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This Israel-born, Jewish chef is demanding a cease-fire
“I’m devastated and exhausted,” Ora Wise told me on a video call from her New York City apartment, her facial features flickering between fatigue and animation.
Just three days earlier, the chef and food activist marched in the nation’s capital to call for a cease-fire in Israel’s siege of Gaza. The offensive has claimed the lives of over 10,000 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, since Oct. 7, when over 1,400 Israelis were killed in Hamas’ terrorist attacks.
The day after our interview, Wise was scheduled to appear in court for charges of obstructing traffic and failure to disperse during another cease-fire demonstration the previous month.
In Washington, D.C., this past weekend, Wise marched alongside three Palestinian American chefs — Reem Assil of Reem’s California in Oakland, Omar Anani of Saffron De Twah in Detroit, and Marcelle Afram of Shababi in Washington — and Kimberly Chou Tsun An, a writer and farmer. The five of them demonstrated under the banner of Hospitality for Humanity, a coalition of food professionals organizing for a cease-fire and against U.S. funding of the Israeli military. Assil, who was a full-time labor organizer before she became a professional chef, initiated the project when she reached out to her four collaborators a few weeks ago.
For Wise, who helps lead a food justice nonprofit called FIG NYC, the march was the culmination of a journey that started in Jerusalem, where she was born to a rabbi father. She spent her childhood between Israel and the United States, and describes working as an English tutor in a Bedouin community in the West Bank as a turning point in her relationship to the region.
In 2017, on the same nights that high-profile chefs around the world cooked in Israeli restaurants as part of the government-funded Round Tables festival, Wise joined Assil, Chou Tsun An, and Palestinian American chef Amanny Ahmad in organizing a pop-up series called the Asymmetrical Table, spotlighting Palestinian cuisine. The following year, they were part of a successful effort to get the featured New York chef to pull out of the Israeli festival.
Ora Wise leads a cooking demonstration at the New York Botanical Garden. Courtesy of Ora Wise
On Oct. 29, Hospitality for Humanity released an open letter that now has over 1,000 signatures — from chefs, food writers, farmers and other members of the food industry — of people pledging to advocate for a cease-fire and an end to unconditional U.S. funding of the Israeli government, boycott pro-Israel products, events and trips, and participate in events that help the Palestinian cause. The coalition also released a downloadable restaurant menu insert that includes a phone number for the U.S. Congress, Instagram accounts to follow, and a QR code that links to info on protests planned around the country.
I spoke with Wise about her journey towards fighting for Palestinian rights, the destruction of Palestinian culinary practices, and why protecting those practices is a Jewish issue.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
How have your views on Israel and Palestine developed over time?
I was raised Zionist. I went to Jewish day school, conservative Jewish summer camp, synagogue, Sunday school and youth groups. I was raised to feel this passionate possessiveness of that land and this deep connection to Israel.
When I was a child, we were living in Minnesota, and we did joint programs with the Lakota tribe and learned in gruesome detail the history of genocide and colonization here in the United States.
Ora Wise, raising her fist in this photograph, said that teaching English in a Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank was a turning point for her understanding of Israel and Palestine. Courtesy of Ora Wise
When I was 18 years old, I was living in Jerusalem and became an English tutor working with the Jahalin Bedouin, a semi-nomadic Semitic people indigenous to that land. They had been kicked out of their homes in the Negev desert when the State of Israel was created, and they had been displaced to the West Bank. The Israeli government was forcibly relocating them yet again, in order to expand the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. They were forced to live on what I came to understand was a reservation.
I remember walking on a dusty path between shacks fashioned out of corrugated metal shipping crates. It was on land that was barely livable, only about 500 meters (a third of a mile) from Jerusalem’s largest city dump, which was, of course, not in Jerusalem, but in Palestinian territory. So it clicked for me: “What is different here than what I’ve been raised to believe was wrong in the creation of the United States?”
What was the genesis of Hospitality for Humanity?
For us, as food workers, we wanted to make sure that our community was extending its values and practices — around sustainability, equity and health — to include Palestinians.
We know that in Palestine, the Israeli military occupation suppresses, destroys and controls Palestinian foodways — whether it is Israeli soldiers themselves, or armed settlers, destroying or stealing wheat harvests or olive harvests.
Before 1948, Palestinians were predominantly an agricultural people. Now, Israel has constructed an apartheid wall that divides a Palestinian farming village from its farming lands, so farmers either lose their land or have to go through a military checkpoint. Even those that somehow manage, against all odds, to continue to grow their crops, are not able to get much of their produce to market through the Israeli system of separate roads, military closures and checkpoints.
How does food fit into the movement to boycott products that support the Israeli government?
The strategy of the Palestinian-led global boycott movement is based on complicity, not identity — institutions, not individuals.
Ora Wise stands in front of a mural outside of a cafe in Ireland. Courtesy of Ora Wise
I’ll give an example. Sabra hummus is on the boycott list. It’s owned by Pepsi-Cola and the Strauss company. The Strauss company gives money to the Israel Defense Forces.
SodaStream’s production facilities are in a so-called free trade zone in the occupied West Bank. So that’s why we boycott SodaStream and Sabra Hummus.
Hospitality for Humanity’s statement also describes the “appropriation” of Palestinian food traditions by Israel. Can you explain what you mean by that?
The branding of a pan-Arab and North African dish as “Israeli” is something that needs to be unpacked in the same way that the food world has examined how white chefs have been co-opting different Asian diaspora foods or Mexican foods or Black Southern foods, rebranding them, redressing them, and profiting from them.
It’s really disingenuous when people claim, “oh, it’s just hummus,” or that these are just “hummus wars.” We’re not talking about some just trivial squabble over ownership. What we’re talking about is one people dominating another people.
I grew up eating, making and loving these foods, and I continue to do so. But I’m very committed to sourcing from Palestinian producers and making sure that the Palestinian authorship of these foods is central.
How has your Judaism informed your approach to this project?
So many Jewish rituals and traditions are based in food: We tell stories through food, we celebrate and mourn through food. And food has always been really central to my family and traditions. So I’m heartbroken to see another people being denied that in my name.
I was also raised to celebrate and honor the land — to recognize the seven sacred plant species named in the Torah, including olives, pomegranates, dates and barley. These are all ancient crops that Palestinians have been stewarding for generations, that are being destroyed by Israeli settlers. The State of Israel has bulldozed thousands of olive trees.
I care about and love this land. And that’s exactly why I’m going to fight like hell against the way that the State of Israel is destroying it, and everything that I love and value about it.
The post This Israel-born, Jewish chef is demanding a cease-fire appeared first on The Forward.
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Iran, US to Resume Nuclear Talks on Sunday After Postponement
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran has agreed to hold a fourth round of nuclear talks with the United States on Sunday in Oman, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday, adding that the negotiations were advancing.
US President Donald Trump, who withdrew Washington from a 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers meant to curb its nuclear activity, has threatened to bomb Iran if no new deal is reached to resolve the long unresolved dispute.
Western countries say Iran‘s nuclear program, which Tehran accelerated after the US walkout from the now moribund 2015 accord, is geared toward producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.
“The negotiations are moving forward, and naturally, the further we go, the more consultations and reviews are needed,” Araqchi said in remarks carried by Iranian state media.
“The delegations require more time to examine the issues that are raised. But what is important is that we are on a forward-moving path and gradually entering into the details.”
The fourth round of indirect negotiations, initially scheduled for May 3 in Rome, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing “logistical reasons.”
Araqchi said his planned visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Saturday was in line with “continuous consultations” with neighboring countries to “address their concerns and mutual interests” about the nuclear issue.
The post Iran, US to Resume Nuclear Talks on Sunday After Postponement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Intercepts Missile Launched From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility
A Houthi fighter mans a machine gun mounted on a truck during a parade for people who attended Houthi military training as part of a mobilization campaign, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel‘s military said on Friday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards Israeli territory, an attack for which Yemen‘s Houthi forces claimed responsibility.
The incident came days after Oman said it mediated a ceasefire deal between the US and the Houthis, with the Yemeni rebel group saying the accord did not include close US ally Israel.
The Iran-backed militia, an internationally designated terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, saying it fired a ballistic missile towards Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said after the military reported the missile launch that Israel would respond forcefully in Yemen and “wherever necessary,” describing the Houthi missiles as “Iranian.”
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the US would stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen as the group had agreed to stop attacking US ships.
But the Houthis have continued to fire missiles and drones towards Israel, most of which the Israeli military says it has intercepted, without casualties or serious damage occurring.
The Houthis have attacked numerous vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in a campaign that they say is aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza since a deadly raid by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023.
The Houthis are part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli and US interests in the Middle East, a group also including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Israel has weakened those groups by assassinating top leaders and destroying military infrastructure since the Gaza war began, though Houthi capabilities appear largely intact.
The post Israel Intercepts Missile Launched From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Won’t Be Involved in New Gaza Aid Plan, Only in Security, US Envoy Says
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
A US-backed mechanism for getting aid into Gaza should take effect soon, Washington’s envoy to Israel said on Friday ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, without detailing how this would work with no ceasefire in place.
Israel has been enforcing a months-long blockade on aid to Gaza while vowing to expand its military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which has ruled the enclave since 2007. Experts and Israeli officials have long said that Hamas steals much of the aid to fuel its terrorist operations and sells some of the remainder to Gaza’s civilian population at an increased price. Jerusalem has also said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organizations, which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for the civilian population.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said several partners had already committed to taking part in the new aid arrangement, which would be handled by private companies, but declined to name them, saying details would be released in the coming days.
“There has been a good initial response,” the former Republican governor told reporters at the embassy in Jerusalem.
“There are nonprofit organizations that will be a part of the leadership,” he said, adding that other organizations and governments would also need to be involved, though not Israel.
Tikva Forum, a hawkish Israeli group representing some relatives of hostages held in Gaza, criticized the announcement, saying aid deliveries should be conditional on Hamas releasing the 59 captives in Gaza.
Hamas senior official Basem Naim said the plan was close to “the Israeli vision of militarizing aid” and said it would fail, at the same time warning local parties against “becoming tools in the Zionist occupation’s schemes.”
Trump, who seeks a landmark deal that would see Israel and Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations, will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates next week.
Trump had teased a major announcement ahead of the trip. It was unclear if that was what Huckabee announced on Friday.
Anticipation has been building about a new aid plan for Gaza, which has been devastated amid the Israel-Hamas war, a conflict that has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million population.
“It will not be perfect, especially in the early days,” Huckabee said. “It is a logistical challenge to make this work.”
European leaders and aid groups have criticized a plan by Israel, which has prevented aid from entering Gaza since resuming military operations in March and ending a two-month ceasefire, for private companies to take over humanitarian distributions in the enclave.
Israel has accused agencies including the United Nations of allowing aid to fall into the hands of Hamas, which it has said is seizing supplies intended for civilians and given them to its own forces or selling them to raise funds. Hamas denies this.
CRITICISM OF AID PLANS
“The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food or even bringing the food into Gaza,” Huckabee told a press conference.
Asked whether the supply of aid hinged on a ceasefire being restored, Huckabee said: “The humanitarian aid will not depend on anything other than our ability to get the food into Gaza.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday criticized emerging plans to take over distribution of aid in Gaza floated by both Israel and the United States, saying this would increase suffering for children and families.
A proposal is circulating among the aid community for a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that would distribute food from four “Secure Distribution Sites,” resembling plans announced by Israel earlier this week, but drew criticism that it would effectively worsen displacement among the Gaza population.
Huckabee said there would be an “initial number” of distribution centers that could feed “perhaps over a million people” before being scaled up to ultimately reach two million.
“Private security” would be responsible for the safety of workers getting into the distribution centers and in the distribution of the food itself, Huckabee said, declining to comment on rules of engagement for security personnel.
“Everything would be done in accordance with international law,” he said.
Mediation efforts by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt have not been successful in implementing a second phase of the ceasefire. Israel demands the total disarmament of Hamas, which the Islamist group rejects.
Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining hostages seized by its terrorists in attacks on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if Israel pulls out completely from Gaza.
Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage back to Gaza. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.
The post Israel Won’t Be Involved in New Gaza Aid Plan, Only in Security, US Envoy Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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