ArchitectGuy on Israel

JTA
Bipartisan bill in Congress would create ‘Jewish Refugee Day’
Grace Gilson
November 25, 2025

The United States would recognize Nov. 30 as “Jewish Refugee Day” under a bipartisan resolution sponsored by two Jewish members of Congress. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida Democrat, and Texas Republican Craig Goldman submitted the resolution on Friday, saying that the day would be known by both its English name and the Hebrew translation, Yom HaPlitim. “I was proud to introduce a bipartisan resolution with Rep. Craig Goldman to honor Yom Haplitim and Jewish communities forced out of North African and Middle Eastern countries where they lived for millennia after Israel became a country,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Their resilience is inspiring and a testament to the improbable survival of Jewish people throughout history.” READ MORE

ALGEMEINER UNRWA in Gaza Has Been Replaced; It’s Time to Shutter the Agency The UN Relief and Works Agency — or UNRWA — in Gaza has been replaced by over a dozen other aid organizations. UNRWA’s decades-long monopoly on aid and services has finally been broken, presenting a rare opportunity for deradicalization and, eventually, peace. What’s more, the international community now has a model for how to replace UNRWA everywhere it operates, not just in Gaza. The UN Security Council approved President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a “Board of Peace” on November 17 that will oversee the deradicalization of Gaza and the dismantlement of Hamas’ terror state. But Trump’s vision will not succeed until UNRWA is shuttered.

TABLET MAG
The End of Jewish Denominations
Liel Leibovitz
November 25, 2025

Until recently, the best guide to delineate between Jewish synagogues was denominational affiliation. These divisions within Judaism emerged from deep seated differing understandings of the nature of revelation and the authority of Halacha, and though, over time, Jews of all denominational affiliations interacted in all walks of life, the old division lines made sense. Questions concerning the nature of observing Shabbat, the role of men and women in the synagogue, or the acceptance of LGBTQ Jews, formed the central axis around which American Jews divided and understood themselves and their beliefs. No more. Since the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, we’ve only one division line: Zionist or anti-Zionist. That’s it. READ MORE

JPOST Anti-Israel org. places bounties on heads of Israeli academics for assassination
Bounties for the murder of Israeli academics are being offered on an anti-Zionist group’s website, with profiles and personal details of targets also provided to potential contract killers. The Punishment for Justice Movement website offers $500,00 for murdering a targeted Israeli academic, $100,000 for the murder of “special targets,” and other financial awards for providing information on them or committing acts of intimidation. The group lists the alleged home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts, and even identification numbers of hundreds of academics.

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Bismuth presents bill exempting yeshiva students from IDF draft, loosening sanctions
Sam Sokol
November 28, 2025

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth released on Thursday his long-awaited revision of a government-backed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment, paving the way for its continued advancement toward the final two readings necessary for it to become law. Bismuth’s version of the legislation would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students while ostensibly increasing conscription among graduates of Haredi educational institutions. However, the proposed legislation removes various provisions from a previous draft that were intended to ensure that those registered for yeshiva study are actually studying, and cancels all sanctions on draft evaders when they turn 26. READ MORE