‘Destroy Israel’ Banner Unfurled at Opening Ceremony for ‘Running of the Bulls’ Festival in Spain

A massive banner reading “Destroy Israel” was unfurled at the San Fermín festival opening ceremony in Pamplona, Spain, on Monday.

The banner featured a crossed-out Israeli flag beside the slogan and the initials “EHKS,” referring to Euskal Herriko Kontseilu Sozialista, a Basque socialist organization.

Crowd members hoisted it above their heads in Plaza Consistorial before the chupinazo, the ceremonial rocket launch that opens the week-long festival, known worldwide for the “Running of the Bulls.”

Poll Finds NYC Zohran Mamdani More Popular Than Netanyahu Among US Jews

The AP-NORC survey found Mamdani at 44% favorable and Netanyahu at 32%
Recently, a poll was conducted by AP-NORC, which revealed that Zohran Mamdani ranks above Benjamin Netanyahu among US Jews.
 
The survey studied the views of 1,022 Jewish adults held between June 11 and June 17. Upon completion, the study showed that a significant number of respondents favored Mamdani despite his stance on Israel. The findings revealed that around 44 percent of American Jews like the NYC Mayor. On the other hand, 39 percent of them don't prefer him.
 
When the survey asked about Netanyahu, only 32 percent of American Jews were in favor of the Israeli Prime Minister. Around 59 percent of US Jews don't view Netanyahu positively.
 
The poll results follow Mamdani's recent remarks regarding Israel. Last year, while speaking on Fox 5 Show, Good Day New York, Mamdani refused to support Israel as a "Jewish state." He said he wasn't "comfortable" showing his support for a nation that follows a single religion. He further added that he believes every country in the world should move toward equality.
 
Based on a report by AP News, in June this year, Mamdani also snubbed a parade honoring Israel in NYC. He then stated that he had already shared his thoughts on attending the Israel Day parade and was unwilling to be part of it. However, the mayor did wish for the parade to be conducted "peacefully."

U.S. Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna said he was detained by Israeli settlers armed with U.S.-made rifles during a West Bank visit this week that he cast as an unfiltered look at the human toll of Israeli occupation as he weighs a 2028 presidential run.
 
Speaking with Reuters on Thursday in ‌a Palestinian village, Khanna said his group's van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles a day earlier while touring a part of the southern West Bank where residents face frequent settler attacks.

"We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it," said Khanna, a progressive lawmaker from California in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
"And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans," Khanna said, referring to the Israeli military.
 
An aide to ⁠Khanna who was in the group, Cameron Kasky, said they were held for more than an hour and made appeals to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help. A group of officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release, Kasky said.
 
The Israeli military said troops and police officers intervened after receiving a report of settlers blocking vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian hamlet whose residents were forcibly displaced by violent settler raids following the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
 
"Upon their arrival, the troops dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way," the military said.
Israel's police did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Yair Netanyahu has legally changed his name to Yonatan Hun, tax records show
Haaretz says PM’s eldest son appears in 2026 filings with new name under same ID number, for reasons unknown; new surname is a reference to his maternal grandfather’s original name

Netanyahu’s other son, Avner, also officially changed his name in the past, appearing on real estate records in London as Avi Segal after buying an apartment there — a legal alias he adopted based on his paternal grandmother’s maiden name. He said last year that the name change was prompted by security concerns as he studied in the British capital.

Netanyahu himself changed his name to Benjamin “Ben” Nitai when studying at MIT in the 1970s.

His father, Warsaw-born Benzion Netanyahu (né Mileikowsky), was a historian specializing in the Jewish Golden Age of Spain. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, was a rabbi and Zionist writer. When Netanyahu's father immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, he adopted a Hebrew surname of "Netanyahu"

«Seules des personnes très compétentes en montagne ont participé. On a été prudents. Le drapeau a été fabriqué avec des filets d’échafaudage cousus et peints, ce qui le rendait léger et percé de petits trous, donc sans prise au vent. Contrairement au grand drapeau américain du Yosemite, qui avait failli causer un accident en se transformant en voile, le nôtre était bien plus sûr. C’était une vraie prouesse technique et stratégique.»
https://www.vertigemedia.fr/intervi [...] apeau-drus

Après une reconnaissance par drone, le PGHM de Chamonix est intervenu en hélicoptère pour enlever le drapeau, qui était censé rester trois jours, dès le dimanche 17 août en fin de matinée, sur demande de la mairie puis de la préfecture, car le site est classé. "Les autorités ont déployé de grands moyens pour tenter de le décrocher par hélicoptère", regrette les alpinistes, qui rappelle le cas des drapeaux palestiniens enlevés par les gendarmes sur le Tour de France : "un symbole d’espoir pour un peuple opprimé est-il devenu une offense ?".
 
Côté PGHM de Chamonix, une source déclare que l'équipe en charge du décrochage a réussi à enlever le drapeau en une heure de travail "sans prendre de risque", malgré le caractère périlleux de l'opération. "Il ne fallait pas que le drapeau accroché au treuil de l'hélicoptère se prenne dans la paroi rocheuse, au risque de déstabiliser l'hélico". Cette source ajoute par ailleurs que les différents types d'ancrages choisis étaient bien fixés : "c''était du bon travail, monter avec un drapeau de quinze mètres par neuf… les gars qui accèdent à ce genre de parois sont de très bons alpinistes !".
https://www.ici.fr/auvergne-rhone-a [...] ix-1231325

la conviction qu’il y a un lien indissociable entre escalade et politique

@RoKhanna

Mr. Ambassador, your own paper finds that the IDF soldiers and extreme settlers acted illegally by detaining us. https://jpost.com/israel-news/article-902409

Still, I am happy to take you up on your offer to meet because I want to turn this incident into something constructive for ordinary people in Palestine.

I want to see Yinon Levi arrested who destroyed the Zanuta village and who is likely connected to the extreme settlers who detained us.

I want to see the Hilltop Youth designated as a terrorist group and the armed settlers who detained us arrested.

I want to see the IDF soldiers who blocked us from leaving investigated.

I want to see Levi's illegal outpost Meitarim Farm removed.

I am prepared to meet to discuss concrete steps to address settler violence. My office will call yours tomorrow.

@yechielleiter
Let's not lose our grip on the facts - instead of recriminations and accusations - just the facts.

1) Congressman @RoKhanna was offered to coordinate his visit with the State of Israel - this goes beyond notifying of his presence in the country. He was offered in-depth coordination of his schedule to avoid misunderstandings, and he chose to ignore that offer.
He also chose not to coordinate his visit with the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

2) He chose to conduct his visit accompanied by Palestinian activists, and, for some reason, @nytimes journalists with cameras at the ready. With him was also a person affiliated with @jstreet, an organization that actively lobbies against the government of Israel on Capitol Hill.

3) Mr. Khanna and his entourage entered what was believed to be a closed military zone without permission. The military had no prior knowledge of him going there, due to his refusal to coordinate with them. The vehicle they stopped was unknown to them and therefore provoked suspicion. The moment details of the Congressman's identity were cleared, he was free to go. At no point was the congressman, or any member of his party, threatened by the soldiers, or civilians bearing arms.

4) To add insult to injury - the Congressman used this instance as an opportunity to tout "genocide" and "apartheid" libels to the press, propelling himself to the center of yet another anti-Israel media frenzy.
The facts don't lie - this was a cheap, anticipated provocation, that could, and should have been avoided.

5) Calling me a liar won’t change the facts. I’d be happy to host Congressman Khanna at our embassy for an in-depth conversation on his grievances regarding Israel.

Emanuel a expliqué qu’il était venu en tant qu’ami pour avertir Israël que son alliance avec les États-Unis se trouvait à un « point de basculement » en raison des politiques du Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu, qui a conduit le pays dans une « impasse » ayant transformé l’État juif en une nation « paria ».
 
« Israël n’a pas su transformer ses victoires militaires en avantages stratégiques », a déclaré Emanuel, soulignant que le pays avait « perdu l’Europe » et que son soutien aux États-Unis était en chute libre.
 
Interrogé sur l’opposition croissante à Israël au sein de son parti, le parti démocrate, il a affirmé qu’Israël avait un problème avec les États-Unis, et non un problème partisan.

Un sondage du Pew Research Center publié en avril a révélé que 60 % des Américains avaient une opinion défavorable d’Israël, mais que sa cote de popularité était encore plus mauvaise parmi les démocrates et les indépendants proches des démocrates, où 8 sur 10 avaient une opinion négative d’Israël.
 
Une enquête publiée mardi par l’Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research a montré que le maire de New York, l’anti-Israël Zohran Mamdani, bénéficiait d’un taux d’approbation de 44 % chez les Juifs américains, contre 32 % pour Netanyahu.

« Israël se retrouvera seul si ses dirigeants choisissent de tenter d’annexer la Cisjordanie », a déclaré Emanuel qui le dit.
 
« Les États-Unis ne seront pas et ne peuvent pas être complices ou complaisants face à une telle entreprise », a-t-il écrit, expliquant qu’ils avaient commis une erreur par le passé en soutenant « aveuglément et en silence » le gouvernement de Netanyahu.