U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz has been cleared of Iranian anti-ship mines nearly six months into the conflict with the Islamic Republic.

“I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote. “Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed.”

Trump previously claimed that the U.S. military had “mine-swept the entire strait” and had “100%” control of the waterway on Aug. 10.

“Through Space Force, we are watching every square inch of the Strait, as we are, also, with Pickaxe Mountain and the already destroyed three other Nuclear sites,” the president stated. “There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect.”

Iran’s continued threat of missile and drone attacks on shipping have spiked maritime shipping costs in the Persian Gulf and slowed the transit of oil across the strait to a crawl.

An oil tanker was hit with an unknown projectile near the strait earlier on Tuesday and its engine disabled.

Ahead of the new school year, which starts in Israel on Sept. 1, the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) is unveiling five rare photographs that go back nearly a century to classrooms of the past.

With chalkboards and chalk, books and notebooks, wooden desks and modest classrooms, the images capture education in the land of Israel between 1925 and 1963, long before computers, presentations, smartphones and digital whiteboards.

The earliest photograph in the collection was taken in Kfar Hasidim in August 1925. Instead of a traditional classroom, the children of the moshav are seated in a circle beneath the broad canopy of a tree, listening to a lesson held outdoors in the field.

The simple, almost idyllic scene also tells the story of a period when education, work and nature were closely intertwined in the country’s growing agricultural communities.

A photograph taken 15 years later, in 1940, captures the library of the Spitzer Girls' School in Jerusalem, where a student stands beside a table piled high with books.

Another photograph, from 1944, depicts a classic classroom scene in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek; however, nearly every detail belongs to a different era.

Two additional photographs revealed date from the 1960s.

One from Tzur Hadassah, in 1961, captures a student standing at the blackboard solving an arithmetic problem in front of her classmates.

The second, taken in Jerusalem in May 1963, depicts a lively, crowded classroom, where children received letters from their pen pals with whom they regularly corresponded.

The photos are part of KKL-JNF's historical photo archive, which documents the landscapes of the country, community, education and everyday life from the early 20th century.

Archives director Efrat Sinai says they “allow us to step for a moment into the classrooms of the past and see not only how children learned, but also what the society being built here looked like. Through the blackboard, the books, the desks and even the lesson held beneath a tree, they reveal the deep connection between education, community, and a love of the land.”

It is a privilege, she adds, “to preserve these moments and share them with the public, especially as a new school year begins.”

SAT and ACT scores are regaining importance in the college admissions process as some colleges and universities move away from test-optional policies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While standardized test scores are only one part of an application, education professionals say strong scores can strengthen a student’s application, even at colleges where submitting them remains optional.

“I think the big answer to that is they matter more than they did a couple of years ago,” Susan Henschel, senior consultant at the College Review in Pepper Pike, said. “And the trend is swinging back requiring SATs and ACTs. I think the key is remembering that test optional doesn’t mean irrelevant.”

Henschel said students applying to highly selective colleges should expect standardized testing to play a role in the admissions process. Even at test-optional schools, a strong score can provide another way for students to demonstrate their academic abilities.

“Basically, with the overinflation of GPA, colleges are finding that test scores could really give a truer picture of the student,” Henschel said. “Test scores predict college performance better than GPA alone.”

Andrew Cruse, a director at Laurel School in Shaker Heights, said the current testing landscape is partly a reversal of changes that occurred during the pandemic.

Before COVID-19, most colleges required applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores, he said. Test-optional admissions existed before the pandemic but became much more common when students had limited access to standardized testing.

“What we are coming out of is the wave of the test optional landscape that colleges mostly adopted as a result of COVID,” Cruse said.

As colleges accumulated several years of data, some began reconsidering those policies and returning to standardized testing requirements, he said. Cruse pointed to The Ohio State University in Columbus as one example of a school that has returned to requiring scores.

“So, test scores absolutely still matter,” Cruse said. “And they also matter where they aren’t required.”

Despite renewed attention on testing, grades and the difficulty of a student’s high school curriculum generally remain more important in the admissions process, Cruse said.

“At the top of the list of things that matter to colleges is, of course, grades in high school coursework and the level at which those courses were taken,” he said.

Colleges look at whether students challenged themselves academically through Advanced Placement, honors or other advanced coursework and how well they performed. Test scores can then provide additional context to a student’s overall academic record, Cruse said.

“We want to see strong grades and a rigorous curriculum, and then let testing fall where it can in order to assist or not assist,” he said.

For families deciding whether a student should take the SAT or ACT, Henschel recommended viewing standardized testing as another way to understand the student’s academic standing.

“Going to college is often a family’s second biggest investment besides their home,” Henschel said. “And they want to have a firm understanding of where the student is academically.”

Cruse said families should also avoid allowing one part of the admissions process to overshadow the larger goal of finding the right college.

“At Laurel, we really try to focus on fit and making sure students are finding places where they’re going to thrive and be successful,” he said.

This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives.

For generations of Jewish Americans, the clacking of mah jongg tiles was the soundtrack of a social and sometimes raucous table game associated with their mothers and grandmothers. Now, a new generation is taking a seat at the table.

The game, which originated in China in the 19th century and became a staple among American Jewish women in the mid-20th century, is finding new life among Jewish teenagers and young adults. Once associated largely with retirees, mah jongg is increasingly being played in synagogues, community centers and family homes by younger players drawn to its strategy and, perhaps most of all, its coveted demand for face-to-face connection without screens. 

For some young players, that interaction is the point.

“I always thought of it as a game for grandmothers,” said Louisa Gordon, 19, of New Jersey. “But once I started playing with friends we couldn’t stop! It has really given me an opportunity to connect with others off of my phone.”

The growing interest has not gone unnoticed by the people helping bring mah jongg to new audiences.

Dara Collins and Donna Kassman, founders of Modern Mahjong — an online mah jongg store, resource guide and Facebook group with more than 100,000 members — have watched the game’s audience get younger.

“We started teaching people in their 60s,” Kassman said. “And now college clubs, high school, middle schools.”

They increasingly see posts about high school mah jongg clubs, with players and supporters sending cards and tiles to help new groups get started.

“People just want to put the phone down and socialize,” Kassman said. “We always say ‘no phones and no politics.’”

For Sarah Shlefstein, 18, of Searingtown, New York, learning mah jongg was about spending more time with her family.

“I wanted to learn so I could play with my grandmother, mother and sister,” Shlefstein said. 

Although she found the game difficult at first, Shlefstein soon became hooked and now regularly joins her mother’s mah jongg group.

“The biggest misconception is that mah jongg is boring or only for older people,” she said. “Once you learn how to play, it’s actually very engaging and competitive.”

She said the constantly changing strategy keeps the game fresh, but the conversations around the table are just as meaningful.

The post Mah jongg was a Jewish grandmother thing. Now teens are getting in on the game. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Trust is a requirement for any effective attorney-client relationship and can be achieved, on the attorney’s part, through several means.

But it is a symbiotic relationship that requires reciprocity of trust from the client, according to attorneys who spoke about how they establish trust with new clients.

Josh Payne, an attorney at Nurenberg Paris in Cleveland practicing in personal injury, said his approach to building trust with new clients is exuding a “quiet confidence” and showing a client I “have their best interest at heart.”

In the field of personal injury, Payne said he steers away from acting the part of “a big, bad attorney,” or worse, appearing anything like the negative ambulance-chasing personas sometimes portrayed on social media or fictional movies and televisions shows.

“In the personal injury field, I have learned the most effective way to earn a client’s trust is not to be that kind of guy,” he said.

“I believe in helping people...,” Payne said. “By showing genuine care (and) a quiet confidence that I have their best interest at heart.”

Communication is also a key element to building trust, according to Payne.

“I talk them through each phase of a case, so they know what to expect. It can make the process a lot less scary,” he said.

Paul J. Singerman, an attorney at Singerman, Mills, Desberg & Kauntz Co., L.P.A. in Beachwood, said that communication is essential to build trust, but that “it goes both ways.”

In a typical first meeting with a client, Singerman said he explains the company’s philosophy, including the firm’s motto or tagline, used in marketing, “Experience… Peace of Mind.”

“Our job is not just to give legal advice, but to provide peace of mind that our clients want,” Singerman, who practices real estate law and business litigation, said.

“If there any issue, we want our clients to pick up their phone and call us to get it resolved,” he said.

In such a relationship-driven interaction that exists between an attorney and client, there needs to be trust and confidence “but it goes both ways,” Singerman said. “A client has to give fair and accurate information. You can’t be a good lawyer without a client you can trust.”

A. Kevin Corvo is a freelance journalist.

Publisher’s note: Paul J. Singerman is the immediate past board chair of the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company.

The Jewish Future Promise, a national movement that pushes for the “greatest transfer of Jewish wealth in history” alongside an intentional “Transfer of Jewish values,” said on Monday it had secured more than 200,000 signatories, which it called a “historical milestone.”

The “promisers” pledged an “estimated $6.821 billion in future philanthropic commitments to Jewish organizations and Jewish life,” including to Israel, the movement said.

“The milestone comes at a pivotal moment for Jewish philanthropy. Antisemitism is at historic highs, Jewish institutions face growing funding pressures and an estimated $124 trillion is expected to transfer between generations by 2048,” it stated. “At the same time, younger Jewish donors are increasingly directing their giving toward universal causes rather than Jewish institutions.”

The 200,000 come from “every denomination, generation and background,” it said.

The signatories “choosing to formalize their commitment to the Jewish future is not simply a number,” it said. “It is a movement.”

“Every Promise represents a conversation about the future,” stated Mike Leven, founder of Jewish Future Promise. “Two hundred thousand promises mean hundreds of thousands of families choosing to take responsibility for Jewish continuity. This milestone reminds us that securing the Jewish future isn’t someone else’s responsibility, it’s ours.”

Michelle is a 43-year-old teacher who lives in Great Neck, New York. Like many women in her close-knit Persian Jewish community, she didn’t think seriously about breast cancer. 

That changed just over a year ago. That’s when doctors found something suspicious after her annual mammogram and asked her to come back for a sonogram — then a biopsy, and finally an MRI. 

“On July 2, 2025, I got the definitive diagnosis: triple-positive breast cancer. It was a lot to take in,” said Michelle, a mother of four children ranging in age from 8 to 17, who didn’t want to use her real name for privacy reasons. “My oldest son was on a trip abroad with his friends, so I waited to share the news until he was back. I told them I was going through chemo, but obviously kept most of the medical details to myself. They handled it very well.”

Michelle was aware that Jewish women of Ashkenazi, or Eastern European, origin were far more likely to inherit BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations than the general population. But she had no idea that women of Sephardic or Middle Eastern origin were also at elevated risk for these mutations, which increase the risk of certain cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer.

Statistics show that among the general population, 1 in 400 women carry the BRCA mutations. Among Ashkenazi Jews, however, the probability of carrying this mutation is 10 times higher, occurring in 1 out of 40 individuals. When it comes to Sephardic Jews — descendants of Jews who hail from the Iberian Peninsula — the risk is 1 in 140. 

“I’m the first woman in my family to be diagnosed with the disease,” said Michelle, who, like most individuals with breast cancer, is not a carrier of the BRCA mutation. “Nobody in my immediate circle has ever had it, and I didn’t know why genetic testing would apply to me.” Michelle had to do six rounds of chemotherapy to shrink her tumor, which was more than two centimeters long. And then she underwent a double mastectomy.

So did bestselling cookbook author Kim Kushner of New York City, who at the age of 40 was surprised to learn that she carried the BRCA2 mutation.

“As a Canadian-born Moroccan Jew, I — like many people — associated these risks more with the Ashkenazi community, so my diagnosis was an important reminder that hereditary cancer can affect Jewish families of all backgrounds,” Kushner said. “My journey reinforced the importance of genetic testing, family history and being proactive about our health.”

Kushner is on the board of Sharsheret, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Jewish breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer patients — and their families — in the United States and Israel. 

“Through my work with Sharsheret, an incredible organization that provides invaluable resources, support and education, I hope to help raise awareness, encourage conversations and empower others to make informed decisions for themselves and their families,” she said.

Bita Nehoray is a genetic counselor at City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles, where for the past 14 years she’s focused on those with a personal or family history of cancer. “There are a lot more data and medical literature related to well-known mutations in people of Ashkenazi descent, but founder variants are also found in those of Sephardi and Mizrahi backgrounds,” she said. “A lot of that has to do with history, and how Jews have had to disperse over time.”

Peggy Cottrell, a genetic counselor with Sharsheret — whose name is Hebrew for “chain” — said that while the risk for Sephardi Jews isn’t as high as for Ashkenazim, it’s important to remember it is much higher than for non-Jews.

“These are very old mutations and tend to be seen among all Jews,” Cottrell said. “People think of BRCA as only being an Ashkenazi thing, and that’s not the case. That’s why anybody who has a family history of breast cancer, male breast, ovarian, pancreatic, melanoma or prostate cancer needs to be very careful and get a screening test.”

The post Are you a Sephardi or Mizrahi Jew? Your risk for breast cancer may be greater than you think. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in Michigan whom the Republican Jewish Coalition called "the most antisemitic U.S. Senate candidate in America," is slated to participate in an upcoming Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus event honoring Dana Nessel, the state attorney general.

The Summer Simcha, described as "a conversation with our statewide elected officials and candidates on their thoughts on governing the state and engaging with our Jewish community," is scheduled to take place on Aug. 30 at an undisclosed address.

"Join us as we especially honor and celebrate Attorney General Dana Nessel for eight years of courage and chutzpah," the flier states.

"Conversationalists" include El-Sayed, Michigan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, prosecutor Eli Savit, state representative Samantha Steckloff and state senator Jeremy Moss, who was recently the target of antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, who appeared to blame American Jews and their support for Israel for violent antisemitism.

Piker has campaigned with El-Sayed.

After the primary, the Jewish caucus called on the Democratic nominee to engage with Jews in Michigan and work toward "healing" through "accountability and constructive dialogue."

In response to criticism for inviting El-Sayed, the caucus stated that "we invited all statewide candidates" and that it hopes people will "come and listen."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to say on Monday if he still supports Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, as the socialist leader faces mounting scrutiny over his finances, housing and work history.

Mamdani was asked about Gordillo at an Aug. 24 press conference in Queens, where the mayor announced a new city initiative to make repairs at public parks.

A reporter asked Mamdani if he still stands by Gordillo and if the controversy surrounding the democratic socialist leader undermines the socialist movement. The mayor did not address Gordillo or the allegations against him directly.

“I think anyone who is focused on delivering a more affordable life for the people of New York City, a fairer life for the people of New York City and, frankly, those in the world should be welcomed into this work,” Mamdani said.

“That’s what I see so many doing, and that’s the kind of initiatives and efforts that we continue,” he said.

Gordillo, 38, has come under scrutiny after reports that he lives in a $1.5 million townhouse in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood that his parents purchased through a family limited liability company.

His membership in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 lapsed after the union terminated him from its electrical-construction apprenticeship program in March for failing to participate in required work and classes. Gordillo nevertheless continued to describe himself on social media as a “union electrician.”

The New York Post reported that Gordillo and fellow NYC-DSA co-chair Grace Mausser are set to receive annual salaries of $95,000 plus benefits from the socialist organization. The newspaper also reported that Gordillo’s Bed-Stuy home is undergoing a $1.4 million renovation and that contractors listed on permits for the project are not unionized.

Rev. Kevin McCall, a Brooklyn civil-rights activist, called on Gordillo to resign on Aug. 23, accusing him of hypocrisy and referring to the DSA as the “Double Standards of America.”

Gordillo is a prominent figure in the organization that helped propel Mamdani to City Hall. NYC-DSA backed Mamdani’s mayoral campaign and has continued seeking to expand its influence in city and congressional races.

A critic of Israel, Gordillo praised Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for moving toward opposition to all U.S. military assistance to the Jewish state, including defensive aid.

Mamdani, a longtime DSA member, also did not say on Monday if Gordillo’s recent controversies had affected his relationship with the organization or its leadership.

United Airlines announced on Tuesday that it intends to resume service from San Francisco to Tel Aviv in the spring.

The Chicago-based carrier is returning to Israel from its Newark hub next month, just two days after arch-rival Delta Air Lines renews flights to Tel Aviv from New York as well.

United said it is restarting its San Francisco service on March 28 and will offer thrice-weekly flights on the route.

Historically, United has offered the most flights to Israel of any U.S. carrier.

United’s flights from Chicago and Washington, D.C., to Israel are scheduled to resume in October, while Delta’s flights from Atlanta are set to begin in December.

El Al Airlines announced in June that it would resume nonstop service to San Francisco in October after a six-year break amid heightened demand between the two tech hubs, and at a time when United’s service on the route was still suspended.

As technology, social media and artificial intelligence increasingly shape the information people encounter online, an upcoming American Jewish Committee Cleveland event will examine how those tools can amplify antisemitism and what can be done to counter it.

AJC Cleveland, with Congregation Mishkan Or, will present “Antisemitism in the Age of Algorithms: Confronting Hate in a Digital World” at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 1 at Congregation Mishkan Or at 26000 Shaker Blvd. in Beachwood. 

The panel will feature Holly Huffnagle, AJC director of antisemitism policy; Galia Nurko, enterprise AI literacy manager at Cleveland Clinic Foundation and principal and co-founder of Groundwire Advisors; and Michael Stovsky, partner in technology transactions and AI at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP and a member of AJC Cleveland leadership.

Huffnagle told the Cleveland Jewish News that antisemitism amplified in digital spaces, particularly through artificial intelligence and AI-generated content, is one of the biggest issues the Jewish community is facing.

“We are assuming that many of our audience is at least aware of the issue or have encountered it themselves in their own social feeds and platforms,” she said.

The program will educate attendees about where antisemitism is appearing online, why it is spreading and which responses have and have not been effective in recent years, Huffnagle said. The three panelists will approach the issue from different perspectives.

Nurko will address responsible technology and its broader impact on economic, social and political environments, as well as how people can act responsibly in digital spaces. Stovsky will discuss legal and regulatory approaches to challenges involving technology, social media and AI.

Huffnagle will focus on antisemitic content appearing on digital platforms and efforts to combat it, including AJC’s work with technology companies and actions Jewish communities can take.

“The goal of this program would be for people to leave feeling empowered with a few solutions that they can actually take and do and then even spread that information when they leave,” Huffnagle said.

AJC’s 2025 State of Antisemitism in America data found that 73% of American Jews experienced antisemitism online or on social media in 2025. Among Jewish adults ages 18 to 29, that figure rose to 87%. The research also found 45% of all Americans saw or heard antisemitism during the year, with nearly three-quarters of those respondents encountering it online or on social media.

“It’s the number one place where Jews are experiencing antisemitism, especially young people,” she said. “We also know that it’s the number one place where Americans see it when they’re first exposed to it.”

The event is free and open to the community, but registration is required at ajc.org/cleveland/algorithms.

Israeli Border Police officers on Tuesday uncovered an ancient burial cave beneath a building in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan during an operation related to a violent dispute between local families, police said.

Israel Antiquities Authority experts who examined the site have tentatively dated the graves to the Second Temple period, which lasted from 516 BCE to 70 CE.

נחשפו מערת קבורה עתיקה וממצאים ארכיאולוגיים במהלך פעילות מבצעית בסילוואן

גם היום נמשכת הפעילות המבצעית של כוחות מחוז ירושלים במסגרת הסכסוך האלים בין משפחות בכפר סילוואן שבפאתי העיר, במטרה להגיע לבתיהם של כל המעורבים.

בתוך כך, לוחמי מג״ב ירושלים ערכו סריקות בסילוואן וליוו נציגי… pic.twitter.com/MuWm96YexA

— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) August 24, 2026

Police and Border Police officers secured the site as antiquities officials continued examining the archaeological finds.

The IAA announced in July that archaeologists had uncovered a rare mold used to cast the face of a female figurine dating to the First Temple period—the first production mold of its kind ever found in Jerusalem. The mold was found during excavations at the Kishle, a former Ottoman-era prison on the grounds of the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Other recent excavations in Jerusalem’s City of David have uncovered massive charred wooden beams believed to have collapsed during the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE.

British low-cost airline EasyJet said on Tuesday that it is extending its suspension of service to Tel Aviv through next summer.

The decision by Europe’s second-largest budget airline comes as major international carriers are increasingly resuming flights to Israel following the war with Iran, but mirrors a similar move by its low-cost top competitor Ryanair.

“We have taken the decision not to operate to and from Tel Aviv next summer as part of our continuous review of our flying program," according to a statement from EasyJet. “As we are not on sale for the period, no customers’ bookings are directly impacted.  We are continuing to closely monitor the situation,” the statement added.

In contrast, Europe’s third-largest budget carrier, the Budapest-based Wizz Air, resumed service to Tel Aviv in May and is in negotiations to set up a hub in Israel.

The plan, which is strongly opposed by Israeli airlines, would enable the company to operate as many as 30 daily flights from Tel Aviv to destinations across Europe, bringing airfares down.

The Jerusalem Municipality began construction work on Tuesday for a major educational and community complex in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Kfar Aqab, investing more than 40 million shekels (approximately $13.4 million) to serve thousands of local Arab residents.

According to Israel's Foreign Ministry, the first phase includes a new municipal boys' high school slated to open in September. Future phases will feature additional classrooms, a mosque, sports facilities and healthcare centers.

The Jerusalem Municipality began renovation work today on a new educational and community complex in Jerusalem’s Kafr Aqab neighborhood, for the benefit of thousands of its Arab residents. The Municipality is investing over NIS 40 million in the project, including a new municipal… pic.twitter.com/HrbjiMdsYB

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 25, 2026

The complex is being built on a plot owned by the Jewish National Fund since 1937, which was allocated to the city following consultations with local residents.

"Despite holding no property rights to the plot, UNRWA has walled off the land for decades, denying local residents much-needed space for schools and community services. UNRWA’s activities in Israel were prohibited by law following evidence of its employees’ involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks and its inseparable links to Hamas," the ministry said.

"The bottom line is simple: while UNRWA is playing politics, the Jerusalem Municipality is improving daily life for all its residents, Jews and Arabs alike," the statement concluded.

The Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) dismantled in a joint operation on Monday five Hamas weapon storage facilities and a Hamas launch site in several strikes across the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The facilities stored rockets, weapons, explosive devices, grenades, ammunition and additional military equipment intended for use against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

These storage facilities had been established inside mosques and alongside humanitarian infrastructure, it continued.

“This is another example of Hamas’s systematic exploitation of the civilian population and infrastructure, including mosques and humanitarian infrastructure, in violation of international law,” the military stated.

The IDF said it issued warnings to the civilian population before carrying out the strikes, with additional precautions including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.

Security forces in the IDF’s Southern Command are deployed in the area in accordance with the Oct. 10, 2025, ceasefire framework and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat, the statement added.

On Monday night, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter lashed out at Hamas for not disarming, after the IDF’s announcement on the uncovering of dozens of Kalashnikov rifles hidden inside mosques in Gaza.

“Hamas is trying to go back to the world of Oct. 6, when their plans to massacre men, women and children went unnoticed,” Leiter wrote on X, referring to the day before Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, massacring 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.

“Hamas has committed to repeating Oct. 7 at the first opportunity they get; that’s the only thing they don’t lie about. Israel won’t be surprised again at Hamas barbarism,” Leiter added.

This is not disarmament.
Hamas is trying to go back to the world of Oct. 6 - when their plans to massacre men, women, and children went unnoticed.
Hamas has committed to repeating Oct. 7 at the first opportunity they get; that’s the only thing they don’t lie about.

Israel… https://t.co/7RG4OFJyFi

— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) August 24, 2026

Earlier in the day, the IDF said it had dismantled two Hamas weapons storage facilities in mosques containing dozens of Kalashnikov rifles, magazines and other military equipment. The military said storing weapons at religious sites is a “violation of international law.”

IDF strikes two terrorists who took part in Oct. 7 massacre

Also on Monday, the IDF opened fire on two Hamas terrorists in the central Gaza Strip who took part in the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.

The military confirmed that one of them, a Nukhba Force terrorist identified as Mohammad Abu Asaad, was slain in the Deir al-Balah area.

The pair had been recently planning to advance terrorist attacks targeting IDF troops and Israeli civilians, and attempted to rehabilitate the terrorist organization’s armed force while systematically violating the ceasefire, the IDF said.

If you have a basement or walk-in closet in your home, those areas will inevitably attract boxes of your belongings that may have been untouched for years. That’s a sign that downsizing may be a good strategy. For empty nesters considering moving to an independent living facility, that decision is likely more pressing, since storage space may be limited.

The tough part of downsizing is the emotional attachment people have to parting with tangible objects, according to Mick Jendrisak, who operates Cleveland-based Downsize & Thrive with his wife Christie Dennis-Jendrisak.

“Every single client is 100% different,” Jendrisak, who’s service helps make downsizing simple and stress-free, said. “The one thing that doesn’t change are the problem or difficult spots within the house. And those are always going to be the basement, the garage. That’s just where we see the most accumulation. And I often joke that basements are where hobbies go to die.

Miscellaneous tools, craft and do-it-yourself projects are also commonly found in dusty bins, he said.

“My job is to tell them to act rationally and logically and say, ‘Are you going to finish this project?’” he said.

Many households have boxes full of old photos, slides, super 8 movies and videotapes. Parting with those can be difficult for people, but there is a technology solution, Jendrisak explained. You can digitize that media and preserve it and save space.

“I did that with my mother,” he said. “She had 57 photo albums from every decade, and she cut it down to four. We went to a digitization service here locally, and they digitized everything, and put it onto a thumb drive. We have this amazing public library system in Northeast Ohio, and in some of the major branches, they will do the digitization, or they will teach you how to do it. Those resources are out there.”

Another good reason for downsizing is eliminating the responsibility for a family’s adult children. A 2026 Talker Research study found that 49% of Americans would rather inherit nothing at all than have to deal with a relative’s belongings. Jendrisak said he encourages environmentally-sound downsizing.

“One the reasons people have made the decision to downsize is because when they tell their adult children, ‘I’d like you to look at these heirlooms, the kids typically have no interest in it because they either have their own stuff, or they don’t have the space. The younger generations don’t collect depression era glass. They don’t have China cabinets. They don’t have curio cabinets.

“It’s another indicator that maybe you should consider finding it finding a way to clear the clutter,” he said. “We don’t want your possessions to go into a landfill. We want to find a home for them. We like to practice the ‘Five Rs.’ Those are repurpose, recycle, retail and last, refuse. We really try to make trash the last option.”

Jendrisak said anyone thinking about downsizing should avoid procrastination.

“There’s never a wrong time to start,” he said. “You never know when life is going to hand you a not so fun chapter. And I tell people, start now, start small, but be consistent. Consistency is what’s going to get you through the process.”

Another good option for homeowners who intend to downsize is the Care Patrol of Northeastern Ohio. The senior resource service will help awith ssessing what items will fit in a new living space and coordinate with assisted living communities in before a move to help identify space dimensions.

Bill Motchan is a freelance journalist.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday condemned lawmaker Zvi Sukkot's unauthorized demolition of a monument to terrorists in the village of Madama in Samaria, saying public officials must not take the law into their own hands.

"The [Israel Defense Forces] has overriding authority on security in Judea and Samaria and is entrusted with implementing the decisions of the political echelon," said Netanyahu. "Taking the law into one's own hands, particularly by public figures, is unacceptable and hinders the IDF from focusing on its missions of combating terror and incitement."

כל ילד שרואה מדי יום אנדרטת ענק שמפארת רוצחי יהודים, יחלום להיות מחבל.

יחד עם אנשי הקול היהודי פניתי לצה"ל מספר פעמים בשבועות האחרונים בבקשה שיסירו את אנדרטאות הטרור בכל המרחב כחלק מהמלחמה בטרור, ואני מקווה מאוד שזה יקרה בהקדם האפשרי.

בינתיים, טעימה קטנה מהבוקר בכפר מדמא… pic.twitter.com/HPIMzrP3Pa

— צבי סוכות (@tzvisuccot) August 25, 2026

The IDF said the Religious Zionism MK's entry into Madama had been coordinated, but the destruction of the monument had not.

“Contrary to the coordination, the participants acted deceitfully and manipulatively, without authority and in complete violation of the approved framework, and began destroying one of the monuments in the village of Madama,” the IDF said.

Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria, said the monument commemorated terrorists and defended the move as a stand against incitement to terrorism.

He acted after the Israeli outlet Hakol Hayehudi reported that monuments had been erected in the Palestinian villages of Madama and Burin to honor terrorists involved in attacks against Israelis. The outlet reported that ceremonies were held at the sites, where candy was distributed to children.

One memorial honored Yaman Tayeb Ali Faraj, who Israeli Supreme Court records said dispatched an assailant in a 2002 attack at the Geha Junction, JFeed reported. The attack killed Adva Fisher, Noam Leibowitz, Angelina Shcherov and Rotem Weinberg and wounded more than 20 other people.

After the report, Sukkot called on the military to remove the monuments, arguing that memorials to people involved in attacks against Jews should not be allowed in areas under Israeli security control.

IDF sources said the military had already been preparing to demolish the monument through an authorized operation, Channel 12 News reported. The sources said troops had recently conducted a preliminary inspection and that the demolition had been expected to take place in the coming weeks.

Criticism of the action came from across the political spectrum, including from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the head of the Religious Zionist Party. Smotrich wrote in a later X post on Tuesday that Israel "should have dismantled long ago the terror monument glorifying the despicable terrorist responsible for the murder of four Jews and the wounding of 20 innocent Israelis. There are dozens more such terror monuments throughout Judea and Samaria that should be destroyed today by the IDF—and by the IDF alone."

Smotrich then called out the "left-wing opposition leaders’ rush to condemn MK Sukkot rather than terrorism itself," asserting that "their plan is to form a government with clear supporters of terrorism, evacuate the communities and farms we established in Judea and Samaria, and create a terror state in the heart of the country. That is the only thing that should concern every sane person who wishes to live in the State of Israel today."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday to raise the Altalena from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea following the announcement that the vessel, which symbolizes a painful episode in the early history of the Jewish state, was found.

“She will be a tangible symbol for our generation and for generations to come; a tangible symbol of one simple commandment: civil war—never again!” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language statement.

“Today, finally, after 78 years, we have located the ship after it sank into the depths,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said after visiting the Etzel Museum in Tel Aviv.

“Never again” was the “heartfelt cry” of the Irgun’s commander and future prime minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, Netanyahu continued.

“He stood here on the shore, not far from here [the Etzel Museum on Nahum Goldmann St.], and he spoke these words in the face of the tragic decision by [Israel’s first prime minister] David Ben-Gurion to open fire on the rescue ship Altalena,” Netanyahu said.

“The ship brought significant weaponry for our soldiers in the War of Independence. But instead of unloading this vital weaponry, members of the ‘Haganah’ on the shore opened infernal fire on the Altalena, claiming the lives of 16 Etzel fighters and three [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers,” he continued.

“Etzel” is the Hebrew abbreviation of the paramilitary organization named the Irgun, which fought against British forces in the intention of forcing them out of the Land of Israel and establishing an independent Jewish state.

The Haganah was the main Zionist paramilitary organization and later made up the bulk of the newly formed IDF.

“For me—and I am sure also for you, citizens of Israel—this is an emotional, foundational moment,” Netanyahu said following the location of the shipwreck.

“Off the coast of Tel Aviv, the Altalena went up in flames; off the coast of Tel Aviv, brothers fell by the hands of brothers. But precisely out of the infernal fire, burst forth the immortal cry of the commander of the Etzel, Menachem Begin of blessed memory, to stop the firing that was taking place, to stop the entire course of the battle, because we will not go to a civil war,” the prime minister stressed.

“This is the great lesson of the Altalena. It is as true today as it was true then. Because division is weakness, and unity is strength,” he said.

“In recent years, I asked the Minister of Education to introduce the story of the Altalena into school textbooks to instill this lesson in the children of Israel,” the Israeli premier said.

He further stated that each year he attends the ceremony commemorating the “heroes” who fell during what has been called the “Altalena Affair.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement following the discovery of the ship ‘Altalena’, at the Etzel Museum in Tel Aviv:
"My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, civil war - never again! This was the heartfelt cry of the commander of the Etzel, Menachem Begin. He… pic.twitter.com/XILbIK8EqO

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 24, 2026

A million shekels to discover the sunken vessel

The dramatic episode, which remains contentious to this day, took place on June 20-22, 1948, about a month after the second stage of Israel's War of Independence broke out.

The newly created Israel Defense Forces shelled the Irgun arms ship off the Tel Aviv beach. About a year after the battle, the Altalena, which had run aground at the foot of Frischman Street, was refloated, towed 15 miles out to sea and scuttled at the order of Ben-Gurion.

Israel’s Heritage Ministry invested 1 million shekels to search for the remains, JNS reported on Aug. 25, 2025.

The ministry hired the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, through the Survey of Israel—a state agency responsible for mapping—to locate the remains of the ship. Israel’s national research vessel, the Bat Galim, was deployed with advanced technology to find the wreckage.

Oklahoma grassroots activist N’kiyla Jasmine Thomas is facing off on Tuesday against centrist Jim Priest in a Democratic Senate race that has become the latest litmus test for progressive politics in a conservative stronghold. 

The two candidates are battling at the ballot box for the second time this summer after neither of them secured the needed majority to win the June primary contest. Thomas, a nurse who has been vocal against AIPAC, earned 45% of votes in the June five-person matchup, while Priest, a lawyer and ordained minister, accrued 24%. 

Both Thomas and Priest would be underdogs in the general election against Republican candidate Rep. Kevin Hern, who swept his primary and clinched the endorsement of President Donald Trump. Oklahoma hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in more than three decades. 

Nonetheless, Tuesday’s runoff will serve as a referendum on the potency of progressivism in a deep-red state, just a week after democratic socialist Angie Nixon knocked out her moderate opponent in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. 

Unlike Nixon, Thomas is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. She has, however, openly identified with socialist policies, while her opponent, Priest, calls himself a moderate. 

Neither candidate has a wealth of political experience. Priest, 70, made a failed bid for Oklahoma attorney general in 2010 and was previously the CEO of two nonprofit organizations. His campaign priorities center on reducing the cost of living, making healthcare more accessible and inspiring confidence in government. 

Thomas, meanwhile, is a 31-year-old citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, who says she represents “the next generation of leaders.” Among her key focuses are women’s health and safety, civil rights and LGBTQIA+ protections. She has also repeatedly pledged to never take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Although the pro-Israel lobby has not been involved in this race, a November social media reel showed Thomas pulling a giant red trash bin, adorned with the labels “AIPAC Funds” and “Corporate PAC Funds.” Alongside the reel is a caption that reads, “Just taking out the trash.”

“I am a sole grassroots candidate,” she said in the reel. “And we are not accepting AIPAC or corporate PAC funds. It’s garbage.”

Asked about her rhetoric on AIPAC, Thomas told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “My concerns have NEVER been about Jewish people, Judaism, or Israel’s existence,” saying that she instead prioritizes human rights, civilian lives and the accountability of all governments.

Some voters see it differently. David Howman, a 30-year-old Jewish banker in Tulsa, said that although he’s “a fairly progressive Democratic voter,” he considers Thomas’s usage of AIPAC to be “a pretty cheap political tactic.” 

“It’s kind of like a little grenade you get to toss out in there,” Howman told JTA. 

“If AIPAC were funneling a bunch of money into the Jim Priest campaign, maybe that’s a conversation that is worth having,” he added. “But they’re not even touching this race.”

Though Howman voted for Priest in Tuesday’s runoff, he noted that a different candidate, Troy Green, was his favorite in the June primary. 

When asked at a Saturday debate about Israel’s military actions, both candidates confirmed their belief in the existence of a “genocide” in Gaza. Only Priest, however, linked the word to Israel, while Thomas connected it to the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Priest recognized that Hamas “committed atrocities,” noting that “they kidnapped people, they killed people, they tortured people” and that “they should be held accountable.” But he also deemed Israel’s retaliation “disproportionate to the threat.”

“In response, Israel is committing genocide,” he said, accusing the Jewish state of preventing medical supplies and food from getting to people. 

Expressing skepticism about both one-state and two-state solutions, Priest declared that “what’s needed is a 24-state solution,” in which the whole Middle East unites “in something like the Abraham Accords.” 

The Priest campaign did not respond to JTA’s request for comment. 

Thomas, meanwhile, emphasized that “we can be for our Jewish brothers and sisters, and we can be against Netanyahu and what he is doing.” 

“He is committing genocide. He is absolutely murdering children,” Thomas said. “We have to stop providing funding for these wars.”

She also backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, noting that the U.S. should “not be on the side of another country that we don’t even have any ties to, outside of allyship.”

Thomas had previously refrained from using the word genocide in public statements, instead expressing “solidarity with Palestine” and calling for an end to “unconditional funding of Israel’s military.” 

In her response to JTA’s request that she clarify her stances on AIPAC and Israel, Thomas provided a lengthy written statement. 

“I stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters against antisemitism, hate and discrimination in all forms,” she said, referring to Judaism as one of the “most enduring faith traditions.” 

Reiterating remarks she made at the debate, Thomas noted that “two things can be true at the same time,” and advocated for both the security of the Jewish people and a willingness to criticize “any government, including the current leadership  of Israel.”

Thomas also voiced support for a two-state solution, explaining that “both Israelis and Palestinians deserve the opportunity to live in peace, security and self-determination.”

“When I discuss political influence or organizations, my focus is on the broader role of money, lobbying, and special interests in our political system, not on any one religion or community,” she added. 

Regardless of who comes out victorious on Tuesday, Howman said that many Democrats will be heading to the ballot box this November with a pessimistic outlook. 

“That’s kind of the challenge that we have here in Oklahoma,” he added. “There’s definitely a sense of defeatism on the Democratic side.” 

--

The post Can an Oklahoma Senate candidate attract voters with an ad tossing out AIPAC ‘trash’? appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Former South African-Israeli hostage Aviva Siegel recounted in an interview published on Sunday how Hamas terrorists beat, tortured and sexually abused women held hostage in Gaza during her 51 days of captivity in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion into the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I’m a witness of all of the girls who were beaten up into pieces,” she told The Daily Mail from her home in northern Israel.

Seeing one girl return after she was abused, Seigel continued, “she was purple; I wanted to die. That was one of the hardest moments: knowing what was happening to the young girls.”

She related that the female hostages were forced by their Hamas captors into wearing tight, barely fitting clothing, and showering naked in front of the terrorists, the report read.

One guard entered the bathroom and forced one of the girls to perform oral sex on him, Siegel said.

“I’m a witness of all of the girls who were beaten up into pieces.”

Aviva Siegel witnessed Palestinian Hamas terrorists beat, torture and sexually abuse women held hostage in Gaza.

Nearly three years later, she and her husband Keith are telling the world what they endured.…

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 24, 2026

Siegel, 65, and her husband, Keith, 67, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Oct. 7 massacre. She was released on Nov. 26, 2023, as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement. Her husband was redeemed after 484 days in captivity.

The pair elaborated further about their harrowing experiences.

“After a couple of days, Keith looked at me and said he couldn’t breathe, because there was a lack of oxygen. I couldn’t breathe myself, and I remember trying to figure out what was happening, or if we were just going to die,” Siegel said.

“I said to him, ‘Just lie down and try and breathe.’. And while he lay down, I was scared to look at Keith, dead. I remember saying to myself, ‘Just don’t look at him, because you don’t want to see him dead.’ And just trying to say, ‘Please, let me die first, because I don’t want to see Keith dead,’” the former hostage was quoted as saying.

Keith Siegel recounted the time his captors became even crueler, after a ceasefire collapsed on Dec. 1, 2023.

“I’m lying on my back, on the floor. He came up to me, standing above me, and he starts screaming at me and cursing me. And he spat on me, he kicked me. He kicked me in my legs, and he kicked me in my ribs,” he said.

While he was held in total isolation for six months, Siegel asked the guards to teach him Arabic, in an attempt to keep himself sane.

One guard agreed, but asked Siegel to repeat words of the Shahada, a Muslim declaration of faith recital that converts non-Muslims to Islam. The guard said, “Okay, now you’re a Muslim,” to which Siegel said he replied, “No, I’m not a Muslim; I’m a Jew.”

Siegel was released on Feb. 1, 2025, and was reunited with his wife and their four children.

Aviva Siegel released a memoir in March, titled The Main Thing Is to Wake up to a New Morning.

“Everybody who reads the book will feel what it’s like to be a hostage in Gaza, underneath the ground, feeling like it's the end of the world,” she told The Daily Mail.

Pakistan and Iran made "significant progress" in talks on ending the war, Islamabad's interior minister said on Tuesday.

Monday's discussions in Tehran focused on preventing further escalation, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and securing a swift end to the fighting, Pakistan's military said after Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir met with Iranian leaders.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi wrote in a post on X that he and Munir held a "very positive and productive meeting" with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

"Our discussion focused on the Iran-US conflict, tensions in the Middle East and the way forward, as well as the steps needed by both sides for restoration of the Islamabad MoU, thereby leading to a comprehensive settlement of the conflict," Naqvi said.

Pezeshkian presented Tehran's position during what he described as a constructive exchange. Pakistan and Iran also discussed a negotiated settlement and broader regional stability.

The office of the Iranian president said that "the United States must correct its tone and approach in dealing with us, instead of dictation and coercion. We are ready for any economic, political and security cooperation with Islamic countries and neighboring states."

Reuters reported that Munir spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump before traveling to Tehran.

Meanwhile, the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz and can protect ships passing through the strategic waterway, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS News on Monday.

"Iran can't run anything through; we can," Hegseth said, crediting U.S. strikes with significantly degrading Tehran's naval and missile capabilities. The U.S. military can "protect the shipping going through the strait, allowing oil to flow," he said, adding that "if we need to use kinetic strikes, we'll use them."

Despite U.S. operations, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations confirmed it received a report on Monday that an oil tanker nine nautical miles northeast of Ash Shishah, Oman, had "been struck by an unknown projectile, causing damage to the engine room and disabling the vessel," with the crew safe. Israeli journalist Amichai Stein reported on Tuesday that the strike marked Iran's first attack on an oil tanker in the strait in about a week.

U.S. forces have redirected 71 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two as part of Washington's blockade on Iranian ports, U.S. Central Command said on Monday night—an increase of one redirected vessel from Sunday. Central Command added that more than 40 vessels supporting humanitarian aid have been permitted to pass, with American forces aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush enforcing the blockade.

The military actions accompany a sweeping sanctions blitz. On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an "economic onslaught" against Iran's global trade partners under "Operation Economic Outcast," fulfilling the financial "D-Day" Trump announced on Aug. 19, when he threatened "tremendous economic consequences" for any entity providing lifelines to Tehran.

Amid the pressure, Iran's rial dropped to a record low of 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar on informal currency markets, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Monday welcomed the currency collapse, posting to X: "Inflicting maximum damage on the regime committed to destroying America and Israel is a good thing."

The Israel Defense Forces arrested a Palestinian terror suspect during an overnight operation in the Jenin area of northern Samaria, the Israeli military said on Monday.

The suspect, identified as Imam Hazem, been planning to carry out an attack on Israeli civilians, according to the IDF.

His father, Fathi Hazem, was eliminated on Aug. 21 when he attempted to stab an IDF soldier during operational activity in the Jenin area, it said. Following his father’s death, Hazem expressed his intentions to carry out an attack against Israeli civilians and security forces.

Hazem is also the brother of of Ra’ad Hazem, who carried out a shooting on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv in April 2022, murdering three Israeli civilians and wounding over a dozen.

In a separate military operation in the Sa-Nur area of northern Samaria on Sunday, IDF soldiers, guided by the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), apprehended another terrorist who was preparing to carry terror attacks against Israelis, the IDF stated.

Netanyahu attends security assessment meeting

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu examined the security challenges in Judea and Samaria at IDF Central Command.

The defense minister, IDF chief of staff and other senior officials attended the meeting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held today a security assessment at IDF Central Command regarding the security challenges in the Judea and Samaria region.

Taking part in the discussion were the Minister of Defense, Chief of the General Staff, Head of the National Security… pic.twitter.com/z9zJfzSd9j

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 24, 2026

It comes after a Palestinian terrorist on Sunday moderately wounded a 24-year-old Israeli man in a stabbing near Al-Auja, north of Jericho in the Jordan Valley.

Israeli security forces apprehended a suspect in connection with the attack hours after the assault.

A preliminary investigation found that the victim had stopped his vehicle on Route 90 near a shopping center in the Al-Auja area and was standing outside when he was attacked from behind and stabbed in the shoulder, police said.

The Jewish Council of the Democratic Party of Georgia condemned the Gwinnett County Young Democrats, after the group called Jewish Democratic state representative Esther Panitch "hateful" and accused her of "circulating false information" about former Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg.

"The representative should mind her own business and focus her attention on flipping seats," the group stated about Panitch, the only Jew in the Georgia House. The Young Democrats also accused Panitch of "transphobia, racism and Islamophobia."

Panitch initially contacted the Gwinnett County Democratic Party about possibly moving the date for the upcoming Bluetopia fundraiser, which is slated to take place on Rosh Hashanah, so Jews can attend. The party's chair emailed Panitch to say that though the date could not be moved, Hogg would be replaced as the keynote speaker—which Panitch had not requested.

The county party later announced that Hogg would remain part of the speaker lineup.

The Jewish Council, of which Panitch is first vice chair, stated that it was "disappointing that our attempt to advocate for Jewish inclusion and remedy this situation resulted in our first vice chair, Esther Panitch, being subjected to false and horrific personal attacks, including a particularly hateful and inaccurate statement from the Gwinnett Young Democrats."

The Jewish Council called on the Gwinnett County Young Democrats to "apologize immediately."

The U.K. offices of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has apparently cut ties with a marketing manager who sold anti-Israel merchandise, a British pro-Israel group said Monday.

Muhammad Karim, who was described on LinkedIn as a marketing manager at UNICEF UK and was also listed in an organizational directory as a marketing specialist, was removed from the directory and dropped his UNICEF credentials from LinkedIn, according to UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).

UKLFI approached UNICEF UK on Aug. 9 about Karim following research by the antisemitism-monitoring group GnasherJew, the group told JNS. It linked Karim to an online shop called Solid Mujahid that sold T-shirts, hoodies, caps and other merchandise featuring anti-Israel imagery and slogans. The shop has since been taken offline.

One item flagged by UKLFI was a T-shirt depicting a watermelon throwing a lit firebomb at an Israeli tank. It was advertised as an “epic representation of resistance” against “the absolute worst of humanity, the IDF and its ilk,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Hoodies bearing the slogan “Death Death to the IDF,” caps displaying an inverted red triangle—a symbol Hamas’s propaganda department has used to denote the killing of Israelis—and a T-shirt showing a red triangle over an Israeli tank were also on sale.

One T-shirt promoted by Karim carried the names of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Ahmad Yassin, alongside other historical and political figures. Karim allegedly described those named as “Champions of truth throughout history,” while an accompanying promotional image showed a man holding a lit firebomb.

Another item featured the slogan “Punch a Zionist” above an image depicting a person carrying a Palestinian flag punching someone marked with an Israeli flag.

UKLFI alerted UNICEF to the possibility that the material violated the U.K. terrorism legislation.

The organization said it welcomed UNICEF UK’s rapid response.

The incident “demonstrated the importance of charities applying their codes of conduct consistently, particularly where employees are publicly associated with material appearing to celebrate violence or proscribed terrorist organizations,” according to UKLFI.

Following UKLFI’s intervention, Karim, using the handle Muhammad K., changed his title on LinkedIn to “Strategic Marketing Leader who thrives on Getting S**t Done.” He did not reply by time of publication to a request for comment on the allegations against him.

UNICEF UK Chief Executive Dr. Philip Goodwin told UKLFI: “We are aware of the serious allegations concerning this employee and took immediate action commensurate with the alleged conduct.” However, the organization declined to confirm it had fired Karim, citing its policy on privacy, which it said prevents it from commenting on the employment of third parties.

Aug. 24 marks the date on the secular calendar commemorating the 1929 Hebron Massacre, the worst of a series of butcheries perpetrated by Arabs, which took the lives of 133 Jews in pre-state Israel during the British Mandate period.

Israelis had commemorated the tragedy on the 18th of Av, the Hebrew date, which fell this year on the evening of July 31 and through Aug. 1.

In an X post on Monday marking the secular anniversary, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said, “From 23-29 August 1929, amid incitement by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, Arab mobs unleashed a wave of violence against Jewish communities across the Land of Israel.

“In Hebron, Safed, Jerusalem and elsewhere, Jewish men, women and children were murdered and mutilated. Homes, businesses and synagogues were attacked, burned, looted and desecrated.”

The Ministry ended on an upbeat note: "For centuries, the people of Israel were persecuted, massacred and expelled from their homeland. In 1948, the State of Israel gained independence and is thriving ever since, while defending its citizens against ongoing threats."

In a separate post on Monday, the Ministry posted the interview of a Palestinian woman in 2011 recalling with pride her family’s part in the massacre. She expressed "hope that the next generation of Palestinians will continue killing Jews.”

1929. Before the modern State of Israel was even established.
In her own words, a Palestinian woman recalls in 2011 with pride her family’s involvement in the horrific Hebron Massacre and expresses hope that the next generation of Palestinians will continue killing Jews. https://t.co/BDOgxT3AvA

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 24, 2026

Hebron, home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, is one of Judaism’s four holy cities (along with Jerusalem, Safed and Tiberias) and had maintained a Jewish community for hundreds of years before the massacre.

The violence erupted amid widespread riots across Mandatory Palestine after false rumors spread that Jews were threatening Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. Arab rioters in Hebron attacked the city’s Jewish residents, killing 67 men, women and children, wounding dozens more, looting homes and desecrating synagogues. The surviving Jewish residents were evacuated by the British authorities, ending a continuous Jewish presence in the Judean city that had stretched back centuries.

The anniversary comes months after the death of Yitzhak Ben-Hebron, believed to have been the last surviving witness to the massacre. Ben-Hebron, who was four years old when Arab rioters attacked the city, returned following the 1967 Six-Day War and devoted much of his life to rebuilding Hebron’s Jewish community.

Today, a renewed Jewish community lives alongside a much larger Palestinian population in Hebron, where security remains tight because of the city’s religious significance and its history of Arab violence.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly cited the 1929 massacre as evidence that anti-Jewish violence in the Land of Israel predates both the establishment of the State of Israel and the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Dutch public broadcaster that this year withdrew the Netherlands from the Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s participation said on Sunday that it would not handle the Netherlands’ entry in 2027 either, for the same reason.

AVROTROS, one of 13 public broadcasters in the Netherlands, cited as its reason how “one participating country is still engaged in a large-scale military action.” Ukraine, Russia and Azerbaijan are also involved in military campaigns, but according to NOS, another public broadcaster, AVROTROS’s statement concerns Israel.

NPO, the umbrella organization of all Dutch public broadcasters, could tap another broadcaster to organize the Dutch entry, but according to a statement will only “consider the situation.”

The Netherlands was one of five countries that pulled out of the Eurovision this year, along with Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland.

Israeli singer Noam Bettan won second place at the Grand Final in Vienna with his song “Michelle.” Bulgaria won, marking that country’s first-ever Eurovision victory.

Israel initially ranked 8th with the jury vote but strong audience support lifted its entry to second place overall.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — After a stop in the NFL, former Mississippi tight end Dae’Quan Wright could be heading to LSU thanks to a court order that is creating havoc throughout college sports by allowing Wright and others an unexpected fifth year of eligibility.

Wright's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told The Associated Press on Monday that the tight end had been waived by the Cleveland Browns and, if he clears waivers, will join Lane Kiffin's roster at No. 11 LSU.

If he joins the Tigers, Wright would be the first known player to return to college after playing in the NFL. He may not be the last.

At a news conference Monday, Kiffin declined to discuss any specific players, but he did say of the players in the lawsuit: “They’re available to recruit. So, ourselves, like many places around the country, are recruiting them.”

Not doing so, Kiffin said, could lead to a situation where “we may end up playing against them.”

Wright signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted rookie following the draft. After Philly released him on Aug. 11, the Browns signed him. Wright didn’t play in Cleveland’s two preseason games. Wright played two seasons for Kiffin at Ole Miss. Last year, he caught 39 passes for 635 yards and five touchdowns for the Rebels.

Wright was among a group of players who sued in a Louisiana court, saying a new NCAA rule granting five years of eligibility to most athletes should apply to him and others who were not “grandfathered” into the rule, which did not include those who graduated high school in 2022.

In a statement released Monday evening, the Southeastern Conference said it firmly opposes professional athletes returning to play college sports.

“College athletes, not professional athletes, have been at the heart of the Southeastern Conference,” the statement said. “Individuals who choose to leave college athletics, sign professional playing contracts, and compete professionally should not then be permitted to return to college competition. Allowing that to occur will blur the line between college and professional sports, create significant competitive equity concerns and reduce opportunities for high school and current college athletes.”

The SEC concluded its statement by calling on Congress to pass a bill regulating college sports.

Wright and two others who played for Kiffin at Ole Miss — former New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Zxavian Harris and Arizona Cardinals safety Wydett Williams — were among those granted a temporary restraining order last week. Former LSU and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Jack Pyburn also was among the plaintiffs.

The players can regain their college eligibility if they terminate their pro contracts and repay any pro earnings. Pyburn’s deal with the Bucs guaranteed him $115,000, including a $15,000 signing bonus.

“I’m just trying to maximize myself as a player and as a person and play my best football, wherever that is,” Pyburn told The Athletic last week.

A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Aug. 31 in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The SEC has its own rule barring transfers inside the conference beyond a designated window in January. Commissioner Greg Sankey sent the schools a reminder about that rule earlier this month, though there’s no certainty on how it would play into Wright’s move to LSU in the wake of the court order.

The judge in Louisiana allowed for the fifth year and also ordered the football transfer portal, normally open only in January, to reopen for a week for the players in the lawsuit.

“In my opinion, knowing the information, it’s really wrong to be critical of these kids,” said Kiffin, whose move from Ole Miss to LSU last season also created tension between the SEC schools. “They were granted a fifth year by a judge, saying they were wronged by the NCAA. … It’s simply that a judge decided they should have a fifth year, like everyone moving forward will have.”

Kiffin suggested that the current recruiting by colleges of NFL rookies is a “totally unique circumstance that came about because of the five-for-five (ruling), and players feeling like they should have known about it before, and because of all the cases around the country. I don’t think we’ll have this (situation) again.”

Other coaches, though, have been less supportive.

“I think there’s a lot of negatives that are involved around this,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “Once you go to the NFL, to me, you’re in the NFL. You don’t get the opportunity to come back.”

Added Florida coach Jon Sumrall: “What I really struggle with is the rules are changing so daily based upon a court ruling, or what happens in a court in Colorado, or a court here, a court in Louisiana. We need to have some continuity and some consistency across the board.”

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel also made his feelings known Monday when asked to compare the two-game suspension given to Volunteers linebacker Arion Carter over a $427 plane ticket for a trip to an NFL training facility during the pre-draft process before he returned to college.

“You guys certainly have a clear picture of how I feel about that entire situation to begin with, even before some of the madness that is college football and rosters,” Heupel said.

Maaddi reported from Tampa, Florida.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York was arrested over the weekend in Ohio and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools.

Court records show that York initially was charged with engaging in prostitution, but prosecutors amended that to disorderly conduct. York was charged with possessing criminal tools for using his phone to respond to an undercover online prostitution advertisement, according to prosecutors.

York was arrested Sunday morning at a mobile home community in East Palestine, Ohio, near where he was born and raised in Youngstown. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond. He was sentenced to one day in jail for both offenses to be served concurrently and was credited with one day served when he pleaded no contest Monday morning. He also was fined $1,150.

Records also show that York had his cellphone returned to him and that $160 that was seized was to be given to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force as part of the plea agreement. York also completed an online course.

Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino said most of these prostitution cases typically end in plea agreements.

“Each case is looked at individually and for specific facts of the conduct, what evidence the police provide, and input from the arresting officer,” he said in an email. “You also have to factor in criminal history of the defendant, and whether or not they have committed these types of offenses in the past, and importantly, what the judges will allow.”

The NFL issued a statement saying the league was aware of the arrest and would review it under the personal conduct policy. Owners are subject to possible fines or suspensions for violating the personal conduct policy. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was investigated but not punished by the league after he was arrested in Florida in 2019 for allegedly paying for sex with a woman at a massage parlor. The charge was later dropped after a court ruled that police violated the rights of Kraft and the other customers when they secretly installed video cameras inside massage rooms at the spa.

The team said it would not have any comment on the situation.

“As this is a legal matter, which has been resolved, we will not be providing any further comment at this time,” the team said in a statement.

York took over day-to-day control of the 49ers from his parents in 2008. He became the team's principal owner in 2024. After some initial struggles under York's leadership, the team has been a consistent contender since hiring coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in 2017.

The Niners have made the Super Bowl three times under York's leadership, losing in the 2012 season under coach Jim Harbaugh and the 2019 and '23 seasons under Shanahan and Lynch.

York also oversaw the building of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The team moved from San Francisco to the new stadium in 2014. The stadium has hosted two Super Bowls, a World Cup and a College Football Playoff title game.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The Dominican Republic said on Monday night that it is adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred, JNS has learned.

Víctor Bisonó, the country’s foreign minister, made the announcement, which makes it the seventh Latin American state to do so.

Argentina holds the sole IHRA full member status in Latin America. Six other Latin American countries have previously adopted the IHRA definition: Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Uruguay.

The Latin American and Caribbean Parliament, a consultative assembly made up of national parliamentarians that represents 23 countries, has also adopted the definition.

The IHRA definition provides guidance for recognizing when criticism crosses the line into Jew-hatred by applying double standards, denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination or using classic antisemitic tropes.

Estimates vary of the number of Jews living in the Dominican Republic from 100 to 3,000. The country holds a unique place in Jewish history as the first sovereign country that offered to accept mass Jewish immigration prior to and during the Holocaust.

It was the only country in the 1940s that offered asylum to a significant number of Jewish refugees, stating it would accept up to 100,000. The great majority never made it.

The country’s agriculture industry has deep Jewish ties, with kibbutzniks in then British Mandatory Palestine brought on to help the Dominican town of Sosúa. The country’s biggest producer of milk and cheese was founded by Holocaust refugees.

There are only two synagogues in the country—neither with a permanent rabbi. A Jewish cemetery, charity and mikveh still operate there, along with several Jewish organizations.

The Dominican Republic has previously engaged with the Combat Antisemitism Movement and the Israel Allies Foundation to review its potential adoption of the IHRA definition.

JNS sought comment from the Dominican Republic foreign ministry and from both Jewish groups.

A source told JNS that the United States is working closely with the government of Argentina to bring more Latin American countries into the IHRA fold, and that progress is expected to be made public soon.

Globally, 46 national governments have adopted the definition, along with dozens of U.S. states and more than 1,000 global entities. Just last year, 67 entities worldwide adopted the IHRA definition, a 97.1% increase from the 34 adoptions recorded the previous year, according to the Combat Antisemitism Movement.

The source said the Dominican Republic adoption of IHRA is due to the efforts of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, along with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Yehuda Kaploun, a rabbi and the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, distanced himself Monday from progressive commentator Hasan Piker, who suggested that some pro-Israel rhetoric may lead to backlash against American Jews.

The controversy could complicate El-Sayed's campaign as he tries to unify Democrats in a battleground state that will help decide control of the U.S. Senate.

El Sayed is one of several Democratic candidates this year who harnessed Piker's online megaphone to appeal to younger voters, and they appeared together at campaign events during the primary, but last week's comments may have cooled the relationship.

Wearing a suit and tie during one of his typically hours-long livestreams, Piker argued against the idea that opposing Israel is antisemitic. American Jews are not uniformly supportive of Israel, he said, but many “Jewish institutions” are “teaching people the idea that Jews are monolithic" and "its a very dangerous mode of propaganda.”

“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel mind you, but against American Jews,” he said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, issued a sharply critical statement.

“The malicious claim that American Jews are inviting violence against themselves is dangerous and antisemitic,” he said on social media. “There is zero justification for threats against the safety of our Jewish brothers and sisters at a moment of rising hate.”

El-Sayed issued his own statement later in the day.

“I believe all Americans deserve the right to advocate for what they believe without fear of violence," he said. “This is particularly true for communities that have been intimidated for their beliefs in the past.”

He also said “antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms” and "nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”

“And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools and healthcare,” El-Sayed added.

While Piker was speaking on the livestream last week, he was displaying an X post with a photo of Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democratic candidate for U.S. House in Michigan, on his screen.

Moss posted Monday, “I will not be lectured by a California podcaster about what Oakland County, Michigan's Jewish community should and shouldn't believe," adding that “we certainly won't be gaslit that we're responsible for the antisemitic harm upon us.”

Piker’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On another livestream Monday, he called El-Sayed’s statement “neutral” and described the outrage as a “smear." He argued that he wasn’t advocating violence but warning against the rhetoric that could.

El-Sayed's Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers, said El-Sayed's response was inadequate.

“El-Sayed doesn’t have the guts to disavow his running mate,” Rogers said. He said the Democratic nominee is "unfit to represent our state.”

Piker's previous statements has been controversial, including a past comment that “Hamas is a thousand times better” than Israel.

Some Democrats urged El-Sayed to go further in responding to Piker's comments.

“I want Abdul to win desperately, but the most predictable thing in the world was that Piker would inevitably become a serious liability in a general election," Tré Easton, a Democratic strategist, wrote on social media. "If you care about Abdul’s campaign succeeding, you should want him to distance himself from Piker clearly and directly."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is moving toward levying a new tariff on China that would penalize the world’s second-largest economy for flooding the global market with underpriced goods, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Two of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations still being finalized, said Trump is considering setting the new tariff at 7.5%. It's a level administration officials believe would not endanger the one-year trade truce between Washington and Beijing or a planned White House meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to take place in late September.

The move, if finalized, appears to be a calibrated effort by the White House to work around a Supreme Court decision earlier this year that struck down Trump's plan to implement a sweeping, high-tariff scheme not seen since the 1930s.

After that decision, the Trump administration announced in March it was launching formal investigations targeting excess industrial capacity and forced-labor regulations in China and other nations.

It isn't clear if the U.S. administration is also nearing its decision in its probes of the other economies that it announced it was investigating for unfair trade practices, including the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan and India.

The White House and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the tariff deliberations, which Bloomberg News reported earlier Monday.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said in a statement that economic and trade issues should be resolved through bilateral talks rather than unilateral tariff actions, and rejected the idea that it has an issue with overcapacity.

The excess industrial capacity probe of China was initiated under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to levy tariffs against nations that discriminate against U.S. companies or commerce.

The new tariff would come on top of existing tariffs on China

The people familiar with the deliberations stressed that Trump could still change his mind on the new tariff on China.

It would come on top of tariffs of 10% to 12.5% announced last month for 60 economies around the globe that the Trump administration accused of failing to effectively enforce a ban on goods produced with forced labor.

Many countries, including China, protested that move, which took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs Trump had turned to after the Supreme Court in February struck down sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs he levied on nearly every U.S. trade partner.

China last month pushed back against claims of overcapacity, anticipating that the U.S. would soon release results of its probe and impose new tariffs.

Massive capacity in a slew of Chinese industries, from autos to solar panels, cement and steel manufacturing, has drawn increased attention from Beijing’s trading partners in recent years.

Although China’s own leaders have prioritized rebalancing the economy, slowing domestic demand has prompted companies to expand into overseas markets. Surging exports pushed China’s trade surplus to a record of nearly $1.2 trillion last year.

China has never sought a large trade surplus, the Ministry of Commerce said in a recently published report titled “China’s Position on the So-called Excess Capacity Issue.”

The deliberations come as the Treasury Department on Monday warned countries doing trade with Iran that new secondary sanctions are in the pipeline aimed at ostracizing nations that continue to do business with Tehran. China is Iran's biggest trade partner.

Washington has promised the new sanctions would put even more pressure on an Iranian economy already battered by previous sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade as the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran nears the six-month mark.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement Monday provided little detail and did not name which countries could face secondary sanctions.

AP writer Paul Wiseman contributed reporting.

Cleveland-based McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal and Liffman had 18 attorneys included in the 2027 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers with six included in this year’s Ohio Super Lawyers: Rising Stars for a total of 24 attorneys recognized.

Christian R. Patno and Ann Marie Ahern were recognized on the top lists for their respective practice areas. Patno, who oversees the firm’s personal injury and wrongful death practice, has over three decades of complex trial experience, according to a news release, and he is nationally recognized for his work on catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and defamation matters. He was ranked No. 2 among all Super Lawyers in Ohio.

Ahern, co-managing principal of the firm’s employment law group, represents individuals in employment disputes. She was ranked in the top 100 for the 2027 Ohio Super Lawyers and in the top 50 for the Women Ohio Super Lawyers and Cleveland Super Lawyers.

Patno has been selected every year since the publication’s inaugural 2004 edition, according to the release, while Ahern has earned the honor for 19-straight years.

“The well-deserved recognition earned by Ann-Marie and Christian reflects a broader tradition of excellence at McCarthy Lebit,” the release said. “Year after year, a substantial number of the firm’s attorneys are recognized by Ohio Super Lawyers, reflecting the depth of talent, experience, and professional respect that extends across our practice areas. This consistent recognition underscores the firm’s longstanding commitment to delivering exceptional legal counsel and achieving outstanding results for our clients.”

McCarthy Lebit attorneys named to the Ohio Super Lawyers list are: Ahern, Hugh D. Berkson, David M. Cuppage, Danielle G. Garson, Rob Glickman, Robert R. Kracht, Kenneth B. Liffman, David A. Lum, Michael D. Makofsky, Jack E. Moran, Charles A. Nemer, Patno, Andrew S. Perry, Richard A. Rabb, Colin R. Ray, David A. Schaefer, John S. Seich and Mark I. Wallach.

McCarthy Lebit attorneys named to the Rising Stars list are: Anthony A. Duckett, Frank T. George, Adam Glassman, Morgan E. Helgreen, Taylor S. Mehalko and Jenna C. Sholk.

Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, recognizes attorneys who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement through a patented multiphase selection process. The annual lists recognize attorneys across more than 70 practice areas and are published nationally in Super Lawyers magazines and leading regional publications.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran on Monday and warned every country that does business with the Islamic Republic to sever those financial ties or face retaliation from the United States.

President Donald Trump's pledge last week to unleash an “economic D-Day” against Tehran turned out to be new warnings to cut off Iran from the rest of the global economy. Asked why the U.S. was not imposing secondary sanctions on Iran's trading partners, Bessent told reporters he wanted countries to have an opportunity to shift away from Iran before it was too late.

“Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?” Bessent said.

The Trump administration is struggling to find an off-ramp nearly six months into an unpopular war with an increasingly obstinate Iran. Diminishing stockpiles of key weapons appear to have forced U.S. officials to pivot to economic warfare, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said later Monday that he was not ruling out resuming strikes to hit Iran during a lull in hostilities.

Washington had promised new sanctions would put even more pressure on an Iranian economy already battered by previous penalties and a U.S. naval blockade.

But the announcement Monday provided little detail and did not name which countries could face secondary sanctions. China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are Iran’s largest trade partners.

“We are level-setting with every country to tell them our expectations. We know who they are. They know who they are,” Bessent said. “So when the hammer of U.S. Treasury actions falls upon them, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”

Dubbing the campaign "Operation Economic Outcast," Bessent said Trump has been “making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions” with Iran and has already seen results.

The UAE announced last week that it was suspending all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice after a reported missile attack on the Gulf country. Bessent said the UAE decision was “not a coincidence."

Shortly before the announcement, Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said the U.S. is not in an economic position to further restrict Tehran's relations with other countries.

“Iran’s trading partners, both in the media and through messages sent to us, have made it clear that they don’t take these statements into account anywhere,” Qalibaf, who has been Iran's lead negotiator over the past six months, posted on X.

Bessent is pressed on what the new campaign means for China

Asked whether the U.S. would target China, Bessent said that “no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions," despite the fragile trade truce in place between the world’s two largest economies.

“If they facilitate transactions and are part of the ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into money, into repression, they will be targeted,” he added.

Experts say the U.S. is likely to carefully calibrate its actions on China, just a month before Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to visit the U.S.

How much the announcement matters "depends on the aggressiveness with which President Trump is willing to enforce it,” said Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser for U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “Thus far, despite threatening severe economic consequences for countries that do business with Iran, he has largely given China a pass.”

The Treasury Department said Monday that it was imposing sanctions on nearly 60 Iran-linked entities, accusing them of roles in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, cyber activities and oil shipments.

That includes Hong Kong-based Sweet Ocean Industrial Limited and associated people and businesses, which were accused of helping Iran acquire sensitive goods such as laser optics equipment. Also penalized was China-based Shenzhen Huamei, which is a service provider for the Iran-based logistics company BRE Line, as well as BRE Line’s branch in Hong Kong, for allegedly supporting the missile and nuclear programs.

Iranian currency falls to a record low

Hours before Bessent's announcement, Iran’s currency hit a record low.

The rial dropped to 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar as trading opened on currency markets. Iran’s official Central Bank rate stood at around 1.5 million rials to the dollar, but the market rate is what most Iranians pay.

The currency had already been under pressure before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, as Iran faced double-digit inflation and negative growth. The rial has repeatedly hit new lows as nearly six months of war have taken an even greater toll.

Iranians find daily staples increasingly unaffordable. Since the war began, rice is up some 60% and beef prices are more than 150% higher. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that gross domestic product will contract more than 5%.

Still, economic pressure has not yet translated into political pressure. Iran retains a key strategic advantage: Its attacks and threats on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have brought traffic in the vital waterway to a near halt, damaging the world economy and heaping pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of congressional elections.

The war, as a result, has devolved into a fight over who controls the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil transited before the conflict. Iran is now refusing to fully reopen it unless it can charge ships.

Iran and Oman, which is on the opposite side of the strait, are reportedly in the final stages of agreeing on a plan for joint management of the waterway. Oman’s foreign minister is set to visit Iran on Tuesday.

Pakistani delegation visits Iran

Pakistan, which played a key role in brokering a 60-day ceasefire in June, sent a high-level delegation to Iran on Monday to encourage the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations, two senior officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The military confirmed only Field Marshal Asim Munir’s visit, saying it was aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region.

Trump spoke with Munir ahead of the army chief’s visit to Iran, according to a person familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm a private conversation. Reuters, citing Pakistani sources, first reported the call.

Munir met Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni in Tehran, according to the two senior officials. Munir was accompanied by Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials. Munir was expected to remain in Iran overnight and meet the Iranian president and other senior officials before returning to Pakistan.

His previous visit to Tehran in May helped pave the way for a memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. and Iran in June.

In downtown Tehran, 73-year-old Sadegh Mahmoudi did not hold out hope for a resolution. He joined a line of about a dozen people to purchase U.S. dollars with his remaining savings to hedge against further declines.

“There is no hope for a deal and peace,” he said.

Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; David Rising in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Seung Min Kim and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed.

An arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah, ruling that the newspaper lacked sufficient cause to fire her over social media posts following the September 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The decision by arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa also requires the Post to provide Attiah with full back pay and lost benefits. Espinosa found that the newspaper failed to establish that Attiah engaged in “gross misconduct” and did not have “good and sufficient cause” to terminate her, in violation of its collective bargaining agreement with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.

Attiah, who had worked at the Post for 11 years, was dismissed Sept. 11, 2025, one day after Kirk was shot and killed at a speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

The outlet’s termination letter cited two of Attiah’s posts on Bluesky. In one, she wrote that “refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence” was not the same as violence. In another, she wrote that part of what makes America violent is the expectation that people “perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.”

“Your public comments on social media regarding the death of Charlie Kirk violate The Post’s social media policies, harm the integrity of our organization and potentially endanger the physical safety of our staff,” the termination letter stated.

Espinosa said Attiah’s posts were “ill-timed” given the “fraught atmosphere” surrounding Kirk’s killing but did not constitute gross misconduct.

“The Washington Post did not have good and sufficient cause to terminate the employment of the grievant, Karen Attiah,” she added.

Attiah stated that “this decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion journalist, and doing that job is not misconduct.”

“After spending over a decade of my career at the Post as an editor and an opinion columnist focusing on race, gender and global human rights, I’m relieved to finally have that record set straight,” she said.

The Dutch public broadcaster Avrotros has pulled out of the next Eurovision Song Contest, saying that Israel’s participation undermined the event’s neutrality.

Avrotros announced on Monday that it was withdrawing from the world’s largest music event next year because it “can no longer be considered neutral, with a participating country still involved in a large-scale military conflict.” 

Eurovision included 35 countries in 2026, all of them in Europe except for Israel and Australia. Avrotros said the contest’s independence was compromised by divisions surrounding “the severe humanitarian suffering in Gaza and the ongoing restrictions on press freedom.” 

Avrotros’ withdrawal does not necessarily mean that the Netherlands won’t be part of the 2027 competition in Burgas, Bulgaria. Public-service broadcasters serve as the technical sponsors of competing artists, and Avrotros said it returned responsibility for Dutch participation in Eurovision to the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, or NPO, the coordinating body for public broadcasters in the Netherlands. NPO could hand it off to a different broadcaster. 

The Netherlands was absent from Eurovision in 2026, when Avrotros pulled out for the first time over Israel’s participation and NPO ruled out identifying another broadcaster. 

Eurovision has become a focal point in European backlash against Israel’s actions in Gaza. The Netherlands was joined last year by boycotts from Spain, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia, a bloc representing Israel’s strongest critics in Europe. The competition was viewed by 131 million people, down 35 million from the previous year. 

The 2026 event in Vienna also saw thousands of protesters, while over 1,000 artists signed an open letter calling for a boycott of Eurovision. Boycotters have accused the European Broadcasting Union, which owns the contest, of a double standard for allowing Israel to remain while banning Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Swiss singer Nemo, who won in 2024, returned their trophy last year in protest against Israel’s inclusion.

Earlier this month, Eurovision organizers announced new rules that bar countries involved in armed conflict from hosting the competition. But the changes did not sufficiently prove that Eurovision would remain “independent and neutral,” according to Avrotros.

“It is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the Contest, undermining its neutral character,” Avrotros Director-General Taco Zimmerman said in a statement. “The Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division.”

Martin Green, the director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said in a statement that organizers “regret” Avrotros’ decision but will continue to coordinate with NPO about opportunities for another broadcaster to take its place.

“We very much hope that audiences and artists in the Netherlands can continue to be represented in the Eurovision Song Contest,” said Green.

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Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada on Monday rejected the idea that the city should set foreign policy as the city council prepared to vote on a motion to suspend institutional ties with Israel.

"The role of city council is not to dictate foreign policy," Martinez Ferrada said at a press conference ahead of the scheduled vote. "That is the role of the government of Canada."

The motion, introduced by the opposition Projet Montréal on June 4, was originally scheduled for a June 15 council meeting. Martinez Ferrada later removed it from the agenda, pushing the vote to Aug. 24.

The proposal calls on Montreal to recognize and denounce what it describes as an “apartheid regime” in Palestine and “genocide” there, while expressing solidarity with Palestinians and other civilian victims of the conflict. It also calls for suspending institutional ties with Israel’s current government, its institutions and municipalities, including by no longer inviting Israeli representatives to official events at city hall until Israel meets conditions outlined in the motion.

B’nai Brith Canada urged the council to reject what it called a “divisive, one-sided motion,” warning that the proposal could exacerbate tensions between communities.

“There is a documented correlation between conflict in the Middle East and increases in antisemitism,” the group said in an open letter, citing its annual audits of antisemitic incidents.

The Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal also urged council members to reject the proposal, stating they should consider its “foreseeable repercussions” for Montreal’s Jewish community, including concerns about safety and the ability of Jewish residents to participate in city life “without feeling marginalized or held responsible for the actions of a foreign government.”

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday posted what he described as his personal phone number and invited Israelis to contact him with their questions and problems. 

It was an election-season stunt that drew such a flood of responses that the number’s WhatsApp account was blocked within minutes and those calling received a busy signal.

It also drew suspicions that it was a ploy to collect voter data.

In a video posted to social media, Netanyahu is seen with longtime adviser Topaz Luk, who asks the prime minister whether he can publish his phone number. Netanyahu initially reacts with disbelief, saying, “Topaz, have you gone crazy?” before agreeing. 

“I want to hear from you. Your suggestions, your questions, your problems. I want to hear, so leave me a message,” Netanyahu said. He added that he could not promise to answer everyone but would respond to as many people as possible. 

Hundreds of messages and calls arrived within minutes and the WhatsApp account associated with the number was blocked. Luk later posted on X that the account had been disabled because of the volume of calls and said Netanyahu’s team was working to restore it, directing people to Telegram in the meantime. 

Kan political correspondent Michael Shemesh questioned whether the number belonged to Netanyahu at all and suggested on X that the exercise was “probably designed to harvest the phone numbers of potential voters.” 

Other users pointed to another clue that the handset seen in the video was unlikely to be Netanyahu’s personal phone. One of the WhatsApp groups visible in Luk’s video was a synagogue updates group whose latest message appeared to back political rival Naftali Bennett, the former prime minister who now heads the Beyachad party. 

“Something tells me that Bibi isn’t signed up to the ‘Menachem’s House Main Shul Updates’ group,” one X user wrote, “especially not when the latest message there is ‘yalla, it’s time for Bennett.’” 

The Likud spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment on the accusations by the time of publication. 

It was not the first time Netanyahu handed out what he presented as his personal number during an election campaign. In August 2022, little more than two months before the vote that returned him to power, the then-opposition leader published another number and invited Israelis to video call him. 

“Why should only some people have my phone number? Everyone should have it,” Netanyahu said at the time, joking that the move was a “dramatic, world-changing decision.” He told supporters who sent proof they had joined his Telegram channel that they would have a better chance of receiving a video call from him. 

The response was similarly intense. Likud said Netanyahu received 9,420 calls within the first 30 minutes, while follow-up videos showed calls and messages flooding the phone. 

Netanyahu’s rivals mocked the stunt. Then-Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman released a parody video saying Netanyahu “has not picked up the phone in 12 years,” while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid dismissed it as a “fictional phone operated by Netanyahu’s aides.” 

The episode comes as Netanyahu faces a difficult reelection campaign, with roughly 20% of voters remaining undecided, many of whom are disillusioned Likud voters, according to pollsters and researchers cited by Reuters. 

A Channel 13 poll released earlier this month put Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party at 23 seats, ahead of Likud with 21, and Netanyahu’s current coalition projected to win just 49 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Eisenkot also led Netanyahu 47% to 34% when respondents were asked who was better suited to serve as prime minister. 

The phone-number appeal is the latest in a series of efforts to put Netanyahu directly in front of voters, including a blitz of highly publicized appearances. Last week, the prime minister visited a restaurant in Hadera, a Likud stronghold, where owner Simo Shtivi said his arrival was “like hoisting the World Cup,” as diners lined up for photos and a chance to speak with him. 

Netanyahu also made a surprise appearance with his wife Sara at a concert by Israeli pop star Eden Ben Zaken. A few days earlier, he filmed a campaign video at Jerusalem’s Malha Mall meeting shoppers, including children. The Central Elections Committee later ordered the video removed because election law bars the use of children in campaign propaganda. 

Likud also rolled out billboards showing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside the leaders of Iran, Turkey and Hezbollah under the slogan, “They want Netanyahu to lose. Don’t let them win.” 

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The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office is at fault for the “leniency” of the 30-day jail sentence for seven anti-Israel protesters, who blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in April 2024, Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS.

Teresa Caffese, a judge in the Superior Court of San Francisco County, “gave each defendant 30 days in county jail, six months of probation, fines and restitution,” Goldfeder said. “The prosecution had asked for 16 days, calculated as four hours of blocked bridge multiplied by four guilty counts—a formula with a certain accountant's charm but no deterrent force whatsoever.”

JNS sought comment from the district attorney’s office.

The seven protesters were part of a group of 26 arrested in April 2024 after blocking traffic on the bridge for four hours that morning. The sentence, handed down on Friday, includes four days’ credit for time served, and half of the sentence can be conducted via a San Francisco Sheriff’s Office work release program.

“Consider the full arc. Twenty-six people were charged for shutting down one of the most critical arteries in the country. Nineteen had their cases dismissed or diverted before trial,” Goldfeder told JNS. “When the jury hung on the felony conspiracy count, the DA declined to retry it, reasoning in part that a conviction was unlikely to achieve meaningful change.”

“If a different cause had chained itself with lockboxes across the Golden Gate for four hours, keeping patients from appointments and healthcare workers from patients, does anyone really believe the felony gets dismissed as not worth the resources?” he said.

“The false imprisonment convictions matter. Juries almost never convict protesters of trapping people, and prosecutors nationwide now have a template,” he told JNS. “But look at what the verdict is worth in practice. Half the 30 days can be served through the sheriff's work program. The sentence is stayed pending appeal, and the all-in cost runs about $2,300 per defendant.”

“The groups planning the next blockade can book that as an operating expense,” he said.

Tali Klima, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Jewish Coalition, told JNS that “with this slap on the wrist, the legal system has sent a clear message. Illegal activity that compromises public safety is allowed in the Bay Area.”

“Based on celebrations in the courtroom afterwards, the protesters and their supporters got the message loud and clear," she said. "We anticipate they will continue to pull dangerous stunts to get public attention at any cost.”

Marvin Albert Guttman passed away on Aug. 17, 2026 in Orlando, Fla., his home for 44 years. A graduate of Cleveland Heights High School, he attended Fenn College before forging a career as a furniture representative.

From an early age, Marv was a car enthusiast and enjoyed participating in parades with his 1963 Chevrolet Convertible as well as planning car shows. He volunteered with the City of Apopka police department and their “Shop with a Cop” in need children’s Christmas gift program.

Marv is survived by his wife of 63 years Toby (nee Green), daughter Bonnie of Calif., son Aaron (Ivy) and grandchildren Samuel and Eve of N.J., sister Beverly (Barry) Schenker of N.Y. and was uncle and great-uncle to many nieces and nephews.

The family wishes donations in Marvin's memory be made to the City of Apopka “Shop with a Cop” program at apopkapolice.com/398/Shop-With-a-Cop or to Jewish National Fund.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s global trade partners on Monday as part of the financial “D-Day” that U.S. President Donald Trump declared last week.

Bessent said that the sanctions program, “Operation Economic Outcast,” was an “unprecedented, whole-of-government” campaign to “collapse every last option for Iran.”

“For decades, this regime has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable,” Bessent told reporters. “That era is over.”

Iran’s economy has long been subject to primary economic sanctions aimed at hindering its ability to trade oil, fund terrorist groups around the region and finance its missile, drone and nuclear programs.

Successive administrations have declined, however, to impose secondary sanctions on many countries and companies that do business with Iran. Many of the countries that retain economic ties with Iran are close partners of the United States, including many of the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

The department has also generally refrained from imposing sanctions on Chinese banks and oil refineries that transact business with Iran in apparent fear of economic retaliation.

Though he declined to “name names,” Bessent suggested that those secondary sanctions would finally be imposed.

“We want to make clear here today that no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions," Bessent said in response to a question about the potential sanctioning of Chinese entities. “We find that the best way to engage with countries is through quiet diplomacy, and we are level-setting with every country to tell them our expectations.”

“We know who they are. They know who they are,” he said. “When the hammer of U.S. Treasury actions falls upon them, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”

Bessent said that teams from the U.S. military and Treasury and State Departments were meeting with counterparts around the world to explain the new policy.

The United Arab Emirates said that it was cutting off its trade and financial ties to Iran after the Islamic Republic fired a pair of ballistic missiles towards the country on Tuesday.

The treasury secretary said that he expected other countries to follow suit.

“You will see a wave of sanctions when you leave this meeting today, and you should expect that cadence to continue,” Bessent said. “I would expect that you will see a major announcement of a financial institution being sanctioned by the end of this week.”

Asked why the Trump administration was not imposing secondary sanctions immediately, Bessent said that he did not want to “blow up the global financial system.”

“We believe that it is important to level-set and give people a cure period,” he said.

As part of the sanctions announcement, the Treasury Department said it could now sanction “any person, regardless of where they are located” who dealt with the Iranian cryptocurrency, gold, technology, shipping and aviation sectors, which Bessent called “Iran’s most vital lifelines.”

The move comes as the United States and Iran remain in a deadlock after the collapse of a ceasefire memorandum that the Trump administration believed would allow energy shipments in the Persian Gulf to resume.Iran’s continued attacks on shipping led Trump to declare the ceasefire “over” on July 8 and to re-impose an economic blockade on Iran.

The Trump administration has claimed that it has enabled vast quantities of oil to transit the Strait of Hormuz despite the threat of Iranian attacks. Open-source analysts, who track international shipping, have disputed those claims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the new economic operation against Iran.

“You justly exact a steep price from that cruel dictatorship and from those who assist its continued aggression,” Netanyahu wrote.

Iran’s leaders have largely dismissed the threat of further U.S. sanctions.

“Americans know that no one buys their bombast. The United States is not in an economic position to further restrict its relations with other countries,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote shortly after Bessent’s announcement.

“Iran’s trading partners, both in the media and through messages sent to us, have made it clear that they don’t take these statements into account anywhere,” he said.

The U.S. State Department has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and revoked the designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization.

The moves followed the expiration of a 45-day congressional review period that began after U.S. President Donald Trump notified Congress in July of his intention to rescind Syria’s designation.

“These actions represent another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Monday.

Rubio added that the decisions recognized “the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism."

He cited Syria’s efforts to combat terrorism, its participation in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and operations against ISIS, al-Qaida, Hezbollah and Iran-aligned groups.

"Rescinding Syria's designation as an SST and HTS' designation as an SDGT eliminates the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promotes Syria's economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy," Rubio said.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury simultaneously removed HTS from its list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, meaning the group is no longer subject to blocking sanctions under the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations or Executive Order 13224.

Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, called the move "another historic milestone" in Trump's "vision to give Syria a chance."

"For too long, this designation was another wall separating the Syrian people from the investment, enterprise and opportunity necessary to rebuild their nation," Barrack said. "Today, another wall comes down. Capital can replace conflict, enterprise can replace isolation and commerce can continue to triumph over chaos."

The moves mark a significant shift in U.S. policy toward Syria following the December 2024 ouster of longtime President Bashar Assad. Al-Sharaa, a former HTS leader, became president of the transitional government.

The United States designated Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979. The designation imposed restrictions on foreign assistance, defense-related exports and certain financial transactions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Israel’s Channel 14 on Monday that “Iran tried to murder one of my sons.”

Netanyahu has two sons, Yair and Avner. He did not specify which one was targeted.

According to Fox News, the Shin Bet had extended its protection services to Netanyahu’s two sons and his wife Sara Netanyahu in July.

“This is why this promise I am making is more than a luxury,” Netanyahu told Channel 14, per Fox. “Without it, they could succeed. People need to show some restraint, especially during an election campaign."

A Brooklyn Jewish mom expected an entertaining outing when she took her 4-year-old to a recent puppet festival. Instead, she found herself and her son listening to a recitation of Israel’s “war crimes” and keffiyah-clad performers taking part in a Gaza flotilla during a show billed as being about the quirks of living in New York City.

The performances were part of International Puppet Fringe Festival NYC, which is partially funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts and which occurred in lower Manhattan from Aug. 12 to 16.

“They started with relatable New York skits, like about the pizza rat,” the mom, who declined to be named “because of the current environment,” told JNS, of a viral video of a rat dragging a discarded slice of pizza in a city subway station.

Another skit was about the perils of parking on New York City streets. “Performers had a cardboard car and showed the parallel parking shuffle,” when street cleaning rules require drivers to move their cars from one side of residential streets to the other, the mom said.

During the city-themed parts, the mom, who came to the United States from the former Soviet Union as a 7-year-old, told JNS that she “and the audience were one.”

“Everyone liked it,” she said.

After about 15 minutes, “a woman came in with a piece of paper and began reading a litany of accusations against Israel, and people began chanting ‘shame, shame,’” she told JNS.

Soon after that, eight performers grouped as a flotilla of ships bound for Gaza, the mother said.

“It felt like a lynch mob,” she told JNS. (JNS sought comment from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.)

“You feel naked, because you realize all these people knew who I was,” she said, since she didn’t join in the chant. “If I was by myself I would have just made an exit, but I was with my family and had a bunch of belongings.”

The experience was “pretty nauseating” for the mom.

“I’m an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, so antisemitism is why I’m here in the first place,” she told JNS. “To see it out in full effect in the daylight is awful.”

The mom shared a photo of part of the festival with JNS but said that she was too shaken to document the antisemitic parts.

Boxcutter Collective, the puppetry troupe, was one of several dozen to appear at the 2026 Puppet Fringe Festival.

On Facebook, the group described its performance as a “celebration of the place we all love and live in: New York City,” with “dancing skyscrapers, giant rats, fossil-fuel-fighting flowers, a live brass band and Lady Liberty herself.”

There was no mention of Israel or the Gaza war.

Manuel Morán, founder and producer of International Puppet Fringe Festival NYC, told JNS that “theater and puppetry have always been political art forms.”

“Especially in this moment, we believe there is value in making space for artists to express different perspectives and in encouraging audiences from all backgrounds to engage with the work,” Morán said.

Moran, who is also founder, CEO and artistic director of Teatro/SEA, told JNS that festival organizers may not have been aware of the anti-Israel content before it was performed.

“As with many festivals, the full content of a production is not always known in advance, and the company premiered many elements of this work as part of the event,” he told JNS. “We stand behind our role in providing a platform for artists while recognizing that artists are responsible for their own work and should be able to speak to it directly.”

In late November 2023, not even two months after Oct. 7, Boxcutter Collective took part in a Brooklyn event called “Let’s stand together for the people in Gaza! Fundraiser and action the Gaza Monologues.”

The event took place on the “international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” which Boxcutter described as “a significant day for those who value justice, equality and freedom for the Palestinian people.”

“As an organization with deep roots in supporting marginalized artists and communities, we at Teatro SEA understand the impact of discrimination and rejection, and we do not support racism or hatred directed at any community,” Moran told JNS.

“At the same time, we believe in artistic freedom and in creating a space where artists can present their work and audiences can encounter a range of perspectives,” he said. “We do not believe in censorship in the arts.”

He also noted that a Jewish group performed at the festival.

The Magid Ensemble performed “Shterna and the Lost Voice,” described in the program as “an original tale developed through years of research on Yiddish (Eastern-European diasporic Jewish) folklore, and an original live klezmer score.”

An Israeli troupe, Tel Aviv-based Hanut Theater Company, was invited to participate in the puppet fringe festival but could not attend.

Hanut leader Shachar Marom told JNS that the group could not arrange visas for artists to come to the United States which the festival did not help facilitate. Artists didn’t want to risk being turned away at the border, Marom said.

Moran, of the festival, told JNS that Hanut told the festival that it was advised by Israeli officials not to participate without extensive security protection.

Lawmakers condemned remarks by left-wing, anti-Israel influencer Hasan Piker that suggested American Jews could face violence because of their support for Israel, as Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, sought to distance his campaign from the streamer.

During a recent Twitch stream, Piker discussed Michigan state senator Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democrat who won the Democratic primary for an open U.S. House seat in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District. Piker displayed a photo of Moss and said, “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is gonna come around and take action not against Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”

In a statement on Monday, Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), vice chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, wrote that Piker's "call for violence against American Jews, and directly naming a Michigan official (and future Congressional colleague) Jeremy Moss are unacceptable. Full stop."

"Piker is a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance," she stated. "It's dangerous for everyone. We should all be calling out this disgusting rhetoric so it loses its grip on our politics once and for all."

Piker responded, calling Scholten "an Israel 1st congresswoman" and claimed that anti-Zionism is a "90/10 issue."

A July Pew Research Center survey found that 65% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had a favorable view of the Israeli people, compared with 43% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. The partisan divide was wider over the Israeli government: 51% of Republicans viewed it favorably, compared with 16% of Democrats.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) stated that "the only one inciting violence against American Jews is Piker and his rhetoric."

"For the future of our party, Democrats have to call out his hate and condemn these dangerous views," Gottheimer said. "Anyone campaigning with him is part of the problem."

Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, associated Piker's "call for violence" with the El-Sayed campaign.

"Absolutely disgusting," Rogers said. "If Abdul El-Sayed had any courage at all, he would call this out and disavow Hasan Piker once and for all."

El-Sayed campaigned with Piker during his successful Democratic primary bid, including appearances at campaign events and on Michigan college campuses. Piker was also among the guests at a Detroit pool party attended by El-Sayed on the eve of the Aug. 4 primary.

In a statement on Monday, El-Sayed addressed Piker’s remarks while stopping short of directly condemning the streamer.

"I believe all Americans deserve the right to advocate for what they believe without fear of violence," El-Sayed stated. "This is particularly true for communities that have been intimidated for their beliefs in the past."

"But I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople," El-Sayed wrote. "And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we're going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools and healthcare."

The statement followed earlier criticism of El-Sayed’s relationship with Piker. El-Sayed previously said he was “less focused on folks who are campaigning with me” when asked whether he would renounce the streamer. He later explicitly disavowed Piker’s 2019 remark that the United States “deserved” the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Democrats for Mike Rogers, a group of Democrats supporting the Republican nominee, called El-Sayed’s latest statement a “fake condemnation.”

"Notice he never actually condemns Hasan Piker's calls for violence against Jeremy Moss," the group stated. "It's shameful."

As pro-Palestinian progressives find some success at the 2026 ballot box, the long-gestating Israel divestment campaign is looking to capitalize in Rhode Island.

Voters in Providence, the state capital, will vote on a referendum this November saying the city should refrain from investing in “foreign countries conducting ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide.”

The language of the actual ballot petition does not mention Israel, nor any other country, by name. But the signature campaign was led by Providence for Palestine, a local activist coalition, and both its proponents and opponents have framed the measure as a referendum on Israel and the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. 

With the referendum’s ballot placement secured, Providence has become the largest American municipality ever to place divestment before the voting public.

“We’re in this moment when the general public at large, and particularly Democratic voters, very much understand what’s going on in Gaza and Palestine as genocide, as apartheid, and want their leaders to take action on it,” Zack Kliger, a lead organizer of the ballot initiative and member of the Rhode Island chapter of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The post Providence vote puts Israel boycott movement to a major test at the ballot box appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A Jewish summer camp requested a protection order after a Maine man allegedly fired about 20 rounds from a semiautomatic rifle toward basketball courts, prompting a facility lockdown.

Nathan Hewett, 36, is suspected of being intoxicated and motivated by antisemitic bias during the shooting on Aug. 7 near Camp Modin in the normally quiet town of Belgrade, according to a police affidavit, the New York Post reported.

Camp security guards wore ballistic vests and armed themselves to protect the campers. Shell casings found in the immediate area indicated that Hewett had fired toward its basketball courts, according to the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office.

According to the Post, Hewett blamed the camp for damage to his tractor lawn mower. After a confrontation, two security guards "heard the shots being fired from a high-powered rifle."

Deputies seized 23 guns, including semiautomatic weapons, from Hewett's property.

He was charged with reckless conduct with a gun, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, terrorizing with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm near a dwelling. He was released on bail and barred from possessing dangerous weapons, consuming alcohol or approaching within 1,000 feet of the campgrounds.

A hearing on the protection order is scheduled for Aug. 31.

The New York City Police Department released video footage on Monday of two suspects in hate crime attacks on Queens synagogues on July 16.

The NYPD asked the public to help identify the two, who are suspected of throwing bags of motor oil at two Orthodox synagogues, Young Israel of Jamaica Estates and Young Israel of Holliswood.

The suspects in the video are wanted "in connection with two hate crime criminal mischief incidents," the department said. Attackers damaged property at both synagogues, the NYPD said.

The video footage is from the incident at Young Israel of Jamaica Estates.

Rabbi Moshe Taub, of Young Israel of Holliswood, previously told JNS that the community would continue to worship and to be "proud Americans."

“We are also aware that until our city’s mayor shows the same passion in visiting the victims of crimes as he does its perpetrators, at Rikers, his words seem hollow to us and uninspiring to his denizens,” he told JNS, of city Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The rabbi also told JNS that his synagogue had been vandalized with feces.

Adam Orlow, president of Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, previously told JNS that “while this incident is disturbing, it will not intimidate us or change who we are.”

Rabbi Dov Lerner, of the synagogue, told JNS at the time that “acts of hatred seek to create fear and division, but they will achieve the opposite.”

“We will continue to gather proudly, pray together and strengthen our community with dignity, faith and resilience,” he said.

Susan Targer Berlin died on Aug. 4, 2026 at the age of 87. Born in New York City, Sue moved to Cleveland in 1960 after graduating from Penn State. She married Maurice J Berlin in 1961. They were together for 47 years, until his death in 2008. Sue is the mother of Matt and Alec Berlin, of New York City; mother-in-law of Shari Turitz; grandmother to Jonah and Ben Berlin; and sister to Tom Targer of The Woodlands, Tex.

Sue's constant smile revealed the warmth, compassion and genuine curiosity she felt towards everyone she met. She was always on the lookout for confidants, collaborators and co-conspirators.

After earning an MLS from Western Reserve University in 1967, Sue worked in libraries throughout greater Cleveland. She was the Adult/Young Adult Materials Selection Manager for the Cuyahoga County Public Library system and later the Director of the Upper School Library at Hawken School.

She served on the Board of Trustees of the Women’s Community Foundation (including a year as Interim Executive Director), PreTerm, and the Cleveland ACLU. She was on the Community Advisory Board of the Kelvin Smith Library at CWRU and she was an honorary member of the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at CWRU. She cared deeply about  supporting young people, women and creating a more just world for everyone, particularly those who were not as lucky as she.

Sue co-authored the original publication of Outstanding Books for the College Bound, published by the American Library Association, was a book reviewer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and contributed to University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries.

She found love and companionship later in life when she met Sandy Wile at the gym in 2018. They were together until Sandy’s death in August 2025. Throughout those years their smiling faces could be seen at their regular haunts around town - the gym, the art museum, Severance Hall.

Sue loved nothing more than dining out at one of her favorite restaurants after seeing a performance by the Cleveland Orchestra, or a show at Playhouse Square, or a movie at the Cedar Lee, and then ending the night at home curled up with a good book.

Anyone who spent time with Sue was familiar with the dazzling light that emanated from her. But she reserved her brightest light for her kids and grandkids, truly the lights of her life.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the ACLU or Preterm.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 6 at Sue’s home, 13900 Shaker Blvd. It will be streamed at evt.live/sue-berlin-memorial.

Much like the assembling of the couches and tables sold at its stores, IKEA was looking for a location that would fit together seamlessly and easily.

It found one in Crocker Park in Westlake as the Swedish retailer announced July 28 that it will take over the former Dick’s Sporting Goods space, marking its first low-cost, ready-to-assemble furniture and home goods store location in the Cleveland area.

“Northeast Ohio is such a vibrant area,” Christiane Branderhorst, a local marketing specialist for IKEA, told the Cleveland Jewish News. “There are so many universities, and there’s a broad mix of people there, renters and young families, who are looking for an IKEA to come get all sorts of products. It just fits perfectly.”

In 2023, IKEA announced it was investing $2.2 billion in its operations in the United States to help grow its presence, opening new stores in untapped markets, and this move is a result of that initiative, according to Branderhorst.

IKEA zeroed in on Crocker Park after seeing how “vibrant” the mixed-use development is with commercial, business and residential spaces.

“Crocker Park is such a great area, so going into there is very exciting,” she said. “For us to come into there and add an IKEA into a store that already exists makes this really sustainable for us, and it’s something we look at when we’re going into a new area.”

IKEA has 61 stores across the United States. It was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad as a mail-order sales business that began reselling furniture in 1948. IKEA opened its first store in Älmhult, Småland, Sweden, in 1958. Its first U.S. location opened in 1985 in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and over 60 countries and territories around the world have a store.

The closest locations are currently in Columbus, Pittsburgh and West Chester, in between Cincinnati and Dayton.

IKEA is expected to open in the 80,000-square-foot space in spring 2027, according to a news release from Stark Enterprises, and the store will be the brand’s small-format concept, a compact version of its usually warehouse-sized shopping experience.

Representatives at Crocker Park, including Ezra Stark, CEO of Stark Enterprises, which owns and manages the development, and Lidia Richani, Crocker Park’s SVP of Commercial Leasing, had worked for about two years to get IKEA into the space, according to Stacie Schmidt, vice president of marketing and communications for Stark Enterprises.

“Dick’s Sporting Goods was at the end of their natural lease expiration, so we were aware prior to their departure and had been trying to curate the proper tenant,” Schmidt told the CJN. “We were trying to find the perfect marriage. It’s such a large space, so we cared about it being a marquee element at Crocker. We looked at many different opportunities and wanted it to be experiential, because Crocker Park is all about the experiences, that’s our tagline. We really felt after meeting with IKEA that we fit together.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods, an original tenant of Crocker Park when it opened in 2004, closed in April 2025 and moved to a new location in Avon. The currently empty store will be transformed into a space with room displays, showcasing how IKEA furniture pieces could be laid out in one’s home, a cafe with Swedish food and a marketplace with thousands of products, according to the release.

Richani had been in talks with IKEA for years and when the retailer announced it would be adding small-format stores, it jumped at the opportunity.

“We really think this IKEA is going to be such a cool addition not to just Crocker Park or the city of Westlake, but to Cleveland itself. It will be a draw, people make trips constantly from here to Pittsburgh and Columbus for IKEA. Now, they won’t have to go far away. And people will plan weekend trips based around it. Our hotels will see an energy surge, and our small businesses that are around will benefit.”

Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough told the CJN the opening is “exciting news” for Northeast Ohio and the city.

“It’ll bring a lot more traffic to Crocker Park and solidify the other retailers, restaurants and businesses located there,” he said. “Crocker Park is one of the premier town centers in the country, and this pays tribute to that. We’re pleased to have it here in Westlake and are very pleased IKEA is coming and will bring their services and products to the area.”

According to Branderhorst, the smaller-format concept is everything that IKEA is in a more compact space.

“The real strength of our store is the store itself,” she said. “It’s bringing IKEA to the customer. We’re really excited that everybody is going to be able to go in there and see the over 5,000 products we’ll have in that store. Customers can go in and shop, they’re going to be able to take things home and can go online and order absolutely everything. Anything that is available in any IKEA is available to the customer, they just might have to set it up for free pickup at the store. We also have low-cost options to ship it to people.”

IKEA is well-known for its Swedish cafe, serving up Swedish meatballs, hot dogs and ice cream.

“We think this is going to be such a cool opportunity for people to be able to shop and dine,” Schmidt said. “We feel blessed. We know that Crocker Park is a gem, but sometimes our own market gets a little blinded by it and doesn’t realize how fortunate we are to have such a unique experience. This really affirmed to us what we were feeling and loving about Crocker Park.”

Emily G. Goldie, age 84, passed away on Aug. 20, 2026. She was born on October 18, 1941 in Cleveland to Frances Nederlander Kohn and Stuart Gross.

Emily worked as a travel agent for many years, living in both Cleveland and Scottsdale, Ariz., before returning to Cleveland to be closer to her family. She loved spending time with her children, grandchildren and great-granddaughters and was a loving, caring and fun presence in their lives. She will be especially remembered for her kindness, warmth and beautiful smile.

She is survived by her children, Michael (Beverly), Sherry (Rick) and David (Leigh); her siblings, Stuart (Jill), Marc (Lynne) and Nancy (Jeremy); her grandchildren, Eric (Jeremy), Amanda (Jake), Jared, Sarah, Rebecca, Ryan and Michelle; and her great-granddaughters, Ellie and Olivia.

A special thank you to Taheim, Ebony and Nikki for their compassionate care during Emily’s final days.

Shiva will be observed from 1:30 until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Congregation Mishkan Or, 26000 Shaker Blvd. in Beachwood. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Empowering Epilepsy or Dogs Unlimited.

Emily will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered by her family and friends.

Arrangements by Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel.

We are sad to announce the passing of our mother, Lenore P. Koppel, on Aug. 4, after a long, fruitful, productive and eventful life. Lenore was born to her parents, Albert and Fannie Pfeffer on June 8, 1929, in Cleveland, the middle of three sisters. The family lived in Cleveland Heights. 

Lenore Koppel (Pfeffer) is survived by daughters Margie Jackel (Steve), Ruth Rosenblum (Barnett), son Ted, and her sister, Judy Pfeffer Hurwitz. Her extended family includes seven grandchildren: Yuval Cohen, Hilla Lev (Doron), Allison Choate (Ryall), Sara Koppel, Hannah Rosenblum, Jason Rosenblum (Rebecca), and Yanai Cohen z”l. Lenore was the proud great-grandmother of seven, Lawson and Layla Choate, Imri, Itamar, and Avigail Lev, and Madelyn and Hazel Rosenblum.

Lenore graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1946_,_ studied briefly at the University of Chicago, then returned to Cleveland to earn her B.A. in Education at Flora Stone Mather College. She later earned a master’s degree, spent the majority of her career in deaf education at Heights High School, then later became a Director of Pupil Personnel in the Lakewood School District.

In later years, she was the Interim Principal of the Gross Schechter Day School in Pepper Pike. Lenore continued involvement in Jewish educational pursuits throughout her life. She taught for many years in Temple Emanu El’s High School program. She attended Saturday morning bible study at Mishkan Or for many years, led book groups largely related to Judaism and Jewish literature, and in earlier years was active in Jewish community organizations. Wherever Lenore and Harry traveled around the world, she would look for the local synagogue or Jewish community. Lenore was a master at "Jewish geography."

Another of her passions was reading and libraries. She served as a Library Trustee and President of the Board of Trustees at the Cleveland Heights University Heights Public Library for several years in the 1970s. To that end, Lenore, Harry and Ted compiled and published the Index to Jewish Periodicals since 1988.

A Thanksgiving blizzard weekend in 1950 was their first date. On July 1, 1951, Lenore married Harold Koppel (z”l) at Park Synagogue, the start of a nearly 74-year marriage which concluded with Harry’s death in May 2025.  Lenore and Harry were avid travelers and visited destinations including such as China, Brazil, South Africa, South America, various places in Europe, and several trips to Israel. In the early 2000’s, she and Harry visited Lodz, Poland to visit her father’s ancestral home.

She also loved spending time with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was a strict babysitter and always enjoyed doing a craft, shopping, going out to eat, getting ice cream, - pretty much any outing - with extended family. She was known for her wit, intellectual pursuits, sharp tongue, and somewhat irreverent persona. You always knew where you stood with Lenore! 

She enjoyed culture and the arts; she and Harry were  long-term members of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Shaker Heights Indoor Theater, and other community activities. They attended Cleveland Orchestra concerts regularly over many years. 

Lenore and Harry moved to Judson Park in 2017 and enjoyed proximity to University Circle for concerts and other activities. The family would also like to thank Judson Park Reinberger and Shawn Jackson for providing excellent care to Lenore over the past years.

Donations may be made in Lenore’s memory to the Gross Schechter Day School at grossschechter.org/one-time-gift/, Congregation Mishkan Or at mishkanor.org/ or Siegal College at case.edu/ech/articles/s/siegal-college.

A graveside memorial service will be held at noon on Sept. 6 at Mayfield Cemetery and a Celebration of Life will follow at 3:30 pm at Judson Park, 1801 Chestnut Hills Drive in Cleveland Heights. 

Arrangements by Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel.

The University of Washington has proposed revisions to its student conduct code amid concerns about its response to campus antisemitism and anti-Israel encampments.

The university filed the proposed rules with the Washington State Register on July 20 and plans to adopt them on Sept. 9 before fall classes begin, according to The Daily, a student publication. Faculty and students may submit written comments through Aug. 25, when the university also will hold a public hearing in Seattle, according to the state filing.

Among the proposed changes, staff members and outside contractors would be eligible to serve as appeal officers, a role currently reserved for faculty and students. Appeals also could be decided by a single officer rather than a panel.

The proposed code would allow the university to discipline students who remain in a building or on university property after a university official or law enforcement officer orders them to leave. Students could also be disciplined for prohibited conduct committed by others in their presence if they chose to remain after being ordered to leave.

The university also would be permitted to consider whether a student concealed his or her identity "for the purpose of evading or escaping discovery, recognition or identification while engaging in prohibited conduct" when determining an appropriate sanction.

The revisions come after the 2024 anti-Israel encampment on UW's campus and the May 2025 occupation of the university’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building. Thirty-three people were arrested in connection with the building occupation, and prosecutors later filed criminal trespass charges against all 33. The incident caused nearly $1 million in damage, including damage to laboratory equipment, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The proposed code would also broaden the university’s definition of vandalism. The existing language prohibits “maliciously damaging” university property, while the proposed language would prohibit “intentionally or recklessly damaging, defacing, destroying, or misusing” university property.

UW President Robert Jones, who became the university’s 34th president in August 2025, said in March that the university was reviewing its student conduct code amid rising antisemitism on campus.

“Our student conduct code was not written for this moment in time,” he said. “It just absolutely was not written to deal with contemporary issues.”

Jones told JNS that the university did not need to wait for a mandate from the U.S. Department of Justice or the Department of Education before determining “what needs to be done to move this university closer to being that welcoming environment.”

Jewish musician Mikey Pauker is appealing a federal court ruling that dismissed his discrimination lawsuit after a California retreat center canceled his scheduled Chanukah concert after community members raised concerns about his support for Israel.

Pauker's attorneys filed their opening brief in the appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Aug. 14, arguing that the district court erred in finding that Harbin Hot Springs could not be held liable for responding to discriminatory customer complaints.

Stanford Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic and the National Jewish Advocacy Center are representing Pauker in the appeal. The center announced the appeal on Aug. 21.

Matthew Mainen, litigation counsel at the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS that “Mikey needs to demonstrate three things: Zionism is part of his Jewish identity, the cancellation campaign against him was anti-Jewish and businesses cannot cater to such customer bigotry.”

“The lower court already agreed with us on the first two but not the last,” he said. “We anticipate the appellate court correcting this error.”

Pauker told JNS that “for many Jews, Zionism is inseparable from our Judaism, ancestry, peoplehood and our religious and historical relationship to the Land of Israel.”

“Discriminating against a Jewish person because of that deeply held relationship should not be dismissed simply by labeling it ‘political,’” he said. “I hope this case helps establish stronger protections for Jewish Americans and encourages more Jewish musicians, artists and other creatives who experience discrimination to stand up for their rights.”

'Politics and divisiveness'

Pauker sued Heart Consciousness Church, which owns and operates Harbin Hot Springs in Middletown, Calif., in April 2025, alleging that the cancellation of his 2024 Chanukah concert violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and California civil rights laws.

According to the appeal, the venue canceled Pauker’s show after community members complained about his “Zionist views” and Harbin said it wanted to avoid “politics and divisiveness” related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the center of the complaints was a Facebook post Pauker made after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which he shared an image of two Israeli soldiers in a tank with an Israeli flag and the words “I stand with Israel” over the picture.

An anonymous user responded by accusing Pauker of playing “genocide music” and urging others to pressure Harbin to cancel his concert, according to the appeal. The anonymous user later commented on another photograph of Pauker participating in a Jewish ritual, accusing him of playing “terrorist music.”

Harbin canceled the concert the following day and referenced Pauker’s “I stand with Israel” post in its explanation, per the appeal.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed Pauker’s lawsuit in February, ruling, among other things, that he had not sufficiently alleged that Harbin canceled the concert because of his race or religion. The court also found that Harbin’s initial willingness to host a concert for the Jewish holiday by Pauker weighed against an inference that the venue had discriminated against him.

Pauker’s appeal challenges that reasoning, arguing that under current law “a business cannot cave to discriminatory customer preference” and that because the venue’s rationale included Pauker’s Facebook post, “the alleged animus was not limited to customers but included Harbin directly.”

The brief further alleges that Harbin allowed musicians who were openly anti-Israel to perform, including one whom Pauker says engaged in Holocaust denial and quoted Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whom the brief describes as one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack.

Regarding the district court’s reasoning that the venue was unlikely to have discriminated against Pauker after initially booking him for a Chanukah show, the appeal states that “the law forbids taking adverse action based on stereotype or distinctions within a protected class.”

“In short, Harbin cannot discriminate against Pauker as a Zionist Jew in concluding that, unlike celebrating Chanukah, embracing Zionism contradicts its subjective vision of an acceptable Jew,” the appeal states.

There is an old stereotype of a police officer hiding behind a sign waiting to catch speeders. Today, you are more likely to get a speeding ticket from a camera in plain sight than you are from a stealthy officer.

That’s because cities across the region are increasingly using traffic cameras to monitor speeding. Drivers who exceed the limit may be photographed and receive a notice or mobile ticket several days later, along with a fine.

It’s important to note that even though these are called mobile tickets, you will always get an official notice in the U.S. Mail. If you get a text message requesting you pay a fine for some sort of driving infraction, you should ignore it, as it is generally a scam, experts warn.

“Mobile tickets or camera tickets are not actually ‘traffic tickets’ in the traditional sense of an officer-issued ticket,” Mitch Luxenburg of The Law Firm of Mitch Luxenburg in Beachwood, said. “A camera or mobile ticket is a civil violation. I compare them to expensive parking tickets because they are issued to the owner of the vehicle first. While the owner of the vehicle can sign an affidavit that states it was not them driving the vehicle, the owner must disclose who was the driver of the vehicle at which point that person will be issued the civil violation.”

Mobile tickets are looked at differently by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles than a traditional, officer-written ticket. Those tickets are directly reported to the BMV and the court in the jurisdiction where the incident took place. Mobile tickets are not. You also will not incur any points on your license because of a mobile ticket. Because there are no “consequences,” except to your bank account, Luxenburg said you are better off paying them and not fighting the system.

“I advise inquiring drivers to not waste their money on an attorney as the cost of the attorney will exceed just paying the ticket, and will not yield any meaningful difference other than for ‘the principle of it,’ he said.

That doesn’t mean that you can, or should, simply ignore your mobile ticket.

“It is my understanding that most municipalities refer unpaid violations to the local municipal court,” Luxenburg said. “At that point, the courts do add on costs, and have additional collection remedies available to them.”

Just as drivers are trying to sort out the details behind mobile tickets, local governments are grappling with their issuances as well. That’s because in 2025, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 54. One of the things that it included was the elimination of the use of so-called speed cameras. Even with that legislation, cities and villages in the state can continue to operate those systems based on their home rule authority. That all has only contributed to the public’s misunderstandings around the legitimacy of these types of tickets.

“There is a lot of confusion, even amongst the courts, so I don’t expect clarity any time soon,” Luxenburg said.

Noell Wolfgram Evans is a freelance journalist.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch attended Shabbat services at Central Synagogue on Friday following an alleged hate-motivated attack that disrupted the Manhattan congregation’s service, telling attendees that Jewish New Yorkers should not have to accept fear as the price of practicing their faith.

Tisch, who grew up attending Central Synagogue, addressed the congregation on Aug. 21, one week after Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, allegedly disrupted a Friday-night Shabbat service attended by approximately 375 people and assaulted a congregant and a security guard.

“What happened here is unacceptable anywhere in this city,” Tisch said. “No New Yorker should be assaulted or threatened because of who they are or how they worship.”

“A hate crime such as this is a message written in violence,” she added.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Montes allegedly stood up during the Aug. 14 service, shouted and knocked over two ceremonial candlesticks before security personnel escorted him from the sanctuary. He allegedly struck a 63-year-old female congregant in the face and then spat on and headbutted a 65-year-old security guard.

Montes was charged federally on Aug. 18 with two counts of committing hate crimes and one count of damaging religious property resulting in bodily injury. He also faces state hate-crime charges related to the incident.

Tisch said the impact of a hate crime extends beyond the person directly attacked.

“The physical wound is inflicted upon one person, but the fear is intended for an entire community,” Tisch said. “It is meant to tell everyone who shares the victim’s identity that they do not belong, that they are vulnerable, that they should be afraid.”

'Violence can inspire more violence'

Her remarks came as New York City continues to see a disproportionate number of hate crimes targeting Jews. According to data from the New York City Police Department, anti-Jewish hate crimes increased 8.5% during the first seven months of 2026, with 205 confirmed incidents compared with 189 during the same period last year.

In July alone, 23 of the city’s 33 confirmed hate crimes targeted Jews, or 69.6% of the total. That represented a 53.3% increase from July 2025, when 15 anti-Jewish hate crimes were confirmed.

“We know that violence can inspire more violence. Every high-profile attack raises the risk of another,” Tisch said. “Individuals already on the edge do not always need instructions. Sometimes, all they need is a spark.”

Tisch said the NYPD works with synagogues and yeshivas through precinct commanders and community affairs officers, while its Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau works to identify and address potential threats. The department also maintains a Hate Crime Task Force that investigates suspected bias-motivated incidents.

“Jewish families will not be told to accept fear as the price of practicing their faith,” the commissioner said.

Tisch spoke about her personal connection to Central Synagogue, where she grew up and was married.

“As a proud Jew and lifelong member of this congregation, you have my word that I stand with you in these uncertain, precarious times,” she said.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi of Central Synagogue, told JNS that the congregation appreciated Tisch’s presence and the support it received following the attack.

“We were honored that Commissioner Tisch joined us for Shabbat worship and shared her pledge that ‘Jewish families will not be told to accept fear as the price of practicing their faith’ in the face of the attack we experienced and record-level hate crimes against the Jewish community in New York,” Buchdahl said.

“Central was so deeply moved and appreciative of the support and solidarity expressed by so many of our civic and faith leaders throughout the city and around the world,” she added.

For many older adults, remaining at home is the preferred choice. But staying home safely often depends on how much help a person needs and whether that help can realistically be provided there.

Shalom Plotkin, owner of Right at Home Cleveland East, said in-home care can allow older adults to stay in their own homes while continuing to live independently.

“It means staying in their familiar surroundings,” Plotkin said. It also means keeping family, friends, pets and community close by, he said.

For seniors who are still largely independent, relatively modest support may be enough. Caregivers can help with activities of daily living, cooking, cleaning, driving and household tasks. Home modifications can also make a difference. Plotkin mentioned ramps, stair lifts, grab bars, detachable shower heads and easier-to-use fixtures as examples of changes that can improve safety.

The goal, he added, is not to take over everything.

If a senior can put on his or her own shoes, for example, a caregiver may help only with a more difficult task such as putting on tight support stockings. Maintaining independence remains part of the care.

The need for assistance often begins after a specific event. Plotkin said a fall, a significant change in health, the death of a spouse or another major life change can prompt families to discuss whether an older adult needs more help.

Social isolation can also become a concern, especially after the loss of a spouse. Plotkin said families can create routines that include regular calls and visits. Technology may also help some seniors remain connected.

Transportation is another important part of remaining at home. Plotkin said Right at Home caregivers take clients to medical appointments, stores and personal appointments such as hair or nail salons. Those trips can also provide an opportunity to get out of the house.

Cost can also be a consideration. Plotkin said in-home assistance is typically less expensive than moving into a care facility when a senior needs only a limited number of hours of help each week. But if someone needs care around the clock, staying at home can become much more expensive and a facility may be the more practical option.

There are limits, however, to what in-home assistance can provide.

Plotkin said safety becomes the central question when an older adult’s needs increase. Someone who requires significant nursing care at all hours may be better served in an assisted living facility.

He also said many clients seeking in-home assistance are no longer fully suited to independent living. Their needs may fall somewhere between independent living and assisted living, and some may eventually require assisted living, memory care or another setting offering greater supervision.

That decision can depend on how much monitoring and engagement the person needs. Memory care, for example, may provide more continuous supervision and structured activity than a person can receive while living alone at home.

Plotkin described one client approaching 80 who had stopped getting out of bed regularly. She was not eating properly, taking her medications consistently or keeping up with personal hygiene.

With a caregiver providing regular assistance and companionship, her condition improved. She began eating better, taking her medication, reconnecting with a family member and returning to activities she enjoyed.

“They have lunch together,” Plotkin said. “They have conversations. They have a relationship.”

Ellen Braunstein is a freelance journalist.

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Deshaun Watson has won the competition to be the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback for the Sept. 13 opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Monday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because coach Todd Monken has not publicly announced the move.

Watson, a 10-year veteran, won the competition over Shedeur Sanders as both split reps with the first unit throughout the offseason, training camp and the preseason.

The decision will not be popular with Browns fans, who have booed Watson repeatedly during his time in Cleveland.

Monken said Sunday that Watson’s comments after the Browns’ 31-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday were not expected to play a deciding factor in his final decision.

Watson has started only 19 games for Cleveland since being acquired from Houston in 2022 and signing a fully guaranteed, $230 million contract that will likely go down as perhaps one of the worst trades and contract in NFL history. He is 9-10 with the Browns with 19 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions and an 80.7 passer rating.

Many thought Watson's time with the Browns would be over after he said the boos on Saturday were “personal” and showed “disrespect” after he took the field in Cleveland for the first time in 22 months.

“I thought being away for two years and working myself back from two Achilles injuries and putting the time in, being around the facility, being around the city, doing charity work in the city, supporting the Cleveland Browns, hanging out with fans whenever I do see them, being honest, being the type of person I know I am, and the character would help, and I guess it hasn’t," he said after completing 5 of 12 passes for 36 yards and an interception while on the field with players at the bottom of the roster who likely will be cut in a couple of weeks.

As Watson was rehabbing from rupturing his right Achilles twice, owner Jimmy Haslam said during last year’s owners meetings that the Browns “took a big swing and miss” when they sent three first-round picks to Houston for Watson in 2022.

Watson completed 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards and directed two scoring drives working with other starters and the second team during the first half of the preseason opener at Chicago.

Sanders has shown steady improvement throughout the offseason. He started the final seven games of his rookie season, going 3-4 with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Sanders went 9 of 11 for 74 yards with a touchdown and interception during the first half against the Bills. Sanders completed his first eight passes before he was picked off by Damar Hamlin on a pass he threw behind tight end Jermaine Terry.

He was 6 of 11 for 79 yards with an interception in the second half against the Bears.

Sanders' biggest improvement is his ability to stand in the pocket as well as move up when he needs to, along with better footwork and decision making.

Even though Sanders will be on the sideline for the opener, he is likely to start at some point this season.

In 2022, Watson missed the first 11 games because of a league suspension resulting from his alleged sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions. He made six starts in 2023 before a season-ending shoulder injury and started seven in 2024 before the first of two Achilles tendon injuries.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Alan Theodore Riga, 89, of Cleveland, Ohio, passed away peacefully on Aug. 23. Beloved husband of 64 years to Judy Riga, he leaves behind a legacy of intellect, devotion and tireless service to others.

Alan was the loving father of Susan Riga Kirsh (Brian Kirsh), Lori Riga (Jeff Weiner) and Jill Riga. He was the cherished grandfather of Jacob (Olivia Leventhal), Adam Kirsh, Sarah Kirsh, Emma Pollack (Dylan Pollack), Andy and Allison Saks.

Alan earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and went on to build a remarkable career as a chemist in industry at Lubrizol. Even while pursuing his professional work, he found time to teach middle and high school students, sharing his passion for science with the next generation.

Following his retirement from Lubrizol, Alan continued to teach chemistry at Cleveland State University and the University of Toledo, and each year for more than a decade, he traveled to Brazil to teach for several weeks at a time. In his seventies, his alma mater, Case Western Reserve University, invited him to teach graduate students, a role he embraced until the age of 80. He was, above all, a lifelong teacher and a lifelong learner.

Alan's professional accomplishments were matched by a deep and enduring commitment to humanitarian causes. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he fought courageously for Jews imprisoned in the Soviet Union for practicing their religion, serving as President of the Cleveland Council on Soviet Antisemitism. His dedication to the Jewish community continued throughout his life, as he served as President of B'nai B'rith and remained active at Bethaynu and later B'nai Jeshurun.

Alan cared deeply about humanity and advocated fiercely for those who could not advocate for themselves. He will be remembered as a devoted husband, father, and grandfather, a brilliant chemist, a dedicated teacher, and a passionate defender of justice and human dignity.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel, 1985 S. Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights. Interment will immediately follow at Mt. Olive Cemetery, 27855 Aurora Road in Solon.

To view this service, please visit bkbmc.com, click on the Alan T. Riga obituary, scroll down to the services section and click on “Join Livestream." 

Shiva will follow interment at the family residence from 2 until 4 p.m. and from 6 until 8 p.m. on Aug. 26 and 27, and from 2 until 4 p.m. on Aug. 28. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Hospice of the Western Reserve (aka Reserve Care), B’nai Jeshurun Congregation, or NAMI – Cleveland Chapter.

May his memory serve as a blessing for all!

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said she felt a “deeply personal” commitment to protect Jews in a speech at Central Synagogue, where she is a member, in the aftermath of an attack during Shabbat services there. 

Tisch addressed the Reform synagogue in Midtown Manhattan during its Friday evening prayers a week after a man disrupted the service by shouting obscenities, punched a congregant in the face and spat on and headbutted a Black security guard while calling him a racial slur. Suspect Larry Montes, who was arrested at the scene, has been charged with hate crimes in federal and state court. 

Tisch said there were no serious injuries. She called the attack “a message written in violence,” intended to tell “everyone who shares the victim’s identity that they do not belong, that they are vulnerable, and that they should be afraid.” 

She also noted that roughly half of confirmed hate crimes in New York City have for years targeted Jews, who make up about 10% of the population.

“As a proud Jew and a lifelong member of this congregation, you have my word that I stand with you in these uncertain and precarious times,” said Tisch, adding that her commitment at Central Synagogue was “deeply personal.” 

Tisch spoke after an interfaith group of seven Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders gave remarks about solidarity between their communities.

“Might our presence here be a testament to the ties, the durable ties that bind each of us together,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan. 

“We are here tonight to affirm that you do not walk through this city alone, but you are held in a covenant between our communities,” added Rev. Adriene Thorne of The Riverside Church. “What affects one of us touches all of us.”

Montes told NYPD officers after his arrest that he felt disrespected at the Central Synagogue service and described the incident as “a racial thing” and “all religious motivated,” according to a federal criminal complaint. He also said that he identified as Jewish. 

His aunt, Myriam Montes, told The New York Post that he was “mentally traumatized because of his desire to belong to that religion [Judaism].” The New York Times reported that Montes had a history of mental health issues documented by the NYPD.

A Facebook page that appears to belong to Montes is littered with posts about Israel and Judaism. They include an image of a map of Israel with the text, “Keep Israel in your heart,” a video of Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi discussing why evangelical Christians support Israel and a video comparing Mayor Zohran Mamdani with Iran’s former supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.

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The post NYPD chief pledges to protect Jews at Central Synagogue one week after Shabbat attack appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The man accused in the murder of Aliza Sherman will stand trial after the judge denied his defense team’s motion to dismiss the case.

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kira Krivosh ruled in a motion filed Aug. 18 that Gregory Moore’s trial will go on as scheduled Sept. 14 despite attempts by Moore’s attorney, Jon Paul Rion of Rion & Rion, L.P.A., Inc. in Dayton, to have the case thrown out.

“Defendant has failed to show more than speculative prejudice,” Krivosh wrote in the ruling. “Defendant has not shown that any of the now-deceased witnesses would have provided now-unavailable material testimony, nor that actual prejudice has resulted from the loss of technological records, videos and recordings. Defendant’s argument points to the unavailability of this evidence, but does not show how its absence prejudices him.”

Rion filed the motion to dismiss on May 1 to have the case dismissed citing that key people involved had died away since Moore was indicted on May 2, 2025, such as Stanford Sherman, Aliza Sherman’s husband whom she was in the process of divorcing and whom the defense said is “the alternative suspect.”

“Moore’s father, who he spoke with minutes before Sherman was killed in March of 2013, has died,” the motion said. “Moore’s secretary who worked on the Sherman matter, has died. … As a suspect, many facts pointed in the direction of Mr. Sherman as being involved in some capacity in this homicide. The motive to protect his assets is clear. Mr. Sherman dishonestly and in a complex scheme forged the decedent’s signature, hid approximately $1,000,000 and disposed of the funds in a clandestine manner. His tactics were intentional, illegal and sophisticated. Aliza Sherman was scared of him and felt he was dangerous and capable of violence to herself and others. His friend recounts a series of focused inquiries where Mr. Sherman asks how to commit murder.”

Rion also argues there is missing evidence, such as CCTV footage that captured the stabbing and phone records, which would dispute that Moore was the killer. According to the motion filed by Rion, recordings from a security camera in the vicinity of the crime scene were sent to the Cleveland Police Department’s Audio/Visual Analysis Unit, which determined that there was a time skip during the 3:23:50 p.m. and 3:44:22 p.m., when Sherman was killed.

“No efforts were undertaken to retrieve the security cameras with the audio visual jump,” the motion said. “All indications show that the machine malfunctioned. Despite that, CPD’s Audio Visual Analysis Unit opined that ‘it was not possible to determine if the observable time gaps ... were due to technical malfunctions or the intervention of any individual.’ The failure to preserve the security systems has led to rank speculation perpetuated by the State that Moore somehow doctored or edited the videos, which is patently false.”

Rion argued the loss of evidence “prejudiced Moore.”

Prosecutors filed a motion opposing the dismissal on June 3.

To read the CJN’s comprehensive coverage of the Aliza Sherman case, visit cjn.org/alizasherman

To listen to the “Aliza: Her Story” podcast, visit cjn.org/podcast. New episode coming soon.

Cleveland City Dance – Shaker Square

Jump Start Gymnastics - Beachwood

Girl Scouts of North East Ohio

Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Cuyahoga DD)

Israel located the Altalena off the country's Mediterranean coast 78 years after its sinking, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu announced on Monday, calling the find historic.

"At 12:30 a.m., at a depth of 503 meters [1,650 feet] west of Israel's coast, the Altalena was located intact—78 years after the painful, formative event that shook the young State of Israel," Eliyahu wrote in a social media statement.

The announcement was made jointly with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said in a post on X that "there is a message in finding the Altalena at this particular time. Disagreements are permissible, and differences of opinion are permissible—but a civil war must never be allowed."

היום יום היסטורי. מצאנו את אלטלנה. אחרי כל כך הרבה שנות חיפושים, שר המורשת עמיחי אליהו ואני מאושרים לעדכן - אלטלנה נמצאה.

יש במציאת אלטלנה דווקא במועד הזה איזשהו מסר. מותר שיהיו מחלוקות, מותר שיהיו חילוקי דעות, אבל אסור שתהיה מלחמת אחים! pic.twitter.com/RdQ2wsigyn

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 24, 2026

The newly created Israel Defense Forces shelled the Irgun arms ship off the Tel Aviv beach in June 1948. Sixteen Irgun members and three IDF soldiers were killed in the fighting. About a year after the battle, the Altalena, which had run aground at the foot of Frischman Street, was refloated, towed 15 miles out to sea and scuttled.

Israel's Heritage Ministry invested 1 million shekels (about $296,000) to search for the remains, JNS reported on Aug. 25, 2025.

The ministry hired the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research institute, through the Survey of Israel—a state agency responsible for mapping—to locate the remains of the ship. Israel's national research vessel, the Bat Galim, was deployed with advanced technology to detect the wreckage.

The Altalena Affair unfolded during Israel's 1948-49 War of Independence after the Irgun ship arrived off the coast carrying Jewish immigrants, fighters and a cache of weapons intended for the underground group led by future prime minister Menachem Begin. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered all of the arms transferred to the newly established IDF as part of his effort to consolidate military authority under the new state. When the Irgun resisted, clashes erupted at Kfar Vitkin and later off Tel Aviv, where IDF troops under Yitzhak Rabin shelled the vessel. Begin ordered Irgun members not to return fire, seeking to avert a civil war.

"As heritage minister, I see this as a formative moment in our national memory," Eliyahu said. "A country that is not afraid to confront the painful chapters of its history is a stronger country. A people that knows its past—its heroism and its pain—can build a more united and secure future."

Police in Switzerland are investigating a call online for an unauthorized protest rally in Basel on the 129th anniversary of the 1st Zionist Congress, which Theodor Herzl organized and presided over.

The call, which features the slogan “death to Zionism,” appeared on social media earlier this week, but the organizers of the event, scheduled for Aug. 29, have not been identified, Jonathan Kreutner, general secretary of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), told JNS on Monday.

Police in Basel, who require protests to apply for approval at least 14 days in advance, have been alerted to the development, he said.

According to online banners advertising the event under the headline “Free Palestine – Death to Zionism,” the event will take place at 2 p.m. on Aug. 29, a Saturday, at Theaterplatz, a square adjacent to the Music Hall of Basel’s Stadtcasino, where the 1st Zionist Congress opened on Aug. 29.

“It’s serious and the authorities are alert,” said Kreutner.

Basel’s Theaterplatz is a broad public square at the center of Basel’s cultural district. It’s located less than a mile away from the Old City and serves as a meeting place and venue for public gatherings, performances and demonstrations.

Congress participants established the Zionist Organization during the event, which was later renamed the World Zionist Organization, and elected Theodor Herzl, a Budapest-born journalist turned Zionist activist, as the congress’s president.

The Zionist Organization was an important element of the scaffolding that facilitated the creation and survival of the State of Israel. Herzl famously wrote in his journal about the event: “At Basel I founded the Jewish State.”

He added that saying so publicly at the time would invite ridicule, but predicted that this would be universally recognized within 50 years. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, 50 years and eight months after the 1897 event.

Herzl died in 1904 in Edlach an der Rax, a town in modern-day Austria, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was 44.

A 1,600-year-old mosaic depicting the biblical hero Samson went on public display Sunday for the first time after more than a decade of archaeological excavations at Hukok in the eastern Lower Galilee.

The mosaic, uncovered in the remains of an ancient synagogue used by a Jewish community during the Talmudic period, dates to the fourth or fifth century. It depicts scenes from the Book of Judges, including Samson carrying the gates of Gaza and tying torches to the tails of foxes.

Hukok, near the Sea of Galilee, was a Jewish community during the Roman and Byzantine periods.

The mosaic is part of the “Secrets of Law” exhibition at Beit Yigal Allon in Kibbutz Ginosar, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The exhibition also features photographs of other mosaics discovered at the synagogue, as well as remains of an underground hiding-place system discovered at the site.

The exhibition was organized in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, an Israeli organization involved in environmental conservation, land reclamation, forestry and development.

TEL AVIV — The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia jointly condemned Israel for declining to open a criminal probe into the April 2024 killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers in Deir al-Balah. 

The three countries, whose citizens were among the dead, called the decision “shameful,” adding that “the victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability, and we will continue to seek answers on their behalf.”

Poland, who also lost a citizen in the strike, also sharply criticized Israel and summoned its ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw last week. Australia also summoned Israel’s ambassador. 

The seven aid workers were killed by an Israeli airstrike after they had just dropped off food supplies at a warehouse. The army mistook them for Hamas operatives, according to the IDF. 

In a statement released last week, the IDF said its prosecutors found that despite serious failures in its assessment that Hamas had seized the aid convoy, commanders’ decisions raised no “reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.” 

The World Central Kitchen (WCK) had hired armed guards and had not coordinated the route with the IDF, leading the army to conclude Hamas had seized the supplies and that its operatives were in the vehicles that left the warehouse, according to the army.

José Andrés, the Spanish-American chef who founded World Central Kitchen, said at the time that the convoy had been targeted “systematically, car by car.” 

The WCK denounced the IDF’s decision, writing in a statement last week, “There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks, and there is nothing in this account that does so. The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive.”

It called for an independent investigation into the strikes on the convoy, “because the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own conduct.”

The WCK incident was one of five cases out of Gaza about which the IDF on Wednesday gave an update regarding its investigations, including the death of Hind Rajab, age 5, on January 29, 2024.

She had been traveling in a vehicle in Gaza with six members of the Hamada family, which included her aunt, uncle and five cousins. In its statement Wednesday, the IDF admitted for the first time that it fired at the vehicle, killing five members of the Hamada family. Hind and her 15-year old cousin Layan Hamada initially survived, but were trapped in a combat zone and killed within hours.

The IDF said it is opening an investigation into the events in the hours that followed the initial shooting of the five members of the Hamada family, including Hind’s death.

Hind’s killing resonated globally, galvanizing students 5,700 miles away who seized Hamilton Hall during the Columbia University protests, renaming it “Hind’s Hall” after her. 

The film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” built around recordings of her phone calls with the Red Crescent begging for help, was nominated for an Academy Award this year.

The IDF had initially said its forces were not within firing range of the vehicle. The army’s announcement Wednesday was a reversal of that position. 

“Troops fired at a vehicle that was approaching them,” even though the army had issued a notice to Gaza residents to stay away from the area, the military explained. 

“According to the reports published, this vehicle belonged to the Hamada family. As a result of the fire, five of the vehicle’s passengers were killed, and two survived: Hind Rajab and her cousin Layan Hamada,” the IDF stated.

The experience of the two girls caught in an active combat zone was documented by the Red Crescent after Layan called its operators. Once she was killed by gunfire, Hind continued to talk to the dispatchers until she too was killed.

The Israeli army described how it tried to coordinate with the Red Crescent to allow for an ambulance to evacuate the girls. 

“Upon the ambulance’s arrival at the scene of the incident, a shell was fired toward it,” resulting in the deaths of the two paramedics travelling in it,” the IDF said. “Several days later, the bodies of the seven members of the Hamada family, including the bodies of Hind and Layan, were recovered from the vehicle. In addition, the bodies of the two paramedics were recovered from the ambulance.”

The statement does not say how Hind and Layan died.

The IDF said it was ordering the investigation because of failures in coordinating the ambulance’s movement, but that it could not release further details while the probe is ongoing.

In a statement to JTA, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it “demands an independent international committee of inquiry into this incident, as well as the protection of medical personnel wherever they may be.” It added,  “There is no communication with the Israeli occupation regarding this matter or any other. The Palestinian Red Crescent will cooperate with the investigation once it is international and independent.”

The IDF said last week it was also opening a criminal probe into the killing of 15 Palestinian emergency workers, including a U.N. employee, in March 2025.

In its statement last week, the IDF on that day said its forces had set an ambush for Hamas vehicles in Tel al-Sultan. “Approximately one hour later, the troops received a report regarding five vehicles moving toward them at high speed,” the military said.

“The vehicles stopped in very close proximity to the troops, and their occupants rapidly disembarked. A decision was then made to open fire toward them. Approximately fifteen minutes later, the troops fired at an additional vehicle that arrived at the scene,” the military explained. Only later, the army said, did its forces understand that they had struck ambulances, a fire truck, and a U.N. vehicle. The army said that six  of the emergency workers were also Hamas members.

The earlier IDF review led to the dismissal of a deputy commander after professional failures were found. At first, the military said that the vehicles approached without their emergency signals activated, an account contradicted by cellphone video recovered from one of the dead paramedics. On Wednesday, the military said that there was reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. 

The IDF declined to investigate two other incidents involving the deaths of four employees of the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, two of whom were killed in the Khan Younis area in February 2024, and another two who were killed in Gaza City in 2023.   

In a statement on its website, Doctors Without Borders rebuked the IDF’s decision to close the cases. “This is not justice,” the group said. “Two years of silence, followed by closures that raise more questions than they answer. However, it is the predictable output of a military apparatus investigating itself.”

B’Tselem, the left-wing Israeli human rights organization, went further, telling the JTA that Israel’s military law enforcement system, “is not a genuine mechanism for uncovering the truth and ensuring accountability, but a whitewashing mechanism designed to create the appearance of an investigation.” 

Yair Dvir, the spokesperson, added that such investigations focus on low-ranking soldiers while “the policies, orders, and senior military and political officials behind them remain outside the scope of investigation.”

--

The post Israel slammed for closing probe into killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) struck a Hamas weapons-production site in the Maghazi area of the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing the commander responsible for the facility, the military said.

The IDF identified the terrorist as Ismail Abu Ful and said he was involved in manufacturing explosive devices and anti-tank rockets for Hamas’s “military” wing. The IDF said the site had been established near an aid distribution point operated by an international organization and accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructure to rebuild its armed capabilities in violation of the ceasefire.

The IDF noted it issued advance warnings and used precision munitions and aerial surveillance to reduce the risk to civilians.

Israeli troops remain deployed along the Yellow Line under the ceasefire agreement, the military added.

Also on Sunday, the IDF struck a Hamas Nukhba Force platoon commander who had infiltrated southern Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the military said in a separate statement.

The strike took place in the Khan Yunis area in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

IDF kills two Gazan terrorists

Over the weekend, the Israeli military eliminated two terrorists in separate incidents in Gaza.

On Saturday, the IDF killed a company commander in the Deir al-Balah Battalion of Hamas’s “military” wing in the central Gaza Strip, identified as Sharif al-Hasanat.

He was killed while posing an “immediate threat” to the troops.

In southern Gaza on Friday, a terrorist crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to troops positioned in the area, the IDF said. “The troops fired and neutralized the terrorist in order to remove the threat,” it added.

Earlier in the day, troops operating in the central Gaza Strip identified a Hamas terrorist armed with a knife.

After he crossed the Yellow Line, the forces apprehended him and transferred him for questioning in Israel, the army said.

Israeli security forces presently control roughly 53% of Gaza, a territory referred to as the security zone, with its western border running through the Strip designated the Yellow Line.

Israel: ‘Zero tolerance’ for airborne devices launched from Gaza

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the IDF to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy toward kites and balloons launched from Gaza toward communities in the Negev.

“If the launches continue—powerful actions will be taken to put an end to the phenomenon,” said Katz. “A balloon and kite shall be treated the same as a drone—with or without explosives.”

He said Israel would not allow its security zone across the Gaza border to be bypassed.

Katz spoke after the IDF located four kites over the weekend that crossed the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Terrorist groups in Gaza have in the past used kites to fly incendiary devices and bombs into Israel.

Israel and Syria held high-level talks in Jordan on Sunday in order to ease regional tensions following Israeli strikes on an airbase in northwestern Syria last week, Reuters reported, citing Syria’s state news agency SANA.

“A high-level Syrian delegation headed by the foreign minister and including the general and military intelligence chiefs” met an Israeli delegation “under American mediation and hosted by Jordan,” SANA quoted a diplomatic source at the foreign ministry in Damascus as saying.

The Israeli delegation was led by Mossad chief Roman Gofman, two diplomatic sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

The discussions included a proposal to establish “a special operations room” in Jordan under U.S. supervision as a communication channel to prevent confrontations in Syria, with Turkey also participating, the sources said.

The meeting also aimed to revive negotiations over a security agreement between Jerusalem and Damascus, SANA reported.

On the night of Aug. 17-18, Israel attacked the Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in Idlib, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying on Sunday that the IDF had recommended carrying out the operation based on intelligence linked to Turkish deployment to the base.

The Israeli Air Force dropped at least eight bombs on runways and hangars at the airbase, Axios reported on Sunday.

Turkey was planning to deploy drones and a radar system in Abu al-Duhur, and preparations for their deployment were underway, the report read.

Damascus denied plans for a permanent Turkish presence at the airbase.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told Axios that Turkish military officers visited the base several days before the Israeli strike, but that their visit was part of “ongoing military cooperation in the areas of training and the exchange of expertise.”

Syrian FM: ‘We do not trust Israel’

On Saturday, al-Shaibani told Reuters that he expected talks with Israel to restart soon, after contact was completely cut off following the airstrikes in Idlib.

He said that Damascus would hope to secure a security agreement with Jerusalem that includes Israel’s withdrawal from Syrian territory.

After the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024, the Israel Defense Forces took control of a narrow strip of land east of the Syrian border in the Golan Heights as a security measure against terrorist threats.

“We believe there should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the security of Syria. But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we don’t need it,” al-Shaibani said, adding, “We do not trust Israel currently.”

Al-Shaibani also related that earlier this year, the sides had “agreed on paper to almost everything” regarding a security deal that was tied to Israel’s withdrawal from territory seized after Assad fell.

Reuters reported that the deal would involve several security zones ⁠east of the Israeli-Syrian border, including a buffer zone where only the United Nations would be present and others zones where Syrian forces would be stationed in “varying degrees of force.”

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s international spokesman Doron Spielman said that Turkey now has a “substantial military presence” in roughly 5% of territories in northwestern Syria.

Israel’s position is very clear, he continued: “We will not allow Turkey to entrench itself in Syria and to be moving steadily south toward Israel’s border.”

Turkey moved to expand its military presence in Syria toward Israel’s border. Israel detected the threat and acted before it escalated.

See the map. See what happened. pic.twitter.com/Bm465pwwMH

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 21, 2026

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy toward kites and balloons launched from Gaza into communities in the Negev.

"If the launches continue—powerful actions will be taken to put an end to the phenomenon," Katz said. "A balloon and kite shall be treated the same as a drone—with or without explosives."

He said Israel would not allow its security zone inside the Gaza border to be bypassed.

Netanyahu and Katz warned Hamas on Sunday night that if kites launched from Gaza did not stop immediately, the IDF would increase targeted strikes against those responsible and evacuate residents from areas used as launch sites.

The IDF found four kites over the weekend that crossed into Israeli territory. "No suspicious items were found on the kites," the military said. Terrorist groups in Gaza have in the past used kites to fly incendiary devices and explosives into Israel.

The warning followed a situational assessment by Netanyahu and Katz, attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other top officials, on the threat posed by drones, incendiary balloons and kites launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Netanyahu stressed that Israel would not return to the situation that existed before Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel will not allow Hamas or any other entity in the Gaza Strip to threaten Israeli communities again, he said.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on Sunday walked back comments describing Israel’s control of the Golan Heights as an occupation, saying he had been referring to the territory’s historical status.

“United States policy on the Golan was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged,” Barrack said in a statement to The Associated Press. He said his remarks were “not an endorsement of the United Nations’ position” on the territory, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and extended sovereignty over in 1981.

Barrack had said on Friday that Israel “still occupies” the Golan Heights, prompting Defense Minister Israel Katz to note he was contradicting the U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty there.

Katz said that Barrack's remarks were “riddled with inaccuracies and positions that contradict those of U.S. President Trump himself regarding the status of the Golan Heights.”

Barrack’s comments also drew backlash in Washington. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) wrote on X that the ambassador appeared to have “forgotten” Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory.

On March 25, 2019, Trump signed Proclamation 9852 recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau. On Aug. 10, 2026, Colombia's Foreign Ministry announced Bogota's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming the second country to officially endorse Jerusalem's claim to the territory.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday night that the Trump administration’s “economic D-Day” against Iran would begin at dawn, aimed at severing “every economic lifeline” sustaining the Islamic Republic.

Bessent described the campaign, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump last week, as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,” saying the president had created the conditions to use every available federal agency and authority against Tehran. He also said that U.S. military action had destroyed nearly all of Iran’s military factories and buried its nuclear program.

The administration is expected to unveil new sanctions targeting Iran’s remaining sources of foreign trade, including countries that continue doing business with Tehran. Iran has warned countries against joining the U.S. campaign and threatened to further restrict oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump has dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program.

We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against…

— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) August 23, 2026

Iran warned on Saturday that countries joining the US economic campaign against Tehran will be treated as enemies.

“We declare to all countries ... do not join the economic war waged by the United States. Any country participating in the imposition of economic restrictions against us is considered an enemy,” Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told state television.

Trump on Sunday posted a graphic labeling the Strait of Hormuz “New U.S. Territory,” five days after posting the same image on Truth Social.

Trump previously said the United States had “total control” over the strategic waterway and suggested he would declare it U.S. territory after defeating Iran.

Iran is fighting a “full-scale economic, military and security war,” but remains steadfast in its defiance, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday.

Speaking at a ceremony pledging loyalty to the ideals of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Pezeshkian said, “The enemies imagined that with their pressure and actions Iran would collapse. Not only did this not happen, but the power and unity of the Iranian nation amazed the world,” according to the government-sponsored Mehr News Agency.

On Aug. 19, Trump announced the coming “economic D-Day” campaign.

The Iranian “navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless and their country is hanging by a thread,” he wrote on Truth Social.

No one has given the Iranian regime a better chance to make a deal than he, Trump wrote.

“Tragically, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country,” he continued.

The president threatened “tremendous economic consequences” for any country that lets its “financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran.

“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies—it all needs to stop now,” he stated. “You know who you are. This will be an economic D-Day.”

He called on all U.S. allies to “isolate and defeat the Iran threat.

“These maniacs are on the ropes,” he said. “These historic measures will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey on Sunday walked back his comments from two days ago that Israel "still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions, remarks that went against U.S. President Donald Trump 's position on the disputed territory.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. The United Nations and most of the international community consider the territory occupied Syrian land and do not recognize Israel’s annexation of it.

In 2019, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of U.S. policy.

Ambassador Tom Barrack on Friday said that Israel “still” occupies the territory in an interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal.

Barrack now says that was a description of the territory’s historical status, “not an endorsement of the United Nations’ position” on the Golan.

"United States policy on the Golan was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press on Sunday.

He said he intended to explain why he does not anticipate annexation in Lebanon, where Israeli forces are occupying parts of the south after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, and to argue that negotiated agreements, rather than territorial maps, are more durable and that he had cited the Golan as an example that “territory taken by force remains contested for generations.”

In the Friday interview, Barrack had also criticized Israel’s strikes on an airbase in northern Syria earlier last week. Israeli officials said the strikes intended to prevent Turkey from establishing a presence at the base.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz defended the strikes, saying on X on Sunday that critics who initially called it “unnecessary and politically motivated” changed their position after the government said they were based on “clear intelligence” and at the recommendation of the Israeli army. He added that Israel would not allow Turkey “to establish itself in Syria and threaten Israeli security.”

The strikes last Tuesday have highlighted growing tensions between Israel and Turkey over Ankara’s increased influence in Syria following the fall of Bashar Assad. Turkey and Syria have denied that Turkish forces were due to be deployed at the Abu Duhur base.

Barrack’s comments on the Golan also sparked a backlash in Washington.

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott wrote on X that the ambassador appears to have “forgotten” Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory.

Barrack went further on the defensive on Sunday, responding to criticism of his assessment of ongoing negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over Israeli withdrawal and the disarmament of the group.

He had said “there are two people missing from that (negotiating) table – Hezbollah and Iran.” That remark prompted speculation Barrack meant Tehran and Hezbollah should join the U.S.-backed negotiations.

On Sunday, Barrack stressed that the U.S. does not negotiate with Hezbollah, but said he was pointing out that “the weapons in question are supplied and financed by Iran," which complicates negotiations over their fate.

“I was describing the difficulty of the problem, not proposing a new table,” Barrack told the AP. “Hezbollah is a designated foreign terrorist organization. We do not negotiate with it, and nothing I said suggests otherwise.”

He also defended his remarks questioning who would replace Tehran’s financial support for Shiite communities in southern Lebanon, saying that raising those questions was “not conferring standing on anyone.”

Israel has denied entry to two European Parliament members from Sweden’s Left Party, Jonas Sjöstedt and Hanna Gedin, who had requested to visit the Palestinian Authority. The two were scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday night.

The decision was made at the request of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, in accordance with the Entry into Israel Law.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Sjöstedt and Gedin have consistently acted against Israel in recent years, including by calling for international legal proceedings against Israelis. On various occasions, they have accused Israel of genocide, deliberately starving Palestinians and intentionally targeting children and medical personnel.

In June, Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli said that he had recommended barring American anti-Zionist activist Linda Sarsour from entering the country.

Sarsour had been planning to visit Israel the following month, the ministry said in a press release, adding that the Immigration and Population Authority had accepted the recommendation and blocked her entry.

“We continue to uncompromisingly implement the policy I have set out at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism: Anyone who incites and supports boycotts against the State of Israel will bear the consequences and be boycotted themselves,” said Chikli.

The same month, Israel barred French journalist Alice Froussard from entering the country.

“I am pleased to announce that at this very moment, Alice Froussard, a French journalist who supports Hamas, and who claims that the October 7 massacre must be viewed ‘in context,’ is making her way from Ben Gurion Airport back to Paris,” Chikli wrote in an X post. “Like Linda Sarsour before her, she too has learned that the State of Israel has run out of patience for Hamas supporters and for those who support sanctions and boycotts against it.”

In May, Israel banned 40 activists affiliated with the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor organization from entering the country, citing ties between the group’s leadership and Hamas terrorists.

Former U.S. intelligence analyst and convicted spy Jonathan Pollard announced on Sunday that he is entering Israeli politics.

Appearing with former deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel at the Western Wall, Pollard said he would run for the Knesset on the slate of the newly formed Israel First Party founded by Haskel.

The 72-year-old Pollard said the failures surrounding Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack had convinced him that Israel has been “abandoned and betrayed” by its leadership.

“With you, I hope there will be a new government dedicated to protecting the land and the people of Israel,” said Pollard.

After Oct. 7, 2023, “no one wanted to take responsibility,” he said.

He also praised Haskel for her past efforts on his behalf, saying she had worked quietly and effectively without seeking credit.

“The only way to prevent another Oct. 7 is to put people like you in positions of responsibility,” he said.

Haskel welcomed Pollard’s decision to join her political platform, saying his support was both a privilege and a responsibility.

Pollard, an American-born Jew, was arrested by the FBI in 1985 while working as a civilian U.S. Navy intelligence analyst in Washington. He pleaded guilty to providing classified information to Israel and was sentenced to life in prison in 1987.

He was released on parole in 2015 and moved to Israel in 2020 after restrictions on his movement expired.

The Canadian-born Haskel is a former Likud lawmaker who later joined Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party. Haskel broke with Sa’ar in July 2026 after he backed legislation shielding Haredi draft refusers from arrest, which she said undermined national security and her principles.

Israel's general election is set for Oct. 27, 2026.

Countries joining the US economic campaign against Tehran will be treated as enemies, Iran warned on Saturday.

"We declare to all countries ... do not join the economic war waged by the United States. Any country participating in the imposition of economic restrictions against us is considered an enemy," Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television.

The warning came after President Donald Trump threatened economic penalties against countries that support or do business with Iran, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stating that Washington was preparing the "toughest sanctions in history" on Tehran.

The warning also came as Iran's confrontation with Western governments played out in cyberspace, with a report indicating that Iran-linked hackers had disrupted a British power facility.

The small power plant was taken offline for four days in July in what is believed to be the first cyberattack to shut down a U.K. power-generation facility, The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday.

The British government confirmed that a cyber incident had affected a small-scale energy generator but did not publicly link it to Iran. Officials said the facility was not considered critical infrastructure and that the attack posed no risk to Britain's wider energy system.

The incident came as suspected Iranian hackers stepped up attacks on Western infrastructure, including a series of breaches targeting wastewater systems across 12 U.S. states last month.

Tensions also remained centered on the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump on Sunday posted a graphic labeling the Strait of Hormuz "New U.S. Territory," five days after posting the same image on Truth Social.

Trump previously said the United States had "total control" over the strategic waterway and suggested he would declare it U.S. territory after defeating Iran.

Iran is fighting a "full-scale economic, military and security war," but remains steadfast in its defiance, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday.

Speaking at a ceremony pledging loyalty to the ideals of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Pezeshkian said, "The enemies imagined that with their pressure and actions Iran would collapse. Not only did this not happen, but the power and unity of the Iranian nation amazed the world," according to the government-sponsored Mehr News Agency.

He went on to acknowledge hardships, saying that Tehran was "ashamed" by the existing problems, but added that the Iranian people will pass through these crises "with strength."

American actor and producer Mark Rufallo has become entangled in an escalating antisemitism row with Paramount Pictures, with support for Israel taking center stage.

The public feud began after the 58-year-old Oscar-nominated actor posted on Instagram Friday that Larry Ellison is using the American technology company Oracle, which he co-founded, to fund his son David Ellison's acquisition of Warner Bros, linking Oracle's military technology contracts with Israel.

Rufallo, who has been a strong opponent of Paramount’s pending takeover of Warner Bros., as well as of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres, shared a years-old video clip of an Oracle executive discussing technology provided to the Israeli military.

“These ‘really profoundly scary technologies’ will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you,” the "Hulk" actor wrote. “Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”

Paramount blasted the actor’s usage of the words “genocide” and “apartheid” in connection with the business transaction as peddling in antisemitism, and said that it does not tolerate prejudice of any kind.

“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” Paramount said in a statement. “Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong—they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe.”

An unapologetic Rufallo rejected the accusation of antisemitism as “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”

“Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing the Jewish people,” he tweeted on X. “This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel.”

As the fracas escalated, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center backed Paramount, commending it for “drawing a line” when legitimate debate gives way to antisemitism.

“At a time when antisemitism is too often minimized, rationalized or repackaged in more socially acceptable language, this kind of moral clarity matters,” Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote on X.  “Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization.”

Damascus expects negotiations with Jerusalem to resume soon, in the hope of securing a security agreement that includes Israel’s withdrawal from Syrian territory, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in an interview with Reuters on Saturday.

After the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024, the Israel Defense Forces gained control over a narrow strip of land east of the Syrian border in the Golan Heights as a security measure against terrorist threats.

Syria’s top diplomat said that talks over a security arrangement were halted when the war with Iran broke out on Feb. 28, and that contact with Jerusalem was cut off after the strikes on an airbase in Idlib in northwestern Syria last week.

He urged Israel to seize a “historic opportunity” while diplomacy remains open.

“We believe there should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the security of Syria. But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we don’t need it,” al-Shaibani said, adding, “We do not trust Israel currently.”

While Syria respected Israel’s security concerns, he continued, Israel must respect those of Syria, including Israel’s use of its airspace, Israeli raids and arrests in the south.

Al-Shaibani also related that earlier this year, the sides had “agreed on paper to almost everything” regarding a security deal that was tied to Israel’s withdrawal from territory seized after Assad fell.

Reuters reported that the deal would involve several security zones ⁠east of the Israeli-Syrian border, including a buffer zone where only the United Nations would be present and others zones where Syrian forces would be stationed in “varying degrees of force.”

Katz: Tom Barrack’s remarks contradict Trump’s positions

Meanwhile on Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz defended Israel’s airstrike in Syria, saying the IDF had recommended carrying out the operation based on intelligence and that the political leadership approved it after careful consideration.

Katz also defended his and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warnings to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying, “We will not allow Turkey to establish itself in Syria and endanger Israel’s security.”

He criticized opposition figures and commentators who questioned the strike and the government’s approach toward Ankara, saying it was “fortunate that they don’t influence anything these days.”

On Saturday, Katz disclosed that Israel issued a warning to Damascus before the strike on the airbase.

“After several discussions that the prime minister and I held with the IDF and the various security agencies, it was agreed that, before authorization was granted, a direct warning would be conveyed to the Syrian regime at the highest levels in an attempt to prevent the move—and that is indeed what was done,” the minister said in a Hebrew language statement.

“At the same time, the intelligence was passed on to the relevant authorities in the United States,” he shared.

He also criticized U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Presidential Envoy for Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack over recent remarks “riddled with inaccuracies and positions that contradict those of U.S. President Trump himself regarding the status of the Golan Heights.”

On Friday night, Barrack told independent reporter Mario Nawfal that Israel occupies the Golan Heights “against the U.N. resolutions, against all of the international order, which has said the Golan [belongs to] Syria.”

During President Donald Trump’s first term, he signed a proclamation on March 25, 2019, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Tensions between Ankara and Jerusalem over Syria have been mounting ever since Assad’s removal from power.

Turkey’s Justice Minister Akin Gürlek on Friday announced on X the issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, as part of a supposed investigation into Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound protest flotilla in spring 2026.

In response, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem lambasted Ankara, saying that Israel “has long ceased to be impressed by Turkey’s hypocrisy.”

Erdoğan “is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him,” the PMO said in a separate statement in English.

“He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it,” the statement read.

The Prime Minister's Office:

Erdoğan is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him. He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria.…

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 21, 2026

Turkey building ‘substantial military presence’ in Syria

Also on Friday, Netanyahu’s international spokesman Doron Spielman laid out in a video message the reasons for the increased tensions of late between Jerusalem and Ankara.

Presenting a map of Syria, Spielman said that Israel has deployed troops in “one-10th of 1%” of Syrian territory adjacent to the Golan Heights border in order to protect Israeli residents from threats posed by terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and ISIS following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.

By contrast, Turkey now has a “substantial military presence” in roughly 5% of territories in northwestern Syria, the spokesman said.

Israel’s position is very clear, he continued: “We will not allow Turkey to entrench itself in Syria and to be moving steadily south toward Israel’s border.”

Turkey moved to expand its military presence in Syria toward Israel’s border. Israel detected the threat and acted before it escalated.

See the map. See what happened. pic.twitter.com/Bm465pwwMH

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 21, 2026

A 24-year-old Israeli man was moderately wounded on Sunday in a stabbing near the village of Al-Auja in the Jordan Valley, according to the Israel Defense Forces and emergency responders.

Magen David Adom paramedics and IDF personnel treated the victim at the scene for a penetrating injury before evacuating him to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Israeli security forces launched a pursuit of the terrorist, the IDF said, setting up road blockades and conducting searches across the surrounding area.

The military said it remained in close contact with local residents and security officials throughout the ongoing operation.

This is a developing story

Canada's organized Jewish community is calling on the Montreal City Council to reject an "incendiary" anti-Israel motion set to be debated on Monday.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs accused Projet Montréal, the city's official opposition party, of "importing a foreign conflict" to City Hall "while local emergencies pile up," including homelessness, drugs and housing. CIJA said the motion does not refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Introduced by Projet Montréal city councilors Nathalie Goulet, Ericka Alneus and Alex Norris, the proposal calls on Montreal to recognize and denounce what it describes as an "apartheid regime" and "genocide" in "Palestine." It also calls on the city to suspend institutional ties with Israel's current government, its institutions and municipalities until Israel "returns to internationally recognized borders" and ends what the motion describes as violations of Palestinian rights and international law.

The motion, action on which was postponed after being introduced in June, reaffirms opposition to antisemitism and Islamophobia. It also says Jewish residents and those of Israeli origin should not be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.

CIJA and Federation CJA, its Quebec partner, shared a video of Raquel Look, whose son Alexandre was killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack at the Supernova music festival in southern Israel. In the video, she urges city councilors to reject the motion.

"This motion seeks to divide our city," Look said, adding that violence and hate-motivated acts targeting Jews have risen in Montreal since Oct. 7. She cited statistics showing that Canada's Jewish community experiences a disproportionate number of hate crimes.

"I am begging you," Look said. "Do not let the intolerance that tore my son away from me take root and destroy our city."

"Do not let the intolerance that tore my son away from me destroy our city."

Listen to the heartfelt plea from Raquel Look, mother of Alexandre, a Montrealer murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, at the Nova Festival.

While local emergencies pile up (homelessness,… https://t.co/zN8RrYz0ux pic.twitter.com/b1zWxjiuYN

— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) August 21, 2026

As long as he is prime minister, a Palestinian state run by Iran will not be established, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday, adding that such a state would be the result if a narrow left-wing coalition forms Israel’s next government following the Oct. 27 election.

“The price of a left-wing coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood has been exposed once again,” Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew.

He was referring to an address delivered by the United Arab List (Ra’am) Party leader Mansour Abbas on Saturday evening in which he called on Israel to recognize a Palestinian state, which was already “a reality.”

“All of the world will acknowledge it—after the United States and Israel fulfill their duty and recognize it [too],” he continued at his party’s convention in the city of Tayibe.

Abbas emphasized, “We want the peace between the State of Israel and a Palestinian state to materialize. We recognize a Palestinian state.”

In his X post, Netanyahu charged opposition leaders Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar), Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Hili Tropper (Zionist Home—The Reservists) of wanting to partner with Abbas’s party while boycotting the Likud Party’s voters.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Otzma Yehudit Party, also reacted to Abbas’s speech, referring to him as “the friend” of former IDF chief Eisenkot and former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. (The latter two head the Yahad Party.)

Abbas’s plan for the next government is “to establish a state of terror and restore all the conditions I canceled for his friends in the prisons,” Ben-Gvir continued in a Hebrew language tweet.

During his tenure, the national security minister has advanced a reform that toughened conditions for Palestinian terrorists incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

According to recent polls, the opposition would need to include at least one Arab party to have enough Knesset seats to form a governing coalition. The other Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al and Balad, refuse to be part of a Zionist governing coalition, which leaves Ra’am as the only alternative.

Ra’am has expressed readiness to become part of an Israeli government, having already participated in the Bennett-Lapid government (June 2021-December 2022).

In 2024, a Ra’am-linked charity, Aid 48, was caught sending large sums to Hamas.

Abbas has attempted to broaden his party’s appeal. He announced in December 2025 that he would split from the party's Shura Council, a body associated with the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which guided the party and ultimately made its decisions.

Abbas’s move followed an announcement by Netanyahu a month earlier that he intended to ban the Muslim Brotherhood. His declaration followed a similar announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In 2009 and 2019, the Knesset Central Elections Committee banned Ra’am from running due to its extremism, only to have its ruling reversed by the Israeli Supreme Court.

The Israel Defense Forces located four kites over the weekend that crossed the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

One of the kites was identified on Friday in the area of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, adjacent to the northern Gaza Strip. The other three were found the following morning, the IDF said.

“No suspicious items were found on the kites,” the military noted, adding that at no stage did they pose a danger to the public.

Terrorists in Gaza have used incendiary kites in the past to start fires in the northwestern Negev, resulting in severe property and ecological damage.

Uri Epstein, head of Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council—whose jurisdiction borders the northeastern Gaza Strip—was quoted by Israeli Channel 12 broadcaster correspondent Almog Boker as saying, “We demand that the IDF act against every kite that crosses into Israeli territory, locate it and deal with it in real time. Not after it lands. Not after the fact. In real time.”

Palestinians in Gaza began airborne arson attacks on Israel in 2018 that coincided with riots on the border.

Incendiary balloons carrying pre-lit Molotov cocktails were launched as well. These reached longer distances than kites. In one incident in July 2018, a cluster of four balloons was detected in Beersheva, a city located some 40 miles away from Gaza.

By August 2018, the fires set ablaze by the incendiary objects destroyed more than 7,500 acres of agricultural and nature reserve land, and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of bees, along with their honey-producing hives—amounting to millions of shekels in damage.

The arson attacks continued as late as 2021.

The attacks coincided with “Great March of Return” protests, a series of Palestinian riots held along the Gaza border almost every Friday in 2018 and 2019.

Various analyses have assessed that these riots were at least partly conducted to test the readiness of the IDF to respond to border encroachments, as well as to lower the alert level of Israel’s defense establishment against the threat posed by Gaza.

Israel “has long ceased to be impressed by Turkey’s hypocrisy,” the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said on Friday, hours after Ankara issued another arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him,” the PMO said in a separate statement in English.

“He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it,” the statement read.

“Erdoğan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere,” it added.

The Prime Minister's Office:

Erdoğan is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him. He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria.…

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 21, 2026

In the Hebrew statement, the PMO stressed that Israel will continue to “act forcefully” against Turkey’s attempts to undermine stability in the region.

Earlier on Friday, Turkey’s Justice Minister Akin Gürlek announced on X the issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, as part of a supposed investigation into Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound protest flotilla in spring 2026.

Ankara issued its first arrest warrants on July 14 for Israel’s prime minister and another person identified as “Afek Moskovitch”—whose title was not clarified by Turkish authorities—over allegations of genocide in Gaza.

AFP cited Turkish İhlas News Agency at the time as saying that Moskovitch is an Israel Defense Forces soldier who posted footage of himself on Instagram destroying property in Gaza.

Netanyahu, Moskovitch, and 33 other Israelis were mentioned by Gürlek on Friday in connection with the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla that sought to breach the blockade of Gaza, which aims to prevent the Hamas terrorist organization from acquiring arms to boost its power.

Gürlek wrote on X that Ankara “categorically reject[s]” the notion that Netanyahu’s government is “untouchable and unaccountable.”

Gazze’ye insani yardım ulaştırmak amacıyla yola çıkan Küresel Sumud Filosu aktivistlerine uluslararası sularda gerçekleştirilen saldırıya ilişkin yargı süreci kararlılıkla devam etmektedir. İstanbul 11. Ağır Ceza Mahkemesinin 2026/108 Esas sayılı dosyasında, aralarında Binyamin…

— Akın Gürlek (@abakingurlek) August 21, 2026

Following Netanyahu’s office’s statement, the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications lashed out at the “outrageous ravings” of the Israeli PMO, saying that they are “devoid of historical fact and political seriousness.”

Jerusalem’s attempt to portray Turkey as a threat is part of a “cheap political strategy” and poses “serious risks” not only to Israeli society, “but also to regional and global peace and stability,” the Directorate of Communications said.

Turkey building ‘substantial military presence’ in Syria

Also on Friday, Netanyahu’s international spokesman Doron Spielman laid out in a recorded message the reasons for the increased tensions of late between Jerusalem and Ankara over Syria.

Presenting a map of Syria, Spielman said that Israel has deployed troops in “one-10th of 1%” of Syrian territory adjacent to the Golan Heights border in order to protect Israeli residents from threats posed by terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and ISIS following the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in December 2024.

By contrast, Turkey now has a “substantial military presence” in roughly 5% of territories in northwestern Syria, the spokesman said.

Israel’s position is very clear, he continued.

“We will not allow Turkey to entrench itself in Syria and to be moving steadily south toward Israel’s border.”

Turkey moved to expand its military presence in Syria toward Israel’s border. Israel detected the threat and acted before it escalated.

See the map. See what happened. pic.twitter.com/Bm465pwwMH

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 21, 2026

Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Saturday that Israel carried out the overnight Monday (Aug. 10-11) airstrikes on the Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in Idlib in northwestern Syria as a counter measure against the deployment of Turkish forces in the area.

Erdoğan “was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and was forced to back down,” Katz said, pledging to act against any threat as the central lesson of the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

A Palm Beach County employee driving a county building-services truck allegedly shouted “Heil Hitler” at a Jewish driver and made a Nazi salute, according to the StopAntisemitism NGO.

The alleged incident prompted Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) to call the conduct “repulsive” and say it “isn’t welcome in Palm Beach County or anywhere.

“I’m sure Palm Beach County gov. is looking into this and if confirmed he will no longer be working there,” Moskowitz wrote on X.

StopAntisemitism called for an immediate investigation and accountability over the alleged encounter.

The allegation has not yet been independently confirmed, and additional details about the alleged encounter, including the identities of those involved, were not immediately available.

The incident comes amid continued concerns over antisemitic incidents and rhetoric targeting Jewish communities in South Florida.

Palm Beach County officials had not immediately responded to a request for comment.

The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday killed a company commander in the Deir al-Balah Battalion in Hamas’s "military" wing in the central Gaza Strip.

Throughout the war, he took part in efforts to restore Hamas’s underground infrastructure, and recently, he advanced terrorist attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, the IDF said.

Identified as Sharif al-Hasanat, he was killed while posing an “immediate threat” to the troops.

On Friday, the IDF killed a terrorist in Gaza and detained another in two separate incidents, the military said.

In southern Gaza, a terrorist crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to troops positioned in the area, the IDF said. “The troops fired and neutralized the terrorist in order to remove the threat,” it added.

Earlier in the day, troops operating in the central Gaza Strip identified a Hamas terrorist armed with a knife.

After he crossed the Yellow Line, the forces apprehended him and transferred him for questioning in Israel, the army said.

“IDF troops under the Southern Command remain deployed in the area in accordance with the [ceasefire] agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the military added.

In a separate statement, the IDF said that it had eliminated on Wednesday in Gaza a Hamas terrorist named Sabahi Sami Mahmoud Shahata who held numerous hostages following the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to the murdering of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping of 251 more into the Strip.

Sabahi, a platoon commander in Hamas’s "military" wing, also infiltrated Israel and participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, according to the IDF.

“In November 2023, as part of the hostage release agreement, Sabahi participated in the handover ‘ceremony’ of the returnees and their transfer to the Red Cross,” the military continued.

“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” the army said.

On Thursday, the IDF and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement that Hamas is using Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza Strip, to conduct security interrogations and torture as it seeks to maintain control over Gaza’s population.

The statement said Hamas is exploiting the hospital “as a center of power regardless of its medical function, for the purpose of interrogations, torture and extortion.”

Another building currently used for interrogations had previously housed hospital offices, a cafeteria and later a house of prayer, the statement added.

Katz: Israel maintaining tough policy on Gaza

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel’s policy for Gaza is to “remove threats, eliminate terrorists, and exact retribution from anyone who took part in the October 7 massacre.”

The IDF eliminated Hamas terrorists in Gaza earlier in the day and will “continue to act with force to protect our soldiers and ensure the peace for the southern communities—from within the security zone,” Katz added.

The IDF presently controls roughly half of the Gaza Strip, a territory referred to as the security zone.

On Monday, U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner said that progress toward Gaza’s demilitarization could begin within 30 days, following a nearly four-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Kushner told Fox News that Washington would not support rebuilding Gaza before demilitarization, adding that the administration had addressed Israeli concerns about the Board of Peace roadmap and clarified that Israel’s right to act against imminent threats would not be restricted.

“We could be seeing progress in as little 30 days, hopefully on starting to take some of the weapons out, and hopefully filling in some of the tunnels as well in the next 60 to 90 days,” Kushner said, adding that progress would require cooperation from both sides.

Netanyahu and representatives of the Board of Peace, the U.S.-backed transitional international body meant to oversee postwar Gaza and chaired by President Donald Trump, held “deep and constructive” discussions on Monday, according to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

The sides agreed to establish two working groups, including one focused on the disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza. It was also agreed that the process should be completed promptly before any reconstruction begins in the Strip, according to the PMO statement.

Israel issued a warning to Damascus before the Israel Defense Forces carried out an attack on an airbase near Aleppo in northwestern Syria this week, Defense Minister Israel Katz disclosed on Saturday.

“After several discussions that the prime minister and I held with the IDF and the various security agencies, it was agreed that, before authorization was granted, a direct warning would be conveyed to the Syrian regime at the highest levels in an attempt to prevent the move—and that is indeed what was done,” the minister said in a Hebrew language statement.

“At the same time, the intelligence was passed on to the relevant authorities in the United States,” he shared.

Katz added that the Israeli military “several times” recommended to attack the Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in Idlib in the wake of “clear intelligence” pointing to Ankara’s intent to carry out activities that would threaten Israel’s national security.

Since the warning went unheeded, he and PM Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the strike, which was “successfully conducted” overnight Monday (Aug. 10-11).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and was forced to back down,” Katz went on to say.

He pledged to act against any threat as the central lesson of the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The attack in southern Syria earlier in the day is a part of this policy as well, Katz noted, referring to the elimination of a terrorist who posed an immediate threat to Israeli troops deployed in the area, according to the IDF.

In addition, the defense minister condemned those in Israel’s opposition, including “parts of the media,” who attempted to frame the strikes on the airbase as “political spin.”

He also criticized U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Presidential Envoy for Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack over recent remarks “riddled with inaccuracies and positions that contradict those of U.S. President Trump himself regarding the status of the Golan Heights.”

On Friday night, Barrack told independent reporter Mario Nawfal that Israel occupies the Golan Heights “against the U.N. resolutions, against all of the international order, which has said the Golan [belongs to] Syria.”

U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack:

Israel still occupies the Golan against UN resolutions, against the entire international order, which has said the Golan is Syrian.

Source: @MarioNawfal pic.twitter.com/Kr5j9jcViM

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 21, 2026

During President Donald Trump’s first term, he signed a proclamation on March 25, 2019, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

In Barrack’s interview, he said that Washington examined Israel’s intelligence and rejected the conclusion that Turkey was moving military assets to the airbase in Idlib.

Israel’s relationship with Turkey has taken a nosedive in recent years following anti-Israel rhetoric and threats from Erdoğan and officials in his government.

The ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee called Israel’s decision not to pursue a criminal investigation of a 2024 Gaza strike that killed seven humanitarian workers “a miscarriage of justice.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said on Friday the move “exemplifies” that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has waged this war, causing maximum destruction in Gaza with minimal accountability.”

The Israel Defense Forces described the strike that hit a World Central Kitchen convoy as “a serious mistake and failure.”

An Israeli military examination of the incident “identified operational failures and took significant command and disciplinary measures,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, adding the decision not to pursue a criminal investigation “was made by Israel’s independent military prosecution authorities on the basis of strict professional and legal considerations.”

The legal threshold required for initiating a criminal investigation, which amounts to “reasonable suspicion for criminal misconduct,” was not met, the ministry said.

“Israel, which is deeply committed to international law, subjects its military operations to rigorous legal scrutiny, including standards that exceed those applied by many Western armed forces in recent conflicts,” the statement added.

DeLauro said, “Humanitarian aid workers must be certain of their safety in order to do their jobs and help alleviate this crisis, but Israel’s refusal to properly investigate this attack undermines that trust.”

In that context, DeLauro said Gaza “has only recently recovered from a state of famine.”

The claim of a famine having taken place in Gaza, largely drawn from projections from a United Nations-aligned food security agency that were never met, using methodology that strayed wildly from their standards, has been repeatedly debunked.

JNS asked DeLauro’s office how she thinks Israel can better ensure the safety of humanitarian workers, given the growing documentation, provided by Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups that many humanitarian and medical workers and journalists were actually operatives of those terrorist organizations.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has referred to the U.S. Department of Justice allegations of discriminatory religious facilities at Dallas-Fort Worth International and George Bush Intercontinental Airports.

The announcement from the Republican’s office came on Friday. A week earlier, Abbott said he was ordering a review of state grants to the operators of the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-based airports in the wake of an abandoned proposal to install Islamic washing machines.

“These ablution stations single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion,” Abbott said in a statement on Friday. “They are not interfaith chapels open to all. They exist to benefit the Muslim population alone. Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others.”

The airports were reviewing proposals to install Islamic wudu washing facilities, leading to Abbott’s review. He noted in his referral on Friday that Dallas-Fort Worth already has two such facilities, despite having abandoned plans for another. George W. Bush Airport, meanwhile, “has already installed one such facility and an interconnecting prayer room furnished with ‘copies of the Quran, prayer rugs, prayer beads and a turbah,’” Abbott wrote.

Wudu is a ritual purification in Islam, performed to cleanse certain parts of the body before prayer or reading the Quran. Ablution stations, also known as wudu stations, are low-level basins with specialized faucets, foot-level spray nozzles and seats to facilitate washing of the hands, face, arms and feet.

In his letter to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, Abbott called on Justice to immediately review the airport facilities and take appropriate corrective action.

While both airports have said they don’t use federal tax dollars for airport operations, Abbott said that because “the airports receive federal funds, they are subject to numerous conditions attached to that funding—including the requirement to comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination and protecting the rights of all Americans.”

Abbott added that “Airports can no more offer Muslim-only bathroom spaces than they can maintain white-only bathrooms,” asking the Justice officials to "investigate and put a stop to these discriminatory practices.”

Almost a month after the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it would finish its review of how many people on its list of journalists killed in Gaza had ties to terrorist groups, an audit found that more than half of those currently listed have ties to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Friday.

The Free Beacon, citing an audit by the media watchdog HonestReporting, stated that at least 120 of the 209 names on the committee’s list had terror ties, and around 56 were “active, violent militants” when they were killed.

“CPJ’s database was one of the chief materials used by news outlets around the world to promulgate the narrative that the Israeli military was deliberately targeting journalists,” HonestReporting told the Free Beacon. “Evidence is increasingly indicating that terrorists were giving themselves press passes so that they could manipulate journalists into manufacturing outrage about the persecution of ostensible colleagues.

“Not only should CPJ apologize for laundering terrorist psychological warfare, news outlets should issue a sweeping wave of corrections and retractions,” the watchdog group said.

The committee told the Free Beacon that it could not comment on the audit while it was still reviewing the list.

A man who pleaded guilty to vandalizing cars with the words “Fuk Israel” did not commit an act of Jew-hatred, an Australian Supreme Court judge determined in a ruling publicly released on Monday.

The man, Mohommed Farhat, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison in November 2025, backdated to February of that year, for vandalizing cars and building walls in Woollahra, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, with the words “Fuk Israel,” “PKK” (a reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey), “PKK is coming” and a middle-finger followed by the word “Israel.” Farhat also set a vehicle ablaze, per the judge’s ruling.

The New South Wales government had requested a one-year extended supervision order for Farhat, arguing that he is a terror risk. Desmond Fagan, a judge on the New South Wales Supreme Court, stated in his ruling that “a curse in those terms is not antisemitic, either self-evidently or by any degree of analysis or construction.

“It is a crude political expression of contempt and dismissal of a foreign state,” he wrote.

Fagan denied the state’s request. The state is considering an appeal, according to the Guardian.

The Pentagon on Friday fired the editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes and a top reporter for insubordination after they spoke publicly against any interference by the Defense Department in the military news outlet that has a long history of editorial independence. It was the latest move by an administration that has grown increasingly aggressive toward the news media.

The newspaper’s publisher, who announced his impending retirement days ago, was also dismissed.

Erik Slavin, editor-in-chief of the military newspaper that is partly funded by the Pentagon, told The Associated Press he was dismissed for insubordination after an interview he gave that objected to potential censorship by the U.S. military. He received a notice of separation, as did publisher Max Lederer — who had just announced his upcoming retirement — and Middle East reporter Lara Korte, Slavin said.

The moves come at a time when the Trump administration, in its second term, has been progressively combative toward the media — including sharply curtailing Pentagon access for the press corps that covers the Defense Department. Trump or other parts of the executive branch have also, in policy and in the courts, grappled with The Wall Street Journal,The Associated Press and The New York Times — in addition to using the FCC to target broadcast networks.

Slavin said he was being fired “for stating in a CBS interview that hypothetical censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line.” Korte participated in the same interview.

“I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies,” Slavin said.

Media leaders are troubled

National Press Club President Mark Schoeff Jr. called the firing of Slavin “another brazen attempt by the Pentagon to dictate coverage of the military” and said it should be immediately reversed.

“Firing a newspaper editor after he publicly defended his newsroom’s editorial independence is deeply troubling, and it should concern every journalist and every member of the U.S. military who depends on independent reporting,” Schoeff said.

Neither Lederer nor Korte immediately responded to emailed requests for comment. Korte said on X: “Today, I was informed that the Department of Defense is firing me for insubordination after I told a CBS reporter that I work for Stars and Stripes — not the Pentagon, not the administration, and not any policy maker.”

Earlier this week, longtime publisher Lederer announced his retirement effective at the end of September. He made his announcement a few weeks after the Pentagon installed a new deputy publisher, an active duty service member, under him at the newspaper without his prior knowledge. Three Democratic senators on Thursday wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, asking why the new deputy — Navy Capt. William Urban — had been installed.

The retirement of Lederer, who had been at Stars and Stripes for three decades and publisher since 2007, comes as Hegseth’s Pentagon has moved to exert editorial control and eliminate what it asserts are “woke distractions.”

“Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Sean Parnell, Hegseth's spokesman, wrote in January on X. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”

In April, the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman for the newspaper, whose job had been to safeguard editorial independence.

Lederer, the second full-time civilian in the position, wrote in a staff memo this week that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”

Newly installed Pentagon leader outlines his plan

In a letter posted on Stars and Stripes, Urban wrote of his plans and said: “I understand that I am now part of a team, committed to editorially independent journalism that best serves our most important customer, which is our service members, their families, and our greater military community.”

“I am a media junkie who has served as a communication professional engaged in being a spokesman for some of the hardest Public Affairs assignments in the Navy and Department of War for more than 20 years,” he wrote.

It was unclear whether Urban, currently titled “military deputy to the publisher,” would now become head publisher. “I can’t comment on what my role will be in the future,” he told the AP.

In a telephone interview, Urban said Stars and Stripes has “a strong team of professional journalists that are focused on the mission of providing our military service members and their families the best possible product. That mission is going to continue. All of us in leadership will continue to advocate for … the best possible journalism going forward.”

He said he had no formal journalism experience but cited his years in public affairs and communications. He said he would be focused on expanding digital journalism at the paper, because the service members to which it caters are often young and are “digital natives.”

“I think we need to get better on the digital side,” he said, “to make sure that we are reaching as many service members as we possibly can and having the impact that we should be having.”

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Vice President JD Vance returned to his hometown on Friday to campaign for Republican candidates at the steel plant where his grandfather worked and portray the Democratic Party his Papaw once supported as unrecognizable today.

Vance has highlighted his Rust Belt roots while trying to boost GOP candidates ahead of the November midterm elections. He has focused on promoting the Trump administration’s economic policies and efforts to try to expand U.S. manufacturing.

As he took the stage at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works facility, known as Armco Steel when his grandfather James Vance worked there for nearly 40 years, he remarked on sharing the space where the man whose name he shared once stood.

“Papaw was a welder in this place for 40 years, and today his grandson stands here as the vice president of these United States. It’s an amazing thing,” Vance said.

The Middletown event comes as Vance is expected to ramp up his travel schedule with more public events and fundraisers, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Vance says Trump is trying to reverse decades of ‘American decline’

As they've campaigned this year, Vance, more than President Donald Trump, has acknowledged Americans' cost-of-living concerns, seeking to assure voters that the administration is working to reverse high prices, though he didn't offer specifics.

The vice president said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do” and “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or it’s all going to happen overnight,” but he said Trump was trying to reverse “40 years of American decline.” He pointed to Trump's immigration and trade policies, including his tariffs, as trying to protect jobs like those at the steel plant.

Trump's tariff policies, though, have contributed to the higher costs Americans are facing, as taxes on imports have raised the price of imported products as well as those made domestically, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

With an eye toward Ohio's competitive elections, Vance focused on portraying Democrats today as unrecognizable to the party his grandfather supported for its union associations, calling it the “party of graduate students.”

Vance said his grandfather also thought “way too many politicians were just plain old corrupt.”

“He hated the people who forgot about this town when they should have been fighting for this town,” Vance said.

Vance blamed politicians of both major political parties, saying that for 40 years they espoused policies of free trade and open immigration that led to factory jobs being shipped overseas and an eventual scourge of opioids left behind, which he blamed on “a lot of cartels” and “the fentanyl trade,” which he said came along with “some innocent people” across the border.

Vance has deep ties to the town and the steel plant

In his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance described the steel plant as an economic savior that brought his grandparents from Kentucky's hills into the American middle class. He described how his grandfather would boast upon seeing an old Ford or Chevy that its steel was made by his company.

His grandson's election as vice president of the United States spurred pride in the Midwestern city, though Vance has faced some pushback on his portrayal of it in the book. He said kids “derisively called it ‘Middletucky’” when he was a child because it had so many transplants like his family. He said they brought problems with them from Kentucky, such as drug addiction, “Mountain Dew mouth” and problematic fathers.

In the 2024 election, Trump and Vance won about 62% of the vote in the city's precincts. His mother, Beverly Aikins, and his sister still live in Middletown.

Before he arrived at the steel plant, he first stopped by a pastry shop to buy doughnuts and remind workers there of the “no tax on tips” provision in the tax and spending law Trump signed last year, according to a video posted online by an aide.

After the event, Vance visited a Cincinnati chili restaurant where he served beers and Cincinnati chili-topped dogs with cheese to people gathered inside.

“Nice pour, JD!” someone shouted. “I’ll take a beer back here,” called another.

Ohio has lost its political bellwether status and turned red during the Trump era, but Democrats see a chance to win both the governor’s office and a U.S. Senate seat from Republican hands this year as anti-Trump sentiment buoys their party.

Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to replace Vance in the Senate, is trying to hold on to his seat against a challenge from former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a longtime Ohio politician with a pro-working class message who lost his reelection bid to Republican Bernie Moreno two years ago.

Brown has capitalized on public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers in the campaign and aired ads calling Husted the “face of data centers in Ohio.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, warned in a memo this week that backlash to the centers has left Husted vulnerable.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Vance ally, is the party’s nominee for governor in a race against Democrat Amy Acton. Democrats have not won the Ohio governor’s office in two decades.

Husted and Ramaswamy both spoke before Vance on Friday, as did U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Vance, whose family still keeps a home in Cincinnati where they sometimes spend weekends, was making his first public visit since his fourth child was born in July.

As part of his plans for ramping up his travel schedule, his office announced a trip Monday to Brewer, Maine, where former Republican Gov. Paul LePage is running against Democrat Matt Dunlap, the state auditor, in a competitive House district.

Price reported from Washington.

On Tuesday, Key West, Fla., elected Samuel Kaufman as the city’s first Jewish mayor in its nearly-200-year history.

A lawyer currently serving as a city commissioner, Kaufman told JNS that he is proud to continue the long tradition of Jewish contributions to the island community.

“To carry that forward and to contribute in a positive way to the entire city as a Jewish person, given our values and given what it means to me to be a Jewish person, it’s an incredible honor and responsibility,” Kaufman said. “It gives me incredible pride to be that first Jewish mayor.”

The Key West mayoralty is officially non-partisan. Kaufman, a Democrat, won about 58% of the vote to defeat incumbent Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez, a Republican, who won 42% of the vote.

Kaufman, who was born in New York City but has spent the past 30 years of his professional life in Key West, said that he benefited from Republican crossover votes after three officials in the incumbent administration were charged with felonies for evidence tampering in 2025.

“We had a really huge corruption scandal,” Kaufman told JNS. “Our city attorney, our city building official and our city code enforcement director were all taken out in handcuffs.”

Key West is the largest city in the Florida Keys, with a permanent population of about 25,000 people, of whom about 1,000 are Jewish, according to Kaufman.

The city estimates that about 3 million tourists visit Key West each year, and managing that tourism flow was one of the key issues for locals in the mayoral campaign.

“We don’t want five cruise ships a day,” Kaufman said. “We can’t accommodate that. We don’t have the infrastructure for that."

“We like one cruise ship a day, on my side of the political scale,” he told JNS. “Others may want three or four ships a day.”

Kaufman described Key West as a “liberal blue” in the middle of the more conservative Monroe County, but one whose connections with the Jewish community, including a significant number of Israelis, means that it hasn’t experienced as much of the anti-Israel sentiment present in some progressive bastions.

“You won’t see Palestinian flags ever in the city,” Kaufman told JNS. “The same week as Oct. 7, I sponsored a resolution, and it was unanimously approved by our city commission, condemning the terrorist attack and supporting the State of Israel.”

“As a result of that we’re probably the only city in the state and in the country that raised the Israeli flag on our City Hall, next to our state flag, next to the American flag,” he said. “It stayed there for four months.”

Kaufman described himself as a “somewhat observant” Jew, who prays at the local Chabad. After his victory, he looks forward to celebrating the High Holidays, he told JNS.

“It’s going to be a bigger party than ever,” he said. “People should feel excited about going to such a special place like Key West.”

“We’re an inclusive place that will even elect a Jewish mayor,” Kaufman said.

A new study of online antisemitism found that coded language originating on fringe forums is migrating into mainstream online discourse, where its original meaning can become less apparent to outsiders while remaining recognizable to extremists.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue analyzed roughly 305,000 posts classified as antisemitic, collected between September 2025 and March 2026 from more than 15 platforms and forums, including 4chan, X, YouTube, Reddit, Telegram, Tumblr and Bluesky. Researchers used roughly 1,000 keywords to identify potential posts before classifying them with a language model grounded in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

The report, published on Aug. 20, examines what ISD calls “lexical laundering,” defined as the process by which extremist vocabulary moves from fringe spaces into mainstream discourse while retaining its original in-group meaning and becoming more “deniable” to outsiders.

Of the 47,119 posts classified as antisemitic hate speech directed at other users, roughly 51% originated on 4chan. ISD cautioned that the figure understates the platform’s role because its data was downsampled to 20% to comply with export limits. Corrected for the downsampling, 4chan accounted for roughly 84% of such posts, according to the report.

One example is “goyslop,” a term that emerged from a conspiracy theory claiming that Jewish elites deliberately promote unhealthy processed food to weaken non-Jews. The term later spread into health and wellness communities on X, Reddit, YouTube and Bluesky. One creator used it in 37 videos over six months, including a post that received 205,000 engagements.

"It works, in part, because the words are Trojan horses. Slang does not receive the same scrutiny as an argument, so an obscure shell (for example, goy, the Hebrew and Yiddish word for a non-Jew) can seem like harmless internet slang," the report states. "Thus, it gets waved through, ideology and all."

Another example is “gorillion,” a Holocaust-denial term that "mocks the six million Jews murdered by Nazis, substituting an absurd, invented figure ('six gorillion') to frame the death toll as fabricated." ISD found that its use surged on X beginning in October 2023 as the war in Gaza unfolded, even as use on 4chan remained relatively flat.

"Gorillion's antisemitic meaning is recognizable only to those familiar with the reference—especially when used without the 'six' prefix," the report states. "It’s this obscurity to outsiders that provides the deniability more explicit slurs lack."

ISD said the findings pose a challenge for online platforms that rely on lists of banned words or other forms of automated detection. Instead, it recommended monitoring how terms move from fringe forums to higher-reach platforms, tracking accounts that carry vocabulary between online communities and watching for sudden spikes in mainstream use of previously obscure terms.

"The next goyslop has likely already been coined," the report states. "The open question is whether anyone is tracking its migration before it arrives."

When StopAntisemitism asked three social media companies to remove antisemitic content in the last year, it found that TikTok had the best record of the trio, followed by Instagram, then X, according to a report that the nonprofit shared exclusively with JNS.

“We’ve seen time and again how hatred that starts online doesn’t stay online. It emboldens people, it normalizes antisemitism, and ultimately we see the consequences in the real world,” Liora Rez, president and CEO of StopAntisemitism, told JNS. “Yet there is very little accountability for the platforms where this hatred spreads.”

“We wanted to put the data on paper and show exactly what happens when antisemitic content is reported, who takes action, who doesn’t and where these companies need to do better,” she told JNS.

The nonprofit chose those three, since they are the “most influential platforms for the type of content we were examining and gave us a strong foundation for comparing enforcement practices,” Rez said.

StopAntisemitism said it submitted weekly reports to TikTok, Meta (which owns Instagram), and X from July 2025 to July 2026, with an average of five examples from an account on each platform that appeared to violate its policies.

The nonprofit identified offenders based upon what it said was “repeated or egregious examples of content that appeared to violate one or more platform policies.” It reported both accounts with large and small followings, and some of the accounts glorified terrorism against Jews and Israelis, it said.

“One of the most disturbing findings was how much reach these accounts were able to maintain despite repeatedly posting antisemitic content,” Rez told JNS. “When a platform removes one hateful post but allows a repeat offender with an audience of hundreds of thousands to remain, the problem hasn’t been addressed.”

StopAntisemitism reported 49 accounts and 324 posts to TikTok. TikTok removed 24 accounts (49%) and took action against 156 posts (48%).

TikTok also “removed certain antisemitic sounds and audio used to amplify hateful content, illustrating a broader approach to enforcement than simply removing individual videos,” per the report.

The nonprofit defined “content action” as posts being “removed, restricted, de-monetized or otherwise actioned while the account remained active,” and it said it meant “permanently suspended or removed” accounts when it referred to removal.

The report noted that during the studied time span, TikTok created a role of public policy manager for hate speech. StopAntisemitism said that there was a “measurable improvement in TikTokʼs enforcement of its community guidelines following the establishment of this role.”

It also found that more TikTok users began using “deliberately altered spellings, euphemisms or coded references” to circumvent the platform’s content moderation policies.

StopAntisemitism reported 36 accounts and 175 posts to Instagram, and Meta removed 12 accounts (33%) and acted on 70 posts (40%), according to the report.

“Rather than removing repeat offenders outright, Meta more often removed individual posts, reels or stories while allowing the account to remain active,” the report stated. “This approach reduced the visibility of violating content but frequently allowed repeat offenders to continue posting similar material after enforcement actions.”

“Compared to TikTok, Meta appeared to prioritize enforcement against content promoting or glorifying designated terrorist organizations and violence over antisemitic hate speech,” the report stated.

Stop Antisemitism reported the same user on both TikTok and Instagram for content stating that the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel were an “inside job” and used the wordplay “Jewicial system.”

TikTok permanently banned the user, and Instagram took action against multiple pieces of content from the user but left the user’s account intact, StopAntisemitism said.

Of 41 accounts that StopAntisemitism reported to X, the platform removed five (12%), and it took action against 46 (17.5%) of the 263 posts that the nonprofit reported.

“In many cases, reported content was determined to be ‘political speech’ or otherwise non-violative, even when reports documented repeated examples of antisemitic rhetoric, praise for terrorist organizations or calls supporting extremist groups,” the report stated.

“While X did remove individual posts and suspend a limited number of accounts, account-level enforcement occurred far less frequently than on TikTok or Meta,” it said.

Among the posts that X considered to be “political speech or commentary” were those that stated, in part, “strength to Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah and any other H boys that fight Zionists” and “you start by noticing Jews, you end by hating what theyʼve done to every civilization,” per the report.

There were also many instances of banned accounts on the platforms returning under new names. The report called on the platforms to improve their means of detecting ban evasion.

StopAntisemitism also said that social media platforms should add more experts to their content moderation teams so that they can better identify Jew-hatred and other instances of “context-dependent hate.” It also said they should issue annual reports on the number of complaints submitted and the actions they took against antisemitic and other hateful content.

“Social media companies have both the tools and the responsibility to address antisemitism on their platforms,” Rez told JNS. “Across the board, we need to see more consistent enforcement, greater transparency and meaningful consequences for repeat offenders.”

“The policies already exist,” she added. “What matters now is how consistently and effectively they are enforced.”

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has unanimously approved a bipartisan report examining how U.S. colleges and universities and the federal government have responded to antisemitism on campus.

The report, The Federal Response to Antisemitism on American College and University Campuses, is expected to be finalized and released in September. It is the product of an investigation led by commissioners Peter Kirsanow, a Republican, and Mondaire Jones, a Democrat. The commission voted to approve it on July 21.

The investigation examined how higher-education institutions and federal agencies responded to allegations of antisemitism in violation of federal civil-rights protections, with a focus on developments since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It included a review of a representative sample of colleges and universities, as well as the responses of the U.S. departments of Education, Justice and Health and Human Services.

As part of the investigation, the commission held a Feb. 19 briefing featuring current and former federal officials, students, university representatives, advocacy organizations and legal and policy experts. The following day, it held a public-comment session at which students, educators, university officials and community members shared their experiences. The commission received 37 public comments that informed the report.

Rochelle Garza, chair of the commission, said the report will provide an “important factual record” for the president, Congress, universities and the public. She emphasized the need to protect Jewish students from discrimination and harassment while respecting constitutional protections for free speech and expression.

Jones said the investigation examined the intersection of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs and activities, with First Amendment protections and academic freedom.

Kirsanow said the investigation provided evidence of the “scale and breadth” of antisemitism on college campuses and offered insights into ways to address the problem.

Once finalized, the report will be formally transmitted to the president and Congress.

Kevin Rideout, an American Christian missionary who spent more than nine months in captivity after being abducted in Niger, has been freed and reunited with his wife.

Rideout, 50, was kidnapped by three armed men outside his home in Niamey, Niger, on Oct. 21, 2025. He had worked in Niger for 19 years as a missionary and pilot for Serving in Mission International, a Christian missionary organization based in Charlotte, N.C.

The organization announced on Aug. 14 that Rideout had been released and was in good health in the care of U.S. officials. The FBI later said it had worked with the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and other U.S. agencies to secure his release.

The circumstances of his release have not been fully disclosed. Rideout said in a video released after his freedom that he had been held by the Islamic State in Mali, though U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed which group held him at the end of his captivity.

U.S. President Donald Trump shared photos of Rideout with his wife, Krista Rideout, on Friday and later said the couple would visit the White House. Sebastian Gorka, the president’s deputy assistant and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, said Rideout expressed gratitude to Trump.

“He sounds incredibly good and wouldn’t stop saying how grateful he is to President Trump,” Gorka said. “He even shared that he kept singing in his head the song ‘Proud to Be an American’ when he knew he would be coming home.”

When the Jewish federation in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, laid off its entire support staff earlier this month, the move didn’t come as a surprise. Instead, it felt like an inevitable next step in an inexorable trajectory of decline that has unfolded in public over the course of months, upending the infrastructure that had long organized Jewish communal life in the state capital.

The slow-rolling collapse in Harrisburg, which has roughly 9,000 Jews in the city area, has included the closure of programs, the displacement of Jewish institutions and the planned sale of the Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life, which was purchased by the federation for $4.5 million in 2022 and envisioned as a hub for Jewish life in central Pennsylvania. 

The downfall has also featured an unusual intervention by Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella organization for 141 local federations that usually work highly independently. JFNA dispatched a former federation leader to help the Harrisburg Federation make hard financial decisions as it became clear its situation was not sustainable.

“While well-intentioned, there were clearly mistakes made that have set back Jewish life in Harrisburg and caused distress and division,” JFNA’s president and CEO, Eric Fingerhut, wrote in a letter to the community in April, in which he called the local federation’s business model “not viable.”

At the time, Fingerhut expressed optimism that the situation could turn around, writing, “Despite all that has transpired in recent years, I am confident the members of the Greater Harrisburg community can come together to repair what has been broken and build a bright future.”

Four months later, that optimism is being tested as Harrisburg’s Jewish residents have watched core functions of the local federation evaporate.

Gila Ogle, the head of the Silver Academy, a Jewish day school in Harrisburg, said there was a  “deep desire to ensure a vibrant future for Jewish life in Harrisburg,” but lamented that there is no longer a local Jewish federation to support it. 

“What people are saying is, ‘Well, now what’s our opportunity? How can we come together?’” she said.

The post A Jewish federation had big plans for a community campus. Then the money ran out. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

An antisemitic attack on a Jewish couple is “deeply disturbing and unacceptable” but seems to be “an isolated incident,” Rabbi Gavriel Koskas of Magen David Congregation of Surfside-Bal Harbour told JNS.

“It is important to put it in perspective,” the rabbi of the Orthodox synagogue said. “This appears to have been an isolated incident involving individuals who are not Surfside residents, and it does not reflect the community we live in.”

JNS sought an incident report from the local police. According to news reports, a Jewish man, who was visiting South Florida from New York with his wife, was punched in the head and threatened on Aug. 16 at night.

Jorden Stephen Perozo, 35, allegedly approached the couple on an electric scooter, cursed at the man, his wife and others in the Jewish community and then punched the man, according to news accounts, citing the police report.

“Now you’re going to die,” Perozo allegedly told the man, per the report. “Walk away before I kill you.”

Perozo allegedly continued making antisemitic remarks and statements about Israel and “Palestine,” which the wife recorded, in part, on her phone.

Police reportedly arrested Perozo on Wednesday at Flanigan’s Bar & Grill, where he worked, and he faces a count of battery with prejudice and a count of harassing or intimidating a person based on religious or ethnic heritage.

As of Thursday, he was reportedly being held on $6,000 bond.

Rabbi Zalman Lipskar of the Shul of Bal Harbour, a Chabad synagogue, told JNS that the local police departments “work very closely with the Jewish community and are doing an amazing job ensuring the safety of all our residents.”

“We are very grateful to them for their tireless efforts to protect our community,” he said.

Koskas of Magen David Congregation told JNS that “Surfside has a very visible and vibrant Jewish population” and that “we should respond with preparedness, vigilance and confidence, not fear.”

Jewish institutions have a responsibility to take their security seriously, according to Koskas.

“At our synagogue, we have developed a comprehensive security team, both inside and outside, working alongside professional security and law enforcement,” he told JNS. “I would urge synagogues and Jewish institutions everywhere to develop similarly strong security protocols appropriate to their circumstances.”

“Simply having armed people present is not a security plan,” Koskas said. “Anyone entrusted with protecting a congregation must be properly trained, coordinated, disciplined, and know exactly how to respond in an emergency.”

Koskas said that the Jewish community in Surfside is not living in fear and praised Florida and local officers for their support.

“We are extremely fortunate that in Florida, our state and local leaders and law-enforcement agencies have consistently been vigilant, responsive and strongly supportive of the Jewish community,” he told JNS.

“Antisemitism is something we must always take seriously and condemn unequivocally,” Koskas said. “But we should respond with preparedness, vigilance and confidence, not fear. One isolated incident should not define Surfside.”

“This remains a community where Jewish families feel safe and supported,” he added.

Perozo was reportedly arrested on June 15 as well, after Miami Beach police accused him of slashing a giant inflatable FIFA World Cup soccer ball displayed in Miami Beach.

Allison Rahmani, a Jewish teacher and mother of four, died after losing control of her car, which plunged into the swimming pool at her home in Hewlett, N.Y., on Friday.

Irving Place Minyan, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Woodmere, N.Y., announced Rahmani’s death on Friday afternoon. Her husband, Matthew Rahmani, is the synagogue’s president.

Rahmani, 40, was a teacher and math coordinator at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway.

A source familiar with the family told JNS that Rahmani did not drown. She was able to call for help but died in an ambulance en route to the hospital.

Rebeca Grynspan, a Jewish economist and United Nations executive, fell to second place in a second round of U.N. Security Council straw polling to select the global body’s next secretary-general.

The non-binding poll among the 15 council members is meant to gauge levels of support for the candidates and determine whether there is a chance for consensus. Further rounds are expected.

Grynspan is the daughter of Holocaust refugees and has ties to Israel. She is the former vice president of Costa Rica and is a longtime U.N. executive and the secretary-general of the U.N. Trade and Development agency.

During a U.N. hearing for candidates a few months ago, Grynspan, whose parents fled Poland during the Holocaust, opened by describing herself as a “product of peace.”

Her parents immigrated in the aftermath of World War II, she said.

Grynspan has decried Holocaust denial, has family connections to Israel and studied economics and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But she has spoken little about her Jewish identity.

She is largely considered to be moderate toward Israel, even as she harshly criticized the Jewish state in the early stages of the Israel-Hamas war.

On Friday, Grynspan received seven “encourage” and four “discourage” votes, along with four “no opinion” votes. That’s a steep drop from the 10 “encourage,” one “discourage” and four “no opinion” votes from the first round in late July.

The “discourage” votes are particularly important in the council’s straw polling, as they indicate opposition to a candidate.

If even one of those “discourage” votes comes from one of the five permanent members—the United States, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom—it could doom a nominee’s chances.

Secret ballot

All voting is held via secret ballot, and later rounds will include color-coded envelopes for the five permanent members to help better determine who votes “discourage.”

There is no public indication yet if any permanent members voted “discourage” with respect to her candidacy.

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, of Guyana, won Friday’s straw poll with eight “encourage,” three “discourage” and four “no opinion” votes. (Although she won, Rodrigues-Birkett actually fared better in the initial July poll, with nine “encourage,” two “discourage” and four “no opinion” votes.)

Rodrigues-Birkett was her country’s first female foreign affairs minister and served on the U.N. Security Council. She also previously chaired the G77 coalition of developing countries.

Rafael Grossi of Argentina, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, struggled on Friday, with seven “encourage,” six “discourage” and two “no opinion” votes.

María Fernanda Espinosa, of Ecuador, a former U.N. General Assembly president and Ecuadorian foreign affairs and defense minister, held steady with four “encourage,” three “discourage” and eight “no opinion” votes. The latter suggested she still has room to shape opinions.

Michelle Bachelet, of Chile, an anti-Israel candidate and former U.N. official, logged only two “encourage” votes against six “discourage” and seven “no opinion” votes.

Ivonne Baki, a late entrant into the race, received not a single “encourage” vote while logging eight “discourage” votes, likely putting her run to a quick end.

An Ecuadorian politician and diplomat, Baki has personal ties to U.S. President Donald Trump and is of Lebanese heritage. She is billing her candidacy as one that can help build global bridges.

A pair of African male candidates received high numbers of “discourage” votes in a year where the field is tilting toward female, Latin American nominees.

“The election for the next secretary-general is a test for the future of the United Nations,” stated Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

“After years of bias, failure and eroded trust, the organization needs a leader who is prepared to change the system,” the Israeli envoy said.

“Israel will evaluate the candidates based on their record and their willingness to stand up to terrorism, antisemitism and hypocrisy,” he said.

Israel has not announced support for any candidate nor has it commented publicly on any nominee.

When Rabbi Matthew Eisenberg takes a moment to survey the landscape of Cleveland synagogues and then looks inward at Temple Israel Ner Tamid in Mayfield Heights, it doesn’t take long for him to realize that the synagogue he leads is a unique one.

“The congregation started as one that was a little bit different from others,” Eisenberg told the Cleveland Jewish News. “That was because of my father’s (Rabbi Fred Eisenberg, who founded TINT) personality, and I think that also continues because of my personality. My sister, Rachel (Eisenberg) is our cantorial soloist, so that also makes it quite different because it’s a family affair in a lot of ways. To serve a congregation is a holy endeavor, and also one fraught with many challenges when people are emotionally invested and excited to do something new, different, small and intimate.”

But TINT was able to overcome the obstacles in its own way as it grew, and the congregation is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a milestone celebration weekend to be held Aug. 28 to Aug. 30 that also honors Rabbi Matthew Eisenberg’s 30th anniversary with the synagogue, Rachel Eisenberg’s 40th anniversary as cantorial soloist and the 25th anniversary of Ok-Sim Kim as choir director.

“For 40 years, our ancestors wandered through the wilderness, and then they finally got to the promised land,” Eisenberg said. “But we’re not wandering, and we hope to continue to go in the direction of the promised land. We want good things for the Jewish people in our country and the state of Israel, which is the promised land.”

Rabbi Matthew Eisenberg’s father, the late Rabbi Fred Eisenberg, who had been with the former Congregation Brith Emeth in Pepper Pike, started Temple Israel of Greater Cleveland, placing a special emphasis on family worship, with Friday night services held early enough to include children. Rabbi Fred Eisenberg died Aug. 17, 2022 at the age of 91.

Eisenberg said that like most congregations, TINT started small. People gathered in the backyard of friends, and then, in 1985, they started meeting in the basement of the Cleveland Hebrew Schools building on Lander Road in Mayfield Heights, which had a stage and acted as an auditorium for the school.

In 1986, the congregation bought the building that housed Mayfield Hillcrest Synagogue, which had moved to Beachwood and was renamed Congregation Shaarey Tikvah. TINT has been at its current location at 1732 Lander Road since.

“We have taken that holy space and continued to keep it holy and improved it, and made it even more warm and more heimish,” Eisenberg said. “Some people come and are in it for the long haul. Others come and after a little while say, ‘I love you rabbi, however I want a bigger building.’ It’s a challenge for every congregation, but it’s more acute when it’s a very small one. We started with 50 families, and we’re still very family oriented.”

Eisenberg, who had previously served as a rabbi in Houston, succeeded his father as rabbi of Temple Israel of Greater Cleveland in 1996, a crucial time as talks soon of a merger were underway with Temple Ner Tamid of Euclid, which had a religious school, which Temple Israel Greater Cleveland lacked with its children attending Cleveland Hebrew Schools program, and lay leadership, but didn’t have a permanent rabbi.

In 1997, a successful merger brought together the two Reform Jewish temples to form Temple Israel Ner Tamid in its present Mayfield Heights location.

“Sometimes, when congregations merge or get together, one of the names is erased from history,” Eisenberg said. “It’s never used again. You erase a profound history for those people. We didn’t want to do that.”

In summer 2021, TINT unveiled its new, 6,130-square-foot religious school expansion and renovated sanctuary.

While four decades of involvement in the community means so many memories and experiences, Eisenberg said one of the aspects of TINT that he is most proud of is the tzedakah, or righteous giving, it takes part in.

“When Hurricane Katrina hit at the end of August 2005, for the next two weeks we had semi-tractor trailers on our front lawn and we were filling it up, sorting the goodies and sending down all sorts of things,” he said. “We were sending down clothing, utensils, a little bit of furniture – it was a big community effort. There were people from other congregations who came and volunteered, donated and helped pay for the semi tractor trailer. The school next door, Lander Elementary School, brought over students to volunteer to sort and pack items. And the Mayfield Heights football team came.”

Every Friday night after Shabbat services, TINT makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and delivers them to the homeless in the city of Cleveland in a van.

“We look for people on the street and go to homeless shelters,” he said. “We’re doing the mitzvah of tzedakah every week. Part of our mission is to always help people in need of help.”

The milestone celebration weekend, which will be held at TINT at 1732 Lander Road in Mayfield Heights, will begin at 6:45 p.m. Aug. 28. There will be a pre-service meet and greet featuring hours’ d’oeuvres and wine and following a special honorary Shabbat service, there will be an enhanced oneg. On Aug. 29, a gala dinner celebration will be from 6:30 to 11 p.m. with a live auction featuring exclusive experiences and a fund-a-need silent auction. Cost of the dinner is $180. On Aug. 30, there will be a barbecue and sweet treats for a family-centered afternoon. From noon to 3 p.m. there will be child-friendly activities and games along with a magician.

RSVP is requested for each event. To RSVP or for more information, call 440-473-5120 or visit tintcleveland.org.