Rose Girone. Photo: Screenshot

Rose Girone, the world’s oldest known Holocaust survivor, died at the age of 113 years old on Monday in New York.

Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO) announced the news on social media. The New Yorker celebrated her 113th birthday on Jan. 13. She reportedly died of old age, according to her daughter.

“Girone was always particularly outspoken about her experiences before and during the war,” Israel’s GPO said. “Today, and every day, we honor her memory and the memory of millions of other victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Never again.”

Girone was born in Poland in 1912, and then moved to Hamburg, Germany. In 1939, Girone’s husband was arrested by the Nazis and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. However, Girone, who was eight months pregnant at the time, managed to obtain visas to China for herself and her husband, and they escaped to Shanghai. She began knitting for a living during her time in Shanghai and when she eventually moved to New York, she opened her own knitting shop in Forrest Hills in Queens that was called Rose’s Knitting Studio. Girone sold knitting supplies and also taught knitting classes. She successfully ran the shop for 40 years, until selling it in 1980.

Girone lived in the Belair Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in North Bellmore since she was 109, according to the Long Island Herald. She was the oldest person living in New York, the fifth oldest in the US, and the 28th oldest in the world, the local publication noted.

Girone provided a testimony about her experience during World War II to The USC Shoah Foundation in 1996 and the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County in 2022.

The post World’s Oldest Known Holocaust Survivor Rose Girone Dies at Age 113 in New York first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks next to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica as they hold a press conference on the day of an EU-Israel Association Council with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has dismissed any hope for real change in Syria despite the formation of a new government, calling for “realistic expectations” in Europe and labeling talks of regime transition as “ridiculous.”

During a meeting in Brussels of the EU-Israel Association Council, which oversees the European bloc’s relationship with the Jewish state, Sa’ar described the recently formed Syrian government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda terrorist known also as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani who led the overthrow of the Assad regime, as “a jihadist Islamist terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force.”

“We are all happy that Assad is out. But we must have realistic expectations,” Sa’ar said during a press conference with EU officials on Monday, referring to long-time Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. “The Islamists speak softly. Just check how Iran spoke in 1979.”

Last month, Sharaa became Damascus’s transitional president after leading a rebel campaign that ousted Assad, whose brutal and authoritarian Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war.

The collapse of Assad’s regime was the result of an offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al Qaeda affiliate.

According to an announcement made by the military command which led the offensive against Assad, Sharaa was empowered to form a temporary legislative council for a transitional period and the Syrian constitution was suspended.

“But everyone knows who al-Sharaa is. Not only are they [Syria’s new government] not inclusive, they are exacting vengeance on Alawites. They are harming the Kurds,” Sa’ar said on Monday, warning of the threat posed to not only Syria’s minority groups but also Israel, which shares a border with Syria.

“We will not compromise the security on our border. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are acting in Syria to create another front against Israel there,” Israel’s top diplomat continued, referring to the two main Iran-backed terrorist groups in Gaza.

Following Assad’s fall in December, Israel moved troops into a buffer zone along the Syrian border to secure a military position to prevent terrorists from launching attacks against the Jewish state. The previously demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights was established under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem that ended the Yom Kippur War.

Syria’s new government and UN officials have called for Israel to withdraw its forces.

On Sunday, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not tolerate the presence of HTS or any forces affiliated with Syria’s new rulers south of Damascus and demanded the area be demilitarized.

“Take note: We will not allow HTS forces or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus,” Netanyahu said.

On Monday, Sa’ar also stated that Israel’s weakening of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah played a key role in Assad’s removal from power in Syria, presenting “an opportunity for positive change in Lebanon.”

“There is an opportunity for the transformation of Lebanon from Iranian occupation to the pragmatic Arab camp,” Sa’ar said. However, he warned that “money from Iran is being moved to Lebanon with the aid of Turkey, through Istanbul.”

The Association Council convened for the first time since its last meeting in 2022 amid ongoing tensions between the EU and Israel over the status of Jerusalem and the West Bank. The EU views Israel’s presence in these areas as illegal, a position Israel has opposed, while also advocating for Palestinian statehood, which the Israeli government rejects at this time.

During the meeting, Sa’ar referred to these tensions in EU-Israel relations, arguing that they should not affect the Association Council’s work.

“We proved over the past 16 months Israel is a pillar of strength and stability in the turbulent Middle East. We are the only democracy in the Middle East … We must work together to safeguard democracy, world order and stability,” Israeli foreign minister said.

“Our relations should not be held hostage to the bitter conflict we have with our Palestinian neighbors.”

The post Israel’s Top Diplomat Says Little Hope for Real Change in Syria as Hamas, Islamic Jihad Open New Front first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Nicola Coughlan at Time 100 Next on October 09, 2024 at Chelsea Piers in New York City. Photo: IMAGO/MediaPunch via Reuters Connect

A pro-Israel advocacy organization comprised of influential Hollywood figures has challenged members of the entertainment and media industry to stop wearing red pins from Artists4Ceasefire that show support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday.

A collective known as The Brigade published an open letter on Monday night that addressed Artists4Ceasefire and supporters of its enamel pins, which depict a red palm of a hand with a heart in its center.

The red palm symbolizes Palestinian solidarity, but it also became the symbol of the notorious lynching of two Israeli military reservists, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yosef Avrahami, in the West Bank city of Ramallah in October 2000. One of their killers, Aziz Salha, appeared at the window of the police station delightedly displaying his blood-stained palms to the appreciative mob gathered outside following the murder of the two Israelis.

The red palm symbol has since been used by anti-Israel protesters to criticize Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas terrorists who orchestrated a massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Celebrities who have sported the Artists4Ceasefire pins at previous press events and award ceremonies, including last year’s Oscars, include Mark Ruffalo, Nicola Coughlan, Ramy Youssef, Ava DuVernay, Billie Eilish, and her brother Finneas O’Connell.

In their open letter on Monday night, The Brigade — comprised of talent, publicists, producers, writers, marketers, agents, analysts, lawyers, and artists — noted the similarly between the red palm symbol used by Artists4Ceasefire and the 2000 lynching.

“In 2000, Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah lynched two innocent Israelis, ripped them apart limb by limb, and held up their blood-soaked hands to a cheering mob. That infamous image is now your ‘ceasefire’ badge. Is this ignorance? Or is this deliberate, calculated malice?” wrote The Brigade. The group described the red hand pin as “no symbol of peace” but instead “the emblem of Jewish bloodshed.”

The group blasted Artists4Ceasefire for asking celebrities to wear the pin but more specifically the timing of its campaign. The anti-Israel group urged celebrities to showcase their pin on Feb. 20, the same day Hamas returned the murdered bodies of Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, 10 months, to Israel. The young brothers were brutally murdered by Hamas in November 2023 during their captivity and their bodies were held captive for more than 500 days.

“On Feb. 20, the same day the world learned 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel were strangled to death by their terrorist captors in Gaza, you doubled down-urging celebrities to proudly wear your bloodstained red hand pin. Have you no shame?” the statement asked.

The Brigade then directly addressed members of the Hollywood industry who plan on wearing the pin in the future, including at the Oscars on Sunday. “Would you proudly wear the emblem of a lynching?” The Brigade asked them. “Would you parade the symbol of people who strangled babies with their bare hands? Because that is what the red hand represents. To those who wore it without knowing – now you know. To those who knew it and wore it anyway — we see you and we will not be silent.”

The open letter also condemned Hamas’s “grotesque, sadistic ceasefire tactics,” and how the US-designated terrorist organization “executed Israeli captives AFTER a ceasefire was reached.” The letter also talked about hostages returning to Israel “on the brink of death, frail, bruised, and starved,” and how Hamas “traded mutilated corpses while laughing in the faces of grieving families.”

Artists4Ceasefire explained the symbolize of its pin in a statement on its website: “The red background [is] to symbolize the urgency of the call to save lives. The orange hand conveys the beautiful community of people from all backgrounds that have come together in support of centering our shared humanity. The heart being cradled in the center of the hand is an invitation for us to lead with our hearts, always, to lead with love.”

Read the full letter from The Brigade below:

To the Red Hand Supporters,

We turned the other cheek when you pinned a symbol of Jewish murder to your awards lapels.

We took the high road when you cried for a ceasefire that already existed before Hamas shattered it on October 7th.

But today, we will not be silent.

That pin is no symbol of peace. It is the emblem of Jewish bloodshed.

In 2000, Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah lynched two innocent Israelis, ripped them apart limb by limb, and held up their blood-soaked hands to a cheering mob. That infamous image is now your “ceasefire” badge.

And on the very day it was discovered that the Bibas babies—innocent Jewish children—were strangled to death by the terrorist’s bare hands, you asked Hollywood to wear it with pride.

Is this ignorance?

Or is this deliberate, calculated malice?

It’s not peace.

You Claim to See Humanity on Both Sides. Yet You…

 Ignore the facts surrounding the historic barbaric October 7 terror attack on Israel
 Push your anti-Israel narrative even after Israel agreed to ceasefires with Hamas AND Hezbollah.
 Refuse to condemn Hamas’ grotesque, sadistic ceasefire tactics.

Did you speak up when Hamas:

– Returned hostages on the brink of death, frail, bruised, and starved?
– Executed Israeli captives AFTER a ceasefire was reached?
– Traded mutilated corpses while laughing in the faces of grieving families?

*Actors, Actresses, Filmmakers and people of our Hollywood Community, Read This Before You Wear That Pin Again* Would you proudly wear the emblem of a lynching?

Would you parade the symbol of people who strangled babies with their bare hands?

Because that is what the red hand represents.

To those who wore it without knowing—now you know.

To those who knew and wore it anyway—we see you and we will not be silent.

Members of the Brigade

The post ‘Have You No Shame?’: Pro-Israel Hollywood Advocacy Group Urges Celebs to Stop Wearing Ceasefire Pins Ahead of Oscars first appeared on Algemeiner.com.