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Photo Essay: 50,000 People Gather at Western Wall to Pray for Safe Return of Hostages in Gaza

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

In an extraordinary display of unity, some 50,000 Jews from all walks of life gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Wednesday for a mass prayer calling for the safe return of the hostages held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The Ashkenazi and Sephardic chief rabbis of Israel — David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, respectively — read Psalms together with the families of the hostages seized by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 pogrom in the Jewish state.

The Ashkenazi and Sephardic chief rabbis of Israel, David Lau (far right) and Yitzhak Yosef (second from right). Photo: Yaacov Cohen

“A ruthless enemy, unfazed by anything, is out to destroy and murder all Jews, young and old alike, children and women included. We’ve suffered many losses in this war, and every person’s heart aches for those we’ve lost,” the chief rabbis said. “We must cry out and implore for the mercy of the heavens to keep the whole of Israel.”

The Ashkenazi and Sephardic chief rabbis of Israel, David Lau (far left) and Yitzhak Yosef (second from left). Photo: Yaacov Cohen

Held on the evening before the start of the Hebrew month of Shevat, also known as Minor Yom Kippur, the prayer included numerous shofar blasts, an apparent rallying cry to open the heavens.

Video credit: Jewish Breaking News

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

The prayer drew activists holding posters of the hostages, as well as a diverse mix of Jews, including ultra-orthodox, religious Zionists, and secular Jews. One man, Amir, described himself as an atheist. “I may not believe in God but I think that the power of being here, with the people I was fighting just a few months ago, has the power to unleash miracles,” he told The Algemeiner, referencing the sparring sides of the judicial reform debate that tore the country apart in the months preceding the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

Hamas kidnapped 240 hostages during its Oct. 7 onslaught and murdered 1,200 people. There are 136 hostages still being held in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed that 25 of those have died while in Hamas captivity. Over 100 captives were released during a temporary ceasefire in late November.

Rabbi David Stav, the chief rabbi of the city of Shoham and the chairman of the Tzohar organization, said: “We are breaking open the gates of heaven to bring home all our hostages and captives who are in the hands of the murderous and heinous terrorist organization that threatens to destroy us.”

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

Several prayers and penitential liturgies, including those said during the High Holy Days, were recited for the hostages and for the IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza.

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

Later on Wednesday, a prayer and solidarity event was held in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, attended by Israeli performers Idan Raichel and Aaron Razel, as well as several prominent rabbis.

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

“It was beautiful and moving and sad,” Levona Shneid, a teenager from Jaffa, told The Algemeiner. “We saw all kinds of people rise above any differences between them and just be together in this moment.”

Thousands of Jews gather for a mass prayer for the hostages in Gaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo: Yaacov Cohen

Watch video from Wednesday’s mass prayer at the Western Wall:

The post Photo Essay: 50,000 People Gather at Western Wall to Pray for Safe Return of Hostages in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel Launches Major Gaza City Ground Offensive

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Sept. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel launched a long-anticipated ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, as the military confirmed it began efforts to “destroy Hamas infrastructure” with a major push in the area after heavy bombing overnight.

An Israel Defense Forces official said ground troops were moving deeper into the enclave’s main city, and that the number of soldiers would rise in coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas combatants the IDF believes are still in the city.

“Gaza is burning,” Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

In launching the offensive, Israel‘s government defied European leaders threatening sanctions and warnings from even some of Israel‘s own military commanders that it could be a costly operation.

US President Donald Trump sided with Israel, telling reporters at the White House that Hamas would have “hell to pay” if it used hostages as human shields during the assault.

In the latest expression of international alarm, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the assessment “scandalous” and “fake.”

Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the IDF.

Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Gaza health officials, who work for Hamas-controlled organizations, reported at least 70 people had been killed on Tuesday, most of them in Gaza City, as airstrikes swept across the city and tanks advanced.

Israel renewed calls on civilians to leave, and columns of Palestinians streamed towards the south and west in donkey carts, rickshaws, heavily laden vehicles, or on foot.

Hours before the escalation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Jerusalem that, while the United States wished for a diplomatic end to the war, “we have to be prepared for the possibility that’s not going to happen.”

But in Brussels, a spokesperson for the EU executive said it would agree on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Israel, including suspending certain trade provisions.

Some residents were staying put, too poor to secure a tent and transport or because there was nowhere safe to go.

“It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving,” said Um Mohammad, a woman living in the suburb of Sabra, under aerial and ground fire for days.

The IDF said it estimated 40 percent of people in Gaza City had left. Hamas said 350,000 had left their homes in the eastern parts of the city, heading to displacement shelters in its central or western areas, while another 175,000 people had fled the city altogether, heading south.

Much of Gaza City was laid to waste in the early weeks of the war in 2023, but around 1 million Palestinians had returned there to homes among the ruins.

Israeli military spokesperson Effie Defrin said the military was adjusting its humanitarian efforts in light of the evacuations and “there will not be a situation of starvation in Gaza.”

Some Israeli military commanders have expressed concern that the Gaza City offensive could endanger remaining hostages held by Hamas or be a “death trap” for troops.

Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, at a meeting Benjamin Netanyahu convened late on Sunday with security chiefs, urged the prime minister to pursue a ceasefire deal, according to three Israeli officials, two of whom were in the meeting and one of whom was briefed on its details.

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel responded with a campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in neighboring Gaza.

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America Orphaned Charlie Kirk’s Children — We Must Recommit to a Society of Open Debate

Roses and candles are placed next to a picture of Charlie Kirk during a vigil under the line “In Memory of Charlie Kirk, for freedom, patriotism, and justice” in front of the Embassy of the United States after US right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead during an event at Utah Valley University, Orem, US, in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

Last week, America orphaned two young children.

Charlie Kirk — a husband, a father, and a son — was murdered for his politics. He leaves behind a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Before we argue motives or policies, we should sit with this simple fact: in today’s America, toddlers lost their father because of what he believed. What kind of legacy is that for them?

Political violence has scarred this nation before. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles, and Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis. Those assassinations did more than take lives. They deepened mistrust, fueled cynicism, and plunged a divided country into turmoil.

We appear to be back in that dangerous territory. The attempted assassination of President Trump last summer should have been a moment of unity. Instead, it was quickly absorbed into the partisan crossfire, treated as conspiracy fodder rather than as a flashing red warning.

Now comes the murder of Charlie Kirk. Whatever one thinks of his politics, Kirk embodied a younger generation of conservative voices: brash, combative, sometimes polarizing — but willing to engage with opposing ideas. He didn’t hide from debate. He invited it. That spirit, not the bullet that killed him, should be his legacy.

I’ve seen firsthand how difficult honest engagement has become. I recently completed my first year as CEO of The Algemeiner, a storied Jewish online media outlet. We are broadly center-right, but our mission has always been universalism, which is the translation of the Yiddish word Algemeiner: to provide space for diverse perspectives, including those we disagree with.

In today’s climate, that modest aspiration feels almost radical. Too many Americans don’t just want to win an argument. They want to delegitimize the other side. The result is echo chambers where grievances fester and extremists thrive.

History tells us where that road leads. The political murders of the 1960s did not settle disputes. They destabilized a nation. We should have learned then that violence is not catharsis. It is contagious. 

The stakes today are not abstract. They live in the faces of Kirk’s daughter and son — and all of our children. What kind of America will they inherit? One where political disagreements are handled with contempt and violence — or one where adversaries still recognize each other as fellow citizens?

A reset is urgently needed. That doesn’t mean surrendering convictions. It means recovering the courage to listen, to tolerate, and to argue without erasing. Leaders on both sides must resist the urge to score points from tragedy and instead cool the temperature. Media institutions, including my own, must hold space for genuine, even uncomfortable debate. Citizens must step back from the dopamine rush of outrage and recommit to the hard work of coexistence.

Charlie Kirk’s murder is a tragedy. It is also a mirror. It reflects the society we have allowed ourselves to become — and dares us to choose differently. His children will grow up in the country we shape now. Let it be one where their father’s legacy is remembered not only for what he said, but for his willingness to engage across divides.

That is the democratic inheritance worth fighting for — not with bullets, but with words.

David M. Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer of The Algemeiner.

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The Price of Abandoning Jewish College Students (PART TWO)

Part one of this article appeared here.

As Jewish families vote with their feet, abandoning hostile campuses for welcoming ones, elite universities face a reckoning.

The exodus documented in Part 1 of my article isn’t just a demographic shift — it’s an indictment of institutions that once symbolized Jewish achievement in America.

Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and their peers are scrambling to respond. Task forces are being formed. Listening sessions are being scheduled, and security measures are being enhanced. But these surface-level responses cannot mask a deeper rot: a campus culture that has normalized hostility toward Jewish students while administrators equivocate and Jewish organizations struggle to mount an effective defense.

The question is no longer whether Jewish students will remain at these institutions. That verdict is being rendered in admissions offices across the country. The question now is what this abandonment will mean — for the universities losing their Jewish communities, for the schools gaining them, and for American higher education itself.

Elite Campuses Have Not Changed

Some elite northern universities have responded to criticism, but their actions reveal the depth of the problem rather than solve it.

Harvard recently agreed to cover security costs for its Hillel chapter, a basic safety measure that should never have been in question.

Columbia established a Task Force on Antisemitism and held listening sessions after months of campus upheaval. Yet these measures came only after Congressional hearings, donor revolts, and the resignation of two Ivy League presidents. The very need for “task forces” to address antisemitism in 2024, and debates over whether to fund security for Jewish students, speaks to how far these institutions have fallen.

But these surface-level responses cannot mask the underlying culture that remains hostile. Anti-Israel activism is normalized, sometimes even celebrated, while openly Zionist students are treated as suspect. Student governments pass BDS resolutions while refusing to condemn Hamas.

Professors who call October 7 “exhilarating” face no consequences, while students who tear down hostage posters are protected as exercising free speech. Jewish students report being excluded from progressive groups unless they denounce Israel, forced to pass ideological litmus tests that no other minority group faces.

Diversity and inclusion are loudly championed for some groups — but withheld from Jews.

The same DEI offices that rush to support other communities remain silent when Jewish students face harassment, or worse, frame Jews as white oppressors undeserving of protection. Orientation programs that celebrate every form of identity offer nothing for Jewish students. Ethnic studies departments that explore every Diaspora experience somehow omit Jewish history and culture.

Meanwhile, administrators hedge, equivocate, and fear controversy more than they fear injustice. They take days to condemn antisemitic vandalism but hours to denounce other forms of bias.

They parse the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, while Jewish students are told to hide their Stars of David. They invoke “context” and “nuance” when asked if calling for genocide against Jews violates campus policies, but show no such hesitation when other groups are threatened.

The irony is bitter.

A century ago, these same schools used explicit quotas to keep Jews out. When quotas fell, Jewish students and faculty showed up, helping make these universities world-class institutions. Now, through neglect and bias, those same institutions are driving Jewish students away.

Jewish Institutions Have Also Fallen Short

Universities bear primary responsibility for campus culture. But Jewish communal organizations have also failed to meet this moment.

I have argued that Jewish institutions have been far too focused on statements and elite conversations, and not nearly focused enough on real, on-the-ground action. Students need more than words: they need physical presence, legal support, and rapid response.

There are bright spots.

Hillel’s Campus Climate Initiative is doing important work, and some ADL and AJC interventions have made a difference.

As I documented in my recent AEI piece at The Algemeiner, Jewish fraternities like AEPi have become critical lifelines for Zionist and Jewish students, with brothers creating safety networks, walking each other to class, and providing the protection universities fail to offer.

But these efforts are patchy and uneven. Too often, a lone Chabad rabbi or Hillel director ends up serving as the first and last line of defense for hundreds of students, while national organizations issue press releases from afar.

Grassroots groups like Jewish on Campus and Students Supporting Israel are filling the gap heroically. Fraternity brothers are literally serving as bodyguards. Student volunteers are documenting incidents, organizing counter-protests, and providing real-time support to threatened peers. But they should not have to shoulder this burden alone.

The fact that 19-year-old fraternity brothers have become de facto security forces, and that student-run Instagram accounts are doing more to combat antisemitism than university administrations, reveals a complete institutional abdication. The lack of robust institutional backing is one reason families are choosing to leave hostile campuses rather than fight to change them.

A Debate About Leaving vs. Staying

These institutional failures have forced families into a difficult choice. This raises a painful debate within the Jewish community. Many believe Jewish students should stay and fight. These schools, after all, were built and sustained in part by Jewish effort and philanthropy. Walking away can feel like surrendering hard-won ground.

This instinct to fight is noble. And there are students and organizations committed to asserting Jewish presence on these campuses. But the data tell a different story.

Nearly two-thirds of Jewish parents are now eliminating colleges from their lists due to antisemitism. Enrollment numbers at elite northeastern schools are dropping. Simultaneously, Jewish life at southern universities is exploding.

Families are making a rational choice. They are prioritizing their children’s safety, dignity, and joy over symbolic battles. Leaving is not surrender; it is choosing to thrive rather than endure.

The message from Jewish students and their parents could not be clearer: we will go where we are welcome, and we will leave where we are not.

This shift also reflects a broader truth: the old northeastern elites no longer have a monopoly on intellectual vitality or success. Southern schools like Vanderbilt, Emory, and Tulane now offer world-class academics, robust Jewish communities, and a culture of belonging. Families are realizing that the future can be built elsewhere.

The Stakes for Universities

The consequences for elite schools are profound. They are not just losing students; they are losing some of their most engaged, high-achieving, and civically minded young people. Jewish students have historically been leaders in campus organizations, from student government to academic clubs, from literary magazines to debate teams.

They’ve been Rhodes Scholars and valedictorians, startup founders and social activists. These are the students who go on to become major donors, serve on boards of trustees, and send their own children back to their alma maters.

They are also risking long-term philanthropic support. Jewish alumni networks have been essential to these institutions’ growth. Names like Bloomberg at Johns Hopkins, Lauder at Penn, and countless others have transformed campuses through their generosity. If their loyalty wanes, endowments and influence will follow. We’re already seeing early signs: major Jewish donors pulling funding, reconsidering bequests, and redirecting their philanthropy toward schools that protect Jewish students.

The unraveling of this partnership will reshape higher education. Institutions that fought so hard to overcome their antisemitic past have allowed it to resurface in new forms, driving away the community that helped make them great.

A Broader Realignment and What Comes Next

Jewish students are at the forefront of a larger realignment in American higher education. Many non-Jewish students are also rejecting elite northern campuses. They are seeking environments that feel open, balanced, and sane: places where education takes priority over permanent protest.

Jewish families are simply the first to act. Their migration is a leading indicator of wider discontent.

Fall 2025 marks a turning point. The start of the academic year and the High Holy Days have converged to highlight a stark reality: Jewish students are voting with their feet.

Elite schools could choose to reform by enforcing clear standards, protecting all students equally, and rebuilding trust. Jewish institutions could choose to step up, placing resources and people where they are needed most.

But if they do not, this Fall’s movement will become a permanent migration. The Jewish campus map will be redrawn, and the old hierarchies of prestige will crumble.

The Ivy League once represented the pinnacle of Jewish aspiration. Now, for many families, it represents a question: Why fight to stay where we are not wanted, when there are places ready to welcome us?

This isn’t just a story about Jewish students or campus antisemitism. It’s about the collapse of institutional trust, the failure of moral leadership, and the quiet power of families making rational choices about their children’s futures. The map of Jewish campus life is being redrawn not by quotas or decrees, but by thousands of individual decisions that add up to a historic realignment.

And in that choice lies both a condemnation of what these institutions have become and hope for what American higher education might yet be.

Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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