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Pro-Israel Group Plans Massive Walkout Across High School, College Campuses on Jan. 18 to Demand Release of Hostages
Members of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) attending the organization’s national annual conference at Florida Atlantic University in Dec. 2023. Photo: David Mann
Students Supporting Israel (SSI), a nonprofit that promotes education about the Jewish state, is planning to hold a nationwide “walkout” across US high school and university campuses on Jan. 18 to demand the release of hostages who remain captives of Hamas in Gaza after the terrorist organization’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“For over 100 days, the terrorist organization Hamas has held innocent Israeli hostages captive, following the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust,” the group said in an announcement posted to its social media accounts on Sunday. “Join SSI in a walkout, demanding the immediate release of the remaining 120 plus hostages and honoring the memories of the 1400 plus Israelis brutally murdered.”
Hamas murdered roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands more, and kidnapped over 200 people as hostages during its terrorist onslaught. The brutality of Hamas’ attacks — which, according to copious documentation, included widespread rape and sexual torture — shocked the world.
The death toll cited by SSI in its announcement was revised by the Israeli government in November.
“On Thursday, Jan. 18, a date with the meaning of Chai [the Hebrew word for ‘life,’ which is associated with the number 18] and when the academic semester begins, at 10:07 AM — a time symbolically commemorating the date of Oct. 7, our movement will walk out to (1) remember the victims of the attack, (2) call for the return of the hostages, (3) take a stand against the rising antisemitism around the world and in academic institutions,” the group announced.
SSI’s announcement comes amid a surge in pro-Hamas demonstrations on higher education campuses around the world. Universities have been hubs of such antisemitism since Hamas’ onslaught, with students and faculty both demonizing Israel and rationalizing the Palestinian terror group’s rampage. Incidents of harassment and even violence against Jewish students have also increased. As a result, Jewish students have expressed feeling unsafe and unprotected on campuses. In some cases, Jewish communities on campuses have been forced to endure threats of rape and mass slaughter.
Additionally, between Oct. 7 and Dec. 18, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, and during that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.
Valeria Chazin, co-founder of SSI who proposed the Jan. 18 walkout, told The Algemeiner on Monday that it’s important for pro-Israel student leaders to sustain the momentum of their advocacy heading into the new academic semester.
“With this event, we aim to keep the discussion about Oct 7. going because we don’t want people to forget, and we also want to make sure that it’s an event that starts the semester with an impactful statement saying that Jewish students are still here,” Chazin said. “We want to remember the victims of Oct. 7, issue a call to bring the hostages home, and raise awareness on day one of the new semester of the antisemitic environments on college campuses.”
Chazin added that numerous campus chapters of SSI have committed to participating in the walkout, including those at American University in Washington, DC, Tulane University in New Orleans, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
The date of the walkout is symbolic, SSI co-founder Ilan Sinelnikov noted, explaining that it is the birthday of the youngest hostage in Gaza, Kfir Bibas, a baby who will turn one year old on that day.
“That’s baby Bibas’ birthday, and we’re really trying to emphasize the message that it’s time to bring the crowd back out, that people should not get comfortable,” Sinelnikov said. “We have to continue organizing because Students for Justice in Palestine will not stop doing so, and we encourage everyone to participate. This doesn’t just have to be an SSI club event.”
The last mass US demonstration to show support for Israel occurred on Nov. 14, when hundreds of thousands of Jewish Americans and pro-Israel advocates packed the National Mall in Washington, DC in a historic show of solidarity with the Jewish state amid its war with the Hamas terror group.
The marchers, who traveled from across the US, represented a full spectrum of the Jewish community and its allies. As one participant told The Algemeiner, it was an important display of unity and the peaceful intentions of the Jewish people.
“I think it’s beautiful. It just shows that we are in peace, that we come in peace, and we’re not interested in violence, and on the contrary we’re fighting that in the world and all antisemitism and hatred of all kinds,” said Beverly Mehl, from New York. “It’s very important to show strength, to do something and take action.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Pro-Israel Group Plans Massive Walkout Across High School, College Campuses on Jan. 18 to Demand Release of Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Comedic Documentary Follows Jewish Performers Learning About Jewish Culture in Stockholm
Cover art for “Swedishkayt: YidLife Crisis in Stockholm.” Photo: Provided
The US-based distribution company Menemsha Films has acquired worldwide rights, exclusive of Scandinavia, to a comedic documentary film from Canadian filmmakers and award-winning comedy duo Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion, The Algemeiner has learned.
The film, titled “Swedishkayt: YidLife Crisis in Stockholm,” follows the performers from Montreal as they travel around Stockholm, Sweden, and learn about Jewish identity and culture. “Through meshugenah encounters and eye-opening revelations, these two (gefilte) fish out of water explore 250 years of Swedish Jewish culture, from the earliest immigrants to today’s Yiddish renaissance, including discovering how Yiddish came to be a protected government-recognized language in Sweden,” according to a synopsis of the film provided by Menemsha Films. “Along the way, they dive into a cultural revival that is as unexpected as it is joyous.”
Menemsha Films will premiere “Swedishkayt” at international film festivals next year, starting with its world premiere at the Miami Jewish Film Festival in January, followed by a theatrical release in North America.
“When we first discovered that, of all places, Sweden is the new mecca of Yiddish language and culture, we knew we had to share this crazy secret with the rest of the world,” said Elman and Batalion. “We were excited to dip into the Yiddish scene in Stockholm for this film, and are delighted to work with the mensches at Menemsha Films, who have proven their ability time and time again to take Jewish
projects to wide audiences.”
Batalion and Elman co-created the first Yiddish-language sitcom “YidLife Crisis,” an award-winning web series that explores religious and cultural Jewish life in the modern world. The show has featured celebrity guest appearances by Mayim Bialik and Howie Mandel. It has amassed over 4 million online views and led to Battalion and Elman having sold-out live performances across North America and Europe.
“We have been huge fans of YidLife Crisis for many years, and it is our privilege to bring these comedy icons to a larger audience around the world,” said Neil Friedman, founder and president of Menemsha Films, in a joint statement with Menemsha Films Executive Vice President Heidi Oshin.
The comedic duo has released previous projects like “Swedishkayt” that chronicle their travels and exploration of Jewish identity, including the “Global Shtetl” series, “Narishkayt: YidLife Crisis in Krakow,” and “Chewdaism: A Taste of Montreal.” Together, they have over 25 years of credits across television, theater, music, and film, including “Mad Men” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” They have written, directed, and produced short and feature films that have appeared at major film festivals including Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, and SXSW.
Watch the trailer for “Swedishkayt: YidLife Crisis in Stockholm” below.
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Hezbollah Warns Lebanon ‘Will Have No Life’ if State Moves Against It
Lebanon’s Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem gives a televised speech from an unknown location, July 30, 2025, in this screen grab from video. Photo: Al Manar TV/REUTERS TV/via REUTERS
Hezbollah raised the specter of civil war with a warning on Friday there would be “no life” in Lebanon if the government sought to confront or eliminate the Iran-backed terrorist group.
The government wants to control arms in line with a US-backed plan following Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah, which was founded four decades ago with the backing of Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards.
But the Islamist group is resisting pressure to disarm, saying that cannot happen until Israel ends its strikes and occupation of a southern strip of Lebanon that had been a Hezbollah stronghold.
“This is our nation together. We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together – or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us,” its leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech.
Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in the last two years, killing many of its top brass, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah, and 5,000 of its fighters and destroying much of its arsenal.
Lebanon‘s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that Qassem’s statements carried an implicit threat of civil war, calling them “unacceptable.”
“No party in Lebanon is authorized to bear arms outside the framework of the Lebanese state,” Salam said in a post on X carrying his statements from an interview with the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
The Lebanese cabinet last week tasked the army with confining weapons only to state security forces, a move that has outraged Hezbollah.
DIALOGUE POSSIBLE
Qassem accused the government of implementing an “American-Israeli order to eliminate the resistance, even if that leads to civil war and internal strife.”
However, he said Hezbollah and the Amal movement, its Shi’ite Muslim ally, had decided to delay any street protests while there was still scope for talks.
“There is still room for discussion, for adjustments, and for a political resolution before the situation escalates to a confrontation no one wants,” Qassem said.
“But if it is imposed on us, we are ready, and we have no other choice … At that point, there will be a protest in the street, all across Lebanon, that will reach the American embassy.”
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which left parts of Lebanon in ruins, erupted in October 2023 when the group opened fire at Israeli positions along the southern border in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.
Hezbollah and Amal still retain influence politically, appointing Shi’ite ministers to cabinet and holding the Shi’ite seats in parliament. But for the first time in years, they do not hold a “blocking third” of cabinet posts that in the past enabled them to veto government decisions.
Hezbollah retains strong support among the Shi’ite community in Lebanon but calls for its disarmament across the rest of society have grown.
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Israel in Talks to Resettle Gaza Palestinians in South Sudan, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies they collected from trucks that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
South Sudan and Israel are discussing a deal to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza in the troubled African nation, three sources told Reuters – a plan quickly dismissed as unacceptable by Palestinian leaders.
The sources, who have knowledge of the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity, said no agreement had been reached but talks between South Sudan and Israel were ongoing.
The plan, if carried further, would envisage people moving from an enclave shattered by almost two years of war between the ruling terrorist group Hamas and Israel to a nation in the heart of Africa riven by years of political and ethnically-driven violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this month he intends to extend military control in Gaza, and this week repeated suggestions that Palestinians should leave the territory voluntarily.
Arab and world leaders have rejected the idea of moving Gaza‘s population to any country.
The three sources said the prospect of resettling Palestinians in South Sudan was raised during meetings between Israeli officials and South Sudanese Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba when he visited the country last month.
Their account appeared to contradict South Sudan‘s foreign ministry which on Wednesday dismissed earlier reports on the plan as “baseless.”
The ministry was not immediately available to respond to the sources‘ assertions on Friday.
News of the discussions was first reported by the Associated Press on Tuesday, citing six people with knowledge of the matter.
Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the Palestinian leadership and people “reject any plan or idea to displace any of our people to South Sudan or to any other place.”
His statement echoed a statement from the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday. Hamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, who visited the South Sudanese capital Juba this week, told Reuters that those discussions had not focused on relocation.
“This is not what the discussions were about,” she said when asked if any such plan had been discussed.
“The discussions were about foreign policy, about multilateral organizations, about the humanitarian crisis, the real humanitarian crisis happening in South Sudan, and about the war,” she said, referring to her talks with Juba officials.
Netanyahu, who met Kumba last month, has said Israel is in touch with a few countries to find a destination for Palestinians who want to leave Gaza. He has consistently declined to provide further details.
Netanyahu’s office and Israel‘s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the information given by the three sources on Friday.