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Shabbat event for NYC officials in San Juan interrupted by protesters as bomb threats hit Jewish sites in Manhattan and Brooklyn
(New York Jewish Week) — A popular Shabbat dinner with New York City politicians at the Somos political conference in San Juan was interrupted multiple times by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The following day, an inert grenade was found at Holocaust Memorial Park in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and a false bomb threat was called into Central Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan.
The threats and disruptions on Shabbat come more than a month into the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and amid a significant uptick in antisemitic incidents in New York City. The number of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city in October was 214% higher than in October 2022, according ot the NYPD. The bomb threats also come following a rash of similar fake threats at Jewish institutions nationwide earlier this year.
The Somos Conference is a large political conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico that draws thousands community leaders and senior New York politicians each year to discuss issues of importance to Latinos in New York state and beyond. A Friday night dinner at the conference, sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty — which has evolved into an “essential stop on the circuit,” as City & State reported last year — was interrupted several times by protesters opposing Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
Both UJA and Met Council have mobilized in support of Israelis since Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, but the Somos event was not focused on Israel or the war.
Protesters covered their hands in fake blood and shouted slogans in at the crowded event. One protester wore a scarf with the colors of the Palestinian flag and shouted, “Stop it!” Another chanted, “Never again for anyone! Plenty of Jews in New York hate genocide!”
“On the 85th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, ‘protestors’ BLOCKED people from observing Shabbat at our Friday night reception,” David Greenfield, a former New York City council member and the CEO of the Met Council, wrote on social media, regarding the 1938 Nazi anti-Jewish riot. “Was this an ‘Israel’ event? Nope. But it was a Jewish one.”
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a left-wing Jewish group based in New York that has accused Israel of genocide, also held a Friday night event at Somos in which members prayed “for an end to the brutal siege on Gaza, and the return of all hostages.”
The following morning, in New York City, the NYPD bomb squad was called when someone found a grenade at Holocaust Memorial Park in Sheepshead Bay, a city park. Police determined the grenade to be inert.
Soon afterward, police arrived at Central Synagogue after a caller notified 911 of two bags there that were going to explode. The threat appeared to be non-credible. The threat did not appear to disrupt the synagogue’s services, according to a livestream on Facebook.
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The post Shabbat event for NYC officials in San Juan interrupted by protesters as bomb threats hit Jewish sites in Manhattan and Brooklyn appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.