Yarden Bibas, the sole survivor of his family, was released before the bodies of his wife and children were returned to Israel.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

During a Knesset plenum debate, MK Chili Tropper read aloud from a letter that freed hostage Yarden Bibas had addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bibas, along with his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel (4) and Kfir (9 months), were kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. Yarden Bibas, the sole survivor of the family, was released before the bodies of his wife and children were returned to Israel.

“Mr. Prime Minister, my name is Yarden Bibas. As you listen to this speech, I am sitting shiva for my wife, Shiri, and my children, Kfir and Ariel—innocent, pure souls who were kidnapped from our home and murdered while in captivity. They could and should have been saved,” the letter read.

Bibas noted that on the morning of October 7th, “The state was not in Nir Oz,” and instead, the kibbutz had to rely on local heroes to defend the community against the Hamas onslaught.

“Today, 514 days later, I return from Gaza to face an unimaginable reality: I had to bury my entire family in a single day. I wouldn’t wish this horrific nightmare on anyone. Despite the overwhelming pain, I ask you, in this moment, to hold back. The time for revenge has not yet arrived.”

“At this stage,” Bibas wrote, “We are obligated to immediately bring back our brothers.”

Bibas also mentioned his friend David Cunio, whom he befriended at a young age, and Cunio’s brother Ariel, who are still held captive by Hamas.

The hostages should be freed before any strategy to eliminate Hamas is implemented, Bibas said.

“Once we bring David and all the hostages home, I will be the first to support any action to dismantle Hamas. As a resident of Nir Oz, I understand that we must defeat Hamas because otherwise, we will never have security. But we must always honor the sanctity of life, respect the dignity of the dead, and ensure no one is left behind—because without these principles, we lose our very essence.”

The letter also called for a state commission of inquiry into the causes of the October 7th invasion.

“So many civilians are asking for forgiveness, yet so few politicians are doing the same. So many civilians and soldiers are taking responsibility, while so few government officials are,” Bibas wrote.

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The decision “leads to more unnecessary hatred among us,” said Culture Minister Miki Zohar in response. A group of Israeli women will be celebrating abroad to “get away from it all.”

By World Israel News Staff

Opposition leader Yair lapid announced Wednesday that he has refused the government’s official invitation to the traditional torch-lighting ceremony and Independence Day celebration on Mount Herzl next week due to his fury over its judicial reform plans.

“We won’t pretend that we are celebrating together and that everything is OK while the government is tearing the nation apart and erasing democracy,” he declared in response to the invitation sent both to him and National Unity party head Benny Gantz by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is in charge of the event.

“You have left me no choice,” he wrote in his response. “I love the State of Israel with all my heart but in three months you have divided Israeli society, and no fake fireworks performance will cover that up. If national unity is so important to you, you would not be dismantling our democracy and instead you’d be going to work for Israel’s citizens.”

“We will not sit there to watch another embarrassing show of flattery for the Netanyahu family,” he added.

Regev had called earlier in the day for unity on Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen IDF soldiers and terror victims on Tuesday and the Independence Day festivities the following day.

“I know there are disputes, criticisms, I ask everyone to put everything aside for three days in the State of Israel,” she said. “At the independence ceremony we will put aside all the arguments between us and unite around our wonderful country. We can put the arguments aside and come and salute the State of Israel for our wonderful achievements.”

In answer to a reporter’s question earlier in the week, Lapid refused to call on his followers to refrain from protesting against the government during the state ceremonies, saying, “I said that first of all I want to hear a call to stop the violence against the demonstrators.”

In reaction, Culture Minister Miki Zohar (Likud) tweeted, “Lapid’s decision not to show up for the torch-lighting ceremony deepens the rift [in society] and leads to more unnecessary hatred among us.”

Some Israeli lay people have become dispirited by the intense political acrimony and disunity, especially at this time of year.

Mimi Buchsbaum, a student and mother of two, told World Israel News that she’s leaving Israel next week for a few days because of all the hate, which she says is just too depressing. She also expects to see more hateful outbursts, such as what happened on Tuesday, Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, when Likud MK Boaz Bizmuth was shouted down in Tel Aviv and prevented from speaking about the solemn occasion, despite his pleas for unity.

“I love Yom Ha’atzma’ut [Independence Day],” she said. “But never have I seen anything like this. I’m going with some friends to Milan for three nights to get away from it all.

“We’ll celebrate abroad – I can’t imagine ignoring Yom Hazikaron [Memorial Day for fallen IDF soldiers and terror victims] and Yom Ha’atzma’ut. We’ll light candles for Yom Hazikaron and talk about it. On Yom Ha’atzma’ut, we’ll try to find a celebration in the city, and if we can’t, then we’ll  go out for a nice dinner and sing and dance in our hotel room.

“I love my country, but I just don’t want to see what’s going to happen here. I don’t want to see it. Neither do my friends.”

Late last month, National Unity MK Hili Tropper initiated a letter that was signed by over 90 MKs calling “to avoid bringing the political debate into the cemeteries and the days that are holy to the Israeli identity.”

Mentioning specifically Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron, the letter said that the “pain of the families…do not belong to the Right or the Left, to supporters or opposers of the government, they are everyone’s days…for all of us together. They are days that remind us for whom and for what we dream, create, and yes – sometimes fight.

“The [judicial reform] dispute is legitimate, but if we lose this beacon of Israeli partnership, if we turn off its light, the storm may drown us all,” the letter added.

National Unity party leader Benny Gantz endorsed the missive’s sentiments and will be attending the torch-lighting ceremony, despite his firm opposition to the government.

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Initiative also aims to integrate stories of Arab and Iranian Jewry into educational curriculum.

By Sharon Wrobel, The Algemeiner

The Israeli government on Sunday approved the allocation of more than $1.8 million to document and preserve the history and heritage of Jewish communities from Arab countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“For me, this is my legacy. We were all in Morocco. We were all in Europe. We have all been to Iraq and Ethiopia. We are all Jews,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. “This program is of very great importance – the preservation of the memory and heritage of a large part of our people.”

It is estimated that more than 850,000 Jews were expelled and displaced out of Arab lands, including Iraq, Libya and Yemen, as well as from Iran in the 20th century, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

The proposal, led by Social Equality Minister Meirav Cohen and Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper aims to record the stories of Arab and Iranian Jewry and their communities who immigrated in the 1950s to ensure they become an integral part of modern Jewish history and are integrated into the curriculum of the education system.

“Unfortunately, in a country where about 50 percent of its citizens are from Arab countries and Iran or descendants of immigrants, the history and heritage of their Jewish communities has not been sufficiently passed on and their legacy is not properly instilled in the public discourse,” Cohen said. “This is a different generation of pioneers, whose life experience and contribution to the Zionist enterprise are not heard enough.”

“The proposal we brought to the government is a step on the path to fixing this historical injustice,” she added.

Cohen lamented that high school graduates were not familiar with terms and personalities such as the Farhud, the pogrom against Iraqi Jewry, Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift of Yemenite Jews to Israel or Jewish Yemenite poet Rabbi Shalom Shabazi.

Following the budgetary allocation, the government instructed the Anu Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv to urgently implement a program for an archive dedicated to the research and documentation of the heritage of Jewish communities in Arab countries and Iran. Part of the project is the establishment of a database of testimonies of immigrants from Arab countries.

“There is an urgency to this project given the advanced age of many of the immigrants from those communities,” said Tropper. “The project will be accessible to every home in Israel and it will help address the issue in the education system as well.”

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“Rabbi Uri Zohar was one of the greatest creators in Israel and a cornerstone of Israeli culture,” said Minister of Culture and Sports Hilli Tropper. “His legacy will remain with us.”

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Israel’s leadership eulogized Uri Zohar, a prominent movie star and filmmaker who later became a rabbi, after he passed away on Thursday at the age of 86.

Zohar was one of Israel’s most famous comedians, actor, director and one of the leading creators in the film industry in the country. He participated in the creation of a series of classics in which he starred. In the late 1970s, he became religious and an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, teacher and public figure.

President Isaac Herzog said he was “sorry to hear about the passing of the man of culture and Torah, Rabbi Uri Zohar. A great creator, one of the designers of Israeli cinema, who made a significant contribution to the cultural and spiritual assets of the State of Israel will not be forgotten.”

Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau said that “together with all the people of Israel, I mourn the departure from the world of my beloved friend, the righteous Rabbi Uri Zohar.”

“He was an exemplary figure in our generation, paved the way to the roots of the people and turned many away from iniquity. He was privileged to live a meaningful life of Torah, in modesty and humility, out of devotion to the Blessed Creator,” Rabbi Lau added.

“Rabbi Uri Zohar was one of the greatest creators in Israel and a cornerstone of Israeli culture,” said Minister of Culture and Sports Hilli Tropper. “His legacy will remain with us.”

The Israel Artists’ Association said that “it is difficult to imagine Israeli culture without the contribution and character of Zohar, a groundbreaking artist, one of a kind, who defined and was largely the voice of an entire generation. His work will live on forever.”

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to Zohar, saying he “was one of the greatest Israeli filmmakers – an actor, screenwriter and director who shaped our film world. His great contribution to Israeli culture will be remembered for generations.”

“Personally, I will never forget his performances in front of soldiers together with Shaike Ofir and Yehoram Gaon. Sitting on mattresses, in a hangar in the unit, we were privileged to enjoy the greatest talents that have grown in the State of Israel. Uri made us laugh. We loved him very much,” Netanyahu said.

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“The fact that last night’s broadcast chose to leave certain positions and omit others is puzzling and unsettling,” Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper wrote.

By Aryeh Savir/TPS

Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper had harsh words for the Kan 11 broadcaster, which censored some of his pro-Israel and Zionist remarks during an official ceremony while broadcasting anti-Israel remarks by others.

Tropper addressed the Ophir Awards, film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, on Tuesday night and some of his remarks on Israeli patriotism were omitted by Kan 11, a state-funded station.

“The fact that last night’s broadcast chose to leave certain positions and omit others is puzzling and unsettling,” he wrote. “I did not see or hear my words about reconciliation, tolerance, Zionism and patriotism at home. It turns out that, oddly enough, things were cut short.”

However, he noted that “on the other hand, viewers at home saw and heard some of the prize winners come up and speak out condemning the State of Israel, including falsely accusing the State of Israel of ethnic cleansing, transfer or massacre, no less.”

“As I said at the ceremony itself, I try to avoid confrontations and clashes. I thought that there were enough of these, and how unfortunate that there seem to be some who cannot rid themselves of them. But in any case, I do not intend to give up my positions and the possibility of expressing them,” he wrote.

“The fact that the broadcaster chose to leave very certain positions and omit others, is puzzling and unsettling. This is not a personal insult as much as it is a failed expectation – for fair and honest conduct,” he pointed out.

He posted his remarks in full for “those who still believe there is a possibility of a little less hatred and much more partnership; For those who believe in the freedom of creation and in the possibility of containing criticism and harsh attitudes, but also to be completely an Israeli patriot and to be proud of being a Jewish-democratic and Zionist state; In general, for those who are interested in seeing and hearing things in full.”

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