❗️The negotiations in London were disrupted due to Ukraine’s unwillingness to give up its territories, – WP citing sources. pic.twitter.com/HdGixpVOSx
— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) April 23, 2025
Day: April 23, 2025
Trump and Netanyahu Reaffirm “Total Alignment” in Private Call on Trade, Iran, and Strategic Policy
By: Fern Sidman
In a reaffirmation of the strong alliance between the United States and Israel under their respective leaders, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu are in full agreement on critical strategic issues — including trade and Iran — following what he described as a productive and friendly phone call.
As reported by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), Trump took to his Truth Social platform to share highlights of the private conversation, calling it a discussion on “numerous subjects,” ranging from economic ties to geopolitical security threats. While brief on specifics, the former president emphasized the strength of the bond between the two allies.
“I’ve just spoken to Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, relative to numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The call went very well. We are on the same side of every issue.”
Though the content of the call was not publicly released by the Israeli government, Netanyahu responded with a brief but warm message on his official X (formerly Twitter) account: “Thank you, President Trump!”
There was no official readout of the call from Jerusalem, but as the JNS report noted, the exchange marked the latest instance in which the two longtime political allies reasserted their close alignment on matters of global consequence.
As JNS has reported, Trump and Netanyahu have historically shared a hawkish stance on Iran, particularly in regard to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions and its patronage of terror proxies across the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
During Trump’s first term in office, the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed sweeping sanctions under a “maximum pressure” campaign—moves strongly supported by Netanyahu, who has long viewed Iran as Israel’s most existential threat. It is likely, according to analysts cited in the JNS report, that Tuesday’s conversation revisited these shared concerns, particularly as Tehran continues to defy international nuclear inspections and escalates regional tensions via its proxy networks.
On the trade front, Trump has advocated for closer bilateral economic ties between the U.S. and Israel, particularly in areas like defense technology, cybersecurity, and energy cooperation. Netanyahu’s administration, too, has prioritized diversifying trade partnerships amid growing global instability. While neither leader disclosed new agreements, their mutual enthusiasm suggests that expanded trade initiatives may be forthcoming.
With mounting unrest in the Middle East, Netanyahu’s outreach to Trump signals a deliberate move to strengthen ties with a known political ally. Trump’s statement that the two are “on the same side of every issue” is likely to be interpreted in Israel as a sign of what the Trump administration might bring in terms of unwavering support and less conditional diplomacy.
As the JNS report observed, Trump has frequently praised Netanyahu’s leadership and has publicly taken credit for major diplomatic achievements that boosted Israel’s international standing, including the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations.
While Trump was eager to publicize the conversation on his social media platform, no readout was issued by the Israeli government, a fact noted by JNS.
Nonetheless, Netanyahu’s simple “thank you” post, published in English and directed to Trump’s sizable U.S. following, served as a clear endorsement of their future as longtime allies.
As JNS continues to report on the U.S.-Israel relationship, the takeaway from Tuesday’s exchange is unambiguous: the Trump-Netanyahu alliance remains intact, potent, and politically relevant. In a world increasingly marked by shifting allegiances and geopolitical realignments, the call between these two leaders signals a preview of future cooperation on the world stage.
The post Trump and Netanyahu Reaffirm “Total Alignment” in Private Call on Trade, Iran, and Strategic Policy appeared first on The Jewish Voice.
Edited by: Fern Sidman
As Jews around the globe gathered to commemorate Passover, reliving the ancient Exodus from Egypt and celebrating the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery, a haunting parallel from modern history has reemerged to challenge collective memory. According to a newly published investigative report detailed by The Jerusalem Post, Egypt was once again the setting of an exodus — not from ancient bondage, but from 20th-century persecution, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing.
The report, compiled and released by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) after six years of rigorous documentation, shines a powerful light on the tragic dismantling of Egypt’s Jewish community during the mid-20th century. It estimates that the total value of assets seized from Jewish families and institutions in Egypt stands at a staggering $59 billion in today’s currency — a measure not just of economic loss, but of cultural and communal erasure.
As The Jerusalem Post report indicated, the modern Jewish experience in Egypt was a rich tapestry woven across millennia, marked by deep cultural, religious, and economic contributions. But while the ancient Israelite exodus is preserved in sacred tradition, the modern-day uprooting of Egyptian Jewry remains a largely unspoken tragedy, one that brought to an abrupt halt thousands of years of continuous Jewish presence along the Nile.
“Unlike its ancient counterpart, the modern-day uprooting of Egyptian Jewry is not a tale of triumph but of tragedy,” the JJAC wrote. “It brought to a grinding halt millennia of vibrant history and heritage.”
The Jewish presence in Egypt, as The Jerusalem Post report recounted, spans well beyond biblical legend. Historical records place Jews in Egypt as early as the end of the First Temple period, with a thriving community persisting through the Second Temple era. The ancient “Land of Onias”, home to a Jewish temple during the Hasmonean period, and the great intellectual and religious centers of Alexandria cemented Egypt’s role as a key node in the Jewish diaspora.
Through centuries of alternating tolerance and repression, Jewish life endured under Hellenistic, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and British rule. Medieval luminaries such as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides lived and worked in Egypt, while the discovery of the Cairo Geniza revealed a 1,000-year treasure trove of daily documents — marriage contracts, letters, business records — chronicling the intricate texture of Jewish life in the Islamic world.
According to the report cited by The Jerusalem Post, Egyptian Jews were far more than a religious minority — they were integral architects of modern Egypt’s economic and cultural infrastructure.
Stanley Urman, executive director of JJAC, emphasized that Jewish Egyptians were instrumental in shaping Egypt’s industrial and financial frameworks: “They were key in building the modern economic framework in every sector: agriculture, industry, commerce, and finance,” Urman explained.
Prominent Jewish figures played foundational roles in Egyptian society. Moreno Cicurel built Cairo’s premier department stores. The Mosseri banking family helped modernize Egypt’s financial system.
Joseph Smouha, a Jewish businessman from Baghdad who had settled in Alexandria, developed entire urban neighborhoods, including the now-famous Smouha City.
Jewish cultural figures also left a lasting imprint. Composer Daoud Khidr Levi (known as Dawood Hosni) was a giant in Arab music, while playwright and satirist Yaqub Sanu was an early pioneer of Egyptian theater and journalism, as was explained in The Jerusalem Post report. These individuals, along with countless unnamed merchants, educators, doctors, and artisans, helped shape Egypt into a thriving and cosmopolitan society in the early 20th century.
Despite their vast contributions, Egypt’s Jews faced a swift and merciless reversal of fortune beginning in the mid-20th century. As The Jerusalem Post reported, political turmoil, Arab nationalism, and the fallout from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War began to cast Jews as scapegoats. Persecution intensified following the 1956 Suez Crisis, during which Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the expulsion of Jews and the nationalization of their assets.
Many Jews were stripped of their citizenship, imprisoned, or forced to flee with only the clothes on their backs. Their homes, businesses, and community institutions were confiscated — a coordinated campaign of state-sanctioned theft and erasure that today would be considered a form of ethnic cleansing.
By the early 1970s, a once-vibrant population of over 80,000 Jews had dwindled to just a few dozen. The report in The Jerusalem Post said that communities, synagogues, and cemeteries fell into neglect or were demolished. The modern exodus was complete — not to the sound of triumphant liberation, but to the silence of forgotten history.
As The Jerusalem Post meticulously reported, by the early 20th century, Egypt’s Jewish community numbered around 60,000, a population bolstered by refugees fleeing pogroms and anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere in the Middle East. These Jews were not peripheral to Egyptian life — they were deeply integrated into government, commerce, and diplomacy, shaping the very institutions that underpinned modern Egyptian society.
But the 1930s marked a dramatic turning point. Egypt became increasingly entangled in the rise of global fascism and local extremism. The growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood injected a volatile dose of religious militancy into Egyptian nationalism, while European-style fascist ideologies gave anti-Jewish sentiment new vigor.
As The Jerusalem Post cited from the JJAC report: “Violence, arrests, bombings, blood libels, and the virus of Jew-hatred had spread like a biblical plague throughout Egypt.”
This toxic atmosphere only intensified with the rise of the “Palestine problem”, which served as a lightning rod for nationalist grievances. Jews — many of whom had lived in Egypt for generations — were suddenly recast as outsiders, their loyalty questioned, their institutions attacked.
The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 marked the beginning of the end for Egyptian Jewry. From that year until 1966, an estimated 63,000 Jews fled Egypt, driven out by arbitrary arrests, travel restrictions, and the seizure of their homes and businesses, The Jerusalem Post report said. The 1956 Suez Crisis served as an accelerant: within just a year, 25,000 of the remaining 45,000 Jews had been expelled or fled in terror.
Then came 1967’s Six Day War, which proved to be the final blow. Egypt’s government rounded up Jews, imprisoning many without trial, while deporting the remainder under hostile conditions. By the early 1970s, Egypt’s once-thriving Jewish population had been reduced to a ghost community. Today, just two elderly Jews remain, according to the JJAC’s findings published by The Jerusalem Post.
While Jewish history in Egypt spans over three millennia, contemporary Egyptian leadership has largely denied or downplayed the persecution and expulsion of Jews. The Jerusalem Post reported that in 2023, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “Jews always lived peacefully in Egypt” and were “never targeted.”
The JJAC report, however, directly refutes this narrative, providing extensive documentation and survivor testimony to the contrary. One such voice is Levana Zamir, president of the International Association of Jews from Egypt and vice president of JJAC. Recalling her forced departure, Zamir stated: “The Egyptians told us, ‘You are Zionists; you are enemies of this country, so we will confiscate all your assets.’ And they did.”
For Rabbi Elie Abadie, co-president of JJAC, this denial compounds the original injustice. He noted that Jews are indigenous to the Middle East, predating Islam by over 1,500 years, and yet their story has been deliberately erased from Arab national narratives.
“The truth about the uprooting of Jews from Arab totalitarian regimes, dictatorships, and monarchies has been denied for over 75 years,” he explained to The Jerusalem Post. “This important project endeavors to set the record straight.”
The JJAC report is more than a forensic accounting of lost wealth — it is an urgent attempt to preserve a vanishing historical truth. As Stanley Urman told The Jerusalem Post, “Over the past 70 years, the long and proud history of Jews in Egypt slowly and inexorably moved toward extinction with the passing of each elderly Jew. The mission of JJAC is to preserve this history in the name of truth and justice.”
Indeed, Egypt’s Jewish past is not a footnote — it was once a cornerstone of Egyptian society. From the ancient Jewish temple in the Land of Onias, to medieval luminaries like Maimonides, to modern cultural icons like composer Dawood Hosni and developer Joseph Smouha, Jews helped shape Egypt’s religious, intellectual, artistic, and urban landscape. But their abrupt disappearance — and the silence that followed — has left a gaping wound in the region’s memory.
As Passover invites Jews to recall their liberation from ancient Egyptian bondage, The Jerusalem Post report urges us not to forget those who, in the modern era, were driven from the same land not into freedom, but into exile. The JJAC’s work stands as a clarion call: remembrance must not stop at ritual. Justice requires that truth be acknowledged, losses be accounted for, and the legacy of a people unjustly cast out be reclaimed.
The ancient Exodus is immortalized in scripture. The modern one — wrenching, silenced, and unresolved — is only now beginning to be written into the historical record.
The post A Modern Exodus in the Shadows: New Report Uncovers $59B in Seized Assets from Expelled Egyptian Jews appeared first on The Jewish Voice.
Categories
13 Facts About Counting the Omer
By: Menachem Posner
- The Omer Count Is 49 Days Long
The Omer Count is an annual mitzvah. Every day, for seven weeks (49 days), we count how much time has elapsed since the second day of Passover (16 Nissan).
- We Count Days and Weeks
On the first day, we say, “Today is one day to the Omer.” Once we reach the seventh day, we count weeks as well, saying, “Today is seven days, which is one week to the Omer.” On the following day, we say, “Today is eight days, which is one week and one day to the Omer.”
- It Ends the Night Before Shavuot
After 49 days have passed (on 5 Sivan), we say, “Today is 49 days, which is seven weeks to the Omer.” On the following day, number 50, we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, which literally means “weeks.” Indeed, counting the 49 days actually brings about Shavuot. This means that one who crosses the International Date Line during the Omer may very well end up celebrating Shavuot on a different day from everyone else.
- Omer Is a Measure of Grain
“Omer” is an ancient grain measurement (equivalent to approximately 43 oz.). On the first day of the Omer count (the second day of Passover), an omer of the barley from the fresh crop was offered in the Holy Temple, and after that day, grain from the new crop was allowed to be consumed.
- Count Standing Up
The verse (Deuteronomy 16:9) tells us to begin counting the Omer when the scythe first meets the kamah, “standing [stalks].” Noting that the word “standing” is said in connection with this mitzvah, the sages tell us that it is ideal to stand when counting the Omer.
- We Say a Special Blessing
Like we would do before just about any mitzvah, when counting the Omer each night we say a blessing: “Blessed are you, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us and commanded us regarding counting the Omer.”
- We Count at Night
The best time to count the Omer is after evening services, right after the new Jewish day (which starts at nightfall) has begun, so that you have a full day ahead of you. In the event that you forgot to count at night, you can count the following day as well, but you do not say the customary blessing.
- Every Day Counts
Omer is a unique mitzvah in that it spans 49 days. In the event that you missed a day entirely, you should continue to count each night just as before, but you do not say the customary blessing, since it is possible that the missed day invalidated the completion of your mitzvah.
- The Sadducees Counted Differently
Scripture tells us to begin counting the Omer “on the day after the rest day.” Tradition understands this to mean the day after the (first day of) Passover. However, there were once Jewish splinter groups that interpreted it to mean that the count must always begin on a Sunday, which follows Shabbat, the day of rest. This approach was thoroughly negated by the sages.
- Each Day Corresponds to Another Spiritual Facet
According to the Kabbalah, we each have seven middot (emotional elements): chessed (“kindness”), gevurah (“strength”), tiferet (“harmony”), netzach (“perseverance”), hod (“humility”), yesod (“foundation”), malchut (“royalty”). Each of these elements further comprises all seven attributes. Thus, we have “chessed of chessed” followed by “gevurah of chessed” etc. all the way to “yesod of malchut” and finally “malchut of malchut.” This makes for a total of 49 micro attributes, since 7×7=49.
On every day of the Omer count, we work on ourselves, attempting to refine the parts of our own personalities that correspond to that day’s attributes.
- It Recalls the Anticipation for Sinai
The Exodus from Egypt happened on the first day of Passover, and the Revelation at Sinai happened on the day that would become Shavuot. It follows that from the day of the Exodus, the Israelites eagerly looked forward to the events that would happen at Sinai, counting the weeks and days until the time would arrive, each day refining themselves a bit more and raising their spiritual sensitivity. When we count the Omer, we relive their excitement and anticipation.
- It’s the Only Mitzvah that Spans 3 Months
The holiday of Chanukah, when we light the menorah each night, starts during the month of Kislev and ends in the following month, Tevet. Counting the Omer takes the cake, however, spanning three months, starting in Nissan, continuing through Iyar, and concluding in Sivan.
- Yep, There’s An App for That!
Remembering to count each night and making sure to count properly can be a challenge. To help you with your Omer count (besides for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, when technology is forbidden), Chabad.org’s team has created the super-popular Omer App. Download it and start using it—you’ll be glad you did! (Chabad.org)
Rabbi Menachem Posner serves as managing editor at Chabad.org, the world’s largest Jewish informational website. He has been writing, researching, and editing for Chabad.org since 2006, when he received his rabbinic degree from Central Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch. He lives in Chicago, Ill., with his family.
The post 13 Facts About Counting the Omer appeared first on The Jewish Voice.
By: Moshe New
In the wake of a deadly shooting at Florida State University on Thursday that left two people dead and six injured, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Panhandle-Tallahassee—which serves university as well as the area Jewish community—has become a place of refuge and comfort for students seeking solace during the ongoing Passover holiday, which began on the eve of April 12 and continues through nightfall on April 20.
The shooting, which occurred in the same area of campus where Chabad regularly hosts its weekly “Lunch & Learn” Torah classes, has struck at the heart of the tight-knit community. The Chabad center, directed since 2000 by Rabbi Schneur Zalman and Chanie Oirechman, sits about a mile away.
“In the beginning we didn’t know anything other than rumors,” said Chanie Oirechman, describing the anxiety that swept through the northwest Florida community. “We even heard that there was an active shooter in our area off campus.”
A 20-year-old student opened fire at around 11:50 a.m. near the Student Union. Students reported hearing multiple gunshots, with witnesses describing seeing a man in an orange T-shirt and khaki shorts exit an orange Hummer with a rifle and begin shooting. Campus police responded immediately, eventually confronting and shooting the suspect. Two people were killed—neither of them students—and five others wounded.
Campus security immediately alerted students to stay put and in lockdown. Chanie Oirechman commended the campus faculty and security for being “on the ball, keeping students feeling safe and secure.” She said the team at Chabad immediately sprang into action, reaching out to students.
“We started by checking in with the students we know to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for,” she said. “As the situation escalated, students started reaching out to us and we were flooded with worried messages from other Chabad centers across the world who have community members studying at FSU”
The Chabad center has since become an impromptu crisis response hub and when the lockdown was lifted around 2:30 p.m., the Chabad house, which was already serving its regular Passover lunch, kept its kitchen open to accommodate students arriving from campus.
Less than a week earlier, Chabad of the Panhandle hosted 250 students and community members for the first Seder and 150 for the second Seder.
As students continue to process the day’s traumatic events, the Oirechmans say they are encouraging students to “increase in Torah and mitzvahs,” noting that illuminating the world with goodness and kindness is the only way to cope with such a dark event.
“More and more students are coming into Chabad now,” Chanie Oirechman told Chabad.org on Thursday evening, explaining why she had to end the call short. “We’ll be talking, starting the healing process, and hopefully dispensing some inspiration and encouragement.”
The Oirechmans plan to continue providing support as needed in the coming days, including their regular class on Tanya—the foundational work of Chabad Chassidus—scheduled for Thursday evening, as well as prayer services and events for the last two days of Passover, which begins on Friday evening and ends with Sunday evening’s “Moshiach Meal.”
“Everyone responds to such an event differently,” Oirechman observed. “Some are shocked, some are numb and some are just looking for a hug, a home cooked meal and a listening ear. But everyone needs a bit of unity and togetherness”
The post FSU Chabad Offers Refuge During Passover After Campus Shooting Leaves 2 Dead appeared first on The Jewish Voice.
European intelligence services worry about future of cooperation with UShttps://t.co/Wh4ApE0bKy
— Dr. Dan Lomas (@Sandbagger_01) April 23, 2025
Edited by: Fern Sidman In a dramatic escalation of tensions between the federal government and elite academia, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it is freezing $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contracts earmarked for Harvard University, after the school publicly rejected the administration’s demands to dismantle diversity programs and curtail […]
By: Jessica Schwalb The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), the field’s premier scholarly journal, has dedicated past issues to topics like the “various nuances through which water and design mix” and the “relationship between stories and architecture.” Last year, the journal landed on a different topic for its fall 2025 issue: The “ongoing Israeli genocidal […]
Edited by: TJVNews.com Tucked behind a cluster of nondescript buildings in Santa Barbara, California, a quiet revolution is underway—one that could redefine the future of computing, artificial intelligence, and even the fabric of scientific discovery. Here, under the auspices of Alphabet’s Google Quantum AI division, a dedicated team of physicists, engineers, and computer scientists is […]
Edited by: TJVNews.com Shares of computer chipmakers plunged on Wednesday following an announcement from Nvidia that newly intensified U.S. government restrictions on exports of its advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China will cost the company an estimated $5.5 billion in lost revenue. As The Associated Press (AP) reported, the sweeping export controls signal a […]