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Actress Emmanuelle Chriqui Talks About Jewish Pride, Growing Up in Modern Orthodox Family
Emmanuelle Chriqui attending the Creative Coalition Celebrate Election Night with a Star-Studded Dinner & Watch Party Held in Beverly Hills, California, Nov. 6, 2024. Photo: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images via Reuters Connect
Jewish actress Emmanuelle Chriqui opened up in a podcast interview on Tuesday about being raised in a Modern Orthodox household in Canada, being proud to be Jewish and how pro-Israel activists in Hollywood inspire her.
Chriqui, 49, was born to Moroccan Jewish immigrants in Montreal, Canada. Her late mother, Liliane, was born in Casablanca, while her late father, Albert, was born in Rabat and moved to Casablanca as a child. Growing up herself in Canada, Chriqui kept kosher at home and celebrated Shabbat every week with her family.
“I was raised in a small town outside of Toronto and we were two Jewish families but I lived in, I would consider, a Modern Orthodox home,” the former “Entourage” star told Jewish comedian Elon Gold during a guest appearance on his podcast “Stars of David with Elon Gold.”
“We did Shabbat dinner every Friday [and] Shabbat lunch Saturday. Dad went to temple,” she said. “All our biggest fights were [about] going out on Friday night. And my mom was an extraordinary cook. In Canada in the winter time, I would race home from school [on Fridays] so I could plug in the water, light the candles, cuz I’d be the first one home, turn the oven on low, all the things. We had milk and meat separate at home.”
The “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” star added that she still lights Shabbat candles every week in her home. She also noted that her favorite Jewish holiday is Rosh Hashanah. Explaining why, she said: “I love new beginnings; renewal. I love the symbolism, the food, [and] as much as I dread that it means Yom Kippur is around the corner, I love this time and I love how I feel after Yom Kippur.” She said in a previous interview that she includes a clause in her acting contracts, stating that she will not work on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.
Chriqui has been an avid supporter of Israel for many years. After the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel last year, she expressed solidarity with Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas. She signed an open letter condemning the US-designated terrorist organization, has advocated for the release of the hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and shared posts on social media about the need to bring the hostages home. She has also supported efforts to counteract boycotts of Israel, including efforts to have Israel banned from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Since 2020, Chriqui has been in a relationship with American actor Sam Trammell, who in early 2024 condemned antisemitism.
“Obviously this past year has been incredibly confronting on so many levels and things have come up that I’ve never lived through before,” Chriqui said during her podcast interview this week, referring to the global experiencing a rise in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack. She also said she thinks the “silver lining” of this past year has been seeing how Jews in Hollywood are embracing their Judaism in different ways than perhaps before the Oct. 7 massacre.
“Like in my 20-plus years of being in Los Angeles, it’s never been like this. Like I can’t keep up with the invitations,” she said. “It’s never been that way. Jews, fellow Jews that were like Jew-ish, suddenly it means something different. And I think that’s the thing – being Jewish in this moment has taken on a different meaning.”
She said “very much so,” Jews are starting to express pride and unity in their Jewish heritage that she has not seen before. She also told Gold that Jewish friends and pro-Israel advocates in the Hollywood community inspire her, including Hen Mazzig, Noa Tishby, Mandana Dayani and Montana Tucker. “I’m very inspired by all of them,” she explained.
Chriqui was also asked about the backlash that some Jewish celebrities receive for not speaking out publicly either enough or at all in support of Israel.
“In the beginning, I think the sentiment was that we felt so alone so who are the Jews who have millions of followers that can affect change,” she said in response. “But it’s also about releasing expectations; releasing judgments. What I might do works for me, might not work for you. And I think really we need to be more tolerate with each other, especially within the community. That’s something that breaks my heart a little bit.”
“I think that speaking out against antisemitism on my platform, for me, is about standing tall in who I am. So it’s much less about what happened but really embracing who we are,” she noted.
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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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