Israeli military strikes more than 100 Hamas sites in the southern Gaza city • Senior Israeli officials: Hamas ceasefire claims a stunt. (JNS) The Israel Defense Forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday morning, as tanks from the 401st Armored Brigade of the 162nd Division rolled right up to the station. The Israeli flag was raised at the Rafah crossing and video showed an armored vehicle arriving at one of the buildings there, next to a sign that says “Gaza” in English. The IDF shared pictures and video of the moments that the Rafah crossing was capture ..read more

According to the White House, Biden “reiterated his clear position on Rafah” and updated Netanyahu on “efforts to secure a hostage deal.” (JNS) A ceasefire deal with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of the 132 hostages held by the terrorist organization in Gaza, President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Monday, a White House spokesperson said. Biden expressed his concerns over the Israel Defense Forces’ imminent military operation in Rafah, as the army began sending messages to Palestinians to flee the eastern districts of the Hamas-c ..read more

(JNS) After weeks of pro-Hamas demonstrations on the Columbia University featuring calls for genocide against Jews and the taking of two university employees as hostages, university president Minouche Shafik sent a letter on Tuesday to the New York Police Department requesting their help in restoring order. In response, at least 200 police officers cleared the campus of two encampments on Tuesday night, and removed protestors from an occupied building. Hundreds more officers lined the streets of campus to cut off potential help from other students and agitators.  The SWAT team, riot units ..read more

By Jonathan Tobin One of the standard talking points of those seeking to rationalize and even justify the efforts of those supporting the survival of Hamas and the defeat of Israel since the Oct. 7 massacres is the fact that many Jews are among the ranks of these “critics” of the Jewish state. So, when observers point to the blatant antisemitism that has become a feature of the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests that have proliferated on North American college campuses and elsewhere in the last six months, those backing the demonstrations simply say they can’t be against Jews because Jews are amo ..read more

The International March of the Living will hold two significant marches in May under the banner “Together We Remember.” (JNS) International March of the Living will begin its commemorations this year in Budapest on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 6 with a march marking 80 years since the destruction of Hungarian Jewry during the Holocaust. Led by 80 Hungarian Holocaust survivors and joined by thousands of others, the march will begin at the Dohany Synagogue adjacent to the birthplace of Theodor Herzl—the father of modern Zionism—and conclude with a ceremony at the Keleti Train Stat ..read more

By Melissa Langsam Braunstein The way Elisha Wiesel sees it, Jews need to get “back to business,” which means advocating for others in need, such as the Uyghurs in China, despite the ongoing war against the Hamas terror organization. “We can’t let Israel-Hamas derail us into a position of fear, where all we do is think about ourselves and the needs of our own community,” Wiesel, who chairs the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which is named for his late father, told JNS. “We can’t let it stop us from doing the work we feel compelled to do,” he said. “The world’s gonna hate Jews tomorrow, j ..read more

By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) An exhibit that captures an inescapable moment in time opened in Manhattan last week, affording New Yorkers the chance to experience the darkness and the light of the Nova music festival in southern Israel. Following a showing in Tel Aviv in December and January, the 35,000-square-foot multimedia Nova exhibit, “Oct. 7, 6:29 a.m., the Moment Music Stood Still,” consists of video displays from the GoPro devices that Hamas terrorists used to document their atrocities as well as artifacts of the massacre: parts of tents, sandals, blankets, cell phones and prayer books. Visi ..read more

London police on Saturday hid a Holocaust memorial from view and stood guard to protect the monument in the city’s Hyde Park from anti-Israel vandals. Built in 1983 as the U.K.’s first public memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide, the two granite boulders featuring English and Hebrew inscriptions were covered with a blue tarp by Metropolitan Police officers. They then guarded the site as thousands of demonstrators descended on central London for a march in support of Hamas. Noemi Ebenstein, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, told the Daily Mail that the decision to cover the ..read more

“It’s time for some righteous anger,” says Gil Troy, prominent American-Israeli historian and author By Dave Gordon Gil Troy, a distinguished scholar in North American history at McGill University, has a message for supporters of the Jewish state: The status quo is not enough. “It’s a little crass, but I keep on saying ‘Grow a spine,’” the American-Israeli scholar told JNS. “Even after Oct. 7, many Jews, especially on campus, were much more comfortable having vigils. Look at the other side—their anger. We’re afraid of anger.” “It’s time for some righteous anger,” Troy added. “Elie Wiesel said ..read more

Israelis call for the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, outside a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv, March 22, 2024. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/Flash90. Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel was leading a delegation to Tel Aviv on Friday to advance negotiations for a hostages-for-ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group, the Qatari-owned Al-Arabi Al-Jadid reported. Kamel will reportedly meet with Mossad head David Barnea and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi. The visit comes amid Hebrew-l ..read more