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Jewish boy assaulted on way to school in New York City, assailant remain at large

The teacher then noted that his student did not initially think to notify the police because he doubted the attacker would receive any punishment.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Orthodox Jews in New York City are again frustrated with a lack of law and order in the Five Boroughs following another attack against a member of their community, this time a child.

According to multiple accounts, an African American male on Monday morning smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

The incident was the second known assault on an Orthodox Jew in the area in less than a week.

“He was riding his bike between Winthrop and Clarkson, near the hospital, when a man slapped him. He arrived at school shaken, and the school contacted his parents and Crown Heights Shomrim [a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group],” Yaacov Behrman, a local Jewish leader, posted on X/Twitter.

Behrman — a liaison for Chabad Headquarters, the main New York base of the Hasidic movement — added that the boy was filing a police report.

A teacher of the young man, Yisrael Eliashiv, added that the assailant, who remains at large, “smacked [the boy] across the face for no reason other than hate. Thankfully, he got away before anything else happened.”

The teacher then noted that his student did not initially think to notify the police because he doubted the attacker would receive any punishment.

“I’m fuming to the point I’ve got a migraine … You have kids who are 13 or 14 and have grown up with the attitude of ‘if you get assaulted in the street, just take it because nothing is gonna be done.’ Those are the symptoms not of a sick but of a dead and decaying society,” Eliashiv wrote.

Crown Heights, home to a large Orthodox Jewish population, has seen numerous antisemitic hate crimes in recent years.

In July 2023, for example, a 22-year-old Israeli Yeshiva student, who was identifiably Orthodox and visiting New York City for the summer holiday, was stabbed with a screwdriver by one of two men who attacked him after asking whether he was Jewish and had any money. The other punched him in the face.

Earlier that year, 10- and 12-year-olds were attacked on Albany Avenue by four African American teens.

Monday’s assault came just days after an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking through downtown Brooklyn last week.

These latest attacks on the Orthodox Jewish community continue a trend.

According to a report issued in August by New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, antisemitic incidents accounted for a striking 65 percent of all felony hate crimes in New York City last year.

The report added that throughout the state, nearly 44 percent of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims.

Meanwhile, according to a recent Algemeiner review of New York City Police Department (NYPD) hate crimes data, 385 antisemitic hate crimes have struck the New York City Jewish community since last October, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas perpetrated its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, unleashing a wave of anti-Jewish hatred unlike any seen in the post-World War II era.

Beyond New York, anti-Jewish hate crimes in the US spiked to a record high last year, and American Jews were the most targeted of any religious group in the country, according to a report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in September.

The post Jewish boy assaulted on way to school in New York City, assailant remain at large appeared first on World Israel News.

Why Putin Hates Protestants (And Any Denominations He Can’t Control)

While the vast majority of Ukrainians are Christians, with Ukrainian Orthodoxy as the predominant
denomination, the country is home to a variety of faiths. Despite their differences, all have suffered in
the war and face potential persecution under Russian occupation. Ukraine’s religious demographics
reveal that 62.7% identify as Christian Orthodox, 10.2% as Greek Catholic (Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church, UGCC), 3.7% as Protestant, and 1.9% as Roman Catholic.

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, blending Byzantine rites with Catholicism, helps distinguish
Ukrainians from Russians, countering Vladimir Putin’s claims that Ukraine is Russia. The Church has been
pivotal in supporting both civilians and soldiers during the conflict. Military chaplains provide sacraments
and spiritual support to soldiers, while nuns and relief groups offer housing and humanitarian aid to
displaced people. Priests and scholars advocate for Ukrainian independence, making the Church a key
pillar of strength and resilience amid the crisis.

Catholic religious orders have also been vital in delivering aid, ministering to war-torn communities, and
offering spiritual support. Many priests and sisters remain in dangerous areas, distributing supplies,
sheltering refugees, and keeping hope alive. Dominican friars have informed the outside world of the
suffering in Ukraine, writing about their efforts to sustain church life amid the devastation. Meanwhile,
members of the Benedictine and Salesian orders have provided shelter and emergency provisions to
those in need.

Ukraine’s small Protestant and Evangelical communities have been actively meeting the physical and
spiritual
needs of the community. Churches like the Evangelical Good News Church in Sloviansk, located
just 20 kilometers from the front lines in the Donetsk region, have become crucial logistical hubs. They
provide humanitarian aid and help evacuate civilians from besieged towns and villages across Donetsk,
where conflict has raged since 2014. Along with its neighboring city Kramatorsk, Sloviansk remains the
last major Ukrainian-held stronghold in the Donetsk oblast. Since the Russian invasion in 2014, separatist
forces have targeted religious minorities, including Protestants and Evangelicals. Russian-backed
separatists have been accused of kidnapping, beating, and threatening religious congregations in
occupied areas. In a tragic incident in June 2014, four members of the Pentecostal Church of the
Transfiguration of the Lord in Sloviansk were abducted and murdered, a crime attributed by church
officials to sectarian hatred.

Speaking to The Washington Times at Good News Church, Maxim, a soldier and chaplain with Ukraine’s
Donbas battalion, explained why he believes Russians target Protestants. He noted that “Protestantism
values individualism
and personal freedom, which the Russians can’t tolerate.” Maxim emphasized that
the persecution of Protestants and Evangelicals is not only driven by theological differences but also by
political and security concerns. He pointed out that the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Russian
Orthodox Church are central pillars of the Russian state, and religious minorities pose a threat to the
Kremlin’s control. Additionally, the ties many Protestant denominations have with the U.S. lead Moscow
to suspect them of being potential American spies.

In Russian-occupied areas, religious freedom has been severely restricted, with non-Russian Orthodox
communities facing extreme persecution. Since the war began, at least 39 Ukrainian priests and pastors
have been killed by Russian forces. Over 660 religious buildings have been damaged or destroyed,
including 206 Protestant churches, with Pentecostal (94), Evangelical Christian Baptist (60), and 7th Day
Adventist (27) churches being the most affected. Protestants, along with Catholics, Muslims, and
Orthodox believers not aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate, have been arrested, tortured, and
subjected to mock executions. They have faced the confiscation of property, threats to their families, and
abduction, with some remaining unaccounted for and others killed.

Ukraine’s Orthodox Christian population is split between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC),
historically linked to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), and the independent Orthodox Church of
Ukraine (OCU), recognized as an independent (or autocephalous, meaning not subject to the authority of
an external bishop or patriarch) Eastern Orthodox Church since 2019. Kyiv has accused the UOC of
spreading pro-Russian propaganda and aiding Moscow by allegedly harboring spies. Meanwhile, the
ROC, under Patriarch Kirill, has openly supported Russia’s invasion, turning a blind eye to war crimes
such
as rapes and civilian executions. Kirill has even referred to the conflict as a “holy war” through the
World Russian People’s Council (WRPC), an organization linked to the ROC and founded in 1993 to
promote Russian nationalism. Kirill plays a key role in the WRPC, aligning its mission with Kremlin goals,
including justifying the war. He has also assured Russian soldiers that dying in the conflict grants
absolution from sin. Reports suggest that Orthodox private military companies have been formed to
fight alongside Russian forces. The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has discovered that these
companies are funded by Kremlin-linked financial and industrial groups, with money funneled through
ROC accounts disguised as charitable donations for church building.

In response to Patriarch Kirill’s support for the Russian invasion, the still nominally Russia-linked UOC has
condemned the war and urged its members to defend Ukraine. Many UOC parishes have already joined
the autocephalous
Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The Ukrainian government has cracked down on
UOC churches still linked to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), viewing them as tools of Russian
influence. To protect national security, the government has demanded that religious organizations sever
ties with Moscow. Ukrainian lawmakers passed a law banning the activities of the Moscow-linked
Ukrainian Orthodox
Church under the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). President Volodymyr Zelensky
endorsed the ban, stating that Ukrainian Orthodoxy is “taking a step toward liberation from the devils of
Moscow.”

Some critics argue that Ukraine’s restrictions on the Moscow-affiliated church limit religious freedom.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is so closely linked with the Kremlin, that it might qualify
as a foreign agent under US law. It’s important to note that, apart from these restrictions, Ukraine
maintains religious freedom, which Russia does not. In Ukraine, even unregistered religious activities are
allowed, whereas they are banned in Russia, as well as in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

Last year, a delegation from the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO)
visited Washington, D.C. to raise awareness about the impact of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine’s religious
communities and freedom. The group included leaders from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.
Archbishop Yevstratiy Zoria of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine spoke about Ukrainians being
“eyewitnesses to Russian atrocities.” In an open letter, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC)
called for Catholics to stand with Ukraine. The Synod of Bishops of the UGCC issued the Letter, citing
Jeremiah 22:3: “Rescue the victims from the hand of their oppressors.” The letter emphasizes the moral
and theological obligation of Catholics and other Christians to support Ukraine. The war has become not
only a struggle over territory but also a fight to preserve religious freedom.

Blood sugar levels play a key role in brain aging: Can diet slow cognitive decline?

According to the study, individuals at risk for cognitive decline should prioritize blood sugar management through diet and lifestyle choices.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

The body’s blood sugar level is known to be linked to brain atrophy, and now findings from a team of international researchers suggest that dieting can slow the brain’s aging process.

Age-related brain atrophy, characterized by the gradual loss of neurons and shrinkage of brain tissue, is an inevitable aspect of aging.

This decline can lead to various cognitive impairments and neurological issues. While aging cannot be halted, the results from this 18-month dietary intervention suggest that adopting a healthier lifestyle can mitigate some effects of brain aging.

Brain age, determined through MRI assessments of the hippocampus and lateral ventricles, reflects the brain’s biological aging, which may not always align with a person’s chronological age.

As individuals age, the hippocampus tends to shrink while the lateral ventricles expand, serving as indicators of brain health.

A younger brain age generally signifies better cognitive functioning, whereas an older brain age can signal increased vulnerability to cognitive decline.

The study, conducted by a collaborative team of brain and nutrition experts, including researchers from Ben-Gurion University, Harvard University, and Leipzig University, was recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2024, a peer-reviewed journal.

The research was primarily led by Ben-Gurion PhD student Dafna Pachter and supervised by Prof. Iris Shai.

According to the study, individuals at risk for cognitive decline should prioritize blood sugar management through diet and lifestyle choices.

The findings indicate that lower levels of HbA1c — also known as glycated hemoglobin — correlates with significant positive changes in specific brain regions commonly affected by aging.

MRI results demonstrated that lower HbA1c levels were associated with greater changes in the thalamus, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum—key areas responsible for cognitive function, motor control, and sensory processing.

The research suggests that improved blood sugar management could be a pivotal factor in decelerating age-related brain changes.

Earlier studies have highlighted the advantages of the Green Mediterranean diet, which is rich in polyphenols derived from plant-based sources like Mankai (a high-protein aquatic plant) and green tea, while being low in red and processed meats.

The study reinforces the notion that the Green Mediterranean diet not only promotes metabolic health but may also offer protective benefits for brain structure and function.

The DIRECT PLUS trial, noted for being one of the longest and largest brain MRI intervention studies, involved around 300 participants divided into three dietary groups.

Whole-brain MRI measurements were taken before and after the 18-month trial to assess changes in brain health.

Using Hippocampal Occupancy (HOC) as a proxy for brain age, the study predicted future dementia risk. Interestingly, some participants displayed brain ages that were either younger or older than their chronological ages.

Employing NeuroQuant, an FDA-authorized automated tool, the research team quantified and analyzed the MRI data.

The goal was to examine the impact of dietary components and glycemic control on brain aging. Results indicated that participants who improved their blood sugar levels and achieved normal glucose status showed a more pronounced reduction in brain aging.

Notably, those who incorporated higher amounts of green tea and Mankai duckweed shakes into their diets experienced the most significant improvements in both blood sugar regulation and brain health.

Lead researcher Prof. Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University explained, “Maintaining low blood sugar levels, even within the normal range, shows promise for preserving a younger brain, especially when combined with a healthy diet and regular physical activity. Polyphenols in plant-based foods may cross the blood-brain barrier, reducing inflammation crucial for memory.”

This study is among the first large-scale trials to establish a direct connection between dietary changes, particularly those related to the Green Mediterranean diet, improved glycemic control, and slower brain aging.

While further investigation is necessary, the research could encourage healthcare professionals to integrate nutritional counseling into their practices, emphasizing the role of diet in mental wellness.

The post Blood sugar levels play a key role in brain aging: Can diet slow cognitive decline? appeared first on World Israel News.

WATCH: Hezbollah tunnel system destroyed by IDF troops

The IDF has been systematically removing threats from Israel’s borders by finding and taking Hezbollah weapons and destroying their strongholds.

Watch how an IDF brigade detonated explosives to destroy a large tunnel system in Lebanon. Notice the delayed dust clouds bursting up from all the houses closer to the soldiers’ location as the explosion moves through the tunnels beneath them pic.twitter.com/Aoavje1sCx

— Cheryl E ️ (@CherylWroteIt) November 4, 2024

IDF completely erasing a Hezbollah village. Wild footage pic.twitter.com/a4lb218MYw

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 4, 2024

The post WATCH: Hezbollah tunnel system destroyed by IDF troops appeared first on World Israel News.

Harris will not say how she voted on California’s tough-on-crime proposition

Proposition 36 would increase penalties for individuals convicted of retail theft or drug crimes by reclassifying the offenses from misdemeanors to felonies.

By Blake Mauro, The Washington Free Beacon

Vice President Kamala Harris refused to say how she voted on California’s Proposition 36, a ballot measure that would impose harsher sentences for retail thefts and drug crimes in her home state, CNN reported.

“I am not going to talk about the vote on that because, honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election, and I don’t intend to create an endorsement one way or another around it,” she told reporters in Detroit when asked about the proposition.

Harris had been speaking of submitting her vote, saying, “I actually just filled out my mail-in ballot.”

Proposition 36 would increase penalties for individuals convicted of retail theft or drug crimes by reclassifying the offenses from misdemeanors to felonies.

It also proposes to elevate repeat shoplifting and fentanyl-related offenses to felony status.

The initiative would reverse sections of Proposition 47, a controversial criminal reform initiative approved by voters in 2014 that lessened the penalties for theft and drug crimes in California to reduce overcrowding in jails, according to CNN.

Supporters of Proposition 36 include GOP lawmakers and commercial chain stores, such as Walmart, that have been victims of record-high shoplifting since the pandemic.

Opponents of the measure include Democratic state leaders and social justice organizations that argue the proposal would unfairly imprison lower-class people and those with a history of substance abuse.

Since launching her presidential campaign, Harris has emphasized her record fighting crime as a California prosecutor while attempting to downplay her progressive policies.

Harris has refused to say if she supports various of her previously held positions involving crime, such as closing private prisons, allowing taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries for prisoners, decriminalizing prostitution, and creating a path to citizenship for “dreamers,” illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children.

The post Harris will not say how she voted on California’s tough-on-crime proposition appeared first on World Israel News.

Toddler’s Rattlesnake Bite Leads to $300K Bill

A California family was left reeling after they were slapped with a medical bill of nearly $300,000 for the treatment of their 2-year-old son who was bitten by a rattlesnake. The toddler needed close to three dozen vials of antivenom to counteract the venom, which alone cost $213,278 of the total $297,461 bill. The bill also included charges for two ambulance rides, an emergency room visit, and several days in a pediatric intensive care unit.

The incident took place when the toddler, Brigland, was playing in their San Diego backyard and was bitten by a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. The bite was located between his thumb and index finger. As the venom quickly spread through Brigland’s small body, his mother, Lindsay Pfeffer, dialed 911 and anxiously awaited an ambulance to transport them to the nearest medical facility equipped with antivenom, Palomar Medical Center Escondido, located 25 minutes away.

Pfeffer vividly recalls the terrifying moment, “He was laying down on the sidewalk out front; just flat and sweating and he wasn’t moving,” she said. The venom caused severe swelling and bruising from the toddler’s fingers to his shoulder. The emergency room team had to resort to using a handheld drill to inject the antidote into the boy’s bone marrow when they couldn’t administer the medicine through an IV.

Once stabilized, Brigland was transferred to Ray Children’s Hospital, an hour away, where he remained in intensive care for several days until he recovered. During his treatment, the boy received 30 vials of Anavip antivenom across the two hospitals, each charging a significant amount for the life-saving medicine.

The first hospital administered 10 vials of Anavip, charging $9,574 per vial, totaling $95,574. The second hospital, one of the largest children’s hospitals on the West Coast, charged $5,875 for each of the 20 vials administered, totaling $117,532.

The family’s health insurance plan covered a portion of the costs, leaving them with a $7,200 bill for the hospital visits. However, they now owe an additional $11,300 for one of the ambulance rides. Despite the expensive treatment, Brigland’s hand has since healed, though nerve damage and scar tissue have left his right thumb much weaker. The family has since installed snake fencing around their yard to prevent future incidents.

The Third Worldization of America

Instead of ‘Americanizing’ the Third World, Obama and Harris and thousands of others like them helped radicalize and ‘third worldize’ America.

By Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Magazine

It is no coincidence that both of the Democratic Party’s ‘black’ presidential nominees were not black Americans, but the children of radical third world students who appropriated the rhetoric of the civil rights movement to get ahead, without having any actual history or part in it.

Obama and Kamala are not the legacy of the slave trade, much as they have exploited that history, but the third world immigrants and students ushered in by the JFK administration.

Barack Obama Sr., Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris all arrived in America as foreign students within a few years of each other.

They were part of a flood of foreign students brought to America by Cold War legislation meant to educate foreign elites in the United States.

Instead of ‘Americanizing’ the Third World, Obama and Harris and thousands of others like them helped radicalize and ‘third worldize’ America.

Many of the foreign students, like Kamala’s parents, never had any real intention of going home. Some stayed to radicalize American colleges and their American born children absorbed their politics and hostility to America.

The unprecedented open borders implemented by putatively black politicians like Obama and Kamala harmed the black community, but served the interests of the third world.

Their support for Islamic terrorism, hostility to national security and obsession with international politics in obscure parts of the world were a sharp break from traditional black politics.

Filling entire neighborhoods with mobs of foreign migrants is not a ‘black’ policy, and black community members have been some of its most vocal opponents, but it is a third world policy.

Open borders is more than a theory for second generation third worlders who did not come here centuries ago on slave ships, but who are only here because of cracks in our immigration policies.

Obama and Kamala know that they are only here for one reason and they see ‘their people’ as being not inside the border, but outside of it and waiting eagerly to come on in.

Third worlders also see American power in radically different terms than African-Americans do.

To African-Americans, even if they disagree with the country or its politics, American power is their power, whereas to third worlders, American power is that of their sworn enemies.

The foreign students to whom the JFK administration opened the door were not waiting to learn about America, rather they were often Marxists who were already aligned with the Soviet Union.

The third world was the Soviet tool for building an anti-American front and third worlders like Obama and Kamala innately view any third world power, including Iran and China, as members of the front to roll back the hateful destructive force that to them is the United States of America.

They were raised on the need to ‘decolonize’ America and that’s what they are doing.

Third worlders see America not as a country, but a ‘colony’ of white Europeans occupying ‘indigenous’ land whose institutions, power and history need to be dismantled from within.

Allied with domestic leftist groups, they embarked on a project to destroy our ‘founding stories’, eliminate our exceptionalism, hijack our culture and take apart our national greatness.

This is not simply leftism. Had socialists taken over America in the 1920s, as they originally set out to do, they would have maintained it as a world power.

But third worlders are not out to take over America, but to destroy it: taking it over is only a means of accelerating its destruction.

Third worlders believe that American political and corporate power are the cause of the world’s problems because they are not simply leftists, but nationalists of their own countries and cultures. They disguise this fact because it would alienate the electorate to say it plainly.

The mass migration of third worlders is the fulfillment of their program for ending America.

Third world mass migration is designed to fragment America and to replicate the third world’s disorders here. The disparate third world colonies are then used to build alliances to bring down America.

The United States becomes a United Nations of feuding groups whose only common enemy is the country that hosts them. That is the ‘third worldization’ of America.

And it’s already well underway.

Third worlders are not globalists: they are passionate nationalists and tribalists. Rep. Ilhan Omar does not envision a borderless world.

In speeches to Somali audiences, she expresses her passionate support for defending Somalia’s borders and combating Somaliland.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib yearns for the destruction of Israel and for replacing it with a ‘Palestinian’ state. Rep. Pramila Jayapal aids Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party in its attempts to take over India.

American and European leftists can be globalists, but third worlders rarely are. Obama lectured Americans on tribalism even while working to have his Muslim cousin and clan take over Kenya.

Globalist liberals and leftists enable third worlders to impose their own agendas on Americans. World government, open borders and all the other fetishes of globalists have become one-way street equity programs.

Westerns are expected to accept open borders, but no third world country will ever accept the loss of control over its borders.

Westerns are to be governed by international bodies dominated by third worlders, but no third world country will ever accept world government except at gunpoint. And usually not even then.

America is losing its wealth, its power and its independence to third world governance.

Globalists sell this as a means of empowering the poor of the world, but the third worlders who rule us at home and abroad are not the ‘wretched of the earth’, but foreign elites.

Aside from the Latin Americans streaming across the border, our third world invaders from the rest of the world are not poor, like Obama and Kamala’s parents, they’re foreign elites with the money and family ties to come here and play off the sympathies of gullible globalist liberals.

The only exercise in equity taking place is a transfer of power from American elites to foreign elites, from the descendants of those who came here on the Mayflower to the descendants of third world elites brought here by JFK to study at our finest universities and unlearn Marxism.

But instead of unlearning Marxism, they, like Kamala’s father, instead began teaching it to us.

America is becoming a third world mess because we are being run by the very same foreign elites who run the third world, who know nothing except a shoddy secondhand Marxism and who are animated by petty tribalism and ancient resentments of British and American rule.

The ‘third worldization’ of America and Europe are not destiny, but a choice. Unlike Britain, we’re not even being flooded by our colonials, but by former British colonials who hate us anyway.

If we don’t want to end up like the third world, it’s time for us to stop being ruled by the third world.

The post The Third Worldization of America appeared first on World Israel News.

WATCH: Trump calls antisemitic Chicago shooting ‘horrendous’

An African migrant fired several shots at a Jewish man walking to synagogue on Shabbat, shouting Allah Akbar, and then got into a gunfight with police officers.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “Only days ago, an illegal alien from North Africa, whom Kamala allowed into our country with her horrendous open border policy, traveled to a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago and attempted to execute a Jewish man on the street, shooting him in the back as he… pic.twitter.com/cHv2vCy2Ii

— Awesome Jew (@JewsAreTheGOAT) November 4, 2024

The post WATCH: Trump calls antisemitic Chicago shooting ‘horrendous’ appeared first on World Israel News.

American Airlines won’t fly to Israel again until at least September 2025

The Israeli carrier El Al is currently the only airline offering direct flights between the United States and Israel.

By Andrew Lapin, JTA

American Airlines announced over the weekend it would not be resuming flights to Israel until September 2025, extending an existing pause by an additional six months and potentially sparking a cascade of other airline delays in resuming regular Israel service.

The move makes American Airlines the first United States-based carrier to push back flights to Israel until at least the second half of 2025, amid a swath of cancellations affecting most non-Israeli airlines.

Delta and its partner airlines currently have pauses on Israel flights through March, while United Airlines has not set a return date yet for its own Israel flights.

Many carriers suspended flights to Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and have delayed their return to the region citing renewed security concerns including the expansion of regional conflict into Lebanon and Iran.

Others resumed flights after Oct. 7 but suspended them amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, which has included multiple missile barrages from Iran.

The scarcity of flights and their frequent interruptions have made traveling to and from Israel an expensive, often madcap process.

To manage costs, many travelers are opting to fly first to a European city that has budget service before connecting to their final destination — although several budget European airlines, including EasyJet and Ryanair, have also suspended service to Israel through at least spring 2025.

The Israeli carrier El Al is currently the only airline offering direct flights between the United States and Israel.

El Al’s effective monopoly on the service since Oct. 7 resulted in an investigation over price gouging and a change in policy that locked in flight rates to and from some European cities.

In a statement, a spokesperson for American Airlines told the Jewish News Syndicate that customers who had already bought flights could get a full refund or exchange them for another airline.

The post American Airlines won’t fly to Israel again until at least September 2025 appeared first on World Israel News.

Israeli anxiety, America and the ayatollahs

It’s safe to say that the entire world is watching and waiting with bated breath for the outcome.

By Ruthie Blum, JNS

Tensions are high in Israel as the United States enters the last lap of its presidential election.

Given the level of public concern surrounding the race and the amount of space devoted to it by local analysts, an alien observing from Mars might mistakenly assume that the vote is taking place between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, not across the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s already been established, through surveys and punditocracy consensus—including among those more predisposed politically to Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats in general than to former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party—that most Israelis are praying for the latter to emerge victorious.

Polls showing that the candidates are basically tied, with daily fluctuations in swing-state percentages, is causing a lot of nail-biting, and not exclusively in U.S. capitals or Jerusalem.

No, it’s safe to say that the entire world is watching and waiting with bated breath for the outcome.

Though Joe Biden will remain at the helm in the White House until the beginning of 2025 regardless of the results at the ballot box, nobody thinks he’s running the show in any respect, nor has he been for at least two years.

It’s assumed in Israel, however, that the figures behind him could engage in serious lame-duck sabotage in the weeks leading up to the inauguration of his successor.

After all, during a similar period at the end of 2016, outgoing President Barack Obama and his sidekick, Secretary of State John Kerry, pulled a few stunts that made Israel’s enemies proud. Key among these moves was the abstention on U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted on Dec. 23.

Resolution 2334, which passed by 14-0, condemned Israeli settlements and called for all construction of them to cease.

It also called for further labeling of Israeli goods, not only those made in settlements. In addition, it categorized the Western Wall as “occupied Palestinian territory.”

Naturally, the resolution greatly pleased and was a boon to the BDS movement, Students for Justice in Palestine and other organizations hostile to the Jewish state.

The Palestinians lauded it in general and stated outright that it paved the way for divestment, sanctions and lawsuits at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Still, Kerry proceeded to suggest that Jews building apartments in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem prevent the Palestinians from being able to believe that Israel is acting in good faith, attributing the stalemate in peace talks to Israel’s “extremist” right-wing government (sound familiar?) rather than to the terror masters in Ramallah and Gaza.

Far more outrageous was his nod to the Palestinians’ mourning of the “Nakba,” the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment in 1948.

In other words, he acknowledged that the problem wasn’t the “occupation” of territories that Arab states lost in the 1967 Six-Day War, but the existence of Jews on any inch of the land, from the “river to the sea” and from Metula to Eilat.

Ahead of Kerry’s vile tirade, Trump tweeted: “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, Jan. 20 [Trump’s inauguration in 2017] is fast approaching!”

Speaking of which, the Islamic Republic is hoping for Harris to end up in the Oval Office on this coming Jan. 20.

While spewing daily threats about dealing a severe retaliatory blow to Israel for its recent strikes on Iranian military sites—vowing to deploy more powerful warheads and missiles than it launched in its two previous attacks—the mullahs appear to be pausing for the upshot of the U.S. election.

They assume that Israel has a tacit agreement with the powers-that-be in Washington not to hit Iran before Tuesday.

But Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei must realize that such an arrangement would be null and void if Tehran were to take action.

Nevertheless, Hebrew news outlets have been obsessing over the question of when to expect the next assault that sends Israelis across the country into bomb shelters for more than the usual 20 minutes or so.

On one hand, the worry is genuine.

On the other, incessant discussion on the topic tends to have a lulling, almost numbing, effect.

Ironically, then, national anxiety surrounding America is higher at the moment than that related to the ayatollahs—though the two issues are indelibly interconnected.

The post Israeli anxiety, America and the ayatollahs appeared first on World Israel News.

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