Michigan Law Enforcement Raids Homes of Anti-Israel Activists Amid Vandalism Probe; SAFE and CAIR Cry Retaliation for Pro-Palestinian Protests

04/24/2025

Michigan Law Enforcement Raids Homes of Anti-Israel Activists Amid Vandalism Probe; SAFE and CAIR Cry Retaliation for Pro-Palestinian Protests

By: Fern Sidman

Law enforcement authorities in Michigan conducted coordinated raids Wednesday on the homes of several anti-Israel activists affiliated with the University of Michigan, as part of a sweeping investigation into a series of multijurisdictional vandalism incidents across the state. As reported by The Jerusalem Post, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed that no arrests were made during the searches, which were carried out by local, state, and federal agencies at residences in Ann Arbor, Canton, and Ypsilanti.

The investigation centers on what officials have described as a pattern of criminal activity, involving the defacement of homes, businesses, and other properties in multiple counties. The JPost report indicated that although the individuals targeted in the raids have been prominent in pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel campus demonstrations, Nessel stated unequivocally that the law enforcement activity was not connected to protest encampments or other lawful activism.

“The search warrants were in connection with acts of vandalism and property destruction committed across several counties,” Nessel said Thursday, according to the report in The Jerusalem Post. “They are not related to protest activity at the University of Michigan.”

Despite the attorney general’s statement, the University of Michigan chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)—known locally as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE)—issued a defiant response on Instagram, claiming that four activists’ homes were raided in a politically motivated effort to stifle dissent, as was noted in The Jerusalem Post report. SAFE went so far as to accuse the university and the Trump administration of conspiring to suppress their movement.

“Today’s violent raids by the FBI are a direct result of the regents’ attacks on our movement,” SAFE alleged. “By repeatedly targeting pro-Palestine activism across campus, the regents and administration set the scene for the FBI to target our peers and comrades today.”

The report in The Jerusalem said that SAFE also labeled Attorney General Nessel a “Zionist,” criticizing her for pursuing legal action against both encampment demonstrators and protesters involved in an August 2024 disruption at a Michigan cultural festival, which drew national attention for antisemitic chants and confrontations.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan chapter also weighed in, condemning the raids as disproportionate and suggesting that they exemplify selective enforcement against Arab and Muslim students.

“We call into question the aggressive nature of this morning’s raids,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, as per The Jerusalem Post report. “Such minor infractions would typically be handled by local law enforcement — not escalated to federal intervention. This disproportionate response furthers the perception that Muslim and Arab students are being treated more harshly.”

As The Jerusalem Post reported, tensions on the University of Michigan campus have escalated dramatically over the past year, with pro-Hamas activism increasingly veering into alleged harassment, vandalism, and intimidation.

In May 2024, masked activists showed up at the home of Regent Jordan Acker with a list of anti-Israel demands. Later that year, in December, an object was thrown through a window at Acker’s residence, and the family’s vehicle was graffitied with slogans including “Divest”, “Free Palestine”, and the red inverted triangle—a Hamas symbol used to designate attack targets.

Similarly, in February, the university suspended SAFE following a pre-dawn protest at the home of Regent Sarah Hubbard. As reported by The Jerusalem Post, that protest featured masked activists using bullhorns, drums, and mock corpses wrapped in blood-stained sheets, which were left on her lawn along with a manifesto taped to her front door.

“The protest was intentionally staged to intimidate,” university officials said at the time. “It crossed the line from activism into harassment.”

SAFE was further implicated in disruptive activities during the university’s encampment protests, which began on April 22 and demanded full divestment from companies doing business with Israel and a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

According to the information provided in The Jerusalem Post report, the current raids are part of a broader criminal investigation, not a political crackdown. Nonetheless, the convergence of political extremism, targeted vandalism, and campus unrest has drawn national attention, especially amid growing concerns about antisemitism and intimidation on U.S. college campuses.

While no arrests have been made as of yet, digital forensics and surveillance evidence reportedly played a role in the issuance of search warrants. Law enforcement officials have not ruled out criminal charges, pending the results of ongoing investigations.

University officials and law enforcement have emphasized that lawful protests and activism will continue to be protected under the First Amendment, but that criminal conduct will not be tolerated, regardless of the political beliefs of those involved.

“This is not about suppressing speech,” said one law enforcement source cited by The Jerusalem Post. “This is about enforcing the law when lines are crossed into criminal territory.”

The raids in Michigan represent a critical flashpoint in the national conversation surrounding campus protest movements, antisemitic incidents, and the boundaries between free speech and criminal conduct.

As The Jerusalem Post report called attention to, the University of Michigan has become one of the most visible battlegrounds in the U.S. over Israel and Palestine, with SAFE and other groups increasingly scrutinized for both their rhetoric and their tactics.

Whether the legal proceedings will lead to indictments remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the line between advocacy and aggression is now being tested not just in the court of public opinion—but in courtrooms across the country.

“May Their Memory Be a Blessing”: Netanyahu Delivers Emotional Holocaust Remembrance Day Tribute, Weaving National History with Family Tragedy

TJV news

04/24/2025

“May Their Memory Be a Blessing”: Netanyahu Delivers Emotional Holocaust Remembrance Day Tribute, Weaving National History with Family Tragedy

By: Fern Sidman

In one of the most emotionally resonant addresses of his political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a deeply personal tribute on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, speaking at the Knesset’s annual “Unto Every Person There is a Name” ceremony. As reported by Israel National News on Thursday, the Prime Minister departed from political rhetoric to reflect on a figure whose life embodied both the triumph and trauma of Jewish survival: his late father-in-law, Shmuel Ben-Artzi.

What unfolded was not just a personal eulogy, but a powerful weaving of private sorrow into the national tapestry of Jewish history, illustrating the indivisible link between Holocaust memory and the identity of the modern Jewish state.

Netanyahu opened his remarks by recounting how in 1933, at the dawn of Nazi rule in Germany, Shmuel Ben-Artzi—then Shmuel Hahn—left his hometown of Biłgoraj, Poland, determined to make a new life in the Land of Israel. The Prime Minister described the heart-wrenching moment when Shmuel’s father, Moshe, accompanied him part of the way to Warsaw, urging him to stay in Europe.

“His father tried to persuade him by using some of the values he had learned at home, which he loved dearly,” Netanyahu shared, according to the INN report. “‘What will you do there?’ his father asked. ‘You have nothing over there.’”

Despite this, young Shmuel followed his Zionist ideals and emigrated. “He wanted with all his heart to be a pioneer,” Netanyahu said. “He would build the foundation in Bnei Brak.”

For eight years, Shmuel worked in orchards, embodying the ethos of physical labor and rebirth that defined the Yishuv era. Later, he turned to education, leaving an indelible mark as “the educator”—a term Netanyahu emphasized was affectionately used by both political and cultural figures who had once been his students.

Shmuel Ben-Artzi’s legacy extended beyond classrooms. As the report at Israel National News noted, he was a renowned Bible scholar, personally invited by David Ben-Gurion to participate in the country’s first official Tanach (Bible) study group. Uniquely, he held military honors from both the Irgun and the Haganah—two rival Jewish underground organizations in pre-state Israel—emphasizing his broad appeal across political spectrums.

But behind his achievements lay a reservoir of deep personal tragedy. Shmuel had continued sending money to his family in Poland until World War II erupted and all contact ceased.

“He realized that something terrible had happened,” Netanyahu said, as noted in the Israel National News report. “He expressed this in several moving poems expressing longing but mostly despair.”

Shmuel channeled his grief into Holocaust literature, earning the Ka-Tzetnik Prize for his poetry. One of the poems Netanyahu read aloud during his speech, “To Europe,” stunned the audience with its haunting imagery:

“They drown my people in blood, and my Lord is silent…

From Europe, left the Torah, and from Germany, the creed;

Killed and strangled, murdered and slaughtered!

For the ‘Jude’ a bullet’s a waste — Only poisonous gas in a closed trailer…”

Israel National News reported that the poem, a chilling meditation on divine silence and human cruelty, served as a literary reckoning with the magnitude of the Holocaust and the emotional toll it exacted on survivors like Shmuel.

Netanyahu then paused to read the names of Shmuel’s murdered family members—his parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins from Biłgoraj and Tarnogród, all of whom perished in the Holocaust.

“In this genocide, my father-in-law’s entire family from Biłgoraj and Tarnogród in Poland perished,” Netanyahu solemnly stated.

As the Israel National News report emphasized, this act of remembrance exemplified the ceremony’s mission: to restore the humanity behind the numbers, to reaffirm that “unto every person there is a name.”

Netanyahu reflected on Shmuel’s final years and his enduring bond with his daughter, Yehudit, the Prime Minister’s wife.

“Even during the last days before he passed away, whenever I mentioned Yehudit’s name, he would cry,” Netanyahu said. “He always cried.”

Netanyahu closed his speech with the words etched into the collective soul of the Jewish people: “May their memory be a blessing. May G-d avenge their blood.”

As the report at Israel National News observed, the Prime Minister’s address went beyond political responsibility—it was an act of intergenerational mourning, of testifying for those whose voices were silenced.

In an age when Holocaust denial and distortion are on the rise, Netanyahu’s speech served as a fierce affirmation of Jewish continuity, memory, and justice. Through his father-in-law’s story, the Prime Minister reminded Israelis and the world that the Holocaust is not only a historical event, but a living wound, and an enduring pillar of Jewish identity.

In anchoring his national address in a personal narrative, Netanyahu followed in the tradition of leaders who understand that memory must be both collective and intimate. As the report at Israel National News noted, the Prime Minister’s speech was a powerful demonstration of how the Holocaust is not a distant past, but a living force that shapes the Israeli spirit, mission, and moral compass.

At a time of rising global antisemitism and renewed threats to the Jewish people, Netanyahu’s words were not only a remembrance—they were a call to resilience, to hold fast to memory, and to ensure that the lessons of the Shoah are never forgotten, nor repeated.

Dozens of MDA Youth Volunteers Pay Homage at Holocaust Sites in Poland ahead of Yom Hashoah

TJV news

04/24/2025

FOR E-MAIL BLAST - Dozens of MDA article - pic 1 — A delegation of 30 youth volunteers with Magen David Adom (MDA) recently took part in the organization’s annual mission visiting Holocaust memorial sites in Poland, ahead of Yom Hashoah–Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. The MDA delegation held a special ceremony at Block 10 in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where Nazi doctors examined Jewish prisoners, to commemorate the victims.

Dozens of MDA Youth Volunteers Pay Homage at Holocaust Sites in Poland ahead of Yom Hashoah

“I felt like I was doing it for him too,” says volunteer first aid provider whose brother was abducted and killed in the Hamas-led war in Gaza

Edited by: TJVNews.com

A delegation of 30 youth volunteers with Magen David Adom (MDA) recently took part in the organization’s annual mission visiting Holocaust memorial sites in Poland, ahead of Yom Hashoah–Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

During the trip, the delegation from MDA’s Youth Organization toured the concentration and death camps in Treblinka, Majdanek, Plaszów, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The MDA delegation held a special ceremony at Block 10 in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where Nazi doctors examined Jewish prisoners, to commemorate the victims. The group also visited gravesites and memorials in Poland, including the cemeteries in the Jewish city of Kielce, where over 40 people were murdered in a 1946 pogrom.

MDA holds the mission for staff, adult and youth volunteers every year, to stand testament and to educate the next generation to ensure the atrocities are never forgotten.

Among the members of the delegation was MDA youth volunteer Nicole Beiser, whose brother, Cpl. Nick Beiser was kidnapped on October 7 and later found deceased during a recovery operation by the IDF.

“It was important for me to go on the trip to understand more about what happened there to the Jewish people,” said Nicole. “My great-grandfather was in the Red Army and helped liberate the camps. Seeing this place with my own eyes was very challenging. It’s hard to believe that such horrors actually occurred. We visited the children’s cemetery; it’s hard to imagine that these things happened to little children. This journey matured me. My older brother Nick, of blessed memory, was killed in the Swords of Iron War. He wanted so much to participate in the journey to Poland, but didn’t make it. I felt like I was doing it for him too.”

“There were many powerful, moving and sad moments on the trip, but the ceremony we held in Auschwitz touched me the most,” said Daniel Gerit, a member of the mission and a MDA youth first aid volunteer. “Standing in the place where doctors used their professional knowledge to cause suffering was truly sombering. As a teenager who volunteers at MDA, an organization that sanctifies life and human dignity, I felt the true essence behind this mission – a profound reminder to bear witness to the truth and enduring history. I am sure that what we saw on this trip isn’t even a small fraction of the horrors that occurred here.”

The Manager of MDA’s Carmel Region Volunteers, Hagai Colton, who accompanied the mission, said: “Is it extremely symbolic that our teenage volunteers, who dedicate their time to humanitarian activities, are today wearing MDA’s Star of David emblem at the sites where our Jewish brothers were murdered.”

Adding to the organization’s reasoning behind the mission, MDA Director General, Eli Bin, said: “There is nothing today, in Poland, nor anywhere else, that can fully illustrate the terrible atrocities that took place during the Holocaust. Despite this, MDA delegations, adults and youth, go out every year to bear witness and represent the miracle that is Israel on Polish soil. MDA, as an organization that saves lives and is the leading humanitarian organization in Israel, sets itself the goal of teaching youth that we must confront, and not forget, the horrors that are happening around us.”

About Magen David Adom:

MDA is Israel’s emergency services system. A leader in mass-casualty response and in EMS technology, Magen David Adom treats and transports more than 1 million people to hospitals every year; collects, safety tests, and distributes nearly all the blood to Israel’s hospitals; and, through its affiliation with the Red Cross movement, responds to disasters around the world.

From Air Force Oath to Acts of Hate: Feds Charge Pittsburgh Trio in Synagogue Plot and Terror Allegiance Scheme

TJV news

04/24/2025

By: Fern Sidman

A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh has handed down a superseding indictment against three local residents accused of conspiring to deface Jewish religious property, lying to federal authorities about terror sympathies, and manufacturing illegal explosives. As reported by The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) on Thursday, the nine-count indictment—unsealed Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice—names Mohamad Hamad (23), Talya Lubit (24), and Micaiah Collins (22) in a disturbing case that has raised significant alarm in both Jewish and national security circles.

The Justice Department alleges that the three individuals not only vandalized a Jewish synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood but also espoused support for U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah and Hamas, while plotting and executing violent actions with ideological motives. The JNS report indicated that Hamad, a dual U.S.-Lebanese citizen, faces the most severe charges, including allegations that he lied on his application for top-secret clearance with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, all while actively promoting extremist ideologies and engaging in acts of domestic sabotage.

Perhaps the most explosive revelation in the superseding indictment, detailed in the JNS report, is the accusation that Mohamad Hamad misrepresented his loyalties to the U.S. government while seeking to join the Air Force in 2023. In his application, Hamad swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution and to serve the country “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

But according to prosecutors, at the very same time, Hamad was privately declaring allegiance to Lebanon, Hamas, and Hezbollah—all while gaining access to military combat skills that he described as potentially useful in the event of future conflict involving “my country or Palestine.”

“It’s still Palestine on top though, make no mistake,” Hamad allegedly told an Ohio resident, per the indictment.

Hamad is also quoted as saying, “F*** Israel and all her friends,” while referring to Hamas not as a terrorist organization but as a movement of “freedom fighters.”

According to the information provided in the JNS report, shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Hamad wrote, “U.S. Muslims never surrender or back down.” He defended Hamas as a legitimate resistance force and not a terrorist entity, despite its official designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department.

Beyond ideological alignment with terrorist groups, the defendants are accused of targeting Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, specifically Chabad of Squirrel Hill, in a calculated act of intimidation and hate, as per the report at JNS.

According to the indictment, Hamad and Lubit communicated via Signal about plans to vandalize Jewish institutions. During their exchange, Lubit allegedly remarked: “I can literally feel myself starting to see Jews as my enemies.”

JNS reported that on July 29, 2024, at approximately 1:45 a.m., Hamad allegedly drove Lubit to the Chabad synagogue, where Lubit spray-painted “Jews 4 Palestine” and a red inverted triangle—the Hamas symbol for marking attack targets—on the building’s wall.

The act of vandalism came amid a national wave of antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attack and Israel’s military response, which JNS has documented extensively over the past year.

Beyond anti-Jewish hate crimes, the indictment reveals a more sinister dimension of the defendants’ activity: the manufacture and detonation of illegal explosive devices. According to prosecutors, Hamad and Collins conspired to create destructive weapons, detonating them on U.S. soil and sharing images of their activities.

Hamad even sent an image of himself wearing a Hamas-style headband, which he also allegedly wore while conducting surveillance of Jewish institutions—further underscoring what the JNS report described as a “pattern of ideologically motivated behavior” consistent with terrorist sympathizers.

Mohamad Hamad faces the most serious penalties: up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, due to the combination of lying to the government, supporting terror organizations, hate crimes, and explosive device charges.

Micaiah Collins faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, primarily for his role in manufacturing and detonating explosive devices.

Talya Lubit faces up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine for her role in the anti-Semitic vandalism and associated conspiracy.

“This indictment reflects the dangerous convergence of domestic radicalization, antisemitic hate, and terrorist sympathies,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Eric Rivetti, according to the information contained in the JNS report.

“Our office remains resolute in its commitment to working alongside federal, state and local law enforcement partners to investigate crimes like these and to safeguard both the Jewish community and the public at large,” Rivetti said.

The case comes at a time when U.S. Jewish communities remain on high alert amid rising antisemitic incidents linked to global conflicts and domestic extremism. As the JNS report indicated, federal agencies have stepped up enforcement and monitoring following directives issued by the Trump administration to combat antisemitism using every available legal tool.

The indictment against Hamad, Lubit, and Collins represents a chilling reminder of how foreign terrorist ideologies can find sympathizers within the United States, even among individuals entrusted with national defense responsibilities. This case is not simply about graffiti or false statements—it is about the systematic targeting of Jewish Americans by individuals who embraced the worldview and tactics of foreign terrorist organizations.

If convicted, the defendants will face substantial penalties. But beyond the courtroom, this case signals a growing need for vigilance, accountability, and moral clarity in the face of rising extremism masquerading as activism.

President Trump Issues Proclamation on Holocaust Remembrance, Declares “Never Again Means Now” Amid Rise in Antisemitism

TJV news

04/24/2025

Special Features - Trump Names article — (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

By: Fern Sidman

In a solemn and strongly worded proclamation issued on Wednesday, April 24, President Donald J. Trump marked the 2025 Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust by honoring the six million Jews and millions of other victims slaughtered by the Nazis during World War II. The executive order, released in conjunction with Yom HaShoah—Holocaust Remembrance Day—comes amid heightened concern over antisemitism in the United States and globally, particularly in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel.

In what is being described as one of the most forceful Holocaust remembrance statements by a sitting U.S. president, Trump not only reaffirmed America’s moral obligation to remember the atrocities of the Shoah but also announced a new federal crackdown on antisemitism, particularly targeting educational institutions and resident aliens who violate U.S. laws related to hate crimes and incitement.

President Trump began the proclamation by recalling the horror and magnitude of the Nazi genocide: “We honor the blessed memories of the six million Jewish men, women, and children who were viciously slaughtered by the genocidal Nazi regime and their collaborators—one of the bleakest hours in human history.”

He also paid tribute to other persecuted groups targeted during the Holocaust, including Roma and Sinti peoples, Poles and Slavs, people with disabilities, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and individuals persecuted based on sexual orientation—demonstrating a broad historical scope often missing from previous commemorations.

In a nod to both historical resilience and present-day Jewish identity, Trump emphasized the rise of the State of Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust: “Even in the wake of the Holocaust, a self-determined Jewish homeland rose from the ashes as the modern State of Israel.”

In a significant departure from previous commemorative language, the proclamation ties Holocaust remembrance to contemporary antisemitic threats, referencing the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel, which left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and hundreds kidnapped.

“Sadly, our Nation has borne witness to the worst outbreak of antisemitism on American soil in generations,” the president wrote. “Nearly every day following the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Jewish Americans were threatened on our streets and in our public square—a reminder that the poison of antisemitism tragically still exists.”

Trump then made a direct policy pivot, announcing an executive directive that instructs the entire federal government to utilize all legal tools available to combat antisemitism in the United States, especially within educational institutions.

In one of the most notable elements of the order, Trump unveiled an aggressive initiative that includes legal action against colleges and universities found to enable antisemitic harassment or discrimination, particularly those described as “leftist” and “anti-American,” expulsion of resident aliens found to have violated U.S. laws through antisemitic behavior, including incitement, violence, and public intimidation of Jewish individuals or groups and prioritization of antisemitism-related cases by federal law enforcement agencies and the Department of Justice.

“As President, I signed an Executive Order directing the Federal Government to use all available and appropriate legal tools to combat the explosion of anti-Semitic harassment in our schools and on college campuses—including through the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws,” the proclamation states.

Perhaps the most defining phrase of the executive order is its emotional crescendo: “Above all, we vow to never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust. We declare that never again means now.”

This declarative statement serves as a bridge between historical memory and present-day action, solidifying Trump’s message that remembrance must not be passive but active and enforceable through legal and governmental channels.

The proclamation formally designates the Days of Remembrance from April 20 to April 27, 2025, and encourages Americans to observe this period through “appropriate study, prayers, and commemoration.” Trump also urged the public to honor Holocaust victims by drawing lessons from their suffering and standing against modern expressions of antisemitism.

“We reflect upon the dark affront to human dignity posed by Nazis. We cherish the eternal memories of all those whose lives were lost to the deadly scourge of anti-Semitism,” he said.

Trump’s executive order comes amid ongoing debates over rising antisemitism on college campuses, fueled in part by pro-Hamas rhetoric and recent encampment protests that have targeted Jewish students, speakers, and institutions. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the administration has been increasingly aggressive in linking federal funding decisions to university accountability, placing the issue of antisemitism at the center of broader political and cultural fault lines.

This proclamation reinforces the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance approach to campus radicalism and antisemitic incitement, positioning the fight against Jew-hatred as both a moral imperative and a national security concern.

With his 2025 proclamation, President Trump has fused solemn remembrance with decisive policy action, declaring that honoring the past must also mean protecting Jewish communities in the present.

The full executive order not only commemorates one of history’s greatest atrocities—it delivers a firm message that America will respond to modern antisemitism with strength, not silence. As the Holocaust survivors dwindle in number, this proclamation affirms that their memory will be safeguarded—not just with words, but with action.

Rabbinical Alliance of America Thanks Trump Administration for Decisive Action Against Antisemitism

TJV news

04/24/2025

The Rabbinical Alliance of America (RAA), representing over 950 Orthodox rabbis across North America, extends its heartfelt gratitude to the Trump administration for taking visible and practical steps to combat the rising tide of antisemitism.

Rabbinical Alliance of America Thanks Trump Administration for Decisive Action Against Antisemitism

By: TJVNews.com

In a time when expressions of hatred and bigotry have become increasingly bold and public, the Trump administration’s decisive actions have demonstrated a meaningful commitment to the safety and dignity of the Jewish community. These efforts have not gone unnoticed. By implementing practical measures that have had a real-world impact, the administration has sent a clear message that antisemitism has no place in American society.

The RAA also notes that attacks against Jews are never isolated. They are often intertwined with anti-American sentiment and are part of a broader hostility toward the values that define this nation—freedom, democracy, and religious liberty. History has shown that when Jews are targeted, other communities are never far behind. What begins as antisemitism frequently spreads, threatening the safety and cohesion of the entire nation.

Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, executive vice-president of the RAA, stated: “We commend the administration for its leadership in addressing antisemitism not just as a theoretical issue, but as a real and present danger. The Jewish community deeply appreciates the administration’s willingness to take action that protects our people and our institutions. Acting against antisemitism is not only a moral imperative—it is a patriotic act that serves to protect all Americans from harm.”

The Rabbinical Alliance of America urges continued vigilance and proactive leadership in the fight against antisemitism and all forms of hatred. This is not only a defense of one community—it is a defense of the American ideal itself.

Trump Blasts Harvard in Fiery Clash Over Antisemitism, Federal Funding: “A Threat to Democracy”

TJV news

04/24/2025

Anti-Israel Harvard Students Protest Outside Main Campus Jewish Center

By: Fern Sidman

The political and cultural clash between President Donald Trump and Harvard University erupted into a public firestorm this week after Trump accused the elite institution of becoming a bastion of antisemitism and left-wing radicalism. His remarks came in response to Harvard’s legal battle with his administration over the freezing of more than $2.2 billion in federal funding, a move Trump has framed as part of his broader effort to crack down on antisemitism and enforce accountability at America’s most powerful universities.

As reported by Newsmax on Thursday, Trump unleashed a blistering critique of Harvard on Truth Social Thursday morning, calling the university a “liberal mess” overrun by “crazed lunatics” and a “threat to democracy”—a direct inversion of President Joe Biden’s oft-used phrase against Trump himself.

“Harvard is an antisemitic, far-left Institution, as are numerous others, with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our country apart,” Trump wrote. “It is truly horrific!”

At the core of the escalating conflict is the Trump administration’s decision earlier this month to freeze billions in federal grants to Harvard, citing the university’s failure to adequately address rising on-campus antisemitism since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel, as reported by Newsmax. Trump has demanded that Harvard enact sweeping reforms, including overhauling its leadership, admissions policies, and student club recognition standards.

Harvard, in turn, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday, claiming the funding freeze is “arbitrary and capricious”, and asserting that the Trump administration has not demonstrated any rational link between antisemitism concerns and the research funding now in jeopardy.

“The government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological and other research it has frozen,” Harvard’s suit argues, as quoted by Newsmax. “Nor has the government acknowledged the significant consequences that the indefinite freeze… will have on Harvard’s research programs, the beneficiaries of that research, and the national interest in furthering American innovation.”

The White House, standing firm behind the funding decision, issued a sharp rebuke to Harvard’s legal argument, echoing Trump’s populist tone. Speaking to Newsmax, White House spokesman Harrison Fields dismissed the lawsuit as a desperate defense of a corrupt elite.

“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families, is coming to an end,” Fields said. “Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

Trump himself doubled down, suggesting that Harvard’s lawsuit—and its lawyers—were undermining national interests.

“Now, since our filings began, they act like they are all ‘American Apple Pie,’” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Harvard is a threat to democracy, with a lawyer who represents me, who should therefore be forced to resign, immediately, or be fired.”

As the report at Newsmax noted, Harvard’s legal team—headed by Robert Hur and William Burck—has direct connections to Trump’s own orbit. Hur was a senior DOJ official during Trump’s first term, and Burck previously represented The Trump Organization. Trump didn’t hide his contempt for the legal irony.

“He’s not that good, anyway, and I hope that my very big and beautiful company, now run by my sons, gets rid of him ASAP!” Trump wrote.

Harvard President Alan Garber, who has faced mounting criticism both from within and outside the university, told NBC’s Lester Holt this week that he was forced to defend the institution on free speech grounds—even as he conceded the campus is facing a “real problem” with antisemitism following the Hamas attacks.

“We are defending what I believe is one of the most important linchpins of the American economy and way of life — our universities,” Garber said, as per the information in the Newsmax report.

Trump and his allies, however, see Garber’s response as too little, too late—and a sign that Harvard is attempting to whitewash deep-rooted ideological bias with hollow gestures.

Prominent Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, a longtime civil liberties advocate and critic of leftist orthodoxy at Harvard, told Newsmax that Trump’s case is likely to prevail.

“Harvard’s going to lose,” Dershowitz stated on The Record with Greta Van Susteren. “It has no obligation legally, the government, to fund a $53 billion university.”

Dershowitz said the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed on First Amendment grounds, as Harvard’s speech rights are not tied to federal entitlements.

“Harvard has the right to speak and to teach and academic freedom, but it doesn’t have the right to get funding,” he explained on the Newsmax show. “This is simply a ploy to try to get a resolution.”

As the report at Newsmax pointed out, this legal standoff isn’t just about Harvard—it signals a seismic shift in how elite universities are treated by federal policymakers. Trump’s decision to leverage financial tools to enforce campus reform reflects a new approach to what his administration sees as left-wing academic capture and systemic antisemitism masquerading as activism.

What began as a post-October 7 cultural debate about pro-Hamas sympathies on campus has now become a national test case for whether elite academic institutions can be compelled to change under financial duress—and whether free speech protections extend to federally funded universities embroiled in controversy.

With over $2.2 billion in funding on the line, and both Harvard and the Trump administration refusing to back down, the legal and cultural clash is far from over. As Newsmax underscores, the case will not only define the limits of university autonomy in the face of government oversight—it may also determine how America rethinks the balance between academic freedom and ideological responsibility.

In Trump’s words, Harvard has become “a threat to democracy.” For Garber and Harvard, the question is whether they can convince the courts—and the public—that resisting government pressure is a defense of democracy, not an evasion of accountability.

ICC Appeals Court Delivers Major Win to Israel, Freezes War Crimes Case Against Netanyahu & Gallant Pending Jurisdiction Review

TJV news

04/24/2025

Jewish groups slam J Street for supporting ICC warrant The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2016. Credit: U.N. Photo.

By: Fern Sidman

In what is being hailed as a potential turning point in Israel’s long and fraught battle with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICC’s Appeals Chamber on Thursday reversed a landmark November 2024 ruling that had rejected Israel’s jurisdictional objections to the issuance of arrest warrants for alleged war crimes against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post, the decision is not only a major legal win for Israel—its first significant success before the ICC since 2012—but also a dramatic shift in the trajectory of a case that had, until now, been rapidly advancing through the ICC’s procedural stages. Legal experts say the ruling may halt the momentum behind attempts to criminalize Israel’s leaders for their roles in prosecuting the war in Gaza, at least for the foreseeable future.

The ruling came after years of legal defeats for Israel at the ICC. Beginning in 2019, and continuing through 2021 and the particularly damaging ruling of November 2024, the Court had consistently allowed proceedings against Israeli leaders to advance, raising the prospect of indictments and international arrest warrants for top officials.

As The Jerusalem Post report noted, the 2024 decision was viewed in Israel as a “devastating legal loss” with far-reaching diplomatic, reputational, and economic consequences. The issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, even in their preliminary form, led to growing isolation in parts of the international community and sparked fears of travel restrictions, sanctions, and diplomatic upheaval.

But Thursday’s ruling from the Appeals Chamber suspended that trajectory, sending the case back to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber for a full reconsideration of Israel’s jurisdictional objections.

At the heart of the legal reversal was a procedural issue with profound implications: When should the Court consider a state’s objections to its jurisdiction?

The ICC’s lower chamber had ruled that jurisdictional objections could be deferred to later stages—such as indictment or trial. But the Appeals Chamber decisively rejected that position, siding with Israel’s contention that under Article 19(2)(c) of the Rome Statute, such objections must be considered before arrest warrants are issued, as was explained in The Jerusalem Post report.

“Israel’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to Article 19(2) of the Statute should not have been dismissed as premature,” the Appeals Chamber wrote, as cited by The Jerusalem Post.

The judges concluded that the lower court “committed an error of law” in refusing to address Israel’s jurisdictional claims and therefore ordered the Pre-Trial Chamber to reexamine the case in light of these arguments.

Although the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant technically remain in force, the ruling effectively freezes their enforcement. As The Jerusalem Post report indicated, many member states of the ICC may now feel justified in ignoring the warrants until a final determination is reached, which could take months or even years.

This legal pause provides crucial breathing room for Israel’s diplomatic corps, which has been working tirelessly to push back against the warrants and to discredit the legitimacy of ICC intervention in Israel’s conduct of war against Hamas in Gaza.

As The Jerusalem Post has reported extensively, Israel’s central legal arguments against ICC jurisdiction revolve around two pillars: Israel contends that there is no sovereign State of Palestine recognized under international law that could validly delegate jurisdiction to the ICC. Since the Palestinian Authority is not a state party under the terms of the Rome Statute, its referrals to the Court should be invalid. Israel maintains that it has a robust, independent judicial system capable of investigating and prosecuting any alleged war crimes committed by its soldiers or officials. Under the ICC’s own principle of complementarity, which prevents the Court from intervening in cases already handled by credible national systems, Israel argues that ICC involvement is redundant and legally improper.

The Appeals Chamber’s ruling means these arguments will now receive a comprehensive hearing at the lower court level, something Israel has sought since the initiation of the proceedings.

While the main jurisdictional objection was upheld, Israel suffered a narrow defeat on its second grounds for appeal, which sought to force the ICC Prosecutor to issue a new notice under Article 18(1) of the Rome Statute, The Jerusalem Post report said. The Appeals Chamber ruled by a 3-2 majority that this portion of the appeal was inadmissible, as the Pre-Trial Chamber’s earlier ruling was not a decision related to admissibility under Article 82(1)(a).

Judges Tomoko Akane (Presiding), Gocha Lordkipanidze, and Erdenebalsuren Damdin comprised the majority, while Judges Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza and Solomy Balungi Bossa dissented.

The ruling may embolden other countries skeptical of the ICC’s reach, particularly in cases involving non-member states like Israel and the United States. It also poses a potential credibility challenge to the ICC, which has increasingly faced accusations of political bias and selective enforcement.

As The Jerusalem Post report emphasized, this decision represents a rare moment in which Israel’s legal and diplomatic strategy has gained ground, after years of frustration and mounting legal jeopardy.

For now, the ICC’s war crimes case against Netanyahu and Gallant is in legal limbo. The Pre-Trial Chamber must revisit the jurisdictional question from the beginning, and there is no timetable for how long that process might take.

What’s clear is that the momentum has shifted. Israel’s voice, once dismissed as “premature,” will now be formally heard. Whether that will lead to the dismissal of the case entirely remains to be seen, but the decision marks a turning point in a legal saga with profound implications not only for Israel, but for how international criminal law is applied to democratic nations defending themselves from terrorism.

As The Jerusalem Post concluded, “Thursday’s ruling is not the end of the ICC case against Israel. But it is, at long last, the beginning of a fair hearing.”

Parents Sound Alarm on ‘CoComelon’ Overstimulation: A Generation Hooked on Hyper-Animated Entertainment?

TJV news

04/24/2025

Parents Sound Alarm on ‘CoComelon’ Overstimulation: A Generation Hooked on Hyper-Animated Entertainment?

Edited by: TJVNews.com

What happens when your toddler’s favorite show turns into a source of anxiety, meltdowns, and behavioral changes? For a growing number of concerned parents across the United States, the answer is clear: pull the plug on CoComelon.

As The New York Post reported on Wednesday, the wildly popular animated series—known for its vibrant colors, rapid-fire pacing, and large-eyed cartoon characters—has amassed nearly 200 billion YouTube views, becoming a cultural juggernaut in the world of children’s programming. But its grip on young audiences is sparking backlash from parents who claim the show’s overstimulating format contributes to tantrums, addictive behaviors, and attention issues.

Virginia mom and former educator Lauren Isler, known to her 140,000 Instagram followers as @MamasandMesses, once thought nothing of letting her young son watch CoComelon. But she soon noticed troubling changes in his behavior.

“He would sit there glued to the TV and he never wanted us to turn it off,” Isler told The New York Post. “When CoComelon was on, he demonstrated some negative behaviors — transitions were hard and there were tantrums, especially when it was time to turn it off.”

Isler, who had seen her child engage with other TV programs without issue, said CoComelon was different in its intensity and impact, likening the effects to a digital high that made ordinary life — quiet time, structured play, or even other shows — feel dull by comparison.

Shani Hillian, a beauty writer and mother based in New York City, told The New York Post that her home is strictly a CoComelon-free zone.

“It’s too fast-paced, it’s too aggressive, and I don’t like how big their eyes are. It’s scary,” Hillian said. “I also feel like the overstimulation is playing into the short attention span I think kids already have.”

Hillian described how her daughter was instantly captivated when exposed to CoComelon at a friend’s house — a reaction that alarmed her so much that she began thumbs-downing the show every time it popped up on Netflix to prevent it from being recommended.

On parenting forums, Reddit threads, and Instagram stories, CoComelon is now regularly compared to a digital narcotic.

“Once you have a taste of the COCO, it’s hard to break the addiction,” one father wrote in an online post highlighted by The New York Post. Another clip shows a young child sobbing in frustration after the show was turned off — what some parents have dubbed “CoComelon meltdowns.”

The show’s formula — bright visuals, catchy tunes, and fast-cut edits — is designed to hold a child’s attention in an age of increasing screen competition. But critics say that format may come at a cost to a child’s emotional regulation, patience, and capacity for quiet, imaginative play.

CoComelon was created in 2006 by Jay Jeon, a commercial director, and his wife as a small-scale YouTube project. But in 2020, the franchise was purchased by Moonbug Entertainment, a company that quickly expanded the brand’s global reach.

In response to The New York Post’s inquiries, a Moonbug spokesperson defended the program, stating: “We dedicate substantial care and resources to ensure all of our content, including CoComelon, is as enriching as it is entertaining. We work closely with experts in childhood development to inform our content development choices.”

However, that has done little to satisfy skeptical parents who see a disconnect between the show’s developmental promises and its effects on their kids.

Faced with what they see as hyperstimulating modern programming, some parents are ditching flashy animation altogether. Instead, they are turning to retro, low-tech children’s shows that emphasize slower pacing and storytelling.

Isler, for example, told The New York Post she now opts for classics like the 1980s-era Care Bears and early-2000s staples like PBS’s Barney & Friends.

“These older shows aren’t perfect, but they’re gentler,” she said. “They allow my child to engage with the content without becoming over-reliant on the dopamine rush of bright colors and noise.”

This “back to basics” approach is gaining momentum among parents who worry that high-octane digital content is reshaping their children’s neurological development, creating kids who are less able to cope with silence, boredom, or the slow rhythms of daily life.

Dr. Kathryn Smerling, a New York-based family therapist and author of the new book Learning to Play Again: Rediscovering Our Early Selves to Become Better Adults, told The New York Post that today’s shows often have the opposite effect of what parents hope for during screen time.

“Instead of having kids slow down, these cartoons jerk them up, making it hard for kids to concentrate and sleep,” Smerling warned.

While she acknowledged that empirical research on overstimulation is still limited, the observable behavior patterns in young children after watching such shows are difficult for many parents to ignore. “The best of the old-school shows engender conversation, while many of the new shows don’t emphasize that,” she added. “They’re a lot of noise.”

This concern is echoed by Midtown mom Tracy Caliendo, who is raising five children—including 7-year-old triplet daughters—and documenting her family life via her Instagram account @almosttripletsnyc. A vocal advocate for low-stimulation parenting, Caliendo told The New York Post that newer shows often feel more like visual candy than meaningful entertainment.

“All of these new shows are designed with fast-paced editing and loud effects, which can be so overwhelming,” Caliendo said. “We want our kids to use their imaginations and let their minds be creative.”

Her preference? Wholesome vintage classics like Charlie Brown, which she says offer gentle pacing, moral clarity, and emotional resonance.

“The Peanuts gang offers heartwarming stories with timeless themes of friendship and acceptance,” she noted. “They’re shows you can talk about afterward—what the characters felt, what choices they made. That’s real learning.”

The New York Post report said that other parents are embracing the shows they themselves grew up watching, believing that the media diet of the 1990s and early 2000s struck a healthier balance between education, imagination, and calm.

Lauren Isler said her children now regularly enjoy Bear in the Big Blue House—a soothing puppet-based series from the early 2000s—over modern offerings.

“As a ‘90s kid, I’m a little biased, but TV shows were just so good back then,” Isler said. “Most of the time, they had good messages for kids. My kids love Bear in the Big Blue House, and honestly, I do, too. It’s so calming and pure.”

This generational nostalgia is not only beneficial for kids, but may also provide a unique emotional opportunity for parents.

As Dr. Smerling explained to The New York Post, reintroducing children to their parents’ favorite childhood shows isn’t just about pacing or content—it’s a bonding tool.

“A patient recently told me that he and his daughter are watching the Berenstain Bears together,” she recounted. “This can be a chance to cuddle with your child and say, ‘I remember when I watched this with your grandma.’ It can be a beautiful, multigenerational connection.”

These shared moments—couched in storytelling and calm, familiar animation—can foster what psychologists call “attachment security” in young children: the belief that they are safe, understood, and emotionally connected to their caregivers.

While platforms like YouTube and Netflix continue to pump out high-octane animated content to meet constant demand, a countertrend among mindful parents is taking hold, as was indicated in The New York Post report. Fed up with the “noise”—both literal and figurative—of today’s programming, many are exploring the benefits of slower, more deliberate narratives that give children space to think, feel, and grow.

“Not everything has to be entertaining in the way that grabs you by the face,” Caliendo said. “Sometimes it’s enough for a story to simply be sweet, or for a character to pause and think.”

As The New York Post report pointed out, this growing pushback isn’t just about screen time limits or curating content. It reflects a broader cultural shift—a movement to reclaim childhood as something slower, simpler, and more human in an age of ever-accelerating digital media.

And for parents like Isler and Caliendo, the answer might just be as simple as it is timeless: tune into what matters—one quiet episode at a time.

Trump Signs Executive Order Overhauling College Accreditation To Combat ‘Ideological Overreach’

TJV news

04/24/2025

Editorial - Trump Middle East article — Donald Trump’s second term presents an unprecedented opportunity to reshape the global landscape in the fight against radical extremism, starting in the Middle East and radiating outward to impact the entire world. Credit: AP

By Matthew Xiaon(Free Beacon)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that will overhaul the college accreditation process in an attempt to fight left-wing “overreach” on campuses.

The order makes it easier for universities to change accreditors and for new accreditors to gain federal recognition. Trump views a restructuring of the accrediting system as his “secret weapon” to counter “ideological overreach” in higher education, administration officials told the Wall Street Journal.

To earn accreditation—and access to federal funds—institutions must meet wide-ranging standards, including academic quality, admissions policies, and financial stability.

Trump and other Republicans have said that the process operates like a cartel—suppressing competition and shielding underperforming institutions, according to the Journal. While the federal government awarded over $120 billion in loans, grants, and work-study funds to students at accredited schools in the last academic year, colleges with low graduation and job placement rates rarely lose their accreditation.

The Wednesday order is part of the Trump administration’s broader campaign to reshape higher education.

The administration has revoked federal funding to several elite universities over years-long anti-Semitic activism on campus and their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The frozen funds include $2.2 billion to Harvard University and $1 billion to Cornell University, as well as hundreds of millions to Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University.

According to CNN, Wednesday’s order also asks the secretary of education to “hold higher education accreditors accountable including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination for poor performance or violations to the federal Civil Rights Act,” a White House official said.

It also “directs the attorney general and the secretary of education to investigate and terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions, including law schools and medical schools,” according to the official.

“Revoking accreditation is an existential threat for these universities,” Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, told the Journal. “If you lose Pell grants and lose student loans, for most colleges that means you’re done.”

Remembering Atrocities–But Only If We’re Armed to the Teeth

TJV news

04/24/2025

ezgif-5-bbb069ade8 — “I don’t want to say I am gratified or vindicated, because even without this footage, this is an incredible story,” said New York Holocaust expert Matthew Rozall, who discovered the footage in the US National Archives. “But to actually see it is another nail in the coffin of Holocaust denial, we hope.” Photo Credit: US National Archives

Remembering Atrocities–But Only If We’re Armed to the Teeth
Holocaust Memorial Day, 2025
By Phyllis Chesler

Last night, I watched a very moving moment in Israel’s Holocaust Day program. There she was, a tiny woman who’d survived Hitler, accompanied by her blessedly large family.

Everyone was asked to rise for the singing of Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem–and so Mogadi (Esther) Unger rose, slowly, out of her wheelchair, and sang each word clearly and out loudly.

I was unexpectedly moved to tears. Watch and listen for yourselves.

For years now, I have struggled with the Jewish remembrance of our martyrs, including the six million who were murdered by Nazis in the Shoah.

Haven’t we been commanded to “remember to forget” Amalek–and yet, here we are, remembering the evil Amalek-like hatred that led to the mass murder of our people when we were at our most vulnerable.

Is honoring our dead excessively a way of distracting us from the grim realities we continue to face in our lifetimes as Jews continue to be defamed, attacked, kidnapped, and murdered everywhere, anywhere, including in our own Homeland? Perhaps we are honor-bound to do so, just not excessively?

To some extent, as dangerous as Holocaust denial is, Holocaust memorialization may also function as a form of denial.

How can remembering the Holocaust be a form of denial? Because in this instance it may also allow us the luxury – and the consolation – of assuming that the “worst” has already happened. Alas, this may not be true.

With Holocaust denial rampant among Islamists and Western intellectuals, the celebration of Holocaust Memorial Day becomes more than an affirmation of the truth of the tragedy. It is also an act of defiance and moral clarity.

In the Arab and Islamic media, Israel and Jews are labeled and portrayed as vermin and child-eating monsters. Islamists see no contradiction between caricaturing Jews in the vilest way and yet protesting, often violently, the fairly innocuous Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Appeasers in the Western intelligentsia are quick to sympathize with Islam’s injured “honor” in this matter.

Western leftists have used the Holocaust to suit their own political purposes. Some have said that the Jews are exploiting the Holocaust in order to collect reparations money and that they have used the Holocaust to justify the creation of a “apartheid” state.

They have also put forward their own version of Holocaust denial. Jews, they claim, are worse than Nazis, and Israel is perpetrating a “Holocaust” upon the Palestinians – the same Palestinians who send human bombs on foot, now on gliders, to murder Israeli civilians. The attacks on Israel are constant, its list of alleged crimes routinely expanded to include “ethnic cleansing,” “forced transfers,” and supposed “human rights violations.”

In 2006, I published the following:

“Jew-haters are creating a situation in which another Holocaust-like mass murder of Jews may be possible. Indeed, in my view, it has already begun, certainly not in America and not yet in Europe – but in Israel. Today, Jews who live in the Jewish state – a nation that was initially envisioned as the solution to the ceaseless persecution of the Jews – are far more endangered than those who live in the Diaspora.

“Israel endured the equivalent of 9/11 every month for four years during the intifada that erupted in 2000. In 2005, seven Palestinian homicide bombers killed and wounded Israeli civilians; an additional 15 such terrorist attacks were thwarted. True, Israel is well-armed and has nuclear capacity. However, the military superiority of the Jewish state is now being used to diabolize Israel on university campuses throughout the Western world.

“In addition, certain intellectuals, Jews among them, attempt to hide their rabid Jew-hatred by focusing overly much on the European Holocaust – on all the dead Jews – as a way of diverting attention from the impending Holocaust against living Jews. Because they oppose what was done to the Jews in World War Two, they feel justified, credentialed, to say that today’s attacks on Israel are “justified,” that the Palestinian Arabs are now the true victims, (the “new Jews” in a sense), and the Israeli Jews are their “Nazi” persecutors.

“In my view, all that we are currently witnessing is worse and more widespread than the propaganda against the Jews that was disseminated before the European Holocaust.

“Of course, we cannot let this stand. We must expose and oppose all such lies. They are an affront not just to Jews but to Western civilization and constitute a real threat to its survival.

“Jew-haters are creating a situation in which – dare I say it? I am sorry but, yes, I must say it – another mass murder, perhaps even a Holocaust-like mass murder, of Jews might be possible. In my view, it has already begun, not in America and not yet in Europe where antisemitic incidents abound, but in Israel. (I do think that the horrific torture and murder of Ilan Halimi in Paris is as momentous a turning point as the Dreyfus case was in its day.)

“How does a Holocaust happen? You tell the demonized scapegoats that they are imagining and exaggerating their victimization. You demand that the scapegoats apologize, bow and scrape a bit more. And then you commit the unthinkable: You wipe out a large number of civilians, either in Israel, Europe or America.”

And verily, and rather wearily, I say unto us all:

What’s different since 2006, and even since 10/7, is that Jews everywhere are under siege in one way or the other.

Thus, what matters is not just what evil people do. They are evil, they do evil things. What matters is what the good people do – or fail to do. Victims of horrific, even genocidal violence are haunted by what the good people failed to do. The time to act is upon us. May we act wisely and decisively before it is too late.

In the merit and the memory of the six million-plus who have been murdered by Jew-haters, we must not rest on our illusions. Heroism is now our only alternative.

For all those who think that Jew-hatred is primarily a white supremacist, European-based ideology, let me quote from the divine Hebrew poet Nathan Alterman. He fled Warsaw and made aliya in 1925; he lived through the never-ending Arab attacks upon peaceful Jewish farmers, pedestrians, bus-riders, and shopkeepers all throughout the 1930s, before Hitler’s demonic minions struck in Europe. His poem “The Killers of the Fields” is a tragic and mystical meditation on Jewish history, Jewish destiny, and the fragility of the hoped-for Jewish state.

Then out of the far-off villages,
On the hills, like massive-jawed raptors —
At a desert crawl, more primal than any law,
They descend,
The killers of the fields…

For destiny of old has not let go, no he hasn\’t,
For amid her quietude and the songs of her tents
He\’s been holding her neck in a lock since Vespasian
And brandishing his whip.

Brave little Israel, mighty military might though it may be, finds itself living in an exceptionally dangerous neighborhood. How it conquers endemic barbarism matters not only to the Jews, but to all who are watching

Israeli Airstrikes Target Hamas, PIJ Operatives in Gaza

TJV news

04/24/2025

ezgif-5cf4eb65856afa — Israeli forces operating in Gaza in an IDF photo published on April 21, 2025.

Israeli Airstrikes Target Hamas, PIJ Operatives in Gaza

(TJV NEWS) Israeli forces have conducted two targeted airstrikes in Gaza over the past day, eliminating operatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) who were reportedly involved in orchestrating attacks on Israeli civilians and military personnel, JNS reported.

One of the strikes took place Thursday in Jabalia, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) hit a joint Hamas-PIJ command and control center. According to the IDF, extensive precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties, including the deployment of precision-guided weapons, aerial surveillance, and the use of real-time intelligence, JNS reported.

צה״ל ושב״כ תקפו במהלך הלילה, ריכוז מחבלים ששהו במתחם פיקוד ושליטה של ארגוני הטרור חמאס וגא״פ שהוקם במרחב ששימש בעבר כבית ספר ׳יאפא׳ במרחב העיר עזה.

מתחם הפיקוד והשליטה ששימש את המחבלים לתכנון ולהוצעה לפועל של פעולות טרור נגד אזרחי מדינת ישראל וכוחות צה״ל.

טרם התקיפה ננקטו צעדים… pic.twitter.com/oX4Es7PmUa

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 23, 2025

A similar operation was carried out overnight Wednesday in Gaza City, targeting a Hamas-PIJ meeting point located within the former “Jaffa” School. Israeli officials said that site had been used to plan and coordinate terrorist operations, JNS reported.

The military emphasized that these actions highlight the continued use of civilian infrastructure by terror groups as shields for their activities. “The terrorist organizations violate international law and exploit the civilian population as human shields,” read a joint statement from the IDF and Shin Bet, JNS reported.

Israel’s military has pledged to maintain its campaign against Hamas and PIJ in an effort to safeguard its citizens

Harvard Rescinds Fellowship to Controversial Ex-Columbia Lecturer Kayum Ahmed Amid Outcry Over Anti-Zionist Indoctrination, Ties to Hamas-Linked Institution

TJV news

04/24/2025

Harvard Rescinds Fellowship to Controversial Ex-Columbia Lecturer Kayum Ahmed Amid Outcry Over Anti-Zionist Indoctrination, Ties to Hamas-Linked Institution

By: Fern Sidman

In yet another episode highlighting the intensifying clash between elite academic institutions and mounting scrutiny over antisemitism on campus, Harvard University has revoked a prestigious fellowship it had quietly extended to Kayum Ahmed, a former Columbia University lecturer with a controversial history of anti-Israel activism and ties to George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

As The Washington Free Beacon revealed in a report on Thursday, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy offered Ahmed a one-year fellowship for the 2025–2026 academic year, only to rescind the offer days later following press inquiries about his background. The abrupt reversal came without detailed explanation, but not without consequence: the episode has intensified questions about academic oversight, ideological extremism, and Harvard’s political allegiances.

On April 3, Ahmed announced on LinkedIn that he had been appointed a fellow at the Carr Center, posting a screenshot of the official offer letter, complete with Harvard letterhead and the signature of Executive Director Maggie Gates.

“I’m pleased to share that I’ve been appointed as a Fellow at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, for the 2025–2026 academic year,” he wrote.

But after The Washington Free Beacon reached out to Harvard on Monday for comment regarding the appointment—given Ahmed’s widely reported pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel classroom conduct—a spokesman quickly clarified that the offer had been issued “prematurely.”

“The offer was made prematurely and without going through the proper vetting process,” a Harvard Kennedy School spokesperson told The Washington Free Beacon. A day later, the university confirmed it had formally revoked the offer.

“After completing our standard review and vetting process, Harvard Kennedy School has decided not to move forward with this fellowship,” the spokesperson said.

Ahmed previously served as a director at the Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic network founded by George Soros. But he rose to wider national attention in March 2024, when The Wall Street Journal published a scathing exposé detailing how Ahmed used his teaching position at Columbia University to indoctrinate students with anti-Israel ideology, as was indicated in The Washington Free Beacon report.

According to that report, Ahmed’s lectures portrayed Israel as a “colonial settler state” that “displaced indigenous populations” and inflicted “health consequences” on Palestinians—narratives deeply criticized by pro-Israel organizations and Jewish students as factually distorted and ideologically militant.

The Washington Free Beacon report said that the WSJ’s findings prompted Columbia to cut ties with Ahmed, but the controversy did not end there. Harvard’s decision to bring him on as a fellow—however briefly—rekindled the debate over whether elite universities are providing safe harbor for radical anti-Zionist figures whose rhetoric flirts with antisemitism, a concern The Washington Free Beacon has been tracking amid rising tensions on college campuses.

In its public statement, Harvard Kennedy School claimed the revocation was not about ideology, but rather about “suitability,” “integrity,” and “ability to add to the intellectual life of the school.” The university also emphasized that it remains “committed to free speech and ideological diversity” and “does not disqualify candidates because of their views or because they are controversial.”

However, Ahmed has publicly rejected that narrative.

In a follow-up LinkedIn post, the former lecturer accused Harvard of succumbing to political pressure and retaliating against him for refusing to “remain silent in the face of genocide”—a clear reference to Israel’s military operations against Hamas following the October 7 massacre, as was explained in The Washington Free Beacon report.

“So let’s be honest: the real error—according to those pulling the strings—was that I refused to remain silent in the face of genocide,” Ahmed wrote. “They want obedience. I want resistance.”

The Free Beacon noted that Ahmed’s framing echoes hardline activist rhetoric in which accusations of Israeli “genocide” and apartheid are weaponized to delegitimize the Jewish state and vilify its defenders.

“After completing our standard review and vetting process, Harvard Kennedy School has decided not to move forward with this fellowship,” a spokesperson told The Washington Free Beacon. Though the university denied the revocation was due to Ahmed’s controversial views, many observers remain unconvinced.

Ahmed’s teaching at Columbia became the subject of national controversy in March 2024 after The Wall Street Journal published an exposé detailing his aggressive promotion of anti-Israel narratives in his public health classes, The Washington Free Beacon reported.

“He puts the idea into everyone’s head that the Jews stole the land and it should belong to the indigenous people,” one graduate student told the WSJ.

Others accused Ahmed of abandoning scholarly neutrality in favor of pro-Palestinian indoctrination, disseminating disinformation, and demanding ideological conformity to anti-Zionism, a movement that explicitly opposes the existence of the State of Israel.

Within a month of the article’s publication, Columbia University declined to renew Ahmed’s contract. But by July 2024, he had relocated to the West Bank and accepted a visiting scholar position at Birzeit University, a Palestinian institution that has openly celebrated Hamas through military parades and political events. The Washington Free Beacon report noted that until recently, Birzeit maintained an academic partnership with a Harvard college that currently employs several faculty members who have defended Hamas’s October 7 massacre and accused Israel of genocide and terrorism.

Despite this track record, Harvard’s Carr Center described itself in Ahmed’s acceptance letter as looking “forward to supporting your ongoing research and scholarship.” The center’s fellowship application materials state that it prioritizes scholars “whose research and practice are aligned with the Center’s priorities,” as per The Washington Free Beacon report.

Critics—including former Trump administration officials—have cited the Carr Center as a nexus of ideological capture within Harvard, specifically calling out its programs as “fueling antisemitic harassment” and distorting human rights discourse to suit anti-Western political agendas.

Ahmed, in turn, had planned to collaborate with Professor Mathias Risse, an academic at the Kennedy School who has also drawn controversy for statements framing Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel as “not coming out of nowhere” and for describing Israel’s military response as “ruthless.”

“I was especially looking forward to working with Professor Risse to examine some of the existential questions facing the human rights movement,” Ahmed wrote before the offer was rescinded.

The Washington Free Beacon also resurfaced previous remarks Ahmed made while leading the Open Society Foundations’ public health program, including a 2019 address at the elite Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York. There, Ahmed argued that Jews had become perpetrators of oppression following the Holocaust, drawing a moral equivalence between Nazi atrocities and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The Jews who suffered in the Holocaust and established the State of Israel today perpetuate violences against Palestinians that are unthinkable,” Ahmed said, echoing a narrative long criticized for bordering on Holocaust inversion—a rhetorical technique that trivializes the Shoah by weaponizing its memory against Jews.

This episode comes as Harvard finds itself embroiled in a broader legal and cultural battle. As The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this week, the university filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to freeze billions in federal funding as part of a crackdown on campus antisemitism. Harvard’s move signals the escalating standoff between elite academia and federal authorities over how antisemitism is defined—and addressed—in today’s polarized political environment.

The Ahmed controversy is now being interpreted in that broader context, with critics arguing that Harvard is desperately trying to balance appeasing progressive faculty and donors with avoiding further backlash from Washington and the Jewish community.

Though Harvard maintains that it retracted Ahmed’s appointment due to procedural irregularities and not political views, the timing of the decision—and the Carr Center’s past statements of support—suggest mounting institutional panic as elite universities come under federal and public scrutiny for enabling campus antisemitism, as was noted in The Washington Free Beacon report.

With Ahmed now portraying himself as a martyr of free speech, declaring in a defiant LinkedIn post that “they want obedience; I want resistance,” the episode speaks volumes about the deepening ideological battle over the future of academia—and whether institutions such as Harvard can, or will, draw a clear line between academic inquiry and activist indoctrination.

As The Washington Free Beacon report concluded, the Ahmed affair is not merely about one scholar, but about the values, priorities, and blind spots of America’s most powerful academic institutions.

Abe Foxman Takes Aim at Trump’s Policies in U.S. Capitol Speech Marking Holocaust Remembrance

TJV news

04/24/2025

Abe Foxman Takes Aim at Trump’s Policies in U.S. Capitol Speech Marking Holocaust Remembrance

Condemns Book Bans, Attacks on Immigrants, & Political Extremism

Edited by: TJVNews.com

In a stirring and sobering address delivered at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Abe Foxman, former longtime national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and himself a child survivor of the Holocaust, issued a powerful warning about the resurgence of antisemitism and illiberalism in the United States. Speaking at the 2025 Days of Remembrance commemoration organized by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Foxman offered both pointed criticism at President Trump and cautious praise for American leaders, reflecting on the Holocaust’s legacy amid modern threats to democracy and Jewish life.

As reported by The Jewish Insider, Foxman did not mince words as he reflected on the political climate and drew troubling parallels between today’s discourse and the ideological climate of pre-Nazi Europe.

“As a [Holocaust] survivor, my antenna quivers when I see books being banned, when I see people being abducted in the streets, when I see government trying to dictate what universities should teach and whom they should teach,” he said to sustained applause, as was indicated in The Jewish Insider report. “As a survivor who came to this country as an immigrant, I’m troubled when I hear immigrants and immigration being demonized,” Foxman added.

Foxman’s words, laden with historical weight and personal testimony, resonated deeply in a room filled with lawmakers, Jewish community leaders, diplomats, and Holocaust educators. The Jewish Insider report emphasized that Foxman’s remarks emphasized the central message of this year’s Days of Remembrance: that the lessons of the Holocaust are not theoretical—they are urgently relevant today.

While his remarks included criticism of the current political climate—particularly censorship, authoritarian rhetoric, and xenophobia—Foxman acknowledged efforts by both former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump to address antisemitism head-on.

“We live in very chaotic times, where our values, our history, our democracy are being tested,” Foxman said. “As a survivor, I’m horrified at the explosion of antisemitism — global and in the U.S. I’m appreciative of President Biden’s historic initiative on antisemitism and thankful to President Trump’s strong condemnation of antisemitism and his promise to bring back consequences to antisemitic behavior.”

This nuanced perspective, as The Jewish Insider noted, highlighted Foxman’s enduring insistence on bipartisan moral clarity in the face of antisemitic threats—whether they arise from the political left or the right.

The Jewish Insider report noted that in the most chilling portion of his remarks, Foxman drew historical analogies between today’s political rhetoric and the conspiracy theories and ideological rot that predated the Holocaust.

“We look around us and what do we see? Rampant antisemitism on college campuses and in cities worldwide in the aftermath of that horrific terror attack on our cherished Jewish state, Israel,” he said. “We see social media algorithms that promote extreme views, conspiracy theories… just one click away from antisemitism.”

He continued: “We also see forms of antisemitism that seemed unthinkable: Holocaust denial, distortion, civilization exploitation and even glorification.”

“Here in America, we see antisemitism on both the far left and the far right. The 20th-century history of Nazism and communism should be an alarm bell as to just how dangerous this is—not just for us Jews, but for all of society.”

Foxman emphasized that the rise in domestic antisemitism has alarming historical echoes, warning that today’s rhetoric is “not so different from the conspiracy theories that permeated Europe for centuries, long before Hitler was born.” As The Jewish Insider report reflected, Foxman’s warning framed antisemitism not just as a Jewish concern, but as a barometer for the health of democratic civilization itself.

Also speaking at the Capitol event was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a prominent Jewish philanthropist and 9/11 survivor, who offered an emotionally charged address comparing the ideological hatred behind the Holocaust to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel and the 9/11 terror attacks.

“The Holocaust was a failure of humanity. But as we all know, no matter how hard we try, that kind of hatred continues to exist, just in many, many other forms,” Lutnick stated, according to The Jewish Insider report.

Lutnick, visibly moved, called the October 7 attack “carried out with the same genocidal hatred that fueled Auschwitz,” and likened it to the Islamist extremism that underpinned the September 11 attacks. “It’s just the same hate, it just comes at a different time with a different name,” he said.

He concluded his remarks with a strong endorsement of President Trump’s defense of the Jewish people, pledging that Trump “will never back down from defending the Jewish people, never.”

The Jewish Insider report emphasized that this year’s Days of Remembrance was not simply a commemoration of the past—it was a call to action in the face of an increasingly hostile climate for Jews worldwide. With Holocaust denial, campus radicalization, terror glorification, and political polarization reaching new highs, leaders such as Foxman and Lutnick used the Capitol ceremony to sound the alarm for a generation once believed to be immune to such hatred.

“This isn’t just about memory,” Foxman concluded. “It’s about moral responsibility.”

President Isaac Herzog to Lead 2025 March of the Living at Auschwitz With Those Freed From Hamas Captivity

TJV news

04/24/2025

President Isaac Herzog to Lead 2025 March of the Living at Auschwitz With Those Freed From Hamas Captivity

By: Fern Sidman

In a historic and emotionally resonant commemoration, Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to Poland on Thursday to lead the 2025 March of the Living at the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported on Wednesday. This year’s march holds profound significance as it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi death camps and the end of World War II.

The March of the Living, which takes place annually on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), brings together Holocaust survivors, youth delegations, and dignitaries from around the world to walk the three-kilometer route from Auschwitz to Birkenau, as was noted in the JNS report. But the 2025 edition is uniquely poignant, drawing a parallel between past atrocities and the ongoing trauma of modern terrorism, particularly the devastating impact of the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.

This year’s delegation will include 80 Holocaust survivors, aged 80 to 97, many of whom endured the horrors of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and other death camps, or survived in hiding during the Holocaust. In a powerful symbolic gesture, these survivors will be joined by 10 Israelis who were recently freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza, illustrating a chilling continuity of Jewish suffering and resilience across generations.

As the JNS report indicated, the freed hostages participating in the march include Agam Berger, Hagar Brodutch, Chen Goldstein-Almog, Ori Megidish, Almog Meir Jan, Gadi Moses, Raaya Rotem, Eli Sharabi, Keith Siegel, and Moran Stella Yanai.

They will be accompanied by relatives of hostages still held in Gaza, bereaved families of the October 7 attack, and descendants of Holocaust survivors, some of whom are now grandparents of current hostages. JNS reported that among them are the parents of Omer Shem-Tov, the parents of Hanan Yablonka and Ofir Tzarfati, the widow of Ron Binyamin, and relatives of Shani Louk and Tomer Achimas, whose bodies were returned to Israel. Daniel Weiss, whose parents were either murdered or kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, will also take part.

This unique delegation is coordinated by the Hostages and Missing Persons Department in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, according to the report at JNS.

Prior to the march, President Herzog will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Oświęcim, the town adjacent to Auschwitz. The two leaders will discuss bilateral cooperation, the global rise in antisemitism, and joint efforts to secure the release of remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

The JNS report said that their itinerary includes a wreath-laying ceremony at the Black Wall in Auschwitz, where thousands were executed by the Nazis, a visit to Block 27, which houses the Israeli Holocaust memorial exhibit curated by Yad Vashem, and meetings with youth delegations from Israel and Poland, emphasizing the importance of Holocaust education and shared memory among younger generations.

The March of the Living will begin at 1:00 p.m. local time, culminating in a central memorial ceremony at Birkenau at 3:30 p.m., during which President Herzog, President Duda, and a selection of Holocaust survivors will deliver addresses.

Among the notable participants are Aliza Wittis-Shomron, who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, one of the most heroic acts of resistance during the Holocaust, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, survivor of Buchenwald, former chief rabbi of Israel, and chairman of Yad Vashem and Merrill Eisenhower Atwater, great-grandson of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who personally witnessed the liberation of Nazi camps and predicted future denial of the Holocaust.

As JNS reported, security has been significantly increased in light of recent antisemitic demonstrations in Warsaw, though officials stress that there is no known threat to the event itself. Organizers and participants have underscored the unwavering importance of remembrance, especially as the number of living survivors continues to dwindle.

“With fewer eyewitnesses to tell their stories, the burden now falls on all of us to ensure that the truth of the Holocaust — and the lessons it teaches — are never forgotten,” said a senior official with the March of the Living, speaking to JNS.

This year’s March of the Living does more than commemorate history — it starkly reminds the world that Jewish suffering did not end with the liberation of the camps in 1945. By including survivors of both the Holocaust and modern terrorism, this year’s ceremony draws a direct line from the ghettos and gas chambers of Nazi Europe to the tunnels and captivity of Hamas’s terror infrastructure in Gaza.

The entire ceremony will be streamed live for global audiences at:

🔗 https://event.gpolive.co.il/live/landing-pages/president/

As JNS concludes in its report, the presence of Holocaust survivors, recent hostages, and their families walking together through the gates of Auschwitz is a testament to the endurance of the Jewish people, their commitment to memory, and their refusal to allow history to be forgotten — or repeated.

As Holocaust Survivors Dwindle, Israel & Global Jewish Communities Intensify Efforts to Preserve Memory & Provide Care

TJV news

04/24/2025

Germany Holocaust Survivors — FILE - The railway tracks where hundred thousands of people arrived to be directed to the gas chambers inside the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, are pictured in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. Almost 80 years after the Holocaust, about 245,000 Jewish survivors are still living across more than 90 countries, according to the report by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

As Holocaust Survivors Dwindle, Israel & Global Jewish Communities Intensify Efforts to Preserve Memory & Provide Care

By: Fern Sidman

As Israel marks Yom HaShoah—Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, a sobering milestone was revealed by the Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs: just 120,000 Holocaust survivors remain living in the Jewish state, down 13,000 from last year, marking a nearly 10% decrease in a single year. The data, released ahead of the solemn national observance, sheds light on the urgent moral, social, and historical imperative to support survivors in their final years and preserve their fading testimonies.

As reported by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) on Thursday, Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs Ya’akov Margi emphasized this dual responsibility in a statement issued Tuesday.

“This places a double responsibility on all of us: first, to intensify our efforts to provide the remaining survivors with a life of dignity and comprehensive emotional and social support; and second, to act decisively to document their stories, preserve their testimonies, and pass on their legacy to future generations,” Margi said, according to JNS.

The data provided by the ministry paints a portrait of a rapidly aging population, many of whom now face the final chapter of their lives amid new threats and displacement from recent conflicts. As JNS reported, of the 120,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel today, about 32% receive direct assistance from the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, which allocates an annual budget of 77 million shekels (approximately $21 million) toward survivor care services.

The urgency of this moment is highlighted by figures from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which on Tuesday published its latest demographic report titled “Vanishing Witnesses: An Urgent Analysis of the Declining Population of Holocaust Survivors.” The report estimates that just half of the 220,800 Holocaust survivors worldwide will still be alive in six years, with only 30% (about 66,250) expected to remain in 2035. By 2040, the global population of Holocaust survivors is projected to fall to just 22,080.

Today, half of the remaining survivors live in Israel, while the rest are dispersed across 90 countries. Remarkably, 1,400 survivors are now over 100 years old, representing just 0.6% of the total global survivor population, according to JNS’ report.

Beyond the natural toll of time, the JNS report highlighted how recent geopolitical events have added new trauma for many survivors.

Approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors were directly affected by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel, which claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis and led to mass evacuations of border communities. Of these survivors, about 2,000 were forced to evacuate, reliving memories of displacement and persecution. The JNS report indicated that as of this week, 128 survivors remain displaced from their homes, mostly in northern communities that have endured ongoing attacks from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group operating from southern Lebanon.

The Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, according to the information in the JNS report, has responded by creating community and support structures for displaced elderly populations, many of whom have formed new social bonds in the hotels and temporary shelters where they were relocated.

“During the war, close ties were formed between elderly citizens from different communities who were evacuated to the same hotels—many of them Holocaust survivors—and for them, the ministry established community and social services in the evacuated hotels,” the ministry said in its statement.

To maintain and nurture these connections, the ministry has recently launched 21 new community centers — 19 in the north and two in the south — aimed at preserving the sense of community that emerged during the war and preventing social isolation among the elderly.

As the JNS report noted, beyond the immediate social and medical care needs, the fading survivor population also presents an existential challenge to Holocaust remembrance. First-hand witnesses to the Shoah are the last living link to one of humanity’s darkest chapters. Their personal testimonies are not only emotionally powerful but are also critical to countering Holocaust denial and distortion, which has been rising globally in recent years.

Government officials, educators, and Jewish organizations are now racing to document as many survivor stories as possible — through oral history projects, virtual reality archives, and international partnerships — to ensure their legacy is not lost.

In his remarks to JNS, Minister Margi did not shy away from the gravity of the moment: “In the past year, we have lost about 10% of Holocaust survivors in Israel,” he said. “Now, more than ever, we must act decisively—not only for their well-being but to safeguard the memory of who they were, what they endured, and what they built.”

The survivors of the Shoah, many of whom helped build the modern State of Israel from its earliest days, are now elderly, vulnerable, and increasingly alone. As Yom HaShoah is commemorated, the nation once again pauses not only to mourn the six million murdered in Europe, but also to honor the dwindling number who lived through it — and to renew the sacred promise that their lives, and their stories, will not be forgotten.

As the JNS report reminds us, we are the last generation with the privilege of learning directly from them — and the first generation responsible for remembering without them.

The Jewish Voice

The Jewish Voice

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As Holocaust Survivors Dwindle, Israel & Global Jewish Communities Intensify Efforts to Preserve Memory & Provide Care

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