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After Israel plunged into war, these Jews moved there anyway
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Yona and Mikhael Benichou decided over the summer to move to Israel from their home in France, they set a target date of around a year later — in time for their eldest son, David, 15, to begin his studies for Israel’s matriculation exams.
But after Oct. 7, they sped up their plans to immigrate, known in Hebrew as making aliyah. The straw that broke the camel’s back, Yona Benichou said, came a week after the attack when the family, who wear identifiably Jewish symbols, were spat on by a group of rugby fans while walking down the street in their hometown of Marseilles.
“I was in total shock, I didn’t know how to react. Lots of other people saw what happened but no one tried to help us,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“The antisemites were always there. But after October 7, we felt like they have a platform to do whatever they like and that no one — and definitely not the French authorities — can stop them.”
The Benichous landed in Israel on Oct. 31, arriving in a country still reeling from Hamas’ devastating attack on its southern communities and in the early stages of a grueling ground war that has reshaped society. They are among the more than 2,600 people whom Israeli authorities say have chosen to move to Israel over the last two months despite the crisis.
Almost all of the new arrivals had been planning to move to Israel for some time, though a handful, like the Benichous, have accelerated their immigration.
Aaron Gold, 26, had planned to move next year and was in the country visiting when the war broke out. His parents, alarmed by the emergency evacuation of American citizens and by the fact that Gold did not live in an apartment with a safe room, pressured their son to return to the United States. He flew back to Philadelphia on Oct. 18 but said he “despised” being there and returned to Israel as a new immigrant on Nov. 16.
Gold, a product manager at Deloitte, said making aliyah had “always been a dream of mine” and said he felt waiting to see how the war played out would not make any difference.
Aaron Gold poses with his mother before flying to Israel from the United States in November 2023. (Courtesy Gold)
“Hezbollah could attack now, they could attack in six months, they could attack in six years,” he said. “You can’t plan it.”
According to Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Ministry, 2,662 people have made aliyah since Oct. 7, including 1,635 from Russia, 218 from the United States, 128 from Ukraine, 116 from France, and 106 from Belarus.
The numbers are smaller than the average in recent years and dramatically lower than the same period for 2022, when 16,400 new immigrants arrived, propelled by people escaping the war in Ukraine. They also come at the end of a year when political discord in Israel had already depressed immigration beyond the usual rate.
Still, the new immigrants, known as olim, demonstrate that during challenging times, some Jews will still choose to move to Israel. And the organizations that support them say they anticipate a flood of arrivals in the near future, once the war ends but while concerns about spiking antisemitism are still fresh.
The Benichous reached out to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which has helped 317 people make aliyah since Oct. 7. The organization purchased flights for the family and donated around $2,000 toward the cost of furniture for the family’s new apartment in the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh.
According to the group’s president, Yael Eckstein, fewer new immigrants have arrived in Israel since Oct. 7 than other years due to a combination of canceled flights and decisions to put plans on hold until the security situation stabilizes. But she said she has seen an “increase in the number of requests for information about the immigration process from countries where cases of antisemitic incidents have risen.”
Nefesh B’Nefesh has facilitated aliyah for 384 people from the United States and Canada since the start of the war, mostly for people who had begun the process long before Oct. 7, the group’s vice president of communications, Yael Katsman, told JTA.
Still, like Eckstein, Katsman pointed to a “vast surge” in interest since the attack, marking an “an unprecedented increase” of more than 100% in aliyah applications compared to the same timespan in 2022. She attributed the spike to an increased “commitment to building Israel” by Diaspora Jewry during “difficult historic events.”
Many people who initiate aliyah applications, required for new immigrants to secure a range of benefits, do not end up completing them. But the chair of the Jewish Agency, which facilitates immigration, recently told an Israeli news station that he expects 1 million new Jewish immigrants in the coming years — a number that would dramatically reshape the country of about 10 million.
The agency’s head of international relations, Yigal Palmor, was more circumspect in comments to JTA but likewise said signs pointed to a rise in new arrivals. One thousand people initiated applications in France in October and November, according to agency data, marking a 470% increase over the previous two months.
“We’ve witnessed a dramatic rise in aliyah applications since the outbreak of the conflict, most notably in France and the U.S.,” Palmor said. “We will probably see the results in the coming months, but it’s premature to predict numbers.”
People get information about moving to Israel at a Jewish Agency fair in France in December 2023. (Courtesy Jewish Agency for Israel)
Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer told JTA in a statement that his ministry was preparing for a surge in immigration as a result of the war.
Since Oct. 7, there has been “a lot of interest [in immigration] from young people, students and young couples from western countries, including those from western European countries where people in the past did not show much interest in immigrating,” Sofer said.
The two main reasons, he said, were “growing antisemitism around the world, and solidarity with Israel.”
Gold said antisemitism in the United States redoubled his commitment to move to Israel permanently.
“You kind of realize you’re afraid to go to work, not only of physical violence but just emotionally,” he told JTA about his return in October. “I was with coworkers who told me that from their office they were able to hear people saying, ‘Restart the Intifada, death to the Jews’ and things like that.”
Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer poses at Ben-Gurion Airport with some of the 25 new immigrants who arrived from New York on Oct. 19, 2023, less than two weeks since Israel was thrust into war. (Courtesy Nefesh B’Nefesh)
Daniel Bleiweiss, 51, made aliyah with his 14-year-old son Emiliano this fall from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He had made the decision years ago, but postponed it because of the pandemic as well as bureaucratic issues related to Emiliano’s adoption, a yearslong process that was resolved only in 2019. Bleiweiss, a physician, planned on arriving in Israel on Oct. 10 with his wife Natalia and her teenage daughter, Lucia, from a previous marriage. The war threw a wrench into their original plan and the flights were canceled. Ultimately, the family decided that Daniel and Emiliano would move immediately, while Natalia and Lucía would join them in the future when conditions become more stable.
Bleiweiss cited several reasons for wanting to make aliyah, including Argentina’s economic crisis and the South American country’s inadequate resources to support his son, who has learning and social difficulties. But like the other new immigrants JTA spoke to, the main impetus was a rise in antisemitism coupled with a strong desire to live in the Jewish homeland, which he described as a “historic responsibility.”
Bleiweiss recounted a recent incident in which his wife had tried to check into a hotel where she had a reservation. The clerk saw the Israeli visa in her passport and subsequently refused to allow her to stay at the hotel, Bleiweiss said, adding that his wife chose not to press charges. He also said that his son had been bullied at school for being Jewish.
“It is painful, but it reinforces our conviction that Israel is the safest place to be Jewish right now, and it is perhaps the only place where we can express our identity proudly and in peace,” he said.
Daniel and Emiliano Bleiweiss’ immigration flight was canceled after Oct. 7 but they rescheduled and now live in Israel. (Courtesy International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
Bleiweiss said that another reason he didn’t want to delay his aliyah again was because he felt compelled to be in the Jewish state in its time of need.
“If a friend is in trouble, you shouldn’t wait for a better time to go see him,” he said. “That’s the time you should be there.”
Meanwhile, in Beit Shemesh, life isn’t without its challenges for the Benichou family. Because of how suddenly they left France, they didn’t have time to save up money or sell their belongings.
“We never thought in a million years we would come within a month. We came without any money,” Yona Benichou said. “It’s not easy to build yourself anew.”
But there are no regrets for Benichou or her children, who she said were understanding of the fact that this Hanukkah they wouldn’t be receiving gifts on every night of the festival as they were used to from previous years. “My 8-year-old son told me, ‘Mommy, we don’t need Hanukkah presents this year. The biggest present is that we’re here.’”
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Harvard Faculty Oppose Deal With Trump, Distancing From Hamas Apologists: Crimson Poll
Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A recently published Harvard Crimson poll of over 1,400 Harvard faculty revealed sweeping opposition to interim university President Alan Garber’s efforts to strike a deal with the federal government to restore $3 billion in research grants and contracts it froze during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.
In the survey, conducted from April 23 to May 12, 71 percent of arts and sciences faculty oppose negotiating a settlement with the administration, which may include concessions conservatives have long sought from elite higher education, such as meritocratic admissions, viewpoint diversity, and severe disciplinary sanctions imposed on students who stage unauthorized protests that disrupt academic life.
Additionally, 64 percent “strongly disagree” with shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, 73 percent oppose rejecting foreign applicants who hold anti-American beliefs which are “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence,” and 70 percent strongly disagree with revoking school recognition from pro-Hamas groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC).
“More than 98 percent of faculty who responded to the survey supported the university’s decision to sue the White House,” The Crimson reported. “The same percentage backed Harvard’s public rejection of the sweeping conditions that the administration set for maintaining the funds — terms that included external audits of Harvard’s hiring practices and the disciplining of student protesters.”
Alyza Lewin of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law told The Algemeiner that the poll results indicate that Harvard University will continue to struggle to address campus antisemitism on campus, as there is now data showing that its faculty reject the notion of excising intellectualized antisemitism from the university.
“If you, for example, have faculty teaching courses that are regularly denying that the Jews are a people and erasing the Jewish people’s history in the land of Israel, that’s going to undermine your efforts to address the antisemitism on your campus,” Lewin explained. “When Israel is being treated as the ‘collective Jew,’ when the conversation is not about Israel’s policies, when the criticism is not what the [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism] would call criticism of Israel similar to that against any other country, they have to understand that it is the demonization, delegitimization, and applying a double standard to Jews as individuals or to Israel.”
She added, “Faculty must recognize … the demonization, vilification, the shunning, and the marginalizing of Israelis, Jews, and Zionists, when it happens, as violations of the anti-discrimination policies they are legally and contractually obligated to observe.”
The Crimson survey results were published amid reports that Garber was working to reach a deal with the Trump administration that is palatable to all interested parties, including the university’s left-wing social milieu.
According to a June 26 report published by The Crimson, Garber held a phone call with major donors in which he “confirmed in response to a question from [Harvard Corporation Fellow David M. Rubenstein] that talks had resumed” but “declined to share specifics of how Harvard expected to settle with the White House.”
On June 30, the Trump administration issued Harvard a “notice of violation” of civil rights law following an investigation which examined how it responded to dozens of antisemitic incidents reported by Jewish students since the 2023-2024 academic year.
The correspondence, sent by the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, charged that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a torrent of racist and antisemitic abuse following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, which precipitated a surge in anti-Zionist activity on the campus, both in the classroom and out of it.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the four federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Harvard again on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Citing Harvard’s failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated other forms of hatred in the past, The US Department of Educationthe called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Harvard Faculty Oppose Deal With Trump, Distancing From Hamas Apologists: Crimson Poll first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Balancing Act: Lebanese President Aoun Affirms Hope for Peace with Israel, Balks At Normalization
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday carefully affirmed his country’s desire for peace with Israel while cautioning that Beirut is not ready to normalize relations with its southern neighbor.
Aoun called for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, according to a statement from his office, while reaffirming his government’s efforts to uphold a state monopoly on arms amid mounting international pressure on the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah to disarm.
“The decision to restrict arms is final and there is no turning back on it,” Aoun said.
The Lebanese leader drew a clear distinction between pursuing peace and establishing formal normalization in his country’s relationship with the Jewish state.
“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment,” Aoun said in a statement. “As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy.”
Aoun’s latest comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressed interest last month in normalizing ties with Lebanon and Syria — an effort Jerusalem says cannot proceed until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.
Earlier this week, Aoun sent his government’s response to a US-backed disarmament proposal as Washington and Jerusalem increased pressure on Lebanon to neutralize the terror group.
While the details remain confidential, US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack said he was “unbelievably satisfied” with their response.
This latest proposal, presented to Lebanese officials during Barrack’s visit on June 19, calls for Hezbollah to be fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from its five occupied posts in southern Lebanon.
However, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem vowed in a televised speech to keep the group’s weapons, rejecting Washington’s disarmament proposal.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” said Qassem, who succeeded longtime terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israel killed him last year.
“We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region,” the terrorist leader continued. “We will not accept normalization [with Israel].”
Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s attacks on Jerusalem — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.
Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — calling this “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide
Chef and head of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres attends the Milken Institute Global Conference 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, US, May 5, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake.
Renowned Spanish chef and World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés called the Oct. 7 attack “horrendous” in an interview Wednesday and shared his hopes for reconciliation between the “vast majority” on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide who are “good people that very often are not served well by their leaders”
WCK is a US-based, nonprofit organization that provides fresh meals to people in conflict zones around the world. The charity has been actively serving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. Since the Hamas attack, WCK has served more than 133 million meals across Gaza, according to its website.
The restaurateur and humanitarian has been quoted saying in past interviews that “sometimes very big problems have very simple solutions.” On Wednesday’s episode of the Wall Street Journal podcast “Bold Names,” he was asked to elaborate on that thought. He responded by saying he believes good meals and good leaders can help resolve issues between Israelis and Palestinians, who, he believes, genuinely want to live harmoniously with each other.
“I had people in Gaza, mothers, women making bread,” he said. “Moments that you had of closeness they were telling you: ‘What Hamas did was wrong. I wouldn’t [want] anybody to do this to my children.’ And I had Israelis that even lost family members. They say, ‘I would love to go to Gaza to be next to the people to show them that we respect them …’ And this to me is very fascinating because it’s the reality.
“Maybe some people call me naive. [But] the vast majority of the people are good people that very often are not served well by their leaders. And the simple reality of recognizing that many truths can be true at the same time in the same phrase that what happened on October 7th was horrendous and was never supposed to happen. And that’s why World Central Kitchen was there next to the people in Israel feeding in the kibbutz from day one, and at the same time that I defended obviously the right of Israel to defend itself and to try to bring back the hostages. Equally, what is happening in Gaza is not supposed to be happening either.”
Andres noted that he supports Israel’s efforts to target Hamas terrorists but then seemingly accused Israel of “continuously” targeting children and civilians during its military operations against the terror group.
“We need leaders that believe in that, that believe in longer tables,” he concluded. “It’s so simple to invest in peace … It’s so simple to do good. It’s so simple to invest in a better tomorrow. Food is a solution to many of the issues we’re facing. Let’s hope that … one day in the Middle East it’ll be people just celebrating the cultures that sometimes if you look at what they eat, they seem all to eat exactly the same.”
In 2024, WCK fired at least 62 of its staff members in Gaza after Israel said they had ties to terrorist groups. In one case, Israel discovered that a WCK employee named Ahed Azmi Qdeih took part in the deadly Hamas rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Qdeih was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in November 2024.
In April 2024, the Israel Defense Forces received backlash for carrying out airstrikes on a WCK vehicle convoy which killed seven of the charity’s employees. Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the airstrikes were “a mistake that followed a misidentification,” and Israel dismissed two senior officers as a result of the mishandled military operation.
The strikes “were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war,” Andrés alleged.
“It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by” the Israeli military, he claimed in an op-ed published by Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. “It was also the direct result of [the Israeli] government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”
In a statement on X, Andres accused Israel of “indiscriminate killing,” saying the Jewish state “needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
The post Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.