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Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis and more headline Claims Conference Hanukkah event for Holocaust survivors
(JTA) — The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany hosted its seventh annual International Holocaust Survivors Night event Monday with a slate of Jewish celebrities, communal leaders and heads of state — many of whom drew connections between Holocaust memory, the ongoing war in Israel and subsequent rise of antisemitism around the world.
The event, tied to the fifth night of Hanukkah, was streamed online and co-hosted by TV news anchors Katy Tur and Tony Dokoupil. It featured appearances from several Jewish Hollywood stars, including Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jason Alexander and Mayim Bialik. Broadway legend Barry Manilow and the cast of his play “Harmony” performed, as did the Jewish a capella group Six13.
Crystal was one of many speakers who invoked the themes of light and darkness, echoing the many events Jewish communities across the United States are holding during a Hanukkah holiday that coincides with the war in Israel.
“This year has more significance than others, perhaps, because the seeds of antisemitism are growing around us once again,” Crystal said in his remarks. “But as we light these candles, you are a symbol of hope and perseverance and courage and that is what we all need again during these difficult days.”
The lineup also included Israeli President Isaac Herzog, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and current and former cabinet officials from Germany, Austria and Israel. A number of Holocaust envoys, survivors and educators also spoke, as did leaders from many Jewish organizations in the U.S. and around the world. The event concluded with a candle lighting at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
“Our hearts connect around the world tonight in these darkest moments of winter, in an hour of deep grief and longing we come together with our precious survivors, to recall that our light still shines,” Herzog said. “It is indeed a dark moment. We have all been jolted into a terrible new reality, where the worst moments for our people have come into our present once again.”
Since he became the German chancellor, Scholz has been a vocal supporter of Israel and sought to combat antisemitism, especially in his country, where one watchdog found that antisemitism had surged over 300% since Oct. 7.
“I try to imagine how much the images from Israel, how much antisemitic hatred on the internet and on the streets around the world must be hitting you of all people right in the heart,” Scholtz said in German. “This idea pains me a lot. You have experienced immeasurable horror and suffering. You have fought for your lives with unimaginable strength. We will ensure that the crime against humanity of the Shoah committed by Germans will never be forgotten.”
On Sunday, thousands rallied against antisemitism in Berlin. And after a German synagogue was hit with two Molotov cocktails in October, Scholtz responded by saying that “antisemitism has no place in Germany.”
Leon Weintraub, who survived Auschwitz, spoke at Monday’s event and shared his experience being in Israel on Oct. 7.
“On Oct. 7, I woke up from the sirens in the center of Tel Aviv. All at once, I was again in September 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland,” he said. “A terrible feeling, a shiver, a feeling of dread to be again in a war. We celebrate Hanukkah now, the festival of lights. I hope that the light will also bring the people enlightenment. That people will rethink and look at us people of Jewish descent as normal, equal human beings, and not as some kind of ‘other.’”
The Claims Conference, which negotiates and distributes reparations for Holocaust survivors and their families, earlier this year had secured a record $1.4 billion aid package for the estimated 240,000 remaining Holocaust survivors around the world.
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The post Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis and more headline Claims Conference Hanukkah event for Holocaust survivors appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.
Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.
The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.
On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.
Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.
Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.
ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.
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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
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
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.