Monday, October 06, 2025
Memoirs of a Mossad Mastermind
REVIEW: ‘The Sword of Freedom: Israel, Mossad, and the Secret War’ by Yossi CohenCampus feminists have rebranded rape as ‘resistance’
"People with no fantasy," the late Israeli politician Shimon Peres once observed, "cannot create the extraordinary." The Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, has become legendary for its extraordinary feats, some of which could be pulled from a James Bond novel. But as Yossi Cohen reveals in his new book, The Sword of Freedom: Israel, Mossad, and the Secret War, the agency’s stunning capabilities are the result of Israel’s unique place in the world.
The Mossad is uniquely capable because it has to be, Cohen notes. "We have the ultimate incentive to prevail, because our struggle is existential," he writes. And Cohen knows of which he speaks—he had a front row seat for events that shaped the region.
After a stint in the Israel Defense Forces, Cohen spent decades as a Mossad operative before he was chosen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to serve as his national security adviser. In 2016, Cohen was appointed to lead the Mossad. During his nearly five-year tenure, Cohen oversaw the agency’s operation to steal Iran’s nuclear archive and served as one of the chief negotiators for the Abraham Accords.
Memoirs written by former spies—especially top spies—are seldom revealing. In fact, they shouldn’t be. Readers looking for a "tell all" book, divulging precious secrets and tradecraft, should look elsewhere. No former public servant worth his salt would write one anyways. Accordingly, Cohen is exceedingly careful in recounting his exploits and experience. He also largely refrains from partisan sniping and score-settling—no small feat in today’s hyper-partisan age, let alone in the maelstrom that is Israeli politics.
Yet this isn’t a dull book. Far from it.
Cohen’s account of the operation to retrieve Iran’s so-called nuclear archive is worth the price of admission alone. For decades, the Islamic Republic had been developing a nuclear weapons program. In 2015, the United States and others agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran Deal, which sought to curtail Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Jerusalem suspected perfidy but required proof. Enter the Mossad.
A glance at the Feminist Library’s ‘statements’ page reveals that it rather likes making them. Its social-justice catalogue is not just limited to support for ‘Palestinian resistance’ – it also includes the entire range of middle-class left causes, from transgenderism to immigration. It remains rather silent on anti-Semitism, however – which is curious considering Goldsmiths admits it has an anti-Semitism problem, for which it has apologised. Due to the pro-Palestine ‘occupation’ of campus last academic year, members of Goldsmiths’ Jewish Society were too afraid to hold any events and effectively had to disband the society. With graffiti across campus featuring swastikas and the phrase ‘gas the Jews’, it’s not difficult to see why. An independent inquiry into anti-Semitism at Goldsmiths published in May provides a damning indictment of the prevalent campus culture.It’s time to hold the media to account
Goldsmiths is not the only university whose best and brightest will this week don their keffiyehs on the anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Not a week after the Yom Kippur terror attack on a Manchester synagogue, students from Queen Mary, King’s College London, Strathclyde and Sheffield will partake in pro-Palestine rallies, marches and lectures.
It seems we are now seeing the culmination of years of ideological capture – and the results are sick-making. Students now issue calls to ‘globalise the intifada’, celebrate ‘Palestinian resistance’ on the anniversary of Hamas’s atrocities in Israel, and suggest that rape is sometimes, in some places, just a teensy bit justified.
In a statement issued after the Southport stabbings last year, the Feminist Library claimed that ‘we understand how fascists use faux concern for the “safety of women and girls” as cover for white-supremacist violence’. Perhaps it’s this faux anti-fascism that salves the conscience of these putative feminists as they turn a blind eye to the hundreds of women who, on 7 October 2023, were hunted, tortured and sexually humiliated, before being thrown into the backs of vans like cattle. One victim was raped by a Hamas militant who then passed her on to a friend. Together they sliced off her breast, threw it into the street and played with it. Another militant then raped her again, shooting her in the head as he ejaculated. This is the ‘resistance’ the Feminist Library and others will be proudly ‘remembering’ tomorrow.
Of course, It’s not just these student pseudo-radicals refusing to look barbarism in the face. It took the United Nations almost two years to concede, in the face of overwhelming evidence, that extensive sexual violence took place on 7 October. In the meantime, UN Women – supposedly the leading global body for ‘women’s empowerment’ – focussed all of its energies on pandering to Western men with pronoun confusion.
It was Maya Angelou who said ‘when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time’. How many times, I wonder, can feminists excuse the rape of Israeli women before they cease to be feminists? How many times do our compatriots have to dance on Jewish graves before we believe they mean it?
The public has a right and a need to know that a dangerous fraud is being perpetrated upon it. Just as the government has required tobacco and alcohol companies to place warning labels regarding the potential harm their products may cause, the public should be informed about the dangers of misinformation from news sources that claim to be trustworthy but that have chosen to present jihadi propaganda as facts.
Consumers have a right to know what product they are purchasing, and when a product is misrepresented, consumers in a democracy have recourse through government entities like the Consumer Protection Agency or Better Business Bureau. They can also turn to the courts for redress. This, however, is no ordinary consumer matter. Issues of free speech play heavily against government intervention here. Who’s to say what’s propaganda and not just an alternative narrative? Who’s to prioritize “factual” over “narrative” journalism? Given the partisan ferocity currently prevalent, surely not the government.
On the other hand, this issue is unprecedented in the history of democracies and their foundational free press: the Fourth Estate. Our current “free press” consistently purveys the war propaganda of a movement profoundly hostile to any form of press freedom and joins them in their attack on the only participant in this regional conflict with a free press. Who could imagine that our news media would align their narrative with a jihadi propaganda campaign promoting a political culture that has eliminated any trace of a free press?
As we have painfully learned over the last 250 years of democracy, rights come with responsibilities. In order to claim the mantle of professional journalism, our “free” press needs to observe professional standards of scrutiny that their current approach systemically violates. At no time in the history of modern journalism has this happened on such a scale and for so long.
We have witnessed a devolution from professional war journalism to wildly unprofessional own-goal war journalism—from providing an honest check on the three branches of government to running enemy war propaganda as news, and from Fourth Estate to Fifth Column. How do we bring this startling inversion of the profession and the news it produces to the fore? How do we assess the danger to a free press that their advocacy constitutes? How do we counter so perverse a trend?
Congress not only has a role to play; it has a responsibility to bring this dangerous and shocking scandal to the attention of the American public. It is time to hold congressional hearings and hold the purveyors of this hateful propaganda to account. Let consumers see how often our journalists take staged footage, and edit and crop it to make it more believable. Let them see things the pack media won’t cover, like the shocking genocidal hate speech that pervades the Palestinian public sphere. And then let the heads of our news agencies explain why they consider these items unfit to print while simultaneously reporting Hamas lies.
We are calling for accountability—for light to be shed on a suicidal brand of journalism that any sane audience, exposed to their folly, can and will reject of their own volition. Let this suicidal, advocacy news media be exposed for their impersonation of journalism. And let the viewing public—the American consumer—choose whether they wish to ingest the poisonous and deeply unprofessional fare our current news media have to offer, or look for other, more honest and accurate sources to understand our current troubling times.
Eli Sharabi: A Hero Of Israel And The Jewish People
Sharabi grew up in a traditional Jewish home but describes his lifestyle as secular (non-religious). His family would enjoy Shabbat meals, "it was more traditional than a religious observance" he says. Nevertheless, he recounts faith as being something that helped him survive his ordeal.Eli Sharabi’s memoir, the first by a freed Hamas hostage, is coming out in English
“From the moment my captors pushed me into their car, I instinctively began reciting Shema Yisrael.”
The Shema prayer is the final words a Jew says before death; millions of Jewish martyrs recited this before being killed in the death camps of the holocaust.
The Shema prayer is the central declaration of Jewish faith, a pledge of allegiance to G-d's sovereignty and singular nature. Sharabi says that “for 491 days I never stopped saying it.”
There were four of us in captivity together, and they would recite the morning prayers as part of their daily routine. It helped “keep us sane and maintained our connection to Israel and Judaism. Even fifty meters underground, you want to feel connected."
“We all looked forward to Friday nights. I would recite Eishet Chayil, which I know by heart – saying it for my mother, my sisters, my wife – and I would become emotional.”
The Eishet Chayil poem is traditionally sung on Friday night before the Shabbat meal with the head of the household singing it to honor the women of the home, and as a tribute to the concept of the Shekhina, the feminine Divine Presence.
On Friday nights before the meal we make a blessing (called kiddush) over a cup of wine. Sharabi recounts that in the tunnels, “we would make kiddush over water because what else could we do.”
On Friday night after a blessing is made over wine, we make a blessing over bread. “We saved a quarter of a pita to say hamotzi (blessing over bread),” Sharabi recounts.
A prayer called Havdalah is said to mark the end of the Sabbath; Sharabi recounts singing Havdalah songs along with the other hostages to mark the end of the holy Shabbat.
His Hamas captors offered him and the other hostages additional food if they would recite verses from the Quran but they refused. He describes it as “a victory of the spirit, a small triumph” over his captors.
Most people in Sharabi’s situation would (justifiably have reason to) curl up into a deep depression, but he's chosen to travel the world to try and uplift others, and tell the people he meets with, “within any darkness – whether it’s captivity, divorce, or other situations involving pain and suffering – you must find sparks of light and optimism.”
“You must believe you can emerge from these situations and remember that there are people in your life who care about you.
“Life contains so much light – we have to choose to focus on it.”
In addition to being an uplifting force and providing strength to others, he's been an advocate for the hostages who remain in captivity. He spoke before the UN Security Council, and say it is “definitely not a friendly place for Israel and the Jewish people.”
When he met with the British Foreign Minister, he told him, “even if you don’t like Israel, my daughters and wife held British passports when they were murdered.”
He explained that the West does not understand Islamism and jihad and recounted what his captors told him, “When we finish with you in Israel, we will go to France, to England, to the USA. The whole world will be Islamic.”
When asked about his family life he recalls that “all we wanted was to live a quiet life, to raise our family in the open fields of Be’eri, living on a kibbutz with friends. The girls were so happy there. Lianne chose to leave England and move to Be’eri. We had such a wonderful family life there.
Sharabi’s positivity is beyond comprehension, “I feel lucky. Lucky to be alive. Lucky to be free.” “The ability to open a refrigerator and choose what to eat and drink. To walk without chains on my legs.
I’m lucky I spent twenty-nine years with my wife and had our wonderful daughters.”
Eli Sharabi spent 16 months in filthy tunnels under the Gaza Strip with his legs chained, surviving on moldy pita. Two years after the Hamas onslaught that started the war in Gaza, he fears a fellow hostage he came to think of as an adopted son is enduring even worse.Erin Molan: Hostage Eli Sharabi BREAKS DOWN Crying Remembering His Wife & Daughters 💔
Israel has battered its enemies across the region and devastated Gaza. But as it marks another grim war anniversary on Tuesday, terror groups in the Strip continue to hold 48 hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. A new US-backed peace plan has raised hopes of bringing them home.
Sharabi, 53, was freed in February, after 491 days of captivity. It was only then that he learned that his wife and two teenage daughters had been killed in their home by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023, during the thousands-strong invasion, massacre and mass kidnapping that started the ongoing war.
Sharabi says there can be no closure for him until the return of all the hostages, including his closest companion in captivity, Alon Ohel, and the body of his older brother, Yossi.
Sharabi documented his experiences in “Hostage,” a book released in Hebrew earlier this year, which instantly became a bestseller. The English translation of the first memoir by a former hostage comes out on Tuesday, October 7. (Order it here.)
In the book, Sharabi describes how he was mostly held in dark tunnels crawling with insects and rats. He and three fellow hostages were only allowed to wash every few months, and at one point an angry guard beat him up, breaking several ribs.
The only time they surfaced was when they were transferred through rubble-strewn streets from one tunnel to another.
“The most difficult thing was, of course, the starvation,” Sharabi said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s something you can’t really imagine, how hungry you can be.”
As the war wore on, the hostages went from two meals a day to one — usually moldy pita bread. Sharabi said his captors ate “like kings,” gleefully going through boxes of humanitarian aid intended for civilians.
He weighed just 44 kilograms (97 pounds) when he was freed. US President Donald Trump said he and the other two hostages released alongside him “looked like Holocaust survivors.”
Episode 25 of The Erin Molan Show features one of the most powerful and heartbreaking interviews yet.
Erin speaks with Eli Sharabi, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and held hostage in Gaza for 491 days. During his captivity, he was deceived into believing his wife and two daughters were still alive — only to learn after his release that they had been murdered moments after his abduction.
His story — now told in his new book “Hostage” — is one of unimaginable loss, strength, and survival.
But before this emotional conversation, Erin dives into the week’s headlines with her trademark sharp wit and moral clarity:
🗞️ HEADLINES SEGMENTS:
02:07 🇺🇸 Donald Trump’s Navy Birthday Speech — hilarious, patriotic, and deeply telling about leadership.
04:00 ⚓ China’s Military Power — Erin breaks down reports on China’s navy vs. the U.S.
06:44 Trump’s “8th Conflict” Peace Talks — what’s really happening in Gaza and Egypt.
07:56 💬 Marco Rubio’s Stand on Palestinian Statehood — Erin praises his clarity and calls out the hypocrisy of Tucker & JD Vance.
11:44 🔥 Megyn Kelly’s Hypocrisy — Erin’s unfiltered take on selective outrage and media double standards.
16:08 🇬🇧 Terror in the UK — Erin reacts to the horrific Manchester synagogue attack and the dangerous appeasement of radical jihadism.
18:55 Tommy Robinson invited to Israel - Erin's take.
21:30 🎬 Hollywood’s Tone-Deaf Activism — Jenna Ortega’s comments on “the people of Palestine” spark Erin’s raw reaction.
23:35 Eli Sharabi Interview
51:23 Fan Feedback
Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 48: Two years to October 7
The two-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre falls on the joyous holiday of Sukkot. The Hebrew calendar anniversary will fall on the holiday of Simchat Torah, literally "the Joy of Torah."
How do we deal with the juxtaposition of these painful anniversaries, of wounds and anxieties and pain that are very much still with us, and the demand to be happy, to celebrate - or even just to try to find release from the pain?
The sages of the Talmud, who lived through great and abiding traumas of their own, show us how.
Jake Wallis Simons: October 7 2025: Britain believes bullshit
A recent study found that British Muslims were more likely to have a positive than a negative view of Hamas; only one in four British Muslims believed that Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7; and almost half of British Muslims believed that Jews had too much power over government policy. Many of them, in fact, agree with Faraj al-Shamie, the father of Jihad, whose filthy Facebook page has been under the spotlight recently. This all speaks of the influence of the Brotherhood in Britain. The conclusion of the Jenkins-Farr report could not have been clearer. “Aspects of Muslim Brotherhood ideology and tactics, in this country and overseas, are contrary to our values and have been contrary to our national interests and our national security.” That was a decade ago. Yet the organisation operates freely in this country today. Nigel Farage, who called my book “a compelling and timely call to fight for our Western values”, has recently vowed to ban the Brotherhood were he to become prime minister. More power to his elbow. But why has it not been done already? Truly, we are beckoning our own demise. While Israel is locked in an existential struggle with the Brotherhood’s militant wing, and while it is booted out of Egypt, Jordan, UAE and elsewhere, we have given it a safe haven in Britain. But diversity, amirite? The clock stands at two minutes to midnight. Not only are we thinking what our enemies want us to think, we are doing what they want us to do. As the second anniversary of October 7 dawns tomorrow, we must stand up before it is too late – for all of us, not just the Jews.Call me Back Podcast: 2 Years Since October 7 - with Sam Harris
As Gaza war hits two-year mark, former Israeli hostage recalls Hamas torment
When Tal Shoham walks through Kibbutz Be'eri in southern Israel, where he and his family were abducted by Hamas militants during the October 7, 2023, attack, he says it feels like a massive graveyard pervaded by the horror of that day's events.Father of Arab East Jerusalemite murdered on Oct. 7 still can’t believe it happened
He is nostalgic about the old days before the attack and highly pessimistic about the future, despite US President Donald Trump's pressure on Israel and Hamas to strike a deal under his plan to end the Gaza war.
The plan has stirred hopes around the region that the conflict may be coming to an end, two years after the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel that started it.
"All this neighborhood that once was so peaceful and beautiful, you know, all destroyed. It's like the evil things that they did here, that the terrorists did here, is like covering everything here," Shoham said.
Shoham spent 505 days in captivity in Gaza, a period he recalls for the cruelty of his Hamas captors and the resilience of fellow Israeli hostages still being held by the terrorists. He was released during a truce in February this year.
Tal Shoham says he has difficulty seeing peace with Gaza
He and his wife, Adi, and their two children were grabbed by Hamas gunmen during the bloodiest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Hamas terrorists overwhelmed border defences with a surprise assault, and dragged him and 250 other hostages back into Gaza in violence that shattered Israel's image as an invincible military power.
Shoham can see little prospect of long-term peace even after Israel mounted devastating attacks on Iran's leadership and its regional allies, Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, and armed groups in Syria.
During his ordeal, Shoham concluded that anti-Israeli feelings run so deep that there is no chance for coexistence.
"After I saw the magnitude of hatred that they grew up upon and they are growing their children upon, it's really clear that at least in our generation it won't be possible," he said.
In Mohammed Razeem’s home in East Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood, the presence of his son, Suhaib, fills the house. With photographs on tables, on the walls, Suhaib’s living memory is everywhere — even as the events of his killing on October 7, 2023, are not spoken of.NY to light 15 sites yellow, flags at half mast for Oct. 7
Suhaib, who worked as a shuttle driver, was supposed to take festivalgoers home from the Nova rave on that Saturday morning two years ago.
Instead, he was abducted by Hamas terrorists who attacked the festival and was taken to the home of Pessi Cohen in Kibbutz Be’eri, where the gunmen were holed up with 14 living hostages and one dead. After a clash between the terrorists and IDF forces, most of the living hostages, including Suhaib, were killed.
Until now, Razeem, 66, has never spoken publicly about what happened.
In an interview with The Times of Israel in the family home where Suhaib lived until his murder, the loss is palpable. Yet even Suhaib’s siblings, Razeem noted, have rarely spoken to the press.
There is particular sensitivity in Suhaib’s case. He was an East Jerusalemite, an Arab Muslim, murdered by Hamas terrorists in an attack aimed at Jews and Israelis in a self-proclaimed act of Palestinian nationalist resistance.
Flags on New York state buildings will fly at half-mast, and some 15 sites will be lit yellow from sunrise to sunset on Tuesday to mark the two-year anniversary of Oct. 7, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday.‘Almost as ugly today as two years ago,’ Huckabee says at kibbutz attacked on Oct. 7
“Two years after the horrific attack on the people of Israel, we stand with Jewish people in New York and around the world today and every day, and remember the victims of that tragic day and those still held hostage today,” the Democratic governor stated.
“As the home of the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, we mourn this tragedy and continue to pray for the safe return of the remaining hostages, an end to the war and a lasting peace, Hochul said.
Among 15 sites that will be lit in yellow “in solidarity with Israel and the 48 remaining hostages who have not been returned home” are Empire State Plaza, One World Trade Center, Niagara Falls, Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan and several bridges and state education buildings and Albany International Airport Gateway, per the governor’s office.
Hochul’s office also said it was increasing state police patrols “at religious sites” and initiated “outreach to Jewish communities statewide” after the “horrific” antisemitic attack at a Manchester, England synagogue on Yom Kippur. The governor’s office said that she was doing so “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Heightened uniformed patrols remain in place this week, and the state counter terrorism intelligence unit and special operations teams will be fully engaged,” the governor’s office said.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Monday, nearly two years after he saw the site following the Hamas-led attack there on Oct. 7, 2023.
“It’s almost as ugly today as it was two years ago when there was still blood streaming from every wall and every house,” he stated, noting that the kibbutz once housed some 1,000 people.
“Now unfortunately, no one lives here, because they can’t,” he said. “What happened on Oct. 7 was a cruel, vicious, blood-curdling atrocity, in which children, young families were viciously massacred, mutilated and humiliated by the acts of the savages of Hamas.”
The terror group carried out “some of the most evil acts of human history” with a degree of “glee and pride that is unimaginable,” the envoy said.
Huckabee stated in a separate post on Monday that Hamas’s “heinous attack was part of its genocidal goal to destroy Israel and murder Jews in Israel and around the world.”
“Since that day, 1,152 courageous Israeli soldiers and security personnel, including U.S. citizens, have fallen as Israel has fought a multi-front war of survival,” the envoy and Baptist minister stated. “May Oct. 7, 2023, forever remind us that evil and antisemitism are not mere metaphors but brutal realities that God and holy scripture enjoin us to combat with all our might.”
U.S. Jewish groups and elected officials also issued statements ahead of the two-year anniversary of Oct. 7.
It was two years ago on Saturday, October 7, 2023 during Shabbat and on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah when Iran-backed Hamas terrorists perpetrated the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Hamas shattered a peaceful morning by massacring 1200…
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@USAmbIsrael) October 6, 2025
We remember October 7. pic.twitter.com/jqTfcHhXNy
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@USAmbIsrael) October 6, 2025
My October 7th Message! @realDonaldTrump @AGPamBondi pic.twitter.com/Bo09KmVIRb
— LeoTerrell (@TheLeoTerrell) October 6, 2025
Two years after his sister May was murdered on October 7, Tal Naim scored his first senior-league goal - just days before the anniversary - and dedicated it to her, lifting a shirt with her photo through tears pic.twitter.com/pSoX6Nam8U
— raz sauber - רז זאובר (@raz_sauber_) October 5, 2025
BREAKING
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 6, 2025
The UK blocks a new page launched by the Israeli authorities in connection with the 2nd anniversary of the October 7th Massacre
The page documents the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas that dayhttps://t.co/R6RZqDzdTO was blocked by the UK National Cyber Security Centre pic.twitter.com/UIO3RpIKEZ
Qatar, Under Pressure From Trump, Pushes Al Jazeera To Curb 'Incitement' to Terror: Report
Qatar, facing pressure from President Donald Trump, has pushed its Hamas-linked news outlet Al Jazeera to reduce "incitement" to terror throughout the Middle East, according to a Monday report.
"What’s going on at Al Jazeera? If you go onto its website, you’ll see relatively mild news items, as opposed to the incitement that is usually prominent on the Qatari propaganda network," Israel's Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal reported in an X post. Segal went on to cite his colleague Ehud Yaari, who said Qatar is "carrying out a purge" at Al Jazeera and that the network has started to focus more on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, "instead of praising and boasting about the actions of Hamas’ military wing."
Al Jazeera’s shift, Yaari noted, is "apparently part of understandings between [Qatar] and the United States, under which Al Jazeera will reduce the amount of incitement it spreads throughout the Middle East."
The news comes as Israeli, Hamas, and U.S. negotiators are meeting in Egypt to finalize Trump’s peace plan. Shortly after Trump issued an ultimatum on Friday, Hamas agreed to release all Israeli hostages, though the terror group made no mention of disarmament. Trump has urged negotiators to "MOVE FAST" and said that Hamas faces "obliteration" should it refuse to give up power in Gaza.
Hamas and Al Jazeera officials in a recent call agreed that "Trump and Netanyahu forced the Qataris to change direction," an intelligence official told Segal. "Hamas is very unhappy with the changes at Al Jazeera," the official noted.
The Qatari state-owned outlet has long faced scrutiny for spreading anti-Israel propaganda and inflaming tensions throughout the Middle East. "Al Jazeera is not a news organization, it is a mouthpiece for terrorists like Hamas," Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) told the Washington Free Beacon last month.
How Qatar Is Buying America https://t.co/2pSpOc4ISW
— Nima Yamini (@NimaYamini) October 5, 2025
If President Trump has been able to reduce the incitement and poisons Al Jazeera spreads throughout the Middle East and the world, that will be a huge step forward for peace. https://t.co/kqxCfiL4OO
— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) October 6, 2025
Qatar can "soften" Al Jazeera's coverage of Israel all it wants, but we will never forgive them for airing an SNL-style musical skit of the October 7th massacre pic.twitter.com/yIdErA88la https://t.co/UCWZakMSr7
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 6, 2025
It's no wonder that @hmmm1983, Qatar's Deputy Ambassador to the U.S., would lie about his country's FARA activity.
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 6, 2025
After all, he's a paid subscriber to only one account on X. And it's just about the biggest liar on the platform. https://t.co/ViWCGJBLwK pic.twitter.com/jHJufWGh9y
Alright folks, looks like Deputy Qatari Ambassador to the U.S. @hmmm1983 has once again dipped after picking a fight.
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 6, 2025
I always knew the regime in Doha was evil. I just didn't know they were cowards too. https://t.co/ViWCGJBLwK
Merz: Germany should boycott Eurovision if Israel excluded
Germany should bow out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is excluded, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday, according to German newspaper Der Spiegel.‘Miss Israel’ decries ‘lies’ in Gaza war posts of ‘Miss Palestine’
“If Israel is excluded, I would support not taking part,” Merz told German talk show host Caren Miosga of public broadcaster ARD.
He said that a potential boycott of Israel is a “scandal” that should not be “discussed at all. Israel has a place there,” he added.
The Chancellor’s comments came amid announcements last month by Ireland and the Netherlands that they will not participate in the competition if Israel takes part.
Spain and Slovenia have joined in the threat to withdraw if Israel participates.
The European Broadcasting Union stated that a special deliberation will be held in November in which member countries will vote on whether to include Israel in the European contest.
“Miss Israel” Melanie Shiraz criticized a series of social-media posts on Sunday by “Miss Palestine” Nadeen Ayoub over the war against Hamas in Gaza, calling her out for what Shiraz said was the misuse of her public platform as a contestant in the international beauty contest.
The battle of the beauties broke out after the 27-year-old Ayoub, who has labeled the two-year-old war in Gaza a “genocide” and is scheduled to compete against Shiraz, 26, in the “Miss Universe” pageant next month, released a series of posts on social media about the war. One vastly inflated the Palestinian death toll in Gaza, another labels Masada and Jerusalem as “Palestine.”
According to the post shared by Ayoub, the death toll in Gaza is 680,000, more than 10 times the unverified figures cited by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
“There have been repeated posts amplifying fatality numbers so exaggerated they exceed even Hamas’s own inflated reports,” Shiraz said in a video released on Sunday. “This is not advocacy. This is fabrication.”
“With a large following and reach, she spreads lies so easily disproven that they corrode credibility,” she continued. “Worse, they shape the minds of impressionable young people, glorifying violence and pushing them toward conflict instead of peace.”
Another video Ayoub shared on her Instagram feed includes images of Israeli children murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, which, according to Shiraz, are subtly presented in a way that implies they were Palestinians.
The post includes a clip of children killed in the war, among them the Bibas children, Ariel, 4, and his baby brother Kfir, nine months old, who were murdered by their Palestinian abductors in Gaza, as well as 12-year-old Noya Dan, an autistic Israeli girl abducted from her home in a southern Israeli kibbutz with her 80-year-old grandmother and subsequently killed.
Melanie Shiraz, Miss Universe Israel, absolutely shreds "Miss Palestine" for presenting the Bibas children as 'Palestinian'.
— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) October 6, 2025
Please watch all of it.
Extremely important and well spoken. pic.twitter.com/du8c3ptgp9
Ex-Biden Officials Microtarget Dearborn in Facebook Ads Soliciting Funds for Anti-Israel Lobbying Effort
An anti-Israel group started by two federal officials who resigned from the Biden administration over U.S. support for Israel is soliciting residents of Dearborn, Mich., a hotbed of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas sentiment, to fund its "professional lobbying force" to pressure lawmakers to vote against laws protecting Israel and Jews.Vatican’s top diplomat says Israel carrying out ‘ongoing massacre’ in Gaza
A New Policy Inc., a group formed last year by former State Department official Josh Paul and former Department of Education official Tariq Habash, is soliciting donations through Facebook ads to fund its lobbying efforts to combat AIPAC—which it accuses of steering U.S. foreign policy to foment "endless conflict"—and change public perception of Israel's war against Hamas.
The group has spent $13,000 on 20 Facebook ads, many of them directed specifically to users in Dearborn, according to data provided by Facebook.
"AIPAC has lobbyists. We've had to rely on outrage," one ad states. Another accuses AIPAC of "weaponiz[ing] Jewish identity" to justify policies that "sustain occupation" of Gaza.
"For too long, America has neglected Palestinian freedom & equality," says another ad directed at Dearborn, featuring a Palestinian flag. "Join the movement for a new approach that centers human rights and advances OUR national interest!"
Habash, who served as a policy adviser at the Department of Education until January 2024, touted the group during a panel at ArabCon, a convention of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activists held last month in Dearborn.
"There are organizations like mine, A New Policy. If you don't know us, please you should know us," Habash said.
It's further indication that the anti-Israel movement sees Dearborn as the epicenter of its organizational activities. The city has the largest ratio of Muslim and Arab residents in the nation and has been dubbed "America's Jihad Capital" thanks to local community leaders, elected officials, and religious leaders who have promoted Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.
Chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" have been heard at rallies held in the city against Israel's war on Hamas. Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud attended a rally there last year where Arab-American community leader Osama Siblani hailed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as a "hero."
The Vatican’s top diplomat sharply criticized Israel’s “ongoing massacre” in Gaza in comments published on Monday — one of the Catholic Church’s strongest condemnations of Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group.Withdraw bill boycotting Israeli settlements, 23 Congress members urge Irish prime minister
In an interview tied to the second anniversary of Hamas’s massacre on southern communities on October 7, 2023, Cardinal Pietro Parolin also called the onslaught “inhuman and indefensible” and urged Hamas to free remaining hostages.
“Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves, but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality,” said Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and one of Pope Leo’s top deputies.
“The war waged by the Israeli army to eliminate Hamas militants disregards the fact that it is targeting a largely defenseless population, already pushed to the brink, in an area where buildings and homes are reduced to rubble,” he said.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
“It is … clear that the international community is, unfortunately, powerless and that the countries truly capable of exerting influence have so far failed to act to stop the ongoing massacre,” Parolin told the Vatican’s media outlet.
A group of 22 Republican and one Democrat House members penned a letter to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who leads the Irish government, decrying a bill that would boycott Israeli products from Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.Israel PT cycling team to drop ‘Israeli identity’ from brand after mass protests
“The proposed legislation represents a discriminatory move by Ireland to economically target Israel and demonize the world’s only Jewish state,” the members, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), wrote on Monday, the day before the second anniversary of Oct. 7.
The Irish bill “creates a blatant double standard toward the Jewish state by singling out Israel while ignoring other territorial disputes around the world” and is “an attempt to isolate Israel as a pariah,” the members of Congress wrote.
Resolution of local territorial disputes ought to come through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, “not by divisive, one-sided political theater from foreign parliaments,” the legislators stated.
The Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Act of 2025 would ban importing goods from Israeli settlements beyond the so-called Green Line. Irish business leaders have reportedly opposed the bill.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) led 15 other House Republicans in a letter to Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, in August, urging him to review whether Ireland’s potential boycott of goods from Judea and Samaria violates U.S. law.
The Irish government is preparing to lessen the scope of the boycott to a limited set of goods, worth less than $250,000 annually, Reuters reported on Friday.
The members of Congress wrote that they are “deeply concerned” about Ireland claiming publicly that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and urging the International Court of Justice, a U.N. agency in The Hague, to “modify its test for recognizing genocidal intent.”
“We strongly reject Ireland’s effort to distort the international legal standards related to this most serious crime in order to accuse Israel of committing it,” the congressmen wrote. “We also object to Ireland’s ongoing dismissal of the substantial evidence that Israel’s intention in Gaza is to eliminate the security threat posed by Hamas, while Hamas intentionally uses innocent civilians as human shields.”
The Israel-Premier Tech cycling team, beset by protests against its participation in international cycling races, said on Monday that it was changing its name to move away from an “Israeli identity.”South African medical body cuts ties with Israeli Medical Association
“The decision has been made to rename and rebrand the team, moving away from its current Israeli identity,” the team owned by Canadian-Israeli billionaire Sylvan Adams said in a statement, which added that the owner would “step back” from the team.
Israel PT has been repeatedly targeted by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters at several races recently, with various stages of the Vuelta a España grand tour disrupted by demonstrators last month.
“Looking ahead to the 2026 season, Sylvan Adams has chosen to step back from his day-to-day involvement and will no longer speak on behalf of the team, instead focusing on his role as President of the World Jewish Congress, Israel,” the team said.
“This is a very painful moment in my life. I cannot take an active role in a team that no longer bears the name Israel,” Adams said, according to the statement.
“I will continue to fight to defend our right, as Jews, to live in peace, safety, and freedom from the wave of hatred, violence, and antisemitism that has surged since the tragic events of October 7. I call on our incredible community of fans and supporters in Israel and around the world to continue standing behind the team — and especially behind our Israeli riders,” he said.
“Beyond its sporting success, IPT has become one of the only teams in the world to embrace a true social vision — using cycling as a vehicle for change. As part of this vision, it created the ‘Field of Dreams’ cycling center in Rwanda, which has become an extraordinary success story and an inspiring model of social transformation through sport,” he added.
Jewish medics in South Africa have reacted with anger and “deep concern” over moves by SAMA, the country’s umbrella medical association, to cut ties with the Israeli Medical Association.
On Saturday (4 October) SAMA issued a statement announcing the “immediate suspension of all professional and bilateral relations” with its Israeli counterpart, and called for the Israeli body’s suspension from the World Medical Association.
SAMA claimed that its decision was taken following “extensive consultations”, but the South African Association of Jewish Mental Health and Allied Practitioners (SAJMAP) has asked for clarification of this claim.
In particular, the Jewish medics want to know who was consulted on the issue, asking: “Did SAMA explicitly seek the views of members who support ongoing collaboration with Israeli clinicians, including Jewish members and others who regard boycotts as unethical and counter-therapeutic?”
In their rebuttal of the SAMA move, the Jewish medics say that “discussion about Israel within South African medical circles has unfortunately become increasingly polarised and harmfully exclusionary, with selective publication practices and limited opportunities for balanced response and robust debate. SAMA has been directly implicated in this”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has today notified the General Medical Council @gmcuk of its intention to challenge in court, via judicial review, the decision not to impose conditions on Dr Rahmeh Aladwan while she is under investigation for misconduct.
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 6, 2025
The decision to permit Dr… pic.twitter.com/KwDkqoW32x
🚨 National SJP is now publishing posters that personally target university board members at @Georgetown and @Tufts under the slogan “Break the Butchers.”
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) October 5, 2025
This is an escalation tactic that blurs the line between protest art and a call for direct action against private citizens.… pic.twitter.com/1SjIkcurGg
Palestine societies at universities UK-wide using 7 October as ‘resistance’ event day
Anti-Israel student groups on university campuses across the UK are marking the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas atrocities with ‘resistance’ events including rallies, bake sales and bookshop talks, Jewish News can report.FURY as pro-Palestine Gaza protests set for anniversary of Hamas' October 7th attack - 'CANCEL them'
In conjunction with the Union of Jewish Students, JN can reveal that universities including Liverpool, Bristol, Strathclyde and Leeds are holding events on 7 October – which saw Hamas massacre more than 1,200 men, women and children and take more than 250 captives into Gaza – with events on campus, claiming that the day marks “two years of genocide”.
At Sheffield University, the Sheffield Revolutionary Communist Society are holding a rally for Palestine on campus.
In a video, they implicitly refer to UJS as ‘Zionist Lobbyists’ in the caption, saying: “After the horrific attack in a synagogue, they are using this, weaponising this, to equate antisemitism with pro-Palestine views and this is obviously completely false”.
Additionally, they cited printing costs and logistics as a reason why they could not move the date.
A university spokesperson told Jewish News: “The rally being hosted by the student society tomorrow has not been approved by our Students’ Union, nor the University.
You likely remember her "F*ck the University of Chicago" comments from Socialism 2025. https://t.co/QT3WSa1tSP
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) October 5, 2025
And of course, she’s all in on the DSA. https://t.co/sm66Wak5g7
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) October 5, 2025
Liverpool University POSTPONES 7 October Palestine bake sale after JN expose
A bake sale for Palestine scheduled for the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas atrocities has been postponed by The University of Liverpool students’ union following an intervention by Jewish News.
The Liverpool Guild promoted the ‘Palestine Bake Sale’ with a poster that said “Time for Dessert”, organised by @LivGlobalRelief, a Liverpool University charity society together with @uolbakesoc, the university’s baking society.
It was due to be held on Tuesday 7 October 2025, the day Jewish communities will commemorate the Hamas massacre that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 men, women and children in Israel, with over 250 captives taken into Gaza.
But a University of Liverpool spokesperson confirmed that “following discussions, the organisers of this proposed event have agreed to move this fundraising activity to an alternative date.
Tomorrow, Oct 7, on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre which killed 1200 people, mainly civilians, and saw a further 250 taken hostage, Liverpool University will be holding a celebration event.
— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) October 6, 2025
There will be a ‘Palestine bake sale’.
The celebratory strapline is ‘time for… pic.twitter.com/l5paQsc9ls
Shameful.
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 6, 2025
Concordia University student groups are organizing a rally this October 7, celebrating the massacre and atrocities committed by Palestinians, glorifying terrorism under the banner of “resistance.”
These groups don’t support peace or justice. They’re celebrating murder,… pic.twitter.com/nb4NeLofeE
Of course she did.
— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) October 6, 2025
She openly supports Hamas and their actions on October 7th.
For her, it's a day of celebration. https://t.co/BQ7rG5Q2zr pic.twitter.com/a6KBRJgCLg
Concerned?
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 6, 2025
Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools President and CEO RaShaun Holliman: rholliman@oapcs.org pic.twitter.com/fqO70fgooG
ABC glorification of terrorism
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) October 6, 2025
Marwan Barghouti is a terrorist, serving 5 life sentences for murder.
The fact that the majority of Palestinian Arabs want a terrorist murderer to be their leader says everything about them.
Hitler was also the leader most Germans wanted and… pic.twitter.com/Tv7Xh4dxYL
Ukrainian girl freed from Gaza after 12 years held by Palestinian father
Samira al-Abdallah, a 17-year-old Ukrainian girl from Kharkiv, returned home over the weekend after being held for 12 years by her Palestinian father in the Gaza Strip. Samira, who was repatriated following a complex diplomatic effort, wept with joy as she reunited with her mother, Elena Almina, for the first time in over a decade.
The ordeal began in the summer of 2013, when Samira’s father, a Palestinian who had been living with his family in Kharkiv, deceived his ex-wife by claiming he was taking their three children — Jamal, Ahmad and young Samira — to Gaza for a short visit to see his ailing parents. Once there, he refused to return, effectively abducting the children and cutting off their mother.
Elena pursued legal action, and international court rulings ordered the children’s return, but enforcement was impossible in Gaza. For years, she maintained limited contact, sending small gifts for their birthdays. “They don’t celebrate birthdays there, so it was my way of reminding them of me,” she said.
After the October 7 massacre and the ensuing war in Gaza, conditions worsened. In early 2024, amid evacuations of foreign nationals, the father agreed to release the two older boys, who were over 15 at the time. They were evacuated to Kharkiv in March 2024. But he refused to release Samira, instead keeping her as a “bargaining chip” to secure his own evacuation along with his new wife and children, exploiting her Ukrainian citizenship.
P.S. Najla Said is an American white, gay pilates instructor, but defines herself as Palestinian and is enraged that she is not entitled to a Palestinian passport.
— Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at Columbia U (@CampusJewHate) October 6, 2025
This is what happens when Columbia faculty teaches invented narratives instead of facts. She is already in her 50's,…
Who has the best price for the new iPhone 17 Pro Max in Gaza? The well-connected Tiba Mobile in Khan Younes Mawasi, South Gaza Strip, naturally - just 17,000 shekels ($5190)
— Imshin (@imshin) October 6, 2025
Timestamp: 3 hours ago#TheGazaYouDontSee
Links in 1st commeny pic.twitter.com/1HLl4TKrEr
Extreme glamping in Gaza.
— Imshin (@imshin) October 6, 2025
Timestamp: 17 hours ago#TheGazaYouDontSee
Link in 1st comment pic.twitter.com/ENnHUSYRUm
It's that time of the year again! Al-Abdasawi Market, al-Qarara Mawasi, South Gaza Strip, has krembo! This popular sweet is usually called "Shatawi" (=wintery) in Gaza, but in Judea & Samaria, Palestinians call it "Ras al-Abeed" (=head of a slave)...
— Imshin (@imshin) October 6, 2025
Timestamp: 2 hours ago… https://t.co/X6Igc58bJI pic.twitter.com/ED958q327z
Gazan civilians celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the October 7th Massacre.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 6, 2025
2 years later, these people still haven’t learned anything. They are happy that Hamas slaughtered nearly 1000 civilians in a single day. pic.twitter.com/s4WHobGblo
Egyptian-American Journalist Mac Sharkawy Blasts Magdi Khalil Statement That Israel Is the Strongest Military Force in the ME: As If the Egyptian and Turkish Army Don’t Exist… You Traitor, “Son of a Worn-Out Shoe,” There Are Real Men in the Egyptian Army – But You Wouldn’t Know… pic.twitter.com/Gt8yZWZg9h
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 6, 2025
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al‑Sudani: Iraqis Are Aligned with the Palestinians, We Believe in the Demise of Israel, But We Will Not Give Israel a “Pretext” to Target Iraq pic.twitter.com/A6xQTo2PAP
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 6, 2025
FSB says it thwarted terror plots targeting Jews in two Russian regions
Russia’s Federal Security Service announced on Monday that it had foiled a series of terrorist plots targeting Jewish religious sites in the country’s Krasnoyarsk and Stavropol regions.Man charged after New Zealand FM’s home attacked amid anti-Israel protests
According to an FSB statement cited by The Moscow Times, two citizens of Central Asian countries were detained in Krasnoyarsk for allegedly plotting to detonate an improvised explosive at a local synagogue.
In a second case, a Russian citizen was arrested in the southwestern city of Pyatigorsk on suspicion that he had been plotting to burn down a Jewish community building with Molotov cocktails.
The FSB said all three suspects were linked to a banned “international terrorist organization” and would be charged with terrorism offenses.
Footage released by state news agencies showed the arrest raids and what appeared to be explosive materials seized by Russian security agencies, as well as recorded confessions of the three suspects.
The FSB said that while the terrorist attacks were planned “under the pretext of protecting the interests of Palestinians who suffered during the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” they were intended to stir interethnic tensions between Russian population groups.
According to the agency, the plots were “similar” to the Oct. 29, 2023, riots in Russia’s Dagestan region, in which hundreds of people stormed an airport after rumors circulated about an incoming flight from Israel.
A man has been charged after a window of the New Zealand Foreign Minister’s home was smashed with a crowbar Monday and a note pinned to his front door that said “welcome to the real world,” the minister’s spokesperson says on Tuesday.
The glass smashed all over Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ dog, who was sleeping below the window, he adds.
Peters has come under pressure from protest groups and opposition parties in recent days after he announced New Zealand would not be following Australia, Britain and Canada in recognizing Palestinian statehood. Anti-Israel protests have been held outside his Auckland home, with Peters hitting out at the demonstrators earlier Monday.
Peters says in a social media post on X that he was not home but both his partner and a guest were.
“This is truly gutless,” it says. “When we have protesters, political bloggers, and MPs alike encouraging this behavior, posting politicians’ home addresses online, and acting with pure ignorance and extremism, this is the result.”
“All of New Zealand needs to be deeply concerned,” the post says.
Auckland City District Commander, Superintendent Sunny Patel said that a 29-year-old man who is believed to be responsible for the damage had handed himself in to police and would appear in court on October 10.
The song this Hamas supporter is playing at full blast over and over for 25 minutes is by a band called the Ghoraba band. This track celebrates Hamas and has grim language about Israel and blood burning. The police need to get wiser about these things and stop dismissing Jews. pic.twitter.com/ld2WHlUuDU
— Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) October 6, 2025
Eventually the Hamas supporter was arrested for a terror offence and the Jewish couple was left traumatised by the incident and the police initial response. This kind of awful policing cannot continue. @ShabanaMahmood pic.twitter.com/YGP0D4TY9q
— Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) October 6, 2025
Denmark revives interest in Israeli air defense system
Drone incursions at Danish airports have again put IAI's Barak MX system on the Danish Ministry of Defense's radar.Two Israeli students receive prestigious design award in London
"Israeli air defense is again on the Danish Ministry of Defense’s radar," according to the website of DR (the Danish Broadcasting Corporation). "The Danish army is still interested in an Israel air defense system called Barak MX, a product of Israel Aerospace Industries," the reports states.
The Danes’ interest in the Israeli defense system has grown following last week’s incursion by drones at several Danish airports and military installations. Barak MX is offered to Denmark with a built-in "soft kill" option that attacks drones electronically and neutralizes them.
The Israeli system was ruled out in the procurement process, "but because of the short supply time and the soft kill solution it is once more on the radar of the Ministry of Defense," DR reports.
Two industrial design students from Israel’s Holon Institute of Technology have won a prestigious design award from London’s Royal College of Art, after creating equipment designed to help disabled parents transport their babies more effectively.
As part of a ‘Fixperts’ course, Tamir Keidar and Nimrod Shani partnered with Ola Melamed Mayer, an Israeli mother with lower limb paralysis, to develop equipment that connects a wheelchair to a baby pram or buggy.
“I want to have the option to quickly detach the stroller and place it beside me so I can adapt to different spaces”, a video shows Mayer saying.
Keidar and Shani ran multiple tests and created a number of models, before coming up with a final design, which they stress-tested before completion. Mayer is seen pushing the pram – attached to her wheelchair – with the caption: “Parenting with Independence – empowering every parent to navigate life with confidence and freedom.”
Archaeologists unearth 1,500-year-old synagogue below abandoned Syrian village in Golan
A team of Israeli archaeologists has unearthed the remains of a synagogue in the Golan Heights, roughly dating to 1,500 years ago, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the University of Haifa said on Sunday.
The Yehudiya Nature Reserve, known for its streams, canyons, and waterfalls, is named after the Syrian village of Yehudiya, which was inhabited until Israel captured the area from Syria in 1967. The town likely preserved the name of an ancient settlement that might have had a Jewish population.
For decades, Israeli researchers had surveyed the village, which contains several stones and architectural elements from the synagogue incorporated into its houses. However, the synagogue’s exact location remained a mystery.
“The abandoned Syrian village is built on top of ancient remains,” said Dr. Mechael Osband from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa and the Department of Land of Israel Studies at the Kinneret Academic College. “You’d walk into a house and see a pillar in the middle used as a support for the roof, or a Doric capital underneath an archway.”
Overall, some 150 items from the synagogue have been documented across the ruins of the village, including a stone engraved with a menorah.
Four years ago, Osband and his partner, Prof. Haim Ben-David, also from Kinneret College, began a systematic survey of the site. They mapped out the remains of the synagogue and the exact locations where they had been found.
“After we mapped out the remains, we told ourselves that we would do two probes and see if we could figure out where the synagogue was,” Osband told The Times of Israel over a phone interview. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t think we would find anything.”
This is the IDF's eastmost Sukkah, somewhere in Syria. Those who cried, "Globalize the intifada!" ended up globalizing the IDF. pic.twitter.com/KzXzKzHN8U
— Uri Kurlianchik (@VerminusM) October 6, 2025
IDF: Lulav, Etrog, and Sukkah in Gaza pic.twitter.com/GVqa3GIP6h
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) October 6, 2025
KKL-JNF releases photos showing Sukkot in Israel through the decades
Ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund archive unveiled a series of historical photographs that have been preserved for decades and are now being presented to the public for the first time.
The images document Israeli celebrations in the land of Israel during the previous century, evoking nostalgia alongside a deep connection to tradition.
At the center of the series are two photographs by Yaakov Rosner, taken exactly 80 years ago on the eve of Sukkot 1945.
In Jerusalem, Rosner captured a bearded Jew blessing the lulav in a moment of reverent devotion and spiritual connection.
On that same holiday evening in Tel Aviv, he documented the bustling “Four Species” market, where etrogs, lulavs and myrtle branches were carefully examined by buyers in an atmosphere that bridged tradition and commerce, holiness and everyday life.
Two years later, in 1947, Avraham Melavsky shot a celebration of the “Flag of Jerusalem,” with a young girl holding a tall lulav during a ceremony held on the intermediate days of Sukkot, marking the culmination of a nationwide school competition in which schools participated in activities benefiting KKL-JNF.
Another notable photo in the series, taken in 1970 near the Western Wall, depicts a large crowd of worshippers holding the Four Species in their hands. This image reflects the religious and social renewal of the Old City after the Six-Day War in June 1967 and highlights the central role of Sukkot in community life.
“The photographs now being revealed remind us that Sukkot has always been more than a religious tradition; it has been a moment of gathering, unity and continuity,” said Efrat Sinai, manager of archives at KKL-JNF.
Here’s how Jews celebrated Sukkot in the land of Israel for thousands of years: pic.twitter.com/raETbArkYw
— Josh (@_j0sh_a_) October 6, 2025
Here I Am With Shai Davidai: From Festivals to Frontlines: Matisyahu Sings for His People
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Matisyahu joins the show to discuss his personal and spiritual journey, from his rebellious youth and exploration of different branches of Judaism to his evolution as an artist and individual. He shares insights on identity, faith, and how pivotal life events—including October 7th—have shaped his perspective. The conversation dives into Matisyahu’s upbringing, his experiences in Israel, and the ongoing process of finding meaning and connection in both music and life.
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