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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should receive a pardon to put an end to his ongoing criminal trial as part of a deal requiring him to step down from politics, former prime minister Naftali Bennett told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Sunday, arguing that such an arrangement would allow the country to focus on national security.

“I wouldn’t waste political capital on a pardon and on personal things,” Bennett said.

Bennett, who also leads the B’Yachad party, is one of the leading figures in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu in the October elections.

“I don’t want to see him [Netanyahu] in jail. I think he should go home,” Bennett told the Post at the B’Yachad party headquarters.

“I would use all the political capital for Israel’s national security interests and not for other stuff,” he added.

Bennett: Netanyahu’s political strategy is tearing Israel apart

“I would use all the political capital for Israel’s national security interests and not for other stuff,” he added.

When asked whether Netanyahu had used his political capital to advance the pardon issue with US President Donald Trump, Bennett indicated he believed that it was a possibility.

“Clearly, there’s something going on there,” he said.

Bennett also said he believed Netanyahu’s political strategy was “tearing us [Israel] apart.”

“And that’s the biggest danger,” he emphasized.

Bennett added that he believed the prime minister was the person most responsible for the 2023’s October 7 Hamas massacre.

“Not only because he was prime minister and it [the massacre] was under his guard, but because he initiated the whole strategy of feeding Hamas and growing this monster bigger and bigger on your border.”

“At some point, the monster attacked. It was just so huge,” Bennett said.

Elaborating on the terms of a potential pardon deal, he noted: “The deal is he departs politics and doesn’t go to jail.”

Netanyahu departure ‘an opportunity for renaissance’

He added that Netanyahu’s departure would give Israel “an opportunity for a renaissance.”

“I think for many Israelis, he’s [Netanyahu’s] a symbol. His supporters view him as more than just a politician […] we need to unite Israel,” he said.

The prime minister is on trial in three corruption cases and faces one bribery charge alongside charges of fraud and breach of trust, all of which he denies.

Netanyahu formally submitted a request for a presidential pardon in November 2025.

Under Israel’s clemency framework, the president is the formal authority empowered to grant a pardon, but Netanyahu’s request does not pass directly from the applicant to the president.

The case has unfolded against a highly political backdrop. Trump has repeatedly and publicly urged that Netanyahu be pardoned.

In March, Trump said that Netanyahu should not be distracted by anything other than the war with Iran and called for clemency to be granted immediately.

The US president pressed the issue for months, turning what might otherwise have remained a domestic legal matter into one with a pronounced international and diplomatic dimension.

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.

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An Israeli-developed technology that delivers antibiotics directly to severe infection sites helped eight out of 10 diabetic patients who had been considered candidates for foot amputation avoid the procedure in a clinical pilot at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

The technology, developed by Israeli biotech company GentaGel, uses a biodegradable polymer to release antibiotics gradually at the site of an infection for up to 60 days, according to information provided by the company.

The small clinical pilot included 10 patients suffering from severe infected diabetic foot ulcers and bone infections who were candidates for either amputation or removal of infected bone. Eight recovered from their infections without requiring amputation, while wound closure and bone regrowth were observed in those eight patients.

The findings are preliminary, and the company is now advancing additional studies in Israel and the United States while pursuing a regulatory pathway with the US Food and Drug Administration.

Diabetic foot infections can be particularly difficult to treat and, in severe cases, can lead to repeated surgery, long hospital stays, and amputation.

GentaGel delivers antibiotics directly to infected areas

Traditional antibiotic treatments are generally administered orally or intravenously, meaning the medication circulates throughout the body while only part of it reaches the infection at the concentration required for treatment.

GentaGel’s approach is designed to deliver the antibiotic directly into the infected area.

Its biodegradable polymer remains at the treatment site and gradually releases the medication, allowing doctors to maintain a high local concentration of antibiotics for an extended period while reducing exposure elsewhere in the body. The technology can release medication for up to 60 days.

The company said the approach could potentially be used for diabetic foot infections, orthopedic infections, chronic wounds, and other localized internal infections.

‘Real potential’ to treat infected bone

The pilot was conducted through a collaboration between GentaGel and Shaare Zedek Medical Center through Madait, the hospital’s innovation arm.

Dr. Mati Nof, director of the Foot and Ankle Surgery Unit at Shaare Zedek and the study’s principal investigator, said the purpose of the trial was to examine whether GentaGel’s treatment could help doctors treat infected bone.

“Based on the findings from the pilot with 10 patients, I became convinced that there is real potential to heal infected bone without the need for amputation,” Nof said.

Dr. Renana Ofan, CEO of Madait, said Shaare Zedek works with start-ups on early-stage validation studies and clinical trials.

“We are proud of the companies participating in our program and pleased to see their technologies progress, and to be part of the process of advancing innovation for the benefit of patients,” she said.

The technology was invented by Prof. Avi Domb, a former chief scientist and former head of the School of Pharmacy and the Institute for Drug Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Domb specializes in controlled drug-delivery systems. GentaGel is led by co-founder and CEO Dr. Ariel Orbach and co-founder and COO Eli Lerner.

The company said severe localized infections represent a major medical and economic burden. It estimated the direct cost of treating such infections in the US at more than $20 billion annually and said the potential markets for applications of its technology are worth tens of billions of dollars.

The results of the 10-patient pilot do not by themselves establish how effective the treatment would be across a larger patient population. GentaGel’s planned follow-up studies in Israel and the US are expected to provide additional data as the company moves toward regulatory review.

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The New Jersey branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US’s largest Muslim charity, encouraged teaching students that the 9/11 terror attacks were due to “America’s support of Israel” and said, “terrorism is defined differently by different groups of people.”

CAIR-NJ released its new “Back to School Resource Guide” for parents and students for 2026-2027. The guide contains advice for Muslim students regarding their religious rights in schools, a section on “Discussing Palestine in the classroom,” and a page on “Muslim Studies: 9/11.”

The page reads: “The catastrophic events of 9/11 catapulted the Global War on Terror, marking an aggressive shift in US domestic and foreign policy and an erosion of civil liberties through the Patriot Act, which practically targeted Muslims.

“The 9/11 attacks also marked a renewed and egregious ‘othering’ of Muslims and those who may appear to be Muslim, which has been evident in mainstream media, on campaign trails, in literature and advertising, and even in the classroom.”

CAIR-NJ and Teaching While Muslim (TWM) said they developed a curriculum with tools to help teachers “adopt a more nuanced approach to 9/11 in their classrooms.”

Now-deleted document recovered

It then features a link to the 9/11 unit plan website, which has since been deleted by CAIR following earlier reporting by Jewish Onliner.

The CAIR National annual back-to-school guide (slightly different from the NJ one) now also features a note saying: “An earlier version of the document did not go through proper vetting and included a link to a primary source document that was removed in November 2025.”

The Jerusalem Post managed to obtain the now-deleted 9/11 document via the Wayback Machine.

The document is intended for use in elementary, middle, and high school social studies and English classes.

In its description of 9/11, the document said, “A group self-identifying as al-Qaeda hailing from the mountains of Afghanistan launched separate plane hijackings that ended up in different cities, causing the death of almost 3,000 people, and the resulting debris from the fallen towers caused lasting health issues in first responders.”

Children’s guide says 9/11 launched in response to US support of Israel

It then cites the 9/11 Commission Report as saying that al-Qaeda “launched the attacks in response to America’s support of Israel, their involvement in the Persian Gulf War, and the vast presence of the US military in the Middle East.”

It is important to note that while page 362 of the report does identify US support for Israel and American military presence in the Middle East as among the grievances that helped fuel al-Qaeda’s extremism, it at no point says 9/11 was in response to these things.

The CAIR-NJ resource then says, “Though 9/11 was not the first attack on the United States, it was a major event that marked an aggressive shift in US domestic and foreign policy, sparking the War on Terror in the Middle East.”

Furthermore, it says, “Terrorism is defined differently by different groups of people.” While this doesn’t explicitly state that 9/11 was not terrorism, it does imply it.

Moreover, at no point in the resource does it say 9/11 was an act of terrorism. It says instead that “American Muslims, Islamic scholars, and governments in Muslim-majority countries condemned the attacks.”

The unit then argues that 9/11 resulted in a “stark shift in US policy and state-sponsored Islamophobia in the US and abroad.”

In a sidebar next to this are three bullet points: “Not all terrorists are Muslims, and not all Muslims are terrorists; how a country treats other people is an extension of their values and beliefs; Islam does not advocate for violence.”

Osama bin Laden portrayed as freedom fighter

It also speaks quite glowingly of Osama bin Laden: “The US fought the Soviet Union, who had invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s, by supporting the rebels that stood up against the Russian invaders, including a man named Osama bin Laden and people who later formed the Taliban.”

Also interesting is that some of the resource links at the end of the now-deleted document have been deleted or archived as well.

The Post managed to access most of them via archival search engines.

One speaks about the Muslim veil after 9/11 and says “the September 11 terrorist attacks transformed the meaning of the Muslim headscarf. It now ‘marks’ them as representatives of the suspicious, inherently violent, and forever foreign ‘terrorist other’ in our midst.”

The resource also bizarrely links to the film V for Vendetta, which is about a young woman living in a dystopian society who meets a shadowy freedom fighter plotting to overthrow their tyrannical government, and it also suggests students read the full text of Bin Laden’s “Letter to America.”

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Soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion were prosecuted on Sunday by court-martial rather than criminally after refusing to board an armored personnel carrier (APC) with a female paramedic on Wednesday, an IDF source indirectly told The Jerusalem Post.

A second IDF source indirectly confirmed the disciplinary process to the Post, adding that the military is not pleased that the information was published before the verdicts were handed down.

The IDF sources’ comments to the Post come after a journalist from N12 News reported that four soldiers who refused to enter the APC were sentenced to 10 days each in military prison, three soldiers who aided them were sentenced to five days each, and others are still to be court-martialled.

The incident on Wednesday occured following an overnight operational drill, during which the Rotem Battalion force was required to use an APC, with the IDF saying at the time that “soldiers who maintain a religious way of life are entitled to carry out operational activity in a gender-segregated framework, except in exceptional cases.”

“In the incident described, the force refused to carry out the operational activity, and as a result, the activity was canceled,” the IDF said, noting that “command measures” would be taken “in accordance with the findings.”

Hesder yeshivas refuse to enlist students amid pilot program for female Armored Corps soldiers

In June, hesder yeshivas said they would stop sending their students for IDF enlistment after the military announced a pilot program for female soldiers in the Armored Corps, with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.Gen. Eyal Zamir addressing the issue at an IDF Employees Organization conference.

“The IDF is the people’s army, and therefore there is paramount importance in integrating all sectors of the population into its ranks, especially in the combat array,” he said. “This complex integration of women in the military will always be carried out in a manner that allows one sector of the public to serve alongside another, and not at its expense.”

The military emphasized that the pilot program was not a full commitment to integration, but rather a preliminary examination of the possibility.

Yonah Jeremy Bob and Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

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Gaza is stuck.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have liked to have reinvaded it in early 2026 (or, for that matter, never to have been forced into a ceasefire with Hamas by the Trump administration in October 2025) and at almost every moment since then.

Hamas wants to limit any concessions it makes over its control to being symbolic, but to remain the force behind the curtain so that when all is said and done in 5-10 years, it remains the decisive power in the Strip.

Jared Kushner, the lead player in the Trump administration on Middle East and Gaza policy, has wanted since early 2026 for Israel to make gradual and periodic withdrawals to a much thinner security zone within Gaza (from 50-60% of the Strip to closer to 15%), to press forward with rebuilding Gaza, and for Hamas to take gradual and periodic steps toward disarming.

In the long run, unless something major changes, Kushner has the upper hand over all sides because at every key moment since October 2025, Trump has backed his plans.

Netanyahu government forced to concede to ISF, Hamas

This has forced Netanyahu to approve the idea of letting an International Stabilization Force (ISF) into Gaza, compelled Hamas to approve the idea of letting a technocratic committee, the NCAG, to come into the Strip to take over civil rule issues, and has made the government continue to provide massive amounts of aid to Gaza, through Hamas, even as Jerusalem watches the terror group’s power grow.

True, the ISF and NCAG actually moving into Gaza have been delayed pending Israeli and US elections in October-November.

But when one averages these trends and countertrends together, the result has been that Netanyahu does not get to invade, but neither has Israel had to withdraw much or allow much rebuilding.

This has basically held the status quo in place for a year, with Hamas growing stronger very slowly, but with the IDF being able to continue to strike its field commanders and, back in May, two of its military leaders.

Within this framework of a status quo which is inching forward toward the Trump-Kushner vision of “the Day After” in Gaza, enter the slew of stories about Hamas attack balloons, the Erez crossing opening and then suddenly not opening, talks of overthrowing Hamas with local gaza gangs, and talks of Hamas getting so strong so soon that the IDF will need to immediately invade Gaza as soon as election season is over.

Israel, Shin Bet maintains ties with Gaza gangs

Some of what is behind these stories is real.

There are local Gaza gangs supported by Israel. 

Netanyahu himself confirmed this publicly in 2025 when there were repeated reports about Israeli defense teams working with Gaza gang boss Yaser Abu Shabab.

The Jerusalem Post and other media outlets also confirmed that the Shin Bet was in charge of managing relations with these gangs.

The primary long-term purpose then and now was to build up local opposition to Hamas in Gaza to help eventually lead to toppling it from within, and the short-term purpose was to use the militias for various smaller, messy tactical missions so as to avoid the risk of Israeli security officials getting stuck in one quagmire or another.

Over the weekend, Haaretz revealed that the IDF has also been heavily involved in managing the local Gaza gangs, and that their number has expanded to six, covering nearly every major region in Gaza.

The Post got clear indications from IDF sources that while the Shin Bet is the lead Israeli player with the gangs, the military is also often involved.

This makes sense since the Shin Bet is small compared to the IDF and usually has highly trained specialists accomplishing a mission in Gaza, but accompanied by IDF forces who provide the specialists with security.

Local gangs contribute, but are not primary drivers of toppling Hamas

In any event, political leaks suggesting that the local gangs have any chance of taking over Gaza from Hamas in the near or medium term are divorced from reality.

Each of these groups can only survive now with clear IDF protection and can only confront Hamas for small and limited operations.

If their numbers range between the dozens and a couple hundred, Hamas still has thousands or more foot soldiers.

Put differently, these local gangs might contribute long-term to the fall of Hamas, but they will not be a central component toward that fall.

Rather, most experts agree that either some arm of the Palestinian Authority or a hybrid of the PA, Egypt, the ISF, and some outside IDF support would be needed to overcome Hamas long-term.

There is also some truth in reports that Hamas is making a comeback.

Israel has made zero attempt to replace Hamas politically over the last three years and since the October 2025 ceasefire.

This has allowed Hamas to consolidate its power in the 40-50% of the Strip that it governs, which contains well over 90% of the Palestinian population.

Hamas even experimented with sending balloons over the border recently to test Israeli patience.

Israel responded by increasing the number of airstrikes against mid-level Hamas officials and Hamas weapons depots.

As such, Netanyahu as well as some IDF sources, mostly from the Southern Command, have been pushing for even stronger responses, including a potential invasion after election season.

They also claimed this could be a sign that Hamas may undertake some major offensive move.

What move? Hamas cannot even hold training exercises in public. The October 7 “surprise” came in an atmosphere when Hamas was holding constant massive military exercises, which made the military disregard them as just for training. Hamas could not move a large group of soldiers out of their territory and far past the IDF’s first outposts within the Strip. At most, maybe Hamas could surprise a few outposts, but they would certainly not get into Israeli territory. And they have either no rockets or almost no rockets. Even the balloons this time were not fire or explosive balloons as in 2018, but just…balloons.

Trump holds the cards, wants ‘quiet’ in the Middle East

And what Israeli invasion?

There are no signs that Trump would permit Israel to start a new invasion.

He wants quiet in the Middle East and to advance normalization deals, and none of that has happened for him whenever fighting escalates.

In addition, polls currently show a real chance that Gadi Eisenkot will be the next prime minister.

There are no signs that he would push as hard to invade Gaza as Netanyahu did, given that the former IDF chief was the first in the war cabinet to want to end the war to get the Israeli hostages back, as early as early 2024. 

It has only been Trump’s deference to Netanyahu’s electoral needs that has slowed his pressure on the prime minister to move forward with allowing the ISF into Gaza in fact, and not just in theory.

But that deference may fade as Trump may search for a photogenic moment of ISF soldiers and NCAG technocrats actually entering and operating in Gaza before US midterm elections.

In some scenarios, Trump may twist Netanyahu’s arm if they meet at the UN in New York in September, and in other scenarios he may allow Netanyahu to wait to approve the progress until the week between Israeli elections on October 27 and US elections on November 3.

All of these tangled election calculations explain the latest bizarre policy double-take this week when the National Security Council, which works for Netanyahu, told the IDF to carry out all necessary security measures to get ready to open the Erez Crossing, but then hours later, after he saw he was taking some political flak for the move, the prime minister pretended he was against the idea and stalled it.

To be clear, there had been a plan to open the crossing based on a deal with Kushner.

But without Trump going public about it, Netanyahu has now delayed implementing the deal to try to avoid paying an electoral political price for it.

Hamas could try a surprising offensive move. The local Gaza gangs could escalate against Hamas.

But most likely, other than some possible additional mild steps of progress toward the Kushner-Trump vision, the status quo will remain in Gaza at least until October 27.

After that, Trump will likely press either Netanyahu or Eisenkot to make further concessions in Gaza, provided Hamas makes its own symbolic concessions.

Until then, the Palestinian people will continue to suffer from the status quo in which they do have food, but have no proper housing or even a start of a horizon for a future, and Israel’s reputation in the world will continue to suffer as it will not get any credit for refraining from invading Gaza until the strip starts getting rebuilt.

This also likely means that concerns about major Hamas moves before November, and even for a while after that, are likely misplaced.

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The heads of the US armed forces jointly warned US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against continuing operations in Iran, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

According to people familiar with the matter, the heads of the army, navy, and air force, along with the commanders who head the US military’s operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, warned Hegseth that continuing the war in Iran risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere around the world.

The warnings were detailed in the August 14 edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB), which is classified. The people with knowledge spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The SDOB details the worldwide availability of the US’s military assets, such as warships, aircraft, personnel, and weapons systems. It also reflects the president’s priorities for the armed forces, which the defense secretary and the branches of the military carry out.

US military heads disagree with Hegseth orders to keep troops in Middle East until 2027, still will carry it out

The orders book reportedly stated some US troops deployed in the Middle East to remain there through September, while others would remain in the region until 2027, sources familiar with the matter said.

The Washington Post reported that the navy’s top admiral, along with the leaders from America’s European Command, Pacific Command, and the Southern Command, responded with “non-concur,” which means that they do not agree with Hegseth’s order, but will execute it regardless.

Leaders from the US Army and Air Force both noted that the extension of their forces comes with significant risks.

One person familiar with the matter said that US military leadership believes that the war in Iran has been “too much for too long.”

“Decisions regarding the scope and duration of specific force commitments to any Combatant Command are made based on the current threat assessment, strategic priorities established by the President, and the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combatant Commanders,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to the Washington Post.

He added that the Pentagon “does not discuss internal operational processes,” such as the SDOB, “or specific concurrences, non-concurrences, or risk assessments provided by the Services or Combatant Commands during force allocation deliberations.”

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Fatah’s Democratic Reform (FDR) faction is seeking to unify Hamas, Fatah, and all Palestinian factions, hoping that doing so will allow the groups to focus on building a Palestinian state rather than becoming consumed by internal conflict.

This is according to a copy of the group’s vision that Mohammed Dahlan shared with other members of his faction, seen by The Jerusalem Post.

The document lays out a vision for overcoming the longstanding divisions between Palestinian factions, with a particular focus on ending the internal conflict that has defined Palestinian politics for years.

“We may disagree with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, and there may be deep disagreements between us. But disagreement with someone does not give anyone the right to eliminate the other,” Dahlan wrote in a letter translated by the Post.

“We want our entire relationship to move from an attempt to weaken one another to cooperation in building the homeland and protecting the national project…”

From confrontation to aiming for a bridge

The pluralist ethos in the vision is notable given Dahlan’s troubled relationships with both Hamas and Fatah.

A former Fatah official and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, he has lived in exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2011 after the PA accused him of multiple serious offenses, including involvement in a plot to poison PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, an attempted coup against the Palestinian leadership, and financial corruption. Dahlan has denied the accusations.

Dahlan’s relationship with Hamas was also once defined by open confrontation. In 2006, he criticized the group over what he described as corruption and was later allegedly involved in a US-backed effort to oust the Islamist group from the Gaza Strip.

More recently, however, Dahlan has taken a different approach, holding meetings with Hamas representatives in Cairo as he seeks to position his faction as a potential bridge between the rival Palestinian movements.

Addressing the meetings, Dimitri Diliani, a former member of the Revolutionary Council and spokesperson for the Fatah breakaway faction, told the Post that “Mr. Dahlan meets with all Palestinian people, and us as a faction, because we are a faction made up of institutions.”

Explaining that the FDR is in daily contact with all Palestinian factions, Diliani played down the significance of the meetings as a regular occurrence, adding only that Dahlan’s “presence usually solves issues because it presents the importance of it.”

“His long-term relationships with many of the faction leaders also smooth things out,” Diliani continued, adding that Dahlan’s “credibility” had already surpassed PA President Mahmoud Abbas thanks to his humanitarian efforts during the “genocide” in Gaza.

Dahlan’s role in the UAE

As an adviser to the UAE leadership, Dahlan has helped facilitate tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been distributed to both Hamas’s Islamist support base and secular families alike, earning him some popularity in the territory.

It has added weight to his message of Palestinian pluralism.

SOME OF the main points set out in the vision include guaranteeing the rights, freedoms, and dignity of all Palestinians, ensuring that the people are partners in decision-making processes, and applying accountability and transparency to all.

Dahlan’s vision also calls for an end to the cycle of armed violence, tit-for-tat policies, and power struggles that have plagued Palestinian leadership.

“The internal fighting was a national crime,” he wrote. “…Weapons do not determine who governs, and force does not confer legitimacy.”

Since the PA was violently ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, sporadic outbreaks of violence have occurred between Palestinian factions.

In December 2024, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas violently resisted PA crackdowns on terrorist groups in Jenin, with Hamas even calling for the mobilization of all forces in the West Bank against PA security forces.

“We do not call for the abolition of the factions, their identity, or their history, and every power has the right to preserve its program and compete with the people. But what must change is its relationship with the state. A faction can win power, but it may not become the state,” Dahlan insisted.

“The state must become a neutral space for everyone, with no faction controlling the judiciary, security, administration, or public employment.”

Though some may interpret Dahlan’s comments as critical of the actions of Hamas’s past decisions, Diliani made clear that the PA’s corruption and financial failings had also significantly harmed Palestinian society and a major reform was needed to repair the economic damage.

The vision does not specify what role, if any, Hamas would be allowed to play in the political system, particularly as the group has expressed an intention to run in the upcoming PLC elections in November.

Diliani, however, said Hamas’s ideology would be represented even if the organization itself did not participate as a political party.

He argued that, to address the limitations in the current system, there should be a temporary mandate granted by the people through elections to transfer authority for institutions from one group to another according to the majority’s desire, “not the redistribution of state institutions as quotas between factions.”

Insisting that the use of weapons in internal conflicts must be prohibited and political coups cannot be repeated, Dahlan argued against a system in which a sole authority could unilaterally decide on major issues such as declaring war or making peace agreements.

While Dahlan’s vision calls for an end to factional violence and the use of weapons to settle internal political disputes, Diliani insisted that the FDR did not seek to eliminate Palestinian resistance against Israel.

“So as long as there is a military occupation, there will always be Hamas. There will always be Fatah, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, DFLP, and you can change the names, but as long as there is one Palestinian out there, there will be a faction under whatever name it is, but it will be to resist the military occupation,” Diliani asserted.

“…Only extremely stupid people think that at one point this will be something that we will give up. And from the things that we’re seeing, those people are deteriorating in power, in force, in position, and I think the world stage is very clear on that.”

Diliani said that all forms of resistance were legal and legitimate under international law when acting against a military occupation. However, he said he personally found all forms of violence unethical, claiming that it would only lead to a “failed society” like the “morally failed” Israel, and argued that peace was a necessary development.

“Our faction looks at the State of Israel as a state that we need to make peace with in accordance with international law. We don’t characterize its nature.

“It’s none of our business, and we demand, as victims of that state, for that state also to mind its own business in terms of our composition and views, and look at us as a people that you need to make peace with in order to continue your survival in this Middle East,” he concluded.

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At first glance, the latest Israeli Society Barometer offers an encouraging picture. Nearly three-quarters of Israelis (73%) believe that Israel can be a cohesive society despite the divisions within it. This is the highest figure recorded since the Center for Jewish Impact began conducting the barometer in 2024, and a notable increase from 67% in February.

After years of political turmoil, the trauma of following the October 7 massacre and a prolonged multi-front war, Israelis have not given up on the possibility of a shared future.

However, beneath this optimism lies a warning that must not be ignored. Israelis may believe in cohesion as a national ideal, yet they are far less confident that the country’s different communities can actually live together.

Only 64% believe that secular and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews can coexist in Israel. More troublingly, just 42% currently believe in Jewish-Arab coexistence. The differences between communities are stark. While 74% of Arab respondents and 48% of secular Jews believe Jewish-Arab coexistence is possible, only 7% of religious and haredi respondents share that view.

These figures do not mean that Israel is destined to fragment. On the contrary, the broad belief in the possibility of national cohesion provides a foundation on which to build.

Nonetheless, they demonstrate the distance between supporting unity in principle and trusting one another in practice.

Ahead of Israel’s fateful elections in October, it is clear that national cohesion cannot remain a slogan reserved for campaigns or moments of emergency. It must be translated into sustained engagement between communities that too often encounter one another through political arguments, social media or stereotypes.

Israel needs spaces in which Jewish and Arab citizens – across all religious backgrounds – can meet around shared responsibilities and common interests. Education, national or civic service, employment, local government and civil society can all become arenas for cooperation rather than competition. This does not require communities to abandon their identities or disagreements. 

A cohesive society is not one in which everyone thinks alike. It is one in which differences do not prevent people from recognizing a common destiny.

The barometer also reveals that Israel’s internal crisis of confidence is being compounded by a serious failure abroad.

Although 64% of Israelis consider the strategic relationship with the US to be strong, only 23% believe Israel effectively communicates its policies and positions internationally fully, and 70% regard Israeli public diplomacy as ineffective.

This is not merely a matter of Israel receiving unfavorable media coverage. It is now affecting the daily lives and personal decisions of Israelis. More than half, 52%, report some level of concern about identifying as Israeli while traveling abroad. Since October 7, 2023, 41% have changed their behavior overseas, including altering destinations, canceling trips, or avoiding certain activities.

When Israelis feel compelled to hide their nationality, the problem is no longer abstract. It represents a profound deterioration in the environment surrounding Israel and the Jewish people.

The response cannot consist solely of better slogans, faster reactions, or additional social media content.

Israel needs a strategy for international communication

Israel needs what the public itself is demanding: a long-term national strategy for international communication. One-third of respondents identified such a strategy as the most important measure needed to improve Israel’s global standing, while another 25% pointed to changes in government policy and decision-making.

We need to strengthen our ties with our allies who know us, even if they do not necessarily voice strong opinions or wield significant influence. Just as there were volunteers in the 1960s and 1970s whose positive impact is evident today, we now have individuals, whether foreign workers, Christian volunteers, or people in the hi-tech industry working with Israelis, who will return to their home countries and serve as our ambassadors.

Nevertheless, public diplomacy cannot compensate for poor policy, but even necessary and defensible policies will lose international support if they are not explained within a coherent strategic framework.

Israel must invest in research, professional communication, credible international partnerships and engagement with audiences beyond its existing supporters. It must explain not only what it does, but who Israelis are, what Israel stands for and why its security and future matter to the democratic world.

This effort must be closely connected to Israel’s relationship with global Jewry. Seventy percent of Israelis believe the state should invest resources in Diaspora Jewish communities. Their priorities include encouraging aliyah, protecting Jewish communities and supporting civil society organizations.

That finding reflects an important truth. Israel and the Diaspora are not separate constituencies connected only by sentiment. They are part of a single, interdependent people. Antisemitism abroad affects Israel, just as Israel’s policies and international standing affect Jewish communities worldwide.

Strengthening Jewish security, identity and resilience must therefore be treated as a strategic national interest, including smaller communities, particularly those in countries with modern Islamic societies.

None of this can be separated from the economic and security concerns facing Israeli families. The public’s leading priority for the next government is reducing the cost of living and strengthening the economy, selected by 38% of respondents. National security follows at 25%, while 13% prioritize unity and bridging social divisions and 11% the IDF enlistment crisis.

These issues are interconnected. Economic hardship deepens social resentment. Unequal obligations weaken solidarity. Internal division damages national resilience, while diplomatic isolation threatens both security and prosperity.

The barometer does not describe a society that has lost hope. It describes a society that still believes in itself but is increasingly impatient for leadership equal to its challenges.

Israelis have demonstrated extraordinary courage and mutual responsibility during the most difficult period in recent memory. The task now is to transform the solidarity shown in moments of crisis into a permanent national strategy.

This must be front and center for any incoming government after the elections.

The choice is not between unity and disagreement, nor between Israel’s domestic resilience and its global standing; we must strengthen both. 

Israel must build trust among its citizens, renew its partnership with world Jewry and explain its purpose to the world with confidence, professionalism and moral clarity.

The Israeli public still believes that a cohesive society is possible. That belief is a precious national asset, but it is not guaranteed to endure. 

We must act before optimism becomes exhaustion and distance becomes division. Israel’s future will be secured not simply by defeating its enemies, but by ensuring that its citizens, its global Jewish family and its friends around the world understand what holds us together and why that bond is worth defending.

The writer is the chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact and a former CEO of the World Jewish Congress and World ORT.

This post was originally published on here. 

For generations, in the highlands of East Africa between the Blue Nile basin and the Red Sea world, Ethiopian Jews observed Shabbat, preserved ancient biblical traditions, prayed toward Jerusalem, dreamed of returning to Zion, and sometimes died attempting to reach it. 

During the annual holy day of Sigd, Beta Israel prayed for a return to Zion and renewed its covenant with God and the Torah. In 1862, a Beta Israel group led by the spiritual leader Abba Mahari attempted to reach Jerusalem decades before Theodor Herzl published The Jewish State. 

We did not need European Zionism to teach us to long for Jerusalem because Zion lived in our prayers before modern political Zionism acquired a congress, a flag, or a diplomatic office. 

Yet now that we have reached the Jewish state, served in its military, joined its religious institutions, and voted for its political parties, we are still too often invited to demonstrate loyalty without being trusted to exercise power. 

This history does not mean every Ethiopian Israeli holds the same political beliefs. No community is politically uniform. But it helps explain why many feel a natural affinity with religious Zionism and the Israeli right.

It has to do with a reverence for Jewish tradition, an attachment to Jerusalem, a belief in Jewish sovereignty, a respect for military service, and an understanding that Jewish survival requires strength.

On October 27, Israelis will democratically elect the 120 members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Israelis do not vote directly for congressional-style district representatives. They vote for national party lists, and parliamentary seats are distributed proportionally. The parties represent Jewish, Arab, religious, secular, liberal, and conservative constituencies. 

A candidate’s position on a party list can therefore determine whether an internal-primary victory produces actual power.

That distinction explains why Ethiopian Israeli Gabi Gebre Worku’s victory matters. Worku entered the Likud’s 2026 primaries alongside ministers and lawmakers. He traveled, organized, addressed party members, and asked voters to judge his work.

In the direct contest for the position reserved for a new immigrant, he defeated six other candidates and received 3,159 votes. He won, but was then placed at No. 43.

That position is outside the Likud’s practical electoral range. Worku competed and prevailed. Leaving him at No. 43 would indicate to Ethiopian Likud members that their participation is welcome, but their democratic decision is expendable. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should use one of his leadership-controlled positions or any remaining lawful mechanism to move Worku up so that he will be situated among the top 23 candidates. 

This would not be charity or tokenism; it would respect a candidate who entered the Likud’s democratic process and won.

Another possibility has raised hope. An Israeli publication reported advanced discussions between Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Yaakov, an Ethiopian-Israeli right-wing strategist and Channel 14 panelist, about a possible reserved place on the party’s Knesset list. 

Channel 14’s Bezalel Yaakov considers joining Ben-Gvir’s party

No final commitment has been confirmed. Yaakov represents a young, Hebrew-speaking and unapologetically Zionist Ethiopian generation. His inclusion would be encouraging. But hope must not again become a photograph, a campaign slogan, then silence once the final list is submitted.

Ethiopian Israeli representation in the Knesset is important. Nevertheless, none of us has led Israel at the highest levels or headed its mission to the United Nations, a consequential diplomatic appointment. 

I have asked why Ethiopian Israelis are rarely invited to speak seriously about Israel, Zionism, or the Jewish future. Why has no qualified Ethiopian Israeli been seriously considered to become Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations?

During Danny Danon’s first term, from 2015 to 2020, he became the first Israeli elected to chair a principal UN committee, the General Assembly’s Sixth Committee on legal affairs. He began a second term in August 2024, making him the only Israeli to hold the ambassadorship twice. He has represented Israel and deserves recognition for his service.

In September 2025, the UN General Assembly endorsed a declaration on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 142 votes to 10. No single envoy alone controls such outcomes, and the UN’s institutional hostility toward Israel long predates Danon’s. 
But that overwhelming margin demonstrates the limits and ineffectiveness of repeating the same strategy with the same political messengers. 

After nearly seven years across two terms, Israel should prepare new leadership not because Danon’s service was worthless, but because forceful rebuttals alone and the current method have not reversed Israel’s diplomatic isolation.

I am not raising this issue only in the abstract. I would be honored and humbled to be considered to lead Israel’s mission to the United Nations. 

I am a proud black African; an Ethiopian-born Israeli American Jew; a Modern Orthodox; a right-wing but inclusive educator; a student of the Baron Rabbi Jonathan Sacks; and a specialist in moral diplomacy, conflict resolution, and restorative justice. 

I earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Yeshiva University and a master’s degree in community leadership and philanthropy from Hebrew University. I also spent two decades working in New York’s court system and have experience in Israeli and Ethiopian public affairs.

These qualifications do not entitle me to an ambassadorship. They do entitle other Ethiopian Israelis and I with comparable records to serious consideration. 

A black Jew at the UN might achieve what others could not 

I cannot promise to transform UN voting overnight. No honest diplomat can. But I would bring a broader moral-diplomacy strategy. 

This would encompass cultivating relationships with African and other Global South delegations before a crisis erupts; engaging black, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish audiences; and explaining in English, Hebrew, and Amharic that the Jewish return to Israel was never exclusively European.

Imagine a black Ethiopian Jew, a descendant of an ancient East African Jewish community that prayed toward Jerusalem for centuries, addressing the UN General Assembly. That envoy would be more than a symbol. They would be living evidence against the accusation that Israel is a white colonial project.

Gabi Gebre Worku competed and won. Bezalel Yaakov may be approaching an opportunity. Qualified Ethiopian Israelis are prepared to serve and represent Israel internationally, including at the UN.

The writer is an international educator, community activist, and diplomacy expert. He has served in New York City as an Investigation Officer for the Supreme and Family Court, and represented the Israeli Knesset in international public affairs.

This post was originally published on here. 

Finland and Israel have extended a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for defense cooperation over the next decade that will include research and development (R&D), cooperation, and procurement of defense equipment.

Finland’s public broadcaster YLE reported that the MoU was approved by Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen in early 2024, despite strong criticism due to the ongoing war in Gaza. The agreement, set to last until 2034, was not made public until the report by YLE.

According to the report, the MoU was drawn up in 2013, but with its validity about to expire, Helsinki proposed to Israel that the protocol be extended in early 2024. Finland proposed extending the agreement to 10 years rather than the previous five years, which Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, director general of Israel’s Defense Ministry, agreed to.

“On behalf of the IMoD, I hereby accept the extension of the MoU in the form suggested by the Finnish side, for 10 more years. We appreciate our fruitful cooperation and wish for mutual projects and activities,” read a letter sent by the IMoD to YLE.

Major Israeli companies already have subsidiaries in Finland, as well as significant cooperation with local Finnish firms. 

Defense & Tech understands that while Finnish purchases from Israeli defense industries may have been just a few million dollars a few years ago, they currently total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are continuing to rise.

The largest single acquisition was the David’s Sling air defense system, purchased in 2023 for €316 million. Rafael also provided the Finnish Army with Spike anti-tank missiles in 2022 for €213m. The third largest purchase was the Gabriel anti-ship missiles bought by the navy in 2018, priced at €162m.

There are currently some 20 defense projects ongoing between the two countries.

The MoU was likely signed during the visit of the Commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, General Janne Jaakkola, who visited Israel from August 3-6th. According to a press release by the Finnish armed forces, Jaakkola and his Israeli counterparts discussed the evolving security environment as well as multi-layed air defenses.

“We are moving towards a capability using which Finland will no longer rely on single, point-by-point solutions, but, instead, build a multilayered, networked and scaled air defense system.  The aim is to be able to respond to both rapid and wide-scale air and missile threats” Jaakkola was quoted as saying. 

The signing of the extension was strongly criticized by the opposition, with Green League chair Sofia Virta quoted by the Helsinki Times as calling it a “historic shame.”

“When we demanded pressure on Israel, the government tightened cooperation. When we demanded that dependencies on Israel be reduced, the government deepened them,” Virta said in a party statement.

Häkkänen was quoted by YLE as defending the extension of the MoU as standard practice, saying that it was “not some dramatic new policy” as it was part of the implementation of existing air-defense and procurement agreements.

Close cooperation

As part of the MoU, the countries agreed on the establishment of a joint coordination group for Finland and Israel, which meets once a year to discuss bilateral defense ties 

In May, Defense Ministry’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) led a delegation of 32 Israeli defense companies to the second Finnish-Israeli Defense Industry Seminar. 

The delegation to the seminar was held in the capital, Helsinki, and led by SIBAT Director Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yair Kulas. 

It spanned the full spectrum of Israel’s defense industry, specialized across a wide range of domains, with particular focus on air defense, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS technologies, and border protection, alongside autonomous systems, advanced munitions, C2 and communications, electro-optical solutions, HLS, and cyber intelligence.

It included seven new defense tech start-ups under the ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D)’s Mafat for Start-ups (MFS) program, along with larger defense companies, such as Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Elbit Systems Tomer, UVision, Xtend, TSG, and Aeronautics.

Some 30 Finnish defense companies also attended the seminar, which was co-organized with the Finnish Ministry of Defense and the Finnish Defense and Aerospace Industries Association (PIA). 

Finland’s deputy chief of staff, the head of its defense procurement administration, and its chair of the defense industry association, Tuija Karanko, also attended the seminar.

Following the event, an IMoD official told D&T that the biggest interest at the seminar was air defense and counter-UAS technology.

“Markets are important,” the IMoD official said. “Finland gives us a gateway into NATO and the broader European market, including potential manufacturers who are up to NATO standards.”

Finland, which recently joined NATO, is facing a menacing Russian neighbor and has suffered drone incursions both from Ukraine and Russia. The country shares 1,340 kilometers of border with Russia and is considered a key northern flank against Moscow.

This post was originally published on here. 

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold their first meeting under a new defense pact on Monday in Istanbul, with senior officials from the three countries set to discuss expanding military cooperation and turning the agreement into an operational framework.

The meeting is expected to be attended by the foreign and defense ministers of all three countries, as well as their respective chiefs of staff, a source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.

The talks will focus on strengthening the militaries’ ability to operate jointly, enhancing defense capabilities, and expanding cooperation in defense technology and production.

The “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement,” signed on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, establishes a framework for collective defense under which an armed attack against any one of the three signatories would be considered an attack against all three.

The agreement is similar to Article V of the NATO Treaty, which states that an armed attack against one or more NATO members in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against all members, requiring collective assistance.

However, the publicly-released text of the Mecca agreement does not specify precisely what military commitments each country would undertake in the event of an attack.

New alliance established as tensions run high throughout Middle East

Pakistan, one of the signatories, is a nuclear-armed state.

The establishment of the alliance comes amid growing tensions in the Middle East, particularly over Iran and the security of Gulf states. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are increasingly concerned about Iran’s military activity and the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and energy routes. At the same time, there are growing concerns about a potential decline in the US commitment to the region.

The alliance could also have implications beyond its three founding members.

Turkey has already signaled that the framework could expand to include additional countries, with Egypt among those mentioned. Bangladesh is also considering joining the agreement.

“If there is a security arrangement among Islamic nations in the Middle East, it is not unusual for us to consider participating. It is being viewed positively,” Bangladeshi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir recently said.

Although the agreement is officially presented as a defensive arrangement, it comes against the backdrop of a significant deterioration in the regional security situation.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslim countries, particularly the Gulf states, to unite against what he described as their “real enemy.”

The agreement could also have significant implications for Israel

Although Israel is not explicitly mentioned in the pact, Turkey has adopted increasingly critical positions toward Jerusalem in recent years, while Saudi Arabia continues to set its own political conditions regarding normalization with Israel.

The senior officials are expected to discuss coordination mechanisms, military exercises, defense production and technological cooperation, as well as ways to improve the three countries’ ability to respond jointly to future threats.

The Istanbul meeting is expected to provide the first indication of how seriously the three governments intend to turn the agreement from a political document into a functioning operational framework.

“The goal is to turn words into action,” a source familiar with the matter told the Post.

‘International security issues will be on the agenda’

Foreign and defense ministers, as well as the chiefs of staff, of the three countries will attend the meeting in Istanbul, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.

“International security issues will be on the agenda,” the source said, with discussions expected to cover enhancing defense capabilities, greater interoperability among their armed forces and deepening cooperation in the defense industry, including joint production and development.

Shared concerns over Iran, Israel

The three nations share concerns about the military stances of Israel and revolutionary Shi’ite Iran, as long-time ally the US struggles to contain regional upheaval that has caused a global energy crisis.

Six months after the US and Israel launched the war against Iran, negotiations are at an impasse, and US President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to punish Iran financially with what it has billed as an “economic D-Day.”

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest military, has said the pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion – with Egypt as a potential candidate – and did not seek to replace existing alliances.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

“Durban was the restarting of the Zionism is Racism campaign. It was the blueprint for accusing Israel of genocide and starvation and war crimes,” Gerald Steinberg, founder and president of NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Monday marks 25 years since the “Durban” Conference, officially the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in South Africa from August 31 to September 8, 2001.

Over 12,000 representatives came together to forge a common strategy against discrimination.

However, ironically, the conference has become synonymous with discrimination of the anti-Zionist kind, and is considered by many the birthplace of modern anti-Israel rhetoric.

Preceding the conference was the NGO Forum, which had over 7,000 participants gather to create a pre-planned and coordinated anti-Israel strategy. It was here that the intentional use of words such as “genocide,” “war crimes,” and “apartheid” entered the scene.

UN Resolution 3379 equated Zionism with racism

Six months before Durban, a preparatory conference had taken place in Tehran, although the Islamic Republic of Iran had refused to grant permission to Israeli and Jewish organizations.

In their absence, the delegates drafted a summary document accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” of implementing “a new kind of apartheid” and “a crime against humanity,” and saying Zionism was “based on race superiority” – a document that formed the basis for the NGO declaration at the main conference in Durban.

Ahead of Durban, Secretary of State Colin Powell warned the UN officials that the US would not participate if the agenda was used to restart the Zionism is racism campaign.

The UN high commissioner at the time, Mary Robinson, promised them that this would not happen, but when they arrived, they found no change. The US and Israel ultimately walked out of the conference.

The final NGO declaration called for the restoration of UN Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism and demanded the application of all measures used against apartheid South Africa to Israel.

Steinberg told the Post that Durban was the restarting of the Zionism is Racism campaign that had been run 26 years earlier in 1975 by the Soviet Union and the Arab League.

The language itself can actually be traced back to 1948, and the use of the term Nakba and “Israel is doing to the Palestinians what Germans did to the Jews.” However, this did not gain so much traction outside of Palestinian spheres.

The difference at Durban, Steinberg continued, was that it became legitimate, mostly due to the commandeering of non-governmental organizations under the label of human rights.

“And that has been the engine that has driven the demonization of Israel and language like genocide, starvation, deliberate killing of children, war crimes,” Steinberg told the Post.

Steinberg said the specific strategies developed during Durban have been refined and expanded over the last 25 years, and that NGOs keep coming back to the same language and the same processes that were first used at Durban.

“At the Durban NGO forum there was no debate – they adopted a plan of action naming Israel specifically and repeatedly as a genocidal state, committing war crimes, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and then they established mechanisms for the complete isolation of Israel. Nothing there was incidental or accidental.”

Durban is also where the BDS movement began, and where the International Criminal Court was chosen as the appropriate body to label Israel as the “world’s biggest violator of international law,” Steinberg continued.

Implementation of strategy

Steinberg said the first time NGOs rolled out the new strategy was six months after the Durban conference with the Jenin Massacre myth.

In April 2002, multiple international media outlets and NGOs spread unverified claims that the Israeli military deliberately killed hundreds of civilians during the Battle of Jenin. Rumors claimed 500 people had been massacred and buried in mass graves.

Amnesty International and Christian Aid were instrumental in spreading the rumor.

However, subsequent investigations by human rights organizations (including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International) found no evidence of a massacre.

“It was obviously a lie, but it got a lot of traction. Journalists picked it up. NGOs spoke of Israeli war crimes, and they repeated that all the way through the last 25 years,” said Steinberg.

“Durban was a blueprint which went beyond calling Zionism racism, but added genocide, starvation, war crimes, and all those other elements.”

The same thing has happened time and time again, he continued.

“Every single time there was a military clash or a terrorist clash, and Israel responded – the 2006 Lebanon war, the 2008-2009 first Gaza war, Operation Cast Lead, the Goldstone Report, Operation Protective Edge – all those mechanisms were trotted out.

“The condemnation of Israel, the fact-finding commissions, the NGO reports, social media.

“Then, when October 7 started, they had already practiced all of the elements of the Durban strategy. It just exploded in a much greater magnitude, but it was all there in all of the years before.”

Launching NGO Monitor

In response to what he was seeing and the bastardization of the role of NGOs, Steinberg launched NGO Monitor.

“Having watched this process take place and expressing my concerns and seeing the amount of power and influence of NGOs, and how the UN went along with it, I thought I could do a project and document the political role of NGOs, and particularly the manipulation of the language of human rights and the mechanisms of human rights,” he told the Post.

“I thought, ‘I can do that for a few years as an academic, write a couple of articles, maybe a book, and have some graduate students.’

“It was supposed to be a three-year project at a university, and it turned into NGO Monitor, because the deeper that I dug in understanding the NGO industry, and I began to see it as an industry, the more I realized how much power and influence they have, and how little attention was being paid.

“There are huge amounts of money going into these organizations which have no accountability, no democratic frameworks; all of their decisions are made in secret, behind closed doors.”

Antisemitism at Durban

Another key part of the Durban conference, aside from the targeting of Israel, was the shocking and overt displays of antisemitism.

At the forum, NGOs sold copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Pamphlets were also distributed showing Hitler’s photograph with text reading: “What if I had won? The good thing is there would have been no Israel and no Palestinian’s [sic] bloodshed.”

There were multiple reported examples of Holocaust revisionism and Jewish members being told: “Blood was on their hands.”

Holocaust survivor and US Congressman Tom Lantos called the Durban Conference “the most sickening display of hate for Jews I have seen since the Nazi period.”

Former minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada Irwin Cotler said, “If 9/11 was the Kristallnacht of terror, then Durban was the Mein Kampf.”

There was one notable outcome of this Jew-hatred: the gradual writing of what’s now called the Working Definition of Antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

In the immediate aftermath of Durban, Steinberg said many Jewish leaders came together and discussed the urgency of developing a modern definition of antisemitism to reflect what they saw at the forum.

The definition was first published in 2005 by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia. It was then officially adopted by the IHRA in 2016.

This post was originally published on here. 

Wanted: leaders for a country of 10 million. Requirements include leading by example, taking responsibility, representing everyone, including those who voted against you, and describing what you are building, not who you are fighting. Must inspire trust. Must make a path for new leadership. Willingness to make difficult decisions is a plus. Humility and empathy preferred. Courage required.

Sound reasonable? It should. Twenty of us wrote this list at the start of the Argov honors program in leadership and diplomacy at Reichman University. Our program head asked one question: What do we expect from our country’s leaders? She hoped the exercise might become an op-ed. It took a year. You are reading it.

We started the exercise a few weeks after the last living hostages came home. The Israel-Hamas War was not over, and some of us were still serving or waiting to hear about reserve duty. But the weight had lifted just enough to ask what comes next. And if we are being honest, the assignment seemed a little ambitious. Twenty students, 20 opinions, one op-ed? Good luck. 

Somehow, the foundations practically settled themselves. Most Israelis, we suspect, are like this, too. From any camp, who would actually cross out “take responsibility”? Or “put your country before your personal interests”? We agree on the job description. Our politics rarely rewards it.

“Take responsibility” means exactly what it says. Blame is everywhere in our public life. Ownership is almost nowhere. A leader who cannot say “I failed, and here is what I will do about it” should not ask a 19-year-old to cross a border fence.

“Serve everyone” means the campaign ends when the counting does. Once elected, you represent the people who voted against you and the ones who protest outside your window. A government that treats half the country as an internal enemy is at war with its own reserves.

“A positive vision” means telling us what you are for. Every party in Israel can recite what it is against. Few can describe the Israel of 2026 that they want to build – one where war is no longer the organizing principle of its politics. Fear may mobilize voters, but it does not lower the cost of living or fix a broken education system.

“Compromise” means courage, of a specific kind. The test of leadership is the willingness to make decisions your own supporters might not all like, and to stand in front of them and explain why.

“Make room for the next leaders” means treating succession as a duty. A generation that refuses to prepare its successors, then wonders why talented young people build start-ups instead of parties, has answered its own question.

Roles of leadership

WHY DOES a job this reasonable attract so few good applicants? Everything around it warns them away. The loudest voices drown out a quiet majority, and the media business model rewards the split. And people are tired – five national elections in four years, then years of war and reserve duty. A tired public stops demanding, and a politics that benefits from exhaustion has every reason to keep the public exhausted.

We know how a job posting written by students reads. Easy to write, brutal to live. We are not claiming to speak for everyone our age, but this generation has a particular experience of war, service, and political instability, and with it a particular stake in what leadership demands.

Over the past year we took courses on diplomacy and public speaking, great power competition, entrepreneurship, and the future of technology. We met politicians, officers, founders, educators, and diplomats. The lessons accumulated on their own: leadership comes in many shapes and sizes, and Israel can be served from almost any of them.

But the list from that first exercise never changed. It held in every room we entered, in Israel, the US, or Taiwan, which convinced us of its claim on the one room it was written for.

It also convinced us of its claim on us. We cannot demand a political culture we refuse to practice. If we want leaders who listen to people who disagree with them, we must keep doing it ourselves. If we want leaders who put the country before their personal interests, then some of us might eventually have to make that trade too.

On October 27, thousands of young Israelis who saw battle before they ever saw a ballot will choose the leaders who send them. Our generation proudly gave what the moment asked of us. But we do not need gratitude. We are owed a standard. Demanding it is a right we have earned and an obligation we intend to keep on election day and beyond.

Our program head spent the year believing in us more than we believed in ourselves. She has a dream we all know about: that one day there will be an Argov party in the Knesset. And no, this is not an announcement of one. Although, in fairness, she does tend to be right. 

We will all be building the country from different rooms. But the posting is public now, and the requirements are too. The country is hiring. And whoever applies should know that a generation with every reason to be tired has decided to keep demanding anyway.

The writers are the 2026 class of the Argov honors program in leadership and diplomacy at Reichman University.

This post was originally published on here. 

The family of Haymanot Kasau, who disappeared in Safed at age nine in 2024 and has been missing for more than 900 days, issued a statement on Sunday calling on Israeli children to attend the first day of school on September 1 with a red balloon, the international symbol for kidnapped children. 

“The first day of school is always exciting,” Haymanot’s father Tesfaye Kasau said. “It’s a happy day. For us, it’s another hard day. Haymanot enjoys learning. She’s a smart girl. But Haymanot isn’t starting sixth grade as she was supposed to.”

On Sunday, artists and public figures, including Israel’s National Student and Youth Council, began posting the red balloons on social media, according to a statement from the campaign headquarters seeking Haymanot’s return home. These posts call on students, school principals and administrators to keep Haymanot’s kidnapping in the public eye.

Shin Bet involved in search for missing child Haymanut Kasau, Herzog says

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) is involved in the search for her, President Isaac Herzog said on Tuesday during a meeting with the Kasau family.

“The Shin Bet is involved in the case and is fully committed to contributing in every way to locating Haymanut,” Herzog said.

“I thank the Israel Police for making a huge effort together with the Shin Bet and hope that we will receive good news,” he added.

Herzog told the family that he was informed of the Shin Bet’s involvement during a conversation with Shin Bet chief David Zini.

The announcement follows the family’s written appeal to Zini on Monday, asking him to get involved in the investigation.

Aaron Glick and Batya Giladi contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

A doctor working in Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) has denied posting social media content supporting Hamas during a court appearance at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, on Friday.

According to local news outlets, Dr. Rahmeh Aladwan, 32, pleaded not guilty to four counts of expressing support for a proscribed organization.

She also denied one count of stirring up racial hatred in written material and a further count of using words that were threatening or abusive.

According to the charge sheet, the disputed social media posts were published between July and December last year.

The court previously heard that Aladwan allegedly wrote, “I don’t condemn Hamas. I don’t condemn October 7,” alongside “I condemn the existence of Israel” in a post in July.

‘Free thr world from Jewish supremacy,’ ‘Glory to the Palestinian resistance’

Further charges allege that in December last year, she posted, “Free the world from Jewish supremacy.”

The court was also previously told that around the anniversary of the October 7 attack, she allegedly posted an image of a bulldozer accompanied by text reading, “Glory to the Palestinian resistance.”

Aladwan was arrested at her home in Pilning, South Gloucestershire, and formally charged with the six offenses in March. Appearing via video link for Friday’s hearing, she entered her not-guilty pleas before the court.

The defendant was granted continued bail and will face trial at Bristol Crown Court beginning in March next year.

The criminal prosecution follows a series of disciplinary actions initiated against Aladwan by British medical regulators.

In November 2025, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service suspended her medical license for 15 months after concluding that her online conduct fell well below professional standards. During the tribunal proceedings,

General Medical Council proceedings detailed that Aladwan had published material promoting antisemitic tropes, justifying terrorism, and targeting colleagues, following formal complaints and evidence packages submitted by advocacy groups including UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) and the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) that raised alarms over patient safety and workplace inclusion.

UKLFI submitted evidence packages regarding Aladwan’s social media posts to the General Medical Council, which prompted her regulatory referral and subsequent 15-month suspension starting in November 2025 pending a full hearing.

Social media posts repeatedly crossed into terror support, antisemitism

Detailing their intervention, UKLFI shared a statement with The Jerusalem Post: “Our report detailed multiple instances where her public social media posts appeared to cross the line from political expression into unlawful support for terrorism or antisemitism.

“She repeatedly posted narratives framing the events of October 7, 2023, as acts of ‘resistance,’ arguing that the conflict did not start on that date and that all Israelis were complicit settlers, effectively attempting to justify Hamas’s massacres.

“She also aggressively denied and minimized the verified atrocities, systematic rapes, and hostage-taking committed by Hamas. Her posts appeared to defend and support the terrorist group’s propaganda.”

The statement continued, noting that she “spread harmful conspiracy theories, promoting debunked claims such as that Israel funded ISIS and that the Israeli military targeted its own citizens at the Nova music festival.

“She also published posts comparing Israeli actions to Nazi crimes and the Holocaust, which would likely stir up racial and religious hatred.”

Concluding their assessment, UKLFI noted, “We believed at the time, and continue to believe, that such conduct fundamentally undermines public confidence in the medical profession and violates the professional duties expected of registered doctors.

“Dr. Aladwan is one of a number of doctors in the UK who are being investigated by their regulator for similar conduct.”

Reacting to the court proceedings, Stephen Silverman, director of Investigations and Enforcement at the CAA, said in a statement to the Post, “It’s about time this doctor was in the dock.

“Far from being an isolated case, these sentiments and rhetoric are at risk of becoming normalized in our healthcare system. Part of the reason is the lack of repercussions.”

“A tribunal was happy for this doctor to keep working while her regulator investigated her, only to reverse its decision after pressure, including by us,” Silverman added.

“Meanwhile, the investigation itself has been ongoing for years now, and she is now in court on terrorism charges.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg: there are many more practitioners under investigation that go on forever by regulators that are plainly failing to uphold professional standards in our hospitals.”

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US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday that NBC’s Kristen Welker will be reported to the Federal Communications Commission for “rebuke or punishment,” after he said she reported the Republican president had mixed results in his endorsement of candidates.

“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei stand at 100% for the US Senate, and 98% for the US House,” Trump wrote.

“Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment. Unfortunately, she is not the only one,” Trump added in the post.

NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump accused of weaponizing FCC against media outlets

Trump’s comments are the latest in a series of attacks he has leveled on the news media. He ‌has repeatedly urged broadcasters to drop comedy or news programs he dislikes or which have been critical of him or his administration.

ABC and its parent company Disney sued the FCC earlier this month to block an early ​review of licenses for eight ABC stations, arguing that the Trump administration is trying to punish the network over its broadcast content. Trump has pressed the FCC on numerous occasions to revoke ABC’s licenses.

The FCC is also investigating NBC-parent Comcast’s relationships with its local broadcast TV affiliates, the latest in a series of probes into major US broadcasters, which have broad free speech rights under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.

Broadcast stations need FCC licenses to use public airwaves. While license revocations are extremely rare, critics say the threat of losing a license can pressure broadcasters and raise concerns about government interference in editorial and programming decisions.

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Brad Lander, the Jewish progressive Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives in New York’s 10th Congressional District, was targeted with insults and calls to leave over allegations of being a Zionist while attending a protest outside Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

“You look like a scrotum, you filthy ballsack!” one protester shouted at him. “F*** you, ballsack Zionist!”

He was further accused of being “another paid Zionist” and was told to “get out of here.”

The confrontation took place during a protest against an event organized by the Hindu nationalist RSS movement. Lander attempted to explain to protesters that he had come to join their cause, but some made clear that, in their view, there was no place at the demonstration for a Zionist, even one who opposes the policies of the Israeli government.

The confrontation was particularly notable given Lander’s own views on Israel. Over the past year, he has become one of the most prominent Jewish critics of Israel within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He has described the war in Gaza as “genocide,” called for an end to “American complicity” in the conflict, and said he would not support additional military aid to Israel at the time.

Despite those positions, Lander continues to describe himself as a “liberal Zionist.” He supports Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state and opposes the boycott movement against Israel.

Lander tried to explain his position during the confrontation. “I am Brad Lander, the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 10th District, and I came here today to join others and say no to RSS,” he said.

Lander criticizes Madison Square Garden for hosting ‘fascist and hateful rally’

He criticized Madison Square Garden for hosting what he described as a “fascist and hateful rally,” comparing the decision to host the event to the infamous pro-Nazi rally held at the venue in 1939.

Not all protesters joined the confrontation. Several attempted to intervene between Lander and those confronting him, urging them to stop. “Brad, please, we are all here for the same cause,” one protester said, while another told Lander that they were trying to protect him.

Lander said he understood their efforts to help him, but he would not accept the demands. “They are making it very difficult for me to leave. They have no right to tell me where to stand.”

Lander, a former New York City comptroller, defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in the June Democratic primary, winning 66% to 34%. Goldman is considered one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent supporters of Israel. Lander received the active backing of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who during the campaign criticized Goldman, among other issues, for supporting military aid to Israel.

Hindu nationalist movement RSS accused of incitement against minorities

The Madison Square Garden event drew thousands of attendees, with RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat serving as the keynote speaker. The Hindu nationalist movement is considered the ideological home of India’s ruling BJP party. Critics accuse the group of extreme nationalism and incitement against minorities, allegations the movement rejects.

The confrontation with Lander highlights growing tensions within the progressive movement over Israel. Even a Jewish politician who adopted much of the left’s harsh criticism of the Gaza war arrived to protest alongside progressive activists and called for a “free Palestine,” yet was still targeted with insults solely because he continues to define himself as a Zionist.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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Google Maps has changed the name of “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” for US users to reflect US President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the lake, according to a Google statement.

Trump announced on Thursday that he was changing the name of the smallest of the five Great Lakes, part of an escalating trade feud with Canada that has prompted the two countries to impose reciprocal tariffs on billions of dollars in goods.

The president’s order affects the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which sets the standards for official US maps. It does not have any impact on Canadian naming conventions or how the rest of the world refers to the lake.

Canadian users will continue to see lake labeled as ‘Lake Ontario’

“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the US, people using Maps in the US will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the US and Canada will see both names,” Google said in a blog post issued on Saturday.

The White House, Carney’s office and Ford’s office did not immediately comment on Sunday on Google’s decision.

Google Maps made a similar change to the Gulf of Mexico last year, labeling it the “Gulf of America” following Trump’s executive order on his first day in office renaming the body of water.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney immediately rejected the lake’s name change on Thursday. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul of New York, which shares a long border with Canada, declared that “New York won’t be calling it that,” while Phil Scott, the Republican governor of neighboring Vermont, called Trump’s decision “petty and disappointing” on social media.

The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, on Saturday unveiled a large lakeside sign that reads, “Lake Ontario: Now and Always,” in both English and French.

“President Trump can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you, the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario,” Ford said.

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The United Arab Emirates’ recent investment push in Lebanon will help incentivize Beirut to “steer away from” Iranian and Hezbollah influence, Dr. Ahmed Alkhuzaie, a Middle Eastern political analyst, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

The UAE’s Foreign Trade Minister, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, led a delegation of more than 80 prominent figures to Lebanon last week, where an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding was signed to strengthen bilateral relations, the two countries’ foreign ministries confirmed. During the high-profile visit, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Zeyoudi reportedly focused on advancing bilateral economic cooperation, with plans for the UAE to expand trade and investment in Lebanon’s private sector.

The countries signed the intergovernmental memorandum of understanding on Thursday, following the opening of the Lebanon-UAE Economic Forum on Wednesday, where five additional agreements were also initialed.

“Lebanon is pursuing a new phase of economic renewal, and the UAE stands ready to be a partner in that journey,” Zeyoudi said. “By strengthening trade flows, encouraging investment partnerships and formalizing channels of business-to-business engagement, we are beginning a new chapter in bilateral relations and building a solid foundation for sustainable growth that will benefit both nations.”

Though the countries already enjoy a degree of economic cooperation, with non-oil trade reaching $4.2 billion in 2025, a 35.6% increase compared to 2024, the timing of the agreement is significant as it comes at a key juncture for Beirut.

Trade, investment expansion encourages Lebanon to seek alternatives to Iran

Having been dragged into multiple wars by Iran-backed Hezbollah, an expansion of trade and investment while Lebanon is still rebuilding after the latest conflict could help encourage Beirut to continue to seek alternatives to Iranian support.

“Security and investment go hand in hand, but as long as there is will and genuine intent, challenges will not be an obstacle,” Aoun told Zeyoud, according to the UAE’s Foreign Ministry.

Notably, the UAE recently cut financial ties with Iran, ending all trade, commerce and money transfers with Tehran in response to months of aerial attacks launched by Iran against the UAE.

“It is a good incentive for the Lebanese government, as well as a good drive for them to steer away from Iran’s and Hezbollah’s influence and work on the disarmament process,” Alkhuzaie told the Post. “If it’s part of a new strategy, or a continuation of an existing one that will make things faster, then it makes total sense on both the economic and political sides.”

Security concerns behind UAE investment push

Members of the delegation have also told international media that security concerns were among the factors behind the investment push.

Mohamed Yusuf Adam, vice president of the National Pulse investment conglomerate in the UAE and a member of the delegation, told The National that business leaders were encouraged “to focus on the economic aspects, to focus on improving the situation more than focusing on waiting until the crisis is resolved or waiting on other ideas.”

Members of the economic forum also told the site that they were reassured by the fact that Beirut had “regained its sovereignty” by banning Hezbollah from holding arms.

Though Alkhuzaie stressed that Israel had not been striking areas likely to be of interest to UAE investors, he acknowledged that fewer or no Israeli attacks would help safeguard investments in the short term. In the long term, he continued, Iran would also face greater difficulty rebuilding its influence in Lebanon if the country becomes more economically integrated with the Gulf state repeatedly attacked by Iran.

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Another Muslim country is receiving the legacy of a previous Israeli aircraft project as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructs the defense establishment to prepare for the development of a new Israeli fighter jet in an effort to maintain Israel’s defense independence.

A video broadcast on Uzbek television confirmed that Uzbekistan will become the second customer of China’s J-10C fighter jet, after Pakistan became the first country to purchase the aircraft.

Uzbekistan has officially inducted J-10C 4.5 Gen aircraft into its Air Force. Previously some new export units were seen flying over China and now they’ve been handed over to Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 chose a best possible option available, especially after its combat success… pic.twitter.com/76Jm5vkRWB

— AM Raad (@Raad_Pak) August 29, 2026

The J-10 bears a strong resemblance to Israel’s Lavi fighter jet, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), whose production was canceled after a government decision in 1988.

According to foreign reports, China later bought the Lavi’s plans to accelerate the development of a domestically produced fourth-generation fighter jet and modernize its air force. The funds China paid helped cover the costs of ending the project in Israel.

The Chinese fighter has already been used in combat, participating in aerial clashes between Pakistan and India last year. The aircraft was reportedly used to shoot down Indian Air Force Rafale fighter jets while carrying the advanced PL-15 radar-guided missile.

Uzbekistan’s order reflects increasing Chinese influence in Central Asia

Uzbekistan has ordered 24 J-10 aircraft in the export configuration, a move that reflects China’s growing influence in Central Asia, where countries were previously under Russian influence.

The aircraft, which originated in Lod, is now serving a second Muslim country, although one that maintains diplomatic relations with Israel.

According to assessments, Muslim-majority Bangladesh could also become the next customer for the J-10. The aircraft is cheaper than the American F-16 and is marketed to countries that are not interested in purchasing US-made fighter jets.

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A new study claims that individuals possessing higher levels of the personality trait openness are less prone to antisemitic attitudes, and that this relationship is partially mediated by interpersonal contact with Jewish individuals, according to research published in the August volume of Personality and Individual Differences. 

Talia Morstead and Anita DeLongis from the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia conducted the study. The researchers set out to explore the psychosocial mechanisms underlying antisemitic attitudes, noting that “antisemitism is an enduring phenomenon with parallels to other forms of prejudice yet demonstrates a distinctive capacity to adapt in rhetorical form to the prevailing sociocultural context.” 

According to the authors, while previous literature has established a clear link between personality traits and prejudice, “compared to work examining effects of intergroup contact, the role that individual differences play in the propensity to seek out contact is underexamined.”

The study was prompted by the need to identify “potential intervention targets that are contextually enduring and less tied to the prevailing sociocultural climate,” particularly in the context where “recent years have witnessed surges in antisemitic incidents across Western democracies.”

To test their hypotheses, the researchers utilized data from non-Jewish individuals collected as part of the Understanding America Study, which is an internet-based probability panel study administered by the Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California. The analyzed dataset included 1442 non-Jewish participants from a nationally representative sample of Americans. 

Interpersonal contact accounts for 25% of effect between openness, antisemitism

Openness was assessed using 10 items from the Big Five Inventory, while antisemitic attitudes were measured using an 11-item scale developed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to “quantify global acceptance of antisemitism.”

Interpersonal contact with Jewish individuals was measured by asking participants how often they interact with Jewish people, with responses coded on a scale from one to six.  

The researchers performed causal mediation analyses while controlling for demographic covariates including age, gender, political orientation, education, and household income. According to the results, openness positively predicted Jewish contact and negatively predicted antisemitic attitudes.

The mediation analysis indicated that interpersonal contact with Jewish individuals partially mediated the relationship between openness and antisemitic attitudes, accounting for “approximately 25% of the total effect.”

Additional pathways for antisemitism exist independent of contact with Jews

The authors noted that a significant direct effect of openness on antisemitic attitudes remained even when controlling for Jewish contact, pointing to “additional pathways beyond interpersonal contact through which openness might contribute to reduced antisemitic attitudes.” 

In their discussion specifically addressing the challenge of fighting antisemitism, the authors note that because antisemitism features a “uniquely conspiratorial nature” that makes it “often resistant to change through educational interventions or appeals to reason,” behavioral approaches are vital.

They highlight that “interpersonal contact predicted reduced antisemitic attitudes,” which “highlights the potential value of behavioral intervention approaches” as alternatives or complements to traditional education. 

Furthermore, the researchers point out that contact interventions have “proven effective in reducing endorsement of antisemitic conspiracies.” However, the authors also acknowledge methodological limitations, including the cross-sectional nature of the data, which “precludes examination of causality, including whether the assumptions of temporal ordering hold.”

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The Tell Qana Archaeological Project is about more than archaeology and excavations, Excavation Directors Dr. Amit Dagan and Dr. Ayelet Dayan told The Jerusalem Post, sitting in the sparse shade available at the site. 

Dagan oversees the excavations on behalf of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, while Dayan does the same on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

“When I started this project, it was very important to me to create a different kind of archaeological project,” he said. “I wanted to build a project that would combine advanced archaeological and environmental research with education and community engagement.”

A five-minute walk from the Hod Hasharon Ecological Park, the first thing one notices about Tell Qana is the noise. Above the rhythmic thudding of pickaxes and the scraping of tools over stone are light-hearted conversations in Hebrew and English, ribbing and joking that is unexpected in near 40℃ heat.

The Post joined the Tell Qana team for a day of digging as the site’s third excavation season nears its end, arriving in time to sit down for breakfast and introductions.

“You know, you work for an hour or two; it’s very hard soil, very hot. You really need to be into it, to love it,” Dagan said. “Either you love it, or you don’t. There’s no middle.”

Crowded around three long tables was the excavation’s team, sitting alongside university students and other volunteers from the Israeli public, including several children, who decided to don a hat and gloves and spend a day under the August sun digging through the soil of the region’s history.

Isabel Andrade, an Egyptologist and historian from Spain who volunteers at Luxor during the winter, told the Post that there is no comparison between digging in the sands of Egypt and the hard mud of Tell Qana.

“This is a great team. It’s like a family. Since I [started in Tell Qana] last year, I want to come every year,” Andrade said, explaining that the site piqued her interest due to the ancient historical connection to Egypt. “I’m glad to be here. It’s a privilege.”

Choosing Tell Qana as his first project as an excavation director was deliberate, Dagan said. Unlike other archaeological sites sitting along the Yarkon River in the Sharon region, it had not yet been excavated. 

“I first came to Tell Qana on my own,” he said. “It was completely overgrown with reeds, but as I walked across the tell, I kept finding pottery sherds on the surface. At some point, I just sat down, looked around, and thought: this is the place.” 

After conducting a field survey of the area in 2022 to get a glimpse of the different eras buried at the site, Dagan began planning the excavation. 

But now, three seasons in, “the results are fascinating,” said Dagan. He added that the findings are even more intriguing since everything done at the site marks the first research conducted at the site since it was last inhabited in antiquity.

Over 200 years of Philistine presence revealed

While the initial field survey and the first two seasons at the site unearthed artifacts dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Persian period, this third season revealed evidence of over 200 years of ongoing Philistine presence.

Egyptian and Assyrian artifacts have also been unearthed at the site, Dagan told the Post, the most recent of which was an ancient Egyptian scarab found last Friday.

“At the same site you can find Hellenistic sling stones, Scythian arrowheads from the Persian period,” he said. “You can also find a Scottish pocket knife from World War I, everything in the same site in the center of Israel, and nobody knew about the site’s archaeological potential. It’s like it waited for us.”

But antiquity is not the only history Tell Qana offers its visitors. 

Using historical and ancient maps alongside modern technology, the Tell Qana team located WWI trenches dug by the Ottomans, determined to hold the line against the British. Bullets, cartridges, and buttons belonging to British soldiers were dug from the earth, cataloged, and recorded.

“We found a pocket knife from Edinburgh [that probably belonged to] a Scottish soldier, and later we learned that the Scottish 52nd Lowland Infantry Division had fought here,” Dagan told the Post. “You can really see it. That Scottish soldier, you know, maybe he left, maybe something happened to him, maybe not, but you find [their knife] here at the site. It’s really emotional.”

Halfway through the day, excavations were called to pause. Trowels, hoes, and wheelbarrows were set down as the group stepped back into the shade for a moment to breathe and share chilled watermelon, carefully cut by one of the volunteers. 

“Food,” Dagan explained with a smile. “It’s part of the deal here.”

The camaraderie among the Tell Qana team was a joy to watch: a community of people from all walks of life piecing itself together as they work to piece together a much older, ancient community. 

Biblical scholar and archaeologist Dr. Ahuva Ho, who has been digging alongside Dagan for over two decades, echoed the sentiment to the Post. 

“Wherever he [Dagan] goes, I go,” she said, explaining that her ties to Tell Qana go past her profession as an archaeologist. “You can’t [abstractly] talk about the history of someone, the Persian history, the Philistine history. They are part of my history, and that’s why I’m here. I’m part of that.”

Healing through restoration

Beyond the excavation itself, the Tell Qana Archaeological Project includes two additional components: a Citizen Science project and the Lab for Mending Fragments initiative.

The Citizen Science project, which integrates members of the public who have the interest and desire to contribute meaningfully to archaeological research, includes an initiative bringing individuals who are on the autism spectrum to work in the archaeology lab.

The Lab for Mending Fragments, carried out in collaboration with Dr. Ayelet Oreg from Bar-Ilan University’s Louis & Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, has worked with soldiers with PTSD, the AMCHA- Holocaust Survivor Program, as well as midwives who specialize in stillbirth care, using archaeology as a tool for healing and restoration. 

“The act of healing and restoring the remains or belongings of someone else has the ability to open people up and help them start the path to healing, and that’s basically what this place is about, healing,” Dagan told the Post.

“At the end of the day, I always tell my students, people die twice: when they die and when people forget about them,” he shared. “Our job is to tell the story of these people, because we are here and we can learn a lot from them.”

“That’s what we do, we tell their story, and I hope that one day someone will tell our story.”

More information on the Tell Qana Archaeological Project and its additional initiatives is available here.

The excavations at Tell Qana are conducted by The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority. 

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On Saturday mornings in the 1960s and ’70s, instead of going to synagogue, I watched cartoons.

Like millions of other American kids, I binged on Fat Albert, The Pink Panther Show, and H.R. Pufnstuf, while absorbing endless commercial breaks for games, action figures, model kits, and other marvels that might, if I played my cards right, be mine on Hanukkah.

But even if my family didn’t spend Saturdays in shul, kids’ television immersed me in an unspoken Jewish culture, as Michael Kimmel explains in his new book Toymakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America.

It’s a study of the mostly first-generation American Jews who led the toy industry in the 20th century, as well as the Jewish child psychologists, children’s book authors and comic book creators who, he asserts convincingly, invented the American idea of childhood. 

“They created the childhood that they themselves never had,” Kimmel told me in a recent public conversation, part of “250 Years of American Jewish Life in America,” an online project of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and 70 Faces Media, JTA’s parent company.

Founders of many iconic brands have Jewish roots

The founders of iconic brands such as Ideal, Mattel, Marx, Hasbro, Kenner, Wham-O, and Madame Alexander dolls shared roots in Yiddish-speaking Europe, and childhoods as the sons and daughters of immigrants. 

“They were born in poverty on the Lower East Side, and you have all these stories of the scraps that they picked up off the street that they made into things,” said Kimmel. “They had these ideas that children were basically curious and creative, and that they should be nurtured.” 

And commodified. Shut out of establishment industries and professions, Jewish entrepreneurs thrived in niches of their own making, capitalizing on and helping propel the consumer culture that exploded after World War I. German Jews ran some of the largest department stores, including Macy’s, Abraham & Straus, and Gimbels, and Eastern European newcomers became the manufacturers, distributors, and sales force that stocked their shelves with dolls, games, and gadgets.

The list of classic toys and Jews who developed them is almost comically long: Barbie (Ruth Handler), Lionel trains (Lionel Cowan), Mr. Potato Head (George Lerner), Yakity-Yak chattering teeth (Eddy Goldfarb), the pogo stick (George Hansburg), the Hula Hoop (Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr), GI Joe (Larry Reiner) and Play-Doh and the Easy-Bake Oven (the Steiner brothers: Albert, Philip and Joseph). 

Kimmel, a sociologist and retired professor at Stony Brook University, began the project as a family story. His great-great-uncle Morris Michtom, an immigrant from what is now Belarus, founded what would become the Ideal Toy Corporation with his wife, Rose. Michtom had studied to become a rabbi before fleeing conscription in the Russian army. In Brooklyn, he and Rose opened a candy store and, after spotting a newspaper cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear, began making plush bear cubs.

They called it “Teddy’s bear,” and it became a sensation.

That story, Kimmel says, led him down a rabbit hole. What he found was startling: Virtually every major American toy company at the turn of the 20th century, with a few exceptions, had been founded by first-generation Jews.

But Kimmel’s argument isn’t simply that Jews were good at selling toys. They helped invent the material culture of American childhood.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the prevailing wisdom about raising children could be remarkably grim. One early child-rearing manual, Emmett Holt’s The Care and Feeding of Children, advised parents to spank a crying baby. John Watson, the influential psychologist, advised parents not to hug or kiss their children.

And yet with industrialization and urbanization, and the rise of household incomes, the 20th century would become what the Swedish writer Ellen Key called the “century of the child.” Compulsory education was expanding. Child labor was being abolished. Adolescence was being defined as a distinct stage of life. And new ideas about child development were taking hold.

To this changing landscape came waves of Jewish immigrants, with their own ideas about childhood.

Children, as Kimmel describes this immigrant ethos, were curious and creative. Childhood was a distinct phase of life, not just nascent adulthood. Children’s imaginations and intellect should be nurtured rather than broken. The same immigrant culture also prized education, argument, ingenuity and, out of necessity, the ability to make something out of nothing.

The Jewish entrepreneurs not only benefited from such views of childhood, but understood how to turn them into a business model. They were also pushed toward these new industries by a less uplifting force: antisemitism.

Kimmel said that many comic-book artists originally wanted to work in advertising, but advertising agencies in the 1930s and ’40s were notoriously hostile to Jews. Like toymaking, comic books became a Jewish industry. Underpaid Jewish artists and writers – including Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Will Eisner, Stan Lee and Lily Renée – dreamed up Superman, Betty Boop, the Spirit, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Spider-Man and The Thing, among dozens of others, often giving these superheroes and comic characters coded or actual Jewish backstories.   

The same pattern appears in children’s literature. Kimmel counts 42 titles on the New York Public Library’s list of the 100 most important children’s books of the 20th century that were written by first-generation Jews, including Sydney Taylor, Maurice Sendak, Jack Ezra Keats, Jules Feiffer, Esphyr Slobodkina and Norman Juster.

The Jewish contribution extends to the people who studied children. Kimmel points to a pantheon of Jewish developmental psychologists and physicians  – Erik Erikson, Abraham Maslow, Carol Gilligan, Richard Ferber and others – who helped define our modern understanding of childhood.

There was a Jewish element to this, Kimmel argues, but also a distinctly American one: assimilation.

The immigrant entrepreneurs often offered their families and young customers an idealized vision of American life. Ideal Toy founder Morris Michtom named his son Benjamin Franklin Michtom, a name that could hardly announce his American ambitions more clearly.

The irony is that in making an American childhood, Jewish creators were also injecting Jewish sensibility into the mainstream.

That sensibility could be playful, irreverent, and suspicious of authority. It could be clever and self-mocking. It could turn a Yiddish joke into a mass-market product, like the Shmoo, a character in Al Capp’s wildly popular comic strip Li’l Abner. Capp (born Alfred Gerald Caplin) drew bowling pin-shaped creatures who happily fulfill whatever humans wish for – one part golem, one part manna in the desert. “Within a year of inception,” writes Kimmel, “seventy-five manufacturers had issued more than one hundred Shmoo-related products.”

But the Jewish contribution to childhood wasn’t always benign.

Toy industry engaged the imagination, but reinforced stereotypes

The toy industry reinforced stereotypes, especially notions of gender. An effort to market a Black baby doll stalled after Ideal declined to put its marketing muscle behind it. And Kimmel readily acknowledges that marketing to children often encouraged “materialism in its worst form,” as Dorothy Singer, a child therapist, told a House committee on children’s television in 1985. With television, toy companies could advertise directly to children rather than to parents. Children became the sales force, pestering their parents for the latest product.

“It’s the seamier side of the things that you create,” said Kimmel. “We created, through television advertising, a generation of people who were consumers. There’s always that critique of television that it made us more passive, and when we were active, we were consuming.”

And yet, he insists, that same culture also made us curious, playful, and clever. Many toys genuinely engaged the imagination. Games taught cooperation and strategy. And some of the books and comics that came through this consumer culture opened doors to something deeper.

Kimmel said he was turned on to literature at age 8 by reading the Classics Illustrated version of The Count of Monte Cristo. The brainchild of Albert Kanter, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, these comic-book versions of the classics sold over 100 million copies and were distributed by 25,000 school districts. 

Even the Barbie doll, while often derided for promoting an unhealthy body image for developing children, offered girls a glimpse of a different future than as a wife and mother, Kimmel argues. Dressed as a surgeon, astronaut, or athlete, he writes, Barbie could be “anything you wanted her to be, because she was you.”

Kimmel ends his book with Sesame Street, which he sees as a kind of culmination. The groundbreaking children’s show was developed by Joan Ganz Cooney, whose father was Jewish, with the assistance of Gerald Lesser, a developmental psychologist born to Jewish immigrant parents.

The show was in some ways an antidote to the world of Saturday morning cartoons. It prepared preschoolers for success in kindergarten with the addictive, engaging style of commercial television. And instead of advertisements for toys, its “commercials” offered lessons in letters, shapes, counting, social skills, and concepts such as “near” and “far.”

Just as significant, in Kimmel’s view, is the show’s setting. Instead of the manicured suburban lawn and white picket fence that had come to represent idealized American childhood, Sesame Street was set on an inner-city block. Laundry hangs from fire escapes. A neighbor lives in a garbage can. Children grow up amid the messiness of city life. 

“It’s a return,” he said, “basically to those very Lower East Side tenements from which this world was created.”

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At least seven people died, and 23 were missing after a ferry carrying around 270 passengers and crew capsized off North Cyprus on Sunday, leaving survivors clinging to its overturned hull.

The privately owned ferry left the port of Kyrenia at 12:30 p.m. and immediately started taking on water for an unknown reason, authorities said. It was heading for the Turkish port of Tasucu in Mersin province in the eastern Mediterranean.

The disaster occurred just off the coast of Kyrenia, a popular holiday resort for both locals and tourists. The ferry involved, a catamaran, was one of several shuttle sea services that link North Cyprus with Turkey daily.

Major rescue operations underway

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman said 237 people had been rescued alive, while seven people had died and 23 people were still being sought.

“We have reached 237 people alive. However, we have also recovered seven people who lost their lives. We are deeply saddened by this,” Erhurman told CNN Turk in a live broadcast.

Video footage showed people in red life jackets sitting or standing on top of the overturned vessel as authorities scrambled coastguard and private vessels for assistance to bring them to shore.

“We have still not been able to reach 23 people. Search and rescue teams are working very intensively to find them,” Erhurman said.

“If there are people still inside the vessel, reaching them does not appear easy at the moment. Efforts are being made using other technologies to reach them as well.”

Saturday’s storms did not impact Sunday weather

Cyprus was battered by fierce storms on Saturday, with one person dying after his sailboat crashed onto rocks in rough seas in the island’s south-east.

Asked about the cause of the capsize, Erhurman noted the storm on Saturday, but said the weather was considered suitable for travel.

“There is a great sense of shock here. This is not something we have experienced before… we are extremely saddened. Everyone is doing everything they can and making every effort,” he said, speaking from the crisis center set up in the area.

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Unal Ustel said a major rescue operation was underway.

“Our sole priority right now is human life. All institutions of our state, our security forces, our health teams and our search and rescue elements are on the ground in full coordination,” he told reporters after chairing a crisis management committee.

The Turkish Cypriot Interior Ministry said the passenger ferry ‘FILOJET’ was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew, and it began taking on water about four nautical miles off Kyrenia while sailing from Kyrenia to Tasucu in Turkey.

Four Turkish Cypriot coast guard vessels and a civilian passenger boat were deployed to the scene, along with five Turkish coast guard vessels and two helicopters, the ministry statement said.

This post was originally published on here. 

For a group of Australian venture capitalists, Israel’s next major investment opportunity may lie beyond its traditional strengths in cyber and defense. They are betting that Israeli climate, energy transition and agritech companies could become the next big thing for Australian investors and potentially for the continent itself.

Next76 is a co-venture between Bandera Capital and Foxglove Capital. It was established two years ago to focus exclusively on Israeli companies. According to David Solsky, an operating partner at Bandera, Israel’s performance in recent years has reinforced the case for investing in the country.

“Despite the war and some of the challenges that Israelis face, the economy has continued to be strong. That Israel is the Start-Up Nation and the Scale-Up Nation keeps getting validated even over the past few years,” Solsky said.

Solsky told The Jerusalem Post that, from a Jewish perspective, there was a general consensus among Australian Jews after October 7 that there was a greater need than ever to support Israel. Many people became involved in philanthropic projects, such as rebuilding communities in the South or advocating for Israel as antisemitism continued to rise.

“We started to look at how we could ultimately invest in Israel, and we think climate and energy transition are particularly relevant verticals,” Solsky explained. “It is a relatively small market compared to cyber, defense and some of the other traditional verticals. But we have expertise in this area and … we figured if we made investments in this area, we could keep them moving forward.”

Solsky said that while the venture capitalists who manage the fund continue to invest in Australia and the United States, among other places, they are also looking more broadly at Israel because “Israel’s got amazing innovation… We have found what we think are some great companies.”

Another question is whether Australians are willing to embrace Israeli companies at a time of heightened tensions surrounding Israel. After the Bondi Beach massacre, many local Jews say they feel uncomfortable in their own country. At the same time, Israeli companies may wonder whether Australia is the right place to do business. Solsky argues that the political and social noise does not tell the whole story.

“I think what you’re seeing is a lot of noise from a relatively small part of Australian society, and there are a lot of companies and individuals and investors that have been to Israel or who get the Israeli startup nation story, and I think will come along on this investment journey,” Solsky said.

The first-ever Jerusalem Post Australia Summit, to be held November 19 in Sydney, could provide an opportunity for Israeli companies to explore those possibilities and meet investors interested in Israeli innovation. The day-long event will kick-off with a gala evening and end with an informal cocktail reception where companies and investors can meet and mingle.

“I believe Australia is a market that is very conducive and open-minded to doing business with Jews,” Solsky said, noting that with around 110,000 Jews in the country, Australia has a small but very strong community that is “deeply entrenched in all aspects of corporate and professional life.”

Solsky added that, “It’s an affluent community with significant investment potential.”

Solsky said Australia itself offers advantages for Israeli companies looking to expand internationally. He described the country as a potential stepping-stone for companies eventually seeking to enter the US market, while its strong focus on energy, climate, food and agritech closely matches areas in which Israeli innovation is growing.

“Agritech has a big role in biofuels and the emerging low-carbon liquid fuel sector,” Solsky added. “I think those kinds of companies would be interesting for Australians to explore.”

For more information about The Jerusalem Post Australia Summit visit www.jpost.com/australia2026. For partnership opportunities, email conferencep@jpost.com.

This post was originally published on here. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being “bullied” by the political opposition, according to a video campaign the Likud Party released on Sunday.

In the video, a mother is seen working on a series of posters when she receives a call from her child, who says they are being bullied at school.

The mother realizes that the bullying her child is experiencing is apparently no different than the treatment Netanyahu receives at the hands of the opposition, and the posters she is working on are revealed to be anti-Netanyahu posters, reading the Hebrew phrase “Rak Lo Bibi” (Anyone but Netanyahu).

No longer wishing to be a part of the alleged “bullying” campaign, the mother then throws out the posters while on her way to comfort her child.

The video campaign was additionally posted on the Likud Party‘s X/Twitter account, accompanied by the phrase, “End the boycotts.”

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, himself a Likud member, posted the video on his own X account later on Sunday, reiterating the party’s message.

“Enough with the boycotts,” he wrote. “Vote for Netanyahu and the Likud!”

די לחרמות, תצביעו נתניהו והליכוד! pic.twitter.com/oqf19BhhnY

— Miki Zohar מיקי זוהר (@zoharm7) August 30, 2026

KAN: Netanyahu undecided on campaign strategy, fears Likud will lose election

The campaign video’s release comes following a KAN News report on Wednesday that Netanyahu is struggling to win back the seats his party lost in recent polls. 

According to the report, he believes Likud will lose the October election given the current trends, having still not decided what type of campaign to run. 

“We lost 10 seats,” Netanyahu was quoted by KAN as saying. “I don’t know how to get them back.” 

Shir Perets contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Until January, there was little in the public sphere to distinguish Leila Abolhasani or bring her to the attention of anyone outside Shahin Shahr, a city north of Isfahan in central Iran.

The 43-year-old worked in nail and beauty services and was raising two teenage daughters. Like so many others who took to the streets in January, there is no indication in the available reporting that she was a prominent opposition activist or dissident.

Yet, more than seven months after she was arrested during the nationwide protests that swept Iran in January, Abolhasani is sitting in Dowlatabad Prison in Isfahan with a death sentence hanging over her.

Her case is now before Iran’s Supreme Court, and if her appeal fails, she could be executed.

Abolhasani accused of setting supermarket on fire

The events that brought Abolhasani there began on the evening of January 8, when demonstrations were underway in Shahin Shahr amid the wider unrest spreading across the country.

According to a source close to her family who spoke to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Abolhasani was near a branch of the Ofogh Kourosh supermarket chain that was on fire and began filming the scene. Security forces subsequently arrested her and accused her of having participated in setting the store alight.

Her relatives deny that allegation and maintain that she was documenting a fire that was already burning. The state disagreed.

Neither the text of the judgment nor the evidence the court relied on has been published, and details of any video footage, witness testimony, or forensic evidence allegedly linking Abolhasani to the fire remain unknown. IranWire reported that details concerning the conduct of her trial and legal defense have likewise not been made public.

Following her arrest, Abolhasani was taken to Dowlatabad Prison, where she has remained ever since. Her case eventually reached Branch 5 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court and Judge Vahid Hemmatnejad, who heard it in late May.

The charge was moharebeh (“enmity against God”), one of the Islamic Republic’s most serious offenses. According to one Iranian human-rights organization that reported details of the judgment, the court convicted Abolhasani of moharebeh for committing arson and setting fire to public property. The same organization reported that restrictions under Note to Article 48 of Iran’s Code of Criminal Procedure prevented her from choosing her own lawyer during the investigative stage.

Hemmatnejad sentenced her to death, in what is part of a continuing crackdown against protesters since January. Rights groups have documented that between 500 and 1,000 people have been executed in Iran so far in 2026, including protesters.

Legal questions regarding Abolhasani’s charge remain unresolved

There is also an unresolved legal question surrounding the charge itself. Article 279 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code defines moharebeh in terms of drawing a weapon against people’s lives, property, or chastity, or doing so in a manner that creates public fear and insecurity. Article 282 provides four possible punishments, including death by hanging.

None of the public accounts of Abolhasani’s case have alleged that she was armed.

Hemmatnejad, meanwhile, has become a familiar name in Iranian political cases in recent months.

Before handling political and national-security cases, according to IranWire, he presided over drug cases and handed down death sentences to numerous defendants. More recently, he has been associated with severe sentences against protesters and political prisoners.

On January 8, Abolhasani was a 43-year-old beautician and mother of two who, according to her family, stood beside a burning supermarket and took out her phone to record what was happening. The Islamic Republic says she was an arsonist and convicted her of waging war against God.

Seven months later, the evidence that persuaded a Revolutionary Court of that charge remains hidden from public view, while Abolhasani waits in an Isfahan prison for the Supreme Court to decide whether she will live or die. The US State Department has requested independent review of the evidence and consideration of suspension and/or debarment.

This post was originally published on here. 

With some 2.6 million Israeli students set to return to classrooms on Tuesday, a new policy paper warned that public confidence in the country’s education system had fallen to strikingly low levels and called for a sweeping restructuring of how schools are run.

The paper, released by the One Hundred Initiative (Yozmat HaMea) ahead of the September 1 opening of the 2026-27 school year, cited research showing that Israelis gave the education system an average score of just 4 out of 10, while only 3% of the public believed the system was healthy. 

The findings come as approximately 2.611 million students are expected to begin the school year in 27,757 educational institutions, including nearly 6,000 schools, according to figures presented by the Education Ministry to the Knesset Education Committee last week. Some 260,000 teaching staff are expected to work in the system. 

The school year is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, September 1, according to the Education Ministry. 

“In another week, we will send our children into a broken education system,” the One Hundred Initiative wrote in the paper, which was prepared in advance of the new school year.

Highly centralized, bureaucratic, unable to respond to needs of students

The organization described the current system as highly centralized and bureaucratic, arguing that schools and principals lack sufficient authority to respond to the needs of their students and communities. 

According to figures from a February 2026 study on national priorities and the education system cited throughout the paper, 61% of Israelis said education was one of the two most important issues on the national agenda, placing it alongside issues such as security and the cost of living. 

Parents say schools are disconnected from reality

The study also found that more than 65% of parents felt their child’s school was disconnected from reality, according to the organization.

The crisis extended to confidence in those responsible for making educational decisions: 41.8% of respondents said they did not trust anyone in the system to make decisions concerning their child, the paper said. 

The One Hundred Initiative said the figures pointed toward a structural and managerial crisis and argued for transferring significantly greater authority from the Education Ministry to local authorities, school principals and communities.

One of the findings highlighted by the group dealt with the politically sensitive question of teachers’ employment. Seventy-one percent of parents supported giving principals and local authorities greater flexibility to reward outstanding teachers and part ways with teachers deemed unsuitable, according to the research. 

Such changes would likely bring the government into conflict with Israel’s powerful teachers’ unions, the report acknowledged, saying they would require political leaders willing to absorb the resulting opposition.

A 50-30-20 model for Israeli schools

At the center of the organization’s proposal is what it calls a “50:30:20” model, designed to divide responsibility between the state, educational sectors and individual schools.

Under the proposal, 50% of the educational framework would be determined nationally and would include a common Israeli core. That core would encompass subjects such as mathematics, English, science, civics and history, along with shared civic and national values.

Another 30% would be shaped by the educational stream and local authority, allowing different communities to teach their distinct identity, language and values within the state system.

The remaining 20% would be left to the school itself, giving principals and their communities greater control over teaching methods, educational priorities, staffing, flexible budgets and the skills taught to prepare students for a changing world. 

“Autonomy is not privatization,” the paper said, arguing that the state would continue to set standards, establish rules, provide funding and supervise schools while handing day-to-day authority to the local level. 

The proposal also seeks to address what the organization described as the fragmentation of Israeli education into four largely separate systems: state-secular, state-religious, Arab and haredi education.

The paper argued that differences in funding, infrastructure, and educational values between those systems had contributed to divisions in Israeli society and called for a common national educational foundation alongside room for the identities of individual communities. 

The One Hundred Initiative describes itself as a nonpartisan civic organization seeking to promote a centrist approach to questions of governance and Israeli society. Its Manor Center focuses on education policy and efforts to strengthen public education. 

The organization framed the education proposal as a political challenge ahead of Israel’s elections, calling for a broad government capable of carrying out long-term structural changes.

“The public understands that a Band-Aid is insufficient for the education system,” the paper concluded, calling for a government prepared to take responsibility for rebuilding it.

This post was originally published on here. 

Lamenting the crisis under which world Jewry finds itself, The Jerusalem Post’s editor-in-chief Zvika Klein’s recent Friday column was devoted to the subject of why Israeli politicians just don’t get it.

Quoting different leaders, what stood out the most was the staggering 70% of intermarriage that is happening in the US. If that trend continues, within a reasonably short period of time, the Jewish community will simply disappear. Who wouldn’t be concerned by such troubling news?

But there is hope, and it’s what no one feels comfortable talking about. While agencies such as Nefesh B’Nefesh are wholly devoted to the cause of aliyah, at the same time, they do their best to weed out Jews they deem less qualified to live in the Jewish homeland. That includes those who are intermarried, do not identify with Orthodox Judaism, and have possibly shifted over to another set of religious beliefs. It also includes those who are not fully Jewish.

The problem with that weeding process is that, short of bringing them to Israel so that they can become reacquainted with the holidays, customs and traditions – not to mention giving their kids a much better chance of marrying a Jew – that massive sector will assuredly be lost as future Jews. 

Conversely, bringing such families to Israel will almost guarantee a completely different outcome! Once here, they will be confronted with the traditional Friday night Shabbat dinner, where families gather together, light candles, and connect in a meaningful way.

Rebuilding Jewish identity

They will learn to relax on Saturdays, because few things are open. It won’t be their usual day to wash the car, run to the mall or catch up on jobs they’ve been putting off. 

With so many biblical, cultural, and national holidays and observances, they will begin to solidify and take on a new identity – one which is more aligned and unified with their people. 

Of course, as their children attend school, they will learn Hebrew, often speaking with no detectable accent, unlike those who arrived at a later age. Their friends will be other Jews, and their orientation will be geared towards teaching them their history as they slowly become part of the country’s future. 

Those kids will serve in the military, study in our universities, and choose their marriage partner from the vast pool of Jewish candidates who live here. This is the right recipe for saving Diaspora Jewry, for those who are truly interested in doing so.

For those who are, instead, fixated on the purity and percentage of Jewish blood running through the veins of individuals, and for those who are closed off to anyone other than the religiously observant, saving world Jewry might already be a cause which has been written off.

That is because they no longer consider Diaspora Jews as Jews worth saving. Years ago, I had this very conversation with one such person who I thought shared my own passion for bringing every Jew home, regardless of what they believe. Their only criteria had to be what is written in the 1950 Secular Law of Return – being the child or grandchild of a Jew.

Sadly, once the conversation turned toward the unaffiliated and intermarried, the response was that they should remain in the Diaspora as they were, in his mind, not eligible to come. From his point of view, they had made their choice to abandon Judaism and were not worth saving, even if another Holocaust were to happen.

He was, in effect, closing the door to hundreds of thousands of his own people who, irrespective of their religious affiliation or marital status, remain ethnically Jewish – a distinction which no one can erase or deny.

For anyone who has been paying attention, the accounts of antisemitic attacks, denigrating verbal sentiment, or attempts to disenfranchise Jews from many segments of society are only widening, with no signs of letting up.

Sure, you may not attend a synagogue and may even be married to a gentile, but what happens if your last name is Rosenberg or Levine? Will you get any special dispensation just because you have assimilated and no longer closely identify with the traditions of your people? Probably not!

The truth of the matter is that assimilated Jews will still be looked upon as strangers, different from all others. Born with that Jewish gene, they will never be able to scrub it out of them, and that is why their lives will still be in peril despite the choices they have made.

Anyone who thinks they are not worth rescuing either has no heart or conscience and has a misplaced perspective as it relates to what Judaism teaches us about loving our neighbor as ourselves. 

World Jewry is truly at a crossroads on so many levels. There is danger when it comes to their safety, their continuity, appreciation for their identity and, most especially, the survival of their homeland.

While some may see them as an extra burden, their presence here can make such a great difference. As they are strengthened in a new way of life, we, too, will receive that benefit by the sheer numbers, replacing others who have left. 

Yes, they will need lots of help learning the language, the customs, and the uniqueness of our society, but once they do, they will become an asset in so many ways that it will be a mystery why no one considered this sooner.

Regrettably, Klein is right. Many Israeli politicians are unable and unwilling to confront this issue, almost accepting the loss of Diaspora Jews as a foregone conclusion. It’s sad to say, but those who feel that way are simply lacking the vision that is needed to see the great potential that could bless this nation by embracing the “lost” of their people.

Each one of us who has made our own aliyah journey should reflect on just how fortunate we have been to be gathered to our people and be part of the Zionist dream, becoming the envy of nations, as we pooled our collective resources to build an enviable society.

There is no reason this cannot and should not happen. It already exists in our Law of Return. The real tragedy for world Jewry is that it’s just not being done. We can change that, and we must!

The writer, a former principal of Jerusalem elementary and middle schools, was a member of Kibbutz Re’im from 1994 to 1999. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs, available on Amazon.

This post was originally published on here. 

“I almost got hit,” Lt.-Col. (res.) Eli Zilberman told Walla in a Saturday interview, where he recalled one of the first operations the IDF had in northern Gaza at the beginning of the war with Hamas in November 2023. 

During the operation, the 162nd Division maneuvered toward Hamas’ “security square” as part of the breaching of the defensive walls of Gaza City. The operation concluded with the IDF finding a complex that included an extensive system of tunnels for the movement of operatives and the escape of senior officials, data banks, workshops for the production of weapons, and a command-and-control center for the entire Strip.

“This was one of the IDF’s first battles in the northern Gaza Strip,” Zilberman recalled. “We entered one of the most difficult areas for fighting, with an unimaginable number of terrorists. There, for the first time, the commanders were required to maneuver in alleys and a nearby school in face-to-face battles. We quickly realized we were in a different kind of war, and that it would be long.”

The tensest moment came when he left the control room where he was staying to precisely aim the operator of a remotely controlled aircraft. Within dozens of seconds, a sniper spotted him and fired a bullet at him, which hit just centimeters from his body.

“I jumped back into the control room and was really angry with myself: ‘How irresponsible you are. You’re 36 years old, and you act like a little kid who wants to see everything from the outside, without really remembering the amount of responsibility on your shoulders and the family at home, things that should make you much sharper,'” he explained.

Building a new reserve force after October 7

The intense fighting continued across all fronts. Zilberman continued contributing as a commander and fighter in various arenas, while General Staff investigations continued. Those reviews revealed nothing beyond what had already become clear: the IDF lacked sufficient regular and reserve combat manpower, particularly readily available forces capable of responding to sudden events.

On October 7, the IDF faced a gap of tens of thousands of armed personnel who could quickly reach the Gaza border, organize into companies and battalions, repel the Hamas attack to prevent the massacre and the abduction of hundreds of Israelis from communities near the border, and stabilize the breached frontier.

To help address the deep shortcomings exposed by that day, Zilberman was called upon in 2025 to establish the Tzuri Battalion for the first time. The move was part of a broader General Staff plan led by Brig.-Gen. Oren Simcha to establish “David” brigades, in an effort to reduce the gap in combat manpower.

The IDF’s expanding reserve forces became a central issue after October 7, as the military worked to strengthen its ability to respond quickly to emerging threats.

The General Staff project became an unexpected success story. It recruited reserve fighters who were no longer assigned to combat formations, alongside volunteers who had completed their military service years earlier.

Since then, more than 20 reserve battalions have been established at varying levels of readiness, based on soldiers who keep personal weapons, rifles, and protective gear in a home safe. This dramatically shortens response times in emergency scenarios.

Their primary purpose is to serve as light, mobile reserve forces capable of providing a flexible and rapid response to emerging threats, preventing terrorist infiltrations, and defending borders and areas deep inside the country, with each battalion assigned a predetermined operational plan and sector.

Amid the activity of commanders and fighters in the Maccabim area, Zilberman said this week: “The process of establishing the battalion began about two years ago. This is the first time we have all gathered together as a full battalion, not for training, but for full operational deployment in defense and offense under the Benjamin Regional Brigade, with all the complexities that this sector brings.”

At first, the battalion was met with considerable skepticism in the Judea and Samaria Division, with doubts over whether it could fulfill the complex mission assigned to it: protecting the seam line over 50 km. and creating a defensive belt around the city of Modi’in and additional communities.

However, as time passed and results accumulated, Central Command decided to expand the battalion’s authority and assign it offensive missions, including arrests, security operations, searches in complex areas and, at the peak, battalion-level operations.

From emergency response to nightly operations

“This is happening, in my view, at one of the most important milestones a battalion can reach during its establishment,” Zilberman said. “I joined the establishment process while I was still in the middle of fighting in Gaza. It was like a wave and ripples: I recruited a deputy battalion commander, and from there everything developed step by step. Everyone contributed and recruited friends.”

“And then something amazing happened: Through the ‘friend brings a friend’ method, a full battalion was created, with all the positions and administrative structure. There are fighters here from all infantry brigades, the best of the best.”

Reserve soldiers have played a key role in Israel’s wartime mobilization, with thousands returning to active duty as the IDF has expanded operations across multiple fronts.

Almost every night, the battalion carries out offensive activity in Palestinian villages, including arresting wanted suspects and searching areas to locate weapons and dual-use equipment used for terrorism.

“Like in the Gaza Strip, defense here does not happen from the gate line, but beyond the fence lines, with the goal of keeping any danger away from roads and communities,” the battalion commander said.

The battalion’s achievements include more than 10 arrests, the capture of more than 100 infiltrators, 30 of whom were transferred to prison, close cooperation with intelligence elements, the discovery of weapons, including IDF uniforms found in a Palestinian home, and three battalion-level operations in friction points.

The IDF has repeatedly emphasized the importance of preventing terrorist attacks before they reach Israeli communities, particularly in areas near vulnerable borders and population centers.

Zilberman said the motivation of the fighters remains the battalion’s most important asset.

“You cannot point to one specific thing and say where it comes from. Maybe it is the significance of this moment and the importance of the mission, and the desire to take part in this difficult war since October 7,” he said.

Asked what his battalion would have done at 6:29 a.m. on October 7 if it had existed then, Zilberman answered:

“It would have immediately assembled from home, and within 15 minutes received a point where it needed to begin moving forward, with the weapon and vest located in his safe. A lightning battalion that knows how to do exactly what we were so desperate for on October 7: for forces to organize into an orderly framework that provides a rapid response within the country’s borders.”

Toward the end of the interview, Zilberman spoke about the families supporting the reserve fighters.

“Without the genuine support at home, among each and every one of the reservists, we would not have been able to maintain the level of security that exists today in Israel. These families deserve to be saluted every day. They are exceptional among the exceptional, and this is something the people of Israel must always remember.”

This post was originally published on here. 

With questions raised by various leaks on Sunday about whether the Finance Ministry’s delay of NIS 15 billion has already broken a deal signed between Israel and the US for Apache helicopters, The Jerusalem Post was told by an IDF spokesperson that the deal is not yet off, though it may be delayed.

In January, the US State Department approved a possible $3.8 billion foreign military sale to Israel of AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and related equipment. This was expected to lead to buying 30 helicopters, with a first round of 12 coming first.

Israeli defense officials had been pushing for this as a critical step toward modernizing the air force’s combat helicopter fleet, including being more ready to use a larger fleet to prevent future potential ground invasions, such as occurred with Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Generally speaking, the air force was viewed as ineffective that day, but the helicopter fleet was one of the few bright spots, at least contributing some firepower to reducing the number of Hamas invaders in the early hours of the day.

Despite the positive move in January, delays due to the ministry have already led to missed deadlines relating to the helicopters, including in July.

Apache deals expected to continue, with delays

Yet another deadline was missed last Thursday.

All of that said, some of the leaks in Hebrew media seem to be exaggerating the consequences of the blown deadlines.

An IDF spokesperson said that all expectations were that the deals were still on, but simply delayed.

Delays are not free.

Often after a delay, Israel and other countries must pay steeper fees because any deal that is not locked in is subject to inflation, which invariably increases the purchase price over time.

In addition, delays by Israel in purchasing additional F-15s and F-35s earlier this decade led to Jerusalem falling in line behind additional countries that made purchase orders, meaning that the delay eventually was much larger than simply the time Israel waited to make its decision.

If originally, the first round of 12 helicopters was expected to start arriving in 2030, the new arrival date could be pushed back by more than the already eight-month delay by Israel in moving forward.

Highly unpredictable variables, offensive weapons sales at risk

There are also highly unpredictable variables, such as whether, beyond the presidency of US President Donald Trump, which runs until January 2029, Washington will continue to sell Israel any offensive weapons it wishes.

On Thursday, Zamir blasted the ministry for what he said were politicized and unnecessary fights over budget and side financial issues.

An IDF spokesperson said that there were three debates going on between the IDF and the ministry.

The first is that the IDF said that the ministry was due to have transferred NIS 15 billion weeks ago as part of a prior deal and that the funding has been delayed.

Second, another NIS 25 billion is due to be transferred imminently, but now the IDF is worried that this funding will be delayed like the earlier NIS 15 billion.

Third, the sides are stuck not only on funding, which nominally was already agreed to, but on future multi-year funding negotiation issues.

Currently, estimates have the IDF defense budget up to NIS 160 billion per year, around double what it was pre-October 7. 

An IDF spokesperson clarified that the NIS 40 billion under debate is part of the already-agreed NIS 160 billion number, and not related to new funding requests.

The ministry responded that the IDF should be more judicious in spending its ballooning budget.

In the past, the ministry has also accused the IDF of a mix of waste, a lack of carefulness in certain areas of spending, and some areas of unpoliced fraud.

The IDF in the past has acknowledged some errors in these areas, but mostly said that three nearly constant years of war have meant that its expanded budget cannot be viewed based on past budgets, but only based on the number of fronts Israel has constantly had to fight or be ready to fight on. 

This post was originally published on here. 

An Israeli veteran questioned at an airport abroad may have only minutes to decide what to say, whom to call, and whether a routine inquiry is potentially becoming a legal problem. Shachpatz, a new app launched by Shurat HaDin, is designed for such moments, placing travel guidance, emergency contacts, and access to legal assistance in one place.

The idea for Shachpatz came from complaints brought against IDF veterans outside Israel, according to Shurat HaDin. The app brings together legal guidance, warnings issued by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IDF, embassy and emergency numbers, a travel checklist, and user-posted information about specific destinations. Some of those tools are meant for planning a trip. Others are there in case trouble begins after arrival.

Nitzana Darshan-Leitner used blunt language when describing the reason for launching it. “There has been a witch hunt against IDF soldiers since the beginning of the war,” the Shurat HaDin founder and president told The Media Line. She said pro-Palestinian organizations had taken allegations of war crimes and other abuses and used them to prepare complaints against individual soldiers. Darshan-Leitner rejected those allegations as false. “So, we needed to build a platform that would protect the IDF soldiers,” she said.

The immediate danger, she said, lies in the arrest itself rather than the prospect of a trial. In her view, the organizations filing these complaints are seeking an image of an IDF veteran detained at an airport, an outcome they could present as a victory even if the case went no further.

Giving soldiers resources before they travel

That concern shaped the app’s emphasis on preparation. Users can review information about a destination before departure, including warnings about places where Israelis have faced hostility and reports of locations considered welcoming. The checklist also addresses travelers’ social media activity, which Darshan-Leitner described as one of the principal tools for identifying veterans and tracking their movements.

Soldiers posted photographs and accounts from their military service during the fighting that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks. According to Darshan-Leitner, organizations pursuing them saved their names and faces from those posts and later used the material to follow them abroad. She urged veterans not to advertise where they were traveling or upload photographs of themselves holding their passports before a flight.

App not limited to combat veterans

The app is not limited to combat veterans. Darshan-Leitner said it was created for reservists and people who have completed their military service, but its warnings could also assist Israelis without a military profile. “This app actually intends to help any Israeli,” she said, pointing to incidents in which Israelis have reportedly faced intimidation or exclusion because of their nationality.

If a traveler is detained, Shachpatz provides instructions on how to respond to questioning, what information to disclose, and whom to contact. It lists Israeli embassies and consulates, along with Shurat HaDin’s emergency contact information. Family members and fellow travelers can also use the platform to seek assistance.

Darshan-Leitner said Shurat HaDin has assembled what she called a “legal war room” of 600 lawyers in 17 countries who are prepared to provide initial assistance. The objective is to intervene before a detention develops into a prolonged proceeding, she said, although a serious case would also require involvement by Israeli diplomatic authorities.

The first advice in an emergency is also the simplest. “Perhaps the most important thing is to chill out, to be calm, not to freak out,” Darshan-Leitner said. “It is scary, but you have to remember that we are behind you.”

Shachpatz also relies on information supplied by its users. Travelers can report hostile treatment or other problems at a destination, prompting others to reconsider visiting the same place. They can also submit positive reports about locations where Israelis were treated well. The app’s usefulness will therefore depend partly on Israelis continuing to contribute to it.

“It’s like a community network to help each other to be safeguarded and to enjoy your travel,” Darshan-Leitner said. “That requires the participation of everybody who goes abroad to tell each other what’s going on.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel demanded that the government launch an investigation into Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef after he verbally attacked Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara on Saturday.

According to videos shared on social media, Yosef said that Miara was “crazy” and said that “The Holy One, blessed be He, will destroy her. He will strike her. This will not pass in silence.”

According to the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, Yosef’s comments came against a background of “a climate that has unfortunately become prevalent, including calls, actions, and inflammatory statements by senior figures in the ultra-Orthodox movement.”

As such, the movement claimed, his words raised the possibility of inciting others to actual violence against the attorney-general.

Not first time Shas rabbi used influence to attack rule of law, MQG lawyer says

Attorney Yael Bloch, head of the litigation division of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, said that, while it was legal to criticize the decisions of the attorney-general, it was not permitted for those criticisms to cross the line into incitement to violence.

“This is not the first time that Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has used his position and influence to attack the rule of law and the gatekeepers,” she stated. “We do not determine whether a crime was committed – that is the job of the enforcement authorities. Now they must look into the matter seriously and quickly.

Yosef’s outburst came following the attorney-general’s instruction to postpone governmental memorial events for the co-founder of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef‘s death.

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The IDF and Israel Police traded accusations on Sunday morning, criticizing each other’s handling of extremist settler violence in the West Bank after at least eight Palestinians were injured in clashes on Saturday.

Settlers arrived at the Palestinian villages of Kusra and Jalud on Saturday afternoon, barricading themselves inside a Palestinian home and hurling stones at locals. The settlers dispersed following the arrival of Israeli forces at the scene, but no arrests were made.

עשרות פורעים יהודים הגיעו לפאתי הכפר קוסרה. לפי צה”ל, כוחות במקום משתמשים באמצעים לפיזור הפגנות במטרה להרחיקם. הפלסטינים מדווחים על 8 פצועים מאבנים@HGoldich pic.twitter.com/2yVnrki9wy

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 29, 2026

A senior police official hit out at the military’s handling of the violence, arguing that the IDF had failed in its response to the incident.

Police official blasts IDF over lack of action in West Bank clashes

“Dozens of masked men arrived in open-bed pickup trucks. Who knows who was in those trucks? Were they right-wing activists, or Hamas terrorists who came to raid a community?” the unnamed police official told Maariv. “Does the military expect a police patrol car to stop these trucks?”

The official further criticized the IDF for failing to stop the trucks. “Where was the military and its observation posts? How did it not stop them while they were on the move?”

Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria District commander, Asst.-Ch. Moshe Pinchi, argued in a 103FM radio interview with Eli Ohana and Barak Seri that the military should have detained the settler extremists instead of dispersing them.

“The IDF should have detained the rioters instead of dispersing them,” Pinchi said. “The incident occurred in Area B [of the West Bank]; responsibility for the area lies with the military… Border Police forces operating under the army were there; they should have carried out the arrests.”

The police officials’ comments come amid increased tensions within Israel’s security establishment after IDF sources claimed in recent briefings that the failure to make arrests stemmed from the Israel Police’s failure to act.

A police source said that they had asked: “for the videos [of the incident] so we could move the investigation forward, but Central Command told us that the videos had to be reviewed by the legal adviser, and she is off today.”

The source further claimed that the IDF does not know how to maintain control of the area in Kusra amid clashes.

IDF sources: Border Police should have chased settlers on foot

By contrast, an IDF source told Maariv that while it was “important to stop [the settler extremists], it was more important to prevent civilians from being harmed.

“Our force used tear gas; the company commander shouted at them to ‘Get out of here’… The Jewish rioters turned and ran,” the source added. “Was it right for the Border Police officers who were there to pursue the fleeing suspects on foot? Probably,” the source said.

The source noted that from the moment the pickup trucks began driving from Kusra toward Jalud, it was clear to the IDF that they were Jewish terrorists and not Hamas terrorists. Therefore, the IDF did not conduct an aerial interception; instead, it set up roadblocks. However, the pickup trucks bypassed the roadblocks.

Tension within the security establishment comes as Defense Minister Israel Katz announced earlier this month that he had instructed the IDF to prepare a plan to transfer all civilian enforcement authority for Israeli communities and residents in the West Bank to Israel Police, amid growing Jewish violence targeting Palestinian villages in the West Bank.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published footage on Sunday morning from a visit he made to Damon Prison in recent weeks, during which he was seen touring a security wing and speaking with female prisoners.

A statement from Ben-Gvir’s office claimed that the prisoners were female Islamic Jihad terrorists.

The minister entered the cells and heard complaints from the terrorists about the harsh prison conditions and the revocation of benefits that had been customary in the past, Ben-Gvir’s associates said.

Ben-Gvir responded to them, “Our hostages did not have shampoo and did not have these conditions. I am proud that we succeeded in reducing the conditions for terrorists to the barest of bare minimums. The prison kindergartens are over.”

Ben-Gvir also said that he came to see firsthand the implementation of Israel’s policy. “I heard the prison officers and also the complaints of the terrorists. We are not apologizing; anyone who harms Israeli civilians will not receive a kindergarten in prison. Terrorists, both male and female, will receive the minimum required by law, and nothing beyond that,” he said.

In a post on X/Twitter showing the video of his conversation with the prisoners, Ben-Gvir wrote that “The ‘whining’ of the terrorists about the conditions in the prisons doesn’t work on me – our hostages had no conditions at all.”

זה לא עובד עליי ״ההתבכיינויות״ של המחבלות על התנאים בבתי הכלא, לחטופים שלנו לא היו שום תנאים, אמשיך להוביל מדיניות מינימום של המינימום! pic.twitter.com/4WTESzG5eH

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 30, 2026

Ben-Gvir incites controversy in Gaza flotilla video

In May, Ben-Gvir sparked controversy when he arrived for a tour alongside prison officers, police forces, and IDF troops at the Port of Ashdod during the detention of flotilla activists. “The kindergarten is over,” Ben-Gvir said in a video of the tour. “Anyone who acts against the State of Israel will find a determined country. The people of Israel live.”

In the footage released, the national security minister was seen waving an Israeli flag and saying, “They came with a lot of pride, as great heroes. Look how they look now,” while gesturing toward the activists who were handcuffed on the ground. He called out, “Not heroes and nothing else, supporters of terror.”

“Welcome to Israel, we are the ones in charge,” Ben-Gvir shouted at the activists, adding, “I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long time. Give them to us for the terrorists’ prisons.”

At another point in the video, a flotilla activist shouted “Free Palestine” and began resisting. The forces pushed her to the ground, and Ben-Gvir responded, “Good job.” Later, he shouted to police officers, “Do not be affected by their shouting.”

Tzvi Jasper contributed to this report.

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NBC News shared footage showing a team of reporters being attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank while trying to interview a Palestinian woman and her family on Saturday.

According to NBC, three members of its team had been interviewing 51-year-old Aida Ahmed Abdullah, who claimed that she and her family had been driven out of their home by settlers.

During the interview, a car pulled up with several masked men inside, one of whom leaned out of the window. Video of the incident shared by NBC showed the masked men attacking another car with a stick, as well as the person filming the video.

NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley reported that he had been hit twice in the arm, saying that the attackers “jumped out, beat us, then jumped back in the car.”

Other people who were reportedly wounded during the attack were an NBC cameraman, NBC producer Lawahez Jabari, and Abdullah herself, who was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to Jabari, the attackers also had a gun, but did not use it.

צפייה חובה! תיעוד מלא של המתנחבלים תוקפים צוות חדשות של ה-NBC בג’אלוד
משחיתים את רכבם, מרביצים להם עם מוטות ופוצעים אותם באורח קל-בינוני. 5 פצועים בזירה.pic.twitter.com/ya9fYWYxMz

— Arbel – ארבל 🟦 (@ArbelPatootie) August 29, 2026

“We were in the middle of a Palestinian area next to Palestinian houses,” camera operator Khaldoon Eid said. “We didn’t expect that – that they would come to attack.”

Israel Press Council calls for more security for media teams

In response to the attack, the Israel Press Council called for security forces to ensure the safety of journalists and other media team members in the West Bank and across all of Israel.

In their press release, the council demanded that Israel locate the perpetrators of the attack and put them on trial.

“Harming journalists is a direct violation of the public’s right to know, and therefore any attempt to terrorize coverage teams with violence must be met with zero tolerance and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” the council stated.

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Seven suspects were arrested in Jerusalem for various acts of disrespect towards religious sites, including a church and several graves, Israel Police announced on Sunday.

Over the course of the weekend, the police stated, four people were arrested on suspicion that they had spat at the Armenian Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Another three people were arrested after allegedly vandalizing Muslim graves, the police said.

Six arrested for throwing stones, spitting at Armenian Cathedral of St. James

Earlier this month, six suspects were arrested after allegedly throwing rocks and spitting at the Armenian Cathedral of St. James, the police announced at the time.

According to the police, five of the suspects were minors, and one was an adult.

Kegham Balian, a Jerusalemite-Armenian reporter, wrote that the suspects had also thrown rocks at the window of an Armenian woman filming the event, while shouting “Get back inside, you daughter of a w****!”

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A coalition of Christian lawmakers, religious leaders and civic figures urged President Donald Trump to establish an expedited legal pathway for Jewish Canadians seeking to relocate to the United States because of antisemitic persecution and threats to their safety. 

The National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) sent the request to Trump on Thursday, asking his administration to use existing refugee, humanitarian, and visa authorities while maintaining US security and admissibility requirements.

The letter said more than 2,000 Jewish Canadians have expressed interest in moving because of safety concerns. It cited harassment, vandalism, intimidation, threats, and violence targeting Jewish schools, synagogues, businesses, institutions, and families since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. 

NACL asked President Trump to direct the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to develop a process for Jewish Canadian nationals and immediate family members who face persecution or can credibly demonstrate fears based on their Jewish identity or faith. 

Any program should retain identity, criminal history, medical and security screening, and protect family unity, the signatories said. 

Jewish, Christian leaders in Tulsa offer to assist Jewish Canadian families seeking to relocate

The group also called for cooperation with states, local governments, Jewish organizations, churches, nonprofits, and employers willing to assist arriving families. 

Jewish and Christian leaders in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have offered to help resettle Jewish Canadian families, according to the letter. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has also told President Trump that his state would welcome Jewish families legally entering the United States. 

“For generations, America has served as a refuge for people fleeing religious persecution,” the letter said. “We urge you to ensure that, consistent with federal law and the security interests of the United States, that door remains open to our Jewish brothers and sisters in Canada who need it today.” 

NACL founder and President Jason Rapert signed the letter alongside former US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, state legislators, religious leaders, and other civic figures.

Copies were sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, congressional leaders, and several US senators and representatives. 

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Senior officials from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been accused of committing war crimes and atrocities against civilians during the country’s civil war, maintained secret contacts with Israel and sent delegations to Tel Aviv during the conflict, French investigative outlet Africa Intelligence reported over the weekend.

According to the report, two delegations representing the RSF secretly traveled to Tel Aviv, the first in May 2025 and the second in February 2026.

Africa Intelligence reported that members of the delegations met with officials from the Africa Division of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and with Israeli intelligence personnel.

The outlet claimed that the contacts were part of a security and intelligence relationship that began before the outbreak of Sudan’s civil war in April 2023.

According to the report, the first delegation included Abdel Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, deputy to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, as well as their brother, Algoney Hamdan Dagalo. The report claimed that the two returned to Israel in February 2026, and that the organization’s legal adviser joined them during the second visit.

Africa Intelligence further claimed that contacts between Hemedti’s associates and Israeli officials were not new and had included cooperation in security and intelligence matters over the years. Some of the claims in the report also concern the transfer of surveillance technologies and equipment to RSF-linked officials.

The allegations, however, were published by the investigative outlet and should not be regarded as official confirmation that Israel assisted the rebel forces during the war.

RSF accused of genocidal actions, mass rape in Darfur

The report has drawn particular attention given the serious accusations against the Rapid Support Forces. A UN investigative commission determined in July that RSF members had committed mass killings, rape, abductions and deliberate starvation during the capture of El Fasher in Darfur, acts that investigators said could amount to genocide.

The RSF rejected the accusations. The organization has previously also been reported to have ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Abdel Rahim Dagalo himself is subject to international sanctions. European documents describe him as having played a central role in the RSF’s military activities and as bearing responsibility for actions threatening peace and stability in Darfur, including violence and human rights violations.

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Two Israeli teenagers were charged with spying and carrying out various tasks for Iran, Israel Police said on Sunday.

The two minors, 14 and 16 years old, had been recruited through Telegram in June, the police stated.

The teenagers were offered payment in exchange for executing tasks for an anonymous individual who admitted to them that he was tied to Iran.

Among the actions they undertook for Iran were painting graffiti, passing along intelligence, and attempting to recruit additional Israelis.

One of the minors also pretended to be a soldier in an attempt to receive more tasks from the anonymous source.

This is a developing story.

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The military police entered Bnei Brak on Yitzhak Nafha Street near the Darg Hasidim beit midrash (study hall) on Sunday afternoon.

According to initial reports, a riot began developing in the area.

A police car which entered Hida Street was surrounded and blocked by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters, a video shared on social media showed.

Additional police forces were called to the scene.

This is a developing story.

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Ofer Winter launched his new People of Israel party on Tuesday, kick-starting what could become a bloc-busting run for the Knesset.

Beyond the retired IDF general’s stated ideology and firm position within the right-wing bloc, Winter is offering something few other candidates can: a genuinely new political slate.

Shaped by a goal of having as broad an appeal as possible, Winter’s list includes some very well-known and some lesser-known faces, all with one thing in common: They have never done this before.

After October 7, the need for fresh faces in both the legislative and executive branches of government has become evident.

The Hamas massacre exposed failures that had been systemically ignored for years, not only by individuals in government but across Israel’s political and security establishment.

That does not mean every newcomer will be better than every veteran. Experience matters, particularly when governing a country facing threats on multiple fronts.

But there is a legitimate argument that the people who helped shape the system that produced Israel’s current crisis should not be the only ones entrusted with fixing it.

Right-wing voters want new faces in politics

Winter appears to have identified a chunk of right-wing voters who, while not ready to vote for the opposition, have become disillusioned with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and want new faces on the Right.

Yoseph Haddad is a known quantity across the political spectrum for his pro-Israel activism abroad and his hardline right-wing stance on Arab sector issues at home.

Former Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum has municipal experience without the baggage of national politics. Laly Derai, mother of slain IDF soldier Saadia Derai, is a respected social activist making her first venture into politics.

They, and the rest of Winter’s new list, will be able to go to voters and argue that the faces we see running for the Knesset today are the same people who have dominated Israeli politics through years of instability, including five elections in three years.

They are the same people who allowed Israel’s security to fall by the wayside in favor of partisan political ambitions, and the same people who failed to bring Hamas and Hezbollah to their knees despite a plethora of promises.

That alone is not enough to win votes. Winter must show that his candidates are capable of offering new thinking and, ultimately, competent government. And this is where People of Israel has an opportunity to offer something genuinely different.

The public is not necessarily looking for politicians who have never made a mistake. It may be looking for politicians who were not part of the political system that produced the current impasse, and who can approach its problems without years of partisan baggage.

Ofer must reconcile his party’s position for political renewal while endorsing Netanyahu for PM

But one issue Winter must address over the coming weeks and months is the political contradiction staring him in the face.

On Thursday, following nearly 48 hours of speculation on Israeli news channels, Winter clarified that his party would only recommend Netanyahu for prime minister after the election.

“We do not work for any person, only for the people of Israel,” he said. “We are in the right-wing camp, the leader of the right-wing camp is Netanyahu, and we will only recommend him.”

Winter is entitled to take that position. If his voters want a right-wing government led by Netanyahu, he should be clear about it. But he also needs to explain how that position squares with the broader message of political renewal on which his campaign is being built.

The two positions are not irreconcilable. Winter can argue that Israel needs new political forces while Netanyahu remains, for now, the natural leader of the Right. But if that is his argument, he should make it explicitly.

Whether one agrees with Winter’s politics or not, announcing a list free of anyone who held national political office before October 7 offers something Israel has been missing: a genuine chance to start over.

Winter’s positioning within the blocs, and especially his relationship with Netanyahu, will help determine whether People of Israel’s reliance on new faces is merely a political gimmick or the beginning of a post-October 7 model of Israeli politics.

If Winter can offer voters both a fresh slate and a convincing answer to what that slate is actually meant to change, other politicians may soon find themselves trying to follow his example.

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B’Yachad leader Naftali Bennett and Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot are no longer waiting for candidate lists to be finalized and have begun competing directly as both seek to define their political camps and coalition paths ahead of the coming election.

Speaking at an event in Rishon LeZion, Bennett drew a clear right-wing line against Eisenkot, saying he supports E1 construction between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim and that “anyone who opposes a Palestinian state should support settlement in E1.”

He also made clear that he opposes a Palestinian state “under any constellation.”

Regarding haredi conscription, Bennett positioned himself against both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Eisenkot.

“Bibi is talking about a 50% exemption, Gadi is talking about a 30% exemption, I am talking about 0 exemption,” he said, stressing that any framework that leaves 30% outside the draft would ultimately collapse into a much broader exemption.

Bennett also hardened his security stance, stating, “Anyone who launches terror balloons into Israel deserves death,” while noting that, as prime minister, he ordered the purchase of munitions intended to help Israel contend with Iran’s air defense system as part of preparations for a strike.

He also proposed targeting the Iranian regime with a sustained military, economic, diplomatic, and cyber campaign.

Eisenkot aims to lead governing coalition

Eisenkot, for his part, has sought to present himself as a candidate who can translate his polling advantage into a governing coalition.

In Maariv’s weekend poll, his Yashar party received 25 seats, compared with 15 for Bennett’s B’Yachad and 20 for Likud. Eisenkot also led Netanyahu in the question of suitability for prime minister, 48% to 37%, while Bennett led Netanyahu 45% to 40%.

Eisenkot has spoken of a target of 63-65 seats for his camp and attacked Netanyahu’s approach, which he described as “victory through not losing.”

He has also hardened his position on conscription, setting a goal of at least 10,000 haredi recruits in each cycle, most of them to the IDF and some to national service, alongside personal sanctions against those who do not serve.

Eisenkot also pledged that if his camp failed to reach a 61-seat majority, he would work to expand his coalition rather than default to another election.

In doing so, he is leaving himself the option of trying to assemble a majority even after the election if the results do not give his camp 61 seats.

Eisenkot also claimed that when he was IDF chief of staff, Netanyahu asked him to appoint Winter as military secretary, with the request made in part because of the importance of having someone who wore a kippah at his side.

Eisenkot said he refused because he was unwilling to make a military appointment on the basis of political or sectoral considerations.

The differences between Bennett and Eisenkot have become sharper as the two continue to campaign for overlapping groups of voters.

Bennett is offering soft-right voters an alternative to Netanyahu without moving closer to the Left. Eisenkot is seeking to hold the political center while persuading right-wing voters that he is not dependent on Yair Golan.

E1, the conscription law, and the approach to the Palestinians have highlighted the clear dividing lines between Bennett and Eisenkot, with the conscription issue emerging as one of the primary tests facing the next government.

Shas has already raised the stakes, as MK Yoav Ben-Tzur said the party would demand that a conscription law be passed before the next government is formed.

“If we have to enter a coalition, a conscription law will pass before the government is formed. Unequivocally,” he said.

Netanyahu therefore faces conflicting demands even before coalition negotiations have begun. Bennett and Eisenkot are competing over who can present the stricter conscription framework; Shas is demanding that the issue be settled as a condition for joining the government; and Likud is already signaling that it is prepared to discuss that demand even before the government is sworn in.

Liberman keeps his distance

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman has once again maintained his independence and has not declared support for any prime minister candidate.

In Maariv’s weekend poll, Yisrael Beytenu received nine seats. In the question of suitability for prime minister, Netanyahu led Liberman 40% to 37%.

Separately, Yair Golan is operating from the other end of the political spectrum. The Democrats have invested in a campaign aimed at young voters and in consolidating an independent left-wing camp, while Golan, for now, is also maintaining his political independence ahead of what comes next.

In Maariv’s weekend poll, the Zionist opposition stood at 59 seats, while the coalition bloc had 43. With Winter’s five seats, that bloc reached only 48.

The Arab parties received a combined 13 seats, eight for the Joint List of Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad, and five for Ra’am.

The Zionist opposition’s advantage still does not automatically produce a majority for an alternative government.

Eisenkot could emerge as the leader of the largest party and still discover that the numbers do not add up to a coalition.

Bennett wants to remain an independent alternative. Liberman does not want to become an appendage to another candidate. Golan wants to preserve his party’s independence. Benny Gantz and Gilad Erdan, meanwhile, are currently preoccupied first and foremost with their own political survival.

The battle for the premiership has already begun, even though the composition of a potential alternative government to Netanyahu remains far from settled.

This is how the political system looks on the eve of the new week: On the Right, parties are trying to prevent votes from being lost; in the center, parties are trying to assemble lists that will be able to clear the electoral threshold; and among the larger parties, the battle over leadership of the respective camps is already underway.

The approaching deadline for submitting candidate lists will force the parties to finalize their alliances, but the coalition question will remain open even afterward.

Even before Election Day, several questions that will directly affect the result will be decided: which lists will clear the electoral threshold, how many votes will be lost below it, and which party leaders will reach the ballot box with a plausible path to a 61-seat majority.

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US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz posted on Friday that he had met with the Board of Peace High Representative Nikolay Mladenov. “He is a key partner in the work to secure Gaza’s future, rid Hamas of its weapons, restore basic governance under a Committee of Palestinian technocrats, and build a real foundation for stability in the Middle East,” the US diplomat noted.

Waltz has posted several times about Gaza recently. He posted a video of himself speaking at the UN on X that said: “Remember the Security Council’s pledge: Gaza cannot sustainably rebuild while Hamas retains the ability to plunge it back into war. We will be frozen in a cycle of humanitarian aid rather than rebuilding until Hamas disarms and demilitarizes.”

He also noted, “For the first time in modern history, a new future for Gaza without war or terrorist overlords is credibly in reach. To get there, we all must implement the 15-point plan for Hamas to disarm.”

Meanwhile, Mladenov has also been outspoken. He has posted about how the peace process can only move forward after an International Stabilization Force (ISF) is deployed. He says that Hamas also has to adhere to its commitments. Israel also has commitments under what is called the “Sharm el Sheikh Protocol.”

In addition, Hamas has to disarm. Mladenov says this means every category of weapon in Gaza has to be decommissioned. Only after that happens will Israel redeploy or withdraw forces. This is supposed to happen in “phases” that are “performance-based.” Everything has to be verified along the way. He also posted that Hamas and other groups have agreed to hand over their weapons and transfer governance to a new “full governing authority.”

Meanwhile, the IDF continues almost daily strikes in Gaza. Mladenov wrote in early August that “two days of strikes across Gaza have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies that people depend on. This comes after intense efforts by the Board of Peace and the mediators (Egypt, Turkiye, Qatar and the US) to bring the Palestinian factions in Gaza to agree to a Roadmap on the full implementation of President Trump’s plan, to hand over civilian governance and to decommission their weapons.”

He noted that “both parties carry obligations under the Comprehensive Plan and the Sharm El Sheikh deal that secured the release of all hostages.”

It’s not clear what progress has been made in August.  The Associated Press reported that Burundi and Uganda had sent personnel to Israel to discuss deploying as part of the ISF. They are the latest to do so, following Albania and Kosovo, which did so several months ago. However, so far, not many troops have actually arrived for the ISF.

Mladenov working hard on securing end to conflict

There is no doubt that people like Mladenov are working hard. He wrote that “my team and I are working around the clock with the parties, the mediators and regional partners to de-escalate and create the space for the full implementation of the President’s plan. Achieving a lasting peace is hard but achievable if everyone make their best efforts.”

The Board of Peace has also posted Mladenov’s UN comments. “Gaza’s crisis has never been only a security or humanitarian problem. It has always been a political and governance problem. The National Committee is composed of independent Palestinian professionals. Its purpose is to govern during the transition and restore effective administration,” it noted, quoting the high representative. “This transition will ultimately be judged not by the structures we establish, but by whether Palestinians experience greater security, more reliable services and a measurable improvement in daily life.”

Despite all the statements, it continues to be clear there is a catch-22 in Gaza. No weapons have been decommissioned so far. Hamas has not handed over governance. Hamas continues to control the lives of 2 million people in Gaza. The people have no way to leave the Hamas-controlled area because the rest of Gaza is either controlled by the IDF, or some areas have active armed militias.

There is nowhere for civilians to go if they don’t want to live under Hamas rule. The IDF won’t withdraw at all unless all the weapons of Hamas are collected. Those weapons can’t likely be collected unless the civilians can leave the Hamas area and a new governing authority is established.

The essence of the Gaza peace plan now appears to be a catch-22. This is because it continues to trap 2 million civilians under Hamas rule with no way for them to actually receive the new governance they had been promised under the plan. The lack of deployment of the ISF into Gaza, and the inability to create any zone that is Hamas-free and also open to civilians, means that the plan can’t proceed according to its vision.

The plan has been in place for almost a year. Back in July and August 2025, Israel was involved in operations in Gaza City. At the time, the IDF was re-conquering areas it had taken before. Israeli officials were saying that the IDF would raze them and blow up the high-rise buildings, as had been done in around forty percent of Gaza.

Hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced again, as they had been several times in the war. The hostages were still being held in Gaza. Exasperated by the lack of progress and watching another IDF operation unfold with only tactical goals, the Trump administration moved to pressure numerous states to secure a ceasefire deal.

The US-backed Gaza peace plan emerged in late September 2025 as President Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point framework designed to end the war in Gaza and create a roadmap for long-term stability. The plan was endorsed by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2803 on November 17, 2025, following a ceasefire that began in October 2025. The framework sought not only to halt fighting but also to establish a new political, security, and economic order in Gaza under international supervision.

The Gaza plan was good on paper. It had all the ingredients of what needed to happen. Hamas was supposed to be replaced with a new technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), run by Palestinians. There was supposed to be a police force and security for ordinary people. Disarmament was going to happen, and then there would be investment for reconstruction. The Board of Peace would oversee implementation, coordinate donor funding, and verify compliance with the agreement.

Iran war stalled situation in Gaza

This seemed to proceed well into January 2026. However, the Iran war led to the US focusing instead on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Gaza was largely forgotten, along with the 2 million people living there. With no journalists allowed into Gaza, most of the world could move on and not recall that there were urgent needs for things to move forward. The US-backed CMCC, set up with support of Central Command in Kiryat Gaza, enabled humanitarian aid to flow. Numerous countries joined in the effort.

This, along with a logistics hub being established near the Gaza border to support the ISF, all seemed like good progress. However, the thousands of personnel and troops that were supposed to be part of the ISF did not show up. Instead, only a handful arrived to begin to cautiously examine how the ISF would deploy.

The challenge has always been in the details of implementation. Hamas thrives by controlling the lives of 2 million people trapped under its rule. Without any way for those people to leave the Hamas-run zone, the continued role of the terror organization is guaranteed. It will be difficult or impossible to collect weapons from Hamas so long as it controls 2 million people and can hide among them. The lack of creating a space in Gaza, with the ISF and NCAG, to enable people to move to a non-Hamas zone, means that the plan will face an endless catch-22.

The Trump administration likely knows this. Israel’s upcoming elections also may play into this. Some will argue that Israeli political leaders can’t do anything on Gaza because they have to look “strong” for elections. Therefore, no progress can be made until after elections.

Then, after the elections, the argument may be that no one can do anything on Gaza because the coalition has to be kept together and some small parties may leave the coalition over objections to Gaza policy. Once again, this creates an endless catch-22 that looms over Gaza policy. For the US and others to break this cycle, they will need to provide more than statements about the process for Gaza. 

This post was originally published on here. 

Castelion, one of the United States’ fastest‑advancing hypersonic weapons start-ups, has secured a $1 billion Series C funding round that would allow the company to dramatically expand its production of next‑generation strike and missile defense systems. 

The raise, which values the California‑based firm at $13b., demonstrates that Washington is accelerating investment in industrial capacity for high‑speed precision weapons amid intensifying global tensions.

The round combines $800 million in equity with a $250m. revolving credit facility. It was led by JPMorgan Chase’s Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz, and Carlyle‑managed funds, with additional participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Altimeter, Interlagos, Lavrock Ventures, and T. Rowe Price. 

Castelion’s CEO, Bryon Hargis, formerly of SpaceX, said the new capital will accelerate production of the company’s flagship Blackbeard hypersonic strike missile. 

“Deterrence depends on unapologetic American strength; highly capable weapon systems that adversaries fear produced in quantities they can’t imagine at a price taxpayers can afford,” he said. ”There’s a manufacturing renaissance underway, and this round turbocharges American production of Blackbeard. Designed in California, built in New Mexico, supplied from small and large businesses across the United States; Blackbeard is an example of what America can do when private capital and government work together.”

Blackbeard has advanced from initial design to a formal US defense program in under four years, an unusually rapid pace for a weapon in this class. The company is also developing a longer‑range precision strike system and new defensive capabilities intended for air and missile defense missions.

A substantial portion of the funding will support the expansion of Castelion’s Project Ranger complex in Sandoval County, New Mexico. The 1,000‑acre facility, which has already received more than $250m. in private infrastructure investment, is being built out as a high‑volume manufacturing site capable of supporting sustained missile production. The Pentagon has outlined a potential two‑year procurement framework that could require at least 500 Blackbeard missiles annually, contingent on successful testing.

Castelion’s relationship with the US Navy has deepened over the past 18 months, during which the company has secured more than $500m.in government contracts. Space News reported that the US Navy placed a $23.4m. firm-fixed-price order for 50 pre-production Blackbeard weapons and 50 shipping and storage containers.

Other deals with the navy included advancing Blackbeard toward early operational capability and integration work for deployment aboard the Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet. 

Defense budget documents estimate the per‑missile cost at roughly $384,000, placing Blackbeard in a price tier that enables high‑volume procurement compared to traditional hypersonic systems.

Founded by Hargis along with fellow former SpaceX executives Sean Pitt and Andrew Kreitz, Castelion previously raised $350m. in late 2025. While the company aims to field its first operational Blackbeard systems by 2027, Blackbeard still needs to certify its integration and flight capabilities. 

Hypersonic gap

Hypersonic weapons are systems capable of sustained flight above Mach 5. Unlike traditional ballistic missiles, which follow predictable arcs, hypersonic weapons can maneuver throughout their flight, making them extremely difficult to track and intercept. Their ability to fly in the middle-altitude band, higher than cruise missiles but lower than ballistic missiles, places them in a zone where existing radar networks and interceptors are least effective.

The funding comes as the US seeks to close an expanding hypersonic gap with China and Russia. Both nations are actively developing and testing operational hypersonic weapons.

China’s DF-17 missile system, first unveiled in 2019, features a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to penetrate advanced air defenses with a reported range of 1,500-2,000 kilometers. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has also begun fielding the YJ-21, a ship-launched hypersonic anti-ship missile capable of striking at extended ranges.

Russia has similarly advanced its hypersonic capabilities with systems like the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile and the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which can reportedly reach speeds of up to Mach 25 while performing evasive maneuvers.

The US, meanwhile, has taken a more cautious approach to developing and testing hypersonic missiles. There is also the question of whether hypersonic weapons provide genuine strategic advantages beyond symbolic parity with adversaries. On the other hand, the potential cost of not developing these capabilities could be far greater if Chinese aggression in the Pacific escalates to armed conflict. 

This post was originally published on here. 

“The 63rd Damascus International Fair opened its doors to the general public on Saturday for its fourth day at the Damascus Fairgrounds, following the conclusion of three days dedicated exclusively to business and investment programs,” Syria’s state media SANA reported, as Syria continues to progress, seeking to integrate back into the international community and improve its economy.

The fair is important, with Syrian sources saying that more than 60 countries are attending or represented in some way. “The initial three days of the 63rd Damascus International Fair, dedicated exclusively to business representatives, investors, and official delegations, concluded with the signing of multiple agreements and memoranda of understanding spanning trade, industrial, and investment sectors,” SANA added.

The report said that the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce to boost trade, stimulate commercial exchange, and encourage joint investments between Syrian and Iraqi business communities.

“Economic expert Muhammad Koussa noted that the agreement helps transition bilateral economic relations toward project-based partnerships and expanded market access,” the SANA report added.

In addition, the Syrian Economy and Industry Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s Ethraa Holding Company to rehabilitate, modernize, and operate the General Company for Iron and Steel Products in Hama. It also signed a deal with Turkish firm iSRA to expand an industrial zone.

SANA added that the fair is running under the theme “Syria Shines Again. SANA added that “the fair features nearly 1,000 participating entities representing approximately 60 countries, and will continue welcoming public visitors through September 4.”

Syria can now process credit card payments again

Meanwhile, Syria can now process credit card payments again, now that sanctions have ended. This small, daily detail matters and symbolizes Syria’s re-entry into the international system after years of isolation.

A new Syrian government social media account, Syria Response, posted a video of Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa using his card at a restaurant. “Will that be cash or credit, Mr. President?” Sharaa was asked in the video.

The report notes that “Sharaa pays with a Visa card in the heart of Old Damascus, joined by Central Bank Governor Mohammed Safwat Raslan. For more than fifteen years, this simple transaction was impossible.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The recent, mysterious disappearance of mother and daughter Mali and Liel Yahalomi held the nation of Israel spellbound for more than a week. Everyone wanted to know: Where have they gone? Have they been kidnapped? Are they lying dead in some remote field, the victims of yet another antisemitic crime?

Israelis love suspense stories – the more sordid, the better – perhaps because it gives us temporary pause and takes us away, for a few exciting hours, from the more serious, harrowing headlines that we encounter every day.

One of the many conspiracy theories held that Mali had absconded with huge sums of money drawn from the Bank of Jerusalem, where Mali worked.

So pervasive were these rumors that shares of the bank actually dropped, as investors feared there might be a run on the bank.

They undoubtedly recalled the 2002 scandal when Eti Alon, the deputy head of investments at the Tel Aviv-based Trade Bank, embezzled more than $65 million (over NIS 250 million) over a five-year period, to cover the massive illegal gambling debts of her brother, Ofer Maximov.

Speculations found to be false

None of these wild speculations turned out to be accurate. The two were found – by an Israeli police officer “on loan” to Argentina – on a bus in Buenos Aires. They were unharmed and, according to the bank, no money was missing.

They had ditched their cellphones to avoid being traced or contacted by their family, and were headed from Prague to Vienna to Argentina to an unspecified country to “start life over again.” They had seemingly deserted their loved ones and planned to take on new identities with new passports in a new country.

Many of the questions still remain unanswered, but perhaps the key question – “Why?” – has a simple response: They wanted to escape the life they knew; they wanted out.

There’s nothing all that earthshaking about this. Let’s be truthful: how many of us have, at one time or another, fantasized about going off the grid and fleeing to some remote corner of the planet? To a place that is serene, free of war or terrorism, a place where no one asks – or cares – what God we worship or what flag we fly. Just a place where passersby casually smile at us and go about their business as if we don’t exist.

We have prominent role models to draw from.

Jonah – we’ll soon recount his tale – hopped on a boat and descended to its lowest deck to escape his responsibility as a prophet and avoid his mission of saving the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.

Prophet Elijah ran to the desert, not only to evade evil Queen Jezebel, but to reconnect with God after a life of frustration.

I might even conjecture that Moses took a full 40 days on Mount Sinai – rather than a brief weekend – because he needed a real break from being our leader – we can be a difficult people, you know!

Sadly, no small number of Israelis have indeed fled the Holy Land since we became a state. The Institute for Jewish Policy Research estimates that roughly 630,000 Israeli citizens – our population when the state was founded! – live outside of Israel (about 6% of the country’s population). When you include their foreign-born children, that number nears one million.

Many of them maintain they are “just visiting,” and almost all claim they will come back at some point. Many indeed do, especially if it’s to join a war in progress, or to vote. But many others are quite comfortable blending into their new habitats.

In Koh Samui, Thailand, which we recently visited (thank God, we came back), there are no less than 17 kosher restaurants, and the lingua franca is Hebrew. And Israeli-Americans are the backbones of many Jewish communities in the US, often keeping the Jewish day schools there viable.

In fact, has anyone reading this article actually been in a place where there are no Israelis at all? (North Korea, maybe, unless you count the Mossad agents.)

Yet I maintain that, ultimately, the expat Jews will someday return. This will happen for two reasons – one negative, one positive.

On the negative side, the odious effort to isolate, demonize, and make life miserable for the Jews is increasing exponentially.

It is led and funded by radical Islam, but is also avidly supported by any number of non-Muslim Jew-haters, as well as general crazies who just love to hate Jews. This even includes no small number of delusional Jews themselves; as Hawkeye of MASH fame once said, “If we had more people like you, we’d have less people like you!”

Historically, Jews – sooner or later – become primary targets throughout the Diaspora, and that will not change. Pressed to either engage in self-immolation – condemning their own people and culture – or pick up and leave, significant numbers of Jews will choose the latter. It’s really not fun being in a place where you are not wanted.

Even in docile Koh Samui last week, an Israeli family was denied entry and ordered to leave an animal park, after the owners learned of their nationality when they heard Hebrew being spoken.

But on the positive side, Israelis (and Jews) abroad will come to see Israel as the long-awaited fulfillment of ancient prophecy, and the natural habitat we have always longed for. They will sense that history is reaching out to them, and they will want to be part of the miracle that Israel embodies every day, in every way.

This movement will be led by the young, who are always in the forefront of risk-taking, pioneering, and the ability to discern and desire the future.

These two approaches are indicated in the famous verse from Isaiah 60:8, “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their coves?” Some of our brothers and sisters will return here, pushed and driven by gloomy clouds and ill winds; others will flock here, pulled like birds who swiftly fly to their welcoming nests.

The Talmud in tractate Sukkah tells the story of two of King Solomon’s scribes who were “wanted” by the Angel of Death. They decided to escape to the city of Luz, a place where the angel had no power to enter. But as they approached the gates of Luz, it was precisely there that the Angel of Death was waiting for them.

The Talmud concludes, “Where a person is meant to be, there his feet will take him.”

A very different kind of angel awaits us here, in the holiest of all lands, and it is here that we shall find our destiny. The inevitability of God – and Israel – cannot and will not be denied.

The writer is director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana. rabbistewart@gmail.com

This post was originally published on here. 

The United States is calling on governments around the world to take decisive action to protect Jewish communities, amid rising antisemitism and concerns over the safety of Jews ahead of the High Holy Days, A senior US State Department official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

“While the toxic hatred that is antisemitism is increasing around the world, the United States continues to call on governments to take decisive action to protect Jewish communities,” the official told the Post.

In recent days, the State Department sent instructions to US diplomatic missions around the world to contact local governments and request that they increase security around synagogues, Jewish institutions, and High Holiday events.

US diplomats urged to ask governments to deploy security forces for High Holy Days

In an instruction cable sent to US missions, American diplomats were asked to urge governments to deploy, when necessary, police forces, counterterrorism units, or even military personnel at synagogues and locations where prayers and holiday events will be held.

The missions were also instructed to work with local authorities to ensure security briefings and coordination with Jewish institutions, security organizations, and businesses ahead of the holidays. In an unusual measure, the cable also calls for establishing a way to deliver immediate threat alerts on Shabbat and Jewish holidays to observant Jews who do not use electronic devices.

The official also referenced the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump at the beginning of his term, which states that it is US policy to fight antisemitism “with determination” and through all appropriate legal tools.

This post was originally published on here. 

Iceland has rejected the government’s proposal to hold accession talks with the European Union, public broadcaster RUV reported on Sunday, with only a small number of votes left to count.

Based on the first 188,500 votes counted of an eligible 270,000 from Saturday’s referendum, 52.5% were against the government’s proposal to restart negotiations, while 47.5% were in favor, RUV reported. No information was available on turnout.

“Yes” campaigners said that joining the bloc could ease high interest rates and offer more security in a world unsettled by the war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s threats over another Arctic island, Greenland.

“No” campaigners argued EU membership would threaten the island’s sovereignty and fishing waters.

“Today is our encounter with history,” Iceland’s former President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, a campaigner against EU membership, said in a post on social media.

Old questions, new urgency

Iceland first applied to join the EU in 2009, amid a financial crisis that hit the country’s small, exposed economy especially hard. Talks ended in 2013 when a Eurosceptic government shelved the process.

Renewed geopolitical turmoil has brought fresh urgency to an issue Icelanders have debated on and off for decades.

Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, who has been backing ‘yes’, told Reuters last week that Saturday’s vote boils down to a simple question: can Iceland still afford to stand apart in a world where old certainties are crumbling?

“The international order that underpinned our security and prosperity for decades is under serious pressure,” she said. “In times like these, small nations need to think carefully about where they stand and who stands with them.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Hundreds of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men arrived at the Tel Hashomer military base on Sunday to be drafted into the IDF, with many of them heading into combat units, as protesters gathered outside.

“This is a real jump,” said Lt.-Col. (res) Yossi Levi, CEO of the Shomer Yisrael Organization, which works to bring haredi men into the IDF. “The young men who walked through those gates this morning show you can be fully committed to Torah study and still defend this country on the front line. Our job is to build the support that makes both possible.”

Among the possible units the haredim may join are the Haredi Paratroopers Company, the Hashmonaim Brigade, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, Ma’alot Tzur, and the Yoav Project.

At the recruitment center, Israel Police arranged security forces to prevent anti-draft protesters from disrupting the proceedings.

Protest erupts after police arrest draft dodger

On Friday, dozens of haredi protesters attempted to block Route 443 in order to prevent the detention of a draft dodger, Israel Police announced.

According to the police, a 20-year-old had been caught driving a stolen car, after which it was determined that he was also a draft evader. 

Shortly after his arrest, the police stated haredi demonstrators arrived at the scene in order to attempt to block the road.

This post was originally published on here. 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that security forces thwarted the activities of a terrorist cell that it claimed was linked to Israel and the United States and operated in Sistan and Baluchistan Province in southeastern Iran.

According to the IRGC statement, one member of the cell was killed and six other suspects, including members and supporters of the group, were arrested.

In a statement issued by the public relations office of the Quds Base of the IRGC Ground Forces, it was claimed that the cell was located shortly after its members entered the area and that they intended to carry out acts of sabotage and attacks against preselected targets in the southern part of the province.

The operation against the cell was carried out jointly by the IRGC, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, and the Sistan and Baluchistan provincial police. According to Iranian authorities, the identification of the group’s members was made possible through prolonged intelligence monitoring.

During the operation, one suspect was killed, and six others were arrested before they were able, according to Tehran, to carry out their planned activities.

Iran claims to have found explosives, Starlink communication equipment

Iranian security forces claimed that during searches, they seized 20 packages containing explosives and equipment related to the preparation of explosive devices. They also said they found small and medium caliber weapons, a large quantity of ammunition, and communications equipment based on the Starlink satellite system.

The IRGC statement claimed that the group was connected to the “Israeli regime” and the “American terrorist regime,” according to the wording of the Iranian announcement. It further claimed that the cell members planned to carry out a series of attacks in the province as part of an operation coordinated with the United States, but were arrested before they could execute their plans.

The IRGC warned individuals it claimed were operating on behalf of Israel and the United States against attempting further activity in the region. The statement said that the security of Sistan and Baluchistan residents constitutes a “red line,” and that Iranian security forces would not allow hostile elements to enter the province or operate there.

The claims regarding Israeli and American involvement are based on the IRGC statement, and no independent evidence verifying them was presented in the report.

This post was originally published on here. 

At least one person was killed, and five were severely wounded, during a Sunday morning shooting at a Swiss nightclub in the city of Aarau, local authorities said.

According to reports by the Swiss newspaper Blik, several people were killed when four gunmen entered the party, which was being held at the city’s horse racing track.

The police confirmed that they were in pursuit of the attackers, while no official victim numbers had been released by authorities yet.

“Nighttime shots at event in Schachen. Several victims. Major police operation underway. Stay away from the area,” said the police in a statement.

“Due to the ongoing major police operation, Aarau Swimming Pool will remain closed until further notice. Visitors are requested to stay away from Aarau Schachen,” it added in a statement later.

Das Gelände um die Pferderennbahn, das Schwimmbad und den Sportplatz ist grossräumig gesperrt. Die Polizei bittet die Bevölkerung, dem Gebiet fernzubleiben. Die Polizei zeigt vorsorglich über Aarau hinaus erhöhte Präsenz.++

— Kapo_Aargau (@Kapo_Aargau) August 30, 2026

A video on its site recorded successive gunshots being fired. Large areas of the Aarau town are cordoned off, police said, and it has increased its presence beyond the town as a precaution.

Several people reportedly wounded, at least one dead

According to the report by Blik, one of the partygoers said that people believed that the first shots fired were actually fireworks.

“We noticed that there was a shooting when someone yelled: ‘Everyone down,'” he told the Swiss outlet, while he also detailed that his group had to hide under the DJ booth.

The report also noted that one person was killed, according to a witness, with one of the partygoers attempting to resuscitate a victim with several wounds.

In total, there were three fatal victims, according to Blik, with a total of four shooters present at the venue.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Lionel Messi scored four goals in a Major League Soccer match for the first time in his career to help host Inter Miami snap a five-game winless skid across all competitions with a 7-1 rout of Montreal on Saturday night.

Messi broke a 1-1 tie shortly before halftime, added a second goal in the 52nd minute, a third in the 83rd minute, and a fourth on a free kick in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. Messi has 18 goals this season and passed Dallas’ Petar Musa (16) for the lead in the MLS Golden Boot race. Musa and Dallas visit St. Louis City SC on Sunday.

It was also the ninth time in Messi’s pro career that he’s scored four or more goals in a match.

Inter Miami (12-4-6, 42 points) secured a needed three points while Montreal (5-11-6, 21 points) had a four-game unbeaten streak in league play snapped.

Casemiro, Luis Suarez, and rookie Alexander Shaw each also scored one goal.

Assistant coach Perez leads match after Hoyos suspension

Inter Miami assistant coach Rafael Perez coached the match with Guillermo Hoyos watching from a skybox at the stadium. Hoyos was suspended for the match for violating the league’s Late Kickoff Policy multiple times in recent matches. Hoyos will soon be replaced by Argentine Kily Gonzalez, who was hired this week but is waiting for the necessary paperwork to clear so he can join the team in the United States.

Casemiro headed home a ball off a corner kick by Telasco Segovia to open the scoring in the 20th minute.

Montreal leveled the match in the 37th minute when Fabian Herbers scored his first goal of the season. Noah Streit took a long ball inside the 18-yard box and swung it to the top and just outside the box to Herbers, who then fired a shot past Miami keeper Dayne St. Clair.

It was the 21st goal of Herbers’ career.

Messi answered quickly in the 40th minute, angling a free kick just inside the near post that Montreal goalkeeper Thomas Gillier was unable to deflect.

Messi’s second goal was a masterpiece, as he wove his way among three defenders and fired a shot past Gillier. Suarez’s goal in the 80th minute came on a counterattack, as did Shaw’s, which he scored in the 89th minute of just his third career MLS match.

This post was originally published on here. 

Five people were killed in road accidents across Israel between Saturday and Sunday, including a woman in her 50s who died in a four-vehicle pile-up car accident near Atlit on Sunday morning.

The accident occured on Route 2 near Atlit. Magen David Adom paramedics pronounced her dead and treated six other people at the scene, including a man in his 60s who was seriously injured but conscious with a head injury. Five others were lightly injured.

The crash caused a traffic jam stretching for several kilometers on northbound Route 2 before the Zichron Ya’acov Interchange. Police closed the road and redirected drivers to Route 4.

Two men killed in crash on Route 854

A day earlier, two men in their 30s were killed, and another man in his 30s was seriously injured in a collision involving two vehicles on Route 854 near Lapidot.

MDA teams who arrived at the scene found the two men unconscious and suffering from multiple injuries. After carrying out resuscitation efforts, paramedics were forced to pronounce them dead.

Medical teams evacuated the seriously injured man to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. He was in a state of reduced consciousness and suffering from multiple injuries.

Foreign worker killed while riding all-terrain vehicle

Also on Saturday, a foreign worker in her 40s was killed in a hit-and-run after she was struck by a vehicle while riding an all-terrain vehicle near Tzochar in the Eshkol Regional Council.

MDA teams provided medical treatment at the scene before evacuating her to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba with multiple injuries. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police investigators worked to locate the driver who fled the scene and investigated the circumstances of the crash.

Elderly man killed in three-vehicle collision on Route 4

On Sunday, a 93-year-old man was killed in a three-vehicle collision on Route 4 near Ra’anana Junction.

MDA medical teams treated him at the scene before he was evacuated to Meir Medical Center in serious condition. He was conscious and suffering from a head injury when he was taken to the hospital.

He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the medical center.

This post was originally published on here. 

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement on Sunday calling on rulers of Gulf States to “identify their real enemy and understand the plans to confront it.”

Khamenei’s message, issued in commemoration of the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, also called for “unity among Muslims” and mutual defense against their enemies.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

The InterContinental David Tel Aviv hotel unveiled its new Premium Terrace Rooms earlier this month, following a NIS 40 million renovation project.

The rooms feature 28-30 sq.m. of interior space, plus expansive 12 sq.m. private terraces overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the Tel Aviv skyline.

The renovations also reimagined the Premium Terrace Rooms’ bathrooms, with features such as oversized rain showers and deep soaking bathtubs creating “an elegant retreat dedicated to relaxation and wellbeing,” according to the InterContinental David Tel Aviv’s press release.

Renovation marks milestone for luxury hospitality

“This transformation represents a significant milestone for our hotel and reflects our ongoing commitment to leading the luxury hospitality market in Tel Aviv,” said Ilya Borgakov, General Manager of InterContinental David Tel Aviv.

“Every detail has been thoughtfully considered to continuously elevate the guest experience while preserving the distinctive identity of the hotel. Through this investment, we are further strengthening our position as one of Israel’s leading luxury hotels by offering a contemporary hospitality experience that seamlessly combines thoughtful design, innovation, and an authentic connection to our iconic location.”

The architectural firm ARA Design, which has partnered with the hotel since its opening, led the renovation project.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Pentagon reportedly asked outside analysts this month for creative ideas on Iran. That request itself is worth paying attention to. Over 180 days into a war that produced the most intensive American air campaign since Iraq in 2003, the CIA has now confirmed what the strike data was already reflecting. 

First, Iran’s military capacity did not collapse. Second, air power resolved neither the institutional problem nor the negotiating problem. Third, the Pentagon still lacks the tools needed to end the war with the Islamic Republic. 

Three moves remain available and must be calculated within the Pentagon and the American administration.

Congressional recognition of Iranian minority independence

Iran is not a nation-state in the conventional sense of the word. At its core, it is a Persian majority governing four other large national minorities with distinct languages and cultural identities. Some of these communities have longstanding autonomy or independent movements, which the Iranian government has worked to suppress by monitoring them or, in some cases, confronting them militarily.

The four minority groups in Iran consist of the Kurds in the western Kurdistan province of Iran and surrounding regions; Ahwazi Arabs in Khuzestan, sitting on top of Iran’s oil; the Baluchis in the southeast; and the Azeris in the northwest. Together, these populations account for approximately 50% of Iran’s over 90 million citizens.  

Hypothetically, a unanimous resolution passed by the US Congress recognizing the sovereign independence of the Iranian Kurdistan, Ahwaz, and Baluchistan people would do something no airstrike can do. It would change the internal calculation of every ministry official, every IRGC provincial commander, every Basij unit, and every Iranian citizen calculating whether the regime survives the year. It would do this at zero kinetic cost and maximum pressure – something no economic warfare can achieve. 

Such a move is not without precedent.  

The Kurds living in Iran declared independence in the 1940s. They had an independent state that existed for one year before the Soviets withdrew their support and the Kurdish Republic collapsed in Mahabad. In 2017, the Kurdistan Region in Iraq launched an independence referendum. Meanwhile, the Ahwazi liberation movement has been active for decades, and the sustained Baluchi insurgency in Sistan and Baluchistan all provide organizational infrastructure that congressional recognition would legitimize and further empower.  

Sure, Turkey will object, and Iraq likely will as well. But that is the point.  

Recognizing these states would force a choice on Tehran that airstrikes have not. It would change course on its nuclear program, its network of regional proxies and other forward defenses, and its posture in the Strait of Hormuz. Otherwise, Iran would risk seeing the country break into smaller states that look increasingly toward the Gulf and the West rather than toward Tehran. 

Partition would signal that the war has moved past regime change as a coherent objective. Regime change assumes the same territorial container with different management. This unbundles the container.  

America must follow through and not abandon these minorities again.   

Economic enlistment for indebted military-age Americans

The narrative war on the domestic American front has already failed. The Pentagon has not been able to sell this war to the American public because the war has been rhetorically fused with Israel’s operations in Gaza, and the American public rejects the fusion.  

Recruitment numbers are running below what a ground invasion of Iran would require. Estimates for a successful ground campaign against Iran’s 31 provincial commands and its Mosaic Defense Doctrine run between 750 thousand and 1.5 million American troops. The current active US Army stands at roughly 452 thousand. The math does not work, obviously. 

Based on American history, however, there is a path forward. Not conscription or a draft in a world war-era sense, but enlistment through a “debt forgiveness program.”  

The average American aged 18 to 34 carries more than $40 thousand in non-mortgage debt across student loans, credit card balances, auto loans, and personal loans, with some estimates go as high as $100 thousand.  

This is the cohort the Pentagon needs. A federally administered debt-forgiveness enlistment program that fully discharges student loan, credit card, and loan balances after 24 or 36 months of service, and extends the GI Bill, would produce voluntary enlistment at scale. 

This is not theoretical.  

It is the American state doing what the American state has always done when it needed staff it could not otherwise generate. World War II offered the GI Bill. Vietnam offered college deferments. The post 9/11 wars offered signing bonuses and citizenship pathways. The Iran war will need to offer debt relief. The economics of the indebted American 20-and 30-something make this the most efficient conversion mechanism available to the Pentagon and the Trump administration. 

The moral reading on this is uncomfortable. But states generate the soldiers they need through the incentives that work on the population they have. 

A Washington-to-Beijing agreement on Iranian oil

China’s President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States this year creates a window that has not existed at any prior point in this conflict. The bilateral agenda will include trade, semiconductors, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. It should and most likely will include the Iran file. 

The frame is transactional. China’s current exposure to Iranian oil, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Gwadar Port infrastructure is protected under only one scenario:. A Washington-to-Beijing understanding that guarantees Chinese access to Iranian oil under a post-conflict governance arrangement, in exchange for China withdrawing diplomatic and material support to Tehran. Beijing gets its supply insulated. Washington gets Tehran’s most consequential strategic partner off the board. 

The counter-trade is Taiwan. Beijing has wanted a public American recalibration on Taiwan for two decades. Whether Washington and Trump are willing to offer that, and at what depth, is the negotiation. But the negotiation is available for the first time in a way it has not been before, because Iran has finally created a scenario in which both capitals have overlapping interests strong enough to overcome their structural competition. 

This signals that the Iran war is now large enough to reorder the primary rivalry of the 21st century. China calculated correctly during the kinetic phase. It provided sanctions-blocking cover and diplomatic protection because the cost of doing so was low. The cost is now rising. Beijing will listen to a deal it would have refused six months ago. 

Where this lands

None of these three moves solve the Iran problem alone. Together, they might resolve it. Partition breaks the state morally, politically, psychologically, and undermines Iran’s authority on its own soil. Debt-driven enlistment provides the force to enforce the partition if Iran does not capitulate during that phase. A Beijing deal removes the external protection that has kept the Iranian government standing. 

While the kinetic phase of this war is over, the strategic phase is just starting.  

The tools that win the strategic phase have almost nothing to do with what the F-35s and B-2s have been doing for the last six months. They have to do with legislative action, domestic economic policy, and great power negotiation. 

The Pentagon asked for creative ideas. Here are three. The real question is whether Washington has the political stomach to execute any of them. My read is that the administration will attempt all three in some sequence, and that the sequence will start with the China deal because it is the lowest-cost and highest-leverage of the three. 

The Iran war does not end at the point that a ceasefire is signed. It ends when Iranian institutional coherence is broken. Six months of airstrikes did not do that. Three quiet moves in Washington might. 

AJ Jaff is a senior strategic security strategist and analyst with 20 years of experience across corporate security, military, and geopolitical intelligence. He covers defense, intelligence, and conflict analysis. He is the author of Signal, Not Noise! 

Follow him @aj_geo_analysis on X. 

This post was originally published on here. 

China on Sunday said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were missing on the Tibetan side of a border crossing with Nepal following a mudslide that tore through the Himalayan region, while the death toll in Tibet has reached 16 people.

Officials from China’s Tibet Autonomous Region said at a press conference that the highest number of missing foreigners was from Nepal at 104, while 49 Indian, 33 Latvian, 18 American, and 15 British citizens were also unaccounted for. They said authorities in Beijing have notified foreign missions.

The nationality breakdown was the first from the Chinese side since the collapse of a glacier on Wednesday unleashed a torrent of ice, rock, mud and debris down Himalayan rivers.

Authorities said 16 people had died in Gyirong County as of Saturday evening and that 546 were missing.

In Nepal, the disaster authority said at least 675 people were killed on its side of the border, 2,498 are missing, and 7,514 have been rescued.

Risk of further flooding persists as rescue efforts continue

Local police told Reuters that residents and rescue workers have moved to higher ground after the water level in the nearby Trishuli River rose over the past few hours, underscoring the risk of further flooding even as rescue efforts continue.

The disaster was “caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday, saying it is a “new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters” on the Tibetan plateau.

It took six to seven minutes for the mudslide from the Nepalese side to reach the Gyirong border crossing, CCTV reported, citing the findings of Chinese scientists.

Surveillance footage from the crossing showed torrents of water and debris engulfing buildings while people tried to flee.

China mobilizes over 2,100 emergency rescue workers for mudslide relief

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Nepalese counterpart in a Saturday telephone call that the mudslide was their “most severe cross-border disaster” in recent years, and that rescue operations were of unprecedented difficulty and complexity, CCTV reported.

China has mobilized over 2,100 emergency rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan ($32.7 million) to support relief efforts. It is also providing emergency cash aid, disaster relief supplies, satellite and hydrological data, and tunnel rescue experts to Nepal, the state broadcaster said.

The countries are working together to identify missing citizens and foreign nationals, as well as strengthening cooperation in disaster prevention and mitigation, and climate-change response, CCTV reported.

More than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, the Red Cross estimated.

This post was originally published on here. 

The remains of a building believed to be an inn for medieval travelers were unearthed during excavations carried out in the previously lost city of Asila, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced earlier this month. 

The discovery comes as part of the ministry’s efforts to excavate and shed light on the history of the Sinai desert, its cities, and ancient trade routes.

Asila is located in the northern Sinai along the Egyptian Hajj Route, or the Sultan’s Road, an extensive trade and pilgrimage route that connected Egypt with the Levant and Arabian Peninsula between the early Islamic and the Ottoman periods. 

The Crusader threat to the region halted use of the route during the 11th century CE, causing the pilgrimage route to shift to the southern path leading through Aydhab, an ancient Egyptian Red Sea port, and the Saudi Arabian coastal city of Jeddah.

Mudbrick and red brick walls with limestone-reinforced foundations were unearthed at the Asila site, a method not uncommon in Islamic-era construction, according to Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Leithy added that the walls, which stretch toward the north, east, and south, bear evidence of having once contained several internal rooms, which may have been used as store fronts attached to the inn.

The site’s overall layout closely resembles that of Khan al-Khuwainat, another ancient commercial site found in the northern Sinai, Leithy said. 

He noted that while Asila is smaller than Khan al-Khuwainat, the similarity between the two lends support to the theory that both served as rest stops for merchants and travelers along the trade route.

Green-glazed vessels, pottery point to reign of Mamluk sultan

Vessels painted with an olive-green glaze, as well as glazed and decorated pottery fragments found at the site point to the site belonging to the reign of Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad of the Bahri dynasty.

Some artifacts found also bear Arabic letters that may form part of the word “al-Nasir,” though further analysis of the fragments is needed to precisely date the site and determine the function of its structures.

Red and white decorated pottery and fragments of lamps have also been found at the site.

Infastructure supporting trade, pilgrimage during Islamic period

“The discovery contributed to understanding the nature of the infrastructure that supported trade, pilgrimage, and military movements during the Islamic periods,” explained archaeological mission heads Mohamed Khalil and Saddam Hussein. 

It also helps in studying the network of rest stations strategically built along Sinai’s routes to serve travelers and caravans, the two said.

The discovery at Asila opens a window into the trade network connected Egypt with the Arabian Peninsula, said Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy.

He described the discovery as an “important addition to a series of archaeological discoveries that contribute to rereading Sinai’s history and shedding light on the civilizations and communities that flourished on its land.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Seeing beyond the barriers and shapes, encouraging viewers to perceive space in the most unexpected places – that’s Noma Bar.

Born Avinoam Bernstein in 1973 in Afula, Bar is one of the world’s most awarded and recognized illustrators.

His distinctive visual language is known for its minimalism, use of negative space, humor, and bold flat colors. In his interview with the Magazine, to show an example of negative space, he picked up his phone and pointed out the space between his fingers and the phone.

Bar has been drawing since a young age, often weaving satire into his work. At age nine, he drew a picture of his rich neighbor with financial graphs instead of teeth.

At the age of 17, during the First Gulf War, sitting in a shelter and reading about Saddam Hussein and chemical weapons, he noticed a resemblance between the radiation symbol and Hussein’s face. He created his portrait. Years later, after graduating in visual communication from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and moving to London in 2000, he recreated this iconic image as a postcard. It opened the door to his career.

Over the past 25 years, his work has appeared on the covers of leading newspapers and magazines, including The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, and Time Out. His illustrations have also appeared on the covers of best-selling novels by Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami, and anchored major campaigns for cultural institutions and global brands such as Apple, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Netflix.

Throughout his career, he has also not shied away from addressing political issues and opinions; however, his solo exhibition in Tel Aviv, which opened on August 5, is not focused on this.

After spending half of his life in London, he brings a wide range of his works back to Israel, presenting illustrations, two- and three-dimensional prints, animation, sculpture, and installation in his first solo museum exhibition, “Look Again” (Hebrew name: “Mitzad sheni” [lit., From the Other Side]), at The Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

The exhibition attracts both adults and families with children.

How does it feel to show your art in Israel? 

It’s exciting! It’s the first time seeing my work in Hebrew. I’ve seen it in English, French, German, Dutch, and Japanese, so suddenly seeing my work next to the Hebrew letters is amazing, and it’s good to be here.

“Mitzad Sheni” in Hebrew and “Look Again” in English, the exhibition (curated by Yuval Saar) at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is your first solo museum exhibition, right? 

I’ve participated in group exhibitions in various museums, but yes, this is the proper solo museum exhibition.

I’ve seen it twice now, and my initial thoughts were: first, the colors – they’re fun; and second, I felt a bit like I was taking a major psychological test. A Rorschach test, or looking at Edgar Rubin’s vase. 

It also reminded me of the famous, ambiguous image of an old woman and a young woman from a 19th-century postcard, popularized in 1915 by William Ely Hill as “My Wife and My Mother-in-Law.” Later, this image was also used in psychology. Do you base your work on psychology?

No, it doesn’t come from there; it’s actually [rooted in] typography and negative space, a term in design and architecture. [Negative space] is the space between. Every architecture or design student studies it because it’s very important to understand the gap between buildings and how to make the most of space; for designers as well. In illustration, which is my area, you don’t see it a lot. 

I’m coming from design, less from the Gestalt theories. But over the years, it really developed to that, without talking about the Rubin vase, that there is something there about two sides. I think it’s in my biography. Obviously, coming from here, from Afula, a place where Arabs and Jews live next to each other, had an impact.

You explore positive and negative space in your illustrations. Does it also relate to your life? You spent half of your life in Israel, and half in England. Which is the negative? 

I don’t think it’s clear what’s positive or negative. I see them as two sides that complete each other, and when I’m here I miss there; when I’m there I miss here. I think it’s the constant striving for something or for an ideal place.

Yet back in Israel, you worked as a graphic designer at the Channel 2 news desk. 

For two years, it was a part-time job, from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. And afterward, I used to go to the Bezalel Academy. I learned a lot about how to work fast and how to work in journalism. 

These tools helped me when I came to the UK to become an illustrator for a weekly column for The Guardian. Speed was necessary there.

What made you move to the UK? 

When my wife and I were in our second year of studies (at Bezalel), [we visited London] and went to a shop in Covent Garden, a three-story bookshop dedicated solely to graphic design and illustration! We’d never seen anything like that. That was before the Internet; all the knowledge was in books and magazines. We spent three days there, just looking and buying books. We realized that there was an interesting scene in London.

Did you intend to stay? 

It was a gamble. Let’s see what’s going to happen. But I found a job very quickly, and they sorted out a visa because they really liked my work.

I started working as a graphic designer in a design agency, and at night I used to do illustrations and send my work to magazines and newspapers.

Did you always know you wanted to be an illustrator?

I knew that I wanted to be a graphic designer or illustrator. Today, I am an illustrator, not a graphic designer. But at the start, it wasn’t clear.

Your first famous portrait was of Saddam Hussein. Could you please share the story of how you created it as a teenager, while sitting in the shelter? 

I was 17 during the First Gulf War, and I had a gas mask. Everything was kind of very blurry because of the steam and all the breathing in the shelter, and I read in a newspaper that Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons on his own people, and the icon of the chemical weapon was there. And I drew around it, which looked like eyebrows and a mustache. 

When I came to London, I recreated it as a postcard and sent it to magazines and newspapers, and so that was one of my portraits that I shared with the world in a way. 

It opened some doors for you. Was the second breakthrough Shakespeare’s image?

Yes, Shakespeare was the first time that I worked with Time Out, which led to The Observer and The Guardian, and one led to the other. After six months, I left my day job as a designer, and since then, I have been working as a full-time artist and illustrator.

As an illustrator, you also work with writers. How does the collaboration work? Does a writer have an idea and tell you, or do you read the book and come up with the idea? 

I read the book. The ideal scenario is that I have the whole book, but sometimes I have a summary because the book is not ready; it depends on who the writer is and what stage the book is at. Sometimes it’s a new cover for an existing book, so it depends.

Do you build relationships with the writers? 

No, normally not. It’s going through my agent and their agent. I have a few days to read the book, and the courier is coming to collect it. 

And where does the artist in you come in?

It’s always there when I wake up in the morning, and I go to the [Highgate] woods. Even with [books] of Atwood or Murakami, a lot happens in the middle [of a walk]. I look at things, I discover things, so I always have my sketchbook, and I’m writing and sketching, and it’s kind of in between; ideas are coming, and I’m not stopping it.

So I work on commission jobs, but at the same time I work on an exhibition with new prints or a new book. It’s an ongoing process.

Is the connection with the trees something that you brought from Afula, where your father worked as a forester for Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund? 

Yes, my father used to drop me off at 5 or 6 in the morning with a group of workers on Nazareth mountain, and I spent the day with them in the field.

How old were you then? Did you work with them? 

From age eight to 17. I was cutting, mainly trimming trees, because trees need constant trimming; otherwise, they touch and pull each other. I spent a lot of time in the woods. 

And this bond continues nowadays.

Yes, but I also knew that I didn’t want to be fully in the woods. 

Was it also when you started noticing the negative space? 

Yes, it’s those years as well that I discovered [other] things, if you look at my nine-year-old’s sketchbook. 

It is on view at the exhibition. Already at that age, there was humor in your pictures. You drew, for example, your rich neighbor with a graph instead of teeth.

Like a financial graph. 

And who was your favorite artist when you were a child? 

Igael Tumarkin and Menashe Kadishman. And my aunt and another uncle; he worked in Haifa Port, and in the evening, he used to paint. 

Who is your favorite artist now? 

I think Mark Rothko. And I love [Alberto] Giacometti!

Interesting! By using very limited elements in your works and negative space, you create multiple perception effects. You show a mouse in a cat, a wolf in a sheep. When did you start thinking about those ideas? 

Maybe 30 years ago. There isn’t any specific date, but I always had this kind of dialogue with the other side.

For example, when I worked in the news, on the morning shifts, I noticed that the napkins were left from pizza ordered in the evening. Someone who was tidying the room put the napkins in order. So I put the straws between the napkins, and then someone put spoons like that on the edge of the table, and [thus] I started a dialogue with someone I didn’t know. I added something every day, and he added something. I actually made it a project at Bezalel. 

I didn’t know who it was, but eventually we met. I realized that he was the cleaner, an Arab from east Jerusalem. At some point he disappeared. So it’s kind of a bittersweet memory.

Which, by the way, was the title of your book. Why “Bittersweet”? 

I did a book that used everything, kind of all the bitterness in the world: from wars, crime, and drugs. It’s a bit like writing a song where the lyrics are very sad, but the melody is a bit happier.

I think that a lot of my work has this kind of bitterness in the subject, but the sweetness in the rap of it. It’s very simple; it looks very colorful and appealing, but when you go deeper, you can find the bitter pill.

In the Tel Aviv exhibition, some works address politics, and yet it’s not a political show. 

No, it’s not. It’s there, but it’s not obvious. Many of my other exhibitions were very political, but there’s so much politics here.

And when you do your political things, is your intention to put your foot in? In your 2013 show in London, “Cut the Conflict,” one of the works there was gun/dove. Simple, yet powerful. 

I have a big 750-kg “dog” [a dog-shaped industrial die-cutting machine]. Her name is Flora, and she’s cutting my work. She has a huge engine inside her body and produces 60 prints in a few seconds. 

When I did “Cut the Conflict” at Rook & Raven gallery in London, I asked people from all over the world to send me materials. People from Iran, the US, Israel and Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. And I started to cut things together with a machine. It’s a machine that cuts both positive and negative, cuts my shirt, and [allows me to] create prints mixed with materials. This was a very political work, but one that brings two sides together.

So is it more of an act of activism?

It is activism by someone who wants to bring sides together. It started with cutting and showing the differences between them, and then I realized that they’re so similar. I ask people online to send me materials that represent their countries – maps, books, and papers – and suddenly I started to include all the countries: India, Pakistan, North Korea, South Korea. The materials showed how similar they are.

Could you explain the general process of your work? 

It starts with drawing. Everything is hand-drawn, and then [I transfer it to the] computer. If it’s with a client, I will send [them] a rough, a few ideas, and then, if it all goes well, I move to the final. Sometimes this stage can be a week, and sometimes it can be a couple of hours. 

And my sculptures are made with a 3D printer. There is a process for turning my drawings into 3D sculptures. I love to see the presence of the negative space. Not just to see it as flat, but to look at it from all sides.

In the times when AI is taking over our lives, what would you say to less experienced illustrators? 

I would suggest that, if you want to create a personal language, stay away not just from AI; stay away from computers. Go out and experience the world, draw, and do your own thing. AI is a shortcut for people who don’t do that. The joy is in discovering things. 

Speaking of discovery, I saw many children at the museum trying to figure out what they were seeing in the big, upside-down pink toy.

I’m showing them that there is another side to everything. Here’s the name of the exhibition, exactly. And I have a hidden philosophy: Behind everything that you see, there is another side to life. So don’t just look at the front and what they show you – that this is a monkey or a rabbit. Turn it, and you can discover a dog.

For me, that’s kind of the first lesson of coexistence for them, without saying they coexist, and I’m happy that kids relate to it and understand it. I wouldn’t create it if I hadn’t gone through that with my girls and become a father, when my house became more pink.

And “Tel Aviv Summer” is the installation created especially for this exhibition and this city. 

I always look for one element, but make the most of it. “Matkot” was great, because it’s a very Tel Aviv thing in summer, and we were in August. They don’t play Matkot, but there is also a dialogue between the two sides.

I looked at your list of awards, and it’s endless! 

Yes, I didn’t update it over the last few years.

Those are huge achievements, congratulations! What would you tell young you, the little boy from Afula back in time? 

“Keep doing what you’re doing.” I was drawing all the time, and I had dreams. I wouldn’t change anything. 

www.tamuseum.org.il/en/exhibition/noma-bar-look-again

This post was originally published on here. 

Israeli security forces confiscated hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash, as well as property and vehicles worth nearly NIS 100,000 in a large-scale operation on Wednesday, raiding the homes of terrorists and their families who receive payment from the Palestinian Authority. 

Police raided several homes, including that of Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Abad, who was involved in an attempted suicide attack in Jerusalem in 2002.

They also raided the home of Ahed Faiz Ali al-Natasha, a Hamas agent who was involved in 2001 in planning a car bomb explosion in the parking lot of an apartment building in Pisgat Ze’ev and in planning the attack at the Clal Center in Jerusalem, in which two police officers and ten civilians were injured.

Palestinian Authority continues to pay terrorists, US State Department report confirms

In March, the US State Department informed Congress that the Palestinian Authority is still making payments to terrorists and their families, despite promises to end the “pay for slay” programs.

A total of $156 million was paid out to the terrorists and their families, the report said. $126m. was paid to Palestinian terrorists, including those released from Israeli custody, and $30m. was paid to the families of Palestinian terrorists who died committing their acts of terrorism. The PA had promised to give the families a total of $214m.

Payments continued despite PA President Mahmoud Abbas legislating changes to the West Bank’s welfare system last year, shifting payments to a needs-based model rather than stipends scaled to the length of a terrorist’s sentence.

“The PA continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through new mechanisms and under a different name,” the State Department reported. The report cited information from the Israeli government, open-source sources, and NGOs.

Danielle Greyman-Kennard has contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The diplomatic efforts underway between Israel and Gaza and Lebanon “are largely ineffective… half-baked in terms of what we will actually achieve,” Brig.-Gen. (res.) Oren Avman told 103FM on Friday.

Avman, who is a former commander of the Kfir Brigade, made these comments when weighing in on a recent report that said Prime Minister Netanyahu permitted former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to maintain direct contact with Hamas officials during the war. 

He added, “I don’t know if we’re being played or if a false reality is being manufactured – on top of the state’s overall conduct, which already draws plenty of valid criticism – but in this false narrative, we’re pretending to run a process that will ultimately disarm Hamas.”

Avman noted further: “Over the last generation, state entities have virtually ceased to exist in our strategic reality. We have to recognize that – it’s been the case for over 25 years.”

Despite his criticism, Avman emphasized that he does not reject diplomacy itself. “Diplomatic efforts and dialogue are always vital and must continue regardless. The real question is where they ultimately lead and whether we are being forced to compromise on essentials,” he said.

“The diplomatic efforts of 2026 must persist. We are in a completely different era. Over the last generation, we negotiated with Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, reached understandings with Hezbollah following Operations Accountability and Grapes of Wrath as well as the Second Lebanon War, and now, in one way or another, we are pursuing understandings with Hamas.”

‘When human lives are on the line, it’s legitimate to negotiate with the devil’

Avman’s skepticism of the diplomatic process stopped short of criticizing the diplomatic process when it comes to the lives of hostages.

“When saving human lives is on the line, especially regarding the hostages following our terrible failure on October 7 – it is legitimate to negotiate even with the devil,” he said.

“As long as we succeed in bringing them home safely, you make deals with enemies, not friends, just like prisoner exchanges between sovereign states. That’s why I draw a clear line between an operation aimed at saving lives, like the hostage situation, and all these recent reports about talks before and after, funding, Qatar, and the like.”

‘The IDF in Lebanon is like Home Alone 2′

Turning to the Lebanese front, Avman sharply criticized the lack of a clear political objective. “Regarding the talks on Lebanon, the IDF finds itself in a ‘Home Alone 2’ situation – full of holes like Swiss cheese, operating without a clear political compass while locked in localized battles of attrition,” he said.

“The question is whether we’re stuck in a game of ping-pong – they launch a drone, we scramble F-16s or hit back somehow. The IDF is bogged down in a security zone, and when it comes to dealing with Hezbollah, the problem is that reality is dictating our actions instead of us shaping reality.”

In closing, Avman highlighted two core issues that he believes plague Israel across all fronts.

“Looking at all fronts, there are two underlying drivers. One is decision-making paralysis, and the second, highly problematic driver is the immense strain on the IDF, coupled with a complete lack of grasp of the reality facing reserve, career, and active-duty soldiers. Managing these two factors simultaneously makes this an extraordinarily complex situation.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed apologized for his past comments regarding the March attack on Temple Israel in suburban Detroit during a meeting with the state Democratic Party’s Jewish caucus at the party convention on Saturday.

The Democratic nominee told the room that his remarks following the attempted targeting of the West Bloomfield synagogue preschool, in which he had said, in part, “Hurt people hurt people,” were intended to provide “context.” 

Reflecting on them, he said on Saturday, “I made a mistake.”

“If my statement caused pain, I’m sorry. It was not what I intended to do,” El-Sayed continued. Referencing the first of two statements he had made about the attack, he added, “We issued a statement, of course, condemning it, and that just should have been it, full stop.” 

El-Sayed’s initial Temple Israel comments, which many Jews interpreted as justifying the attack, have alienated Jewish voters in the state. After an initial statement condemning the attack, El-Sayed then followed up with one referencing Israel’s war in Lebanon, where the attacker had lost family in an Israeli airstrike. 

New round of outreach efforts in vie for votes

On Saturday, El-Sayed, a former county health director, insisted that his push for “context” to the attack was broadly appropriate, but not at that moment, explaining that such “conversations” could happen “in the fullness of time.”

“Sometimes you can’t really see context in the moment of acuity or pain,” he said. “The intention for me was not to trample that pain. It was not to discount it. It was not at all to justify any sort of domestic terrorism. That’s wrong, full stop.” 

El-Sayed’s apology, which was in response to a question posed to him by a Jewish Democrat in attendance, came amid a new round of outreach efforts he has been making with Jewish voters since he won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary earlier this month.

He also plans to attend a Sunday Jewish caucus gathering honoring state Attorney General Dana Nessel with congressional nominee Jeremy Moss in attendance, both of whom the candidate has publicly been at ideological odds with over Jewish issues. 

In recent days, El-Sayed has also minimized some of his harsh critiques of Israel in his stump speeches and issued a statement distancing himself from onetime campaign ally Hasan Piker, the left-wing anti-Israel streamer. 

His nomination acceptance speech later that day made only one, oblique, reference to American support for Israel: “It shouldn’t be this hard to pay your taxes and know that that money’s going to be spent on you, and your kids, and your schools, instead of being dropped in the form of a bomb on somebody else, and their kids, and their school.”

But skepticism was still palpable among the 30 or so Jewish Democrats in the room, a crowd that included one delegate who said his daughter and grandson had been inside Temple Israel when it was attacked. 

“Our safety as Jews in America relies on, I think, what’s said by public figures, and how they present themselves in public, and how they advocate for Jews in public,” he said just prior to El-Sayed’s apology.

Not all of El-Sayed’s answers pleased the room. Fielding another question about whether he would support the longstanding Democratic platform of a two-state solution in the Middle East if elected senator, the candidate pivoted.

“It’s incoherent to start with a solution and say, ‘Figure out how to work here,’” El-Sayed said. “To me, it’s about starting with a process and saying, ‘How do we dignify equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination for Palestinian people and Jewish Israelis alike?’” 

He added, as he has in other interviews, that he was open to the possibility of a two-state solution “if that’s what a free Palestinian and free Jewish Israeli people decide.” But he qualified, “Our country, under the guise of a two-state solution, has been aiding, arming, and abetting a government that wants to foreclose on the possibility of a second state.”

That didn’t sit well with some in attendance, even as El-Sayed’s apology for his other comments was broadly appreciated. 

“I really liked him apologizing for mispeaking. We’ve all made comments that we regret later on,” Rebecca Kasen, a Lansing-area Michigan Jewish Democrat in attendance, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I was less comfortable with what he said about not supporting a two-state solution.”

Overall, Kasen said, her opinion of El-Sayed had improved after the Jewish caucus meeting as a result of his apology. 

“I was probably a more reluctant voter for him” beforehand, she said. That had changed: “Instead of just going to vote now, I am going to be enthusiastically voting for him.”

Senate race a tipping point in midterm congressional makeup

As the Senate race is shaping up to be the potential tipping point to decide control of the chamber in a crucial midterm year seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump, the views of the state’s Jewish Democrats regarding their party have been placed under a microscope for more reasons than just El-Sayed. That has led some longtime Jewish Democratic voters to defect to the Republican opponent, former US Rep. Mike Rogers, and also led to some awkward moments at the convention.

In one example, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, the party’s progressive Jewish nominee for state attorney general, addressed the Jewish caucus by declaring, “We’re going to win and keep the attorney general’s office in the hands of a Michigan Jewish Democrat.” Conspicuously absent from the day’s events was Nessel, the Jewish Democrat currently holding the seat.

Prior to the Saturday convention, Nessel, the state’s highest-ranking Jewish official, had announced she would not be attending for fear she would be targeted by antisemitic harassment. Earlier this week, in a podcast interview with The Atlantic, Nessel had reiterated her issues with El-Sayed’s comments about Temple Israel and expressed hope he would walk them back soon.

Nessel’s son Zach Nessel, secretary of the state Jewish Democratic caucus, told the caucus that his mother’s absence stemmed from “agitators” who had targeted her at the party endorsement convention in the spring. Attendance at Saturday’s event was less than one-third of what the Jewish caucus had drawn at the spring convention, organizers said.

Zach Nessel criticized the state Democratic Party for failing to take prompt action to remove the agitators from the earlier convention. He told JTA that Jews in the party “have a right to be concerned.”

“I think the Democratic Party needs to put more work into addressing their concerns,” Zach Nessel said. “But I think that can’t happen without showing up.”

Moss, the Michigan state senator who has recently been at the center of another El-Sayed-related controversy, was spotted at the convention on Saturday but did not attend the Jewish caucus events. 

One ally of El-Sayed’s who also addressed the caucus is University of Michigan Board of Regents nominee Amir Makled. He is an attorney for members of the school’s pro-Palestinian encampment movement who had pushed out a Jewish pro-Israel incumbent at the previous convention. During his own address to Jewish delegates, Makled did not mention his history of social media posts, including retweeting far-right antisemitic conspiracy theorist Candace Owens and sharing praise for Hezbollah leaders.

Makled’s speech later that day at the nominating convention alluded to his work with the encampments as he declared that Michigan “will never have a university where students are punished simply because their speech makes the powerful uncomfortable.”

In between candidate meet-and-greets, Jewish caucus members shared their anxieties about their closely scrutinized role in the midterm elections. They were gravely concerned about protecting democracy and election security from Republican threats, and felt that flipping the Senate was crucial. 

Yet it was hard, they said, to get much of the Jewish community on board this time, given the positions of El-Sayed and some other members of the Democratic slate. Michigan is home to an estimated 100,000 Jews, and the Senate race is currently polling in a dead heat, making their votes potentially pivotal.

“How do we unify our community to put the country first?” one attendee asked the group. “I have a hard time doing that

This post was originally published on here. 

California’s state legislature passed two bills this week that close long-standing legal loopholes by establishing an absolute ban on child marriage and enabling victims of forced marriage to secure civil restraining orders. 

Assembly Bill 1267 institutes a ban on child marriage by repealing “the authorization for a person under 18 years of age to be issued a marriage license or to establish a domestic partnership.”

AB 2534 empowers individuals to protect themselves against forced marriage by incorporating it into the state’s Domestic Violence Prevention Act, allowing victims to secure civil restraining orders against anyone who coerces, facilitates, or arranges an unwanted union.

The two bills are yet to be signed into law, as they await Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature. If confirmed, the legislation will take effect on January 1, 2027.

According to the nonprofit legal advocacy organization, Tahiri Justice Center, AB 1267 will make California the 18th state in the nation to completely ban child marriage. AB 2534 will create the first forced marriage protection order in the country.

Child marriage currently legal in California, with consent of a guardian

According to Bill 1267, which amends and repeals sections of California’s Family Code and Health and Safety Code, “Existing law authorizes an unmarried person who is under 18 years of age to marry upon obtaining a court order granting permission and the written consent of at least one of the parents or the guardian of each underage party to the marriage, as specified.”

According to the text of Bill 2534 forced marriage is defined as “a spousal relationship in which one or both parties do not or cannot consent and one or both parties are compelled, through force, fraud, coercion, duress, abuse of power, or coercive control, to enter, attempt to enter, or maintain, a marriage, regardless of whether the marriage is legally valid.”

It legislates that “If a protective order is sought to protect against a forced marriage, the bill would authorize all persons engaged in conduct to arrange, officiate, finance, or facilitate a forced marriage or attempted forced marriage to be included in one action as respondents,” and authorizes a court to “grant relief regardless of whether a marriage has occured or whether a purported marriage would be legally valid in this state or any other jurisdiciton.”

Survivor: ‘I know what it feels like to have your choices taken from you’

According to the Tahiri Justice Center, Sara Tasneem, a survivor of an abusive child marriage and advocate for ending the practice, said, “The passage of AB 1267 is a huge win for all of us – survivors, advocates, and allies – who have been fighting to end child marriage in California for nearly a decade. The new law will set the legal age of marriage at 18, without exceptions, protecting future children from the severe harms of child marriage and bringing California one step closer to ending the practice.”

Sadia Khan, another survivor of forced marriage and an advocate against the practice, said in response to the bills’ passing in the legislature, “As a survivor, I know what it feels like to have your choices taken from you, to believe no one can stop what’s happening, and to discover that the law doesn’t have a clear answer for your situation.

“As a domestic violence policy advocate, I’ve learned that our greatest responsibility is not simply responding to abuse after it occurs; it is preventing it from happening in the first place. Nothing can give me back the years I lost. But now, California is making sure no one else is forced to lose theirs.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, said on Friday that, contrary to previous reports in The Jerusalem Post and the Financial Times, the Secretary-General did not say that UN special rapporteurs are “out of control”; he said that they are independent actors outside the Secretariat’s control. 

The Spokesperson was responding to a report in The Jerusalem Post, which claimed that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres admitted in an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday that several UN special rapporteurs are “totally out of control” regarding their views on Israel.

Guterres was referring to the process of the work Special Rapporteurs do, not the content or the output of that work, Dujarric claimed.

“I think it’s a misreading of what the Secretary-General said,” explained Dujarric.  “What he said in the interview, and I think people should look at the video, is that he can’t speak for the entirety of the UN system.  Many in the UN structure are independent of the Secretariat and therefore totally out of the Secretariat’s control… out of the Secretary-General’s control.”

In response to a follow-up question about the potentially controversial nature of some rapporteurs’ reports, Dujarric affirmed that the UN Secretary-General’s office “defend[s] their right to speak.”

“We defend their right to work,” he continued. “We will always do so.  But, given their independence, it is not for the Secretary-General to say, ‘we like what this rapporteur says, we don’t like what this rapporteur says,’ right?  They’re independent. Their strength is in their independence.”

Me too. https://t.co/UTIWmx971k

— Reem Alsalem UNSR Violence Against Women and Girls (@UNSRVAW) August 29, 2026

Guterres denies claims that the UN has a bias against Israel

In his interview with the Financial Times, Guterres also strongly denied that the UN as a whole has an institutional bias against Israel.

“I totally refuse the idea of bias,” he said. “On the contrary, I think we have been on the right side of history.”

He added that, from his perspective, the UN had been “defending what is necessary for peace to come to the Middle East.

“There are two peoples, with a few million each one,” he explained, “And there is no way one can destroy the other. So it’s probably better to do everything possible to reconcile.”

Tzvi Jasper contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Call it escapism, clutching at straws in times of need, or a genuine belief in better things to come, but the idea of the Messiah has been a central concept not only of Judaism, but also Christianity and Islam, for many a year. It should be noted, mind you, that the latter two religions hold that the next time the Messiah emerges will be a follow-up event to the original apparition. 

In Jewish circles, there have been quite a few claimants to the messianic title over the centuries. Even if we leave out Jesus – who became very popular among Jews, who subsequently became Christians – just a century or so later, Simon Bar-Kochba was hailed as the Messiah by Rabbi Akiva, as he led a revolt against the all-conquering Romans.

A certain Abu Isa, in 8th-century Persia, had similar aspirations, and there were several in the 12th century, including a Moroccan teacher called Moses Ben-Abraham Dar, and in 1160, in a region in present day Kurdistan, David Alroy took on the messianic mantle.

Fast forward 500 years and we get to one of the best-known of all the pretenders, Shabtai Zvi, an Ottoman-born Sephardic rabbi and kabbalist who was proclaimed as the Messiah in 1666 by Jerusalem-born theologian Nathan of Gaza. Shabtai Zvi is the subject of an intriguing well-researched exhibition currently on display at the Museum for Islamic Art, marking 400 years since his birth.

Shabtai Zvi – Truth or Lie, initiated by Edna Asis and curated by Dr. Hadar Feldman Samet, is an expansive, stratified offering with original centuries-old documents and books, alongside enlarged facsimiles, copies of posters advertising theatrical and other productions based on the messianic character, and recently created works of art, as well as a motley spread of video footage. 

Politics politics

As we all know, to our dismay, almost anything that happens in, or touches on, this part of the world is construed or misconstrued as having some political intent. Surely that must be the case when it comes to the issue of the false Messiah. Senior museum guide Jenia Frumin is not too sure. “[Curator] Hadar [Feldman Samet] takes an approach, which I think is correct, of not relating to this story exclusively from the perspective of a false messiah.” Frumin expounds. 

“This is, firstly, in the context of a very specific happening,” he says, referencing Shabtai Zvi’s meteoric rise to widespread popularity across the Jewish world, particularly in the wake of Nathan’s endorsement, from the Netherlands to Yemen, and Morocco to Persia. 

“This is not the only thing that is relevant to the concept of this story. At its peak, in 1666, according to estimates, something like 80% of the Jewish world believed that he was going to be the Messiah,” Frumin says.

That is surely a stunning statistic, especially if one considers that, in addition to the rank and file Jews of the day who, no doubt, were fed up to the back teeth of being persecuted wherever they set up their stalls, there were learned community leaders who followed the Shabtai Zvi flow. Perhaps, though, that should not come as such a bombshell if we think back to the sagacious Rabbi Akiva and his faith in Bar-Kochba. 

That positive public profile, says Frumin, was not overly or overtly contested either. “There were those who did not believe he was the Messiah, but they kept that to themselves,” Frumin notes. Shabtai Zvi seems to have had it made at the time.

However, this was not just an intra-Jewish occurrence. There was, apparently, great interest in the phenomenon in wider circles too. “This exhibition also looks at how this was all perceived in a broader European context, among Christians. For them, particularly for Protestants, this was a big deal. They related to it as a precursor to the Second Coming [of Jesus Christ].”

Messiah and the media

Feldman Samet also dug into yesteryear current affairs coverage, and the show includes excerpts of journalistic views of Shabtai Zvi and the waves his claims made across the international scene. He certainly sparked interest, leapfrogging geographic, cultural, and societal boundaries. Some heralded his emergence as the harbinger of the long-awaited redemption, but it also provoked controversy. With printing technology now readily available in the Ottoman Empire, news of his shenanigans rippled far and wide.

But this wasn’t just a juicy gossip tidbit. In some quarters, Shabtai Zvi was viewed with deep suspicion, and even evoked fear. “There were those who believed an army of 300,000 Jews was going to march on Mecca and topple Islam. That appears in the media of the day,” Frumin states. 

Regardless of their personal, political, or religious view of the man, it seems that Shabtai Zvi possessed all the requisite attributes for making a splash. There are several of his portraits dotted around the exhibition which, if even somewhat accurate, indicate he was a handsome fellow with almost palpable presence. Judging by those images, it is easy to see why so many fell under his sway. 

“Descriptions of the time indicate that not only did he have an unprecedented appearance, they [also] said he looked divinely angelic, and that it was impossible to look straight at his face because it was incandescent,” Frumin says.

He notes that was an across-the-board reaction. “People who did not believe in him went to meet him and argue with him, but went away with a powerful impression of the man. There was something extraordinary about him.”

Theatrical takes

That found its way into more contemporary folklore and artistic renditions. Take for example, the monochrome photograph of Shimon Finkel, one of the powerhouses – leading actor and later director – of the Habima Theatre, dressed up for his part as Shabtai Zvi in a 1926 production. He has a demonic, hypnotic look in his eyes as he stares straight at the camera.

Some of the 17th-century messianic claimant’s magnetism also found its way into later plastic artistic domains, as exemplified by Reuven Rubin’s watercolor and gouache take on the 1926 staged portrayal of the man. The highly stylized portrait imparts a powerful sense of some psychological and emotional undercurrent coursing through his inner dynamics. Rubin proffers him as a mesmerizing dandyish-looking character who seems irresistible. 

Artists and everyday folks were charmed by Shabtai Zvi from the off. An engraving from Venice in June 1665, during his lifetime, was inserted in the cover of the Madda Ahavah Zmanim (Science, Love, Times) legal publication by Maimonides, showing him astride a lion.

That feeds off the idea that the Messiah would cross the mythical Sambation River, beyond which the ten lost tribes are believed to have been exiled, and aligns with the messianic vision marketed by Nathan of Gaza. The figure’s inclusion in a literary item of such importance reflects the intensity of the messianic awakening at the time.

Naturally, well before the advent of photography and rapid means of communication, the way Shabtai Zvi was unveiled to the general public was often tempered by the artist’s or publisher’s personal taste and opinion of the man and how he went about his business. 

“In the European press, Shabtai Zvi sometimes looks like a figure from a Rembrandt print. Other times – and this is very interesting – he looks like one of the pilgrims who went to North America. That is how authoritative figures looked according to the conceptual approach of the English-speaking Protestant world.”

The English Messiah

The messianic pretender’s image and cultural backdrop underwent some tweaking here and there, to bring it all more into line with local sensibilities. That, presumably, helped to promulgate the concept and make it more user-friendly for local consumption. That happened in 17th-century Britain. 

“After Charles I was deposed, in Commonwealth England, James Naylor and his disciples reenacted Jesus’ triumphal arrival in Jerusalem whereby Naylor entered Bristol [in southwest England],” Frumin explains. Naylor was an English Quaker leader and a member of the Valiant Sixty group of Quaker preachers and missionaries. His representation of the biblical event set off shockwaves across the country, and he was tried, convicted of blasphemy, and harshly dealt with by the legal system. 

The parallels between the English and Ottoman figures were brought to prominence by the media. “In one of the English newspapers there is a portrait of Shabtai Zvi with another person, James Naylor. He was a radical Quaker. He was considered to have attributes of a prophet, an extraordinary character,” Frumin observes. 

“Most of the Quakers thought it was too radical an act. That happened five years before Shabtai Zvi’s proclamation as the Messiah, and there was no connection between the two, but they were still paired together in the press.”

The Ottoman authorities step in

Frumin says the Ottoman authorities allowed ethnic minorities a great deal of independence, as long as they didn’t overstep the mark. “When the whole business of Shabtai Zvi erupted – it was actually just a short passage of time, of around 18 months – the authorities suddenly viewed it as a political threat. They [members of the messianic group] talked about bringing the regime down.”

From the point of view of the powers that be, there was something fundamentally disturbing about the group’s dynamics. “Ottoman society was generally based on various hierarchies, but the Sabbatean movement grew from the base,” Frumin notes. “Because of that, the establishment struggled to deal with it.” 

That included the Jewish community. “The rabbis didn’t know what to do about it. The people who opposed the Sabbatean movement didn’t know what to do with it either. That’s why they didn’t react when the messianic movement of the time was at its zenith.”

It wasn’t only about the lead figure. There was a ripple effect that spread all over. “There is a description by the Sabbatean movement in [Shabtai Zvi’s birthplace of] Izmir that says there were in excess of 150 seers there, who had visions.” That crossed gender and age divides. “They included men, women, and children.” 

Apparently that was par for the religious course, regardless of denomination. “It was the same with radical Protestant groups then. Hierarchies were done away with.”

Shabtai Zvi eventually triggered the ire of the folks with the legal and judicial punch. He was duly taken to court, was handed a prison sentence, and even converted to Islam in order to escape the death penalty. “That was probably not a genuine conversion, as he maintained his Jewish practices at the same time,” Frumin says.

There was, for Shabtai Zvi, reason to his method. “He explained that he converted to Islam because that is what God demanded of him. Many of his followers still related to him as a Jew and they believed he would be rediscovered [as the Messiah].”

Whatever his motives as a faux claimant, Shabtai Zvi remains a colorful juncture in the Jewish timeline and, in fact, was not just consigned to the history books. Even today, there continues to be interest in his ideas and vision.

One of the exhibition’s textual slots notes that descendants of the Sabbatean community have openly explored their familial and communal past. It seems it is now perfectly acceptable to dig into the false prophet’s tale and bring it into the light of the 21st century. 

“The shift from concealment, and at times erasure, to inquiry, interpretation, and a renewed articulation of this heritage has generated varied perspectives on the meaning of Sabbatean origins today,” says Frumin. “Through personal journey, family memory, and research, they add a contemporary layer to the transformation of Shabtai Zvi’s figure and to the phenomena that developed in his wake.”

That is, indeed, a fascinating slant, and the more modern-day route to the legendary figure is well represented in the exhibition. A Sabbatean genealogical tree of the Osman Celebi family, for example, documents the family of Livorno-born Celebi that traces its origins back to the 17th century, when Shabtai Zvi was alive. 

The document has over 250 names, family photographs, as well as a letter from a father to his son underscoring the importance of preserving the family lineage and keeping its memory alive. 

That sounds like a time-honored Jewish practice, as Jews have ebbed and flowed around the world and across the ages.

Shabtai Zvi – Truth or Lie closes November 7. For more information, read more here.

This post was originally published on here. 

It is generally agreed that agents and publishers today like their authors to arrive with a built-in audience, or a track record of sales.

Such was not the case for author Ron Segal.

His novel, Delicate, was originally written in Hebrew and published in Israel in 2010, and translated for a German audience that year. Popular enough in Israel to receive a grant from the Israel Cinema Project to be adapted into a short film, and widely reviewed in Germany, Segal could not find an American publisher for an English translation.

Recently, Jewish Book Council facilitated an introduction between Segal and Ayin Press, an independent publishing platform committed to “transformative” Jewish literature. Delicate, translated into English by Philip Simpson, is being released to JBC readers through their book club, Nu Reads, on September 22, and will be published to a wider audience in 2027.

Inspired by Holocaust testimonies, Delicate is narrated by a survivor whose memories are too tangled for the reader to understand what is true.

Today, we grapple with the reality that so few survivors remain to tell their stories. In writing Delicate, Segal was not deterred by this problem, but rather spurned by it: how do we keep telling these stories when we are losing the original storytellers? Says Segal, “[Emotional truth] is another layer of remembrance, an attempt to capture what a historical experience felt like when facts alone cannot convey its emotional reality.”

The ’emotional reality’ of the Holocaust in the US is not as it is in Israel

Perhaps this is why American publishers refused Segal for so many years. The “emotional reality” of the Holocaust, for Americans of this century, is that it is old news and Jewish victimhood is no longer central to it. But Segal was never discouraged by the journey.

“I like to think that Delicate has reached American readers at exactly the moment it was meant to…as we experience a surge in antisemtism, sadly, in the United States.”

Delicate marks the sixth book chosen for Nu Reads, a JBC subscription book club that shares Jewish books with an audience that wants them, even when the American publishing industry is not as supportive.

JBC CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter chose Delicate for its exploration of passing down Jewish stories and history. “Delicate pushes us to think differently about memory, storytelling, and Holocaust remembrance. Its nuances and perspective make the book uniquely powerful, and JBC is proud to have played a role in bringing it to English readers.” 

This post was originally published on here. 

Settlers barricaded themselves inside a Palestinian house in Kusra on Saturday, where residents were present before IDF forces arrived to forcibly remove the rioters from the house.

The IDF stated that, following reports of the riots, it dispatched troops along with Border Police officers to the area.

The army added that it also confiscated vehicles belonging to the rioters, which are suspected of being used to access the area. These vehicles, along with additional evidence collected at the scene by Israeli security forces, are being transferred to the West Bank District of the Israel Police as part of an ongoing investigation into the incident.

עשרות פורעים יהודים הגיעו לפאתי הכפר קוסרה. לפי צה”ל, כוחות במקום משתמשים באמצעים לפיזור הפגנות במטרה להרחיקם. הפלסטינים מדווחים על 8 פצועים מאבנים@HGoldich pic.twitter.com/2yVnrki9wy

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 29, 2026

Palestinians reported that a total of eight people were injured during stone-throwing altercations with the rioters, some of whom were evacuated for medical treatment by the Red Crescent.

According to Israeli media, no arrests were made after the IDF arrived in the area, with the settlers leaving the village outskirts after being ordered by the military to do so.

According to a Walla report, the IDF and Border Police continue to maintain a presence in the Kusra area due to concerns that the rioters might attempt to return.

Netanyahu condemns the violence

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned violence committed by dozens of settler rioters who gathered on the outskirts of the village of Kusra in the West Bank on Saturday, igniting violent clashes with the local residents.

“I strongly condemn the criminal acts of violence committed in the villages of Kusra and Jalud by a handful of rioters who violate the law, cause enormous injustice to the law-abiding settler public, hinder the IDF in fulfilling its missions, and harm

Israel’s standing in the world,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Netanyahu added that security forces had ended the incident “in a short time” and confiscated three vehicles.

The IDF, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the police are conducting an investigation, Netanyahu said, adding that he expected the rioters to be arrested and brought to justice.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot also issued a response to the Kusra violence in a post to X/Twitter on Saturday night.

“The escalating anarchy of a violent minority and the loss of control over them in Judea and Samaria represent a security, leadership, political, and ethical disgrace that does not reflect the overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens, and it is a deviation from the IDF’s primary mission,” Eisenkot asserted.

Eisenkot went on in his statement to assign responsibility for the violence in Kusra and the broader issues related to the increase in violence in the West Bank to Netanyahu, saying that “this is the result of a governmental policy led by Netanyahu and his coalition partners, in which they knowingly abandon Israel’s national interest out of embarrassingly weak and dangerous political considerations.”

האנרכיה הגוברת של מיעוט אלים ואובדן השליטה מולם ביהודה ושומרון, הן חרפה ביטחונית, מנהיגותית, מדינית וערכית שלא מייצגת את הרוב המכריע של אזרחי ישראל והיא הסטה ממשימתו העיקרית של צה״ל.

זוהי תוצאה של מדיניות ממשלתית שמובילים נתניהו ושותפיו הקואליציוניים שבה הם מפקירים ביודעין את…

— Gadi Eisenkot – גדי איזנקוט (@gadi_eisenkot) August 29, 2026

Kusra and a pattern of extremist behavior 

Earlier this month, similar altercations took place when dozens of settlers arrived in the Kusra area and were seen vandalizing Palestinian homes, dismantling fences, blocking roads, and surrounding the area.

IDF forces were summoned to the scene and worked to evacuate the settlers, who then clashed with the soldiers.

Following the incident, settler leaders, including the heads of the Yesha Council and the Beit El Council, publicly condemned the violence, warning that it was severely damaging to both Israel and the settlement movement.

Yisrael Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council and head of the Binyamin Regional Council, said there was no justification for violence against Palestinians or Israeli security forces.

“The events in Kusra are serious and are not our way,” Ganz said.

“There is no place for privately deciding to establish a hilltop outpost in the yard of a house, even when it is an illegal house or there is an attempt to take control of the area. There is absolutely no justification for violence against innocent people or against the security forces.”

Shir Perets contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday after reports that Netanyahu helped broker talks between Religious Zionist Party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Zehut Party founder and chairman Moshe Feiglin aimed at unifying the parties.
 
“I was stunned by reports that Smotrich and Feiglin conducted advanced negotiations for a merger with your mediation, and that only in order to ‘pressure Feiglin,’ you and Smotrich issued a staged call for unity with me, whose entire purpose was to lower Feiglin’s demands,” Ben-Gvir wrote.

שבוע טוב אדוני ראש הממשלה,

נדהמתי מהדיווחים על כך שסמוטריץ׳ ופייגלין ניהלו בתיווכך מו״מ מתקדם לאיחוד, ורק כדי ״להלחיץ את פייגלין״, יצאתם אתה וסמוטריץ׳ בקריאה מבוימת לאחדות איתי, שכל תכליתה להנמיך את דרישות פייגלין.

מילא להחרים אירועים בהשתתפותי ולהתבייש להצטלם איתי, אבל גם…

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 29, 2026

“It is one thing to boycott events I attend and be embarrassed to be photographed with me,” the minister continued, referring to the recent publicity surrounding the rediscovery of the sunken Altalena, “but even the emotional call for unity is just a cynical game?!

“Mr. Prime Minister, it is worth reminding you: my name is Itamar Ben-Gvir, not Benny Gantz,” he added.

Ben-Gvir’s recent comments follow a chain of tense exchanges between the Otzma Yehudit Party leader and the prime minister in recent days.

Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir shared heated exchange over social media

On Thursday, Netanyahu urged Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to agree to run together ahead of the upcoming election in a video posted on social media.

At the beginning of the video, the interviewer asked Netanyahu, “What about Smotrich and Ben-Gvir?”

“They must unite,” he replied. “Every time we ran together, we won. When we ran separately, we lost.”

“I understand that there are personal grievances between them,” the prime minister continued. “They need to overcome them. I will invite them in the coming days. We will make a supreme effort to unite, and this is what the public expects from them, and rightfully so.” 

Ben-Gvir responded to Netanyahu’s claims in his own video, claiming that the prime minister wants “a small Otzma Yehudit Party so [he] can join Eisenkot to establish a ‘broad national government.'” 

“Only a large Otzma Yehudit, together with Smotrich and Ofer Winter running together, only in this way can a fully right-wing government be formed,” Ben-Gvir said.

Ben-Gvir risking the country on ‘personal whims’ says Netanyahu

Ben-Gvir’s video prompted yet another response from Netanyahu in a post on X/Twitter, in which he addressed Ben-Gvir directly, saying, “ All the polls show that if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich unite, it will create a strong party that strengthens the right-wing bloc.” 

“Smotrich is on the verge of the electoral threshold,” Netanyahu said. “If you don’t unite with him, we’ll get a left-wing government of Eisenkot with Yair Golan and the Arab parties.”

The prime minister also claimed that Ben-Gvir was risking the country on “personal whims.”

Following this, Ben-Gvir pushed back, once again accusing Netanyahu of attempting to weaken the Otzma Yehudit Party in order to form a broad national government with Eisenkot.

He claimed that “the perfect script” would be for Winter and Smotrich to combine their parties. 

“In your words, Winter doesn’t bring any votes from the undecided,” Ben-Gvir wrote.

“I will do everything so that you do not form a government with Eisenkot! Only a right-wing government!!!”

Smotrich largely stayed away from the back-and-forth, writing in a post on Twitter/X that “the time for unity and responsibility is now.”

This post was originally published on here. 

On this day, 129 years ago, some 200 Jews from 17 countries arrived in Basel, Switzerland, and convened in the municipal casino concert hall, decorated with blue and white flags, for the First Zionist Congress led by Theodor Herzl. 

From morning to night, the delegates planted the seeds for building state institutions: The Jewish National Fund, the Zionist Organization. 

Herzl drew from his experience as a journalist in Paris, closely observing French government, politics and world affairs. He reflected: “It now became clear why I had to attend the Palais Bourbon sessions four years on end.”

The First Zionist Congress lasted three days, from August 29-31, 1897. 

Over three days, debates grew inside the hall and side rooms, Jews from all over coming together in this format for the first time. Assimilated Jews from England alongside religious, Yiddish-speaking Jews from small villages in Poland, and intellectual Russian Jews from Odessa all attended. 

It was during this congress that the Basel Program was adopted, in which the goals of the Zionist movement were set out.

In his diary, Herzl later wrote: “At Basel I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it.”

Anti-Israel protest planned for anniversary of congress

Now, 129 years later, an anti-Israel group based in Basel tried to plan a protest entitled “Death to Zionism” on Saturday.

The protest was denied approval after the organizers failed to submit a permit request, and authorities cited concerns about calls for violence, according to a statement issued by local police.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), which issued warnings about the event prior to the police announcement, identified the group ‘basel4palestine’ as the organization behind the protest.

In an official statement released earlier this week, the police noted that, in addition to lacking an official permit, local authorities determined that the event, as proposed, was “not consistent with fundamental rights and therefore cannot be authorized.”

This post was originally published on here. 

With millions facing hunger and displacement in Sudan, dissidents enduring prison and torture in Iran, and thousands of political prisoners languishing in Myanmar’s jails, the world is hardly suffering from a shortage of worthy humanitarian causes.

Yet some of the biggest names in the movie business have decided that what the world really needs is the release of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian terrorist and convicted murderer serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.

More than 20 actors associated with Marvel films have joined the “Free Marwan” campaign demanding his release, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, and Cate Blanchett.

After years of pretending to save the world while wearing capes, armor, and assorted forms of spandex, these Marvel veterans have settled on a new real-life mission: securing the freedom of a man convicted of directing terrorist attacks that killed innocent people.

The celebrities say they are concerned about Barghouti’s imprisonment and alleged mistreatment, while the campaign they have joined portrays his trial as illegitimate and politically motivated.

Barghouti convicted of five murders

The trouble is that Barghouti is not in prison because Israel objected to his politics.

In 2004, the Tel Aviv District Court convicted him of five murders stemming from three terrorist attacks, as well as attempted murder and membership in a terrorist organization. He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms plus 40 years.

The attempted-murder conviction involved a failed car-bomb attack near Jerusalem’s Malha Mall.

Nor was Barghouti some peripheral political figure who happened to get swept up in the violence of the Second Intifada.

He was one of Fatah’s most powerful leaders in Judea and Samaria, headed its Tanzim terror group, and, the court found, exercised authority over the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which carried out suicide bombings and shooting attacks.

The judges ruled that Barghouti issued orders to kill through the Brigades and found that he supplied terrorist field units with money and weapons through close associates.

The consequences were brutal. A January 2002 shooting near Givat Ze’ev, the judges concluded, was carried out on Barghouti’s instructions. The victim, Yoela Chen, a mother of two, had stopped at a gas station while on her way to a family wedding. Gunmen opened fire on their car, killing Chen and wounding her aunt.

Barghouti was also convicted for his role in the June 2001 murder of Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis, a Greek Orthodox monk from St. George’s Monastery in Wadi Kelt, who was shot while driving on the Jerusalem-Ma’aleh Adumim road.

And Barghouti also authorized the March 2002 terrorist attack at Tel Aviv’s Seafood Market restaurant, where the gunman opened fire on diners. Yosef Habi, 52, of Herzliya, and Eli Dahan, 53, of Lod, were killed, as was Salim Barakat, a 33-year-old Druze police officer from Yarka who confronted the attacker. Thirty-five others were wounded.

Hollywood has long specialized in suspending disbelief. But asking us to suspend it about Barghouti’s five murder convictions may be its most ambitious production yet.

The “Free Marwan” campaign portrays Barghouti as a symbol of Palestinian unity, and some supporters have gone so far as to compare him to Nelson Mandela.

Mandela is, of course, an enormously useful name when trying to turn a prison sentence into a halo.

But there is another inconvenient detail about Barghouti’s trial.

The same court that convicted him of murder found there was insufficient evidence to prove his guilt in another 21 deaths included in the indictment.

That sits rather awkwardly with the campaign’s contention that his trial was illegitimate and politically motivated. If the judges had been intent on convicting Barghouti of everything placed before them, they chose a remarkably inefficient way to do so.

Yet more than 200 figures from the worlds of culture and entertainment have reportedly backed the campaign.

Apparently, a Screen Actors Guild card now doubles as a graduate degree in counterterrorism.

Actors, of course, are perfectly entitled to express political opinions, and some may genuinely believe they are advancing the cause of peace. But when the victims are Israelis, something curious happens to their vocabulary.

Terrorism is recast as “resistance.” A convicted murderer becomes a “political prisoner.” And discussion of his punishment proceeds with surprisingly little attention paid to the five people whose murders put him behind bars.

Before Cumberbatch, Ruffalo, and their colleagues lend their names to Barghouti’s cause, they might undertake an exercise familiar to every actor preparing for a role.

Read the verdict. Read what Barghouti was convicted of doing.

It will not require a stunt double.

Then they can decide whether the great injustice in this story is really that Marwan Barghouti remains behind bars.

The movie business knows better than most how easily a story can be framed so that one character appears heroic and another villainous.

But this is not a movie.

Five innocent people were murdered, and Barghouti was convicted of directing or authorizing the attacks that killed them.

No amount of star power can change that.  

The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This post was originally published on here. 

On a recent live stream, with a photo of Jewish Michigan congressional candidate Jeremy Moss on screen behind him, Twitch personality Hasan Piker told his millions of followers that US Jews “have it coming.”

Those who “keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel” should expect that “eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the State of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” he said.

Piker called Israel “Jewish ISIS,” saying that Jews were “making antisemitism worse.”

Antisemitism has historically come in two forms. One is transactional: “Renounce whatever it is we are telling you to renounce and safety will supposedly follow.” The other is fixed: “You are the problem regardless of what you renounce, because your identity itself is the offense.”

Mistaking one for the other is how societies miss what’s happening until it is too late. Piker’s rhetoric looks like the first kind. It also smuggles in the second.

The transactional version has a long pedigree. In 1789, as France debated citizenship for Jews who had lived there for centuries, Count Stanislas-Marie-Adélaide de Clermont–Tonnerre delivered the sentence that would define it: “To the Jews as a nation, nothing. To the Jews as individuals, everything.”

In other words, he offered full citizenship in exchange for dissolving the national parts of Jewish identity, an offer Jews “could not refuse.” Every generation since has been handed some version of this, in French, in Russian, and now in the argot of Twitch.

Even the offer’s predecessor, religious-based antisemitism, was never as clean as it pretended. Medieval Europe held out baptism as the door out of persecution. Spain tested that promise and broke it.

After the mass forced conversions of the 14th and 15th centuries, the limpieza de sangre, “the purity of blood,” statutes barred anyone with Jewish ancestry, however distant, from public office, the priesthood, and social standing.

The room marked “convert, and you are free” had a false bottom. Blood, not belief, was the real test.

Sharansky’s litmus test for identifying modern-day antisemitism

Natan Sharansky, the Soviet dissident who spent years in the Gulag for wanting to live as a free Jew in Israel, built a test for recognizing this pattern in real time.

Does the rhetoric demonize Jews or the Jewish state, casting them as uniquely evil? Does it delegitimize Jewish self-determination, treating a Jewish homeland as illegitimate in a way no other nationalism is questioned? Does it apply a double standard, holding Jews or Israel to scrutiny applied to no one else?

Piker’s stream clears all three, and the double standard is easy to prove. US politicians Abdul El-Sayed and Rashida Tlaib have built careers around identification with the Palestinian Arab cause, and have each made claims about Israel that were false or badly distorted.

Imagine a streamer showing their photo and saying Arab Americans “putting this idea out there” should expect that “someone’s going to come around and take action” against them or accuse them of “making Islamophobia worse.” That would be denounced widely and instantly as incitement. No one would call it a warning.
Piker said the Jewish version of that sentence about Moss.

Moss answered for himself. “A California podcaster will not lecture me about what Oakland County’s Jewish community should and shouldn’t believe,” he said, adding that Jews “won’t be gaslit that we’re responsible for the antisemitic harm upon us.”

Rep. Hillary Scholten identified it for what it was. “Calls for violence against American Jews … unacceptable. Full stop,” she said.

El-Sayed, whose Senate campaign Piker spent months building, could only offer that antisemitism is “a scourge” in the abstract, without naming what Piker said or disavowing him.

Multiply that by the rest of the Democratic Party, the country’s largest, and the silence gets harder to explain. A handful spoke up. The overwhelming majority of a party that claims fighting racism and bigotry as a core value said nothing about an allied influencer telling millions that American Jews were inviting violence against themselves.

That gap between the outrage this would generate against any other minority and the silence Piker got from his own coalition is the double standard operating in real time, on screen.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism identifies both denying Jewish self-determination and holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s actions as antisemitic.

Piker did both – and named individuals. “Collectively” is a crucial term here because it marks the point where his rhetoric moves beyond a supposed bargain for safety and becomes more sinister.

When Wilhelm Marr coined “antisemitism” in 1879, he rebranded a hatred that had worn religious clothing for a thousand years into something claiming to be secular and scientific – race, not sin.

He took the false bottom already built into limpieza de sangre and made it official doctrine, a fixed, hereditary trait no conversion could erase. That closure metastasized into Nazi racial law under which converted Jews and decorated Jewish veterans of the First World War still had no path out. The category itself had become the crime.

Piker’s language borrows from both hateful traditions at once. On the surface, he offers a transaction: stop being “invested” in Israel, and the danger recedes. That is Clermont-Tonnerre’s structure.

But “Jewish ISIS” is a distinct kind of accusation. ISIS denotes a terrorist movement; attaching the label to a democracy makes sense only if “Jewish” bears the moral weight of the claim.

The phrase does more than condemn a state. It merges Jewish self-determination with an image of absolute evil. Stripped of its polemical language, the logic echoes Marr’s: An identity treated as inherently corrupt and collectively culpable.

Jew hate is back out in the open, justified and legitimized by all and any excuse

This is also why the “anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism” argument collapses so often on contact with reality. When anti-Israel rhetoric singles out Jews alone among all peoples on Earth as the one group undeserving of self-determination, and treats Jewish support for that state as evidence of a nefarious group trait, it isn’t a carve-out from antisemitism.

It is antisemitism in fashionable disguise, exactly as it was in Inquisition Spain, Clermont-Tonnerre’s Paris, and Marr’s Germany.

Piker’s own words supply the final tell. He never said he wanted to harm Jews. He said other people will, and that Jews will have brought it on themselves simply by existing and believing what many of them do. He sounded like a bystander describing a forecast.

But Piker is the one seeding the cloud.

Call this what it is. Piker did not warn Jews. He indicted them, collectively, for the crime of existing as they are, then dressed the indictment up as a safety warning. It is the oldest accusation in the book, updated for a platform that rewards it with millions of views instead of pulpits.

Jews have absorbed both forms of this hatred before, sometimes offered by the same movement in the same breath. Most know the difference when they hear it, even when people around them pretend not to. This time, the accusation had a name, a face, and millions of witnesses. Let the record reflect it.

What should concern everyone, Jewish or not, is that this happened to an individual who was called out by name.
The hypocrisy is clear: An equivalent threat made against Arab Americans over the rhetoric of their most visible leaders would be denounced immediately and near universally. Every politician, network, and platform that let this pass also fit

Sharansky’s test, though probably not with the answer they imagined.

The writer is an attorney and a former IDF soldier and NYPD officer. He writes widely on Israel, Zionism, antisemitism, and Jewish history. He serves on the board of Herut North America.

This post was originally published on here. 

Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona – having been born in Safed but leaving as a baby – Yosef Turtora knew he was Jewish but little more. Occasionally, his parents lit the menorah on Hanukkah, though they never considered Hebrew school and rarely attended synagogue.

His father was a pharmacist raised in the Bronx, New York. His mother, daughter of a British art therapist, studied fine arts and became a landscape architect.

Tutora’s good friends often turned out to be Jewish but shared his unfamiliarity with religion. Yosef – then known as Joe or Joseph – recalls an occasional invitation to a Reform-style Seder at their homes.

For two years of middle school, he attended a Waldorf school, whose curriculum included animal care and art classes and fostered creativity.

Tutora decided to study philosophy at Arizona State University, hoping “to get answers to some key questions, real answers about the world.

“I was surprised how many philosophers discuss spiritual topics such as the soul and the existence of God. I thought that was ridiculous [for] logical thinking people.” In a philosophy of religion class, “I expected strong arguments against religion and God, but was surprised at the direction it took.”

When he was 20 years old, midway through his degree, his mom called and mentioned that Rosh Hashanah was coming soon. Maybe he would drop by then? He duly filed this away in the back of his mind.

He regularly passed the campus Chabad house while walking to his nearby rental apartment.

“I only knew that it was a Jewish place,” he said. “I had never been inside.”

Several days later, when he had just finished classes, the sight of the house jogged his memory. He stopped a moment to ask Google if that day was Rosh Hashanah. The phone confirmed his assumption. “Yes, today is Rosh Hashanah,” it said.

Just then the house door swung open, and the Chabad rabbi escorted two students outside. It was then midafternoon.

“Are you guys having services still?” he asked the rabbi.

“Actually, we finished already,” he replied. “Did you hear the shofar today?”

“No,” Tutora admitted.

“So come in. I’ll blow the shofar for you and give you something to eat,” said the rabbi.

And blow he did, 30 full blasts, a complete set. It was “a very powerful experience, right into my face, right into my neshama, my soul. Something in that experience must have woken me up,” triggering his Jewish awareness, disclosed Tutora. It was perhaps the first time in his life that he had heard the shofar blown.

While eating the holiday meal Chabad had offered him, he observed the other students in the room, all well-dressed for the holiday.

He listened, not understanding much, but gradually realized that he was listening to a real dialogue. After the rabbi answered initial questions, to his surprise students probed even further. This interaction was an intriguing revelation.

“I was really fascinated.” Before he knew it, two hours had passed, and upon departure, the rabbi invited him again, to join them for Friday night or whenever he wanted.

As Tutora emerged, a non-Jewish friend approached whom Yosef had texted before, to say that he was delayed.

“You just came out of there? You spent two hours in that weird Jewish place!” exclaimed the friend incredulously.

This casual remark struck a truly jarring note, though Tutora admitted to himself that three hours back he would have reacted in similar fashion.

“I started looking at my life, at whom I was spending my time with, and changing a lot of habits,” he continued.

During his first Chabad Friday night meal with well above 100 students, he felt buoyant and at ease, “as if among family and friends,” and stayed a long time.

Soon he began to participate in activities offered on Shabbat day, too, praying in English.

Tutora explained that he had “a great curiosity and pull towards Shabbat,” which he explored further. He now recalled his parents reminiscing about Shabbat in Safed, how they avoided carrying, using electricity, and traveling. Tefillin and starting to observe Shabbat were components of delving into his Jewish identity.

“I began trying to put on tefillin every day and keep Shabbat without really telling anyone. Eventually the Chabad campus rabbi found out and gave me his full support. As time went on, I found myself learning and growing more and more, although not without many struggles and challenges,” he explained.

Tutora attended yeshiva programs designed for students on breaks both at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, New Jersey, and at Hadar HaTorah in Crown Heights, and also connected with the Jewish community in Phoenix.

After college, Tutora came to Israel for a short Birthright trip, curious to explore Safed, his birthplace. He stayed on after the trip to volunteer with Livnot U’Lehibanot (Hebrew for “to build and be built”) of Safed.

Upon reaching the historic Old Jewish Quarter, he was unusually impressed by his reception, “I was greeted by an English-speaking counselor, Shoshana, and we both had a very strong connection from our first encounter. In fact, I wound up canceling my return ticket to stay in Safed to learn and to continue dating Shoshana!”

Nine months later they married in Safed, he aged 24, she 20. Yosef studied in Yeshiva Temimei Darech and in its kollel.

The first years of their marriage were in Safed, “learning, raising our son, and working together at Sheva Chaya’s Glass Gallery,” he related.

Its owner is famed for her colorful vibrant art inspired by Kabbalah. Tutora worked as glassblower, a rare skill acquired earlier in the US, and Shoshana was gallery manager. The couple also did some Chabad-style community outreach for about a year.

In 2025 the Tutoras moved to a rental apartment in the central region to pursue other career goals.

Not wishing to leave Israel for studies, Yosef has just completed his first year at the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law. He has begun “yet another tough journey, to truly master Hebrew and succeed in law school here. Despite the academic ulpanim the university offers, analyzing cases and taking exams in Hebrew are certainly challenging.”

Shoshana works for a hi-tech company, “leveraging her natural ability in computers and coding, something she was always gifted in,” said Yosef. “We recently welcomed our second child, a daughter, and work hard balancing Torah, family, school, and work.”

In addition, Tutora shared, “my parents have been super-supportive throughout and have in turn reconnected deeply with their Judaism. My father moved back to Israel, and my mother’s making plans to move, as well.”

And now, too, upon hearing the morning shofar blasts of Elul, Yosef recalls that stirring moment of awakening seven years back.

This post was originally published on here. 

One person died, and six others were rescued after a storm and rough seas caused three boats to hit rocks and sink off Cyprus on Saturday, local media reported.

A man was pulled unconscious from the sea by a rescue helicopter near Cape Greco on the island’s southeastern coast and was later pronounced dead, while two of the survivors were treated in hospital, Sigmalive reported.

Extreme weather hit Cyprus on Saturday and was expected to last into the evening, with thunderstorms, strong winds, and possible tornadoes, Cyprus media reported.

According to the Cyprus Meteorological Department, the weather had reached almost all of Cyprus, and waterspouts had already been recorded at sea off Larnaca, raising concerns over possible tornadoes. 

The temperature on Saturday was around 10 degrees Celsius below normal seasonal levels, 27 degrees instead of the average 36 to 37 degrees.  

Temperatures are expected to begin rising gradually on Sunday, approaching the seasonal average by Wednesday, according to Cyprus media. 

Nationwide warning released

A nationwide notification was sent at 12:15 p.m. to warn the public of heavy rainfall and the heightened risk of flooding, and to advise on how to stay safe. 

“Extreme National Alert: Your area is experiencing heavy rainfall with an increased risk of flooding. Avoid unnecessary travel and remain in your home for your own safety. Please stay informed and follow the instructions of the authorities,” the alert said.

Multiple roads have been closed due to rock and soil landslides, and all drivers were urged to exercise caution and travel at low speeds. 

One man has been hospitalized with minor burns after being struck by lightning in Larnaca. Doctors treating him told Cyprus media he was in good condition. 

Flights to Cyprus were diverted to other airports, and some departing flights had been delayed, but Cyprus media reported that the situation had returned to normal by midday Saturday. 

Lior, an Israeli tourist in Cyprus, spoke to N12 about the suddenness of the storm she and her family experienced in Paphos.

“It started with really strong winds, and within a few hours the sky turned gray, and it started to rain. We couldn’t believe that in the last week of August we would get such an unusual storm,” Lior said.

Israel prepares for unusual summer storm as weather hits neighboring countries

Similar weather conditions were registered in Israel’s northern neighboring countries, with winds of up to 70 km/h and rains reported in both Syria and Lebanon.

Israel is expected to face strong winds on Saturday afternoon, up to 50 kph, with gusts up to 70 kph, according to a Yellow Warning from the Meteorological Service.

The warning, which lasts from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., noted that the southwesterly winds are forecast to affect most of the country, including the entire coastline, the Golan Heights, Judean Foothills, northern Samaria, and the Negev.

The Meteorological Service advised the public of the risks posed by the high winds, including difficult driving conditions, power failures, and falling trees.

In addition, the Ben-Gurion Airport, Herzliya Airport, Haifa Airport, and Rosh Pina Airport Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAF) noted temporary wind and gust advisories for arriving and departing aircraft.

A High Sea Swimming Danger Orange Warning was further issued for the Israeli coastline until 10:00 p.m., advising of waves as high as 2 meters and increasing.

The storm is expected to affect northern Israel, with the epicenter in the Northern Galilee region, and authorities are warning the public to be responsible and avoid areas that could be affected by flooding.

Aaron Glick contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Shin Bet confirmed an Iranian threat against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair, on Saturday after reports circulated following Yair’s quick evacuation from Florida in the United States back to Israel.

“There was indeed a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu, and in light of this, following a situation assessment, a decision was made to extract him together with his security team urgently back to Israel.” Shin Bet stated.

The original report of an Iranian threat against Yair Netanyahu was published on the ‘Newsmax‘ website based in Miami on Tuesday, citing a US law enforcement source who was allegedly familiar with the threat.

The report stated that Israeli intelligence discovered an Iranian plot in December to assassinate Yair in Florida and passed on a warning to US authorities.

The US source told Newsmax that, according to the intelligence assessment, Iranian operatives were already “on the ground” in the Miami area and had even conducted surveillance on Yair’s residence and movements.

Yair, who is accompanied by close Israeli security at all times, was instructed to leave the location immediately. According to the report, he left without taking his belongings and returned directly to Israel, where he currently lives.

Netanyahu speaks on the threat against his son

Last week, Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in an interview with Channel 14 that Iran had attempted to assassinate one of his sons, but declined to say whether the target was Yair or his youngest son Avner Netanyahu.

“There is something here that is unimaginable,” Netanyahu said. “Iran marked one of my sons. Iran tried to murder him, tried to murder one of my sons.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The Knesset will be asked over the coming month, meeting in special recess session, to vote on expansion of the defense budget for urgent IDF weapons procurement from NIS 70 billion to NIS 90b. (a rise from $20b. to $25b.).

This will push the annual defense budget to NIS 184b. (approximately $61b.). Israel’s long-term military buildup plan has grown by about NIS 50b. ($17b.) in just one year. And over the next decade, the military budget is expected to double yet still.

There is currently no identified full funding source for these enormous defense expenses. Ultimately, Israel will have to cut the budget of other ministries and impose new taxes.

There is no choice. The war with Iran and its proxies is far from over. In fact, 2027 is shaping up as a year of continued military conflict on all fronts – against Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

Only God knows what kind of instability Israel may yet have to overcome on its eastern border, and the West Bank is unsettled too. Turkey is threatening Israel as well.

This is the overall security scenario Israel needs to be prepared for, under whatever government is elected in Jerusalem this fall.

Therefore, Israelis will need to dig their hands deeper than ever into their own pockets, especially since Israel must transition toward a more independent military industrial posture.

How Israel’s defense policies left the Jewish state unaware

Remember: Israel was caught flat-footed in 2023 by Hamas because of two decades of military downsizing and mistaken defense policies.

In 2013, then IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz promulgated a misguided multiyear plan that accepted a significant decrease in funding to the IDF and shifted priorities away from the ground forces in favor of air force and cyber capabilities, intelligence, special operations forces, and standoff precision fire.

Gantz and then-defense minister Ehud Barak accepted the relative weakness of the maneuvering capabilities of the ground forces as a given. They did not think that the IDF would need to fight any army in the foreseeable future, nor have to conduct large-scale ground operations in enemy territory.

Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, the next IDF chief of staff, along with then-defense minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon, and later defense minister Avigdor Liberman, oversaw a continuation of the same hapless, dangerous policies.

The result: An IDF woefully unprepared – ideologically, doctrinally, and in terms of combat readiness and weapons supply – for years of hard war against deeply entrenched jihadist enemies.

The cost of this failure to prepare sufficiently: three years of warfare since late 2023 at a cost of approximately NIS 400b. ($134b.) in direct military expenses (ammunition, fuel, equipment, and personnel). It is likely that Israel spent more than $1b. alone on Arrow missile interceptions.

These figures do not include the cost of treatment and rehabilitation for 15,000 soldiers with varying degrees of injury, including many with long-term medical rehabilitation challenges plus trauma and other mental burdens. The numbers above also do not consider the tribulations and needs of 2,000 Israeli families with widows and orphans from this war.

Nor do the numbers above include necessary support for Israelis displaced from the Negev and Galilee, and the costs of rebuilding their cities and towns. In short, the defense and rehabilitation burden carried by Israelis is mammoth.

ISRAEL ALREADY has decided that it needs a far larger military along with a more independent defense-industrial base. The latter is a hedge against embargoes – like the one imposed by the Biden administration when it decided in 2024 to delay delivery to Israel of 2,000-pound bombs.

In December 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to invest NIS 350b. (about $110b.) over the coming decade in the development of an independent Israeli arms industry. That has since grown to NIS 400b. ($133b.).

This year, two deals with Elbit totaling approximately NIS 1b. were signed – one for heavy aerial munitions and the other for the establishment of a national raw materials plant – a step described by the then-director-general of the Defense Ministry and current IDF chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, as a central lesson of the war.

Contracts have been signed with Rafael to expand Iron Dome production, and with IAI to increase the production rate of Arrow interceptors.

Israel also is pouring resources into indigenous production of the Roem artillery gun, Barak tank, Namer tracked APC, and the Eitan wheeled combat vehicle.

The navy is advancing a blue-and-white shipbuilding program aimed at reducing dependence on foreign shipyards too, including production of five Reshef missile ships at Israel Shipyards at a cost of NIS 2.8b. ($780 million).

In terms of diversifying procurement sources, Israel is advancing joint production in India and importing components from the Far East, thus reducing dependence on the US. For example, Elbit is now co-producing the Hermes UAV and IAI is co-producing the Heron UAV in India with Indian defense contractors.

Development of new military technologies that allow Israel to stay a step ahead of its enemies are necessary too. An example of this is the Iron Beam air defense laser for which Israel has signed an initial $500m. contract with defense contractors Elbit and Rafael. If the system is proven successful, the outlay will rapidly increase to over $2b.

Overall, Israel’s defense spending as a percentage of GDP, which stood at 4.5% in 2023, has risen to a whopping 8.8% – the second highest in the world.

ALONGSIDE THESE heavy expenditures, Israel faces the immediate challenge of reshaping its security relationship with the US around the principle of reciprocity in production.

Israel’s 10-year security memorandum of understanding with the US (in which Congress allocated budget for Israeli military purchases in the US) expires in 2028, and will not be renewed as is.

A new accord should transition from a pattern of one-way dependence on American aid to a reciprocal production partnership.

The new logic is reflected in the American National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2027, which includes an initiative called the “US-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” aimed at cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, directed energy, and autonomous systems.

Dr. Raphael BenLevi, a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, has penned a complete framework for post-aid strategic-industrial cooperation between the US and Israel. After speaking to just about everybody in the US and Israeli defense establishments and to senior leaders in the defense industries, he has written concrete language for a new MOU and an accompanying Letter of Intent.

BenLevi’s new framework relates to a phase-out of FMF (foreign military financing) from the US to Israel (a slow phase-out to allow for completion of existing contracts and a smooth transition), joint production of weapon systems, co-development of future-defense technologies, possibilities for integrated war fighting, enhanced intelligence sharing, the possibility of a limited US military footprint in Israel, regional cooperation opportunities, and ways for Israel to assist with broader US global interests.

In this way, Israel will strengthen its strategic value to the US, while reducing its vulnerability to boycotts and intense pressure in times of critical decisions.

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) also believes that such a shift will benefit both countries. “Closer alignment and cooperation with Israel across military, technological and economic lines of effort will help make America safer abroad, more prosperous at home and one step ahead of its adversaries,” it argues in a new report entitled “Shifting the Center of Gravity: Transforming the US-Israel Security Partnership.”

JINSA would have the two countries sign one more aid MOU to maintain $3.8b. in annual US assistance through fiscal year 2038, while pairing that funding with a series of initiatives designed to deepen operational and strategic integration between the two militaries over the long term.

It suggests a “Model Ally” status for Israel that would provide a framework for deeper joint research and development, co-production, and reciprocal offsets. The report argues that greater integration of the two countries’ defense industries would strengthen their respective industrial bases and supply chains.

JINSA also supports a larger US military footprint in Israel, including a permanent air force presence at Israel’s Uvda Air Force Base, a forward CENTCOM headquarters in Israel for regional planning, expansion and modernization of the prepositioned US arsenal hub and war reserve stockpile in Israel, and even a limited US-Israel mutual defense treaty (with a deliberately narrow threshold for activation).

Thankfully, the miracle of Israel’s wartime economy and its hi-tech prowess make such aid transitions feasible for Israel and worthwhile for the US – something that was considered unfathomable just a few years ago.

The writer is managing senior fellow at the Jerusalem-based Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy. The views expressed here are his own. His diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 30 years are at davidmweinberg.com

This post was originally published on here. 

A planned protest entitled “Death to Zionism” by an anti-Israel group based in Basel, Switzerland, was denied approval for Saturday after the organizers failed to submit a permit request, and authorities cited concerns about calls for violence, according to a statement issued by local police.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), which issued warnings about the event prior to the police announcement, identified the group ‘basel4palestine’ as the organization behind the protest.  

In an official statement released earlier this week, the police noted that, in addition to lacking an official permit, local authorities determined that the event, as proposed, was “not consistent with fundamental rights and therefore cannot be authorized.” 

The police statement emphasized, “Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly also protect sharp and controversial political positions. However, they reach their limit when violence is being incited. In light of the explicit calls for violence, the planned protest cannot be approved.”

The police said they were still preparing for any attempts to demonstrate on Saturday but declined to provide details about personnel and measures for operational reasons. 

The statement added, “The Jewish community in Basel must feel safe at all times.”The demonstration was reportedly planned in Basel due to its connection with the founding of political Zionism.

Protest to mark 129 years since the First Zionist Congress

Scheduled to take place at Theaterplatz Square in Basel, the protest was planned to mark exactly 129 years since the First Zionist Congress opened in the city. 

On August 29, 1897, Theodor Herzl convened the congress, where the “Basel Program” was adopted and the organizational foundations of the Zionist movement were established. 

Herzl famously wrote in his diary, “In Basel, I founded the Jewish state.”

The promotional posts for the planned protest, which circulated on social media, included the slogans “Free Palestine” and “Death to Zionism,” along with an image of an Israeli tank featuring a red inverted triangle above it – a symbol associated with Hamas propaganda videos used to identify targets for attack. 

One social media post from the ‘basel4palestine’ group proclaimed, “From the birthplace of Zionism, we call for its destruction.”

This post was originally published on here. 

British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos was deported back to his home country, the United Kingdom, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said on Saturday.

The deportation on Friday came a day after Yiannopoulos, 41, was arrested at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A DHS spokesperson said he “chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws” after legally entering the country in May 2019.

Yiannopoulos, who has called for stricter immigration enforcement than the Trump administration has carried out, including ICE checkpoints at supermarket entrances, did not appear for an immigration hearing and was issued a final order of removal on July 22, according to DHS.

Yiannopoulos could not immediately be reached for comment.

The celebrity news site TMZ.com, which broke the news of ‌his ⁠arrest, suggested that Yiannopoulos, who has close ties to the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was in New Orleans ahead of the musician’s scheduled performance there on Friday night.

Yiannopoulos vocally supported mass deportation efforts

Yiannopoulos was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign and often espoused anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

In a June 2025 post on the social media platform X, he wrote: “We have got to deport millions and millions and millions of people. Without that, nothing else matters.”

This post was originally published on here. 

By our second morning at the Khan Ein Karem Boutique Hotel, something had already begun to shift. Roi and Tomer, the hotel’s warm and attentive hosts, understand this quiet rhythm perfectly. Their hospitality philosophy is simple: Give visitors tranquility, space, and a nourishing breakfast, then let the valley do the rest.

What Adi and I discovered over the weekend is that Ein Kerem’s deepest wellness offering isn’t the landscape alone but the remarkable concentration of people who have chosen to build their lives inside it. In a country navigating complex realities and social fractures, Ein Kerem holds an unusual number of individuals who have each developed their own philosophy of healing and chosen to share it openly with those who arrive.

“It is a capsule of this multicultural, interreligious encounter that is so special and sadly almost doesn’t exist in Israel,” Roi told us over breakfast at the hotel’s inviting dining table. “Here, when you go out and start walking, you meet. You have no choice.” Meeting, as our weekend unfolded, turned out to be the most restorative act of all.

Food for the soul: Café Itah

On Friday morning, Adi and I made our way down the stone stairs to Café Itah – meaning “woman” in Aramaic – a courtyard kitchen that operates as a model of social healing and community hospitality. Our host, Moti Levi, a local contractor who lives a minimalist lifestyle in renovated buses in nearby Givat Ye’arim, founded the café as a social enterprise under the Tirosh Association.

Its mission is to provide dignified, therapeutic employment for young women and teenage girls navigating personal crises, trauma, and institutionalization. The café also acts as a safety net for girls who age out of closed state welfare facilities at 18 and suddenly find themselves without shelter; Moti frequently steps in to give them a safe place to sleep.

Head chef Amit spent 12 years managing kitchens in high-end catering and luxury hotels, including the King David Hotel, before reshaping her career around a double purpose. Under her direction, the café delivers a genuinely high-level culinary experience – zucchini latkes, rich shakshukas, house-made pestos, and hand-preserved lemons – but the quality of the food is ultimately a vehicle for something deeper.

“I had no satisfaction in just working in a restaurant and serving food to a customer,” Amit said. “I wanted satisfaction in my heart at the end of the day – the satisfaction of doing something good for someone.” Of the kitchen itself, she added, “I am a very hyperactive person, and the kitchen is a place of creation to release that. The world of pastry and cooking is a therapeutic path.”

This approach demands a forgiving business model. Amit gives the girls time and space to process crises and anxiety attacks, noting that “in any other restaurant, they wouldn’t give you the space; they would just kick you out.” Her guiding rule: “The customer is temporary… but for her, this is her life. My girls come before the customer.”

Anchoring this support system is Avraham, a 60-year-old retired village resident who sits on a wooden bench in the courtyard each day between noon and 4 p.m. – a calm, steady figure the girls can sit beside to regulate their breathing when anxiety rises mid-shift.

The impact runs deep. One young woman told us she’d once spent an entire year shut inside her home, paralyzed by depression; another said, “I never managed to hold a job for five days a week… but here it’s like family. You aren’t treated like a robot; you are seen as a human being first.”

Sitting in the sun-kissed courtyard over this exceptional food, you understand that its therapeutic value is inseparable from the well-being of the hands that prepared it.

The scribe of lost stories: Avshalom Eshel

Between the village’s stone alleys and the ridge where the Music Center awaits, we met one of Ein Kerem’s most remarkable figures: Avshalom Eshel, who moves between the hassidic religious world and the creative world of arts as though they were never separate.

Avshalom is officially a sofer stam – a traditional Jewish scribe who writes Torah scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzahs by hand. He playfully reinterprets the Hebrew acronym STAM as “Stories, Tricks, and Plots.” Outside his studio hangs a sign describing his daily mission: “Conductor of roads for lost stories.”

Inside, he directs theatrical plays, including an upcoming production of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s The Seven Beggars. His own return to religion was sparked by reading Rabbi Nachman’s stories and falling in love with a religious woman who happened to sit beside him on a bus – an encounter that led to their marriage and six children.

His calligraphy, he explained, is a spiritual remedy for the modern age. Teivah in Hebrew means both “ark” and “word.” Since a physical ark can no longer shelter a person from the flood of modern noise and anxiety, Avshalom crafts tiny “arks” out of positive words, writing them by hand on parchment to give to visitors as a portable refuge. Every person, he teaches, is like a single letter in a Torah scroll; if even one letter is cracked or missing, the whole scroll is invalid. “This is our medicine,” he said, “to return and be parts of one big story.”

That philosophy runs through his workspace: a building that houses a secular yeshiva downstairs and a joyful, “hippie” Orthodox synagogue upstairs. Before we spoke, he picked up his sitar – a stringed musical instrument – letting its resonant tones settle the room, then pressed our personalized parchment tags into our hands.

Because Avshalom lives intentionally offline and refuses a smartphone, our visit ended with him offering his wife’s WhatsApp number – a fitting close for a man whose life is devoted to genuine human connection.

Sacred soundscapes and open tables

On Friday afternoon, we visited the Eden-Tamir Music Center on the village’s upper ridge, welcomed by Prof. Rami Eden (son of co-founder Bracha), Dr. Dror Semmel, and longtime host Saleh. Founded in 1968 by the piano duo Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir, the center has anchored Jerusalem’s classical music scene for nearly six decades.

Its intimate 120-seat hall houses a rare fortepiano – a replica of an 1819 Viennese instrument built by master craftsman Paul McNulty – whose lighter, softer sound lets us hear Beethoven and Schubert nearly as their first salon audiences did, without the volume of a modern grand piano. The center still hosts chamber concerts every Saturday morning and biweekly Friday performances for young Israeli artists.

During our Shabbat walk, we found a striking blend of art and tradition at the Jewish House, the local Chabad House run by Rabbi Shaya and Nechemi Kedelburg. Housed in a restored stone building that doubles as an art gallery and vintage boutique, it felt unlike any conventional Chabad house – artistic, localized, and rooted in Ein Kerem’s bohemian character.

Over a long Shabbat conversation, we watched secular artists, traditional residents, and international travelers share the same table, a quiet proof that belonging can be one of the most powerful forms of harmony.

The gathering table

On Thursday evening, we dined at the Ein Kerem Courtyard Restaurant, one of the village’s few kosher establishments, over baked cauliflower with tehina and cheese-stuffed phyllo.

The meal set the tone for how Ein Kerem functions as a crossroads where social boundaries dissolve. On any afternoon, its limestone alleys host Christian priests beside barefoot anthroposophical families, secular tech workers, and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) families who’ve driven in from central Jerusalem for a change of pace.

That spirit peaks every Thursday night in the courtyard of Avshalom’s building, where wooden tables go up under the open sky for 80 to 100 people – an evening of cholent, live theater, and acoustic jam sessions that bypass political and religious divides entirely. Among the regulars is a woman who drives every week from Ofakim, in the South, just to be part of it.

As the weekend closed, Adi and I sat on the Khan Hotel’s upper balcony watching the sun cast long shadows across the terraces, our Shabbat table catered by chef Eli Fadida of Beit HaKerem and the celebrated Pasha in Talpiot.

Community, it turns out, is the oldest and most effective wellness intervention. Ein Kerem doesn’t offer it packaged; it offers it in the raw, unscheduled way of a village where the streets are too narrow to walk without meeting someone. The healers, scribes, chefs, musicians, and rabbis who have built their lives here are its greatest therapeutic asset. We left rested, fed, and quietly altered, carrying what the valley gave us back into the city above – the way water carries minerals from ancient stone.

Part I of this piece appeared in August 7’s issue. Read it here.

This post was originally published on here. 

As a photojournalist, my lens is usually trained on the rugged and the raw, capturing the stories written in the dust of the road and the quiet resilience of those who call the borderlands home. But every so often, the road leads to a place that feels less like a destination and more like a collective exhale. 

Just a short 20-minute drive from the city of Sderot and the Gaza border area, and a mere 45 minutes from the frantic energy of central Israel, lies Dream Island – Spa & Health Resort. It is a sprawling sanctuary that operates as a closed, secluded oasis, providing a nearby gateway for those seeking wellness and a deep physiological reset within the soft, rolling horizons of the northern Negev.

For couples and honeymooners, the resort offers 26 boutique suites that redefine the concept of an intimate getaway.

These smart-controlled sanctuaries are master classes in privacy, featuring hot tubs on balconies overlooking the open fields of the Yoav plains, or private courtyards with their own saunas and pools.

Every suite is stocked with a VIP greeting that includes a minibar filled with cocktails, sweets, and high-end treats, intended to make the transition into relaxation immediate. 

The vision for the future is even more ambitious. While the current site is adding 40 new suites, the ownership’s future plans include opening flagship luxury resorts on the Ashkelon beach and on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) in the Migdal area.

Arrival at the oasis: a philosophy of abundance

The personal experience of arrival immediately sets the tone for a stay defined by what the resort calls “unlimited abundance.”

Upon entering the complex, guests are handed a comprehensive map of the entire 1,500-square-meter layout to ensure every corner of this paradise is accessible.

Nearby, a large digital board displays a rotating schedule for the day, allowing seamless registration for workshops ranging from meditative Pilates to the resort’s signature wine-tasting experience.

This introductory moment serves as a transition into an adults-only world where the architecture of the soul is given as much attention as the physical grounds.

This liquid paradise features a massive outdoor pool designed for ultimate comfort, perfectly suited for lounging under the unique light of the Negev sun.

Indoors, the water complex expands into four distinct pools, each offering different settings of powerful jets or waterfalls that create intimate, private spots for couples to relax together.

Oversized indoor Jacuzzis, a steaming wet sauna, a dry sauna, and a traditional Turkish hammam all contribute to the resort’s identity as a comprehensive sanctuary of healing.

The journey through the resort reveals a vibrant live kitchen experience that has evolved from the traditional food trucks of the past into permanent, high-end culinary spots. The orientation of these stands is inspired by a bustling Greek market, where specialized salads and fresh vegetables are displayed with the artistry of a boutique stall.

This marketplace vibe is complemented by an Italian station featuring personal focaccias oven-baked to order with seasonal toppings, a dedicated Asian stand where chefs prepare fresh sushi and a variety of East Asian delicacies, and a fragrant coffee stand with fresh pastries. Beside the coffee station, an artistic dessert truck features elegant “candle” cakes and fruit-designed desserts that create a fragrant, inviting atmosphere as you enter. 

Everywhere you turn, from the quiet corners of the gardens overlooking the ecological lake to the sprawling pools, there is a recurring sense that you can always find a place to sit, relax, and disconnect from the world outside.

The Healing Tent and the science of the reset

Deep within the grounds, guests encounter the Healing Tent, a space dedicated to the “restart” of hot and cold water therapy.

This experience is a profound physical reset, featuring temperature-controlled ice baths and breathing exercises led by specialized guides to help guests decompress through controlled thermal cycles.

For day visitors who desire the privacy of a suite without an overnight stay, the resort offers “Premium Day capsules.”

These luxurious, smart-equipped caravans are imported specifically for the resort, providing a private living room, bedroom, shower, and a stocked minibar for a secluded rest or meal within the heart of the grounds.

The culinary heartbeat of the resort is found in the main restaurant, Armonim, which delivers a high-level experience evoking the grand theme hotels of Las Vegas. The design is elegant and fashionable, featuring a grand piano where a DJ often performs for the guests, blending classical grace with a modern rhythmic pulse.

While day guests enjoy an expansive lunch included in their visit, those staying in the suites are treated to professional dinners featuring incredible, high-level food platters.

Breakfast at the Terra restaurant is equally prestigious, with a seating area centered around a majestic olive tree that stands in the middle of the dining space, reinforcing the Mediterranean atmosphere of generosity and sophisticated display.

The spa sanctuary: Healing on a grand scale

No visit to Dream Island is complete without a journey into its Dream Spa, one of the largest and most active treatment complexes in the country.

According to the resort’s leadership, the spa performs thousands of treatments every month, utilizing approximately 20 specialized treatment rooms.

For us, celebrating a life milestone like my wife Adi’s 40th birthday, the experience was heightened by a session in one of the couple’s rooms. These rooms are designed for total intimacy and professional-grade body treatments, ranging from Swedish massage and reflexology to aromatherapy.

The suites themselves are a master class in isolated luxury, featuring remarkably high ceilings and complete privacy.

Our stay included a private pool, an outdoor Jacuzzi, and a secluded resting tent, allowing us to spend one night and two full days entirely within this “bubble.”

This sense of total seclusion and luxury is what makes the resort a premier destination for those looking to celebrate major life events in an environment that feels disconnected from the stresses of the outside world.

Fruit wine and the Byzantine legacy

A central part of the resort’s cultural experience is the wine-tasting workshop, held in a restored Byzantine-era winepress discovered during the resort’s construction.

In the modern wine room built around this ancient winepress, guests participate in workshops focusing on fruit wines produced in collaboration with the Lachish winery. These 16% alcohol, port-style wines are crafted from the pure essence of fruits like Pink Lady apples, black raspberries, peaches, and pomegranates.

The science behind these wines is fascinating. Because they are made from fruit rather than grapes, they contain no added white sugar, relying solely on the fruit’s natural sweetness. The fermentation process preserves the fruit’s natural vitamins and antioxidants, creating a boutique beverage exclusive to Dream Island and free of the industrial sulfites that often cause wine headaches.

Tasting these wines while sitting beside an archaeological treasure creates a bridge between Israel’s ancient agricultural history and its modern culinary innovation.

Resilience and a vision for the future

Beyond the luxury, there is a profound story of resilience that defines the resort’s heart.

Following the outbreak of the war, Dream Island’s ownership dedicated itself to national recovery by hosting 50 combat soldiers every single day for free.

This initiative, which lasted for months, allowed entire military teams to decompress in the resort’s quiet groves and healing waters after months of service on the front lines. This commitment also extended to the wives of reservists, who were honored with dedicated appreciation events at the resort.

In the end, Dream Island is more than just a luxury destination; it is a vital sanctuary for the spirit, proving that abundance can bloom even in a landscape that has known great hardship.

For those seeking an escape that is both physically restorative and emotionally grounding, this northern Negev oasis offers a reminder that healing is always within reach. 

The writer was a guest of the resort.

This post was originally published on here. 

Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) protesters set up a series of roadblocks Saturday evening, cutting off traffic at the entrance to Jerusalem, according to a police statement.

Police said they are working to divert traffic to alternative routes at the city entrance and disperse protesters.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Trump administration is planning to cut funding to the Peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, according to a BBC report that called the Peshmerga “a key Middle East ally that helped the US defeat the Islamic State group (IS) and is now facing punishing attacks from Iran, according to four sources familiar with the matter.”

Kurdish media Rudaw said Washington had not informed the Peshmerga of a plan to cut funding. 

Discussions and concerns about the US reducing funding for the Peshmerga have been key issues for years. The Peshmerga have played a key role over the years fighting ISIS and securing the autonomous Kurdistan Region. However, efforts to reform them have not proceeded as planned. In addition, the US is withdrawing from Iraq on September 30.

A bit of history helps explain the issues involved.

The Kurdish Peshmerga have been an important military force in the Middle East in the last decade. The Peshmerga date back to the Kurdish national movement of the twentieth century. Following the establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, the Peshmerga became the region’s official security force. However, the force remained divided between the two dominant Kurdish political parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), whose military formation became known as Division (or Unit) 80, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose forces were organized as Division (or Unit) 70. This division complicated command and control despite cooperation against common threats.

US expands military assistance after Kurdish forces halts ISIS advance

The rise of ISIS in 2014 highlighted both the strengths and challenges facing the Peshmerga. Kurdish forces played a decisive role in halting ISIS’s advance, defending Erbil, protecting displaced civilians, and later participating in the campaigns to liberate Sinjar, Kirkuk, and areas surrounding Mosul.

Their battlefield performance led the United States and the Global Coalition to significantly expand military assistance, training, and equipment programs. There had been an effort to reform the forces before 2014. The concept was to move them away from party affiliation toward a neutral Peshmerga ministry. The ISIS war and the 2017 Kurdistan Independence referendum delayed this effort.

A central component of that effort by the international community to support the Peshmerga has been the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center (KTCC) in Erbil. Established by coalition partners during Operation Inherent Resolve, the KTCC has coordinated multinational training programs, standardized instruction, and helped professionalize Kurdish units. Coalition members have trained thousands of Peshmerga soldiers in infantry tactics, staff planning, leadership, logistics, and specialized military skills while also advising the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs on broader institutional reform.

I witnessed this firsthand on visits to the region. The training was paying off. The Peshmerga Ministry was trying to modernize.

However, the region faces many crises. Baghdad has sought to weaken the region economically. There have been threats from Iran and Iranian-backed militias. Turkey has also operated in areas near the border. The KDP and PUK can’t get along in the regional parliament. Everything is on hold due to local political squabbles. The result is that international support is sometimes either taken for granted or not leveraged to its full potential.

BBC wrote that “the US Department of Defense has told leaders of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in recent meetings that the administration is not planning to renew an expiring agreement that provides security assistance to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish security force.”

Funding cut may embolden Iran

The report notes that “Kurdish officials fear the funding cut would create a power vacuum and embolden Iran, which has fired hundreds of missiles and drones into Iraqi Kurdistan since US President Donald Trump started the war with Tehran.” Yerevan Saeed, the director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University, told the BBC that “the US would be cutting off the Kurds, who shed so much blood to help the Americans achieve their goals in Iraq and the wider Middle East…This is going to be a big win for Iran, China, and Russia if the Kurds are left so exposed.”

The report added that the Peshmerga has around 180,000 troops in Iraqi Kurdistan and they “received $61m (£45m) in the fiscal year 2026 for weapons, military training and stipends through the Pentagon’s counter-IS program.”

For such a large force, this isn’t a lot of funds. However, the US is dealing with many issues in the region. It is trying to deal with Gaza and Lebanon and the war with Iran.

BBC notes that “the Pentagon signed the initial memorandum of understanding giving military assistance to the Peshmerga in 2016 and renewed it in 2022. A final decision on security engagement between the US and Kurdistan is still being reviewed, according to one source familiar with the Pentagon’s thinking. The US is considering ways to maintain some security support in both Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan after the troop withdrawal, the sources said.”

According to Kurdish media outlet Rudaw, “Washington has not officially informed the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga ministry of plans to halt financial assistance as a security agreement nears expiry, three informed sources told Rudaw on Saturday, after the BBC reported that the United States had told Erbil the deal would not be renewed.” The report noted that “regarding the termination of the aid, the US has told the Ministry of Peshmerga nothing officially,” a senior ministry official told Rudaw’s Soran Hussein on Saturday.

This post was originally published on here. 

Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) Chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba confirmed that Ugandan troops will be deployed to Gaza as part of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) but alleged that no soldiers would be deployed until he receives a medal from his alma mater in a series of posts on X/Twitter on Saturday.

“We as Ugandans have accepted the Gaza mission, because everybody else was running away,” Kainerugaba stated.

Hours later, he followed the post up with another, stating, “We are not going to send a single UPDF soldier to Gaza before my former college in Fort Leavenworth, USA, honours me with a medal.”

We are not going to send a SINGLE UPDF soldier to GAZA before my former college in Fort Leavenworth, USA, honours me with a medal.

— Muhoozi Kainerugaba (@mkainerugaba) August 28, 2026

General demands apology from US Senate Foreign Relations Committee prior to deployment

Kainerugaba further demanded an apology from US Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, prior to the deployment of Ugandan troops to Gaza.

“Mr. Risch is quite happy to heap insults upon me and the UPDF,” the general wrote in an additional post. “Not a single Ugandan soldier shall die in Gaza for Mr. Risch.”

Risch demanded on June 30 that the United States review its security ties with Kampala after Kainerugaba ordered the shutdown of two major Ugandan news outlets after the general said that he did not “believe in a free press.”

Kainerugaba’s posts follow Uganda’s approval on August 10 to deploy UPDF soldiers to Gaza as part of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) proposed by US President Donald Trump.

Ugandan Defense Minister Kiryowa Kiwanuka said at the time that the approval aligned with the country’s constitutional obligations and international commitments.

“The UPDF contingent will remain neutral, comply with International humanitarian law, protect civilians without taking sides in political disputes, and operate solely under the mandate of the Stabilization Mission,” said Kiwanuka.

Kainerugaba previously threatened to join Iran war ‘on the side of Israel’

Kainerugaba has weighed in on Middle Eastern affairs before, threatening on March 26 that Uganda would join the Iran war “on the side of Israel.”

“We want the war in the Middle East to end now,” he said in an X post at the time. “The world is tired of it.”

“Israel has a right to exist, and attacks against her must stop,” he added in a since-deleted post.

Mathilda Heller, Ariella Roitman, and Reuters contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Living in central Jerusalem can be defined by a few key characteristics: the shuk, the noise, and, of course, the light rail.

Nearly a full year after we here at The Jerusalem Post bemoaned the temporary loss of the Haturim station, the payoff has arrived, and the L3 segment – the first section to open as part of the broader Green Line project and currently highlighted in yellow – opened to the public this week, running from Haturim to the Malha Mall.

The city went all in on the yellow branding, with balloon arches at every station, yellow signs, and lemon-flavored popsicles marking the grand opening.

The line’s opening was headlined by a who’s who of the Jerusalem infrastructure world, and was celebrated by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, and Cfir CEO Oren Cohen.

The L3 route spans seven kilometers, running from Haturim station west through the Central Bus Station and the Navon rail station, before heading south to the Knesset and Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus. It then stops at Teddy Stadium and Pais Arena before ending near the Malha Mall and the expanding Gav Yam tech park. The segment adds 12 stations to the network alongside the existing Haturim interchange and the Central Bus Station/Navon hub.

What matters most is that for the first time, Jerusalemites can transfer from one light rail line to another, and residents finally get to see what all that construction and noise has been about.

“It’s very reliable and convenient, and I don’t have to worry about missing my bus because, you know, it actually comes on time,” one passenger said after the launch. “Getting to Malha is a breeze now.”

Red Line recently expanded

The Red Line, the city’s first light rail corridor, has operated for 15 years, with recent expansions creating a vital link between Neve Yaakov and Hadassah Ein Kerem, carrying 200,000 riders daily.

However, as is common for public transport projects worldwide, the launch faced severe delays. Globes reported that the Green Line’s L3 phase opened 10 years later than planned, whereas earlier projections had envisioned the entire line being fully completed by 2025.

The delays over the past few years were compounded by the rounds of fighting with Iran, which disrupted construction and pushed the project’s timeline further.

The venture was initially approved by City Council in 2016, with tenders issued soon afterward, and construction has stretched across nearly a decade. The Green Line is also following a pattern familiar to residents: the Red Line’s extensions, initially slated for completion in 2023, were repeatedly pushed back before opening.

For residents along the route, the wait has meant years of construction, detours, and disrupted access to streets and businesses in areas including Givat Mordechai, Pat, and Jaffa Road.

But whether the delays were over a decade or just one year, the L3 is finally here, and Israel’s officials have been eager to frame the Green Line as a turning point for Jerusalem, even if some passengers found themselves decidedly underwhelmed.

“It smells like plastic which was just poured into a mold,” one passenger stated. “Also, it’s somehow already dirty, and I’m not surprised.”

For Mayor Moshe Lion, the opening marks a transformation in the city’s public transit landscape. “Jerusalem is moving from a city that has a light rail to a city with a light rail network,” he said, noting that the L3 marks the first step toward a fully interconnected transit grid.

“Together with the expanding park-and-ride facilities, this will soon become the city’s transportation backbone, transform its appearance and quality of life, connect neighborhoods, employment centers, and major institutions, and enable drivers to leave their private vehicles at home, and thus reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. L3 is not the finish line. The network will expand with additional lines, connect more and more parts of Jerusalem, and turn it into an accessible and advanced city like capitals and major cities around the world.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who toured the line with Lion ahead of its opening, has similarly cast the project as part of a broader transportation revolution in the capital.

“Jerusalem continues to lead Israel’s public transport revolution and to demonstrate the direction in which we are taking transport in the major metropolitan areas: fast, efficient, interconnected, and accessible mass transit networks,” Regev said.

“The opening of the L3 line is a big step in our vision of connecting Israel and enabling all of its residents to reach their destinations quickly, comfortably, and safely.”

The next milestone is slated for December, when the L4 segment is set to link the Central Bus Station to Gilo in the south, the city’s largest neighborhood. This next phase will help more than 100,000 residents who are underserved by the light rail.

From there, the Green Line is expected to extend north toward Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus, scheduled to open by June 2027, running through French Hill and connecting the university’s two campuses by rail, which has been discussed by planners long before ground was even broken.

Looking to the future, the city has already begun construction on the Blue Line, set to run 24 km. from Ramot in the north to Gilo in the south, with 40 new stations.

However, that phase of the light rail isn’t projected to launch before 2029 or 2030, and the construction will bring several more years of the same street-level disruption residents just lived through with the Green Line.

Hopefully, the city will feel the same relief when that line opens as well.

Last week’s launch highlights Jerusalem’s success with surface light rail, contrasting with the far more complex and costly engineering of Tel Aviv’s $50 billion heavy underground metro system, which remains years away from completion.

While construction formally began with a cornerstone ceremony in December 2025, the tenders for the actual tunneling work are only now moving through pre-qualification, with operations not projected before the early-to-mid 2030s.

Bragging rights are great, but the stakes go further.

The light rail could eventually carry as many as 400,000 riders a day, easing a traffic problem that has only worsened, as Israel continues to suffer from some of the worst traffic congestion in the OECD.

For a city like Jerusalem, a genuine rail network does change who can live where and still remain connected to the heart of the city.

“Knowing that I don’t have to live right in the center of the city to benefit from the accessible transport will make living in Jerusalem easier in the long-term,” another passenger said.

One week in, it’s like the new stations have been with us all along, as commuters have already gotten used to checking updated schedules. The balloon arches have come down, but the trains keep on running.

For a city that has waited the better part of a decade for this moment, the milestone wasn’t really the ribbon-cutting, but the ordinariness of a new option simply existing.

The next test comes in December, when the line pushes farther south to Gilo. For now, Jerusalem has what it didn’t have a week ago: a network, not just a line.

This post was originally published on here. 

Gal Gadot appears to be done with her role as DC hero Wonder Woman, telling ScreenRant in an interview published Thursday that she hadn’t had any discussions with either director James Gunn or DC Studios about returning, and giving a message to the next Wonder Woman. 

“This is such an incredible character that so many of us care about so much, so whoever it’s going to be to portray her, I wish for her that she enjoys this amazing ride with this amazing character,” Gadot, the Israeli actress who first debuted as Diana Prince in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, before appearing in her solo Wonder Woman movie in 2017, said. 

“I’m just grateful that I was granted the opportunity to wear her boots and celebrate this incredible character and everything she stands for,” Gadot added.  

Gadot appeared in six films before DC reset

In total, Gadot appeared as Wonder Woman in six films, with her last appearances being cameos in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash three years ago. 

Since then, the DC Universe has undergone something of a reset in 2024, with Gunn announcing that only stories following 2024’s Creature Commandos are considered part of the new continued canon.  

This post was originally published on here. 

There are destinations that specialize in scenery, while others are all about culture and history. Few places offer all of these together, with a touch of something deeper. These are places that cause the traveler to step outside the familiar, to observe the world and life from a different angle, and to return home with new thoughts, wonderings, and questions. Bhutan is exactly such a place.

Bhutan is a small kingdom in the heart of the Himalayan mountains, sandwiched between India and China, and one of the most unique countries I have ever visited.

Getting there from Israel requires a bit of planning, as there are no direct flights. Israeli travelers typically fly to a major Asian hub – most commonly New Delhi or Bangkok – and connect to one of Bhutan’s two official airlines, Drukair or Bhutan Airlines, which fly directly into Paro.

The experience begins in the moments before landing in Paro, as the plane maneuvers between the high mountains surrounding the valley. Paro Airport is considered one of the most challenging in the world for landing, and pilots require special training and deep familiarity with the terrain. Landing takes place under restricted conditions and hours, and in recent years, the number of pilots certified to operate at the field remains very limited.

And then you land and discover a place where life moves at a different pace.

‘High Value, Low Volume’ tourism model

Bhutan opened to international tourism in the mid-1970s, and unlike conventional tourist destinations, it chose a model that does not prioritize quantity. Instead of mass tourism, it promotes the principle of “High Value, Low Volume”  tourism on a limited scale, designed to preserve the local culture, nature, and lifestyle. Part of this model is a government fee imposed on tourists, aimed, among other things, at supporting sustainable development and preserving the kingdom’s character.

While many believe that an organized group tour is the only way to visit, Bhutan’s tourism policy has evolved. You can visit either by joining a pre-packaged organized group tour or as an independent traveler using a licensed local agency to customize your itinerary.

Whichever route you choose, you cannot simply backpack on your own: all tourists must pay Bhutan’s mandatory Sustainable Development Fee of $100 per night, possess an officially approved visa clearance letter before arrival, and be accompanied by a licensed Bhutanese guide throughout the journey.

But what made Bhutan famous worldwide is not just its tourism model, but the concept of happiness.

In the 1970s, the fourth king of Bhutan conceived a unique principle known as gross national happiness (GNH), as opposed to gross national product (GNP). Instead of evaluating the country’s success solely through economic activity, Bhutan seeks to look at a broader question: how to improve the quality of life while preserving nature, culture, community, and spiritual heritage.

This view encompasses areas such as education, psychological well-being, environmental quality, health, culture, community, governance, and standard of living. The message is simple but profound: money is important, but it is not everything. The model recognizes the importance of basic material wealth and its contribution to quality of life, but argues that other metrics – such as community life, cultural heritage, nature, and inner peace – are equally important.

Happiness comes from impermanence

During the visit, I decided to ask a local person a simple question: “What is your secret?” How is it possible that a small country, relatively undeveloped and not wealthy by the standards we are used to, became so closely identified with happiness?

His answer was short. One word: “Impermanence.”

This word stayed with me, perhaps because it recalls a fact that the modern world tends to forget. Things change, nothing is permanent, and a significant part of the ability to be happy probably lies in the ability to accept life as it is, appreciate what you have, and moderate the urge to attain what you lack.

In the 19th century, Bhutan became a kingdom with the crowning of its first king. In 2008, during the reign of the fourth king, the country transitioned to a democratic constitutional monarchy, with elections and an elected government.

The royal family are still “present” almost everywhere – in conversations, decisions, billboards, and especially in the attitude of the Bhutanese toward them. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is highly respected by many residents and is perceived not only as a monarch but also as a unifying figure who is relatively close to the people.

One of the things that caught my attention in Thimphu, Bhutan’s largest city and capital, was actually something that does not exist there: traffic lights.

At the most central intersection in the city center, there is a small traffic island with a policeman directing traffic with elegant and precise hand movements. There was something charming and calming about this sight, standing in contrast to the modernity and automation found almost everywhere in the familiar Western world.

At the same time, Bhutan lacks the culture of giant mega-malls and international brands that characterizes many cities worldwide. Shopping centers consist of local markets, small arcades, shops, and stalls, in a style of commerce that reminded me in some ways of Israel in the 1950s and 60s.

Bhutan food culture

And then comes the food – and here, too, everything is a bit different.

In a traditional restaurant, we sat on the floor as part of the local custom. Tea was served even before the food – a local tea called Suja, which combines tea with salted yak butter. For someone used to tea with milk and sugar, or morning coffee, the taste was surprising. But for the Bhutanese, it is much more than a beverage: it is part of the hospitality culture and daily life, especially in the mountainous regions.

Among the other characteristic products I tasted were dried Bhutanese cheese, which has an intense flavor and a texture very different from the cheeses we know in Israel, as well as a salad where the main ingredient was hot chili peppers.

The traditional dress also tells the country’s story. Men wear a robe called a gho, and women wear a long, embroidered dress called a kira, featuring colors and patterns that blend seamlessly with the traditional architecture and the prominent presence of local Buddhism.

Buddhism in Bhutan is practically everywhere, not just in temples. It is present through monasteries, colorful prayer flags fluttering in the wind, art, architecture, and people’s relationship to nature and community.

In sacred places, visitors are asked to remove their shoes, refrain from photography, behave modestly and respectfully, speak softly, and even pay attention to how they sit. In the local culture, it is disrespectful to point the soles of your feet toward a holy statue, a person, or a monk. These are small gestures that together say a lot about a society where respect for tradition and others is part of daily life.

The colors in Bhutan are also not just a matter of aesthetics. The prayer flags flying everywhere come in five colors – blue, white, red, green, and yellow – which are linked to five elements and different dimensions of existence. Prayers and mantras are written on the flags, out of the belief that the wind will carry them forward.

Various symbols also express mythology and meaning, including the lotus flower and the Dharma wheel. You can encounter them in temples, buildings, traditional art, and various objects. They are not merely decorations, but a way to bring spirituality into everyday life.

Trail to the “Tiger’s Nest” monastery

One of the most meaningful personal moments for me in Bhutan was the climb to the “Tiger’s Nest” monastery (Paro Taktsang), arguably the site most identified with the country. The monastery hangs on a cliffside high above the Paro Valley, at 3,100 meters above sea level.

The trail to it is an integral part of the experience, featuring a mountain path, steep ascents, stairs, forests, and sections where you have no choice but to stop and catch your breath. The altitude, the continuous climb, and the stairs make the trek a true challenge.

I also set out on the climb, reaching an altitude of 2,900 meters, where I decided to stop and not go any further. This was another lesson I received from Bhutan. We are used to setting goals and pushing ourselves to reach the summit, but sometimes you also need to know when to stop, listen to your body, recognize limits, let go, and enjoy what you have already achieved or the journey itself. Perhaps this ability is also a type of success.

Bhutan offers much more beyond the iconic Tiger’s Nest. One of the most impressive locations is the Punakha Dzong, a magnificent fortress-monastery situated at the confluence of two rivers and considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the country. The road to it from Thimphu passes through the Dochula Pass, a mountain pass at an altitude of 3,100 meters, where 108 impressive Buddhist stupa monuments stand. On clear days, views of the Himalayas unfold from there.

Another place not to be missed is the Phobjikha Valley, a wide, green valley offering pastoral hiking trails and scenery completely different from urban areas. The valley is also famous for the black-necked cranes that migrate from Tibet and arrive during the winter.

Thimphu also offers a series of attractions, including a giant seated Buddha statue overlooking the valley, the weekend market selling local vegetables, fruits, grains, and incense, as well as monasteries, museums, and cultural centers.

In Paro, it is worth visiting the Paro Dzong, the National Museum, and the ancient Kyichu Lhakhang temple.

Bhutan is also an excellent destination for trekking enthusiasts, with trails of various difficulty levels – from relatively short hikes to journeys lasting days and weeks in the Himalayas. For those seeking a true challenge, the Snowman Trek awaits, which is considered one of the hardest treks in the world, featuring a long and demanding route through northern Bhutan and mountain passes at altitudes of up to 5,000 meters.

One of the most special moments for me was actually quite simple: a hot bath with local medicinal herbs, heated by scorching stones. After grueling days of driving through the mountains, visiting temples, landscapes, and sites, I had the opportunity to rest in the warm water with local plants, minerals, and scents – an experience that beautifully illustrated the Bhutanese connection between nature, tradition, and humanity.

Gelephu Mindfulness City seeks to combine economic development with traditional Bhutanese values

As if all this weren’t enough, Bhutan is currently promoting one of the most intriguing projects in the world: Gelephu Mindfulness City – in the Gelephu region in the south. This is a Special Administrative Region whose vision seeks to combine economic development with traditional Bhutanese values, promoting sectors like health and wellness, education, technology, innovation, and spirituality. The project is being advanced under the auspices of the king and aims to create a new urban model influenced by Bhutanese culture and the principles of Gross National Happiness.

This is perhaps one of the most interesting paradoxes in Bhutan: a country identified worldwide with tradition, quiet, and a different pace of life, while simultaneously trying to plan its future through an ambitious urban project.

A quick note on accommodation in Bhutan: during my visit, I found that three-to-four-star hotels can be of a very good, pleasant, and organized standard. Those looking for five-star hotels will, of course, find luxury options, but the price matches. And as a reminder, the meaningful experiences are those outside the hotel, including the culture, the people, and the landscape.

The Himalayan mountains accompany the visit almost everywhere, from landing to takeoff. Between and along the slopes of the mountains lie green valleys, forests, rivers, fortresses, villages, fields, and monasteries built onto cliff faces, alongside hundreds and thousands of colorful prayer flags.

All of these add up to the feeling of being inside a postcard or a fairy tale. To the landscape, another special component is added – the welcome. Our hosts received us with genuine warmth, heartfelt patience, and a desire to share their culture with us.

When I said goodbye to Bhutan, one thought remained with me. We live in a world that measures success through money, houses, cars, titles, achievements, or our number of followers on social networks. In the face of all this, Bhutan offers a different touchstone. It proposes adding health, time, community, nature, culture, relationships, and a sense of meaning to the equation.

I was left mostly with that same word I heard during the journey: Impermanence. Perhaps not the absolute secret to happiness, but a thought worth taking home: to appreciate what we have a little more, to be a little less preoccupied with what is missing – and to moderate our constant craving for more.

And sometimes, just like on the path to the Tiger’s Nest, knowing when to stop is also part of the journey.

Special thanks to Dr. Nimrod Sheinman for his help, advice, and assistance in editing this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The recent announcements that Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are officially returning to Israeli skies this September aren’t just fantastic news all-around: I’m declaring it Victory Day.

After witnessing the horrors of October 7 and the ensuing and still ongoing wars against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, it’s hard to claim a victory in the Middle East.

But when judging an era’s normality, one has to judge according to that time period. As such, the conflicts will continue, and there will unfortunately be more flare-ups and escalations.

But when the heavens open up, and the giants of the aviation world return, there will be a sense of rebirth.

When tourists fill the streets of ancient and new cities alike, there will be a feeling that the curse is over.

When residents can fly abroad with ease, sharing a mundane conversation with a visitor heading home, there is an epiphany of shared humanity.

And that shared humanity has been desperately missing not only from Ben-Gurion Airport, but from the country as a whole. It may seem like the airport has been busy and the city centers have been packed, but, alas, it’s only us Israelis getting used to the reality of the past three years.

By flying, airline global gatekeeper declares skies all clear

Which is why the return of Delta and United is crucial, much more so than the return of the European carriers: For when the American giants “put their stamps” on our skies, it means the global gatekeepers have officially declared the crisis contained.

The US airlines should first and foremost reopen the floodgates to Israel for Diaspora families and Christian pilgrims traveling for the Tishrei holidays.

But they aren’t just bringing much-needed foreign currency; they are bringing a message of solidarity. Every packed flight represents a bridge rebuilt, signaling to the world that Israel is safe, vibrant, and ready to welcome the world back.

Let this be the beginning of the beginning.

For the hard-working Israeli, this message of solidarity also translates to financial relief. With thousands of new seats being injected into the market right before the holidays, the local monopoly is on its way out, and a new-old sense of normality is making its way back in.

But even if these scenarios play out that way, is this enough to declare Victory Day?

For skeptics like myself, my hesitation is still outweighing my optimism. Not only because of the never-ending regional conflict we find ourselves in, but also because we have to take a leap of faith in foreign carriers.

I was one of the many stranded in Europe during the first round of the Iran war in 2025. And earlier this year, I narrowly escaped being stuck abroad a second time. Using local Israeli airlines is our psychological safety net because we know they will fly through almost anything to get us home.

So why should United’s and Delta’s announcements change anything? To add to Solomon’s grounded words of wisdom: There’s a time for war and a time for peace; a time for cancellations and a time for flight renewals.

We have done this before. Since October 7, Delta, United, and dozens of other carriers have been playing musical runways – announcing their return only to cancel shortly after they don’t like the way a news headline looks.

Why this time is different

Why, then, should this September be crowned Victory Day when we know a single drone or a harsh news item could send them fleeing back across the Atlantic by October?

How will we know if this aviation Victory Day is truly the beginning of a lasting normality, or just another false start?

Industry experts will tell us if the renewed flights were a success story based on their own risk-assessment protocols, insurance premiums, and logistical mileposts; individuals such as myself may need some more time before venturing off to see the prices that foreign carriers are offering.

To this I say, what an embarrassment of riches to have. It may be that I never feel comfortable again flying with a foreign carrier, or, to be a half-glass-full person, I’d rather fly with the secure state of mind that the Israeli airlines offer me.

But whether you find yourself in the same situation as I am or if you can’t wait to fly via Delta or United, the return of these American aviation giants is an undeniable triumph for the average citizen. It puts the stamp on an Israeli victory.

It proves that our skies are resilient, our economy is vital, and our connection to the world at large is on the mend.

To return to the Book of Ecclesiastes, this is the way of life. And now it’s our time to laugh, it’s our time to dance, it’s our time for peace.

How long will that last? Who knows. But let’s enjoy it while we can.

This September, as those massive jets touch down once again at Ben-Gurion Airport, it won’t just be an arrival of passengers. It will be the arrival of our global connection, allowing Israelis to finally look upward with renewed freedom, relief, and hope. To feel that, even for a moment, to me is Victory Day.

The writer is the editor of The Jerusalem Post’s Travel Page.

This post was originally published on here.