Latest news with #Israeli-Americans
New York Post
11-08-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump says Hamas can't be allowed to stay in Gaza: ‘Remember Oct. 7'
President Trump said Monday that Hamas cannot be allowed to stay in the Gaza Strip due to the horrors of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack — as he weighs the risks of Israel's looming invasion further into the enclave. While Trump stopped short of endorsing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to invade and occupy Gaza City, the president agreed that Hamas needed to be exiled from Gaza over the threat the terror group presents to the Jewish state. 'I have one thing to say: remember Oct.7, remember Oct. 7,' Trump told Axios, invoking the infamous 2023 terror attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and saw 250 others kidnapped. 3 President Trump said Hamas cannot remain in Gaza as Israel escalates the war with a looming invasion of Gaza City. AP 3 Trump said the world cannot forget the horrors of the Oct.7, 2023, massacre, which saw Hamas kill more than 1,200 people in Israel. AP Trump confirmed that he spoke with Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the Jewish state's plan to invade Gaza City, with the US president agreeing that military might remains the best way forward to deal with Hamas. Trump acknowledged fears that the operation could put the remaining 50 hostages in danger, but noted that it was always going to be 'very rough to get them' out. Only 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to still be alive, and among the dead are Israeli-Americans Omer Neutra, 22, and Itay Chen, 19. Despite the danger, Trump said he doesn't believe that Hamas would commit to freeing the captives given the last set of tense cease-fire talks referencing the pause in negotiations between the terror group and Israel. '[Hamas] are not going to let the hostages out in the current situation,' Trump said. The president said he would ultimately let Israel proceed as it sees fit and not intervene. Trump's remarks come following global backlash over Netanyahu's plan to evacuate Gaza City and bring it under military occupation to eliminate Hamas' terror cells operating in the city. 3 Israel bombarded Gaza City on Sunday as it prepares to evacuate the city's refugee population to hunt down Hamas' terror cells. AFP via Getty Images The operation fell short of the premier's alleged initial plan to take over the entirety of the Strip, but Israeli military officials still voiced their opposition to the incursion out of fear of the hostages' safety. Netanyahu defended the plan on Sunday as the only viable tactic to free the city from Hamas and apply the pressure needed to force the terror group back onto the negotiating table. The prime minister also reiterated his calls for Hamas to completely demilitarize and give up its control on the Gaza Strip, which the terror group has ruled as the de facto governors for nearly 20 years. Israel has maintained that the war will only end once the goal of eradicating Hamas is complete, with Netanyahu planning to put the Palestinian enclave under the Jewish state's watch until a 'non-Israeli, peaceful civilian administration' can be tapped to take over.
Vancouver Sun
10-08-2025
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
'Your suffering doesn't matter': Harvard psychologist tackles Jews' 'traumatic invalidation'
After the Hamas-led terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern, a psychology instructor at Harvard Medical School, wrote on an Israeli Facebook group offering therapy resources to those affected by the attacks. She was flooded with requests from American Jews and Israeli-Americans. She, and seven colleagues, provided a year's worth of pro bono support in Massachusetts. In September, she will lead three talks in Toronto, on the theme of what many Jews have been experiencing since Oct. 7: a second layer of trauma — traumatic invalidation — that comes from their pain being dismissed, minimized, or invalidated. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. She co-published a study on the topic: 'Traumatic invalidation in the Jewish community after Oct. 7' in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. Typically, she says, studies like these receive some 2,000 reads; hers crossed 47,000 in the first two months. Some examples she received included: – Jewish therapists targeted in professional spaces; some yelled at for being Jewish, or mocked by their clients. – A patient who is related a hostage still held by Hamas spoke about the pain of seeing her loved ones' faces on posters being ripped and vandalized. 'It's as if my pain doesn't matter, they are erasing my grief and denying my daily reality.' – A psychoanalysts' sub-group of the American Psychological Association issued a statement condemning Israel as 'genocidal and imperialist,' expressing 'solidarity with the Palestinian struggle' and stating they were 'not in a position to determine which path to decolonization and liberation is 'legitimate'' – Many patients — Jewish and Israeli — described instances of others asking them to defend the actions of the Israeli government, as if they were personally responsible. – An Israeli-American woman described attempting to share her anguish with her colleagues and immediately being asked: 'How do you think the Palestinians are feeling?' Traumatic invalidation, Dr. Bar-Halpern says, can cause mental health issues in the short term and long term. Until June of this year, she was director of the intensive outpatient program at Boston Child Study Center for seven years, where she was the lead clinician. She also worked as a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. Last November, she began as director of trauma services and training at Parents for Peace, an organization combating radicalization, with affiliates in Canada and the U.S. Dr. Bar-Halpern spoke to Dave Gordon for National Post: Q: Describe the 'traumatic invalidation' you researched. I started hearing stories that were very similar to the stories I've been hearing in my clinic, in my work with trauma; those with a history of sexual assault, or attacks. That concept is traumatic invalidation. I realized that for Jewish people right now, there is a compound trauma effect, where a lot of us are still feeling the stress of the war, and worried about our loved ones at home, and carry the secondary trauma from October 7, from seeing those horrific pictures and all the horrors, but also the response that we're getting from the environment around us. The concept of traumatic invalidation is when someone is denying your pain, or focusing on the other side. Basically, controlling the narrative, ignoring you, not paying attention to your own thoughts, or telling you what to feel or how to act. I didn't invent the concept of traumatic invalidation. It's a known phenomenon in the trauma world, but no one ever applied it to the Jewish community, which is basically what I did in the research. Q: What examples of traumatic invalidation did you find out about? The big one, on the topic of 'ignoring,' is UN Women (a United Nations foundation), who took over 50 days before releasing a statement about the gender-based atrocities and the sexual violence that happened on October 7. There are a lot of examples of emotional neglect, when people told their friends they were suffering and afraid, and the friends didn't check in. And 'whataboutism,' or minimizing the emotional aspect of what's been going on. So the message that we're getting is that your suffering doesn't matter, or that you're actually unlovable. When people are blaming or putting down Jews and Israelis for parts of their identity. Almost everywhere today, they're being blamed for the actions of the government of Israel. So the message that we're getting is that your problems are your own fault; you are the one who's causing trouble. I think that if we keep seeing people as problems instead of a human being, then everybody's going to get more dehumanized. There is 'excluding,' which is another one of the traumatic invalidation criteria, when a lot of Jews and Israelis are being excluded from social events, from labs in the academia, or a boycott on Israeli researchers. Q: What was surprising during your research? The fact that antisemitism is so pervasive in the mental health field, social work, and psychology has been beyond surprising, and actually devastating to me. I feel really betrayed by the mental health field. Within the mental health field, a lot of people are supposed to be trauma experts, or expert in what we call Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which is where the term traumatic invalidation came from. They were not able to hold space for the pain of Jewish people. They made it about politics. So for example, I met people that shared stories about how they're feeling unsafe or traumatized, either by October 7 or by what happened after October 7 in the U.S. And responses from therapists was dismissal, or victim blaming, or literally, they were told, 'Well, what do you think is happening in Gaza? How can you compare yourself to them?' You can see it also in discussion groups for therapists. When my article was posted in the DBT listserv, the automatic reaction of some non-Jewish therapists was 'why are we bringing politics into this?' And the person who posted article said, 'this is not about politics. This is about the mental health.' The conversation quickly went into the dismissal of Jewish pain. I'm hearing Jewish patients don't feel safe. One example is what got me to write the article. One of the pro bono cases after October 7 said she didn't feel safe going to her LGBTQ group. The facilitator of the group started wearing a keffiyeh, and changed the art in the room to say 'from the river to the sea,' with drawings of a Palestinian flag. Their Instagram page called for patients to cancel their appointments and go protest with them. And when the participant told the facilitator that they did not feel safe, their reaction was 'deal with it.' I ended up calling the head of this practice to complain, and to tell them that it's not ethical, because when a patient tells you that you don't feel safe, the first thing you need to do is to make sure they feel safe. The other thing is that we had so much data, there were so many examples that by itself was surprising. We couldn't even include all of it in the research to show how pervasive the traumatic invalidation is. Q: Did you think what would occur if these experiences happened to another group? Yeah, I have to wonder whether, if you exchanged Jew for Black or LGBTQ-plus, whether we would have had the same response. You would not. One of my colleagues is a Black American Jew, and he said he actually experienced more way antisemitism than racism. And they'll say on college campuses, they don't want Zionists there. If they ever said 'we don't want LGBTQ here' that will never fly. But it seems like when it comes to Jews, if we just use a different term, like Zionist, which is modern antisemitism, then it's OK. We don't matter. Q: What do you want mental health professionals to do with your research? To understand the experience of Jews today; to widen the ability to validate their pain. Validation is not always an agreement, by the way. Validation is 'I see you, I understand you, I hear your pain.' You don't have to solve the problem. You just need to be there and be curious. Ask: 'What can I do to support you? What do you need right now?' Q; What can the layperson gain from your research? Exactly the same thing. I think that's why it went viral. Because it speaks to everyone. Because there are so many nuances that we were trying to put into words in the last two years, and were not able to. And every person that contacted me who read the article said 'I saw myself in those criteria.' So this is for the everyday person to want to really understand their pain and figure out what to do with it. (The events in Toronto aim to) actually help people in the community to learn how to self validate themselves, and how to counter those negative thoughts that might arise when the community is invalidating you, and how to cope with the different symptoms that come with it. Because when traumatic invalidation happens on a systematic level, we are more vulnerable to develop post traumatic stress, and anxiety and depression, and changing the way we think about the world, the way we think about ourselves, and it's constant insecurity. So my hope is to give people the tools of how to manage all of that. Q: How has this impacted students? They're more vulnerable to a lot of it. In my clinic, I have K-to-12 patients that are refusing to go to school, or they're hiding their Jewish identity. Some of them start self-harming. Some of them say they don't want to be Jewish anymore because it's not safe. The long term effect could be mental health issues, like anxiety, depression and so forth, and trust issues. If their school is not protecting them, then we can expect them to not trust authority figures or institutions. So the hope is that the schools will be trauma informed schools, and antisemitism informed. My hope is that it can move from intervention to prevention. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here .
Saudi Gazette
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Israeli military recovers two hostages' bodies in southern Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two Israeli-Americans taken back to Gaza as hostages during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military says. Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was also a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72, were murdered by gunmen from the Mujahideen Brigades group when they attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz, a statement said. Their bodies were found in the southern Khan Younis area of Gaza overnight and brought back to Israel for forensic identification. There are now 56 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife sent their condolences to the families of Judi and Gadi Haggai. "Our hearts grieve over this terrible loss. May their memories be blessed," he added."I would like to thank, and express appreciation to, the fighters and commanders for this determined and successful operation. We will not rest, nor will we be silent, until we return home all of our hostages — the living and the deceased."The couple's families recalled how they "went out for a walk on the morning of that cursed Saturday and never returned"."We welcome the closure and their return to a proper burial at home, in Israel," they an English teacher, and Gadi Haggai, who used to work in Kibbutz Nir Oz's kitchen, were last seen alive in a video they shared with a group chat at the start of the 7 October attack. They were seen taking cover in a field as incoming rockets fired from Gaza streaked overhead and the sound of gunfire was later told friends and relatives they had been wounded, before ceasing couple's daughter Iris Weinstein Haggai said after the attack her mother had told her they had been "shot by terrorists on a motorcycle and that my dad was wounded really bad". She added: "Paramedics tried to send her an ambulance. The ambulance got hit by a rocket."In December 2023, the kibbutz announced that both Judi and Gadi were killed that day and their bodies were being held hostage in Wednesday, an Israeli military official said the couple's bodies were recovered from the Khan Younis area following an operation based on "precise intelligence" from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet security said they could not disclose further details due to the sensitivity of the operation. However, Israeli Army Radio reported the intelligence was obtained through the Shin Bet's interrogation of a Palestinian fighter captured by Israeli troops in Gaza."We will keep doing the utmost for the mission of bringing our hostages back - the living, to reunite with their families, and the deceased to dignified burial. We will deploy all the methods and tools in our disposal for this goal," the military official Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged decision-makers to do everything they could to agree a new ceasefire deal with Hamas to secure the return of all the remaining hostages."There is no need to wait another 608 agonizing days for this," it said. "The mission can be completed as early as tomorrow morning. This is what the majority of the Israeli people want."US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "united in prayer" for the Haggai family."Hamas must release all remaining hostages, including Omer Neutra and Itay Chen," he added, referring to two other Israeli-Americans who the Israeli military says were killed on 7 October while serving as soldiers and whose bodies were taken back to Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "The return of their remains is a time to begin to heal and to rest. We mourn with [Judi Haggai's] family. May her memory be a blessing."Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented cross-border attack almost 20 months ago, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken four people, two of them dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the far, 199 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with least 54,677 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory's Hamas-run health imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month truce during which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai hostages were freed. Israel said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops "take control of all areas" of Gaza. Israel also partially eased its blockade, allowing some food into the territory amid warnings from experts of a looming than 4,400 people have reportedly been killed in Gaza over the past three months, while 640,000 others have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation of a new ceasefire deal faded last week, with Hamas and Israel remaining at odds over the conditions of the latest US said it was prepared to release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead ones, which was the number specified in US envoy Steve Witkoff's proposal, in exchange for a 60-day truce and the release of Palestinian the group also repeated its demands for guarantees that the truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, as well as a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the resumption of unrestricted aid called Hamas's statement a refusal of the proposal, and Witkoff said it was totally unacceptable. But a Hamas official insisted it had acted positively and responsibly. — BBC
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First Post
05-06-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Israel recovers bodies of couple killed in October 7 attack from Gaza, says Netanyahu
Netanyahu said that the bodies of two Israeli-Americans killed in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack have been recovered from Gaza and returned to Israel. read more Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is under tremendous pressure with a motion to dissolve the Knesset fast approaching and a key coalition partner threatening to switch sides on it. AFP Photo Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the bodies of two Israeli-Americans killed in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack had been recovered from Gaza and returned to Israel. 'In a special operation by the [security agency] and the military in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of two of our hostages held by the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas were returned to Israel: Judy Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai from Kibbutz Nir Oz, may their memory be blessed,' Netanyahu said in a statement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Judy and Gad were murdered on October 7 and abducted to the Gaza Strip.' The Israeli army and Shin Bet security agency said in a joint statement that the bodies of two Israeli-Americans were recovered overnight from the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza. The operation was carried out with the help of special forces and intelligence teams, the statement added. The elderly couple, Gad Haggai (72) and Judy Weinstein Haggai (70), lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. A spokesperson for the kibbutz said their bodies were returned home after 'more than 600 days of pain and waiting.' Gad was known for his love of music and cooking, while Judy was a former English teacher. They had four children and seven grandchildren. 'We welcome their return for a proper burial in Israel,' the family said, thanking the military and all those who supported them. October 7 attack and Israeli campaign Israel recently intensified its military operations in Gaza, aiming to defeat Hamas after its October 2023 attack that killed 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians. According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, at least 4,335 people have died since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, bringing the total death toll to over 54,600, mostly civilians. Out of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas during the October attack, 55 are still held—32 of them believed to be dead. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
NZ Herald
05-06-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Bodies of two Israeli-American hostages retrieved from Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the bodies of two Israeli-Americans killed in Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack and held in Gaza have been returned to Israel. 'In a special operation by the [security agency] and the [military] in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of two of our hostages held
