Connect with us

RSS

The Names and Crimes of 80 Dangerous Terrorist Murderers That Were Released by Israel

Thousands of supporters of hostage families gather in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as three hostages are returned to Israel. Photo: Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum

As Israel celebrates the release of seven of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023 and anticipates the release of more over 42 days, every Israeli dreads the consequences of the dangerous price extorted on the Jewish State by Hamas.

For just 33 hostages alone, Israel has agreed to release over 1,900 terrorists, including many murderers, such as Wael Qassem, who is serving 35 life sentences.

General Security Service Director Ronen Bar told Israel’s security cabinet last week that 82% of the 1,024 terrorists released in exchange for Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit in 2011 “returned to terrorism.”

The leaders of Hamas who planned and led the October 7 massacre were released terrorist prisoners. Thousands of Israelis have been murdered as a direct result of previous terrorist-hostage exchanges.

To display the nature of the danger, Palestinian Media Watch has prepared a list of the names of 80 of the terrorist murderers to be released with descriptions of some of their crimes.

Note that among those being released are terror commanders, who planned and organized murders by suicide bombing, shooting, and stabbing; bomb builders; and terrorists who murdered with their own hands by stabbing and shooting.

As in the past, the majority of those being released now will return to their former positions and be the leaders and foundation of Palestinian terrorism for years to come.

Wael Qassem – Serving 35 life sentences. Led a cell responsible for three suicide bombing attacks in 2002 — Café Moment, the Hebrew University cafeteria, and the Sheffield Club, murdering 35 in total.

Ammar Al-Ziben – Serving 32 life sentences. Hamas. Planned several suicide bombings, including the double suicide bombing at the Mahane Yehuda outdoor market in 1997, murdering 16.

Majdi Za’atri – Serving 23 life sentences. Hamas. Planned and assisted a suicide bombing in 2003 — drove a suicide bomber to a bus stop in Jerusalem where the bomber boarded the #2 bus and blew himself up, murdering 23, including children and babies.

Ahmad Salah – Serving 21 life sentences. Involved in two Jerusalem suicide bus bombings in 2004, murdering 19 people and injuring over 100.

Sami Jaradat – Serving 21 life sentences. Head of Islamic Jihad in the Jenin district. Planned several attacks, including the 2003 suicide bombing at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa, where 21 people were murdered and over 50 were injured.

Fahmi Mashahreh – Serving 20 life sentences. Aided and instructed suicide bomber Muhammad Al-Ghoul, who murdered 19 and wounded 74 on a Jerusalem bus in 2002.

Shadi Ibrahim Ammouri – Serving 17 life sentences. Islamic Jihad. Prepared the bomb for the 2002 Megiddo Junction bombing in which 17 were murdered and 43 were wounded on the #830 bus from Tel Aviv to Tiberias.

Salim Hijja – Serving 16 life sentences. Assisted a suicide bomber in blowing up a bus in Haifa in 2001, murdering 15 and injuring 40.

Mansour Shreim – Serving 14 life sentences. Participated in the murder of an Israeli soldier near Kibbutz Metzer in 2001. Sent terrorists to carry out attacks, including an attack at a Bat Mitzvah celebration in Hadera in 2002, where 6 were murdered and over 30 were injured, and an attack in the town of Itamar in 2002, where 3 teenagers were murdered.

Muhammad Naifeh ‘Abu Rabia’ – Serving 13 life sentences. Tanzim. Involved in the murder of 5 Israelis at Kibbutz Metzer in 2002, 3 Israelis in Hermesh in 2002, and 5 others in various shooting attacks in 2001.

Ahmed Barghouti – Serving 13 life sentences. Commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the Ramallah region. Dispatched terrorists to lethal attacks in 2002. Sent terrorists to shooting attacks in which 12 people were murdered.

Ahmed Abu Khader – Serving 11 life sentences. Palestinian terrorist and former member of the PA Security Forces, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and Tanzim. Trained terrorists for suicide missions, carried out shooting attacks, and transported terrorists who committed lethal attacks.

Mar’i Abu Sa’ida – Serving 11 life sentences. Hamas. Member of cell responsible for several terror attacks, including a suicide bombing at the Tzrifin bus stop (9 murdered, 14 wounded, 2003), a suicide bombing at Café Hillel in Jerusalem (7 murdered, over 50 wounded, 2003) and a bombing at a bus stop in Tel Aviv (1 murdered, 24 wounded, 2004).

Izz Al-Din Khaled Hamamrah – Serving 9 life sentences. Tanzim. Recruited suicide bomber Muhammad Za’oul, who blew up the #14 bus in Jerusalem in 2004, murdering 8 and injuring dozens. Also perpetrated shooting attacks in the Bethlehem area.

Osama Al-Ashqar – Serving 8 life sentences. Tanzim. Organized two attacks resulting in the deaths of 8 Israelis in 2002 besides carrying out dozens of shooting attacks in the Tulkarem area.

Samer Al-Atrash – Serving 8 life sentences. Assisted a suicide bomber in blowing up a bus in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2003, murdering 7.

Ahmad Obeid – Serving 7 life sentences. Hamas member from East Jerusalem. Together with Nael Obeid, he planned the Café Hillel suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003, where 7 people were murdered, and he brought the terrorist to the attack site.

Taleb Ali Taleb Amr – Serving 7 life sentences. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Provided the explosives to a suicide bomber who murdered 6 and wounded more than 80 at Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda outdoor market in 2002.

Muayyad Hammad – Serving 7 life sentences. Ambushed Israeli soldiers near Ramallah, killing 3.

Amjad Takatka – Serving 6 life sentences. Played a role in a suicide bombing at Jerusalem’s outdoor market where 6 were murdered and more than 80 were wounded in 2002.

Ashraf Zgheir – Serving 6 life sentences. Drove a suicide bomber to Tel Aviv’s Allenby Street in 2002, where 6 people were killed and 84 were wounded, in addition to playing roles in other attempted bombings.

Bakr Al-Najjar – Serving 6 life sentences. Tanzim. Was involved in two deadly shooting attacks in 2002.

Hatem Al-Jayousi – Serving 6 life sentences. Provided the car used to perpetrate the 2002 Hadera Bat Mitzvah attack, in which 6 Israelis were murdered and dozens of others were wounded.

Ibrahim Sarahneh – Serving 6 life sentences. Israeli Arab who drove suicide bombers in 2002 to carry out three different attacks in Israel in which five were murdered.

Iyad Masalmeh – Serving 4 life sentences. Hamas. Sent and directed Ahmed Masalmeh and Ali Asafra in 2002 to infiltrate Karmei Tzur near Hebron, where they shot and murdered Eyal Sorek, his pregnant wife Yael, and Shalom Mordechai, and wounded five others.

Yusuf Al-Skafi – Serving 4 life sentences. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Recruited suicide bombers.

Othman Younes – Serving 4 life sentences. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Sent Habash Hanani to murder 3 Israeli students and injure 2 others in the town of Itamar in 2002. Was also involved in other shooting and bombing attacks.

Ali Suleiman Al-Sa’adi – Serving 4 life sentences. Islamic Jihad. Organized an attack at Afula’s central bus station in 2001 that killed Michal Mor and Noam Gozovsky and wounded 50 others. Organized several suicide bombings, including the attack at the Wall Street Café in Kiryat Motzkin in 2001.

Nasser Al-Shawish – Serving 4 life sentences. Responsible for 3 suicide bombings.

Husam Abd Al-Qader Halabi – Serving 3 life sentences. Member of Yasser Arafat’s Presidential Guard. Planned and provided the arms for the attack in which Avi and Avital Wolanski were shot and murdered and their three-year-old son was wounded in 2002.

Nasser Al-Shawish – Serving 4 life sentences. Responsible for 3 suicide bombings.

Bilal Ghanem – Serving 3 life sentences. Shot and stabbed passengers on a bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, murdering Israelis Chaim Haviv (78), Alon Govberg (51), and Richard Lakin (76), and wounding 3 Israelis.

Yasser Abu Bakr – Serving 3 life sentences. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Directed an attack in Netanya in 2002 where Israel Yihye and 9-month-old Avia Malka were murdered. Also responsible for the killing of Border Policeman Constantine Danilov.

Mahmoud Abu Wahdan – Serving 3 life sentences. PFLP. Planned suicide bombings during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005).

Muhammad Khamis Brash – Serving 3 life sentences. Shot and killed Elad Wallenstein, Amit Zaneh, and Sarah Lisha in 2000.

Akram Othman Hamed and Rafat Othman Hamed – Both serving 3 life sentences. Members of the PA Security Forces members and of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Shot Israeli civilians and soldiers, murdering Assaf Hershkovitz and Idit Mizrachi in 2001. Also murdered a Palestinian they suspected of aiding Israel during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005).

Murad Nazmi Al-Ajlouni – Serving 3 life sentences. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Together with Mazen Al-Qadi, he used his status as an Israeli Arab to freely drive Ibrahim Hassouneh to carry out an attack in which 3 Israelis were murdered and 15 were wounded.

Mazen Al-Qadi – Serving 3 life sentences. Drove Ibrahim Hassouneh to Tel Aviv in 2002 to carry out an attack on two restaurants—Seafood Market and Mifgash Hasteak—murdering 3 and wounding 15.

Ali Sa’ada and Wael Al-Arja – Each serving 2 life sentences. Murdered Asher Palmer and his baby son, Yonatan, near the Israeli town of Kiryat Arba in 2011.

Ammar Abu Ghallous and Sajed Abu Ghallous – Both are serving 2 life sentences. Fatah. In 2003, Sajed shot and murdered Israeli civilian David Mordechai and paralyzed his son Menachem, while Ammar stood guard. In 2004, Ammar drove Sajed to an attack in which Sajed shot and murdered Israeli Arab Christian George Khoury, mistaking him for a Jew as he was jogging in Jerusalem.

Yusuf Ata Dhiab Hamdan – Serving 2 life sentences. Drove the suicide bomber who murdered Avner Mordechai in his convenience store near Beit Shean in 2003. Drove 2 other suicide bombers who blew themselves up resulting in the murder of Yehezkel Yekutiel and Erez Hershkowitz as well as the injury of 11 others.

Kifah Hattab – Serving 2 life sentences. PA Security Forces member and head of a Tanzim cell that murdered Rabbi Aharon Ovadian in Baqa Al-Gharbiya in northern Israel in 2001. Hattab was also involved in the murder of a Palestinian suspected of aiding Israel.

Sa’id Musa Shtayyeh – Serving 2 life sentences. Fatah. Provided the arms to the terrorists who murdered Mordechai and Shlomo Odesser in 2002.

Hassan Rateb Aweis – Serving 2 life sentences. Murdered 2 people in a shooting attack at the Afula central bus station in 2001.

Zaid Bassisi – Serving a life sentence. Islamic Jihad. Planned a car bombing outside a Netanya school in which 8 were wounded in 2001.

Zaid Younes – Serving a life sentence. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Drove a suicide bomber to Tel Aviv resulting in the injury of 25 people in 2002 and assisted a terrorist murderer to escape prison.

Hafez Sharai’ah – Serving a life sentence. Member of the PA intelligence service and the Tanzim. Was one of the murderers of Israeli police superintendent Moshe Dayan in the Judean Desert in 2002. Also was one of 39 wanted terrorists who took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in April 2002, using dozens of hostages and the religious site as shields.

Ayman Ibrahim Al-Awawdeh – Serving a life sentence. Member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and PA military intelligence. Murdered 1 and committed shooting attacks against Israelis during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005).

As’ad Zo’rob – Serving a life sentence. Shot and murdered his Israeli employer, Nissan Dolinger, while traveling together with Dolinger in his car in 2002.

Jad Maalah – Serving a life sentence. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Carried out attacks during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005).

Jawad Jawarish – Serving a life sentence for the murder of Devorah Friedman in 2002.

Hani Khamaiseh – Serving a life sentence for the murder of Stanislav Sandomirsky in 2001.

Wael Al-Jaghoub – Serving a life sentence. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader who carried out terror attacks.

Khalil Sarahneh – Serving a life sentence. Israeli Arab who drove a suicide bomber to Jerusalem in 2002 resulting in the killing of Israeli police officer Tomer Mordechai.

Yusuf Kmeil and Muhammad Abu Al-Rub – Each serving a life sentence. Stabbed and murdered 70-year-old Reuven Shmerling in a warehouse in the Israeli Arab city of Kafr Qassem, east of Tel Aviv, in 2017.

Mudar Abu Daya and Musa Ekhleil – Serving a life sentence each. Stabbed and murdered Erez Levanon as he was praying in a forest near Bat Ayin, southwest of Bethlehem in 2007.

Musa Sarahneh – Serving a life sentence. Drove a suicide bomber to carry out an attack in which 2 were murdered and 28 were wounded in Jerusalem in 2002.

Muhammad Al-Tous – Serving a life sentence. Fatah. Commanded terrorist cell that attacked 5 civilian buses in 1985, wounding 16 passengers. Also directed the murder of Zalman Abolnik in 1984 as well as Meir Ben Yair and Michal Cohen in 1985. Helped murder Mordechai Suissa and Edna Harari in 1985.

Muhammad Falana – Serving a life sentence. Planted a bomb near the town of Dolev in 1992, murdering 1 and injuring 6.

Nael Barghouti – Serving a life sentence. Stabbed and murdered Israeli bus driver Mordechai Yekuel in 1978.

Nael Yassin – Serving a life sentence. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and PA policeman. Shot and murdered Israeli border policeman Yosef Tabjeh and injured another while they were on a joint Israeli-PA patrol near Qalqilya in 2000. (Note: As part of the “peace process” prior to the PA terror war launched in Sept 2000, Israel and the PA would do joint security patrols.) Afterwards, he was involved in dozens of shootings and bombings until he was arrested.

Samir Yasser Ghaith – Serving a life sentence. Led a group of terrorists in murdering 25-year-old law student Moran Amit at the Armon Hanatziv Promenade in Jerusalem in 2002 as well as other attacks.

Ammar Mardi – Serving one life sentence. Kidnapped and murdered Yuri Gushchin from the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2001.

Abd Al-Majid Mahdi – Serving a life sentence. Fatah. Shot and murdered his Israeli employer, Gadi Rejwan, in the Atarot neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2002.

Othman Abu Khurj – Serving a life sentence. Murdered 16-year-old Aliza Malka and injured 3 other teens in a drive-by shooting near Kibbutz Merav in 2001.

Alaa Ahmad Abd Al-Mun’im Salah – Serving a life sentence. Murdered Yossi Zandani in 1994 and was recruited to murder an Israeli citizen and use his body as a hostage to release imprisoned terrorists, as is happening today.

Iyad Hreibat – Serving a life sentence.

Ayham Sabah – A murderer serving only a 35-year sentence. (He was a minor when he murdered). Stabbed and murdered Tuvia Yanai Weissman in 2016 at a supermarket.

Itamar Marcus is Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)’s Founder and Director. Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.

The post The Names and Crimes of 80 Dangerous Terrorist Murderers That Were Released by Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Post Views: 68
Related Topics:
Continue Reading

RSS

Doorstep Postings: The premier who got elected ‘For the People’ has morphed into ‘Dougie for You’

This is the 2025 Ontario provincial election preview edition of Doorstep Postings, the periodic political commentary column written by Josh Lieblein for The CJN.

If you’re tired of Canadian elections that have Seinfeld‘s show-about-nothing quality, this writ period is definitely for you. In fact, expectations for the month leading up to the Feb. 27 provincial election in Ontario has the distinct air of an episode of Nathan for You, masterminded by Vancouver’s virtuoso of the socially awkward deadpan, Nathan Fielder.

Fielder expands a bit he developed on the CBC as an incompetent millennial business consultant who offers terrible ideas to floundering businesses which fail spectacularly. The genius of the show is that it makes a clear distinction between Nathan Fielder, actor, and the “Nathan” who comes up with the doomed business ideas. We see “Nathan” realize that his actions are causing more harm than good, but any attempts he makes to atone for his mistakes mostly just lead to things getting worse. He did, however, start a legitimately successful jacket business focused on Holocaust awareness where you traded in jackets made by another company that for some reason paid tribute to a genocide denier.

The Fielderesque plan put forth by Doug Ford’s consultants is a rebrand of our bumbling Preem as Captain Canada, the fighting-est First Minister in the Dominion. Looking like a small-town-Ontario granddad in his too-small ‘Canada Is Not For Sale’ baseball cap, the Dougster plans to storm Washington, D.C., under cover of a much more interesting and consequential federal Liberal leadership race to plead Ontario’s case before bemused U.S. lawmakers. Where he goes, the Queen’s Park Press Gallery will not be able to follow—or so Doug hopes.

A few headwinds threaten to snow Ford’s plan under, though First of all, this election will be held in the depths of winter, something that hasn’t happened in 40 years. It’s also an early election, which is something Ontario campaign strategists have been warning against ever since David Peterson tried it back in 1990, and paved the way for Bob Rae. (If you’re starting to get the impression that Ontario is in the state it’s in because our top political minds are still superstitious over things that they lived through decades ago, you’d be right.) When asked if it’s time for a change in government, voters agree with that sentiment by a margin of 3 to 1.

Worse than any of these credulous portents of doom for Ford’s fortunes is the fact that most voters are genuinely sick of the guy in the same way that most bystanders on Nathan for You understand that Nathan doesn’t know what he’s doing and the ideas he presents are deeply stupid. Jewish voters haven’t forgotten that Ford’s government has been mostly talk and no action on security at community buildings and protests crossing the line. You’ve also got issues that matter to you (but not to the government) no matter which community you align with: housing, healthcare, transit, scandals. 

The trouble is that nobody is interested in really challenging Doug and his questionable assertions that he’s listening to Ontarians, much like the businesses that are questionably being “helped” by Nathan. Unions are trying to outdo one another putting together lame attack ads that the cast of This Hour Has 22 Minutes would probably scoff at as being too cheesy and poorly acted. The NDP saw how badly the Liberals got creamed by the voters for obsessively talking about highways during the last election and decided to lead off by talking about nationalizing the 407. The Liberals are standing up for substandard Canadian internet by demanding that Doug cancel a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink in light of his recent Nazi-adjacent salute at Trump’s inauguration. 

Nathan Fielder made the wise decision to end Nathan for You in 2017, after four seasons. But even though we’ve been watching the Ford family circus for decades in Toronto, and the joke has long ceased to be funny, nobody seems to know how to get this show off the air. Ford’s nephew Michael announced that his health wouldn’t allow him to continue with the charade. It was also revealed that proudly anti-Israel MPP Sarah Jama had been lobbying to be let back into the NDP fold after that party’s decision to boot her for comments made in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Why she thought that the party would trust her at this juncture is a question we’ll never get a real answer to. 

As for the Liberals, the most notable Ford-buster they’ve got is Jason Cherniak, the candidate in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill who’s best known amongst partisans of a certain vintage as the webmaster of Liblogs—a counterpoint to Blogging Tories, who influenced the ascent of the modern Conservative Party of Canada while not having to change out of their pyjamas. Back in the days of Web 1.0, Cherniak managed to convince Official Ottawa to take him seriously as a key online organizer for onetime federal party leader Stephane “Very Seriously, A Carbon Tax” Dion based on a talent for stringing together a few lines of partisan gloss with a low-effort YouTube video or two. (They’d never fall for something like that today!) He’s Nathan Fielder if Nathan had decided to put his energy into shaming B’nai Brith for being too partisan in support of Stephen Harper. 

Ford may believe that he is actually standing up to Trump and fighting, however imperfectly, on behalf of the province he governs. His performance, as wooden as it may be, is a lot more convincing than that of his opponents, who manage to seem even more checked out than he is and repeat the same points about his corporate buddies as last time while not being able to settle on whether he’s a murderclown or just in over his head. There is an honest and heartfelt critique to be made of the man, one that might even make him think twice about the ruse he is perpetuating, but so long as the rest of us are obsessed with norms and their lack if observance, Ford can continue to flout them as he sees fit—all while claiming that, like Nathan Fielder, he is the one and only leader for You.

Josh Lieblein can be reached at joshualieblein@gmail.com for your response to Doorstep Postings.

The post Doorstep Postings: The premier who got elected ‘For the People’ has morphed into ‘Dougie for You’ appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

Post Views: 11
Continue Reading

RSS

Students and survivors gather at Baycrest to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day  

As Holocaust denial and distortion becomes a growing concern in Canada, a group of Toronto high school students marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by sharing the stories of Holocaust survivors.

Grade 12 students from Toronto’s Crestwood Preparatory College observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, with a presentation at Baycrest, a Toronto healthcare and research centre for seniors. There they recounted the harrowing stories of survivors they had previously interviewed in person to an audience of about 150 people, including other students, educators and the survivors themselves.

Daniel Markusson, one of the presenters, acknowledged that the opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of the Holocaust has become increasingly rare.

“It was a really impactful experience to hear these stories directly from the survivors,” Markusson told The Canadian Jewish News. “You can watch documentaries or read books, but speaking to someone in person brings a whole new level of understanding.”

Markusson presented the story of survivor Judy Schachter, who he met with his classmates prior to the event. Born in 1936, Schachter grew up in the city of Humenne, in eastern Slovakia. Her early life, described as happy and nurturing, was shattered by the antisemitic policies of Jozef Tiso, an acolyte of Hitler and president of the First Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945. As deportations to Auschwitz began, Schachter’s family fled to the Tatra Mountains, where they endured extreme cold, starvation and the constant fear of discovery.

“Hearing her experiences made me realize how critical it is to preserve these stories,” Markusson said. “It’s our responsibility to combat Holocaust denial and distortion.”

Another Crestwood student, Chaeni Lee, recounted the story of Peter Hajnal, who survived as a child in Hungary. After being sent to a children’s shelter, Hajnal endured harsh treatment and the loss of his younger brother. “Hearing Peter’s story reminded me of my grandmother’s experiences during the Korean War,” Lee said during her presentation. “It’s a reminder that trauma stays with people forever, even from when they’re young.”

Sydney Ross, another Crestwood student, shared the story of Martha Shemtov, who was a hidden child during the Holocaust. Ross described how Shemtov’s mother threw her off a train bound for a concentration camp, saving her life. Shemtov was later hidden and raised by a Catholic family until she was reunited with her father after the war. Reflecting on the harrowing account, Ross said, “Hearing these stories made me realize how much courage it took to survive and how important it is for us to share their voices. It’s a responsibility we can’t take lightly.”

Engaging younger generations

Holocaust survivor Judy Schachter, whose story was shared at the event, expressed gratitude for the students’ willingness to listen. “It’s hard to convince those who deny or distort history,” she told The Canadian Jewish News. “But projects like this give me hope that the lessons of the Holocaust won’t be forgotten.”

Schachter also spoke candidly about the challenges of addressing Holocaust denial. “You have to have receptive ears to receive that, and right now I think that that segment of the population really doesn’t want to hear it, so I almost wouldn’t even waste my time talking to them,” she said.

“I feel a deep responsibility to share my story, and I’m grateful for this particular school that they’re willing to listen.”

Baycrest’s Holocaust Resource Program, which helped plan the student presentation, offers consultation, counselling, and educational services for clients, families, and survivors in the Jewish community at Baycrest and in other long-term care facilities. Staff with specialized expertise run ongoing support groups for survivors and children of survivors.

Anne Max, a Baycrest social worker and a key member of the Holocaust Resource Program, highlighted how the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and rising antisemitism in Canada have deeply affected survivors.

“Everything we’re seeing that happens in the Middle East and in our streets (in Canada) is a huge trigger for survivors and their children,” Max told The Canadian Jewish News. “It has unleashed a lot of people’s feelings about what happened to them during the war.”

Max said events like the presentation at Baycrest are so important, providing survivors with a platform to share their stories and help younger generations understand the importance of combating hate.

Holocaust education programs are essential for younger generations who will eventually lose access to first-hand accounts, said Cyrelle Muskat, director of Quality, Systems, and Wellness at Baycrest.

Muskat’s grandmother, who recently died, was a survivor of Auschwitz. “A couple of years ago she made a point to do a Zoom meeting with a Jewish day school to share her story,” Muskat said. “More and more survivors are feeling that (sharing their story) is their mission.”

Denial and distortion on the rise

Recent studies have revealed alarming gaps in Holocaust awareness among Canadians, particularly younger generations, and a growing susceptibility to misinformation about one of history’s darkest chapters. The findings highlight an urgent need for education to address not only historical ignorance but also antisemitic attitudes.

A survey conducted by the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute in 2024 revealed that one in six Canadians aged 18 to 24 believed the Holocaust was exaggerated. This view was linked to an increased likelihood of antisemitic feelings and behaviours, according to the study. The findings also revealed that 22 per cent of Canadians under 25 rely primarily on online sources for Holocaust information, which may contribute to the spread of misinformation.

A 2019 study by the Azrieli Foundation and the Claims Conference found that 22 percent of Canadians under 34 had either not heard of the Holocaust or were unsure what it was. Nearly half of respondents—49 percent—could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto, despite over 40,000 such sites operating during the Second World War. In addition, 23 percent of Canadians believed that substantially fewer than six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, while 24 per cent were uncertain about the death toll.

Preserving living history

Crestwood’s Oral History Project has become a cornerstone of the school’s commitment to historical education and remembrance. The initiative began as a way to preserve the personal stories and artifacts shared by speakers visiting Masters’ classes. Originally, it started as a family history project, with students and their families contributing personal and community histories.

“When I started this project over 20 years ago, most students had grandparents who lived through the war,” said Scott Masters, the Crestwood history teacher who spearheaded the program. “That’s no longer the case, so this project helps build those connections for a new generation.”

As part of the oral history project, Masters and his students have digitized photos and mementos from interviewees, preserving them as historical documents. These records, along with individual interviews, are accessible on the project’s webpage, where visitors can search for specific topics—such as survivors from Theresienstadt or veterans who served on D-Day—and listen to personal accounts.

This archive, which contains over 1,000 interviews—including nearly 300 with Holocaust survivors—ensures these stories are preserved for future generations. 

“It’s about showing the personal side of modern history,” Masters explained. “These stories make history tangible and help us understand the human experiences behind the events.”

The post Students and survivors gather at Baycrest to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day   appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

Post Views: 45
Continue Reading

RSS

Israel’s UN Ambassador Reaffirms Imminent Ban of UNRWA Operations Over Hamas Ties

Ambassador Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, looks on as he speaks to members of the press about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon reaffirmed on Tuesday that the controversial UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees and their descendants will face an imminent ban from Israel over its ties to the Hamas terrorist group.

“Within 48 hours, the State of Israel will cease its cooperation with UNRWA,” Danon told the UN Security Council, referring to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. “UNRWA must cease its activities and evacuate all its facilities in Jerusalem.”

The public announcement came after Israel passed legislation in October banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory and prohibiting any Israeli authority from engaging with the agency.

Israel followed up on the legislation this past week, issuing a directive to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding that UNRWA cease all activities in East Jerusalem by Jan. 30.

“This decision was driven by UNRWA’s constant refusal to address the widespread infiltration of its ranks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” Danon added in his remarks on Tuesday.

The Israeli government and research organizations have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed staff, including teachers and school principals, are active Hamas members, some of whom were directly involved in the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre across southern Israel, while many others openly celebrated it.

On Tuesday, Danon said that UNRWA will be banned from “maintaining any representative, office, service or activity within” Israel and the Jewish state will “terminate all collaboration, communication, or contact with UNRWA or anyone operating on its behalf.”

The ambassador asserted that the decision was “necessary” due to UNRWA’s decision to pursue “political agendas, neglect, and cover-ups over humanitarian principles.” Moreover, Danon contended that UNRWA has “failed to benefit the people who were supposed to benefit from their services.”

Israel has maintained that the agency still employs some 450 terrorist operatives in Gaza, even after firing several over their alleged involvement in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel. Many countries, including the US, paused funding to UNRWA amid allegations that the agency aided Hamas terrorists. UNRWA employs 14,000 staff members in Gaza. 

UNRWA officials have denied the agency’s complicity in the Oct. 7 massacre and argued their aid work in Gaza is crucial to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave.

“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the 15-member UN Security Council on Tuesday. “Full implementation of the Knesset [Israeli parliament] legislation will be disastrous.”

However, US officials said that the UN is “exaggerating” the impact of Israel’s decision.

“UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous,” US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the Security Council on Tuesday.

“What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services,” she said. “UNRWA is not and never has been the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.”

Experts have told The Algemeiner that UNRWA fosters new generations of terrorists, in part through school curricula that promotes hatred of both Jews and Israelis.

Danon argued that the Jewish state should not be forced to collaborate with an organization that compromises its national security and that it will continue to pursue partnerships with humanitarian groups that are not tied to terrorists.

The post Israel’s UN Ambassador Reaffirms Imminent Ban of UNRWA Operations Over Hamas Ties first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Post Views: 41
Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News