RSS
70 Faces Media to hold Jewish Digital Summit to help Jewish professionals do digital better
70 Faces Media, the parent company of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, is holding a three-day virtual conference in February aimed at helping professionals in the Jewish world amplify their impact online.
The Jewish Digital Summit 2024 will cover everything from how to make TikTok videos to bootcamp-style training on new tools that can improve website optimization, email marketing and graphic design. Suited both for those who attended last year’s Jewish Digital Summit as well as newcomers, the event will feature the latest industry insights and expanded networking opportunities.
Coming amid the backdrop of war in Israel and a surge in antisemitism in America both online and in the streets, the conference will also discuss strategies and tools for effectively combating online hate.
“This virtual gathering for Jewish professionals is an exciting way to learn about how to use the latest technology platforms and online tools, as well as a great opportunity to network with colleagues and experts in the Jewish online space,” said Jennifer Rubin, 70 Faces Media’s senior producer for digital events.
“In an age when everything has a digital component, it couldn’t be more important to be an expert in online communications, marketing and engagement,” Rubin said. “Knowing how to reach people online and engage them effectively is critical for Jewish institutions that want to expand their audience and get young Jews more involved in community life.”
The Jewish Digital Summit is aimed at anyone who wants to reach Jewish audiences online, including professionals and volunteers at synagogues, Jewish federations, schools, camps and other organizations and institutions. Sessions are also tailored to those who work with the Jewish community in strategic consulting, communications, marketing or public relations.
The event will take place on successive afternoons on Feb. 27-29, with each day’s programming starting at 12 p.m. ET. The event has a registration fee of $360. An early-rate of $199 is available through the end of January. Participants can register at Jewishdigitalsummit.org.
Among the featured speakers are Rachel Fish, executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism; author and journalist Mark Oppenheimer, who is now director of open learning at American Jewish University, and Seth Pinsky, CEO of the 92nd Street Y (92Y).
Jewish influencer Karen Cinnamon will talk about how to use Instagram to grow and engage audiences with maximum effectiveness. 70 Faces Media’s vice president of Audience and Digital Strategy, Rebecca Phillips, will discuss how to create and maintain effective online communication strategies, including visually appealing graphics and engaging messaging. A variety of speakers will share their expertise and actionable tips for using myriad technology platforms, including how to use AI tools to improve organizational workflow.
This the second annual Jewish Digital Summit being hosted by 70 Faces Media. Last year’s event, which drew over 600 participants, was organized to help attendees navigate the transformed digital landscape ushered in by the Covid pandemic. The producers of the Jewish Digital Summit also organized a “boot camp” over the summer aimed at helping synagogue professionals and a series of webinars in November focused on operating in a hostile online environment in the context of the war in Israel.
The summit in February will take stock of how online communication continues to evolve and change as we navigate the world after Oct. 7, when Hamas’s deadly attacks sparked the current war and set off a surge in antisemitism in North America and globally.
“What happens online matters,” said Clive Sirkin, president of 70 Faces Media’s board of directors and veteran corporate marketing executive. At this critical time, he added, “we want to help Jewish organizations hone their online strategies and adopt nimble and effective approaches for online growth and engagement.”
Sponsorships of the summit are still available, including booths in a virtual vendor expo, as well as enhanced networking opportunities to meet one-on-one with top consultants in Jewish and nonprofit communications.
To register for the 2024 Jewish Digital Summit, visit Jewishdigitalsummit.org.
70 Faces Media is the parent company of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact summit@70facesmedia.org.
—
The post 70 Faces Media to hold Jewish Digital Summit to help Jewish professionals do digital better appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login