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Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy offers Jewish prayer for healing amid Israel-Hamas war
(JTA) — The Israel-Hamas war has elicited a chorus of celebrity responses, from Bono’s in-concert callout to Pete Davidson’s somber monologue on “Saturday Night Live.” Now one Grammy-winning songwriter and his wife have offered a Hebrew prayer for healing.
Susan Tweedy posted a video to Instagram on Oct. 10 of her husband Jeff Tweedy, frontman of the beloved rock band Wilco since 1994, strumming his guitar in his yard as his sons sing “Mi Shebeirach.” The Jewish prayer for physical and spiritual healing was popularized as a folk tune by Jewish musician Debbie Friedman, who wrote her Hebrew-English version in 1987 as the AIDS crisis ravaged gay communities.
In the video, which Susan noted in a comment was recorded “a while ago,” 27-year-old Spencer Tweedy and 23-year-old Sammy Tweedy take vocals. The song asks for the blessing of “r’fuah sh’leimah” (“complete healing”) and “the renewal of body, the renewal of spirit.”
The most recent photo on Sammy’s Instagram page, posted Sept. 30, indicated that he was in Israel. His Instagram bio suggests that he lives between Chicago and Tel Aviv.
Sammy has been vocal about the conflict on his account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. On Oct. 14, he wrote: “Cutting anyone and everyone out of my life who supported or celebrated the attacks on Saturday, who mocks Jews in our time of pain. Your hatred deserves no place in our lives.”
Jeff Tweedy, whose wife is Jewish, converted to Judaism in 2013. At the time, Sammy was struggling to study for his bar mitzvah and begging to stay home from Hebrew school. So Jeff proposed a deal: They would attend temple every week together, and while Sammy worked on his Torah portion, his father would study to convert.
“[I]t seemed to work. He ended up getting bar mitzvahed and I ended up converting,” Tweedy told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2019.
The Wilco singer and guitarist, who has released over 20 studio albums through his various bands and projects, also sang at both of his sons’ bar mitzvahs. He even brought the legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples on stage for Sammy’s ceremony.
Tweedy has collaborated with his sons for years. In 2020, while the family quarantined together in Chicago, he released the solo album “Love Is the King” with contributions from Spencer and Sammy. The trio also live-streamed their jam sessions at home on Instagram, calling these evenings “The Tweedy Show.”
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The post Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy offers Jewish prayer for healing amid Israel-Hamas war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hezbollah Violates Ceasefire 7 Times a Day on Average, IDF Figures Show
A drone view of buildings in Lebanon, next to the Israel-Lebanon border, following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, as seen from Metula in northern Israel, Dec. 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
i24 News – The Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah violate the ceasefire agreement with Israel more than seven times a day on average, according to Israel Defense Forces data obtained by i24NEWS and made public for the first time on Saturday.
Israel has flagged upward of 1,200 violations by Hezbollah in its report to the US-led five-country monitoring panel tasked with supervising the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
Of these, 650 violations were relayed to the Lebanese army for handling, while the rest of the times the IDF responded by attacking the violators.
The Lebanese army has identified 390 additional violations on its own initiative and filed a report saying that it had handled them.
Thus official data shows that the Lebanese army handled 52% of all violations, and 440 of the targets Israel flagged by Israel.
The majority of the infractions the Lebanese army manages to stem are concentrated in the south of the country.
The post Hezbollah Violates Ceasefire 7 Times a Day on Average, IDF Figures Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Tries to Rally Support From Right Wing for Gaza Ceasefire
Israeli lawmakers Itamar Ben Gvir, center, and Bezalel Smotrich, right, attend the swearing-in ceremony for the new Israeli parliament, at the Knesset, or parliament, in Jerusalem, Nov. 15, 2022. Photo: Maya Alleruzzo/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – On the eve of a decisive meeting of the Israeli cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to persuade right-wing ministers in his government to accept a new ceasefire plan with Hamas.
This proposal, which includes a 60-day truce, has generating strong internal tensions, particularly around the partial military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the management of humanitarian aid.
On Saturday, having just returned from Washington, DC, Netanyahu met with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Despite several previous telephone exchanges, this meeting aimed to defuse Smotrich’s opposition, as he is fiercely hostile to any agreement he would see as abandoning the war objective of dismantling Hamas. He demands that fighting resume immediately after the hostages are released.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shares this hardline stance and rejects any idea of the Israeli army withdrawing from key areas.
On the Palestinian side, negotiations are stalling. A Hamas associate claims that the deadlock is due to Israel’s insistence on maintaining control over 40 percent of Gaza during the truce. An Israeli official rejects this version, accusing Hamas of blocking mediator’s proposal: “If they had accepted the Qatari proposal, we would already be discussing an exit from the conflict.”
Another sensitive issue is the establishment of a “humanitarian city” in Rafah, estimated at costing between $2.6 and $4 billion. Some ministers accuse the army of exaggerating costs to influence strategy. Outrage has emanated from the opposition, as leader Yair Lapid denounces the “headlong rush” over the plan. “With that money, we could ease the burden on Israeli families. Netanyahu is letting Smotrich and Ben Gvir fantasize to preserve his coalition. We need to end this war and bring the hostages back.”
For now, no consensus appears to be emerging, even as diplomatic and humanitarian pressure continues to mount.
The post Netanyahu Tries to Rally Support From Right Wing for Gaza Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New ‘Freedom Flotilla’ Sets Sail to Try Breaking Gaza Blockade
Gaza-bound British-flagged yacht “Madleen” is docked in Ashdod port following a takeover by the Israeli army, in Ashdod, Israel, June 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nir Elias
i24 News – A new boat from the “Freedom Flotilla,” the Handala, left Syracuse in Sicily this Sunday, bound for the Gaza Strip.
Loaded with medical supplies, food, equipment for children, and medicine, this former Norwegian trawler is carrying around fifteen pro-Palestinian activists. The objective is to “break the Israeli blockade” and provide humanitarian aid to Gazans in need.
The departure, which was celebrated by dozens of people at the dock waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine,” comes six weeks after Israel intercepted a previous ship, the Madleen, which was carrying, among others, Greta Thunberg and European Union parliamentarian Rima Hassan. The Handala will stop in Gallipoli, Turkey where Gabrielle Cathala and Emma Fourreau, two other lawmakers from Hassan’s party, France Insoumise, will join the expedition on July 18. The former is a parliamentarian in France, while the latter serves alongside Hassan in the European Union assembly.
“This is a mission for the children of Gaza, to break the blockade and the silence about the genocide,” said Cathala, denouncing a possible “yet another violation of international law” if the boat is stopped.
Funded by donations, this initiative aims to support the population of Gaza. “We want to show international solidarity,” explained Claude Léostic, the French coordinator of the flotilla.
The post New ‘Freedom Flotilla’ Sets Sail to Try Breaking Gaza Blockade first appeared on Algemeiner.com.