Israel News Today

( JTA ) — After trying for five years to dissuade lawmakers in Missouri from enacting laws he believed would endanger his son and other transgender youth in the state, Russel Neiss finally admitted defeat. The state’s ban in 2023 on transgender medical care for minors devastated Neiss, but it also came with something of an upside for him: no more sacrificing his family’s time to testify at the Missouri statehouse. No more sitting politely with his son while enduring hurtful comments from officials. The battle was over, and it was time to find somewhere else to live — a state without legislation that could lead to loss of custody over his son, or the denial of medical care. But not just any haven for transgender youth would do. It also had to be a place where the family could continue to live as Orthodox Jews, with a synagogue that wouldn’t shun their child.  “Trying to figure out where to go, we counted 10 Orthodox communities nationwide that might accept our family,” Neiss said...

The Israeli model made a brief visit to Israel and shared her advocacy efforts abroad for the country, the significance of wearing the yellow pin at international events, and also revealed what language she and her husband, Belgian Real Madrid star Thibaut Courtois, speak to their infant daughter from ynet - News https://ift.tt/cuh9Lqm

Abbas Araqchi warns that a military strike by Israel and the US on Iranian nuclear facilities would be 'one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make' from ynet - News https://ift.tt/5YQRaOT

Yechiel Yehoud says 'Along with Arbel's rehabilitation, we will mourn the loss of our son, Dolav. We will not rest until the remains of all hostages killed by Hamas are buried, and until every child, father, and son comes home from ynet - News https://ift.tt/mRHzu4k

American security personnel at Netzarim Corridor stop Palestinian vehicle disguised as UN car, conducting X-ray scans and manual inspections; source says US team thorough and won’t allow UNRWA or others to game the system from ynet - News https://ift.tt/UBux1fS

Gadi Mozes returns to Israel in third release of hostage deal and says will 'do everything in my power to restore his community of Nir Oz, which was ravaged by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from ynet - News https://ift.tt/lPZt72U

Terror group officially acknowledges death of October 7 attack mastermind and architect of Hamas' military capabilities; group also confirms elimination of Deif’s deputy Rafa Salama along with 5 other senior operatives from ynet - News https://ift.tt/ijI6WmO

An intensive Yiddish seminar in Warsaw, Poland this summer will devote a number of its classes to different aspects of Yiddish journalism. The program, which begins on June 30, 2025, will offer both a two- and three-week program including four levels of Yiddish language instruction, from beginners to advanced speakers. Any students and people who work with Yiddish, such as artists, researchers and educators, can apply for a scholarship. In the classes focused on the Yiddish press, students will explore how this medium, which catered to people of all backgrounds and political beliefs, evolved in the Yiddish world. Some advanced students will read selections from the 20th and 21st century Yiddish press and acquaint themselves with the language of historical and contemporary Yiddish publications. Other advanced students will learn about the first two decades of the Yiddish press after WWII — both its challenges and achievements. Students will also have an opportunity to see games, puz...

President Donald Trump plans to sign an expansive executive order intended to address “the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and in our streets,” with a focus on what the administration called “pro-Hamas aliens and left-wing radicals,” according to a White House fact sheet obtained by the Forward . “Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities,” the document stated. It added that the executive order “demands the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Post  reported that Trump planned to sign the order Wednesday. The order expands upon a 2019 executive order from Trump’s first term that directed federal agencies to interpret a crucial provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as covering antisemit...

“How far can you run in five minutes?” That’s the question actress Khawla Ibraheem asks the audience several minutes into A Knock on the Roof at the New York Theater Workshop . Ibraheem plays a Palestinian woman named Mariam during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war awaiting a strike from the Israeli Defense Forces. She runs through scenarios in her head and practices running out of her seven-story apartment while Tom Cruise-esque action movie music blares. The title of Ibraheem’s new play refers to an Israeli Defense Forces military tactic, first implemented in 2008 . In the tactic, the IDF drops a small munition on the top of a building they are targeting to warn civilians to escape. After five to 15 minutes, the army will then drop a much larger explosive, destroying the building. Over the course of a hair-raising, 80-minute monologue, Mariam ruminates on her life before the war, as well as her uncertain future, as she prepares for the inevitable IDF warning strike. Khawla Ibraheem st...

The family has not yet given the permission to make the clip or what she said to the camera, available to the public; Arbel held by radical Islamist group, the third largest terror faction in Gaza  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/bOiZsAe

While catching a screening of A Complete Unknown a few weeks back, I kept my eyes peeled during the Newport Folk Festival scenes for a glimpse of Barry Goldberg — or rather, an actor portraying him. That I didn’t see (or maybe just blinked and missed) him didn’t really surprise or disappoint me; after all, several individuals who played far more crucial roles in Bob Dylan’s pre-motorcycle accident career were already totally M.I.A. from the biopic. And although I sadly didn’t get the chance to ask him about it, I doubt that Barry himself — who passed away last week at the age of 83, following a 10-year struggle with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma — would have been particularly disappointed either, even though playing piano and organ with Dylan when he first “went electric” in public was undoubtedly a turning point in Barry’s own storied career. To paraphrase the oft-covered 1973 song that he and legendary Brill Building lyricist Gerry Goffin originally co-wrote for Bobby “Blue” Bland, it was n...

Hezbollah operatives parade in villages of South Lebanon, once again posing a threat despite an agreement that should keep them far away  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/4RO6TPH

( JTA ) — A Holocaust memorial ceremony in Dublin was disrupted after Jewish attendees were forced to leave for protesting Irish President Michael Higgins’ remarks about Gaza. In his speech, Higgins commemorated the Holocaust and lamented Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as well as the civilian death toll in Gaza. He also wished for an end to what he called the “horrific loss of life and destruction which has taken place.” According to the local reports, several attendees walked out or stood and turned their backs when Higgins mentioned the war in Gaza directly. Murmurs and unrest in the crowd are audible in footage of the speech that has circulated online . “It is to be hoped, I believe, that those in Israel who mourn their loved ones, those who have been waiting for the release of hostages, or the thousands searching for relatives in the rubble in Gaza will welcome the long-overdue ceasefire for which there has been such a heavy price paid,” he said. According to local repor...

Judicial Selection Committee voted to appoint Justice Yizhak Amit as Supreme Court president, ending a 15-month standoff; but Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who tried to prevent the move citing journalist investigations including in Yediot Acharonot, boycotted the hearing; Levin does not intend to recognize Amit's presidency, which will hinder the judicial system from ynet - News https://ift.tt/N7uLbn3

Iranian hacker group Handala claimed responsibility for breaching emergency button systems in educational institutions across Israel, using them to broadcast rocket sirens and terror-supporting songs; in addition, tens of thousands of fear-inducing text messages were sent to citizens, allegedly as part of the same coordinated attack from ynet - News https://ift.tt/8D29rKX

Critical shipment for Israel unfrozen by the Trump administration includes 1,700 heavy bombs for the Air Force from Boeing and 134 D9 bulldozers from Caterpillar from ynet - News https://ift.tt/LRCB7Gr

Daniela, Liri, Naama and Karina were held together for much of the time and were often forced to loo after their captors' children and cook for the terrorists while receiving very little food for themselves; They are said to have met 'very serious Hamas figures' during their captivity and heard their parents interviewed on the radio and saw their pictures on signs in Israel from ynet - News https://ift.tt/CFGcSwV

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.” It’s one of Howard Zinn’s most famous quotes – and the man had a few of them. The lanky, soft-spoken, Boston University history professor, activist, writer, provocateur, pacifist and playwright died 15 years ago January 27 at 87. “I’m a radical historian and I like radical because radical means getting to the roots of something,” Zinn told me in 2008. (I was conducting an interview, off-camera, for the Yankee magazine and its “Faces of New England” series.)   Zinn wrote the highly influential — and controversial — book, A People’s History of the United States . It was first published in 1980 but it’s been updated several times, most recently i...

When the Anti-Defamation League, the self-described “leading anti-hate organization in the world,” gave Elon Musk an immediate pass for the Nazi salute he gave at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, I thought of Whoopi Goldberg. In 2022, Goldberg made a comment that the Holocaust wasn’t about race, rather that it was a beef between two groups of white people. Back then, the ADL, more specifically its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt , took to social media to tell the world that Goldberg’s “comments about the Holocaust and race are deeply offensive and incredibly ignorant.” Goldberg went on to demand an apology and demand Goldberg, “actually commit to educating herself on the true nature of #antisemitism.” Not long after that, Greenblatt was invited on to “The View” where he and Goldberg hashed things out. Goldberg said that she “misspoke” and that she stood with the Jewish people. The next day, ABC suspended Goldberg for two weeks. At the time, I wrote an open letter in the Forward t...

477 days after being kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military post, the four female soldiers are expected to be released from captivity on Saturday, possibly as early as the afternoon from ynet - News https://ift.tt/huos7lI

Many of the 1,500 Jews who live in Finland today can trace their roots back to the Russian military, which brought them here as conscripts. Beginning in the 1850’s, Jews, who now constitute a tiny percentage of the country’s 5.5 million citizens, were conscripted into the czar’s army and served in the garrisons established in 11 towns in Finland. They were allowed to settle in Finland when they completed their military service. “The Jews here are regarded as just Finns, they’re part of Finland. They’re not foreigners. And that’s quite a difference to most other European countries,” said Karmela Belinki , a prominent Finnish author and journalist. Her family, originally from Lithuania, was among the Jews who were part of the so-called Cantonist system initiated in 1721 in which 12-year-old boys were forcibly taken from their homes to undergo military training before they joined the czar’s army. Some converted to Christianity after enduring beatings. By the end of the 1880s, Finland wa...

Deputy commander of elite Duvdevan unit shares about fighting the terror cell in Jenin, how it recruits teens, and how prisoner release celebrations will be prevented from ynet - News https://ift.tt/0RBUKMr

Before reactivating 'maximum pressure' campaign against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, Trump plans to examine whether he can reach a diplomatic settlement with Iran, the Financial Times reports; Part of his plan to 'end all wars' from ynet - News https://ift.tt/8XCnPoR

TikTok went dark briefly over the weekend before Trump, delighting its users, reinstated the platform. Logging back on, however, users found something had changed: They could no longer post “Free Palestine.” Comments supporting Palestinians or Gaza were automatically flagged and deleted. Widespread support for Palestinians on TikTok was among the driving forces behind congressional efforts to ban the platform, even though the engagement with pro-Palestinian hashtags was approximately equivalent to that on other social media platforms in the wake of Oct. 7. Evidently, the platform took action when it came back online to prevent the complaint from recurring. Even before the ban briefly went into effect, however, users began to download a Chinese platform called RedNote — the most popular app in the country — to replace the Chinese-owned TikTok; many said they were doing so out of fear that the app’s loss would result in an inability to get true information about Gaza. Theories circula...

( JTA ) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come to the defense of Elon Musk, days after the billionaire and prominent Trump ally was accused of delivering Nazi salutes at a presidential inauguration rally. One hour later, the world’s richest man was cracking Holocaust jokes on social media. “Elon Musk is being falsely smeared,” Netanyahu wrote on Musk’s own social media account, X , Thursday morning. He avoided addressing Musk’s gesture directly but went on to call the tech mogul “a great friend of Israel.” Netanyahu pointed to Musk’s visiting Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and advocating for what he said was “Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state.”  The prime minister, who remains in the political hot seat after agreeing to a tenuous ceasefire and hostage release agreement with Hamas, concluded, “I thank him for this.”  To which Musk, in turn, thanked him — o...