Zionism

As Israel’s war with Hamas grinds toward the half-year mark, noted journalist and syndicated columnist J.J. Goldberg shared an overview of the conflict’s historic and geopolitical roots before an overflow local crowd at the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples’ annual Day of Learning.More than 250 attendees filled the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center’s Schiff Hall for the ninth annual event, which explores topical issues through a Jewish lens. The session on Monday, March 11 was co-hosted by the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council and its Israel and Overseas Committee.

Israeli troops divided the northern and southern parts of Gaza, as communications across the besieged territory were temporarily cut Monday for a third time since the war started. The troops are expected to enter Gaza City on Monday or Tuesday, Israeli media reported.

Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into Gaza on Monday, freeing a soldier held captive by Hamas militants and advancing on two sides of the territory’s main city. The U.N. and medical staff warned that airstrikes have hit closer to hospitals where tens of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter alongside thousands of wounded.

Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take flour and basic hygiene products, a U.N. agency said Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.

Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida and his son, Meir Simcha Minkowicz, also a rabbi at the Fort Myers Chabad, were part of a group of 30 rabbis from the United States, Australia and Canada. They spent their week in Israel comforting the families of victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas raid, speaking with military units, praying over the remains of those killed and visiting other sites around the country.

Israeli troops and tanks launched an hourslong ground raid into northern Gaza overnight into Thursday, the military said, striking several militant targets in order to “prepare the battlefield” before a widely expected ground invasion after more than two weeks of devastating airstrikes.

A Naples rabbi and her Israeli-born and now U.S. citizen husband have collected more than a dozen duffel bags full of supplies for Israel which he is personally delivering to soldiers as well as to families and the victims of the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack.Another rabbi, from Fort Myers who has been in Israel since Sunday, was forced to hunker down in a bomb shelter when a missile alert was sounded near a hospital he was visiting.

Who is to blame for the fiery explosion has set off intense debate and finger pointing between the Israeli government and Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions in their two week-long war.The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite imagery and photos. AP’s analysis shows that the rocket that broke up in the air was fired from within Palestinian territory, and that the hospital explosion was most likely caused when part of that rocket crashed to the ground.

A Detroit synagogue president was found stabbed to death outside her home Saturday, police said. The motive wasn’t known.Emergency medical personnel declared the woman, identified in a statement from Mayor Mike Duggan as Samantha Woll, dead at the scene, Cpl. Dan Donakowski said.