RSS
Daniel Lubetzky, Jewish Founder of KIND Snacks, Replaces Mark Cuban on ‘Shark Tank’ as Series Regular Investor
Daniel Lubetzky, CEO of KIND LLC, accepts the Civility and Compassion Award during The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards Nov. 04, 2023. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
Jewish Mexican-American entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky announced on Wednesday that after five seasons as a recurring guest investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” he will become a regular “shark” on the show when its new season premieres in October.
Lubetzky, the founder of the KIND snack company who is also the son of a Holocaust survivor, will replace billionaire Jewish American entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who announced last year that he will leave the show after season 16. Lubetzky is the first new regular cast member to join the show in over a decade. The “Shark Tank” panel of series regular investors includes Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary.
“It’s an honor to be part of a production that continues to educate, entertain, and unite Americans behind the spirit of building together,” Lubetzky said in a released statement about joining the “Shark Tank” team. “I am so excited to be part of this fun, hilarious, exceptionally smart cast and crew. Most of all, I am looking forward to partnering with entrepreneurs from all walks of life as they come to ‘Shark Tank’ for their chance to realize the American dream.”
He added that he hopes his Jewish Mexican mother Sonia is “proud” of him and that his late father Roman, who survived the Dachau concentration camp in Germany during the Holocaust, “is looking from above and seeing not just what I’ve achieved but how I’ve achieved it — by trying my very best to always follow the values he taught me.”
Lubetzky shared in 2021 that his mother was raised in Tampico, “a cattle-ranching region in Mexico, where her family was one of only a handful of Jewish families.”
“She’s always had an extra sensibility about her responsibility to be an ambassador of the Jewish people,” he said. “I admire the ways in which she helps our family preserve both our Jewish — and Mexican — values and traditions.”
Lubetzky was born in 1968 and raised in Mexico City, where he was taught Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Yiddish. He moved to the US with his family when he was a teenager but studied abroad in Israel during his college years. At Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, his 268-page thesis was titled, “The Influence of Economic Factors in Resolving the Arab-Israeli Conflict.”
Lubetzky founded the KIND company in 2004. He sold a minority stake to the candy giant Mars in 2017 and sold the entire company to Mars in 2020 in a deal reportedly worth $5 billion. In 2002, he founded OneVoice Movement, which is a grassroots movement that amplifies the voices of Israeli and Palestinian activists with the vision for “an independent and viable Palestine and a secure Israel free from conflict.” He is also the founder of PeaceWorks Inc., a business that fosters cooperative ventures among neighbors in the Middle East.
In October 2023, shortly after the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, Lubetkzy talked about being affected by the Israel-Hamas war.
“I literally have not been sleeping over the last two, three weeks because we’ve lost a lot of our family and friends to this war,” Lubetzky said in an interview in October. “We have Palestinian and Israeli staff and colleagues whose lives have been impacted. We have Palestinian staff in Gaza that we’ve been trying to evacuate, but Hamas has blocked the exits and prevented them from leaving. We have Israelis, both Jewish and Muslim Israelis, that were killed by the Hamas terrorists.”
According to the KIND website, Lubetkzy’s favorite quote is from Rabbi Hillel, who said: “In a place where there is no humanity, strive thou to be human.”
Season 16 of “Shark Thank” premieres Oct. 18 on ABC.
The post Daniel Lubetzky, Jewish Founder of KIND Snacks, Replaces Mark Cuban on ‘Shark Tank’ as Series Regular Investor first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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.