‘I’m here, I’m alive—and it’s the most important thing in the world,’ former Hamas hostage tells JNS
Luis Har was freed from captivity in Gaza in a daring Israeli military operation 129 days after he was abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
A terror attack, a car accident and the war against Hamas have brought repeated loss to the Mark family—and forged extraordinary resilience.
Memory and hope can coexist, and that choosing to live, rebuild and remain can itself become an act of defiance.
Three years after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, the families of Capt. Elay Adany and those he helped rescue remain bound by his final acts of courage.
A coffee cart in northern Israel honors Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko through the things he loved: Nature, friendship and bringing people together.
Nirit Shalev-Khalifa and her Yad Ben-Zvi team are preserving thousands of items from Gaza-border communities devastated in the Hamas massacre for future generations.
Surveillance video shared with JNS showed two people tearing down U.S. and Israeli flags at a private residence, placing a Palestinian flag and vandalizing the property.
The Lithuanian government told JNS exclusively that it “does not envisage any activities on the site of the former Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės that would be incompatible with the historical significance of this place and respect for the Jewish community.”
The Oct. 11 program will feature representatives of nine parties ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 vote.
Tehran missed “multiple opportunities” for a nuclear deal and its economy was in “total and complete freefall,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Precisely because Hamas is so weak, it will try to challenge us,” the prime minister said. “We are ready for this.”
The goal of an online conference was to prepare for hostile foreigners brought by left-wing organizations to stir up trouble.
The “Salon Otef” event at the President’s Residence launched hundreds of gatherings across Israel aimed at preserving firsthand testimony of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and its aftermath.
The finance minister outlined his territorial agenda at Jerusalem’s first NatCon conference, three weeks before Israel’s election.
“The largest Jewish city in the world has learned to live with antisemitic hate crime as the baseline three years after Oct. 7,” Evan R. Bernstein, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, told JNS.
“The most disturbing lesson Jewish students are learning in school today may be how quickly the adults look away,” Steve Rosenberg of the North American Values Institute told JNS.
“These people are demonic. Disrupting the truth, disrupting stories of tragedy and heroism. They should be ashamed of themselves,” Phelim McAleer, who wrote the play with his wife, Ann McElhinney, told JNS.
“Texas stands with Israel and the Jewish community and will always honor the lives lost that day,” Gov. Greg Abbott said.
Julie Menin and fellow council Jewish Caucus members Eric Dinowitz, Lynn Schulman and Harvey Epstein hosted Oct. 7 survivor Shalev Biton and his rescuer, Yunis Alkarnawi, at City Hall.
“The charging by the FBI of Haverford College associate professor Guangtian Ha for harassment and intimidation of a Jewish Israeli professor closes the dotted line between verbal acts of harassment and actionable violence which, when Jews are the recipients, is far too often ignored,” Lori Lowenthal Marcus of the Deborah Project told JNS.
Dr. Phil, who moderated the event, told JNS that faith is a “foundation” and “moral compass” in difficult times.
OCT. 7, THREE YEARS: REMEMBRANCE AND HONOR
The Jewish state lowered its flags to half-staff at 6:29 a.m. to launch commemorations honoring fallen soldiers and victims of the 2023 assault.
A terror attack, a car accident and the war against Hamas have brought repeated loss to the Mark family—and forged extraordinary resilience.
Anat Meir talks to JNS about building a life for herself and 3-year-old Shaked in the shadow of David’s death.
Memory and hope can coexist, and that choosing to live, rebuild and remain can itself become an act of defiance.
Three years after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, the families of Capt. Elay Adany and those he helped rescue remain bound by his final acts of courage.
“There are people who look away, and then there are the ones who can’t stop looking. I’m the kind who has to look, and memory of what I saw will be there forever,” said Capt. Ariel Armbrister.
A coffee cart in northern Israel honors Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko through the things he loved: Nature, friendship and bringing people together.
Nirit Shalev-Khalifa and her Yad Ben-Zvi team are preserving thousands of items from Gaza-border communities devastated in the Hamas massacre for future generations.
“Vote-sharing” between two separate party lists helps reduce the number of votes that go unused.
“Precisely because Hamas is so weak, it will try to challenge us,” the prime minister said. “We are ready for this.”
A hostile Democratic administration will pile on sanction after sanction.
MEET THE PARLIAMENT
Opposition
HAREDIM IN ISRAEL:
A Series
A Series
The war transformed a decades-old legal and political dispute into an urgent fight over military manpower, equality of service and the future of Haredi society.
At its core, the dispute is about what military service, Torah study and citizenship mean in the Jewish state.
Originally intended to accommodate a few hundred Torah scholars, the exemption of ultra-Orthodox yeshivah students from IDF service evolved into one of Israel’s most contentious public policy issues.
Despite holding a fraction of Knesset seats, Shas and United Torah Judaism have become indispensable coalition partners, reshaping Israeli politics.
Points of view from across the Jewish world
Press releases from Israel, and around the pro-Israel and Jewish world
27 Days of Truth: Remember the victims of global jihad and name the ideology behind it.
Recalling those lost, learning from families and survivors, and looking ahead with hope.
A celebration of Jewish pride, culture and resilience comes to Gateway Park on Jan. 24, 2027.
“While the challenges remain immense, the strength and compassion we see every day give us hope for the future,” said JDC CEO Ariel Zwang.
AFHU also promotes Alana Menitoff to the position of philanthropy officer for the Southeast region.
She plans to focus on strengthening multigenerational connections to the Technion, drawn from her own family’s history with the institution.
Brings more than two decades of experience in donor engagement and philanthropic management.
Eight laureates recognized for contributions to medicine, physics, chemistry and mathematics.
Rabbi Greg Litcofsky, executive director of recruitment and partnerships: “It brings us together—across generations, programs and the different names we called it—around one shared experience.”
AJU alum to guide convening strategy and national leadership initiatives.