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Antakya’s remaining Jews transferred to Jewish nursing home in Istanbul
(JTA) — The remaining few Jews of Antakya have been transferred to Istanbul, where they are staying in a Jewish nursing home thanks to a collaboration between the Turkish Jewish community there, a Kazakh-Israeli billionaire and Israel’s fundraising organization Keren Hayesod.
While there have been a variety of ways for survivors to leave Turkey in the wake of last week’s earthquake that killed over 40,000 — including through the Turkish budget airline Pegasus, which is offering evacuation flights free of charge from several cities — Antakya’s Jews were helped by Alexander Machkevitch, a Jewish businessman from Kazakhstan who is one of the richest men in Israel with a net worth of over $2.4 billion.
“Even in the most difficult days following the disaster, members of Turkey’s Jewish community discovered a unity which has characterized the Jewish people throughout the generations,” Alexander Machkevitch said in a statement issued by Keren Hayesod. “I am honored to take part in this joint effort with Keren Hayesod to help our fellow Jews from Antakya, and hopefully give them an opportunity to rise from the ruins to rebuild their families and restore community life. Our hearts are with the Turkish people during this difficult time, with hope for a full recovery for the wounded and rebuilding of the area.”
Despite their small numbers, Antakya’s Jewish community was known amongst Turkish Jews for being fiercely traditional, only consuming kosher meat. In the nursing home, they are being provided with kosher food.
Antakya was one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquake that ravaged Turkey and Syria last week. Among the dead accounted for so far were the president of the city’s Jewish community, Saul Cenudioglu, and his wife Fortuna.
Jews have been present in the city, known in antiquity as Antioch, for nearly 2,500 years, since its founding under the Seleucid Empire. Though several hundred Jews lived in the city at the time of Cenudioglu’s birth in the 1940s, by last year their number had dwindled to only 14, the youngest of whom was over 60. Many of them worked in shops in the city’s famed Long Bazaar market.
The Turkish Jewish Community’s president, Ishak Ibrahimzade, wrote on Twitter last week that the earthquake had brought “The end of a 2,500-year-old love story.”
The Cenudioglus were buried in Istanbul’s Kilyos Jewish cemetery earlier this week, but the rest of the city’s small Jewish community — only about 8 families — were flown to Istanbul. Many across eastern Turkey are living in tents outside of destroyed or structurally compromised homes, while temperatures approach or drop below freezing.
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The post Antakya’s remaining Jews transferred to Jewish nursing home in Istanbul appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief”
מזל־טובֿ! דעם 20סטן יאַנואַר 2026 איז געוואָרן 120 יאָר זינט דער גרינדונג פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“ — דער עצות־רובריק פֿונעם פֿאָרווערטס. די רובריק איז פֿאַרלייגט געוואָרן פֿונעם גרינדער און לאַנגיאָריקן שעף־רעדאַקטאָר אַב קאַהאַן אין 1906.
כּדי אָפּצומערקן דעם יום־טובֿ ברענגען מיר אײַך צוויי זאַכן:
• ערשטנס, אַן אַרטיקל וועגן אַ טשיקאַווען בריוו וואָס איז אָנגעקומען אין דער פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקציע אין יאַנואַר 1949, פֿון אַ לייענער וועמעס זון האָט חתונה געהאַט מיט אַ קריסטלעכער פֿרוי
• צווייטנס, אַ פֿאָרווערטס־ווידעאָ אויף ייִדיש וועגן דער געשיכטע פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“, מיטן געוועזענעם פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלער און דער פֿאָרווערטס־אַרכיוויסטקע חנה פּאָלאַק.
The post 120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief” appeared first on The Forward.
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Report: Khamenei Moved to Underground Bunker in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Amid tense expectation of US strike on key assets of the Islamic regime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved into a special underground bunker in Tehran, the Iran International website reported on Saturday.
The report further added that the supreme leader’s third son Masoud Khamenei has taken over day-to-day management of the leader’s office, functioning as the de facto main channel for coordination vis-à-vis the executive branches of the government and the security forces.
The report describes Khamenei’s hideout as a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”
On Thursday US President Donald Trump said that a “massive” naval force was heading toward Iran.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump added.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, along with three destroyers, was spotted making its way to the Middle East from Asia, according to ship-tracking data.
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Israel, Syria to Finalize US-Brokered Security Deal ‘Soon,’ as ‘Developments Accelerate Noticeably’
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet soon under US mediation, perhaps in Paris, to finalize a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, a source close to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told i24NEWS on Saturday.
According to the Syrian source, the talks will also focus on various potential joint strategic and economic projects in the buffer zones between the two countries.
“There is very optimistic talk suggesting the possibility of even opening an Israeli embassy in Damascus before the end of this year, given the significant progress in the prospect of Syria joining the Abraham Accords,” the source said.
The original Syrian plan was limited to a security agreement and the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Damascus without diplomatic status, the source tells me. “But developments are accelerating noticeably under pressure from the United States, and specifically by President Trump, and amid growing Syrian openness.”
If Damascus manages to reach an integration agreement with the Druze in southern Syria, similar to its agreement with the Kurds in the northeast, and Israel commits to respecting Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, then al-Sharaa would be open to elevate the status of the agreement with Israel to more than just a security agreement, to also include diplomatic relations and an Israeli embassy in Damascus.
“The al-Sharaa government believes that a viable compromise to advance a peace process with Israel would include a 25-year lease for the Golan Heights, similar to the one Jordan previously signed with Israel over the border enclaves, turning it into a ‘Garden of Peace” of joint economic ventures,” the source said.
The source close to al-Sharaa also tells me that US President Trump is seeking to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sharaa together for a peace agreement signing ceremony.
It should be noted that Israel has repeatedly rejected returning any part of the Golan Heights, let alone the entire territory.
On another front, the source stated that Damascus intends to adopt a new local administration system based on expanded administrative decentralization to enhance participation in local communities across all Syrian governorates.
According to the source, this solution would resolve persisting disputes with the Druze, Kurds, Alawites, and other minorities. A new Syrian government is expected to be formed within the next three months, the source added.