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Israel’s National Security Council Issues Travel Warning Ahead of Jewish High Holidays Amid Terror Threats
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
Israel’s National Security Council on Wednesday issued a travel warning to Israelis and Jews planning to travel for the Jewish Holiday Holidays next week, urging them to be vigilant amid a historic surge in antisemitism and mounting threats from terrorist groups.
“Ahead of the High Holidays, during which hundreds of thousands of Israelis are expected to travel abroad, we would like to increase public awareness to the various terrorist threats abroad and suggest that those traveling follow the recommendations published on the website of the National Security Council (NSC),” the government body said in a message posted to its website.
The NSC emphasized the “dangers” of sharing or posting on social media any information that could identify one as being a member of or active in Israel’s security forces.
“Sharing any such information increases the risk that the person who shared it or is depicted in it will be marked as a target for attack,” the statement said. “Therefore, we recommend to avoid posting any content in any format that indicates or refers to service in the security forces, military operations, or any similar content.”
The NSC also underscored the “possible danger of being lured and kidnapped,” urging caution when being engaged by a stranger, whether in person or online.
The posting also recommended that, due to “the real life-threatening danger facing Israelis in these places,” the Israeli public refrain from traveling to Iraq (including Iraqi Kurdistan), Yemen, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt (including the Sinai Peninsula), and Turkey.
Next week, Jews around the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and then the following week will observe Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism known as the Day of Atonement. Together, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the Jewish High Holidays.
Both holidays fall near the one-year anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. During the onslaught, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped over 250 hostages while perpetrating rampant sexual violence against the Israeli people. The brutal invasion was the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Beyond launching the Israel-Hamas war, the Oct. 7 atrocities unleashed a historic surge in antisemitic incidents around the world, especially across the US and Europe. According to civil rights groups, several such outrages have been motivated by anti-Israel animus.
“We expect Oct. 7, 2024, (the one-year anniversary of the Swords of Iron War) to be a significant date for terrorist organizations (and in particular Hamas and Global Jihad factions). Around that time, efforts to carry out attacks against Israeli/Jewish targets abroad are expected to intensify, both in planned attacks and in local initiatives or lone-wolf attacks,” the NSC warned.
The NSC explained that since October, “a sharp increase has been identified in the motivation of terrorist groups and their efforts to carry out attacks against Israeli/Jewish targets around the world.”
The statement specifically noted Hamas’s efforts to attack Israelis and Jews abroad, as well as the threats and active terror plots from Iran and its chief proxy Lebanese Hezbollah, another Islamist terrorist group.
Islamic State (ISIS) has also encouraged its followers to carry out attacks in Europe in response to the war in Gaza, stressing the importance of plotting against Christian and Jewish targets, including synagogues.
“The growing threat and increase in terrorist activity against Israelis and Jews abroad is reflected in dozens of foiled attempted attacks targeting Israelis and Jews abroad (it has been made public that Iranian terrorist attacks against Israelis in Peru, France, Germany and Greece were thwarted) alongside several successful attacks, including those that took human life,” the NSC noted, citing specific examples such as arson against synagogues and the recent murder of four Israelis in Egypt.
Beyond terrorist groups, anti-Jewish hate crimes have spiked to record levels in several countries in Europe, North America, South America, and elsewhere.
“To conclude, the high motivation among terrorist organizations (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Global Jihad) alongside the anti-Israeli, anti-Jew hate-filled atmosphere in many countries since the beginning of the war, significantly increase the likelihood of lone-wolf assailants, grassroots organizations or organized terrorist groups carrying out attacks against Israelis/Jews abroad,” the NSC warned Israelis.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes ‘Cruelty’ After Israeli Minister’s Criticism
Pope Francis waves after delivering his traditional Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi speech to the city and the world from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, December 25, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican’s various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza.
“Yesterday, children were bombed,” said the pope. “This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart.”
The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel’s military campaign against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”
Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope’s remarks amounted to a “trivialization” of the term genocide.
Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.
The patriarch’s office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope’s remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.
Israeli officials were not immediately reachable for comment on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The post Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes ‘Cruelty’ After Israeli Minister’s Criticism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Pledges to Implement Lessons from Failure to Intercept Houthi Missile
Iranian-backed Yemeni terrorist leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – The Israeli military said on Saturday that while the investigation into the failure to intercept the missile that hit Tel Aviv early in the morning was still ongoing, some lessons were already being implemented. The ballistic missile, fired by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, landed at a playground in a residential area, leading to 16 people sustaining injuries from glass shards.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said that “some of the conclusions have already been implemented, in regards of both interception and early warning.”
The spokesperson added that “no further details regarding aerial defense activities and the alert system can be disclosed due to operational security considerations.”
The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as “acts of solidarity” with Palestinians in Gaza.
The post IDF Pledges to Implement Lessons from Failure to Intercept Houthi Missile first appeared on Algemeiner.com.