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National Jewish groups put out the call for a massive ‘March for Israel’ in DC on Nov. 14
WASHINGTON (JTA) — National Jewish organizations are calling on Jews from around the country to travel to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14 for a mass pro-Israel rally they hope will rival major Jewish demonstrations in 2002 and 1987 in size and impact.
The March for Israel has three goals, according to Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, which is organizing the rally jointly with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Participants will be demanding for the return of the estimated 240 hostages Hamas terrorists abducted during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Fingerhut said. They will also be calling for efforts to combat antisemitism, which has spiked worldwide since the attack. And they will be demonstrating their support for the unabashed backing Israel has so far received from both parties in Congress and the Biden administration.
“All three elements are important to all of our communities,” Fingerhut said. “We’re proud of what our government has done” to support Israel “but we want them to know how much support there is not only for what they’ve done, but also for the continued efforts that are going to be needed as this long conflict continues.”
The rally, which will take place just over five weeks after Hamas’ deadly assault on Israel, was formally announced on Monday night. But efforts to fill buses and planes were already breaking into public view over the weekend.
“All classes for Yeshiva University undergraduate schools and high schools for Tuesday November 14 are canceled,” Rabbi Ari Berman posted on social media on Sunday. “We are going to Washington to stand with Israel.”
It’s the kind of move that Fingerhut and William Daroff of the Conference of Presidents said in a joint interview they were asking of affiliated groups, including Jewish community centers, day schools and other Jewish organizations. So far, they said, the response has been enthusiastic.
Daroff said the hope was that the rally would have the impact of a 2002 pro-Israel rally during the Second Intifada and a 1987 mass rally to support Soviet Jewry, each of which drew more than 100,000 Jewish demonstrators to the National Mall.
“Just as the American Jewish community and our allies spoke out with mass events in 1987 in support of Soviet Jewry and in 2002 in support of Israel during the Second Intifada, we are now in a similar moment where the American Jewish community and the American people are speaking out loudly and clearly in support off the people of Israel and demanding the unconditional return of the hostages,” he said.
The Biden Administration has so far backed Israel in its refusal to consider a ceasefire until the hostages are returned and Hamas is disabled. There have been calls from some on the progressive left for a ceasefire. Biden has asked Congress for $14 billion in emergency assistance for Israel, including $10 billion in defense assistance.
Reports of antisemitic expression and assault have spiked since Oct. 7 on campuses and in cities across the world. Biden wants Congress to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars to help secure vulnerable institutions; on Monday Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Jewish Democrat who is the majority leader, announced plans to up the annual funding for security grants to $1 billion, from $250 million.
Hamas terrorists killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, wounded thousands and abducted more than 200 in their Oct. 7 raid. Since then, Israel has launched counterstrikes and more than 10,000 Gaza residents have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, among them 3,000 children. It is not known what portion of that number are civilians, and what portion have been killed by rockets launched by Palestinian militants that have fallen short of Gaza’s border with Israel.
The rally follows mass pro-Palestinian demonstrations in cities around the world, including in Washington on Saturday, and aims to show that Israel enjoys just as much support.
“We’ve all heard voices of hatred and antisemitism around the globe glorifying the October 7 attacks,” a flyer for the event says. “But these voices will never drown out this of Americans who stand against terror and with Israel.”
Daroff and Fingerhut said there were no confirmed speakers yet, although they had invited lawmakers and officials from the Biden administration at the highest level. They said that although their organizations were leading the effort, they were asking groups to put out the word in their own name about the rally, which will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. near the U.S. Capitol. (Hundreds of protesters affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group, were arrested there last month while calling for a ceasefire.) Some groups, including the Conservative movement, had already done so as of Monday.
Fingerhut and Daroff said they were encouraging Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools to shut down for the day and send their students to Washington. Some had already taken up the call: North Shore Hebrew Academy on Long Island, for example, said it would bus students to D.C. for the day, and the Detroit Jewish federation on Monday invited locals to reserve spots on a chartered flight.
Ronald Halber, the director of the Greater Washington D.C. Jewish Community relations Council, said he expected all 10 campuses in the D.C. area to empty their buildings on the day.
“We have an obligation with a 300,000-strong Jewish community to bring a substantial number of people,” Halber said.
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The post National Jewish groups put out the call for a massive ‘March for Israel’ in DC on Nov. 14 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel’s New AI Initiative Is Set to Enhance its Military Edge
A symbol of artificial intelligence. Photo: public domain.
JNS.org – The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Jan. 1 the creation of a new AI and Autonomy Administration, tasked with leading the research, development and acquisition of artificial intelligence and autonomous capabilities for all branches of the Israel Defense Forces. The new administration is set to transform “battlefield capabilities and [maintain] the IDF’s operational edge,” according to the Defense Ministry’s statement.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, the ministry’s director general, emphasized during an inauguration ceremony held on Dec. 31 that this is the first new administration established within the ministry in over two decades. Highlighting its importance, Zamir said it will not only enhance operational superiority, but also optimize resources and integrate soldiers with autonomous systems, shaping future battlefields where human-machine collaboration will dominate.
Brig. Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, head of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development under which the new AI Administration will operate, explained that the initiative will unite stakeholders from academia, the Israel Defense Forces, startups and the defense industry under a single framework.
“We will work synergistically with other development administrations while fostering partnerships across Israel’s civilian tech sector,” he said.
Leaders in the field
In his remarks, Gold also addressed the role of the new administration in maintaining Israel’s commitment to global leadership in military AI.
Retired US Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at Washington D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), described the initiative as a sound decision that will further streamline integration of AI and autonomous systems into the military.
“The Israeli Ministry of Defense already has a higher level of integration of AI efforts than any other country, and this will serve to increase that advantage,” Montgomery told JNS on Saturday.
“There are a great deal of capabilities that already give Israel a qualitative military and technological advantage over its adversaries—a healthy entrepreneurial environment focused on security issues, its strong security relationship with the United States, a commitment to holding adversaries accountable. This effort to better integrate MOD adoption of AI and autonomous systems will be one more arrow in that quiver,” he said.
“The United States has been struggling with this same integration challenge over the past five years with limited success. The larger the enterprise you are trying to integrate, the harder the task,” he added.
Blaise Misztal, Vice President for Policy at the Jewish Institute for Washington D.C.-based National Security of America (JINSA), told JNS: “Artificial intelligence is not simply a piece of equipment that can be bolted onto a tank or a weapon [and] handed out to some units. AI’s promise of a complete transformation of how the IDF fights—from analyzing intelligence to making battlefield decisions to using autonomous systems—will also require a transformation of the IDF. The creation of this new AI-focused administration is a recognition of AI’s vast potential, the significant changes that will be needed, and the high-level authority required to drive those changes. It also speaks to the MOD’s understanding that one of Israel’s most significant assets is the innovation of its private sector and the desire to harness it in driving forward defense technology.”
According to Misztal, technological superiority is a critical strategic asset for Israel.
“Since ‘Operation Guardian of the Walls’ in 2021, but especially in the current campaigns against Hamas and Hezbollah, the IDF has used artificial intelligence to accelerate and improve its ability to find, identify and strike targets. As the security landscape changes and Israel now finds itself confronting enemies further away—the Houthis—or more technologically advanced—Iran—it will need to invest in maintaining its military edge. AI is that edge,” he said.
He added that AI’s value is not limited to transforming the IDF’s fighting ability, but is also a means of boosting Israel’s strategic value as a partner to the United States and other countries.
“By leading the way on AI—which will be just as important in the competition between the United States and China as on Middle Eastern battlefields—Israel can cement its status as America’s most important partner for confronting 21st century challenges,” said Misztal.
Operational and strategic implications
Zamir described the Defense Ministry’s initiative as an investment in Israel’s ability to counter developing threats while maintaining its operational tempo and reducing casualties. The administration’s comprehensive approach, covering ground, air, naval, intelligence and space domains, ensures that all branches of the IDF will benefit from the integration of AI and autonomous technologies.
By centralizing expertise and fostering collaboration across sectors, the AI and Autonomy Administration underscores the IDF’s focus on maintaining qualitative military superiority, which has been central to Israel’s defense strategy. It marks a historic step in Israel’s defense evolution, combining technological innovation with strategic foresight.
Israel’s initiative reflects a growing global recognition of AI as a decisive factor in future conflicts. The nation’s leadership in AI ensures that it remains not only a regional power, but also a key player on the global stage, shaping the future of military innovation.
The post Israel’s New AI Initiative Is Set to Enhance its Military Edge first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Nuclear Talks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran‘s foreign ministry called upon Paris to review its “unconstructive” approach, a few days before Tehran is set to hold a new round of talks about its nuclear program with major European countries.
On Monday, Emmanuel Macron said Tehran’s uranium enrichment drive is nearing a point of no return and warned that European partners in a moribund 2015 nuclear deal with Iran should consider reimposing sanctions if no progress is reached.
“Untrue claims by a government that has itself refused to fulfill its obligations under the nuclear deal and has played a major role in [Israel’s] acquisition of nuclear weapons is deceitful and projective,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X on Wednesday.
France, Germany, and Britain were co-signatories to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb enrichment, seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear-weapons capability, in return for lifting international sanctions.
Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes and has stepped up the program since US President-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal during his first term of office and restored tough US sanctions on Tehran.
French, German, and British diplomats are set to hold a follow-up meeting with Iranian counterparts on Jan. 13 after one in November held to discuss the possibility of serious negotiations in coming months to defuse tensions with Tehran, as Trump is due to return to the White House on Jan. 20.
Baghaei did not mention French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot’s comment regarding three French citizens held in Iran.
Barrot said on Tuesday that future ties and any lifting of sanctions on Iran would depend on their release.
The post Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Nuclear Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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With Hezbollah Weakened, Lebanon to Hold Presidential Vote
Suleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada movement, gestures as he speaks after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, in Bkerke, Lebanon, Oct.30, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon‘s parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel’s war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the Lebanese terrorist group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria.
The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October, 2022. None of the political groups in the 128-seat parliament have enough seats to impose their choice, and they have so far been unable to agree on a consensus candidate.
The vote marks the first test of Lebanon‘s power balance since the Iran-backed Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah — which propelled its then Christian ally Aoun to the presidency in 2016 ‚ emerged badly pummeled from the war with Israel.
It takes place against a backdrop of historic change in the wider Middle East, where the Assad-led Syrian state exercised sway over Lebanon for decades, both directly and through allies such as Hezbollah.
Reflecting the shifts, Hezbollah and its ally the Shi’ite Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have dropped their insistence on Suleiman Frangieh, their declared candidate for the last two years, and are ready to go with a less divisive figure, three senior sources familiar with their thinking said.
Candidates in focus include army commander General Joseph Aoun — said by Lebanese politicians to enjoy US approval — Jihad Azour, a senior International Monetary Fund official who formerly served as finance minister, and Major-General Elias al-Baysari — head of General Security, a state security agency.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he felt happy because “God willing, tomorrow we will have a new president,” according to a statement from his office.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also expressed hope in comments to France Inter radio, saying the election was “a prerequisite for the continuation of this dynamic of peace” and also for Lebanon‘s economic and social recovery.
However, two of the sources and an analyst cautioned that it was not yet certain any candidate would be elected. To win, a candidate must secure 86 votes in a first round, or 65 in a second round.
Reflecting Western and regional interest in the vote, French and Saudi envoys met Lebanese politicians in Beirut on Wednesday. Four Lebanese political sources who met the Saudi envoy, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, last week said he spelt out preferred qualifications which signal Saudi support for Aoun.
Saudi Arabia was once a big player in Lebanon, vying with Tehran for influence in Beirut, before seeing its role eclipsed by Iran and Hezbollah.
HEZBOLLAH STILL SEEN WITH SWAY
Aoun, head of Lebanon‘s US-backed army, would still need 86 votes because his election requires a constitutional amendment, as he is a still-serving state employee, Berri has said.
A State Department spokesperson said it was “up to Lebanon to choose its next president, not the United States or any external actor.”
“We have been consistent in our efforts to press Lebanon to elect a new president, which we see as important to strengthening Lebanon’s political institutions,” the spokesperson said.
Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said last week there was “no veto” on Aoun. But the sources said Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States and other countries, will not support Aoun.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up the ceasefire brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Still reeling from a financial collapse in 2019, Lebanon desperately needs foreign aid to rebuild.
Much of the damage is in Shi’ite majority areas.
Hezbollah, its supply line to Iran severed by Assad’s ousting, has urged Arab and international support for Lebanon.
Lebanon‘s Maronite Bishops called on lawmakers to elect a president, urging a “national awakening.”
Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Annahar newspaper, was not certain anyone would be elected, even after the major shift in the balance of power in Lebanon, where Hezbollah‘s weapons have long been a source of division.
Underlining the influence Hezbollah and Amal still wield, he said the only way a president could be elected would be if they agreed on Aoun or Azour. But if they tried to install their preferred candidate, this would “sever the oxygen from Lebanon.”
Saudi Minister Faisal bin Farhan said last October that Riyadh had never fully disengaged from Lebanon and that outside countries should not tell Lebanese what to do.
The post With Hezbollah Weakened, Lebanon to Hold Presidential Vote first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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