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A group of Israeli emissaries toured a Palestinian museum in DC, and came away with questions
WASHINGTON (JTA) — For Rotem Yerushalmi, a professional campus pro-Israel advocate, what stood out during a recent visit to the Museum of the Palestinian People was an exhibit showcasing different villages’ ceremonial dress.
She strolled past references to the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” and denotes the dispersion of Palestinians during Israel’s War of Independence. And she gazed upon a photograph of an elderly man clutching the key to the dwelling his family left amid that year’s Arab-Israeli war. None of those surprised her.
“The references to the key, the Nakba, were very familiar,” Yerushalmi said. “But the garb! I didn’t know they had different dresses for different areas.”
Yerushalmi was part of a delegation of about 20 Israeli emissaries stationed at U.S. universities that visited the museum late last month. It was the first-ever tour the museum had organized for a group of Israelis.
Like most Jews in Israel, many of them had relatively few interactions with Arabs inside the country, and learned little about Palestinian culture and history in school. But here at the Washington museum, located just a mile from Yerushalmi’s post at Georgetown University, they got a view into a society that is both largely off-limits to them and entwined with their country’s future.
“It’s important because it humanizes each other, I think, for Israelis to hear the Palestinian perspective,” said Bshara Nassar, a Palestinian from Bethlehem who founded the one-room museum in 2019. “Actually having a wall that separates Palestinians from Israelis — there is no way, there is no place to interact.”
The tour was the brainchild of Jonathan Kessler, the former longtime head of student affairs at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby. He now helms Heart of a Nation, which organizes people-to-people encounters between young Israelis, Palestinians and Americans — and which marks a turn away from the pro-Israel advocacy he once championed.
“For the first time, maybe in my lifetime, you’ve got young people from all three societies who simultaneously recognize that their politics is stuck and they desperately want to push forward into a better place,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
He worries that unless they move beyond their “narrow communal silos,” young Jews in the United States “will further distance themselves from Israel, young Israelis will turn their back on the pursuit of peace with the Palestinians, and young Palestinians will give up on coexistence with Israel.”
Recommending a tour of the museum, he said, was a way to make that happen. The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Campus Israel Fellows, which brought the emissaries to Washington, D.C., asked him to recommend museum tours for the group, and he suggested the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of African American History and this tiny, barely known institution.
Mohammed El-Khatib, a docent at the Museum of the Palestinian People, leads a group of Jewish Agency emissaries through the museum in Washington, D.C., March 22, 2023. (Ron Kampeas)
For at least some of the emissaries, the visit had Kessler’s intended effect. Mohammed El-Khatib, the group’s docent, described his experience as a Lebanese-born Palestinian refugee, and told of his family’s flight from their ancestral village during Israel’s War of Independence.
“It opens our mind to hear his perspective, to hear him say that he’s Palestinian, but he’s never been to Palestine, he was born in Lebanon, but he identifies as a Palestinian,” said Lielle Ziv, who works at Cleveland Hillel. “He told a story, and not like, right or wrong, it’s not a black-and-white situation. We can both be right,”
The museum is nestled in a townhouse adjacent to a pet care outlet, a Middle East bookstore and a chocolatier. A similar and larger museum in the Palestinian West Bank city of Birzeit, called the Palestinian Museum, is in territory that is off-limits to Israelis.
At the Washington museum, there was a lot of common ground: A Kurdish Israeli emissary said the keffiyeh in one exhibit reminded him of pictures of his male relatives, who wore similar headdresses before they left Iraq for Israel. El-Khatib was pleased to learn that the Arabic name for Hebron, Al Khalil, has the same meaning as the city’s Hebrew name — a “friend of God.”
One of the Israelis recognized the British Mandate passport on display, which once belonged to a Palestinian woman. His grandmother had one that was identical, he said.
When El-Khatib greeted the group, he said “Marhaba, Shalom,” respectively the more formal Arabic and Hebrew terms of welcome, and the group spontaneously answered with “Ahalan,” a less formal Arabic greeting that is commonplace among Israelis. That delighted El-Khatib.
The group was similarly pleased when he showed off some Hebrew phrases in a pitch perfect Israeli accent, which he said he learned from an Israeli ex-boyfriend. The group then pushed him to spill more details about his ex.
“In campus encounters we’re always kind of on duty,” said Nati Szczupak, the director of the Campus Israel Fellows program. “They’re on duty, right? They’re pro-Palestine. We’re pro-Israel. And it’s very rare that you can just talk and get to those moments of like, ‘Hey, I used to wear that hat too, when I was little.’”
She was referring to an exhibit on different types of Palestinian headwear that included a fez, or traditional Moroccan hat, which elicited a squeal of delight from a Moroccan Jewish emissary who said she had a photo of herself as a toddler sporting one of her ancestors’ fezzes.
“It’s not about facts,” Szczupak said. “We know the facts. What about the narrative? What is your story? We’re not arguing about the facts, but how we experienced them.”
The museum’s exhibits include photographs of Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and in exile, and are marked by contrasts: images of resistance — of a small boy throwing stones — and of the mundane — of young men playing soccer. Arrays of black-and-white photos from the late 19th and 20th centuries feature celebrations juxtaposed with resettlement in refugee camps.
A case includes Palestinian glassware, pottery and headwear throughout the ages. There was a temporary exhibit of line drawings by a contemporary Palestinian artist, and a wall titled “Making their mark” of prominent Palestinians — including Rashida Tlaib, the Democratic congresswoman from Michigan; the late Edward Said, the literary critic and scholar; the sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid, who are models; and DJ Khaled, the rapper.
The museum does not hold back from addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict’s most vexing issue — each side’s fear that the other side wants to replace it — was most evident in the museum’s maps: One depicted the scattering of the Palestinians throughout the Diaspora, and others showed how Israel expanded its territory from the land it was given in the 1947 United Nations partition plan.
Outside the museum, while the Israelis were waiting for the tour to start, a pair of the Israel fellows examined a poster for an exhibit, “The Art of Weeping, by a Palestinian artist, Mary Hazboun. The line drawing of a Palestinian mother in a traditional dress, carrying her babies, evoked the map of the entirety of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank — and then some.
“The proportions are interesting,” one said to the other, in Hebrew. “It includes not just Israel and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but the Golan Heights and a part of Jordan.”
Ziv said the tour made her think that she “would like more connections” with Palestinians — and it was clear that it was easier to make those connections in Washington than it would be in Tel Aviv or Jenin. El-Khatib said he had never met an Israeli before he moved to the United States.
“When we have Palestinian visitors coming to the museum, they quickly doze off — I mean, to them, it’s more about the achievement of the space,” El-Khatib said. “But when this group came in, I really felt that they were very attentive and hanging on to every word that I said, which was wonderful.”
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Australian Teen Wounded While Shielding Children During Bondi Attack Says She Is Not a Hero
Bondi shooting survivor Chaya Dadon, 14, holds a pendant, in the shape of Israel, and a partial Star of David engraved on it, that she bought a few hours before the shooting in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 19, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Cordelia Hsu
As two gunmen opened fire on hundreds celebrating Hanukkah on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, 14-year-old Chaya Dadon’s mind was clear.
Across from where she had taken cover from the gunshots under a bench, Dadon saw two children stranded out in the open, beside their wounded parents.
“I knew in that moment, I felt like Hashem was sitting right next to me,” she said in an interview with Reuters, using a Hebrew name for God. “He was whispering into my ear, ‘This is your mission: go save those kids.’”
The schoolgirl left the safety of her hiding spot, pulled the children away, and jumped on top of them, covering their bodies with her own. At some point, she was shot in the thigh. But she kept shielding them, reciting the Shema, a Jewish prayer.
“I knew I got shot, but I wasn’t even worried. I channeled all that energy that I had into strength, and I made sure that I knew I had to be there for those kids,” she said.
“If I could give up my life saving these children, that’s what I was going to do.”
Her father eventually found them and took her to get help. “When he found me, he told me this after, that I had the girl in this arm and the boy in this arm. And I was just kissing them.”
Sunday’s attack, which officials described as an act of terrorism, killed 15 people and wounded dozens more in Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades. Police allege the Islamic State-inspired attack was carried out by Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed. Sajid was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed has been charged with 59 offenses including murder and terror.
Dadon’s story is one of several accounts of bravery and heroism that have emerged in the attack’s aftermath, and she resists being singled out.
“I don’t feel like I’m a hero. I feel like everyone was a hero in that situation,” said the teenager, who attended the annual event with a friend.
“I’ve been going my whole life,” she said. “It’s usually such an amazing event.”
Dadon spent four days at the Sydney Children‘s Hospital before returning home on Thursday. She is now walking with crutches, which she has decorated with stickers commemorating some of those who were killed.
She still does not know the children she shielded but hopes to connect with them again.
“Those little kids that have been through things that no one should have been through,” she said, but the ordeal would make the Jewish community stronger.
“Even if they can’t see it now, everyone is going to grow stronger because I really feel like that situation, everyone was tested.”
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In Pre-Recorded Message, Rob Reiner Encourages Holocaust Survivors to Be Resilient
Rob Reiner speaking in a pre-recorded message that was shared during the Claims Conference’s International Holocaust Survivors Night 2025. Photo: Screenshot
Famed Jewish Hollywood director Rob Reiner encouraged Holocaust survivors to “be resilient” in a video he recorded before he was killed that was shown for the first time on Thursday as part of The Claims Conference’s 9th annual International Holocaust Survivors Night.
Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead on Sunday at their home in Los Angeles. Their 32-year-old middle son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing of his parents and is being held without bail. Reiner co-starred in the sitcom “All in the Family” before becoming the famous director behind movies such as “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Spinal Tap: The End Continues,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally…” and “A Few Good Men.”
The Claims Conference, known officially as the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, is a nonprofit organization that, according to its website, seeks to “secure material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world.”
In his message for the Claims Conference event, Reiner began by talked about his personal connection to the Holocaust. His wife’s mother survived Auschwitz while her extended family was murdered in the Nazi death camp. Reiner’s aunt was also in Auschwitz.
“If ever we needed to be resilient, it’s now,” Reiner said in his message. “We’re living in a time now where what’s happening in our country is scary and reminiscent of what we’ve seen happen in the past, and we just hope that we can all survive this and that we can hold on to our democracy. Let’s be resilient.”
Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, said Reiner started working with the annual International Holocaust Survivors Night a few years ago. “He understood the importance of remembering the Shoah and honoring Holocaust survivors,” Schneider explained, using the Hebrew term for the Holocaust. “Shoah remembrance was deeply personal to Rob Reiner. Rob and Michele, we will carry on your values of acting with honesty, integrity, knowledge and education.”
The annual virtual event by the Claims Conference celebrates Holocaust survivors around the globe, while also honoring them for their sacrifice and contributions to the world. The special livestream program features a menorah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall in Israel and this year’s virtual event was co-hosted by actor and director Noah Emmerich, whose credits include “The Americans,” “The Truman Show,” and “Beautiful Girls.”
The livestream also paid tribute to Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, who was among the victims murdered on Sunday in the antisemitic attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia.
Seventeen Holocaust survivors from around the world spoke during the Claims Conference event, including survivors from The Netherlands and South Africa, and the theme of this year’s program was resilience. The livestream also featured celebrity guests such as Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Julianna Margulies, Jason Alexander, Tovah Feldshuh, Debra Messing, Mayim Bialik, and Patricia Heaton. There were musical performances from Grammy and Tony Award winner Barry Manilow and the New York-based a cappella singing sensation, Six13. Footage was also shown from a concert and ceremony by Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the Holocaust, to honor Holocaust survivors, with music originally arranged by 105-year-old Auschwitz survivor and conductor László Roth.
Crystal was among a group of Reiner’s close friends in Hollywood, including Albert Brooks, Larry David, and Martin Short, who issued a joint statement following Reiner’s death. They remembered him as “not only a great comic actor” but also “a master storyteller” who drew on everything he learned from his father, famed actor Carl Reiner, and his mentor Norman Lear, the legendary producer who created and cast Rob in “All in the Family.”
“Going to the movies in a dark theater filled with strangers having a common experience, laughing, crying, screaming in fear, or watching an intense drama unfold is still an unforgettable thrill. Tell us a story audiences demand of us,” the statement said, as cited by The Associated Press. “There is no other director who has his range. From comedy to drama to ‘mockumentary’ to documentary, he was always at the top of his game. He charmed audiences. They trusted him. They lined up to see his films.”
They also said in part that his “comedic touch was beyond compare” and that “to be in his hands as a film maker was a privilege but that is only part of his legacy.”
“Rob was also a passionate, brave citizen, who not only cared for this country he loved; he did everything he could to make it better and with his loving wife Michele, he had the perfect partner,” the statement said. “Strong and determined, Michele and Rob Reiner devoted a great deal of their lives for the betterment of our fellow citizens … They were a special force together-dynamic, unselfish and inspiring. We were their friends, and we will miss them forever. There is a line from one of Rob’s favorite films, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ‘Each man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?’ You have no idea.”
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Nearly 18,000 Gather at Barclays Center for Menorah Lighting in Tribute to Sydney Hanukkah Attack Victims
Eli Drizin reciting the blessing for lighting the menorah at Barclays Center on Dec. 18, 2025. Photo: Provided
Nearly 18,000 people gathered at Barclays Center in New York City on Thursday night for a menorah lighting that honored the 15 people murdered in Sunday’s terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.
“Nets fans, tonight as we celebrate the Jewish festival of light, we ask you to help us mourn the lives of those lost in the senseless attack that took place at the Bondi Beach Hanukkah festival in Sydney, Australia on Sunday,” the Barclays announcer told the crowd. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the victims, their families and friends, and the worldwide community.”
The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets took on the Miami Heat on Thursday night at Barclays Center. Between the first and second quarters of the game, a giant menorah decorated with basketballs was lit by 14-year-old Brooklyn resident Eli Drizin, who is the nephew of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of two Chabad rabbis killed in Sunday’s attack in Sydney. Fans in the arena stood in solidarity with Sydney’s Jewish community as the teen lit the menorah on the fifth night of Hanukkah. The candle lighting was also broadcast on television.
Drizin was accompanied by Rabbi Mendy Hecht of Chabad Prospect Heights and Rabbi Shimon Rivkin, director of Chabad Teen Network (CTeen) International, which co-organized the evening in collaboration with the Nets. After Drizin recited the blessings and lit the menorah, attendees broke into dance, which drew a standing ovation from the arena.
In an interview last year, the late Rabbi Schlanger said that in response to antisemitism, Jews should “be more Jewish, act more Jewish, and appear more Jewish.”
“After all that we’ve been through, having this big stage to share the Rebbe’s message that we could all be ambassadors of light, that each person could take the light of God and make it theirs and bring more light, is the most powerful thing,” said Rabbi Mendy Hecht. “This big menorah lighting was a huge uplift in morale for our people.”
CTeen is the world’s largest Jewish teen organization with 842 chapters in 67 countries. Thursday night’s event was attended by Jewish teens from across the New York tri-state area, and following the menorah lighting ceremony, young CTeen participants played a special halftime game on the home court of the Brooklyn Nets and also participated in post-game free throws.
“In light of the horrific events in Sydney, it’s so important for us to be together at this time, proudly celebrating our tradition,” said Jake Zborovsky, a junior at Northern Highlands High School in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, and member of Valley Chabad CTeen who played in the halftime game. “It was an honor to represent on the court.”
“Tonight, we saw the next generation refuse to be intimidated,” said Rabbi Shimon Rivkin. “Despite the tremendous pain, we cannot lose hope; the future of the Jewish people is bright, and these teens are leading the way.”
Chabad has hosted menorah lightings at major sporting events since 1987, with the first taking place at Hard Rock Stadium, formerly known as the Joe Robbie Stadium, in Florida. CTeen has previously organized ceremonies at Sunday Night Football games and SoFi Stadium.
The Nets roster includes Israeli players Danny Wolf and Ben Saraf. The Miami Heat beat the Brooklyn Nets 106-95 on Thursday night.