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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.”
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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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Hormuz Standoff Continues as US-Iran Ceasefire Teeters
People walk past a mural depicting the late leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the late Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Prospects of a peace deal with Iran dwindled on Tuesday after Donald Trump said a ceasefire was “on life support” as Tehran rejected a US proposal to end the conflict and stuck to a list of demands the US president described as “garbage.”
Iran has called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where US ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists. Tehran also emphasized its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, demanded compensation for war damage, and an end to the US naval blockade, among other conditions.
Trump, who will discuss the war with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip to Beijing this week, said Iran‘s response threatened the status of a ceasefire announced on April 7.
“I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to end the ceasefire, told reporters on Monday. “It’s on life support.”
OIL EXTENDS GAINS
The US had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran‘s nuclear program.
Brent crude oil futures extended gains, climbing to around $108 a barrel, as the deadlock left the Strait of Hormuz largely closed. Before the war began on Feb. 28, the narrow waterway carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, and has since become a central pressure point in the conflict.
US Central Command said the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was in the Arabian Sea continuing to enforce the US blockade against Iran, having redirected 65 commercial vessels and disabled four.
The Pentagon put the cost of the war at $29 billion so far, an increase of $4 billion from an estimate provided late last month. An official told lawmakers the new cost included updated repair and replacement of equipment and operational costs.
The war also has driven a roughly 50% increase in gasoline prices across the US, where consumer prices rose at a brisk clip for a second straight month in April, resulting in the largest annual increase in inflation in nearly three years.
TRUMP’S TRIP TO CHINA
Surveys show the war is unpopular with US voters less than six months before nationwide elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control of Congress.
Two out of three Americans, including one in three Republicans and almost all Democrats, think Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.
Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday.
Trump wants China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict. China maintains ties with Iran and remains a major consumer of its oil exports. China’s foreign ministry has said the US blockade of the strait does not serve the common interest of the international community.
The US on Monday imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies it said were helping Iran ship oil to China, part of efforts to cut off funding for Tehran’s military and nuclear programs, while also warning banks about attempts to evade existing curbs.
IRANIAN OFFICIALS USE TOUGH RHETORIC
Iranian officials, meanwhile, issued statements attempting to show continued resolve in the face of US pressure.
A Fars news agency report cited Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, as saying Iran had expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz into a “vast operational area” under a new plan.
There was no immediate reply from Iranian authorities to a request for comment on Akbarzadeh’s remarks, which defined the waterway as a zone stretching from the coast of the city of Jask in the east to Siri Island in the west.
In a post on X, parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei said Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity, a level considered weapons-grade, if the country is attacked once more.
Iran’s defense ministry spokesperson said any new attack by an enemy would be met with an immediate response, according to state media. In Tehran, the Guards held drills “centered on preparation to confront the enemy,” state TV reported.
TRICKLE OF SHIPPING THROUGH HORMUZ
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a trickle. Shipping data on Kpler and LSEG showed that three tankers laden with crude exited the waterway last week, with trackers switched off to avoid any Iranian attack.
In the Qatari capital Doha, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the strait should not be used as a “weapon.”
Lithuania said it could contribute minesweeping capabilities and resources for a potential mission to protect shipping in the strait. Britain said on Saturday it was deploying a warship to the Middle East in preparation for a potential multinational effort in the strait once conditions allow.
Kuwait summoned Iran’s ambassador and handed him a protest note over what it said was the infiltration of Bubiyan Island by armed members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and clashes with Kuwaiti armed forces, the foreign ministry said. There was no immediate reaction from Iran.
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New Israeli Law Sets Military Tribunal for Hamas Oct. 7 Terrorists
Hand prints and other markings made in the soot on a wall are seen, nearly a year since the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, in Kibbutz Beeri, southern Israel, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s parliament passed a law late on Monday establishing a military tribunal to try hundreds of Palestinian terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a step lawmakers said would help heal national trauma.
The surprise attack, led by elite “Nukhba” force fighters from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was Israel’s deadliest single day and the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. At least 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in neighboring Gaza.
Israel has been holding an estimated 200-300 fighters – the precise number is classified – captured in Israel during the attack, who have not yet been charged.
The special military court established by the law, to be presided over by a three-judge panel in Jerusalem, could also try others captured later in Gaza and suspected of participating in the attack, or of having held or abused Israeli hostages.
The new law was backed by a wide majority 93 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers, in a rare show of Israeli political unity.
The terrorists burst through the Gaza border and rampaged through southern Israeli villages, army bases, roads, and a music festival. Besides the killings, the fighters also took 251 hostages back to Gaza.
NO TRIAL DATE
Lawmakers from both the governing coalition and the opposition authored the bill, meant to ensure all assailants are brought to justice under existing Israeli criminal statutes for what it describes as crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Proceedings will be public, with major hearings broadcast live. While defendants will attend only key hearings in person and all others by video, surviving victims will be allowed in-person access, according to the new law.
Ya’ara Mordecai, an international law expert at Yale Law School, said the new law raised some concerns about due process, given the military court setting, as well as a risk of atrocity proceedings turning into politicized or symbolic “show trials.”
Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky, one of the bill’s authors, said that the legislation ensures a fair and lawful trial.
“They will be sentenced by Israel’s judges, not by the street or by what we all feel,” Malinovsky said before the vote. “At the end of the day, what makes us great is our spirit, our resilience, ability to cope and withstand this immense pain.”
OPTION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Israel’s penal code includes capital punishment for some of the charges which the terrorists are likely to face. If handed down, a death sentence would trigger an automatic appeal on behalf of the defendant, according to the new law.
The last person executed in Israel was Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Nazi Holocaust, hanged in 1962 after being captured in Argentina by Israeli agents. Military courts in the West Bank can sentence Palestinian convicts to death but have never done so.
A separate law passed by Israel in March making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks drew criticism at home and abroad and is expected to be struck down by the Supreme Court.
HAMAS CONDEMNS NEW LAW
Hamas Gaza spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the new law “serves as a cover for the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.”
The International Criminal Court is probing Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war and has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders who have all since been killed by Israel.
Israel is also fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice. It rejects the allegations as politically motivated and has argued that its war is against Hamas, not the Palestinian people.
Israeli officials say the military has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
Another challenge for Israel has been Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
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Man Suspected of Plotting Violent Attack Had Sought to Target Louvre, Jewish Community, Officials Say
A man talks on the phone at the renovated Gallery of Five Continents (Galerie des Cinq Continents) in the Denon wing (Aile Denon) during a press preview at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, Dec. 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A 27-year-old man suspected of plotting a violent attack and of planning to join Islamic State in Syria or Mozambique had sought to target a Parisian museum and the Jewish community, though no specific target was identified, a source close to the investigation said on Monday.
French newspaper Le Monde reported that the man, who was arrested on Thursday, had attempted to target the Louvre and the Jewish community in Paris’ 16th arrondissement.
Security gaps at the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, were spotlighted last October, when burglars made off with $102 million worth of jewels.
In France, as throughout Europe, antisemitic acts surged to record highs after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.