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90+ countries, including allies, express ‘deep concern’ over Israel’s retaliation against Palestinians
(JTA) — Five countries stood out on a statement signed by more than 90 countries calling on Israel to end punitive measures it imposed on the Palestinians in retaliation for a United Nations vote that referred Israel to the International Court of Justice.
Those five countries — Estonia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Romania — were among the minority of 26 who voted against the resolution last month that prompted Israel to sanction the Palestinians. Their decision to join the statement released Monday is a harbinger of the diplomatic landmines Israel’s new extremist government faces even among the country’s traditional allies.
“We express our deep concern regarding the Israeli government’s decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership, and civil society,” said the statement.
The U.N. General Assembly resolution, which passed in December with 87 in favor and 26 against, with 53 abstentions, called on the U.N.-aligned International Court of Justice to assess “the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement, and annexation of territories seized in 1967.”
The Palestinian Authority and its affiliated Palestine Liberation Organization have for years been pressing international judicial bodies to establish cases against Israel and Israeli officials for what the Palestinians say are war crimes. The Palestinian mission to the United Nations had pressed for last month’s vote.
Israel has warned that it would retaliate should any of those measures achieve success.
One of the first measures taken by the new far-right government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to retaliate against the Palestinians for the U.N. vote. Netanyahu’s government kept $39 million in tax revenue that it would otherwise transfer to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority and took other restrictive measures, including freezing Palestinian construction. It transferred some of the tax revenue to a compensation fund for families of victims of terrorism.
Germany, which usually aligns closely with Israel in international bodies, noted the diversity of opinion among the 90-plus signatories.
“This group, which holds diverging views on a recent UNGA resolution calling for an ICJ advisory opinion, agrees on the rejection of punitive measures in response to the resolution,” the German mission to the United Nations said Monday on Twitter, quoting a tweet from the Palestinian mission posting the statement.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, dismissed the statement as insignificant. “Meaningless statements and signatures will not stop us from making the right decisions that will protect our citizens and secure our future,” he said in a tweet.
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Israel’s Netanyahu Says Syria Deal Possible, Expects Buffer Zone
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, in Jerusalem, Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday a deal with Syria is possible and he expects Syrian authorities to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to Mount Hermon and other areas.
Netanyahu spoke a day after US President Donald Trump, whose administration has been trying to broker a non-aggression pact between the two countries, said it was very important that Israel maintained a “strong and true dialogue” with Damascus.
Syria does not formally recognize Israel, which following the fall of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December moved troops into a buffer zone along the Syrian border to secure a military position to prevent terrorists from launching attacks against the Jewish state.
The previously demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria and later annexed by Israel, was established under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem that ended the Yom Kippur War. However, Israel considered the agreement void after the collapse of Assad’s regime.
“What we expect Syria to do is, of course, to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the buffer area, including the approaches to Mount Hermon and the Hermon peak,” Netanyahu said while visiting wounded soldiers in central Israel. “We hold these areas in order to ensure the security of Israel’s citizens, and that is what obligates us.”
He added: “With goodwill and an understanding of these principles, it is possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles in any case.”
Trump has backed Syria‘s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, while Israel has voiced wariness over Sharaa’s past links to Islamist militancy, but has engaged in efforts to broker a deal.
An Israeli raid in southern Syria on Friday killed 13 Syrians, Syrian state media reported. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Lebanese Islamist militant group there. Netanyahu on Tuesday was visiting soldiers wounded in the clash.
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French Authorities Detain Two Minors Suspected of Plotting Terror Attacks on ‘Israeli Targets’
Illustrative: Police officers work after police shot dead an armed man earlier who set fire to the city’s synagogue in Rouen, France, May 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
French authorities have launched an investigation into a group suspected of planning attacks and two minors have been charged and placed in pre-trial detention as a result of it, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Monday.
In a statement issued after a report in French media, the office also said that since the start of 2025, a total of 20 minors have faced terrorism-related charges.
Media outlet Franceinfo reported that the two minors had been planning an attack on “Israeli targets,” citing a source close to the investigation. The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office did not immediately confirm this in its statement.
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Joel F. Brown named next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association
Joel F. Brown has been named the next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association, the nonprofit entity that publishes the Forward, America’s most influential and widely read nationwide Jewish publication. He has served as a member of the Forward board and of the Forward Association for 10 years.
Brown most recently served with the Chicago-based law firm Goldberg Kohn as a principal in its Commercial Finance Group. He has written and lectured on a wide variety of finance-related legal topics and was named one of the 2021 Best Lawyers in America honorees in Banking and Finance law. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and of New York University School of Law.
Since retiring from the practice of law in 2024, Brown has been pursuing a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies from the Spertus Institute. Brown also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, has served as President of Am Yisrael Conservative Congregation (Northfield, Illinois) and is affiliated with the Shalom Hartman Institute.
Brown said, “I am honored to assume this important role in supporting the Forward’s ongoing storied history of reporting on the Jewish American experience in all its diversity. Over the next few years, I expect the Board will help guide the Forward in its mission to cover the full spectrum of Jewish American politics, culture and religion, with an emphasis on reaching new audiences, and in particular younger audiences.”
About the Forward
The Forward is America’s leading voice in Jewish journalism, delivering incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews.
The Forward‘s independent, non-ideological perspective on world and national news, and its unparalleled coverage of Jewish arts, culture and opinion, have made it the most influential and widely read nationwide Jewish publication today, and it has been honored with the most journalism awards of any Jewish media organization.
The Forward reaches more than 100 million viewers annually across its website, social media, email newsletters, events and podcasts. The Forward‘s free e-newsletters include the Forwarding the News morning briefing and others highlighting areas of special interest like Yiddish and antisemitism.
Leading outlets turn to the Forward‘s journalists for analysis and interviews, including The New York Times, CNN, Fox, NPR, Politico, Haaretz and The Washington Post. The Forward has been archived by the U.S. Library of Congress and named one of the top nonprofit news sites by Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab.
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