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New York City Marathon runners to wear T-shirts with pictures of hostages held by Hamas
(New York Jewish Week) – On Sunday, Mark Shapiro will be running his 15th New York City Marathon. But as he joins the 50,000 or so runners setting out on the 26.2-mile route, he’ll do something he’s never done before: wear a T-shirt adorned with the image of an Israeli child held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
“These are civilians and [Hamas] crossed every line. Everyone needs to support these innocent people and the hostages and their families,” Shapiro said. “It’s the biggest marathon on the planet, it gets the most coverage. Everybody who can do so really needs to use this as a platform.”
Shapiro is one of two dozen marathon runners who will race while wearing the picture of a child kidnapped by the terror group, which killed and wounded thousands in its Oct. 7 invasion of Israel while taking some 240 people captive, including dozens of children. In the nearly one month since, a massive global movement has emerged to draw attention to the hostages’ plight amid Israel’s onglong war with Hamas in Gaza. The effort has included the dissemination and posting of “Kidnapped” flyers across the globe, as well as public displays such as empty Shabbat tables, strollers and beds to symbolize the hostages’ absence.
“We just thought it would be a good way for us here in New York to remind the world to not forget about the hostages and about the fact that we have 30 children still kidnapped,” said Shany Granot-Lubaton, a prominent Israeli activist in New York City. “We’re trying to keep everyone aware of this in any way we can and the marathon is this huge event in New York.”
The New York City Marathon is the world’s largest, last year boasting more than 47,800 finishers from 131 countries. In addition, thousands of spectators line the route, which begins in Staten Island and stretches across the boroughs before ending in Central Park in the West 60s. This year’s race, the 52nd annual marathon, will be broadcast on ESPN2 as well as locally, on WABC-TV Channel 7.
Granot-Lubaton has been at the forefront of local advocacy efforts for the hostages in New York City. In the aftermath of the attack, the group she helps organize, UnXeptable — which once focused on protesting the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul — changed its motto from “Saving Israeli Democracy” to “Saving Israel.”
Over the past few weeks, Granot-Lubaton has spearheaded several events designed to raise awareness about the hostages, including a candlelight vigil at Columbus Circle on Wednesday night and demonstrations in front of the United Nations. She has also worked with delegations of the families of the missing as they arrived in New York to meet with government officials and the press.
Yaakov Shapiro, a 29-year-old Israeli who is not related to Mark Shapiro, will run this Sunday not only wearing a hostage T-shirt but also wrapping himself in the Israeli flag. Running the marathon has been a dream for him since he moved to New York three years ago, he said, and despite contending with a stress fracture, he felt the attack and the war between Israel and Hamas has made him more committed than ever to complete the race’s grueling course.
“It was a really challenging month — I feel like I literally have nothing left to lean on,” he told the New York Jewish Week. “But somehow I just keep going because I’m full of hope for a better future and for peace.”
He added, “It’s such a big day — the whole city is shut down and everyone is celebrating. It’s a great opportunity to stand out and to show what I believe in. On top of celebrating my first marathon ever, I’ll also be celebrating the fact that I’m a proud Israeli.”
A crowd of supporters will gather on Sunday at Columbus Circle, near the finish line, where they’ll hear remarks from the brother of Yarden Roman-Gat, a 35-year-old mother who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, according to the Times of Israel. Her husband, Alon Gat, and their 3-year-old daughter, Geffen, escaped.
“Time is running out,” Granot-Lubaton said. “It’s almost a month now that they’re over there and we need to save them.”
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The post New York City Marathon runners to wear T-shirts with pictures of hostages held by Hamas appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Benjamin Netanyahu was burned in effigy on the streets of Montreal during a Friday night riot
Justin Trudeau condemned for subsequently attending a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto.
The post Benjamin Netanyahu was burned in effigy on the streets of Montreal during a Friday night riot appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut
Illustrative. Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon October 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
JNS.org – A massive explosion in a building in Beirut on Saturday killed 11 people and wounded dozens in what Arab media said was a failed Israeli attempt to kill Hezbollah’s head of operations, Muhammad Haydar.
Israel did not immediately claim responsibility specifically for the explosion early on Saturday in the eight-story building in the Lebanese capital’s Basta neighborhood. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said only that Israel struck an unspecified target in Beirut, the fourth strike in the city in a week.
Basta is situated in the city’s center. The bulk of Israel’s strikes in Beirut have been in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in the city’s south.
Lebanese media reported that at least 63 people were wounded in the strike.
Avihai Edraei, the head of the Arabic-language department of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a tweet on X on Saturday calling on residents of Dahiyeh to evacuate their homes. They are living near Hezbollah installations, he said, against which “the IDF will act in the near future.”
The targets of Saturday’s strikes “were located by Hezbollah in the heart of the civilian population. Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians,” the IDF wrote in a statement. A headquarters, a weapons depot, “and additional Hezbollah terror infrastructures” were attacked, the statement said.
According to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Israel has killed 2,450 terrorists in Lebanon and Syria. Lebanese health authorities said that 3,365 people have died in strikes by Israel. Those data do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. On the Israeli side, terrorists have killed 121 people, with 76 of them being soldiers.
The post Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities
Zvi Kogan. Photo: LinkedIn via i24 News
i24 News – i24NEWS learned chilling details about the disappearance of Chabad emissary Zvi Kogan, who went missing last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Kogan did not show up for scheduled meetings he had during the day. After he failed to make contact, his wife contacted the security officer of the Chabad house, who alerted the local authorities. Information about the incident was also shared with the Israeli authorities.
Kogan disappeared from a location about an hour and a half from Dubai. i24NEWS can report that complaints were made to both the Dubai Police and the Abu Dhabi Police on Thursday, yet no actions were taken by either.
i24NEWS also became privy to the information that although Kogan’s car got a speeding ticket on its way to Oman, in this case too the authorities in the Emirates and Oman did nothing.
i24NEWS can also confirm that there is tremendous anger in Israel at the Emiratis, who did not respond to the suspicious signs and did not act in time. In fact, actions were only taken after the intervention of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
The story has troubling echoes of the abduction by Iranians of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd; he was kidnapped from Dubai to Iran via Oman and was eventually executed.
The post Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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