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How Yom Hashoah is being marked in New York City
(New York Jewish Week) — Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins this year on the evening of Monday, April 17 and lasts through Tuesday, April 18. The day is Israel’s official day of commemoration of the Holocaust and is marked by Jewish communities and congregations worldwide.
The date was chosen in 1951 to mark the anniversary on the Hebrew calendar of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, whose 80th anniversary is being marked this year. On April 19, 1943, German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants to concentration camps and killing centers. Jewish insurgents fought back for nearly a month before the rebellion was crushed.
Below is a list of events, panels, screenings and gatherings happening in New York City next week to commemorate the lives of the six million murdered and the heroism of the Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.
April 16
Annual Gathering of Remembrance at Temple Emanu-El
The Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust and Temple Emanu-El partner to host the annual “Gathering of Remembrance” on Sunday beginning at 2:00 p.m. The in-person and live streamed event will include speeches from Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations; U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-New York) and Holocaust survivors Toby Levi, Ilana Yaari and Jerry Lindenstraus. There will also be performances from HaZamir International Jewish Teen Choir and Steven Skybell. Register here.
“Celebration of Life and Hope” concert with Holocaust Music Lost & Found
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m., join Holocaust Music Lost & Found for a free concert and conversation at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. The concert will feature songs written during the Holocaust and will be hosted by Israeli cellist Elad Kabilio. More information here.
April 17
Reading of the Names on the Upper West Side
From Monday night through Tuesday, Upper West Side congregations will come together to read the names of victims of the Holocaust and commemorate their lives. The readings will occur from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. at Congregation Ansche Chesed (251 W. 100th St.) and from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan (334 Amsterdam Ave.). The readings will also be livestreamed. For more information, click here.
Stories of Survival and Remembrance at the United Nations
The United Nations is opening a brand new exhibit in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day: “Stories of Survival and Remembrance: A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention.” Per the website, the exhibit “reveals the lives of those impacted by war, trauma, displacement and exile through the Holocaust, genocide and other atrocity crimes in Cambodia, Srebrenica and Rwanda, while reflecting on how the UN has responded to genocide and atrocity crimes since its establishment.” It will be on display through June 15.
Additionally, on Monday at 10:00 a.m., the United Nations is hosting a panel discussion with Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert and her great-grandson Dov Forman, who in 2022 together published “Lily’s Promise,” Ebert’s memoir of her time in Auschwitz and the aftermath. They will be in conversation with Holocaust historian Debórah Dwork. The discussion will take place online. Register for the link here.
Film Screening of “Mathilde et Rosette” at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
The Carole Zabar Center for Film is screening Mathilde et Rosette on Monday at 7:00 p.m. The French documentary tells the story of director Alice Ekman’s visit to her 92-year-old great uncle to uncover 75 years of her family’s secret and traumatic history. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Ekman, moderated by Scott Richman, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. Tickets start at $16, register here.
Screening and Conversation at 92NY
On Monday at 7:30 p.m., join 92NY for a screening of the documentary “Four Winters: A Story of Jewish Partisan Resistance and Bravery in WWII,” which tells the story of eight survivors who joined the Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. A conversation with director Julia Mintz will follow the screening at 9:15 p.m. The conversation will also be livestreamed. Tickets from $18, register here.
Yom HaShoah with the Manhattan Jewish Experience
The Manhattan Jewish Experience (131 W. 86th St.) invites New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s to commemorate Yom HaShoah on Monday at 7:30 p.m. Holocaust survivor Gerd Korman, author of “Nightmare’s Fairy Tale: A Young Refugee’s Home Fronts, 1938–1948” will share his story, with a dessert reception to follow. Tickets from $10, available here.
The Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, located at the south end of the Promenade at 83rd Street in Manhattan’s Riverside Park, will be site of an annual gathering on Wednesday, April 19. (Riverside Park Conservancy)
April 19
Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising at Der Shteyn
The Congress for Jewish Culture, Friends of the Bund, Jewish Labor Committee, the Workers Circle and YIVO will join together to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The annual gathering will take place on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. at Der Shteyn, a memorial stone in Riverside Park between 83rd and 84th Street. The event will include speeches and performances. It will also be recorded. Find more information here.
The Sound of the Siren: The History of the Holocaust and the Rise of Global Antisemitism
The New York City Bar Association will host a lunchtime panel discussion on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. featuring experts, Holocaust survivors and advocates who work to counteract Holocaust denial. This event will share three reports of the NYC Bar Association which address antisemitic conspiracy theories and the rise of antisemitism. The program is free for members and non-lawyers and $15 for non-member lawyers. Lunch will be served. Register here.
April 20
Women, Theater and the Holocaust
On April 20 at 7:30 p.m., Remember the Women Institute is hosting an evening of dramatic readings of plays and monologues about the Holocaust in partnership with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the National Jewish Theater Foundation. The in-person event will be at the JCC Manhattan and will coincide with the launch of the fifth edition of Remember the Women Institute’s “Women, Theater, and the Holocaust Resource Handbook.” Tickets from $10, register here.
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The post How Yom Hashoah is being marked in New York City appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Australia Pro-Palestinian Rally Draws Tens of Thousands, Skepticism on Ceasefire
Demonstrators hold a banner during the ‘Nationwide March for Palestine’, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in Sydney, Australia, October 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Tens of thousands joined a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney on Sunday, organizers said, one of dozens of demonstrations across Australia, with some protesters expressing skepticism a ceasefire in Israel’s two-year-old assault in Gaza would hold.
The organizer, the Palestine Action Group, estimated a crowd of 30,000 in Sydney, the nation’s most populous city, one of about 27 nationwide. Police did not have a crowd estimate for the protest.
The Gaza ceasefire appeared to be holding early on Sunday and Israeli troops had pulled back under the first phase of a US-brokered agreement to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands and left much of the narrow enclave in ruins.
“Even if the ceasefire holds, Israel is still conducting a military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” Amal Naser, an organizer of the Sydney rally, said in a statement. “The occupation as well as systemic discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel constitute an Apartheid system.”
Australian Broadcasting Corp footage showed protesters, many carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyeh scarves, marching on closed city streets. Police said no arrests were made.
The rally was held in the business district after a court last week blocked a move to hold it at the Sydney Opera House.
Protester Abbi Jordan said she was at the rally because “this so-called ceasefire will not hold.”
“Israel always breaks every ceasefire they’ve ever done. For 78 years, they’ve been conducting an illegal occupation in Palestinian territories, and we demand the Australian government sanction Israel,” Jordan told Reuters.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for more than 200 Jewish organizations, condemned the protest organizers. “They want the deal to fail, which would mean the war would continue,” co-Chief Executive Peter Wertheim said in a statement.
Pro-Palestinian protests have been common in Australia, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, since the war in Gaza erupted when militants of the Palestinian militant group Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in an attack on October 7, 2023.
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UK PM Starmer to Attend Middle East Peace Summit in Egypt
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) hold a bilateral meeting at Trump Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Egypt to attend the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit, where leaders are expected to sign a US-brokered peace agreement aimed at ending the conflict in Gaza, his office said on Saturday.
The first phase of the plan is set to begin with the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners by Monday, marking what Britain called a “historic turning point” after two years of war.
The British leader would pay tribute to the role of US President Donald Trump and the diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey in brokering the deal, his office said.
He is expected to call for continued international coordination to implement the next phase, which includes deploying a ceasefire monitoring mission and establishing transitional governance in Gaza.
Starmer will reiterate Britain’s “steadfast support” to help secure the ceasefire and deliver humanitarian aid.
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As Israelis rally for hostages, they hope for the last time, Trump’s name is cheered and Netanyahu’s is booed
(JTA) — Hundreds of thousands of Israelis poured into Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday night in what everyone present was hoping would be the final vigil on behalf of the hostages taken to Gaza two years ago.
Massive posters showing the 48 hostages expected to be returned imminently, 20 alive, under the terms of a ceasefire struck on Friday, surrounded the square. Demonstrators carried signs thanking U.S. President Donald Trump, who pressed for the deal. And hostage families described their excitement at finally being able to reunite with their loved ones — and their grief at preparing to receive their loved ones’ remains.
Some of the stars of the rally were three American Jews — Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — who played a role in pushing negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the finish line.
Witkoff was visibly emotional. “I dreamed of this night. It’s been a long journey. This is the most powerful sight,” Trump’s Middle East envoy told the crowd. “All of our hearts beating as one.”
When Witkoff thanked Trump, loud cheers resounded. But when he mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the crowd booed. Multiple times, he had to ask to be allowed to go on before saying, “I was in the trenches with the prime minister, believe me, he was a very important part.”
Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for prolonging the war and the hostages’ captivity, a sentiment that independent reporting has supported and that Trump reportedly expressed privately at times in the course of negotiating an end to the war.
Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, followed, praising Witkoff, thanking the Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza and describing his own reaction to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Kushner, who has significant business interests and relations across the Middle East, also was the only speaker to mention Gazans who also experienced two years of war after Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza.
“October 7, for me, was a shattering day,” he said. “Since then, my heart has not been complete, and it’s been a tremendous burden that I felt to see these hostages come home, to see their families get the closure they deserve and to end this nightmare – and also to see the suffering end for the people in Gaza, who, for most of them, were experiencing this through no fault of their own, other than being born into a situation that was horrific.”
Kushner’s wife, Trump’s daughter Ivanka, also addressed the crowd, saying that her father had a message he wanted to pass on. “The president wanted me to share, as he has with so many of you personally, that he sees you, he hears you, he stands with you always, always,” she said.
Trump repeatedly cited the crowd sizes in Tel Aviv as evidence that the Israeli people wanted to make a deal to end the war and bring the hostages home. (Polls easily supported the idea.)
The 20 living hostages and some number of deceased hostages are set to be returned on Monday morning, after Hamas said it had amassed them at three points within Gaza.
Earlier in the day, Witkoff had told hostage families that there was concern that Hamas would not be able to locate all of the bodies of the hostages who had been killed. Some family members exhorted the crowd to keep demonstrating until all of the deceased hostages had been returned, too.
And even those who are preparing to reunite with their loved ones after two years said they could not totally celebrate. “This is not a happy event,” Itzik Horn, whose son Eitan is set to be released alive, eight months after his brother Iair was freed, told the crowd. “This is the end of the cursed day in the history of the state — Israeli citizens are returning to their country after being abandoned.”
The post As Israelis rally for hostages, they hope for the last time, Trump’s name is cheered and Netanyahu’s is booed appeared first on The Forward.