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DC to declare an official Mimouna day to celebrate end of Passover
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s official: The mayor of the U.S. capital wants Washingtonians to celebrate the end of Passover with a traditional North African Jewish party.
In a proclamation set to be signed this weekend, Mayor Muriel Bowser will be urging her constituents to celebrate Mimouna, a feast that marks the end of the holiday and that has spread from North Africa to become popular in Israel and beyond.
“Now, therefore, I, the mayor of Washington, D.C., do hereby proclaim Sunday, April 16, 2023 in Washington, D.C. as ‘Mimouna – A Festival of Good Neighbors Day,’ and do commend this observance to all Washingtonians,” the proclamation says.
Bowser’s proclamation was shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by the Washington D.C. chapter of Sephardic Heritage International, which has organized local events around the celebration in the past and is also doing so this year. Bowser made a similar proclamation in 2021, according to the group’s website.
The celebration will take place this year at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and will feature a musical performance and traditional North African cuisine. Last year, Israeli and Moroccan government officials attended the D.C. festival. The countries normalized relations as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords.
“The festival is inspired by the Moroccan Jewish and interfaith narratives of unity, commemoration, goodwill, and friendship of neighbors,” Bowser will say in her proclamation.
Mimouna is traditionally celebrated as Passover ends — this year in the Diaspora on Thursday night, and on Wednesday night in Israel. Bowser’s proclamation and the corresponding festivities are timed for a weekend day so more people can attend.
Mimouna festivities are food-centered and particularly feature leavened cuisine as a celebration of no longer having to ingest matzah. The offerings traditionally include mufleta, a crepe-like fried pastry. The celebrations have become more common in recent years in Israel, and presence at Mimouna festivities has become de rigueur for Israeli politicians, whatever their ethnic origin.
The name of the celebration is believed to stem from the father of one of the most influential Sephardic Jews in history, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, known as Rambam or Maimonides. In addition to shaping Jewish thought and practice, the medieval scholar and philosopher lived part of his life in Morocco and was respected by Muslims as well as Jews. His father, Maimon ben Yosef, was also known for bridging Muslim and Jewish communities, and Muslims traditionally joined Jews in Mimouna festivities when Passover ended.
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The post DC to declare an official Mimouna day to celebrate end of Passover appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Lebanon Plans UN Complaint Against Israel Over Border Wall
A UN vehicle drives near a concrete wall along Lebanon’s southern border which, according to the Lebanese presidency, extends beyond the “Blue Line”, a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as seen from northern Israel, November 16, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem
Lebanon will file a complaint to the U.N. Security Council against Israel for constructing a concrete wall along Lebanon’s southern border that extends beyond the “Blue Line,” the Lebanese presidency said on Saturday.
The Blue Line is a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli forces withdrew to the Blue Line when they left south Lebanon in 2000.
A spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, said on Friday the wall has made more than 4,000 square meters (nearly an acre) of Lebanese territory inaccessible to the local population.
The Lebanese presidency echoed his remarks, saying in a statement that Israel’s ongoing construction constituted “a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and an infringement on Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Dujarric said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had requested that the wall be removed.
An Israeli military spokesperson denied on Friday that the wall crossed the Blue Line.
“The wall is part of a broader IDF plan whose construction began in 2022,” the spokesperson said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Since the start of the war, and as part of lessons learned from it, the IDF has been advancing a series of measures, including reinforcing the physical barrier along the northern border.”
UNIFIL, established in 1978, operates between the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and about 800 civilian staff, according to its website.
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Iran Says US Is Not Ready for ‘Equal and Fair’ Nuclear Talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Washington’s current approach toward Tehran does not indicate any readiness for “equal and fair negotiations,” Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump hinted last week at potential discussions.
Following Israel’s attack on Iran in June, which was joined by U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, attempts at renewing dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program have failed.
The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear program as a veil for efforts to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Tehran and Washington underwent five rounds of indirect nuclear talks prior to the 12-days-war, but faced obstacles such as the issue of domestic uranium enrichment, which the U.S. wants Iran to forego.
“The U.S. cannot expect to gain what it couldn’t in war through negotiations,” Abbas Araqchi said during a Tehran conference named “international law under assault.”
“Iran will always be prepared to engage in diplomacy, but not negotiations meant for dictation,” he added.
During the same conference, deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh accused Washington of pursuing its wartime goals with “negotiations as a show.”
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Israeli Government Decides ‘Independent’ Commission to Investigate Oct. 7 Failures
The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – The Israeli government has approved the creation of an “independent” commission of inquiry to examine the failures that enabled the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023.
However, in a move sharply criticized by the opposition and contrary to the recommendation of the Supreme Court, the panel will not be a formal state commission of inquiry. Instead, its mandate, authorities, and scope will be determined directly by government ministers.
According to the decision, the commission will receive full investigative powers and must be composed in a way that ensures “the broadest possible public trust.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form a special ministerial committee tasked with defining what the inquiry may investigate, the time periods to be reviewed, and the authority it will receive. The committee has 45 days to deliver its recommendations.
For the past year, the government has repeatedly resisted calls to establish a state commission, arguing at first that such a body could not operate during wartime. Later, some ministers accused Supreme Court President Isaac Amit of being incapable of appointing an impartial chairperson.
But on October 15, the High Court of Justice ruled that there was “no substantive argument” against forming a state commission, giving the government 30 days to respond.
Netanyahu maintains that responsibility for the October 7 failures lies primarily with Israel’s security agencies rather than with political leaders.
His critics accuse him of creating a weaker, government-controlled inquiry designed to limit scrutiny of his decisions, undermining the prospect of full accountability for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.