When more than 1,500 people gathered in Washington this weekend for J Street’s national conference, the progressive Israel advocacy group’s first major convening in four years, the gathering was billed as an opportunity to reflect on building regional peace in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Gaza war. 

Instead, a major U.S. and Israeli military operation against Iran that began Saturday undercut the group’s pledge to focus on peace between Israelis and Palestinians and came to dominate the discussion. J Street quickly came out against the attacks. 

The first speaker on the conference’s main stage on Sunday took an unusual departure from J Street’s dogma on diplomacy by noting that the organization’s positions are not the only ones that should be taken seriously in the Jewish community. 

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, kicked off the conference program by noting that J Street’s position, one of stark opposition to the attacks, sits alongside the views of others in the Jewish community who have cheered U.S. and Israeli military strikes seeking to bring about regime change in Iran.

“I’m certain that many in this gathering agree, as a matter of principle and foreign policy, with the J Street statement,” Jacobs said. “Many in our congregations might also agree. But America’s Jewish congregations are diverse, filled with good, moral people who differ on complex issues, as those raised by the Iran attacks.”

J Street’s leaders often make the case that greater nuance and complexity is required within the U.S. Jewish community, particularly making space for left-wing views on Israel within mainstream Jewish groups. Jacobs was making the argument in reverse: that people could also support the attacks in good conscience, and that neither view is superior. 

“There are many in our congregations, in the Jewish community at large and in the broader American public who want to seek regime change for the sake of the people of Iran, for eliminating threats to America’s and Israel’s security, and to enhance stability in the region, who may well recognize that war is surely not the remedy for every global conflict, but feel there are times when military force is justified and believe a case can be made,” Jacobs continued. 

Later, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami clarified where the group stands but said there is room in the organization for people who disagree. 

“I made very clear J Street’s adamant and clear opposition to this war. It is a war of choice. It is a war without clear objectives. It is a war without a plan to achieve those unclear objectives. It is a war without constitutionally required congressional approval, and it is a war without public consent,” Ben-Ami said. “It is clear that in this room there is a mix of opinions. Not everyone in J Street would agree with the clear, articulated opposition to the war that I laid out.” 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called the war “dangerous” and said it would make Americans less safe. British human rights lawyer Phillippe Sands compared the attack on Iran to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On the other hand, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Iran “needs to be punished.” In a video message recorded before the attacks began, Yair Golan, the leader of Israel’s liberal Democrats party, said that if war with Iran starts, “let us defeat those who seek our destruction.” Both Olmert and Golan are fierce opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

But while the convention main stage offered some room for nuance on Iran, most speakers were otherwise aligned on J Street’s messaging — that Israel’s government, led by Netanyahu, is not doing enough to make peace with Palestinians or to rein in violent settlers in the West Bank, and that the U.S., meanwhile, is not doing enough to safeguard Palestinians or provide oversight of Israel’s use of its military aid.

“There can’t be a continuing blank check when the Netanyahu government is operating in violation of American law, which they have repeatedly, or in violation of international law,” Van Hollen said. 

Later in his speech, Jacobs, the URJ president, said the U.S. Jewish community must also learn to accept diverging opinions on Israel. 

“It does not make one love Israel any less to be pained by the loss of life and suffering among innocents, and we must learn how to work amidst difference. Our Jewish community will not be safe only with more cameras and security protocols. Does anti-Zionism spill over into antisemitism? Yes. But not always,” Jacobs said. 

J Street also plans to use the conference to spotlight its growing political influence in the Democratic Party, with a fundraiser on Sunday evening for North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper, the former governor. Attendees will also be able to join a phone bank for Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss, who is running for Congress in a contentious Democratic primary in Illinois where Israel has become a key issue. 

Other congressional speakers slated to address the conference on Monday include Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), as well as Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sean Casten (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Sara Jacobs (D-CA). The executive director of the House Majority PAC, a Super PAC that supports Democratic congressional candidates, will be at the conference meeting with top J Street donors. 

Tensions escalated between Washington and Jerusalem this week over Israel’s handling of Syria and negotiations for a possible agreement to renew the 1974 ceasefire between the two neighboring countries, with adjustments.

Speaking at The Jerusalem Post conference in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the Trump administration’s Syria envoy, said the time is ripe for Israel and Syria to reach an agreement: “It’s the easiest place to show the world a soft hand and bridge grievances.”

In Barrack’s telling, an agreement between Syria and Israel will only be possible with an immediate, complete Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone between the countries. The IDF has held the 155-square-mile area since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a year ago, and Israel has sought to withdraw incrementally and remain at the peak of Mount Hermon.

Instead, Barrack said, “Let’s not fight over geography. What we’re concerned about is we’re not going to let Oct. 7 happen ever again,” so the focus should be on demilitarizing the area south of Damascus. “Syria knows its future depends on a security and border agreement with Israel. Their incentive is non-aggressive toward Israel,” Barrack said. However, he added, “After Oct. 7, Israel doesn’t trust anybody. … The Syrians have been unbelievably cooperative.” 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, however, was skeptical in his remarks at the same event: “The gaps between us and Syria have widened. They have new demands. Of course, we want an agreement, but we are further from one now than we were a few weeks ago.”

Since Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa toppled and replaced Assad, Israel has been extremely skeptical about the former leader of Syria’s branch of Al-Qaida, whom Sa’ar and others have branded a “terrorist in a suit.” The concerns have not dissipated over the course of the last year, even as President Donald Trump embraced al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy” with a “tough past” and dropped sanctions, Europe moved towards lifting sanctions, as well, and Abraham Accords countries have accepted him.

“The train has left the station; the whole world accepts al-Sharaa as the legitimate leader of Syria and is ignoring his jihadi background as well as that of the people heading his military – but we can’t ignore it,” Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, which focuses on Israel’s north, told JI.

In late November, during an IDF raid on the town of Beit Jinn to arrest two Syrian terrorists, a firefight broke out, leaving 13 Syrians dead and six IDF soldiers injured.

In a celebration of a year since Assad’s fall, the Syrian Army paraded through the streets of Damascus, chanting “Gaza, Gaza, our rallying cry … From your blood I forge my ammunition.” Israel’s bellicose Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli shared the video with the message: “War is inevitable.”  

Zehavi quipped about the celebrations: “I’m not sleeping any better at night. The message is ‘we will save Syria from the Zionist occupation.’ A regime that wants peace doesn’t do these things, nor does a regime that is disconnecting itself from Islamism.” 

Beyond the concerns about al-Sharaa’s jihadi past seeping into the present, Jerusalem is skeptical about the longevity of his regime and the stability of Syria as one, cohesive political entity. 

Shira Efron, distinguished Israel policy chair and senior fellow at RAND, told JI that “the hilltops Israel is holding now in Syria, especially the Hermon, are really strategic, security-wise, and it doesn’t make sense to withdraw when you have a neighbor who is still unstable.” 

Israel is also concerned about the Druze minority in Syria, which has close ties to Israeli Druze, who are an important political constituency and hold prominent positions in the Israeli security establishment. Israel has pledged to protect the Druze in Syria, and the IDF has acted to that end.

“The greater mindset in Israel post-Oct. 7 is that we messed up so badly reading the intentions of an adversary that we are not taking any chances,” Efron said. “We are preemptively taking out their capabilities because we cannot trust their intentions, let alone when we are talking about a controversial figure with a very complicated past – and that’s the understatement of the century.”

While Efron acknowledged that “Israel has valid concerns,” she warned that time is not on its side. She said that Israel may have missed an opportunity to use the leverage it had to reach better terms earlier this year, when al-Sharaa was more eager to reach an agreement, the West had not fully embraced him and Trump was not cracking jokes with him in the Oval Office. 

Now, Zehavi said, “Israel thought it would be able to withdraw [from southern Syria] and stay in Hermon, widen the buffer zone and al-Sharaa doesn’t want either.”

That being said, Efron posited that Israel has room to maneuver within what appear to be the current parameters of the talks, including asking for American guarantees, negotiating timelines for withdrawal with stages conditioned on Damascus keeping its commitments to demilitarize southern Syria and demanding protections for the Druze.

Zehavi, however, said any agreement would be “with someone Israel can’t trust. It can only be based on guarantees. The worst-case scenario would be if, in the end, Syria is an Islamist state with Western support. That is what needs to be prevented.”

More broadly, Efron said, “it doesn’t make sense to get into battles with the Americans” or for Israel to “act like it’s being dragged kicking and screaming into agreements, like we forgot how to use the diplomacy muscle.” She was optimistic that an agreement could “pave the way to water cooperation and maybe further cooperation.”

Following a visit to Turkey on his inaugural international trip last week, Pope Leo XIV lauded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his peacemaking abilities and said Turkey has “an important role that it could play” in advancing peace in the Middle East and effectuating a two-state solution. 

“I spoke about this with President Erdogan,” Leo said, referring to a two-state solution, which he called the “only” solution to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reaffirming the Holy See’s longstanding position on the issue. 

“Unfortunately we still haven’t seen a solution,” Leo told reporters upon departing from Istanbul. “We know that in this moment, Israel doesn’t accept [a two-state] solution, but we see it as the only one that can offer a solution to the conflict that they are living in.” 

Erdogan “is certainly in agreement with this proposal,” Leo said.

The pope’s comments and decision to share pleasantries with the Turkish leader have struck some in the pro-Israel community as out of touch and are part a pattern of recent remarks from the Vatican that have been critical of Israel, most notably in its handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza.  

In October, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, described Israel’s conduct in Gaza as an “inhuman massacre” — language Leo later endorsed. In November 2024, the late Pope Francis called for an investigation into whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to genocide.

Leo’s remarks came after the pope spent three days in Turkey, meeting with leaders of Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of a gathering of bishops in A.D. 325 in present-day Iznik, Turkey. He arrived in Beirut on Sunday for the second leg of his trip, and addressed politicians and religious leaders, including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace.

Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the pontiff’s comments on Turkey “odd,” adding that his intentions were likely to “flatter his hosts but have little connection to reality.”

“At the outset of the war in Gaza, the Turkish government could have used its good offices with Hamas and Israel to play a constructive role helping to bring hostages home and bringing about an end to hostilities.” said Cook. “Erdogan chose an entirely different approach that offered significant political and diplomatic support to Hamas, demonized Israel, and [Turkey] was the first country to impose an economic boycott on Israel over the war.”

Sinan Ciddi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, echoed those sentiments, calling the pope’s comments “flawed” and “fantasy.” However, he noted that popes have a “record of being idealists.” 

“One thing that Leo is probably trying to do is he seems to be much more interested in promoting the potential to pursue any avenue towards establishing peace where he sees conflict,” said Ciddi. “[The pope has] probably been advised that the Turks have sort of demonstrated ability to be a mediator in the Ukraine-Russia conflict … and Turkey is a Muslim country that is able to speak to Hamas and is an ally of the United States … so why not essentially go after that, as opposed to labeling it as a supporter of terrorism.”

The Vatican has long advocated for a two-state framework, formally recognizing a Palestinian state in 2015. But the pope’s renewed push comes as the Israel-Hamas war intensified international pressure on Jerusalem to accept such a model. Earlier this year, several countries — including France, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada — formally recognized a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained his opposition to a Palestinian state, a position that’s shared by a significant majority of the Israeli public in the aftermath of Oct. 7.

The pontiff noted to reporters that the Vatican is “friends with Israel” and seeks to “be a mediating voice that can help bring them closer to a solution with justice for all.” 

Ciddi told Jewish Insider that while Erdogan has been “relentless” in calling upon the pope to condemn Israel, Leo “has ignored that.” 

After his inauguration in May, Leo said that dialogue with the Jewish community is “close to my heart.” 

“Because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, all Christians have a special relationship with Judaism,” the pope said in May. “Theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains always important and is very close to my heart.”

During his recent trip, Leo indicated a willingness to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion in Jerusalem in 2033. 

New Jersey’s largest teachers’ union, the New Jersey Education Association, cut ties with an editor of its magazine on Friday, following criticism from top state officials over her antisemitic and pro-Hamas posts on social media.

Ayat Oraby’s since-deleted posts on X, screenshots of which were viewed by JI, claimed Israel “killed many of its citizens” during the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks and voiced her support of Hamas, praising its actions on social media as “resistance,” among other views.  

Oraby, who started at the NJEA Review magazine in August, told the New Jersey Globe, the first outlet to report her termination, that her “intent has always been humanitarian: to stand against the killing of civilians and to advocate for peace. When compassion is politicized, even empathy can be misread.” 

Local Jewish elected officials voiced worry about Oraby’s appointment in October, sending a letter to NJEA with 24 signees, expressing “deep concern.” 

“We are disappointed that no corrective action has yet been taken despite clear evidence and mounting public concern. Words matter and silence in the face of hate speech is complicity,” the signatories wrote. “We strongly urge you to act immediately to remove Ms. Oraby from any editorial or leadership role within the NJEA and to reaffirm the Association’s commitment to ensuring that all educators, students, and families regardless of religion or background can feel safe, respected, and represented.”

The letter followed one sent by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) to the NJEA, also voicing concern.  

“Ms. Oraby has an extremely troubling public record of promoting divisive, violent, and hate-filled rhetoric that has no place in our great state, and that must be addressed immediately,” Gottheimer wrote on Oct. 6. “It is clear that Ms. Oraby should not be involved in any publication sent to New Jersey’s educators or, for that matter, have any role in educating our teachers or children.”

Oraby told the New Jersey Globe that Gottheimer was unfair to condemn her for a post she deleted that compared Israel to Nazi Germany, a claim she said “reflects public opinion and legitimate criticism, not hatred.”

Gottheimer also denounced NJEA earlier this month over its plans for an anti-Israel “Teaching Palestine” session scheduled during the union’s November conference. 

NJEA’s parent organization, the National Education Association, has also faced scrutiny for anti-Israel and antisemitic actions, including a vote, which was eventually overturned, to disassociate from the Anti-Defamation League. 

“What has emerged from all my conversations is that the yearning for peace is very intense,” former South African President Nelson Mandela, visiting Israel in 1999 as part of a broader Middle East trip, said as he reflected on his meetings with leaders across the region. The trip came four months after Mandela, who built his legacy working to dismantle South Africa’s decades-long apartheid system and begin a process of national reconciliation, retired from politics.

More than a quarter century later — despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the degradation of Iran and its proxy network and numerous wars between Israel and its neighbors — that peace remains elusive. It was against that backdrop that two of Mandela’s granddaughters, Zamaswazi (Swati) Dlamini-Mandela and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, traveled to Israel and the Gaza Strip earlier this month.

Their trip came amid strained relations between Pretoria and Jerusalem, whose leaders and senior officials have been increasingly at odds in recent years. The country’s Jewish community has raised concerns over South Africa’s deepening relations with Iran and aggressive posture toward Israel, which it accused of genocide in a December 2023 International Court of Justice filing.

Dlamini-Manaway and Dlamini-Mandela’s trip to Israel, organized by the National Black Empowerment Council, included meetings with Israeli hostage families and survivors of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, visits to Israel’s holy sites and a day on the ground in Gaza where Mandela’s granddaughters assisted the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in its efforts to distribute aid in the enclave. They left the region days before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was announced and the remaining 20 living hostages were released.

The Mandela granddaughters “thought that this could be a unique opportunity to bring necessary attention to what’s being done, while at the same time, as mothers, being able to say that they did something that was in the humanitarian tradition of their grandparents,” Darius Jones, the founder and executive director of the NBEC, told JI.

During the women’s trip, a flotilla, led by anti-Israel activists including Greta Thunberg, made its way through the Mediterranean Sea in an effort to reach the Gaza Strip. Aboard one of the ships was their cousin Nkosi Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, another grandchild of Nelson Mandela. The ships attempting to illegally reach Gaza were intercepted by Israel, and participants were deported to their countries of origin.

The approach taken by Dlamini-Manaway and Dlamini-Mandela was, Jones explained, to “really be a part of something that can have meaningful impact, rather than just try to do a performative stunt, which is not about the people, but more about self-aggrandizement.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Jewish Insider: What made you come to Israel now, in this moment? It’s obviously a very interesting point in time, and not necessarily one that would invite a lot of visitors.

Zamaswazi (Swati) Dlamini-Mandela: Coming to Israel has always been a lifelong dream. Both of our grandparents, Nelson and Winnie, visited Israel. And my grandmother, I remember when she came back, she was like, it’s a trip that we have to take whenever we can, in our own time. 

I would have never imagined that I would be going in the middle of a war. When we were telling our families, they were literally shocked. Our kids were horrified, because they have this picture painted in their mind that there’s literally going to be missiles flying over our heads and all kinds of stuff. So it was scary for our family, but I think for us, we were like, what an opportune time to go.

For us, it’s important to actually go and actually experience the story for yourself. Coming from a high-profile family like ours, and also living in the media for years, all our lives have been pretty much lived in public, it’s very interesting what type of bias or viewpoints the news can take. So we always felt like, ‘Let’s go and see for ourselves. Let’s experience for ourselves, and let’s actually go on humanitarian missions to try and understand and really get to know what’s going on.’ For me, there’s no better way than actually physically being in a place to actually experience it. We’ve lived through wars here in South Africa, so that didn’t even scare me. It really wasn’t a thing that deterred me at all.

Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway: I just knew that if my grandmother was alive, she would have said, ‘You definitely have to go, and make it as balanced as possible, and learn and don’t always take one side, because there’s always different sides to a story.’ So for me, I wanted it to be an experience where I could get both sides — the Israeli side and the Palestinian side. The first thing that I said when this trip came up was, ‘We have to go to Gaza.’ It was instinctive to me. It’s like, I have to go to Gaza, because that’s all we see in South Africa. We only see Gaza. We only see women and children. We only see Gaza flattened. So that was very important for me to see and witness for myself. Our grandmother and our family [have] been ridiculed in the media. So we are very, very cognizant of what we hear and what we take in, because we’ve lived it, and we know that the media can distort things tremendously.

JI: What did you know about Israel and about the region before this trip? 

SDM: There’s the obvious history and the long-term conflict between Israel and Palestinians. I think for the most part, for me, I’ve consumed the history on a very high level. I didn’t have the same experiences that my grandparents had, because we were so much younger then, when my grandfather visited. At the time, you know, [Palestinian Authority President] Yasser Arafat was still alive. We were so much younger then. I know it as much as I think the average person knows it. But certainly this was a  deep dive into a layered, complicated, complex, difficult history between a few nations. 

So I would say before this, I almost didn’t know enough, but I certainly learned a lot, and I’ve come away so much more enriched by my time there. There’s words that you hear, like checkpoints, right? ‘Controlled movements,’ ‘apartheid states,’ those are the things that you always heard and because it’s similar to our history. So in a sense, I was like, ‘Oh, OK, this resonates with our history because of what we went through in apartheid.’ So I think those are the things that you always heard and you always knew about, and you always obviously read about, but when it comes to the actual details of the history, I can’t say I really knew it, but I certainly have come away way more enriched. 

ZDM: It was a war. Our kids were terrified for us to go there. It’s a totally different country when you’re actually on the ground. Completely. It’s not what is perceived to us at home, I would say.

JI: You came at a time when we in Israel were approaching, now it’s past, the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. 

ZDM: [On Oct. 7, 2023,] I remember all I heard on the news was there was an attack in Israel, and there were hundreds of people killed. But I didn’t actually understand the magnitude and the gravity of what actually happened on Oct. 7. We went to a kibbutz that was literally at arm’s length … to Gaza. It was a complete massacre, a complete massacre of innocent children, parents, people who survived the Holocaust. That was completely horrifying to me, I couldn’t even imagine … the [Nova music] festival. I think Swati cried the whole day at the site. 

I did not understand the magnitude of what actually happened on that day. It wasn’t portrayed to me. I was completely horrified by what happened. It was a massacre, it was deliberate, it was calculated. It was a complete obliteration of innocent women and children on one day. It pains me to think that this happened. 

But the people that I met — the mothers, the survivors — are still so hopeful, are still so resilient. It’s really something to look up to, because even through so much pain and agony and anguish, they are still hopeful that there could be a place where they can both — both nations, both people, Jewish and Palestinians — can live in a place peacefully, even in their differences. But Oct. 7, for me, was horrific. It was horrific, and it wasn’t told to us South Africans, I can safely say.

SDM: Hearing firsthand accounts of people who actually survived that day and what they experienced and their loss of loved ones, families whose loved ones were kidnapped, dead and alive, children who were kidnapped, and how children were used as pawns to negotiate with the government. 

Going into Gaza on that specific day [with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] was also incredible, because you heard so many stories about aid not being delivered, aid not getting to the people and malnutrition. And it’s not perfect, right? In any war, nothing is going to be perfect. Aid delivery is never going to be perfect. What we were a part of, what we experienced, was an organization that certainly is trying to make their impact. There were 10,000 or so women and children that we saw that were able to be fed, that, if [they] needed medical care, there was medical care that was available to them. 

On the flip side of that, you have [Israeli] families that are still grieving the loss of loved ones who have not even returned, the hostages that still have not returned. The sheer devastation on both sides was very apparent that day. I think that was my biggest takeaway, that there’s suffering on both sides. Like Zaziwe said, to talk to and hear the stories of people who survived and who still have so much hope for the country and who still want peace. They’re desperate for peace. 

And I think the fact that we were also there on the day when [President Donald] Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu met to talk about a peace deal and a peace agreement, to us, was a turning point, the fact that there can be peace, and there’s a potential peace that can come to the region. But the healing still needs to come. So we pray for peace. We really pray for peace. We’ve seen what the devastation is firsthand with our own eyes, we’ve seen it, and so we pray that the peace deal will come through, and it will hold.

JI: I saw that you met with Rachel Goldberg-Polin. Swati, before you got on the call, Zaziwe was telling me about her son, and she said he was 25 — he was basically the same age as Rachel’s son, Hersh. What was that meeting like?

ZDM: First of all, this woman is so strong. She is such a strong, strong lady. And what she went through with her only son, I can’t even imagine. She held on for over 300 days knowing that her son was alive, and then literally, right before the IDF was going to rescue him, [Hamas] killed him. Hearing her story was so profound, and really was a moment that I’ll never forget in my life. She literally took me into the day of what happened on Oct. 7. She had a smile on her face the whole time. When she was telling us a story, she was sad, but she had a smile on her face. She was so hopeful, and she was the perfect example of resilience, the perfect example of a person who wants peace, the perfect example of someone who said, ‘I really hope there’s an Israel where Palestinians and Israelis and Jews can live side by side.’ And she even said, ‘I really hope that one day we can have a TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] like you guys.’ She’s like, ‘That’s my wish. I want us to have a TRC in Israel.’ 

I was in awe of this woman. My son is 25 in two weeks, so I completely resonated with her. I completely connected with her, and she was so loving, and just wanted peace for her country that she loves, and I will never forget that experience. She literally described that day to me, from morning to end, from the moment when she found out that her son was actually held captive, and the message that he sent to her was, ‘Mommy. I’m sorry.’ Can you imagine? I mean, can you imagine knowing that your son has been injured, has been taken captive? Living in agony that your son is in captivity and is injured over 300 days? I can’t even imagine. I can’t even imagine. She is resilience to me, she really is. 

SDM: She was so strong, she was so kind, she was so determined to still ensure that the rest of the hostages get home. She gave us so much hope, because she’s like, ‘I want peace.’ It’s not something that you would expect. She’s an advocate for the families who probably don’t have the strength to be able to tell the story or to be able to push and fight. We were just in awe of her. She has hope, and she wants healing for the nations. She really wants healing for the nations. And she spoke about the women and children of Gaza. She spoke about what that means to her and the impact of that. So she spoke about everything. It wasn’t just a one-sided view for her. The human spirit’s ability to be able to live through such trauma and tragedy and still come out and still be so hopeful, for me, she was the epitome of that. 

JI: You went to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site. What was that experience like? What did you do? What were your interactions like?

ZDM: It was a very hot day, very, very hot. And I think they said that they had about, I think about 4,000-5,000 people before? So on that day they were expecting the biggest crowd. It was about 10,000 people that they were expecting. So, I mean, TV doesn’t do justice. It really doesn’t. When you’re actually on the ground and you actually see people running, literally running for food, it’s something that you can’t even explain. 

The men arrive first, they get their supplies, which is pretty chaotic for about 15, 20 minutes, because they’re literally fighting for their aid. So it’s very, very chaotic. And then after that, the women are so organized. The women and children are so organized. They stand in a line, unprovoked, very simple. They just know the order of things. So Swati and I and our team literally spent the whole day giving food, potatoes and eggs to the women, and there were lots of children as well. And I must say, everyone was just so grateful. They were so grateful. They were happy that we were there. There was no interruption. There was nothing untoward. All they came to do was to get food, nourishment and go home. And this happens every single day for these people. You saw the repercussions of what a war entails. Women and children are the biggest casualties, literally, because there were more women and children there. 

JI: What was their physical condition?

ZDM: I don’t know what they looked like before. I mean, obviously you could see the desperation. You could definitely see the desperation in them. They definitely do need aid and food, they definitely do. But I’ve seen what the hostages look like when they leave [Gaza], when they’ve been released, and they literally are people who are starving. They’re people who haven’t had anything for months on end. So for me, I compared what I’ve seen to the people, the women and children of Gaza. It’s a totally different image, for me, from what I saw. Obviously they want nourishment. Obviously they would like three meals a day. Obviously. But for me, there’s a difference between what I’ve seen between the hostages who were released and what I saw firsthand in Gaza, I’ll leave it at that.

SDM: It was nice to see that the organization works with Palestinians to facilitate the aid to the community. It’s obviously going to grow over time, which is what was explained to us, because 750,000 people had moved down to that area. GHF is building a bigger facility to actually give more aid, medical care in a way in which it’s safe for the people, as safe as it can be, for the Palestinians who need the aid, as well as the people who are working on the ground. I think from what you heard and what you saw, they’re really doing their best to try and see that they can bring aid to as many people as they can as an organization. I kept saying, ‘Is the food going to run out?’ But they kept bringing trucks. They just kept bringing trucks with potatoes and food packs for the families and nutritional snacks. 

And I think seeing firsthand what, like Zaziwe just said, women and children are always the biggest casualties of war, children that are not in school. It was incredibly insightful for us to be able to at least be there and participate and see it and be able to help GHF on that day, because they do so much. 

JI: So talking about being in Gaza distributing aid, the irony of the both of you being there distributing aid last week, was that at the same time that was happening, a cousin of yours was on a flotilla headed to Gaza. It’s the irony of ironies that there was a grandchild of Nelson Mandela delivering aid — actually, there were two — and it wasn’t the one who was making splashy headlines.

SDM: We’re a big family, first and foremost. Our grandparents have always, always taught us to carve out our own paths and walk our own journeys. My grandfather, he went to Israel and he went to Gaza. My grandmother didn’t have the opportunity to do the same. So for me, at the end of the day, we’re grateful that he’s back home and he’s safe, he’s fine. We were on a humanitarian mission for ourselves. We are a family that has different ways in which we want to contribute to society and to humanity, and we allow each other room to do that in ways which are befitting to the individual. 

So we were on our own mission, and we respect his mission and what he was doing. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the goal is about the people, right? That’s what the goal is, and that’s what the goal should always be. It should be about the people.

ZDM: I think that Swati said it perfectly. We’re a big family, and we all have our own ways of doing things, but the ultimate goal is peace to the region, and we want this war to end. We want all the hostages to come home, and we want the innocent people of Gaza and the Palestinians to also get the aid and food that they need. And we just want this war to end so we all have different ways of doing it, and we’re thankful that he’s home, but for us, we were there as granddaughters of Nelson and Winnie Mandela.

JI: People like to take your grandfather’s words and legacy to shape specific narratives around current events, and this has been going on for many, many years all around the world. When it comes to Israel, the term apartheid gets thrown around a lot. You’ve now been on the ground. You have experienced Israel for yourselves. How do you feel about the politicization of your grandfather’s words when it comes to Israel?

SDM: I’m not a politician. I have been asked many times in my life if I’m going to follow in their footsteps, and I always say, given my personal experience, I don’t really have the desire to. I think that we have a great example to follow in a leader like my grandfather. I’m not here to be a global activist like our grandparents were. I’m just here to make my little, little, little impact in whichever small way that I can, and I think just to be educated. The world has changed so much. Like Zaziwe said, if my grandmother was alive, my grandmother would have come to the region, without a shadow of a doubt, she would have been there because she was — both our grandparents were — those people. But I’m my own person, and I’m here to walk my own path. And people, I think it’s time for us to just walk our own paths. 

ZDM: I would say, I think our grandfather’s legacy quotes, what is lived up to is so powerful and so profound, and people can distort it and make it their own. Educate yourself, really educate yourself and really listen, really listen to the words that he spoke, maybe listen to what he said and just do your homework. I just don’t think that you should take and hear everything that you hear from the media, or take what somebody says on a stage and take it for what it really, really is. 

This trip was so important to us now, because I thought we have to go there ourselves and see it. And I know most people won’t have the opportunity, but it’s really important to invest time into what you actually believe in, what your conviction tells you about yourself. You need to actually invest. I mean, just not take it at face value, because it can be so distorted, and you can be so deceived, completely deceived, about a situation or about a person. 

What I took away was, for me, I literally, if I’m passionate about something, and I can sit there and say, I believe in this, or A, B, C or D, I need to actually put in the time to actually understand what I actually am investing my time and what I’m putting my name behind. Grandad’s name is used and said all over the world, but I find that people don’t really, don’t listen to what he actually really said, both him and my grandmother. You just have to put in time and really invest and educate yourself about what you believe in. 

Following the joy in Israel over the return of the remaining living hostages on Monday and President Donald Trump’s declaration that “the long and painful nightmare is finally over” came the letdown: Hamas, as of Thursday, had returned only nine out of 28 bodies of the deceased hostages and started to execute rivals and reestablish itself in the areas of Gaza from which the IDF withdrew. 

While Trump has repeatedly said the war in Gaza is over, when asked by CBS News if that’s the case, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “agreed to give peace a chance,” and later in the interview said it still needs to “finish the war as speedily as possible.”

The future of Gaza remains unclear, despite Israel agreeing to Trump’s 20-point plan for the region. Hamas only agreed to the immediate steps in the plan: stopping the war, freeing the hostages in exchange for 1,950 prisoners, including those who killed Israelis in terrorist attacks, and Israel withdrawing to a specified line within Gaza. 

Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday that the plan’s second phase, which entails Hamas’ disarmament and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, “begins right NOW!!!” Yet, an Israeli official confirmed to Jewish Insider a report that, with Hamas withholding most of the remaining hostages’ bodies, negotiations to continue to the next phase of the plan are on hold.

Disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza are meant to take place “under the supervision of independent monitors,” but those monitors have yet to be selected and sent to the region. The Peace Board announced — and led — by Trump, with the involvement of former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair that is meant to oversee Gaza’s administration by Palestinian technocrats has not yet been formed, nor has the temporary International Stabilization Force meant to train Palestinian police and be part of the “long-term internal security solution” for Gaza and Israel. 

Meanwhile, Hamas has entered the vacuum and, in recent days, has tried to consolidate its power by killing members of clans that it accused of collaborating with Israel. 

On Tuesday, Trump called the clans “gangs that were very bad,” adding that Hamas’ attacks “didn’t bother me much” and that the terror group had his “permission” to proceed; Trump compared Gazan opponents of Hamas to gang members from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally.

At the same time, Trump said that Hamas must disarm, threatening U.S. involvement if the group does not lay down its weapons. “They will disarm or we will disarm them,” Trump said. “If they don’t disarm, it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm.” 

Netanyahu told CBS News that he “hope[s] we can do this peacefully. We’re certainly ready to do so.”

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told the Misgav Mideast Horizons podcast co-hosted by Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov this week that although Trump’s plan “has 20 articles, it is not very well-detailed. Actually, it is a framework … [Trump] isn’t very interested in the details. He is very focused on the final outcome, on the vision. He leaves the details for the professionals.”

“If President Trump will lose his focus, determination, decisiveness with regard to the further phases of his own plan — and I mean disarming Hamas, demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and so on — [Israel] might find [itself] in a stalemate. This, I would say, is the main challenge of the State of Israel — keep President Trump focused,” Michael warned.

Ofer Guterman, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, told JI that Hamas reestablishing itself within the “yellow line” to which the IDF withdrew is “unpleasant but expected,” because “up until now, Israel refused to deal with all the systems we wanted to put in place instead of Hamas.”

“The technocratic administration, international forces, Palestinian police, etc. – these are just headlines with nothing behind them. We need to start building them. Some will only be relevant in weeks or maybe months,” Guterman argued.

Guterman also pointed out that, while the second phase of the deal may go into effect in the coming weeks, it will likely last for years.

“We need to remember that we are still in phase one,” he said. “Not all the hostages are back, and that influences the decision-making in Israel. … Our first, central goal is to bring back most, if not all, or the hostages’ bodies that remain there.” 

Former Israeli National Security Advisor Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror said that Hamas is likely to return most of the bodies to the best of its capability.

“Hamas understands that, without [returning the bodies], it will clearly not be fulfilling its obligation to the Americans and Qatar and other countries, and may find itself in a war in which it doesn’t have its main card, the hostages,” Amidror said in a Jerusalem Press Club briefing.

Michael warned that while countries such as Qatar and Turkey that support the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas “were clever enough to understand … what is important for President Trump is to release the live hostages and declare the end of the war, and when it comes to the other phases, President Trump will be much more tolerant and they will be able to convince him that they need more time and Israel has to make further concessions.” 

“Hamas does not intend to dismantle itself … [or] give up its influence and position, not only in the Gaza Strip, but the entire Palestinian arena,” Michael said. “The Qataris and the Turks are interested in keeping Hamas as a relevant player in the Gaza Strip, first of all, as a platform for increasing its influence on the entire Palestinian Authority.”

The priority in Gaza must be removing Hamas’ control over any part of the enclave, including humanitarian or civilian services, Amidror argued.

“The people of Gaza are suffering from the strong hand of Hamas,” he said. “Today, Hamas is killing many Gazans. … We have to find a way to disarm Hamas for them and for Israel.” 

Amidror also said that it is “clear that nothing can be done in Gaza, not to rebuild, not to bring in forces that will implement civilian change, if Hamas is still so strong. Hamas cannot attack Israel anymore, but it is the strongest force in Gaza, and in that situation, no one will rebuild Gaza.”

As long as Hamas does not disarm, Guterman said, “Israel must prevent the rehabilitation of the areas of Gaza controlled by Hamas.”

Michael pointed out that Trump’s plan allows Israel and partner countries to proceed with establishing a technocratic administration and International Stability Force in Gaza before Hamas is disarmed.

“If Israel will agree to do that in the southern part, the area between Khan Younis and Rafah, I think there is a high probability for the success of security personnel and the Palestinian Authority,” Michael said. “They will enter the region empty of Hamas, with the presence of the government of technocrats, and everything will be fully coordinated with the IDF. … Begin the reconstruction process there, and continue the war in the north against Hamas, until Hamas is dismantled.” 

In such a scenario, Michael posited that residents of Gaza will try to move south to the areas being rebuilt to try to make a better life than in the areas controlled by Hamas.

“Then Hamas will lose its strength, which [comes from] the population, and it will be much easier for the IDF to besiege the areas that Hamas is present in, to dismantle Hamas,” he said.

Guterman thought that Israel implementing the plan in only part of Gaza was the likely scenario, but that progress would halt there and there would be “two Gazas.”

“Hamas will be within the yellow line, trying to grow more powerful as we try to fight it, and Gaza will have a security corridor in over 50% of the territory, making it easier to defend the [Israeli] towns near the border and create a better base for actions against Hamas,” he said.

For there to be an alternative administration in the IDF-controlled areas of Gaza that would undermine Hamas’ legitimacy, run by countries in the region, Israel’s “concession will have to be … committing to a viable path to a two-state solution,” Guterman argued.

TOKYO — As Japan decided against recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen told Jewish Insider in a wide-ranging interview in Tokyo that he is appreciative of Japan, “an important factor of the international community.” 

On Friday evening, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya called his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, to update him that after weeks of deliberation, Japan decided it will not recognize a Palestinian state at the UNGA. 

“Sa’ar appreciated [the] decision and briefed [Iwaya] about Israel’s actions against Hamas chiefs in Qatar and IDF operations in Gaza,” Cohen told JI. “I join my foreign minister in appreciating Japan, a member of the G7, and an important factor of the international community, and for the deep friendship of our nations.” 

“A recognition of a Palestinian state would be a reward to Hamas after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, would not contribute to peace and would not build on the trust of Israelis in the future,” he said. In recent weeks, Cohen relayed that message to Japanese ministers as the country weighed recognizing a Palestinian state as several governments, including those in Britain, France, Australia and Canada, have announced plans to do at the UNGA.

“This recognition is null and void because when you acknowledge a state there have to be conditions — what are the boundaries? Do you have effective control of the population? Nothing about that works with the Palestinians,” Cohen told JI. “Are they going to dismantle Hamas? Are they going to continue paying salaries for families of suicide bombers? Are they going to continue to have pacts with Iran against Israel? Is there going to be a repetition of Oct. 7 because they have a state? We are the Jewish people, we always have to be concerned and worried.” 

For Cohen, who assumed office as ambassador of Israel to Japan in October 2021 following a stint as deputy director general for Asia and Pacific division in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan’s consideration of recognizing a Palestinian state has been one of only a few disagreements he’s held with local politicians since arriving in Tokyo. In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, “the Japanese government stood by Israel, called for an immediate and unconditional release of our hostages and said publicly that Hamas should be dismantled,” Cohen said.

“I thank the Japanese for acknowledging that Hamas is a terrorist organization and for saying that Iran is the number one destabilizer of the region. I want to thank the Japanese government for standing on the right side of history.”

When war broke out between Israel and Hamas soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Japan, as a member of the U.N. Security Council, “was trying to influence the release of the hostages and not to [attack] Israel. They were not mediating, but there were messages Japan was trying to deliver for both sides in order to bring our hostages back,” Cohen recalled. 

Looking ahead to the postwar period, Cohen suggested that Japan will contribute to rebuilding the Palestinian economy. “We will welcome any kind of investment in the Palestinian economy to revive it,” he said. “Economy is a major part of the vision of Palestinians living side by side with Israelis in peace and security.”  

While tourism from Japan to Israel has seen a decline amid the war, Cohen said that joint business ventures between the two countries have increased over the past two years, as Israeli tech companies engage with Japan’s industrial giants and venture capital networks.

“Investments from Japanese companies in Israel were much higher in 2024 than 2023, including in AI and technology,” he said. “There is a saying that Israel can do things from zero to one and Japanese can take them from one to 10. Israeli innovation and startups can be combined with Japanese wisdom, experience and production ability that Israel doesn’t have.”

When it comes to creating cars, for example, an area that Japan is a global leader in, “Israel should focus on the brain of the car, systems that prevent accidents such as Waze and Mobileye,” said Cohen. “The synergy that we can learn from Japan — and we can share our experience with them — I see a lot of potential in economic relations. Japanese companies are looking at Israeli startups with great interest. In the last two and a half years, there have been direct flights from Israel to Japan, which is important because businessmen and investors do not have time to waste. This is an engine for connecting the people of Israel and Japan.” 

Israel is among the handful of countries that Japan has a free trade deal with, an agreement signed by Cohen in March 2023. It allows 200 Israelis to come to Japan annually on a visa for one year of work, study and travel. At the same time, 200 Japanese citizens can come to Israel for one year to do the same.

Cohen sees himself not only as an ambassador of Israel “but also as representing the Jewish people in Japan,” he said, describing a small but vibrant community. Tokyo is home to two Chabad houses and a Jewish community center, which runs a pluralistic synagogue. The cities of Kyoto and Kobe also each have a Chabad. All five centers primarily cater to tourists. 

It can be a challenge to navigate Holocaust education and antisemitism awareness in a country with limited historical exposure to those issues, Cohen said, recommending that all Japanese visit the Holocaust Education Center in Fukuyama City, near Hiroshima. 

“The Japanese government comes to commemorate our Holocaust memorial days,” Cohen told JI. “They give thanks to [Chiune] Sugihara,” he said, referring to the Japanese diplomat who, while posted in Lithuania, saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. “We are participating in ceremonies to commemorate him. In Japan, he became a hero.”

“I see a lot of potential in the future when things calm down in the region,” continued Cohen. “I would like to have future agreements signed with Japan to boost the economy on both sides. I have many things on my agenda, but this will be after Rosh Hashanah.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and a group of House Republicans are visiting Israel this week, in Johnson’s first visit to Israel since becoming speaker.

Johnson was set to visit Israel in June to address the Knesset, but postponed his visit after the war between Israel and Iran began. He will not be addressing the Knesset on this visit, a source familiar with his plans told Jewish Insider.

Johnson and those in his delegation — Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Michael Cloud (R-TX) — have prayed at the Western Wall and met with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

“We’re so grateful to be in Israel, particularly on this day, recognizing the destruction of the two Temples … it is such a moving time for us to be here at the Wailing Wall. We’ve offered our prayers, we’ve put our notes into the wall,” Johnson said in brief video remarks from the Kotel, which he visited on Tisha B’Av. “We’re so moved by the hospitality of the people and the great love of Israel.”

“Our prayer is that America will always stand with the people of Israel and we pray for the preservation and the peace of Jerusalem,” Johnson continued. “That’s what scripture tells us to do, it’s a matter of faith for us, and commitment that we have.”

Katz said in a statement that he thanked the lawmakers “for their unwavering support and moral clarity in standing with Israel against its enemies, and for their vital voices in the efforts to bring all the hostages home and defeat the murderous terrorist organization Hamas.”

Sa’ar said the group discussed global antisemitism, anti-Israel efforts by countries like Ireland and the attacks on the Druze in Syria, which Sa’ar said were “same kind of barbarism perpetrated by Hamas.”

The trip was organized by the U.S.-Israel Education Association.

In comments on CNN last week, Johnson raised concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying that “it is quite sad and quite alarming to see” and that he’d like to see the war in Gaza end soon.

Johnson’s office did not share any further details of his itinerary while he’s visiting the Jewish state.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits down with President Donald Trump today, one question will be on observers’ minds: What will each walk away with?

Netanyahu appeared to come away empty-handed from his April meeting in Washington, after the U.S. imposed tariffs on Israel, among other countries. Weeks later, Trump skipped Israel on his first trip abroad, while visiting three other countries in the region. 

Few knew at the time about Netanyahu’s plans to take on Iran. Following last month’s joint U.S.-Israel military effort to degrade Iran’s nuclear program and military infrastructure, relations between the two leaders have improved to such a degree that last week Trump called twice for an end to the legal proceedings against Netanyahu. A post-strikes-on-Iran victory lap is top of the public agenda for Netanyahu’s White House visit today, while Trump’s other goals, as they relate to Israel, remain works in progress.

The White House wants to wind down the war in Gaza, as Trump has said many times in recent months. After the American bunker busters dealt Iran the final punch that Israel pushed for, the president has newly gained leverage to push Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza — a move the Netanyahu government has thus far resisted until it has achieved its goal of “total victory” against Hamas. Trump told reporters on Sunday night that “there’s a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week pertaining to quite a few of the hostages.”

While Israeli negotiators arrived in Doha to work on a hostage deal that Hamas claimed it accepted despite also asking for myriad changes, at home Netanyahu has indicated that he is not yet ready to declare an end to the war, even if he were to accept a temporary ceasefire.

In the Security Cabinet meeting over the weekend, Netanyahu sided with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in an argument with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, with the ministers to Netanyahu’s right reportedly raising their voices, about the IDF’s difficulty thus far in keeping Hamas away from food distribution zones.

“I can’t accept the idea that we cannot defeat Hamas, that it will take 30 years,” Netanyahu reportedly said. “That is wrong. It’s a matter of national willpower and implementing the plan to separate Hamas from the population and the aid. We can end the war. We have to start preparing the ground to go in with bulldozers immediately.” 

“I don’t want another committee. Just do it now,” was Netanyahu’s response when Defense Minister Israel Katz tried to mediate, suggesting that Zamir present a plan later this week.

In addition to calling for a ceasefire, the president and members of his administration have been outspoken about their desire to expand the Abraham Accords. Talks between Israel and Syria — brokered by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also the administration’s special envoy to Syria, and aimed at calming tensions along the border — have taken place in recent weeks, though an agreement on that front remains elusive and is unlikely to be announced this week. 

That’s only part of Washington’s new approach to Syria, which also includes the move earlier this month to lift sanctions on the country. It’s part of the White House’s broader strategy to gain leverage there while Damascus is in transition following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad last December.

With the degrading of a series of regional malign actors — from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas in Gaza to the Assad regime in Syria to the Iranian nuclear program — Trump has a rare opportunity to reassert American power and shake the footholds that Beijing, Tehran and Moscow have built across the region. He’s equally if not more so driven by a desire to be, as he said in his inaugural address, “a peacemaker and unifier.” Bringing an end to the Israel-Hamas war and expanding the Abraham Accords would set Trump on that path.

Israel, and with it, Netanyahu, is a key cog in Trump’s broader vision for the Middle East. The stakes are high for both men, who need to work with each other to achieve both their visions and cement their legacies.

One of Hamas’ top three sources of funding is the U.K., where it is a banned terrorist organization, an investigation from Israel’s Channel 12 found. That funding includes 25% of Hamas’ donors from non-state actors, as well as tens of millions of dollars from the government of the U.K. to a UNICEF program whose beneficiaries are determined by Hamas.

The U.K., France and Canada threatened Israel last week with “concrete actions” if it does not lift restrictions on humanitarian aid and work with United Nations agencies to distribute it.

The U.K., Canada and the European Union — of which France is a member— as well as Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Mauritius and Croatia, sponsored a project through UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Emergency Fund, for which a Hamas-run ministry provides a list of people to receive funding.

The program provides cash payments of $200-$300 per month to 546,000 needy people in Gaza. UNICEF said that it works with a “beneficiary list from the MoSD,” meaning the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Social Development, to determine who receives the cash. The program uses a digital platform funded by USAID to distribute the cash. UNICEF published an update on the program as recently as November 2024. 

MoSD is led by Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ politburo, designated a “senior Hamas official” by the U.S. Treasury Department. 

A 2022 document from the U.K. Foreign Office, uncovered by NGO Monitor, showed that London was aware of Hamas’ involvement with the program and that it had the potential for “severe” reputational damage. 

“The cash assistance component will be implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Social Development MoSD. The MoSD in Gaza is affiliated with the de facto authorities and thus UK Aid can be linked directly or indirectly with supporting the de facto authority (Hamas) in Gaza which is part of a proscribed group,” the document reads.

The U.K. gave about $23.1 million to UNICEF projects in the West Bank and Gaza in 2024, and $4.8 million in 2023. 

NGO Monitor’s legal Advisor, Anne Herzberg, noted that it is unclear how much of that funding went to the Gaza cash program.

“There is very little detail from the U.K. side about how much is going in, what oversight is in place, what exactly they are doing to mitigate the risk” of money going to Hamas, Herzberg told Jewish Insider on Sunday. “A lot of countries are giving funds to the U.N. and just leave it in their hands.” 

Herzberg said that while a lot of attention has gone to UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, which was recently banned from Israel after some of its employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, “UNRWA is just the tip of the iceberg, because 13 U.N. agencies are operating in Gaza. There is very little information into how these other U.N. agencies are operating.” 

“Aid diversion is the main problem and why there have been so many issues with humanitarian aid in Gaza,” she said. “It’s inconceivable to me that these governments refuse to deal with this issue. They claim they want to help Palestinians, to end the conflict and bring peace, yet they don’t want to tackle this issue.” 

Beyond government aid going to Hamas, what qualifies the U.K. as the leading non-Muslim country funding Hamas is nongovernmental contributions, Channel 12 reported.

In 2001, Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi founded the Union of Good, a coalition of 50 Islamist charities with connections to Hamas and other proscribed terrorist groups. The group raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Hamas during the Second Intifada.

The organization was banned in the U.S. and U.K., and Qaradawi, who is Egyptian and lives in Doha, Qatar, has been barred from the U.S., U.K. and France.  

Yet the organizations making up the Union of Good continued their fundraising activities.

The Channel 12 report names specific Hamas operatives based in the U.K., including Zahar Birawi, who is the head of the Palestinian Return Center in London, leads Hamas activities in Great Britain and has been instrumental in organizing weekly anti-Israel protests in London. Issam Yusef Mustafa, a former member of the Hamas politburo, is a U.K. citizen and is the biggest fundraiser for Hamas in Europe as the head of “Interpal,” a former Union of Good group sanctioned by the U.S. and Israel.

Herzberg explained that many of the organizations funneling money to Hamas are registered as businesses so they can avoid scrutiny from the Charity Commission.

“The monitoring in the U.K. does not seem as robust as what you see in the U.S., where there are many more investigations going on at the governmental level and more reporting, even though the U.K. government says it has robust control in its laws,” Herzberg said. “It’s unclear how those laws are being enforced.” 

Erez Noy, a former Shin Bet official dealing with terror funding, told Channel 12 that “Hamas is strong in Britain because over the years they got used to being able to do almost anything they want there, compared to other countries in Europe … For years, Britain, for whatever reason, did not handle preventing and taking care of these systems [to fund terror]. When Hamas realizes there is a permissive arena, it tests the limits.” 

Hamas petitioned the U.K. last month to be removed from the country’s list of banned terrorist organizations. 

According to Udi Levy, the former head of the Mossad’s department for fighting terrorism funding, “these are businesses that raise funds under the guise of humanitarian aid, and reach Hamas in Gaza, Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and anywhere else around the world.”

Levy told Channel 12 that “total victory over Hamas is not just in the Gaza Strip. We are making a huge mistake because even if we kill every last ‘soldier’ in Gaza, there is still a massive Hamas infrastructure that will continue to act and even rehabilitate its activities, unless we start taking care of it.” 

The British Embassy in Israel said in response to a query from JI that “Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organization in the U.K. and funding or supporting it is a crime. We categorically reject the false and irresponsible allegations in the Channel 12 investigation that the UK Government funds Hamas run agencies in Gaza. No UK funding was provided to the Ministry of Social Development in Gaza … We are clear that Hamas must play no role in the future of Gaza. FCDO [the Foreign Office] conducted a thorough due diligence assessment of UNICEF, and we identify how U.K. funds are transferred until they reach the final beneficiaries.”

The embassy interpreted the claim made by the U.K. Foreign Office that “U.K. Aid can be linked directly or indirectly with supporting the de facto authority (Hamas) in Gaza which is part of a proscribed group,” as referring to the Ministry of Social Development in Ramallah run by the Palestinian Authority.

In addition, the embassy stated that it does “not recognize the claim that 25% of Hamas’s non-state funding comes from the U.K. To our knowledge, no official Israeli body has ever made such a claim.” 

Speaking at an event celebrating Israeli Independence Day on Monday, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff suggested that he expects additional countries will join the Abraham Accords in the coming year.

“We think [we] will have some, or a lot of announcements, very, very shortly, which we hope will yield great progress by next year,” Witkoff said of the prospects for additional normalization between Israel and Arab states, at an event organized by the Israeli embassy in Washington.

Witkoff only gave a glancing mention of Iran, with which he is the lead U.S. negotiator, in his brief remarks, pledging that Tehran would never obtain a nuclear weapon, but not elaborating on the talks beyond that.

The U.S. envoy emphasized the need for Israeli unity, saying, “I urge the Israeli people to choose unity over division, vision over disagreement and hope over despair. When you do, Israel’s future will shine brighter than ever.”

Witkoff also said that one of the most joyous moments of his life was visiting with recently freed hostages from Gaza and singing Am Yisrael Chai with them and their families. He pledged to work “tirelessly this year” toward “peace, prosperity and for Israel, unity.”

The event for Yom Ha’Atzmaut also featured remarks from Secretary of Energy Doug Burgum.

White House Mideast peace envoy Avi Berkowitz had the honor of posting President Donald Trump’s tweet announcing a groundbreaking normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates last Thursday, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner revealed in an interview published on Wednesday. 

“[Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications] Dan Scavino was sitting in the back, and he let Avi push the button,” Kushner detailed in an interview with Ami Magazine, a weekly print-only publication widely read in the Orthodox community. “Avi has been working around the clock, and it’s really an incredible deal. He did a great job, so we all thought it would be an honor for him to do that.”

The presidential tweet came after a 15-minute phone call between Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed. “HUGE breakthrough today! Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates!” A follow up tweet by Trump read. 

Kushner shared with the publication what went on behind the scenes in the Oval Office ahead of Trump’s public statement: “We made the call in the Oval Office with a bunch of people on our team who wanted to be there. After we hung up, everyone in the room started to applaud. Then the president stood up and started clapping too, because he realized that we were all clapping for peace. As we were getting ready to bring in the media, we sent out the tweet which was all set up and ready to go. Dan Scavino was sitting in the back and Avi pushed the button. Then we brought the press in and shared what had happened with the world.”

The White House senior advisor noted that this was the first time Trump had given someone from his wider team the permission to tweet out from his account. “The president never lets anyone do it. It’s always either the president or Dan [Scavino],” Kushner noted. 

Berkowitz and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also spoke to Ami, which featured them on the front cover as “the peacemakers.” 

The two seemed to offer differing views on the shelving of Netanyahu’s annexation plan as part of the U.A.E.-Israel accord. “The application of sovereignty to areas of the West Bank is something that our vision for peace accommodates, as we don’t fundamentally disagree with it,” Berkowitz told the magazine. “We believe that for the next few months it’s worthwhile to continue advancing the cause of peace and suspend the discussion about what the application of sovereignty and recognition by the United States would look like. We were in the middle of those discussions, and quite honestly we would still have some work to do should that path be opened up in the future.” 

The administration official suggested that Netanyahu “understands the historic achievement” of shifting gears away from his plan to annex parts of the West Bank and take the route of peace with the Arab world and “that for the foreseeable future the Israeli people are going to be excited about following that path.” 

Friedman, however, noted that the deal “doesn’t require that the sovereignty efforts that have begun be reversed. They’re just going to be delayed a little bit… We were on the path of support for the application of sovereignty to the settlements, and we were certainly moving along that path, when this opportunity came along. We had the intellectual flexibility to say, ‘Let’s shift gears a bit, because this is better.’” 

The ambassador also expressed his dismay at the ongoing political crisis in Israel. “The unity government hasn’t really created the unity I would have hoped for,” Friedman explained. “Jewish unity around the world is important, and Jewish unity within Israel is very important. I think we are still challenged in that regard, and because those political currents are still working their way through the system, those who see political advantages or disadvantages to making strong statements will continue to do so.”

This post has been updated to clarify Ambassador Friedman’s remarks on Israel’s political crisis.