Smoke billows from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran, June 16.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
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The Flying Klezmerians, Dayton's own klezmer band, led by Rich Begel (2nd from R), blew the tent away at Temple Israel's Jewish Cultural Festival June 8. Sitting in with the band was trumpeter/singer Dean Simms (2nd from L) with songs from his Satchmo show.
Beth Jacob Congregation
Tecumseh High School Air Force Junior ROTC cadets again volunteered with members of Beth Jacob Congregation for the synagogue's cemetery cleaning mitzvah project, May 18 (L to R): Cadet Mason Demmit, Cadet Alyssa North, Rabbi Leibel Agar, Cadet Vera Aguilar, Cadet Chase Tipton, congregants Tecumesh H.S. AFJROTC Instructor Chief Master Sgt. Dennis Orcutt, Jese Shell, Helen Halcomb, Stan Kriesberg, Sophia Cohen, and Cadet Oliver Suter. Not pictured: Steve Boyer, Terry Ginsburg.
Israel to NATO: 'Allow us to defend ourselves'
An interview with Israel's delegates to NATO's Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session here
By Marshall Weiss
The Observer
Member of Knesset Boaz Bismuth, formerly a veteran journalist and editor-in-chief of Israel Hayom, kept checking his smartphone for the latest news.
The leaders of Canada, the United Kingdom, and France had hours before issued a joint statement strongly opposing Israel’s expansion of military operations in Gaza.
“The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable,” the statement read. It called for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages “they have so cruelly held.”
The statement continued: “We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate. We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”
starvation. Israel claims Hamas commandeers the food and aid entering the strip for itself.
Through a U.S.-Israeli operation, JTA reports that aid is now beginning to be distributed in Gaza, but amid chaos and deadly shootings at distribution sites.
A member of Knesset since 2022 with Netanyahu’s Likud party, Bismuth drafted and led the passage of 2024 Knesset legislation that banned United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) operations in Israel, amid the IDF’s documentation that UNRWA employees have been in league with Hamas operations and terrorism.
Bismuth and Nir brought an extensive list of delegates to meet with on the sidelines.
According to JTA, after Israel blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza for two months, aid groups have said Gaza’s 2 million residents face
UNRWA provides Palestinians with health care and educational services.
Bismuth and Member of Knesset Sharon Nir, with the Yisrael Beiteinu party, were Israel’s delegates to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session in Dayton, May 22-26. Both are members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. They arrived in Dayton May 20.
Israel is a major non-NATO ally. In 1994, Israel joined the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue, which enhances regional
security, military cooperation, joint exercises, and strengthens Israel’s ties with NATO countries.
“We’re observers,” Bismuth said of his and Nir’s roles as Israel’s NATO delegates.
“Look at the countries that form NATO. These are our friends. This is the free world such as I know. Yet, when you look at the actions being taken by the international community these days, our country — especially in the Gaza war — we were surprised to see that they are angry at us for defending ourselves because we want to win the war, we want to conclude. It’s unbelievable how we are viciously considered by some to be the aggressors.
“NATO, for us, is more something to get the credibility Israel needs nowadays in the changing world. We don’t come here to tell them, you do the work for us. No. But we come here in order to tell them, allow us to defend ourselves. Something that should have been so obvious, so straightforward.”
A week later, Germany and Continued on Page Four
Israel's direct attack on Iran's nuclear capabilities has been in the works for years. And now it's here, only days before Iran would have possessed nuclear weapons. With the situation changing minute by minute, stay with us at our Facebook page, facebook.com/TheDaytonJewishObserver, for continual updates from news sources I rely on.
In these pages, as we review the month that was, you'll find NATO-related coverage including interviews with two members of Knesset who attended the spring assembly here, and a direct look at anti-NATO/anti-Israel protests surrounding the sessions that no other local media outlet has reported on.
We also bring you a firsthand account of the Boulder, Colo. antisemitic firebombings of Run for Their Lives participants, in an interview with former Daytonian Brian Horwitz.
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From the grand new entrance and lobby, expanded Bistro, upgraded apartments and outdoor activities, these updates will enhance every aspect of life.
Marshall Weiss
Members of Israel's Knesset Sharon Nir and Boaz Bismuth attended NATO's Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session in Dayton, May 22-26.
Marshall Weiss
Bark Mitzvah Boy
DAYTON
this country was born in a war,” he said. “It’s not strange or odd to us. Yet this is an event that was not supposed to happen.”
He said no one speaks about the wounded. “If you walk through Tel Aviv and you go to a park, the amount of young kids — 20 years old is young to me — he doesn’t have a leg, a hand. So many. Meaning we’re living a one-and-only event that isn’t historical but biblical. In 500 years, people will talk about this event.”
Bismuth sees Judaism as a permanent journey, with hurdles in the middle.
NATO
Continued from Page Three Italy would also publicly rebuke Israel, calling on it to end its military campaign in Gaza.
Along with attending the sessions in the NATO Village, Bismuth and Nir brought an extensive list of delegates to meet with on the sidelines.
Bismuth’s daughter and Nir’s son both serve in Gaza. “It’s a very tough time in Israel now,” said Nir, a brigadier general in the reserves who served more than 31 years in the IDF.
Nir was the first woman to command an operational communications battalion. She was the first woman to command Israel’s cyber and communication military school. She was also appointed in 2016 as the gender adviser to the IDF chief of staff and expanded the roles of women in combat. Like Bismuth, Nir was also elected to the Knesset in 2022.
“Every family in Israel has an impact from the Seventh of October,” Nir said. “Most of the families in Israel have a son or daughter or a husband or someone serving in the IDF in the Gaza Strip. All the Israelis have to pay the price in this situation.”
Hamas, she said, is an existential threat to Israel. “On the Seventh of October, Hamas attacked families, babies, without notice. It was horrific attacks. But you know, the people in Israel, the society in Israel is very strong. I believe in the people of Israel because, even when we fight with each other, when we have tough times, we know how to do it (come) together.
“We must eliminate Hamas. We don’t have any other choice.
In order to live and have a safe border in the south of Israel, we must eliminate this terror organization.”
Nir prioritizes bringing the hostages home first. “The hostages’ families are in the Knesset. Every day, they come. They look in our eyes and they expect — they should expect — government should bring back the hostages that are left in captivity in the tunnels of Hamas.”
Dealing with Hamas, Nir said, is like dealing with serpents.
“We must bring the hostages home. After that, we must, must defeat Hamas. To bring back the hostages is also a moral purpose. And to eliminate Hamas is a security purpose. So we must do both of them.”
The Times of Israel reported May 1 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that victory over Hamas, not the return of the hostages, was the supreme objective of the war in Gaza.
Three days later, The Times of Israel reported that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned government ministers that Israel “could lose” the hostages in Gaza in its full-scale maneuver there.
Zamir added that the war’s two goals of defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages “are problematic in relation to each other.”
Bismuth told The Observer both objectives are achievable. “Of course, both. We have no other choice. The fact that you have to bring back the hostages urgently, this is a fact. The equation is simple: Hamas wants Gaza without the IDF, the hostages stay behind. Israel wants Gaza without hostages
and without Hamas. Now, after Oct. 7, can Israel accept an entity (Gaza) with terrorists (Hamas) ruling over it?
“Can you have both? Listen. In life, it’s very simple. If we now tell the world it’s impossible, that we have to choose, it is impossible. But our message to the world is kind of clear — and the military pressure. Would you believe any nation in the world would respect that Palestinians should live under the authority of Palestinian huns, barbarians like Hamas? So we do not just do the job for us, we do the job for them.”
AP reported that as of June 11, the Hamasrun Gaza health ministry reported more than 55,000 people in Gaza killed or presumed dead in the fighting and more than 127,000 Palestinians injured since Oct. 7, 2023.
Those figures don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants and are questioned by Israel and the United States as likely inflated or inaccurate.
“You see this young generation? We shall be much stronger. We didn’t even imagine that we’d have such an amazing generation. So brave. So tough. Determined to win the war. Anytime I go to a funeral, I’m surprised. You see the warriors, they come to you instead of you thanking them as it should be, as we do. They come to thank you to allow them to finish the job.
“Here in Dayton, you would like to see peace. In order to win the peace, you have to win the war. In order to win the war, you have security, stability, and maybe, maybe, have peace afterwards.”
When asked if there’s something Israel should do in dealing with Hamas that it currently is not, in order to rescue the remaining hostages and defeat Hamas, neither Bismuth nor Nir had an answer.
'We didn't even imagine that we'd have such an amazing generation. So brave. So tough. Determined to win the war.'
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel reports more than 868 Israeli military killed, more than 800 Israeli civilian killings, as well as the 1,200 people in Israel that Hamas murdered on Oct. 7, 2023.
Bismuth said that since Oct. 7, 2023, he’s spoken at more funerals of slain
soldiers than he could ever have imagined before that date.
“We live in a country that has had so many wars, ever since
THE DAYTON
Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555
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Before attending the NATO sessions, Bismuth, Nir, representatives from the Consulate General of Israel in New York, and a Knesset staffer toured the Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Fairborn and Prejudice & Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit on display there, met with leaders of Dayton’s Jewish community, and in Columbus, met with Ohio elected officials, legislators from both parties, and clergy.
“The relationship to the Jewish community in the United States with the State of Israel is very important for us,” Nir said. “And the close relationship with the United States and the State of Israel is very, very important for the State of Israel. You have a very important role in this.”
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IDF
MK Sharon Nir: ‘We must bring the hostages home. After that, we must, must defeat Hamas. To bring back the hostages is also a moral purpose. And to eliminate Hamas is a security purpose. So we must do both of them.’
MK Boaz Bismuth: ‘In order to win the peace, you have to win the war. In order to win the war, you have security, stability, and maybe, maybe, have peace afterwards.’
With phalanx of police, no incidents at anti-NATO/anti-Israel protests
Story and Photos by Marshall Weiss, The Observer
"Whatever tactics you thought we threw at you before, you just wait for what the student movement has to offer. You just wait for the vengeance that we have," said Laila Shaikh from University of Cincinnati's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter in her 10-minute speech to about 300 cheering protesters at Deeds Point MetroPark, Sunday, May 25. "We will take everything in our power to end this genocide and stop these imperialist powers from oppressing our people."
Shaikh, who told the protestors she comes from a family of Palestinian refugees, opened her speech with a chant: "Intifada! Intifada! We are the Intifada!" She ended with "Long live all forms of our resistance and long live the student Intifada!"
In the middle, she gave a shout-out to the SJP chapters that came to the protest march — billed as The People’s Assembly for Peace and Justice: Stop NATO, No to Endless War — from Chicago, Indiana, across Ohio, Kentucky, and western Pennsylvania.
She called out the University of Cincinnati and Case Western: "They have tooken every inch of freedom that we were given on campus. And they have tooken it
'Whatever tactics you thought we threw at you before, you just wait for what the student movement has to offer. You just wait for the vengeance that we have,' Laila Shaikh, with Univ. of Cincinnati's Students for Justice in Palestine, told protesters May 25 at Deeds Point MetroPark.
as a tool — to utilize their power over this movement. And the students are refusing."
Shaikh also denounced Cincinnati-based U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, who is Jewish, as "one of the most egregious Zionist congressmen that we have seen."
With awareness of busloads of protesters from dozens of cities converging on Dayton May 25 to demonstrate against NATO's May 22-26 spring session here, Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Security Director John Davis had advised the Jewish community to stay away from Downtown Dayton and all protests.
His assessment was based on the protests that got out of control at NATO’s assembly in Montreal, Nov. 22-25, 2024. Pro-Palestinian protesters shattered windows, lit cars on fire, and threw explosives at law enforcement. And NATO's Dayton assembly would open only days after an anti-Israel protester murdered two Israeli embassy employees at gunpoint in front of the Jewish Capital Museum in Washington, D.C.
Temple Israel, across the Miami River from Downtown Dayton and the fenced-off NATO village, decided months ago not to hold Shabbat services or programs during the NATO sessions. Beth Abraham Syna-
gogue, just south of Dayton city limits in Oakwood, also cancelled its Shabbat services and programs.
In the end, protest attendance May 25 was fairly low and police presence for the protesters' march across the river to its assembly at St. John's United Church on Third Street downtown was high.
At every intersection along the march downtown, protesters were met with a phalanx of Dayton Police on foot, on bicycles, and on horseback, augmented with law enforcement from across the region. Some protesters wore yellow security jackets and guided the march on its path. Along with anti-NATO chants, marchers shouted "Free, free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
The day before, on May 24, two groups of local anti-NATO/anti-Israel protestors converged across the river from RiverScape, according to The Dayton Daily News. One group began at Deeds Point and draped a Palestine flag on the Wright brothers sculpture there, crossed the Webster Street Bridge, went to the Riverside Drive Bridge, and "started yelling toward the NATO compound" with a bullhorn. The other group marched from Cooper Park downtown around the NATO village. Among their chants was "Resistance is justified when people are occupied." The Daily News also reported Ohio provided more than $5 million for the NATO assembly, including funding for state highway patrol troopers and 150 law enforcement officers.
Daniel Opris, D.O.
Barry Taylor, M.D.
Beth Duvall, M.D.
About 300 protesters from cities including Chicago, Cleveland, and New York took part in an anti-NATO, anti-Israel rally at Deeds Point MetroPark across the Mad River from Downtown Dayton, May 25. With a heavy police presence, protesters then marched across the Webster Street Bridge, through downtown, and held an assembly at St. John's United Church.
Northmont grad documented Boulder firebombing attack while aiding burn victims
Dayton Metro Library supports digital equity. Our 17 branches and website offer loanable laptops, public desktop computers, wireless hotspots, streaming services, adaptive technology, and more. Learn more at DaytonMetroLibrary.org or by calling the Ask Me Desk
An interview with Dayton native Brian Horwitz
By Marshall Weiss, The Observer
Since June 1, Brian Horwitz has given interviews to 20 news outlets including ABC, CNN, NewsNation, Scripps News, The Denver Post and the Dayton Daily News. The native Daytonian, who has lived in Denver for three years, arrived at the scene of the firebombing of Run for Their Lives participants in Boulder and recorded videos of a defiant Mohamed Sabry Soliman — accused of hurling two Molotov cocktails at the group— before police arrived. Run for Their Lives is a global movement that holds walks and runs each week to increase awareness about the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
Horwitz aided burn victims in front of the Boulder County Historic Courthouse and continued to record videos to document the terror attack until police apprehended Soliman. Fifteen people, including a Holocaust survivor, were injured in the attack according to local authorities. Horwitz attended Hillel Academy Jewish day school in Dayton through sixth grade and graduated from Northmont High School. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I can't imagine what you’re going through.
Everyone keeps on telling me, "There's going to be trauma for you." I'm waiting for it to really hit me. I'm still processing everything. I feel an elevated sense of connection to what happened. I feel like it's my responsibility to know as much as I can of what's going on. And I have a vested interest in the victims.
because my mother-in-law called me immediately and said she would rather I not, for safety.
And when I got home from Boulder later that day, I looked at social media and so many people were getting it wrong. And there are some people who are even saying that it was Israeli protesters fighting proPalestinians that were there peacefully. So I was like, I have to get this out there.
Can you share exactly what happened?
My niece and nephew are visiting from Florida and my wife and two toddlers and I were all eating lunch (outside) after a hike that we went up to Boulder for. We went to this food hall that's maybe 100 yards from the old courthouse. We saw the Run for Their Lives walk going down the street, and then they curled back around, came back up past us.
But about five, 10 minutes after, there was a woman who ran over across the street that started talking to some people saying she saw someone throwing flames at people. I immediately expected the worst at that point and understood that it was probably people attacking this group. And so I hopped the gate, I ran over to the courthouse square.
There's a large group of people on the street watching everything happen, and 25 to 30 people inside the square. It was kind of limited to the Run for Their Life participants and maybe some friends that may have come in to help. There were screams, yells of "Where are the police? Where are the ambulances?"
You must have been among the very first to put out images and video of the attack.
I think so. I think there were three people recording. I was even debating putting it on the Internet
I started to look for where the attacker was and understand what was going on, because I obviously wanted to stay away from anyone who had a gun or anything. I had no idea what weapons he was using. I looked on the ground and I saw an exploded Molotov cocktail or exploded bottle really, that was all charred.
Screenshot of a video by Brian Horwitz of firebombing suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman on the grass, about to be handcuffed by police, while people pour water on a burn victim (bottom L), June 1 in front of the Boulder, Colo. County Historic Courthouse. Several national media outlets distributed Horwitz's video footage after he posted it on social media.
Brian Horwitz
And then there's the attacker, pacing back and forth right in front of the old courthouse, a small patch of grass that was already on fire as well. And he was erratic, holding two carafes with a red cloth coming out of it with a clear liquid. It smelled like gasoline all throughout.
He was saying, "F---ing Zionists. You kill my people, I kill you." He was saying, pointing at different people, "You're a killer. You're a killer. How many children need to die? I'll kill you. I'll kill you." I locked eyes with his sunglasses at one point when he said that, as I was trying to back away.
I just took out my phone to try and record him because I figured, the worst that could happen to me or the worst that could happen, in my opinion, is that this guy gets away with something like this. I wanted to make sure that we had video evidence of what he looked like.
I didn't want to be insensitive and record the whole thing and not do anything to help. Then I overheard people again saying, "Where are the police?" Someone said that people have been trying to get through, but it just rings and rings. So I tried calling the police. After a couple attempts, I got through and they said that everyone's been calling them, and they have a ton of people on the way.
I remember thinking to myself on one hand, this is incredibly dangerous. I need to keep my distance from the guy. But my kids and my wife were just a block away. What can I do safely?
I ran over to the woman who is the Holocaust survivor, burning from head to toe. I was seeing her nearly extinguished at that point. Everyone was patting her down. I asked where can I get more buckets of water? Because people were coming over from a restaurant with a huge bucket of water, ice. They're putting that on her.
ably in his early 60s, who was walking around with skin hanging off of his leg, his upper thigh. He ended up sitting down. He was the first person I tried to help.
And then I went over to the other side of the sidewalk and there were two elderly women, both probably in their mid to late 70s. One wasn't burned as severely. Her friend was writhing around in agony and the first one said, "Help her, help her." And so I was pouring water on her friend. She was lying face down on the grass. I poured water slowly on her. One pant leg was completely burned off. She had taken off the pants. They were stuck around her shoes. I helped with her pants, getting them off, getting her phone out, and poured water on her.
'I need to keep my distance from the guy. But my kids and my wife were just a block away. What can I do safely?'
Meanwhile, the whole time, the attacker is still pacing over where he initially was, and a guy is still talking to him, empathizing with what he was saying, which was so weird, but I thought he was doing it to de-escalate the situation.
walked over. I called him a piece of s---. And then the police told us to walk away. They separated all of us to get our accounts of what happened.
Were you familiar with the Run for Their Lives walks?
Yes. I'm on their channel on WhatsApp. My wife and I have always wanted to go and attend one of those walks. She had a lot of trepidation of my going to any of them, especially right after Oct. 7th. Two times ago when we were in Boulder, we happened to cross the square when they were doing the end of their walk. And so we stood with them, and we sang Hatikvah and Shalom Aleichem.
How many other people were there, helping the victims when you were?
I was surprised. In the entire courtyard, there are maybe 15 to 20 people that were either victims or attending to them. A few others were sitting on benches that were elderly, who weren't really victims, who are just sitting there watching. Really bizarre. But they were not trying to walk away from it. They were just sitting, removed from the action, maybe 100 feet away. And then there are the people who I think were part of the walk that were already there, that weren't hurt.
Not many, if any, were helping. There may be two or three people helping that I would say were not Jewish, probably not affiliated in any way with those that were.
Weren't you afraid the attacker would continue throwing Molotov cocktails when you were helping the victims?
cocktail then and throw it.
And nobody tried to take him down before the police came?
No, it definitely crossed, I'm sure, a lot of our minds. For me, I wasn't sure what else he had. I wasn't there from the beginning. I didn't know what was still in his pockets. I didn't see him turn around at all. So I didn't know if he had a knife or anything behind him. It was tough to decide on what to do. He was a very big guy. Even if I bull rushed him, there's no telling what would have happened.
After you posted your videos at X on June 1, two days later, you added on Facebook, "So many have taken my post and accounting of Sunday's Boulder attack and twisted it into a domestic political argument." What are people doing to the information you put up there?
It's your standard keyboard warriors saying things, in some
cases, that they never say in person. Far-right people or ultraconservatives are saying they should have shot the guy dead, that this is what happens when you're in liberal, liberal Colorado and the Democrats have control of a state where nobody is concealing and carrying. Some people said this is what they deserve, they brought this on themselves. That kind of stuff.
And then there are other people who are just chiming in, typing "Free Palestine."
I can't help but feeling that we as Jews and even the Palestinians for that matter, are all pawns in this domestic political game in the last three years, and it's just like nothing is ever going to change.
And so now you have opposite sides of the coin and people are kind of forced to identify with one or the other when it should never be. There's so much nuance to this conflict. And it's just miserable.
Six other victims that I saw were lying around, sitting around, walking around in shock. I got one of the restaurant buckets and someone pointed me to the running fountain with recycled water right behind me. I started jumping in there and just grabbing water and passing it back and forth to different people. There was one man, prob-
Another guy, he's a local to Boulder and he's friends with a lot of the people who were walking, he's absolutely irate and runs up. He's just absolutely berating the attacker and also the guy talking to the attacker, which was a bit antagonizing.
It felt like about 10, 15 minutes before the police and the paramedics got there, but based on the time stamps of my video, it was only three or four minutes. They apprehended the guy very quickly. Once they took control of the scene, he was still on the ground, I
It's instinctual. I just remember thinking to myself, God, I wish I had a gun right now. This would be the reason that everyone says to have one. And maybe that's why everyone else was lined up in the street and not rushing in. They're just observing and waiting for the police to get there.
I think people that were in there were mostly part of the walk. They were not going to run away from their loved ones and the people they came there with, when their skin is burning off their bodies. And, because they couldn't pull them away any farther. And if they could, they would have.
But in my mind, as long as he didn't have a gun, I could theoretically run if I needed to, if I saw him take out a lighter and try and light a Molotov
Screenshot of a video by Brian Horwitz of firebombing suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman June 1 in front of the Boulder, Colo. County Historic Courthouse after the attack.
France, Germany, U.K. harshly critical of Israel in Gaza but have its back with Iran
Alarm over nuclear weapons and Iran’s alliance with Russia play a role.
By Ron Kampeas, JTA
WASHINGTON – A decade ago, Israel’s government and the three major powers in Europe were diametrically opposed to Israel on how best to stop Iran from going nuclear. Britain, France and Germany all favored the Iran nuclear deal; Israel did its best to keep it from happening.
Now, with Israel and Iran at all-out war, the European governments and Israel are — with minor tonal differences — on the same page. The leaders of all three European countries have said Israel’s right to self-defense and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon are paramount.
The expressions of support for Israel since it launched attacks on June 13 on Iran’s nuclear and weapons systems are especially remarkable because leaders of all three countries have been sharply critical of Israel for its conduct of the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Foreign policy experts attributed the comity on Iran to Europe’s alarm at the recent report by U.N. experts that Iran is closer than ever to nuclear weapons breakout. Another factor is Iran’s alliance with Russia in its war against Ukraine.
“Here’s the U.N. agency that says, for 20 years, the Iranians have been violating the terms of the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty,” Dov Zakheim, an undersecretary of defense in the George W. Bush administration, said in an interview, referring to an International Atomic Energy Agency report published just a day before Israel launched its attacks.
“These three countries are totally committed to the NPT, and so their concern is, if the Iranians are violating the NPT — whether it’s within a month, six months, six weeks, six days — the Iranians are going to forge ahead and come up with a nuclear weapon,” said Zakheim, who now comments on foreign policy for The Hill newspaper. “And it’s not just that the weapon is a threat to Israel. It’s a threat to the rest of the Middle East.”
Halie Soifer, a national security adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris when Harris was a California senator, said the “E3,” as they are known, have for decades been at the forefront of keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
After the IAEA “revealed in the report that Iran was noncompliant, and had failed to disclose its enrichment, it was those three European countries that took the lead in introducing a resolution about it,” said Soifer, who is now the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. The resolution, she said, “calls upon Iran to urgently remedy its non-compliance.”
The IAEA report appeared to be very much front of mind for all three leaders in their comments after Israel launched what it said were preventive attacks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s first strikes that Iran was principally responsible because it was accelerating its nuclear program.
“Iran bears a very heavy responsibility for the destabilization of the region,” Reuters quoted Macron as saying June 13. “Iran is continuing to enrich uranium without any civilian justification and to levels that are very close to what is needed for a nuclear device.”
Keir Starmer, the British prime min-
L to R) France's President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet at the European Political Community summit, Tirana, Albania, May 16
Leon Neal / Pool/AFP via Getty Images
ister, said June 14 that he sent combat and support aircraft to the region. The decision, he said, came after what he described as a “good and constructive” conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “that included discussions about the safety and security of Israel, as you would expect, between two allies.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also spoke with Netanyahu. “Israel has the right to defend its existence and the security of its citizens,” he said June 15 in a social media post. “Iran’s nuclear weapons program is an existential threat to the State of Israel.”
All three leaders were in Canada for the G7 summit of leading industrial nations. In a statement, the G7 allies, including President Donald Trump, affirmed Israel's right to self defense and called for restraint, de-escalation, and diplomacy between Israel and Iran.
THE WORLD
ment announced it is considering the ban of the sale of some weapons to Israel, which would be unprecedented for the country that has traditionally been Israel’s strongest supporter in Europe. France on June 16 curtained off an Israeli exhibit at a Paris arms expo, saying it had warned the Israeli manufacturers not to display “offensive” weapons.
Britain suspended its free trade negotiations with Israel and sanctioned two extremist ministers.
'It's not just that the weapon is a threat to Israel. It's a threat to the rest of the Middle East.'
The tone from the European leaders was markedly different from the harsh criticisms and threatened actions from the same leaders alarmed by reports that Israel is impeding the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza. Israel denies the reports.
In recent weeks, Germany’s govern-
Laura Blumenfeld, a senior fellow at the Phillip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said the three countries are committed to maintaining what they see as moral foreign policy positions because of their collective “guilt and history” as colonial powers and in Germany’s case, its Nazi past.
“From their point of view, Netanyahu’s assault on Gaza has gone from a reasonable response to Oct. 7,” when Hamas launched the current war with massacres inside Israel, “to a mad act of collective punishment on an enfeebled population,” Blumenfeld said in a text message.
“Iran by contrast is a vast territorial omnivore, a theocracy and threshold
nuclear power, that has declared its intent to destroy the small State of Israel. Israel is an ally,” she said. “The threat is existential.”
Also notable was the difference in tone from a decade ago, when the thenleaders of all three countries robustly backed the nuclear deal brokered then by the Obama administration — a deal that Netanyahu did his best to scuttle.
“We are confident that the agreement provides the foundation for resolving the conflict on Iran’s nuclear program permanently,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a Washington Post op-ed they coauthored at the time.
By contrast, Ron Dermer, then Netanyahu’s envoy to Washington and now one of his closest advisers, said on the same pages that the deal “makes things much worse, increasing the chances of conventional war with Iran and its terror proxies.”
In 2018, Trump at Netanyahu’s behest exited the deal, which triggered Iran’s accelerated rush to enrich weapons-grade fissile material.
The three European nations’ current backing for Israel is not inconsistent with their position a decade ago, said Ilan Goldenberg, who held senior Iranrelated positions in the Obama administration state and defense departments. In both instances, he said, the Europe-
ans are seeking the best means to keep Iran from going nuclear; the difference is, Iran is now much closer to a weapon.
“Our European allies probably feel, ‘This is not what we wanted, but now that we’re here, we’ll certainly be happier if it ends in a way where Iran’s program is set back as much as possible,’” said Goldenberg, now a senior vice president at J Street, a liberal Jewish Middle East policy group.
Another factor in Europe’s wariness of Iran is its regime’s long history – essentially from its inception in 1979 – of deploying assassins and terrorists to Germany, France and other countries to eliminate its dissidents and enemies. “We are preparing for Iran to target Israeli or Jewish targets in Germany,” Merz said in his statement.
Also at play is Iran’s alliance with and tactical assistance to Russia as its war against Ukraine drags on.
Zakheim said recent threats by acolytes of Russian President Vladimir Putin to go nuclear have deeply unsettled Europe. “All his henchmen keep talking about using nuclear weapons, which really terrifies Western Europe and the big Western European countries,” he said.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is Putin’s arms dealer, a reliable supplier of drones,” Blumenfeld said. “And Israel is blowing up his business.”
For Israelis under Iranian barrage, deadly nights alternate with days brimming with life
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By Deborah Danan, JTA
— The booms from the night’s Iranian missile strike could be felt across the region, including in my home in Jaffa. In that moment, it felt — to this former Londoner’s ears — like a scene from the Blitz, when the Nazis pounded England with nightly bombs.
Then, Brits poured into Tube stations to wait out each night’s barrage together, before emerging and carrying on with their lives — in a pattern that Israelis have sought to replicate during the harrowing first days of war with Iran.
After four days of Iranian missile strikes that have killed 25 people, wounded hundreds, and left thousands without homes, Israel has settled into a new kind of duality: fear of what lies ahead, and an effort to maintain some semblance of ordinary life. By Monday afternoon, June 16, despite the devastation, beaches were full, shops even more so, and many people returned to work, balancing between anxiety and routine.
sure that it was going to be OK.”
When they eventually looked outside, they saw that the hotel next to them had taken a direct hit — shielding their own building. Its facade destroyed, cars were ablaze and shopfronts lay in ruins.
“The scariest part is knowing that these missiles aren’t targeting soldiers or military sites, they’re targeting homes, families, a baby sleeping in his crib,” Turner said. “That’s what stays with you, that someone wanted this to happen, and that’s crazy in my eyes.”
Elsewhere in northern Tel Aviv, a missile slammed into an apartment building near the home of Kate Leaman, a market analyst originally from the United Kingdom. The blast shook her own high-rise tower. “It felt like the bomb was on my building,” she said.
It felt, to this former Londoner's ears, like a scene from the Blitz
On Sunday night, June 15, Gabriella Turner, a Jerusalem resident, had come to help her sister Aydan in central Tel Aviv care for her 2-year-old nephew JJ after Aydan fell ill with food poisoning. When the incoming sirens began, they moved into the safe room.
“Out of nowhere, this massive boom, the whole place shook like the floor moved underneath us,” Turner said. “We kind of flew on to each other and for a second I really thought the building had been hit. I just froze, thinking: What if I can’t get out?”
She recalled: “My nephew JJ was so terrified. We tried to explain to him that everything was going to be OK, and it was just a boom, but we weren’t even
Leaman said that since the first night of the Iranian strikes, she and her ex-husband had decided to split up their two children because, she said, “when they’re together it’s just chaos.”
“It’s a temporary arrangement just to get through this. Because even we adults are overstimulated, it’s just too much.”
Her daughter’s teacher was unable to hold a planned Zoom class on Monday morning, June 16 after her own home was destroyed. Leaman was scheduled to join a work call, but could barely concentrate.
“I usually write the financial news and I’ve never missed a day, not during Hamas (rockets), not during Covid. But I did today,” she said. “But my Israeli colleagues were acting like everything’s normal. Israelis are cut from a different cloth from us, aren’t they?”
By the afternoon, beaches along the Tel Aviv coast were packed with volContinued on Page 15
TEL AVIV
Responders at a damaged building following a strike by an Iranian missile in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, early on June 15.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
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The Jewish Foundation of Greater Dayton is pleased to announce Kahlil Knick has been named as this year’s recipient of the Heuman Scholarship.
Kahlil attended Hillel Academy from grades K-6 and is a recent graduate of Springboro High School. He will attend the University of Dayton this fall, majoring in mechanical engineering.
When asked why he is looking forward to going to college, Kahlil said, “Attending a post-secondary school is of utmost importance to me, as I have already put much time and learning into chasing my dream of becoming an engineer. I want to continue towards my dream through the hard work and curriculum college presents. Furthermore, college is an opportunity to further discover who I am.”
Kahlil attended religious school and became a bar mitzvah at Temple Israel. He spent many summers as a camper at Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI).
During the summer of 2024, Kahlil was accepted and participated in the Avodah Program. According to GUCI’s website, “The Avodah Program is designed to teach leadership skills, responsibility, self-confidence, and community building. It promotes and encourages connection to Judaism and the exploration of one’s Jewish identity.”
Kahlil’s proud parents are Danielle Richter and Steven Knick.
Mazel tov, Kahlil!
The Heuman Scholarship is made possible through a fund established by Bob and Vicky Heuman. Since its creation in 2006, the Heuman Scholarship has been awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student who demonstrates both academic achievement and financial need. The scholarship is open to Jewish students who reside in the Dayton area.
Deadly nights
Continued from Page 10
leyball and football games, but most of the players were young people, with few children or families in sight.
A day earlier in nearby Bat Yam, where a missile had slammed into a residential building the previous night, killing nine people including three children, the high street was open and busy. Shops with shattered windows from the shock waves continued to serve customers. A shoe store owner shrugged: “Why should I stay at home? What will I do there?”
THE WORLD
At the Bat Yam strike site, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just toured, police maintained a cordon while soldiers were handed energy drinks. A Chabad outreach truck known as a “mitzvah tank” played music nearby, while another van belonging to the Na Nach Nachman subsect of the Breslover Chasidic movement — a group known for dancing atop their vehicles — stood idle and silent. Its driver, who arrived in Bat Yam from his home in the Golan Heights, said he had hoped to lift spirits with music but changed his mind after arriving.
“It didn’t feel quite right,” he said. “But when it is, I’ll fire the music up. Everyone has their part to play. One brings food, another first aid, another joy.”
The scenes of destruction also reignited debates over Israel’s shelter infrastructure on June 16. State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, visiting the Bat Yam site, noted that roughly a quarter of Israel’s population lacks access to proper bomb shelters.
In local WhatsApp groups, Israelis argued over whether public bomb shelters or private safe rooms offered better protection. One poster insisted underground shelters were safer, while another pointed out that many public shelters are decades old, poorly maintained and not designed for modern threats.
Others emphasized that while private safe rooms are built to absorb shockwaves and shrapnel, they have never been tested against the kind of heavy ballistic missiles fired by Iran.
“Better to be in a mamad than risk being buried under rubble,” one person wrote, referring to the newer in-home safe rooms.
The debates extended to the practicalities of sheltering: Some reported that their public shelters were stifling hot after vandals stole air-conditioning units while others complained that neighbors refused to shut the heavy door, despite repeated warnings that included, in one case, a visual aid using a plastic bottle to demonstrate the relative ease of crushing it with and without its cap.
A DOUBLE MITZVAH.
a health clinic and a bank without success. When the sirens blared, the mood shifted, and people scrambled through the streets. An Orthodox man standing on the sidewalk pointed to stairs leading down to a synagogue.
No one else was there at first. I sat down next to the Ark, vaguely recalling the many social media posts of Torah scrolls that had miraculously survived past attacks intact and figuring it could be my best chance of survival. But then the Orthodox man returned and gestured for me to move, pointing to the ceiling panels above blown out by shock waves from the previous night’s strike. I moved to sit next to a woman in a tank top reading from a book of Psalms. “There’s no service in here, what else are we going to do?” she said.
Another woman, Jenny, originally from Congo
Yana, who lives near the site of the Bat Yam strike, said she usually stayed in the stairwell during Hamas and Houthi attacks rather than going outside to public shelters.
“I feel bad leaving my cats alone. But this time I felt I had to go. These aren’t launches from Gaza,” she said.
Nearby, Rom, a teenager with a large tattoo on his shin, said he had come “to check out the pretty cops.” Like Yana, he had no shelter in his home. “But I’m not moving. I sit on my couch and wait for those Iranian bastards,” he said. “If it’s my time, it’s my time. God will protect me.”
Around 4 p.m., as early warning signals began to sound again, people quickened their pace but showed little panic. This reporter searched for shelter, checking
and living in Israel for 16 years, apparently did have service, and was showing others her Red Alert app, filled with red pins indicating where sirens had been activated.
She had been on her way to visit relatives hospitalized from the Bat Yam strike — her sister, brother-inlaw, and brother — when the sirens sounded again. Her 8-month-old nephew, physically unscathed, had become unresponsive overnight. “Yesterday he was laughing, smiling, eating. Today he’s doing none of those things,” Jenny said.
“I have high blood pressure which was starting to relax after nearly two years of Hamas but now it’s skyrocketing,” she said. “I know God is always working extra hard in this country, but still, I’m very, very scared."
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Rescue workers and civilian volunteers respond in the aftermath of a deadly Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam, adjacent to Tel Aviv, June 15.
Deborah Danan
Jenny, a Congolese immigrant taking shelter in a Bat Yam synagogue, shows the app indicating where missiles are expected, June 15.
Deborah Danan
‘The price to pay for attacking Iran has dramatically dropped’
Former
Jerusalem Post Editor Yaakov Katz on the Israel-Iran war so far
JTA
Why did Israel attack Iran now? Is Israel trying to force regime change, or end Iran’s nuclear program? And how is Israel able to assassinate Iranian officials with pinpoint accuracy while struggling to defeat a more ragtag foe closer to home?
We posed these questions and more to Yaakov Katz, the former editor of the Jerusalem Post, the host of The Jewish People’s Podcast, and the author of Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War, Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power, and the forthcoming While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East
Katz spoke with Ami Eden, the CEO and Executive Editor of 70 Faces Media, JTA’s parent company, June 16, after returning to Israel via tugboat after being stranded abroad because of the war. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What are the most important takeaways so far from the escalating war between Israel and Iran, and what’s most surprised you?
The Iran threat is a threat that has had the potential of becoming an existential threat for a long time and Israel’s been dealing with it for 30 years in many different ways, trying to sabotage equipment and facilities, to assassinating scientists, to using cyber warfare and all these other different kinetic attacks and covert attacks — all of it meant to delay the Iranians. But a couple of things have changed over the last two years. The first thing that has changed is, while Oct. 7 itself was a disaster, and no doubt what led to it was a massive failure that Israel is still paying the price
for, there’s the flip side to Oct. 7, which has been the re-engineering of the Middle East. The Middle East today is a very different Middle East than it was on Oct. 6 or Oct. 7. What I mean by that is what the Iranians did, from a strategic perspective, was they always wanted to be on the threshold of having all the pieces and components of a nuclear capability in place. And they also wanted to create their army of proxies and create a belt of fire around Israel.
This was meant to achieve two things: One is to deter Israel from ever attacking. Number two is that if we do attack, we will pay a price. But what’s happened in the two years since Oct. 7? The proxies are gone. Hezbollah is beaten back, it’s weakened. It still has capabilities, but nothing like what it had prior to this.
The presumption always was within the Israeli military establishment that you attack Iran and you will get hit really hard by Hezbollah. Hezbollah is coming out on its own and saying, “We’re not going to get involved” — that’s dramatic.
So Hezbollah is gone. Hamas doesn’t really exist anymore. Yes, they’re still there. They have hostages. We have to deal with it, but they have no offensive capability against Israel.
Assad, Iran’s ally in Syria, is gone. Right when he fell, and Ahmad Al-Sharaa took over, Israel in four days destroyed all of Syria’s strategic weapons, their fighter jets, their navy, their ballistic missiles, the Scuds, their chemical weapons. All gone. And then there was last year, in April and October, we exchanged blows with the Iranians. We destroyed the S-300 sophisticated Russian air defense systems. So when you think about this for a moment, that belt of fire, that proxy army, doesn’t exist anymore.
So, what do you think?
So the price to pay for attacking Iran has dramatically dropped. And then there’s two other things that have also changed. One is we have developed capabilities over the years. We have more advanced capabilities today than we had in the past. Offensive and defensive. We have the best missile defense architecture that anyone in the world could ever imagine. It’s not going to be perfect. There’s no such thing as 100% and the consequences are tragic. But we’ve also developed capabilities to penetrate underground, hardened infrastructure. We do it in the tunnels of Gaza, and we’re now applying that also to the facilities in Iran. And then, of course, there’s Donald Trump, who came into office, and things changed, and we now know that there was close coordination, and even, I would say, an act of deception, that was coordinated between Israel and the Americans to fool the Iranians into thinking that this wasn’t going to happen. So when I look at why we took advantage of this window of opportunity, that’s the answer.
Now where we are in this is we’re just in the beginning, right? And I know that’s hard to hear, because everyone wants this over but there is more to do.
The reason this will keep going is we haven’t completed the main mission, and that is the elimination of as much as possible of Iran’s nuclear program.
Is eliminating the nuclear program still Israel’s main mission, or has it shifted to regime change?
The nuclear program was the focus at the beginning. We heard the prime minister even say, there’s intelligence that they’re moving forward on weaponization. There was this
window. We had no choice. We gave the opportunity to the Trump administration. Five rounds of talks, 60 days, wasn’t leading to anything. Something had to move. I’m not sure that we need to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. It’s important to remember in 1981 that when Israel bombed Iraq’s reactor, then Menachem Begin was the prime minister, the assessment in the Israeli defense and security establishment was at the time that we’d set back Saddam one year. Saddam Hussein never got nuclear weapons, right? Always we understood that there’s only so much we could do. Take out some parts of the facility of the process, kill some of the people that’s needed, set them back for a year, two, three, maybe, but it has to be followed up with something. What exactly is that follow up? Maybe it’s these reports that we’re now hearing that Donald Trump just spoke about a couple hours ago, that the Iranians are begging to come back and sit down and talk. So maybe now that they’re bleeding and they’re hurting, they’re going to be willing to really negotiate and agree to a deal that takes enrichment out of Iran, as an example, and removes the full enriched stockpile of uranium that they have, which Israel has been careful not to bomb, because that could spread radioactive material.
But I think that with the success what we are starting to see is maybe we can actually bring about a regime change. And this sometimes happens to countries who are at war, that they begin to think that maybe they can manipulate reality with their own hands. I urge extreme caution on that. I think that we should be very careful. I think that it’s very possible that maybe this will lead to the downfall and the toppling of the regime, which would be a bracha for the world, a blessing. But I also think that we should be a bit modest and have humility of what we can potentially do, because it could also have the opposite effect.
It could see the Iranian people unite behind the regime, and the regime then really races towards a nuclear bomb. So we should be ready to stop potentially, when we feel we’ve done enough of the damage to the nuclear program, and stay focused on that. I wouldn’t want to see us go down a route of
where we make mistakes, like we made in Lebanon in the first Lebanon War back in the 80s, or like mistakes the Americans made in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places, including Iran back in the 1950s. We should be careful with what we think we can potentially do here.
During the Six Day War, Israel very quickly achieved “air sovereignty,” to use your term. But there were limiting factors, most notably fear of the Soviet Union stepping in to protect its client states. Now that Israel has complete control of the skies this time around, is there any limiting factor?
I think the greatest limitation and restraining factor here will be the Trump administration. So when the president will say to Israel, “Guys time to wrap this up,” that will begin to be the end or the off ramp, and it could be that more negotiations is what’s also going to lead to the end of this. And by the way, it’s in Israel’s interest.
Again, Israel knows it can’t destroy everything. It knows at the most it can set them back for hopefully the longest period of time as possible, which might be 18 months or two years or less. We need the Americans to follow up with some sort of political process here, and the two go hand in hand, and it’s in our interest for that process to take place.
I just want to push you to explain your thinking on that point. If this is a sudden, previously unimaginable opportunity to knock out a regime that has as one of its foundational principles a dedication to eradicating Israel as a Jewish state, why is this a time for humility?
What is regime change? When do we hit that point? Are we going to kill Khamenei and the president and some of the other cabinet members, and then someone else will be appointed. They’re not going to be Zionist, pro-Israel, pro-West, so we’re going to kill that guy too? Or are we going to come in, take the son of the Shah, who is in exile, and we’re going to install him? These things don’t end well. This is not our issue. The Iranian people are good people and they should break free. I don’t know if that’s for us to do. For us, it is to take care of our security, which right now is the elimination of their Continued on Page 23
Yaakov Katz
Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
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How many Jews in U.S.? Global study of world religions offers new estimate.
As always, how exactly to count the number of Jews is up for debate.
By Grace Gilson, JTA
In its landmark study of American Jewry in 2020, the Pew Research Center reported there were an estimated 7.5 million Jews of all ages in the United States.
Now, in a new study released June 9, the center says the number is actually more like 5.7 million.
What happened to 1.8 million American Jews? For the purpose of its latest report, which focuses on global religious population change, Pew is counting only those who self-identify with Judaism as a religion rather than those who identify as Jewish due to “ethnicity, culture or family background.”
The metric was used because the goal of the project was to “report which religion, if any, people around the world identify with,” according to Conrad Hackett, senior demographer and associate director of religion research at Pew.
In order to generate a number that could be comparable
to, say, the number of Presbyterians, researchers needed to use a metric that could apply across communities.
But the metric also means that 1.8 million Americans who identify as Jewish but do not say they are Jewish by religion are excluded from the tally.
The tally also does not detect growth in that population — by Pew’s previous assessment, the fastest-growing segment of American Jews.
Jewish population of Israel — as measured by the Israeli government — increased by 1 million, to 6.8 million, during that time.
In multiple other regions, Africa and Europe, the Jewish population fell substantially, largely reflecting widespread emigration.
The European Jewish population fell by an estimated 8%; the Latin America-Caribbean region decreased by 12%; and the sub-Saharan African Jewish population dropped 37%, to just 50,000 in 2020, according to the report.
Pew is counting
The overall growth in the world’s Jewish population did not increase their proportion of the world’s religious adherents because of the much faster growth in other populations.
The analysis, focused on population change, found that the population of Jews by religion in the United States grew by just 30,000 between 2010 and 2020.
The study found that Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group, up 21% since 2010 with a total population of 2 billion.
Various efforts to count the number of Jews in the world have yielded an array of tallies, all below the Jewish population alive before the Holocaust.
The Pew report quotes one demographer focused on Jews, Sergio DellaPergola, as noting that Jewish population counts are “permanently provisional” because of both data quality issues and the fact that the question of who is a Jew does not have a fixed answer.
Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com
Yellow Springs Havurah Independent Antioch College Rockford Chapel. 1st & 3rd Saturday each month. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.
Waldman-Roos
Adam and Julie Waldman of Dayton are elated to announce the engagement of their daughter, Zoe Claire Waldman, to Noah Jacob Roos, son of Rabbi Jonathan and Elizabeth Roos of Bethesda, Md. The wedding will take place on Aug. 31 at the Dayton Art Institute. Noah proposed to Zoe in Dupont Circle in D.C., and they were later joined by both of their families to celebrate their engagement. Zoe attends The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. Noah is an attorney at the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C.
Charlie Blumer graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in film and media studies. She won Film Student of the Year, earned a certificate in screenwriting, and minored in women’s gender and sexuality studies. Charlie hopes to harness her passion for storytelling by moving to Nashville to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. Though she knows she will encounter setbacks in today’s competitive landscape, Charlie’s long-term goal is to use her gift of listening to uplift voices of marginalized people and to fill the world with lovingkindness.
Rebecca Blumer graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a double major of Jewish studies and business administration. After another stint as kitchen steward at Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Ind. this summer, she will begin her role as a Hillel International Springboard Fellow at Indiana University. Rebecca is looking forward to her role of connecting Jewish students on campus with one another through IU Hillel programs and services. Charlie and Rebecca's parents are Molly and Jeff Blumer.
Through July 9, 10 paintings by Hannah Kasper Levinson are on show at Pink Moon Goods home decor store, in partnership with Skeleton Dust Records. The paintings explore methods of optical illusion used in theater machines of the 1500s and the earliest forms of projection using glass slides and candlelight of a century later.
Among this year's inductees to the Dayton Region Walk of Fame will be the Levin Family, which,
through its foundation, supports agencies in the Dayton area that feed, clothe, educate, and provide health-related support to those in need. The induction ceremony luncheon will be held Sept. 24 at Sinclair Community College.
Beth Abraham Synagogue has elected Julie Liss-Katz as its new president.
Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.
Charlie Blumer
Rebecca Blumer
43 by Hannah Kasper Levinson
Sephardic Biscochos
Lightly sweetened, sesame-seed-topped cookies
By Susan Barocas
The Nosher
Biscochos are the beloved Sephardic oil-based cookie, usually shaped into a circle and topped with sesame seeds.
But since these simple cookies traveled to many places, there are numerous variations in shape, flavoring and toppings, influenced by local customs and family tradition.
In the recipe below, there are directions for several options for shaping your biscochos.
However they are shaped and topped, biscochos are neither sweet like most cookies nor savory, and yet, they are somehow quite habit-forming.
The subtle flavor can be from vanilla alone or the addition of anise or almond extract, anise liquor, orange blossom or rose water, or grated rind from a lemon or orange.
Total Time: 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 4 dozen larger or 6 dozen smaller cookies
For the cookies:
5 large eggs, divided 1 cup good neutral oil (avocado, sunflower, grapeseed)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
5–6 cups all-purpose flour
Optional flavoring additions: finely grated rind from 1 large orange or lemon
1 tsp. anise or almond extract
½ tsp. rose or orange blossom water
For the topping: ½–1 cup sesame seeds or
½ cup sugar mixed with 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment or spray lightly with oil.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together four eggs, oil, sugar, and optional flavoring additions, if using, until the mixture is lighter in color and getting foamy.
In a separate bowl, mix baking powder and flour until well blended. Add dry mixture to the egg mixture a little at a time, beating constantly first with a whisk and then with a wooden spoon.
Switch to using your hands to mix in flour once the dough is a bit firm to the touch.
Use as much of the flour as is needed to create a smooth dough that is pliable, but not sticking to your hands or the surface when rolled.
If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour. If it gets too crumbly, add a bit more oil.
Working quickly, make several small balls. For larger biscochos, each ball should be about the size of a large marshmallow or a walnut in the shell (about 1/8 cup).
Roll each large ball into a strand or rope 4-5 inches long and about ½-inch wide, about the width of a woman’s finger.
For smaller biscochos, make the balls from a slightly overfilled tablespoon of dough and roll each into a strand 2-3 inches long and about 3/8 inches wide.
For twisted ropes, either left straight or shaped into circles, roll thinner strands. For any size, make each strand smooth and even its entire length.
For each shape, make the strands consistent in length by cutting off extra dough and using it for another cookie.
Shape your cookie with one of the following methods (as you work, place each shaped cookie on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart):
1. Make the circle shape by bringing the ends together or overlapping them slightly. Slightly flatten the strand, then fold in half. Make small cuts, about ½-inch apart on the edge of the strand, then form the circle shape.
Create the circle, then make a design around the outside edges by gently pressing a fork.
2. For twists, role strands longer and skinnier. Fold a strand of dough in half and twist the ends in opposite directions. Leave straight or shape into a circle, gently pressing the ends together.
When all the dough is used, beat the remaining egg well in a bowl. Put sesame seeds and cinnamon-sugar in wide shallow bowls or dishes.
Working a few at a time, lightly brush a little egg on top of each biscocho, then sprinkle with topping or dip each cookie in topping of choice. During baking, the biscochos will puff up a little but not spread a lot.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden brown.
Notes: Store in an airtight container, unrefrigerated, for three weeks or freeze, wellwrapped, for up to three months.
To crisp biscochos that have softened while stored or frozen, reheat in a 300-degree oven for 10-12 minutes.
Biopic of Beatles manager Brian Epstein
'Fifth Beatle,' came from an Orthodox family in Liverpool.
By Stephen Silver, JTA
In Midas Man, the first biopic about the late Beatles manager Brian Epstein, an early, pivotal scene is set in a synagogue.
In it, Brian (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) is with his parents, Harry and Malka (Eddie Marsan and Emily Watson), as they sit in the pews together as the only people in a Liverpool synagogue after services are over, each man wearing a kippah and tallit. Malka, who was called Queenie, says to her son, “It seems like only yesterday you and your brother were up there.”
They discuss Brian’s future and his desire to be in the music business, leading an initially skeptical Harry to allow Brian to sell rock and pop records as an annex to the family’s furniture and retail business. The success of this side venture ultimately propelled him to become the manager of an exciting new band — The Beatles — and the Jew most associated with Beatlemania.
Shaw) praises the “food and dancing” at the event and suggests that for that reason, she’d like to have a Jewish wedding herself.
Later, we see Harry’s funeral, where the cantor sings the prayers and they do the traditional rending of garments, and at another point in the film, Epstein meets future business partner Nat Weiss (played by James Corrigan), they say “L’chaim” as they toast, and Weiss addresses him as “boychick.”
The notes are the only ones the film hits about Epstein’s Jewish upbringing and identity, which were so prominent that Beatles frontman John Lennon routinely invoked them while poking fun at his friend. (Lennon quipped that Epstein’s biography ought to be called Queer Jew, according to a biographer who traveled with the band.)
It deals more with Epstein being a closeted gay man
Over the years, Epstein — sometimes considered the “Fifth Beatle” — has been the subject of multiple books and, more recently, a statue in Liverpool. Midas Man represents the first film to make him the center of attention.
While the movie is on the Jewish film festival circuit, Epstein’s Jewishness is not its focus. It deals more with Epstein being a closeted gay man, his music career, and his relationships with The Beatles and his family.
But there are snippets of Epstein’s Jewish story in addition to the synagogue scene. In another scene, a heartto-heart during the wedding of Epstein’s brother, singer Cilla Black (Darci
Brigit Grant, the film’s coscreenwriter, wrote for the British publication The Jewish News about how Epstein was born on Yom Kippur, how Epstein’s grandfather was a Yiddish-speaking refugee from Lithuania, and how she learned from an uncle that when Epstein studied for his bar mitzvah, he initially learned the wrong Torah portion but learned quickly enough to give a “very competent” reading of the correct one.
Epstein also sought out Yom Kippur services while on the road with the band and resisted entreaties to change his surname, she wrote.
JCC Film Fest presents Midas Man, 7:15 p.m., Sunday, June 29 at The Plaza Theatre, 33 S. Main St., Miamisburg. $18. With reception at 6:30 p.m. Purchase tickets at jewishdayton.org/events.
Epstein, sometimes referred to as the
Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Brian Epstein and Blake Richardson as Paul McCartney in Midas Man
photo credit: ScottyDfoto
Sacred Speech Series Speechless
There was once a cruel king who challenged the Jews of his city to a silent duel. A losing contestant would receive 100 lashes, and if no one volunteered, it would mean death for the entire community.
Hoping to save his fellow Jews, a poor farmer stepped forward. The king began the duel by pointing one finger
upward. The farmer responded by pointing straight down. When the king pointed two fingers at the Jew, he pointed one finger at the king.
The king then thrust his entire hand at the Jew, who countered by holding up his fist.
The king held up a bottle of red wine. The farmer held up a wedge of white cheese.
“Enough!” cried the king. He ordered the farmer richly rewarded and never bothered the city’s Jews again.
The royal servants were perplexed, so the king explained.
“I asserted the Jews are as numerous as the stars, but the farmer implied they are grains of sand under my feet. Then I declared there are two gods, of good and evil, but the Jew insisted there is only one. When I indicated the Jews are scattered, the farmer maintained they are united. Finally, I proclaimed the farmer’s sins are as red as wine, but he argued they are as white as cheese."
Meanwhile, the farmer told his fellow Jews a different story. “The king pointed up, saying I would hang, so I pointed down, saying he could go to hell! Then he threatened to gouge out my eyes, but I reminded him an eye for an eye! When he readied to slap me, I warned him not to try it. Finally, he offered me a drink of wine, so I decided to share my cheese!”
Not all communication is oral, nor does it always involve words. Sign language is a prime example, a visual language of hand signals and gestures that primarily expresses concepts or ideas, not individual words.
It also relies heavily on eye contact, facial expressions, and body language — other forms
of speechless communication that are innately human.
While Judaism places great importance on the power of speech, it also acknowledges the potency of non-verbal communication.
Peppered throughout the Bible, wordless episodes are particularly adept at conveying emotions and expressing meaning.
After eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness, bare skin that just moments earlier had no physical or moral significance.
Then, hearing God’s voice on the breeze, they hid amid the garden’s trees.
Sitting by a well in Midian, Moses observed a band of shepherds tormenting young women watering their flocks. Moses stood up and rescued the women.
When entering or exiting a Jewish home, the custom of touching the mezuzah is a silent declaration of reverence for God and Torah and an acknowledgement of God’s abiding presence.
omission by teaching the skills and foundational principle of facial and body language.
The first-century scholar Shammai used to say: "You should receive kol ha’adam b’sever panim yafot, every person with a pleasant cast of countenance.”
Kol ha’adam: Greet or welcome every person. Not just someone you know or like, but also those you find annoying or intolerable, and even the stranger. A person should feel like they’re noticed.
Desperate to escape from the murderous King Saul, David fled to enemy Philistine territory where he was soon recognized. Allowing spittle to run down into his beard as he scratched aimlessly at the city gates, David deliberately transformed his demeanor into that of a harmless otherworldly lunatic and escaped the city unharmed.
The act of reclining during the Passover meal proclaims the Israelites’ liberation from slavery and the Seder’s themes of personal dignity, royalty, and freedom.
While Judaism places great importance on the power of speech, it also acknowledges the potency of non-verbal communication.
Woven throughout Jewish culture and worship, speechless rituals express a wide range of concepts and values.
Lighting a yahrzeit candle on the anniversary of a beloved individual’s death conveys respect for the departed, honors their legacy, and affirms the value of remembrance, all without words.
Literature to
Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: The Case for Good Apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy. Now is a good time for honing one’s apology-making and apology-receiving skills — but don’t think the process has to be tedious or boring. Sprinkled throughout with research from neuroscience and psychology, “fauxpologies,” anecdotes, and lots of humor, this do-it-yourself guide reveals why we find apologizing so difficult,
Facing toward Jerusalem for prayer is a nonverbal declaration of remembrance and reverence for Israel’s ancient history, for its Promised Land, and especially for God’s holy city and its Temple Mount.
Every person’s first language is the inborn’s capacity for nonverbal facial and body language which, just like a spoken language, must be learned in order to be effective.
But it is rarely taught beyond infancy. Consequently, Rabbi Erica Brown notes, “Sometimes we don’t realize the way our faces talk.”
Or the way our bodies speak, either. A single verse in the Talmud remedies that
points out the missteps we might have been making, and offers six easy-to-follow steps for apologizing effectively.
Detour Ahead by Pamela Ehrenberg and Tracy López.
A National Jewish Book Award finalist, this middlegrade novel follows the intersecting stories of Gila, a neurodiverse breakdanceloving Jewish girl who is preparing for her bat mitzvah, and Guillermo, a Salvadoran American boy
B’sever: Turn your thoughts away from other tasks or interests and toward the person you greet. The Hebrew also implies turning your body toward the person, to express interest or focused attention on the individual, even if only for a brief moment. A sense of shared humanity, an I-Thou connection rather than an I-It relationship, is the goal.
Panim: The Hebrew word for face is always plural, brilliantly capturing its multifaceted constantly changing nature. Look at each other, face to face, eye to eye, and really see one another in the moment.
Yafot: Beautiful or pleasant are two positive visages among the up to 10,000 distinct expressions that one can create using the human face’s 43 facial muscles. Convey the message that you are happy to see the person you greet.
Ahead of his time, the 19thcentury religious thinker Rabbi Israel Salanter was known for encouraging mindfulness about the emotional and social impacts of one’s demeanor on others.
It’s likely he would agree with this revised version of his oft-quoted words: “A person’s countenance (and body language are) like public property. (They give) us the power to help or harm everyone we meet without saying a word.”
who loves poetry. Their alternating voices and different styles of expression bring the characters to life as they share their perspectives on family, the challenges of the tween years, and the meaning of friendship in this engaging and inspiring tale.
To experience the transforming power of a smile in real time, check out Nice Smile Under Classic Portraits by Flower Hakka at youtube.com/shorts/ mz8zONZnvhE.
Candace R. Kwiatek
Buster Keaton in The Love Nest, 1923.
Yaakov Katz
Continued from Page 16
nuclear program.
Can you put the decision to attack Iran in the context of the Israeli political discourse?
This is the most unpolitical issue in the most political and politicized country, where everything is politics. (Opposition leader) Yair Lapid has said publicly, I disagree with Netanyahu on almost everything. We are bitter political rivals. On this, I stand completely alongside him. This is an issue that every prime minister has dealt with.
From Bibi’s first term in office in the 90s, we have been facing off against Iran. Everyone has seen it the same. Everyone has taken action, every prime minister, every Mossad director, every IDF chief of staff, every commander of the Air Force. I used to be a military correspondent. I would sit in the office of the Israeli Air Force commander. I’m telling you, 12, 13 years ago, with maps out on the table, and him explaining to me which squadron is going where – 12, 13 years ago. So it’s something that is very unpolitical.
So Israelis aren’t engaging in their usual speculation about whether the prime minister is acting to save his coalition or to avoid his legal problems?
I mean there are people who can’t see beyond their animosity towards Netanyahu. I’m no fan of Netanyahu. Anyone who’s read me over the years knows, I can be very critical, and I have been. I think, on this issue, the idea that this is being politically driven is ludicrous. There is an objective, what I described before, window of opportunity. There is intelligence that Israel has claimed to have that shows they’re moving faster and forward with the weaponization. This had to be done. And for that reason, you see how everyone in the government and in opposition stands together on this.
What will happen to Netanyahu’s career as a result of this is a different question. I would predict that politically, he will see a boost. To be honest. I’m surprised he did it. I wrote a piece back in December after the October clash that we had with the Iranians, in which I said, Israel needs to attack Iran now. And not that I had any prophecy. I just said I saw how the pieces had lined up, that there was a unique opportunity. But I didn’t believe Bibi would do it, because he balked at it so many times in the past. In 2010 he claimed he couldn’t get it across
the cabinet. In 2012 he claimed Barack Obama stopped him. He always came up with excuses. I wasn’t sure he would have the guts to go across the finish line. And I have to say that even as somebody who’s not his fan, I think what he has done is unquestionably and unequivocally the right move for the State of Israel.
How is Israel able to carry out an attack with such precision so far away, while in Gaza the number of civilians killed and destruction of civilian infrastructure is so much higher? Ultimately, the way that Hamas embeds itself in civilian infrastructure is very different than what we see in Iran. Iran is a country with a conven-
Robert Armin Buerki, Springfield resident, passed away June 7 in Dayton. He was born in Madison, Wisc. to the late Robert and Gail (Banks) Buerki and was preceded in death by his in-laws, Lester and Pearl (Farber) Stein and brother-inlaw, Eric Stein. His blessed memory is now cherished by his wife, Leslie (Stein) Buerki; son and daughter-in-law, Robin (Amy Gilbert) Buerki; beloved granddaughters, Lenox, Zadie and Marni; cousin, Mark Rider; sister-in-law, Sherri Stein; nieces, Erin and Jillian (Max) Lipset; brother-in-law, Michael (Maureen) Stein; nephews, Kevin and Mark; and dear colleagues, friends, and former students. He was an intrepid USAF spouse of 46 years, a pharmacist, educator, author, editor, and professor emeritus at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. He was recognized nationally and internationally in health care ethics, continuing education, and pharmacy history writing and research. He was an active leader with the American Institute of History of Pharmacy (University of Wisconsin-Madison) for over 60 years, where he endowed the academic George Urdang Chair and graduate fellowships. Interment at Arlington National Cemetery. If desired, please consider a memorial gift in Bob’s memory to the Colonial Williamsburg Apothecary, the University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University Foundations, Temple Beth Or, or Springfield’s Temple Sholom.
It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Mark Chesler at the age of 88. Mark was the beloved father of Deborah Char (the late David)
tional military that has bases and has military headquarters and military targets. The IRGC intelligence headquarters isn’t underneath the Tehran hospital, right, unlike what you see in Gaza. And as a result, you know, I think we all understand, I hope that we all understand, Israel has never had any interest in killing any civilians.
If we look back to operations that we fought in Gaza before Oct. 7, we went to the craziest lengths to avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage that we now look back and say, were we crazy? What were we doing? Being so, so careful. Look at how we get attacked, it really do anything at the end of the day. And I think we understand that that’s just because of who we
are. The reason that Israel is not bombing Isfahan in a way that would really destroy the facility, is because we don’t want to see radioactive material leak out into urban centers. It’s because we care about them. I mean, I think it always really comes back to the main difference between us and our enemies is that we care more than they themselves care about their own children.
And I know that's hard to square when you look at what’s happening in Gaza right now, and I recognize that complexity, but I strongly believe that it is really still true.
Can you talk more about President Trump's role in all of this? Was Israel going against
OBITUARIES
and Naomi Chesler (Dan Sidney), husband of the late Joan Chesler, grandfather of Benjamin Char, Jonathan Simmons (Ashley), Josephine, Amelia, and Ruby Sidney, and greatgrandfather of Mayson, Lily, and Lawren Simmons. Mark Chesler was a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Michigan and a founding faculty member of The Program on Intergroup Relations, conducting research, teaching, consulting and organizing on issues of social justice and personal/organizational change around race and gender equity, and of the psychosocial impact of childhood cancer. Professionally and personally, he was a friend and mentor to many, connecting with his empathy, intelligence, and wry sense of humor. He created and arbitrated the "Chesler humor rules,"
which state: 1. If you have to explain it, it wasn't funny, and 2. It doesn't have to be funny as long as it was quick. He was a much beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend, and will be sorely missed. Please consider a donation to Guiding Eyes For The Blind, The Corner Health Center, Temple Beth Or, or your preferred charity.
Natalie J. Katz, age 82 of Dayton, passed away on June 5 with her daughter and husband at her bedside at Cypress Pointe Health Center in Englewood. Natalie graduated from Colonel White High School in 1960. She was a lifelong resident of Dayton who enjoyed spending time with her family, friends, and her cats. She had a huge heart and never met a stranger. She was always doing for and helping others all of her life. She married her husband, Larry, on Jan. 7, 1968 and they celebrated 57 years of marriage together this year. Natalie was preceded
his publicly stated desire to give negotiations more time, or was he part of a ruse? Or both? Was Netanyahu going it alone, like Levi Eshkol in 1967, or was Trump giving a wink or a nudge unlike anything we have ever seen from a U.S. president?
Trump kept saying, I believe a deal is possible. I’m optimistic we can get to a deal. We can get to a deal. At the same time, Israel had convinced the president that an operation was required, that an operation was needed. And I really believe that in this case, and from what I’m hearing, it wasn’t that Trump said green light — guys, go for it. But he also didn’t give the red light. And that created a gray zone that Israel could maneuver in.
in death by her parents, Nathan Jack and Tyna Rosenthal, son, David A. Katz, and sister in law, Terri (Gary) Rosenthal. She is survived by her husband, Larry L. Katz, and her daughter, Michelle R. Katz (John P.) McCarthy, grandson Jonah S. Werbelow, brother Gary Rosenthal, nieces and nephews, Christina Rosenthal (Rodney) Ball, and Brett and Melissa Rosenthal. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Day City Hospice, daycityhospice.com with special thanks to those from the organization who helped care for Natalie in the final weeks and days of her life. Thank you to the professionals at Cypress Pointe Health Center for her care. Our family is grateful for the outpouring of love and support during our time of sorrow.
From Generation To Generation.
From Generation To Generation.
Larry S. Glickler, Director
From Generation To Generation. Since 1913
Larry S. Glickler, Director
Larry S. Glickler, Director
Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com
Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com
Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com
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