Uncategorized
How the Israeli scouts became a refuge for Jewish teens in a post-Oct. 7 world
This article was produced as part of the New York Jewish Week’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around New York City to report on issues that affect their lives.
As a high school senior, the stress of college applications, homework and the looming end of childhood leaves me constantly waiting for Sundays. That’s the day I get to put on my khaki Tzofim, or Israeli Scouts, uniform — covered with pins, patches and signatures — and head to Manhattan’s East Side.
There, in a rented room in a Catholic school, is where I feel most grounded. There, I’m surrounded by people that understand the duality of being both American and Israeli, something that my born-and-raised American friends simply couldn’t understand. When I’m at a Tzofim meeting, surrounded by Israeli-American teens from across the city, the complexity of that dual identity doesn’t seem so complex.
Tzofim has been my refuge since shortly after the horrific events of Oct. 7, 2023. One bright November morning, just a few weeks after the attack, I was in my AP World History class, discussing nationalities and the role they play in history. My teacher decided to pick me as an example, pointing out to the class that my nationality is Israeli.
My classmates glared at me with newfound judgment. Suddenly, the labels I had always cherished — Israeli, Zionist, Jew — were no longer affirmations of pride. Instead, they felt like accusations, heavy with opinions and suspicion.
For the first time in my seven years of living in New York, I felt completely alone.
Two weeks later, I attended my first Tzofim activity. The meeting took place in a modest community space near Union Square, the room was filled with chatter, music and rows of teens in uniforms just like mine. Surrounded by peers who had similar fears about being judged for their Jewish and Israeli identities, I felt understood. I didn’t have to explain or defend who I was.
Founded in Israel in 1919 and brought to the United States more than 25 years ago, the Tzofim is a youth-led movement modeled loosely on the World Scouting Movement, but with a focus on Israeli culture and Jewish identity. It serves kids and teens ages 7 through 18 and emphasizes leadership, service and community.
Our New York chapter, Shevet Tapuach, meets weekly for programs that mix cultural education, team-building activities and discussions about Jewish identity and current events. Teens take on leadership roles: guiding younger scouts, organizing events and shaping the direction of the chapter.
After Oct. 7, participation in Shevet Tapuach surged — membership grew from 180 to more than 330 participants, according to our chapter head, Michal Poran. The teen division alone nearly doubled, from 54 to 95. What was once one of the smallest chapters in the U.S. became a thriving hub of Jewish teen life in New York.
This growth reflected a larger shift in post-Oct. 7 Jewish life: Many teens who had once felt only loosely connected to their Jewish or Israeli identity began seeking out safe spaces where they could feel seen and supported. In response, our chapter opened its doors more widely. What had previously been an Israeli-centered environment became a place where Jewish teens of all backgrounds could find belonging.
Poran called this shift a “rebranding,” sparked by the war in Israel. “We wanted to make this a community and a home for all Jews, a place to feel included, even if you’re not Israeli,” she told me.
Emma Navoth, an 18-year-old leader who has been in Tzofim since second grade, told me she’s watched the chapter transform. “So many teens who never thought about joining before are coming now,” she said. “People want a place where they feel safe and supported. For me, Tzofim has always been that, now it’s that for even more people.”
Another member, Liya Blinderman, explained that after Oct. 7, she realized that comfort couldn’t be found in the routines of school or casual hangouts with friends. What she needed was a community that understood what it felt like to wake up to news from Israel every morning, or to have family conversations constantly circle back to the war. “It became a meaningful outlet for me,” she told me. “A place where I could grow, connect, and give back. The support here isn’t just organizational, it’s deeply human.”
For these Jewish and Israeli teens in New York — myself included — the Scouts have become more than just an extracurricular activity. They’re an entry point into a longstanding tradition of leadership and resilience. Weekly meetings teach us not only about Israeli history and Jewish culture, but about standing strong in times of adversity.
As the new school year begins, I’m excited to see our group continue to grow — welcoming new members, planning community events, and finding new ways to speak up and support one another. For me, Tzofim isn’t just a reminder of who I am; it’s a way to shape who I want to become.
—
The post How the Israeli scouts became a refuge for Jewish teens in a post-Oct. 7 world appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Trump: Saudi Expressed Interest in Joining Abraham Accords
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-US President Donald Trump, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed display their copies of signed agreements as they participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Middle East neighbors, in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US, Sept. 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner
i24 News – US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he expected an expansion of the Abraham Accords soon and hopes Saudi Arabia will join the pact that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and some Arab states.
“I hope to see Saudi Arabia go in, and I hope to see others go in. I think when Saudi Arabia goes in, everybody goes in,” Trump told the Fox Business Network in an interview.
The leader spoke days after overseeing the Gaza ceasefire deal that ended the two-year-long war between Israel and Palestinian jihadists, launched on October 7, 2023 with a slaughter of some 1,200 Israelis in a Hamas-led massacre.
Meanwhile Trump has threatened Hamas following the horrific images from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas executed people suspected as collaborators with Israel, saying, “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”
Hours after the release of the final Israeli hostages under the US-brokered ceasefire, Hamas gunmen executed more than 30 Palestinians accused of treason and collaboration in what security sources and witnesses described as a brutal bid to reassert control over the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Uncategorized
Hamas Aims to Keep Grip on Gaza Security and Can’t Commit to Disarm, Senior Official Says
Hamas senior official Mohammed Nazzal speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Doha, Qatar, October 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Hamas intends to maintain security control in Gaza during an interim period, a senior Hamas official told Reuters, adding he could not commit to the group disarming – positions that reflect the difficulties facing US plans to secure an end to the war.
Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal also said the group was ready for a ceasefire of up to five years to rebuild devastated Gaza, with guarantees for what happens afterwards depending on Palestinians being given “horizons and hope” for statehood.
Speaking to Reuters in an interview from Doha, where Hamas politicians have long resided, Nazzal defended the group’s crackdown in Gaza, where it carried out public executions on Monday. There were always “exceptional measures” during war and those executed were criminals guilty of killing, he said.
PRESSURE TO DISARM
While Hamas has broadly expressed these views before, the timing of Nazzal’s comments demonstrates the major obstacles obstructing efforts to cement a full end to the war in Gaza, days after the first phase of the ceasefire was agreed.
They point to big gaps between Hamas’ positions and US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, ahead of negotiations expected to address Hamas’ weapons and how Gaza is governed.
Asked for comment on Nazzal’s remarks, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Israel was committed to the ceasefire agreement and continued to uphold and fulfil its side of the plan.
“Hamas is supposed to release all hostages in stage 1. It has not. Hamas knows where the bodies of our hostages are. Hamas are to be disarmed under this agreement. No ifs, no buts. They have not. Hamas need to adhere to the 20-point plan. They are running out of time,” it said in a statement to Reuters.
Trump’s September 29 plan called for Hamas to immediately return all hostages before committing to disarmament and ceding governance of Gaza to a technocratic committee overseen by an international transitional body.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the plan, saying it would dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities, end its political rule, and ensure that Gaza would never again pose a threat to Israel.
Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people and abducted another 251 during the October 7 attacks on Israel that triggered the war.
Pummeled by Israel in the war, the Palestinian Islamist group is under intense pressure to disarm and surrender control of Gaza or risk a resumption of the conflict.
Asked if Hamas would give up its arms, Nazzal, speaking on Wednesday, said: “I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?”
He added that issues to be discussed in the next phase of negotiations, including weapons, concerned not only Hamas but other armed Palestinian groups, and would require Palestinians more broadly to reach a position.
Asked for its response to Nazzal’s remarks, the White House directed Reuters to comments by Trump on Thursday.
“We have a commitment from them and I assume they’re going to honor their commitment,” Trump said, noting that Hamas had returned more bodies but without elaborating on the issue of it disarming or its interim presence on the ground.
Nazzal also said the group had no interest in keeping the remaining bodies of deceased hostages seized in the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Hamas has handed over at least nine out of 28 bodies. It was encountering technical problems recovering more, he said, adding that international parties such as Turkey or the US would help search if needed.
A senior Turkish official said last week that Turkey would take part in a joint task force along with Israel, the US, Qatar and Egypt to locate the bodies.
Hamas agreed on October 4 to release the hostages and hand over governance to a technocratic committee, but said other matters needed to be addressed within a wider Palestinian framework. It released all living hostages on Monday.
Nazzal said the phase two negotiations would begin soon.
GOALS OF ELECTIONS, ‘HOPE’ FOR PALESTINIANS
On Tuesday, Trump said he had communicated to Hamas that it must disarm or it would be forced to. Trump has also suggested Hamas was given temporary approval for internal security operations in Gaza, and has endorsed Hamas killing members of gangs.
Noting Trump’s remarks, Nazzal said there was an understanding regarding Hamas’ presence on the ground, without specifying among whom, indicating it was necessary to protect aid trucks from thieves and armed gangs.
“This is a transitional phase. Civilly, there will be a technocratic administration as I said. On the ground, Hamas will be present,” he said. After the transitional phase, there should be elections, he said.
Nazzal said mediators had not discussed with the group an international stabilization force for Gaza, which was proposed in Trump’s ceasefire plan.
Hamas’ founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although the group’s leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
Israel regards this position as a ruse.
Nazzal said Hamas had suggested a long-term truce in meetings with US officials, and wanted a truce of at least three to five years to rebuild the Gaza Strip. “The goal isn’t to prepare for a future war.”
Beyond that period, guarantees for the future would require states to “provide horizons and hope for the Palestinian people,” he said.
“The Palestinian people want an independent Palestinian state,” he added.
Uncategorized
Gaza-Egypt Border Crossing Will Remain Closed, Netanyahu Says
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel line up at the crossing into the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border on the Egypt side, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Rafah, Egypt, October 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, adding its reopening will depend on Hamas handing over bodies of deceased hostages.
Netanyahu’s statement came shortly after the Palestinian embassy in Egypt announced that the Rafah crossing, the main gateway for Gazans to leave and enter the enclave, would reopen on Monday for entry into Gaza.
Hamas said later on Saturday it will be handing over two more hostage bodies at 10 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), meaning 12 out of 28 bodies will have been handed over to Israel under a US-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal agreed between Israel and Hamas last week.
ISRAEL SAYS HAMAS TOO SLOW TO RETURN BODIES
The dispute over the return of bodies underlines the fragility of the ceasefire and still has the potential to upset the deal along with other major issues that are included in US president Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war.
As part of the deal, Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages it had been holding for two years, in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners jailed in Israel.
But Israel says that Hamas has been too slow to hand over bodies of deceased hostages it still holds. The terrorist group has so far returned 10 of 28 bodies and says that locating some of the bodies amid the vast destruction in Gaza will take time.
The deal requires Israel to return 360 bodies of Palestinian militants for the deceased Israeli hostages and so far it has handed over 15 bodies in return for each Israeli body it has received.
Rafah has largely been shut since May 2024. The ceasefire deal also includes the ramping up of aid into the enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people were determined in August to be affected by famine, according to the IPC global hunger monitor.
After cutting off all supplies for 11 weeks in March, Israel increased aid into Gaza in July, scaling it up further since the ceasefire.
Around 560 metric tons of food had entered Gaza per day on average since the US-brokered truce, but this was still well below the scale of need, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
Formidable obstacles to Trump’s plan to end the war still remain. Key questions of Hamas disarming and how Gaza will be governed, the make-up of an international “stabilization force” and moves towards the creation of a Palestinian state have yet to be resolved.