A pro-Palestinian activist protesting the participation of an Israeli team in the Tour de France was detained by security guards after attempting to disrupt the cycling race near the finish line on Wednesday.

Video footage that went viral showed the man jumping a barricade and running toward the racers while shouting objections to the Jewish state's participation in the world's most prestigious bike race.

Israel is represented at the Tour de France by the Israel-Premier Tech team, though no Israelis are among the eight riders participating in this year's July 5-27 competition.

In April, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement dubbed Israel Premier-Tech "Team Genocide," calling on BDS supporters to stage "peaceful protests" against its presence at the Tour de France.

"We call for more peaceful protests than ever along the routes of cycling races where Team Genocide is participating, including the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España," the organization said, naming the three Grand Tours and adding, "Let's make sure the road is closed to genocide perpetrators."

Members of the Israeli cycling team also faced pro-Palestinian protests during the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands in April and at the Giro d'Italia in May. 

The Tour de France consists of 21 stages, with the event wrapping up at the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 27. Stage 11, stretching over 150 kilometers (93 miles), took place around Toulouse on Wednesday.

Founded more than 10 years ago by Israeli businessman Ron Baron and former rider Ran Margaliot, Israel Premier-Tech is competing this year for the sixth consecutive time in the Tour de France, its 112th edition.

"What we are doing is carrying the good name of Israel, the name of an open, tolerant, fair-play, sporting nation. It's especially important in this difficult period—post-Oct. 7, 2023," Sylvan Adams, the team's owner, told JNS on July 10, referencing the Hamas-led massacre.

Israeli model Melanie Shiraz was crowned "Miss Universe Israel" on Saturday night and will represent the country at the international Miss Universe pageant in Thailand in November.

The Miss Universe Israel pageant, now in its second year under its current format, is organized by Jewish American businessman Edgar Sakhain, owner of Edgar Entertainment, with the support of the Israeli Consulate. It replaces the iconic Beauty Queen of Israel contest, which for years launched the careers of many Israeli models.

Though intended to select a representative for Israel to Miss Universe, the Israeli competition has for the second consecutive year been held in Miami.

Shiraz, 26, competed as "Miss Caesarea," despite currently living in California. According to her profile on the contest's website, she is an Israeli entrepreneur and content creator with a background in innovation, public diplomacy and the arts.

She succeeds Miss Israel 2024, Ofir Korsia, who represented Israel last year with distinction.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

European Jewish organizations have expressed support for Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission's coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, who has been criticised for pointing out that much of hatred directed at Israel over the war in Gaza is directed at Jews and is fueling antisemitism.

The campaign also "accuses" her of having lobbied against E.U. sanctions on Israel.

Some 26 MEPs, mainly from left-wing groups, have called for her to resign, in a letter sent to the European Commission, according to EUObserver.

In a statement on Friday, the European Jewish Association, an organization representing more than 600 Jewish communities across the continent, said it "stands firmly with her."

"Of course, Israel, like any democracy, is not above criticism. Like any other country, it makes mistakes. But unlike any other country, criticism of Israel is far too often laced with tropes, slurs and conspiracies that are unmistakably antisemitic. No other state is singled out with such obsessive hatred—and no other people are held collectively responsible for it," the EJA said.

"When Coordinator von Schnurbein warned about this toxic double standard, she was doing her job. She was defending Jewish life in Europe. And she was naming what so many refuse to admit: that today’s antisemitism often wears the mask of anti-Zionism," the statement adds.

"The campaign to discredit her is not about accountability. It is about silencing those who dare to name the connection between Jewish identity and the Jewish state—and the way that connection is weaponized against Jews in Europe and beyond," its says.

The EJA urged the European Commission "to reject these political attacks and to reaffirm Katharina von Schnurbein’s mandate.

"For nearly a decade, she has worked tirelessly to protect our communities, to fight hate in all its forms, and to build a Europe where Jews can live openly and proudly," the EJA said.

The European Jewish Congress called for continued support for von Schnurbein’s work and rejected "any attempt to discredit her or weaken the fight against antisemitism in Europe."

The demands for resignation are "unfounded, disgraceful and based on false accusations and a misleading narrative," the EJC said.

"They cause great harm to European Jewish communities by undermining one of their staunchest allies. For nearly 10 years, Katharina von Schnurbein has been a tireless champion of Jewish life in Europe, standing with our communities during some of the most difficult moments—from the rise in antisemitism and terrorist attacks to increasing social polarization," the EJC added.

Asked by European Jewish Press for a reaction about this campaign against von Schnurbein, a spokesperson of the European Commission said Friday: "We have no comment whatsoever on unverified leaks from a meeting," in a reference to a conference in Israel where von Schnurbein participated with E.U. ambassadors in her official capacity, in line with the E.U. strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life adopted by the European Commission in 2021.

As for accusations that she lobbied against E.U. sanctions on Israel, the spokesperson referred to what E.U. foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday following a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, where E.U. foreign ministers shelved a decision on anti-Israel measures.

Referring to the "common understanding" reached by the European Union and Israel for the expansion of the humanitarian aid into Gaza, Kallas said that we "see positive signs but Israel needs to take more concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground.

“The European Union will keep a close watch on how Israel implements this common understanding and the pledges,” the E.U.’s top diplomat added.

Regarding the letter from MEPs calling for von Schnurbein’s resignation, the European Commission spokesperson said that "we will reply in due course."

Originally published by the European Jewish Press.

As millions of Israelis resumed routines and activities interrupted by the war with Iran, life ground to a halt last week in the Druze communities of the Golan Heights.

A massacre perpetrated on July 13, in which hundreds of Druze Syrians were reportedly murdered, has shaken Majdal Shams, a picturesque town that’s home to most of the Golan’s 20,000-odd Druze residents, many of whom have relatives across the border.

“This is our Oct. 7,” Sari Halabi, whose home in Majdal Shams is situated 50 yards from the border fence, told JNS on July 17. “Life froze. We keep watching the videos that the terrorists took of themselves butchering our families, feeling angry, anxious and completely destabilized.”

Alongside the grief and shock that has struck this community, many here feel proud of and grateful for Israel’s robust intervention to stop the massacres—on July 16, the Israel Air Force struck key regime targets in Damascus—and optimistic that the Druze of Syria and Israel would unite in the wake of the massacres.

Following the July 13 massacre in Sweida, a predominantly Druze city in southern Syria, hundreds of Druze living on the Israeli side of the border briefly crossed into Syria without permission out of concern for their families there, as dozens from that country entered Israel to seek safety and see relatives, though most were later returned.

Elsewhere in Israel, Druze citizens, of which Israel has about 150,000, declared a general strike, blocked roads and demonstrated, demanding Israel act to rescue their kin. The protest subsided after Israel struck Damascus on July 16, prompting the Syrian authorities to announce a ceasefire as security forces were deployed to Sweida to end the violent clashes.

Still, the unrest underlined the deep impact that events in Syria have on Israel’s Druze community—a minority that has distinguished itself with loyalty to the Jewish state, including via active and meaningful military service.

Despite the illegal border breach on July 15 and the protests, the Druze attachment to Syria “is an asset to Israel, not a liability,” said Halabi, a 38-year-old father of three. “This attachment opens the path to many things, which I think the terrible massacre has brought closer, including a Druze autonomy fighting and flourishing alongside Israel” on the Syrian side of the border, he said.

This is because “the massacre will help settle an internal debate within the Druze community in Syria, and it will lead to more support for autonomy and self-reliance,” said Halabi. Autonomy, he explained, means deepening the alliance with Israel, which is the only major power interested in a Druze-run buffer entity along its northeastern border.

These geopolitical calculations weren’t Halabi’s first reaction to the massacre.

“I was just sitting there watching the horror videos, one by one. Just like we all did on Oct. 7,” he said, referencing the invasion into Israel by thousands of Hamas-led terrorists, who murdered some 1,200 people and abducted another 251, often while documenting their own war crimes with body cameras and cell phones.

Faced with a stream of images of similar atrocities coming out of Syria, hundreds of Golan Druze gather in the evenings on the eastern edge of Majdal Shams, near Halabi’s home, where Syrian territory is a stone’s throw away. There, they fly Druze flags, share impressions, talk to foreign and local media and survey with their own eyes their communities across the border.

On Thursday, Druze men, some of them wearing balaclavas, ejected Al Jazeera reporters from the town as Israeli troops and police officers guarding the border fence looked on.

“This is not news. This is reconnaissance. They’re collecting information for the enemy,” one young Druze man told JNS of Al Jazeera, the Qatari anti-Israel network.

Security is a concern in Majdal Shams, especially after a Hezbollah rocket killed 12 children at a soccer field here last year. A nearby square commemorates the victims with a statue of a soccer ball adorned with a crown comprising 24 angel wings. Many here say Hezbollah targeted the field and timed the rocket to produce maximum effect.

During last year’s state commemoration of the victims of the war that erupted on Oct. 7, a resident of Majdal Shams, Luna Rabbah, represented the town when she sang a verse in the memorial song “Etzlenu Bagan” (In Our Garden.)

On the border fence, her father, Abdullah, showed the video proudly to a reporter. “The past few terrible days followed a very difficult year,” said Abdulla Rabah. “But it led to an act of brotherly courage that, even though it came too late, will be remembered for generations and saved many lives,” he said of the Israeli strikes in Damascus, including on the Syrian army’s general staff headquarters.

The Syrian regime, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda jihadist terrorist who rose to power in December, “sent an army south of Damascus, into the area that should be demilitarized, and it began to massacre the Druze. We could not accept this in any way,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on July 17 about the strikes, which Syrian sources said killed dozens of people.

The strikes were out of character for Israel, which very rarely uses military force in defense of non-citizens. Some find the strikes puzzling. “I don’t know what to make of it,” said Ilham, a Druze woman in her fifties who preferred not to give her last name. “Maybe it’s some political plan involving Netanyahu, [U.S. President Donald] Trump, al-Sharaa and the Saudis. I don't believe it was about the Druze,” she said.

Many Druze in Israel say they feel discriminated against or unheeded, especially following the passing of a law in 2018 that states that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish People, a formulation some Druze argue is discriminatory.

Rabah believes that the strikes in Damascus were indeed meant to protect the Druze in Syria, and as such were “an unprecedented act of solidarity that will usher in a new level of integration and fraternity between Jews and Druze.”

Israel’s intervention “will turn a new leaf also for the Golan Druze,” he said, predicting a run on Israeli citizenship.

Most Golan Druze have to date declined citizenship, clinging to an official narrative of being Syrian citizens under occupation while de facto integrating into Israel and plugging enthusiastically into its economy. However, increasing numbers of Golan Druze have taken up Israeli citizenship in recent years as the prospect of being returned to Syria became increasingly unlikely.

“I’m optimistic,” said Rabah, who came to the border wearing a cap emblazoned with the Druze flag on the front and the Israeli one on the back. “Just like Israel emerged from Oct 7. much stronger than it was before, so too will the Druze—and their eternal alliance with Israel,” he added.

Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas claimed on Saturday that elections for the Palestinian National Council, an internal body of his Palestine Liberation Organization, will be held by the end of the year.

Since Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are not members of the PLO, they are not represented in the PNC.

Abbas's decree, which he issued after the Palestinian body met in the Samaria city of Ramallah on Thursday, states that the date of the future election is set to be determined by the chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, a position held by Abbas since October 2004.

The Palestinian National Council sets the PLO's policies and elects members of the organization's Abbas-led executive committee.

The Palestinian National Council is a separate body from the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is the parliament of the Palestinian Authority. Until Thursday, the PNC had met only once since being elected in 2006. The body met only twice since 1991, in 1996 and 2018.

According to Abbas's declaration, which was publicized by Ramallah's official Wafa news agency, the new council will be composed of 350 members. Two-thirds of them will be from Judea, Samaria and Gaza, while the other third will be from the Palestinian diaspora, it stated.

To be a member of the PNC, the would-be members would have to commit themselves to the PLO's program, as well as its "international obligations and international legitimacy resolutions," the order read.

Abbas, who has led the PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority since being elected for a four-year term 21 years ago, has often promised elections amid pressure by the U.S. and E.U. for the P.A. to reform.

Most recently, Abbas indefinitely postponed 2021 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and the P.A. presidency, claiming the cancellation came due to Israel's refusal to allow voting in Jerusalem.

The P.A., which is deeply unpopular among the Palestinian public, has sought to take control of the Gaza Strip after the Israel Defense Forces operation against the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist group there ends.

Jerusalem is seeking the destruction of Hamas's governing capabilities but has also rejected P.A. involvement due to its support for terrorism.

"Just as I have committed to, on the day after the war in Gaza, there will be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. I am committed to U.S. President Trump's plan for the creation of a different Gaza," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated in a Feb. 17 statement.

Trump's plan for Gaza envisions relocating its two million residents and undertaking a clearing and reconstruction process under U.S. oversight.

London police arrested dozens of individuals on Saturday during a rally in the British capital for showing support for the group Palestine Action, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police.

The vast majority of the 66 individuals detained were arrested on suspicion of expressing support for a proscribed organization, police said. The arrests come in the wake of the British government's decision earlier this month to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization.

Police had warned demonstrators that expressing support for the organization constituted a criminal offense. According to the statement, the arrests were made after those warnings were ignored.

Saturday’s protests took place ahead of a court hearing scheduled for Monday, during which Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori is expected to seek permission to challenge the government’s decision to ban the anti-Israel group.

The U.K. Home Office proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization on July 5, following a July 1 vote in the House of Commons, where the ban passed by a margin of 385 to 26. The House of Lords also approved the designation, and the Court of Appeal in London rejected a legal challenge to block the ban later that same week.

The decision to ban Palestine Action came after members of the group vandalized two Voyager refueling aircraft at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, spraying paint into their engines and causing an estimated $9.5 million in damages.

French-Israeli singer Amir’s performance at the Francofolies de Spa festival in the city of Spa, Belgium, was marked by high tension on Friday following accusations of “support for Israeli military action in Gaza” by a dozen artists, including French-Swiss Yoa (real name: Yoanna Bolzli), who canceled her performance.

They denounced the fact that Amir expressed support for the IDF after the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Amir's family made aliyah from France when he was 8 years old, and subsequently served in the IDF Intelligence Corps.

“My social, political, and humanist convictions are incompatible with sharing the stage with an artist who denies the ongoing genocide in Palestine and has participated in events backing the Israeli army,” Yoa declared on social media.

Hostile tags, such as “Spa complice” (“Spa accomplice”) and “Amir machine à tuer” (“Amir killing machine”), were sprayed across the city. Nevertheless, the organizers decided to go ahead with the show.

During the concert, a teenager carrying a PLO flag was quickly removed by security, as was an Israeli flag confiscated earlier, according to Marc Radelet, the festival’s press officer.

No other incidents were reported.

Amir didn’t let it get him down and set the record straight during his performance. “It’s been a few days since I discovered that love can divide people. Yet I’ve always felt close to those who suffer, those who cry, those who doubt, those who apologize. The pains of the world pass through you as they pass through me,” he said.

He continued, “I respect those who oppose me, but I think that to be able to move forward, we have to listen to each other, we have to be able to dialogue. Dialogue is clearly preferable to anathemas and boycotts. I think it’s important to use our position as artists to set an example."

He concluded, “My only response to hatred is art and music. Because we’re all here together tonight, I’d like us to sing with one voice, and for that song to rise above the tumult.”

His fans, present en masse, called for music to be separated from political debates. “Let’s leave opinions aside and enjoy ourselves,” one of them told Belgian media outlet RTBF.

Amir's record label, Parlophone (part of Warner Music), denounced the “déferlement de haine antisémite,” or "surge of antisemitic hatred." 

The organizers defended their decision to have Amir perform as scheduled.

They argued that, as far as Amir is concerned, they had never “witnessed any propaganda on stage.” They added they were not in a position “to morally assess his personal trajectory” other than through his songs dealing with “universal and consensual themes such as love, celebration, the quest for self and resilience.”

Amir, 41, aka Amir Haddad, full name: Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad, took part in the Israeli televised music competition "Kokhav Nolad" ("A Star Is Born") in 2006. He represented France in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "J'ai cherché," which finished in sixth place.

Elsewhere in Belgium

Another music festival in Belgium this weekend, Rock Herk, also drew controversy last week when the European Jewish Association urged the organizers to remove punk-rap duo Bob Vylan from the program following the band’s controversial statements at the Glastonbury Festival in the U.K.

During the performance in England, the duo chanted slogans such as “Death, death to the IDF,” “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea.” Behind them, political messaging referenced the supposed genocide in Gaza.

“This is not about silencing criticism of Israel, this is about silencing a proud and unbowed proponent of hate speech against Jews,” wrote EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, in a letter to the Rock Herk organizer.

“You do not have to support Israel. You can, even if you choose to do so, support the Palestinian cause. We live in a democracy. But hate speech is entirely different. What Bob Vylan is doing is calling for murder,’’ he added.

But Bob Vylan performed at midnight on Friday night as scheduled.

Originally published by the European Jewish Press.

The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed legal complaints in Belgium against two Israeli soldiers, alleging they committed war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

In a statement on Saturday, the Brussels-based group said the two individuals were spotted at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom on Friday.

The Global Legal Action Network is also party to the joint complaints submitted to the Federal Prosecutor, calling for the two's immediate arrest and prosecution under Belgium’s universal jurisdiction laws.

According to the Hind Rajab Foundation, the two, reportedly associated with Israel’s Givati Brigade, are implicated in attacks on civilians, forced displacement and the deliberate destruction of Palestinian infrastructure. Witnesses stated that a group of Israeli men displayed the Givati Brigade flag at the festival; meanwhile, Israeli youths reportedly tore down a Palestinian flag from a local home.

The Hind Rajab Foundation gathers publicly available information about IDF soldiers, including military operations they participated in, with the aim of prosecuting them abroad.

The organization is one of five that the Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry recommended in late June for a ban from entering the Jewish state due to legal actions against Israeli citizens.

The others are Al-Haq Europe, Law for Palestine, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.

According to a Diaspora Ministry statement, these organizations and individuals “meet the conditions set forth in the Law for the Prevention of Entry.” A list dated June 25, comprising 50 individuals affiliated with these groups, has been submitted to Israel’s Interior Ministry, which can ban individuals from entering the country.

The Hind Rajab Foundation was established in Brussels in September 2024 as a nonprofit named after a Palestinian child allegedly killed by the IDF during the current war with Hamas.

It is affiliated with the March 30 Movement and led by Dyab Abou Jahjah and Karim Hassoun.

To date, the foundation claims to have filed complaints against at least 28 soldiers in eight different countries and has submitted a brief to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accusing more than 1,000 IDF soldiers of war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon.

Abou Jahjah, who was born in Southern Lebanon and acquired Belgian citizenship through marriage, is a former recognized Hezbollah activist who was charged by Belgian police in 2002 for involvement in violence.
Hassoun has served since 2005 as chairman of the Arab European League, which is dedicated to “helping Muslim integration in Europe,” and previously published a cartoon suggesting Jews fabricated the Holocaust. He holds Belgian citizenship as well.

A ministerial panel led by Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli on Sunday afternoon voted to recommend the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

The unanimous vote came after Baharav-Miara was summoned twice for a hearing last week but failed to appear, claiming that the committee procedure established by the government was illegal.

Chikli's committee also included Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli. The latter delayed his resignation from the government to participate in the vote on Baharav-Miara's dismissal.

Following the panel's recommendation to fire the attorney general, the matter still needs to pass through the full Cabinet, which could happen as early as July 27.

In addition, Israel's Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, ruled on Friday that the government decision would not take effect until the justices have reviewed the procedure and reasons for the firing.

"Should the government decide to dismiss the attorney general, the decision will not take effect immediately, in order to allow sufficient time for judicial review," Justice Noam Sohlberg wrote in his ruling.

Baharav-Miara had asked the court for a temporary injunction to freeze the push to dismiss her via the ministerial committee hearing, and to block any additional government actions related to her removal.

"The process of ending the term of office of the attorney general has become a purely political process," she said in a statement to the Supreme Court on July 7.

Responding to Friday's ruling on Sunday, Baharav-Miara again urged the Supreme Court to block the Cabinet from voting on her dismissal, writing that the process was fundamentally flawed and allowing it to proceed would do "immediate damage to the rule of law in Israel."

While the government has the authority to fire an attorney general, in the past such a decision could only be made at the recommendation of a professional committee composed of justices, lawyers, academics and ministers.

However, in a unanimous decision on June 8, the Cabinet altered the method by which an attorney general may be dismissed, so that the justice minister can submit a request for the dismissal to a panel composed of five government ministers. 

Under the new system, after a hearing by the ministerial committee, a vote to dismiss must be brought before the full Cabinet, which needs to pass the decision with at least 75% of its members in favor.

Chikli has said that the calls for Baharav-Miara's firing come against the backdrop of "inappropriate conduct and substantial and prolonged differences of opinion between the government and the attorney general, creating a situation that prevents effective cooperation."

Israel's right-wing coalition has been at loggerheads with the attorney general since its formation after the general election of Nov. 1, 2022.

According to Israeli law, Baharav-Miara does not work for the premier, as opposed to in the United States, where the attorney general is an agent of the executive branch. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed to the post in 2022 by the coalition led by then-premier Naftali Bennett.