Hamas Urges Arson as Wildfires Grip Israel on Memorial Day

Debbie Weiss

Israeli security and rescue personnel work near Latrun in central Israel, as wildfires due to extreme heat and winds broke out in central Israel, April 30, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon

As wildfires swept through the Jerusalem hills and a national emergency was declared, Israel on Wednesday observed its annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror with nationwide sirens, official ceremonies, and moments of silence.

Hamas posted a message on Telegram on Wednesday afternoon urging Palestinians in Jerusalem and elsewhere to “burn whatever you can of groves, forests, cars, and settler homes,” to seek “revenge” for Gaza.

At 8 pm on Tuesday evening, a minute-long siren sounded across Israel, signaling the beginning of Yom HaZikaron, which commemorates soldiers killed in battle and victims of terrorism since the state’s founding in 1948. Israelis stopped in their tracks, cars halted on highways, and heads bowed in memory. The scene repeated itself with another siren, this time for two minutes, the following day at 11 am.

Israelis stand for a moment of silence as the memorial siren sounds on Israel’s Memorial Day. Photo: Meir Pavlovsky, OneFamily

As the country paid tribute to the fallen, large brushfires burned through forests and communities west of Jerusalem. Fanned by high winds, the fires led to evacuations in several areas and the temporary closure of Route 1, the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Defense Ministry declared a national emergency and urged the public to avoid military cemeteries. The military was deployed to assist firefighting teams. The blazes come just a week after another in the area consumed nearly 3,000 acres of forest and open land.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of arson, including a 50-year-old resident of Jerusalem’s Umm Tuba neighborhood who was accused of helping ignite the fires near the city. Police said he was caught trying to set fire to vegetation in southern Jerusalem and was apprehended after a short chase. Officers found a lighter, cotton wool, and other flammable materials on him.

Commander of the Jerusalem District Fire and Rescue Services Shmulik Friedman, who ordered the evacuation of six communities in the area, said authorities were possibly facing “the largest wildfire the country has ever seen” that was set to get worse as wind speeds climbed above 60 miles per hour.

Israel’s Transportation Minister Miri Regev canceled the evening’s torch-lighting ceremony, traditionally held at Mount Herzl to open Independence Day, due to the advancing fires. 

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar contacted his counterparts in Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, and Greece to request aerial firefighting assistance. It was not immediately clear whether any of the countries would respond.

At the state ceremony for victims of terror at Mount Herzl, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was met with heckling from protesters calling for his resignation. Cries of “You are the head, you are guilty” and “The hostages are suffering, bring them home now” interrupted his address.

Netanyahu praised the sacrifices of Israeli soldiers who, he said, “smashed the vice of our enemies.”

Referring to the 1948 War of Independence, he added: “The rebirth of Israel, unfortunately, was bought with pain and blood.” Netanyahu also condemned Palestinian incitement, saying, “The children of our enemies drink this poisonous fanaticism with their mother’s milk in kindergartens, in textbooks, in religious classes, in inciting sermons, in religious rulings that call for our destruction. But we will not allow them to destroy us because our life force is stronger than their force of death and destruction.”

President Isaac Herzog also addressed the audience, referencing the hostages held in Gaza and the broader obligations of Israeli society. “Our covenant with those who have died obligates us to support the soldiers of the IDF and all security forces — whether those performing national service, career soldiers, and reservists — and to care for those wounded in terror attacks and Israel’s wars,” he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Photo: Israeli Government Press Office (GPO)

In Jerusalem, more than 1,000 people attended the annual ceremony of OneFamily, Israel’s largest organization supporting terror victims and their families. Among those who spoke were siblings mourning lost brothers. “Being a bereaved twin is walking through this world split in half, knowing that part of your soul is no longer among the living,” said Itamar Weisel, whose twin brother Master Sgt. Elkana Weisel was killed in Gaza in January 2024. Daniel Oren, whose triplet brother Aviel Oren was killed at the Nova music festival during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, also spoke of daily grief and remembrance.

L-R: Daniel Oren, whose triplet brother Aviel Oren, and Itamar Weisel, whose twin brother Master Sgt. Elkana Weisel was killed in Gaza, deliver speeches at the OneFamily memorial ceremony in Jerusalem on the evening of April 29, 2025. Photo: Meir Pavlovsky, OneFamily

An English-language ceremony was held at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem in partnership with the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, attended by former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, UN Ambassador Danny Danon, and other dignitaries. Cohen used the occasion to highlight the Iranian threat, saying it was “not just a strategic challenge, but a moral one.”

Israel “must do everything in its power — diplomatically, politically, and if necessary, operationally — to ensure that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons,” the former spy chief said.

“Just as our fallen stood bravely against danger, so too must we stand resolute against those who threaten the very existence of our nation,” Cohen added. 

Still in Jerusalem, around 3,000 people attended an unusual memorial ceremony for ultra-Orthodox soldiers who served in IDF tracks designated for Haredi recruits. The event occurred amid renewed debate over a law to expand Haredi conscription, which remains a politically divisive issue. While the IDF issued about 10,000 conscription orders to eligible Haredi men over the past year, only 2 percent have reported for service. Extremist factions in the Haredi community have at times staged violent protests against the draft, targeting police and recruiters.

Another annual memorial event that often draws controversy was held in Jaffa, jointly organized by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle – Families Forum, and attended by bereaved Israelis and Palestinians.

In Hurfeish, a Druze village in northern Israel, hundreds gathered at the local military cemetery to remember fallen soldiers from the community. Diana Zoher Rabah, whose father was killed while serving in the Israel Defense Forces in 1994, said, “Every soldier who is killed brings up fresh memories.” Two Druze soldiers from the village, Anwar Serhan and Jawad Amer, were killed during the current war. “We have lived with this pain for 30 years, and I know what they will go through for the next 30 years,” Rabah said.

At the same event, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush addressed recent violence in Syria involving the Druze community. “We will make sure that nobody hurts the Druze in Syria,” he said. More than a dozen people were killed this week in fighting between pro-regime Sunni militias and Druze residents near Damascus. Half of those killed were from the Druze community. Porush also recalled the July attack in Majdal Shams, where 12 Druze children were killed by Hezbollah rockets. 

“The Druze give so much to this nation,” Porush said.

The Druze community has long been recognized for its loyalty to the state, with most serving in the IDF and national service. Sara Bisan, a Druze teenager from the national service told The Algemeiner from Auschwitz on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day last week that “serving the state of Israel is an honor and a privilege.”

At Israeli Summit, Gaza Ceasefire Rejection Sparks Broad Support for Continued Pressure on Hamas

Debbie Weiss

A picture released by the Israeli Army says to show Israeli soldiers conducting operations in a location given as Tel Al-Sultan area, Rafah Governorate, Gaza, in this handout image released April 2, 2025. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer vowed at a policy summit on Monday that Israel would defeat Hamas and bring home the hostages still being held by the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza.

His remarks came amid reports that Israeli officials had formally rejected an Egyptian-brokered proposal for a five-year truce between Israel and Hamas in exchange for the release of 59 hostages still held in Gaza.

“We are going to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities and end its rule in Gaza. We will ensure that Gaza can never again pose a threat to the State of Israel. And we are committed to bringing all our hostages home. These are the goals we have set, and we fully intend to achieve them,” Dermer vowed.

An Israeli senior official was cited earlier in the day as saying that Jerusalem had rebuffed a five-year truce that would see Hamas able to “rearm, recover, and continue its war against the State of Israel with greater intensity.”

The sentiment was echoed by several civil society leaders at the Jewish News Syndicate policy summit in Jerusalem, which brought together largely conservative policymakers, diplomats, academics, and journalists.

“There is absolutely no way that Hamas will give over every piece of its leverage. Even if there is a ceasefire, it will look more like [the one with] Hezbollah, which is not actually a ceasefire,” political commentator Meira Kolatch said, referring to the truce repeatedly violated by the Iran-backed terrorist group.

“The soldiers won’t agree to this,” Kolatch told The Algemeiner.

American influencer and PragerU host Xaviaer DuRousseau warned against “over-negotiating” with a terrorist organization such as Hamas. “Five years is far too long for Hamas to exist. Five days is too long. We need to be much more direct and forceful in doing everything to bring the hostages home and make sure Hamas is wiped off the planet.”

Beyond the Gaza war, a major focus of the gathering was Iran.

In his address at the summit a day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out a framework for countering Iranian nuclear ambitions. Noting strong US-Israel alignment on preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Netanyahu called for a deal that would fully dismantle Iran’s enrichment infrastructure and curb its production of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). 

“A bad deal is worse than no deal,” Netanyahu warned, emphasizing that only the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure would eliminate the threat. 

“The only good deal that works is a deal like the one that was made with Libya that removed all [nuclear] infrastructure,” he said.

Speaking to The Algemeiner, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon expressed skepticism over the Trump administration’s Oman-based talks with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, calling the Iranians “masters of deception.”

Dermer was more diplomatic, telling audience members that he was “confident” that US President Donald Trump would “make a good deal.”

In his address to the gathering, Danon vowed the war against Hamas “will not end with hostages [remaining] in Gaza,” referring to those kidnapped during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Addressing Trump’s decision to nix the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the American ambassador to the UN, Danon said he was “deeply disappointed” but confident that the president would pick a “strong” candidate for the role and also have a hand in appointing a secretary-general who would be more favorable to Israel than the incumbent, António Guterres. 

Danon, who led a delegation of over 30 UN ambassadors to the Hamas-attacked communities of southern Israel as well as to the site of the Nova music festival massacre, said Israel was under “constant attack” at the UN. He pointed to the virulently anti-Israel UN special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, Francesca Albanese, who he said should be barred from entering the US. 

Israeli Ambassador the United Nations Danny Danon. Photo: Debbie Weiss / The Algemeiner

The Israeli envoy also backed Trump’s efforts to weed out antisemitism on US campuses and stop “dangerous outsiders who are not even students but who go on campuses to incite.”

Supporters of Israel should be “as engaged as possible in the fight against antisemitism,” Danon told The Algemeiner. 

As for the war against Hamas, some experts in attendance argued that Israel also has to alter its approach to Egypt, with which Jerusalem has maintained a peace treaty for decades.

Jonathan Conricus, former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Israel’s approach toward Egypt needed urgent reassessment. 

“They hold the keys to the future of Gaza,” Conricus told the Algemeiner, referring to Egypt’s control of the Rafah border crossing, which connects southern Gaza and Egypt.

He criticized Israel’s reliance on diplomatic incentives with its southern neighbor, urging a tougher stance while preserving the peace treaty. 

“We’ve been using way too much carrot, and far less than the necessary stick. They are, in many ways, dictating terms that we should be dictating and that’s very regrettable,” he said. 

“Every moment that they continue to keep the gates closed at Rafah really makes it close to impossible for us to actually defeat Hamas,” he added. 

As for the status of the US-Israel relationship, Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, warned against what he termed the “woke right” of the Republican party. 

“The cancer that has taken over the Democratic Party with the woke progressive left – with Bernie Sanders, AOC, Ilhan Oman, Rashida Talib, and the protesters on college campuses – we’re starting to see the beginning cells of that cancer start to take hold in the Republican Party,” Brooks told the audience.

Speaking later to The Algemeiner, Brooks said the danger came from rising voices within the GOP advocating American disengagement from the world, led by figures like Tucker Carlson. 

“There’s not a lot of foreign policy difference and in some ways economic populist difference between, say, Bernie Sanders on one hand and Tucker Carlson on the other,” he said. 

Extremes on both the right and the left were converging in a form of “neoisolationism” that seeks to “withdraw America’s role in the world and shrink it to just to our borders” and that views Israel as a liability rather than a strategic ally, Brooks said.

“It’s a very dangerous place for the Republican Party and for the country to go,” Brooks said.

On the international scene, the director of UK Lawyers for Israel, Natasha Hausdorff, who joined a legal panel at the event, urged private individuals to take a more active role in advocating for the rule of law and equal treatment for Israel in the international arena, particularly in legal forums. She emphasized that civil society actors are often able to speak and act more freely than the state itself, which is constrained by diplomatic considerations.

“I fundamentally believe that we as civil society have a great deal more to contribute to the legal debate. There is currently a deficiency of Israel demanding its equal rights and demanding the proper application of international law in the international space,” she told The Algemeiner. 

In Israel’s case, Hausdorff said, international law was being weaponized, resulting in “the erosion of legal terminology like apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing, colonialism, occupation.”

Marcus Sheff, CEO of curricula watchdog IMPACT-se, focused on the role of education in combating antisemitism. He cited Elie Wiesel’s assertion that fighting antisemitism must begin with books. 

“Textbooks are uniquely authoritative: they are a key tool in creating the societies of the future that will keep Jews safe,” Sheff told The Algemeiner. “From Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Morocco and Azerbaijan, antisemitism is being eradicated from national school curricula.” He urged Western countries — and even some school districts in the US — to follow the lead of those Muslim states.

Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers

Reuters and Algemeiner Staff

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Holocaust Remembrance Day: Israel Marks Yom HaShoah

HonestReporting Videos