RSS
As Americans, We Cannot Forget the Human Cost of What’s Happening in Israel
A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes and a school at the impact site following a missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Bnei Brak, Israel, June 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Chen Kalifa
As the recent phase of the war broke out between Israel and Iran, former MK Rachel Azaria found herself unable to return to Israel, because the country’s airspace was closed. She eventually ended up leaving for Cyprus with the hope to catch a flight or a boat back to Israel. Over Shabbat, I had the opportunity to host Rachel Azaria in my home.
Azaria now serves as CEO of HaOgen, an NGO that supports Israel’s reservists and their families — providing psychological aid and physical assistance. These crucial services are an important part of the war effort.
As we sat at the table and began discussing the unfolding events in Israel and the broader region, I found myself listing off the many positives: the military’s initial operational successes, setting back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and the geopolitical recalibration that could favor the Jewish State for the first time in decades.
But as I spoke, I noticed a different expression on Rachel’s face — a weight in her eyes that told a more complicated story. I asked her what was wrong. Her response stopped me in my tracks.
“You don’t understand the pain,” she said. “Yes, we’re winning the war. But the cost is very, very high.”
That sentence lingered with me all Shabbat, and hasn’t left me since. Because it’s true. This moment isn’t just a military or diplomatic turning point. It’s also a human one. And it’s being lived in parallel, through two very different experiences.
There’s the macro story — the geopolitical screen. But there’s also the micro story — the human screen. And on this side, the toll is staggering.
Adults and children in Israel are living with the daily trauma of sirens, rocket attacks, and funerals. Marriages are under strain as reservists who come home are struggling to adapt and then readapt to civilian life. Families are economically battered, emotionally drained, and often psychologically scarred. The psychological trauma is real, not just among soldiers, but among civilians, mothers, and children.
This is a crisis that will take at least a generation to unwind. This quieter crisis is too often underreported or overlooked, especially by those of us watching from afar. As individuals and communities think about how to support Israel, this is a piece of the equation that needs attention as well
This is the split-screen reality of the war.
For those of us living in the Diaspora, especially here in America, it’s easy to focus on the big picture. Faced with rising antisemitism, media bias, and political hostility on our own streets, we look to Israel and find comfort in her strength. In many ways, we need her victories in order to feel strong ourselves — but we’re not the ones paying the direct cost.
Rachel’s voice, however, reminded me that someone is.
This is concurrently a tale of triumph and a tale of sacrifice. A tale of two screens — and we must direct help and resources to the micro human screen as well as the geopolitical one. We need to hold both realities in our minds — the great pride and hope for what Israel can accomplish, and the sober recognition of what it is costing.
Daniel Rosen is the Co-founder of a new initiative called Emissary4all which is an app to organize people on social media by ideology not geography. He is the Co-host of the podcast called “Recalibration.” You can reach him at drosen@emissary4all.org
The post As Americans, We Cannot Forget the Human Cost of What’s Happening in Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
North London Synagogue, Nursery Targeted in Eighth Local Antisemitic Incident in Just Over a Week
Demonstrators against antisemitism in London on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism
A synagogue and its nursery school in the Golders Green area of north London were targeted in an antisemitic attack on Thursday morning — the eighth such incident locally in just over a week amid a shocking surge of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the area.
The synagogue and Jewish nursery were smeared with excrement in an antisemitic outrage echoing a series of recent incidents targeting the local Jewish community.
“The desecration of another local synagogue and a children’s nursery with excrement is a vile, deliberate, and premeditated act of antisemitism,” Shomrim North West London, a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group, said in a statement.
“This marks the eighth antisemitic incident locally in just over a week, to directly target the local Jewish community,” the statement read. “These repeated attacks have left our community anxious, hurt, and increasingly worried.”
Local law enforcement confirmed they are reviewing CCTV footage and collecting evidence to identify the suspect and bring them to justice.
This latest anti-Jewish hate crime came just days after tens of thousands of people marched through London in a demonstration against antisemitism, amid rising levels of antisemitic incidents across the United Kingdom since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In just over a week, seven Jewish premises in Barnet, the borough in which Golders Green is located, have been targeted in separate antisemitic incidents.
According to the Metropolitan Police, an investigation has been launched into the targeted attacks, all of which involved the use of bodily fluids.
During the incidents, a substance was smeared on four synagogues and a private residence, while a liquid was thrown at a school and over a car in two other attacks.
As the investigation continues, local police said they believe the same suspect is likely responsible for all seven offenses, which are being treated as religiously motivated criminal damage.
No arrests have been made so far, but law enforcement said it is actively engaging with the local Jewish community to provide reassurance and support.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, condemned the recent wave of attacks and called on authorities to take immediate action.
“The extreme defilement of several Jewish locations in and around Golders Green is utterly abhorrent and deeply distressing,” CST said in a statement.
“CST is working closely with police and communal partners to support victims and help identify and apprehend the perpetrator,” it continued.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also denounced the attacks, calling for urgent measures to protect the Jewish community.
“These repeated incidents are leaving British Jews anxious and vulnerable in their own neighborhoods, not to mention disgusted,” CAA said in a statement.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the United Kingdom has experienced a surge in antisemitic crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.
Last month, CST published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism despite being an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
In previous years, the numbers were significantly lower, with 1,662 incidents in 2022 and 2,261 hate crimes in 2021.
RSS
Germany to Hold Off on Recognizing Palestinian State but Will Back UN Resolution for Two-State Solution
German national flag flutters on top of the Reichstag building, that seats the Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Germany will support a United Nations resolution for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does not believe the time has come to recognize a Palestinian state, a government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.
“Germany will support such a resolution which simply describes the status quo in international law,” the spokesman said, adding that Berlin “has always advocated a two-state solution and is asking for that all the time.”
“The chancellor just mentioned two days ago again that Germany does not see that the time has come for the recognition of the Palestinian state,” the spokesman added.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.
The United States strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognize Palestinian independence.
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US has told other countries that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems.
Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia, and many Arab states that have recognized Palestinian independence for decades.
RSS
UN Security Council, With US Support, Condemns Strikes on Qatar
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel‘s ally the United States.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance US and Israeli interests.
The United States traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations. US backing for the Security Council statement, which could only be approved by consensus, reflects President Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the attack ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.
The Doha operation was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the Security Council statement read.
The Security Council will meet later on Thursday to discuss the Israeli attack at a meeting due to be attended by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.