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Israel Moves EU Approval for Diaspora Bond to Luxembourg From Ireland Amid Hostility Over Gaza
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate in front of the Central Bank of Ireland against the sale of Israeli bonds throughout the EU, in Dublin, Ireland, May 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Israel has moved the process of securing EU approval for its diaspora bond prospectus to Luxembourg from Ireland amid increasing opposition in Dublin to its central bank’s role in approving the program on behalf of the European Union.
Irish lawmakers and anti-Israel campaign groups have called on the central bank to stop facilitating the sale of the bonds over the last year due to Israel‘s near two-year military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel‘s diaspora bonds are relatively small and sold mainly in Jewish communities around the world to help supplement the state’s bond sales that finance its budget deficit that has risen due to the war. Israel launched a diaspora bond campaign in October 2023 to raise money amid the conflict.
Non-EU countries must choose one EU member state to apply to for approval of a prospectus where securities are traded in the EU and Ireland‘s central bank had been asked to approve Israel‘s diaspora bond program each year since 2021.
A joint committee of Irish lawmakers recommended in August that the government seek to amend EU regulations so as to allow each individual European central bank to refuse to act as the competent authority for such bond prospectuses.
Protesters have also demonstrated outside the central bank’s offices.
Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
Last year, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, a decision that Israel described as a “reward for terrorism.” This year, the Irish government is drafting legislation to ban trade with territories under Israeli administration, including the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The measure seeks to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from what the legislation refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories,” including Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Irish central bank had consistently said it is legally obliged to approve any prospectus once the relevant conditions are met.
In a letter to a lawmaker published by the central bank, Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said the approval for Israel‘s program would be transferred to Luxembourg upon the expiry of the prior year’s prospectus on Monday.
The new prospectus published on the website of Israel Bonds, the country’s borrowing vehicle for diaspora bonds, said its program for the next year had been approved by Luxembourg.
Israel‘s finance ministry did not immediately comment on the reasons for moving its EU bond prospectus approval.
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Pro-Palestinian Rioters Splatter Israeli Singer With Red Paint, Try to Storm Stage at Concert in Poland
Illustrative: Anti-Israel protesters hold a banner that says, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” standing in front of the president’s palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 5, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/Marek Antoni Iwanczuk via Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators threw red paint on Israeli singer-songwriter and composer David D’Or and tried to storm the stage with a Palestinian flag during his performance in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday night.
D’Or was singing the Hebrew prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” at a finale concert for an annual Jewish cultural festival in Warsaw when an anti-Israel agitator in the audience approached the stage and hurled red paint on him. While the protester was being apprehended by security, another activist emerged from the audience, carrying a Palestinian flag, and tried to storm the stage while reportedly shouting “Free Palestine.” Both activists were quickly removed from the auditorium.
D’Or posted a video of the incident on Instagram and detailed what happened in a Hebrew-language caption.
“In the middle of the prayer our father our king, when I pray for a good year and for peace in the world, I closed my eyes, when I suddenly felt a cold splash on my face, I opened my eyes to see a strong red color, similar to blood,” wrote the singer. “On the clothes on my face and on the stage and the musicians. The playlist was like stained in blood.” He said the stains of red paint reminded him “of the horror sights of October 7th,” referring to the deadly Hamas-led attack in 2023 in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip, starting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
D’Or said after he was splattered with red paint, “in the stunned crowd a sound of horror and crying began. I realized that I must pick myself up and encourage them.”
“I continued to sing and asked everyone to close their eyes and pray for the people of Israel,” he added. “It wasn’t easy, my eyes were teary with pain and great sadness from the situation we got to. At the end of the show the audience sang along with me and we came out strong … What terrible days, may God have mercy. Praying for better days.”
D’Or’s performance on Sunday night, accompanied by Sinfonia Viva, closed off the 22nd edition of the Singer’s Warsaw Festival of Jewish Culture. The concert took place at the Moniuszko Auditorium.
D’or’s career spans over 35 years and he has performed with many philharmonic orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Rome, London, Moscow, Shanghai, Budapest, Beijing, and Los Angeles. He has 17 gold and platinum albums and previously performed at the Vatican six times, the United Nations, in front of former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and had a close relationship with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who asked for D’or to sing at his funeral.
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Florida Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Plotting Attacks Targeting Jews, Blacks
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
A man from Margate, Florida, man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in federal prison for planning attacks against Jewish and Black Americans, the US Department of Justice announced.
John Kevin Lapinski, Jr., 41, previously pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a person subject to a court order, possession of an unregistered silencer, and possession of body armor by a violent felon.
On Oct. 31, 2024, officers from the Margate Police Department responded to a call about shots fired in a residential neighborhood and discovered that Lapinski was the shooter. Inside his home, police officers found a shooting target that depicted a Black male covered in bullet holes. They also found Lapinski’s arsenal that included five firearms, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two silencers, body armor, smoke grenades, a Ghillie suit used for camouflage, and tactical gear.
Officers additionally found maps of local schools, parks, and community sites with racial slurs, written by Lapinski, that targeted Black and Jewish people. Lapinski had also compiled a “target list” for attacks based on race and religion and it mentioned a Jewish member of Congress, local synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and other religious and ethnically identified sites, according to the Justice Department
“This defendant stockpiled weapons, tactical gear, and detailed attack plans to terrorize Jewish and Black Americans in our communities. His intent was not abstract — it was written on his maps, his targets, and his so-called hit list,” US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement
“Thanks to the swift work of our law enforcement partners, his plan never became reality,” Quiñones added. “Instead of carrying out acts of racist violence, he will spend the next quarter-century behind bars. Let this sentence serve as a warning: hate-fueled violence will be met with decisive federal prosecution. We will disrupt your plans, seize your weapons, and ensure you never endanger the people of this district again.”
Investigators also linked Lapinski to a shooting in August 2024 that targeted the home and vehicle of a Jewish Florida resident.
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Houthi Terrorists Raid UN Premises in Yemen, Detain At Least 11 People
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthi rebels raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 UN personnel, the body said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, forcibly entered World Food Program premises, seized UN property, and attempted to enter other UN offices in the capital.
The raid followed an Israeli strike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed the prime minister of Yemen‘s Houthi-run government and several other ministers.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a separate statement that the 11 staff were detained in both Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
UNICEF, the UN Development Program and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are among other UN agencies with offices in one or both of the two cities.
Grundberg said the detentions were in addition to 23 other UN staff previously detained, some since 2021, and one who died in detention this year.