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‘You don’t know yet, do you?’ How Jews offline for a 2-day holiday found out about the attack on Israel
(JTA) —When Rabbi James Proops arrived at his Modern Orthodox synagogue in Livingston, New Jersey, on Saturday morning, he found three people waiting to meet him: two members of the security committee and a non-Jewish guard.
“As I approached, they looked at me … you know, I could see there was something wrong with the look,” Proops recalled on Monday. “And they said, ‘Rabbi, You don’t know yet, do you?’ And I said, ‘Don’t know what?’”
That was how Proops learned about the horrors unfolding in Israel — an attack by Hamas that would leave more than 900 Israelis dead, wounded and taken captive in brutal fashion.
It would fall to him to pass the grim news along: Because Proops’ synagogue, Suburban Torah, is Orthodox, most congregants refrain from using electronic devices on Shabbat or on the following day, which was the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. That meant, he said, “The vast majority of people that were coming to synagogue came that morning [had] no clue what was going on.”
Proops chose the moment in the service when Jewish communities recite a prayer for those in need of healing to share that, in fact, many Jews were hurt. He offered numbers that were staggering — yet far smaller than what would become known.
“The whole sanctuary was in absolute silence as I began to relay what was going on in Israel,” he said. “And I could see in the faces, just shock and bewilderment.”
It was a scene that would unfold countless times over the weekend. There was no question about how Israelis who observe Shabbat and holidays found out about the attack on their country on Saturday morning, as sirens announced incoming rockets, phone alerts sounded and soldiers were called to duty. They got more details on Saturday night when the Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret holiday ended in Israel and they turned their phones back on.
But in the rest of the world, where the two holidays are celebrated over consecutive days, the process of finding out was slower and more drawn out. Orthodox Jews often found themselves relying on non-Jews to feed them details about the catastrophe unfolding in the country where they have many friends and family.
Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt was on her way to teach a Torah class for bat mitzvah-aged girls when a member of her synagogue approached her.
“You don’t know what’s happening in the world. It’s really bad,” the woman told her.
“I didn’t understand what I was even hearing from her,” recalled Chizhik-Goldschmidt, a longtime journalist who has contributed to the New York Times and The Atlantic and now leads The Altneu synagogue in New York City with her husband. But when she returned to the main sanctuary from the class, she saw that something had changed.
“There were people hanging off the rafters, it was so packed with Jews,” she recalled. “And I just saw on their faces that they had seen something very traumatizing. And they didn’t know how to process it. I just saw the look on their faces.”
Throughout the morning, Chizhik-Goldschmidt said several people came up to her in a repeat of her first encounter — telling her that she did not know what was happening.
“I understood in that moment that this was not another rocket exchange,” she said. “It’s a very strange experience to be an observer, and you’re sort of in this almost hermetically sealed bubble in time and space.”
But living in New York City, Chizhik-Goldschmidt explained, meant having access to plenty of people who did know what was happening and who had seen the news. She began walking into different bodegas to ask for information. She spoke to her doorman. At the synagogue’s kiddush, she spoke to the wait staff, asking them in Spanish how many people had died.
“It felt like from another era, when there are rumors, and you don’t know what is true,” Chizhik-Goldschmidt said. “I heard there was a pogrom. I heard there was a pogrom in another city. I heard there were Jews. I heard there were rapes. I heard, I heard, I heard. It was a total mess. … Unfortunately, all of them were true, but it was just so impossible to comprehend at the time that all those things could happen.”
Avi Rovinsky, who attended an Orthodox synagogue in Cleveland, learned about the attack when the rabbi informed the congregation in the middle of the morning prayer service on Saturday. The congregation paused their prayers to recite three chapters of Psalms — a traditional Jewish response to tragedy. “Whenever the rabbi spoke it was about the joy of the holiday while still having your heart ripped out,” Rovinsky said.
Rabbi Aaron Finkelstein of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel in Chicago found out from an Israel congregant who was waiting for him at the synagogue with a flask. Finkelstein said he cracked a joke about it being too early to drink before being told about what was happening in Israel. He then relayed the news to his congregation during services, just before the Yizkor prayer of mourning recited four times a year, including on Saturday.
“It was certainly a holy burden to be able to kind of share that in real time,” he said.
Proops said he got details over the course of the holiday from Debbie, the former police officer his synagogue had hired to provide security over the weekend, in keeping with the practice of many American synagogues.
As a police officer, Debbie had gone on an exchange trip to learn from law enforcement in Israel and had stayed with a police officer’s family. She learned early on, Proops said, that her host had been killed in the attack on Saturday.
“The woman who’s outside protecting us is feeling it just like we are — that was actually a very moving and painful moment,” he said.
Another moment was also a source of pain and anxiety, he said: 7:15 p.m. on Sunday evening, when the two-day holiday ended.
“I dreaded turning my phone on, I’ll be honest with you. Because you know, 36 hours had gone by since the initial outbreak of attacks. And I had no idea what I was going to find from relatives, friends, colleagues,” Proops said. “And so with trepidation, we finished the services last night with some extra Psalms. And then we had to kind of connect with the real world, so to speak.”
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The post ‘You don’t know yet, do you?’ How Jews offline for a 2-day holiday found out about the attack on Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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American Jewish Tourists Attacked and Robbed in Venice, Authorities Investigate Possible Hate Crime
An Italian flag on display in Rome. Photo: Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane.
An American Jewish couple visiting Venice was violently attacked and robbed by three unidentified suspects, prompting authorities to investigate if the crime was fueled by religious hatred or a random act of violence.
According to initial Italian reports, the two Orthodox Jewish tourists were sprayed with water while one of the attackers used a dog on a leash to intimidate them. As they were distracted, another assailant grabbed their cell phones, and they fled the scene.
This latest incident near the Rialto Bridge, one of the busiest areas in the city, was reported by the local Jewish community and is now under investigation by Italian police.
Authorities say it is unclear whether the attack was motivated by antisemitism, robbery, or another reason, especially since the victims, who do not speak Italian, returned to the US without filing a formal complaint, according to Italian media reports.
State police are now trying to contact the two victims to get their account of the incident, while reviewing nearby surveillance footage to clarify the circumstances of the attack and identify the three suspects, who remain at large.
Even without a formal complaint, if the incident is determined to be a robbery or an antisemitic attack, authorities can pursue the case ex officio, and the investigation will continue regardless of the victims’ involvement.
The incident comes amid a surge in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment across Europe and around the world since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In Italy, Jewish individuals have been facing a surge in hostility and targeted attacks, including vandalism of murals and businesses, as well as physical assaults. Community leaders warn that such incidents are becoming more frequent amid growing tensions related to the war in Gaza.
Last month, a Jewish man from France and his child were verbally assaulted at a gas station near Milan by a group of pro-Palestinian supporters who shouted antisemitic slurs after seeing the child wearing a kippah, yelling phrases such as “Free Palestine” and “murderers” as they passed by.
In a separate incident, a masked individual targeted a synagogue in Rome, spray-painting a swastika and antisemitic slogans — “Sieg Heil” (“Hail Victory”) and “Juden Raus” (“Jews Out”) — on a sign near the entrance.
In May, a restaurant in Naples forced an Israeli family to leave, telling them, “Zionists are not welcome here.”
Earlier this year, a homeless Egyptian man in Rome attacked a Jewish boy and injured a shopkeeper who tried to intervene. In a separate incident, anti-Israel protesters defaced a synagogue with graffiti reading “Justice for a Free Gaza.”
Last year, a hotel manager in Rome canceled an Israeli couple’s reservation just one day before their trip, accusing them of genocide and telling them the hotel would “be happy to grant free cancellation.”
“We inform you that the Israeli people as those responsible for genocide are not welcome customers in our structure,” the hotel manager told the Israeli couple.
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JetBlue Kosher Meal Incident Sparks Outrage Amid Rising Antisemitic Incidents on Airlines
A kosher meal served on a JetBlue flight was defaced with the slur “Zionazi,” sparking widespread outrage and prompting an ongoing investigation. Photo: Screenshot
A Jewish passenger aboard a JetBlue flight was reportedly served a kosher meal labeled with the slur “Zionazi,” sparking widespread outrage as the latest in a wave of recent antisemitic incidents across multiple airlines.
The incident was first reported by the US-based group StopAntisemitism, which published an image of the defaced meal on social media.
“Whoever is responsible for this must be immediately fired,” the statement read. “This is 1941 and Jews will NOT put up with this hate.”
StopAntisemitism is sickened to see a @JetBlue passenger receive his kosher meal with “zionazi” written on it.
Whomever is responsible for this must be immediately fired – this is 1941 and Jews will NOT put up with this hate. pic.twitter.com/HNr0hVrhgD
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 8, 2025
In a press release, JetBlue confirmed it has launched an ongoing investigation to determine which flight was involved, emphasizing that no complaints or reports have been filed by customers so far.
“We have zero tolerance for hate, bias, or discrimination,” the statement read. “If we determine that any individual associated with JetBlue or our catering partners was involved, we will take swift and appropriate action.”
This latest incident came after a similar report days earlier on an Iberia Airlines flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid, where a Jewish passenger found “Free Palestine” written on their kosher meal tray, prompting the Spanish airline to launch an investigation.
“Iberia is conducting a comprehensive investigation, involving both its internal teams and external catering suppliers, to fully understand the incident and implement all necessary corrective actions,” the airline told The Algemeiner.
“We unequivocally condemn all forms of discrimination, hate speech, and any behavior that violates the dignity of individuals,” the statement said. “These actions are completely unacceptable and contradict the core values of respect and inclusion that define our company’s identity.”
In a separate incident, Spanish airline Vueling faced backlash after forcibly removing a group of French Jewish teenagers from a flight from Valencia to Paris, allegedly for singing in Hebrew.
The forced removal of the group has triggered political outrage in France, after their group leader was handcuffed by Spanish police and a government minister insulted the teens as “Israeli brats.”
The Spanish low-cost airline denied the allegations, insisting the incident was not related to religion but rather that the group was removed because of its members’ “highly combative attitude that was putting the safety of the flight at risk.”
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‘This Is Outrageous’: Netanyahu Repeats Threat to Sue NYT for Defamation Over Skeletal Child Photo
The New York Times newspaper. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday repeated his interest in filing a lawsuit against The New York Times, following the newspaper’s misleading use of a photo depicting an emaciated Palestinian child in Gaza.
In a press conference, Netanyahu noted the historical pattern of Jewish demonization before mass violence, including through Medieval blood libels which crescendoed with the Holocaust.
“Today the Jewish state is being maligned in a similar way,” Netanyahu said. “And the international press has bought hook, line, and sinker Hamas statistics, Hamas claims, Hamas forgeries, and Hamas photographs. For example, these three children.” He pointed to a screen which featured images of tiny, skeletal bodies, allegedly the result of an Israel-enabled famine in pursuit of a genocide against the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu identified the first one as Osama Al-Rakab and said, “He is in Italy getting treatment because Israel got him out. That’s what he looks like today. He has a genetic disease that damages the lung and digestive system and makes it hard to absorb nutrients and gain weight. So Israel facilitated Osama’s travel to Italy where he got the medical aid that transformed his position.”
Continuing explaining the stories behind the photographs, Netanyahu named the second child featured, Abdul Qader al-Fayoumi, and said, “He suffers from a genetic neurological disorder, spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative condition that causes muscle wasting, weakness, and severe weight loss. Unrelated to nutrition, this was the real cause of his frail appearance, not starvation. In fact, he was treated in Israel in 2018, but it doesn’t help because it’s a congenital disease and it defies most treatment.”
Gesturing to the screen again toward a logo of The New York Times, Netanyahu said, “The third one is the most celebrated one. This is a New York Times cover photo on the front page of Mohammed Zakaria Ayoub and his mother.”
The image appeared in the July 30 article “Young, Old and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: ‘There Is Nothing.’” After the initial story went viral, The Times had to add an editors’ note revealing that the 18-month-old boy maintained pre-existing health issues that contributed to his current condition.
The prime minister explained that the child “is suffering from a genetic illness you’re familiar with. It’s called cerebral palsy. His mother is well-fed and his brother is healthy.”
Netanyahu walked back to the podium and said, “I’m looking right now into the possibility of a governmental suit against the New York Times because this is outrageous.” He held up his fingers to indicate a tiny square and added, “Of course a correction was postage size, I don’t know where it was buried. But this is outrageous; these are the three most celebrated photos, and they’re all fake.”
Israel’s prime minister then returned to his introductory point about medieval blood libels, saying, “It’s the kind of malignant lies that were leveled at the Jewish people in the Middle Ages, and we won’t suffer, we won’t allow it to go unchallenged, and this is the purpose of this press conference. I hope you will open your eyes to a simple fact: Hamas lies.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is looking to sue the New York Times for spreading ‘malignant lies’ about the starvation of Gazan civilians. pic.twitter.com/lnl7L5oGkr
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) August 10, 2025
Netanyahu had previously declared his support for filing a lawsuit against the New York Times in a Thursday interview with Bill Hemmer on Fox News.
“I’m actually looking at whether a country can sue The New York Times,” Netanyahu said. “And I’m looking into it right now, because I think it’s such a … it’s such clear defamation.”
Referencing Ayoub, Netanyahu told Hemmer that the image was “supposed to then represent all these supposedly starving children” but that “they put in this picture of a child who has cerebral palsy.”
In a statement to Fox News, a spokesperson for the Times pushed back against Netanyahu’s threats of a lawsuit, saying, “Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented. Mr. Netanyahu is referring to an update we made to a story about how the food crisis is affecting the civilian population. After publication, we learned that a child shown in that story — in addition to being severely malnourished — also had pre-existing health problems. That additional information gave readers a greater understanding of his situation.”
The spokesperson added that “attempts to threaten independent media providing vital information and accountability to the public are unfortunately an increasingly common playbook, but journalists continue to report from Gaza for The Times, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war.”