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Dianne Feinstein was a ‘woman of valor,’ rabbi says at San Francisco memorial service
SAN FRANCISCO (J. Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Dianne Feinstein was an eshet chayil, the Hebrew term for a woman of valor, Rabbi Jonathan Singer proclaimed in his opening remarks on Thursday at a memorial service for the U.S. senator who died Sept. 29 at 90.
The event outside San Francisco City Hall was attended by about 1,500 invited guests, all gathered to remember a pathbreaking politician who spent a decade as the city’s first woman mayor.
Singer, the co-senior rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El — the same synagogue where Feinstein, then Dianne Goldman, was confirmed as a teenager in 1949 — shared the English words of Psalm 23, which begins, “God is my shepherd.” Cantor Roz Barak, Emanu-El’s cantor emerita, sang the psalm in Hebrew.
“She feared no evil, as she courageously pursued justice as a leader in the Senate,” Singer said. “And she gave us hope that we Americans can always be inspired by the values of democracy, even as we walk at times through the valley of shadows.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer were among the prominent speakers. President Joe Biden delivered a recorded message.
“God bless a great American hero. She was something else,” Biden said. “She was a dear friend.”
The service took place on an exceptionally hot San Francisco day, punctuated by the Blue Angels flying overhead as part of Fleet Week, which Feinstein was responsible for establishing in 1981 to honor the armed forces. “Fleet Week would be dedicated to you,” Pelosi noted as the roar of the jets caused her to pause.
Many of the guests, including current and former members of Congress, accented their formal attire with sun hats and baseball caps and fanned themselves with the memorial programs as the sun beat down. A building-sized portrait of Feinstein was displayed outside City Hall, where Feinstein lay in state on Wednesday before a private, family-only burial after the service.
In his remarks, Schumer told a story about his colleague, recalling how she called him in New York shortly after his daughter Alison moved to San Francisco.
“Does your daughter have anywhere to go for the High Holiday services?” Feinstein asked him. He replied that she did not. “Well, then, she’s going to services with me.”
(Feinstein and her third husband, Richard Blum, joined Reform Congregation Sherith Israel in 1992, though it is unknown how long they were members.)
Schumer worked closely with Feinstein to pass the federal ban on assault weapons in 1994. “Dianne Feinstein was a leader of uncommon integrity,” the New York senator said.
Harris described Feinstein as “an American patriot, a giant of the Senate and a dear friend” to her and her husband, Doug Emhoff.
“Dianne commanded respect, and she gave respect. She was a serious and gracious person who welcomed debate and discussion, but always required that it was well informed and studied,” the vice president said.
Pelosi said Feinstein was not only a close colleague in Congress but also a good neighbor in Pacific Heights, their San Francisco neighborhood.
“Dianne loved cultivating people, and flowers,” Pelosi said, describing the hydrangeas growing in Feinstein’s yard as “the most fabulous.” She also knew the senator to be quite the matchmaker and credits her with pairing former Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Ann Gust.
Feinstein was also an avid painter, giving her friends mugs and painted images of her homegrown flowers, Pelosi said.
Pelosi read off a list of legacies Feinstein leaves behind, including fighting to save San Francisco’s cable cars; authoring legislation to create the breast cancer stamp that benefited research; doggedly battling to pass the federal assault weapons ban; and starting the annual Lake Tahoe Summit with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 1997.
“She left on her own terms,” Pelosi said, recalling Feinstein’s final vote, a day before she died. “She walked into the [Senate] floor and voted to advance legislation to keep the government open for the people,” she said.
An image of Sen. Dianne Feinstein is displayed during her funeral service at City Hall in San Francisco, California, Oct. 5, 2023. (Loren Elliott / AFP via Getty Images)
John Burton, who served in Congress and the state Assembly and chaired the Democratic Party in California, provided written remarks read aloud by Breed. “She had chutzpah, and I loved her for it,” Burton wrote.
Eileen Mariano, Feinstein’s 31-year-old granddaughter and the final speaker at the hourlong memorial service, described the warm, grandmotherly woman she was behind the scenes.
Feinstein would cut her granddaughter’s hair in her kitchen, often slightly crooked, Mariano joked. “She taught me to play chess, although she hated losing,” she remembered, and would sing “You Are My Sunshine” as a lullaby.
“We had an effortless connection,” said Mariano, who works in the San Francisco mayor’s office.
Among the Jewish elected officials in attendance were Sen. Barbara Boxer, who was elected alongside Feinstein in 1992, becoming the first Jewish women to win seats in the Senate; California state Sen. Scott Wiener; San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin; Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg; Rep. Adam Schiff of Southern California; and Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia.
“Let’s remember what she meant to San Francisco,” Wiener said in a statement. “She became mayor during one of the most difficult periods imaginable for our city. She led San Francisco out of the fires of political assassinations, mass cult suicides, and a mass die-off of gay men due to a new, terrifying virus.”
Heading out after the memorial, Steinberg stopped to share his thoughts. “She represented the best in Jewish values,” he said. “As a public servant, she embodied what we need more of in this country — leaders who have strong values, who fight but fight in the right way and are always looking for common ground. And the one thing that matters more than anything else: accomplish something on behalf of the people. That was Dianne Feinstein.”
This story originally appeared in J. Jewish News of Northern California and is reprinted with permission.
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Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza
Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has warned residents not to cooperate with the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as the terror group seeks to reassert its grip on the enclave amid mounting international pressure to accept a US-brokered ceasefire.
“It is strictly forbidden to deal with, work for, or provide any form of assistance or cover to the American organization (GHF) or its local or foreign agents,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
“Legal action will be taken against anyone proven to be involved in cooperation with this organization, including the imposition of the maximum penalties stipulated in the applicable national laws,” the statement warns.
The GHF released a statement in response to Hamas’ warnings, saying the organization has delivered millions of meals “safely and without interference.”
“This statement from the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry confirms what we’ve known all along: Hamas is losing control,” the GHF said.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
According to their reports, the organization has delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
Hamas’s latest threat comes amid growing international pressure to accept a US-backed ceasefire plan proposed by President Donald Trump, which sets a 60-day timeline to finalize the details leading to a full resolution of the conflict.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, though Israel has not confirmed this claim.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump next week in Washington, DC — his third visit in less than six months — as they work to finalize the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Even though Trump hasn’t provided details on the proposed truce, he said Washington would “work with all parties to end the war” during the 60-day period.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he wrote in a social media post.
Since the start of the war, ceasefire talks between Jerusalem and Hamas have repeatedly failed to yield enduring results.
Israeli officials have previously said they will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms, and goes into exile — a demand the terror group has firmly rejected.
“I am telling you — there will be no Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a speech Wednesday.
For its part, Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining 50 hostages — fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
While the terrorist group said it is “ready and serious” to reach a deal that would end the war, it has yet to accept this latest proposal.
In a statement, the group said it aims to reach an agreement that “guarantees an end to the aggression, the withdrawal [of Israeli forces], and urgent relief for our people in the Gaza Strip.”
According to media reports, the proposed 60-day ceasefire would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a surge in humanitarian aid, and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, with US and mediator assurances on advancing talks to end the war — though it remains unclear how many hostages would be freed.
For Israel, the key to any deal is the release of most, if not all, hostages still held in Gaza, as well as the disarmament of Hamas, while the terror group is seeking assurances to end the war as it tries to reassert control over the war-torn enclave.
The post Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest
Police block a street as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather to protest British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plans to proscribe the “Palestine Action” group in the coming weeks, in London, Britain, June 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
British lawmakers voted Wednesday to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, following the group’s recent vandalizing of two military aircraft at a Royal Air Force base in protest of the government’s support for Israel.
Last month, members of the UK-based anti-Israel group Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, a county west of London, and vandalized two Voyager aircraft used for military transport and refueling — the latest in a series of destructive acts carried out by the organization.
Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems as well as other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza in 2023.
Under British law, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has the authority to ban an organization if it is believed to commit, promote, or otherwise be involved in acts of terrorism.
Passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 385 to 26 in the lower chamber — the House of Commons — the measure is now set to be reviewed by the upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Thursday.
If approved, the ban would take effect within days, making it a crime to belong to or support Palestine Action and placing the group on the same legal footing as Al Qaeda, Hamas, and the Islamic State under UK law.
Palestine Action, which claims that Britain is an “active participant” in the Gaza conflict due to its military support for Israel, condemned the ban as “an unhinged reaction” and announced plans to challenge it in court — similar to the legal challenges currently being mounted by Hamas.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, belonging to a proscribed group is a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison or a fine, while wearing clothing or displaying items supporting such a group can lead to up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000.
Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the recent attack, in which two of its activists sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft and used crowbars to inflict additional damage.
According to the group, the red paint — also sprayed across the runway — was meant to symbolize “Palestinian bloodshed.” A Palestine Liberation Organization flag was also left at the scene.
On Thursday, local authorities arrested four members of the group, aged between 22 and 35, who were charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK, as well as conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Palestine Action said this latest attack was carried out as a protest against the planes’ role in supporting what the group called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
At the time of the attack, Cooper condemned the group’s actions, stating that their behavior had grown increasingly aggressive and resulted in millions of pounds in damages.
“The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton … is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action,” Cooper said in a written statement.
“The UK’s defense enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk,” she continued.
The post UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US-backed Gaza Relief NGO Vows ‘Legal Action’ Against AP Claim Group Fired on Palestinian Civilians
Palestinians collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed nonprofit operating aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip, is pushing back forcefully against an Associated Press report alleging that its contractors opened fire on Palestinian civilians.
The GHF is accusing the AP of withholding key evidence and relying on a “disgruntled former contractor” as a central source.
“In response, we are pursuing legal action,” the organization said in a statement released Wednesday.
GHF said it conducted an “immediate investigation” after being contacted by the AP, reviewing time-stamped video footage and sworn witness testimony. The group concluded that the allegations were “categorically false,” stating that no civilians were fired upon at any of their distribution sites and that the gunfire heard in the AP’s video came from Israeli forces operating outside the vicinity.
“What is most troubling is that the AP refused to share the full video with us prior to publication, despite the seriousness of the allegations,” the statement read. “If they believed their own reporting, they should have provided us with the footage so we could take immediate and appropriate action.”
The nonprofit’s public rebuttal raises sharp questions about the AP’s reporting process, suggesting the outlet declined to engage with the organization in good faith and instead leaned on a source GHF describes as having been terminated “for misconduct” weeks prior. The group also claimed the AP’s recent coverage of its activities had begun to “echo narratives advanced by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health.”
The AP has not yet responded publicly to the GHF’s accusations or provided clarification about its decision not to share the video footage before publication. The original report alleged that American contractors employed by GHF had fired weapons near or toward civilians.
The GHF statement confirmed that a contractor seen shouting in the AP’s video had been removed from operations, though the group insisted this was unrelated to any violence and did not constitute evidence of wrongdoing.
GHF, which describes its mission as delivering food to Gaza “safely, directly, and without interference,” said it remains committed to transparency but would not allow its operations to be “derailed by misinformation.”
The dispute highlights the fraught information environment in Gaza, where limited access and competing narratives frequently complicate the verification of on-the-ground events.
The post US-backed Gaza Relief NGO Vows ‘Legal Action’ Against AP Claim Group Fired on Palestinian Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.