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‘When there is a crisis over there … we feel it viscerally here’: New Yorkers march in solidarity with Israeli protesters

(New York Jewish Week) — The hundreds of Israelis and American Jews broke out into song as they filed from the wide crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge through a small passageway: “Kol ha’olam kulo, gesher tzar meod,” “The whole world is a narrow bridge; the main thing is to have no fear.”

It was a fitting tune for the moment, and not just because of the setting: Sunday’s procession was part of a protest against Israel’s government at a moment that its leaders and critics both say is pivotal for the country’s future.

Israeli lawmakers on Monday approved the first piece of a package of judicial legislation that would bar their Supreme Court from striking down government decisions it deems “unreasonable.”

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says its election last year means that its move to rein in the judiciary, which it says is out of step with Israel’s right-wing voters, reflects the will of the people. But a large portion of Israelis, along with U.S. Jewish leaders and government officials, say the changes would fundamentally undermine democratic norms.

A protest movement that has grown over half a year, since the legislation was introduced, has swelled to new heights in recent days. Tens of thousands of Israelis have marched on Jerusalem, with a tent city filled with protesters rising in a park near the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Businesses are closing in protest, army reservists are vowing to boycott their service and the country’s labor union is considering taking action.

The march over the Brooklyn Bridge was part of a global solidarity movement that has flourished in the city with the most Israelis outside of Israel.

“The ties between New York and Israel are so strong and so deep that when there is a crisis over there, as there is now, we feel it viscerally here,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said at a rally following the march. “So I am incredibly proud that over the past 28 weeks, New York City has emerged as one of the global epicenters of the Israel democracy movement.”

The featured speaker was Erel Margalit, a tech entrepreneur and former member of Knesset, who tied the timing of the crisis to Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning that falls this week. Tisha B’Av commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in ancient Jerusalem — known as “hurban habayit” in Hebrew — that, according to Jewish tradition, stemmed from hatred among Jews.

“Like every Jerusalemite, I know that extremism and zealousness lead to destruction,” Margalit said. “This time the destruction is happening within us, and we will not let Netanyahu and his government lead us to the third hurban habayit.”

For Rabbi Michelle Dardashti, the setting of the protest was particularly fitting. Earlier this month, she spoke at a rally outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, delivering a message that she titled “We are the bridge.”

Dardashti had encouraged her congregants at Brooklyn’s Kane Street Synagogue to attend the rally, which was convened with short notice. One who responded to the invitation was Lisa Podemski, who said she had “mixed feelings” about participating in the protests, not because she supports the legislation but because she was afraid of inflaming anti-Israel sentiment, which she said was prevalent in her field as a public interest attorney.

“I’m not sure who this is for,” she said, questioning whether the prevalence of Hebrew made the protesters’ message inaccessible to others crossing the bridge. Still, she said, she had decided to come for one reason: “I’m a Zionist.”

Other protesters had answers to that question. Danny, a tech worker who moved from Tel Aviv to New York 12 years ago, said he thought it was important to show up even though the current phase of the legislative fight appeared to be lost. He said he thought the biggest risk to Israel’s future was the potential for the rightward shift in politics to drive out the relatively few Israelis who draw high salaries and fuel the economy.

“One thing to keep these people there is to see more people like them, to see that they are not alone,” said Danny, who declined to share his last name.

The demonstrators were mostly Israelis living in New York, and some could be seen Facetiming with relatives in Israel who were at one of the many protests taking place there. Among the American Jews who turned up in solidarity were Alex Edelman, whose Broadway show pillorying antisemitism, “Just For Us,” is running now, and Jake Cohen, the Jewish food influencer.

A contingent turned out from Park Slope Jewish Center in Brooklyn. Joel Levy, a member who retired after a career in the foreign service, said he believed the protests had and could still influence what happens in Jerusalem. He also said his experience working in politically volatile settings abroad had convinced him that concerns about civil war in Israel — which Israeli President Isaac Herzog has warned about, and polls show Israelis fear — are not overblown.

“These things can happen, and they do,” he said.

One of the first to arrive at the meeting point near City Hall in Manhattan was Bonnie Roche, a member of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side. She said she hadn’t attended many protests but felt emboldened after her rabbi, Ammiel Hirsh, a longtime critic of of those in the Diaspora who criticize Israel, criticized the legislative proposals.

Roche had driven down from the Upper East Side with a friend, Ilana, who has split her time between New York and Tel Aviv for the last 60 years.

“If somebody would have told me seven months ago that everything would look the way it looks now, I would never have believed it,” said Ilana, who declined to share her last name but said she was involved in supporting the arts in Israel. “The Jewish people in the Diaspora should be worried, too. If Israel is not going to be democratic, then God help the Jews.”


The post ‘When there is a crisis over there … we feel it viscerally here’: New Yorkers march in solidarity with Israeli protesters appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen

Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.

“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”

The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.

The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.

“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”

Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.

“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.

Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”

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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.

The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.

UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.

“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.

“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.

“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”

The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.

Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.

Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.

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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN

FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.

Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.

In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.

During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.

Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.

She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.

In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.

“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.

Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.

Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.

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