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Israeli cops and firefighters barred by far-right minister from Wexner fellowships at Harvard University
(JTA) – Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is barring government employees under his supervision — including police officers, firefighters and prison officials — from participating in a longstanding and prestigious fellowship program for Israeli civil servants at Harvard University.
Ben-Gvir issued the ban due to what he calls the left-wing political bent of the program’s funder, the Ohio-based Wexner Foundation.
A far-right member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Ben-Gvir tweeted Monday that he made the decision to sever ties between the police and the foundation because of the foundation’s “involvement and cooperation with distinctly left-wing groups like Breaking the Silence.”
Both the Wexner Foundation and Breaking the Silence, an advocacy group that publishes testimonies by Israeli combat soldiers of alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank, have long been targets of the Israeli right.
The foundation has rejected Ben Gvir’s allegation of ideological bias. “We are not now nor have we ever been associated with any political party or ‘movement,’” a foundation spokesperson told the news outlet eJewishPhilanthropy.
Israel’s right-leaning Channel 14 news station reported Tuesday that the ban also applies to firefighters and prison officials. Five police officers who were slated to attend the fellowship program at Harvard next year will no longer be able to do so, according to eJewishPhilanthropy.
The foundation’s money comes from American Jewish philanthropist Les Wexner, a billionaire who made his fortune off retail brands including Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. The foundation has lately faced backlash over Wexner’s personal and financial ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even as it continues its many activities focused on the development of Jewish leaders in a wide range of fields.
More than 250 Israelis have graduated from Wexner’s leadership programs, which involve a period of study at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The list of alumni features former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi; Ami Ayalon, a former head of the Shin Bet security agency; and Yair Golan, a former top-ranking general and left-wing lawmaker; in addition to many mid-level officials in Israeli’s police and security establishment.
Ben Gvir is not the first on the Israeli right to target the foundation. Some of his political allies say that the fellowships work to spread progressive ideas imported from the United States across Israel.
Skepticism of programs serving Israelis but funded by American Jewish philanthropy has manifested regularly since Netanyahu’s most recent government, which includes far-right partners in senior roles, took office last year. One Netanyahu ally hoped to block a large cross-section of mainstream American donors from involvement in Israeli education but resigned from office before implementing the plan.
Ben-Gvir’s concern over the effect of American ideas on senior Israeli officers in some ways mirrors the criticism from some on the American left. The anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace has long campaigned against official trips to Israel taken by U.S. police officials, saying that these exchanges bolster a kind of policing that leads to brutality toward civilians. Israeli officials and the U.S. police delegations, as well as the trip organizers, deny those allegations, saying the trips do not teach physical tactics and mostly consist of lectures, meetings and tours.
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The post Israeli cops and firefighters barred by far-right minister from Wexner fellowships at Harvard University appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.