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Far-right Israeli minister urges loyalty as his US visit draws protests, boycotts and arrests
WASHINGTON (JTA) — For more than a week, American Jewish groups have debated how and whether to welcome Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, as he visits Washington, D.C.
On Sunday night, that debate culminated in protests, arrests, boycotts — and a speech by Smotrich urging American Jews to remain loyal to the Jewish state.
Inside the Grand Hyatt Washington, Smotrich spoke to Israel Bonds, a U.S. organization that encourages investment in Israel. In the lobby of the hotel, left-wing groups protested, sang songs and, in some cases, were escorted out in handcuffs. And outside the hotel, in the cold rain, hundreds of liberal Jews gathered to declare their dedication to the Jewish community — and to protest Smotrich and Israel’s government.
“This is a moral emergency,” said Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, in a speech at the protest. “We must name this deep pain that so many of us feel for what’s happening in Israel right now, a place that we love. It is with that love that we come here tonight, standing with our Israeli siblings, saying there is nothing normal, nothing acceptable about this moment.”
The Israeli government is advancing legislation that would transform Israel’s system of government and has drawn sweeping protests across the country as well as concern by foreign investors and financial watchdogs. But little sense of emergency was present in the remarks given by Smotrich, who called on his audience to stay the course. The event was closed to press.
“This moment in the history of Israel is a miracle,” he said in remarks released by his office. “And for more than 70 years, Israel Bonds investors like you have helped make our Jewish State a reality. But, there is still work to be done, so don’t stop investing!”
Outside the conference room where Smotrich spoke, the left-wing Jewish group IfNotNow protested by singing and reciting maariv, the Jewish evening prayers. The group said seven of its members were arrested by police. The anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace also protested.
The dueling speeches and actions on Sunday came at a time when even the staunchest advocates for Israel are publicly criticizing its government. They serve as the latest evidence that the coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is upending the Diaspora’s relationship with Israel like no government before it.
Much of the criticism has surrounded the government’s signature legislative effort, which would sap the Supreme Court of much of its power and independence. And a fresh round of criticism came this month after Smotrich called for a Palestinian village to be wiped out — a statement he has since walked back repeatedly and at length, including during his Israel Bonds address. In the past, Smotrich has also made statements denigrating LGBTQ people and Arabs.
Major Jewish establishment organizations and leaders, once loath to publicly criticize Israel, are expressing alarm about the judicial legislation as well as Smotrich’s incendiary rhetoric. They are watching as the country is roiled by frequent massive demonstrations that have brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis into the streets.
That criticism has manifested itself in a widespread boycott of Smotrich’s visit — a change of pace for Jewish organizations that are generally eager to meet with senior Israeli officials. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is snubbing Smotrich, and so is the Biden administration. His only known quasi-governmental interaction this week will be a guided tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Aside from his Israel Bonds appearance, Smotrich is meeting with officials from just two Jewish organizations, the Orthodox Union and the right-wing Zionist Organization of America, one of the few U.S. groups to support the judicial reform.
“The hateful views long expressed by Minister Smotrich are abhorrent, are opposed by a majority of Israeli citizens, and run contrary to Jewish values,” the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington said in a statement. “No public servant should ever condone or incite hatred or hate-motivated violence, and when they do, they will be fiercely condemned by a wide swath of American Jewry.”
Those comments were echoed by the speakers at the protest outside the Grand Hyatt, which was organized by an array of progressive Jewish groups. Despite their attitude toward the Israeli official speaking inside the hotel, the event was suffused with patriotic fervor, with piles of Israeli flags for protesters to wave. It finished with a rendition of the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah.”
“Anybody who has authority in the community has to be ne’eman, to be faithful, has to be somebody who the community can trust like Moshe,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of the liberal rabbinic human rights group T’ruah, using the Hebrew name for Moses and quoting a rabbinic teaching.
Jacobs, who is a longtime proponent of curbing Americans’ giving to right-wing extremist groups in Israel, went on: “We’re here to say that the current leadership of Israel — including, of course, Bezalel Smotrich, speaking inside this hotel — they are not ne’eman, they are not people we can trust, they are not people who are leading Israel in the right direction.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addresses Israel Bonds in Washington D.C., March 12, 2023. (Office of the Finance Minister)
Smotrich emphasized the same themes — Jewish unity and mutual responsibility — but toward different ends. He thanked his audience of investors in Israel bonds “for the unquestionable connection between Israel and Diaspora Judaism.”
“We must not forget that we are brothers,” he said. “Despite all of the differences, despite the many colors that make up the Jewish mosaic, we are one.”
He also once again apologized for his call to “wipe out” Huwara, a Palestinian West Bank village where Israeli settlers rioted recently after a Palestinian gunman there killed two Israelis. He said his words “created a completely mistaken impression.”
“I want to say a few words about the elephant in the room,” Smotrich said. “I stand before you now as always committed to the security of the state of Israel, to our shared values, and to the highest moral commitment of our armed forces to protect every innocent life, Jew or Arab.”
If anyone is finding new allies, it is not Smotrich but his opponents, who run the gamut from the Jewish left to once-reliable mainstays of the right. Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino magnate, Republican kingmaker and pro-Israel donor Sheldon Adelson, said on Sunday that Netanyahu’s rush to enact judicial reform was “hasty, injudicious and irresponsible.”
Those changes galvanized the protesters. “We are the Jewish establishment!” Jacobs said.
Jacobs said later in an interview that the “grounds are shifting” among American Jews. “Some of us here and in Israel have been on the ground fighting against the occupation and the attacks on democracy for years and years, and now it’s becoming clear to more and more American Jews and Israeli Jews that that was the right message,” she said.
The issue of whether to raise Israel’s occupation of the West Bank has been a matter of debate amid the protests in Israel, where there have been reports that organizers have discouraged the display of Palestinian flags, fearing that Netanyahu will weaponize any sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The tension over whether the Palestinians should be mentioned played out before the protest in Washington as well, at a press conference featuring philanthropists and Israeli businessmen who said the judicial reforms were threatening Israel’s economic standing.
The event started with a rendition of “Oseh Shalom,” the Jewish prayer for peace, composed by the Israeli Jewish Renewal group Nava Tehila.
Susie Gelman, a philanthropist who chairs the Israel Policy Forum, which supports the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, said one of the key roles of the Israeli Supreme Court in recent years has been to protect some Palestinian rights and slow Israeli efforts to increase sovereignty in the West Bank.
“You can’t entirely separate judicial overhaul from the question of what’s happening with Palestinians in the West Bank in particular,” she said.
But Offir Gutelzon, a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur who helped found UnXeptable, an anti-Netanyahu protest movement by Israelis living abroad, differed, saying the protesters’ top priority should be to save the courts’ independence. Achieving that goal, he said, required maintaining unity across the Israeli political spectrum.
“We have to save our Israeli democracy and then we can move on and talk about” the Palestinians, Gutelzon said.
Still, at the protest, speakers spoke of the occupation and its effect on the Palestinians, and there were no objections. Gutelzon led an Israeli contingent in registering cheers for every pronouncement by American liberals.
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The post Far-right Israeli minister urges loyalty as his US visit draws protests, boycotts and arrests appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Poetry in drama: Sutzkever’s stories come alive on the stage
יעדע פּיעסע איז נישט נאָר אַן אױפֿפֿירונג פֿון אַ סקריפּט, נאָר אױך אַן אינטערפּרעטאַציע דערפֿון. דאָס איז נאָך מער שײך אַ פּיעסע װאָס איז אַן אינסצענירונג פֿון די שאַפֿונגען פֿון אַ פּאָעט.
די פֿאָרשטעלונג „נאַכט־מעשׂיות“, װאָס שפּילט אין מאַנהעטן ביזן 11טן יאַנואַר, איז כּדאַי צו זען נישט נאָר צוליב די געניטע, פּרעציזע אַקטיאָרן װאָס שפּילן אין איר (שײן בייקער און מרים־חיה סגל), און נישט נאָר צוליב דער מוזיקאַלישער באַגלײטונג פֿון אורי שרעטער, נאָר אױך, און לױט מײַן מײנונג אפֿשר דער עיקר, צוליב די געלונגענע פֿאַרשטאַנדן פֿון אַבֿרהם סוצקעװערס װערק װאָס דער רעזשיסאָר משה יאַסור שטעלט אַרױס אױף דער בינע.
די דאָזיקע „מעשׂיות“ זײַנען באַזירט אױף פֿיר קורצע שאַפֿונגען פֿון פּאָעטישער פּראָזע, אַן אָפּקלײַב פֿון אַ צאָל אַזעלכע װאָס סוצקעװער האָט אַלײן גערופֿן „באַשרײַבונגען.“ די דאָזיקע טעקסטן זײַנען נישט קײן געװײנטלעכע קורצע דערצײלונגען. עס פֿעלט אָפֿט מאָל אַ קלאָרער נאַראַטיװ, און דערצו איז די אידענטיטעט פֿון נאַראַטאָר נישט קײן קלאָרע. די אמתע שװעריקײט, בײַם לײענער, שטעקט אָפֿט מאָל אינעם לשון אַלײן. דער װאָקאַבולאַר ניצט אױס די גאַנצע פּאַליטרע פֿון אַ צאָל תּחומען פֿון קונסט, װילנער קאָלאָריט, ייִדישן לעבן, און דער אונטערװעלט. ס׳איז אַ ליטעראַרישער מאָדערניזם װאָס שרעקט זיך נישט פֿאַר קײן טעמע. אױך די זאַצן זײַנען נישט אַלע מאָל גרינג צו דעשיפֿרירן.
מע דאַרף אױך דערמאָנען אַז די מעשׂיות קומען פֿאָר אין אַ װעלט װאָס איז פֿאַרשאָטנט מיטן ייִדישן חורבן, אין אַ מין גרענעץ־זאָנע צװישן דער איצטיקײט פֿון טראַװמאַטיזירטן זכּרון, דעם היסטאָרישן אַמאָל, און די נאָך־װײענישן פֿון אומקום, פֿון די ערשטע יאָרצענדליקער נאָכן חורבן, װען דער מחבר האָט באַשאַפֿן אָט די פּראָזעװערק.
די קאָמפּליצירטקײט פֿון טעקסט, און דער דוחק פֿון אַ קלאָרן סיפּור־המעשׂה, שטעלט צו צװײ געלעגנהײטן, אָדער מע קען זאָגן — שוועריקייטן: ערשטנס, אַז די אַקטיאָרן אַלײן זאָלן באַהערשן יעדן פּרט פֿון דער שפּראַך, און אַרײַנהױכן אין די װערטער די עמאָציעס און זשעסטן װאָס זאָלן העלפֿן אָריענטירן דעם צוקוקער (בפֿרט די װאָס פֿאַרלאָזן זיך אױף די ענגלישע אײבערטיטלען) דורכן טונקעלן װאַלד פֿון האַלב־פֿאַנטאַזירטן, האַלב־היסטאָרישן אומקום.
דער צװײטער ציל בײַם פֿאַרשטיין די פּיעסע איז אַ דראַמאַטישע: װי אַזױ קען דער רעזשיסאָר אינסצענירן די פּאָעטישע טעקסטן אױף דער בינע? יאַסור ספּראַװעט זיך דערמיט מיט קלאָרע באַשלוסן. זײַן טענדענץ איז צו זײַן מינימאַליסטיש. ער פּרוּװט נישט קאָנקרעט שילדערן די מאָדנע אימאַזשן און געשעענישן װאָס שװעבן דורך סוצקעװערס מעשׂיות. דער גראַפֿישער דיזײַן, און די מוזיק, דינען גיכער ווי אַ ציל פֿון סוגעסטיע, דמיונדיקע רמזים. צום קלערסטן קומט דאָס צום אױסדרוקן אין דער ערשטער מעשׂה „קינדערשע הענטלעך,“ װוּ בלױז אַ בילד פֿון אַזעלכע האַנטדרוקן זײַנען מרמז אױף דער גאַנצער סצענע.
אין „לופּוס,“ אַ דיאַלאָג צװישן אַן איזאָלירטן אַלכעמיסטישן פּאַרשױן (אין סוצקעװערס לשון, אַן „איבערכעמיקער“), און אַ באַשעפֿעניש װאָס לעבט אױף פֿונעם שאָטן פֿון אַ מת, איז יאַסורס צוגאַנג אַ געראָטענער: דאָס ליכט װאָס באַלײַכט דעם העלדס עקספּערימענטאַלער אַרבעט װאַרפֿט אַ שאָטן אױף אַ װאַנט, װאָס װערט אַלײן, דורך בייקערס קונציקע תּנועות און באַװעגונגען, דער פּאַרטנער אין דעם שמועס. בכלל לאָזט זיך אױס, דורך יאַסורס רעזשי, אַז לופּוס איז מחיה־המתים — זיך אַלײן. זיכער איז דאָס נישט דער אײנציקער אופֿן צו פֿאַרשטײן די דאָזיקע מעשׂה, נאָר מע װערט דערפֿון איבערצײַגט, און נתפּעל.
דער צװײטער צוגאַנג װאָס וואַרפֿט זיך אין די אױגן, װידער אױף אַ הצלחהדיקן אופֿן, האָט געהאַט צו טאָן מיט דער פּראָבלעם פֿון נאַראַטאָר אין סוצקעװערס מעשׂיות. אָפֿט מאָל רעדט דער נאַראַטאָר אין ערשטן פּערזאָן, און, װי געזאָגט, איז נישט אַלע מאָל קלאָר בײַם לײענער װער דאָס איז – אַ מאַן, אַ פֿרױ, אַ מת, אַ שד…? דערצו שטעלט זיך אַ פּראַקטישע פֿראַגע פֿון אינסצענירונג: נישט אַלע מאָל איז אינטערעסאַנט פֿאַרן עולם, אַז אײן קול, אָדער אײן אַקטיאָר, זאָל אױסשפּילן אַ גאַנצע דערציילונג װי אַן אײנצלנע דאָמינאַנטע פֿיגור.
איז אַ גליק אַז יאַסור, און די דאָזיקע אַקטיאָרן, שאַפֿן צוזאַמען אַ קלײנע געזעלשאַפֿט מיט בלױז צװײ פֿיגורן אױף דער בינע. אין „דאָרט, װוּ עס נעכטיקן די שטערן“, װערן די צװײ אַ פּאָרל װאָס שטעלט זיך אַרױס פֿונעם קעצישן, אָדער גאָר פֿאַרפֿירערישן זכּרון, פֿון אַ פֿרױ װעמענס אידענטיטעט איז אַלײן נישט קלאָר. די גוטמוטיקע גרײטקײט פֿון בייקער איז דערגאַנצט געוואָרן פֿון דער יענװעלטיקער צעדרײטקײט פֿון סגלס שדיכע־געשטאַלט.
אין דער לעצטער מעשׂה, „פּאָרטרעט אין בלױען סװעטער,“ בײַטן זיך אױס די רעפּליקעס פֿון די צװײ אַקטיאָרן, עלעהײ זײ לײענען בײדע פֿונעם נאַראַטאָרס זכרונות. אַזױ באַקומט זיך אַ פּיעסע בתּוך אַ פּיעסע, בשעת די צװײ אַקטיאָרן שפּילן אױס מעשׂיות איבערגעגעבן פֿון דער מעשׂהס נאַראַטאָר. ס׳איז כּדאַי צו באַמערקן, אַז יאַסור, און די אַקטיאָרן, שפּילן זיך פֿרײַ מיט פֿאַרשײדענע השׂגות פֿון מין (דזשענדער), אױף אַן אופֿן װאָס איז גאַנץ פֿאַרשפּרײט אין טעאַטער בכלל און אינעם ייִדישן טעאַטער בפֿרט. אױך אין דער דאָזיקער מעשׂה האָט מען אַרױסגעהױבן די אַנדערשקײטן פֿונעם װילנער נאַראַטאָר, אין פֿאַרגלײַך מיטן לשון פֿון װאַרשע װוּ דער אײגנטימער פֿון „סװעטער“ זוכט זײַן (צי איר) מזל. אַ „לוטװאַק“, ווי באַקאַנט, װערט נישט אַלע מאָל רעספּעקטירט פֿון די װאַרשעװער….
בײַם אױפֿנעמען די אַפּלאָדיסמענטן פֿונעם דאַנקבאַרן עולם, האָט בייקער באַמערקט מיט אַנטױשונג אַז נישט אַלע זיצפּלעצער זײַנען פֿאַרנומען געװאָרן, כאָטש ס׳איז דער אָװנט פֿון ערבֿ־ניטל, װען מע װאָלט געדאַרפֿט זײַן פֿרײַ פֿון דער אַרבעט און גערן שטיצן אַ ייִדישע פֿאָרשטעלונג. לאָמיר נעמען די געלעגנהײט אַרױסצוהײבן די הויכע קװאַליטעט און אַמביציעס פֿון דער דאָזיקער אױפֿפֿירונג, אױסגעצײכנט געשפּילט און שאַפֿעריש רעזשיסירט, און מוטיקן אונדזערע לײענערס אָנצופֿילן די ערטער.
The post Poetry in drama: Sutzkever’s stories come alive on the stage appeared first on The Forward.
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Explosion at Alawite Mosque in Syria’s Homs Kills Eight
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
Eight people were killed in an explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect in the Syrian city of Homs on Friday, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
SANA cited Syrian Health Ministry official Najib al-Naasan as saying 18 others were wounded and that the figures were not final, indicating they could rise.
The city’s press office said an explosive device had detonated inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib mosque and that security forces had cordoned off the area. A local security official told SANA that the identity of the perpetrator and any affiliation to violent groups were still unknown.
Local official Issam Naameh told Reuters the blast occurred during Friday noon prayers.
Syria‘s foreign ministry condemned the blast as a “terrorist crime.” Regional countries including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Qatar also condemned the attack.
Syrian state media SANA published footage of rescuers and security forces examining debris splayed across the mosque’s green carpet.
Syria has been rocked by several episodes of sectarian violence since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite, was ousted by a rebel offensive last year and replaced by a government led by members of the Sunni Muslim majority.
Earlier this month, two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria by an attacker described by the authorities as a suspected member of the Islamic State, a violent Sunni Muslim group.
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Southern Yemeni Separatists Dismiss Saudi Call to Withdraw From Eastern Provinces
A drone view shows people attending a rally organized by Yemen’s main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
Yemen’s main southern separatist group rejected on Friday a Saudi call for its forces to withdraw from areas it seized earlier in December, saying it will continue securing the eastern provinces of Hadramout and Mahra.
Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it remains hopeful the Southern Transitional Council (STC) will end an escalation and withdraw its forces from the provinces, after the group claimed broad control of the south and pushed the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government from its headquarters in Aden.
The group said in a statement posted on its account on X that its military operations in the two provinces were to combat security threats, including cutting supplies to the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists who control the north of the country.
Situated between Saudi Arabia and an important shipping route on the Red Sea, Yemen was split into northern and southern states until 1990.
AIRSTRIKES IN HADRAMOUT
In Hadramout, an escalation of fighting on Thursday killed two people from the STC’s Hadhrami Elite Forces, the group said in its statement.
Armed groups had ambushed STC forces in the Ghail bin Yamin area in the east of the province, but the forces managed to regain control of the area, a source from the group – speaking on condition of anonymity – told Reuters.
Saudi airstrikes followed early on Friday, targeting the STC forces in the area, the source added.
The STC said the “surprising” airstrikes will not “serve any path to an understanding, nor will they deter the people of southern Yemen from continuing their struggle to restore their full rights.”
Saudi Arabia did not confirm the strikes.
The kingdom said in its Thursday statement that a joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation was sent to Aden on Dec. 12 to make “the necessary arrangements” to ensure the return of STC forces to their previous positions outside the two provinces, adding that the efforts were still in progress.
The STC said on Friday that the group was open to any “coordination or arrangements based on guaranteeing the security, unity, and integrity of the south, and ensuring that security threats do not recur.”
The group added that any arrangements should “fulfil the aspirations and will of the people of south of Yemen,” as well as “the shared interests” with Saudi Arabia.
UAE WELCOMES SAUDI EFFORTS
The United Arab Emirates, which supports the STC, welcomed on Friday Saudi Arabian efforts to support security and stability in Yemen, and said it remains committed to backing stability in the country.
“The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all endeavours aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The STC was initially part of the Sunni Muslim Saudi-led alliance that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis. But the group has turned on the government and sought self-rule in the south.
Yemen has already been marred by a civil war since 2014, with the Houthis controlling the northern part of the country, including the capital Sanaa, after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.