The Anglo-Jewish novelist Howard Jacobson has written of the archetype of the “Ashamed Jew,” who loves nothing more than to declare “As a Jew, I am ashamed by the deeds of my fellow Jews.” Most often, the source of that shame is the real or imagined behavior of Israel. A German journalist named Fabian Wolff, who often writes about his experiences “as a Jew,” has spent the better part of his career playing the role of Ashamed Jew. But it has recently come to light that he is not, in fact, a Jew. Zeev Avrahami writes:

After his former partner revealed that he is not Jewish, Wolff published a lengthy article in the magazine Die Zeit this week, in which he exposed the truth about his religious identity and quickly placed the blame on his mother. The perplexed German left rushed to blame Jewish institutions for revealing the truth in their statements.

[Wollf] supports absolving Muslim anti-Semitism of blame, . . . in addition to being an enthusiastic supporter of boycott movements against Israel, such as BDS. . . . Germany, like other countries, loves Jews such as Wolff. Jewish individuals who point accusing fingers at Israel for the current situation in the Middle East, including acts of violence and ethnic cleansing, receive support.

Wolff’s Jewish identity was his ticket to the liberal left. . . . Wolff, who is also a teacher by trade, strongly attacked other Jews, claiming that they were blindly pro-Israel, extreme right-wingers, or racists. He used his fabricated Jewish identity to bash fellow Jews.

Ron Ben-Yishai explains Hamas’s current calculations:

Strategically speaking, Hamas is hoping to add more and more days to the pause currently in effect, setting a new reality in stone, one which will convince the United States to get Israel to end the war. At the same time, they still have most of the hostages hidden in every underground crevice they could find, and hope to exchange those with as many Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners currently in Israeli prisons, planning on “revitalizing” their terrorist inclinations to even the odds against the seemingly unstoppable Israeli war machine.

Chances are that if pressured to do so by Qatar and Egypt, they will release men over 60 with the same “three-for-one” deal they’ve had in place so far, but when Israeli soldiers are all they have left to exchange, they are unlikely to extend the arrangement, instead insisting that for every IDF soldier released, thousands of their people would be set free.

In one of his last speeches prior to October 7, the Gaza-based Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar said, “remember the number one, one, one, one.” While he did not elaborate, it is believed he meant he wants 1,111 Hamas terrorists held in Israel released for every Israeli soldier, and those words came out of his mouth before he could even believe he would be able to abduct Israelis in the hundreds. This added leverage is likely to get him to aim for the release for all prisoners from Israeli facilities, not just some or even most.