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When campers’ luggage got stranded, a Ramah alum’s new trucking company stepped in
(JTA) — On Aug. 2, camp directors across the country — including at several prominent Jewish camps — received an email with stressful news.
Just days out from their campers’ return home, the company hired to transport all of their belongings home had announced its sudden closure.
“Despite our best efforts, including remortgaging my house to get July payroll done, online predatory lenders, local lines of credit, and making use of an inheritance I received, the path forward has become unfeasible,” Camp Trucking’s managing director, Dan Maguire, wrote in the email. “We are out of the capital to get the job done and it has led us to this heartbreaking decision.”
Among the dozens of camps left in the lurch by the abrupt shuttering of the nearly 50-year-old company were several in the Ramah network. Parents at the Conservative movement’s camps in New England, Pennsylvania, Georgia and New York all paid Camp Trucking hundreds of dollars to get their children’s gear to and from camp — but there was suddenly no way to get the belongings home.
That’s when Door-Va-Door Trucking stepped in. Co-founded by a Camp Ramah alum, the new luggage delivery service — its name a pun on the Hebrew phrase “l’dor v’dor,” meaning “from generation to generation” — hadn’t planned to pick up any bags before 2024. But its operators believed they could offer a solution.
“The Ramah camping movement is close to my heart personally, having grown up in that movement,” Joshua Romirowsky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We’re excited to provide the service and execute and help support a great camp that’s in need of a hand.”
Romirowsky is a lawyer by trade and an alumnus of Camp Ramah in the Poconos who served on its board for eight years. His cofounder, Maor Rozalis, has logistics and operations experience from his time serving in the Israel Defense Forces and as CEO of a document scanning and shredding company. The pair met when their children began attending Jewish day school together at the Kellman Brown Academy in southern New Jersey, where they saw how much stress conveying camp belongings could cause for families.
“Knowing the camp industry, knowing how camps operate, and the customer base,” Romirowsky said, “I saw that from talking to parents and talking to camp professionals [and] from my own background … there was a need for a better service, a more reliable service, one that had better communication.”
Door-Va-Door Trucking officially launched in March and its founders spent the months since doing outreach to line up clients for next summer. When news of the sudden closure of Camp Trucking came last week, Romirowsky says he reached out to a few overnight camps to see if they could help. One took him up on the offer.
“Ordinarily, we would have months to prepare,” Romirowsky said. “With less than 10 days to prepare, we were able to coordinate with Camp Ramah Berkshires.”
Camp Ramah in the Berkshires declined a request to comment. But the camp had told parents when it informed them about Camp Trucking’s closure that it was working on another solution, and this week, it let them know it had found one.
Next week, Door-Va-Door will be picking up campers’ luggage and distributing it to six distribution points throughout the greater New York City, Long Island and North Jersey area.
“The camp’s handled it great,” said Jordana Horn Gordon, who has one camper and one counselor at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. “They’re going to bring the luggage back for the kids, which is terrific.”
Horn Gordon said the snafu was minor compared to what camps and campers have been through in recent years.
“I’m not concerned about it at all,” she added. “Honestly, I think they communicated well and quickly. And I’m so thrilled that finally we’re back to having normal summers that I think that actually this is a situation where COVID and everything we’ve been through for the past few years has really put everything into perspective very nicely.”
Camp Trucking did not respond to requests for comment. Other camps have reportedly recommended that families contact their banks and credit card companies to file a claim if they paid for a service through Camp Trucking with a credit card ahead of time. Horn Gordon said she did not recall whether Ramah had recommended taking such action.
“Jewish camping, overnight camp, I think is a tremendous gift for kids, for families. I’ve benefited from it personally,” Romirowsky said, adding that the experience depends on having everything campers need in place before they get there.
“It’s not just a bag that’s going on vacation,” he said. “Parents are counting on their luggage getting to camp safely and on time so that their kids can have a great summer experience.”
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Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations
Fans of Argentinian soccer club All Boys marched through the streets before their match against Atlanta soccer club, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Photo: Screenshot
Argentinian authorities and soccer officials have launched investigations following antisemitic incidents by Club Atlético All Boys fans during Sunday’s local match against Atlanta.
Atlanta, a soccer team based in the Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, has deep historical ties to Argentina’s Jewish community, which has long been a significant presence in the area.
This latest antisemitic incident took place outside the stadium before the game had even started.
All Boys fans were seen waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag, and handing out flyers bearing messages like “Free Palestine” and “Israel and Atlanta are the same crap.”
Before a football match today against the Argentine sports club Atlanta, which is closely associated with the Jewish community, fans of the opposing team, All Boys, waved Islamic Republic and Palestinian flags while parading a coffin draped in an Israeli flag through the streets.… pic.twitter.com/IQs4v6eoFz
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 29, 2025
Then, during the match — which ended in a 0-0 draw — a drone carrying a Palestinian flag flew over the stadium, while some fans reportedly chanted anti-Israel slogans.
Local police confirmed they have issued citations to individuals accused of inciting public disorder and related offenses.
On Monday, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) condemned the incidents as “abhorrent” and confirmed the organization has opened a formal inquiry into the events.
“This is not folklore. This is discrimination,” the statement reads.
Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich also announced that a criminal complaint has been filed, citing “acts of violence, expressions of racial and religious hatred, and public intimidation.”
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, condemned the incidents and called on both local authorities and the soccer officials to “take firm action against these acts of hatred.”
“We urge the authorities to take all necessary actions and apply the full force of the law,” the statement reads. “Violence and discrimination must have no place in our society.”
Repudiamos enérgicamente las expresiones antisemitas ocurridas hoy en las inmediaciones del estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Exigimos a las autoridades correspondientes, a la AFA y al Club All Boys que actúen con firmeza ante estos hechos de odio.
La violencia y la discriminación no… pic.twitter.com/3AmY7IQscY— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 29, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to a recent report by DAIA, Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in antisemitic activity last year, with 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded — up from 598 incidents in 2023 — marking a significant rise nationwide.
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories, but there was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
The post Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Photo: File.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department [of Defense] assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran’s program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday’s briefing.
Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen [has] led us to believe that Iran’s — those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
Over the weekend, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes.
A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have 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.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles 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.
The post Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.