A day to remember those we lost and support those who are living with HIV.

Yesterday, police in Moscow violently attacked men at a club, accusing it of spreading “gay propaganda”. Read it at Swedish newspaper Expressen.

It’s been a long day. This morning I flew from Copenhagen to Amsterdam with SAS. Then I jumped on an El-Al flight to Tel Aviv. As always, I was fascinated by the perspective one gets when looking out an aeroplane window.

Now I’m back in Israel. Time for some sleep soon.

This is quite cool. Won’t result in anything substantial, though. Iran has no interest in the rule of law, apart from that of its own interpretation of sharia. Read it at the Times of Israel.

The islamist took control of Aleppo a few days ago. Now we get report about what this means for the people not complacent with the Islamist take on Islam.

“The factions that took over Aleppo destroyed Christmas trees that were set up for the holiday,” Syrian Druze says. “They are murdering Kurds in the streets.”

Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

This can’t end well. Read it at the Guardian.

I’m sitting in a café next to Saint Peter’s Church in Jaffa.

I’m not sure I trust the AI method used, but if correct, this could be very significant for the region’s future. Read it at Jerusalem Post.

The view from Tel Aviv.

Not really what Sweden wants to be famous for. It’s tragic on multiple levels. Read it at the Telegraph.

Britney Spears is a 43-year-old woman, but in a video posted on Instagram, she claims to be a 5-year-old girl. She also wrote about how she was kidnapped and forced to go to Mexico. This isn’t the first time she has shown clear signs of poor mental health. It’s easy to laugh about, but mental health is to be taken seriously. Read it at TMZ.

These terrorists are treating not only the Arab population in the West Bank but also Israel. Read it at Jerusalem Post.

Sweden lost a princess today.

Jeremy Warner has written another obituary. Rarely has anyone predicted a currency collapse so often. Read it at Telegraph.

No one is surprised. Amnesty International is not known for impartiality when it comes to anything related to Israel. But this time, local Amnesty chapter has had enough. Read it at the Jerusalem Post and the Guardian.

From the novel Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice:

“People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil. I don’t know why. No, I do indeed know why. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.”

Read Daniel Moss at the Japan Times.

A tweet by @ukraine_map:

A disaster is taking place for Russia and the Assad Regime in Syria.

Hama was just lost by Assad/Russia a couple of hours ago. HTS quickly advanced 26km South toward Homs.

If Homs is taken, Damascus is cut off from Latakia and Tartus, where Russia’s Air Base and Naval Base are.

“Syrian opposition militias have stormed Hama city in central Syria, in a sweeping offensive that threatens the stability of President Bashar Assad’s regime.” Read it at NPR.

A few hours ago, a devastating fire ripped through the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, wounding two people and causing significant damage to the historic building. Read it at NewsWire.

From an editorial at the Jerusalem Post:

Genocide is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, requiring proof of intent to destroy a people. Amnesty’s report doesn’t even come close. Instead, it relies on numbers provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which Amnesty Monitor criticized for failing to “distinguish between civilians and combatants.”

And:

Amnesty cherry-picks incidents to fit its predetermined narrative. Out of thousands of airstrikes conducted in Gaza, the report examines just 15, alleging civilian casualties with no military justification. It disregards Hamas’s deliberate use of civilian infrastructure—homes, schools, and hospitals—as shields for its operations. The IDF, in contrast, issued evacuation warnings and facilitated the transfer of “1.1 million tons of aid into Gaza” while establishing humanitarian corridors.

“It has no government and no budget, and is politically gridlocked.” Read it at The Economist.

An unexpected side effect? Read the new study at the American Naturalist.

Great, dolphins on drugs! 🤷 Read it at Kris 6 News.

“James Lindsay made his name submitting hoax articles to academic journals to mock liberals. Now he’s after Christian nationalists—by submitting a fake article taken mostly from the Communist Manifesto.“ Read it at Religion News Service.

“In just a matter of years, Africa has become the ‘global epicentre of terrorism’, with groups such as Da’esh, Al-Qaida and their affiliates exploiting local conflicts and fragilities to serve their own ends, the UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday, calling for violent extremism to be rooted out.” Read it at UN News.

“The term anti-Zionism refers to modern-day opposition to Zionism—or, simply put, the denial of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.” The issue is perhaps more complicated, but the article is worth reading nonetheless. Read it at World Jewish Congress.

Dramatic development. This is very significant for the Syrian dictatorship. Also, Russian foreign ministry urges its citizens in Syria to leave the country. Read it at Swedish newspaper Expressen.

“Iran is ‘dramatically’ increasing the amount of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% of weapons grade, that it is able to produce, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters in an interview.” Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

“In Germany, a vociferous critic of jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women and others, Michael Stürzenberger, was stabbed several months ago by a jihadi precisely because of his opposition to those evils. Now, a German court has added insult to injury, convicting Stürzenberger of ‘incitement to hatred’ and fining him €3,600.” There’s probably more to this story, but still… Read it at PJ Media.

If the rebels capture the Homs area, it is all over for Assad. His Alawite coastal heartland and all the ports will be cut off from the capital Damascus. Iran would lose access to all but two border crossings into Lebanon. The Kurds are also pushing from the north, and if they succeed, Iran will lose its primary supply route to Hezbollah. – Read Saul Sadka.

“With Assad’s three allies far from what they once were, the rebels saw an opportunity—one that they had clearly been planning for—and pounced. Not coincidentally, they struck on November 27—the same day the Hezbollah-Israeli ceasefire was announced.“ Read it at Jerusalem Post.

Syrian militants said they seized control of the southern city of Daraa today, the birthplace of a 2011 uprising against dictator Bashar Assad and the fourth city his forces have lost in a week. Read it at Arab News.

“The billionaire is reported to be thinking of becoming the biggest donor in history with a rumoured £80m payment to Nigel Farage’s far-right ‘Reform UK’ party.” The last thing we need is Farage in power. Read it at the Guardian.

“More than a dozen trans-rights activists were arrested las week after storming a women’s bathroom inside the US Capitol.“ I really don’t get this transphobic trend. Trans women are not men. Read it at the Telegraph.

Just a reminder, Elon Musk is from South Africa. He’s an immigrant to the US. And now he wants to put an end to global immigration.

A residential house in The Hague has collapsed after an explosion. Not many details yet, but four people have been taken to hospital. Read it at Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Assad’s children and his wife have travelled to Russia and his brothers-in-law has travelled to the United Arab Emirates. Read it at the Wall Street Journal.

The gunman was know with mental illness, but the anti-Israel activists have turned America into an anti-Semitic cesspool. Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

I’m not sure what kind of bird it is, but I’ve seen several here in Tel Aviv.

The end of a Syrian dictatorship. Problem is that it won’t be replaced by democracy. The Islamist militia will most likely replace one dictatorship with another. Read it at Arab News.

Have to go back to Sweden later today. Can’t say I’m too happy about it. Would love to stay in Israel. It’s my people’s ancestral homeland, the only place where I can be openly Jewish without fear. I love Sweden, too, but I’m fed up with the anti-Semitism and all naive Europeans who justify terrorism and extremism.

“Foreign powers urge opposition groups to end fighting and preserve single, united country.” I disagree. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Kurdish independence. Read it at the Guardian.

I was travelling yesterday, so I missed the unprecedented development in Syria. It’s historic downfall of an Arab dictatorship. The Islamist rebels are unlikely to turn Syria into a democratic country based on the rule of law, but release of thousands of political prisoners is in itself huge win for human rights. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham managed to topple Assad, but we must not be fooled. HTS is a terror organisation, labelled as such by the US and UN.

In 2021, HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani was interviewed by PBS. You can read it at Frontline.

Below are some newspaper headlines capturing Assad’s loss of power.

• Chronicles of the Day Syria Ended 50 Years of Assad’s Rule
• Ousted Syrian Leader Assad Flees to Moscow after Fall of Damascus
• Israel Says It Will Destroy Syria’s Heavy Strategic Weaponry
• Assad Offered Asylum in Russia after Rebels Topple Syria Regime
• Tears of Joy and Sadness as Disappeared Syrians Emerge from Assad’s Prisons
• Assad’s Downfall Caps a Remarkably Bad Year for Iran

“As Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow, the looters started raiding the presidential palace and people took to the streets of Damascus to celebrate his demise.” Read it at Bloomberg.

From Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim:

It seems that HTS has just prohibited its members from interfering in women’s outfits & looks “including asking them to cover up”! The statement also confirms that personal freedom is a guaranteed right! I am astonished.

I’m astonished, too!

A total of 31 countries have had examined their adult population’s reading, numeracy, and problem-solving skills. Sweden is third best country in reading ability. It shares third place with the Netherlands and Norway in counting, and a third place with Norway in problem solving. However, Finland and Japan are consistently at the top. Read it at Swedish newspaper Expressen.

According to a new survey, Some 70.3% of Ukrainians are in favour of their country’s gradual accession into NATO in a model resembling the entry of West Germany. Read it at Kyiv Independent.

“After helping to oust the prime minister last week, the far-right leader has made clear her next target is President Emmanuel Macron.” Well, would have been more of a surprise if she hadn’t. Read it at the New York Times.

This is just… strange. Sydney Gifford and Alyssa Sheil are two influencers whose similar aesthetics are at the heart of a lawsuit. Read it at Fast Company.

Chauncey DeVega in Salon:

I think many left-wing people, especially progressive academics, don’t fully appreciate just how much the racial justice movement has alienated some white Americans, particularly conservatives who see Black and white Americans as mostly equally vulnerable to harm. A study conducted right around the election found that one strong predictor of White Americans voting for Trump was their agreement with the statement, “People these days can’t speak their minds without someone accusing them of racism.”

Some pundits seem convinced that Iranians are preparing to topple the regime. I don’t have a link to any article, it’s just talk. But fallowing the past few days in Syria, nothing seems impossible. Khamenei is as unpopular as Assad was.

I have no good link, however, the Wall Street Journal runs an article mentioning the scenario.

“Iran finds itself isolated after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which upended the Middle East by dismantling the ‘Axis of Resistance’—an informal, Iran-led alliance uniting Syria and armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. With key allies destroyed or weakened, Tehran will be forced to redefine its security policy and its regional role.” Read it at France 24.

The photo exhibit “Gaza, Palestine: A Crisis of Humanity, a Cry for Justice” in the lobby of United Nations headquarters in New York includes images of demolished buildings, displaced civilians, maimed children, and corpses. It mentions neither Hamas nor the Palestinian terror attacks in civilians in southern Israel, which were the events that launched the war. Read it at the Jewish News Syndicate.

I came across an article from December lats year. So, in other word, not news any more. However, it deals with Owen Jones and his bigoted opinions on Israel. I don’t know why anyone would be surprised by anti-Semitism from this spokesperson for the British extreme left. That’s what the far left is about these days. They downplay the atrocities of Hamas and other Palestinian terror organisations, while they overplay actions of Israel to fit the antiquated narrative of evil Jews hunting the innocent.

If you want more on this, read Chaim Dragelöf’s article on Jones at Jewish News.

I knew it! Read the study at Ageing Research Reviews.

The world is going mad with hatred towards Israel. Read it at the US Sun.

“The troubles afflicting Europe more broadly run deep, and the continent’s trajectory appears increasingly grim. Mass migration, as in Biden’s America, is a paralysing force, eroding social cohesion and overwhelming public services. Europe is grappling with an economic malaise that borders on catastrophic.” Well, I second the part about overwhelming public services. Open borders is a good thing, but government giving migrants money is not. Read Lee Cohen at the Telegraph.

Jewish donors who are giving money to universities are often supporting anti-Israel and anti-Jewish ideology. Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

“Capitalism is driving the destruction of our planet,” Sally Rooney writes in the Irish Times. She’s wrong—as always, one every issue.

“After rebel takeover, Israeli Air Force and Navy strike missile depots, naval vessels, fighter jets and more to ensure they don’t fall into wrong hands.” Read it at the Times of Israel.

From The Hill:

The Satanic Temple is increasing its work in schools across the country, trying to combat a rise in religious teachings.

The group, launched in 2013 to battle the “intrusion of Christian values on American politics,” recently began a religious release program in an Ohio school district and plans to expand to a district in Tennessee soon.

It does not seek to convert students toward Satan but wants to be a bulwark against increased religious education.

Those anti-religion people are as nuts as the religious extremists they attempt to insult.

“Global malaria cases rose by 11 million in 2023, reaching an estimated 263 million, according to a new report from the World Health Organisation.” Read it at Africa News.

This rewriting of the biblical stories to relabel Jesus a “Palestinian” is absurd. Palestine was a small portion of the land, basically the part now known as the Gaza Strip.

From Religion News Service:

Daisy Vargas, a professor at the University of Arizona who specialises in Catholicism in the Americas, sees this artwork as “important interpretations for this particular political and cultural moment,” noting that artists are drawing parallels between the current violence in Gaza and the biblical narratives of Mary as the Palestinian mother of Jesus “who is experiencing the violence of empire in an occupied land.”

“Since mid-November, large drones of uncertain origin have been repeatedly spotted in the sky at night over central and northern New Jersey, including near a military installation.” Read it at ABC News.

Billions of Russian state funds frozen in the European Union should be used to aid Ukraine, says Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs. I think that’s an excellent idea. Read it at the Guardian.

Journalist Jonathan Sacerdoti has posted a video of his remarks in Oxford. Everyone with an interest in the Israel-Arab conflict should listen to it.

From Commentary Magazine.

About eight minutes in, Sacerdoti notes, in objection to the idea that Israel is purposely starving Gazans: “Israel has provided 700,000 tons of food to Gaza during this war. That is a daily average of 3,200 calories per person.”

To which a woman in the audience yelled: “You sick motherf***er!”

I don’t know if I’ve seen an exchange that so perfectly encapsulates the public debate over this Israel-Hamas war.

“Show me the man, and I will show you the crime.” Read it at Commentary Magazine.

It’s Friday. A few hours left before Shabbat begins, but I’m tired and have decided to take an early break.

He writes about the ordeal and the rise of anti-Semitism in the Jerusalem Post.

I don’t know what it is with Andrew, but he always seems to pick the worst of friends. Read it at the Guardian.

A new study by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden found that religious people are more generous than non-religious people only when they know the religious beliefs of the recipients. Read it at Cambridge University Press.

A Belgian film festival cancelled the screening of a documentary about transgender Palestinians because of the threat of protest by anti-Israel activist who viewed the film as promoting a pro-Israel narrative. Read it at Jerusalem Post.

“A Columbia University professor who called the October 7 massacre ‘astounding’, ‘awesome’, and ‘incredible’ will be teaching a Spring course on Zionism.” Completely absurd. An insult to everyone. Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

Aviva Klompas:

In 1981, Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq, preventing the world’s worst weapons from being used by Saddam Hussein.

Today, Israel is destroying chemical and strategic weapons in Syria, preventing the world’s worst weapons from being used by jihadist rebels.

Israel has done more for peace and security than the United Nations.

Hear! Hear!

Well, internalisation really is a thing.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Armed Forces’s radiation, chemical, and biological defence troops, was killed in Moscow today in an operation of Ukraine’s Security Service. Read it at Kyiv Independent.

There’s nothing a terrorist organisation hates more than competition? Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

A new study from the University of California finds that dogs intentionally use soundboards to communicate, pressing specific button combinations to convey their needs. Read it at Scientific Reports.

Researchers have discovered the oldest gorgonopsian fossil on Mallorca, dating from 270-280 million years ago. This therapsid, a sabre-toothed predator, offers new insights into the evolutionary lineage leading to mammals. Read it at Nature Communications.

Two days ago, five people were killed and scores more injured when a car plowed into revellers at a Christmas market in Germany. A man taken into custody at the scene is reportedly a critic of Islam and far-right supporter. The man is allegedly from Saudi Arabia. He was raised a Muslim but left his religion and became an active critic of Islam and its treatment of women, particularly in his homeland. This is a bit unusual. Most religiously motivated terror attacks are carried out by those who think God somehow wants them to do it. In this case, atheism seems to play that role. Read it at Deutsche Welle.

“German officials faced mounting criticism on Sunday over the failure to prevent a deadly Christmas market attack in Magdeburg as it emerged that the 50-year-old suspect had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities.” Read it at France 24.

A House of Representatives committee report details how universities failed to protect their Jewish students on campus. Read it at The College Fix.

Irish President Micheal Higgins claims that Israel wants to establish a settlement in Egypt. There’s nothing to suggest that this is true. Read it at Jerusalem Post.

“Weeks before it leaves office, the Biden administration said that Pakistan is developing a long-range ballistic missile that could eventually provide nuclear-armed Islamabad with a weapon capable of striking the US.” Read it at the Wall Street Journal.

Not really my box, but it’s such a bizarre story. Read it at PJ Media.

If you want to have a dream where you know you’re dreaming, you might be in luck, a new study reveals. Read the study at Consciousness & Cognition.

A 90-year-old Australian saltwater crocodile named Burt has passed away. Burt was the crocodile star in the 1986 classic film Crocodile Dundee. How can we go on without him? 🤔 Read it at Sky News.

“In May 1945, even though the horrors of the Holocaust were already well known, the Irish government acted unusually compared to other countries when it sent its condolences to the German people on the death of Adolf Hitler.” Read it at Jerusalem Post.

“One agent said the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah didn’t realise it was buying from Israel, its enemy.” Read it at Military News.

The short answer: you brain has time over for anxiety. Read it at Time.

Researchers at the University of Toronto, through innovative quantum experiments, say they have demonstrated that “negative time” isn’t just a theoretical idea—it exists in a tangible, physical sense, deserving closer scrutiny. Read it at Science Alert.

Houthi official Hezam al-Asad vowed to continue attacks on Israel in an online message posted about fifteen minutes after the incident. Read it at Jerusalem Post.

Two days too late, but better late than never, right?

Social-media addiction can reduce grey matter, shorten attention spans, weaken memory, and distort core cognitive functions. Read the study at Nature.

Earlier today, 83-year-old Holocaust survivor Ludmila Lipovsky was murdered by a terrorist in a stabbing attack outside her nursing home in Israel. Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

“They are an extremist religious group willing to sacrifice all of Yemen for the Palestinians and for the destruction of Israel, even though they’ve never met a Palestinian and don’t know anything about Israel.” These are the words of Sweden-based Yemeni activist Luai Ahmed. Read the interview with him at the Times of Israel.

The governor of Damascus said yesterday that Syria’s newly-installed government wants to have cordial relations with Israel. This is big news. Read it at the Times of Israel.

Yes, apparently. Read it at the Japan News.

A damaging 13-page report from the Jefferson Council, an alumni network dedicated to preserving Thomas Jefferson’s legacy at the university. In 2024 the university become akin to Berlin in 1938, the report reads.

“The operation followed intelligence indicating that the hospital was being exploited as a command centre by terrorists.” Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

In Berlin, naturally. Read it at the Daily Mail.

When shit hits the fan. The Christian Right has long argued for a ban on every book with sexual content. Now it backfired as schools must ban the Bible. Read it at the Mirror.

“Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election.” Well, now it’s too late and the world has to suffer four more years of Trump madness. That being said, I believed Harris would make it. Read it at the Guardian.

A new study has revealed that brain aging peaks at the ages of 57, 70, and 78. Read it at Nature.

Scientists have found that using sleeping pills to get some shut-eye could reduce the build-up of toxic clumps of proteins in fluid that washes the brain clean every night. Read the study at Annals of Neurology.

America’s 39th president is gone. Read about it at the Associated Press.

Nioh Berg writes that shop owners in Iran protest impossible living conditions. “Why does this matter? Because Bazaars and markets in Iran are massively important for the economy, and strikes can truly suffocate the regime if they spread.”

Who could have guessed? Read Andrew Rettman at the EU Observer.

The Israel Defence Forces says it’s another example of Hamas’s cynical use of civilian institutions in Gaza for terrorist acts, which is in blatant violation of international law. Read it at the Jerusalem Post.

There’s no limit to the hubris of this man. Read it at Expressen.

Nicky Woolf thinks deploying the Royal Family might go some way to protecting Britain from four years of madness. Read it at the New European.

The year 2024 will forever be remembered for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, both sparked by unprovoked attacks—from Putin in Ukraine and from Hamas in Israel. Putin’s Russia has continued its bombardment of Ukrainian towns, and Israel has continued to defend itself and fight for the release of the Jews kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October 2023. It’s time to bring them home!

On 7 March 2024, Sweden and Finland became members of NATO. This ends the long-overhyped policy of neutrality. There can be no neutrality between democracy and dictatorship, nor between the rule of law and terrorism. To be truthful, I never thought I’d see Sweden join NATO, but I’m happy to be wrong on this. We should have joined decades ago.

This year will also be remembered for an unprecedented election in America, where a sitting president stepped aside to allow a former running mate, Kamala Harris, to campaign for the presidency. She failed, and Donald Trump is now set to return to the White House on 20 January. I fear the worst, but hope he will surprise us all by being reasonable and less resistant to truth.

On 8 December, the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria came to an end. We don’t yet know what the new leaders will do to the country, but people are cautiously optimistic about a democratic future. Some hints of a peace deal with Israel have emerged in recent days. If that comes true, it would really be a turning point for the region.

Khamenei’s Iran has directly attacked Israel twice this year. Iranian attacks in the past have been through its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza, but in April it launched the first strike with drones and missiles from its own soil. Another attack was conducted a few months later. Fortunately, Israel and its allies managed to intercept most of these projectiles. Israel has also been successful in combatting Iran’s proxies, not least by taking out the Hezbollah leadership.

We can’t know what the new year will bring, but let’s hope it’s peace, liberty, and prosperity. The world needs it. But with that being said, we can’t allow the likes of Putin and Khamenei to terrorise us. The democratic world must stand firm against their terrorism.

With a few hours to go, I wish you all a happy new year. I’ll see you in 2025.