Israel News Today

Turkish justice minister said there were 256 extradition requests for people in the US that Ankara believes are members of Gülen’s network and there are still diplomatic disagreements over the handling of those suspected of being his followers from ynet - News https://ift.tt/pP9uvka

I normally do not sign cause-related group petitions or open letters. They strike me as performative, self-important and virtue-signaling groupthink. But I made an exception this week to join some 1,000 writers, literary agents and Hollywood bigwigs in opposing a growing boycott of Israel’s literary establishment because of the Gaza war. The letter I signed was a response to an open letter signed by writers whose thoughtful books and stylish prose I love, like Jhumpa Lahiri ( The Interpreter of Maladies), Leslie Jamison ( The Empathy Exams) and Jia Tolentino ( Trick Mirror).  “We cannot in good conscience engage with Israeli institutions without interrogating their relationship to apartheid and displacement,” reads the boycott letter. It calls the war a genocide and “the most profound moral, political and cultural crisis of the 21st century.” The signers say they will no longer allow their work to be translated into Hebrew, and accuse publishers and other “Israeli cultural in...

( JTA ) — Conspiracy theories. Bomb threats. Anti-Israel protests. Street violence. Jews have been the targets of all these things this year, as reports of antisemitism have spiked during the Israel-Hamas war. Now, less than a week before Election Day, security analysts say those same factors could put Jews at risk during and after the voting — especially with the race so polarized and so close. “It used to be that you disagreed with the election results and you were upset about it, but you kept on going,” said Alex Friedfeld, an associate director at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “But now when the stakes are set so high, that the other side winning is perceived to be a threat to your way of life, to your communities, to your loved ones, to your country, that’s when the threat, the risk of violence becomes higher.” During the last election cycle in 2020 — a season that saw unrest, particularly in the pro-Donald Trump Jan. 6 Capitol riot — analysts cautioned Jewis...

A new social media campaign is encouraging Jewish voters in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn to “#DoItForTheShchuna,” using the Hebrew word for a religious neighborhood. Exactly 50 years ago, in the leadup to Election Day in Nov. 1974, the Lubavitcher Rebbe told his community in their native Yiddish: “ Men darf gain voten! ” Which means: “Everyone needs to go vote!” Some of those 1974 voters are part of the new campaign. The new project is the brainchild of Yaacov Behrman, the founder of the Jewish Future Alliance, a voter outreach organization. As a nonprofit, his group cannot endorse a particular candidate, but is instead hoping to increase the community’s political sway in future elections. “I’m looking at the long game,” Behrman said. By increasing the number of registered Jewish voters in Crown Heights, he’s increasing the likelihood that candidates running in upcoming elections, like the 2025 New York mayoral race, will take the issues of the community more seriously. “Thes...

Over 40 mobile devices found in underground spaces and sewage pipes under an Israeli prison; Israel Prison Service warns possible upcoming budget cuts could hinder efforts to prevent future smuggling operations from ynet - News https://ift.tt/dvEjGQF

In a split illuminating the difficult choice facing Democrats who supported the pro-Palestinian Uncommitted movement in the primaries, one of the movement’s co-founders will vote for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris while the other plans to leave the top line of her ballot blank. The dilemma: Vote for Harris, who dismissed their demand for an arms embargo against Israel, or, by refusing to do so, effectively boost Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has shown little sympathy for their cause. It also shows the continued uncertainty over how the Uncommitted — which rallied an estimated 700,000 voters in the primaries to protest President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war — will cast ballots in this exceedingly tight race for the presidency. Related Angry about Gaza, will uncommitted voters commit to Kamala Harris? Uncommitted co-founder Abbas Alawieh, a Lebanese American and former chief of staff to Rep. Cori Bush, said on CNN Tuesday tha...

Caregiving remains a lifeline for Middle Eastern households, but these migrant workers battle loneliness, exploitation and insufficient protections amid regional crises; Home care in Israel is also heavily dependent on foreign workers from ynet - News https://ift.tt/QKJ1hl5

Karim Khan has called for internal investigation into allegations made by a female aide; Court officials say accusation part of an Israeli intelligence smear campaign to discredit the court. from ynet - News https://ift.tt/YGhJtNw

If there was any doubt former President Donald Trump sees his domestic political opponents as “the enemy within,” his rally at Madison Square Garden put them to rest. “When I say, ‘the enemy from within,’ the other side goes crazy,” Trump told a capacity crowd of 20,000 people on Sunday afternoon. ”They’ve done very bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within.” When Trump said, “We’re running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala and far more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious radical-left machine that runs today’s Democrat party. They’re just vessels,” what I thought of wasn’t Nazi Germany or the famed 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden that some thought Trump was winking at, but American democracy — and the  fate of American democracy is as “Jewish” an issue as Israel, antisemitism, or anything else in this election. Coverage of Jewish voters often focuses on the candidates’ stances on Israel, Iran and antisemitism. But it ...

Body of driver Rami Nasrallah to undergo autopsy to determine if he suffered a heart attack before the crash that killed one and injured dozens; police disclose he had nearly 70 prior traffic violations from ynet - News https://ift.tt/143bP5q

Azita, a resident of Tehran, talks to Ynet about the ordeal Iranians went through as Israel attacked, long lines at gas stations, regime efforts to project normalcy and the desire to show Israel that Iran isn't just another Gaza from ynet - News https://ift.tt/AQauVnt

Mossad chief set to meet CIA director and Qatari PM in Doha create framework for potential deal; Qatar, noting Cairo’s increased involvement, aims to stay central in talks; US officials believe major breakthrough may only come after US elections from ynet - News https://ift.tt/M9HOmfZ

Built over 15 years, site larger than similar Gaza facilities and held supplies and weaponry to support two battalions; some launch bases may still be undiscovered from ynet - News https://ift.tt/USZnNGH

In the early hours of Saturday, explosions jolted several areas near Tehran, as Israeli Defense Forces conducted a series of strikes on sites connected to Iran’s missile and weapons infrastructure. Israel’s targeted operation was significant in its precision and restraint, considering that it was a response to the largest one-day ballistic missile attack in history. The response to Iran’s Oct.1 attack showcased Israel’s ability to strike deep into Iranian territory based on precise intelligence, without crossing the threshold into a larger conflict. The precision strikes, with no losses on the Israeli side, also highlighted Iran’s weak air defenses. The nature of the action also was very likely a concession to the Biden Administration, which had clearly pressured Israel to not risk a conflagration which might endanger Vice President Kamala Harris in her knife’s-edge campaign in the critical states of Michigan, where Muslim voters are a factor, and Pennsylvania, where Jewish voters ar...

At a Jewish conference in Chicago last month, I picked up a T-shirt for the husband with a single word on it: mensch. I liked the sans serif font and the sleek simplicity of the no-caps, white-on-black design. He really is a mensch — good-hearted, thoughtful, honest, humble. He’s also a high school teacher, and kitschy, ironic T-shirts are part of his daily uniform (“Does this shirt make me look bald?” is my son’s favorite). Plus, it was free. But weeks passed without him putting it on. And when I suggested that it might be perfect for our “open sukkah” party, he hesitated. “I love the gesture,” he said. “It’s possibly my favorite compliment. But it feels weird to wear it. I don’t know of anybody who’s actually a mensch who would declare themselves a mensch out loud. It would almost be better if it said, ‘Someone who thinks I’m a mensch got me this shirt.’” I had to practically force the husband to wear the shirt at our sukkah party. Courtesy of the Rudoren family As you can see...

UAVs have become Hezbollah's effective attack weapon in the war, causing deaths, injuries, heavy damage, and quite a bit of a headache for the Israeli Air Force; How did these simple drones manage to evade Israel’s sophisticated air defense systems? And how did Israel overlook this threat all these years?  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/5fyZEBj

The 646th Reserve Brigade uncovered Hezbollah's Radwan Force plan to invade the Galilee, dismantling extensive weapon stockpiles and infrastructure just hundreds of meters from the border; 'Even our emergency reserves don’t have vests fully loaded with magazines and grenades at this scale,' says one soldier from ynet - News https://ift.tt/htUyBE6

What should a prosecutor do when the key defendants die before trial?  In May 2024, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan formally asked the court to approve arrest warrants for certain leaders of Hamas and Israel. However, now that Hamas mastermind Yahya Sinwar has died, none of the Hamas leaders named in the arrest warrants is alive. Khan may now terminate the entire prosecution or seek arrest warrants for additional Hamas commanders. If he rejects these options and decides to proceed solely with a trial against Israel, he would risk violating the ICC’s enabling treaty, known as the Rome Statute .  Instead, Khan should ensure that no Israeli leader is prosecuted until and unless Hamas is first held accountable for its war crimes.  Here is why. Khan’s case against Israel alleges that the Israeli Defense Force intentionally directed attacks against Palestinian civilians . To prove that point, Mr. Khan must analyze the intent behind the IDF’s battlefield ...

Following The Atlantic ’s report that former President Donald Trump told a senior aide that he “needed the kind of generals Hitler had,” I spoke with Omer Bartov , the Israeli-born professor of Holocaust studies and antisemitism at Brown University. Bartov’s 2018 National Jewish Book Award-winning Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz examined how community conflict can turn into genocide. Bartov told me he sees the signs of “proto-fascism” in Trump and his supporters, but stressed that it’s important to pay attention to the one major similarity between German society then and America today: a deep sense of resentment.  “There are large sections of the population in America that simply feel cheated,” he told me. “There is a social and economic malaise in the United States, and Trump is the expression of it, but doing away with him will not resolve the issue itself.” The following conversation — about whether Trump fits the historical definition...

The incident occurred as the forces approached a Shiite village in the western sector of southern Lebanon and were attacked by terrorists who emerged from a tunnel shaft from ynet - News https://ift.tt/KMgAoOu

It’s fall, and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is back. This year, I’m hoping the anger and fear that the phrase provoked last year can be replaced with curiosity and interest. In 2018, I wrote an essay in the Forward unpacking the history of the phrase. In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the phrase became common in pro-Palestinian protests and a lightning rod in national conversations about free speech. The American Jewish Committee condemned it as hate speech. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Detroit-area Democrat who is of Palestinian origin, received a rare Congressional censure for saying it. And Elon Musk banished it from the X platform.  Yet it continued to be chanted on university campuses, including the University of Arizona, where I teach Palestinian history. Last fall,  a journalism student at another university who had read my piece wrote to me saying he was arguing with his mother about the meaning and intent behind the ...