A planned Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza expected to dodge Israeli inspections could worsen tensions, disrupt aid pipelines, worsen the humanitarian situation in Gaza and endanger hostage talks, bipartisan group says
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters at his party’s Istanbul mayoral candidate Murat Kurum's campaign rally on March 29, 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey.
A bipartisan group of 20 House members raised concerns on Friday about the state of Israeli-Turkish relations and about reported plans by groups in Turkey to send an aid flotilla to Gaza without vetting.
The increasingly strained relations between Turkey and Israel have been a point of concern for a range of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with others previously floating the possibility of U.S. sanctions on Turkey in response to the NATO member’s trade restrictions on Israel.
“We write to express concerns about deteriorating Israeli-Turkish relations and reports that a Turkish coalition is allegedly planning to launch a flotilla to Gaza,” the House lawmakers said in a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken. “While we strongly support humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, we are gravely worried that such a hastily organized and unvetted effort could further inflame regional tensions, disrupt existing aid delivery mechanisms, exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and jeopardize multilateral negotiations aimed at securing a temporary ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.”
The House members noted that the proposed aid flotilla from Turkey has refused to let Israel inspect the cargo or utilize established aid mechanisms, “casting doubt on the nature of the mission.”
They also highlighted that the flotilla is organized in part by a group that has both close ties to the Turkish government and has fundraised for Hamas in the past. They called on Blinken to work with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to postpone or prevent the flotilla and ensure that aid shipments to Gaza remain “vetted and in compliance with international standards for humanitarian assistance.”
The lawmakers also raised concerns about the Turkish trade restrictions on Israel, which they said may “exacerbate Israel’s economic challenges.” They urged Blinken to “pressure Turkey to rescind this policy to avoid further inflaming regional tensions and before other nations follow suit.” Earlier this month, Turkey imposed export restrictions on a number of Israeli products, including steel, fertilizer and aviation fuel, in response to the war in Gaza.
They said that the Department of Commerce should also evaluate whether the U.S. should invoke its anti-boycott laws in response to the trade restrictions.
“We oppose any actions, like the Turkish flotilla or Turkey’s imposition of export restrictions, that could impede effective aid delivery, escalate the conflict, or jeopardize negotiations between Israel and Hamas,” the House members said. “We urge the Administration to continue to uphold these principles in response to these developments.”
The letter was signed by Reps. Chris Pappas (D-NH), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Dina Titus (D-NV), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Grace Meng (D-NY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Barry Moore (R-AL), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), John Sarbanes (D-MD), David Valadao (R-CA), Don Davis (D-NC), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Haley Stevens (D-MI), David Trone (D-MD), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Mike Levin (D-CA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
The Maryland Senate candidate told Jewish community members that she has ‘the endorsement of 190 people across the state, and I don’t agree on every single issue with any of the 190 of them'
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Angela Alsobrooks, Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Maryland, claps with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., as local officials speak during her "All in for Angela" campaign event in Silver Spring, Md., on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
Speaking to members of the Washington, D.C.-area Jewish community last week, Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive running for a Senate seat in Maryland, sought to create some distance between herself and the state’s soon-to-be senior senator, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), on Israel policy.
“I am grateful for all of the folks that have come out to support me — Sen. Van Hollen, for example, endorsed me before Oct. 7 — but you should know that I also have the endorsement of 190 people across the state, and I don’t agree on every single issue with any of the 190 of them,” she said at an event organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, in response to an audience question about whether she’d align with Van Hollen on Israel issues.
She continued, “so when people ask me, ‘Who will you be? Will you be Ben Cardin or Sen. Van Hollen or Steny Hoyer?’ I think it’s fair to say I’ll be Angela Alsobrooks. I do have my own views… my own impressions and feelings and values, derived from my own experiences.”
Cardin and Hoyer have been stalwart supporters of the Jewish state.
More broadly, Alsobrooks separated herself from the “extremes” of her party who’ve been most outspoken against Israel, describing them as “anti-almost everything” and “more interested in talking about [problems] than in fixing” them.
“I am a balanced person,” she added. “I think it is the job of a leader to find a way to engage people and to bring people closer together, not to divide. And that is no part of my leadership style.”
Addressing the ongoing war in Gaza, Alsobrooks said the U.S. and Israel share an interest in “removing the threat of Hamas from the world,” in ensuring Israel’s security and in freeing the hostages.
Alsobrooks praised President Joe Biden’s handling of the war.
She added that she remains hopeful in “that we are able to move towards a cease-fire, that we can address some of the issues that are occurring daily, the humanitarian aid… the real concern about civilians who are dying” and ultimately pursue a two-state solution.
The county executive traveled to Israel in December 2019 for a visit that included meetings with military officials, Knesset members and a historian, as well as a trip to the Golan Heights.
“We got to discuss the shared interest that the United States and Israel have, and that we have not only shared values around democracy, and freedom and human rights, but there are also a number of shared interests that we have that keep us as allies,” Alsobrooks said.
The county executive said she’s been closely following news about the war in the Middle East and has been discussing the ongoing developments with others.
Alsobrooks said she has a strong affinity for the Jewish community dating back to her childhood, when she learned about the Civil Rights Movement — “and there was no discussion about the Civil Rights Movement without discussing the relationship between the Jewish community and the Black community, and the fact that we were allied… how we could count on the shared friendship.”
She said she’s “ever mindful of the longstanding relationship… in a time of trouble.”
Public polling has largely shown Alsobrooks trailing Rep. David Trone (D-MD) in the Democratic primary, but she’s been closing the gap ahead of the May 14 primary election.
At the JCRC event, Alsobrooks described Trone as “compromised” on abortion policy, noting that he’d given significant political donations to GOP candidates who favor restrictive abortion policies and other policies that are anathema to Democratic voters.
“He set aside his values, whatever they are, in favor of growing the bottom line of his business,” Alsobrooks alleged.
She said that this makes her better positioned to energize Democratic voters in the general election against former Gov. Larry Hogan. “[Trone] could have a real problem in a general election,” she said. “I think I’d beat Larry Hogan in a general election, and I think he believes that.”
The COLUMBIA Act would pull federal funding from schools that don’t comply with federal monitoring procedures
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(L-R) Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) looks on as Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during a news conference about Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Capitol Hill July 17, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
As encampments of anti-Israel protesters spring up on a growing number of campuses across the country bringing with them instances of antisemitism, Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) are threatening to condition federal funding for universities as part of a push for more stringent federal oversight and monitoring of campus antisemitism, Jewish Insider has learned.
The lawmakers plan to introduce the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability (COLUMBIA) Act, which would allow the Department of Education to impose a third-party monitor for antisemitic activity on any campus receiving federal funding. Schools that do not adequately cooperate with monitoring could potentially lose their federal funding.
Compliance with such monitoring would, under the proposed legislation, be a condition of receiving continued federal funds; the monitor would release quarterly public reports on the progress that schools have made in addressing antisemitism and providing recommendations to federal, state and local lawmakers and officials.
“As we have seen over the last half a year since October 7, campus antisemitism is at an all-time high, and American universities are not capable of handling it when left to their own devices,” Torres said in a statement, alleging that there are “blatant violation[s]” of Jewish students’ civil rights occurring at colleges across the country “and the federal government cannot allow this to continue unchecked.”
Columbia University, the site of the first encampment, “is not an isolated incident — it is the straw that has broken the camel’s back — and I am prepared to do something about it,” Torres said. “Jewish students have told my office that they feel completely abandoned by their university administrators and they view Congress as the only avenue for accountability and safety.”
The proposed monitors would be appointed by the secretary of education, while expenses for the monitors would be paid by the schools being monitored.
“Rising antisemitism on our college campuses is a major concern and we must act to ensure the safety of students,” Lawler said in a statement. “I’m proud to work with my friend and colleague Ritchie Torres on legislation that will impose a third-party antisemitism monitor on college campuses to ensure protections are in place and oversee any troubling action by college administrators. If colleges will not step up to protect their students, Congress must act.”
Similar independent monitor systems have been previously utilized by the federal government, most prominently in response to cases of police misconduct.
The House is scheduled to vote next week on the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, the latest move by top House lawmakers to respond to growing anti-Israel protests on college campuses over the past week.
The bill would codify the Trump administration’s 2019 executive order instructing the Department of Education to treat antisemitism on college campuses as a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and to utilize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in assessing cases of antisemitism. The Biden administration has continued to enforce the Trump order.
“The horrific antisemitism we’ve seen at colleges and universities, and the abdication of these campuses to antisemitic radicals, has been painful to witness in real time,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the bill’s lead House sponsor, said in a statement. “Which is why I’m thrilled to hear that the Antisemitism Awareness Act is coming up for a vote next week. This critical legislation will help put a stop to this once and for all and ensure campuses remain safe for Jewish students,”
A coalition of 31 Jewish groups sent a new letter to House lawmakers on Thursday urging prompt passage of the bill, calling it “more timely and important than ever” as campus incidents have “reached a fever pitch.”
“The current climate certainly reinforces the need for the Department of Education to have clear guidance when investigating instances in which anti-Israel activity may cross a line into antisemitic harassment that creates a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus in violation of federal civil rights laws,” the letter continues.
A variety of Jewish community organizations have been encouraging lawmakers to exclusively back the IHRA definition. But there’s also been growing opposition to the IHRA definition among progressives both on and off Capitol Hill. Some conservative lawmakers might also be inclined to oppose the bill due to concerns around free speech.
Last year, a resolution expressing support for the IHRA definition and describing anti-Zionism as antisemitism passed by a 311-14 vote, with 92 Democrats voting present and 13 voting against.
The bill will require only a simple majority vote. In addition to Lawler, other lead sponsors include Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Max Miller (R-OH) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). It has 29 additional Republican and 10 other Democratic cosponsors.
“The timing of this vote is critical considering that anti-Israel and antisemitic protests are flaring up across the nation,” Karen Paikin Barall, vice president of government relations for the Jewish Federations of North America, said in a statement. “The Department of Education needs this major tool in their toolkit so that they can hold schools accountable for allowing antisemitic behavior on campus.”
JFNA, which has made the bill a priority issue, has been “the leading advocate” for the legislation, Barall continued, noting that federations have held “hundreds” of meetings with congressional staff on the issue.
William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations, said, “The violent and antisemitic demonstrations underway” at campuses nationwide “require us to provide the Department of Education will all the guidance and tools it needs to ensure the safety of Jewish students. In order to begin to address the problem of antisemitism, we must be using the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.”
In a letter to the bill’s sponsors, leaders of the Orthodox Union said that the bill will “make even more clear the legal obligation for universities to protect students on campuses around the country,” and that codifying the application of IHRA at the Department of Education “will play a critical role in ensuring the safety of Jewish students in classroom and on campuses around the country.”
The statement marks the first time the nations have joined together to publicly pressure the terror group since the Oct. 7 attacks
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks after signing legislation giving $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in the State Dining Room at the White House on April 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Eighteen countries with citizens being held hostage in Gaza released a joint statement on Thursday morning calling on Hamas to unilaterally release all the hostages, the first time the countries have joined together to pressure the terrorist group since the Oct. 7 attacks in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken captive.
“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. They include our own citizens. The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern,” said the statement. Its signatories included the leaders of the U.S., Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom — all of whom have citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas.
“We have now discussed with all these capitals the elements of the deal on the table, and there is a deal on the table that would bring a cease-fire immediately to Gaza simply with the release of women, wounded, elderly and sick hostages. That is ready to go,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters Thursday. “We have worked it out in meticulous detail and Hamas has rejected that.”
The statement from the 18 nations specified that the deal on the table could bring an end to the war. “We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities,” the statement read.
The Biden administration official placed the blame for the war, the fate of the hostages and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza solely on Hamas. More specifically, the official blamed Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to have spent most of the last six months in Hamas’ hundreds of miles of underground tunnels in Gaza, and called the situation “totally outrageous.”
“As awful as this crisis is in so many different dimensions, there’s a core fundamental truth to it,” said the official. “Hamas is holding hostages, and releasing videos of the hostages, and refusing to let the hostages go back to their families. And if they would do that, this crisis will wind down. It’s just a very clear path.”
President Joe Biden met at the White House on Wednesday with Abigail Idan, the 4-year-old dual U.S. and Israeli citizen who was taken from her home near Gaza on Oct. 7 and released in the November hostage deal, and her family. Her parents were both killed.
“The president spent, I think it was over an hour with the family, and just let Abigail play as a 4-year-old girl does,” the official said. “She played in the Oval Office, she crawled through the door in the Resolute Desk as the famous picture of John F. Kennedy’s little boy.”
On Monday, the White House received a video that yesterday was made public of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the first proof of life of the 24-year-old since he was taken hostage.
“We are in touch with the families and the Qataris and Egyptians and others about getting Hersh out, and getting all the hostages out,” the administration official said. “This is a daily, hourly focus of ours and that is no exaggeration.”
The video was the first sign of life from Goldberg-Polin, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen kidnapped and injured on Oct. 7
MARCUS YAM/LOS ANGELES TIMES
Jonathan Polin, 53, from left, Rachel Goldberg, 53, recounts their last interactions with their missing son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, who went missing after Hamas launched a surprise attack and breached Israeli borders, taking hostages.
On Wednesday, Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the American-Israeli hostage whose parents have become some of the loudest and most powerful advocates for the more than 130 hostages still held in Gaza. The video, posted on Hamas’ official Telegram channel, shows Goldberg-Polin reading a message that blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the hostages remaining in captivity.
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, greeted the video with a mix of anguish and relief. It was the first confirmation that Goldberg-Polin is alive, after video from Oct. 7 showed him being taken to Gaza with a severe grenade wound that severed part of his arm. Goldberg and Polin authorized the release of the video to encourage the leaders who have been negotiating a hostage deal to “be brave, lean in, seize this moment and get a deal done to reunite all of us with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region,” Polin said in a video.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that he planned to call Goldberg and Polin. “This is an innocent young man being held hostage by a terrorist organization and he should be released immediately without condition and without delay,” Sullivan told reporters.
Biden has not commented on the video of Goldberg-Polin, which was given to administration officials earlier this week, and the White House declined to say whether he planned to do so. Earlier, when speaking about the passage of the national security bill, Biden said that “everything we do is guided by the ultimate goal of bringing these hostages home, securing a ceasefire, and setting the conditions for an enduring peace.”
Also on Wednesday, President Joe Biden met at the White House with Abigail Idan, a 4-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who was held hostage for nearly two months, and whose parents were killed during the Oct. 7 attacks.
“I was just sitting with the president of the United States, going through all of the Americans being held hostage and what we can do about them, what their status is. It’s something he’s personally very focused on, even as he celebrates Abigail’s release,” Sullivan said. “This is something we will continue to make a paramount priority for President Biden and for the United States.”
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), one of the most outspoken anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress, survived a primary challenge in the 12th Congressional District on Tuesday night against Democrat Bhavini Patel, a member of the Edgewood Borough Council. Lee won 61% of the vote against Patel, a comfortable victory margin but a relatively weak primary showing for an incumbent.
The race marked the first test for several anti-Israel lawmakers facing contested primaries. Pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC and Democratic Majority For Israel, stayed out of the contested primary despite their disagreements with Lee. Both pro-Israel groups are focused on ousting two other Squad-affiliated lawmakers with a long record of hostility to Israel: Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).
Lee’s anti-Israel activism helped her raise money from left-wing donors while Patel struggled to raise significant campaign cash. An outside group largely funded by top Republican donor Jeff Yass spent over a half-million dollars boosting Patel, but the effort made it easier to tag her as a GOP foil.
Pennsylvania primaries are closed, meaning only registered Democrats — not independents — could participate in the primary. Lee’s Pittsburgh-area district has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the state, and is home to Squirrel Hill, where the Tree of Life massacre took place in 2018.
Three months after Hamas launched its deadly terror attack in Israel, singer John Ondrasik, known by his stage name Five for Fighting, penned the song “OK,” a ballad paying tribute to Israeli resilience in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Ondrasik’s then-recently released “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” became the anthem for Americans reeling from the attacks, and to honor the first responders and victims of the deadliest terror attack on American soil. He would go on to perform the song at The Concert for New York City, held a month after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
Ondrasik made his first trip to Israel this month, where he met with hostage families, first responders and soldiers who were recovering from injuries sustained while fighting Hamas in Gaza. After playing at a jam session honoring hostage Evyatar David, a musician, Ondrasik was invited to perform at the weekly Saturday night rally in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining 133 hostages. His performance came hours before missiles and drones launched by Iran entered Israeli airspace, setting the country on high alert in the first direct confrontation between Tehran and Jerusalem.
Ondrasik spoke to Jewish Insider about his five-day visit, meetings with Israelis and how the music he created more than two decades ago has taken on new meaning in light of his experiences in Israel.
Jewish Insider: This was your first time in Israel. What expectations did you have before coming here?
John Ondrasik: Well, I heard the food was great. (laughs)
JI: It is!
JO: And that was proven very quickly. Obviously concerning why I was coming, I was anxious and interested about meeting with the hostage families, the troops, perhaps singing. So typically, I would be interested in touristy things, but there was so much to do here. We were so busy. I was really focused on doing whatever I can to support Israel and let them know in so many facets that there were artists and Americans who supported them and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them. But at the end, I never could have imagined how our trip ended.
JI: We’ll get there, don’t worry. But before we do, talk to me about some of the folks that you met while you were here. Who stuck out to you?
JO: You know, I met some really cool people we can talk about, but it was just the people on the streets that I met. At our first restaurant, the waitress sat down at our table and started talking to us and was so friendly. I’m like, you don’t see that in the United States. And just the difference, talking to 18-year-old girls who are in full army uniform carrying machine guns. That’s something I’ve never done before. But, of course, meeting [former Soviet refusenik] Natan Sharansky is kind of like meeting [Nelson] Mandela, right? [He’s] such a powerful figure, and just spending time with him. … I met one of the leaders of United Hatzalah, and to see what they’ve done and to go into the control room and see what they have built, it’s just another example of Israeli ingenuity that no one else in the world can do.
Of course, the hardest, the most heartbreaking, the most agonizing people I met were the hostage family members. And I actually ended up meeting with three different sets of hostage families, including on my last day, the mother and brother of [Evyatar David, the honoree of the] Thursday night jam session came to the Hostage Forum and I sat with them and talked to some people and there’s no words to explain that. Anything I say would be diminishing their suffering. And so that was, of course, excruciating, but I think it was helpful for them to be able to tell their stories and know that there are some people that are not Jewish and in America advocating for them. I think they were surprised, and I think that telling them how people reacted to my song, and now millions of people in America have now heard about the hostages, and every day were calling for their release. I think that gave them a little bit of solace. So that was probably the most important thing we did. Playing with the troops, that was amazing.
JI: You played with the troops?
JO: Oh, yeah, I went and visited some troops at Sheba [Medical Center]. Three of them had lost their legs. And so we sat there and jammed on guitar and they ended up giving me guitar lessons because they’re so much better than me. They tend to have a pretty more optimistic view. You know, they’re young, they’re teasing each other. They know that they’re gonna have a great life. I actually met with one American IDF soldier who came from Florida, seven or eight years ago. And we spoke a lot about his experience and going door to door instead of just razing buildings, trying to save lives even though his commander was killed and he got shot four times trying to save him. [It was interesting to] hear from their mouths why they have these values that no one in the world wants to talk about. So, meeting with the troops was great. And then meeting the hostage, the Hostage Family Forum and the people there that put together that thing literally overnight, and really took over the plight of the hostages. The government was way behind them and to see them every day have to deal with this horrible grief, they are heroes in their own right. So I just met amazing people and inspiring people and then I met some artists. I met Idan Raichel. We had a long talk about what’s going on and we have some projects possibly in the works. I met with Danny Sanderson. I met with Gilad Segev.
So I met with artists because we have these projects in the work that was really the main initial reason for my trip but then things got a lot bigger. I feel like I packed in a month of stuff in five days. I just wish I had more time. I would have stayed another week or two, but I have [shows in the U.S].
JI: So you performed on Saturday night at Hostage Square, literally as Iran was launching its missiles and drones at Israel. What was that like? They didn’t obviously come until hours and hours later, but they literally were sending them off while you were performing. What was that whole experience like?
JO: I have not processed it yet. But I’ll tell you this — I’ve never played a gig where before the show, they make an announcement of what to do during a missile attack and nobody leaves.
JI: Only in Israel.
JO: Only in Israel. I have learned so much about Israel. That alone was surreal. The only experience I can compare that performance with, for me, is when I played the concert for New York after 9/11. At that concert, looking out at the emergency workers, meeting the families, [performing at Hostage Square] was very similar to that, to walk on that stage, to be able to play “Superman,” knowing that was the 9/11 song, and here we are in the October 7 aftermath. To be able to speak to them and say my words, I was honored to do that. To perform “OK,” and to look at 5,000-10,000 people, many in the beginning holding signs of their loved ones, singing back to me — there’s no there’s no words for that. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also why music can matter in so many ways. To see them crying and singing reminded me of a guy that I saw at the concert for New York who was crying and singing “Superman” at the top of his lungs, and sometimes music provides solace like that and lets people know they’re not alone.
So many in Israel, every interview I did, first of all I said, ‘Where’s everybody else? Where are all the artists? Why is nobody speaking up for us?’ So be able to show them that no, they’re not crazy, they’re not alone, there are artists who understand that Israel is fighting the good fight, and that people recognize that. [Performing at Hostage Square was], probably with the concert in New York, the most significant, important thing I’ve ever done as a musician, and then to walk off stage, kind of with that mindset of ‘wow,’ to be greeted by all the hostage families and hug them and take pictures with them. And then be told that we have to be in our hotel 11, by a safe room because there’s gonna be a missile attack.
My Israeli friends were like, ‘Well, let’s just go get dinner first.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m going to the hotel!’ So we go to the hotel, they’re all drinking and eating dinner. It’s 10:30 and I go to my room and then they launched the missiles. Look, I had brought my son. And my wife was very reluctant to bring him, but she allowed him to come. And so I was scared. I was scared, especially when they launched the ballistic missiles. My wife is calling me crying, everybody from the States is reaching out. And so I was like everybody, I’m human. I had my bag packed for the safe room, we knew where it was, we were ready to go. I had my son with me and then we’re sitting there, then I actually connected with Fox News and ended up going on Fox News from Tel Aviv.
I’ve always wanted to do my best [Fox News reporter] Trey Yingst impersonation, so it’s 3 in the morning in Tel Aviv, I’m outside my window, things are kind of slowing down. And I’m on Fox News talking about it. And I thought it was going to be over, but then we saw that Jerusalem interceptions so like, wow, it’s still coming this way. And in the meantime, I’m trying to get a flight, which nobody could get flights [because] everybody’s panicking. But that was the most surreal, insane, important, inspiring 12 hours of my life and I’ll never forget it. I’ll never recover from it, but I’m so grateful. I’m still grateful at the end of the day that I was there. I was so grateful that I was there to experience that, to experience the people. And then the next day I went into the Mediterranean Sea and got stung by jellyfish.
JI: It’s early for that. You already got stung?
JO: I found out in Israel that the thing that is more dangerous than Iran is jellyfish.
JI: What is the main message that you want to communicate to your friends back home, to your neighbors, colleagues, to other people in the industry about your time here?
JO: I’m already doing it. I’ve gotten a lot of press inquiries, and I’m doing radio and television. And I like to tell people about the fortitude of Israeli people, but people know that. I like to tell them about the courage, the innovation of the Israeli people, but people know that. But what I really was moved by was in this dark time, in this horrible time in Israel, everybody finds a way to have joy within the fear. And that’s what I took from Israel with me. And I guess it makes sense because Jewish people have been dealing with this for millennia. But to see it firsthand and to see people dealing with these really hard things and, you know, the day that everybody says Iran’s going to attack, everybody’s at the beach and everybody’s playing volleyball and running, and living their lives and [having] dates at dinner. We could not get a seat at a restaurant on that Friday. I was just really moved by how Israelis live life and appreciate life. And I think that’s why they have joy. I guess they’re ranked fifth happiest in the world. And I understand it, because when you’re always at risk of being bombed or [being targeted by a] suicide bomber, you have a sense of, ‘I gotta live today. I’m gonna live today.’
I wrote a song called “100 Years,” which is all about that. I don’t think I ever really lived it, but seeing them, they lived that. I can’t wait to bring my wife back and my daughter, when things get a little safer, and let them share the experience, you know, go to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and leave a prayer note and all that stuff. So that’s what I’m telling people and I’m also doing a lot of press here to keep the focus on the hostages and really try to be a strong voice for Israel as much as I can.