A man holding a rifle walks into an office building at 345 Park Avenue shortly before a shooting that killed several people, in the Midtown Manhattan district of New York City, US, July 28, 2025, in a still image taken from surveillance video. Photo: Surveillance Camera/Handout via REUTERS

Wesley LePatner, an executive at Blackstone and a Jewish communal leader, was one of the victims of the mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan on Monday that killed four people and wounded a fifth in addition to the shooter, who died by suicide.

LePatner, 43, was an active member of the Jewish community and served on the UJA Federation of New York’s board of directors, which said it is “devastated by the tragic loss.”

“Wesley was extraordinary in every way — personally, professionally, and philanthropically,” the federation wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “An exceptional leader in the financial world, she brought thoughtfulness, vision, and compassion to everything she did. In 2023, we honored her with the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award at our Wall Street Dinner, recognizing her commitment to our community and her remarkable achievements, all the more notable as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field.”

In her acceptance speech, LePatner said, “Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed that I would be up on this stage two decades later [after attending her first UJA Wall Street dinner]. UJA has many super-powers, but its most important in my view is its power to create a sense of community and belonging, and that ability to create a sense of community and belonging matters now more than ever.”

She also explained that “UJA stepped in early and fixed my feeling out of place by connecting me with senior Goldman Sachs women who were further along in their careers and personal lives, but equally committed to their Jewish community and identity.”

“I was an American,” she said, “but I was first and foremost Jewish.”

LePatner was also a supporter of Israel, leading a solidarity mission with UJA after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.

“In the wake of Oct. 7, Wesley led a solidarity mission with UJA to Israel, demonstrating her enduring commitment in Israel’s moment of heartache,” the UJA Federation of New York said in its statement. “She lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.”

In addition to serving on the board of directors of the New York UJA, she was also on the board of trustees at The Abraham Joshua Heschel School — a pluralistic Jewish day school in New York. The Forward reported that school representatives wrote in an email that “there are no right words for this unfathomable moment of pain and loss.”

“It was a rare z’chut, a rare privilege, to know Wesley and to learn from her. She was a uniquely brilliant and modest leader and parent, filled with wisdom, empathy, vision, and appreciation,” they continued.

David Greenfield, CEO of the Met Council, posted on X that “Wesley was an amazing person who was also tremendously talented leader. She volunteered with her kids [at the Met Council] to feed those in need.”

LePatner graduated from Yale summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and met her husband on the first day of school in 1999.

She is survived by her husband and two children.

US Sen. Angus King (I-ME) speaks on the Senate floor at the US Capitol. Photo: Screenshot

US Sen. Angus King (I-ME) declared on Monday that he will no longer vote to support any form of US aid to Israel unless there is a dramatic reversal in Israeli policy toward Gaza, citing what he described as deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the beleaguered enclave.

“I cannot defend the indefensible,” King said in a statement. He characterized Israel’s conduct during its war against the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza as “an affront to human decency,” pointing in part to food shortages.

King, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, emphasized that while he supports Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the humanitarian consequences have crossed a moral threshold that cannot be justified by the Oct. 7 atrocities.

“My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government,” King said.

In recent days, photos and reports of starved and malnourished children in Gaza have reignited international pressure for a ceasefire and opening of supply routes. Meanwhile, UN agencies and NGOs warned that Gaza’s residents face severe food insecurity, and the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims that nearly 150 people have died from malnutrition in the war-torn enclave.

The Israeli government has facilitated the entry of thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, with officials condemning international aid agencies for their alleged failure to distribute supplies, which have largely been stalled at border crossings.

Meanwhile, Israel on Sunday announced a halt in military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and new aid corridors as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into the enclave.

However, US Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) has called for a halt to military aid to Israel unless it allows a ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian assistance. Maine’s other delegation members, Sen. Susan Collins (R) and Rep. Jared Golden (D), remain supporters of continued US assistance to Israel.

Last week, Israel and the United States both recalled their negotiators from Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, with US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff saying that Hamas has not been acting in good faith and “clearly shows a lack of desire” to reach a deal

King previously voted with other Senate progressives to restrict arms sales to Israel, though he later opposed certain measures citing potential disruption to ceasefire negotiations. Still, he continues to call for accountability under US law, including the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits aid to governments that impede humanitarian assistance.

On Monday, King also echoed concerns raised by other Democratic senators about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these frameworks are more neutral. Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort. The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.

Since the GHF launched operations in late May, there have been reports of Palestinians being shot near distribution sites. In specific cases, Israel has acknowledged targeting what it believed to be armed Hamas operatives using civilians as cover.

Last month, the GHF said that, on the night of June 11, several of its aid workers were killed when Hamas gunmen attacked a bus transporting local staffers.

The bus attack followed days of threats from Hamas directed at the foundation and its workers.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar speaks to the media as he arrives at the 5th EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial meeting in Brussels, Belgium, July 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has dismissed mounting global pressure to end the war in Gaza and accept the creation of a Palestinian state, saying Israel would not “commit suicide” to appease countries that have “lost control over their own streets.”

“We are witnessing a distorted campaign of international pressure against Israel over recent days,” Saar said during a special press conference on Tuesday.

“This campaign fuels the antisemitism wave we are witnessing,” he continued, referring to the alarming rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes around the world since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel will not be the Czechoslovakia of the 21st century. We won’t sacrifice our own existence for the sake of the appeasement countries.

My statement at a press conference this morning >> pic.twitter.com/NASGGZ9lvG

— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) July 29, 2025

Last week, foreign ministers from over 25 countries called for an end to the war in Gaza, citing growing concerns over Israel’s new aid distribution model, which they claimed has fueled “instability.”

These latest international diplomatic efforts to curb Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian terror group Hamas come as France announced it will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September — part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

The decision came after Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia officially recognized a Palestinian state last year, claiming that such a move would contribute to fostering a two-state solution and promote lasting peace in the region. Folling France’s announcement, Germany said it was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, and Italy argued that recognition must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity. However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his cabinet on Tuesday that Britain will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza

France is now urging other nations to join its initiative.

“When they demand an end to this war, what do they really mean? Ending the war while Hamas remains in power in Gaza. That would be a tragedy for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Saar said during the press conference. “The French Foreign Minister said in New York yesterday that Europe must pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution. Establishing a Palestinian state today is establishing a Hamas state, a jihadi state.”

As ceasefire negotiations between the Jewish state and the Iran-backed terror group continue to stall, Israel faces mounting international criticism, with many accusing it of causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.

However, Israeli officials have dismissed these claims as inaccurate, politically motivated, and disconnected from reality.

Israel has also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.

At the press conference, Saar emphasized that this international pressure campaign “will not lead Israel to commit suicide.”

“We won’t allow a jihadist terror state in the heart of our ancient homeland,” he said. “We won’t give up our basic interest for the sake of internal politics in certain countries that have lost control over their own streets. But still they arrogantly presume to decide what’s good for our security.”

Saar also argued that the pressure on Israel was backfiring, causing Hamas to “harden its position” in the ceasefire negotiations. He maintained that such an international campaign should be directed solely at Hamas.

The top Israeli diplomat went on to dismiss recent accusations of starvation in Gaza as “false propaganda” spread by the media.

“If we are speaking about the last two months, more than 5,000 trucks have entered the Gaza Strip,” he said, adding that Israel opened additional humanitarian corridors on Sunday.

“We are working very hard under very complicated circumstances, from the beginning of the war until this day, in order to facilitate the entrance of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” Saar continued.

Israeli officials have argued they have gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.