What's New in Jewish News This Week

duda • August 8, 2025

Hundreds of Rabbis Demand Israel Stop ‘Using Starvation as a Weapon of War’ - (The Times of Israel) Hundreds of rabbis in the US and worldwide, including many rabbis here in Maine, have signed a letter calling for Israel to stop using starvation as a “weapon of war,” bring home the hostages, and end the fighting in Gaza. The letter, posted on July 25 and featuring the names of several leading rabbis across denominations, said the “Jewish People face a grave moral crisis…[even as] we recognize, and many of us endure, the huge challenges the State of Israel relentlessly confronts, surrounded for so long by enemies and facing existential threats from many quarters.” The signatories also said they “unequivocally support” Israel’s battle against Hamas and Hezbollah and understand the IDF’s policy of protecting its soldiers’ lives. “But we cannot condone the mass killings of civilians, including a great many women, children and elderly, or the use of starvation as a weapon of war,” the letter stated.

Palestinian Leader Condemns Hamas for Contributing to Hunger Crisis - “Producing mass death from hunger is Hamas’ final play,” Palestinian activist Ahmed Foud Al-Khatib writes in a piece for The Atlantic that both criticizes Hamas for deliberately manufacturing a famine against Gazans and calls upon the Israeli government to flood Gaza with food, in order to lessen the terrorist group’s influence. Al-Khatib states that "if the hunger crisis and humanitarian issues are addressed, Hamas can no longer use the suffering of Gazans to generate an international outcry or use the resultant leverage to end the war on its own terms."

German Media Investigation Exposes Staged and Out-of-Context Photographs of Civilian Suffering in Gaza - A new investigation by German media outlets Süddeutsche Zeitung and BILD reveals that prominent Gaza-based photographers have been staging photos of Gazan civilians for propaganda efforts. While acknowledging the severity of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the investigation found that photographers, including Anas Zayed Fteiah, were selectively staging images to “depict chaos and destruction” in order to serve Hamas’s propaganda wing and influence public opinion. One of Fteiah’s photos, depicting starving Gazan women and children desperately brandishing pots and pans to receive food, was published on the cover of the August 1 edition of TIME Magazine. Süddeutsche Zeitung ran a photograph of Fteiah taking the picture, revealing that the pots and pans were held out for the purposes of the photograph, not to receive food. Other photos from the same location showed adult males calmly receiving food.

Israel's Security Cabinet Approves Plan for Israeli Military to Temporarily Take Over Gaza City - (CBS) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced early Friday morning local time that Israel's Security Cabinet had approved a plan for the Israeli military to take over Gaza City. In a statement, Netanyahu's office said the Israel Defense Forces would prepare to take over Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside of combat zones. According to Netanyahu's office, the cabinet adopted five principles for ending the war: the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all hostages both living and dead, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civilian government in Gaza that is not led by Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

19 Former Israel Defense Chiefs Demand End to Gaza War - (The Times of Israel) More than a dozen former senior Israeli security officials issued a joint video message Sunday, August 3, with a call to end the war in Gaza, arguing that Israel has racked up more losses than victories and that the fighting has dragged on for political reasons rather than strategic military need. Among those backing the clip were former prime minister and IDF chief Ehud Barak and former IDF chiefs of staff Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz. The group says that Netanyahu is avoiding agreeing on a permanent end to the war and the return of the 50 hostages still in captivity in order to preserve his coalition, which relies on far-right parties who insist on continuing the war.

Israeli and American Assessments Agree Tehran’s Infrastructure to Finish a Bomb Is Shattered - (The Washington Post) Now that the rhetorical debris has settled from Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, there is growing evidence that Iran’s nuclear program suffered such severe damage that it will be neutered for at least a year, and probably far longer. “Iran is no longer a threshold nuclear state,” one well-informed Israeli source says. This account supports claims by both the Trump administration and Israel that the Iran campaign achieved its objectives.

Jewish Community Remains Most-Targeted Religious Group in FBI’s 2024 Hate Crime Report - (Security Community Network) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its 2024 Hate Crime Report, confirming the Jewish community remains the most targeted religious group in the United States. The report documents 1,938 anti‑Jewish hate crimes, representing 69 percent of all religiously motivated incidents, up from 67 percent in 2023. Among these incidents were terroristic plots, assault, vandalism, harassment, burglary, false bomb threats, and swatting. The FBI’s report carries added significance in the years following the 07 October Hamas attacks, as anti-Jewish related crimes continue to reach all‑time highs.

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National Diaper Need Awareness Week 2026

September 15, 2026

The Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine Marks National Diaper Need Awareness Week, Celebrating Community Support for Maine Families As Maine recognizes National Diaper Need Awareness Week, September 14–20, Michael Klahr Jewish Family Services (KJFS) at the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine (JCA) is highlighting the ongoing challenge of diaper need and the extraordinary network of volunteers, donors, funders, and community partners who make the KJFS Diaper Bank possible. Across the country, one in two families with young children struggles to afford enough diapers to keep their children clean, dry, and healthy. Diapers are a basic necessity, but they are also an economic issue for families: many childcare and early education programs require parents to provide an adequate supply of diapers, meaning diaper need can create another barrier to parents’ ability to work. Here in Maine, the KJFS Diaper Bank works to ensure that families throughout the state have access to this essential resource. As an essential component of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, KJFS approaches this work in the spirit of Jewish values—the belief that caring for our neighbors and helping people meet their most basic needs is a responsibility we share. The Diaper Bank puts those values into action by serving families of all backgrounds throughout Maine. In 2025, the JCA distributed 290,050 diapers to an average of 965 children each distribution month. Currently, the Diaper Bank serves clients in Lewiston, Gray, Raymond, Mechanic Falls, Brunswick, Saco, Biddeford, Gorham, Windham, Standish, Buxton, Steep Falls, Scarborough, South Portland, Portland, and Westbrook. As we continue to see the impacts of inflation, diapers continue to be a barrier for families, and without clean diapers, babies are exposed to potential health risks and toxic stress, and mothers are at risk for increased maternal depression. In a letter recognizing National Diaper Need Awareness Week, Maine Governor Janet Mills thanked the state’s diaper banks, staff, volunteers, and donors for their service and specifically recognized the JCA among the trusted community-based organizations working to distribute diapers to families throughout Maine. “We thank Governor Mills for recognizing the work of so many across our community to address diaper need,” said Susan Cohen, CEO of the JCA. “Jewish tradition reminds us that we are responsible for one another, and that caring for our neighbors is both an obligation and an expression of our deepest values. Through this work, we seek to ensure that every family has the dignity, resources, and opportunity they need to thrive.” The work of the KJFS Diaper Bank is only possible because of the community behind it. In 2025, the Diaper Bank had over 80 volunteers, including 50 individual volunteers as well as many corporate and student volunteer groups who donated over 700 volunteer hours. Volunteers help receive, organize, package, deliver, and prepare diapers for distribution, while individuals, businesses, foundations, government partners, and community organizations provide the financial and material resources needed to keep shelves stocked. Margaret Mailander, Director of Michael Klahr Jewish Family Services shares that "addressing the immediate diaper need is important and as the National Diaper Bank Network has made clear through their research, diaper need is a systemic issue caused by economic and social systems and therefore requires our collective support to find solutions that are structural." During National Diaper Need Awareness Week, KJFS encourages Mainers to learn more about diaper need, organize diaper drives, volunteer, and support the continued availability of diapers for families throughout the state. Please donate to the Jewish Family Services Diaper Bank at Diaper Bank . About Michael Klahr Jewish Family Services KJFS is the social services department of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, providing programs and resources that support individuals and families and strengthen communities throughout Maine. Guided by Jewish values and open to people of all backgrounds, KJFS works to meet immediate needs while fostering dignity, connection, and well-being. About the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine The Jewish Community Alliance (JCA) is a central hub for Jewish life, education, and community support. We provide meaningful programs, essential services, and opportunities to connect. Rooted in Jewish values, history, and our connection to Israel, the JCA cultivates and sustains a welcoming and thriving Jewish community in Maine and strives to build a better world for all.

A Call for Peace and Responsible Rhetoric

July 31, 2026

A Call for Peace & Responsible Rhetoric

Remembering, Rebuilding, and Resilience: JCRC Hosts Eugene Damlich

July 15, 2026

Last week, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine welcomed Eugene Damlich, a survivor of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, for a special lunch and community dialogue. Eugene shared the story of losing his family, surviving unimaginable violence, and rebuilding his life in the years that followed. The only surviving child in a family of five children, Eugene later immigrated to the United States, where, as an adult, he found love and belonging with a Jewish-American family. The gathering was not simply a testimony program, but a genuine exchange between communities. Eugene asked participants how the Jewish community has preserved Holocaust memory while helping survivors and their descendants live with hope, dignity, and purpose. He also invited discussion about forgiveness, justice, healing, and the responsibility to transmit memory across generations. Several people at the table were children of Holocaust survivors—one JCRC member, Anna Wrobel, shared that her mother was also the sole survivor of her family—profoundly relating to Eugene in a way that few others can. In preparation for the lunch, the JCRC held its first movie night, where participants watched Sometimes in April, a 2005 historical drama about the Rwandan Genocide. Last week’s lunch also built upon the JCRC’s participation in this year’s Kwibuka, which annually commemorates the Rwandan Genocide; JCRC members walked in the memorial procession, and a post-Kwibuaka gathering for Maine’s Tutsi community was held at the JCA. We are deeply grateful to Eugene for sharing his testimony, and we look forward to continuing to strengthen the relationship between Maine’s Jewish and Tutsi communities.