At UN, 80 Countries Demand Reopening of Hormuz, Condemn Iran, Houthi Attacks (Reuters)
    "Iran's actions in the Strait of Hormuz continue to threaten international security and navigational rights and freedoms," 80 countries said in a joint statement read out by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani at the UN on Thursday.
    "We also strongly condemn the Houthis' decision to resume conflict in Yemen, their continuous strikes on Saudi Arabia, and their reckless attacks in the Red Sea."

Palestinian Authority Honors Terrorist Who Rammed Israeli Soldier - Itamar Marcus (Palestinian Media Watch)
    The Palestinian Authority has praised Mahmoud Suleiman, the terrorist who critically injured IDF reservist Neria Leiter, 39, in a car-ramming attack on Wednesday.
    Leiter is the son of Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.
    The PA praised Suleiman as a "Shahid" - a Martyr who died for Allah.
    Both in its official daily and on its official radio station, the PA stressed that Suleiman, who deliberately rammed his car into Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint, died and "ascended to the heavens" as "a Martyr."
    Glorifying terrorist murderers who are killed while attacking Israelis as "Martyrs for Allah" has been standard practice in the PA for decades.

Pay-for-Slay in Action: Palestinian Murderer Was in Debt, Wanted Jihad Payoff from PA - Lt.-Col. (ret.) Jonathan Conricus (X)
    "Pay for Slay" by the Palestinian Authority is still in full effect, paying Palestinians for killing Jews.
    The murderer of father of six Nathaniel Shukrun [on Sep. 20] admitted he wanted to get out of debt and instead of just killing himself, he went for killing a Jew.
    The writer, a former IDF international spokesman, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.

Canadian Journalist Faces Discipline after Documenting Pro-Palestinian Protest at Yom Kippur Service - Warren Kinsella (Toronto Sun-Canada)
    Neil Herland, an award-winning Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) journalist with three decades of experience, was hit with disciplinary action after he filmed a pro-Palestinian protest outside a Jewish religious service on Yom Kippur.
    On Monday, Herland, who is Jewish, went to the Meridian Center in Toronto where two dozen protestors blocked the entrance, waving Palestinian flags and yelling epithets and abuse.
    One man, wearing a mask, repeatedly yelled "You're going to Hell," using a bullhorn. Another man screamed "baby killer." When the cantor at the service went outside and smiled at a protester, another yelled: "The Jew smiles while he kills babies in Gaza."
    CBC's actions seem unfair, say CBC veterans, because their journalists are explicitly permitted to write about "lived experiences," just as Herland did on his personal X account.
    Following the tragic 2021 mass-murder of a Muslim family in London, Ont. - and after a Muslim CBC journalist gave her personal opinion about the terror attack on a national broadcast - CBC's Ombudsman decreed that no rules were broken, saying, "We value lived experience and community connections in our journalists because it helps us to broaden and deepen our journalism."
    So why does Muslim journalists' "lived experience...broaden and deepen" CBC journalism, and Jewish journalists' "lived experience" does not?

BBC Accused of Bias for Calling Dead Terrorists "Journalists" - Gordon Rayner (Telegraph-UK)
    The BBC has reported the deaths of 53 "journalists" in Gaza who have been claimed as terrorists by Hamas and other groups.
    Some of them took part in the Oct. 7 attacks and several have been hailed as "martyrs."
    Many of the supposed journalists are pictured on social media dressed in military fatigues and holding weapons and, in some cases, wearing headbands associated with terrorist groups.
    See also The BBC Is Wrong, Terrorists Are Not "Journalists" - Danny Cohen (Telegraph-UK)

Why Israelis Defy the Collapse in Fertility that Has Swept Western Societies - Yannay Spitzer (Tablet)
    Over the past two generations across the developed world, people have stopped having children.
    In the U.S. today, the average woman will give birth to 1.6 children over her lifetime - far below the level needed for a population to replace itself.
    In South Korea, fertility has collapsed from six to well below one child per woman.
    One country stands out against this global trend. Israel's Jewish population is the only clear exception.
    The deeper explanation lies in culture. Israel is, in a deep and measurable sense, a pronatalist society.
    This orientation may have roots in Jewish religious tradition, but it is widely shared by secular Jews as well.
    When asked about their ideal family size, 81% of secular Jewish women aged 25 to 39 report wanting three or more children - an average higher than that recorded in any other Western country.
    There is also an ideological component. Part of it can be understood as a multi-generational response to the Holocaust.
    Declarations by survivors that their personal "victory over Hitler" lies in having many grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in a Jewish state - and serving in its army - have become familiar motifs in public discourse.
    The writer was a faculty member in the Department of Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2015-2026).