Toronto Susan

Exile My skin is thick, but last week in Israel was too much even for me. People see the shiny dress, the big smile, the glamorous pictures from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange where I received a prestigious award while people showered me with love and respect. What they do not see is that I went through some of my lowest moments since October 7th, precisely because some of those who hurt me most are supposed to be on my side. An Israeli friend who attended the ceremony left before I even received the award. No congratulations, no message afterward, nothing. People later told me he was jealous. Jealous of what exactly? Believe me, in my life, there is nothing to be jealous of. A few days later, I went for dinner at a friend’s house in Jerusalem. He told me he had bought a bottle of Lebanese arak made in Chtaura, the town where I grew up. I do not even drink arak, yet holding that bottle sent shivers down my spine. I was holding a piece of home. Unconsciously, he had invited me to mourn. He is a convert himself, also cut off from parts of the Arab world and from family. On October 7th, his estranged brother messaged him asking if he was still alive. For one brief moment, he thought sympathy had motivated the message. Then another message followed: “I wish you and your filthy family dead.” I showed him the message I received from my younger sister on October 8th. She insisted the massacre was Israeli propaganda. Her sympathy was entirely with the Palestinians. The conversation ended with “shame on you” before she blocked me. I still do not know what was worse: the first conversation I had with my mother after October 7th or the last. How does one process such hatred from one’s own family? The answer is that you do not. You simply absorb it while trying to remain sane. At dinner, I sat across from my friend’s daughter. Her partner had recently been injured in Lebanon. She would not greet me, barely looked at me, and when our eyes crossed by accident, she rolled hers. That moment stayed with me because it captured something painful and difficult to explain: exile does not always happen between enemies. Sometimes it happens among people who should understand you best. A religious convert in Jerusalem once told me that even if I converted a hundred times, I would never become a Jew. A family member told me years ago that they wished I had died of cancer before seeing the day I visited Israel. My son has paid a price too. In Modiin, teenagers called him a Nazi because he lives in Germany. When I missed his high school graduation because of my work, I watched the ceremony from afar wondering whether his teachers thought I was simply a terrible mother. The truth is that I wanted nobody to know he was my son because I wanted to protect him from the hatred directed at me. And still, despite all of this, I cannot betray what I know to be true. I do not do what I do for money, applause, or awards. If anything, the higher I rise publicly, the lower I fall in the eyes of many people I once loved or expected solidarity from. I do what I do because Israel is worth it to me. Israel, the project that materialized. The model that defies the hatred, tribalism, victimhood, and fatalism that destroyed so much of our region. Every Israeli or Jew whose heart becomes consumed by darkness after October 7th is a victory for the axis of evil. I cannot allow that. Even when I am exhausted. Even when I feel humiliated. Even when I feel completely alone. If you are ever jealous of pro-Israel activists, especially those who came from the Arab world, remember this: Many of them are living in exile. And sometimes friendly fire hurts more than the enemy. #israel #october7

FIRST READING: Muslim Association speaker who has lunched with Hamas barred entry to Canada nationalpost.com/opinion/first-…

It's worse than you think. The IDF has trained dogs to pilot aircraft. Fully 25% of the sorties against Iran and Hezbollah have been carried out by Belgian Malinois.

"Ongoing" - One of the phrases increasingly used next to the term "Nakba" is "Ongoing" as in the recent proposal by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. Now westerners assume that the "ongoing" seeks to highlight continued suffering of Palestinian Arabs, but as with so many other phrases that serve as "dual use language" (as Eran Shayshon coined) is that the deep meaning is very different. Once it is known and understood that the real time meaning of the Nakba, as described by Constantin Zureiq as "Seven Arab states declare war in an attempt to subdue Zionism, stop impotent before it, and return on their heels" was the shameful failure to defeat the lowly Jews in war - it becomes crystal clear why it remains "ongoing": As long as Israel exists, the Arab, and especially Palestinian Arab shameful failure to dismantle Jewish sovereignty and "subdue Zionism" remains "ongoing". As long as, per Bevin's quote, the top goal of the Palestine Arabs "to resist to the last the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in any part of the land" remains unfulfilled, their definition of disaster remains "ongoing". In the updated book of The War of Return, "October Return", @Adi_Schwartz and I included a dictionary of sort to explore this dual use language. I share it here with you: "This becomes especially clear when analyzing the language of Palestinian identity and that of its supporters around the world. Terms such as “two states,” “justice,” “return,” and “rights” carry one meaning in dialogue between Palestinians and Westerners or Israelis—but an entirely different meaning within internal Palestinian discourse. "Take “two states,” for example. During the years of negotiations, Palestinian leaders—and many surveys—expressed support for the “two-state solution.” Israelis and Westerners reasonably assumed that this meant one state for Palestinian Arabs and one for Jews. In retrospect, we should have checked. For when Palestinians speak of “two states,” they also maintain that millions of Palestinian “refugees” have a right to settle inside Israel. The implication is that the phrase “two states” actually means a Palestinian Arab state in the West Bank and Gaza, alongside a second Arab-majority state that replaces Israel via the mass return of refugees. In effect: “this one is ours, and that one is also ours.” "To this day, no official Palestinian peace plan includes the recognition of a Jewish state on any part of the land between the river and the sea. "It is also worth examining the meaning of a word like “justice”—so frequently invoked in phrases like “a just peace,” “a just solution,” or in the names of organizations such as “Students for Justice in Palestine.” To many in the world, “justice” may simply mean that Palestinians should have a state of their own, or that Israel should not control their daily lives. That is a reasonable interpretation. But it is not the Palestinian one. "For Palestinians, there is only one concept of justice: the reversal of the injustice they associate with the creation of the State of Israel. And central to that “corrective justice” is return—which, by definition, entails the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. "The same applies to words like “rights,” “liberation,” and, of course, “return.” As will become clear in the pages ahead, there is no ambiguity: “return” is the concept that embodies victory over the Jewish state and its elimination. "That is why the butcherty of October 7 was greeted with euphoria."

The Liberal government has tried to force an EV transition through heavy-handed mandates and taxpayer subsidies. In so doing, they have ignored basic market realities. With news of Honda foregoing its planned—heavily subsidized—EV plant, the third major automaker to scrap EV plans, it’s clear the Liberals’ auto strategy is not working. ⬇️My statement below⬇️

This is who the Islamic republic is:

They are insane and they know no one will stop them. Those who can have only emboldened them.

This remains one of the biggest highlights of my career as a journalist. I’m incredibly proud that our investigation helped expose what happened and ultimately forced change. No terrorist official should ever be allowed into Canada. What still deeply troubles me is the thought that had I not broken this story, Mehdi Taj likely would have remained in Canada — after the government deliberately overrode its own inadmissibility laws tied to terrorism to grant him entry. Accountability matters. Journalism matters. READ MORE: iranintl.com/en/202605018331 WATCH: youtube.com/watch?v=fSUhhn… @MelissaLantsman @FrankCaputoKTN

Something deeply disturbing happened to me this morning. I received a notification that someone edited by Wikipedia. What did they change? They changed the word “Terrorist” describing the person who stabbed my brother in the neck and murdered him while he was shopping for his family to “Palestinian”. He made other changes to but that was the sickest of all. A terrorist murders a father of four for absolutely no reason whatsoever and this “editor” removes the word terrorist? Insane. The thing is, my Wikipedia gets vandalized so often that the founders had to lock it down so only very serious editors can change it. Whoever this person is, they are a serious Wikipedia editor, which makes it even more worrisome. What else is he changing? The truth is, whenever you search Wikipedia for any Israeli town and city, you will see how it is referred to as Palestinian land. I mean literally anywhere in Israel. As an example; if you go to the Tel Aviv Wikipedia page, want to take a guess how many times the word Palestinian appears on the page? 31! I know there’s a lot of talk about how Wikipedia has become anti Israel but not sure people know the extent of it. But this morning’s edit removing the word terrorist from the man who killed my brother was different level vile. Here is my page if you’re interested. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Fu… Is there anything to be done about this? Wikipedia has become a site for anti Israel propaganda.

Shutting off democracy. The Liberals again go in camera. @DanMazierMP

@_j0sh_a_ @correctedmedia This is brilliant. Thank goodness for your work.

🇸🇩 The “State of Palestine” on X posted a brilliant video summarizing the Nakba. It is very important we watch it and remember the Nakba for what it is:

Men. Only. Music festival in Gaza.

PM Mark Carney should not rush sweeping changes to major project reviews in Canada and “all options are on the table” in pushing back, says the AFN’s national chief, as environmental groups accuse Carney govt of “bulldozing” safeguards thestar.com/politics/feder… via @torontostar

The sexual violence by Hamas has been aggressively denied by an antisemitic global left that wants us to forget. A new report is a reminder. on.wsj.com/4nsPjFn

All I can say right now is- we did it. We really did it. It was such a difficult journey, but we made it through. This is, in many ways, a final act of justice for the victims. They are silenced no more. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. 🙏❤️

The ever-thoughtful @DouglasKMurray asks why The New York Times would make such outlandish and horrific claims about Israel ⬇️ “Normal people would note that the story does not pass (sorry to use the phrase) the most basic smell test. It is the sort of claim that someone would only make if they wanted to portray their enemies as absolute monsters, enemies of humanity: Untermensch. As it happens, if you scan the relevant literature you will find that there is absolutely no evidence that dogs can be trained to rape and penetrate human beings. There is not a case — not one — of a dog trainer successfully turning a canine into a rape-machine. …the New York Times story landed just a day before an anticipated report into Hamas’ use of sexual violence on October 7, 2023… if you know that a report is coming out into Hamas’ use of sexual violence then it is clearly very important to invent a claim even more appalling than the real-life crimes of Hamas.” nypost.com/2026/05/14/opi…

I support Rashida Tlaib's resolution to officially recognize the Nakba on the condition that we say the truth about what the Nakba was: Palestinians led the charge, murdering 1% of Israel's population, in a war they started. Palestinians rejected a peaceful UN two-state solution and chose war and ethnic cleansing instead. They ethnically cleansed THE ENTIRE East Jerusalem and the West Bank of every Jew. NOT ONE Jew remained there. Let's recognize the truth of the Nakba.

Thousands of tons of food are being sent into Gaza. They are having full-blown music festivals. On the other hand, over 20 million people are starving in Sudan. Guess where these boats are headed?

Why hasn’t the New York Times covered the ‘Epidemic of Rape and Child Pregnancy’ reported in Gaza under Hamas?