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Islamist Terror Networks Remain the Top Security Threat to Latin America’s Jewish Communities
People hold up pictures of the victims of the AMIA Jewish center bombing during a ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of the 1994 attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian
On August 16, Argentina’s Federal Police thwarted an Islamist terror plot reportedly linked to ISIS and the Taliban to murder Jews in Mendoza — the second such plot uncovered in Argentina this year.
Last November, Brazilian security services unfoiled a similar attack against the country’s Jewish community, which was planned by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy, Hezbollah.
While these plots were exposed in time to prevent mass murder, they sadly demonstrate that the Jewish communities in Latin America remain the target of both Sunni and Shiite Islamist terrorist networks that, until recently, appear to have operated with impunity.
Last month, I joined representatives of Jewish organizations from around the world in Buenos Aires to honor the victims of the 1994 bombing, which targeted the headquarters of the AMIA Jewish community center established in 1894. The attack, which was masterminded by Iran and its terror proxies, killed 85 people and injured more than 300, making it the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust, until it was tragically overtaken by October 7.
The AMIA attack came two years after a similar attack, in which a Hezbollah suicide bomber drove a pickup truck into the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 23 and wounding 242. I have friends who survived this horrendous attack, and others that lost their loved ones.
Argentina’s Jewish community — the largest in Latin America — has yet to see justice served against the perpetrators of these crimes.
The developments over the last week have provided a grim reminder that Islamist terror networks, whether backed by the Iranian regime or other state and non-state actors, remain one of the top security threats to Latin American countries and especially to their respective Jewish communities.
The targeting of Argentina’s Jewish population, despite the country’s physical, political, and military remoteness from the Middle East, demonstrates once again that Islamists target Jews for being Jews, no matter where they are in the world, and no matter what is happening in the Middle East.
Indeed, in July 1994, the same month as the AMIA attack, Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), made a historic return to Gaza after the Palestinian Authority (PA) was granted limited self-rule in Gaza and Jericho — a key step in the unfolding Oslo Accords.
Then, as now, it seems that the prospect of peace inspires the cruelest outbursts of terrorist violence against Jews, no matter who or where we are. After all, as analysts have noted, Hamas reportedly planned and executed the October 7 attacks as a response to the success of the Abraham Accords, and out of the fear that Saudi Arabia might soon become a signatory and peace partner with Israel.
While the most recent plot in Mendoza appears to have come from a terror cell espousing ISIS and Taliban rhetoric, the main source of the threat against Latin American Jews remains the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terror proxy, Hezbollah.
What’s more, it seems that today’s threats stem from the activities of longstanding Hezbollah cells and networks that have since become more established and sophisticated.
For example, Colombian police arrested Mahdy Akil Helbawi earlier this month, in coordination with the FBI. Helbawi is also designated by the US Treasury Department as an operative and financier for Hezbollah. Most notably, however, he is the son of Amer Akil Rada — a Hezbollah operative involved in both the bombings of the AMIA and the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
Decades after the AMIA atrocity, money is still being funneled to Hezbollah from a range of activities, in Colombia and Venezuela, including drug trafficking.
Hezbollah has a long relationship with South American drug cartels, but they have also expanded into the use of cryptocurrency to more easily launder and transfer their funds. This in turn has helped Hezbollah to adapt and develop the ways in which they target Latin American Jewish communities.
For example, in Brazil, two Hezbollah operatives recruited from local Middle Eastern diaspora communities were able to hire six Brazilian nationals to conduct attacks on Jewish targets in Brasilia. The plot was foiled last November by Brazilian authorities, but demonstrated Hezbollah’s ability to rely on new methods and networks to terrorize Jews and non-Jews alike.
Terrorism is a threat not just to Jews, but to democratic societies all around the globe. It is for this reason that all world leaders who believe in peaceful coexistence must work together to eradicate extremism and fight terrorism.
These efforts should include taking harsher measures against countries that actively promote and support terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, and designations and sanctions targeting the entire network of individuals and entities that fund and facilitate terrorism.
In the ceremony of the 30th anniversary of the AMIA, Argentinian President Javier Millei said “Silence supports evil.” Our societies cannot afford another AMIA tragedy, nor another 9/11, nor another October 7, and therefore, silence is not an option.
Marina Rosenberg is Senior Vice President for International Affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, and a former ambassador and diplomat.
The post Islamist Terror Networks Remain the Top Security Threat to Latin America’s Jewish Communities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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The Media’s Latest Blood Libel: How Distorted Data Turns Terrorists Into ‘Civilians’
Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli offensive, shelter in a tent camp as the Israeli military prepares to relocate residents to southern Gaza, in Gaza City August 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A joint +972, Guardian, and Local Call article “reveals” that 83 percent of casualties in Gaza since October 7th have been civilians. The shocking headline would be horrifying if true. Except, it’s not.
The concerted effort to smear Israel quickly unravels once the numbers from the investigation are pulled apart and looked at critically.
At the start of the war, the IDF reportedly held a database with an estimated 47,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists operating in the Gaza Strip; the IDF worked to keep track of those who were successfully targeted.
By May 2025, the number of positively identified terrorists stood at 8,900. This number was included within the IDF’s broader estimates of more than 20,000 terrorists eliminated at the time.
In May 2025, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health claimed the death toll in Gaza was 53,000. The three news outlets took this (disputed) number and put it next to the known 8,900 terrorist deaths confirmed by Israel.
+972, The Guardian, and Local Call presented the remaining 83% of deaths as civilians. In doing so, these outlets effectively fell for Hamas’ propaganda and obscured the reality of guerrilla warfare in Gaza.
The statistic built was void of the most important context: the number represented only terrorists Israel had already confirmed by name — and ignored the many thousands still under review or not yet identified.
The faulty 83% statistic also only included Hamas and Islamic Jihad, despite other terrorist organizations and independent actors existing in the Strip. In other words, anyone not on Israel’s confirmed terrorist list was automatically counted as a civilian — including unidentified combatants and the thousands of newly recruited members of Hamas, who wouldn’t yet be identified on the IDF’s list.
The IDF, too, acknowledged the flaws in using Hamas’ casualty figures to determine the success of IDF operations over the course of the war, emphasizing that the claims in the article are not only “false but also reflect a fundamental lack of military understanding.”
No, it doesn’t.
The IDF has been able to name and identify 9,000 terrorists out of thousands more it has yet to positively ID.
But @guardian would have to read the article it’s quoting in order to discover that detail… https://t.co/NZOSVYzUTi pic.twitter.com/hfOZoz1Oaw
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 21, 2025
Being that terrorists in the Gaza Strip deliberately embed themselves in the civilian population by wearing civilian clothing and don’t walk around with a name tag or identity card, it is impossible to know the exact number of terrorists that have been killed during IDF operations.
As of August 2025, the Hamas-provided casualty number stands at 62,000, while the IDF believes it has targeted over 22,000 terrorist operatives.
Despite the flaws in Hamas’ casualty figures — Hamas is well known for routinely inflating the casualty figures, a key element of its propaganda war against Israel — if we are to look at them at face value, the civilian to combatant ratio is an astonishingly low 2:1.
The UN estimates that the average civilian to combatant ratio in urban warfare is 9:1. By attempting to stretch the casualty ratio, +972, The Guardian and Local Call seek to warp reality and falsely accuse Israel of committing genocide.
The article of course elevates Hamas data as accurate, ignoring that it includes natural deaths, deaths caused by Hamas, child combatants and numerous other anomalies. It also falsely asserts Israel accepts the Hamas data even though Israel said it officially does not. 2/ pic.twitter.com/my3cjDNshW
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) August 21, 2025
Not only is it an incredibly impressive feat for the IDF to be able to identify terrorists, but it also sheds light on the war the IDF is fighting. While the media attempts to slander the IDF for deliberately targeting civilians, the IDF is working to maintain precision and minimize civilian harm, going so far as to keep track of combatant deaths where possible.
The data undercuts the headline, banking on readers seeing only the flashy, misleading figure rather than engaging with the full picture.
This is exactly how +972, The Guardian, and Local Call push a narrative that their own reporting can’t back up, and turn selected numbers into a supposed indictment of Israel’s conduct in the war.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Belgian Prime Minister Shows Solidarity With Jewish Community, Calls for Caution on Palestinian State Recognition
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever attends a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (not pictured), at the Chancellery, in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Amid rising antisemitism across Europe and increasing hostility toward Israel from several European governments, Prime Minister Bart De Wever expressed Belgium’s sympathy and respect for the Jewish community this week, honoring the millions of victims of the Holocaust.
During his trip to Berlin on Tuesday, De Wever visited the Holocaust Memorial and left a moving message in its guestbook.
“On behalf of the Belgian government and all people and communities living together in peace in Belgium, I express my deepest sympathy and my respect,” the Belgian leader wrote in a note in German.
“We will remember all the victims. I stand here humbly at this place of remembrance. The Jewish community will always have a home in Europe,” he continued.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA), commended De Wever’s remarks and his support for the Jewish community, highlighting his leadership as a model.
“We sincerely thank Prime Minister De Wever for his moving message in Berlin. At a time when antisemitism is once again spreading across Europe, his clear and unwavering statement that the Jewish community will always have a home here is deeply important,” Margolin said in a statement.
“Such leadership not only honors the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust but also strengthens the sense of security and belonging for Jews in Belgium and across the continent,” he continued.
“We also commend the Prime Minister’s principled leadership on Israel, where he consistently calls for security guarantees and a realistic path to peace. His voice carries moral weight in Europe, and we deeply appreciate it.”
During a visit to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Belgian Prime Minister @Bart_DeWever left an important message in the guestbook. Written in German, his note expressed Belgium’s sympathy and respect for the Jewish community and commemorated the millions… pic.twitter.com/ZcuEfKCavi
— EJA – EIPA (@EJAssociation) August 26, 2025
During his visit to Berlin, De Wever met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss the recent push by several European countries to recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s UN General Assembly.
At a joint press conference, De Wever stressed that recognizing a Palestine state is only meaningful under strict conditions, warning that doing so without such guarantees would be “pointless and even counterproductive.”
“Hamas must disappear completely, there must be a credible Palestinian Authority, an agreement must be reached on borders, and Israel must receive security guarantees. Without that, recognition makes no sense,” De Wever said.
In Belgium, De Wever’s more cautious approach to Palestinian statehood and support for Israel have fueled clashes within the government, with Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot threatening to block government initiatives if the coalition continues to hinder a firmer stance on Israel and the recognition of a Palestinian state.
“If there is no stronger tone within the government regarding the human rights violations committed by the Israeli government, or if no measures are taken in favor of recognizing Palestine, a major crisis is looming,” Prévot said during an interview with De Standaard.
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Amid War, Olim-Owned Businesses in Jerusalem Thrive, Showcasing Resilience, Community Spirit
Olim gather at JFK Airport, ready to board a charter flight to Israel and begin their new lives in the Jewish state. Photo: The Algemeiner
JERUSALEM — Despite the strains of war and the obstacles of starting over in a new country, businesses in Jerusalem owned by Jewish immigrants are thriving — a testament to resilience, Zionist commitment, and the power of community.
New immigrants, or olim, who make aliyah to Israel face steep challenges even in times of peace, navigating strict regulations, endless permits, and financial hurdles, though the Israeli government offers some support and incentives to promote new businesses.
Aliyah refers to the process of Jews immigrating to Israel, and olim refers to those who make this journey.
In recent years, the road has become even more difficult for entrepreneurs, first with the economic disruption of COVID-19 and now amid the uncertainty of the war in Gaza.
For many olim, launching a business in Israel is about more than entrepreneurship — it’s a way to start a new life, serve their country, build a community, and make a meaningful impact.
Last week, 225 new olim arrived in Tel Aviv on the first charter aliyah flight since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN) — a nonprofit that promotes and facilitates aliyah from the US and Canada — brought its 65th charter flight from New York, which The Algemeiner joined.
Founded in 2002, NBN helps olim become fully integrated members of Israeli society, simplifying the immigration process and providing essential resources and guidance.
In partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth, and the Jewish National Fund, NBN has helped nearly 100,000 olim build thriving new lives in Israel.
Eager to start their next chapter in Israel, these immigrants bring fresh ideas, culinary creativity, and cultural richness, strengthening the country’s social fabric every day.
Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Diana Shapira brought her passion for baking and warm hospitality to Israel, turning her aliyah dream into a popular destination for both locals and tourists.
She and her husband created Infused JLM, located near Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda Market, blending American and Israeli culture and creating a space that brings people together.
“We want people to see that an oleh’s dream can happen,” Shapira told The Algemeiner. “Even without family and facing many challenges, starting a business in Israel is possible — especially when you have the support of the community.”
“Before we made aliyah, so many people told us it was a bad financial decision. But you have to push past the doubt and keep striving,” she continued.
Another olim-owned business located in Jerusalem, Power CoffeeWorks, has become a favorite destination for coffee enthusiasts across the city.
Owned by Stephanie and Brandon, who made aliyah from Cape Town, South Africa, in 2016 with their four children at the time (now seven), the couple has turned their venture into a hub for coffee lovers and a gathering place for the community.
“We made aliyah because we believed Israel was the best place to raise our children,” Stephanie told The Algemeiner. “Despite all the challenges along the way, it has been an incredible journey.”
Crave, another oleh-owned restaurant in Mahaneh Yehuda, has gained increasing attention with its strictly kosher gourmet street food, blending American, Mexican, and Asian flavors in a way that hasn’t been seen before.
American-born Yoni Van Leeuwen, who made aliyah more than 20 years ago with his wife and eight children, views food not just as a business, but as a way to bring cultures and communities together.
Following the Oct. 7 atrocities, the war in Gaza dealt a harsh blow to Israeli businesses, forcing many to cut hours, adapt operations, and manage shortages.
Yet these olim-owned establishments have shown resilience, proving that passion, creativity, and commitment to the Zionist dream can overcome even the toughest challenges.
Whether by serving comfort food, offering a safe space for neighbors, or organizing fundraisers for soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon, these business owners described a spirit of perseverance deeply rooted in Jewish history.