Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly refused to say whether Iran or Israel poses a greater threat to the U.S., instead calling both “kind of dangerous” and accusing Israel of dragging America into unnecessary wars.

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Pillay accused Israel of deliberately using starvation as a weapon of war, destroying Gaza’s medical system and blocking humanitarian aid.

By United with Israel Staff

South African jurist Navi Pillay, who led a controversial United Nations commission that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to the 85-year-old jurist “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” praising her career promoting accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for human rights, has served as a judge at the International Criminal Court and as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She is currently serving as a judge at the International Court of Justice in the genocide case against Myanmar.

But Pillay has also built a lengthy record of harsh criticism of Israel and support for punitive measures against the Jewish state.

Until last year, she chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which in September 2025 accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

The commission is an independent investigative body established by the UN Human Rights Council and does not speak for the UN as a whole. Its finding was also not a judgment by the International Court of Justice, which has not ruled that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

Pillay nevertheless presented the commission’s conclusion in unequivocal terms.

“Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” she wrote when the report was released, arguing that the evidence demonstrated not only genocidal acts but an intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.

“These are not the accidents of war,” Pillay wrote of the destruction and civilian deaths in Gaza. “They are acts calculated to bring about the destruction of a people.”

She also accused Israel of deliberately using starvation as a weapon of war, destroying Gaza’s medical system and blocking humanitarian aid.

Pillay placed responsibility directly on Israel’s senior leadership, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of using rhetoric that demonstrated genocidal intent.

The commission later formally accused the three Israeli leaders of inciting genocide.

Pillay went further by invoking the Holocaust and the international community’s failure to prevent the Rwandan genocide.

“The Genocide Convention was born from the ashes of the Holocaust with a solemn vow: ‘Never again,’” she wrote. “That vow is meaningless if it applies only to some and not to others.”

Israel vehemently rejected the commission’s conclusions, calling its report “distorted and false” and accusing the panel of selectively using evidence, relying on Hamas claims and exceeding its authority.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the commission had “masquerad[ed] as a quasi-judicial body” while attempting to promote what it called a malicious genocide narrative against the Jewish state.

“Israel remains committed to international law,” the ministry said, arguing that the IDF was fighting to dismantle Hamas while devoting extensive resources to minimizing civilian casualties and facilitating humanitarian aid.

Pillay’s criticism of Israel also predates the Gaza war.

In 2017, she expressed support for the Palestinian BDS campaign, saying she hoped the Palestinian struggle would gain momentum “especially in the civilian campaign of BDS, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.”

In 2020, Pillay was among more than 250 prominent figures who endorsed a South African campaign calling for sanctions against Israel, including a military embargo, restrictions on trade with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the suspension of trade agreements.

That record had prompted accusations of bias even before the commission issued its genocide finding, with critics arguing that Pillay had publicly taken positions on Israel that overlapped with issues she would later be tasked with investigating.

The Nobel Committee, however, focused on Pillay’s broader legal career, which included opposing apartheid in South Africa, defending political prisoners and serving on international tribunals.

The committee praised what it called her “firm moral compass” and said her career demonstrated the importance of international law in resolving conflicts without violence.

Israel responded furiously to Pillay’s selection, accusing the Nobel Committee of rewarding one of the most prominent voices behind what it described as the demonization of the Jewish state.

“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.

“Her role in the relentless, politically motivated demonization of Israel and promotion of the genocide lie speaks volumes,” the ministry added.

The Foreign Ministry said awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize represented a “grotesque weaponization” of the award to legitimize “anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”

“Now that the Nobel commission has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell,” the ministry concluded.

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The Pentagon has developed options for renewed combat, including an intensive three-day campaign targeting Iran’s rebuilt missile and drone arsenal, IRGC command posts and other military sites.

By United with Israel Staff

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem warned Americans to exercise heightened vigilance across the Middle East as Israel reportedly prepares for the possibility that fighting with Iran could resume within weeks.

In a security alert, the embassy warned Americans of possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and other travel disruptions amid a volatile regional security environment.

“Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including U.S. businesses and other institutions,” the alert said.

The warning also pointed to escalating attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis against Saudi Arabia, including civilian airports, cautioning that the hostilities “have the potential to escalate rapidly.”

The alert comes as Israel has raised its readiness for a possible renewed confrontation with Iran.

Israeli security officials now assess that fighting with the Islamic Republic could resume within the coming weeks, Channel 14 reported Thursday, citing a series of security assessments held amid recent developments involving Iran and statements from President Donald Trump.

Israel is reportedly maintaining a very high level of preparedness for several scenarios, including an Iranian attack that would require a defensive response as well as possible Israeli offensive action if concrete preparations for an Iranian strike are detected.

According to the report, Israel could move preemptively if it identifies preparations for an imminent Iranian attack. The possibility of coordinated military action with the United States is also being considered, including a scenario in which Israel takes the lead.

The Israeli assessments come as the U.S. military prepares options for potentially restarting major combat operations against Iran.

The Atlantic reported earlier this week that the White House had asked the Pentagon to develop options for renewed strikes against Iran, including plans that could have been carried out before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The New York Times reported Thursday that, at Trump’s direction, the Pentagon has developed options for renewed combat, including an intensive three-day campaign targeting Iran’s rebuilt missile and drone arsenal, IRGC command posts and other military sites. Senior officials led by Vice President JD Vance reportedly discussed the plans at Camp David last Friday, as the U.S. prepares to have three aircraft carriers operating in the region.

Trump, however, publicly ruled out an American attack before the midterms on Thursday, saying Washington was engaged in “productive discussions” with Tehran.

“We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd,” Trump said, while stressing that the U.S. blockade would remain in place and declaring, “IRAN WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”

His statement does not rule out renewed military action after the elections, while the Pentagon continues preparing options should Trump decide to resume the campaign.

In Israel, meanwhile, security officials are reportedly preparing on the assumption that another round could come sooner than previously expected, with the military readying both defensive and offensive options.

Whether the current lull lasts weeks, days or even less remains unclear.

But with Israel at a high level of readiness, the Pentagon drawing up options for renewed combat and Washington warning Americans across the region of the potential for rapid escalation, the quiet may be running out.

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Israel’s GDP has increased by nearly 10 percent since the start of the war.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

Israel’s economy has shown a striking display of resilience over the past three years, continuing to grow and outperform major global markets even on the third anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion and massacre, despite a prolonged multi-front war and growing international efforts to economically isolate the Jewish state.

Three years of war have come at a staggering cost to Israel, with millions of lives affected, families still carrying the scars of the conflict, and the government spending heavily to sustain the effort. Yet the economy has continued to expand despite the enormous burden.

According to Bank of Israel data, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) — the total value of goods and services produced in Israel — has increased by nearly 10 percent since the start of the war.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has seen an even stronger rise. Its main TA-35 index, which tracks the largest companies on the exchange, has climbed about 130 percent since the Oct. 7 attack, while the broader TA-125 index, covering 125 major Israeli companies, has gained about 120 percent.

Compared with major US stock indexes, Israel’s gains are even more striking. Over the last three years, the S&P 500, which tracks 500 major US companies, has risen by about 80 percent, while the Nasdaq, which is heavily focused on technology companies, has climbed roughly 101 percent — both below the gains recorded by Israel’s leading stock indexes.

However, the strong market performance does not erase the severe economic costs of three years of war, which have strained Israel’s public finances, disrupted businesses, and placed a heavy burden on the country’s economy as a whole.

According to the Bank of Israel, the war caused Israel’s economy to produce about 177 billion shekels less than it was expected to produce by the end of 2025 — a loss equivalent to 8.6 percent of the country’s annual GDP.

Yet despite that cost, the Israeli economy has continued to show an ability to absorb major shocks and recover.

Experts point to several factors behind that resilience, including the country’s strong technology sector, its global trade ties, and the continued strength of its defense industries.

Israel’s high-tech sector, a cornerstone of the country’s economy, has remained closely tied to global markets throughout the war, helping companies maintain business abroad even as the conflict disrupted activity at home.

Strong international connections and the widespread use of remote work are key factors that have allowed many firms to keep operating and serving clients despite the challenges posed by the war.

According to the Israel Innovation Authority, high-tech exports reached $85 billion in 2025, accounting for about 58 percent of Israel’s total exports, with the sector’s services exports — including software and other technology services — driving most of the growth.

The defense industry has provided another major source of growth.

Even as Israel has faced mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza, including growing calls in Europe for arms embargoes and restrictions on defense deals, the country’s defense industry has continued to attract strong demand abroad.

European governments have sharply increased military spending since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and countries have continued turning to Israeli weapons and defense technology after years of combat have demonstrated their operational effectiveness and battlefield performance.

According to Israel’s Defense Ministry, defense exports reached a record $19.2 billion in 2025, marking a nearly 30 percent increase from the previous year and the fifth consecutive annual record — with more than half of the deals valued at over $100 million.

Earlier this year, Israel even became the world’s seventh-largest arms exporter, surpassing Britain for the first time and further cementing its position among the world’s leading defense suppliers.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israeli companies accounted for 4.4 percent of global arms exports between 2021 and 2025, up from 3.1 percent during the previous five-year period.

Another sign of the economy’s ability to withstand the shock of the war has been the recovery of the Israeli shekel.

The shekel came under sharp pressure in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, as uncertainty over the war sent the dollar above four shekels. In response, the Bank of Israel moved to calm financial markets, announcing plans to sell up to $30 billion in foreign currency to support the shekel and maintain market stability.

Three years later, the picture has changed dramatically. The dollar is trading at around 3.08 shekels, nearly 20 percent below its level at the start of the war, reflecting a sharp recovery in the Israeli currency.

Economists attribute the shekel’s rebound to the resilience of Israel’s exports, continued foreign investment, and the economy’s ability to maintain activity despite the prolonged conflict.

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“As long as President Trump is in office,” Rubio said, “Iran’s leaders are not going to get a nuclear weapon.

By United with Israel Staff

The Trump administration is considering renewed military strikes against Iran in the coming weeks, while Washington seeks to cripple Tehran economically and force its leaders to choose between abandoning their revolutionary agenda or facing mounting pressure.

The White House has asked the Pentagon to develop options for strikes against Iranian targets that could be carried out before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, The Atlantic reported, citing two administration officials.

The size and targets of any potential strikes remain under discussion, and no final decision has been made. U.S. Central Command, which is coordinating the war effort, is developing the options, according to the report.

The planning comes after several weeks without U.S. strikes on Iran, raising expectations that President Donald Trump might seek to maintain the relative lull through the elections.

But administration officials told The Atlantic that Trump is eager to reduce gas prices and demonstrate progress in the conflict before voters head to the polls.

The report came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a visit to Greece, outlined the administration’s broader goals in its confrontation with Iran.

Speaking to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Rubio said the overriding objective remains preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“The ultimate goal is to not have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said. “They should never have a nuclear arsenal.”

Rubio said Iran had sought to build up a massive arsenal of missiles and drones that could threaten U.S. forces and countries across the Middle East while providing cover for its nuclear program.

“Essentially, they were trying to create a conventional ‘shield’ behind which they could then develop their nuclear program,” he said.

Rubio said Trump responded by destroying much of Iran’s missile, drone and air capabilities, while Washington is now increasing economic pressure on the regime.

He said the Strait of Hormuz is open and oil traffic has recovered to roughly 80% of pre-conflict levels, while Iran itself is facing mounting pressure as its available oil supplies for export dry up.

Within weeks, Rubio predicted, Iran would face “the most devastating economic disaster in the history of modern Iran.”

He said Tehran would then face a fundamental choice: “Do they want to be a state or do they want to be a revolution?”

Rubio stressed that the U.S. campaign was not launched with the goal of regime change, but said Iran must change its behavior, including ending its support for terrorist organizations.

He accused Tehran of using oil revenues to fund Hezbollah, Hamas and Shiite militias in Iraq while building missiles and drones rather than investing in its own country.

“They are the primary funder of terrorism worldwide, and every dollar they get is used for that purpose,” Rubio said.

While the White House weighs another round of military action, Rubio made clear that preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon remains non-negotiable.

“As long as President Trump is in office,” he said, Iran’s leaders “are not going to get a nuclear weapon.”

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“Long live Yahya al-Sinwar,” Neva wrote, according to the complaint.

By Shula Rosen

New York City education officials are investigating Damien Neva, a P.S. 77 teacher in Park Slope, after a lawsuit accused him of expressing support for Hamas leader and Oct. 7 massacre architect Yahya Sinwar while campaigning for a boycott of Israeli goods.

Jewish members of the Park Slope Food Co-op named Neva in a lawsuit contesting the co-op’s ban on Israeli products.

Their complaint cites comments attributed to him in a Signal group chat and alleges that he was heavily involved in efforts to enact the boycott.

Among the messages cited in the lawsuit is Neva’s praise for Sinwar, who was eliminated by Israeli forces.

“Long live Yahya al-Sinwar,” Neva wrote, according to the complaint.

The allegations have now prompted a review by the New York City Department of Education.

“This allegation has been reported and referred for investigation, in accordance with Chancellor’s Regulations,” a US Education Department representative told the outlet.

City education officials separately condemned both antisemitism and expressions of support for terrorist groups.

“Antisemitism and support for terrorist organizations have absolutely no place in our school system,” a Department of Education spokesperson said.

“We are committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming environment for every student and member of our school community.”

Neva teaches at P.S. 77, an elementary school in Park Slope. The accusations against him surfaced as part of the Jewish co-op members’ broader legal challenge to the Park Slope Food Co-op’s decision to prohibit Israeli goods.

The lawsuit links Neva to the campaign behind that policy and points to his Signal messages as part of its allegations concerning the boycott effort.

Education officials have confirmed that Neva’s alleged conduct is under investigation but have not announced any disciplinary measures. It remains unclear whether the inquiry will result in action against him.

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Shalabi began planning an attack in early 2025 after becoming angry over parking tickets issued to worshippers near a mosque in Beit Hanina.

By United with Israel Staff

Israeli prosecutors filed an indictment Thursday against a 22-year-old Arab pharmacy student from Jerusalem accused of plotting mass-casualty terrorist attacks against Jews and security forces using explosives and deadly poisons.

Mohammed Shalabi, a resident of the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem, is charged with preparing to commit a terrorist act of murder and receiving training for terrorist purposes, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors allege that Shalabi, a third-year pharmacy student who also worked as a pharmacy assistant, underwent a process of ideological radicalization following the Oct. 7 massacre and the ensuing war.

He allegedly began systematically consuming material associated with Hamas and ISIS and decided to use the knowledge acquired through his pharmacy studies and his access to information about chemical substances to prepare terrorist attacks.

According to the indictment, Shalabi began planning an attack in early 2025 after becoming angry over parking tickets issued to worshippers near a mosque in Beit Hanina.

He allegedly decided to plant an explosive device at a location frequented by enforcement personnel and monitored their activity for approximately two months while downloading online manuals explaining how to manufacture explosives.

The plan was abandoned after enforcement personnel stopped coming to the location, prosecutors said.

Shalabi subsequently began planning a much larger attack aimed at killing, in his words, “many Jews,” according to the indictment.

As part of those preparations, he allegedly joined Telegram groups associated with terrorist organizations, including an ISIS-affiliated group, and downloaded dozens of files containing instructions for manufacturing explosive devices, explosives and lethal poisons.

Prosecutors say Shalabi copied recipes for producing poisons into a notebook, including substances capable of causing death through contact, inhalation or ingestion. He also allegedly documented materials that could be used to manufacture explosives.

The indictment alleges that Shalabi eventually moved beyond research and planning and began taking concrete steps toward carrying out an attack.

On two separate occasions, he traveled to Ramallah to purchase chemicals and equipment, deliberately splitting the purchases in an effort to avoid attracting suspicion, according to prosecutors.

He then allegedly stored the materials in his bedroom and conducted a chemical experiment in the bathtub of his home, igniting a mixture he had prepared to test the materials.

Prosecutors further allege that Shalabi attempted to conceal his activities by deleting files and his search history from his cellphone.

The indictment was filed in Jerusalem District Court by attorney Amichai Marks of the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.

The State Attorney’s Office has asked the court to keep Shalabi in custody until the conclusion of the proceedings against him.

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The IDF accused Hamas of “cynically” exploiting hospitals in Gaza for terrorism, thus endangering the civilian population.

By Shula Rosen

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday that it killed two Hamas terrorists after they were seen leaving Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, one of whom planted explosives the military said had been stored inside the hospital.

The terrorist planted the IEDs near the ceasefire line in attempt to harm IDF soldiers, according to the statement.

The second terrorist, identified as Muhammad Tammous, was a sniper in Hamas’s “military wing.” He also worked as a “civil defense” worker in the Strip, the IDF said.

“In recent days, the terrorists advanced attacks from within the hospital and operated to restore Hamas’s capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement,” it added.

The IDF accused Hamas of “cynically” exploiting hospitals and other medical infrastructure in Gaza for terrorism, thus endangering the civilian population.

In late 2024, the IDF arrested 240 Palestinian terrorists during an operation inside Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Anas Muhammad Faiz al-Sharif, one of the Hamas members arrested in the raid, subsequently told interrogators that the terrorist organization sees the facility as “a safe haven for them because the [Israeli] military cannot directly target it.”

Also on Wednesday, the IDF killed a terrorist after he crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and tried to sabotage “operational infrastructure,” the military said on Thursday.

The terrorist posed an immediate threat and the IDF struck him right after he was identified near the Yellow Line, according to the statement.

IDF soldiers remain deployed to the Strip in accordance with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement “and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat,” the army added.

The truce went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10, 2025, ending the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

The terms of the ceasefire leave the IDF in control of approximately half of Gaza.

Oct 7. anniversary

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday that the military “must always be prepared for a surprise war,” speaking on the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

“This week we mark 53 years since the Yom Kippur War and three years since Oct. 7—two painful blunders, two failures and a connecting thread between them,” Zamir told fellow commanders at the first exercise of the newly formed 38th Division, according to an official IDF readout.

The lesson of both wars, he stressed, is that “the possibility of a surprise attack must preoccupy us all.”

The chief of staff noted that the IDF opened the week with a day of studying the lessons of Oct. 7. “A commander who does not doubt and entrenches himself in his perceptions will be defeated,” he added.

Zamir was joined by IDF Ground Forces commander Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan. Also present was Brig. Gen. Sharon Altit, who commands the 38th Division.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it struck approximately 100,000 targets across multiple fronts over the three years since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. More than 31,500 projectiles were launched at Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen during the same period.

The military said 970 personnel were killed in operational circumstances during the war. More than 70% of wounded soldiers returned to service, while the IDF reserve force grew by approximately 36% as the military established a series of new combat, defense and support formations.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Hamas’s “military wing,” who uses the nom de guerre Abu Ubaida, marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Wednesday by calling the massacre a “military miracle” and claiming it shattered Israel’s deterrence and security doctrine.

Abu Ubaida also called for broader regional action against Israel, citing Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran and saying there was “no excuse” for others not to act. He also raised the possibility of opening an additional “western front” against Israel.

Some 4,000 Gazan terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have been slain, but around 2,000 remain alive, Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed on Monday night.

Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to “pursue and eliminate all of them—from senior to low-ranking.

“This is what the murdered and the fallen have commanded us, and this is our duty as a people and as a state—and we will fulfill it,” the defense minister said.

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The vigil honored those killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel as well as Palestinians killed in the ongoing Gaza war.

By Shula Rosen

Pro-Palestinian activists turned on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, protesting his appearance at an October 7 coexistence vigil and accusing him of betraying the movement that helped support him.

The demonstration outside City Hall was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, Within Our Lifetime and Pal-Awda. Many participants belonged to Democratic Socialists of America, the organization of which Mamdani is also a member.

“Mayor Mamdani, pick a side, justice or genocide,” the crowd chanted.

“Muslim mayor, we know you, you’re a normalizer too,” protesters also shouted, along with, “Tell me what you’re fighting for: intifada people’s war.”

Mamdani attended an event held by the left-wing Israelis for Peace New York in Manhattan’s Union Square Park.

The vigil honored those killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel as well as Palestinians killed in the ongoing Gaza war.

“This mayor ran on a campaign to make promises to this community,” one speaker said. “From his first day in office, he has failed.”

His participation in the vigil was not the protesters’ only complaint.

They also targeted his decision to retain NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, along with protest policing, Israel real estate events in New York and public college system investments in defense companies.

After leaving City Hall, some demonstrators marched toward Union Square. Hamas and Hezbollah flags, photographs of terror leaders and terrorist headbands were visible among protesters.

One participant confronted a pro-Israel counterprotester, calling her a “Nazi bitch” and saying, “You’re all pedophiles.”

Separate October 7 protests were held elsewhere in New York City. At Columbia University, Students for Justice in Palestine held one of the anti-Israel demonstrations it organizes annually on the anniversary of the attack.

Mamdani simultaneously faced criticism from Israel supporters Wednesday over his own October 7 message on X.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Mamdani wrote.

He further accused Israel of withholding humanitarian supplies and targeting journalists and civilians, allegations Israel has consistently denied.

The Anti-Defamation League and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee condemned his statement.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Fox News he was “seething” over the post and “ashamed of New York for ever electing this guy.”

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Britain had previously threatened reciprocal measures against Israeli diplomats if Israel followed through with the consulate closure.

By United with Israel Staff

Israel formally ended the operations of the British Consulate in Jerusalem on Thursday under an agreement with London that will see 20 British diplomats leave the country while a sharply reduced British mission remains in the building.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the agreement was reached Wednesday night following a week of talks aimed at preventing the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Britain from escalating further.

Under the understandings, the British Consulate officially ceased operating Thursday, with the consul general and 19 other diplomats ending their assignments and leaving Israel.

Because the consulate building is owned by the British government, Israel agreed to allow Britain to operate a seven-diplomat task force from the site, which will no longer function as a consulate.

Sa’ar said the remaining team would be permitted to operate only within a “very limited scope of activity.”

The two governments also agreed to continue diplomatic talks in which both countries will be able to raise issues of concern.

Crucially, Sa’ar said Britain agreed not to take measures against Israel in response to the implementation of the Israeli decisions.

“Alongside this, we reached understandings that serve Israeli interests,” Sa’ar said. “In accordance with the understandings we reached, no measures will be taken against Israel as a result of implementing the decisions.”

Britain had previously threatened reciprocal measures against Israeli diplomats if Israel followed through with the consulate closure.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband confirmed Thursday that London would not retaliate while talks with Israel remain underway and “credible.”

Britain, however, presented the arrangement somewhat differently, announcing that the building would now be called the “UK Mission, Jerusalem” and insisting that Britain was maintaining its longstanding presence in the city.

“The UK Mission, Jerusalem is independent, operational, and will continue to deliver vital services and our work with the Palestinian people,” Miliband said.

He reiterated Britain’s position that Israel does not have the legal authority to close the consulate and that eastern Jerusalem is “occupied territory.”

Miliband also described the reduction in personnel as temporary, saying Britain had withdrawn a number of staff members and their families for security reasons and would work “in the coming months to build back up our presence.”

Sa’ar, by contrast, said Israel had authorized only the seven-member team with a “very limited” mandate.

The closure completes a series of four measures announced by Sa’ar on Sept. 8 in response to what Israel described as an escalating series of hostile moves by Britain’s Labour government.

In addition to closing the consulate, Israel removed British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat, ended British involvement in training Palestinian Authority forces in Judea and Samaria, and barred 12 British elected officials and other British citizens accused of antisemitic or anti-Israel activity or denying Israel’s right to exist.

“All four measures in my statement from September 8 have been implemented,” Sa’ar said.

The foreign minister said Israel did not seek the confrontation and stressed that Jerusalem continues to value its relationship with Britain, including longstanding intelligence and security cooperation.

He revealed that Israel recently provided Britain with “vital information” connected to the RAF Fairford case, an apparent reference to the investigation surrounding explosives discovered near the British air base.

“We believe in dialogue and will continue to believe in dialogue,” Sa’ar said, while accusing Britain’s Labour government of failing to engage in genuine dialogue with Israel in recent years.

Sa’ar blamed the current crisis on a series of British measures since Labour took power in 2024, including recognition of a Palestinian state, renewed funding for UNRWA, restrictions on defense exports to Israel, sanctions against Israeli ministers and other Israelis, the suspension of free-trade negotiations and restrictions on military cooperation.

He also cited Britain’s latest sanctions targeting Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and what he called “hostile rhetoric,” including accusations of “ethnic cleansing.”

Sa’ar acknowledged that further disputes between the two countries could emerge despite the new agreement.

“I cannot promise that there will not be additional crises in the future,” he said. “If there are, we will face them based on our principles.”

He concluded with a warning that Israel would no longer absorb diplomatic measures against it without responding.

“We want good relations with all the countries of the world,” Sa’ar said. “But every country that acts against Israel needs to know that there will be a price. It will not benefit from doing so, but the opposite.”

“The era of Israeli restraint is over, both on the security and diplomatic fronts.”

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Australian reporter Erin Molan goes inside a Hamas tunnel in Gaza, revealing the commanders’ living quarters, blast doors, and vast underground network that served as launch sites and hostage holding grounds.

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The mother of Bar Zohar remembers her daughter, who was killed at the Nova festival on October 7 after warning police about terrorists, saving an estimated 2,500 people.

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Wednesday’s ceremony was launched ahead of the first anniversary of the attack as an alternative to the official state event after many bereaved and hostage families said they would shun it. 

By Deborah Danan, JTA

Some 50,000 Israelis filled Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park on Wednesday night to mark three years since the Oct. 7 attacks, at a bereaved families’ memorial ceremony that for the first time took place with no hostages remaining in Gaza.

The ceremony, organized for the third year by the Kumu movement, an initiative set up by families affected by Oct. 7, came more than eight months after the body of Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in Gaza, was recovered and returned to Israel.

The last 20 living hostages had returned in October 2025. A year ago, 48 yellow chairs hung above the same stage to represent those still in Gaza.

This year, with the hostage campaign that dominated Israeli public life for more than two years no longer hanging over the anniversary, the emphasis shifted toward remembrance and another unresolved demand of many bereaved families: an investigation into the failures that allowed the attack to happen.

Former hostage Eli Sharabi, who was held in Gaza for 491 days, hosted the ceremony alongside actress Shani Cohen.

Sharabi was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7; his wife Lianne and daughters Noiya and Yahel were killed in the attack, and his brother Yossi was killed in captivity.

“Remember what happened. Investigate how it happened. Don’t cut corners. Don’t let time blur the truth, don’t rewrite history, and don’t let history repeat itself,” Sharabi said from the stage.

Omri Shifroni, a founder of the Kumu movement whose relatives Liel and Yanai Hetzroni and Avia and Ayala Hetzroni were murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri, also demanded a full investigation.

“That morning, the systems collapsed and the state failed to function,” he said.

“But mutual responsibility alone is not enough. To rebuild trust, we also need the truth. We must know what happened. Without investigating the truth, we cannot fix things, and we cannot make sure it never happens again.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has resisted establishing a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding Oct. 7 and instead backed legislation for a politically appointed probe.

Wednesday’s ceremony was launched ahead of the first anniversary of the attack as an alternative to the official state event after many bereaved and hostage families said they would shun it.

Netanyahu instead attended the official state commemoration at Mount Herzl on Monday, the Hebrew-calendar date designated by the government for marking the attack.

For Eliot Young, whose brother Nathanel, a British-Israeli soldier, was killed fighting Hamas on Oct. 7, the ceremony has become an annual form of support.

He was there with his wife, Rena, and their infant son, who was named after Nathanel.

“These days are very hard, but the fact that these people are here is a huge source of strength for me,” he told The Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“Some of them lost lots of family members, but they’re still here, smiling, having a conversation. It’s an inspiration for anyone who has been through loss.”

Young recalled Nathanel talking about joining the Israeli military from the age of 10, even though he was living in the UK at the time, and said that by 15, Nathanel was going to the gym with the goal of getting into the best unit he could.

“He taught us, and continues to teach us, about persevering with your dreams,” Young said.

Nathanel, a soldier in the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, was killed fighting at the Yiftach military base near Zikim in the Gaza envelope in southern Israel, where he and other soldiers held off Hamas attackers, saving soldiers at the base and preventing an infiltration into the nearby kibbutz.

His sister, Gaby Young Shalev, said that three years on, Nathanel’s memory has become woven into the family’s daily life.

“There’s not one day that goes by where someone in my family isn’t doing something in memory of Nathanel,” she told JTA.

Among the projects is a professional music and DJ studio for at-risk youth at a WIZO school in Jerusalem—Nathanel himself was a DJ—funded with tens of thousands of shekels raised by Young Shalev in his memory.

A wine and a cold brew have also been made in Nathanel’s memory.

“We’re trying to live our lives the way that Nathanel would want us to. He definitely wouldn’t want us to sit around moping,” Young Shalev said.

Other memorials were held throughout the day across Israel, including in communities attacked on Oct. 7.

At the Nova festival site near Re’im, survivors and bereaved families gathered for a memorial at 6:29 p.m., deliberately matching 6:29 a.m., the time the Oct. 7 attack began and the music stopped.

Eyal Golan, whose sister Shirel survived the Nova massacre and later died by suicide, returned to the Re’im area for the first time in five years.

He said he had not been back since developing PTSD during reserve duty in the 2021 Gaza conflict and had not even driven through the area since.

During the ceremony, Golan chose to remain beside a memorial placard bearing Shirel’s photograph. “I wanted to babysit my little sister,” he said.

He spent much of the day speaking about Shirel and handing out sensory balls designed to help ground people during anxiety and PTSD episodes, part of a project he founded in her memory.

It was a marked change from a year earlier, when Golan told JTA he could not bring himself to attend a memorial and had spent the anniversary struggling with a feeling of “emptiness” and his own PTSD.

“For the first time in years, I felt like I had completed a missing piece of the puzzle of my life,” he said after Wednesday’s ceremony. “I felt much more whole.”

Their mother, Yaffa Golan, said being among others “in pain, tearing up, crying” reflected how raw the loss remains.

“You know, for us, every day is October 7. Still now,” she said.

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Israel held its national ceremony for October 7 families, featuring Eli Sharabi, as bereaved relatives, survivors, and the nation gathered to mourn the victims and honor the memory of those lost.

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“I wish Mayor ‘Jihad Mandami’ sent a message like @realDonaldTrump for Oct 7. But Mayor Mayhem sends loves & kisses to Hamas,” Huckabee wrote.

By United with Israel Staff

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced a wave of condemnation from Israeli and American officials after using the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre to accuse Israel of “genocide,” “apartheid” and “war crimes.”

Among the strongest responses came from Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, who issued his rebuke from the bedside of his son, Neria, who remains on life support after being struck by a Palestinian terrorist.

“I have to take a moment from my son’s bedside, on life support after being struck by a Palestinian terrorist, to respond to the dangerous lies being spewed by @NYCMayor,” Leiter wrote.

“It’s actually hard to find a sentence in Mamdani’s post that isn’t a lie,” he continued. “Paying lip service to the victims of October 7 just to spread blood libels about Israel might play nicely to the red-green/communist-Islamist alliance that he promotes in the U.S., but those of us who know better see his perverted language for what it is.”

Leiter accused Mamdani of defending Palestinian terrorism, promoting antisemitism and using the anniversary of the massacre to spread “absurd accusations and outright propaganda” against Israel.

“Let’s be clear: the only attempted genocide in this conflict was perpetrated by the barbarians he supports, Hamas, who butchered, raped, and murdered in the most horrific ways imaginable,” Leiter wrote.

He also rejected Mamdani’s allegations about Israel’s conduct in Gaza, pointing to Hamas’s practice of embedding itself among civilians.

“Hamas embeds itself among, behind, and beneath the people of Gaza, knowing that the IDF will not, ever, intentionally target civilians,” Leiter said.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued an equally blistering response, calling Mamdani’s statement an “outrageous & disgusting rant” released on a day that should be devoted to remembering those murdered by Hamas.

Huckabee compared Mamdani’s message to using the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to condemn the United States for its response to al-Qaeda.

“There is NO genocide in Gaza,” Huckabee wrote. “The death toll there is due to Hamas having continued to hold hostages (including Americans) and starving, raping, torturing and killing them.”

Huckabee later contrasted Mamdani’s statement with President Donald Trump’s Oct. 7 memorial message.

Trump called Oct. 7 “one of the darkest and most evil days in the history of Israel” and remembered the men, women and children “murdered, kidnapped, and subjected to unimaginable horrors at the hands of Hamas TERRORISTS.”

“We will NEVER forget October 7th. We will NEVER forget the victims. And we will always stand against the forces of Terror and Evil,” Trump wrote.

Responding to Trump’s message, Huckabee wrote, “I wish Mayor ‘Jihad Mandami’ sent a message like @realDonaldTrump for Oct 7. But Mayor Mayhem sends loves & kisses to Hamas.”

I wish Mayor “Jihad Mandami” sent a message like @realDonaldTrump for Oct 7. But Mayor Mayhem sends loves & kisses to Hamas.

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) October 8, 2026

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon also invoked the Sept. 11 attacks in condemning the anti-Israel rhetoric surrounding the anniversary.

“Imagine protesters taking to the streets of New York on the anniversary of 9/11, demonstrating against America and praising al-Qaeda terrorists,” Danon wrote. “That is the absurdity that we are witnessing on the anniversary of October 7.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) similarly questioned why critics of Israel could not set aside their attacks on the Jewish state for the anniversary of the massacre.

“The world demonizes Israel 365 days a year,” Torres wrote. “Perhaps, for just one day—October 7th—the critics of Israel could take a vacation from their hysterical hatred of the world’s only Jewish State and find it within themselves to express condolences for the thousands of Israelis murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and abducted at the hands of Hamas.”

The condemnations came after Mamdani briefly acknowledged the Hamas atrocities in his Oct. 7 message before quickly pivoting to accuse Israel of an “ongoing genocide in Gaza,” “occupation,” “apartheid” and war crimes.

Even on the anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Mamdani could not bring himself to simply honor the victims.

Instead, he hijacked their day of remembrance to demonize the Jewish state, falsely accusing Israel of genocide, deliberately bombing ambulances, residential buildings and journalists, and blocking food aid from entering Gaza.

Even on Oct. 7, Mamdani could not stop attacking Israel.

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The Camden facility is the first production site outside Israel to manufacture Tamir interceptors for the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system.

By United with Israel Staff

For the first time, an Iron Dome interceptor has been fully manufactured and assembled on American soil, marking a major milestone in US-Israel missile defense cooperation.

Israel’s Defense Ministry received the first US-made Tamir interceptor at a ceremony at the Raytheon-Rafael Protection Systems, or R2S, facility in East Camden, Arkansas.

The Camden facility is the first production site outside Israel to manufacture Tamir interceptors for the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system. It was established by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems together with US defense company Raytheon through their R2S joint venture.

The establishment of production capabilities in the United States is part of the longstanding strategic partnership between Israel and the US in missile defense and is intended to significantly expand the two countries’ joint production capacity.

In addition to producing Tamir interceptors for Israel, the Arkansas facility will manufacture SkyHunter, the American version of the Tamir interceptor, for the US Marine Corps’ Medium Range Intercept Capability, or MRIC, system.

Israeli officials said the new facility will help meet the air defense needs of both countries while strengthening their shared industrial base and ability to rapidly produce interceptors during periods of heightened demand.

Iron Dome has recorded more than 10,000 successful operational interceptions during its 15 years of service, according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.

The system was developed under the leadership of the Defense Ministry’s Israel Missile Defense Organization, together with Rafael, its primary developer. The US Missile Defense Agency is a key partner in Israel’s missile defense program.

Israel’s multilayered air defense network also includes David’s Sling and the Arrow systems, developed and produced through cooperation involving the Israeli Defense Ministry, the MDA and defense industries in Israel and the United States.

Rafael and Raytheon have cooperated on US production of missile interceptors for more than a decade.

“The new production line in the US constitutes a significant component in strengthening the joint production capabilities of Israel and the United States, as part of the Defense Ministry’s strategy to accelerate the production rate of interceptors across all defense systems,” said Moshe Patel, head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization.

Patel noted that US military assistance to Israel is partly reinvested in American industry, strengthening the production base of both countries.

“The American assistance to Israel, part of which is invested back into American industry, strengthens the joint production base of both countries, deepens the partnership with the MDA and the US government, and enhances the ability of Israel and the US to protect the lives of their citizens,” he said.

Rafael Air Defense Systems Division Executive Vice President Shlomo Toaff recalled the skepticism that surrounded Iron Dome during its early development.

“When we at Rafael began developing Iron Dome, many people did not believe it was possible,” Toaff said. “Our engineers proved them wrong.”

“For 15 years, Iron Dome has been operational, saving lives and enabling daily life to continue even during wartime,” he continued. “The heart of the system is the Tamir interceptor, and today, for the first time, it is being manufactured outside Israel’s borders, here in Camden, Arkansas.”

The ceremony was attended by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, US Sen. Tom Cotton, Israeli Consul General Adi Farjon Israel, senior US and Israeli military officials and representatives from Rafael, R2S and the Israeli Defense Ministry.

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“The suffering did not begin nor end that day,” Mamdani wrote, accusing the Israeli government of carrying out a “devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

By United with Israel Staff

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stooped to a new low on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, using a day of remembrance for the victims of the Hamas atrocities to accuse Israel of “genocide,” “apartheid” and “war crimes.”

“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers,” Mamdani wrote Wednesday. “It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7.”

The mayor acknowledged that Hamas murdered more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others, saying New Yorkers continue to grieve alongside those carrying “that unthinkable loss.”

But Mamdani quickly turned the anniversary of the Hamas-led massacre into an attack on Israel.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day,” he wrote, accusing the Israeli government of carrying out a “devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza” that he claimed has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, including more than 21,000 children.

Mamdani then accused Israel of dropping bombs on ambulances, residential buildings and journalists, and of turning away shipments of food aid at border crossings.

This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.

The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.

Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.

To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 7, 2026

His reference to journalists comes just days after the IDF released the results of an extensive intelligence investigation identifying at least 170 Gazans who were presented internationally as journalists or media workers but who, according to the military, were actually members of the military wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations.

The IDF said some worked for major international news organizations while simultaneously serving terrorist groups. The military published intelligence material, documents and other evidence that it says demonstrate their affiliations and military roles.

Mamdani’s portrayal also omitted a central reality of the Gaza war: Hamas has systematically embedded its military infrastructure among Gaza’s civilian population.

The IDF has documented weapons, command centers, rocket launchers and tunnels inside or alongside schools, hospitals, mosques, residential neighborhoods and other civilian facilities.

The military says Hamas deliberately exploits such locations in part because it knows Israel seeks to avoid harming civilians and striking protected sites.

The IDF, meanwhile, says it takes extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties, including altering, delaying and canceling strikes when civilians are detected near targets.

None of that context appeared in Mamdani’s Oct. 7 message.

Instead, the mayor used the anniversary to accuse Israel of “occupation and apartheid” and charge the United States with complicity in Israeli “war crimes” through its provision of weapons to the Jewish state.

“Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment,” Mamdani wrote.

“To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”

Three years after Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israel, murdering, kidnapping and brutalizing Israelis in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Mamdani chose the anniversary itself to devote the bulk of his message not to the victims of Oct. 7, but to accusing the country attacked that day of genocide, apartheid and war crimes.

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Rates of PTSD nearly doubled immediately after Oct. 7, but the rate gradually declined to 19.7% by January 2026, leaving roughly one in five Israelis with probable PTSD.

By Shula Rosen

Rates of PTSD, depression and anxiety in Israel remain elevated three years after the October 7, 2023, attacks, with research showing repeated increases in psychological distress following subsequent periods of conflict.

Probable PTSD nearly doubled immediately after October 7, rising from 16.1% to 16.2% before the attacks to 29.8% in November 2023, according to research on PTSD, depression and anxiety in Israel.

The rate gradually declined to 19.7% by January 2026, leaving roughly one in five Israelis with probable PTSD.

Separate data from Israel’s State Comptroller found that about 39% of the public reported post-traumatic symptoms, anxiety, depression or some combination of the three at a medium or severe level.

That amounted to roughly 3 million people.

The psychological impact has been particularly pronounced among people wounded during the war.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense Rehabilitation Department reported that around 63% of wounded individuals suffered psychological effects.

Of 91,200 people receiving treatment, 42,500 were dealing with mental health conditions and PTSD.

Research published in Frontiers in Psychiatry identified what it described as “overlapping circles of vulnerability,” with combat reservists, evacuees from communities along the northern and southern borders, families of victims and survivors of direct attacks facing the greatest risks.

Studies by the Brookdale Institute found renewed increases in depression and anxiety following later periods of fighting.

In July 2025, after Operation Roaring Lion, 26.6% of respondents met the clinical threshold for depression and 17% met the threshold for anxiety.

Research conducted in April 2026 after Operation Rising Lion found that more than a third of respondents, about 35%-37%, reported clinical-level symptoms of depression, while approximately 24%-25% reported clinical-level anxiety.

Another 27%-28% reported subclinical symptoms of depression, while about 26% experienced subclinical anxiety symptoms.

Taken together, the Brookdale Institute findings showed that more than half of respondents in each survey wave reported at least some degree of psychological distress.

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The Paris City Council observed a minute of silence on Tuesday at a separate ceremony ahead of the third anniversary of the Hamas massacre.

By Canaan Lidor, Amelie Botbol, JNS

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire on Tuesday inaugurated a memorial pathway named for Ariel and Kfir Bibas, two children who, along with their mother, Shiri, were murdered by Hamas terrorists after being abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023.

The mother and her two boys, aged 4 and nine months at the time of their abduction, were “cowardly murdered by terrorists in what is the deadliest pogrom in recent history,” Grégoire said at the ceremony, alongside Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), and others, Le Parisien reported.

The plaque marking the Ariel and Kfir Bibas Pathway also mentions Shiri and describes the three as “victims of Islamist terrorism and antisemitic hatred.”

The Paris City Council observed a minute of silence on Tuesday at a separate ceremony ahead of the third anniversary of the Hamas massacre.

“The violated innocence of Ariel and Kfir Bibas has become a symbol of the antisemitic hatred of the mass attacks perpetrated on Oct. 7, 2023,” read a resolution unanimously adopted by the council.

The pathway named for Ariel and Kfir is in Parc Monceau, which the city describes on its website as “one of the most beautiful gardens in Paris” and a “particularly peaceful” corner of the city.

Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the father of the two boys, attended the inauguration and recalled the last time he saw his family alive.

“I asked you: Do we fight or do we surrender? You said we fight, so we fought. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. If I’d have known what would happen, I never would’ve fired,” he said, referring to his decision to open fire with his sidearm on terrorists who invaded the family’s home.

Yarden Bibas was wounded, captured and taken to Gaza, where he was held hostage until his release.

“We won’t forget and we won’t forgive,” Jimmy Miller, Shiri Bibas’s cousin, told JNS. “The fire may have died out long ago, but the light of Ariel and Kfir will continue to burn forever.”

For Miller and his family, as well as the country as a whole, Oct. 7 is a day of mourning.

“Anyone who does not feel this way is disconnected from reality. What happened in Israel on Oct. 7 was the worst tragedy to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and that day must never be forgotten,” he said.

“The grief for my family is immense. The wounds will remain open. I don’t believe that I or my family will ever be able to live like we used to, because of what happened in general on Oct. 7, but also because of what happened to our family—to Shiri, the children and Shiri’s parents, Uncle Yossi and Aunt Margalit, who were both murdered.”

The pathway in Paris was a particularly significant gesture, Miller said, because such names endure for generations.

“It’s a gesture of remembrance, so that they won’t forget Ariel or Kfir or Shiri and what happened to them,” Miller told JNS. “They will remain in the minds of the people of this generation, and I hope also in the next generations.”

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Chabad Rabbi Yosef Rahimi confirmed the Iranian women were not the missing Israelis.

By Shula Rosen

Israeli police said Wednesday that two women detained in Namibia were Iranian nationals and are not missing Israeli mother and daughter Mali and Liel Yahalomi, correcting earlier reports that the Israelis had been arrested with forged passports.

Police said the detained women falsely claimed Israeli identities and presented a forged passport.

Their detention had initially been linked to Mali and Liel, who drew national attention after disappearing while traveling in Europe in August.

Chabad Rabbi Yosef Rahimi, who is active in Africa, said he went to see the women after receiving information from police and determined that they were not the missing Israelis.

“We received a report from the police. I went to see them at breakfast, and it wasn’t them. They are Iranian, a mother and daughter. During questioning, they claimed they were from Israel.”

Mali and Liel were found about a week after their disappearance on a bus in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An Israeli police representative in South America questioned them and found no indication of criminal wrongdoing, allowing them to continue their travels.

Authorities subsequently assessed that financial difficulties may have contributed to their disappearance.

Investigators determined that the pair’s trip had started in the Czech Republic rather than Vienna, as initially believed.

Mobile phones can be purchased in the Czech Republic without presenting a passport.

Authorities believed Mali and Liel later traveled to Vienna, where they recorded videos for relatives.

Those recordings were not sent until after the pair had apparently continued to Germany.

They subsequently traveled from Germany to Argentina, where authorities eventually located them.

Officials believed at the time that Buenos Aires was not their intended final destination and that the two planned to travel elsewhere, although that location was not disclosed.

Namibia is on the Atlantic coast of southwestern Africa, bordering Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south.

The country gained independence in 1990 and has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since 2013, although neither country has an embassy in the other. Relations have faced tensions in recent years over the war in Gaza.

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Antisemitism has endured through the centuries, but the Jews have endured, too.

By Fiamma Nirenstein, JNS

When the Hamas terrorists broke through the fence to enter Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the strategic message they were meant to carry out was clear.

Then-Hamas senior leader Yahya Sinwar had set out the plan in his own handwriting, in small, careful Arabic script.

The message was, “Go and destroy the Jews.” In doing so, you will not win the war, but you will win history.

You will destroy Israel; the Islamic umma, dar al-salam, will devour dar al-harb.

And this first conquest will precede the destruction of Jewish history and, with it, the entire Judeo-Christian civilization that it generated.

There are two chapters to the history of Oct. 7: the unprecedented events of that day and the subsequent expansion of antisemitism into the intellectual and moral centers of power in Europe and America.

It is the construction of a collective psychosis, a breach in the moral system built over centuries—in the principle of cause and effect, in the ability to read history and in our concepts of good and justice.

It is this worldwide revolution that we are dealing with when we speak of Oct. 7, in addition to tears, mutilated bodies, and war.

We should also remember how antisemitism has repeatedly been the harbinger of crises in the civilizations that produced it, including the destruction of Europe in World War II.

The tears and the blood

But we must begin with the tears and blood that hundreds of thousands of Israelis still shed, having lost loved ones in the massacre and in the war.

It is the form, the method, and the purpose of the Oct. 7 massacre that we had not seen before, except 80 years ago in Hitler’s Germany and, until 1953, in the Soviet Union.

On Oct. 4, 1943, in Posen, Heinrich Himmler explained to 90 SS leaders that Jewish children also had to be exterminated because he could not, “for moral reasons,” avoid extending to them the death sentence that their parents “deserved”; otherwise, the future of his people and of the world would be threatened by their revenge.

Thus, for “moral reasons,” the Palestinians coldly decided to burn alive, dismember, rape, and murder Jewish families in the kibbutzim of southern Israel.

The purpose of their conquering political Islam is a final solution, total destruction, pursued in the name of an ideology and a religion that is intrinsically political as well, without humanitarian objections.

For Hamas, Iran, and many other actors now active throughout the world, humanitarianism itself becomes part of the execution.

It is the intention that has driven antisemitism through the centuries: to cleanse the earth of Jews, and therefore today, first and foremost, of Israel, and turn it into the kingdom of the chosen ethic—the one pursued by the Hamas charter and demanded by Shi’ite Iran.

On Oct. 7, the Islamist imperative to erase and subjugate revealed itself in its naked form.

A war on seven fronts

Jewish resistance to this turning point in the history of persecution has this time taken the form of the war on seven fronts that Israel has fought since that day.

As the daily news shows, this war has not ended—not against Hamas, not in Judea and Samaria, not in the north against Hezbollah, and certainly not against the greatest puppeteer of hatred against Israel and the Jews, Iran.

Meanwhile, other dangerous fronts are opening, such as Turkey, while Qatar remains the greatest financier of organized hatred in the form of information and culture.

At the same time, large-scale intifadas—the largest in France, with Spain and Britain close behind—are setting Europe ablaze, while New York, through free elections, becomes Mamdani’s city.

And everywhere, Oct. 7 is celebrated as a festival of the genocide of the Jews.

The campaign to erase the Jews

Alongside the bestial massacre, an antisemitic flood of denial immediately developed, one in which Europe, too, is immersed up to its neck.

In this continuation of Oct. 7, the disappearance of the Jews means driving them out of the social world.

It means making them disappear from universities and cinemas, sporting competitions and literary prizes, politics and soccer championships—terrorizing and humiliating them until they are expelled everywhere.

Erase them. Terrorize families and children at school. Put students in a position where they cannot attend university.

Expel from talk shows every Jewish commentator and every friend of the Jews.

It is a Shoah. The Jew disappears.

This is happening through the success of a vast network of lies, from the word “genocide” to “ethnic cleansing” to “famine,” all the way to the most classic antisemitic formulas, now accepted as commonplace: the blood libel of the slaughter of innocents; the pursuit of money and power; the targeting of children and civilians; and the murderous rampage of crazed soldiers thirsting for revenge.

And then there is the image of a monstrous supreme leader, Nazi-fascist and imperialist—a cinematic transfiguration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, turned into a puppet of public discourse with no relationship to reality.

The inversion of reality

Logic, knowledge, culture, and reason—even the principle of cause and effect upon which, since ancient Greece, the examination of facts has been constructed—have been hollowed out through a rejection of our social structure and of liberal democracy.

In its place comes a universalist culture that denies history, apologizes for a distorted and denigrated Western past, and kneels before a totalitarian world that persecutes dissidents, women, and homosexuals, even to the point of death.

A particular historical conjunction has allowed a Western society gripped by profound moral and intellectual confusion to find a partner ready to forge an unprecedented alliance: militant and supremacist Islam, much of it immigrant, another part still in its countries of origin, which sees messianism as its political rationale.

Palestinism has provided the ideal common cause for this convergence. It has become the magical vessel into which culture, good intentions, and human rights can be poured.

It has become the battlefield between oppressors and oppressed, between freedom and imperialism, between universalism and racism.

In reverse.

When decent people drive from a stage a mother who wants to testify about the murder of her entire family by Hamas on Oct. 7 because they want to watch “Naza,” telling her, “Go away, you should be ashamed,” they no longer possess any knowledge of reality, nor do they wish to know it.

To them, the woman is a “colonialist,” and the punishment for her guilt “did not happen in a vacuum,” as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared in commenting on Oct. 7, assuming a responsibility equal to that of those who slit throats.

He thus inaugurated the era of the hunt for the Jew, licensed by international legality.

The answer cannot be lamentation

The conclusion, however, cannot be lamentation nor the tears that we are forced to swallow.

The Jewish people have never had either the time or the desire to shed too many of them, as can be seen from the history of the incredible reconstruction of their homeland, repopulated in the aftermath of the Shoah.

They have work to do.

Who could have been more grief-stricken than the men and women who set to work even as they were already being attacked once again?

It is incredible that in less than 80 years, the only country in the Middle East without oil—so democratic that it suffers internal divisions at every turn, so courageous that it has prevailed on every front after trying to share its tiny land and receiving in return a bite at the jugular—is today full of children and projects.

Its per capita GDP is higher than the GDPs of France, Italy, and Britain. Its inventions help the entire world in science, agriculture, technological innovation, medicine, and defense.

Its intelligence services save the Western world from terrorism; its rescue teams know how to dig through the ruins of enormous earthquakes.

Its joy of life is woven together with a desire for peace that, although repeatedly rejected, is part of the fundamental culture taught in its schools.

Israel knows how to win.

And so today, still in the fire of the post-Oct. 7 world, responsibility for every antisemitic accusation must always and only remain with the antisemites.

Faced with every piece of nonsense, every criminal fantasy about Israel and the Jews, those who respect themselves have no choice but to look the enemy and the fool in the eye, without allowing themselves to be influenced by feelings of guilt.

If I explain how the Israeli army fights while trying to safeguard civilian lives even as the enemy systematically uses them as human shields, and if I show once again that the ratio of combatant to civilian casualties is 1 to 1.2, the lowest of any urban warfare situation in the world, it must not be to answer Palestinian propaganda.

Nor should it be to convince those who refuse to be convinced.

It does not work.

Antisemitism has endured through the centuries, but the Jews have endured, too.

The difference today lies in the certainty that Israel knows how to win wars.

The entire West can win with Israel if it still wants to and still can.

That is no small thing. On this third anniversary of Oct. 7, the confrontation is still underway, and it is fierce.

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On the third anniversary of the brutal October 7 massacre, Israel released a LEGO-themed video explaining exactly how the Gaza war was fought and dispelling accusations of genocide.

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For Israel, the deal represents another expansion of its defense exports and a deepening of security ties with Argentina.

By United with Israel Staff

Israel and Argentina have signed a government-to-government defense agreement for the supply of Israeli-made ARAD assault rifles to the Argentine Armed Forces, marking another step in growing defense cooperation between the two countries.

The agreement, led by the Israel Ministry of Defense’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT), will see Argentina acquire ARAD 5 and ARAD 7 rifles manufactured by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI).

Argentina’s Defense Ministry formally presented the rifles this week as part of an ongoing effort to modernize the individual weapons used by its armed forces.

The Israeli-made rifles will also be equipped with M5 red-dot sights produced by Meprolight, another Israeli defense company.

The ARAD is a modular assault rifle platform that has been adopted by military and law enforcement customers around the world. The ARAD 5 and larger-caliber ARAD 7 provide Argentina with two variants designed for different operational requirements.

For Israel, the deal represents another expansion of its defense exports and a deepening of security ties with Argentina.

The Israeli Defense Ministry has emphasized defense exports as an important component of strengthening the country’s domestic defense industry and supporting the IDF’s long-term force buildup.

The agreement also comes amid increasingly close ties between Jerusalem and Buenos Aires under Argentine President Javier Milei, whose government has moved to strengthen Argentina’s political and strategic relationship with Israel.

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At the UN’s Oct. 7 memorial attended by US Ambassador Michael Waltz and Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, former hostage Eliya Cohen and Nova survivor Ziv Abud recounted their experiences during the massacre and in captivity.

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A recent ADL report documented dozens of cases of Jewish, Israeli and Zionist artists facing exclusion, protests and canceled appearances.

By United with Israel Staff

American-Israeli author and playwright Naomi Ragen says a planned Chicago production of her acclaimed play Women’s Minyan has been canceled after actors, directors and designers expressed fear that working on a play by a prominent Israeli and Zionist could damage their careers.

Ragen said Ars Judaica, a small Jewish theater company in Chicago, had planned to produce the play next year before its director, Elayne, informed her that she was withdrawing from the production.

Ragen published the message she said she received from Elayne, who described being “bombarded” by theater professionals worried about the repercussions of working with Ragen.

“People were seeing you were a pro Zionist Jew/Israeli and I was bombarded with actors, directors and designers who were actually afraid that doing a show with you as playwright would hurt their careers,” the message read.

“I never have faced this before and I was stunned about all the accusations of ‘genocide’ flying around,” Elayne wrote, according to Ragen. “This world is getting insane.”

The director stressed her own longstanding connection to Israel, writing that she was “born the same time as Israel” and had grown up raising money to plant trees in the Jewish state.

“In the past I have done plays about suicide bombers and never had a peep from anyone,” she wrote. “Perhaps once all this dies down (if it ever does) I will try again. I am so sorry.”

For Ragen, the episode was particularly striking because Women’s Minyan is neither a new work nor a political play about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ragen, 77, is a New York-born, Jerusalem-based Orthodox Jewish novelist, playwright and longtime advocate for women’s rights who has lived in Israel since 1971. She has published 13 internationally bestselling novels and has written extensively about Jewish life, Israel and the treatment of women in religious communities.

Women’s Minyan, Ragen’s first play, was commissioned by Israel’s Habima National Theatre and is based on the true story of a Haredi mother of 12 who leaves an abusive situation and finds herself forcibly separated from her children. The play centers on her effort to bring together a “minyan” of women close to her and finally tell her story.

Far from an obscure production, the play became the longest-running play ever presented at Habima and has been performed more than 1,000 times at Israel’s national theater, according to Ragen’s website. It has also been staged in the United States and Argentina.

In a follow-up statement, Ragen emphasized that she was not an unknown writer losing an opportunity to stage an untested work.

“I am not a young author, and this play is a very well-known play, commissioned by Israel’s National Theatre, that has had very successful years-long runs at every major theatre in Israel,” she wrote. “It has also been produced very successfully in numerous places around the world, including Argentina and the United States.”

Ragen also made clear that she does not blame Ars Judaica or its director, saying the cancellation reflects the pressure increasingly being placed on Jewish cultural institutions and artists over their connections to Israel.

“I have only respect and affection for Elayne, the director of Ars Judaica,” Ragen wrote.

The controversy comes amid growing concern over the exclusion of Israeli, Jewish and openly Zionist voices from cultural spaces since the Oct. 7 massacre.

A recent Anti-Defamation League report documented dozens of cases across the United States involving Jewish, Israeli or openly Zionist artists facing protests, disruptions, cancellations or other forms of exclusion.

Among the cases highlighted by the ADL were canceled appearances by Jewish and Israeli performers and artists who said they lost opportunities because of their Israeli identity or Zionist views.

At the same time, outspoken pro-Palestinian activism has become increasingly prominent in the entertainment industry. More than 1,800 actors, producers and other entertainment figures signed a pledge in 2025 to boycott Israeli film institutions they accused of complicity in “genocide and apartheid.” Signatories included Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton and Olivia Colman.

At Britain’s Glastonbury Festival that same year, punk duo Bob Vylan led a crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF” during a performance that was livestreamed by the BBC, prompting widespread condemnation and a police investigation.

Ragen argued that her experience illustrates a cultural double standard in which support for Israel can make Jewish artists professionally radioactive in spaces where strident anti-Israel activism has become increasingly visible.

“For those who say: ‘Well Naomi Ragen is a known Zionist, right winger who supports Bibi, so it was just a bad choice,’ I say this: Yes, absolutely guilty,” Ragen wrote. “I’m a fervid Zionist, an Orthodox Jew and a fighter for women’s rights, which is what my play, Women’s Minyan, is all about.”

“Who I support politically is no one’s business, unless we want a return to McCarthyism,” she continued. “And silly me, I thought all the ‘progressives’ were against Red Baiting McCarthyism. Apparently not. Now artists have to pass political correctness tests. Again.”

Ragen warned that allowing fear of anti-Israel backlash to determine which Jewish artists can be heard risks pushing Zionist Jews out of American cultural life.

“Allowing the ‘Free Palestine’ mob to run amok and threaten American cultural institutions to toe the line, is to sink back into what happened in Germany in 1938 and in Communist Russia,” she wrote.

But rather than attacking the Jewish organization that canceled her play, Ragen urged supporters to strengthen institutions like Ars Judaica so they can withstand such pressure.

“It’s not personal,” Ragen wrote. “If you want to live in a free country not overrun by Fascists, Brown Shirts, and Antisemites, now is the time to stand up and support people like Elayne and organizations like Ars Judaica.”

“Give them the financial and moral support to be brave, to overcome pressures,” she continued. “Shelter them. Embrace them. Be a living barrier for them against those who would take over the arts and close the door to Zionist Jews.”

Ragen called for Jewish communities and their allies to ensure that Zionist writers, actors, musicians and other artists are not driven from cultural spaces because of their support for Israel.

“Invite as many Zionist Jews as you can to show their work, to produce their plays, to sing their songs, to tell their jokes, to present their music,” she wrote. “Invest in them. Buy the tickets.”

For Ragen, the cancellation of a handful of performances of Women’s Minyan is therefore symptomatic of something much larger.

“This is a living problem for living people,” she wrote. “Don’t keep sitting buckled into your seats. Get up. Rush the cockpit, because if you don’t show courage and protect your own, the plane is going down.”

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Three years later, as 6:29 a.m. approached, Israelis in Tel Aviv blared horns and dyed a fountain red in memory of the 1,200 victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

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The Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Antisemitism Research Center found that the first conspiracy theories were posted just 67 minutes after the plane sent its first distress signal.

By Ruth Eglash, JTA

A young girl steps out of the bathroom on a flight and glimpses a bloody scene unfolding in the cockpit: the co-pilot is attacking the pilot with an axe. She screams for help.

A handful of unarmed passengers, still tanned from their vacations in Thailand, rushes by her, successfully grabbing the control wheel as the plane plunges 17,000 feet.

They also manage to save the life of the bloodied pilot.

It sounds like the climactic scene from a high-stakes action movie, yet by now most people know that this is what happened last week on a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai jet.

Or did it happen? It is so fantastical that maybe it is just a fabricated story or an event staged by Israel’s Mossad?

That is what millions of people on social media seem to be suggesting in online posts.

Even after nonstop media interviews with the hero pilot or with the ordinary passengers who took control of the plane, conspiracy theories about the attempted hijacking are swirling.

Some mockingly insist the event never happened. Others say it was a false flag operation. And many of the comments invoke deep-rooted antisemitic tropes.

Some accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of staging the incident for political survival or to divert attention from the war in Gaza.

Others say it was an attempt by Israel to play the victim or garner global sympathy.

“Brought to you by Bibiwood Productions,” wrote one person commenting on a CNN report posted on Facebook.

“Just stop already,” wrote another person beneath CBS’s clip of interviews with the men who fought the rogue co-pilot posted to Instagram.

“It’s seriously embarrassing at this point. We didn’t believe it when the news broke; we didn’t believe it the first time you aired this interview. Reposting clips will not convince anyone with half a brain.”

“Bulls–t,” wrote another person.

Monitoring online responses as the attempted hijacking was unfolding last Wednesday, the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Antisemitism Research Center found that the first conspiracy theories were posted just 67 minutes after the plane sent its first distress signal.

Within five hours, the ARC documented 1,000 hostile posts, and after 12 hours, 2,963 posts. The posts generated at least 30,000 likes and more than 3 million views.

“The fact is that internet companies have promoted a much more open free-speech policy these days, especially on Instagram and X,” said Sacha Roytman, CAM’s Chief Executive Officer, adding that it’s not just the posts that are problematic but also the comments they generate.

“They [the social media platforms] don’t control information anymore; they don’t want to control it,” he said.

Roytman added that another factor is that agitators – likely from Russia or Qatar – have learned how to build an effective bot network to spread misinformation. When the first post appeared after only 67 minutes, he said, “we knew it was not a human posting because no one cares to go online and start posting [that fast].”

“They were activated extremely fast and set up the stage to create an environment that’s toxic enough for other users to be inspired to find the stories they need to build their own claims,” Roytman said.

Amit Cohen, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and an expert in cyberattacks and digital fraud, said that during such events, “there is often a gap between what the public wants to know and the amount of verified information available at that moment.

“That is exactly the kind of environment in which rumors and conspiracy theories can develop very quickly,” she said.

“In this case, claims appeared online within a short period of time suggesting that the event did not happen as reported, that the videos were fake, or that the incident was staged or a false flag.

“Posts like these are not necessarily the original source of the conspiracy theory,” she said, “but they can function as ignition points.”

Cohen said it was important to distinguish between those who “deliberately create disinformation and those who spread it.”

“Someone may share misleading content simply because it fits what they already believe, because it provokes a strong emotional reaction, or even because it seems interesting or ‘worth looking into,’” she said.

“They do not need to know where the message originated, and they certainly do not need to be part of any coordinated campaign.”

Gal Yavetz, a senior lecturer of Artificial Intelligence at Bar-Ilan University, said the flydubai story was so incredible, it left many people “looking for answers.”

“Inevitably, some people will accept more natural explanations, and others, who are more extreme, will go and blame the Jews for it,” Yavetz said, pointing out that similar conspiracy theories arose over the summer when thousands of Moroccan nationals flooded Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta in July.

“Every time there is something that we can’t really understand, that we can’t really explain, we blame the usual suspects — the Jews, the Jews who control the world, the Jews who are the natural scapegoat,” he said, adding that since the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly Hamas raids in Israel, conspiracy theories have become commonplace and all it takes is for a handful of people to start questioning the veracity of the events.

Posts by Egyptian-born, LA-based political satirist Bassem Youssef, known for his controversial comments about Israel and Jews, are a good example. In a series of videos, he mocks the flydubai event and raises suspicions about what really happened.

In one clip posted on X and viewed 64,000 times, Youssef, whose career was supercharged in 2012 when he was boosted by Jewish comedian Jon Stewart, even terms it a “Hollywood movie,” drawing on what critics say are familiar antisemitic conspiracy tropes about Jewish control of Hollywood and, by extension, the world.

“I wish it was chatbots, but the truth of the matter is that social media is a breeding ground for this kind of discourse,” said Yavetz, who specializes in social media, political communication and the spread of misinformation and disinformation online.

“They are definitely helping to spread and to reshare most of this misinformation and disinformation, but we know from previous studies that it is really just a negligible number compared to just regular people who are going to the more extreme sides and just taking their own outrageous opinions to social media just because it is now so easy to do so,” he said.

“You don’t really need to do much; you just need to make sure that you can stand behind your claims, and all of a sudden an outrageous post will have 1,000 likes, then 10,000 likes, and these comments are just circulating again and again, going from Facebook to WhatsApp to Messenger and back to Twitter with screenshots and back to Instagram… It’s a flood that you can’t really stop by taking out an umbrella,” Yavetz said.

INSS’s Cohen, who is also a national security expert with the Dvorah Forum, a group that promotes women’s voices in foreign policy, said that “conspiracy theories are not new, but the digital environment has changed their speed, scale, and the ability to obscure where a message originally came from.”

She explained that “in the past, there were more intermediaries between the person producing information and a large audience. Today, a single account can post a claim and reach very large audiences within a very short time.”

And, Cohen added, AI has made the problem worse.

“Mainly because it has dramatically reduced the time, cost, and skill required to create convincing content,” she said.

It has also made it harder for people to believe what appears on their screens.

“The problem is no longer only that AI can create fake content that looks real. It also makes it easier to dismiss real content by claiming that it is fake,” said Cohen.

“Once the public knows that convincing images, audio, and video can be artificially generated, the existence of visual evidence no longer necessarily ends the debate.”

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A prominent pro-Palestinian activist and critic of Israel, Hassan was previously questioned by French authorities after describing the Oct. 7 attack as “legitimate.”

By Shula Rosen

French MEP François-Xavier Bellamy accused fellow lawmaker Rima Hassan of knocking Israeli and European Union flags to the floor at the European Parliament during a commemoration of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and called for her to face immediate sanctions.

The flags had been displayed outside the Parliament’s hemicycle alongside photographs of victims of the October 7, 2023, attack, according to Le Figaro.

Images circulated on social media later showed both flags on the corridor floor, still attached to their stands.

Bellamy, an LR lawmaker, raised the incident Monday during a formal address in the chamber.

A prominent pro-Palestinian activist and critic of Israel, Hassan was previously questioned by French authorities after describing the Oct. 7 attack as “legitimate.”

Sources close to the MEP said eyewitness accounts and Parliament CCTV footage corroborated his version of events.

“Tonight, on the occasion of a commemoration of Oct. 7, in front of the photos of the victims, @RimaHas threw the European flag and the Israeli flag to the ground. The message is perfectly clear. The condemnation must be as well,” Bellamy wrote on X.

He described the alleged act as an “indignity” and said it amounted to “complicity with those who seek to import anti-Semitic hatred again.”

Bellamy urged the European Parliament’s presidency to impose sanctions.

European lawmakers Nathalie Loiseau and Pina Picierno also criticized Hassan over the alleged incident.

Hassan, a French-Palestinian activist and member of the left-wing France Unbowed party, was elected to the European Parliament in 2024.

She had not publicly responded to the allegations as of late Monday, according to Le Figaro.

Dozens of French lawmakers have sought to have her parliamentary immunity lifted.

About 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and about 250 people were taken hostage. The European Union designates Hamas a terrorist organization.

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The demonstrations come two days after the far-left Green Party approved a resolution defining Zionism as racism.

By Shula Rosen

London’s Metropolitan Police will allow pro-Hamas demonstrations to proceed Wednesday, marking on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, despite “serious concerns” about potential unrest and the impact on Jewish students and faculty members.

The protests were requested by pro-Palestinian organizations for the anniversary of the Hamas attack, in which terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Police said they lack the authority to prohibit the demonstrations under the circumstances and could seek a ban from the Home Secretary only if officers determined that the threat of serious disorder could not otherwise be controlled.

“We do not have the power to ban protests, and we can only ask the Home Secretary to do so if the risk of serious disorder is so high that it cannot be managed through the imposition of conditions. That is not the case here.”

Senior Metropolitan Police officer James Harman nevertheless said during a briefing at Scotland Yard that “serious concerns” had been raised about the demonstrations, citing both their timing and the proposed route between major academic institutions in the British capital.

Harman said particular concern centered on the potential effect on students and faculty members, especially Jews. Police have publicly urged organizers to alter their plans.

Efforts by officers to discuss the event with those behind it have also encountered difficulties, Harman said. Police have struggled to identify an organizer willing to assume formal responsibility for the demonstration.

The Labour government has registered no opposition to the protests being held.

The demonstrations come two days after the far-left Green Party approved a resolution defining Zionism as racism.

The measure passed by a vote of 1,022 in favor to 813 against, establishing an explicitly anti-Zionist position.

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The planned embassy move would make the Democratic Republic of the Congo the 11th country to maintain a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.

By Shula Rosen

Israel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are moving ahead with plans to establish embassies in each other’s capitals, with Israel preparing a new mission in Kinshasa and Congo expected to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The planned embassy move would make the Democratic Republic of the Congo the 11th country to maintain a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem. No date has been announced for the relocation.

The embassy plans stem from a September 1, 2026, meeting in Jerusalem between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi.

The leaders agreed that their governments would continue discussions on implementing both moves.

Their joint declaration called for consultations “with a view to the opening of a resident embassy of the State of Israel in Kinshasa and the transfer of the embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

Israel has since begun putting its Kinshasa mission in place.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday approved its establishment and chose career diplomat Kobi Shoshani to serve as resident ambassador.

Shoshani previously served as Israel’s consul general in Mumbai and has held other diplomatic posts.

Sa’ar has also discussed the reciprocal arrangements with Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner.

“We will advance the relocation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s embassy to Jerusalem,” Sa’ar said, adding that the process would proceed alongside the opening of an Israeli embassy in Kinshasa.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon linked Tshisekedi’s decision to views the Congolese leader expressed years earlier.

Danon said Tshisekedi had spoken of his “deep personal connection to Jerusalem” more than a decade ago and was now “turning that vision into reality.”

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