Friday, February 28, 2025

‘Mi Amor’: Yarden Bibas Bids Emotional Farewell to Wife and Sons

by JNS

Thursday 27 February 2025 | The surviving member of the Bibas family, Yarden, shared a poignant eulogy at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Wednesday for the burial of his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel and Kfir who were murdered by the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Yarden recalled his deep love for Shiri, remembering their first moments together and their bond as best friends, and later, as a wife and mother. He expressed deep sorrow and regret for not being able to protect them, especially during the tragic events on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and Palestinian terrorists snatched them from their home.

“I remember the first time I said ‘Mi amor’ to you,” he said. “It was at the very beginning of our relationship. You told me to call you that only if I was certain I loved you, not to say it carelessly. I didn’t say it then because I didn’t want you to think I was rushing to say ‘I love you.’ Shiri, I’ll confess to you, no that I already loved you back then when I said, ‘Mi amor’.“

Yarden was released on February 1 as part of the Israel–Hamas ceasefire. Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were buried together in a single casket.

Shiri’s sister and other family members paid their respects at the memorial ceremony. Addressing Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, as well as her parents, who were also murdered on October 7, Dana Silberman Sitton, Shiri’s sister, said: “Please send energies here to drive all evil from the world and leave only goodness. I promise you, as I promised Mom and Dad, that the monsters beyond the fence will not succeed in their mission. They will not defeat us; they will not break us.”

Thousands of Israelis lined the funeral procession route, with many wearing orange, which has become the symbol of the Bibas family, with the two children having bright-orange hair.

The bodies were driven from Rishon Letzion to the Tekuma Region near the Gaza Strip, where Kibbutz Nir Oz is situated, for the private funeral service, which was broadcast live online and on national TV outlets.

The Knesset [parliament] was illuminated in orange on Tuesday night in honor and remembrance of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir.

On Wednesday morning, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana commenced the day’s plenum session with a moment of silence honoring the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz and all those who lost their lives on October 7 and in the subsequent war.

To countless Israelis and others, the Bibas family personified the plight of the 251 hostages that Hamas abducted on October 7, and the brutality of its terrorists. Hamas claimed that the mother and boys were killed by Israeli aerial bombardments in the Gaza Strip; however, forensic evidence has refuted that claim, showing that they were murdered in cold blood, with the “bare hands” of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

“The heart of the nation is shattered by the abduction and brutal murder of Shiri and her children—Ariel and Kfir, may their memory be a blessing,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday after Hamas returned Shiri’s body.

Hamas was to have returned her remains on Thursday together with those of her children, but DNA testing found that the body returned was not hers. The terrorist group returned Shiri’s body on Saturday.

“The warm embrace, the love and the strength that you have sent us from all over Israel and the world strengthen us and accompany us during these moments of crisis,” added Yarden Bibas in his statement. “We sense the open hearts, the enormous embrace, your pain alongside our pain—which we don’t take for granted.”

Here is the English translation of Yarden’s eulogy, which was delivered in Hebrew, provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum:

‘Light and Happiness’

I remember the first time I said “Mi amor” to you. It was at the very beginning of our relationship. You told me to call you that only if I was certain I loved you, not to say it carelessly. I didn’t say it then because I didn’t want you to think I was rushing to say “I love you.” Shiri, I’ll confess to you now that I already loved you back then when I said “Mi amor.“

Shiri, I love you and will always love you!

Shiri, you are everything to me!

You are the best wife and mother there could be.

Shiri, you are my best friend.

Mishmish, who will help me make decisions now? How am I supposed to make decisions without you? Do you remember our last decision together? In the safe room, I asked if we should “fight or surrender.” You said fight, so I fought.

Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have fired.

I think about everything we went through together—there are so many beautiful memories.

I remember Ariel and Kfir’s births. I remember the days we would sit at home or in a café, just the two of us, talking for hours about everything under the sun. It was wonderful. I miss those times deeply.

Your presence is profoundly missed.

I want to tell you about everything that’s happening in the world and here in Israel.

Shiri, everyone knows and loves us—you can’t imagine how surreal all this madness is.

Shiri, people tell me they’ll always be by my side, but they’re not you. So please stay close to me and don’t go far!

Shiri, this is the closest I’ve been to you since October 7th, and I can’t kiss or hug you, and it’s breaking me!

Shiri, please watch over me…

Protect me from bad decisions. Shield me from harmful things and protect me from myself. Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness.

Mishmish, I love you!

Chuki, Ariel,

You made me a father. You transformed us into a family.

You taught me what truly matters in life and about responsibility.

The day you were born, I matured instantly because of you. You taught me so much about myself, and I want to thank you.

So thank you, my beloved.

Ariel, I hope you’re not angry with me for failing to protect you properly and for not being there for you. I hope you know I thought about you every day, every minute.

I hope you’re enjoying paradise. I’m sure you’re making all the angels laugh with your silly jokes and impressions. I hope there are plenty of butterflies for you to watch, just like you did during our picnics. Chuki, be careful when you climb down from your cloud not to step on Toni…

Teach Kfir all your impressions and make everyone laugh up there.

Ariel, I love you “the most in the world, always in the world,” just as you used to tell us.

Poopik, Kfir,

I didn’t think our family could be more perfect, and then you came and made it even more perfect …

I remember your birth. I remember during the delivery when the midwife suddenly stopped everything—we were frightened and thought something was wrong—but it was just to tell us we had another redhead. Mom and I laughed and rejoiced.

You brought more light and happiness to our little home. You came with your sweet, captivating laugh and smile, and I was instantly hooked!

It was impossible not to nibble on you all the time.

Kfir, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you better, but I need you to know that I love you deeply and miss you terribly!

I miss nibbling on you and hearing your laughter.

I miss our morning games when Mom would ask me to watch you before I went to work. I cherished those little moments so much, and I miss them now more than ever

Kfir, I love you the most in the world, always in the world!

I have so many more things to tell you all, but I’ll save them for when we’re alone.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 26, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Cry out on behalf of Yarden Bibas and his family members who have been devasted by the kidnapping and violent deaths of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir. Weep also for the people of Israel whose hearts are weighed down with grief as they mourn alongside the Bibas family. Pray that both the Bibas family and the people of Israel will find healing and light in the face of such darkness.

Scripture

My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.

- Job 17:11–12

Israel, US Answer to Iranian Threat of Destruction: ‘We’re Ready’

by Joshua Spurlock ~ Mideast Update

Monday, 24 February 2025 | Iran has again threatened to destroy Israel, specifically promising that their next missile attack will obliterate major cities Tel Aviv and Haifa. And this time, Israel—and the United States—hit back with strong rhetoric of their own.

For the third time in a week, a senior Iranian military official warned of a third wave of Iranian missile attacks against Israel. The latest comments came from Major General Ebrahim Jabbari, a senior advisor in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), who was quoted by IRNA in an article translated by Google saying: “Operation True Promise 3 will be carried out at the right time, to the extent and scope of destroying Israel and plowing up Tel Aviv and Haifa.”

In response to this threat, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded on X saying, “If the Jewish people have learned anything from history, it is this: if your enemy says his goal is to annihilate you—believe him. We are ready.”

Iran launched two massive missile attacks against Israel in 2024, with the multifaceted missile defense network of Israel, the Untied States, and regional allies significantly limiting the damage and casualties. Israel retaliated after both attacks but stopped short of destroying Iran’s nuclear program.

At least one American legislator thinks that program may be next. US Senator Lindsey Graham posted to X in response to reports of Iranian threats against Israel: “To the religious Nazi regime in Iran: Don’t get overly attached to your nuclear weapons program.”

The ongoing threat from Iran continues to loom in the background even as the US and Israel continue to emphasize that Tehran cannot be allowed to get nuclear weapons. When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Israel last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him in comments published by Israel: “Israel and America stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering the threat of Iran. We agreed that the ayatollahs [religious leaders among Shiite Muslims]must not have nuclear weapons and we also agreed that Iran’s aggression in the region has to be rolled back.

“Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President [Donald] Trump, and with your unflinching support, I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job.”

Rubio has expressed similar views. On Thursday, in an interview on Catherine Herridge Reports that was republished on the State Department website, Rubio said that while he wasn’t going to get into the details around how the US could prevent a nuclear Iran, he said he wanted to “make it abundantly clear” that Iran “can never” have nuclear weapons.

When asked about US President Trump’s threat to destroy Iran should the American leader be assassinated by Iran, Rubio said, “We’re not going to get into tactics or options available to the United States. Suffice it to say that if the United States chose to do so, it could bring about the end of the Iranian regime. But the President is a peacemaker. He’d prefer to avoid that and avoid those circumstances.

“But I don’t think anyone should be confused here. Under Donald Trump there is not going to be a nuclear Iran.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Mideast Update on February 23, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today.)

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray that both the Israeli and American leaders would be like Joshua, full of the spirit of wisdom, and know how to respond to Iran’s threats. Pray that the governments of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump would recognize the sovereignty of the Lord over the affairs of nations and act accordingly. Continue to pray that Iran will never achieve their goal of obtaining nuclear weapons.

Scripture

Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

- Deuteronomy 34:9

Miracle Prevents Mass Casualties in Coordinated Bus Bombings near Tel Aviv

by Dan Raban ~ Ynetnews

Friday, 21 February 2025 | A vigilant passenger in Bat Yam helped prevent a potential mass-casualty attack Thursday night when she spotted a suspicious bag on a public bus and alerted the driver—just minutes before an explosive device detonated inside the empty vehicle.

The driver, acting swiftly on the warning, diverted the bus to a terminal, called police, and evacuated the area. Shortly after, a powerful blast tore through the bus, but no one was hurt.

The explosion was part of a coordinated and premeditated attack targeting three buses in different locations. Officials confirmed that improvised explosive devices (IEDs), each weighing around 5 kilograms (11 lbs.), had been placed on multiple buses.

The explosives were marked with the phrase “Revenge for Tulkarm.” A Hamas-linked group in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] later hinted at responsibility.

Following the incident, the IDF announced that it was deploying three additional battalions to the West Bank. “The IDF continues to conduct ongoing assessments and is prepared to expand offensive operations. Counterterrorism operations in northern Samaria are ongoing,” the military said in a statement. “The IDF will continue to operate both defensively and offensively to ensure the security of Israeli civilians.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an emergency security assessment and has ordered security forces to “carry out an intensified operation against terror strongholds,” though details of the planned response have not been disclosed.

Dan Bus Company CEO Ofir Karni praised the passenger’s awareness and the driver’s decisive actions, saying they had prevented a catastrophic loss of life.

“This was a well-organized attack across multiple locations,” Karni said. “Fortunately, in two other cases, security teams discovered and neutralized the devices before they could go off.”

Shmuel Malka, a first responder from United Hatzalah, arrived at the scene of the first blast on Menachem Begin Street: “I saw a bus with its rear section blown apart. We started searching for casualties, but thankfully, the vehicle had already been emptied. Just as we finished, another explosion hit Ha’amal Street, and then a third bus exploded nearby within minutes.”

Eran Carmel, a paramedic with Magen David Adom’s emergency motorcycle unit, called it a miracle that no one was injured.

“We were searching the first blast site when we heard another explosion and rushed over. Then a third bus blew up. We’re staying on high alert for any further threats.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev ordered a temporary halt to all public transportation nationwide for safety inspections.

Police urged the public to remain alert and report suspicious objects as the investigation continues. Police Commissioner Dani Levy visited one of the blast sites to oversee the response.

A senior Tel Aviv police official said the devices were timer-based and resembled those commonly used in the West Bank.

Israeli Railways also increased security at overnight parking lots, and heightened security measures were enacted across the country.

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on February 21, 2025. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Grauesel at wikivoyage shared/Wikimedia.org

Prayer Focus
Give thanks for this miraculous, divine intervention that saved the lives of many commuters who would have been killed or injured if the terrorists’ plans had succeeded. Pray that the Lord would bring confusion into the terror cells that are actively planning further attacks and that none would be able to be completed.

Scripture

Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, who plan evil things in their hearts; they continually gather together for war.

- Psalm 140:1–2

Hamas Returns Four More Bodies of Murdered Hostages

by JNS

Thursday, 27 February 2025 | Kibbutz Nir Oz announced on Thursday morning that Israeli hostages Itzik Elgarat and Ohad Yahalomi, whose bodies were among four returned to Israel overnight Wednesday, were murdered in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum and Tsahi Idan’s family shortly thereafter confirmed the identification of Shlomo Mantzur’s and Tzahi Idan’s remains, respectively.

The terrorist organization handed over to the Red Cross what it claimed were the bodies of the four Israelis at around midnight in Gaza.

The handover did not include a stage ceremony in front of a crowd of Gazans. These ceremonies during previous releases drew criticism from the United Nations and other international actors.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the handover.

“The coffins were, with Egyptian mediation, handed over to an IDF force at the Kerem Shalom Crossing. The initial identification process on Israeli territory has begun,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The identification process was carried out at the L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv’s Abu Kabir neighborhood.

The Israeli Health Ministry stated that a full forensic examination to determine the cause of death of the four will be conducted at a later time.

With the return of the four, Israel has now received all 33 hostages that were to be handed over in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Twenty-five returned alive.

“Together with the entire nation, we share in the immense grief and sorrow of the bereaved families and the kibbutz [collective] communities of Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, and Kissufim,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X.

“The return of our brothers’ bodies from captivity underscores our moral obligation to do everything in our power to bring back all the hostages—the living to their loving families, and the fallen to be laid to rest. Until the last one is home! They are all humanitarian cases, and they must all be returned,” he continued.

“May their memory be a blessing.”

Following the identification of Franco-Israeli hostage Yahalomi’s body, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Hamas, tweeting that “the barbaric acts of Hamas must end.” He expressed sympathy for the families, writing, “I share the immense pain of his family and loved ones.” Macron also noted that France had lost 50 of its citizens during the terrorist group’s October 7, 2023 massacre.

In exchange for their return to Israel, Jerusalem is releasing some 600 Palestinian terrorists whose scheduled release on February 22 was postponed due to ceasefire violations by Hamas, including the inhumane treatment of the hostages, who were forced to endure humiliating ceremonies upon their release.

Palestinian medics cited by Reuters reported that Israel had returned the body of an unidentified Gazan woman—initially handed over by Hamas in place of slain hostage Shiri Bibas—to a hospital in the Gaza Strip, following the recovery of Bibas’s remains over the weekend.

A Hamas source told Reuters that the Palestinian detainees set for release include 445 men and 24 women and minors arrested in Gaza, along with 151 prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

The first phase of the ceasefire saw the exchange of the 33 Israeli hostages for some 2,000 Palestinian terrorists, along with the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from some areas in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the Strip.

As the 42-day truce approaches its expiration on Saturday, it remains unclear whether it will be extended to facilitate the release of more of the 59 remaining hostages, or if talks for a second phase of the deal will commence. According to Israel’s assessment, 27 hostages are alive.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 27, 2025. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images/jns.org

Prayer Focus
With the return of these bodies, the full number of hostages agreed to in Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal has been completed. Pray for the immediate return of the remaining 59 hostages (Israel believes 27 are living) without any compromise to Israel’s security. Pray that Israel’s leaders will have wisdom as they consider the next steps to take.

Scripture

Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people. When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble.

- Psalm 9:11–12

Cruz: ‘Israel’s Right to Judea and Samaria Starts in the Bible’

by JNS

Wednesday, 26 February 2025 | Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday expressed his long-held support for Israel and what he said was its biblically rooted right to its historic homeland in Judea and Samaria

Addressing the Sovereignty Conference 2025 in Jerusalem on Tuesday via video, Cruz reiterated his long-held position that Israel has an “absolute right to determine what happens in Judea and Samaria.”

That right “starts in the Bible and extends through modern times,” he added.

Thanking Yesha Council chairman Israel Gantz for his work to strengthen the US–Israel alliance, Cruz said, “As you meet today, have confidence that the American people stand with you. And under President Trump and our new Republican Congress, the American government stands with you as well.”

The Yesha Council is an umbrella group of local and regional councils in Judea and Samaria.

“As for your enemies, who are also the enemies of America, we know that they seek to weaken you and to weaken us. And then to destroy you. And then to destroy us,” continued Cruz.

He expressed sympathy for the “unfathomable trauma” Israel and the Jewish people endure as “Palestinian savages make the return of every hostage, living or murdered, an ongoing nightmare.”

Cruz quoted remarks by Menachem Begin, part of a famous exchange the former Israeli prime minister had with then-Senator Joe Biden in June 1982.

Biden reportedly banged on the table with his fist, to which Begin replied, “This desk is designed for writing, not for fists. Don’t threaten us with slashing aid.”

Quoting Begin, Cruz said: “Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country.

“We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And when necessary, we will die for them again. With or without your aid.”

The Texas senator concluded: “Every person in this room has paid for the Land of Israel, has fought for the Land of Israel, and far too many have died for the Land of Israel. I am proud to stand with you unshakably as you determine the future of Judea and Samaria.”

The Sovereignty Conference brings together prominent leaders and activists on the Israeli right. The event spotlighted expectations for Israel’s government to change the status quo in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, with support from the US administration.

Co-produced by the Yesha Council of Judea and Samaria communities, the event has served for over two decades as a platform to advocate making Judea, Samaria and Gaza, or areas therein, part of Israel.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 26, 2025. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: CUFI/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Give thanks for the unequivocal support of Senator Ted Cruz and other like-minded American legislators for the God-given right of Israel to its biblical heartland—Judea and Samaria. Pray that under President Trump’s administration, Judea and Samaria will finally be formally annexed to become part of Israel proper.

Scripture

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”

- Jeremiah 31:35–36

IDF Operating ‘Day and Night’ to Destroy Arms in Syria

by JNS

Tuesday, 25 February 2025 | Israeli troops deployed to the buffer zone with Syria continue to destroy weapons belonging to the former Assad regime that “pose a danger to the security of the State of Israel and our forces,” the army said on Monday.

Soldiers from the 474th Golan Regional Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces 210th “Bashan” Division carried out “dozens of targeted raids in which they located, confiscated and destroyed a variety of weapons,” the IDF said.

“We are conducting operations day and night,” 474th Brigade battalion commander Lt. Col. H. said in remarks published by the military. “In an activity we conducted tonight, we found weapons inside one of the houses, and this is connected to a series of operations in which we also found missiles, explosives and mines, as well as explosive devices, tanks and armored personnel carriers, which we also blew up and destroyed.

“All of this in order to protect the residents of the southern Golan Heights and the citizens of the State of Israel,” said the commander.

In another raid last week, paratroopers operating under the brigade’s command located rifles, ammunition and other equipment left behind by the former Syrian Armed Forces, according to the IDF statement.

On January 15, the IDF revealed that its troops had confiscated more than 3,000 weapons and other equipment belonging to Bashar Assad’s military.

Since the fall of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Assad regime, Israeli forces have taken up positions inside and beyond the Golan buffer zone, including on the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes on former Assad military assets to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile forces.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and the nation’s de facto leader, has asked the US to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Golan buffer zone and the summit of Mount Hermon.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 24, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: IDF/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray for the soldiers of the IDF’s Bashan division who are conducting raids and seizing weapons within the buffer zone between Syria and Israel. Pray that they will continue to have accurate intelligence and be protected from harm as they locate armaments that endanger Israel’s security on her northern border. Pray that the US will not agree to exert pressure on Israel to withdraw from this strategic area.

Scripture

For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.

- Proverbs 2:6–7

New AI Tools Emerge to Combat Antisemitism

by Raphael Poch ~ JNS

Wednesday, 26 February 2025 | As artificial intelligence reshapes global communications, Israeli and Jewish tech innovators and organizations are developing new AI-powered tools to counter misinformation and antisemitism online while working to ensure an accurate representation of Israel in digital spaces.

“AI is the next step in the technological advancement of human information consumption,” said Yana Indy Greenman, a former VP for Strategy and Policy at Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. “As we have seen with Google, Wikipedia, and social media, if we don’t want it to be weaponized against us, we must get involved in safeguarding it and creating positive AI tools for the future before our enemies do so.”

Greenman, who grew up in the Former Soviet Union, is a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and currently resides in Dunedin, New Zealand. She told JNS that there is an urgency in addressing this challenge: “Most people don’t know that Israel is a democratic country. For decades they have received the message that Israel is a radical colonizer. Now it is almost impossible to change a person’s mind once they believe in something. I know. I grew up in a society that used brainwashing all too well.”

According to Greenman, Israelis are naive about what the world has undergone in the past 20 to 30 years. “There has been an incredible amount of anti-Israel messaging out there and we simply have no idea the extent of it. We cannot allow what happened with the weaponization of social media and Wikipedia, to take place again with AI,” she said.

Several organizations are developing AI solutions to address these challenges each in their own way. Shiran Mlamdovsky Somech, a tech industry veteran and founder of Generative AI for Good, organized “Hack the Hate,” a major conference held on September 10, 2023, at Microsoft’s Tel Aviv offices that addressed online hate speech and antisemitism.

“The hate speech and antisemitism is like David versus Goliath,” Mlamdovsky Somech told JNS. “We are only 15 million Jews around the world, versus 2 billion Muslims, not counting far-right groups and other forms of antisemitism. Our slingshot is technology.”

One significant initiative called “Bottom Line,” founded by Ariella Noveck and former IDF Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus, has developed an AI chatbot providing journalists with reliable, real-time information about Middle East events.

“Our AI bot ensures that information provided is reliable by sourcing and citing verified data in real-time,” Noveck explained. “It allows journalists to ask specific, timely questions about world events as they happen, and if the bot doesn’t have the answer, it immediately pings a Bottom Line expert to provide verified information.”

Noveck emphasized the importance of proactive education rather than reactive criticism: “It’s always better to address misinformation proactively and prevent it from happening in the first place, rather than simply reacting with online comments, op-eds, or criticism. Often, if we attack journalists we will lose them in the future. It is difficult to hold a journalist accountable for misrepresenting a story when all the source material they have is slanted in one direction. By educating journalists, and providing them with reliable, factual, and unbiased source information, we can alleviate the problem of the negative headline before it even happens, and gain the goodwill of the journalist for the future.”

Responding to Anti-Israel Posts Online

Another significant development is Reasonate, created by Ariel Halevi’s company, Vayomar. The platform uses AI to help users construct effective responses to anti-Israeli statements online.

“Instead of training people, I could train an agent, but that isn’t the ideal. People are looking for connection” Halevi said. “So we are providing people with an assisted conversational tool that gives them immediate information and tactics of how to respond, not just what to say, but psychological tactics to deescalate an online confrontation and actually get the other person you are interacting with to listen.”

Halevi told JNS that his system, although fully developed, is in its fledgling state of use. He said it is similar to Grammarly in that it can sit on the browser of a user and highlight any anti-Israeli statement that the user has a problem addressing. “Reasonate would then automatically generate a response based on the principles of persuasion that it has been developed with, which are a cumulation of more than two decades of experience we have built up at Vayomar,” he explained.

Mlamdovsky Somech highlighted another critical challenge: the need to digitize historical archives to ensure accurate AI training data. “We have very impressive archives like Yad Vashem, but most of the data is not digitized,” she said. “This makes it difficult for AI large language models (LLMs) to access accurate information about historical events. We have situations happening where AI is already coming up with potential profiles of Holocaust survivors but the information being given over is completely inaccurate. It is urgent that we digitize historical archives that can help train and preserve important historical information, and add it to the AI datasets before it becomes erased, lost, or fabricated.”

Other new initiatives include the Facts Commando project by Boaz Drei, which developed a system allowing thousands of volunteers to share pro-Israel content across social media platforms efficiently, and Atchalta, founded by Eran Shayshon, which uses AI and mind mapping technologies and combines it with their own specially developed methodology to develop new approaches to combating antisemitism for organizations by emphasizing a cohesive and comprehensive approach to change the ecosystem in which antisemitism thrives.

Creating a United Front

One thing that all of the founders of these initiatives agree upon is that beyond developing new AI technologies, the most important aspect of combating antisemitism in person or online and changing the narrative of anti-Israel sentiment is to build and create a united front among the Jewish and pro-Israel community.

“We need to be working together, only by creating a united front, it doesn’t have to be unified, but it has to be united, can we change the current narrative and flip the script on antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment,” Shayshon added.

The Role of Education

Mlamdovsky Somech and Greenman both said that education plays a huge role in helping people become more moderate or even pro-Israel and against antisemitism. “It’s really a question of education,” Mlamdovsky Somech said. “AI can help us mold the narrative and keep the narrative unbiased, but the long-term solution is education. We need to be more hands-on and make the truth more accessible to the children in schools and students on campuses worldwide. We need to fight ignorance. We can do that somewhat via social media, but we cannot limit ourselves to fighting only there. In the long term, we need to work within the education system where opinions are developed in the first place.”

The success of AI initiatives such as these will play a crucial role in any future discourse about Israel and in slowing down or stopping the wave of antisemitism. As AI is used more and more as the main source of online information, it is rapidly becoming the next location where public opinion and narrative are created and developed.

Greenman warned: “In a few years, once all of the data gets uploaded from the information war that started on October 7, AI systems might present a distorted view of Israel. That will shape minds and opinions for the future, and that is what we need to avoid long-term from happening.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 26, 2025. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Courtesy Shiran Mlamdovsky Somech/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray for the various initiatives and platforms that are currently developing means of harnessing the tool of AI to counter misinformation about Israel and combat online antisemitism. Pray that journalists would have access to unbiased facts rather than slanted narratives when it comes to the Middle East. Pray that educational institutions would also feel the impact of these initiatives.

Scripture

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

- Deuteronomy 7:6

Hamas Official Calls October 7 Massacre a Mistake—After Realizing Consequences

by Ynetnews

Tuesday, 25 February 2025 | A senior Hamas official has expressed regret over the group’s October 7 terror attack on Israel, acknowledging that he would not have supported the assault had he known the scale of destruction it would bring to Gaza.

Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, said in an interview with the New York Times that the consequences of the attack—an Israeli military campaign that has devastated the enclave and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians—would have made it “impossible” for him to back the operation.

“If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn’t have been October 7,” Abu Marzouk said. He noted that he was not informed about the specific plans for the attack but had endorsed Hamas’s broader military strategy.

His remarks stand in contrast to statements from other Hamas officials who have continued to justify the assault. While Hamas has declared “victory” over Israel and vowed future attacks, Abu Marzouk’s comments suggest internal divisions over the decision and its aftermath.

Abu Marzouk, 74, also indicated that Hamas may be open to discussing the future of its weapons in Gaza—an issue that has stalled negotiations with Israel. “We are ready to speak about every issue,” he said when asked about the group’s military arsenal.

This stance appears to contradict statements from other Hamas leaders, including Osama Hamdan, who recently ruled out any discussion on disarmament. Abu Marzouk dismissed Hamdan’s remarks, saying no single leader could set the group’s agenda alone.

His comments hint at growing pressure on Hamas leadership, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and frustration among Palestinians rises. Analysts suggest that acknowledging strategic miscalculations could be an attempt to influence ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

Israel and Hamas were expected to resume discussions on the next phase of a ceasefire, which would involve a permanent end to hostilities, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of more hostages and Palestinian prisoners. However, delays in talks and disputes over implementing the first phase have raised concerns that fighting could resume.

Abu Marzouk suggested Hamas was open to negotiating a large-scale hostage-prisoner exchange. While Israel has resisted previous proposals, he indicated the group might agree to a “comprehensive deal” if Israel freed thousands of Palestinian prisoners, ended the war, and withdrew from Gaza.

Despite his remarks, Hamas terrorists have continued to parade with weapons in Gaza, signaling defiance. Abu Marzouk’s comments underscore the fractures within Hamas leadership, but it remains unclear whether his position reflects a broader shift in the group’s stance—or an attempt to pressure Israel into further negotiations.

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on February 24, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Nicoleon/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray that the enemy’s camp—their leadership especially—will be divided and suffer from confusion with regard to their goal of annihilating the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Pray that the fear of the Lord—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—would fall upon them.

Scripture

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; though they join forces, none will go unpunished. In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.

- Proverbs 16:5–6

The Hidden Enemy of the West and Judeo–Christian Values

by Joshua Marks ~ JNS

Tuesday, 25 February 2025 | Qatar is a small country of less than 5,000 square miles (12949.9 square km.) that yields enormous power due to its immense wealth, with which it has bought off politicians throughout Western Europe and North America. It has used its money to promote jihadist Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood variety, along with anti-Western and antisemitic incitement. According to Udi Levy, former head of Mossad’s unit of economic war against terror, “Qatar has conquered Europe” and has great influence on some of the richest people in the United States, many of them Jews who lobby for the terror-supporting authoritarian regime.

According to the Deutsche Welle, the Qatari investment fund Mayhoola owns the Italian luxury brand Valentino and Emerge, a fashion charity. It also owns the premier French soccer club, Paris Saint-Germain. Qatar owns the French department store chain Printemps, in addition to numerous luxury hotels in London, including the Ritz and Claridge. Other Qatari assets include the clothing labels Balmain and Pal Zileri. It is also heavily invested in German corporations such as Siemens, Volkswagen, Porsche and Deutsche Bank. It also has a stake in London’s Heathrow Airport, Barclay’s Bank and the Sainsbury supermarket chain in the United Kingdom.

The Qatari regime utilizes its controlled news outlet Al-Jazeera (in English and Arabic) to defame Israel, as well as to promote Hamas and other Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated terror groups. Al-Jazeera employed Hamas terrorists who perpetrated the massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and coordinated efforts with Hamas to reshape the October 7 narrative.

Another method by which the Qataris further their influence is by contributing to major American universities and purchasing academic chairs. Huge contributions to top schools like Harvard, Columbia and Cornell rob students of academic free thinking by following an Islamist-inspired imprint in social sciences and the humanities.

Concurrently, student groups such as American Muslims for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine receive enormous funding from Qatar enabling them to coordinate massive anti-Israel and anti-Jewish protests and encampments, such as those at Columbia University and other US campuses.

Qatari subversion of American education isn’t limited to universities, they have branched out to high schools. On January 27, Qatar Foundation International sponsored a continuing education event titled “Middle East 101” for public school teachers in Phoenix, hosted by the Arizona Department of Education. And that’s not surprising given that the Qatar Foundation International has donated more than US $450,000 to Arizona public schools and more than US $30 million to public schools nationwide. Teachers got a large helping of Islamist propaganda, all designed to influence US schoolchildren and advance Qatari foreign policy.

Qatar, located on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula and along the Persian Gulf, has a population of about 3 million people. Only a third are native Arab Qataris; the rest are mostly foreign workers who are held in conditions of slavery. In fact, during the construction of the 2022 World Cup facilities there, more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka died in Qatar.

The Qataris are playing a sinister, two-faced game with the Americans and Europeans. While investing in large American and European enterprises, they are also funding terror against Israel and the West.

Large reserves of gas and oil have elevated Qatar to one of the wealthiest nations in the world with a per capita income of US $114,210, making it the fourth-highest per capita income state among the nations. The Gulf state, however, has used its wealth in nefarious ways by creating a global network that supports the Muslim Brotherhood’s aim of making the world the domain of Islam.

Yet this small Arab emirate was embraced by the Biden administration as a major non-NATO ally. In January 2022, then-President Joe Biden characterized Qatar as “a good friend, and a reliable and capable partner.”

The country Biden called a “friend” and a “reliable partner” would like nothing better than to subvert American liberties and replace our constitution with Sharia law. Moreover, Qatar’s human-rights record is atrocious. Homosexual relations in Qatar can be punished by death. Flogging and stoning are parts of the Qatari criminal code. Foreign workers in Qatar can be denied permission to leave the country and, these workers, are not allowed to change employers. Female workers can be raped by their Qatari employers with impunity.

The Trump administration and Congress must take decisive action against the Qataris by demanding full disclosure of all monies received from Qatar by universities and businesses. Universities that continue to allow the funding of violent hate groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine, must be denied federal funds and prosecuted. Qatari invasion of American high schools with their anti-Israel and anti-Western propaganda must be immediately stopped.

Qatar is not a neutral intermediary in the hostage negotiations with Hamas; it does its bidding. Qatar is neither a friend nor an ally of the United States or the West. It is a dangerous Islamist propaganda machine that uses the soft power of cash to subvert American institutions on behalf of Islamic triumphalism.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 24, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray that the double-game Qatar has been playing with the West and Hamas at the same time will be revealed without any question or doubt of their intentions to ultimately bring the world under the domination of Islam. Pray that educational institutions would carefully screen the materials that Qatar is introducing into Western curricula at the university and even high school levels.

Scripture

Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity.

- Psalm 64:1–2

Dilemma: Nobody Wants the Palestinians

by A.J. Caschetta ~ JNS

Wednesday, 26 February 2025 | When US President Donald Trump proposed to relocate more than 1 million people from Gaza while the area is being rebuilt, many derided it as a combination of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia. Others thought it too ridiculous to take seriously. But more people are coming around to his way of thinking. Journalist Liel Leibovitz now argues, “We must embrace this proposal, because at its heart is the one true and inescapable sentiment: Israelis can no longer be expected to live in proximity to those who desire nothing more than their death.”

Palestinians there who don’t want to fight Israelis and who have sought to leave the embattled strip of land are perhaps the world’s only genuine refugees. [They have] not been permitted to leave a war zone, but [the question is], where to send them? Their bloodthirsty neighbors, who live for the opportunity to kill, are perhaps the biggest problem with the proposal. Those who protest the loudest about Trump’s alleged “ethnic cleansing” plan are more interested in exploiting Gaza residents for the purpose of destroying Israel than helping them. Don’t expect Spain, Norway or Ireland to welcome any of them.

And what about Muslim and Arab nations? Are they too racist or “Islamophobic” for endorsing the plan? The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, recently told an interviewer, “I don’t see an alternative to what’s being proposed.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Sadanand Dhume took up the topic in a recent column titled “If Indians and Pakistanis can relocate, why can’t Gazans?” Dhume noted that “many population transfers have taken place over the last century … Only in the Palestinian case has the refugee question festered endlessly.”

In a January 26, press release, the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) called Trump’s proposal “dangerous nonsense,” invoking the ethnic cleansing trope. This is in stark contrast to the joy that CAIR executive director Nihad Awad expressed on November 24, 2023, over the October 7 attack which he likened to a jailbreak. Gaza is a “concentration camp,” and its people “decided to break the siege” and “throw…down the[ir] shackles,” he enthused.

Of course, the Gazans who carried out the October 7 attack wanted out of Gaza. They wanted Israel. Now Awad wants them to stay in their “concentration camp” so that their resistance will continue.

Hamas supporters like Awad know that moving people out will make it more difficult for Hamas to survive. Without Palestinian children and Israeli hostages to use as human shields, Hamas doesn’t stand a chance of surviving the Israel Defense Forces’s efforts to eradicate it.

CAIR’s press release also claims that “the only way to achieve a just, lasting peace is to force the Israeli government to end its occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.” A peaceful Gaza that is not part of a Palestinian state contradicts the generational imperative for a “Palestine from the river to the sea” and makes the chances of a “two-state solution” more remote. CAIR would love to see Hamas rewarded for the barbaric rape-torture-infanticide pogrom on October 7, 2023, with a sovereign state.

The main reason for opposing Trump’s plan is sheer logistics. Where would the Gazans go while Gaza is being rebuilt, and which ones would be permitted to return? This is the thorniest problem because each time Palestinians have moved to a new diaspora they have caused trouble for their hosts. Throughout the Arab and Muslim world, Palestinian options are limited by their past conduct. Few nations are interested in taking the residents of Gaza because Palestinians have worn out their welcome wherever they have gone.

Egypt and Jordan are the two most likely destinations for Gazans relocated, either temporarily or permanently, due to propinquity and racial homogeneity. Aside from their desire to destroy and annex Israel, Gazans are ethnically, linguistically and culturally indistinguishable from Egyptians and Jordanians. However, both nations have been down this road before.

Egypt annexed Gaza after the 1948 War of Independence and refused to allow Arabs (who had not yet begun calling themselves “Palestinians”) Egyptian citizenship. It has had an uneasy relationship with both the PLO and Hamas ever since. Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (whom Trump once called his “favorite dictator”) has, from time to time, flooded Hamas tunnels, killing untold numbers of Gazans, because he felt threatened by their militancy. Unless it is forced into a corner, Egypt is unlikely to accept large numbers of Palestinians ever.

Likewise, Jordan knows what admitting more than a million Palestinians will mean to Jordanian sovereignty.

After the 1948 war, Jordan (unlike Egypt and the other Arab nations that attacked the nascent Jewish State) admitted hundreds of thousands of Arab refugees. The 1954 Nationality Law granted Jordanian citizenship to “any person who, not being Jewish, possessed Palestinian nationality before 15 May 1948 and resides ordinarily in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the publication date of this law.”

After the Six-Day War, Israel expelled the PLO to Jordan along with some 200,000 more Palestinians. There, they began a civil war that only ended after some 70,000 Jordanians were killed and the PLO was again expelled, this time to Lebanon, where it promptly started a civil war.

In 1988, Jordanian citizenship was revoked from Palestinians. As Anis F. Kassim, a Jordanian lawyer put it, “more than 1.5 million Palestinians went to bed on 31 July 1988 as Jordanian citizens, and woke up on 1 August 1988 as stateless persons.”

The current king of Jordan, Abdullah II, seems unwilling to accept any Gazans beyond the 2,000 “cancer children” he told Trump he would admit for treatment.

What about other Arab nations? Kuwait will never accept Palestinians. Before the first Persian Gulf War, thousands of Palestinians lived in Kuwait, working jobs Kuwaitis didn’t want. But when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded in 1990, Palestinians were on his side, and Kuwaitis have never forgiven them. Any post-Gulf war Kuwaiti advocacy on their behalf is motivated by hatred of Israel not love of Palestinians.

How about Indonesia, the country with the greatest number of Muslims in the world? “Indonesia’s stance remains unequivocal: any attempts to displace or remove Gaza’s residents is entirely unacceptable,” said the country’s foreign affairs minister, according to the Jakarta Globe.

Morocco, a signatory to the Abraham Accords, has also been mentioned as a potential destination, but it clearly doesn’t want Palestinians within its borders. Besides, the United States already recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over the western Sahara, so that carrot has been eaten.

The most interesting and unusual choices made public are Puntland and Somaliland, two autonomous regions within Somalia.

Puntland, which declared itself autonomous in 1998 and claimed in 2023 that it would function as an independent state, could benefit from a deal to accept Palestinians. Likewise, Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in 1992 and operates autonomously, even though no country has recognized its independence. Accepting Palestinians might pave the way for either Puntland’s or Somaliland’s recognition as a separate country, but it would also leave their fledgling states vulnerable to violence and susceptible to being taken over by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, the PLO and all the rest. It seems unlikely that either putative nation would risk achieving its goals by accepting Palestinian refugees.

Thus, Palestinians are left to live with the consequences of their decisions. Their inability to destroy Israel and unwillingness to abandon their dream of victory has kept them stateless and condemned their children to a life of misery. As Commentary’s John Podhoretz put it: “Like the Japanese and Germans in and after World War II, they have to be broken before they can be put back together as a functioning polis.”

After eight decades of militancy and refusal to accept any deal for a state that does not eliminate the State of Israel, Palestinians find themselves unwelcome throughout the world.

Source: (Excerpt of an article originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on February 25, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Daniel Torok/White House/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray for a spirit of repentance and the fear of God to come over the world’s leaders and decision makers who are attempting to find a solution to “the day after” in Gaza without God. Pray that all, including the Gazans themselves, will respond in belief of God’s sovereignty as the city of Nineveh did when Jonah prophesied millennia ago.

Scripture

And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

- Jonah 3:4–5