Browsing: Israel News

(New York Jewish Week) — Among the 6,000 knitters descending on Times Square this week for a major fiber arts convention is a first-time attendee from Israel who hopes a shawl she made can counteract anti-Israel sentiment in the knitting community. A mother of seven and a grandmother of two, Liza Rodrig, 48, is something of a handicraft and fashion icon in her own country. She has been on Israeli television, boasts a significant social media following and has even had her work featured on a virtual runway during Tel Aviv’s Fashion Week. But Rodrig has never before been to…

BRUSSELS (AP) — The number of antisemitic acts registered in France and Belgium rose sharply since Hamas’ attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, according to figures released Thursday in both countries. In France, data from the Interior ministry and the Jewish Community Protection Service watchdog showed that 1,676 antisemitic acts were reported in 2023, compared to 436 the previous year. According to the Council of Jewish Institutions in France—the country’s main Jewish interest group—the number of antisemitic acts in the three months that followed the Oct. 7 attack equaled those of the previous three years combined. In neighboring…

Israeli forces tighten control over Khan Yunis, the stronghold of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. Israeli soldiers are strengthening their operational control over Khan Yunis, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday. Khan Yunis is Gaza’s second largest city and is regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whose family lives there. Israeli ground forces completed the encirclement of Khan Yunis on Tuesday. Soldiers from the Oz Brigade, also known as the “Commando Brigade” who specialize in urban warfare, eliminated numerous terror squads using sniper fire, precision missiles and tank fire. Four other terrorists were killed in close-quarters…

It will be his life insurance policy, said Jacob Nagel to NBC News. A former Israeli national security adviser believes that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar will never let all the hostages go in a deal with Israel in order to protect himself, NBC News reported Wednesday. Jacob Nagel, who served in the position for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2016-2017, told the media outlet that “He’ll keep some of the hostages forever because this will be his insurance policy that no one will kill him.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Sinwar a “dead man walking,” and Israel has…

The decision was precipitated by an antisemitic meme spread in 2020. Meta’s Oversight Board reversed a company decision to allow Holocaust denial content on its platforms which include Facebook and Instagram just days ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, drawing praise from leading Jewish civil rights groups. In a statement, Meta’s Oversight Board, an independent body created in 2020, said the “prohibition is consistent with Meta’s human right’s responsibilities” and that “it is important to understand Holocaust denial as an element of antisemitism, which is discriminatory in its consequences.” The decision was precipitated by an antisemitic meme spread in 2020 featuring…

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Wednesday evening addressed the issue of the many hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, saying that the security establishment does not yet have a complete picture of their situation. “We’re exerting all efforts to gather intelligence about the hostages and we adjust our operations based on the intelligence at our disposal,” he said. However, he clarified that “we do not have a complete intelligence picture of the situation of all the hostages,” adding that continuous intelligence efforts are being carried out to try to glean more information. Hagari emphasized that the goal to…

In the main room, a cake with Kfir’s picture is surrounded by sweets and balloons. “It’s my birthday and no one will celebrate with me,” Yossi Schneider read out from a letter as family members and representatives of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum marked Kfir Bibas’s first birthday in Nir Oz. “It’s my birthday and I am not with my family. It’s my birthday and I don’t get presents. It’s my birthday and I hope that you remember me,” continued Schneider, Shiri Bibas’s cousin. On Oct. 7, Shiri, her husband Yarden, and their two children, Ariel, 4, and Kfir,…

The IDF reports that over 700 Hamas rocket launchers have been destroyed by its troops since the beginning of their operations in the Gaza Strip. Numerous rockets, among them long-range projectiles, have been seized, as well. The collaboration between ground forces and the Israeli Air Force has been pivotal in targeting these launchers, leading to a marked decrease in rocket fire from Gaza in recent weeks, a development military officials attribute to Israel’s effective control on the ground and successful capture of Hamas’s rocket stockpiles and launch sites. The IDF shared footage from the IAF’s intelligence-gathering 100th Squadron, which captured…

A New York City public school is facing allegations of “Jewish erasure” due to a map displayed in one of its classrooms that excludes Israel from the Middle East countries, instead labeling it as “Palestine.” The Free Press said it was given access to a photograph of this map, which was found in the art classroom of PS 261, a public elementary school located in Brooklyn. The classroom is used by Rita Lahoud to provide lessons to pre-K and elementary students as part of the “Arab Culture Arts” program, funded by Qatar Foundation International (QFI). QFI is the American arm…

Hamas diverted at least 6,000 tons of concrete and 1,800 tons of metal to build the tunnels. Hamas spent tens of millions of dollars, which was intended for the Gaza Strip, building underground terrorist infrastructure, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday evening, citing intelligence findings. Hamas “opted to invest precious resources in building terrorist infrastructure used to harm Israeli civilians and IDF forces, while cynically exploiting the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the military statement said. An analysis of tunnel shafts discovered since the start of Israel’s ground operation in the coastal enclave last year shows that Hamas…