Latest news with #Israeli-Americans
New York Post
14-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Hochul jokes congestion pricing might not work— after NYC traffic made her late for dinner
They're hitting the city limits Out of the mouths: Kathy Hochul — always on the dot punctual, and meeting a friend for dinner — arrived 20 minutes late. 'Traffic was terrible,' she said. Then: 'Maybe this congestion thing isn't working!' For over 40 years the owner of big-time restaurant Primola has served everyone — Ivana, Ivanka, Marla, Donald 'who always came a few minutes late.' East Side owner says, 'If ever I actually write a book, I'd have to leave the country.' Realtor: High cost of everything causing problems, union carpenters, congestion and bridge tolls, 'besides that there's also kids, 12 years old, in Times Square robbing people.' Taxi driver: 'When passengers pay in cash I now don't have to report it.' Driven to drink Wait. More taxi driver misery. Marilu Henner and Tony Danza couldn't find a taxi. They were damp. It was the rained-on West Wide. Ubers were backed up. Cabs no place. Understand, these were the former TV 'Taxi' stars. So, in good Big Apple style, they sloshed over for drinks at dry Manny's Bistro. Big cheers for Jersey boy Lufthansa lounge before a flight to Copenhagen. Newark Airport. TSA staff snarling. Hasidim speaking Yiddish. Passengers said that this week downtown Tenafly had 10 million Israeli-Americans and assorted persons of Jewish persuasion celebrating 21-year-old Edan Alexander's release from hostagehood. High value asset We now speak bargains. You can go from bland to Bond for $26.5 mil. Sean Connery's South of France shack is for sale. Stuck above the Mediterranean in Nice. Art Deco estate called 'Bond Villa' by locals. Riviera glamour, panoramic sea views, indoor infinity pool, dining room equipped with ejector seats for gabby guests in case the pot roast's lousy. Rule of all? Europe is at a critical point. America's shield is rusting. China's prepping to invade Taiwan. Took only one month, three weeks, two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its constitution. Putin's goal? A redo of Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin. The south awaits the current conflict outcome to decide whether or not to act further — whether to trample on it. He wants the order put in place by the USA and its allies. First principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force. E pluribus unum. Somewhere I read that it's all for one — and one for all. Only not in New York or anyplace else.
USA Today
12-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Who is Edan Alexander? What to know about the US-Israeli hostage after release
The last living Israeli-American hostage held in Gaza crossed into Israel on Monday, May 12, after being held by Hamas for over 500 days. Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old and member of the Israel Defense Forces, was released by Hamas amid a pause in fighting in Gaza, according to Reuters. Hamas said it was freeing Alexander as a goodwill gesture to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region this week, and is seen as a stepping stone to a potential ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel. "This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones," Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social, on May 11. The release coincides with reports from a global hunger monitor organization warning people in the Gaza strip face starvation. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported on Monday that half a million people are at risk, with a critical risk of famine by September. Who is Edan Alexander? Alexander, a dual Israeli-American, grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel to join the Israel Defense Forces after attending high school in a town just north of Englewood. He was born to Israeli parents, Adi and Yael, in Tel Aviv, but the family moved to the U.S. when he was a baby, first to Maryland, before settling in Tenafly, New Jersey in 2008. Alexander graduated in 2022 from Tenafly High, where he was active in sports leagues and competed for the local swim team. He often traveled to Israel to visit his grandparents and celebrated his bar mitzvah there, according to reporting by part of the USA TODAY Network. Alexander moved to Israel after high school to join the Israeli Army. He was captured from a military post the morning of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas, which saw Hamas militants enter into southern Israel. The attack left about 1,200 people dead, and militants captured Alexander and some 250 others to hold hostage. How many hostages remain in Gaza? There are about 59 remaining hostages in Gaza, Reuters has reported, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, May 7, that 21 are believed to be alive. The militant group is also thought to be holding the bodies of four Israeli-Americans: Itay Chen, Omer Neutra, Judith Weinstein, and her husband, Gadi Haggai, as USA TODAY previously reported. Al Jazeera television showed a photograph of Alexander standing next to masked fighters and a Red Cross official upon his release Monday, according to Reuters, and he is expected to be received at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv for treatment after 19 months in captivity. Contributing: Reuters, Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY. Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her atkapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr.
New York Post
29-04-2025
- New York Post
Families beg for release of bodies of dead Gaza hostages for grim reason
The families of the dead hostages in Gaza are growing increasingly afraid that their loved ones' bodies will be impossible to identify if the war with Hamas rages on. The Hostage Families' Forum's medical division warned Tuesday that time is running out to recover the bodies of 35 dead hostages, suggesting that the dead captives may find themselves lost in anonymous burial places in the Gaza Strip. In a report set to be published this later week, the forum also warned that if the captives are not released soon, the risk grows that the bodies could be severely damaged by 'extreme heat, flooding, building collapses, sewage infiltration, and animal activity.' 4 Demonstrators in Israel call on the government to make a deal with Hamas to free the 59 captives in Gaza. AFP via Getty Images 4 Medical experts fear the conditions in Gaza may deteriorate the bodies of the 35 dead hostages, which would make it difficult to identify them. AFP via Getty Images 'From a forensic perspective, the authors warn that further delay could eliminate the possibility of conducting valid pathological examinations, determining the cause of death, identifying signs of deliberate harm or abuse, and presenting legal evidence of possible criminal responsibility,' the forum said in a statement. Such an outcome would only compound the grief and suffering of the families, the forum added, calling on Israel to do whatever it must to ensure the hostages are released. 'Without the return of the fallen hostages and in the absence of certainty, the families become the living-dead, and the fallen remain the dead-alive,' said Prof. Hagai Levine, the head of the forum's Health Team. 'This wound undermines the very trust upon which the social fabric relies.' There are still 59 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, only 24 of whom are still believed to be living in nearly 600 days of captivity. 4 Among the dead is 19-year-old Israeli-American Itay Chen, who was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack. 4 Hamas is also holding the bodies of American couple Gadi and Judy Haggai. @ irisweinsteinhaggai / Instagram Among the 35 believed to be dead include Israeli-Americans Itay Chen, Omer Neutra, and Gadi and Judi Weinsten Haggai. A fifth American, Edan Alexander, 21, is believed to still be alive. Despite the outcry from the families, former hostages and their supporters, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that military pressure remains the best solution to free the captives. While the cease-fire negotiations have failed to make any progress since the war resumed last month, officials in Cairo claimed Monday that mediators were on the verge of a 'significant breakthrough' in the peace talks. Despite the progress, the officials said sticking points remained, including whether Hamas would be allowed to keep its weapons and remain in Gaza, the same key issue that caused all other cease-fire talks to fall apart. Hamas maintains that it will never lay down its arms, with Israel refusing to end the war until it has assurances that the terror group can never threaten the Jewish state again.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Daughter of slain Hamas hostages files suit against Columbia groups
(NewsNation) — The families of hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks are suing detained Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and several student groups, alleging they aided and abetted Hamas in acts of international terrorism. Khalil, who was arrested earlier this month, is named in the lawsuit as one of the heads of the anti-Israel protests that took place at Columbia last year, which the families in the lawsuit claimed helped spread the terrorist group's messaging. 'The lawsuit is to raise awareness for the ongoing crimes that have been happening since Oct. 7 and on Oct. 7,' said Iris Haggai, the daughter of Israeli-Americans who were killed in the attack. 'We also need to hold the people who are promoting this accountable.' Organizations struggling to get aid into Gaza after end of ceasefire Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace and the Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition have also been named in the lawsuit. Marc Goldfeder, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit with the families, charged that the people named in the lawsuit knew of the Oct. 7 attacks before they happened. Goldfeder also said any time Hamas made an attack, the student groups also started a protest. Haggai also said the response to the attack and kidnapping of Israeli hostages were just protests she believes are in support of Hamas, which she called 'horrible.' 'Imagine if they promoted peace and demanded the unconditional release of hostages,' Haggai said. 'Imagine how many lives we would have saved from both sides.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Arabiya
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Palestinians protesting against Hamas in Gaza is ‘very powerful': US envoy
Palestinians protesting against Hamas in Gaza is 'very powerful,' US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Hostage Response told Al Arabiya in an interview on Thursday. 'I want to say that the people that went out and protested against Hamas took great personal risk. And I think it reflects the will of the people,' Adam Boehler said. Al Arabiya English will air the interview in its entirety on Friday. Boehler went on to say that there was an opportunity to end the fighting in Gaza and bring hostages being held by Hamas home. 'But I think seeing people on the street recognizing that Hamas has done them a huge disservice, that's very powerful,' he added. Boehler previously faced heavy criticism from Israel and Israeli-Americans for previously meeting and negotiating with Hamas over the release of hostages, including an American-Israeli serving in the Israeli military. 'We will stop at nothing if it means getting Americans home,' Boehler said when asked if he would talk to Hamas again. 'If it means the release of hostages, we're always open to having a dialogue, but it's got to be the right circumstances, and it's got to mean the end of terror.' Boehler added: 'It doesn't mean we're weak.'
