Interpol has confirmed the arrest in Venezuela of a suspect linked to the 1994 bombing of a Panamanian commercial flight that killed 21 people — including 12 members of the country’s Jewish community — marking a major development more than three decades after one of Latin America’s deadliest terror attacks.

On Saturday, the Interpol National Central Bureau in Panama said in a statement that it “received confirmation” from its counterparts in Venezuela of the arrest of Ali Hage Zaki Jalil — a Venezuelan citizen of Lebanese descent — on Margarita Island in the northeastern state of Nueva Esparta, in a joint operation with the international police organization Interpol and local and national authorities.

In 1994, Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, a domestic passenger plane traveling a short 30–40 minute route from Colón on Panama’s Caribbean coast to the capital, Panama City, was destroyed by a midair explosion, killing all 21 passengers and crew on board.

At the time, local authorities determined that a suicide bomber had triggered explosives concealed within a portable radio.

Jalil allegedly managed logistics and transportation for the terrorists responsible for the attack, according to officials.

Panama’s government investigation found that the bomber was Hamas operative Ali Jamal, who had boarded the flight carrying a suitcase packed with explosives.

The terrorist attack occurred just one day after the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed and more than 300 wounded — the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.

International intelligence agencies have long suspected that the two attacks were part of a Hezbollah-led wave of coordinated violence in the early 1990s targeting Jewish and Israeli interests across Latin America.

The Lebanese terrorist group has long operated within Latin America to finance illicit activities, particularly in countries like Venezuela and Colombia, as well as in the Tri-Border Area — where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet and organized crime has long thrived.

Iran serves as Hezbollah’s chief international backer and also maintains close ties with Venezuela.

In 1995, a classified Panamanian intelligence report identified “operational similarities” between the Panama and Buenos Aires bombings, citing the use of suicide attackers, identical explosives, and links to Lebanese nationals operating in Venezuela and Paraguay.

The investigation into Flight 901 stalled for years due to political instability and lack of international cooperation, only to be reopened in 2017 when new forensic and intelligence evidence connected suspects in Venezuela and Lebanon to the attack.

In 2024, the US State Department offered a $5 million reward for information leading to those responsible for the terrorist attack, as well as additional rewards for tips on Hezbollah’s financial networks in Latin America.

In coordination with Israeli and American intelligence services, Panama’s government gradually traced leads to Jalil, who reportedly spent years living under multiple aliases in the country.

According to local officials, Jalil had spent years on Margarita Island hiding under false identities, shielded by networks sympathetic to Hezbollah-linked organizations.

Panama has formally requested Jalil’s extradition, and Venezuela’s Interior Ministry confirmed that he will remain in custody while the process moves forward.

If extradited and convicted, Jalil is expected to face charges of premeditated murder and crimes against state security, carrying a potential life sentence under Panamanian law.

US President Donald Trump on Monday hosted the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington, DC, vowing to help Syria as the war-ravaged country struggles to come out of decades of international isolation.

“We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful,” Trump told reporters after his White House meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who until recently was sanctioned by the US as a foreign terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head.

Trump added that he “gets along” with Sharaa, whom he described as a “strong leader,” and that he would like to commence “working also with Israel on getting along with Syria.”

Israel and Syria, two longtime foes, are reportedly in the final stages of months-long negotiations over a security agreement that could establish a joint Israeli, Syrian, and US presence at key strategic locations.

Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, said that he expects to share “some announcements on Syria” soon.

“We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful, and we think this leader can do it,” he added.

Sharaa led Islamist rebel forces that toppled longtime Syrian autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran, last year. Since taking power, he has sought to depict himself as a moderate leader who wants to unify his country and attract foreign investment to rebuild it after years of civil war. Many foreign leaders and experts have been skeptical of Sharaa, however, questioning whether he is still a jihadist trying to disguise his extremism.

One of Sharaa’s primary objectives has been to lift crippling US and international sanctions imposed on Syria during Assad’s tenure.

The US removed its bounty on Sharaa in December, and Trump ordered the lifting of most US sanctions on Syria in May after meeting him in Saudi Arabia. However, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, which authorizes the toughest US sanctions for human rights abuses, remains in place.

Sharaa was expected to push hard for the full removal of sanctions when he met with Trump behind closed doors. The US Treasury Department on Monday announced a 180-day extension of its suspension of enforcement of the Caesar sanctions, but only the US Congress can remove them permanently.

The State Department removed Sharaa and his interior minister from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list on Friday. Several other countries and the UN have taken similar measures in recent weeks and months.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry announced that Syria and the United States have reached an agreement to incorporate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian army.

According to the statement, the initiative is part of a broader effort to unify state institutions and strengthen national security.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Monday’s meetings as “part of the president’s efforts in diplomacy to meet with anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace.”

Discussions centered on counter-terror cooperation, border stabilization, and a Syrian role in the US-led coalition against Islamic State (ISIS).

The Syrian information minister said in a post on X on Monday that Syria has signed a political cooperation declaration with the US-led “Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State.”

Hours before the White House talks, reports came out saying that two ISIS plots to assassinate Sharaa had been foiled in recent months.

Trump has lavished praise on the Syrian leader’s tenure, saying that he is “doing a very good job so far” and that “progress” has been made with Syria since the lifting of sanctions.

Despite such praise, Sharaa arrived without the fanfare typically reserved for foreign leaders, entering the White House through a side door rather than through the West Wing main door.

Syria has experienced spurts of violence since Sharaa assumed power, including deadly attacks against minority groups such as the Alawites and Druze, allegedly carried out in part by government forces.

Elana Arian has always associated Jewish music with summer camp.

From the time she was a little kid at Kutz, a summer camp affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism where her parents were on faculty, to when she was a camper at URJ Camp Harlam, Arian liked singing songs, playing guitar and, eventually, leading music for the entire camp.

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t connect to Judaism through song sessions in the dining hall,” Arian said. “As a kid, that’s what being Jewish meant to me.”

Now an accomplished composer, prayer leader and faculty member at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Arian tours full-time to congregations across North America. She is also the music director behind a special event: a hootenanny, a communal sing-along of Jewish music taking place at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan.

Tickets are on sale now for the Nov. 13 event, both for in-person attendance and via livestream.

“In a moment when fear and division too often drown out harmony, the hootenanny reminds us that song can still unite what the world tries to tear apart,” said Rabbi Ben Spratt, senior rabbi at Rodeph Sholom. “Judaism is strongest when every voice is lifted together — in joy, in resilience, in hope. We’re proud to carry forward the courage of past generations and to shine as a beacon of Jewish pride and belonging.”

The event is a benefit for Eisner Camp and Crane Lake Camp, two URJ camps in the Massachusetts Berkshires. Proceeds from the event will benefit the camps’ scholarship fund, making it possible for more families with financial need to give their children a transformative Jewish summer experience.

The hootenanny will feature a who’s who of Jewish musicians who not only have become regulars on summer camp playlists, but whose work is familiar to tens of thousands of Jews across North America. In addition to Arian, the event will feature Noah Aronson, Michelle Citrin, Dan Freelander and Jeff Klepper (Kol B’Seder), Alan Goodis, Jacob Spike Kraus, Joanie Leeds, Naomi Less, Dan Nichols, and Julie Silver. The artists are donating their time for the hootenanny, and the musicians will be on stage together for the entire show.

“The spirit of this is a group of friends and musicians who are playing together and enjoying themselves,” Arian said.

The is the second hootenanny that Rodeph Sholom, a congregation of approximately 1,900 members, has hosted. The first, in late 2022, came as COVID restrictions were being lifted. More than 650 people attended the concert in person, with roughly 300 more watching online.

“People wanted to sing with each other and wanted to come together,” recalled Shayna De Lowe, Rodeph Sholom’s senior cantor. “Being in that room was pure magic. It reminded us why music mattered so much in that moment — and how much it still matters now.”

Those two ideas form the basis of the hootenanny, which has its roots in American folk music. The legendary singer Woody Guthrie led hootenannies — open-mic-style communal singalongs — in the 1940s, and they were further popularized in the 1960s by such folk luminaries as Joan Baez and Pete Seeger.

Many of the songs to be performed at this hootenanny will stem from the Jewish music revival launched by the late Debbie Friedman, who began writing melodies in the late 1960s and early 1970s at Jewish camps. Friedman’s songs, including her setting for “Mi Shebeirach,” the Jewish prayer for healing, are staples in synagogues across America.

The spirit Friedman ignited still resonates today, carried forward by a new generation of Jewish musicians. 

The upcoming hootenanny will feature both the camp-inspired sacred music Friedman popularized — some played by Friedman’s contemporaries — as well as newer Jewish music. In addition, a group of New York-area teens will take the stage as songleaders after participating in a master class the previous evening with Goodis and cantor Rosalie Will.

Watch parties are also planned at congregations in Albany, N.Y., and Boston. At Rodeph Sholom, an in-person after party will follow for those in their 20s and 30s.

The presenting sponsor of the event is the Off-Broadway one-man play “Other,” with New York Jewish Week as media sponsor and numerous congregational partners across New York and New England serving as co-sponsors.

Debby Shriber, executive director of URJ Camps, said the importance of Jewish music at URJ camps cannot be overstated.

“The music is the soundtrack of our lives,” Shriber said. “It’s embedded in everything we do at camp.”

(Tickets for the Nov. 13 hootenanny at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, for the livestream, and for the after party are available.)

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