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Squeezed out in Gaza, PA’s Abbas embraces Israeli peace activists in Ramallah
(JTA) — RAMALLAH, West Bank — As a teacher at a school in the Galilee in northern Israel, peace activist Shoshana Lavan says students often told her during the war, “Don’t talk to me about peace.”
But just hours after a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas, she was beaming with hope. “I feel like I can turn around and tell them, ‘I told you so,’” she said with a smile.
At that moment, she sat in the glistening white marble dining hall of al-Muqata’a, the presidential palace for the Palestinian Authority.
A self-described idealist who made aliyah six years ago from England in part to do anti-occupation work, Lavan and her husband, Baruch Velleman, joined about 50 other Jewish and Arab peace activists who took a bus from across the Green Line to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the heart of Ramallah. With the two groups originally planning to meet to call for the end of the war, upon the ceasefire announcement, they went further in calling for both sides to build on the initial agreement to end Israel’s military occupation and create long-lasting solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I welcome today’s agreement, the cessation of hostilities, and the release of the hostages,” Abbas said at the meeting, commending the delegation for “strengthen[ing] hope for peace.”
“Hope begins today, and now we must ensure that we continue to implement peace,” he said. “Every Israeli who believes in peace is our brother.”
The activists, as part of the “It’s Time” Coalition representing 60 Israeli peace and reconciliation organizations, called the unusual gathering among Israeli peace activists and the Palestinian president “historic” and “symbolically significant.”
But the meeting came after Abbas and the P.A. were largely squeezed out of discussions on the future of Gaza by both the Israeli and American governments. The ceasefire deal, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump without involvement by the P.A., came just weeks after Abbas was denied a visa by the United States to visit New York for this year’s U.N. General Assembly, where several European countries officially recognized an independent Palestinian state for the first time.
For years, the current Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has targeted Abbas’ PA government due to its track record of paying stipends to Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including those convicted of committing violent acts to Israeli citizens, as well as for textbooks used in Palestinian classrooms allegedly glorifying violence and extremist views.
Abbas changed those policies earlier this year amid the European countries’ statehood shift. But the changes did not appease Netanyahu or his governing partners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has several times withdrawn tax revenue earmarked for the Palestinian Authority government, which has limited self-autonomy in parts of the West Bank.
The unprecedented meeting between Israeli activists and leaders of the PA served for the participants as a bridge for discussion and reconciliation, with Mika Almog, the content director for It’s Time, calling the encounter “what things ought to be like.”
“It feels like what should be our normal existence,” said Almog. “It feels like we should be talking to one another and solving our problems and hearing one another and sharing a meal, as we did here.”
For some including Velleman, a longtime peace activist over many decades, the gathering at Al-Muqata’a encapsulated years of efforts to bring together disparate Israeli activist groups under one umbrella — an effort that finally congealed as the devastating war in Gaza raged, the Israeli hostages languished in Hamas tunnels, and thousands protested outside the Israeli Knesset and at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv for months.
Now, the ceasefire deal left some of the attendees trying to put the pieces together of what it all meant.
“However much we hate Trump, maybe we needed Trump in order to do what he’s done now,” wondered Velleman aloud at the dining table. “Only somebody with a massive ego, who’s crazy and knows how to lie totally and bully. Sometimes to beat a bully, you need a bigger bully.”
During the meeting, the peace activists and the Palestinian president, spurned and antagonized by political forces that brokered the deal, expressed a deep appreciation for one another. Activists shook Abbas’ hand, and one offered him a hug. Abbas conveyed his sympathies to Yonatan Zeigen, the son of the activist Vivan Silver who was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, and after Israeli activist Lea Shkeydel spoke on the Jewish value of saving lives, Abbas cited a line from the Quran: “Whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity.”
One speaker shared with Abbas a petition signed by over 10,000 Israelis to recognize a Palestinian state, and the delegation presented to the Palestinian president an invitation to the group’s People’s Peace Summit, scheduled for May.
“We want to work together in cooperation for hundreds of years to come,” Abbas told the delegation.
Amid the generally ebullient atmosphere, some speakers reflected on how the preceding two years had transformed them. Zeigen looked back at “a time I felt helpless to shape political reality around me.”
“That changed on Oct. 7 when this fantasy of ignoring occupation could no longer continue,” he said. Zeigen called for not only ending the war and releasing the hostages, but to end Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank.
With “It’s Time” representing a broad spectrum of anti-war groups, some attendees privately expressed pessimism of what came next, including Roy Talmon, a member of an Israeli activist group called Looking at the Occupation in the Eye that provides protective presence to Palestinian communities in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank under Israeli civil and military law, while documenting alleged Israeli settler attacks. Such attacks have surged in recent years as, their critics say, settlers have been emboldened by Israel’s right wing government.
“Of course, I welcome the signing of the agreement to stop the genocide in Gaza and the release of the hostages and prisoners,” said Talmon. “However, the lack of involvement of the Palestinian Authority is disturbing and the situation in the West Bank is also very fragile.”
Talmon fears that after the hostages are returned, fighting in Gaza may resume, or violence in the West Bank will escalate.
“As a society, we have a very long way to go, and right now there doesn’t seem to be a willingness to start it,” he said. “And that’s without saying a word about the crimes committed in Gaza, in which most Israeli society is complicit.”
In spite of the wider marginalization these two groups now face — progressive Israeli activists, demonized by the ascendent Israeli right; and the beleaguered PA, long unpopular among Palestinians in the West Bank and now cut out of negotiations by Netanyahu and Trump — the participants celebrated the gathering as a special occasion to lay the groundwork for outreach beyond the Green Line, despite the several tables empty in the back of the room.
Lavan says she hopes the ceasefire agreement will build towards a lasting peace, connecting the pivotal moment with past struggles.
“One day the Irish were blowing up my city in Birmingham, where I was born,” said Lavan, “and the next day we were celebrating in the streets because there was peace, just like that.”
In fact, it took 24 years after the Birmingham pub bombings for the Good Friday agreement to be signed in 1998.
The activists are hoping for a shorter timeline in their neighborhood. Less than 24 hours after the ceasefire was announced, they were already discussing what comes next in their efforts to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East.
“Now, our work really starts,” declared Velleman.
The post Squeezed out in Gaza, PA’s Abbas embraces Israeli peace activists in Ramallah appeared first on The Forward.
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Argentina’s Milei Visits Rebbe’s Ohel, Grave of Chabad Leader, in New York, Reaffirms Strong Support for Israel
Argentine President Javier Milei speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Argentina’s President Javier Milei visited the Rebbe’s Ohel, the resting place of Chabad-Lubavitch leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in Queens, New York on Sunday during his US diplomatic tour, reaffirming his strong support for Israel and solidarity with the Jewish community amid rising Middle East tensions.
Alongside Rabbi Simon Jacobson, chairman and publisher of The Algemeiner, the Argentine president visited the mausoleum of the world-renowned Jewish thinker and spiritual leader.
Over the years, the site has drawn not only devoted Jewish pilgrims but also leaders and public figures from around the world seeking guidance, inspiration, and a moment of reflection.
Milei’s visit to the Ohel marked his first stop in New York, a spiritually significant and politically symbolic gesture that comes amid surging antisemitism around the world and ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where the US and Israel continue to wage a military campaign against Iran.
Together with Foreign Secretary Pablo Quirno, Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni, and Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei, the Argentine leader began his diplomatic tour in Miami earlier this week, marking his 15th visit to the United States.
Organized by the Argentine Embassy as part of Argentina Week, in partnership with Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, this latest tour aims to strengthen diplomatic ties with allied leaders while attracting new investment to Buenos Aires.
On Saturday, Milei participated in the “Shields of the Americas” summit in Miami, which brought together political leaders and business figures from across the continent.
He also attended a luncheon hosted by US President Donald Trump and was honored with an award at the Hispanic Prosperity Gala.
While in New York, Milei spoke at Yeshiva University in Manhattan, delivering a speech that underscored his commitment to fighting terrorism and promoting stronger international cooperation.
“I feel like the most Zionist president in the world,” the Argentine leader said during his speech.
He also reaffirmed his support for Israel and the United States amid the current escalation in the war with Iran, declaring, “We are going to win.”
Since the start of the war, Milei has voiced strong backing for the US and Israel’s military campaign against Iran. At the same time, his government has heightened security alerts amid growing concerns that Iran and its terrorist proxies could activate sleeper cells abroad in retaliation.
While in New York, he is also set to attend The Algemeiner‘s annual gala, where on Monday he will be honored for his “unwavering moral clarity, principled leadership, and steadfast support for Israel and the Jewish people.”
Milei will conclude his tour with a visit to Chile to attend the presidential inauguration of newly elected president José Antonio Kast.
Since taking office over a year ago, Milei has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters, strengthening bilateral relations to unprecedented levels and in the process breaking with decades of Argentine foreign policy tradition to firmly align with Jerusalem and Washington.
Last year, Milei formally launched the Isaac Accords with the aim of strengthening political, economic, and cultural cooperation between the Jewish state and Latin American governments.
The Argentine leader called his country a “pioneer” alongside the United States in promoting the new framework, emphasizing its role in fostering closer ties between Israel and the region across key strategic fields.
Milei also announced plans to relocate the country’s embassy to Jerusalem next spring, fulfilling a promise made last year, as the two allies continue to strengthen their bilateral ties.
Less than a year after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina became the first Latin American country to designate the Palestinian Islamist group as a terrorist organization.
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French Jewish Girl Assaulted Near Paris, Adolescents Arrested for Antisemitic Attack
Sign reading “+1000% of Antisemitic Acts: These Are Not Just Numbers” during a march against antisemitism, in Lyon, France, June 25, 2024. Photo: Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Three teenage boys assaulted a 14-year-old Jewish girl and threatened to kill her in the Parisian suburb of Sarcelles on Friday, police said, resulting in a trip to the hospital for the victim and arrests for two of the 12-year-old suspects.
The incident began when three younger boys approached an older teenage girl to ask why she failed to observe Ramadan, according to local media reports. After she disclosed her Jewish identity, the three reportedly began calling her a “dirty Jew” and one threatened, “I’ll kill you on the Koran.” They then allegedly beat her, especially on her face.
The assault required a trip to the emergency room, where hospital staff described her as in a state of shock.
Paris law enforcement arrested two suspects that evening and seek to identify the third.
Another suburb of Paris also saw an antisemitic incident on Sunday when vandals hit a Kosher restaurant in Levallois-Perret, spray-painting “dirty Jew” in red across the building’s windows.
A kosher restaurant in Levallois-Perret, near Paris vandalized with antisemitic graffiti reading “Dirty Jew.” Photo: Screenshot
Antisemitic vandals hit Kokoriko, another Kosher restaurant in Paris, just two weeks earlier. Investigators say the criminals sprayed acid on tables, walls, and the floor, rendering silverware and plates unusable.
That attack came just days after the French Interior Ministry last month released its annual report on anti-religious acts, revealing a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents documented in a joint dataset compiled with the Jewish Community Protection Service.
Antisemitism in France remained at alarmingly high levels last year, with 1,320 incidents recorded nationwide, as Jews and Israelis faced several targeted attacks, according to the data.
Although the total number of antisemitic outrages in 2025 fell by 16 percent compared to 2024’s second highest ever total of 1,570 cases, the newly released report warned that antisemitism remained “historically high,” with more than 3.5 attacks occurring every day.
Even though Jews make up less than 1 percent of France’s population, they accounted for 53 percent of all religiously motivated crimes last year.
Between 2022 and 2025, antisemitic attacks across France quadrupled.
The most recent figure of total antisemitic incidents represents a 21 percent decline from 2023’s record high of 1,676 incidents, but a 203 percent increase from the 436 antisemitic acts recorded in 2022, before the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
The surge in antisemitism appears to have carried into this year. Last month, a 13-year-old boy on his way to synagogue in Paris was brutally beaten by a knife-wielding assailant.
“How do you find the words to explain to a 13-year-old child that he is being attacked because he is Jewish? Who will be able to restore his confidence in the future tomorrow?” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), said of the incident.
One-third of last year’s antisemitic incidents in France explicitly referencing Palestine or the war in Gaza, indicting that anti-Israel rhetoric is fueling antisemitism.
The prominence of anti-Zionist forms of antisemitism has prompted French leaders to propose legislation combating this type of hate, as announced by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu last month at CRIF’s annual gathering,
“To define oneself as anti-Zionist is to question Israel’s right to exist. It’s a call for the destruction of an entire people under the guise of ideology,” Lecornu said, announcing that the government would introduce a bill to criminalize anti-Zionism. “There is a difference between legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and rejecting the very existence of the Jewish state. This ‘blurring’ must stop.”
Lecornu declared that “hatred of Jews is hatred of the Republic and a stain on France.”
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Belgian Synagogue Damaged in Blast Considered Antisemitic Attack
Police secure the site of a synagogue damaged by an explosion early on Monday, in Liege, Belgium, March 9, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
An explosion hit a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liege early on Monday in what authorities said was an antisemitic attack that caused damage but no injuries.
The explosion, which happened around 4 am (0300 GMT), blew out the windows of the synagogue, as well as those of a building on the opposite side of the road, public broadcaster RTBF said.
The cause was not clear, but prosecutors said the case had been passed to federal authorities, which normally investigate incidents linked to terrorism or organized crime.
Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin called the explosion “a despicable antisemitic act that directly targeted the Jewish community of Belgium.”
He said security measures around similar sites will continue to be reinforced.
Eitan Bergman, Vice-President of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOJB), said the targeting of the synagogue was deeply shocking.
“Liege is home to a very small but vibrant Jewish community where I personally grew up. Today, the feelings among our community members are a mixture of sadness, worry and profound shock,” he told Reuters.
Police have cordoned off the largely residential street on the bank of the river Meuse opposite Liege city center.
Federal prosecutors declined to give further details of the incident.