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Stalwart of Antakya Jewish community confirmed dead in Turkey quake as search continues
(JTA) — The fate of Saul Cenudioglu, the president of the small Jewish community in Antakya, remains unknown, while his wife Fortuna was confirmed dead Thursday morning after an Israeli search team pulled her body from the wreckage of their apartment building.
The two were believed to have been buried when their building collapsed in the first of two massive earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey on Monday, sparking a humanitarian disaster.
So far the death toll is nearing 20,000 across both Turkey and Syria. The grim toll is only expected to rise as the window for rescues is rapidly closing three days after the quake.
Fortuna’s body was found by a team from the Israel Defense Forces that was combing the devastated city as part of the Israeli relief delegation and had been dispatched to the Cenudioglus’ address.
Over 500 Israeli rescue workers have arrived in Turkey and are working alongside the more than 30,000 relief workers who have descended on the affected zone since Monday. Jewish nonprofits from around the world are also gathering donations and preparing to distribute aid to the affected areas and the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes in the quakes.
An initial report said that Saul Cenudioglu’s body had been retrieved along with his wife’s. He has not yet been identified, according to the Turkish Jewish Community.
Saul Cenudioglu was born in Antakya in 1941, back when the city had a much larger Jewish community.
His niece Ela, who was born and raised in Antakya but now resides in Istanbul, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he was a “visionary leader committed to the Jewish community and the values it represents.” She said the family had a textile business in the city.
“He did everything in his capacity to have the small Jewish community of Antakya thrive and connect with the rest of the communities in Turkey and the world,” she added.
Jews have been present in the city, known in antiquity as Antioch, for nearly 2,500 years, since its founding under the Seleucid Empire. The city was once governed by Antiochus, the villain of the Hanukkah story; is frequently mentioned in the Talmud; and was a major center of Jewish scholarship in ancient times, associated closely with the larger Jewish community of neighboring Aleppo.
Though several hundred Jews lived in the city at the time of Cenudioglu’s birth, by last year their number had dwindled to only 14, the youngest of whom was over 60. Many of them worked in shops in the city’s famed Long Bazaar.
Now, Turkish Jews say, it’s unlikely that any will remain.
“The end of a 2500 year old love story,” the Turkish Jewish Community’s president, Ishak Ibrahimzade wrote on Twitter.
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The post Stalwart of Antakya Jewish community confirmed dead in Turkey quake as search continues appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Anti-Hamas Gazan Clan Leader Reported Killed
Leader of the Popular Forces Yasser Abu Shabab and his deputy Ghassan Al-Duhaini stand next to armed men in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in this screenshot taken from a video released on Nov. 18, 2025. Photo: Yasser Abu Shabab/Popular Forces via REUTERS
The head of an armed Palestinian faction that opposes Hamas in Gaza has been killed, Israeli media reported on Thursday, in what would be a blow to Israeli efforts to support Gazan clans against the ruling Islamist terror group.
Yasser Abu Shabab, a Bedouin tribal leader based in Israeli-held Rafah in southern Gaza, has led the most prominent of several small anti–Hamas groups that became active in Gaza during the war that began more than two years ago.
His death would be a boost to Hamas, which has branded him a collaborator and ordered its fighters to kill or capture him.
There was no immediate word about Abu Shabab’s status on the Facebook page of his group, the Popular Forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in June that Israel had armed anti–Hamas clans, though Israel has announced few other details of the policy since then.
RAFAH SECURITY SWEEP
Abu Shabab’s group has continued to operate from areas of Gaza controlled by Israeli forces since a US-backed ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was agreed in October.
Rafah has been the scene of some of the worst violence during the ceasefire. Residents had reported gunbattles there on Wednesday, and Israel said four of its soldiers were wounded there. The Israeli military said on Thursday its forces had killed some 40 Hamas terrorists trapped in tunnels below Rafah.
On Nov. 18, Abu Shabab’s group posted a video showing dozens of fighters receiving orders from his deputy to launch a security sweep to “clear Rafah of terror,” an apparent reference to Hamas fighters believed to be holed up there.
Abu Shabab’s death was reported by Israeli media including Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, citing a security source.
Israel’s Army Radio, also citing a security source, said he had died in Soroka hospital in southern Israel of unspecified wounds, but the hospital soon denied he had been admitted there.
The reports did not say when he died or how he received the reported wounds.
RAFAH ADMINISTRATION
An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment on the reports. Hamas had no comment, its Gaza spokesperson said.
Israel’s policy of backing anti–Hamas clans took shape as it pressed the Gaza offensive against the group, aiming to end its rule of the coastal strip in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on communities in southern Israel.
In an article published in the Wall Street Journal in July, Abu Shabab – a member of the Tarabin Bedouin tribe – said his group had established its own administration in the Rafah area and urged US and Arab support to recognize and support it.
Abu Shabab’s group has denied being backed by Israel.
Netanyahu said in June that Israel’s backing for Gazan clans was a good thing that had saved the lives of Israeli soldiers.
But the policy has also drawn criticism from some in Israel who have said such groups can provide no real alternative to Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007.
CONTROVERSIAL POLICY
“The writing was on the wall. Whether he was killed by Hamas or in some clan infighting, it was obvious that it would end this way,” Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer at the Moshe Dayan Center in Tel Aviv, told Reuters.
Several other anti–Hamas groups have emerged in areas of Gaza held by Israel. Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said that Abu Shabab’s death would fuel doubts among them about their “ability to challenge Hamas.”
US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan foresees Hamas disarming and the enclave run by a transitional authority supported by a multi-national stabilization force. But progress has appeared slow, with Hamas so far refusing to disarm and no sign of agreement on the formation of the international force.
Hamas has accused Abu Shabab of looting UN aid trucks during the war. Abu Shabab’s group has denied this, saying it has protected and escorted aid.
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Iraq Backtracks After Briefly Listing Hezbollah, Houthis as Terror Groups
Hezbollah fighters walk near a military tank in Western Qalamoun, Syria, Aug. 23, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Iraq will remove Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis from an asset–freeze list, officials said on Thursday, after the Iran-backed Islamist groups were mistakenly included in an earlier government publication, prompting confusion and criticism.
The Justice Ministry’s official gazette last month published a list of groups and entities whose funds would be blocked, naming both terrorist groups, a move that would likely have been welcomed in Washington and increased pressure on Tehran.
The US and several other countries around the world have designated both Hezbollah and the Houthis as terrorist organizations.
A letter from the acting deputy governor of the Central Bank asked the Committee for the Freezing of Terrorists’ Funds to delete the clause containing the names, two bank sources told Reuters.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Iraq had approved freezing only the assets of entities and individuals linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda jihadists, in response to a request from Malaysia.
‘HOLD ACCOUNTABLE THOSE RESPONSIBLE’
He said he had ordered an urgent investigation into the mistake “to hold accountable those responsible.”
Sudani added that Iraq‘s political and humanitarian positions on “the aggression on our people in Lebanon or in Palestine” were “principled and not subject to exaggeration.”
Hussain Mouanes, a lawmaker representing a bloc affiliated with Iraq‘s Kataeb Hezbollah, criticized the government on Thursday for what he called “irresponsible” conduct.
He accused the government of being a “subordinate authority that lacks the dignity to represent its people or defend Iraq‘s sovereignty.”
The Iraqi committee said the Nov. 17 publication had been intended to cover only individuals and entities linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
Several unrelated groups were included because the list was released before final revisions were completed, it said, adding that the corrected version would appear in the official gazette.
Hezbollah and the Houthis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US DRIVE TO CURB IRANIAN INFLUENCE
The United States has long sought to reduce Iran’s influence in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East where Tehran has allies as part of its so-called Axis of Resistance, which has taken a battering by Israel since the war in Gaza erupted in 2023.
Iran views its neighbor and ally Iraq as vital to keeping its economy afloat amidst international sanctions. But Baghdad, a partner to both the US and Iran, is wary of being caught in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump’s policy to squeeze Tehran.
The Islamic Republic wields hefty military, political, and economic influence in Iraq through its powerful Shi’ite militias and the political parties it backs in Baghdad. But Iran has been weakened over the past year by Israel’s heavy blows to Tehran’s militia proxies, raising its susceptibility to US pressure.
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UK Police Charge 31-Year-Old Man Linked to Manchester Synagogue Attacker
Police officers stand outside the Manchester synagogue, where multiple people were killed on Yom Kippur, in what police have declared a terrorist incident, in north Manchester, Britain, Oct. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
British police said they had charged a 31–year–old man with terrorism offenses, following his arrest in connection with an attack on a Manchester synagogue in October which left two Jewish worshippers dead.
Police said that while Mohammad Asim Bashir had not committed an offence in relation to the attack itself, their investigation led to him being charged with other terrorism offenses, including sharing terrorist publications with the perpetrator of the attack, Jihad Al-Shamie.
Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, began stabbing people outside the synagogue on Oct. 2, telling police he was acting for Islamic State before officers shot him dead.
The attack occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Bashir was arrested on Nov. 27 at Manchester Airport and was on Thursday charged with preparation for acts of terrorism and three counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. He has been remanded in custody and will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday.
Police described him as a British national whose self-defined ethnicity is British Pakistani.