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Can a Tree of Life memorial ‘end antisemitism in our lifetime’? Its new CEO hopes so.

(JTA) – The foundation overseeing the planned memorial for the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh has selected its first director, and her aims are nothing less than the total end of antisemitism.

Carole Zawatsky, a longtime veteran in Jewish nonprofit leadership, was announced as the first new Tree of Life CEO Tuesday. Her appointment came as the nonprofit overseeing the planned memorial revealed its grand plans for what its leadership hopes the space will become in the aftermath of the 2018 shooting that left 11 people dead.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in our lifetime, we could eradicate antisemitism?” Zawatsky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I think if we don’t work toward ending antisemitism in our lifetime, and we turn away from the rise of antisemitism, we stand no chance of achieving that goal.”

There are dozens of Holocaust museums and other American institutions that already work toward eradicating antisemitism; Zawatsky herself worked at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., when it first opened, creating public education programs that toured the country. But, she says, “for the most part, we were talking about things that were in the past and, most significantly, that didn’t happen on American soil.”

To that end, Zawatsky said, the reinvisioned Tree of Life can play a central role: as a place-based museum and memorial of the shooting, that situates the horrific events of that day in a larger continuum of American antisemitism, gun violence, extremism and hate speech. The emotional pull of the location itself, she hopes, will go a long way toward educating visitors: “There is no other institution in American Jewish life built on the site where history actually happened. In and of itself, that’s incredibly powerful.”

Zawatsky’s other roles with Jewish institutions have included nine years as CEO of the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center in Washington, D.C., as well as stints with the JCC of San Francisco; the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland; the Jewish Museum in New York; and, for much of the past year, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

She is new to Pittsburgh, but notes that antisemitic attacks have a way of bringing geographically disparate Jewish communities together: “When I was the CEO of the Edlavitch DC JCC and JCCs were getting bomb threats, I never thought, ‘That’s not me, that was Delaware, that was New Jersey.’ That’s all of us. I think as a Jew in America, this is our history because it’s everyone’s history.”

Ending antisemitism is a central aim of the pitch behind Remember Rebuild Renew, the fundraising campaign for the synagogue redesign and antisemitism museum. Tree of Life has secured more than $6 million from the state of Pennsylvania for the project, and recently hired a team of lobbyists to seek out federal funding opportunities as well. Zawatsky declined to share further budget details but said many private funders had expressed interest; she said she would soon be hiring staff.

The synagogue hired world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to design the new complex, which will function as a combined memorial, museum and house of worship. In previous statements the organization had pushed to begin construction in 2023, with the facility opening the following year, but Zawatsky said solid dates for the project are “premature.”

The new organization will also continue to serve as an active congregation for Tree of Life synagogue members, including survivors of the attack, meaning that the congregation’s spiritual and lay leaders are also part of the conversation as it reinvents itself as a memorial. This excites Zawatsky, who believes the combined space “does truly what the notion of a space of learning, a beit midrash, does.” The building has not reopened since the shooting.

Asked whether she was concerned the new project would attract unwanted attention from “dark tourists” or extremists, Zawatsky said the Tree of Life team is “working with security experts.”

Even beyond its lofty educational goals, there are other challenges ahead for Tree of Life. The shooter is scheduled to go on trial in April, a period that Zawatsky acknowledges will be “very painful, very difficult, and the role of the Tree of Life and all of us involved in it is to help to, in any way we can, ease the pain of that experience.”

Whether ending antisemitism is an achievable goal, the potency of Tree of Life as a symbol of its dangers will continue, and its new leadership hopes to make the landmark an educational opportunity.

“One of the most powerful ways to deliver a message to tell a story is through an object,” Zawatsky said. “There is no more powerful object in the United States of America than the Tree of Life.”


The post Can a Tree of Life memorial ‘end antisemitism in our lifetime’? Its new CEO hopes so. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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UK Police Investigate Security Incident Near London’s Israeli Embassy

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) car. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

British police said on Friday ​they were investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after a group reported ‌online that it had targeted the premises with drones carrying “dangerous substances.”

Matt Jukes, the head of counterterrorism at London police, said there were no signs the embassy had been attacked, but officers in protective clothing were assessing “discarded items” found near the building.

The embassy said in a statement ​all its staff were safe.

COUNTERTERRORISM POLICE INVESTIGATE

“Counter Terrorism Policing London are aware of a video shared online ​overnight in which a group claim to have targeted the nearby embassy of Israel with ⁠drones carrying dangerous substances,” Jukes said in a televised statement.

“And whilst we can confirm that the embassy has not ​been attacked, we’re carrying out urgent inquiries to determine the authenticity of the video and to identify any potential link ​between it and the items discarded in Kensington Gardens.”

The pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, had posted a video which included footage of drones along with two figures dressed in protective clothing and a message ​that the Israeli embassy was being targeted.

The group has claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks across Europe on ​US, Israeli, and Jewish targets, including an arson attack which destroyed several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola which ‌were parked ⁠near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London.

Jukes said the police presence had been stepped up and cordons had been put in place, meaning there was no public access to Kensington Gardens and the surrounding area.

“We do not believe there to be any increased public safety risk at this time, and we would urge people, nonetheless, to ​avoid the area while officers ​carry out their work,” ⁠Jukes said.

The Israeli embassy said in a statement that a suspected security incident was being investigated in an adjacent park.

“We wish to clarify that all embassy staff are safe and ​that the embassy was not attacked,” it said. “As always we remain in close and ​continuous contact with ⁠the local authorities.”

It was the latest in a number of incidents involving the embassy and Jewish sites in the British capital since the ambulances were torched last month.

Earlier this week, two suspects were arrested over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in ⁠north ​London.

In March, two men were charged with being tasked by Iran to carry ​out hostile surveillance on the Israeli embassy and other Jewish targets, while earlier this week a man from Kuwait went on trial accused of planning a ​terrorist attack on the embassy.

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Kanye West Concert in Poland Will Be Canceled, Venue Says

Kanye West walking on the red carpet during the 67th Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA on Feb. 2, 2025. Photo: Elyse Jankowski/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

A Polish stadium said on Friday that it will cancel a concert by US rapper Kanye West days after he postponed a show in France amid a furor over his past antisemitic comments and celebration of Nazism.

“We would like to inform you that the Ye [Kanye West] concert planned for 19 June 2026 at the … Slaski stadium will not take place due to formal and legal reasons,” stadium director Adam Strzyzewski said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The decision by the Slaski stadium in the western city of Chorzow, first reported by Wyborcza newspaper on its website, comes just over a week after Britain blocked the 48-year-old from traveling there to headline a festival.

There was no immediate comment from the rapper, now known as Ye, who in January apologized for his behavior, which he attributed to untreated bipolar disorder, and renounced past expressions of admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Authorities in Poland had already signaled they would seek to ban the planned June 19 concert.

“In a country scarred by the history of the Holocaust, we cannot pretend that this is just entertainment,” Polish Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska said on Thursday.

More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. Nazi Germany killed more than 3 million of Poland‘s 3.2 million Jewish population.

Ye was barred from Australia last year after releasing a song promoting Nazism and advertising swastika T-shirts on his website.

He has performed in the United States and Mexico City this year, with further concerts planned in Europe and Asia.

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Iran Says Hormuz Strait Open After Lebanon Truce, Trump Expects Iran Deal ‘Soon’

An Iranian flag lies amidst the rubble of a building of the Sharif University of Technology, which was damaged in a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 7, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open following a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, while US President Donald Trump said talks could take place this weekend and he believed a deal to end the Iran war would come “soon.”

Araqchi said in a post on X the Strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the US-brokered 10-day truce agreed on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon to halt fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Trump told Reuters on Friday that the US will work with Iran to recover its enriched uranium and bring it back to the United States as part of any deal.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, triggering Iranian attacks on Gulf neighbors and reigniting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

Thousands have been killed and the conflict effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz – through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits – threatening the worst oil shock in history.

OIL PRICES TUMBLE, STOCKS JUMP

Oil prices fell more than 10%, extending earlier losses after Araqchi’s post. Global stocks, already trading near record highs, jumped further on the news.

Major shipping companies reacted more cautiously, signaling it may take more time for traffic through the chokepoint to return to normal levels – about 130 ships a day before the war.

Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said it would refrain from passing through the strait while it assessed the announcement. The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association said several issues needed clarification, including the possible presence of sea mines.

The US Navy warned in an advisory to seafarers that the mine threat in parts of the waterway was not fully understood and avoidance of the area should be considered.

A senior Iranian official said ships could pass through the Strait only under coordination with Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

After a video conference on Friday, more than a dozen countries said they were willing to join an international mission to protect shipping in the Strait when conditions permit, Britain said.

US BLOCKADE REMAINS IN PLACE

Shortly after Araqchi’s statement, Trump posted on Truth Social: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR PASSAGE.”

However, he said the US military blockade of ships sailing through the Strait to Iranian ports – announced after talks with Iran last weekend in Islamabad ended without agreement – would remain until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.”

An Iranian official later told Fars news agency Tehran would consider the Strait‘s continued blockade by US forces a violation of the ceasefire and would again close the waterway.

Trump told Reuters on Friday there could probably be more talks this weekend. Some diplomats said that was looking unlikely given the logistics of assembling officials in the Pakistani capital, where the talks are expected to take place.

DIPLOMACY PROGRESS

A Pakistani source involved in mediating between the US and Iran said there was progress in backdoor diplomacy and that an upcoming meeting could result in the signing of a memorandum of understanding, followed by a comprehensive deal within 60 days.

“Both sides are agreeing in principle. And technical bits come later,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters there had been an agreement on unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets, as part of the accord to reopen the Strait, without giving a timeline.

One key sticking point has been Tehran’s nuclear program. At last weekend’s talks, the US proposed a 20-year suspension of all Iranian nuclear activity, while Iran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.

Iran has demanded the lifting of international sanctions, while Washington has pressed for any highly enriched uranium to be removed from Iran. Two Iranian sources have said there were signs of a compromise on the HEU stockpile, with Tehran considering shipping part of it out of the country.

Trump told Reuters the US would bring Iran‘s enriched uranium back to the United States. “We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery … We’ll bring it back to the United States,” he said during a phone interview.

He mentioned “nuclear dust,” a reference to what he believes remains after the United States and Israel bombed Iran‘s nuclear installations in June last year.

Despite Trump‘s optimism, Iranian sources told Reuters on Friday that “gaps remained to be resolved” before reaching a preliminary deal, while senior clerics struck a defiant tone during Friday prayers.

In Tehran, cleric Ahmad Khatami said: “Our people do not negotiate while being humiliated,” while in Isfahan, the imam said: “We did not accept the terms proposed by the other party.”

In Islamabad, troops were deployed along routes into the capital on Friday, though roads remained open and the government had not ordered business closures, as it did ahead of the previous meeting.

LEBANON CEASEFIRE GOES INTO EFFECT

The US-backed ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be largely holding on Friday, despite Lebanese Army reports of some Israeli violations. Paramedics said an Israeli drone strike killed one person in southern Lebanon.

The conflict was reignited on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported ceasefire violations on Friday.

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