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Without Jewish friends at my school, I feel alone in my fears about what’s happening in Israel
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — My high school does not have a Jewish community, and it is part of a public school system whose teachers union endorsed a boycott of Israel in 2021. So the only Jewish community I have is at my synagogue. Beyond its walls I feel silenced.
I woke up Saturday morning to my mother asking me to talk about something serious at breakfast. I didn’t think much of this because I hadn’t checked my phone yet. My heart dropped when I learned Israel was attacked. I have family in Israel, and I know many people who have family in Israel. There was no other way to put it: I was scared. It lingered in my mind as I watched the Navy’s Blue Angels jets fly over San Francisco’s waterfront during the weekend’s Fleet Week celebrations, thinking about the rockets flying above Israel. I prayed for Israel that night but woke up Sunday to even more sad headlines.
That morning I headed to temple, where I teach Sunday school to third graders. It was no surprise we had fewer than 10 kids out of the 30 on the roster; many parents were apparently worried that the synagogue might be a target for protests or attacks. One little girl asked me where everybody was. We had a morning meeting discussing what had just happened, and we were told to be vague, to not answer questions, and to direct them to the lead teacher if the children did ask. I shook my head and told her, “I don’t know, I guess they had other things to do today.”
My temple had prepared a celebration for Simchat Torah. Instead, we gathered with other synagogues in the city at Congregation Sherith Israel to mourn the lives that were lost in Israel. As I headed home with a heavy heart, I read more and more articles being shared, but I was still left with so many unanswered questions, and I didn’t know what to say or do. My Jewish and non-Jewish friends ask me how I feel, and I don’t know exactly how to answer. I know I stand with Israel, but how do I know what is really going on when blame is being thrown in every direction?
I ended up calling one of the rabbis at my temple, and I asked him my questions and shared what I had seen on social media. I learned what is fueling the ongoing war and why it is so difficult to agree on one narrative because both sides want the same piece of land. I also learned that you can’t change anybody’s mind while trying to speak yours, for example speaking out against the antisemitism that Hamas represents. Some people will say that Israel had it coming, but then again, they listen to their families, and they stand with their own people.
I know people will be talking about this at school. I am not sure how to respond if somebody asks me about it because of how delicate this is for everybody. After the teachers union voted for the Israel boycott, my parents were questioning my sister’s and my safety in this district. I have no Jewish friends at school; I have nobody with whom I feel comfortable talking about Israel. I have my phone and I can call people from my temple, but it isn’t the same. If I wanted to talk about it, I would have to be extremely careful about what I say because I know how many people disagree with me. Many believe the Hamas attack was justified, while I believe it was terrorism. These kinds of disagreements can be dangerous. Palestinian protesters gathered at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco to support the attack on Israel as a legitimate fight against “oppression,” and countless others say that the attack on civilians — including women, children and the elderly — was an act of “resistance.” How is this the resistance if Hamas are ultimately hurting the Palestinians too?
It can be scary to openly identify as Jewish, but I do not hide that I am Jewish at school because I am proud of who I am and where I come from. Yet I have heard countless remarks about Jewish people in my school that make the antisemitism in this country truly personal for me. For example, when I told my “friends” that I was going to Jewish camp over the summer, somebody responded saying, “Is it Auschwitz? Because that’s a Jewish camp.”
I really couldn’t hide my shock, and as much as I try to shake comments like that one off, I suspect I will hear such comments now more than ever. I am not ready to get into heated arguments about who has been more violent, nor do I want to. For now, I will stand with Israel the way I stand for the Amidah prayer: proud, straight-backed and silent.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.