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Algemeiner Unveils 11th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Douglas Murray, Matisyahu
British author Douglas Murray speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
The Algemeiner unveiled its 11th annual “J100” list of the top 100 people “positively influencing Jewish life” on Tuesday night at a gala in New York City.
The event took on special significance this year, with Israel having been at war every single day since the Hamas-led invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, and fighting for its survival on several fronts — most notably against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis Yemen, and Iran itself. Meanwhile, antisemitism has simultaneously surged around the world during the conflict, with antisemitic incidents reaching record levels in several countries including the United States.
The spike in antisemitism and the war between Israel and Iran’s network of Middle Eastern terrorist proxies featured prominently in speeches throughout the gala. However, many of the speakers struck an optimistic tone, noting Israel’s recent string of victories against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Fifteen months have now passed since the Jewish state went to war, since the Jewish people went to war. A terrible price has been paid,” said event co-chair Dovid Efune. “But it is a different world now. Israel has out-maneuvered its foes at every turn in a complex, multi-front war … The Jewish state has doused Iran’s ring of fire and replaced it with a ring of Israeli iron.”
The acclaimed British author Douglas Murray — who, as Free Press founder Bari Weiss noted in her remarks introducing him, has emerged since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught as one of the fiercest defenders of Israel and the Jewish people — noted that the atrocities of the Hamas attack marked “the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.” He also noted the “deep challenge ” of combating pro-Hamas demonstrators across the West flirting with “the most dangerous, evil imaginable.”
“What does it say about us and the society which we’ve allowed to emerge?” he asked.
However, Murray continued, he was hopeful for the future after recently spending months with the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“The real warriors are very clear. We all know who they are,” Murray said. “They are these remarkable young men and women. And we owe them everything. And the civilized world owes them everything.”
Murray was one of the honorees at the gala, along with Jewish singer-songwriter Matisyahu and philanthropists David and Debra Magerman.
Matisyahu, who was honored for his outspoken support for Israel and the Jewish people, said during his remarks that he reexamined his Jewish identity and faith following the deadly Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack in Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023.
“After Oct. 7, I believe there was a paradigm shift. I was immediately forced to ask myself the question of what it means to be Jewish again and how important it is to be,” he said. “What does it mean to be a Jew now after Oct 7? Prior, the main division, seemingly, religion. But it seems that we elevated above that in a need to find each other. We are forced again to look inward. To ask ourselves: What does it mean to be a Jew? What does Israel have to do with being a Jew? If you don’t find the answer, the rest of the world will gladly find it for you, and whatever story they choose to make up — it’s not our story. The story of Moses and the Jews.”
The singer added, “May we continue to look within to find the answers we hold and may the shining star of Israel blaze forever.”
The gala also featured comments from Michal Lobanov, the widow of murdered Hamas hostage Alex Lobanov.
“After 11 months of unbearable suffering, on Aug. 29 [Alex] was murdered in Tel Sultan in Rafa,” Michal recalled. Along with other hostages kidnapped last Oct. 7, “their dead bodies were found in a tunnel in horrible conditions. Believe me, I saw this with my own eyes, the horrors that my Alex went through, together with the five hostages are the same horrors that happened in the Holocaust. Yes, we went through a Holocaust for the second time in history; there is no other way to describe it.”
The gala and Lobanov’s comments came one day before Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire to halt fighting in Gaza and release hostages as part of a phased deal.
Algemeiner publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson also spoke on Tuesday night and laid out the stakes of the current conflict, arguing that the events of today will shape the world of tomorrow in profound ways.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Past Algemeiner gala honorees and participants have included the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel; actors Sharon Stone, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Jesse Eisenberg; human rights activist Garry Kasparov; the late entertainer Joan Rivers; media mogul Rupert Murdoch; former Czech President Miloš Zeman; the late TV host Larry King; Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad; and Natan Sharansky, the famed refusenik and international campaigner against antisemitism.
Founded in 1972 as a Yiddish broadsheet by the late veteran journalist Gershon Jacobson, The Algemeiner today runs this news website.
The post Algemeiner Unveils 11th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Douglas Murray, Matisyahu first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Sanctions on Iran to Be Reimposed, France’s Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
European powers will likely reimpose international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month after their latest round of talks with Tehran aimed at preventing them were deemed not serious, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
Britain, France, and Germany, the so-called E3, launched a 30-day process at the end of August to reimpose UN sanctions. They set conditions for Tehran to meet during September to convince them to delay the “snapback mechanism.”
The offer by the E3 to put off the snapback for up to six months to enable serious negotiations is conditional on Iran restoring access for UN nuclear inspectors – who would also seek to account for Iran‘s large stock of enriched uranium – and engaging in talks with the US.
When asked in an interview on Israel’s Channel 12 whether the snapback was a done deal, Macron said:
“Yes. I think so because the latest news from the Iranians is not serious.”
E3 foreign ministers, the European Union foreign policy chief, and their Iranian counterpart held a phone call on Wednesday, in which diplomats on both sides said there had been no substantial progress, though the door was still open to try and reach a deal before the deadline expired.
The 15-member UN Security Council will vote on Friday on a resolution that would permanently lift UN sanctions on Iran – a move it is required to take after the E3 launched the process.
The resolution is likely to fail to get the minimum nine votes needed to pass, say diplomats, and if it did it would be vetoed by the United States, Britain, or France.
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UAE Could Downgrade but Won’t Cut Diplomatic Ties if Israel Annexes West Bank, Sources Say
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
The United Arab Emirates could downgrade diplomatic ties with Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government annexes part or all of the West Bank, but it is not considering the option of severing them completely, according to three sources briefed on the Gulf Arab state’s deliberations.
The UAE is one of just a few Arab states with diplomatic relations with Israel and downgrading ties would be a major setback for the Abraham Accords – a signature foreign policy achievement of US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu.
Israel‘s government has recently taken steps that could presage annexation of the West Bank, which was captured from Jordan along with East Jerusalem in a war in 1967. The United Nations and most countries oppose such a move.
For Netanyahu, whose coalition relies in part on right-wing nationalist parties, annexation could be seen as a valuable vote winner before an election expected next year.
NOT ALL TIES LIKELY TO BE CUT, SOURCE SAYS
Abu Dhabi warned Netanyahu’s coalition this month that any annexation of the West Bank would be a “red line” for the Gulf state but did not say what measures could follow.
The UAE, which established ties with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords, was considering withdrawing its ambassador in any response, the sources told Reuters.
The sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abu Dhabi was not considering completely severing ties, although tensions have mounted during the almost two-year-old Gaza War.
A source in Israel said the government believed it could repair its strained ties with the UAE, a major commercial center seen as the most significant of the Arab states to establish ties with Israel in 2020. The others were Bahrain and Morocco.
No other Arab state has since established formal ties with Israel, which also has diplomatic relations with Egypt and Jordan, and direct contacts with Qatar, though without full diplomatic recognition. Once-thriving business ties between the UAE and Israel have cooled due to the Gaza war and Netanyahu has yet to visit the Gulf state five years after establishing ties.
ISRAELI COMPANIES BARRED FROM UAE AIRSHOW
In a sign of growing tension with Israel, the Gulf state last week decided to bar Israeli defense companies from exhibiting at the Dubai Airshow in November, three of the sources said. Two other sources, an Israeli official and an Israeli defense industry executive, confirmed the decision.
Israel‘s defense ministry said it had been made aware of the decision but did not elaborate. A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi said discussions over Israel‘s participation in the week-long trade show were continuing.
Israel‘s media were the first to report the move to block the firms from the UAE‘s flagship aerospace and defense event.
The UAE foreign ministry did not respond to questions on whether it was weighing downgrading diplomatic ties with Israel.
The spokesperson at the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi said that Israel was committed to the Abraham Accords and that it would continue to work towards strengthening ties with the UAE.
Emirati foreign ministry official Lana Nusseibeh had told Reuters and Israeli media on Sept. 3 that any annexation of the West Bank would jeopardize the Abraham Accords and end the pursuit of regional integration.
That warning preceded Israel‘s air strike on Qatar last week, which targeted Hamas leaders, an attack that Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, condemned.
At an emergency meeting of Muslim nations in Qatar, convened in response to the strike, a communique was issued urging countries to review diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.
As part of the Abraham Accords, Netanyahu promised to hold off annexing the West Bank for four years. But that deadline has passed and some Israeli ministers are now pressing for action.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich this month said that maps were being drawn up to annex most of the West Bank, urging Netanyahu to accept the plan. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, also backs annexing the territory.
TIES WITH ISRAEL DETERIORATED AFTER 2023
After establishing ties, the UAE and Israel built a close relationship, focusing on economic, security, and intelligence cooperation. This followed years of discreet contacts.
But differences began emerging after Netanyahu returned to power in 2023, leading the most right-wing government in Israel‘s history. Abu Dhabi has condemned repeated efforts by Ben-Gvir to alter the status quo of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa compound to allow Jews to be able to pray there. The site is sacred to Muslims and Jews and at present non-Muslims can visit but cannot pray.
The UAE has also criticized Israel‘s policies in the West Bank, including the expansion of settlements, and its military campaign in Gaza, and said an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel was necessary for regional stability. Netanyahu this month declared there would never be a Palestinian state in the wake of Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
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Gaza Aid Driver Kills Two Israeli Military Personnel at Jordan Border Crossing
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
A driver bringing humanitarian aid from Jordan for Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel at the Allenby Crossing into the West Bank on Thursday before being killed by security forces, authorities from both nations said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for what Israel denounced as a “terror attack” at the only gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan.
“The driver accused of the operation is Abdul Mutalib al-Qaisi, born in 1968. He is a civilian who began working as a driver delivering aid to Gaza three months ago,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said.
Israel‘s ambulance service said the two Israelis succumbed to their wounds while the attacker was shot dead by security personnel.
Jordan said an investigation would be opened, calling the shootings a threat to its humanitarian role in Gaza.
Israeli chief of staff Eyal Zamir advised the government to halt the entry of humanitarian aid from Jordan until the completion of an inquiry into the incident, and the implementation of revised screening procedures for Jordanian drivers, the military said.
Earlier this month, Palestinian terrorist group Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting on the outskirts of Jerusalem that killed six people.
In September 2024, a gunman from Jordan also killed three Israelis at the Allenby Crossing before being shot dead by security forces.