The world's reaction was mixed after the Bondi Beach terror attack against the Jewish community. Some quietly applauded the attack and "blamed the Jews" while the majority expressed shock and indignation. Click Here to read a letter by more than 60 Australian sports figures calling on their government to look into the factors leading to last month’s attack.

The murders on the Beach were a symptom of the global rise and normalization of antisemitism that has been masquerading in its "modern form" as anti-Zionism. There are many factors that have enabled this anti-Zionist myth to grow. One suggestion, perhaps controversial, is that the world might somehow feel a little less guilty about the Holocaust if it can be proven that "the Jews" are as bad as the Nazis and are persecuting an innocent victim i.e. the Palestinians?

Another key factor that has led to the normalization of antisemitism is the billions of dollars being pumped into college campuses by Qatar and other nations. Click here to read the July 2019 Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy (ISGAP) research project “Follow the Money”. Sadly, not only students but many media outlets and social media have jumped on this the anti-Israel/anti-Zionist bandwagon. Click here to sign a petition demanding that the CBC provide more balanced coverage of Israel.

I believe that it is our responsibilities as rabbis to educate our communities about the pervasive nature of antisemitism as well as the factors contributing to today's outbreak of anti-Zionist hate. If it weren't anti-Zionism would this antisemitism appear in one of its other forms that we have seen throughout the centuries?

Ari Goldberg, 23 years old, originally from Virginia and made aliyah and enlisted as a lone soldier, building a life in the Negev 

Click Here for more information

Ari Goldberg’s death brings the number of fallen IDF soldiers for 2025 to 152.

MAY HIS MEMORY BE FOR A BLESSING

THIS WEEK IN ISRAEL

A new national center dedicated to dental care for people with disabilities has opened in Jerusalem, expanding access to specialized treatment while strengthening professional training and research in a field long marked by shortages.

The oldest complete biblical scroll ever found was originally split in 2, scholar finds. This study comes as ‘Great Isaiah,’ a 24-foot-long text parchment found with the Dead Sea Scrolls is set to be displayed by the Israel Museum in full for the first time since 1968

Boost to health care in Israel: 541 doctors made aliyah in the past year. After the departure of hundreds of Israeli doctors in the past two years, there has been an increase in the number of doctors who moved to Israel from countries such as the US, France and South America in 2025

Beneath the stones of the Kotel Plaza, archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old mikveh -- a powerful reminder that our roots in Eretz Yisrael are not abstract or symbolic, but deep, physical, and enduring.

Jewish groups sharply criticized the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Tuesday for allowing a student group to hold an anti-Israel conference on campus last week that critics said legitimized terrorism.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry over the weekend presented evidence alleging that officials with the Doctors Without Borders NGO in the Gaza Strip were simultaneously members of Palestinian terrorist organizations.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Tuesday that the military was building a new strategy centered on the event of a “surprise war,” like the one brought on by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

The transfer of an Israeli soccer star to an Italian Serie A team has sparked controversy among local politicians and sports enthusiasts in Tuscany.

According to I24 News, Hamas has restarted efforts to locate Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage in Gaza. The Families’ Headquarters for the Return of the Kidnapped and the Gvili family welcomed the resumption of the search efforts, while voicing support for Israel’s decision to keep the Rafah Crossing closed until Hamas fulfills its obligations and secures his return. Hamas likely knows location of Gvili's body, according to report in World Israel News.

Despite most economists expecting no change, the Bank of Israel cut rates by 25 basis points to 4% citing a stronger shekel and easing inflation after the December CPI

ISRAELI INNOVATION

BlueGreen Water Technologies is betting that smarter data, not faster cleanup, is the key to keeping lakes and reservoirs safe as harmful algal blooms become more frequent worldwide. The Israeli water-tech company has launched BlueGreen Insights, or BGi, an AI-driven monitoring platform designed to spot the earliest warning signs of toxic algae before outbreaks turn into public health emergencies.

A state-of-the-art AI system capable of detecting a patient’s risk of developing breast cancer is expected to be launched in Israel in 2026 in a worldwide first, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) computer science professor said on Wednesday.

Israeli researchers have identified a mechanism in brain cells that may actively contribute to the spread of Alzheimer’s disease, overturning long-held assumptions about how neurons dispose of toxic proteins. 

As water scarcity worsens across the globe, an Israeli climate-tech company says it has found a way to draw drinking water from an unlikely source: the air itself.

OF INTEREST TO RABBIS

Julie Menin, a moderate Jewish Democrat from Manhattan who last week declared an early victory in the New York City Council speaker race, is widely expected to serve as an ideological counterweight to the incoming administration of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist hoping to advance a range of far-left agenda items.

A new federal lawsuit filed on behalf of families of victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks accuses the crypto giant Binance of knowingly facilitating the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S.-designated foreign terror organizations on an “industrial scale,” helping contribute to the deadly incursion in Israel that killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.

A federal judge on Wednesday allowed a California law aimed at combatting antisemitism to go into effect, rejecting a legal challenge that argued the measure should be blocked because of its potential to chill classroom speech about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Over 100 U.S. Haredi donors pledge to withhold support for yeshivot that oppose the IDF

Click on the image below for a powerful duet by October 7 survivor Yonatan Cohen and freed hostage Yosef Haim Ohana as they perform “Square of Tears,” transforming terror, survival, and captivity into a raw musical testament to what the hostages endured

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