14 Days: Jerusalem attack

The IDF resumed its war against Hamas on December 1 after Hamas violated the ceasefire by firing rockets at Israel. During the seven days of a temporary truce, Hamas freed 105 captives – 81 Israelis, 23 Thais, and a Filipino – while Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners under a deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt. The IDF said on December 11 that since the Hamas attack on October 7, 430 soldiers had been killed – 101 after the ground offensive in Gaza began on October 27.  Recent fatalities included War Cabinet minister and former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot’s son, Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, and nephew,  Maor Cohen Eisenkot, 19.

The presidents of three top colleges in the US – Harvard, MIT, and UPenn – sparked an uproar on December 5 when they refused to accept during congressional hearings that calls for the genocide of the Jewish people  violated campus codes of conduct. While agreeing that antisemitism had become a serious problem on their campuses, they argued that it “depends on the context.”  In response, nine Israeli university presidents said that amid a distressing display of hatred against Jews and Israel, “there is an urgent need for firm leadership on American campuses – leadership that unequivocally declares ‘this far, no further.’ Regrettably, such resolute leadership appears to be lacking at present.”  UPenn president Liz Magill later resigned after intense criticism from donors and alumni.

Henry Kissinger, the first Jewish US secretary of state, who pioneered “shuttle diplomacy” during the Yom Kippur War and played a key role in the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, died at his Connecticut home on November 28 at the age of 100. President Isaac Herzog tweeted, “In our last conversation, in which I congratulated him on his birthday, he told me: ‘Remember, I have always loved and supported Israel, and always will.’” In 2012, then-president Shimon Peres awarded Kissinger the Presidential Medal of Distinction “for his unique contribution to Israel and to peace in the Middle East.”