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Alarmed by their country’s political direction, more Israelis are seeking to move abroad
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Daniel Schleider and his wife, Lior, leave Israel next month, it will be for good — and with a heavy heart.
“I have no doubt I will have tears in my eyes the whole flight.” said Schleider, who was born in Mexico and lived in Israel for a time as a child before returning on his own at 18. Describing himself as “deeply Zionist,” he served in a combat unit in the Israeli army, married an Israeli woman and built a career in an Israeli company.
Yet as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power, assembled a coalition that includes far-right parties and started pushing changes that would erode hallmarks of Israeli democracy, Schleider found himself booking plane tickets and locating an apartment in Barcelona. Spain’s language and low cost of living made the city a good fit, he said, but the real attraction was living in a place where he wouldn’t constantly have to face down the ways that Israel is changing.
Israel’s strength over its 75 years, Schleider said, is “the economy we built by selling our brains.… And yet, in less than half a year, we’ve managed to destroy all that.”
Schleider has been joining the sweeping protests that have taken root across the country in response to the new right-wing government and its effort to strip the Israeli judiciary of much of its power and independence. But while he considered recommitting to his country and fighting the changes rather than fleeing over them, he also accepts the government’s argument that most Israelis voted for something he doesn’t believe in.
Daniel Schleider and his wife Lior are leaving Israel for Barcelona because of the political instability in their country. (Courtesy Schleider)
“I have a lot of internal conflict,” he said about the protests. “Who am I to fight against what the majority has accepted?”
Schleider is far from alone in seeking to leave Israel this year. While Israelis have always moved abroad for various reasons, including business opportunities or to gain experience in particular fields, the pace of planned departures appears to be picking up. No longer considered a form of social betrayal, emigration — known in Hebrew as yerida, meaning descent — is on the table for a wide swath of Israelis right now.
Many of the people weighing emigration were already thinking about it but were catalyzed by the new government, according to accounts from dozens of people in various stages of emigration and of organizations that seek to aid them.
“I’ve already been on the fence for a few years — not in terms of leaving Israel but in terms of relocating for something new,” said Schleider.
“But in the past year, with all the craziness and everything, I realized where the country was going. And after the recent elections, my wife — who had been unconvinced — was the one who took the step and said now she understood where the public is going and what life is going to be like in the country. You could call it the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.
“And then when the whole issue of the [judicial] revolution started, we just decided not to wait and to do it immediately.”
Ocean Relocation, which assists people with both immigration to and emigration from Israel, has received more than 100 inquiries a day from people looking to leave since Justice Minister Yariv Levin first presented his proposal for judicial reform back in January. That’s four times the rate of inquiries the organization received last year, according to senior manager Shay Obazanek.
“Never in history has there been this level of demand,” Obazanek said, citing the company’s 80 years’ experience as the “barometer” of movement in and out the country.
Shlomit Drenger, who leads Ocean Relocation’s business development, said those looking to leave come from all walks of life. They include families pushed to leave by the political situation; those investing in real estate abroad as a future shelter, if needed; and Israelis who can work remotely and are worried about the country’s upheaval. Economics are also a concern: With foreign investors issuing dire warnings about Israel’s economy if the judicial reforms go through, companies wary to invest in the country and the shekel already weakening, it could grow more expensive to leave in the future.
The most common destination for the new departures, Drenger said, is Europe, representing representing 70% of moves, compared to 40% in the recent past. Europe’s draws include its convenient time zones, quality-of-life indices, and chiefly, the relative ease in recent years of obtaining foreign passports in countries such as Portugal, Poland and even Morocco. Many Israelis have roots in those countries and are or have been entitled to citizenship today because their family members were forced to leave under duress during the Holocaust or the Spanish Inquisition.
Israelis protesting against the government’s controversial judicial reform bill block the main road leading to the departures area of Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on March 9, 2023. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)
On the other hand, Drenger said, emigration to the United States, where the vast majority of the 1 million Israeli citizens abroad live, has declined significantly. The United States is known for its tough immigration laws and high cost of living in areas with large Israeli and Jewish communities, and even people who have no rights to a foreign passport have an easier time obtaining residency rights in Europe than the United States.
Some Israelis aren’t picking anywhere in particular before leaving. Ofer Stern, 40, quit his job as a tech developer, left Israel and is now traveling around the world before deciding where to settle.
“We’re living in a democracy and that democracy is dependent on demography and I can’t fight it,” he said, alluding to the fact that Orthodox Jews, who tend to be right wing, are the fastest-growing segment of the Israeli population. “The country that I love and that I’ve always loved will not be here in 10 years. Instead, it will be a country that is suited to other people, but not for me.”
While others have already started their emigration process, American-born Marni Mandell, a mother of two living in Tel Aviv, is still on the fence. Her greatest fear is that judicial reforms could open the door to significant changes in civil rights protections — and in so doing break her contract with the country she chose.
“If this so-called ‘reform’ is enacted, which is really tantamount to a coup, it’s hard to imagine that I want my children to grow up to fight in an army whose particularism outweighs the basic human rights that are so fundamental to my values,” Mandell said.
Most people who look into emigrating for political reasons do not end up doing so. In the weeks leading up to the United States’ 2020 presidential election, inquiries to law firms specializing in helping Americans move abroad saw a sharp uptick in inquiries — many of them from Jews fearful about a second Trump administration after then-President Donald Trump declined to unequivocally condemn white supremacists. When President Joe Biden was elected, they largely called off the alarm.
The Trump scenario is not analogous with the Israeli one for several reasons, starting with the fact that the Israelis are responding to an elected government’s policy decisions, not just the prospect of an election result. What’s more, U.S. law contains safeguards designed to prevent any single party or leader from gaining absolute power. Israel has fewer of those safeguards, and many of those appear threatened if the government’s proposals go through.
Casandra Larenas had long courted the idea of moving overseas. “As a childfree person, Israel doesn’t have much to offer and is a really expensive country. I’ve traveled around so I know the quality of life I can reach abroad,” she said. But she said she had always batted away the idea: “I’m still Jewish and my family are still here.”
Clockwise from upper left: Benjamin-Michael Aronov, Casandra Larenas and Ofer Stern are all leaving Israel because of political unrest there. (All photos courtesy)
That all changed with the judicial overhaul, she said. While not against the idea of a reform per se, Laranes is firmly opposed to the way it is being carried out, saying it totally disregards the millions of people on the other side. Chilean-born, Laranes grew up under Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
“I still remember [it] and I don’t want something like that again,” said Larenas, who has purchased a plane ticket for later this spring and plans to take up residency abroad — though she said she would maintain her citizenship and hoped to return one day.
The departure of liberal and moderate Israelis could have implications on Israel’s political future. Israel does not permit its citizens to vote absentee, meaning that anyone who leaves the country must incur costly, potentially frequent travel to participate in elections — or cede political input altogether.
Benjamin-Michael Aronov, who grew up with Russian parents in the United States, said he was taken aback by how frequently Israelis express shock that he moved to Israel in the first place. “The No. 1 question I get from Israelis is, ‘Why would you move here from the U.S.? We’re all trying to get out of here. There’s no future here.’”
He said he had come to realize that they were right.
“I thought the warnings were something that would truly impact our children or grandchildren but that our lifetime would be spent in an Israeli high-tech, secular golden era. But I’m realizing the longevity of Tel Aviv’s bubble of beaches and parties and crazy-smart, secular people changing the world with technology is maybe even more a fantasy now than when Herzl dreamt it,” Aronov said. “I found my perfect home, a Jewish home, sadly being undone by Jews.”
Not everyone choosing to jump ship is ideologically aligned with the protest movement. Amir Cohen, who asked to use a pseudonym because he has not informed his employers of his plans yet, is a computer science lecturer at Ariel University in the West Bank who voted in the last election for the Otzma Yehudit party chaired by far-right provocateur Itamar Ben-Gvir. Cohen was willing to put aside his ideological differences with the hared Orthodox parties if it meant achieving political stability — but was soon disillusioned.
“None of it is working. And now we’re on our way to civil war, it’s that simple. I figured, ‘I don’t need this nonsense, there are plenty of places in the world for me to go,’” he said.
Thousands of Israeli protesters rally against the Israeli goverment’s judicial overhaul bills in Tel Aviv, March 4, 2023. (Gili Yaari Flash90)
Cohen stuck with the country after one of his brothers was killed in the 2014 Gaza War. Now, he said, his other brothers have recently followed his lead and applied for Hungarian passports in an effort to find a way to move abroad permanently.
“I’m not alone,” he said. “Most of my friends and family feel the same way.”
Others still, like Omer Mizrahi, view themselves as apolitical. A contractor from Jerusalem, Mizrahi, 27, headed to San Diego, California, a month ago as a result of the reform. Mizrahi, who eschewed casting a vote in the last election, expressed a less common impetus for leaving: actual fear for his life. Mizrahi described sitting in traffic jams in Jerusalem and realizing that if a terror attack were to unfold — “and let’s be honest, there are at least one or two every week” — he wouldn’t be able to escape in time because he was caught in a gridlock. “Our politicians can’t do anything about it because they’re too embroiled in a war of egos.”
Now 7,500 miles away, Mizrahi says he feels like he’s finally living life. “I sit in traffic now and I’m happy as a clam. Everything’s calm.”
Back in Israel, Schleider is making his final preparations for leaving, advertising his Tesla for sale on Facebook this week. He remains hopeful that the massive anti-government protests will make a difference. In the meantime, though, his one-way ticket is scheduled for April 14.
“I dream of coming back, but I don’t know that it will ever happen,” he said. “We made a decision that was self-serving, but that doesn’t mean we’re any less Zionist.”
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The post Alarmed by their country’s political direction, more Israelis are seeking to move abroad appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Murderer of Couple and 9-Year-Old-Son — ‘A Badge of Honor’ for Palestinians
Hamas gunmen stand guard on the day that hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, are handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
While the world is focused on the war to dismantle the danger to all humanity from the terror state of Iran, the Palestinian Authority (PA), clearly, wants to be the new terror state in the region.
The PA’s official TV station welcomed two terrorist murderers, recently released in the Hamas extortion deal in exchange for Israeli hostages, to its weekly TV program honoring terrorists.
While some naïve observers of the PA were surprised when Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) exposed that the PA supported the Oct 7 atrocities, which included mass murder of families, it should not have been a surprise as PA policy has always been to support and glorify mass murder.
And just two weeks ago, the PA did it again.
On its weekly show to honor terrorists, official PA TV interviewed two murderers. One was serving 7 life sentences, responsible for the deaths of Rabbi Ya’akov Yosef Dikstein, his wife Chana, and their 9-year-old son Shuvel Zion, and others. The terrorists were introduced as “dear brother … We will always view you as badges of honor on the Palestinian chest.”
Since the PA continues to define mass murderers as “badges of honor,” this again confirms what PMW has been insisting. The proper action for the international community is not to grant the PA statehood, but to designate it as a terror organization:
Official PA TV host: “Our two guests will be dear brother Khalil Abu Arram ‘Abu Jihad’ [i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 5], who was sentenced to 7 life sentences… Also with us is our dear brother Nidal Amar [i.e., terrorist, murdered 1]. Blessings to him as well. He is a free prisoner after more than 14 (sic, 12) years. His sentence was life imprisonment … We will always view you as badges of honor on the Palestinian chest.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, March 24, 2026]
That terrorist murderers are heroes and role models for the entire society is the ideology that the PA feeds Palestinians from early childhood and through all the years in the PA education system.
A high school in Jenin planted a “Martyrs’ Garden” honoring among others arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, responsible for murdering 125, and Walid Obeidi, responsible for murdering 11. At the inauguration of the Garden of the Martyrs event, at which PA Security Forces officers were also present, a Fatah official explained the rationale behind the Martyrs’ garden: Teaching youth to desire becoming terrorist “Martyrs.” He said: “Whoever honors the Martyr walks in his path,” and also stated that terrorist “Martyrs” are “more noble and precious than all of us”:
Insan National Action Association Chairman Fida Turkeman: “In honor of Palestinian Martyrs’ Day, we inaugurated the Garden of the Martyrs of Palestine here at the Jenin Vocational School…. We are proud of these important and great figures… They sacrificed their lives for Palestine, for the Palestinian cause, for liberation, for the right of return, and for the establishment of the Palestinian state on all national lands, on the occupied Palestinian lands, 1948 and 1967 [i.e., all of Israel]…”
Member of Fatah Jenin branch Osama Bazzour: “As we always say, whoever honors the Martyr walks in his path. We came to plant an olive tree… in the name of all the Martyrs of the Palestinian revolution and our Martyrs, who are more noble and precious than all of us… We will continue to walk in their path until victory, liberation, and return, Allah willing.”
Ahmad Rashid, school principal: “We hope that this [garden] will bring glory and eternity to the Martyrs of Palestine.” [emphasis added]
Some of the same arch-terrorists were honored by Fatah and the PLO at a Palestinian Martyrs’ Day event at Al-Burj Al-Shamali refugee camp in Lebanon. At the terrorists’ memorial, a PLO official explained that “Martyrdom is the path to victory [and] freedom of Palestine”:
Text on screen: “On behalf of [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas]: Palestinian Ambassador [in Lebanon] Dr. Muhammad Al-As’ad lays wreaths on the monument of the Martyrs of the Palestinian revolution”
Secretary of Fatah and the PLO factions in Lebanon Nasser Al-Lahham: “Many are the Martyrs of Palestine who sacrificed their lives for their freedom and our freedom, and no brave person can equal them and compete with their Martyrdom, because Martyrdom is the path to the approaching victory, which leads to the freedom of Palestine and its people.” …
In the background of the stage was a large poster featuring PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and former head of the Black September terror organization Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad.”
Reporter:“At every turning point in our national cause, the last wills of the Martyrs and their sacrifice continue to serve as a roadmap towards Palestine.”
Participants in the event carried a large poster featuring terrorist Khalil Al-Wazir “Abu Jihad” who was responsible for the murder of 125 people, Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad,” Mahmoud Abbas, and former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Text on poster:“Here we remain” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV News, Jan. 7, 2026]
Earlier this year, a Fatah official also used the term “badges of honor” to describe terrorist prisoners serving long-term sentences:
Follow-up Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs Director and Fatah member Amin Shuman: “[The prisoners] merit to be a symbol for all our Palestinian people who appreciate the prisoner (i.e., terrorist) who is serving more than 20 years and even 25 years, and even the administrative detainees, the female prisoners, the children, and all the models of the prisoners’ movement inside the Israeli prisons … They are a badge of honor on the forehead of every Palestinian and Arab and every free person in this world.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Dec. 30, 2025]
So, as Israel and the US fight to destroy one terror state, the PA is actively building another beside Israel.
The author is the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
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Jews in Curacao: A Remarkable History (PART ONE)
A look inside the exhibit “Longing for Freedom. The World of Anne Frank” opening at the Jewish Museum Curacao. Photo: Anne Frank House
Curacao is a small island in the Atlantic Ocean near Venezuela known for its rich Jewish history. Covering 170 square miles, it is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Curacao may ring a bell as the place Jews escaping Lithuania named as their final destination in escaping Europe, but its Jewish roots go back much further, to when it was called the “Mother Congregation of the Americas.”
This is the story of Curacao.
Curacao was conquered by a Spanish expedition in 1499 and remained under Spanish control until 1634. At that time, the Dutch decided to capture Curaçao from Spain in response to Spain’s seizure of Saint Martin from the Dutch West India Company (WIC).
In April 1634, the WIC sent Admiral Johannes Van Walbeeck to take Curacao and Bonaire from the Spanish. These islands were important for their location near the American continent and for their role in trade and shipping,
In May 1634, Van Walbeeck departed from Holland with a fleet of four ships, 180 sailors, and 250 soldiers. To their good fortune, the Spanish had mostly abandoned Curacao, which facilitated the Dutch conquest. During this time, Curacao’s first known Jew, Samuel Cohen, arrived to serve as an interpreter for the Dutch. On August 21, the Spanish forces surrendered, and Van Walbeeck was appointed the first governor of the Netherlands Antilles.
Arrival of the First Jewish Settlers
At first, the Dutch used Curaçao as a naval base against Spain. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the island lost its strategic value, so the WIC encouraged Dutch settlers to farm there. In 1651, Joao d’Yllan, a Portuguese Jew, and 12 Jewish families from Amsterdam’s Portuguese community moved to Curacao. They were promised religious freedom, land, tax breaks, exemption from guard duty on Shabbat even during war, and government protection. This was the earliest charter of its kind for Jews in the New World.
The families established a plantation called Plantation De Hoop (Plantation of Hope).
A larger group of Jewish settlers came in 1659, bringing a 14th-century Torah Scroll from the Amsterdam community. This Torah is still used today at the Mikveh Israel-Emmanuel Synagogue. Most of these settlers were refugees from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. After first moving to the Netherlands or Northern Brazil, they now settled in Curacao, starting a new chapter for the Jewish community there.
Farmers? Not Quite. Financiers — Absolutely!
The settlers first tried to farm, but the dry soil made it difficult. By 1660, the Jewish community moved to Willemstad and began trading between Northern Europe and South America. They found great success in this new focus.
Once trade routes connected Curacao with Northern Europe and South America, business on the island grew quickly. The Jewish community became the largest and wealthiest in the Americas. From 1670 to 1900, Jews in Curacao owned over 1,200 sailing ships, with at least 200 Jewish captains. A 1728 report said, “the lion’s share of shipping is in Curacao Jewish hands.”
Due to the risks involved in shipping, marine insurance was invented to help distribute the risk of loss of ships or cargo among the parties involved. Most of the insurance brokers were Jewish, and they eventually also became the bankers of Curacao. By the early 20th century, three commercial banks owned by Sephardic Jews were established in Curacao: Maduro’s Bank, Curiel’s Bank, and Edwards Henriquez & Co.’s Bank. (The first two merged in 1932 to form Maduro & Curiel’s Bank, which is the oldest and most extensive bank in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.)
An archived photo in Maduro’s bank. Photo: provided.
In another successful business, Jewish businessmen Haim Mendes Chumaceiro and Edgar Senior started Senior & Co. in 1896 to make Curaçao liqueur. It was first made for medicine but soon became a popular drink. The founders’ families still run the company, and they are the only ones who use Curacao-grown larahas in their liqueur. The product is also Star-K Kosher certified.
Interestingly, the Jews of Curacao also provided refuge and funds to Simon Bolivar, known as the “George Washington of South America” when he was fighting for freedom from Spain. As the Jews of Curacao shared his hatred for Spain, due to their experience of the Inquisition, they were eager to help him. They provided a place for Bolivar and his family and Curacao’s Jews even served in his army.
In short, over the years, the Jewish community in Curacao gained great wealth and influence, and, as we will see, they used it to strengthen their own community and support other communities throughout the Americas.
Building The Community
While still in its early years, in 1659, the Jewish community of Curacao created Haskamos, defining how the community would be governed. A key component of rulership was a Machamad (the equivalent of a board) that would govern the community for years to come.
The Machamad was a mixed blessing. They had control over all that went on within the community, and in good times, this was positive, but in times when the members of the Machamad were more concerned with their own power than the good of the community, this led to divisions and strife that would ultimately lead to the demise of the proud Curacao community.
The Haskamos of the Curacao community were patterned after those of the Portuguese Talmud Torah Kehillah in Amsterdam, from where most of them had come, and to which they would remain deeply connected. Over the coming centuries, Rabbis for Curacao would be sent from Amsterdam, and Amsterdam would continue to lead and direct the Jewish community from across the ocean.
In 1651, the community established itself as Congregation Mikveh Yisrael. By 1674, the community had grown enough in size and finances to buy its first shul building in Willemstad. In 1703, they rebuilt it with a larger structure, and in 1730, they tore it down and constructed a magnificent edifice that remains in use to this day. It was built by a master carpenter brought in from Amsterdam and was completed by Pesach of 1732. The beautiful shul is called the Snao (which means synagogue in Papiamentu, the language of Curacao). It has 50-foot-high ceilings and 18th-century copper chandeliers, and it was built to resemble the shul in the Amsterdam community from which most Jews in Curacao had come. The shul is large enough to seat 600 people. Today, it is a major tourist attraction in Curacao.
The shul is unique for its sand-covered floors. Some believe the sand is to remember the forty years the Jewish people spent in the desert. Others say it recalls God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as many as the stars and the sand. Another idea is that it comes from Jews who prayed in secret during the Inquisition and used sand to quiet their footsteps and prayers.
Inside a shul with a sand-covered floor. Photo: provided,
By the late 1740’s, the Jewish community had expanded beyond Willemstad into its neighboring Otrabanda, where a new shul, Neve Shalom, was founded in 1746. Over the next few years, disagreements arose over whether Mikveh Yisroel shul should make decisions for the new community or whether Neve Shalom was now an independent community. The conflict grew to such an extent that it affected the island’s economy (indicating the Jewish community’s importance to Curaçao’s economy), and the government got involved.
In 1750, the Prince of Holland ordered the two communities to make peace. His royal order required Neve Shalom to follow the leadership of the Machamad and the board of Mikveh Yisroel, and to obey the directives of the Portuguese community in Amsterdam.
The Curacao community had many organizations that helped the poor and the sick. In fact, the community was so renowned for taking care of the needy that the Kehillah of Amsterdam would pay the travel expenses for poor members to go to Curaçao and settle there, knowing they would be well cared for. This occurred so frequently that by 1736, Governor Juan Pedro van Collen asked the West India Company to stop giving passports to poor Jews because he worried that they would become a burden to Curacao.
The Rabbis of Curacao
The Jewish community in Curaçao was deeply committed to their faith. In the 1600s, Jews there had more rights and freedoms than anywhere else in the Western world. While more rights often led to assimilation in other places, this was rare in Curacao. For the next two centuries, the community remained strong. Unlike other Jewish communities in the Americas, they made Jewish education a top priority and worked hard to give their children a strong religious foundation.
In 1674, Chacham Josiau Pardo arrived from Amsterdam to become Curacao’s first rabbi. He came from a family of rabbis, and in fact, his father had served as a judge in the Amsterdam Jewish court of law alongside the famous Rabbi Menashe ben Israel. Rabbi Pardo’s focus was on the Torah study of the community. He set up a medras (beit medrash study hall) for the children of the community.
With Chacham Pardo as leader, the community required boys to attend the medras from age five to sixteen, showing their strong commitment to Torah study. In Europe then, only wealthy or very dedicated boys continued learning after bar mitzvah, yet in Curacao attendance was mandatory. Families that did not send their sons to the medras could be fined or even forced by the government to comply.
Chacham Pardo also started the Yeshiva Eitz Chaim v’Ohel Yaakov to train teachers, Chazzanim, and those who wanted to study Torah for additional years. This was the first yeshiva-like school in the Western Hemisphere, and many of its graduates would go on to lead Jewish communities in the Americas.
In 1683, after Rabbi Pardo moved to Jamaica, there was no rabbi for the community until 1696 when Rabbi Eliau Lopez arrived in Curacao. He had previously served as the Chacham of Barbados and as the leader of the Curacao community until his passing in 1713.
Rabbi Raphael Jesurun, a student of the Eitz Chaim Yeshiva in Amsterdam, served as rabbi from 1717 to 1748. Rabbi Raphael Mendes de Sola, who had been a rabbi in Amsterdam, came to Curacao in 1744 to serve as an assistant Rabbi to Rabbi Jesurun. After his passing, he served as the Chacham until his passing in 1761.
The next rabbi was Rabbi Isaac Henriquez Farro from Amsterdam. Tragically, he passed away just a few days after arriving in Curacao in July 1762. At this point, the community persuaded Rabbi Raphael Chaim Yitzchok Karigal, who was a Torah scholar and a fundraiser for the community of Chevron, to serve as rabbi until the native Curacaon Rabbi Jacob Lopez da Fonseca would return with semicha from the Eitz Chaim Yeshiva of Amsterdam, as he was expected to become the next rabbi of Curacao. Rabbi Karigal agreed and stayed for two years. He later became a rabbi in Newport, Rhode Island, and New York City.
Rabbi Jacob Lopez da Fonseca returned to Curacao in 1764 and served as the Chacham until his passing in 1815. He was the first Chacham born in Curacao to serve the community.
Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA, from 2007 to 2020. He is a popular speaker and writes for numerous publications on Torah, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Topics. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org A version of this article was originally published at Aish.
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Palestinian Officials Say Oct. 7 Was Israeli ‘Plot’ to Control the Entire Middle East
Israeli protestors take part in a rally demanding the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the end of war in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
During the Oct. 7 war, the Palestinian Authority (PA) spread different libels about Israel, ranging from claims that the massacre did not happen at all, to lies that Israel wanted the war and even planned it in advance as a way to gain control over the entire Middle East.
This libel is still alive and well. It not only whitewashes Palestinians of any responsibility for their massacre and murder of over 1,100 Israelis and foreigners in one day but also cements the PA’s narrative of victimhood that casts Israel in the role of existential danger that threatens not only the PA, but the entire region.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has adamantly promoted this PA narrative, and did so again recently:
PA Chairman Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Some people even speculate that Oct. 7 was an Israeli plot.
Some say this, even in the Palestinian street. They say that Israel dragged Hamas and the Palestinian street into this bottomless abyss to later justify everything it is doing as part of its desire to control either Palestine primarily or the Arab region in general, the entire Middle East.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, March 14, 2026]
Palestinian Media Watch reported this month on similar accusations against Israel, claims that Israel “shares goals with Iran” to “weaken the Arab states.”
The spokesman for Abbas’ Fatah party also portrayed Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as “a danger to the whole region”:
Fatah Movement official spokesman and released terrorist Abd Al-Fattah Doleh:“Today the whole world is preoccupied with Iran. The one who is benefiting the most from this is [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu, who has committed all kinds of aggression and used all justifications not to adhere to [US President] Trump’s plan [for Gaza]… Today the issue of Iran came on a silver platter, and all eyes and attention were directed there…
We told [the Arab states] at the start of the war against us: The danger is not only to the Palestinian people, the danger is to the region, and if you remain silent on Netanyahu, the danger will reach [you] everywhere… Netanyahu and the occupation is the greatest danger to peace, security, and stability.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Alam radio station (Hebron), Facebook page, March 7, 2026]
A regular columnist of the official PA daily has also promoted the libel that Israel “turned a blind eye to Hamas’ weapons and tunnels” to serve its “mission” to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state:
It was no secret that the governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu gave Hamas and the armed groups in the Gaza Strip golden opportunities to enhance their power and capabilities, in order to carry out the mission that is to prevent any chance of establishing the exclusivity of the legitimate PA institutions, and specifically the official legitimate [PA] Security Forces
… No one can convince us that the military and civilian intelligence forces of the occupation system— which worked for 15 years, spent about $320 million on the operation of blowing up about 5,000 pagers with a single button press — and managed to land a blow on the Hezbollah forces in Lebanon in an unprecedented operation in the history of global intelligence – were in a deep sleep and were surprised by the Oct. 7, [2023] operation… The crime of assassinating the Palestinian state… required turning a blind eye to Hamas’ weapons and tunnels until the moment the organization expired. [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 8, 2026]
During the Oct. 7 war, Al-Habbash claimed Israel benefited from the massacre as it enabled them to carry out a “premeditated plan” to “destroy the Palestinian people”:
Al-Habbash: “Israel is behind all the obstacles and reasons leading to the continuation of this war of annihilation [i.e., Oct. 7 war].
It wanted it and pursued it and took advantage of the opportunity presented to it on Oct. 7 to execute this plot, to carry out this plan that was premeditated and incubated in the minds of the leaders of this right-wing Israeli government: The attempt to destroy the Palestinian people.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Aug. 27, 2025]
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this story first appeared.