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Israelis are going forward with their weddings despite war and loss in their own families
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Doron Perez thought he would be supporting his son Yonatan under the huppah at Yonatan’s wedding last week. Instead, it was Yonatan holding him up — and defying all odds to do so.
Yonatan Perez had been shot in a battle with terrorists on Oct. 7. His brother Daniel Perez was missing in action, and Daniel’s tankmates were dead and abducted. Their country had been plunged into despair.
And yet the family went on with the wedding on the date set months prior, despite the pain they all felt.
“We couldn’t really think about [the wedding] for the first few days, and with Yonatan injured, we didn’t quite know what to do,” Doron Perez, a rabbi and executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
But five days after the attack, when Daniel was officially declared missing and it became clear that Yonatan would recover enough to return to his unit, the path forward became clear. Yonatan and Galya Landau, whose family had been evacuated from their kibbutz, wed at Yad Binyamin, where the Perez family lives, on Oct. 17.
Yonatan Perez and Galya Landau are wed at Yad Binyamin in Israel on Oct. 20, 2023. Perez was wounded in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and his brother was declared missing. (Courtesy Perez family)
“It wasn’t a difficult decision but it was difficult to go through the experience of the decision,” Perez said. The wedding itself, he said, was “a happy event” despite the circumstances.
“It just felt holy,” he said. “It felt like we’re living in a special time of big things happening … and even though the price has already been so difficult, the overriding feeling was one of happiness, one of just celebration.”
The family’s experience was an extreme version of what many couples in Israel are going through, as they decide whether and how to follow through with their weddings despite the pain and upheaval instigated by Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Some are downsizing their celebrations because family and friends from abroad are unable to come. Many also want to ensure that guests can get to bomb shelters if needed. Others are seeing the guest list grow as bringing joy to brides and grooms has joined the tasks for which Israelis are volunteering in droves.
Some couples are rushing their nuptials in advance of grooms heading to the reserves. And a few have gotten married on the front lines, their parents and fellow soldiers the only guests at ceremonies in the shadow of war.
Reuven Lebetkin, 25, and Shirel Tayeb, 23, were supposed to get married on Monday with many of their family members in attendance from overseas. Both moved to Israel with their families as children, Lebetkin from Miami and Tayeb from France. Instead, they had an intimate wedding at Israel’s northern border, where threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon loomed.
“That’s the date that we decided beforehand. We don’t believe that it’s good luck to push it off,” Lebetkin said. “Also, if we do it means that we give into the terrorism.”
The couple had chosen a song by Israeli musician Noam Banai to play during the veiling ceremony, called a bedeken. They were shocked to see Banai himself at the wedding, in a surprise organized by his friends. Banai ended up playing for the entire ceremony.
Other prominent Israeli musicians have made appearances at wartime weddings. The religious pop star Ishay Ribo played at a backyard wedding where the groom was on a 24-hour leave, according to a report in the Times of Israel, and Ivri Lider sang his hit “I was Fortunate to Love” at a wedding that was downsized from a 400-person hall to an apartment balcony. (Lider also sang the song at the funeral of a soldier who had planned to have it played at his wedding on Oct. 20.)
Hanan Ben Ari surprised another couple, Nadav and Noam, at their ceremony on a military base. Eden Hasson sang for a couple after encountering their wedding while visiting a military base to cheer up soldiers. And the singer Ariel Zilber posted a video of himself performing at a different wedding in the north on Thursday, a red carpet laid down next to a military truck, the bride wearing military attire along with a veil and flowers.
The weddings frequently go viral on social media, in an indication of how deeply the traumatized nation is craving signs of joy and hope.
For the Perez family, just being able to hold the wedding at all was a triumph. It was Yonatan who had alerted his father that Daniel’s tank was missing from their base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz — a fact they found reassuring. “It was a good sign,” Perez said, pointing to the tank’s indestructibility.
But Yonatan, who was shot in the leg during a five-hour gun battle in the Gaza envelope, painted a dire picture of the base, which was overrun by terrorists. “There was death and destruction all around. RPGs everywhere. Every army vehicle had been destroyed,” Perez said, citing Yonatan.
One of the soldiers from Daniel’s tank, Tomer Liebowitz, was found dead. Another, Itay Chen, was confirmed captured. Chen’s father, Ruby, last week also celebrated a lifecycle event — a bar mitzvah — in the absence of his older son, telling JTA that his youngest son “deserved to have a happy bar mitzvah.” Then he flew to the United States to lobby at the United Nations and in Washington, D.C., on behalf of his son and the more than 220 other Israelis taken hostage.
Daniel’s absence was palpable at Yonatan and Galya’s wedding. “When the rabbi mentioned him, it was very, very hard and I broke down,” Perez said. “I had my son holding me up, instead of me holding him up.”
His daughter, meanwhile, said the hardest part of the wedding was being pictured with all her siblings — minus one. “It was a moment that was hard, and we acknowledged that and validated it.”
But, Perez continued, even though Daniel’s “presence, or lack thereof, permeated the whole wedding, it didn’t set the tone.”
Jewish weddings have a built-in acknowledgment of catastrophe amid joy, in the breaking of the glass that takes place at the end of the ceremony. Jewish tradition also holds that weddings should go on as planned whenever possible, no matter the circumstances.
Perez said he had gained a new appreciation for those ideas, in an acutely personal way.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had to learn that it somehow is possible to live with such conflicting, contradictory feelings as deep pain, worry, dread, fear… and at the same time to marry off a son,” he said. “I have learned that it’s possible to do both. To sort of compartmentalize, and I think I did that at the wedding.”
He said he knows his family isn’t the first to forge forward in moments of crisis.
“I’ve also drawn a lot of strength that throughout the most challenging times, Jewish people got married and had families,” he said, citing the Holocaust as an example. “We are part of a people that sanctifies life. It’ll be a new dawn and a much better time for the Jewish people going forward.”
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The post Israelis are going forward with their weddings despite war and loss in their own families appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Leading Nonprofit Holds ‘Antisemitism Symposium’ in Washington, DC for College Administrators
Visitors enter the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, MA on June 3, 2025. Photo: Jason Bergman/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
College administrators from across the US will amass in Washington, DC, this week for a three-day symposium on combating campus antisemitism, a sign of growing recognition that anti-Jewish hatred threatens not only Jewish students but all of higher education.
Organized by the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), which promotes academic freedom unfettered by boycotts and ideology, the event will be attended by administrators representing dozens of institutions such as Harvard University, Barnard College, and George Washington University, all of which have drawn scrutiny for responding to campus antisemitism in ways that critics — including Jewish community leaders and senior US officials — have described as insufficient if not dismissive.
Dozens of conversations and seminars will be held over the three-day “Antisemitism Symposium,” with many being led by AEN faculty, as well as staff from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and experts from the Jewish Federations of North America and the American Jewish Committee.
“College administrators are the ones tasked with recognizing and addressing antisemitism on campus, as well as setting the tone for behavioral expectations and campus culture,” Miriam Elman, executive director of AEN, said in a statement. “Today’s antisemitism, though, often takes forms that can be less familiar or harder to identify, making it all the more important to provide campus leaders with the tools, training, and support they need to recognize and respond effectively.”
She continued, “By hosting this convening and bringing these administrators together for a yearlong learning journey, we ensure they are not tackling these unique challenges in isolation, but as part of a national network committed to fostering welcoming, inclusive, and safe learning environments for all.”
The AEN symposium comes amid a concerted effort by American Jewish and allied organizations to persuade higher education leaders of the importance of taking steps to deter, or quell, antisemitism in the early weeks of the new academic year.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Jewish Federations of North America, Hillel International, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued a joint statement calling for action in August, putting forth a policy framework that they say will quell antisemitism if applied sincerely and consistently. It included “enhanced communication and policy enforcement,” “dedicated administration oversight,” and “faculty accountability” — an issue of rising importance given the number of faculty accused of inciting discrimination.
“These recommendations aren’t just suggestions; they’re essential steps universities need to take to ensure Jewish students can learn without fear,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement at the time. “Jewish students are being forced to hide who they are, and that’s unacceptable — we need more administrators to step up.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, colleges campus across the US erupted with effusions of antisemitic activity following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, an uprising which included calling for the destruction of Israel, cheering Hamas’s sexual assaulting of women as an instrument of war, and numerous of incidents of assault and harassment targeting Jewish students, faculty, and activists.
At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), anti-Zionist protesters chanted “Itbah El Yahud” at Bruin Plaza, which means “slaughter the Jews” in Arabic. At Columbia University, Jews were gang-assaulted, a student proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself, and administrative officials, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting. At Harvard University, an October 2023 anti-Israel demonstration degenerated into chaos when Ibrahim Bharmal, former editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, and Elom Tettey-Tamaklo encircled a Jewish student with a mob that screamed “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at him while he desperately attempted to free himself from the mass of bodies.
More recently, Eden Deckerhoff — a female student at Florida State University — allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.” Deckerhoff has since been charged with misdemeanor battery.
Majorities of Jewish students continue to describe their campuses as hostile environments.
According to a recent Spring Campus Poll conducted by The Daily Northwestern, the official campus newspaper of Northwestern University, 58 percent of Jewish students reported being subjected to antisemitism or knowing someone who has. An even higher 63.1 percent said antisemitism remains a “somewhat or very serious problem.”
Meanwhile, a Columbia University “climate survey” conducted last academic year found that 53 percent of Jewish students have been subjected to discrimination because of being Jewish, while another 53 percent reported that their friendships are “strained” because of how overwhelmingly anti-Zionist the student culture is. Additionally, 29 percent of Jewish students said they have “lost close friends,” and 59 percent, nearly two-thirds, of Jewish students sensed that they would be better off by electing to “conform their political beliefs” to those of their classmates.
Nearly 62 percent of Jewish students reported a low “feeling of acceptance” at Columbia on the basis of their religious identity, and 50 percent said that the pro-Hamas encampments which capped off the 2023-2024 academic year had a negative “impact” on their daily routines. Also, Jewish students at Columbia are more likely than their peers to report these negative feelings and experiences, followed by Muslim students.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Anti-Israel Activism Takes Center Stage at Emmy Awards After Paramount Condemns Boycott of Israeli Film Companies
Javier Bardem at the 2025 Emmy Awards. Photo: REUTERS/Daniel Cole
Several members of Hollywood promoted their pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activism on Sunday night at the 77th Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Actor Javier Bardem – who stars in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” – wore a Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck to the ceremony and talked on the Emmys red carpet about his decision not to work with Israeli institutions and companies.
The Emmy nominee told The Hollywood Reporter that he “will never work with some company now [who] are not condemning the genocide in Gaza.” If his decision impacts the number of jobs he gets, he said, “Me not getting jobs is absolutely [ir]relevant compared to what is going on there.”
The “F1” actor also told Variety on the Emmys red carpet: “I cannot work with someone that justifies or supports the genocide. I can’t. It’s as simple as that. And we shouldn’t, in this industry and in any other industry. What we are witnessing is a genocide on a daily basis.”
Also on Sunday, in Bardem’s home country of Spain, a major cycling race was shut down after thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with police while protesting an Israeli team’s participation in the race. Bardem mentioned the shutdown while speaking on the Emmys red carpet and said Israel’s inclusion in the race is an example of “whitewashing” the “genocide” Israel is supposedly perpetrating in Gaza.
“We ask for a commercial and diplomatic blockade, and sanctions on Israel to stop this genocide. Free Palestine,” Bardem said.
Earlier this month, thousands of members of the Hollywood film industry signed a pledge by Film Workers for Palestine to boycott any Israeli film institutions and companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” More than 1,300 filmmakers, actors, and other creatives signed the pledge.
The film production giant Paramount criticized the boycott in a released statement on Sept. 12.
“At Paramount, we believe in the power of storytelling to connect and inspire people, promote mutual understanding, and preserve the moments, ideas, and events that shape the world we share. This is our creative mission,” read a statement issued by Paramount chief communications officer Melissa Zukerman.
“We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers,” the statement continued. “Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace. The global entertainment industry should be encouraging artists to tell their stories and share their ideas with audiences throughout the world. We need more engagement and communication — not less.”
Bardem responded to Paramount while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the Emmys.
“It’s also important to clarify to Paramount that we do not target individuals by their identity. That’s absolutely wrong. Don’t send that message; that is a wrong thing,” he said. “What we target are those complicit film companies and institutions that are involved in whitewashing or justifying the genocide of Israel in Gaza and its apartheid regime. And we stand with those who fight and stand in solidarity with the oppressed.”
Jewish-American actress and “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder was among those who signed the anti-Israel pledge by Film Workers for Palestine. On Sunday night, Einbinder won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy series and concluded her acceptance speech by cheering the Philadelphia Eagles, calling out immigration raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and declaring “Free Palestine.” Backstage in the press room after her first Emmy win, she told reporters that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is “an issue that’s very close to my heart.”
“I have friends in Gaza who are working as frontline workers, as doctors, right now in the north of Gaza to provide care for pregnant women and for school children to create schools in refugee camps,” Einbinder said. “I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel because our religion and our culture is such an important and longstanding institution that is really separate to this ethnonationalist state.”
She also explained why she signed the Film Workers for Palestine pledge.
“It’s like many movements — boycotting is an effective tool to create pressure on the powers that be to meet the moment,” she said. “The Film Workers for Palestine boycott does not boycott individuals; it only boycotts institutions that are directly complicit in the genocide. So, it’s important to me and I think it’s an important measure and I was happy to be a part of it.”
Fellow “Hacks” star Megan Stalter walked the Emmys red carpet wearing a white T-shirt and jeans that she paired with a black handbag featuring a message that read, “Cease Fire!” which seemed to be a reference the war in Gaza. There were some members of the audience inside Peacock Theater who were also seen wearing the Artists4Ceasefire red pins that call for an end to Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip. “White Lotus” actress Aimee Lou Wood, “Hacks” director Lucia Aniello, “Abbott Elementary” actor Chris Perfetti, and “Presumed Innocent” actress Ruth Negga were among the celebrities who wear the pins on the red carpet on Sunday.
Film Workers for Palestine responded to Paramount’s criticism of its anti-Israel boycott by saying that it hopes the studio is not “intentionally misrepresenting the pledge in an attempt to silence our colleagues in the film industry.”
“Such a move would only shield a genocidal regime from criticism at a time when global outrage is exponentially growing and while meaningful steps towards accountability are being taken by many,” Film Workers for Palestine wrote in a statement posted on social media. “Should Israeli film institutions wish to continue working with pledge signatories, their choice is clear: end complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid, and endorse the full rights of the Palestinian people under international law, in line with Palestinian civil society guidelines.”
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‘Incredibly Validating’: Documentary About Oct. 7 Rescue Wins People’s Choice Award at Toronto Film Festival
Canadian director Barry Avrich on the red carpet at a screening of “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sept. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Anna Mehler Paperny
A film about a former Israeli general’s mission to rescue his family during the Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, won the People’s Choice award for best documentary at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Director Barry Avrich’s documentary “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” took home the honor after a whirlwind journey of being dropped from the film festival and then reinvited. The Canadian documentary highlights retired Israeli Gen. Noam Tibon and his heroic efforts to rescue his son’s family from Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, when they invaded kibbutz Nahal Oz near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.
“To win this award is thrilling for Mark and me. The audience voted and I appreciate that. We look forward to the rest of this journey [and] I appreciate everything that TIFF has done for us,” Avrich said while accepting the documentary award trophy at the Lightbox theater. The award was presented by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. The film’s producer, Mark Selby, said in his acceptance speech, “I hope that all the filmmakers of this festival feel as supported as Barry and I did during this whole process.”
“The Road Between Us” made its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 10. TIFF originally invited the film to take part in this year’s festival but then removed the documentary from its lineup after claiming that filmmakers did not obtain clearance to use footage from the deadly attack that was taken by Hamas terrorists themselves. The film was ultimately invited to rejoin TIFF following outrage from pro-Israel supporters around the world and Cameron apologized twice for the festival’s decision to cancel the screening.
Avrich told The Canadian Press it feels “incredibly validating” to have the audience vote for his film to win the People’s Choice award for best documentary.
“We live in a country where it’s about freedom of expression. So, people want to protest. They can protest,” he told the publication. “We encourage people to see the film and if there’s something they want to protest about in reference to the film, fine. Or don’t buy a ticket. Either way, I’m fine with that … I’ve always said this is a film about family.”
“People can have an opinion but we encourage them to see the film first and then form their opinion based on what they’ve seen,” Selby added.
“The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” will be released in theaters across North America on Oct. 3. Watch the trailer below.