New Orde Wingate Papers

https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-wingate-papers-shed-light-on-british-officer-revered-in-israel-as-the-friend/

New Wingate papers shed light on British officer revered in Israel as ‘the friend’

Hebrew study sheets, photos and plans for the formation of a Zionist military are among items recently donated to Jerusalem’s National Library

The archives of Orde Charles Wingate, a senior officer in the British military during the pre-state Mandate period, arrived recently at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, offering insight into the mind of an extraordinary figure who is still revered in Israel over eight decades after his death.

Among the items given to the library are Wingate’s notebook, personal diary, detailed plans for the formation of a Jewish military, battle plans against Arab militias and dozens of photographs that had previously not been made public.

According to the National Library, the newly published archives further prove Wingate’s “deep identification with the Zionist movement and his significant contribution to the security of the state-in-the-making.”

Now known in Israel as “the friend,” Wingate arrived in then-British Mandatory Palestine in 1936 after spending a decade in the military, mostly in Sudan. He was assigned as an intelligence officer tasked with quelling Arab unrest that had ramped up in those years.

As an ardent Christian Zionist, Wingate quickly formed deep ties with Jewish political and militia leaders, believing that the formation of a Jewish state in British Palestine was of both religious and security necessity.

The young Wingate wrote extensively in his notebook and journal, using them to study Hebrew, which was quickly becoming the main spoken language among Jews in Mandatory Palestine.

The journal also shows Wingate’s fluency in Arabic, which he learned while stationed in Sudan, and his familiarity with counterinsurgency tactics that he would introduce to the Haganah, the paramilitary forerunner to the Israel Defense Forces, which had been struggling to organize against attacks by Arab militias during the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1938, Wingate formed the Special Night Squads (SNS), a joint British-Jewish militia force modeled in part on the famed British-Nepali Gurkha units, tasked with cracking down on Arab insurgency.

Yitzhak Sadeh, then-commander of the Haganah’s elite Palmach units and future founder of the IDF, sent Wingate 25 of his best troops, and the British officer drilled them into shape, turning the SNS into a well-oiled counterinsurgency force.

According to the library, Wingate’s SNS “operated in the Galilee and the Jezreel Valley and developed an innovative combat doctrine based on offensive activity beyond the boundaries of the settlements, precise intelligence, initiative, and covert night operations.”

The force would grow during the late 1930s, and Wingate’s successful leadership of the unit prompted the British government to award him the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), one of the highest medals given to officers in the crown’s service.

     1938 (Orde second from left)

However, as British leadership began shifting away from the Zionist movement in the late 1930s, in part due to the more hardline Jewish militias Irgun and Lehi targeting British military and government personnel, Wingate was removed from service in Mandatory Palestine in May 1939 and transferred back to Britain.

According to contemporary reports, Wingate was removed from his post due to his deep personal and ideological ties with Jewish military and political leaders, which British leadership believed compromised him as an intelligence officer in the region.

While his personal Zionism led his superiors to believe he was unfit for duty in the Holy Land, his ideological commitment and role in organizing Jewish military forces in pre-state Israel led to deep reverence among his Jewish contemporaries, with Haganah commander and future IDF chief of staff and defense minister Moshe Dayan saying that Wingate “taught us everything we know.”

Wingate later served in the British military during World War II, mostly against Japan in the South East Asian theater, and died in a suspicious plane crash in India in 1944 (possibly assassinated) at the age of 41. After his death, Wingate was honored by Jewish leaders in Israel, and upon the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, the newly formed government named dozens of streets and squares after him.

A decade later, Israel created the Wingate Institute, officially known as the Orde Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports, which serves as a national center for athletics.

Now, with his personal letters, journal and photographs made public, the National Library hopes that the archives will “contribute to a deeper understanding of Wingate’s character and his influence on the development of combat doctrines that shaped the military force-building of the State of Israel.”

The archives were donated to the library by Clive Lewis, “a private collector, history enthusiast, and Jewish businessman from London.”

According to the library, Lewis donated the archives because he believes that items of such significance “are not meant to be kept by individuals, but rather to be published, digitized, and made accessible to the general public.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-wingate-papers-shed-light-on-british-officer-revered-in-israel-as-the-friend/

      Wingate, with Special Night Squad members

      Wingate entering Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Horseback, January 1941

        Haile Selassie and Wingate

For the First Time: A Major Medical Group Opposes Sex Mutilating Surgery for Minors

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/02/03/first-major-medical-group-opposes-sex-mutilating-surgeries-minors/

First Major Medical Group Opposes Sex Mutilating Surgeries for Minors

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) issued a position statement on Tuesday advising against sex change surgeries for minors.

The position statement went to the group’s 11,000 members, recommending that surgeons delay transgender-related chest, genital, and facial surgeries until a patient is at least 19 years old. The ASPS is the first major medical organization in the U.S. to reject transgender activists’ ideological push to mutilate young people without sufficient evidence.

“Consistent with ASPS’s August 2024 statement that the overall evidence base for gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions is low certainty, and in light of recent publications reporting very low/low certainty of evidence regarding mental health outcomes, along with emerging concerns about potential long-term harms and the irreversible nature of surgical interventions in a developmentally vulnerable population, ASPS concludes there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents,” the position statement reads.

ASPS pointed to a rollback on sex changes for minors in Europe, as well as a comprehensive review from the Department of Health and Human Services, the 2024 Cass Review in Britain, and other research indicating “limitations in study quality, consistency … alongside emerging evidence of treatment complications and potential harms”:

Available evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of children with prepubertal onset gender dysphoria experience resolution or significant reduction of distress by the time they reach adulthood, absent medical or surgical intervention. Evidence regarding adolescent-onset presentation, which has become increasingly common since the mid-2010s, is more limited but similarly does not allow for confident prediction of long-term trajectories. Importantly, clinicians, even those with extensive experience, currently lack reliable methods to distinguish those whose distress will persist from those whose distress will remit.

The HHS report underscores that this uncertainty has significant ethical implications: when the likelihood of spontaneous resolution is unknown and when irreversible interventions carry known and plausible risks, adhering to the principles of beneficence and non-malficence (i.e. promoting health and well-being while avoiding harm) requires a precautionary approach. 

ASPS also spoke to the broad argument of transgender activists advocating for “adolescent autonomy” in light of poor-quality evidence.

“Respect for emerging adolescent autonomy is also cited as a rationale for the provision of care in the face of low certainty evidence. However, patient autonomy is more properly defined as the right of a patient to accept or refuse appropriate treatment; it does not create an obligation for a physician to provide interventions in the absence of a favorable risk–benefit profile, particularly in adolescent populations where decision-making capabilities are still developing,” the document reads. “In pediatric contexts, the threshold for intervention must be higher and safeguards more stringent.” 

The group’s position on the issue has evolved since 2019, when ASPS opposed efforts by states to restrict sex changes and said “plastic surgery services can help gender dysphoria patients align their bodies with whom they know themselves to be and improve their overall mental health and well-being,” The Washington Post reported. The group changed its position first in August 2024, when it said it was working on new guidance for surgeons given the “considerable uncertainty” about long-term benefits for chest and genital sex change surgeries. 

ASPS said it still opposes criminalization of the practice and advocates for “professional self-regulation.”

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised the group for its new position “defending sound science.” 

“We commend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science,” Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement. “By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm.”

“When the medical ethics textbooks of the future are written, they’ll look back on sex-rejecting procedures for minors the way we look back on lobotomies,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, added. “I applaud the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for placing itself on the right side of history by opposing these dangerous, unscientific experiments.”

Other large medical organizations have embraced gender ideology and touted guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), enabling children to access sex mutilating drugs and surgeries. WPATH has suffered several scandals, including a leaked internal meeting in which an endocrinologist admitted that discussing long-term potential for infertility with a 14-year-old is like “talking to a blank wall,” and a pressure campaign from the Biden administration to remove age requirements for sex-change surgeries.

WPATH, while favored by the pro-transgender Biden administration, has been cast out by the current Trump administration and admonished by the Supreme Court. In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order called “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” in which he tossed WPATH guidance into the dustbin, deeming it “junk science.”

“The blatant harm done to children by chemical and surgical mutilation cloaks itself in medical necessity, spurred by guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which lacks scientific integrity,” the order reads, before mandating all government agencies to rescind all policies relying on WPATH guidance. 

Last week, a jury in New York awarded a detransitioner $2 million in a lawsuit against her doctors. The detransitioner, 22-year-old Fox Varian, accused her doctors of pushing a double mastectomy on her when she was only 16 years old, and the jury found her psychologist and surgeon liable for medical malpractice, per the New York Post. 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/02/03/first-major-medical-group-opposes-sex-mutilating-surgeries-minors/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15523009/Zulu-king-demands-migrants-leave-South-Africa.html

Zulu king demands migrants leave South Africa

South Africa's Zulu king has sparked outrage after demanding that migrants leave the country following violent clashes near his home.

Speaking at a public event marking the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini used a derogatory term for migrants from neighbouring African countries and said they should be forced to go.

The monarch claimed that growing numbers of South African women were having relationships with foreign men, and said that while any children born from those relationships could remain in the country, the men themselves must leave.

Although the 51-year-old holds no formal political power, his words carry significant weight among South Africa's 12 million Zulus, who view him as a custodian of tradition and a powerful moral authority. 

His remarks come weeks after police were forced to deploy water cannons and stun grenades to break up violent demonstrations at a primary school in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

The unrest erupted after anti-immigration campaigners accused Addington Primary School of giving priority to the children of migrants over South African pupils.

Local authorities have denied this allegation and said that there was no evidence that immigration had caused a shortage of school places.

South Africa's Zulu king has sparked outrage after demanding that migrants leave the country following violent clashes near his home

Speaking at a public event marking the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini used a derogatory term for migrants from neighbouring African countries and said they should be forced to go

While urging calm and warning supporters not to take the law into their own hands, the king repeated his demand that foreign nationals leave the country. 

Referring to the school clashes, he said: 'What happened at Addington shows that we are being compromised by our sisters. But what can we do, because their children are our nephews and nieces?'

'However, we must sit down and discuss this. Even if my nephew or niece is born of a foreign national, that foreign national must leave, while my nephew or niece should remain.'

The comments were met with cheers from the crowd, prompting the king to laugh as he spoke.

Critics were quick to point out the irony of his remarks, noting that his own mother was from Eswatini and that one of his wives also comes from the neighbouring kingdom.

Xenophobia has long plagued South Africa, with repeated outbreaks of violence against migrants over the past decade.

The king's comments echo those of his late father, Goodwill Zwelithini, who told migrants in 2015 to 'pack their belongings' and leave the country, remarks later ruled 'hurtful and harmful' by the nation's human rights body.

More than ten years on, hostility towards migrants remains a volatile political issue, fuelled by claims that foreigners are taking jobs and benefiting from public services.

South Africa's unemployment rate remains among the highest in the world, hovering at around 33 per cent.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15523009/Zulu-king-demands-migrants-leave-South-Africa.html

Amabutho Zulu regiments use a spear on a falling British soldier during a reenactment of the battle

Amabutho Zulu regiments hold a British flag during a reenactment of the Battle of Isandlwana

The reenactment is performed annually by the Amabutho and the Dundee Diehards every year

A member of the Amabutho Zulu regiments is hugged by a member of the Dundee Diehards at the end of the recreation

Members of the Dundee Diehards volunteer group prepare themselves before the reenactment of the battle

Around 20,000 Zulu warriors descended on a British garrison in South Africa's southeast KwaZulu-Natal province

The Battle of Isandlwana is one of the most notable among several particularly bloody battles during the war

A Dundee Diehards officer gives orders to a firing line preparing to shoot salvos at incoming Amabuthu Zulu regiments

A member of the Amabutho Zulu regiments clashes with British soldiers during the reenactment

Dundee Diehards fire salvos at incoming Amabuthu Zulu regiments as members of the public watch

Member of the Amabutho Zulu regiments and of the Dundee Diehards pretend to be dead at the end of the battle

Members of the Dundee Diehards rehearse the handling of a rifle before the reenactment 

Amabutho Zulu regiments march towards the battlefield at the start of the reenactment 

A war broke out when the Zulu king Cetshwayo refused to cede to demands by the British High Commissioner

A member of the Amabutho Zulu regiments is congratulated by a member of the Dundee Diehards at the end of the battle

Zulu reenactors wore ceremonial animal hides, bone necklaces and brandished spears for the recreation

Members of the Amabutho Zulu regiments parade before the reenactment of the famous battle

The famous battle, the first clash of the war more than a century ago, saw 3,000 Zulu warriors killed and an entire British force wiped out

Members of the Dundee Diehards get ready to take part in the reenactment

Historical actors and local Zulu warriors re-enacted the bloody Battle of Isandlwana where 20,000 Zulu warriors wiped out 1,300 British and colonial soldiers

The battle, which took place 140 years ago, was Victorian Britain's biggest military defeat, and was the first conflict in the Anglo-Zulu war

The event saw UK-based re-enactment actors join the Dundee Diehards and local Zulu warriors on the scene of the battle in Dundee in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Zulu troops were equipped with a shield and a stabbing spear (pictured), and attacked in 'buffalo horn' formations

The 'horns' would attack from the sides on both the left and right, before the 'chest', or main body of the army, would attack straight ahead, before the 'loins', or reserves, would follow and deliver fatal blows

The British troops, dressed in red coats, were armed with single shot Martini-Henry rifles and bayonets

Pictured: Zulu women sing during the 140th anniversary reenactment in Dundee, South Africa

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (pictured) was among the guests at the re-enactment in Dundee, South Africa

Despite being Victorian Britain's worst military defeat, the battle of Rorke's drift on the same day proved far more successful for British troops, and was even turned into the 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine

Pictured: Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu watches the re-enactment

The Anglo-Zulu war lasted nearly six months between January and July 1879, and started when the Zulu king Cetshwayo refused to cede to demands by the British High Commissioner

After the Zulu king refused to give in to his demanded, the British High Commissioner decided to invade the Kingdom

Pictured: historical actors dressed as British troops prepare for the start of the re-enactment battle against the Zulu warriors

The Battle of Ulundi, on July 4, was the last engagement of the war, and signalled the breaking of the Zulu army

Michael Caine pictured during shot from the film 1964 film Zulu, in which he plays Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead

Painting commemorating the heroic defence of Rorke's Drift in 1879 - a victory by the British against the odds