Today, 2.6 million Israeli students returned to the classroom at more than 28,000 schools across the country, with many schools reopening in border communities for the first time since October 7.
Schools in the south saw 9% more students attend school than in September 2023, before the war started. Many have recently returned to their kibbutzim after living in temporary housing over the last three years while the country rebuilt.
"After three years of war, there is no image that expresses our victory more than the children... returning to the classroom, to their friends, and to routine," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said.
In Metula, Israel's northernmost community, which has endured heavy Hezbollah attacks over the last three years, opened its Hanadiv Elementary School for the first time since the war started.
"This is a personal victory for each and every one of the students, and it is also our collective victory. This moment, when they return to the classrooms after everything we've been through, is a historic moment that we will remember for many years to come. This is the true victory: to continue living, learning, building, and dreaming," President Herzog added.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch said, "We are opening the school year with a great sense of responsibility and a clear direction: to strengthen Israeli students’ sense of belonging and resilience and deepen their identity, values and heritage, while at the same time providing them with the knowledge and tools that will enable them to lead and succeed in a rapidly changing world."
Below are more key news updates. Continue to follow our social media channels to stay informed in real-time.
Jake Freedman, AIPAC
Tell Congress: Vote YES on Bill to Counter University Boycotts of Israel
This week, the House is expected to vote on the bipartisan Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, a key piece of legislation to protect pro-Israel students on university campuses. The bill requires universities to certify that they do not engage in non-expressive commercial boycotts of a major strategic partner of the United States, including Israel.
The bill fully protects First Amendment speech and the right of schools, students, and professors to criticize Israel. Universities would simply not be permitted to deny students the ability to study and learn in Israel or from Israeli academics.
TAKE 45 SECONDS: Tell your House member to vote YES on the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act.
Iran launches ballistic missiles at U.S. military in Jordan in response to U.S. strikes, as economic pressure squeezes regime
The attack came in response to U.S. strikes earlier today on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets. The U.S. strikes were themselves a retaliation for IRGC attacks on American assets in the UAE and Jordan yesterday, as well as the IRGC’s continued harassment of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economic pressure on the regime continues to tighten. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday, "Between [Operation Economic Outcast] and the blockade, they are cut off. We are starting to see their elected leadership openly complain about the state of the economy... In my experience with people like this, the main thing they care about is their head staying attached to their neck."
Today, he added, "We have zero tolerance. We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime."
WATCH & SHARE
Israel's Iron Dome: Helping Protect American Troops and Creating American Jobs
IDF captures head of Hamas security; DOJ continues disrupting Hamas' funding sources
The IDF today captured the head of Hamas' internal security apparatus, Mu'in al-Arabid, in a raid in Gaza City, while also carrying out strikes against other Hamas terrorists in the enclave.
"A senior Hamas terrorist was arrested, and this is our policy: We do not wait for threats. Instead, we pursue Hamas terrorists, thwart them, and destroy their terrorist infrastructure. We have built a strong and unprecedented security zone in Gaza to protect residents and IDF soldiers," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Additionally, the IDF eliminated two other Hamas terrorists who had been working to advance terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, in violation of the ceasefire.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said, "These seizures deprive Hamas of resources it relies on to recruit and radicalize individuals online and finance barbaric attacks like the one on October 7, 2023. We will continue to tighten the vise on Hamas’s capacity for terror by infiltrating its online networks, confiscating its cryptocurrency, and shutting down its websites."
Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI's Cyber Division said, "Hamas relied on cryptocurrency and online platforms to solicit funds from donors around the world and move that money outside the formal financial system. The FBI will continue to use its authorities to intercept illicit funds and prevent terrorist organizations from exploiting digital networks to finance their operations."
In Lebanon, the IDF uncovered caches of Hezbollah weapons and combat equipment in the Security Zone, which included guided anti-tank missiles, rocket and missile launchers, grenades, explosive devices, rifles, tactical vests, uniforms, and helmets (photos above).
In addition to the weapons, IDF troops also discovered more Hezbollah infrastructure embedded in civilian buildings.
Op-ed: I Watched the Middle East Bleed for 20 Years — Nobody Cared Until October 7th
Ludovic Hood, a U.S. diplomat who served in the Middle East for 20 years, during which more than two million people were killed in the region, yet no one cared until the world's sole Jewish state responded to the worst attack since the Holocaust.
"Very few Americans cared about the bloodletting in the Middle East… until the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. All of a sudden, students, politicians, and media outlets were seized by the conflict in Gaza – and Israel was at the receiving end of unprecedented and pervasive opprobrium and animosity."
"In Afghanistan, where American servicemen and women were also risking life and limb in the midst of an insurgency, approximately 100,000 civilians were killed in 2006-2011. Another 50,000 died in neighboring Pakistan from conflict and terrorism in the same timeframe. Meanwhile, the concurrent conflict in Darfur, Sudan resulted in over 300,000 dead...in Syria, more than 550,000 people died in that country's civil war... Over 370,000 died as a result of the conflict in Yemen."
"Everything changed on October 7, 2023. People suddenly cared, but it was all about one issue and one issue alone: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Almost out of nowhere, support for the Palestinian people became the cause célèbre for many Americans and Europeans. Within days, college campuses were convulsed by protest and polemic, and large demonstrations became weekly occurrences in many Western cities. Global censure and condemnation of Israel kicked in within hours of October 7 (as did denial of the scale of the massacres and gender-based violence perpetrated by Hamas)."
"One can only deduce that it is Israel’s involvement in certain conflicts that triggers the outrage, the censure, and the hateful rhetoric – when all other conflicts in the same region, regardless of America’s participation or role, draw shrugs. How is Israel different? Is it the fact that it is a mostly Jewish state?... But we are far, far removed from that – so much pro-Palestinian activism these days calls into question Israel's right to exist and seems to side with Hamas and Hezbollah and express sympathy for the regime (not the people) in Tehran."
The mission of AIPAC is to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel.
