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Hecklers urge Israel’s president to pardon Netanyahu at American Zionist Movement conference in NYC
(JTA) — At the American Zionist Movement conference in New York City on Monday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog declined to respond to hecklers urging him to accept Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon.
The calls came after Herzog’s talk at the AZM Biennial National Assembly where he lamented growing antisemitism in the United States and condemned the city’s new Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who has faced criticism for his anti-Zionist advocacy.
When the audience was asked to direct questions at the Israeli leader, a delegate from the right-wing Zionist Organization of America rose and said, “Israel needs unity now, not vengeance. I’m calling on you to issue an immediate, unconditional pardon of Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
The audience erupted in shouting and several people called “shame” in Hebrew at the delegates, one of whom held a sign reading “Please, Pardon Natanyahu!”
“We made it very clear that we should focus on the challenges of the Zionist movement in America,” replied Herzog to the delegates, before moving onto the next question.
Netanyahu is currently facing three legal cases against him, including charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. Last month, Netanyahu formally requested a pardon from Herzog, weeks after President Donald Trump made an identical request on his behalf.
The ruckus over Herzog’s remarks demonstrated the diverse array of Zionist groups gathered for the AZM conference, which was titled “Zionism: Many Visions, One Dream.” After Herzog’s talk, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue delivered a keynote address where he called for the Zionist movement to widen its tent even further and welcome voices that are critical of Israel.
Directly before Herzog took the stage, he was also delivered a letter calling for him to decline the pardon request. It was organized by the Israeli expat group UnXeptable, which grew out of protests held before the war in Gaza aimed at blocking Netanyahu’s attempts to limit the power of the country’s Supreme Court.
“Mr. President, a clear refusal now would be a brave and necessary act – in defense of Israel’s democracy, in honor of our Jewish moral tradition, and for the sake of all citizens of the State of Israel and the Jewish people who care so deeply about its future,” the letter read.
The letter was supported by 25 American and Israeli progressive Zionist groups, including J Street, New York Jewish Agenda and New Jewish Narrative.
Netanyahu’s trial, which was first initiated in 2020 and has since undergone starts and stops, has sowed similar divisions within Israeli society.
On Tuesday, a survey published by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 50% of Israelis do not think Herzog should grant Netanyahu a pardon, while 41% think he should. Support for the pardon was also split between Arab and Jewish Israelis, with 43% of Jewish Israelis supporting the pardon compared to 30% of Arab Israelis.
During his Q&A with Jewish author Abigail Pogrebin, Herzog also took aim at Mamdani, saying that he was “extremely disturbed” by the new mayor-elect.
“The fact is that in the city, which comprises the largest Jewish community outside the United States, you have a mayor-elect who shows utter contempt to the nation state of the Jewish people,” said Herzog, adding that Mamdani’s rhetoric “worries me a lot.” Mamdani has pledged to honor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes were he to visit New York City.
Herzog also condemned Mamdani’s response to a protest last month targeting an Israeli immigration event at the Park East Synagogue. While Mamdani’s spokeswoman said the mayor-elect “discouraged the language” used at the protest, she added that “sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
Addressing Mamdani’s response to the protest, Herzog said “this is utterly anti-constitutional because of the right to practice your religion.”
On Sunday night at Yeshiva University’s 101st Hanukkah Dinner, Herzog also issued a sharp condemnation of Mamdani’s response to the protest, saying that “recent developments in New York City have raised a red flag.”
“The incoming mayor’s response was to suggest that Jews who consider fulfilling the ultimate Zionist dream of making aliyah are violating international law and the sanctity of the synagogue. This rhetoric is outrageous,” continued Herzog.
At the AZM convention, when asked by Pogrebin what his response was to the 33% of Jewish New Yorkers who voted for Mamdani, Herzog replied that he was “not here to judge anybody.”
“I’m just looking at from a bird’s eye view, as a leader of the Jewish people, as somebody who really cares for all Jewry and for its well being, and the fact that every Jew should not be harassed anywhere, anywhere in the world because of his or her faith, and that’s all I’m talking about,” continued Herzog.
But when Pogrebin pushed further, asking Herzog about “young Jews who are feeling disquieted by the war,” the Israeli leader defended his country’s conduct in the two-year campaign to rout Hamas and return Israeli hostages.
“I’m not shying away from any criticism during the last few years. I’m confronting it, and I’m explaining it,” said Herzog. “We yearn and operate towards to be perfect, but sometimes you have to defend yourself, and we are defending ourselves according to the basic, most inherent rights of self defense by the international rules of international law.”
The post Hecklers urge Israel’s president to pardon Netanyahu at American Zionist Movement conference in NYC appeared first on The Forward.
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Israel to Reopen Jordan Border Crossing for Passage of Aid, Goods After Terror Attack
Israeli police officers stand next to their cars at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Allenby Crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Sept. 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
Israel is set to reopen the Allenby Crossing with Jordan to the passage of goods and aid on Wednesday, an Israeli security official said on Tuesday.
The border crossing has been closed to aid and goods since September, when a driver bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel before being killed by security forces.
The security official said the crossing would have tightened screening for Jordanian drivers and truck cargo, and that a dedicated security force had been assigned to the crossing.
The Allenby Bridge is a key route for trade between Jordan and Israel and the only gateway for more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank to reach Jordan.
The crossing reopened to passenger traffic shortly after the attack, but had remained closed to aid trucks. The UN says the crossing is a major route for bringing food, tents, and other goods into Gaza.
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US Imposes Sanctions on Network It Accuses of Fueling War in Sudan
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, Jan. 20, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on actors it accused of fueling the war in Sudan, taking aim at what it said was a transnational network that recruits former Colombian military personnel and trains soldiers, including children, to fight for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The US Treasury Department in a statement seen by Reuters said that it imposed sanctions on four individuals and four entities that were part of the network, which it said was largely comprised of Colombian nationals and companies.
The Treasury said that since at least 2024, hundreds of former Colombian military personnel have traveled to Sudan to fight alongside the RSF, which the US has accused of committing genocide.
The Colombians have provided the RSF with tactical and training expertise and served as infantry and artillerymen, drone pilots and instructors, among other roles, with some training children to fight for the paramilitary group, according to Treasury, which added that Colombian fighters have participated in battles across Sudan, including in the capital Khartoum and al-Fashir.
“The RSF has shown again and again that it is willing to target civilians — including infants and young children. Its brutality has deepened the conflict and destabilized the region, creating the conditions for terrorist groups to grow,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, John Hurley, said in the statement.
Among those targeted was Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra, who the Treasury said was a dual Colombian-Italian national and a retired Colombian military officer based in the United Arab Emirates. It accused him of playing a central role in recruiting and deploying former Colombian military personnel to Sudan.
The UAE has been widely accused of arming the RSF, an accusation it has denied.
“The United States again calls on external actors to cease providing financial and military support to the belligerents,” Treasury said in the statement.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 out of a power struggle and has triggered famine, ethnic killings, and mass displacement. In November, US President Donald Trump said he would intervene to stop the conflict.
The United States, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia – known as the Quad – earlier in November proposed a plan for a three-month truce followed by peace talks. The RSF responded by saying it had accepted the plan, but soon after attacked army territory with a barrage of drone strikes.
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When Is a Wedding Too Extravagant?
A wedding ceremony, illustrative. Photo: Jason Hutchens via Wikimedia Commons.
It has been part of my life as a rabbi to attend weddings — more often than not, to “perform.” I reckon that I have attended approximately 100 weddings of various sizes, styles, numbers, and traditions. Some I have enjoyed, but I am finding it increasingly hard to feel comfortable about many of the religious weddings I have attended.
They are getting more and more protracted. People are forced to wait for hours. A wedding I once attended was so overcrowded by jostling relatives under the Chupah, that the father of the bride couldn’t get close enough to give his son in law a sip of the cup of wine.
One band plays for the reception, another for the Chupah, a third for Hasidic or Israeli dances, a fourth for ballroom dancing, and a fifth for a disco. One singer is for Ashkenazi cantorial style, one for Hasidic pop, one for Sephardi tunes, and another for Carlebach. As for food, a loaded reception is offered as people arrive, and sushi is a must. There are multiple servings and meals, and if there’s a Hasidic Mitzvah dance at the end, you’ll get a complete breakfast too.
It is fashionable in the Diaspora to fly in rabbis from Israel. An oligarch recently hired an airliner to ferry over musicians, artistes, and security alone. Consider the millions being spent each year on religious weddings. And then consider how much charitable and educational work could be accomplished instead of a one-night bash that disappears into photo albums a few hours after it is over, to be glanced at perhaps once a year thereafter. The cost and the waste is mind blowing.
Successful businessmen have to invite business contacts, flaunt their success to attract new capital, and invite gaggles of rabbis to prove their religious status and legitimacy. It is not just spoiled daughters who clamor for excess; it’s magnates, too.
Over the past 50 years of rising Jewish affluence, as well as continuing Jewish poverty, many religious leaders of all denominations have tried hard to limit excessive expenditures on weddings, to absolutely no avail. Desperate parents have offered apartments and cars instead of huge weddings. Occasionally, you hear of a couple who elope to Israel or just take a rabbi and two witnesses into Central Park, but the pressures are great — and in most Jewish circles, it is simply not an option.
Recently, I entertained a relatively humble Rosh Yeshiva from Israel with 10 children who has personal debts of $500,000 because of marrying off his five daughters. It was not just the cost of the wedding itself or all the celebrations. It was the need to buy an apartment for each that left him staggering under such a heavy load of debt. And at the same time, he must help and support his five sons who are also married but are studying full time. This is not atypical. A rented apartment is unacceptable nowadays. And the chances of someone with no serious secular education getting a good job are massively reduced in Israeli society, indeed in any society nowadays.
Judaism is expanding because of its families blessed with many children. And it is true that social welfare (incidentally a product of the secular culture they despise) enables this mindset. But eventually, at some point, social welfare will have to be cut back as fewer enter the workplace to fund all this with their taxes.
For our own good as a people, we must call a halt to throwing so much money away on pure self-indulgence. If we care for our future, we must give as much attention to supporting Jewish education as we do to celebrating occasions. And the place to start is weddings. Make your calculations. Then set budgets, be realistic, and divide the sum evenly between your needs and those of others.
It is a huge mitzvah to rejoice at weddings and to help couples get married. Every day in our prayers, we are reminded how important Hachnasat Kala is. But that doesn’t mean we should go overboard. There should be limits.
The author is a rabbi and writer based in New York.