10. Tony Blair says Israel will not be able to destroy Hamas
In July, while the war between Israel and Hamas was blaring, former prime minister Tony Blair, who is now the representative of the Quartet of Mideast Peacemakers, said that Israel would not be able to destroy Hamas as a political movement and that such a move would have to come from the Palestinian people themselves.
“…what I do know is that will only happen if it happens within the context of a way forward, particularly for the people of Gaza, that gives them some hope for the future, because in the end a political movement like that has support on the ground, and you need to shift ... take away that support,” said Blair in an exclusive interview with Ynet.
9. The good life of senior Hamas officials
While Palestinians were evacuating their homes and moving into crowded UN shelters during the summer Gaza war, Ynet reported that Hamas senior officials were living a life of luxury in Qatar – viewing Television coverage of the fighting will working out on elliptical bicycles. The report juxtaposed the realities of the average Palestinian in Gaza and the Hamas leaders – an angering picture showing the disparity between the lives of elite Hamas officials and the poor Gaza civilian.
8. Holocaust survivor finds long lost family
The story of Menachem Bodner, who came to be known as prisoner No. A7733, reached out to the hearts of people all over the world after he created a Facebook page dedicated to finding his long lost twin from whom he was separated from during the Holocaust. In 2014, Bodner did not find his brother, but he did manage to find first cousins living in the US after an exciting search conducted by genealogist Ayana KimRon.
7. Palestinians rescue Jewish settlers after an attack
Palestinians came to the rescue of a young Jewish couple and their baby daughter who were wounded after other Palestinians in the town threw rocks at them – causing the father to sustain serious wounds and the car to flip over the side of the road.
6. Foreign journalists admit threats by Hamas impacted their war coverage
A day after the summer war between Hamas and Israel ended, foreign journalists who left Gaza finally mustered up the courage to report what they had been too scared to shed light on while they were reporting from within Gaza: Hamas had staged bomb scenes, shot rockets 50 meters away from the hotels of foreign journalists and the Hamas headquarters was based in a civilian hospital.
5. Haredi men refuse to sit next to woman on El Al flight
Some passengers onboard the flight traveling from New York’s JFK to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport said that the haredi travelers offered to pay them to switch seats so they would not have to sit next to woman. After travelers refused to change seats, the haredi men stood in the aisle in protest and delayed the flight.
4. Hollywood stands behind Israel during Gaza war
After Penelope Cruze and Javier Bardem publicly expressed their harsh criticism of Israel, the pro-Israel Hollywood community responded with a petition that said that Hamas “cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities, nor…hold its own people hostage,” which was signed by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Seth Rogan, Sarah Silverman and Aaron Sorkin.
3. Yair Lapid says Israel-US relations in crisis
Former finance minister and head of Yesh Atid said that Israel-US relations had reached a boiling point and that Israeli officials must show more respect to the country that provided Israel with technology and funding that were critical during Operation Protective Edge. The criticism was indirectly geared toward Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who had called Kerry “messianic” and “obsessive” in closed door meetings.
2. Ukrainian Jewish community demanded to register religion
The Jews of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk received a leaflet distributed on Passover evening by Pro-Russian activists and carrying Russia’s national symbol that demanded that Jews over the age of 16 register their religion and property or face being deported from the country.
1. German village plays hilarious prank on Neo-Nazis
Fed up with an annual visit by neo-Nazi demonstrators who invade the village of Wunsiedel in South Germany every November to commemorate the National Heroes’ Remembrance Day by visiting the grave of Adolf Hitler’s Deputy, the community members took a new approach to their protest of the event and created an ironic prank which included putting up banners that stood in the backdrop of the march, mocking the neo-Nazi’s.
Banners that read “Mein Mampf!” (My food) were put up along the path of the march and mocked Hitler’s autobiographical novel Mein Kampf. To top it all off – for every meter marched by the neo-Nazi’s, 10 euro was raised for an NGO that supports neo-Nazis who leave the sect.