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In Show of Resolve, Top Israeli Official Sings, Dances With Students Whose Classmates Were Injured in Terror Attack
Illustrative: Israeli security personnel stand guard in the aftermath of a violent Palestinian terror attack near Jerusalem, Nov. 16, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Kisch joined a group of high school students whose friends were injured in a Palestinian terror attack on Monday in song and dance while the senior official was being interviewed on Israeli television.
“The people of Israel are not afraid of a long journey,” they all sang, dancing together while the interviewers sought to get clarity from the minister on what victory would look like for Israel in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
Kisch opened the interview by saying he was in Raanana, north of Tel Aviv in central Israel, where police say two Palestinians carried out coordinated stabbings and car-rammings, killing an elderly woman and injuring 17 others.
“I am here in Raanana, exactly where there was a terror attack, with students who came here to dance and strengthen the people of Israel and pray for the victory of our soldiers in the war,” Kisch said.
“I spoke to the students and told them a very simple thing: We will continue the war until victory,” the minister added, referring to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas in Gaza following the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
The interviewers asked Kisch to clarify what victory meant, to which the Israeli cabinet member responded, “We will not stop until the abductees are returned. We will not stop until Hamas is subdued. We must continue — this is a war for our existence as the people of Israel.”
During Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught, terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 others hostages, taking them to Gaza. Israel has said it will continue its war against the terror group until all the hostages are freed and Hamas is incapacitated, no longer posing a major threat to the Jewish state.
When Kisch finished his response about Israel continuing its war effort, the singing and dancing started behind him, a few seconds after which he joined in as the broadcasters were unable to continue their questioning.
The students in the video attend Amit Kfar Batya, a national religious high school in Raanana, where Monday’s terror attack occurred. Two terrorists from the West Bank attacked civilians in the normally peaceful, well-to-do town near Tel Aviv. The victim who died was identified as 79-year-old Edna Bluestein.
Of those injured, seven were children and teenagers, all of whom were taken to the emergency room. Four of the victims remain in serious condition.
The classmates of those injured were the ones dancing with Kisch, who joined them amid their singing and reading from the Hebrew book of Psalms, commonly read to pray for those injured or sick.
The principal of the school, Rabbi Yoni Berlin, told the Israeli network conducting the interview that his students wanted to show that they won’t live in fear.
“Our students have gone through a difficult event. We are all praying for the healing of our seriously injured students and for all the wounded,” he said. “Our students asked to come to the place, to get stronger and stronger in order to raise the flag and tell all those who seek to take our souls that the nation of Israel lives.”
אחלה יואב קיש @YoavKisch pic.twitter.com/xI8Z53HVso
— Avi Noga (@AviNoga3) January 16, 2024
The post In Show of Resolve, Top Israeli Official Sings, Dances With Students Whose Classmates Were Injured in Terror Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.”
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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.
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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.