💧News of the Crisis💧June 23, 2025
The spiritual leader of the Gur Hasidic dynasty—Israel’s largest Hasidic sect—arrived in Israel today (Monday) after a high-profile fundraising mission to New York. The trip, necessitated by a financial crisis triggered by the Israeli High Court’s freeze on stipends for yeshiva students, aimed to secure tens of millions of dollars to sustain Gur’s educational and religious institutions, which are operated independently of the Ministry of Education. This arrival raised questions how a private jet was allowed through Israel’s semi open skies.
In a letter sent today (Monday) to Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Att. Yifat Solel of the Hidush organization for equality and freedom of religion criticized the Israeli government’s decision to approve this private flight for the Gur Rebbe and his entourage of 8 during wartime, when only limited flights are allowed and over 150,000 Israelis remain stranded abroad. It argues that this flight displaced a commercial rescue flight that could have returned 180 citizens. Solel demanded transparency on who approved the flight, the criteria used, and whether political or financial influence is overriding the urgent needs of ordinary Israelis.
Also, as suspected in the previous dispatch, cronyism ensures that the first ones to return safely home from abroad are workplace groups - the Israeli Aerospace Industries (thousands of which were mass-recruited to the Likud), Bezeq telecommunications (whose former controlling shareholder, Shaul Elovich, is at the center of Netanyahu’s trial dubbed “Case 4000”) - you get the picture. The majority of Israelis stranded aboard elected to fend for themselves and return independently via Jordan or Egypt.
When the body of her sister, slain hostage Ofra Keidar, was recovered from Gaza in a heroic mission, Hana Shadmi found herself stranded abroad. The Ministry of Defense had promised her safe return from Athens to attend the funeral—but amid the chaos at the Athens Airport, where thousands of Israelis remained stranded, she was given neither priority nor assistance. It was only thanks to the vigilance of an El Al employee that she and her husband were located and placed on an emergency flight. This ordeal reveals yet another layer of dysfunction in Israel’s bureaucratic response—and the deep pain inflicted on those without influence or political ties
Netanyahu is in full-throttle campaign mode and working hard to reinstate his image as “Israel’s savior” (as a historian’s son, you would think he knows how most false Messiahs end up). Yesterday he arrived at the Western Wall for a “special prayer” after the success of the US Military attacks on Iran. Conveniently, both the prime minister and his wife posted on Instagram the notes they were to place between the Wall’s ancient stones (doesn’t that negate the wish?!) underscoring the glory of Israel and Netanyahu’s role in ensuring it.
Another tenet of the reimagining of Netanyahu as savior rather than destroyer of the nation comes from two of his close contacts - Shas leader and former convict Aryeh Deri and journalist-turned-mouthpiece Yinon Magal. In a TV interview with the latter, the former agreed the October 7 Hamas massacre “saved Israel,” calling it a divine wake-up call that exposed Iran’s intentions and weakened its proxies. Deri claimed, “the Almighty created another miracle by causing Trump’s election” and added that without October 7, Netanyahu and Trump, the attack on Iran couldn’t have taken place.
His remarks sparked outrage from the October Council, which represents over 1,500 bereaved families. The group condemned Deri’s comments as a “slap in the face,” accusing him of rewriting history and minimizing the tragedy. They emphasized that no political or military gain can justify the massacre’s toll and reiterated their demand for a State Commission of Inquiry. Yonatan Shimriz, whose brother Alon was mistakenly killed by the IDF after escaping captivity, accused Deri of moral insensitivity.
Eyal Eshel, bereaved father of slain observance soldier Roni Eshel, posted his outrage: "What miracle are we talking about? Someone please explain. The State of Israel lost on October 7. There were no miracles, and we must not be intoxicated or blinded by the heroic actions of the IDF, the security establishment, or the Air Force in various operations. That’s not the story."
"Mr. Deri, nothing happened here thanks to anyone else. These were heroic actions by people in uniform and civilians who took initiative and went out on Saturday morning to defend the South and the Center."
"An entire system is spitting on us—the bereaved and hostage families."
During yesterday’s (Sunday) coverage of the devastation at an impact site in Tel Aviv, Ha’aretz journalists stood up in solidarity with members of the foreign press after those were unlawfully separated and placed in false detention.
A civilian security squad led by far-right rapper Yoav Eliasi (“The Shadow”) detained several foreign journalists, separating them from Israeli reporters. The squad, operating under police authority following October 7, reportedly targeted Arab photographers and questioned affiliations with Al Jazeera.
The journalists were later released by Tel Aviv police spokesman Shahar Gamzo upon his arrival. Following a complaint from the journalists’ union, police announced that civilian squads would no longer engage with reporters at such scenes.