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Teenager killed, 22 injured in Jerusalem bus stop bombings, the first in years
(JTA) — Two bombs rocked bus stops at crowded entrances to Jerusalem early Wednesday morning, killing a teenager and sending about 20 people to the hospital, some in serious condition.
The fatality was a 16-year-old yeshiva student named Aryeh Shtsupak from Har Nof, a largely Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem. He may have held Canadian and American citizenship, according to local media reports.
The attacks represented the first time in years that terrorists used bombs in a deadly assault against Israelis, and police say they believe the bombs were detonated remotely. In recent months, Israel has seen a wave of terrorist attacks comprised mostly of stabbings and car rammings, including in an attack in the West Bank last week that consisted of both and killed three people. Tight Israeli security is credited with thwarting terrorists’ use of more sophisticated attack methods, and Wednesday’s bombings are being seen as a failure of Israeli security.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the attack but did not take responsibility for it. The Palestinian militant groups have claimed responsibility for previous attacks but said this one reflected “a natural response” to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and “its criminal practices” related to Muslim holy sites.
The bombings come amid the deadliest year in nearly a decade for Israelis and Palestinians, following a wave of terrorist attacks in the spring and an intense response by Israel’s army. The army has said most of the people killed in the raids it has conducted in the West Bank, including the city of Jenin, which is controlled by militants, have been involved in terrorism; some, including the Palestinian-American journalism Shireen Abu Akleh, were not.
Also Wednesday, an Israeli Arab 18-year-old who was involved in a serious car accident near Jenin a day earlier and was then hospitalized in Jenin before dying was seized by armed militants who entered the healthcare facility and snatched the man’s body. His father said the teenager died when the militants disconnected him from medical equipment to take him away. Another Israeli Arab man who had been involved in the car accident was then relocated to Rambam hospital in Haifa.
The security situation was among the top issues in this month’s national election that gave Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, a mandate to form a new government, which he is in the process of doing now. The current prime minister, Yair Lapid, planned Wednesday to brief Netanyahu about the security situation afternoon.
Meanwhile, a right-wing politician who is angling for a Cabinet position in charge of security in the new government traveled to the scene of one of the bombings to call for a heavy response to terror attacks, including targeted killings and curfews on the towns from which attackers are seen to have come.
“It’s time to establish a right-wing government as soon as possible,” Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit party, said at the scene. “Terror does not wait.”
Among those injured in the blasts were a classmate of Shtsupak who was seriously wounded. (Shtsupak’s name has appeared with multiple English spellings.) Uri Pilichowski, an American rabbi who moved to the West Bank and has used his social media presence to try to explain the perspective of Jewish settlers, said his teenage daughter was injured in one of the blasts. “Thank God she is fine, just a small cut,” he tweeted on Wednesday morning.
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The post Teenager killed, 22 injured in Jerusalem bus stop bombings, the first in years appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’
Rep Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on Sunday likened the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric to Nazi depictions of Jews.
“It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany,” Omar said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, commenting on a social media post by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, in which he suggested that “migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” Miller, who is Jewish, is the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Omar called Miller’s comments “white supremist rhetoric” and also drew parallels between his characterization of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. to how Jews were demonized and treated when they fled Nazi-era Germany. “As we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants,” she said.
Now serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is central to the White House’s plans for mass deportations and expanded barriers to asylum. During Trump’s first term, Miller led the implementation of the so-called Muslim travel ban in 2017, which barred entry to the U.S. for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and pushed to further reduce a longtime refugee program.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.” pic.twitter.com/GAjIMqFq26
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2025
Miller’s comments echoed similar rhetoric by Trump after an Afghan refugee was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last month, killing one.
Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting last week that Somali immigrants are “garbage” and that he wanted them to be sent “back to where they came from.” The president also singled out Omar, a Somali native who represents Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. “She should be thrown the hell out of our country,” Trump said.
In the Sunday interview, Omar called Trump’s remarks “completely disgusting” and accused him of having “an unhealthy obsession” with her and the Somali community. “This kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.
The post Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Nigeria Seeks French Help to Combat Insecurity, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
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Netanyahu Says He Will Not Quit Politics if He Receives a Pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country’s president in his years-long corruption trial.
Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: “no”.
Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu’s ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in response to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and his lawyers have said that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings, if concluded, would result in a complete acquittal.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog, before Netanyahu made his request, urging the Israeli president to consider granting the prime minister a pardon.
Some Israeli opposition politicians have argued that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026.