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Golda Meir may be having a moment, yet her memory endures in a Midtown plaza
(New York Jewish Week) — Golda Meir may have been known as the Iron Lady for her steady leadership of Israel, but her lasting mark on New York City was made in bronze.
A bronze bust of Meir is located in a plaza between 39th and 40th streets on Broadway in Manhattan. Since 1979 it has been known as Golda Meir Memorial Square.
The bust had already been commissioned when the plaza was dedicated in honor of Meir, Israel’s fourth and so far only female prime minister who died in 1978. Malcolm Hoenlein, then executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, consulted with Clara Stein, Meir’s sister, before approaching the city with a proposal for the square.
“We felt that for it to really be representative and to have a personal significance, a sign was not enough,” Hoenlein told the New York Jewish Week.
Meir visited — and extolled — New York multiple times before and after becoming Israel’s prime minister in 1969. She served in the role until 1974, when she resigned following Israel’s flawed but ultimately successful performance in the Yom Kippur War.
The last years of her life are getting another look with the new biopic about Meir’s life, “Golda,” starring Helen Mirren, set to hit theaters Friday. The film, directed by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv, takes place during the three-week period of the Yom Kippur War and focuses on Meir’s involvement in the war and her legacy.
It was just after Meir’s death that Hoenlein embarked on a plan to memorialize her. He approached Jack Weiler, an honorary chairman of JCRC who owned a building on 39th and Broadway, who offered the location for the plaza.
“He was very enthusiastic because he knew Golda well,” Hoenlein said of Weiler.
Meanwhile, sculpturist Beatrice Goldfine, who also knew Meir, volunteered to contribute the bust. Approximately 2 feet tall, it rested for decades atop a granite pedestal before being relocated more recently to a plinth surrounded by decorative foliage inside the plaza.
Hoenlein was drawn to the plaza because of its location in the heart of the Garment District — an area that was once dense with tens of thousands of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Another draw to the area was the Jewish garment worker sculpture just one avenue away.
When he chose the site, people warned Hoenlein that the Garment District’s demographics were changing, and the Jewish presence was starting to decline. “They were very concerned that [the bust] would be vandalized all the time,” he said. “The fact is it has never been vandalized. There was not one single anti-Israel or antisemitic attack on the location.”
The only damage to the bust has, he said, been the result of pigeons who he assumes “are not lined up with any particular ideology.”
The addition of the sculpture also aimed to make the plaza a gathering space. Hoenlein recalled using it as a space for various pro-Israel rallies over the years.
Meir frequently visited New York. She called it “a haven of refuge” for Jewish people from “the tears, fears, humiliation, degradation and death that was the share of Jews in Eastern Europe,” in a 1969 visit to New York covered by JTA.
During that three-day stay, Mayor John Lindsay presented Meir with the key to the city and the Gold Medal of the City, the highest award.
“Israel has conquered the desert and defeated it, but today, a single woman has conquered the heart of New York. New York is yours,” he told her.
“She visited New York on numerous occasions. She had close ties and many close friends, people that she knew well,” Hoenlein said.
In 1947, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion planned to go on a fundraising tour in the United States, but Meir insisted that she go instead.
“Two days later, with no more baggage than the thin spring dress she wore and the handbag she clutched in her hand, she arrived in New York on a bitter winter’s night, so precipitate had her departure been that she had not had the time to take the convoy up to Jerusalem to fetch a change of clothes,” according to the Yeshiva University Library’s blog. “The woman who had come to New York in search of millions of dollars had in her purse that evening exactly one ten-dollar bill. When a puzzled customs agent asked her how she intended to support herself in the United States, she replied simply, ‘I have family here.’”
Meir visited the Modern Orthodox flagship on two occasions: in 1963, addressing the alumni association as Israel’s Foreign Minister, and in 1973, as Israel’s prime minister, to receive an honorary degree.
Golda Meir was born in Kyiv in 1898, but moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her family in 1906. She lived in the Midwestern city until 1921, when she emigrated to Palestine with her husband.
The new biopic isn’t the first portrayal of Meir’s life. In New York, there was the 1977 Broadway production “Golda” by William Gibson that Meir attended at the Morosco Theater in New York and called “terrific!” Gibson revisited Meir with a 2003 one-woman Broadway show, “Golda’s Balcony,” starring Jewish actress Tova Feldshuh as Meir.
Meir had strong feelings about the city. Coming from a family of refugees with roots in Czarist Russia, “The first lesson of what democracy really means, I learned here,” Meir said during one of her New York visits.
There’s a plaque in Meir’s honor inside a Milwaukee library, and a school named for her there; her only known surviving residence in the United States, in Denver, has been turned into a small museum after narrowly escaping demolition in the 1980s. Meanwhile, a life-size statue of her sits on a park bench in Tel Aviv with one depicting David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, and her legacy looms large in Ukraine, where leaders and soldiers alike say they take inspiration from Meir’s fierceness in fighting for her own country’s survival.
But Golda Meir Memorial Square is by the far the most-visited site dedicated to her — even if most of the people passing through don’t know the significance of the location.
“New York was the center of Jewish life, it still is, and is the appropriate place to have this kind of commemorative site,” Hoenlein said. “I don’t think that there’s another one like it in the United States that is a gathering point and perpetuating Meir’s memory for over 40 years.”
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Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations
Fans of Argentinian soccer club All Boys marched through the streets before their match against Atlanta soccer club, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Photo: Screenshot
Argentinian authorities and soccer officials have launched investigations following antisemitic incidents by Club Atlético All Boys fans during Sunday’s local match against Atlanta.
Atlanta, a soccer team based in the Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, has deep historical ties to Argentina’s Jewish community, which has long been a significant presence in the area.
This latest antisemitic incident took place outside the stadium before the game had even started.
All Boys fans were seen waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag, and handing out flyers bearing messages like “Free Palestine” and “Israel and Atlanta are the same crap.”
Before a football match today against the Argentine sports club Atlanta, which is closely associated with the Jewish community, fans of the opposing team, All Boys, waved Islamic Republic and Palestinian flags while parading a coffin draped in an Israeli flag through the streets.… pic.twitter.com/IQs4v6eoFz
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 29, 2025
Then, during the match — which ended in a 0-0 draw — a drone carrying a Palestinian flag flew over the stadium, while some fans reportedly chanted anti-Israel slogans.
Local police confirmed they have issued citations to individuals accused of inciting public disorder and related offenses.
On Monday, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) condemned the incidents as “abhorrent” and confirmed the organization has opened a formal inquiry into the events.
“This is not folklore. This is discrimination,” the statement reads.
Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich also announced that a criminal complaint has been filed, citing “acts of violence, expressions of racial and religious hatred, and public intimidation.”
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, condemned the incidents and called on both local authorities and the soccer officials to “take firm action against these acts of hatred.”
“We urge the authorities to take all necessary actions and apply the full force of the law,” the statement reads. “Violence and discrimination must have no place in our society.”
Repudiamos enérgicamente las expresiones antisemitas ocurridas hoy en las inmediaciones del estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Exigimos a las autoridades correspondientes, a la AFA y al Club All Boys que actúen con firmeza ante estos hechos de odio.
La violencia y la discriminación no… pic.twitter.com/3AmY7IQscY— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 29, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to a recent report by DAIA, Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in antisemitic activity last year, with 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded — up from 598 incidents in 2023 — marking a significant rise nationwide.
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories, but there was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
The post Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Photo: File.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department [of Defense] assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran’s program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday’s briefing.
Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen [has] led us to believe that Iran’s — those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
Over the weekend, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes.
A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles are more neutral.
Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort.
The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
The post Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.