News Digest — 4/15/26
Ambassador Leiter Stresses Security And Peace In Opening Remarks At Lebanon Talks
Ambassador Leiter’s opening statement at the peace negotiations with Lebanon in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday (14th): “I sit before you today as Israel’s representative to peace negotiations with Lebanon under the auspices of the US. Today is Yom HaShoah, the day Jews around the world remember the Holocaust. It is also Yom HaGevurah, the day of courage, when we declare, ‘Never Again.’ This phrase is a promise and a plan of action. We declare that we will take our enemies at their word when they tell us they are committed to our annihilation.”
“As Iran’s top proxy, Lebanese Hezbollah has made clear its intent to eliminate Israel-the Jewish state and the Jewish homeland-and to bring death and destruction to its people. The Shoah teaches us to take that threat seriously and we cannot hesitate to remove it from our borders. We have the courage it takes to do so.”
“We also have the courage to pursue peace through strength, and to work tirelessly for tranquility and prosperity for all. Today, we pursue those values for ourselves and especially for our Lebanese neighbors of all ethnic denominations. I commend President Joseph Aoun and his government for not allowing itself to be held hostage to the threats of Hezbollah’s leader. Naim Qassem and Hezbollah belong to the past; we are here for the future.”
“I believe that we can, in good faith, accomplish the following interrelated goals: the complete disarmament of Hezbollah, the freeing of Lebanon from Iran’s terror proxy, and the achievement of a real, lasting and mutually celebrated peace for the benefit of our peoples.”
World Jewish Leader Warns Of Second Holocaust
The rising antisemitism around the globe, heavily funded and organized by Qatar and promoted on social media platforms, risks creating a second Holocaust, the Israeli President of the World Jewish Congress said on Tuesday (14th) at the Auschwitz concentration camp on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Sylvan Adams expressed his sentiment during a press briefing ahead of the annual March of the Living educational program at the site of the Nazi death camp where more than one million Jews were murdered during World War II.
“I never believed that in my life we would see what we have seen since Oct. 7,” said Adams, the son of Holocaust survivors, referring to the 2023 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.
“I believed that the post-Holocaust slogan of ‘Never Again’ truly meant never again. Well, I was wrong.”
The Jewish leader cited figures released by the New York based Anti-Defamation League, according to which 46% of adults worldwide – around 2.2 billion people – hold antisemitic views, while one in five has never heard of the Holocaust.
Qatar, and the Emir of Qatar, while pretending to be a benefactor of the hostages, is now playing a double game and fomenting the worst antisemitism since the Holocaust,” he said.
He noted that the Gulf country, which is a US ally, has long-funded the Muslim Brotherhood and, over the last three decades, has invested more than a trillion dollars in the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV station in an effort to destabilize the West.
“Their campaign against the Jews is just the appetizer dish,” he said. “The main course is the entire West that they wish to convert and subjugate.”
In the remarks, Adams also called the Chinese-run Tik Tok “the most virulently antisemitic of the social-media platforms, coupled with Beijing’s covert and overt support for the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime.
He praised the administration in Washington for forcing the creation of a majority American board for the social platform in the United States, where it has 200 million users.
“What began here did not begin with gas chambers,” Adams said on the site of the ultimate symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust. “It began with words, with permission and with silence.”
Mossad Chief: “Campaign Will Be Completed Only When The Extremist Regime Is Replaced”
Mossad head David Barnea addressed the campaign against Iran, intelligence operations in the heart of Tehran, and the continuation of activities in Iran.
Barnea delivered his remarks at a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, warning that threats to the existence of the Jewish people are not a thing of the past.
He opened with a stark warning against international complacency: “The naive are mistaken in thinking the Holocaust is a thing of the past – that in today’s reality genocide cannot occur, that calls for destruction cannot exist, and that hatred threatening a people’s existence cannot arise. The Iranian threat has steadily intensified before our eyes, and before the eyes of the world, almost unchecked.”
He emphasized that Israel repeatedly warned about the nuclear threat and ballistic missile stockpiles endangering its citizens, until ultimately we took our fate into our own hands and went to two necessary wars.”
Barnea detailed operational achievements of the most recent conflict, crediting intelligence and operational cooperation. “In ‘Rising Lion,’ the IDF, with the assistance of the Mossad, led an unprecedented attack that dealt a severe blow to the Iranian regime. The Mossad once again operated in the heart of Tehran. We provided precise intelligence to the Air Force and struck missiles threatening Israeli civilians.”
He also referred to the strategic alliance with the United States, which he called “the strongest power in the world,” noting that historic cooperation during forty days of fighting helped thwart the enemy’s central objective-the destruction of the State of Israel.
During his speech, Barnea responded to critics who argued that the operation did not achieve all its objectives immediately after the strikes ended. “We did not think this mission would be completed the moment the fighting subsided,” he clarified. “But we certainly planned for our campaign to continue and to be expressed in the period following the strikes in Tehran. Our commitment will be fulfilled only when this extremist regime is replaced. That regime, which seeks our destruction, must pass from the world.”
He concluded with a firm message linking his professional duty to the moral imperative of Holocaust Remembrance Day. “This is our mission. We will not stand idly by in the face of another existential threat – with a clear command – ‘Never Again.’”
As The West Morally Rots, We Stand With Israel – Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka
I am in Jerusalem because the Czech Republic still remembers what it means to be surrounded by those who want you erased from the map. When Israel was fighting the war for independence and the rest of the world looked away, we sent weapons. The situation remains the same today. When other countries speak of punishing Israel for defending itself against brutal terrorism, we stand to defend the attacked nation. When other countries stop military shipments to Israel, Czech arms exports to Israel grow.
In a world that is rapidly becoming more dangerous, a true ally is defined by what he delivers. This means we will treat Jerusalem with the dignity it deserves as the beating heart of Israel. We are two nations that refuse to be lectured by those who have never faced a real threat. We do not care about the opinions of those who have lost the ability to distinguish between an aggressor and its target. The Czech Republic stands with Israel because it is the only rational choice for a civilized nation.
Czech Foreign Minister Calls To Move Embassy To Jerusalem
Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hosted his Czech counterpart in Jerusalem Tuesday (14th), as Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day
Czech Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Petr Macinka visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum alongside Sa’ar, who a day earlier cited the abandonment of Czechoslovakia in 1938 during a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in the capital.
The two foreign ministers addressed reporters during a joint press conference, during which Macinka was asked whether the Czech Republic is planning to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Macinka noted his past declarations in support of relocating the embassy and said that he plans to push for the move.
“I spoke about the issue of moving the Czech embassy to Jerusalem even before I was appointed foreign minister, during the Hanukkah holiday in Prague. I said that we saw the discussion about moving the embassy begin, and then nothing happened. I personally would like to advance this, and I would like to open it myself as foreign minister.”
“That is why I wanted to renew this discussion. And of course there are two levels of thinking here. One is the symbolic level, which is important for Israel. But there is also a practical level, since the government ministries and the foreign ministry are in Jerusalem, the Knesset is in Jerusalem, and the Office of the President is in Jerusalem, yet our embassy is in another city. So, from a practical point of view as well, this is a relevant discussion.”
However, Macinka added that he is not personally empowered to green-light the move, while predicting that the government would likely not oppose his plan.
“I opened this discussion the day before I was appointed foreign minister, and I think I will continue to hold this discussion and try to move it forward. The decision is not mine personally. I think the Czech Republic is traditionally very close to Israel and very friendly toward it. Therefore, I do not expect a negative debate on this issue.”
Upon taking office last December, Macinka declared his support for relocating the Czech embassy, fueling speculation of an impending move.
“Personally, I am very much looking forward… to being present when one of the symbols of solidarity becomes the fact that the Czech Republic truly moves its embassy to Jerusalem. Macinka said at a Hanukkah event in Prague, “It should have been there a long time ago.”
(jns.org)
The Shameful Lies About Israel’s Attack On Hezbollah – Brendan O’Neill
In solidarity with Hamas’ Nazi-like pogrom of Oct. 7, Hezbollah started raining projectiles on Israel the very next day. It has fired 12,000 missiles, rockets and drones at its neighbor. Scores have been slain, including 12 Druze children playing a game of soccer. Tens of thousands in northern Israel were forced into internal exile. There is not one country on earth that would tolerate this.
French President Macron last week rebuked Israel for striking back against Hezbollah. He’s being gushed over, naturally. Yet to those of us whose moral compasses have not been shattered on the wheel of hysterical hatred for the world’s only Jewish nation, Macron’s comments are mad. Immoral, even. Reprimanding a democratic state for pushing back against the racist militia that has subjected it to such savage fire? Who does he think he is?
Hezbollah is essentially an expeditionary force of the Islamic Republic. It has made Lebanon into a basket-case outpost of Tehran’s Islamist lunacy. Israel is fighting a militia that has colonized vast swathes of Lebanon with a foreign-born Islamism.
Yet, peruse social media, switch on the BBC, and you could be forgiven for thinking Israel is bombing Lebanon for sport. It’s that “genocidal bloodlust” again, say the Islamophobes, blind to how unhinged such libels against the Jewish state sound to the rest of us. To obsess over what Israel is currently doing to Hezbollah without mentioning what Hezbollah has already done to Israel is to engage in flagrant acts of deceit.
