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German government boosts annual funding to main Jewish organization by 70%
(JTA) — Germany has boosted the annual subsidy to Germany’s Jewish umbrella organization by 70%, in a move intended to shore up security and support a new center for Jewish intellectual life inspired by one closed by the Nazis.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany, which distributes government funds to Jewish communities and institutions, will get 22 million Euros (about $24 million) from Germany starting next year, up from 13 million Euros this year.
Most of the increase — 16 million Euros — will benefit the operation of the Jewish Academy in Frankfurt, according to Central Council President Josef Schuster. The new institution — envisioned as an inheritor of the Jewish House of Free Study, or Lehrhaus, founded in 1920 by Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig — has been in the works for more than a decade and is scheduled to open in 2024.
Once open, the academy will “formulate Jewish perspectives on debates in society at large” and within Jewish contexts, Schuster said on Monday during a ceremony in Berlin to celebrate his group’s agreement with the government. “It will thus make an important contribution to anchoring Jewish thinking and Jewish values in our society.”
The German government and the Central Council first entered into a contract back in 2002, putting the Jewish organization for the first time on a par in terms of funding with the Catholic and Protestant churches. (The state does not have a contract with Muslims in Germany, who have more than one umbrella organization.)
“Protecting and supporting Jewish life is an important part of our responsibility today,” Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said during Monday’s signing ceremony, adding that the increased funds would “strengthen the educational and commemorative work, as well as the security of Jewish communities.”
The council is also creating a nationwide training program for security personnel at Jewish institutions, in cooperation with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce; and is dedicating funds to projects dealing with antisemitism in schools, including training for textbook authors and the assessment of textbook manuscripts for antisemitic content.
The first government contract, signed in November 2002 with then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, cemented the legal relationship between the German government and the Central Council for the first time since World War II.
Germany was already subsidizing the Jewish umbrella group but tripled its commitment at the time to nearly $3 million to help meet the needs of a Jewish population that had surged after 1990 with the arrival of emigres from the former Soviet Union.
Before Hitler came to power in 1933, there were about 500,000 Jews in Germany. After World War II, when most Holocaust survivors left Europe for the USA or Israel, there were some 25,000 Jews in former West Germany, most of them survivors from Eastern Europe. Today, there are about 90,000 members of Jewish communities in Germany, and as many as 100,000 more who are unaffiliated. The vast majority have roots in the former Soviet Union.
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Palestinian Terrorists Hand Over Body of Another Gaza Hostage
Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad handed over the body of a deceased hostage on Friday as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday it had confirmed the body was that of Lior Rudaeff following an identification process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that a coffin carrying the remains of a hostage had been handed over to Israeli security forces in Gaza via the Red Cross.
Islamic Jihad is an armed group that is allied with Hamas and also took hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war. It said the hostage’s body was located in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Under the October ceasefire deal, Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages still held in Gaza since the group’s attack on Israel, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel.
The ceasefire agreement also included the return of remains of 28 deceased hostages in exchange for the remains of 360 militants.
Including Rudaeff, taken from the Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak, 23 hostage bodies have been returned in exchange for 300 bodies of Palestinians, though not all have been identified, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
The tenuous ceasefire has calmed most but not all fighting, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities and more aid has been allowed in.
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Iran’s Severe Water Crisis Prompts Pezeshkian to Raise Possibility of Evacuating Tehran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – As Iran is experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the capital of Tehran might have to be evacuated if there were no rains in the next two months.
“If it doesn’t rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city,” the leader was quoted as saying.
Pezeshkian described the situation as “extremely critical,” citing reports that Tehran’s dam reservoirs have fallen to their lowest level in 60 years.
According to the director of the Tehran Water Company, the largest water reservoir serving the capital currently holds 14 million cubic meters, compared to 86 million at the same time last year.
Latyan Dam, another key reservoir, is only about nine percent full. “Latyan’s water storage is just nine million cubic meters,” Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Javanbakht said recently, calling the situation “critical.”
On Saturday, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said “we are forced to cut off the water supply for citizens on some evenings so that the reservoirs can refill.”
The ongoing crisis is giving rise to increasing speculation that further shortages could trigger nationwide protests and social unrest.
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US Forces Working with Israel on Gaza Aid, Israeli Official Says
A Palestinian carries aid supplies that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
US forces are taking part in overseeing and coordinating aid transfers into the Gaza Strip together with Israel as part of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza. It cited a US official and people familiar with the matter as saying Israel was part of the process but that CMCC would decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The Israeli security official said that Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already underway.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Jerusalem told Reuters that the US was “working hard, in tandem with Israel and regional partners, on the next phases of implementing” the president’s “historic peace plan.” That includes coordinating the immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance and working through details.
The US is pleased by the “growing contributions of other donors and participating countries” in the CMCC to support humanitarian aid to Gaza, the spokesperson said.
TOO LITTLE AID GETTING IN
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed a month ago to a first phase of a peace plan presented by Trump. It paused a devastating two-year war in Gaza triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and secured a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The CMCC began operating from southern Israel in late October, tasked with helping aid flow and stabilizing security in Gaza, according to the U.S. Central Command.
While the truce was meant to unleash a torrent of aid across the tiny, crowded enclave where famine was confirmed in August and where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, humanitarian agencies said last week that far too little aid is reaching Gaza.
Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. Reuters reported on October 23 that Washington is considering new proposals for humanitarian aid delivery.
The Israeli official said that the United States will lead coordination with the international community, with restrictions still in place on the list of non-governmental organizations supplying aid and the entry of so-called dual-use items, which Israel considers to have both civilian and military use.