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  • A rational suggestion to resettle Gazans

    Eric Levine|Feb 7, 2025

    (JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that resettling Palestinians living in Gaza “could be temporary or long term” has raised many eyebrows. Calling Gaza “literally a demolition site right now,” he said, “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change …. You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.” He went on to say, “You know over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t kn...

  • Patience is a virtue

    Daniel Rosen|Feb 7, 2025

    (JNS) — The recent ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas are just the latest chapter in a series of high-stakes decisions with unpredictable outcomes. The hostage deal has been a source of both intense joy and extreme apprehension. There have been countless times in the last 16 months that tragedy was supplanted by triumph. The notion that patience is a virtue has never been truer. There is a tendency to jump to conclusions and allow emotions to dominate opinion. The complexities of the situation, including many factors unknown to t...

  • The ADL needs to reconsider its positions

    Martin Oliner|Feb 7, 2025

    (JNS) — The Anti-Defamation League was founded 111 years ago to “stop defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment for all.” It fulfilled that noble purpose for decades, and I was once proud to contribute to the organization. It fought antisemitism and defended Israel and did its best to stay out of divisive partisan politics. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. On Jan. 20, the ADL posted the following on X: “We unequivocally condemn Pres. Trump’s issuance of 1,500 pardons and commuted sentences for Jan 6 insurrect...

  • The right to exist

    Ben Cohen|Feb 7, 2025

    (JNS) — Liberal and left-wing adversaries of Israel indulge in an abiding fantasy that one day the Jewish state, which they falsely regard as an ethnostate built upon an ideology of Jewish supremacy, will be replaced by a single state of Palestine. They fancifully believe that it will be a multiethnic democracy granting equal rights to all its citizens, regardless of religion or national origin. As fantasies go, this one has enjoyed a good deal of mileage, surfacing every few years at times of tension in the Middle East and gripping the a...

  • The wickedness perpetrated by Hamas can never be undone

    Bassem Eid|Feb 7, 2025

    (JNS) — The ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas terror group went into effect on Jan. 19 and included the release of some of the surviving hostages kidnapped by the terrorist group on Oct. 7, 2023. Three of these victims—Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher—were returned to Israel alive in the first week of the deal. It is to be devoutly hoped that as many as possible will shortly be returned safe and sound to their surviving family members. “Safe and sound,” in this case, is a relative term. We know for a fact that...

  • It's awards season

    Alan Newman|Feb 7, 2025

    (JNS) — The entertainment industry is abuzz as once again, the world awaits the high drama when envelopes are opened, and we find out who will get the Oscars, Grammys and other similar prizes. In between the stars doling out trophies to other stars, the audience is treated to edgy humor and lots of commercials. The winners thank their agents, their studio bosses, and, maybe, their spouses or parents. Even the losers get a generous “everyone wins” gift bag. Washington, on the other hand, has been referred to as “Hollywood for ugly people....

  • America should declare UNRWA a terrorist organization

    Rami Chris Robbins|Jan 31, 2025

    (JNS) — The last few weeks have not been good for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees. They were, therefore, good for humanity as two senior UNRWA staffers indicated in a New York Times article that the U.N. agency will shut operations in Judea and Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman, Yuli Edelstein, welcomed the report. Edelstein’s committee shepherded a new law through the Knesset that declares UNRWA to be a terrorist organization and bans it in Israel. The law is to tak...

  • A deal that keeps Hamas in power is meaningless

    Khaled Abu Toameh|Jan 31, 2025

    (Gatestone Institute via JNS) — Those who think that the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas will abandon its jihad to murder Jews and destroy Israel in the aftermath of the recent ceasefire agreement are mistaken. Although the agreement may put an end to the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, it does not, in any way, reflect a shift in the radical and dangerous ideology of the Islamist group, as outlined in its 1988 Covenant. The document quotes Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood organization (of w...

  • Fragile smiles: Hamas ceasefire and the shadow of war

    Fiamma Nirenstein|Jan 31, 2025

    (JNS) — In the realm of cinema, where the boundaries between good and evil are sharply drawn and the villains are unmistakably monstrous, one might imagine a collision as stark and tragic as the one currently unfolding in the Middle East. The reality, however, is far from fiction. The contrast between two societies—one fighting to protect its citizens and the other entrenched in a culture of violence—is painfully evident. The fragile ceasefire brokered to exchange hostages and prisoners has exposed not just a sliver of hope, but also the endur...

  • Crying tears of joy from one eye, tears of grief from the other

    Jonathan Feldstein|Jan 31, 2025

    Israel is celebrating the release and homecoming of three hostages this past week. At the same time Israel is grieving for the hostages and families that are not on the list of the 33 to be released in this stage of the current deal with Hamas. That’s assuming that Hamas does not violate the deal. It’s expected that at least one third of the hostages to be released in this current six-week phase are already dead. At least their families will have closure. But at such a price. To secure the release of the first three, Israel had to release 90...

  • What's in a name?

    Yisrael Medad|Jan 31, 2025

    (JNS) — Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has drawn some fire as a result of his legislative initiative in proposing the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-Use of Judea and Samaria Act”—for short, the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Bill. In essence, it requires all official U.S. documents and materials to use the historically accurate term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the “West Bank.” Moreover, it calls the term “West Bank” as language that is “politically charged....

  • A deal with Hamas means Israelis deserve the truth

    Nadav Shragai|Jan 24, 2025

    (Israel Hayom via JNS) — The deal to bring the hostages home from Gaza carries an immense, largely unspoken price — one that has received far too little attention, if any at all. While some may support it and others oppose it, there exists a third path: acknowledging that this is a poor deal, albeit perhaps unavoidable, while simultaneously shattering the walls of media silence surrounding its dire consequences. These walls bear an unsettling resemblance to the conspiracy of silence that prevailed before the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal (in whi...

  • On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must remember the righteous too

    Jonathan Feldstein|Jan 24, 2025

    As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches on Jan. 27, marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and the beginning of the end of the Holocaust and WWII, there are stories of inspiration that call to us to be remembered, beyond the horrible facts that most know: six million Jews murdered in the event that defined the word genocide. At Auschwitz alone, 1.1 million people were killed, including 1 million Jews. Throughout Nazi occupied Europe, entire Jewish communities were simply erased. Where there were survivors, like in the...

  • Amid crisis, students choose Chabad

    Rabbi Yossi Serebryanski|Jan 24, 2025

    (JNS) — Over the course of this past year, university campuses across the country were fraught with turmoil for Jewish students, and those who have a stake in supporting Jewish life on campus are asking themselves important questions. With the start of Chanukah, donors and philanthropists are tasked with where they should make their year-end contributions. Most choose organizations based on several factors, including a personal connection to the organization, alignment of values with its mission or even geographic proximity. However, after t...

  • Viewpoint: How do we in Israel feel about the deal?

    Jan 24, 2025

    By Aaron Weil Several friends from around the world have been reaching out about how we in Israel are experiencing the freedom of the hostages alongside the releasing of terrorists, (dozens and dozens of whom will be convicted murderers) back into the land? People ask, “How can your nation handle releasing 2,000 terrorists in order to repatriate 33 hostages of whom perhaps a third may already be dead?!?!” The answer... “We can’t! No one can.” The horrors, the ongoing unending pain that we all know when our thoughts turn to those still suf...

  • The lump in my throat

    Hillel Fuld|Jan 24, 2025

    (JNS) —I am an optimistic guy, or at least I am in the public sphere. I definitely have my moments, but I try not to bring others down with me. Usually, I snap out of it quickly. It is 5:38 a.m. as I write these words after I was woken up by the pit in my stomach. I can’t shake the feeling. Now, I know I’ve shared multiple posts expressing the nuance in this deal and specifically the joy we will all feel seeing live hostages hug their loved ones again. Usually, with most events, that positive thought will outweigh the negative. This time is di...

  • Unlike a famous slogan, some news isn't fit to print

    Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt|Jan 24, 2025

    (JNS) — The New York Times Dec. 26 article, “Israel Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians,” which claimed Israel loosened its rules to kill Hamas fighters, resulting in the loss of many civilian lives, is disturbing precisely because of the assumption of objectivity, reliability and accuracy in its reporting. Yet, it is fair to question if this reputation is deserved, especially by those of us who closely follow developments in the Middle East and who know the Times has misreported when it comes to Israe...

  • A fake genocide meets a real one

    Ben Cohen|Jan 17, 2025

    (JNS) — For more than a year, Jews inside and outside the State of Israel have been besieged by false claims of the “genocide” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The rhetoric of the pro-Hamas mob — “We don’t want no Zionists here,” “Go back to Poland” and so on — has been ugly enough to make Nazi Germany proud. The real-world impact — arson and gun attacks on synagogues and other Jewish institutions from Canada to Australia, a pogrom in Amsterdam, physical and sexual assaults on those wearing identifiably Jewish symbols, creeping discriminati...

  • The January surprise

    Mitchell Bard|Jan 17, 2025

    (JNS) — For months, President Joe Biden’s detractors predicted that he would deliver a last-minute betrayal of Israel, akin to President Barack Obama’s infamous abstention on a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in 2016. When the “surprise” came, it was not the one critics anticipated. Rather than silence them, however, their outrage was fueled by the unexpected admissions of his secretary of state. First, we were told Biden would pull an Obama immediately after the election in November. Instead, he defied ex...

  • The cathartic effects of the past year on Jewish life and identity

    Daniel Rosen|Jan 17, 2025

    (JNS) — The last 15 months have been a tragedy for the individual and a triumph for the collective. History is rife with examples of this dichotomy. The tragedy of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing aftermath across the world has created an earthquake that has realigned world Jewry in the most profound of ways. Israeli Jews and those in the Diaspora have gone through a type of catharsis and have regained a sense of purpose that was dangerously close to being lost. Many American Jews had convinced themselves that they could blend into society and t...

  • I accuse: An open letter to Pope Francis

    Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz|Jan 17, 2025

    (JNS) — Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel, has penned a letter to Pope Francis following the pontiff’s ongoing criticism of the Jewish state during the Swords of Iron war. The text of his letter follows. “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.” — Isaiah 62:1 Dear Pope Francis, Your words and actions regarding the State of Israel are not merely disappointing...

  • Canaries in the coal mine: The rise of workplace bias against Jews

    Ellie Krasne-Cohen|Jan 17, 2025

    (JNS) — America has long been known as the land of opportunity, welcoming people of all nationalities, backgrounds and religions to its shores and giving them a chance to build prosperous lives. This has been especially true for Jews, who, despite bouts of antisemitism, have thrived in the United States. Recent studies, however, suggest that this period of acceptance and tolerance is eclipsing as Americans face religious discrimination in the workplace. Last month, the Anti-Defamation League released a study titled, “Jewish and Israeli Ame...

  • What Trump can change in 100 days

    Joseph Frager|Jan 17, 2025

    (JNS) — Inauguration day is around the corner, and unlike in January 2017, when Donald Trump took the oath of office for the first time, now seems calmer and, in some corners, more celebratory. When Trump won the presidential election in 2016, the knives were out and being sharpened, so to speak. Not so this time around as Trump’s landslide victory has his enemies and detractors retreating somewhat. New York Times columnist Bret Stephens gave up his “Never Trump” status. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is hanging out with Jared Kushner...

  • Resilience is the path forward

    Eliana Mandell Braner|Jan 10, 2025

    (JNS) — As we make our way through Chanukah, it’s impossible not to reflect on the holiday we experienced last year. My husband was in the Israel Defense Forces reserves, and I lit the first candle alone with our four children. There was a sense of uncertainty and disruption of the stability we once knew. This year, like then, many mothers will stand before the burning candles without their partners—some due to reserve duty, and others, sadly, because their husbands fell or were murdered in the past year. Our hearts break for the new famil...

  • Netanyahu's leadership and the survival of Israel

    Fiamma Nirenstein|Jan 10, 2025

    (JNS) — Throughout its millennia-long history, the Jewish people have endured relentless persecution, a reality that has forged a tradition of resilience and leadership. From biblical figures such as Moses—the liberator of the Israelites and a lawgiver whose influence shaped modern civilization—to more modern heroes like Judah Maccabee, Tuvia Bielski, Mordecai Anielewicz and Hannah Senesh, Jewish history is marked by individuals who have led their people through adversity. To this list, contemporary history now adds Benjamin Netanyahu, whose...

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