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Israelis Rally on World Children’s Day, Slam UN Silence on Kids Held Hostage in Gaza
Hadas Calderon, mother of two hostages in Gaza, speaking outside UNICEF in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 20, 2023. Photo: Debbie Weiss
The families of the hostages kidnapped from Israel last month and their supporters expressed outrage in various rallies and campaigns on World Children’s Day on Monday over the silence from international bodies like the UN regarding the 40 children and babies being held by terrorists in Gaza.
Hundreds of people held simultaneous protests in Tel Aviv and New York outside the offices of UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Protesters noted that the UN agency ignored the children abducted by the Hamas terror group but did mark World Children’s Day by posting a video on X/Twitter highlighting the suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza.
UNICEF chief Catherine Russell also published a special World Children’s Day message which likewise made no mention of either the Israeli children murdered during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel or those still in captivity after being abducted that day.
Hadas Calderon, the mother of two abducted children, Erez and Sahar, opened her remarks at the Tel Aviv rally by ringing a bell and calling out, “UNICEF, wake up!”
“If today is about children’s rights, where are my children’s rights?” she asked. “How is it possible that in the face of this horror, the world is silent? Organizations like UNICEF are silent. Have you forgotten your role?”
In the background, images of Calderon’s children and the others being held hostage were projected onto the UNICEF building.
Yoni Asher, whose wife Doron and daughters Raz, 5, and Aviv, 3, are hostages in Gaza, said, “If I can feel sorrow and concern for every child in the world, how can an international organization like UNICEF not say the same. You cannot define yourself as an organization that protects children’s rights if you cannot care for children on both sides of the fence.”
The protest was disrupted by red alert sirens triggered by rockets fired from Gaza, prompting demonstrators to take cover on the ground.
Several prominent Israelis presented at the rally, including actors and performers; Vered Windman, CEO of Israel’s National Council for the Child; and Shai Gross, the youngest hostage in the 1976 Entebbe hijacking. “I remember the fear, the all-consuming anxiety, and helplessness,” recalled Gross, who was six when the Air France flight he was on was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. “I came back a different child.”
Windman addressed UNICEF officials, noting that children were taken from their beds on Oct. 7, some after having been forced to watch the murder of their parents.
“The return of the kidnapped children should not only be a matter for their families, nor only for the citizens of Israel — it should be an international matter,” he said. “This is your professional, legal, and above all, your moral duty.”
Speaking at the rally in New York, Omer Lubaton-Granot — the head of the hostages forum in New York who has four family members in captivity, including three children aged 9, 12, and 17 — said, “A search on the UNICEF website led to zero messages on the subject of the Israeli abductees in Gaza. There are updates on difficult stories in Kyrgyzstan, in Haiti, and in Africa — but there is not a single update on the largest abductee crisis in history.”
Meanwhile, not far from the UNICEF building in Tel Aviv, a different demonstration took place at a Toys “R” Us storefront in the Dizengoff Center mall.
Conceptualized by Israeli photographer Ziv Koren, the toy store’s window was turned into a somber space of remembrance to mark World Children’s Day with an exhibit displaying toys collected from the ruins of Kibbutz Be’eri.
Photo: Courtesy of Toys “R” Us
Of the 29 residents of Kibbutz Be’eri who are being held hostage in Gaza, 11 are children. Members of the kibbutz, including children, attended the Toys “R” Us exhibit.
A sinister video clip that was also released on Monday features the Be’eri toys as they once were and as they appear now, charred, broken, and falling apart.
Also on Monday, the Israeli Association for Early Childhood launched a video campaign leveraging World Children’s Day to raise awareness about the plight of the young abductees.
The video features superhero toys, each wrapped in flags from the United States, Germany, Argentina, and Japan, urging those countries to “bring my hero home.” Below the superheroes is a child in a terrorist tunnel, covered in an Israeli flag.
The text that overlays the images reads: “Wake up world! When your children dream of superheroes, our children were kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas-ISIS and dream of freedom and their basic rights!”
The association said that World Children’s Day was a “day (of no) rights (and no) children” for Israeli children.
“The terrible events of 7.10.23, murder, burning, rape, killing, kidnapping, and especially crimes done to children, babies, and toddlers, constitutes a blunt and intolerable violation” of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with families of the children at another event on Monday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
“Today is the UN’s International Children’s Day. A day designed to protect our children. Kidnapping children from their beds, kidnapping children in general [is] a barbaric act, a terrible act that violates all international codes. The enemy who kidnapped these children is trying to use them and the other abductees as a psychological tool, as a tool for extortion,” Herzog said in a statement.
The World Children’s Day events came amid news of a possible hostage deal, with the White House on Monday saying it was “closer than ever before” to reaching a deal to release those in captivity. The US and Qatar have been working through diplomatic channels to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas terrorists to release at least some of the hostages in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The post Israelis Rally on World Children’s Day, Slam UN Silence on Kids Held Hostage in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Arizona Man Charged With Threatening Synagogues to Take Out ‘Jew Government’
Kevin Charles Pyles, 32, Glendale, Arizona, man accused of threatening violence against Jews. Photo: Screenshot.
Law enforcement officials in Arizona have arraigned a man from city of Glendale who is accused of threatening to commit antisemitic hate crimes and mass casualty events, according to local media reports.
Over four months, Kevin Charles Pyles, 32, declared to his social media followers that he hates Jews, people of color, and the state of Israel, adding that he believes the US is a “Jew government.” As Pyles’ delusions grew, so did his ambitions, and before long threatened to detonate explosives outside the local Sha’arei Shalom Congregation synagogue by shooting propane tanks.
According to a CBS affiliate, the disturbing tirades caught the attention of the Secure Community Network (SCN) — a nonprofit organization which partners with law enforcement to promote safety and thwart imminent threats to the Jewish community — which reported Pyles to Phoenix police.
“This is very painful. It’s not right to do that,” Rabbi Pinhas Nisanov of Sha’arei Shalom Congregation told KTVK-3TV in a statement. “We have to respect each, and each other, even other religions.”
In another statement to the outlet, Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz of Arizona Jews for Justice said, “Hatred is growing and antisemitism is growing, and we all have to call it out wherever we see it. Wherever we see stereotypes and bias and hate, we have to call it out.”
Antisemitic activity across the country continues to challenge a once ironclad consensus that the US is a safe haven for the Jewish people.
On Monday, a telecenter operator who was, until Tuesday, employed by Fidelity Investments launched a volley of antisemitic insults at a Jewish journalist via social media after learning that her children attend a summer camp which fosters pride in Zionism.
“F—k you and f—k your kid who goes to Nazi summer camp!” Danielle Gordon, the now-former employee, wrote to Bethany Mandel, author and contributor to the “Mom Wars” Substack. “Free Palestine from you sick f—ks!”
The exchange began when Mandel publicly discussed the presence of a paraglider over the camp’s property which, due to lingering trauma caused by the memory of the use of paragliders in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel — which preceded an explosion of antisemitic incidents across the US — appeared to pose an imminent security threat. Gordon seemingly took umbrage at Mandel’s concern for Jewish life and the lives of her children, and hastily fired off the messages from an account which listed her legal name.
“I found it troubling that she sent such antisemitic vitriol when she’s just a working class, college educated white woman living in Denver — that is how far this rot has spread,” Mandel told The Algemeiner on Monday after her sharing of Gordon’s messages amassed over a million views on X. “Antisemitism has become normative discourse for people of her demographic.”
Mandel continued, “That word, Zionist, triggered her very much, and she had no qualms about coming at me, coming at my kids … There should be consequences for talking like this.”
This incident came just weeks after another sudden outburst of hatred against Jews.
Earlier this month, Eden Deckerhoff — a female student at Florida State University (FSU) — 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.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Deckerhoff has denied assaulting the student when questioned by investigators, telling them, “No I did not shove him at all; I never put my hands on him.” However, law enforcement charged her with misdemeanor battery and described the incident in court documents as seen in viral footage of the incident, acknowledging that Deckerhoff “appears to touch [the man’s] left shoulder.” Despite her denial, the Democrat noted, she has offered to apologize.
Days later, an unknown person or group graffitied swastikas and other hateful messages on the grounds of the Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) national headquarters in Los Angeles, underscoring the severity of the antisemitism crisis in the US.
“F—k Jews,” one cluster of graffiti said.
“BDS,” the message added, referring to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel.
The wave of hate follows a pattern of year-on-year surges in acts of anti-Jewish bigotry.
In 2024, according to newly released FBI statistics, hate crimes perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.
A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Netanyahu Says Israel to Begin Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations to End War, Release Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had directed the immediate initiation of negotiations for the release of all hostages in Gaza and the conclusion of the war there on terms acceptable to Israel.
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Turkish Ports Raise New Barriers to Israel-Linked Ships, Sources Say
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkish port authorities have begun informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country, according to two shipping sources.
The move is another step Turkey has taken against Israel after it last year severed trade with the country, worth $7 billion annually, over its war in Gaza with Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The sources said the harbor master’s office had verbally instructed port agents to provide written assurances, adding that there was no official circular on the issue.
One of the sources said the instruction applied to ports across Turkey.
The second source said vessels arriving directly from Israel or departing to Israeli ports would no longer be permitted to dock at Turkish ports, according to information provided by the port authority of the northwestern province of Kocaeli.
Turkish-flagged ships will also be prohibited from calling at Israeli ports, according to the source.
The transport ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move could further complicate shipments to Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have targeted ships in the Red Sea since 2023 in what they call an act of solidarity with Palestinians.
NATO member Turkey has fiercely criticized Israel over its attacks on Gaza and called it a genocide against the Palestinians, a charge Israel denies.
The new guarantee letters should state that vessel owners, managers, and operators have no ties to Israel, and that certain types of cargo, including explosives and radioactive materials or military equipment, are not on board en route to Israel, the second source said.