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It’s not just Israeli Jews who were displaced by the Hamas attack
(JTA) — When Solomon and his family were forced to flee their home in Sderot after the Hamas attack on Oct.7, they were directed by the Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel, known as ASSAF, to a shelter in Tel Aviv for people whose lives had been upended by the violence. But when they arrived, they were abruptly denied entry. Unbeknownst to ASSAF, the shelter owners wished to serve only Jewish Israelis, not asylum-seekers like Solomon who hailed from Sudan or Eritrea and have been living in Israel sometimes for decades.
Solomon (not his real name) is among the estimated 30,000 or so asylum-seekers in Israel from Africa, who fled genocide, slavery or political unrest in their countries of origin. According to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, 1,200-1,500 of these African asylum seekers have been forced to leave their homes in southern Israel as a result of the Hamas attack.
Because asylum seekers cannot obtain Israeli ID cards, many of those displaced following Oct. 7 had previously lived in apartments without having signed formal contracts recognized by the state. They were, therefore, not officially evacuated by Israeli municipalities nor were they guaranteed shelter. When they have found temporary homes on their own, the apartments often lack a “safe room” and are 10 minutes or more away from the closest bomb shelter, not nearly enough time to reach safety before the rockets begin to rain down.
The discrimination Solomon and countless others experience as they seek new homes in the aftermath of Oct. 7 reinforces a dismal reality: Those who are already on the margins of Israeli society experience additional hardships during a time of war. This is not only the case for refugees and asylum-seekers, but also for tens of thousands of migrant workers, primarily in agriculture, construction and home healthcare. While the legal status of these workers is different from that of asylum-seekers, they too experience discrimination and injustice.
Shelter is just one of many challenges these populations are currently facing. Many are struggling with food insecurity, job losses, language barriers that prevent them from receiving essential services, and a near-total absence of economic and social safety nets. There has also been an extreme deterioration in mental health within these communities, especially among refugees, who report that they are reliving past traumas triggered by the current violence.
Indeed, between Oct. 7 and Nov. 15, the NGOs ASSAF and HIAS saw a significant rise in requests for assistance from refugees, compared to the previous year, with ASSAF reporting a 153% increase in calls.
Although no Israeli politician has publicly stated that these populations should be excluded from government aid, official evacuation plans and the wartime economic plan do not explicitly reference them, despite calls from NGOs for clear recognition.
While so many refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers are often made to feel like outsiders, a vast number of them proudly see themselves as a core part of Israeli society. And while they are neither Jewish nor Israeli citizens, their lives are deeply intertwined with ours. They work in our fields, hotels and restaurants; they are caregivers for our elderly and people with disabilities; and, tragically, some 100 of them were among those injured, killed and kidnapped during Hamas’ deadly attack. Since then, like so many Israelis, they have demonstrated solidarity and resilience that represent the best of our society.
We, Israeli leaders of organizations working with vulnerable populations in Israel and around the world, have witnessed a remarkable spirit of volunteerism and collective responsibility in these communities over the past few weeks. In the wake of the Hamas attack, dozens of people have contacted many of our organizations to ask how they could support emergency efforts.
When a Nepalese man who was severely injured on Oct. 7 was transferred to a Jerusalem hospital, a micro-community of local Nepalese caregivers and Israelis rallied by his bedside to ensure he received the emotional and cultural support he needed. He had arrived in Israel only 21 days prior to the so-called “black Sabbath,” and was completely alone in a strange land. It is largely due to the kindness of this micro-community that he can now see a future for himself, despite his new reality.
But the kindness of migrant workers and refugees is not limited to caring for their own. Hundreds of African refugees have volunteered regularly at the Civilian Command Center at the Expo Complex in Tel Aviv, organizing and packaging meals and donations for evacuees from southern Israel and Israeli soldiers. Another group of Eritrean refugees, who were themselves evacuated from Ashkelon as a result of the war, have joined the tens of thousands of Israelis who are volunteering to harvest food and support Israeli farmers suffering a shortage of workers.
As Israel continues to recover and chart a new path forward, we urge Jewish leaders abroad to join Israelis who are calling for asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers to receive the care and support they deserve. This means both advocating that the Israeli government distribute aid equitably, so that they too receive the assistance they need, as well as keeping these communities in mind when collecting and allocating philanthropic dollars for those impacted by the massacre. This includes not only those who were killed, kidnapped, or injured, but also those who lost homes, jobs, and are suffering from trauma.
As Hillel famously wrote, we must be for ourselves, but not only for ourselves. Now, more than ever, we must show empathy for the strangers among us — refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers — as we, in Israel and the global Jewish community, recover from a shared trauma. When we honor our shared humanity, our entire society will be stronger.
This essay is co-signed by Sivan Carmel, Country Director, HIAS Israel; Tali Ehrenthal, Executive Director, ASSAF-Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel; Anat Herrmann-Aharoni, Executive Director, Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, and Or Mor-Yosef, CEO, African Refugee Development Center.
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The post It’s not just Israeli Jews who were displaced by the Hamas attack appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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US Clamps Sanctions on Israel-bashing UN Rights Monitor Albanese
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The Trump administration has imposed sweeping sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, citing the UN official’s lengthy record of singling out Israel for condemnation.
In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions under a February executive order targeting those who “prompt International Criminal Court (ICC) action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.” He accused Albanese of waging “political and economic warfare” against both nations and asserted that “such efforts will no longer be tolerated.”
“Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives,” Rubio announced on X/Twitter.
“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” declared the Trump administration’s top foreign affairs official. “We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”
Rubio concluded: “The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.”
The decision to impose sanctions on Albanese marks an escalation in the ongoing feud between the White House and the United Nations over Israel. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused the UN and Albanese of unfairly targeting Israel and mischaracterizing the Jewish state’s conduct in Gaza.
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has held the position of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories since 2022. The position authorizes her to monitor and report on alleged “human rights violations” by Israel against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Last week, Albanese issued a scathing report accusing companies of helping Israel maintain a so-called “genocide economy.” She called on the companies to cut off economic ties with Israel and warned that they might be guilty of “complicity” in the so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
Critics of Albanese have long accused her of exhibiting an excessive anti-Israel bias, calling into question her fairness and neutrality.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state.
In the months following the Palestinian terrorist group’s atrocities across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Albanese accused the Jewish state of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people had been killed in the Gaza war as a result of Israeli actions.
The action comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington, where he has received a warm reception from the Trump administration. Netanyahu has been meeting with US officials to discuss next steps in the ongoing Gaza military operation.
Gideon Sa’ar, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel, commended the Rubio announcement with his own post on X/Twitter, exclaiming: “A clear message. Time for the UN to pay attention!”
The post US Clamps Sanctions on Israel-bashing UN Rights Monitor Albanese first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hardball: Trump Administration Reports Harvard to Accreditor Over Antisemitism Allegations
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
The Trump administration escalated its showdown against Harvard University on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 massacre across southern Israel.
The US Department of Education (DOE) announced the action on Wednesday. Citing Harvard’s admitted failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated others forms of hatred in the past, the DOE called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
The DOE, McMahon added, “expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the Department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism has acknowledged that the university administration’s handling of campus antisemitism fell well below its obligations under both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its own nondiscrimination policies.
In a 300-plus-page report, the task force compiled a comprehensive record of antisemitic incidents on Harvard’s campus in recent years — from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee’s endorsement of the Oct. 7 terrorist atrocities to an anti-Zionist faculty group’s sharing an antisemitic cartoon depicting Jews as murderers of people of color. The report identified Harvard’s past refusal to afford Jews the same protections against discrimination enjoyed by other minority groups as a key source of its problem.
Coming several weeks after President Donald Trump ordered the freeze of $2.26 billion in federal research grants and contracts for Harvard, the task force report found it was “clear” that antisemitism and anti-Israel bias have been fomented, practiced, and tolerated not only at Harvard but also within academia more widely.”
The university is now suing the federal government over the funding halt.
President Trump has spoken scathingly of Harvard, calling it, for example, an “Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institute … with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our Country apart” in an April post to his Truth Social platform.
In recent weeks, however, both Trump and McMahon had commended Harvard’s constructive response in negotiations over reforms the administration has asked it to implement as a precondition for restoring federal funds. The requested reforms include hiring more conservative faculty, shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] programs, and slashing the size of administrative offices tangential to the university’s central educational mission.
The administration has since changed its tone in the wake of a report by The Harvard Crimson that interim Harvard President Alan Garber has said “behind closed doors” that he has no intention of doing anything that would make Harvard more palatable to conservatives.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism issued Harvard a formal “notice of violation” of civil rights law. Charging that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a flood of racist and antisemitic abuse both in and outside of the classroom, it threatened to strip whatever remains of Harvard’s federal funding.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
In Wednesday’s announcement, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Harvard’s conduct “forfeits the legitimacy that accreditation is designed to uphold.”
“HHS and Department of Education will actively hold Harvard accountable through sustained oversight until it restores public trust and ensures a campus free of discrimination,” he said.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Hardball: Trump Administration Reports Harvard to Accreditor Over Antisemitism Allegations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Strikes Hezbollah Sites in South Lebanon as Terror Group Pushes to Rebuild Amid US Disarmament Talks
IDF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Israeli forces uncovered and destroyed Hezbollah weapons caches in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as a new report indicated that despite ongoing U.S.-led efforts to secure a disarmament deal, the Iran-backed group is making repeated, largely concealed attempts to rebuild its military presence in the area.
Troops carried out several operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, destroying weapons depots, explosives and multibarrel launchers concealed in forested terrain, the IDF said, in violation of the November ceasefire, which requires Hezbollah to withdraw its forces 20 miles from the Israeli border.
A new report released this week by the Alma Research and Education Center found that Hezbollah is focused on rebuilding in three areas: operational deployment, weapons acquisition, and financial recovery.
“Hezbollah didn’t give up its resistance narrative and motivation,” Alma’s director, Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, told The Algemeiner.
“It wants to rebuild its capabilities and infrastructures, whether it’s the villages that will be used as human shields or the military infrastructure in South Lebanon and in Lebanon in general.”
According to Zehavi, Hezbollah is attempting to return Radwan fighters to positions south of the Litani River as part of a wider plan to restore its elite forces to operational readiness. The IDF on Monday killed Radwan commander Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar in a targeted strike. The action came hours after US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut to discuss a long-term deal that would include an Israeli withdrawal and complete disarmament of Hezbollah.
Barrack described the Lebanese response to the proposal as positive. Later, he issued a blunt warning to Hezbollah in response to a vow by the terror group’s leader, Naim Qassem, not to lay down its arms. “If they mess with us anywhere in the world, they will have a serious problem with us,” Barrack said in an interview with Lebanese news network LBCI. “They don’t want that.”
Zehavi said it was premature to predict the outcome of the diplomatic efforts. She warned that the challenge of disarming Hezbollah remains enormous and emphasized that the Lebanese Armed Forces have not demonstrated the capability or willingness to confront the group.
“It’s too soon to be optimistic or pessimistic,” she said, noting that no firm commitments have emerged from the Beirut talks.
Hezbollah’s efforts to smuggle and manufacture weapons have been complicated by both Israeli strikes and the regional realignment over recent months. While Israeli strikes have disrupted many supply routes, according to Zehavi, Syrian authorities have intercepted far more Hezbollah-bound weapons than the Lebanese Army, which claims to have uncovered 500 arms caches but has provided no evidence.
The financial front marks the third aspect of Hezbollah’s rebuilding effort. Last week, the group halted cash payments to Shiite civilians whose homes were damaged in the war, citing liquidity problems. Zehavi attributed the shortfall to disruptions in Iran’s funding networks — an outcome of the 12-day war against the regime in Tehran — and said the constraints would likely hamper Hezbollah’s ability to compensate its base and sustain operations.
“I hope they will continue to have problems with the cash flow, that way it will be very difficult for them to recover,” she said.
The post IDF Strikes Hezbollah Sites in South Lebanon as Terror Group Pushes to Rebuild Amid US Disarmament Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.