further said that “as a first measure” in strengthening ties with neighboring states, his government will “urge” Arab countries to collaborate diplomatically for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza to halt the ongoing massacre and prevent an expanded escalation.
“By leveraging our normative influence, we can play a crucial role in the emerging post-polar global order by promoting peace, creating a calm environment conducive to sustainable development, fostering dialogue, and dispelling Islamophobia. Iran is prepared to play its fair share in this regard.”
He underlined that all members of the 1948 Genocide Convention are obligated to take action to prevent genocide, “not to reward it through normalization of relations with the perpetrators.”
“We must then diligently work to end the prolonged occupation that has devastated the lives of four generations of Palestinians,” he continued.
Pezeshkian continued that he “looks forward” to collaborating with “Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates,” in addition to regional organizations, to deepen economic and trade relations. He added that coordination would also be focused on “tackling common challenges” and working on creating “a regional framework for dialogue, confidence building and development.”
Allegations of antisemitism an insult to Iran’s culture
“Cooperation for regional development and prosperity will be the guiding principle of our foreign policy,” he said, adding that, “as nations endowed with abundant resources and shared traditions rooted in peaceful Islamic teachings, we must unite and rely on the power of logic rather than the logic of power.”
Elsewhere in his piece, he pointed out the increased awareness among Western youth of “the validity” of Iran’s “decades-long” position on the Israeli occupation entity.
Addressing this “brave generation,” Pezeshkian said that the Islamic Republic considers allegations against it of “antisemitism” due to its “principled stance” on the Palestinian case are “false” and an “insult to our culture, beliefs and core values.”
Pro-Israel Group Censoring Social Media Led by Former Israeli Intelligence Officers
By Lee Fang and Jack Poulson | July 11, 2024
CyberWell, an Israeli nonprofit with deep ties to the intelligence arm of an Israeli government propaganda effort, has been influential in shaping social media content since October 7. The group, which purports to be independent, has lobbied Meta, X, and TikTok to remove social media posts under the banner of fighting hate and antisemitism.
The group claimed a major victory regarding Meta’s decision on Tuesday to expand its definition of antisemitic hate speech to include many criticisms of “Zionists” – those who call for an independent state in the Middle East that privileges Jews over other ethnic groups. “CyberWell intends to leverage its technological tools and analysis efforts to ensure this policy is implemented efficiently and fully, and that Meta’s moderation tools are trained to effectively bar this content,” the organization claimed in a press release.
The success is the latest string of victories to shape permissible speech when it comes to Israel and its actions.
In January, CyberWell reported that it had pushed to censor accounts that disputed the false allegation that Hamas had slaughtered dozens of babies during the October 7th attack. Any accounts disputing claims around babies killed during the attack, CyberWell argued, are akin to “content denying or distorting the Holocaust.” President Joe Biden and leading Israeli figures have falsely claimed that Hamas beheaded or burned forty babies during the assault into Israel.
That claim has been widely debunked. Despite repeated false assertions to the contrary, only one baby was killed during the Hamas assault: a 10-month-old infant named Mila Cohen, who was killed at Kibbutz Be’eri. In more recent months, CyberWell has lobbied TikTok and Meta to censor social media posts with the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” claiming that the slogan constitutes hate speech.
CyberWell is one of many agenda-driven nonprofits now censoring social media discourse, including benign or true information, under the cover of fighting hate and misinformation. The pharmaceutical industry, for instance, funded a nonprofit that worked to censor tweets critical of pandemic-related policies. The U.S. government funds several think tanks that work to moderate social media content critical of NATO’s policies impacting Ukraine.
We briefly mentioned the organization in our recent exclusive on the rebirth of an Israeli government influence effort to counter critics in the United States. After ignoring our detailed request for comment by email, CyberWell recently contacted The Guardian, our publishing partner, and falsely claimed that we never contacted the group for comment.
CyberWell has not received “government funding whatsoever from any country,” wrote Stan Steinreich of Steinreich Communications in a statement to The Guardian, which included a request for a correction. “CyberWell’s leadership is neither affiliated with nor compensated by Voices for Israel,” he continued, in reference to the joint venture created by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs roughly eight years ago under the name Kela Shlomo before renaming to Concert in 2018 and adopting its current name in 2022. In response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, the organization formally rebooted to focus on winning the online war of narratives surrounding Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza, which has so far killed roughly 13,000 women and children.
But CyberWell’s attempts to portray itself as independent obscures its deep ties to Israeli intelligence officials and the government-backed influence operation we wrote about.
CyberWell, as we originally reported, maintains close ties to the Israeli government ministries involved in covert advocacy in the U.S. and to the Voices for Israel group now at the center of a sprawling influence campaign. Since reaching out for comment for our investigation, CyberWell has scrubbed the biographies of its executives and advisors, such as former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin and a current spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces.
When CyberWell was reached for comment regarding why the biographies of its staff and advisors were removed, they stated: “Highlighting the danger of generating false and misleading information, we were forced to remove the ‘Our Team’ page for safety reasons. Following the publication of your story, our analysts were attacked and identified by name on X. Users shared your article and our employees’ names with a wider network and we became concerned for our staff’s safety.”
Despite CyberWell’s denial of ties to Voices of Israel, the organization’s 2022 annual report listed its Chief Financial Officer as Sagi Balasha, the first CEO of the organization now known as Voices of Israel. The list of CyberWell advisors in the report also included Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, who Israeli corporate records reveal to be a director of the research and intelligence arm of Voices, known as Keshet David, which is Hebrew for “David’s Rainbow.” Keshet David was initially headed by Yossi Kuperwasser, the former head of research in the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, widely known as Aman, and an ex-director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Another advisor to CyberWell, Amos Yadlin, previously led Aman.
“Proud to support @CyberWell_org,” Mr. Lerner posted on X on Wednesday, in response to CyberWell’s celebration of Meta’s new policy on criticisms of Zionism.
Voices of Israel chairman Micah Avni explained the history of Keshet’s aliases in a December 2018 interview, including the previous name of Israel Cyber Shield and the official English name Innovative Collaboration Strategies. “Concert [Voices of Israel] funds Keshet David and we get all the information. That’s one leg of what we’re doing,” said Avni. But, unlike Voices, Keshet David Research and Information Ltd., its legal Israeli entity, maintains no directly attributed public website.
Peter Lerner, an Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson and advisor to CyberWell, as well as former head of international relations at the Israeli labor federation Histadrut, is listed as both a shareholder and director of Keshet David. (As reported by Calcalist, the Histadrut was apparently a customer of the online campaigning firm STOIC, which Haaretz reported to have beat out Voices of Israel for a contract with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to covertly influence U.S. lawmakers.)
Formed in 2021 under the name Global Antisemitism Research Center (Global ARC), CyberWell shared a $30,000 donation that year with Keshet David through a foundation run by the wife of CyberWell board member Adam Milstein, who co-founded the influential Israeli-American Council (IAC) in 2007 under the direction of Israel’s then-consul general in Los Angeles, Ehud Danoch, before pleading guilty to two felony counts of tax evasion. Keshet David received an earlier donation through IAC in 2016 under its previous name of Israel Cyber Shield, just as future CyberWell CFO Sagi Balasha transitioned from chief executive of IAC to chief executive of Voices.

The chief executive of Keshet David since 2018, former Israeli police officer Eran Vasker, disclosed on his LinkedIn profile that he has simultaneously led the private intelligence firm Argyle Consulting Group since April 2017. The head of CyberWell, Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, similarly noted in a January podcast interview and on LinkedIn that her immediate previous job was working at Argyle as head of business development circa January to October 2021, the same year as the joint donation to Keshet David and CyberWell. Tal-Or’s manager at the time was Argyle Chief Operating Officer Zohar Gorgel, who became a founding board member of CyberWell. Gorgel co-founded a solar power company in early 2021 with Arik Becker, a member of CyberWell’s audit committee who was, according to Becker’s LinkedIn profile, head of strategic operations at Argyle circa 2018 to 2020.
In other words, the chief executive of CyberWell and two of its board members previously worked at the same private intelligence spin-off from Voices of Israel, a director of the spin-off is an advisor to CyberWell, and the CEO of Voices became the CFO of CyberWell.
Israeli corporate records further show that CyberWell shares the same accountant as Keshet David and Voices of Israel, Yakov Pal (פאל יעקב) of Yakov Pal & Co. Certified Public Accountants. (CyberWell and Voices have also shared the same fiscal sponsor, Central Fund of Israel, which reportedly donated $700,000 to Voices in 2017.)

Letterhead of Yakov Pal CPA from the 2017 financial statements of Voices of Israel, then known as Kela Shlomo, as revealed by the Israeli independent investigative site The Seventh Eye.
A recently-deleted page on CyberWell’s website noted that it was founded as a result of Tal-Or’s time working in private intelligence at an unnamed firm (Argyle), as a result of “her then-manager and IDF intelligence veteran, Zohar Gorgel, [suggesting] that Tal-Or use her open-source expertise and deep understanding of social media” to combat online antisemitism.
Tal-Or’s biography in her podcast interview also noted that she had “provided analysis” to Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, the agency that founded Voices of Israel. CyberWell’s 2022 annual report further disclosed that the nonprofit partnered with Act-IL, a failed online propaganda effort partly run by IAC and closely affiliated with the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, noting that “CyberWell served as the data provider to Act-IL’s community for their end of year call to action on the state of online antisemitism.”
According to 2018 reporting from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israel Cyber Shield (Keshet David) surveilled the prominent Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour as part of compiling a dossier for Act-IL.
CyberWell CEO Tal-Or Cohen and founding board member Zohar Gorgel did not respond to repeated questions regarding their previous positions at the private intelligence firm Argyle Consulting Group or on Argyle’s relationship to Keshet David. Instead, CyberWell blocked one of our accounts on X.
Argyle and Keshet David CEO Eran Vasker similarly did not respond to a request for comment through Argyle. Neither CyberWell nor Adam Milstein and his wife, Gila, responded to requests for comment on MERONA Leadership Foundation’s receipt of a joint donation for Keshet David and CyberWell.
***
CyberWell’s primary focus has been to pressure social media companies to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) redefinition of antisemitism, which has been described by one of its core contributors as designed to combat growing international human rights criticisms of Israel as an apartheid state, beginning with the United Nations’ 2001 Durban declaration. In reference to the now-defunct advocacy organization known as the Adopt IHRA Coalition, CyberWell’s 2022 annual report noted that “On the heels of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter,” CyberWell “served as the [Adopt IHRA Coalition] data provider, demonstrating our value through collecting, vetting, and leveraging a dataset of over 1,200 recent antisemitic Tweets.”
The IHRA definition has come under fire as an attempt to criminalize and suppress First Amendment-protected speech critical of Israel and its occupation of Palestine. Pro-Israel lobbyists have pushed to encode the IHRA definition into hate crime statutes and official speech codes for hundreds of institutions and have succeeded in advancing legislation on the state and federal level. The IHRA definition of antisemitism includes “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” If enacted, such a definition would mean that an American can call any government, including his own, racist, except for Israel.
CyberWell’s high-level influence on social media policy arose during a meeting of the Israeli legislature’s immigration committee on June 21 of last year, which included representatives of Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.
Matthew Krieger, a representative of Twitter and Elon Musk at the hearing, bluntly refused to answer questions from the committee chairman about a report from the Israeli advocacy organization Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA), which accused Twitter of only removing 14% of antisemitic content, in contrast to TikTok allegedly removing 100%. Immediately after, Facebook policy manager Yehuda Ben Yaakov noted his relationship with FOA, CyberWell, and Tal Or-Cohen, stating: “The activity of non-profit organizations in this context is important and non-profit organizations like FOA and CyberWell, just last week Tal-Or [Cohen] and I met and had the ability to exchange things.” “Tal-Or told us about a new way of linking the theory of Freemasons and the theory of anti-Semitism,” Ben Yaakov added.
During the same hearing, Ella Saban, an official in Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption, noted that “We work with ADL [Anti-Defamation League], we work with civil society organizations, CyberWell and [FOA] are based here, we also have a good relationship with the social networks in Israel.”

Images from a pair of posts on X on June 17 and on June 25 by CyberWell.
“VICTORY: TikTok is the first social media platform to publicly recognize denial of sexual violence on October 7 as prohibited content,” CyberWell boasted on June 17 through a post on X, which further implied that the decision was a result of CyberWell’s status as a trusted partner of TikTok.
A subsequent post claimed that: “Thanks to CyberWell’s data, TikTok is leading the way in recognizing and actioning this new form of antisemitism, and we urge all other social media platforms to follow suit.”
The image coupled with the post praising TikTok accused X user @HadiNasrallah of “Encouraging Violence” and “Denying that well-documented violent events took place” for claiming that “Hamas did not rape anyone on October 7th and Israel killed their own people with tanks and helicopter shelling.”
The degree to which Hamas committed sexual violence during its attack, and the scale of Israeli usage of the so-called Hannibal Directive preference of killing its own troops and citizens rather than let them be taken hostage, are perhaps the central narrative battles surrounding October 7.
More than 50 tenured journalism professors signed a letter in April asking The New York Times to investigate the reporting process behind its flagship publication on alleged sexual violence on October 7, “Screams Without Words,” and the Associated Press argued the next month that two “debunked” allegations had created a fog over credible evidence presented by organizations such as the United Nations.
Following a late October article from the independent American news site The Grayzone, Times journalist Ronen Bergman reported in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in January that the country’s military had invoked the Hannibal Directive, indeed firing on any vehicle approaching Gaza, including those that may have carried hostages. Haaretz provided further detail on Sunday, reporting the usage of the Hannibal Directive by the Gaza Division of the Israeli military’s Southern Command in three army facilities. The number of potential casualties remains a matter of ongoing controversy in Israeli papers.
Whether controversial debates relating to the Israeli military should be refereed by a de facto spin-out of a covert Israeli government intelligence effort is perhaps an easier question.
In a series of posts on the social media platform X crediting CyberWell with Meta’s recent decision to classify many criticisms of “Zionists” as hate speech, CyberWell board member Adam Milstein bragged that: “all content targeting Zionists with claims about running the world or controlling the media, plus more, WILL BE REMOVED!” “Will @elonmusk and @X follow suit?” Milstein then asked.
But Meta’s policy update on Tuesday noted that it has not yet decided on how to handle critical speech such as “Zionists are war criminals” and has forwarded the question to its oversight board. Meta argued that “the term ‘Zionists’ can be used to refer to people on the basis of their nationality (i.e., Israeli people), [and] commentary about ‘Zionists’ may also refer to government or military actions.” “We look forward to any guidance the [Oversight] Board may provide,” Meta added. “
Christians in occupied Jerusalem see marked surge in Israeli settler attacks
The Cradle | July 12, 2024
Settler attacks on the Christian community in occupied Jerusalem have surged since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, according to Hebrew reports.
Hebrew news outlet Channel 13 reported on 12 July that over the past three months, there have been at least 36 recorded incidents of violence or abuse against Christians.
This includes 17 incidents of Israeli settlers spitting on Christian worshippers, nine acts of vandalism, five assaults, and five cases of verbal abuse – all under police protection.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been imposing taxes on Churches and Church property. The Israeli government claims the taxes are routine financial matters, yet the Christian community has accused Tel Aviv of a “coordinated attack on the Christian presence in the Holy Land” and a violation of a centuries-old status quo.
“In this time, when the whole world, and the Christian world in particular, are constantly following the events in Israel, we find ourselves, once again, dealing with an attempt by authorities to drive the Christian presence out of the Holy Land,” wrote the heads of the major Christian denominations in a joint letter to Netanyahu late last month.
Earlier in June, a report released by Israeli NGO Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue reported a significant increase in Israelis attacking Christians throughout 2023.
“The ongoing shift towards the far-right, a growing sense of nationalism, and the emphasis on Israel primarily as a state for the Jewish population have collectively undermined both the legal and perceived sense of equality for any minority within the country,” the report read.
Attacks and restrictions against Christian worshippers by Israeli police are also common in the holy city.
While Christians face an uptick in abuse and oppression under Netanyahu’s far-right government, they have always suffered under occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
In 2019, the head of the Sebastia Diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, accused Israeli forces of trying to kill him after he was hospitalized with poisoning following an Israeli tear gas attack on his church.
Hidden fronts: Intelligence and assassinations in the Israeli–Hezbollah conflict
By Khalil Nasrallah | The Cradle | July 9, 2024
In addition to the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the occupation state has intensified its assassinations of Lebanese resistance leaders at various levels, specifically targeting field commanders directly involved on the frontlines. These assassinations are part of a longstanding conflict between the two sides, not merely a reaction to the events following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October.
The elimination of these resistance leaders is often framed within the occupation state as a significant achievement. However, it often serves more to influence perceptions within the settler community and the security establishment than to achieve strategic victories against Hezbollah.
Intelligence-driven warfare
The ongoing war between the Lebanese resistance and the occupation army differs fundamentally from conventional military conflicts. This confrontation’s asymmetric nature necessitates intricate intelligence operations and adaptive strategies. Both sides continually enhance their intelligence capabilities to support direct military engagements.
In southern Lebanon and northern occupied Palestine, the security dimension of the conflict is clear. The resistance has notably advanced its knowledge of Israeli positions, surprising Israeli intelligence and creating a heightened state of alert within the occupation army.
The recent killings of key figures like Abu Talib, head of the Nasr unit, and Abu Naama, leader of the Aziz unit, demonstrate the complexities of the conflict.
Frontline commanders remain vulnerable targets despite stringent security measures. Their deaths do not equal a significant victory but rather a tactical maneuver within the broader scope of the war.
In addition, security clashes become easier during military warfare for both sides and not the occupation army alone.
Israel’s objectives behind assassinations
The primary objectives of these assassinations go beyond mere score-settling. Israeli officials have historically debated the effectiveness of targeting resistance leaders, recognizing that the resistance operates as a system rather than a set of individuals.
Amit Saar, former head of the research unit in Israel’s military intelligence, emphasized this point, noting that targeted assassinations do not fundamentally change the resistance’s trajectory.
The assassination of the Secretary-General of the Allah Party, Abbas al-Moussawi, did not change the course of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and there are those behind him, and the confrontation is over. As well as the assassination of Palestinian leaders, whether military or political.
When asked about the possibility of assassinating Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, he said: “Should we kill him? I don’t focus on assassinating one person in a confrontation with a system. But he could be a target in any future battle.”
What Saar, who resigned after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, said helps to understand the objectives of the assassinations carried out by the occupation army in Lebanon now.
Despite this, the Israeli security establishment pursues these assassinations for several reasons, chief among them psychological impact, boosting the morale of the Israeli military and public. Another reason is internal competition, showcasing achievements within the establishment.
Additionally, these actions compensate for the occupation forces’ “defensive” posture, unprecedented since the establishment of the occupation entity in 1948. Lastly, there is an element of settling historical scores by targeting leaders with long records of resistance.
Resistance adaptation and intelligence
Contrary to Israeli narratives, the resistance, whether in Lebanon or Gaza for that matter, has not been significantly impacted by the assassinations. Instead, these events have driven the resistance to enhance its reconnaissance capabilities. Many of Hezbollah’s recent successes stem from intelligence gathered after 7 October, demonstrating its ability to adapt and respond effectively.
Public statements align with behind-the-scenes assessments, revealing that the assassination of several field commanders did not deter the resistance. Instead, these losses catalyzed the development of operations, particularly in intelligence gathering.
Gathering intelligence on new points and headquarters requires extensive security efforts. According to some reports, this intelligence work is what troubles the Israeli security establishment the most, as it directly impacts ground operations.
While Israelis might see targeted assassinations as achievements, these are often just tactical points scored in an ongoing conflict. Meanwhile, the resistance strengthens its intelligence and security capabilities, maintaining mobile and fixed target banks.
This dynamic affects Israel’s operations, especially in scenarios where clashes may expand – something the occupation army fears.
Hezbollah’s fierce retribution
Examining the response to the assassination of Abu Naama, commander of the Aziz unit operating in the western sector of southern Lebanon, reveals several strategic considerations. The resistance chose to retaliate from the eastern sector, specifically from the Nasr unit’s area, whose commander, Abu Talib, was also assassinated. This tactical decision was intended to deliver several critical messages to the enemy:
First, Hezbollah’s response from an unexpected area caught the occupation army off guard, as it anticipated retaliation from the area controlled by the Aziz unit. This highlighted a failure in accurately predicting the resistance’s reactions.
Second, by responding from the Nasr unit’s territory, the resistance aimed to convey that the assassination of Abu Talib, followed by its counteraction, did not disrupt its operations. So, the assassination of Abu Naama would similarly not impact the resistance operations.
The recent retaliation for the assassination of Abu Naama, coupled with a response to another resistance fighter’s death in the Bekaa, demonstrated the resistance’s resilience. Notably, for the first time since 1973, it targeted a long-range technical and electronic reconnaissance center in Mount Hermon, within the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The resistance’s capabilities remain robust and evolve to deliver more impactful military and security responses. It is committed to ongoing support operations as deemed necessary until the aggression in the Gaza Strip ceases.
The response to the assassinations of its leaders indicates that Hezbollah’s structure and operations remain largely unaffected. Its actions, whether within the ‘security belt’ in northern occupied Palestine or in more distant areas targeted by its strikes, continue to impact the occupation army.
This is evident in both the current confrontation and potential future conflicts, as inferred from Israeli military performance and statements from senior officers, particularly former ones.





