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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.”
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The post Celebrity Israeli chef Eyal Shani opens Manhattan outpost of Tel Aviv’s Port Sa’id appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
The post Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.