14 Days: Jerusalem attack

JERUSALEM ATTACK 

Four people were killed and five wounded in a terrorist shooting attack claimed by Hamas at the entrance to Jerusalem on November 30. The murder victims were named as Livia Dickman, 24, who was pregnant with her first child; Ashdod rabbinical judge Elimelech Wasserman, 73; Hanna Ifergan, 67, a Beit Shemesh school principal; and Yuval Kestelman, 38, who, after shooting the two gunmen, was killed by an IDF reservist who reportedly mistook him for a terrorist. The IDF reservist was late arrested by police. The gunmen were identified as Murad Nimr and his brother Ibrahim Nimr, residents of east Jerusalem who had both served jail time for terrorist activities.

WAR RAGES 

The IDF resumed its war against Hamas on December 1 after Hamas violated the ceasefire by firing rockets at Israel. During the seven days of a temporary truce, Hamas freed 105 captives – 81 Israelis, 23 Thais, and a Filipino – while Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners under a deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt. The IDF said on December 11 that since the Hamas attack on October 7, 430 soldiers had been killed – 101 after the ground offensive in Gaza began on October 27.  Recent fatalities included War Cabinet minister and former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot’s son, Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, and nephew,  Maor Cohen Eisenkot, 19.

US VETO 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US at a cabinet meeting on December 10 for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution the day before calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as well as its dispatch of some 14,000  tank shells to Israel. He urged Hamas fighters not to sacrifice themselves for their leader, Yahya Sinwar, saying: “Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender – now!”

CAMPUS UPROAR 

The presidents of three top colleges in the US – Harvard, MIT, and UPenn – sparked an uproar on December 5 when they refused to accept during congressional hearings that calls for the genocide of the Jewish people  violated campus codes of conduct. While agreeing that antisemitism had become a serious problem on their campuses, they argued that it “depends on the context.”  In response, nine Israeli university presidents said that amid a distressing display of hatred against Jews and Israel, “there is an urgent need for firm leadership on American campuses – leadership that unequivocally declares ‘this far, no further.’ Regrettably, such resolute leadership appears to be lacking at present.”  UPenn president Liz Magill later resigned after intense criticism from donors and alumni.

UN WOMEN 

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (also known as UN Women) issued a statement on December 1 expressing “deep regret” that Israeli military operations had resumed in Gaza, stressing that “women – Israeli women, Palestinian women, as all others – are entitled to a life lived in safety and free from violence.” However, it did “unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas” and voiced alarm at “the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks.” The UN hosted a special session spearheaded by Israel’s Permanent Mission on December 4 to raise awareness about the sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7.

ACADEMIC GIANT 

Eminent political scientist, veteran diplomat, and Israel Prize laureate Shlomo Avineri, who was born in Poland, died in Jerusalem on December 1 at the age of 90. “For six decades he was a revered lecturer at the Hebrew University and a visiting researcher at the world’s most respected research institutions,” the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said in a statement. “Israeli academia is saying goodbye today to one of the giants of political thought in Israel and the world.”

ICONIC DIPLOMAT 

Henry Kissinger, the first Jewish US secretary of state, who pioneered “shuttle diplomacy” during the Yom Kippur War and played a key role in the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, died at his Connecticut home on November 28 at the age of 100. President Isaac Herzog tweeted, “In our last conversation, in which I congratulated him on his birthday, he told me: ‘Remember, I have always loved and supported Israel, and always will.’” In 2012, then-president Shimon Peres awarded Kissinger the Presidential Medal of Distinction “for his unique contribution to Israel and to peace in the Middle East.”