Although Paltrow did not repost the advertisement on her Instagram account, online activists circulated the campaign and criticized her involvement.

By Shula Rosen

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow has drawn criticism from anti-Israel activists after appearing in a promotional campaign for 51 Park, a luxury residential development in Herzliya.

Paltrow, who grew up in a Jewish-Christian family and has publicly announced her decision to embrace Jewish observance, was selected as the face of the project, which includes luxury residences in Israel.

The campaign prompted a wave of criticism on social media from anti-Israel activists, who objected to her involvement with the development.

“Gwyneth Paltrow promotes $10 million penthouses in Herzliya while Gaza burns and Lebanon bleeds,” one user wrote.

Another social media user referenced language Paltrow used when announcing her divorce from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, writing that she was “consciously uncoupled from morality.”

A third critic wrote: “Something deeply unspeakably sinister about this thin, wealthy, white woman looking for any possible opportunity to collaborate with a state committing genocide across at least two states.”

Other critics focused on reports regarding what they described as a $10 million agreement connected to the advertising campaign.

Although Paltrow did not repost the advertisement on her Instagram account, online activists circulated the campaign and criticized her involvement. Some referred to the actress as the “Genocide Queen.”

The reaction reflects a broader pattern in which public figures associated with Israel have faced criticism online from anti-Israel activists.

At the same time, Paltrow received support from pro-Israel voices on social media. Ari Ackerman praised the actress and named her a “Monday Mensch” following her participation in the campaign.

The campaign generated sharply divided reactions online, with critics condemning the actress’s involvement while supporters welcomed her participation in a high-profile Israeli real estate project.

The post Renowned actress faces backlash from Israel haters over real estate ad appeared first on World Israel News.

In a city where many luxury towers compete on glass, height, and sea views, this one is trying to compete on narrative as much as on square meters.

By Shmuli Volkin, Jewish Breaking News

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has quietly joined the buyer roster at Rothschild 10, one of the most closely watched luxury developments in Israel, after purchasing an apartment in the Tel Aviv project for roughly NIS 70 million, at a reported price of about NIS 200,000 per square meter.

Israeli media said the deal was signed and completed in the days before the current war erupted, making it one of the most high-profile residential transactions to surface from the city’s ultra-prime segment in recent months.

From a real-estate perspective, the purchase matters less because of the celebrity of the buyer and more because of what he bought into. Rothschild 10 is not a conventional luxury tower.

The project sits on a full block at the junction of Rothschild Boulevard, Herzl Street, and Lilienblum Street and combines a new high-rise with the preservation of five landmark buildings from 1909 that were part of Ahuzat Bayit, the original nucleus of Tel Aviv.

N12 values the overall development at around NIS 1 billion. Six Senses, the global luxury hospitality brand, describes it as the largest and most important preservation project currently underway in Tel Aviv.

The tower itself is being developed by Tidhar together with entrepreneur Ziv Aviram, the Mobileye and OrCam cofounder who joined the venture in 2020.

Here too, the project’s own marketing tells an important story: recent coverage and Six Senses materials describe Rothschild 10 as a 42-floor tower, while Tidhar’s project page markets it as a 44-floor building, a discrepancy that likely reflects differing counting methods rather than a change in concept.

What is consistent across the sources is the substance: the lower levels are planned as a 140-room Six Senses hotel, above which sit roughly 55 serviced residences, with the preserved historic buildings folded into the hotel and public-facing parts of the complex.

That mix is what makes Rothschild 10 so significant for the local market. This is effectively a branded-residences project in the most expensive stretch of central Tel Aviv, where buyers are paying not only for address and view lines but also for hotel-backed service, curated amenities, preservation value, and scarcity.

Six Senses says the project will include two floors of spa and wellness space; a Holistic Anti-Aging Center; a “Six Senses Place” private social and wellness club; a sky pool and cocktail lounge on the 17th floor; a chef’s restaurant, café, and bar; and public atrium-style spaces linking the preserved structures.

The brand and Tidhar have also said the tower is being planned to LEED Platinum standards, which they describe as a first-of-its-kind benchmark in Israel.

The design pedigree is also unusually strong, which helps explain why the project has become a magnet for wealth rather than merely another high-end tower.

Six Senses says the preservation works are being led by Amnon Bar-Or Architects with preservation structural engineer Yaron Gal; the tower architect is Rani Ziss, and interiors are by Orly Shrem.

In other words, Rothschild 10 is being positioned not just as a luxury asset but as a carefully packaged urban product, part heritage restoration, part hospitality platform, and part residential trophy.

In a city where many luxury towers compete on glass, height, and sea views, this one is trying to compete on narrative as much as on square meters.

Ackman’s reported price also shows just how aggressively the top of this project has repriced upward. Based on figures previously published on Rothschild 10, a 154-square-meter apartment sold for NIS 21.1 million, or about NIS 137,000 per square meter, and a 170-square-meter unit sold for NIS 24.8 million, or about NIS 146,000 per square meter.

Another deal reported in 2024 involved a 320-square-meter apartment with a 25-square-meter balcony on the 34th floor for NIS 47 million, roughly NIS 147,000 per square meter.

Then, in late 2025, Israeli media reported that a foreign resident bought around 600 square meters in the tower for NIS 106 million, or just over NIS 176,000 per square meter.

Against that backdrop, Ackman’s reported NIS 200,000-per-square-meter valuation pushes the pricing bar still higher and suggests that the most desirable inventory in the building is continuing to command a premium even as the wider market cools.

While Israel’s broader housing market slowed sharply in 2025, luxury behaved differently. The Finance Ministry said that in the first quarter of 2025, deals above NIS 10 million rose to 136 from 105 a year earlier, with Tel Aviv alone accounting for 75 such transactions versus 60 in the same quarter the year before.

At the same time, the broader market remained soft as official data showed housing prices declined in eight of the twelve months of 2025, annual price growth for the year was just 0.4 percent, and Tel Aviv prices were down 1.9 percent over the prior twelve months.

Agents interviewed on television said Tel Aviv is now dealing with a glut of new luxury supply and more flexible pricing in parts of the market.

The implication is that Israel’s housing slowdown has not hit every layer equally; trophy assets in projects with strong branding and genuine scarcity continue to trade by their own rules.

Ackman fits that thesis neatly. He is the founder and CEO of Pershing Square and Forbes currently estimates his fortune at about $8.8 billion.

He and his wife, Neri Oxman, also bought about 4.9 percent of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in early 2024 for $25 million, in a deal that Reuters framed as both a financial bet and a vote of confidence in Israel’s long-term economy.

Seen through that lens, the Rothschild 10 purchase is not just a luxury housing transaction. It is another example of a global investor choosing to place capital in a highly symbolic Israeli asset, prime Tel Aviv land, wrapped in preservation, hospitality, and scarcity, at a moment when much of the rest of the market is still searching for direction.

Construction at Rothschild 10 is ongoing, and the full project is expected to be completed during 2026.

The post Billionaire Bill Ackman buys into Tel Aviv with 70 million shekel purchase appeared first on World Israel News.

Nir Shmul, CEO of a major Israeli real estate marketing firm, called it the biggest deal of its kind in Israel and pegged it as a rare vote of confidence during a tougher sales period.

By Shmuli Volkin, Jewish Breaking News

A U.S.-based Jewish community has quietly pulled off one of the most unusual residential buys Jerusalem has seen in years: securing two new high-rise towers in the city center for roughly 200 households, in a deal Israeli real estate figures estimate at more than NIS 1 billion.

Unlike a classic “buyers group” hunting discounts, industry sources describe this as a coordinated community move built around shared lifestyle and institutions.

The purchasers are reported as members of New York’s Halabi community, and the buying process unfolded over many months until the towers were effectively spoken for.

The project itself is designed for that kind of collective footprint. Marketing materials describe two 31-story towers with roughly 200 apartments, positioned in the city center with walkable access to Machane Yehuda, and planned amenities that lean heavily into community life.

Zoom out, and it’s also a jolt of oxygen for Israeli developers trying to sell into a cautious market.

Nir Shmul, CEO of a major Israeli real estate marketing firm, called it the biggest deal of its kind in Israel and pegged it as a rare vote of confidence during a tougher sales period.

One line from his assessment captures the mindset behind it: “It’s not necessarily immediate aliyah.”

That nuance matters. Real estate insiders increasingly frame diaspora buying as a strategic hedge tied to the spike in antisemitism abroad, with many families seeking a “home base” in Israel even if day-to-day life remains overseas for now.

Still, every mega-purchase in central Jerusalem reopens a sensitive local debate: will these homes become lived-in neighborhoods or high-end “ghost apartments” that sit dark for most of the year?

Israeli media and housing analysts have long warned that large volumes of intermittently occupied apartments can squeeze supply and change the texture of city-center life, especially in prime Jerusalem zones.

And policy always follows the money. Israel already levies steep purchase taxes on additional residential properties, with elevated brackets extended through 2026, and industry voices are openly predicting renewed pressure to revisit how foreign-buyer demand is taxed and regulated if this trend accelerates.

For Jerusalem, the headline isn’t just the price tag. It’s the message: a diaspora community isn’t waiting for “someday” to attach itself to the capital.

It’s planting a physical stake now, in stone and glass, close to the market, the Old City, and the daily pulse of Jewish life.

The post New York Jewish community buys an entire Jerusalem high-rise project in one coordinated move appeared first on World Israel News.

A rare look inside Jerusalem’s Old City reveals ultra-luxury apartments overlooking the Western Wall, commanding staggering prices as wealthy buyers compete for what may be the most exclusive—and symbolic—real estate in Israel.

The post WATCH: Inside Israel’s most expensive address appeared first on World Israel News.

Tel Aviv prices have jumped 110% since 2012, when the average cost was $8,795 per square meter, to a massive ₪59,200 per square meter.

By Jewish Breaking News

A devastating 11.2% annual spike in Tel Aviv real estate prices has pushed the Israeli metropolis into eighth place worldwide for housing costs, creating an affordability crisis that is forcing ordinary working families out of homeownership.

With homes averaging $18,469 per square meter, Deutsche Bank’s “Mapping the World’s Prices” report placed Tel Aviv behind Hong Kong ($25,946 per sq m), Zurich ($23,938), Singapore ($22,955), Seoul ($22,875), Geneva ($21,491), London ($20,953), and New York ($18,532).

Israel’s high ranking was attributed to its “being the capital of a small, but densely populated, country with strict zoning rules and more recently, a booming tech sector.”

The international comparison underscores how severely housing costs have spiraled beyond the reach of ordinary Israelis.

Average apartment prices in Tel Aviv reached ₪4.82 million by March 2025, with the price per square meter hitting ₪59,200, a 12.8% annual increase that has made the average property cost more than 15 times the average Israeli salary.

Deutsche Bank noted that Tel Aviv prices have jumped 110% since 2012, when the average cost was $8,795 per square meter.

Foreign buyers continue driving up luxury prices, accounting for 53% of ultra-luxury transactions above ₪10 million. Government tax policies have added to buyer burdens rather than providing relief.

VAT on new homes rose to 18%, while municipal property taxes jumped over 5% on average and 12% specifically in Tel Aviv. Capital gains taxes are also climbing for higher-income sellers.

Adding to the dysfunction, nearly 80,000 new apartments currently sit unsold across Israel, representing almost two years of supply. January 2025 saw fewer than 8,000 apartment sales, a 50% drop from the previous month.

Meanwhile, mortgage costs remain exceptionally high, with average interest rates for housing loans reaching 3.12% for inflation-indexed mortgages and 4.98% for fixed-rate loans not indexed to inflation.

Rental markets offer little relief, with average monthly rents hitting ₪7,000 and climbing an additional 10-12% expected in the second quarter, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics

Banks had been offering “balloon loans” allowing buyers to pay just 20% upfront with the remainder due when construction finished, sometimes years later.

However, in May the Bank of Israel officials restricted these arrangements, recognizing they enabled purchases by families who couldn’t actually afford the full costs.

The post Tel Aviv cracks top 10 most expensive real estate markets worldwide appeared first on World Israel News.

Cyprus will hold parliamentary elections in June, and a political party sees its criticism of Israel as a potential boost to its support.

By Yair Kleinbaum, JFeed

Israeli real estate purchases on the neighboring island have become a focal point of antisemitic rhetoric and political incitement.

Cyprus’s second-largest party, AKEL, Secretary-General, Stefanos Stefanou, claimed that one of the country’s main problems is Israelis buying land near critical infrastructure and strategic areas.

“If we don’t take decisive action now, we will one day realize our land no longer belongs to us,” he warned.

Stefanou’s hate campaign on TikTok accused Israeli buyers of enabling the creation of gated communities, Zionist schools, synagogues, and control over key economic sectors.

He blamed his own government for allowing “uncontrolled” land sales, calling it a dire threat to national sovereignty. He urged President Nikos Christodoulides’s administration to act swiftly and decisively.

Stefanou claimed his statements were not rooted in xenophobia or antisemitism, but a genuine concern that Cyprus is losing control of its territory, and he even suggested the purchases extend into the Turkish-occupied areas of the island. During his speech, he noticeably ignored similar investment patterns by non-EU foreigners.

The Palestinian Ambassador to Cyprus, Abdullah Attari, even addressed the congress, marking the first time a foreign ambassador spoke at a local party event.

Cyprus will hold parliamentary elections in June, and AKEL sees its criticism of Israel as a potential boost to its support.

AKEL, historically rooted in communism, has been anti-Israel for years, intensifying since October 7.

While the party frequently discusses Gaza using terms like genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and starvation, this was the first time its leader employed overtly antisemitic language.

Stefanou’s comments drew widespread condemnation from central and moderate political figures and journalists, but the Cypriot government chose not to respond. Israel’s Ambassador to Cyprus, Oren Anolig, issued a strong condemnation:

“With deep concern and grave worry, we observe and denounce the emergence of atypical antisemitic rhetoric in public discourse in Cyprus in recent days.

Rhetoric cloaked as ‘political concern’ that resurrects the dark patterns of the past: collective accusations, conspiracy theories, scapegoating an entire ethnic group.”

Anolig emphasized that “Diplomats are trained to avoid interfering in domestic affairs, but there are moments when silence becomes incomprehensible, or worse. When a line is crossed, when a community is singled out, when a shared value is under threat, we must speak up.”

Online Hate Campaign: “Cyprus Promised to Jews”

Alongside Stefanou’s statements, a TikTok campaign featuring AI-generated videos has stirred controversy. One clip shows a man portrayed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew with an Israeli accent, claiming that Israelis are continuously buying land because “God promised Cyprus to us after Israel.”

He even claims Israelis are purchasing property in the Turkish-occupied zones and building kosher restaurants there.

In another video filmed with a tallit and soundtrack of “Hava Nagila,” the “Jew” says: “Cyprus was promised to us 3,500 years ago, finally, I’m home.”

The campaign insinuates that Israeli purchases are displacing Cypriots: “It’s already hard for a Cypriot to buy a home for themselves or their kids because Israelis are buying everything.”

Official figures show about 2,500 Israelis reside in Cyprus, but many hold dual EU citizenship, raising estimates to between 12,000 and 15,000 Israeli nationals, including investors who buy property for investment purposes.

The post Cyprus: ‘The Jews are buying all of our Land’ appeared first on World Israel News.

At 800 rooms and suites, it will be the biggest hotel in Israel when it opens withthree restaurants, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools, a ballroom, plus a VIP level with its own lobby, lounge and presidential suite.

By Jewish Breaking News

Tel Aviv’s rapidly evolving skyline may soon feature its first Trump-branded tower.

The New York Times reports that Eric Trump held preliminary talks this spring with developers about managing a 47-story luxury hotel under construction in the city’s Sarona district.

However, the timing was terrible as a few weeks after the meeting Iranian missiles started hitting Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israel killing Iranian commander Reza Zahedi and his deputy, including strikes that landed in the Sarona neighborhood where the hotel is being built.

At the time, he downplayed the talks when asked about them, saying, “Israel has always been a market we would love to explore, but we have no plans at this time and any discussions have been strictly preliminary.”

But people involved in the negotiations tell a different story. During a virtual meeting with Israeli real estate executives, Eric Trump said the building had “the feel of a Trump property” and suggested adding floors of high-value residential units on top of the hotel.

However that would require the city to bend zoning rules since the building is in Ben Gurion Airport’s flight path. The president’s son also reportedly said he planned to sign at least one deal in Israel by the end of the year.

The Sarona Hotel would be a massive addition to Tel Aviv’s hotel scene. At 800 rooms and suites, it will be the biggest hotel in Israel when it opens withthree restaurants, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools, a ballroom, plus a VIP level with its own lobby, lounge and presidential suite.

If completed, this would mark the Trump Organization’s entry into Israel after nearly two decades of failed attempts. The company retreated from a Tel Aviv tower project after Trump’s 2016 election win.

Eric Trump explained at the time: “You can’t build the tallest building in Tel Aviv and try to negotiate peace in the Middle East.”

They tried again after the 2020 election, nearly cutting a deal for a Jerusalem hotel with the same Israeli company behind the Sarona project—Nitsba Group. That fell through after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Last month, the Trump Organization and London-listed developer DarGlobal revealed plans to develop an 80-story luxury skyscraper in Dubai’s prestigious Downtown district

The post Tel Aviv’s gleaming skyline may soon get its first Trump Tower appeared first on World Israel News.

The area is situated between old Beit Shemesh to the north and the new neighborhoods to the south, and it is ripe for development.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Ultra-orthodox investors are teaming up with Trump administration special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff in a $245 million real estate deal in Beit Shemesh.

Avi and Eli Schron of Cammeby’s International and investor Teddy Lichtschein are partnering to acquire approximately 110 acres, roughly half of a larger property known as Beit Jimal.

Witkoff’s other real estate investments include apartment towers in Chelsea and Tribeca, the luxury Edition Hotel in Times Square, a hotel and residential project in West Hollywood, and dozens more.

The Witkoff group also purchased the historic New York Woolworth building in 1998.

Ziva Cohen, owner of the real estate companies Kedmat Eden and Perachai Ramat Beit Shemesh, is expected to benefit substantially from the deal.

Cohen’s $82 million investment in purchasing 222 acres in Beit Shemesh from the Catholic Salesian Monastery in Beit Jimal has yielded triple the original amount.

However, she is still embroiled in controversies with David Shimron, who owns the monastery.

The area is situated in the Judean Hills between old Beit Shemesh to the north and the new neighborhoods to the south, and it is ripe for development.

Cohen has agreed to transfer half of the land to an ultra-orthodox investor group headed by Shlomo Bruner, who will pay Cohen $245 million.

The area lacks an approved outline plan (TABA), and Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg has reportedly delayed its progress. The mayor insists that future residential development include commercial areas to support the city’s financial stability; his administration advocates including five office towers alongside the proposed housing units.

The Schron brothers and Teddy Lichtschein are each investing around $53 million in the project. Lichtschein has also enlisted several other business partners who will contribute a combined $8 million. The additional investors are Yechiel David Potash, Elimelech Fisher, Mordechai Mizrahi, and Ben Zion Mizrahi. The group plans to invest $120 million of its own capital, with the remaining funds to be secured through bank financing.

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‘Every time these illegal sales take place, we will give them no peace and a protest will follow each time, until liberation and return,’ reads the caption of the post announcing the demonstration.

By Jacob Frankel, The Algemeiner

Anti-Israel groups are planning to protest a sale of Israeli real estate in the Queens borough of New York City on Sunday in a demonstration that appears to have the same hallmarks as last month’s widely condemned violent demonstration outside of a synagogue in Los Angeles.

The Palestinian Assembly for Liberation and Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition publicized the protest on social media.

Instagram post by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation and Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition for an anti-Israel protest. Photo: Screenshot

“Every time these illegal sales take place, we will give them no peace and a protest will follow each time, until liberation and return,” reads the caption of the post announcing the demonstration.

“Across the US and Canada realtors continue to sell stolen PALESTINIAN [sic] property on settlements that are illegal under International law.”

The post then includes an inverted red triangle followed by the message: “As the genocide on Palestinians continues, we call for a complete end to the settler-colonial project of Israel and its goal of expansion.”

The inverted red triangle has become a common symbol at pro-Hamas rallies and anti-Israel protests that ravaged Western university campuses in recent months.

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that rules Gaza, has used inverted red triangles in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets about to be attacked.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “the red triangle is now used to represent Hamas itself and glorify its use of violence.”

Kew Garden Hills, where the protest is scheduled to take place, is a densely Jewish neighborhood of Queens. In the immediate vicinity of the protest there are over a dozen, mainly Orthodox, synagogues.

The planned protest will come three weeks after the violent anti-Israel demonstration outside of Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily-Jewish Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles.

Demonstrators swarmed the synagogue to protest the sale of Israeli real estate taking place inside the building, blocking people from entering and leaving.

The protests quickly descended into violence as anti-Israel protesters were caught on video shoving, punching, and screaming at those attempting to defend the synagogue.

The skirmishes spilled out into the greater community as anti-Israel protesters targeted and in some cases vandalized Jewish-owned businesses.

The violence received widespread condemnation.

“I’m appalled by the scenes outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement on the chaos.

“Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a house of worship — and engaging in violence — is never acceptable.”

Since Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, antisemitism has skyrocketed globally to record levels amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

The ADL released a report in April showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high.

Most of the outrages occurred after Hamas’ atrocities across southern Israel last October.

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