RSS
Celebrity Israeli chef Eyal Shani opens Manhattan outpost of Tel Aviv’s Port Sa’id
(New York Jewish Week) — Israeli celebrity chef Eyal Shani is expanding his footprint in New York again — this time with an outpost of his trendy Tel Aviv restaurant, Port Sa’id. A Manhattan version of the music-focused eatery is set to open at 350 Hudson St. on Wednesday.
Port Sa’id joins Shani’s other five restaurants in New York, which include Miznon, HaSalon and Shmoné, which received a Michelin nod earlier this year.
In Israel, Port Sa’id is known as “possibly the coolest spot in Tel Aviv,” according to Time Out Israel. The open-air eatery, with a menu that changes daily, is located in a courtyard next to Tel Aviv’s Great Synagogue, though “you won’t find anyone praying here,” according to the magazine. Instead, the restaurant boasts a massive vinyl record collection and a rotating cast of DJs.
The Manhattan version of the restaurant will be a 4,000-square-foot space in Hudson Square, a neighborhood at the confluence of Tribeca, Soho and the West Village. Per a press release, “there will be a large central dining area, a dedicated bar and listening station.”
Just as at Shani’s other spots, the restaurant will take on more of a party atmosphere as the night goes on. Though Manhattan’s Port Sa’id will be indoors, like its Tel Aviv counterpart it will have an emphasis on interesting and curated music. A “separate retail space” will be curated by In Sheep’s Clothing, a Los Angeles-based vinyl record store and sound collective.
The 4,000 square foot restaurant is located in Hudson Square. (Max Flatow)
“The idea is for Port Sa’id to be the kind of place you can spend time late into the night,” restaurant designer Dror Shef said in a press release. He also indicated that the Port Sa’id was aiming to have an outdoor space in Manhattan in the coming months.
As for the menu, Port Sa’id will reflect Shani’s penchant for fresh fish, meat and vegetables, as well as wine, beer, spirits and cocktails. “There will be a focus on medium-sized dishes entirely meant for sharing. Lots of vegetables, the freshest ingredients much like Shani loves to showcase wherever he goes,” Zack Bar, a co-founder of Teder and Port Sa’id in Tel Aviv, said. “Port Sa’id will be more than merely a restaurant, but a place where folks can eat good food, listen to good music and enjoy a truly memorable vibe.”
Shani opened his first restaurant in 1989 in Jerusalem, though he didn’t establish his restaurant empire until 2008, when he and his partner opened HaSalon in Tel Aviv. After opening a Miznon outpost in Chelsea Market in 2018 — his first restaurant in New York — Shani told the New York Jewish Week he was “seduced by the city’s exciting, vast and diverse food scene,” calling it “the essence of American culture.”
He also said the city challenged him to exceed New Yorkers’ culinary expectations. “When they are putting walls around me it’s seducing me, it’s seducing me to break them,” he told the New York Jewish Week. “It’s my nature.”
—
The post Celebrity Israeli chef Eyal Shani opens Manhattan outpost of Tel Aviv’s Port Sa’id appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.