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For the first time, most Palestinian Americans will be able to use Tel Aviv airport

WASHINGTON (JTA) — For the first time, Palestinian Americans will be able to enter and leave Israel through its main airport, part of a major policy change that will significantly ease access to the country for hundreds of thousands of West Bank residents and Palestinians abroad.
The change was made as part of Israel’s ongoing effort to join the Visa Waiver Program, which would enable Israelis to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa.
One of the key obstacles to joining the program was that Palestinian citizens of the United States, like all Palestinians, have been barred from using Ben Gurion International Airport and must instead travel through Jordan. The United States has demanded that in order to join the program, Israel must treat all U.S. citizens entering the country equally, no matter their national origin.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday, Israel will move closer to treating U.S. citizens who hold Palestinian identity documents as they would any others entering Israel. Palestinian Americans, including those coming from the West Bank, would be allowed to enter Israel for a 90-day period and travel where they wish, as would any other U.S. citizen.
The memorandum was signed by Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to Washington; Tom Nides, the U.S. ambassador to Israel; and Rob Silvers, the Department of Homeland Security undersecretary for policy. “This is a significant milestone towards Israel joining the program,” Herzog wrote on Twitter, attaching a photo of himself signing the document.
Tzachi HaNegbi, Israel’s national security advisor, said Israel’s compliance with the document would begin as of Thursday.
The memorandum, a copy of which was viewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, appears to include two major caveats that likely will not please Palestinian Americans who have been lobbying for this change. Palestinian Americans living in the West Bank must still pre-apply for entry through the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli military authority that governs many aspects of Palestinian life in the West Bank.
That provision would remain in place until May 1 of next year, when Israel says COGAT’s database will be integrated with the broader database that it uses at points of entry. Thereafter, Palestinian Americans will not need to pre-apply. The U.S. has expressed a desire for the screening to take a maximum of 24 to 48 hours.
The other caveat is that the new terms will not be extended to Americans currently living in the Gaza Strip. In their case, cumbersome travel requirements will be only slightly eased.
The deadline for entering the Visa Waiver Program, a club whose membership Israel has coveted for decades, is Sept. 30. Israel sees membership in the program as a means to facilitate business in the United States and allow its citizens to tour that country at will. A small subset of Israelis who have been denied visas have said the refusal has incurred financial and personal costs.
The reverse is not the case with U.S. citizens traveling to Israel. They generally arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport without pre-arranged visas, although they may still be flagged at the airport if immigration officials uncover anything meriting suspicion.
The United States will monitor the new policies regarding Palestinian Americans, which Israel has portrayed as a pilot initiative, and will decide by the deadline if Israel merits joining the Visa Waiver Program.
“Our understanding is that this policy will apply to U.S. citizens, including Palestinian Americans on the Palestinian population registry,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said Wednesday at a daily press briefing. “And that will begin a process in which we will monitor not just their implementation of these policies but their compliance with these policies and compliance with other facets of the Visa Waiver Program.”
Mainstream pro-Israel groups, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, have for years pressed for Israel’s entry into the program. Last month, 65 senators from both parties urged the Biden administration to accelerate Israel’s entry into the program.
“Israel’s entry into the United States Visa Waiver Program will serve as a bridge to bring the American and Israeli people closer together by fostering personal connections and mutual understanding,” said William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in a text message. “It will enrich both of our countries through shared knowledge, experiences, and perspectives.”
Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, backed by Arab American groups, have urged the administration to slow-walk Israel’s entry until it ends discriminatory practices. The State Department has warned that Arab Americans traveling to Israel may face difficulties and discrimination.
Ending discrimination based on national origin was the last of three conditions Israel had to meet to join the program. it has met the other two requirements: reshaping its intelligence-sharing apparatus to sync with those of the other member countries and meeting a threshold wherein fewer than 3% of Israeli visa applicants are denied approval.
For a long time, the visa denial threshold was one of the most daunting challenges for Israel to overcome. U.S. immigration officials were on the lookout for Israelis seeking to work illegally in the United States because of a once-thriving industry of young Israelis who sold products at U.S. malls.
“For entry into the Visa Waiver Program, all of the Program’s mandatory requirements must be satisfied,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “The Department is working closely with the Government of Israel in its efforts to meet those requirements, in furtherance of our shared goal that Israel join the Visa Waiver Program.”
Insiders say that Israel credits meeting the 3% threshold in part to COVID-19, and Israeli officials are concerned that the end of the pandemic will increase the number of Israelis seeking to enter the United States to work illegally. If that happens before Israel joins the program, membership would again be off the table.
Once a country is in the Visa Waiver Program, however, it stays in, even if visa refusal rates climb. A number of countries, particularly in eastern and Central Europe, have in the past spiked above the threshold but stayed in.
The memorandum signed Wednesday, however, suggests that Israel may still be susceptible to being booted out of the program. “Under U.S. law, the Secretary of Homeland Security has broad discretion to undertake remedial measures, including in consultation with the Secretary of State, the suspension or termination a country from the VWP,” it says.
A sticking point may be whether Israel discriminates against Arab Americans who are not on the Palestinian population registry. The memorandum requires spot-checks of statistics regarding denial of visa entry and examination of “persons referred or detained for enhanced screening, questioning, or examination.”
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The post For the first time, most Palestinian Americans will be able to use Tel Aviv airport appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘Child Killers’: Jewish Activists Doused With Red Paint in Germany While Hanging Up Hostage Posters
i24 News – Masked attackers doused with red paint and shoved German Jewish activists hanging up posters of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza in Frankfurt on Friday. The assailants shouted “child killers” and “free Palestine.”
Sacha Stawski, a German-Jewish activist who heads the media watchdog NGO Honestly Concerned, who’s spent decades combating antisemitism, spoke to local media about the incident.
“We attached posters with photos of the 50 hostages still in Hamas’s captivity to a fence in the Frankfurt Grüneburgpark,” Stawski told the Bild outlet. “We were branded ‘child killers,’ and I constantly heard ‘Free Palestine,’ and ‘genocide’ calls.”
The paint also poured over my glasses, making it difficult for me to identify the perpetrator,” he added.
Germany’s ambassador to Israel condemned the incident.
The small pro-hostage rally took place near an anarchist encampment housing several anti-Israel organizations. Stawski said this was announced to the camp organizers.
Meanwhile a German government spokesman said on Friday that Berlin currently has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state because that would undermine any efforts to reach a negotiated solution with Israel.
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Hegseth Fires Head of Intel Agency Whose Assessment of Damage from Iran Strikes Angered Trump

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on US President Donald Trump’s budget request for the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
i24 News – US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from US strikes sparked the ire of President Donald Trump.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, US media reported, citing sources speaking on condition of anonymity.
The sacking is the latest upheaval in military leadership and in the country’s intelligence agencies, and comes a few months after details of the preliminary assessment leaked to the media.
The assessment found that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the bombings, contradicting assertions from Trump and from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Republican president, who had pronounced the Iranian program “completely and fully obliterated,” rejected the report.
n June, Israel launched a devastating bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, missile production and military leadership, saying the operation was necessary to prevent the mullah regime from realizing its oft-stated plan to annihilate the Jewish state.
During the ensuing 12-day war, the US joined in, striking key Iranian nuclear sites.
Following the June strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, Hegseth lambasted the press for focusing on the preliminary assessment but did not offer any direct evidence of the destruction of the facilities.
“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was a historically successful attack,” Hegseth said at a news conference at the time.
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Amid Rising Antisemitism, American Jews Make Aliyah to Israel Seeking Safety, Community, Impact

Olim gather at JFK Airport in New York, preparing to board Nefesh B’Nefesh’s 65th charter flight to Israel. Photo: The Algemeiner
NEW YORK/TEL AVIV — Confronted with rising antisemitism and unease in the United States, a growing number of American Jews are choosing to make aliyah, embracing the risks of war in the Middle East for the chance to build new lives and foster meaningful communities.
On Wednesday, 225 new olim arrived in Tel Aviv on the first charter aliyah flight since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Aliyah refers to the process of Jews immigrating to Israel, and olim refers to those who make this journey.
Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN) — a nonprofit that promotes and facilitates aliyah from the US and Canada — brought its 65th charter flight from New York, which The Algemeiner joined.
Founded in 2002, NBN helps olim become fully integrated members of Israeli society, simplifying the aliyah process and providing essential resources and guidance.
In partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth, and the Jewish National Fund, NBN has helped nearly 100,000 olim build thriving new lives in Israel.
Shawn Fink is one of the 225 people who embarked on the life-changing journey earlier this week, leaving Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife, Liz, and their son.
For Fink and his family, making aliyah was driven not only by their love for Israel and desire to build a new community, but also by the escalating threats and uncertainties facing Jewish communities abroad since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
“Mostly, we were frustrated with the direction the United States is taking, and the rise in antisemitism was a major concern for us,” Fink told The Algemeiner.
Like many countries around the world, the US has seen an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Oct. 7 atrocities.
According to the latest data issued by the FBI, hate crimes perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the federal agency’s counting them.
A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, who constitute just 2 percent of the US population, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
Fink explained that the increasing costs of living a Jewish life in the US — from education to kosher food — weighed heavily on his family’s decision to make the move to Israel.
While they first considered making aliyah five years ago, Fink and his family had to put the plans on hold for personal reasons — returning to the idea only in the past few months when the timing finally worked in their favor.
“We started planning it seriously in November and began the entire process with Nefesh B’Nefesh,” Fink told The Algemeiner. “It’s been a nonstop whirlwind ever since.”
For them, the current war did not stop their plans, but it did influence the cities they explored for their new home.
“The war really reinforced for us the importance of supporting Israel and our community,” Fink said. “By making aliyah, we felt we could do even more to help.”
Even though it is difficult to leave behind family and close friends, they look forward to reconnecting with friends in Israel, making new connections, and building a vibrant new community.
“Making aliyah in less than six months has been a whirlwind. I’d encourage anyone considering it to give themselves at least twice as much time, double the budget, and be prepared for plenty of unexpected starts and stops along the way,” Fink told The Algemeiner.
Nefesh B’Nefesh provides assistance to families throughout their entire aliyah journey, offering guidance before relocating and continued support once in Israel.
The Israeli government also complements these efforts with resources and financial incentives to help newcomers settle and ease their transition into their new lives.
“Once the ticket is finally in your hand and you’re waiting to board the plane, you realize that all the challenges and obstacles along the way were worth it,” Fink said.
Veronica Zaragovia was also one of the 225 olim who joined the flight earlier this week.
Similarly to Fink and his family, Zaragovia decided to make aliyah, driven not just by her love for Israel, but also by the increasing challenges of being Jewish abroad and the hope of making a meaningful impact by serving her community.
From Florida, she embarked on the journey alone, excited for all the new opportunities and possibilities that awaited her in her new home.
“I want to take pride in being Jewish and in Israel — that’s why I’m making aliyah,” she told The Algemeiner, reflecting on the move she has been planning for the past two years.
“It’s a huge concern for me that in some places in the US, I can’t — or maybe shouldn’t — wear my Star of David necklace,” she said. “I don’t feel that Jews can be fully safe anywhere in the country. The rise in antisemitism has been truly shocking and deeply concerning.”
Zaragovia, who worked as a journalist in the US, said her love for storytelling and uncovering the truth played a key role in her decision to make this move.
“After Oct. 7, I felt that the way my colleagues and other journalists were covering Israel was wrong and unfair,” she said.
“As someone whose career is built on facts and truth, I didn’t see that reflected in their reporting. That’s why I decided to make a difference by being there myself,” she continued.
Rather than deterring her decision to make a change, Zaragovia explained that the current war only reinforced it.
“It became clear that I needed to go, be there with my people, and make a difference through my work,” she said. “I couldn’t have done this without Nefesh B’Nefesh. They’ve been incredible, guiding me every step of the way from start to finish.”