The video, which has garnered over 639,000 views since its release, shows the 47th president in a more relaxed setting as he navigates the course while discussing family, politics, and his golf philosophy with his granddaughter, who has 1.25 million YouTube subscribers.

Throughout the round at Trump National Washington DC, the president emphasized the course's proximity to the capital and its tournament-caliber design. "It's rated the number one, one of the best courses anywhere in the world," Trump told Kai, noting the facility is "20 minutes from the White House" and situated "on the Potomac River."

During their round, Trump provided updates on family members, including his youngest son Barron's college experience at New York University. "He's doing good. He's a good boy. He loves you," Trump told Kai, adding that Barron had asked him to "Say hello to Kai, Dad."

Even while golfing, the president briefly referenced his administration's foreign policy efforts, telling Kai: "We're doing a great job. I stopped seven wars. And hopefully we get Putin and Zelenskyy to stop killing everybody."

Trump shared an interesting perspective on his golf performance, revealing that he plays better when his mind is occupied with other matters. "I play better when I don't think about golf. I think about other things like Russia, China, right?" he explained. "When I don't think about golf, I think about other things, I do better."

The president praised his granddaughter's athletic abilities, noting her "long arms, long legs" and "length and strength." He attributed the family's athletic success to genetics: "The thing about all of us in our family is we're all athletic. Like we're all very good athletes. Always."

When discussing professional golfers, Trump named "Tiger, Jack" as his favorites, referring to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, while also expressing admiration for "Gary Player." He shared insider information from Woods about Rory McIlroy, stating: "Tiger told me that Rory is the best driver that he'd seen. I would agree with that thousand percent."

During the round, Trump briefly discussed ongoing White House improvements, telling Kai: "I love the White House, honey. I'm fixing it, you know. I'm making it incredible. Better than it ever was. We're putting marble floors in places that should have it." When Kai expressed interest in White House events, the president reassured her: "Don't worry about the White House, honey. I'm taking care of the White House."

The video showed glimpses of Secret Service personnel accompanying the pair, with Trump acknowledging their presence: "You see these guys. Thank you, fellas. They're sort of supposed to focus on what they're doing, which is keeping us safe, right?" He expressed sympathy for agents working in challenging weather conditions, particularly "in Florida right now in 90-degree weather."

When Kai thanked him for access to premium golf facilities, Trump responded: "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to also play at these amazing courses because without, you know, having access to all these great courses, I wouldn't be the golfer I am today."

The president also shared life philosophy with his granddaughter, emphasizing the importance of passion in achieving success: "You got to love what you do, otherwise you're not going to do it well." When discussing dreams and goals, she asked him "Is there a dream that you're still trying to chase or you have reached it all?" Trump noted: "You become president. That's a dream, right? Now you're president. Now your dream is to be great president...I don't think i'll ever play golf any better than I play."

Kai Trump reflected on the experience's significance, telling viewers: "This honestly might have been or is so far my favorite video I've ever filmed. I think it's just kind of cool filming with my grandpa. Obviously, he's president of the United States, but to me is just my grandpa."

The president concluded the video with satisfaction about their performance: "We both played well. We shot a pretty good score, right? Hit a lot of good shots and it was nice." He also praised his granddaughter's abilities: "She's a great player, this one."

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US defense guarantees under an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement would make Gulf states' nuclear ambitions "unnecessary," according to Jerusalem's top diplomat.

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The Americans would be able to provide protection against Iranian aggression in the region, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen argued in an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

"[A] defense pledge could reassure Middle Eastern nations, primarily Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states," he wrote. "This approach would make individual nuclear ambitions unnecessary, bolster regional stability, and promote the peace and normalization agenda."

Cohen continued: "A united front, bringing together moderate Sunni nations and Israel, would be an effective check on Iran's growing ambitions." South Korea, which has not pursued nuclear weapons, could be a model for this arrangement, Cohen posited. Just as the US protects Seoul from Pyongyang, so too could Washington defend Riyadh from Tehran.

Video: Erdogan meets bin Salman / Social media

"South Korea, despite living under the shadow of a nuclear-armed neighbor and having the means to develop its own nuclear weapons, has abstained from nuclear-weapons development," Cohen wrote. "The US' defense commitment acts as South Korea's deterrent against northern aggression."

Cohen earlier this week said that the Palestinian issue will not be an obstacle to normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia. "The current Israeli government will take steps to improve the Palestinian economy," he stated, amid reports that one of Riyadh's demands for a US-brokered deal to join the Abraham Accords involves concessions to the Palestinians.

"A visit to Israel by a Saudi foreign minister would be a day of celebration," Cohen remarked, noting that governments led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had secured diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords.

He predicted that the Israeli premier and the Saudi crown prince would make history together.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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When I was 11 years old, I really idolized Yigal Bashan. I especially loved the song "Oseh Shalom", composed by Nurit Hirsch, which was performed in some song festival. It begins quietly and calmly with a clarinet suggestive of wandering Jews and then a dashing Yemenite singer named Yigal enters with his majestic voice and with a diction and a cadence reminiscent of San Remo singers. Later, enter the rhythmic, jazzy, almost "privileged" drums, and by the end of the song, the audience is going crazy. (As a side note: I would like to thank Raviv Schwartz for the English translation of this article).

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My grandfather, a religious, enlightened, liberal man who loved culture, art, and music, used to take us on holidays to the Italian synagogue in Ramat Gan. Included in the liturgy there was the tune I remember to this day (part of the benediction after meals and the Kaddish prayer) which I knew by heart from the song: "He who makes peace in the heavens above, he will make peace among us and upon all Israel and let us say Amen." This verse has punctuated my life at various junctures, including of course at my parents' funerals where we recited the Kaddish prayer.

I'm not a religious person and I assume my views are fairly well-known. I regularly attend the protests and am awed both by the amazing spirit that drives them and by the young people there, each and every one of whom I feel like hugging! I yearn for a Jewish, democratic, and egalitarian state, in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, uncompromisingly so. I don't like, to say the least, what is happening to us these days. I don't like the hate that is being spread, the barbaric-like behavior of some, and the disgusting epithets being uttered such as, "Tzfon-bonim" (spoiled, aloof residents of North Tel Aviv), "privileged" and "anarchists", and wonder why our politicians think that using words more appropriate for the bleachers at a football stadium somehow advances the education of our youth.

Video: Netanyahu talks about judicial reform// Credit: Twitter/Prime Minister's Office

I also don't like being lied to over and over (and over) again, including the one about our Prime Minister suffering from sunstroke, while he is released from the hospital with a new pacemaker. (Luckily for him, they didn't implant a lie detector as well). I'm afraid of the moment our Air Force pilots don't fly their planes, and I think that they, and anyone else not willing to volunteer under these insane circumstances, are justified. I'm disturbed by the fact that a wave of volunteers, who help reduce the workload of our policemen and policewomen, are leaving because they don't want to take part in the beating of protesters.

If we have to choose to whom we should be listening, I, for one, prefer the recommendations of the former heads of the Shin Bet and the Mossad, the commanders of the IDF, past police commissioners, the leaders of Israel's hi-tech and the economy, the scientists and the heads of the universities, rather than Dudi Amsalem, Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Communications Shlomo Kari (who wants to shut the TV channels he doesn't agree with), or other ministers who are very familiar with the Shin Bet (albeit from the perspective of those being investigated).

Indeed, there are times I'm glad my parents are no longer around and don't need to witness this awful division of our people - particularly the way in which those sowing the seeds of hate and despair so dismissively toss into the garbage the sacrifice, investment, talent, and courage that my parents and their contemporaries contributed to the building of this country. Let me say this: I have no problem whatsoever with religious Zionism, with the ultra-Orthodox, or with Likudniks, though I do have a lot of criticism. My problem is with the Messianic, chauvinistic, and racist fanatics.

In recent months, we have all been inundated with posts and video clips expressing opinions of every imaginable shade. This week, two of them, in particular, caught my attention, and if we are speaking of "Oseh shalom", listen to Sherry, a religious, Sephardic mother of six, who said the following:

"Bayn HaMetzarim" (traditional Jewish period of mourning) – this is how I refer to this period. A terrible time for the Jewish people. All of our demons have come home to roost. I'm from a Likud family and for years, I was a right-winger. It was my home and the home of parents who were ultra-Orthodox Zionists. When I was 14, we moved to a settlement. There, I was raised according to a Torah that was loving and inclusive, and that's how I want to raise my daughters. I want a Judaism that belongs to all of us and I am deeply disturbed by this government and I certainly don't get the impression that it consists of God-fearing people. I see where this religious extremism is going and it's definitely not the Torah upon which I was raised. I'm afraid of laws enacted in the name of religion and I take part in the protests because I am really worried about the fate of our country. It's enough for me to hear the leaders of this "reform", how they speak, and what they plan to do - and I believe them. And it scares me, I know it's not in my best interest nor in the interests of my daughters. There are elements in this government who speak on my behalf as a woman, as a religious woman, as a Sephardic Jew. Does the fact that I am Sephardic or a former Likudnik require me to support policies or politicians just because they belong to a certain party?! This is an insult to the Sephardic intelligentsia in this country. This is not about left or right; this is about being either exclusivist or inclusive; extremist or democratic. And It's ultimately about politicians who simply want more power for themselves. I know how the story of political leaders with unlimited power ends. It ends in destruction. The schism among our people is terrible in my opinion, but if there is anything encouraging during these difficult days, for me it's the coming together of religious and non-religious Jews. On both sides, people are saying, "Wait, there is something here that is ours together".

And then, like Yigal Bashan and my grandfather, she concludes with "He who makes peace in the heavens above, he will make peace among us and upon all Israel and let us say Amen". Someone will have to make peace among us, perhaps someone up above or perhaps someone here on earth. I damn well hope he succeeds.

Civil War

I have written here many times about the use of the Hebrew term "brother". Along these same lines, it's worth listening to a recent speech by MK Ram Ben Barak. He said the following:

I have many, many friends, some of them are like my brothers. They are secular, Haredim, Arabs, the entire people of Israel, and all the citizens of Israel. Not just "Am Yisrael" (the Jewish people), but everyone; we are all like brothers and responsible for one another. However, those working to destroy our country from within – they are not my brothers! Those who are corrupting our country are not my brothers. Those calling me a "privileged anarchist" are not my brothers. Those demanding the imprisonment of fighters for their refusal to continue volunteering are not my brothers. Those working to transform Israel into an Apartheid state are not my brothers. Those who are demanding subservient legal advisors are not my brothers, and those demanding to appoint cronies as judges are not my brothers. Those wishing to choose CEOs of major public companies according to party affiliation are not my brothers. Those who think like me but nevertheless enable a collection of messianic extremists to blackmail the prime minister and, in so doing, endorse their actions, are not my brothers. Those who think that Israel should be Jewish but not democratic only because it is not written in the Torah, are not my brothers. Those who think that a woman's place is on the back benches are not my brothers. Those who create illegal and irresponsible outposts and put others like my daughter at risk when they have to guard these same outposts are not my brothers. Those who tell me (and today, also my children) "Protect me and die for me and, in the meantime, I'll study" are not my brothers. Those who attempt to run over protesters are not my brothers. Those who insist on willingly raising generations of ignorant and needy citizens- aren't my brothers either.  Those who believe that there are first-class Israeli citizens who are Jews and second-class citizens who are not Jewish are not my brothers. Those who throw a Molotov cocktail into a Palestinian home, targeting its residents are not my brothers. Those who express support for this terrorism are also not my brothers. Those who insist on putting a yeshiva in the middle of an Arab settlement or neighborhood, are not my brothers. My brothers can be orthodox and secular, Jews and Arabs, from the gay and the straight community, but to be my brother, one must believe in a Jewish, democratic, and egalitarian Israel. An Israel that respects and protects the rights of all citizens, including those of immigrants and of Palestinians. An Israel which is part of the liberal, enlightened world and not part of the dark word of fascist, authoritarian states. And so, I must confess I am not everyone's brother. Incidentally, my biological brother was killed in the Yom Kippur War, defending a Jewish and democratic country.

What the religious, Sephardic settler and the non-religious moshavnik, who dedicated his life to this country's security (and to mine - this "privileged" musician) have in common is that they are the Israeli majority. The majority that doesn't get how an extremist minority has taken over this "family business" of ours.

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Iran said Friday it reached a deal with Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies in the two countries after years of tensions. The kingdom did not immediately acknowledge any agreement.

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Iranian state television reported the deal, saying it came during a meeting in China. Chinese state media did not report on any such deal.

Nour News, which is linked to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, posted images and video it described as being taken in China with the meeting. It showed Ali Shamkhani, the council's secretary, with a Saudi official and a Chinese official that state TV named as Wang Yi.

"After implementing of the decision, the foreign ministers of the both nations will meet to prepare for exchange of ambassadors," Iranian state television said.

Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Tensions have been high between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts there. Saudi Arabia days earlier had executed a prominent Shiite cleric, triggering the demonstrations.

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Textbooks in the United Arab Emirates promote peace and normalization with Jews and Israel; however, the Jewish state is still not on school maps, according to new research released by an Israeli watchdog group.

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The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) released a report on Thursday examining 220 Arab-language textbooks in grades one through 12 from the UAE's national curriculum, printed between 2016 and 2021.

IMPACT-se discovered that peace-making was "by far" the top priority discussed in the textbooks that were analyzed. The books also "offer a realistic approach to peace and security, teach patriotism, anti-radicalism, commitment to defending the homeland and cooperating with allies," said the report. Even the Islamic-education program in UAE schools "emphasizes tolerance, coexistence and friendly relations with all non-Muslims and ethnicities."

IMPACT-se said it didn't find antisemitism, hate or incitement in the textbooks, and that UNESCO guidelines for peace and tolerance "are generally met."

But while the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between the UAE and Israel, are praised in textbooks and anti-Israeli material has been largely removed or moderated, Israel is not displayed in maps, and Holocaust education is not taught.

In terms of how the Middle East is portrayed, the textbooks describe Iranian expansionism as a threat, and support for the Palestinian cause is no longer seen as a solution to solving the broader range of issues in the region. The textbooks also encourage students to exhibit tolerance and respect among non-Muslims, especially Jews and Christians.

"School education is the key to fostering the development of peaceful, tolerant societies, and the UAE curriculum's authors seem determined to follow that path, relentlessly educating young Emiratis to understand the centrality of peace and employing Quranic verses to teach tolerance. Coexistence with Jews, Christians and other religions is a central feature while the authors have ensured that antisemitism has now been eradicated from the curriculum," said Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se.

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"This determination to foster a peaceful and tolerant education extends to Israel: The Abraham Accords feature in three separate textbooks and children are taught that the treaty carries Islamic scholarly approval. This can only bolster people-to-people normalization," said Sheff.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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A Facebook group called Israelis and Palestinians for Peace aims to bring its thousands of members closer together through online dialogue.

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The group is unique in that it encourages users to participate in real-time discussions with others through its regular Zoom meetings

"The problem is we don't have decision makers who can make brave decisions," an unnamed Palestinian member explained.

"So we started the first step to create a new generation away from politics."

Founder Mori Sela, the founder of the group, spoke with i24NEWS on how Israelis and Palestinians for Peace works.

"On Facebook, we have about 4,000 people, 3,000 of them are very active every month," Sela said.

He collaborates with a team of activists who review the group and ensure discussions remain civil.

"We did have quite a few people that we had to block or mute for a while until they learn what the language in this group is," the founder explained.

"We sometimes call them when they make some comments that [are] not respectful or has some violence," Warda Sada, the group's co-director added.

"It's a challenge," she said, "to have Palestinians from (Gaza), from the West Bank, from all over the world… speak about their narratives, and to listen to the Israeli narratives too."

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Foreign Minister Yair Lapid arrived in Cairo on Thursday on a diplomatic visit aimed at strengthening ties and shoring up the tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

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Lapid met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and the country's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for talks that reflected budding ties between Egypt and the new Israeli government. Egypt's intelligence chief also participated in the meetings.

Egypt, the first Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel, has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, who have fought four wars since the terrorist group seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, most recently an 11-day conflict in May, and Egypt has been working quietly to arrange a long-term truce.

Hamas demands that Israel ease restrictions on the strip, while Jerusalem is seeking the release of two Israeli captives and the remains of two dead soldiers held by the group.

The Foreign Ministry said Lapid presented a plan to develop Gaza's economy in return for assurances of quiet, and eventually disarmament, by Hamas. It said the plan must address "the issue of captives and missing persons."
Lapid also discussed Israeli efforts to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, whose forces were toppled by Hamas in 2007. PA President Mahmoud Abbas governs only limited autonomous areas in the West Bank.

Lapid also raised concerns about the Iranian nuclear program and expressed desire to ramp up cooperation with Egypt in the civilian fields of economics, energy, agriculture, and trade, according to the Foreign Ministry.

"Egypt is an especially important strategic partner for Israel," he said. "My goal is to strengthen our security, diplomatic, and economic relations with Egypt. It's important to continue to work on the peace between our two nations."

Upon his arrival, Lapid was welcomed by el-Sissi, who stressed Egypt's commitment to a two-state solution and to achieving a "comprehensive and just" peace in the Middle East, according to a statement released by his office.

Lapid's visit came three months after Bennett held talks with el-Sissi in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. It was the first official trip to Egypt by an Israeli premier in over a decade.

Shoukry said Egypt supported efforts to rehabilitate Gaza following the conflict in May, and supported the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to bring peace and stability to the Middle East, based on the two-state solution.

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Following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – is Libya the next in line to make peace with Israel and join the Abraham Accords? The political camps in the North African country, which has suffered two brutal civil wars over the past decade, are preparing for a highly charged election campaign that will determine Libya's future.

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According to senior Libyan officials with close ties to the leading presidential candidate, Gen. Khalifa Haftar, it appears the large Arab country is moving toward normalization with Israel. Haftar has recently voiced his desire on several occasions to normalize ties with Israel, and declared he would work to that end if he is elected president on December 24.

Israel Hayom reported in late October that an Israeli consulting firm was advising both Haftar and his main rival, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the former tyrant Muammar Gaddafi, who was deposed and killed in a violent uprising 10 years ago.

Haftar, who has also earmarked a senior role in the next government for his son, Saddam, if he wins the election, has the support of the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Western actors, but he has apparently pinned a great deal of hope on relations with Israel.

"Only a normalization agreement with Israel, which will bring Libya into the Abraham Accords, can catalyze Libya's rehabilitation plan, which stands at hundreds of billions of dollars," Haftar has reportedly told his confidantes.

Libya's goal, he has said, is to receive financial aid from the international community, which requires a change of direction from the next president-elect and his government. Joining the Abraham Accords, according to Haftar, could pave the path for Libya to return to the family of nations, secure the necessary aid from the International Monetary Fund, and diplomatic support from the US and European Union.

A senior official in the UAE, who is close to both the leading candidates in Libya, told Israel Hayom: "On the matter of Libya's desire and need to normalize its relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords, there is consensus among the two candidates. Both have said in the past that normalization with Israel is on the table, and on many occasions both have told their close advisers in private that they would work in earnest to make that happen."

The senior UAE official added, however, that even if either of the candidates eventually does normalize ties with Israel, it would be a vastly different type of relationship than with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.

"If the initiative is implemented," the official said, "it will happen at a very slow pace, very cautiously, somewhat similar to the normalization process between Israel and Sudan."

Meanwhile, an official in Haftar's campaign headquarters told Israel Hayom that "it's still too early to discuss a normalization agreement with Israel and how that would look. First of all, Gen. Haftar has to actually win, and we are certain he will. As of now, though, we have no interest in bringing the issue of future relations with Israel to the agenda, because the Libyan public harbors traditional and structured hostility toward it. At this juncture, such conversations can only harm Haftar's chances of winning the election."

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After arrest warrants were issued and public death threats were made against many of the 300 Iraqi Muslim leaders calling for their government to make peace with Israel at a conference held in late September in Iraq's Kurdistan region, Jewish activists of Iraqi origin are voicing support for those in Iraq who seek peace with Israel.

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"It is depressing that the conference participants have been bullied in this way," said Lyn Julius, a Jewish activist of Iraqi descent and co-founder of Harif, an association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa based in the United Kingdom. "They were very brave to have taken part in the first place but may have underestimated the risks they were taking."

The conference, which was held in the city of Erbil, drew widespread condemnation from officials in Iraq's government, who called it an "illegal meeting." According to the Iraq News Agency, some Iraqi authorities also announced that they would arrest all 300 participants once they had been identified.

Likewise, an arrest warrant was issued for Wisam al-Hardan, leader of the "Sons of Iraq Awakening" movement, who had demanded that Iraq join the Abraham Accords and, at the conference, also encouraged establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel. Following widespread public condemnation in Iraq, al-Hardan later issued a recorded apology and withdrew his support for the event.

Moreover, arrest warrants were issued against other conference speakers, including former Iraqi politician Mithal Al-Alusi, and a senior Iraqi Culture Ministry official named Sahar al-Tai. Later, Al-Alusi, who has long called for peace between Iraq and Israel, claimed not to have attended the conference at all. Additionally, several other conference participants also backtracked from their earlier pro-peace statements.

Iraq has officially been at war with Israel since Israel's establishment in 1948, and the country's decades-old laws call for the immediate arrest and imprisonment of anyone dealing with Israelis or having any ties to Israel.

After 1948, members of Iraq's Jewish community, which once numbered 150,000-strong, were stripped of their citizenship, had their assets confiscated by the government and were forcibly expelled from the country. The majority of Iraqi Jews resettled in Israel, though some immigrated to Europe and North America. Today, experts estimate that only a handful of Jews still live in Iraq.

'Develop business for the benefit of all sides'

Linda Menuhin, an Israeli peace activist of Iraqi background who spoke via Zoom to the Iraqi activists at the Erbil conference, said many attendees are now recanting their statements of peace with Israel out of fear of physical harm to themselves or their families from the Iranian regime's militias operating in Iraq.

"I believe that Iran indeed is the biggest challenge on the way because Iraq's regime cannot practice its free sovereignty and has many stakes currently in Iran," said Menuhin, who made a 2013 documentary film, "Shadow in Baghdad," about the abduction and killing of her father, Jacob Abdel Aziz, by Iraqi officials in the 1970s.

Nevertheless, she said she remains optimistic about the prospects of peace in the future between Iraq and Israel.

"I do believe there is hope for peace in the future due to the fact that millions are yearning to release themselves from Iran's strongholds directly or through its militias," she said. "The young are looking to build a future free of enmity based on good relations with all the neighbors."

Other Iraqi Jewish activists living in the United States and Canada said Israelis and Jews living in the West can help encourage peace with Iraqis by engaging in possible business ventures or beginning a dialogue through social media.

"The best role of the Mizrahi Jews, in this situation, is to establish commercial contacts and develop business for the benefit of all sides," said Sami Sourani, an Iraqi Jewish activist living in Canada.

Indeed, one Jewish nonprofit group based in San Francisco, "Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa" (JIMENA), has long been educating groups in the United States and throughout the world about the plight of nearly 850,000 Jewish refugees who fled or were expelled from the Arab and Islamic countries during the 20th century.

JIMENA's leadership recently released a statement applauding the Erbil conference and calling for future similar events to be done with caution to protect peace advocates in Arab countries.

"Because of JIMENA's outreach work in North Africa and the Middle East, we know there is a desire among so many diverse communities throughout the region for rebuilding and establishing new relationships with Jewish communities in Israel and abroad," stated JIMENA in their released statement. "But this work must be done with the utmost precaution and sensitivity to the safety and well-being of those brave souls seeking a peaceful path forward."

'The future lies in working together'

Joseph Samuels, a 90-year-old Iraqi Jewish activist and speaker for JIMENA who now lives in Los Angeles, said more is needed to be done to educate the new generation of Iraqis and other Arabs about the plight of Jews who suffered because of persecution they faced in their former Muslim homelands.

"I honestly believe that if the younger generation of Iraqis were to learn in their own Arabic language what horrible things were done to Jews of Iraq and how the Jewish expulsion was a disaster for Iraq, it could possibly help to change their hearts and minds to seek peace," he said.

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Interestingly, Samuels said his memoirs Beyond the Rivers of Babylon, which was published last year, is currently being translated into Arabic by a professional translator living in Iraq who is a Shiite Muslim.

"The man translating my book is a great person, and I know there are many other Iraqis who also have no hate for Jews," said Samuels. "I think my book in Arabic will educate many Arabs about my horrible experience in escaping Iraq and having to rebuild my new life. I would also love the chance to speak to them through Arabic language media and tell them we Jews harbor no hate for them, even after all the persecution we faced in Iraq."

For their part, Iraqi Jewish activists said that while the Erbil conference may have had negative consequences for those attending it, it was a productive first step for Iraqis to consider the prospects of peace with Israelis.

"The great thing about the Iraqi conference is that it did not want to turn the clock back and for Jews to 'return' to Iraq," said Julius. "It recognized that Israel is here to stay, that the vast majority of Iraqi Jews are now Israelis and that the future lies in working together with them."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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An Israeli official voiced indirect criticism over the US reaction to the apparent coup in Sudan after the special US special envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman called the military takover "utterly unacceptable" and threatened to cut off financial assistance to the country.

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The Israeli official told Israel Hayom that due to the current state of affairs in the African country, Israel should support the military and its head, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, rather than the prime minister,, Abdalla Hamdok, who has been arrested and taken to an undisclosed location.

The official said that "the coup was all but inevitable because the prime minister has been at odds with the military for several years and it was obvious that this would reach a decision point."

The official further said that the situation in Sudan "is very much like what Egypt experienced after former strongman Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011, who had ruled the land of the pyramids for decades before stepping down during the popular uprising known as the Arab Spring. 

"The country [Sudan] is not democratic as it was ruled for 30 years by the authoritarian regime of Omar al-Bashir. While we understand why the US would like to see the democratization of Sudan, between the two Sudanese leaders, it is Burhan who is more inclined to bolster ties with the US and Israel," the official said. 

The official further added that "in light of the fact that the military is the stronger force in the country, and since Burhan is its commander in chief, the events of Monday night increase the likelihood of stability in Sudan, which has critical importance in the region, and it increases the chances of stronger ties with the US, the West, and Israel in particular."

Sudan has joined the Abraham Accords, a peace initiative that culminated with normalization processes between Israel and four Arab states. But unlike the other three countries, it has not taken concrete steps to establish official ties with the Jewish state or set up an embassy. This is partly because of the ongoing political strife there. 

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