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30,000 Jewish Visitors Make Rosh Hashanah Pilgrimage to Ukraine, 14,000 Unable to Arrive Due to Mideast Conflict
Orthodox Jewish pilgrims sing and dance near the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov during celebrations marking Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in Uman, Ukraine, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Oct. 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Thomas Peter
The umbrella organization for Ukraine’s Jewish community announced on Telegram that while 30,000 Jews came to the Ukrainian city of Uman for the yearly Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage, an additional 14,000 were unable to arrive, in part due to rising tensions in the Middle East.
“More than 30,000 pilgrims arrived in Uman” as of Wednesday, wrote the United Jewish Community of Ukraine (UJCU). “More than 14,000 willing Hasidic pilgrims could not reach Uman. Some of them are due to yesterday’s massive shelling of Israel by Iran and the closure of airspace and cancellation of flights.”
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews flock to Uman each year for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the revered founder of the Breslover Hasidim, who died in 1810.
This year was going to be no different, despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. An Israeli diplomat had told The Times of Israel that the number of worshipers this year could reach a record 50,000.
Last week, however, the UJCU and Ukrainian news outlets said that attendance would be lower than expected due to escalating tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon, which caused a number of airlines to cancel flights that the Hasidic pilgrims were supposed to use to get to Ukraine.
And then on Tuesday, Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, raising fears of a broader regional conflict and leading some airlines to cancel more flights. The Iranian attack came amid an ongoing war between Israel and several Iran-backed terrorist groups — most notably Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, along with other armed militias in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The conflict began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages, about 100 of whom remain in captivity in Gaza.
“Although the interested parties are looking for a way out of this situation, a significant part of the thousands of pilgrims who want to get to Uman will not be able to do so,” the Historical and Cultural Center of Uman charitable foundation said in a message last week, according to the Ukrainian News Agency.
Since 2020, Ukrainian officials have warned against making the pilgrimage, first due to COVID-19 and then because of the war with Russia. The pilgrimage became more complicated when many commercial flights to Ukraine were suspended following Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022.
Last month, Ukraine warned Hasidic Jews to forgo this year’s pilgrimage to Uman due to the war with Russia.
“Russia’s ongoing full-scale military aggression against Ukraine poses real threats to people’s lives and safety, [making] it impossible to guarantee the safety of foreign citizens on the territory of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kyiv added that there is a “legal regime of martial law which provides for a number of additional regulations, including restrictions on freedom of movement, a curfew and enhanced patrols, a ban on holding mass events and gatherings, as well as the application of coercive measures against persons who will not comply with the established restrictions.”
Nevertheless, last year, more than 35,000 worshipers celebrated Rosh Hashanah at the grave of Nachman, despite Ukrainian authorities issuing similar warnings as they are now about visiting the city amid war with Russia.
As for this year, photos have already emerged of pilgrims both praying and celebrating the Jewish new year near Nachman’s grave.
Orthodox Jewish pilgrims dance outside the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov during celebrations marking Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in Uman, Ukraine, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Oct. 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Located in the south of Ukraine in the Cherkasy region, Uman was once home to a thriving Jewish community. In 1941, however, the Nazis deported the city’s entire Jewish community, murdering 17,000 Jews and destroying the local Jewish cemetery — including Nachman’s grave, which was later recovered and relocated.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, several Jewish Orthodox families have moved to Uman.
The post 30,000 Jewish Visitors Make Rosh Hashanah Pilgrimage to Ukraine, 14,000 Unable to Arrive Due to Mideast Conflict first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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