Fox News’ “Antisemitism Exposed” newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.

TOP 3:
– Twitch star called for new 9/11, dismissed horror of Oct 7
– Anti-Israel protesters arrested in Senate office building
– Families of American Oct. 7 Hamas attack victims sue Iran for ‘crucial role’ in massacre

TOP STORY: Hasan Piker, who has millions of followers on Twitch, has broadcast propaganda from Yemen’s Houthis, framed violent terrorist acts as “resistance,” and expressed sympathy for extremist groups who target civilians and downplayed the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Jews in Israel. Piker’s shocking diatribes are among the most popular on the video game-streaming platform.

VIDEO: Anti-Israel protesters chanting “Free Palestine” were arrested during a demonstration inside a U.S. Senate office building in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The large group of protesters was captured on video inside the Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building as they shouted their demand for an end to the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Watch here:

SUING THE MULLAHS: The families of American victims of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have accused Iran in a lawsuit of supporting the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust while accusing the Islamic Republic of being directly involved in the assault that killed 1,200 people. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington D.C., on behalf of 250 families and survivors of the attack, alleges Iran funded, planned and coordinated the attack with Hamas.

CRUZ STANDS UP FOR ISRAEL: Just hours before the United Nations Security Council is slated to vote on an anti-Israel resolution pushed by Algeria to impose an end on the Jewish state’s war of self-defense against Hamas, the Biden administration has gone silent about how it will vote. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called the measure “an assault on Israel.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

GUEST EDITORIAL: Ruby Chen, who holds out hope his son Itay, who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, is still alive, writes that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser bodes well for families like his.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “”Oh my god, 9/11 2 is going to be so sick. Give Saudi Arabia a nuke so they can do 9/11 2.” – Hasan Piker, popular Twitch streamer.

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President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, is facing a firestorm of backlash for voicing his belief that women should not serve in military combat roles. Although the media is largely united against him, opinions among combat and military experts are more split. 

Will Thibeau, a former Army Ranger with multiple combat deployments, told Fox News Digital that he agrees with Hegseth wholeheartedly.

“I think soon-to-be Secretary Hegseth stated simple truths that 12 years ago were commonly understood and affirmed by the senior-most leaders in the Pentagon, the rank and file of the military and the culture at large, that war and in particular units that are made and forged to fight in war with no other purpose are units meant for men and men only,” he said.

“Biological sex and relationships between men and women is a reality that you can’t avoid,” he added. “And when you induce stress, physical uncertainty, physical proximity and unique scenarios to that biological reality, you get a fracture of what would have been a typical military team, or a military unit forged for warfighting.”

ARE PETE HEGSETH’S TATTOOS SYMBOLS OF ‘CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM’?

Hegseth, 44, is a former Fox News host and Army infantry officer who served two combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and an additional deployment to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Trump tapped Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, one of the most influential positions in his cabinet, on Nov. 13, just over a week after he won the election. The president-elect said of Hegseth that “nobody fights harder for the Troops” and “with Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice.”

However, Hegseth is facing a great deal of pushback from Democrats and the media, most especially for his comments on a Nov. 7 episode of the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast in which he said, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.”

Hegseth asserted that women serving in combat roles “hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal” and “has made fighting more complicated.”

PENTAGON BRACING FOR SWEEPING CHANGES AFTER TRUMP NOMINATES PETE HEGSETH FOR SECRETARY

Host Pete Hegseth during “FOX & Friends” at Fox News Channel Studios on May 27, 2022 in New York City.  (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

He did not argue against women serving in the military or even in non-ground combat roles such as in the Air Force. Rather, he made the point that the U.S. military has been lowering its physical standards to allow more women to be eligible to serve in combat roles, something that he said increases the risk of combat complications and fatalities.

He said, “I love women service members who contribute amazingly,” but asserted that “everything about women serving together makes the situation more complicated and complication in combat means casualties are worse.”

He also criticized the upper echelons of military leadership for changing standards and prioritizing filling diversity quotas above combat effectiveness. He pointed to a 2015 study by the Marine Corps that found that integrated male-female units did “drastically worse” in terms of combat effectiveness than all-male units.

“Between bone density and lung capacity and muscle strength, men and women are just different,” he said. “So, I’m ok with if you maintain the standards just where they are for everybody, and if there’s some, you know, hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion. But that is not what’s happened. What has happened is the standards have lowered.”

Pete Hegseth and Kayleigh McEnany will be part of Fox News’ Independence Day programming.  (Fox News)

Hegseth noted that he was not necessarily advocating for making the change right now, commenting; “Imagine the demagoguery in Washington, D.C., if you were actually making the case for, you know, ‘We should scale back women in combat.’”

“As the disclaimer for everybody out there,” he added, “we’ve all served with women and they’re great, it’s just our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where … over human history, men are more capable.”

Despite this, Ellen Haring, a retired Army colonel, told Fox News Digital that many women and men in the military are concerned about Hegseth becoming secretary and instituting these changes.

“Women who are in these combat jobs and many of them have been there for six, eight years now, are very energized and concerned about the idea that they might lose their jobs,” she said.

According to Haring, there are 2,500 women currently serving in ground combat roles in Army infantry, armor, field artillery branches as well as special forces. She also said that 152 women have earned Army Ranger tabs and there are currently ten women in the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.

She said that despite women making up only a quarter of all West Point Academy graduates they accounted for a third of all lieutenants slotted to armor combat units.

MILITARY SUICIDES WERE ON THE RISE LAST YEAR, DESPITE A MASSIVE INVESTMENT IN PREVENTION PROGRAMS

U.S. Army Fort Leonard Wood  (U.S. Army Fort Leonard Wood)

“There’s no indication that any of those units have been harmed by their presence,” she said. “So, Hegseth claims that adding women to these units is going to create a degree of complication and is somehow or another puts people at risk. That hasn’t happened at any unit that we’ve seen so far. So, I don’t know where he’s coming up with these notions.”

Beyond not harming units, Haring went on to say that women have helped to improve the professionalism of units, especially infantry units.

“Infantry units had a culture of hazing and kind of abuse of each other,” she said. “Their presence there has turned a spotlight on that kind of behavior and has actually eliminated a lot of it across the force. So, this kind of brutal behavior that infantry units engaged in amongst themselves is slowly being eradicated by the women’s presence.”

Similarly, Captain Micah Ables, an Army Infantry company commander, told Fox News Digital that women in his unit have improved the “team player” attitude of the company as well as broadened its capabilities when deployed.

U.S. Army Major General Laura J. Richardson, the first woman to serve as a deputy commander of a combat division, listens while seated behind Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley (L) during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the implementation of the decision to open all ground combat units to women on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 2, 2016.  (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Ables’ first deployment to Afghanistan was with an all-male unit, however, he later deployed with one of the first integrated companies in the infantry. He said that though there was some initial pushback and tension, the female soldiers in his unit quickly proved themselves as capable and the company adapted without too much issue.

He said that many of the women in his unit have proved to be some of the most physically and tactically capable leaders and soldiers under his command.

“Once I did take over the mixed-gender company, I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “But they dug in, and they did what they needed to do to be experts.”

X Soldiers giving feedback on autonomous equipment decontamination system  (U.S. Army)

On the other hand, Jessie Jane Duff, a retired female gunnery sergeant in the Marines, told Fox News Digital that allowing women to fill combat roles is a “lethal mistake.”

She also cited the study by the Marines that she said found that integrated units were only 60 percent as effective as all-male units and women were between 20 and 30 percent more prone to injury.

“From a biological level. We’re not equal,” she said. “With the lack of testosterone, women take a longer time to recover and rebuild muscle because they lack that testosterone. Whereas men who also get severely injured based upon the training have a higher rate of being able to come back into the combat unit and perform.”

“Why would you water down the effectiveness of our infantry units? You’re watering it down because you’re trying to reach a goal of equality,” she went on. “You can have the opportunity to pass, but you should not be accommodated because of your gender when a more qualified man could take that slot.”

US Marine Corps recruits take part in the traditional Eagle, Globe and Anchor medal ceremony. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images) (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

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Finally, Anna Simons, a retired professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, told Fox News Digital that it comes down to diversity versus similarity.

“Women have been in combat from the beginning of time,” she said. “They’ve defended their children, they’ve defended their property, they’ve defended husbands, they’ve fought valiantly, that’s absolutely true. But the issue isn’t women in combat. The issue is women in combat units, small groups of individuals where everybody needs to be essentially interchangeable and equally proficient at certain combat skills.”

“The whole point of combat is to wield violence and to be able to absorb violence,” she said. “So there has to be a sameness or similarity to people so that they become easily interchangeable when it comes to fundamental skills, shoot, move and communicate skills.”

“Everybody needs a baseline of that, and you want the baseline to be as high as possible,” she concluded. “That means that people need to be less similar rather than more diverse in their capabilities.”

Hannah Kobayashi’s family has gathered in Los Angeles to retrace the missing photographer’s steps after she missed her transfer flight to New York then disappeared after a series of cryptic messages and a brief appearance with an unknown man on surveillance footage near Skid Row. 

The 31-year-old Oahu, Hawaii, resident had planned a vacation to see her aunt in New York City and flew from Maui to Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 8, her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told Fox News Digital. She was elated about her first music photography gig in the city, had an involved trip itinerary and had paid thousands for her hotel room, Pidgeon said.

Kobayashi was scheduled to take a connecting flight to New York, with a 40-minute layover at 11 a.m., and planned to go to a show with her aunt, but she never got on that flight. Her family is unsure why.

Then friends and family received a flurry of bizarre text messages that didn’t match the young woman’s usual cadence. She texted a friend that she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds” and that she was tricked “for someone I thought I loved.”

HAWAII WOMAN’S CRYPTIC TEXT MESSAGES PROMPT CONCERN AFTER DISAPPEARANCE

“There was not a single emoji. She’s an artist. … Instead of a … question mark, she would put a crystal ball – she’s just that cute – and there was none of that,” Pidgeon said on Thursday. “She said that someone was trying to steal her funds, not cash, not money, funds. Like, who uses that word?”

“She [wrote she] was having a spiritual awakening, that she was concerned about the matrix. It was just the most bizarre text messages. And it went from, ‘Hi, I can’t wait to see you guys. Love you. Everything’s great.'”

Before sending the messages, Kobayashi was seen talking to a ticketing agent and trying to get a direct flight to New York rather than waiting on standby, Pidgeon said.

Hannah Kobayashi is pictured on surveillance footage from LAX on Nov. 8. Her family says there is also surveillance footage from Nov. 11 showing her with an unknown man at the Pico Metro Station in downtown Los Angeles but that it has yet to be released to the public. (Missing People of America/Facebook)

Kobayashi’s mother reported her missing on Nov. 11, Pidgeon said, the day that communications from the woman’s phone to family and friends halted. Through their own investigative work, the family viewed surveillance footage of Kobayashi from that day with an unknown man near the Pico Metro station in downtown L.A.

“The Pico station is in a very bad neighborhood, [and] it was late at night,” Pidgeon said. “That causes us even more alarm because it’s not a place that Hannah would go. There’s no reason that she would go to a neighborhood of crime. Even if she said, ‘Hey, I need to go get a hotel room because I’m tired,’ there’s 18 hotels by the airport … she would have to have two transfer stations to get to this station.”

MOM 9 MONTHS PREGNANT MISSING FOR A MONTH, LAST SEEN AT BOYFRIEND’S HOUSE, FAMILY SAYS

Hannah Kobayashi’s family traveled to Los Angeles to distribute fliers near where she was last seen. (Larie Pidgeon)

Although Kobayashi’s mother, Brandi Yee, filed a missing-persons report with the department, Pidgeon said detectives “haven’t even called [her] to talk to her about the last conversations that we had with Hannah.”

“We can’t release the footage; we would love to get it released to the public by the LAPD,” Pidgeon said on Thursday. “We’ve seen it, we know that it’s out there, and we’re like, ‘Why is it not getting released?’ At this point it’s been 10 days, I feel like it could help so much in the investigation.”

The Los Angeles Police Department’s press office could not confirm whether they had viewed the footage or contacted the family, only that Kobayashi had been reported missing and that they had distributed a flier on their social media accounts.

SUZANNE SIMPSON’S HOME MAY BE SOLD AS MISSING REALTOR HUSBAND REMAINS BEHIND BARS IN MURDER CASE

Kobayashi sent mysterious texts to friends and family before losing contact entirely, writing that she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all [her] funds.” (Larie Pidgeon)

Kobayashi also charged her phone with an employee within The Grove outdoor open-air mall and had filled out an application for a book club at the TASCHEN book store using her Hawaii address on Nov. 11, her aunt said. Witnesses there told the family that Kobayashi “was in good spirits” and said that “she had a little bit of time to explore in L.A.,” Pidgeon said.

“Every confirmed sighting that she has with an individual, she’s of sound mind,” Pidgeon said of her conversations with those who last spoke to her niece. “She’s happy, she’s kind. She doesn’t appear [to be] drunk or on any substances. … That is why we are here handing out fliers and flying in, because it is so unlike our character.”

Kobayashi’s family held a rally on Thursday at the Crypto.com Arena to hand out fliers and search the area near where she was last seen.

“We’re just running,” Pidgeon said. “You know, we’re just going down and up and down Skid Row.”

Pidgeon described her niece, pictured, as an outgoing person who makes those around her laugh and dabbles in fire spinning, DJing and charity work. (Larie Pidgeon)

“We want to do as many interviews as we can. The longer that we keep her name out there, the longer that she’s on the news, the better chance that her family has to get her back,” Pidgeon said. “I’ve become a press secretary, a journalist, a photographer. This is how much we love her.”

Pidgeon said the 31-year-old “does everything” and dabbles in fire spinning, DJing and charity work. 

“She’s a pivotal person in her community, she’s a wonderful person, a great daughter, she makes everyone laugh,” Pidgeon said. “If I’m having a problem at 2 a.m., I can call Hannah because she’ll pick up.”

Hannah Kobayashi, 31, was heading to New York City to visit family. (Hannah Kobayashi via Instagram)

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Friends and family have been making minute-long videos sharing memories of Kobayashi to distribute under the hashtag “#FindHannah.” Thus far, Pidgeon said, about 30 people have sent videos, a testament to “how incredible she is.”

“I’m just grateful for all the other best wishes and support from the community and Hawaii, New York, California, every everywhere,” Kobayashi’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, told Fox News Digital. “You know, it’s just amazing. We miss you, Hannah. We love you. There’s just a word anywhere. I’ll start.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the family at 845-750-3006.

The full autopsy report for the second Kansas mom found buried in a freezer in a cow pasture after being reported missing on a road trip has been released. 

The report, conducted by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, determined that Veronica Butler, 27, suffered 30 sharp force injuries, including nine stab wounds. 

The report obtained by KOKH said ten of the wounds were consistent with Butler trying to defend herself, including grabbing the knife blade with her right hand.

“Given the extent of Ms. Butler’s injuries, including defects to both of her internal jugular veins with resultant exsanguination, it is my opinion that her death was very quick and likely occurred before she was placed inside the freezer and buried,” the reports said. “This opinion is additionally supported by the fact that her body appeared to have remained exactly how it was placed inside the freezer.”

COURT DOCUMENTS DETAIL CAUSE OF DEATH FOR MURDERED KANSAS MOMS

The autopsy was released over two weeks after the report on Jilian Kelley, 39, the other mom who went missing on the road trip, was released, revealing more details about her death.

Kelley’s report listed the probable cause of death as multiple sharp force trauma injuries, including nine stab wounds and seven other cuts. She also died trying to defend herself, according to the report.

The report said Kelley was also most likely dead before being placed in the freezer.

SUSPECTS CHARGED WITH KILLING KANSAS WOMEN BELONGED TO ANTI-GOVERNMENT ‘GOD’S MISFITS’ GROUP, AFFIDAVIT SAYS

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) arrested Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, Cora Twombly, 44, and Paul Grice, 31, in connection with the womens’ deaths. (OSBI)

Butler and Kelley were last seen on March 30 heading to pick up their children before their car was found abandoned near the Oklahoma-Kansas border with foul play suspected, police said.

Both women’s bodies were found in a cow pasture inside a chest freezer. 

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) announced on April 13 that Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44, were taken into custody in connection to the murders.

A fifth suspect, 31-year-old Paul Grice, was arrested shortly after the other arrests were made. 

MURDERED KANSAS MOMS SUSPECT BOUGHT TASERS, BURNERS BEFORE WOMEN WENT MISSING, SEARCHED ‘PAIN LEVEL’: DOCS

Paul Grice was arrested and booked into the Texas County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of Kidnapping, and one count of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder in connection to the killings of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

The four belonged to a religiously affiliated anti-government group called “God’s Misfits,” Fox News Digital previously reported. It was unclear if Grice was involved in the same anti-government group.

Adams, one of the women arrested, is reportedly the grandmother of Butler’s two children. Their motive, investigators say, was to get custody of the kids. 

Wrangler Rickman, Adams’ son, had custody of the children but was confirmed to be in an Oklahoma rehab facility when the women disappeared. Butler was allowed supervised visitation with her children every Saturday and was likely to be granted unsupervised visitation during an upcoming hearing, per court documents. 

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The state is arguing that all the defendants should face a preliminary hearing together instead of a separate hearing since they allege that all five conspired and participated in the murders of Butler and Kelley.

The hearing for the Twomblys, Cullum and Adams is set for Dec. 17, KAKE reported. During that hearing, the judge will determine if there’s enough evidence to hold someone for trial.

Grice, whose bond was denied, waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will be in court on Feb. 18, 2025.

The murder trial for a Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife to death has been put on hold after the defense attorney “suddenly quit” during jury selection.

James Toliver Craig, 45, is accused of killing his wife, Angela Craig, by putting poison in her protein shakes.

Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six who was married to her husband for 23 years, died in March 2023 of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, the latter a substance found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner.

The trial has been delayed before and was set to begin Thursday with jury selection, KDVR reported. However, on Thursday morning, the defense counsel moved to withdraw from the case due to a “professional conflict,” according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. 

COLORADO DENTIST ACCUSED OF POISONING WIFE TRIED TO GET FELLOW INMATE TO PLANT FAKE SUICIDE NOTES: POLICE

The judge allowed the withdrawal under the Rule of Professional Conduct, and Craig declined to represent himself, delaying the case.

Craig allegedly flew his orthodontist lover from Austin to Denver while his wife was dying, according to a detailed arrest affidavit. The two also reportedly exchanged “sexually explicit emails.”

The charging document described the couple’s troubled marriage, financial difficulties and Craig’s alleged sinister plot to murder her.

“In totality, this investigation has proven that James has gone to great lengths to try and end his wife’s life,” Aurora police Detective Bobbi Olson wrote in the affidavit. 

On Feb. 27, Craig created a secret email account, jimandwaffles.com, which he only used on a computer in his now-shuttered Summerbrook Dental Group, investigators said.

COLORADO DENTIST ACCUSED OF POISONING WIFE’S PROTEIN SHAKES TO START NEW LIFE WITH LOVER

Colorado dentist James Craig, right, is accused of fatally poisoning his wife, Angela Craig. The two shared six children together. (Facebook)

Police say Craig searched online for things like “How to make murder look like a heart attack” and “How to make poison” days before his wife searched for symptoms she was having like vertigo, shaking and cold lips.

Craig also allegedly researched multiple “undetectable poisons” and purchased some, and he ordered a rush shipment of potassium cyanide even though it was not needed.

Investigators allege that Craig bought poisons online just before his wife began to experience symptoms that doctors could not find a cause for, but his lawyers have argued there is no direct evidence that he put poison in his wife’s shakes and have accused Olson of being biased against him.

Her sister, Toni Kofoed, told police that Craig had drugged his wife about five years earlier because he had planned to commit suicide and didn’t want her to stop him.

Kofoed also told investigators that the couple’s marriage had always been “tumultuous” and that Craig had “multiple affairs with several women” and had been “addicted to pornography since he was a teenager.”

COLORADO DENTIST ACCUSED OF FATALLY POISONING WIFE ON VERGE OF FINANCIAL RUIN: COURT PAPERS

Angela and Colorado dentist James Craig in a family portrait. James has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly poisoning his wife. (Facebook)

Angela Craig told her sister several times over the past 16 years that she planned to leave him, but he always convinced her to stay. The couple was also broke and on the verge of declaring bankruptcy for a second time, the documents allege.

Angela Craig had complained to her sister that her husband had recently gambled away more than $2,000 on a trip to Las Vegas.

Back in May, Craig was accused of asking a fellow jail inmate to plant letters in his garage and his truck to make it look like his wife was suicidal. Olson said the inmate believed the letters were written by Craig but were meant to appear as if his wife had written them.

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According to Olson, Craig offered money to pay the inmate’s bond in order to be released from jail or perform free dental work in exchange for planting the letters, but the inmate decided not to take him up on the offer and reported the incident to authorities, the detective previously testified.

Craig was already charged with first-degree murder and another count of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence. He pleaded not guilty to those two charges in Nov. 2023.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Fox News’ Rebecca Rosenberg and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected]