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In New York City, Israeli President Isaac Herzog encounters protesters — and tough questions
(New York Jewish Week) — On New York’s Upper East Side, a crowd of a few dozen holding Israeli flags chanted “de-mo-cra-tia,” the Hebrew word for “democracy.” Some held signs playing on the 1982 song by Ehud Manor “I Have No Other Country” that has become a theme song of their movement. One sign read, “President Herzog, don’t sugarcoat our plight.”
The protesters had gathered on Thursday in advance of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s appearance at a UJA-Federation event, as part of his New York visit marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel and concluding his three-day diplomatic trip to the United States. Earlier in the week, Herzog had given an address to Congress touting the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, eliciting multiple standing ovations, and met with President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C.
The protesters have been setting up shop outside the public appearances of all Israeli government officials visiting the United States for the last six months, in a show of opposition against legislation that would sap the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. Herzog — whose political party is not in the ruling coalition and who has said the legislation could instigate a “civil war” — has been trying to broker a compromise over the legislation.
On Thursday, even as the first pieces of the judiciary changes neared completion, Herzog expressed optimism about those talks during his conversation with CNN senior global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga before an audience of Jewish leaders from across New York City. (The event was held at the Midtown headquarters of UJA-Federation. The group is a funder of 70 Faces Media.) Golodryga pressed him judicial reform, the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, aid to Ukraine and antisemitism.
“Right now there are efforts to try and find solutions and I hope that leaders would be responsible and attentive to the ability of finding amicable solutions and live consensus on this issue,” Herzog said on the judicial reform issue. “If one side wins, Israel will lose.”
On claims that Israel has not done enough to support Ukraine, Herzog said that an early detection alert system “like every Israeli has” is set to be deployed in Ukraine sometime next month to warn citizens of imminent attacks. “This is vital to their well-being and their protection,” he said.
Protesters gather outside of an event where Israeli President Isaac Herzog was scheduled to speak July 20, 2023. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
The live conversation followed meetings earlier in the day with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. People who attended said they appreciated Herzog’s message, even as they remain concerned about Israel’s future.
“What could he have said that would have satisfied this audience? I don’t know,” said Jamie Maxner, director of strategic partnerships and community engagement at Hannah Senesh Community Day School, who attended with others from Brooklyn.
“I did appreciate that from what he shared, that we need to be talking, we need to hear all of the perspectives,” Maxner added.
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The post In New York City, Israeli President Isaac Herzog encounters protesters — and tough questions appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran Says Eight Arrested for Suspected Links to Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency
The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had arrested eight people suspected of trying to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures to Israel’s Mossad, Iranian state media reported.
They are accused of having provided the information to the Mossad spy agency during Israel’s air war on Iran in June, when it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
A Guards statement alleged that the suspects had received specialized training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.
State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the 12-day war with Israel, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.
Security forces conducted a campaign of widespread arrests and also stepped up their street presence during the brief war that ended in a US-brokered ceasefire.
Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.
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Body of Idan Shtivi, Murdered on Oct. 7, Retrieved from Gaza in Special IDF Operation
Idan Shtivi. Photo: Courtesy of the family
i24 News – The body of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old murdered by Palestinian jihadists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in central Gaza, it was cleared for publication on Saturday.
Shtivi’s remains were returned to Israel alongside the body of Ilan Weiss, another hostage killed during the October 7 massacre.
“Idan Shtivi was abducted from the Tel Gama area and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after acting to rescue and evacuate others from the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. He was 28 years old at the time of his death,” read an IDF press release.
“Following an identification process conducted at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, along with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters notified his family.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Shviti “was a gifted student of sustainability and governance, and a courageous individual” who acted heroically on October 7, helping others flee.
“He was killed in the process and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas. My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Shtivi family. So far, 207 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive. We will continue to act tirelessly and decisively to bring back all our hostages—living and deceased.”
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Woman Stabbed at Ottawa Grocery Store in Latest Antisemitic Attack
A social media post by the alleged attacker, Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario. Photo: Screenshot via i24
i24 News – The stabbing of a Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery by a man with a long history of antisemitic posts on social media, the latest antisemitic hate crime in Canada, sparked outrage and prompted condemnation from officials including the prime minister.
Both the victim and the attacker are in their 70s. The woman is reportedly in serious condition.
The suspect was identified as Joseph Rooke, who has authored a series of lengthy rambling screeds on social media, ranting against Israel and Jews.
“Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he writes in one post, going on to say “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”
“I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”
Canada has seen a steep spike in antisemitic attacks over the past two years, including a recent incident in Montreal where a Hasidic Jew was beaten in front on his children.
After Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the incident, many, including former Israel’s ambassador the US Michael Oren, pointed out that Carney’s rhetoric and policies contribute to the increasing insecurity of Canada’s Jewish community through uncritical embrace of outrageous and easily disprovable allegations that Israel and its supporters were guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.