Thursday 7 Elul – IDF says 4 of 6 people killed in Gaza cafe strike were Nukhba fighters – Iran reportedly threatens to expand retaliatory attacks to Europe if US restarts war & more…

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Our Mosdos Cannot Carry the Burden Alone

Dear Editor,
I read Akiva Adler’s letter about the state our mosdos are in, and I just had to write in, because he’s said out loud what so many of us have been thinking for a long time.
Baruch Hashem, the community keeps growing, kein ayin hara, more families, more children, more nachas. But our schools aren’t growing at the same pace, not even close. There simply isn’t the space, and there certainly isn’t the money.
We ask an awful lot of our mosdos. Good rebbeim and teachers, salaries paid on time, a proper chinuch for every child who walks through the door — and somehow it’s all meant to happen without anyone quite saying where the money comes from. It doesn’t come from a government fund sitting somewhere waiting to be tapped. It comes, again and again, from the same handful of people who have been carrying this for years.
The £12 million figure Mr Adler quoted stopped me in my tracks. It’s not an abstract number. It’s our own children and our own schools.
I think his idea of the Rabbanim, shlita, putting together some kind of organised communal system is exactly right, and long overdue. If everyone gave something, according to what they can manage, instead of it all falling on so few, this wouldn’t be the crisis it is.
We can’t keep expecting our mosdos to do more and more while so little changes on our end. I hope this letter gets the response it deserves, and doesn’t just get read and forgotten like so many before it.

A Parent Who Fully Agrees.

Iran has considered targeting US military sites or assets in Europe should fighting flare up again.

According to the British news outlet, military assets in Bulgaria or Cyprus could be attacked, significantly expanding the reach of the regime’s retaliatory action, which has focused mainly on the Middle East until now. Both countries have military bases that have been available to US troops and equipment.

During the war that broke out on February 28, Iran managed to shoot a missile at the Diego Garcia air base some 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) away in the southern Indian Ocean, signaling its ability to fire at nearly anywhere in Europe, though analysts say the increased range would come at the cost of a smaller warhead, minimizing potential damage.

Israeli officials have repeatedly warned of the Iranian threat to Europe.

The regime insiders quoted in the report also raised the possibility of damaging fiber-optic cables running under the Strait of Hormuz, which could significantly impair telecommunications.

One is cited saying Iran would have “no limits” on its response should the US attack. “Should the US go too far, Iran will defend itself at any price, go beyond the region and hit Europe too,” they are quoted saying.

The second insider tells the paper that threatened US attacks on infrastructure would trigger the wider response, pointing to an attack on Jordan in which three US servicemembers were killed as proof of Tehran’s targeting capabilities.

“This was also a message to Europe: it can receive missiles, so it should know where it should stand in this war,” they are quoted saying. “A very big mistake, such as hitting our infrastructure, could make the war go beyond the region and reach Europe.”

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Four commanders in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City yesterday, the military announces.

Palestinian media reported that the strike on a cafe near the city’s port killed six — including a child — and wounded 14, including an elderly woman.

The IDF says it was able to confirm that the strike killed four Nukhba Force commanders in Hamas’s Beit Lahia Battalion.

They are named as: Muhammad Hamdi Ahmed al-Masri, a company commander; Samad Samir Harb Abu Jabal, a platoon commander who invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught; Muhammad Attar, a platoon commander; and Muhammad Fathi Hussein Nasser, also a platoon commander.

The military says the operatives were involved in advancing attacks on troops.

“The commanders’ activities posed a threat to IDF troops, and they were therefore eliminated in an aerial strike to remove the threat,” the army adds.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim says today’s IDF strike targeting a Hamas police post in Gaza City was a “brazen message” by Israel.

“It was delivered by fire, but it was not directed at us, but at the Board of Peace and its leadership,” Naim, who is based outside of Gaza, writes.

The Board of Peace has been pushing Israel to refrain from strikes in Gaza that are not against threats deemed imminent. Jerusalem has largely bucked the request, saying in some cases its targets were planning attacks rather than posing an imminent threat.

“This situation is not sustainable,” Naim adds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Wednesday that Israel had already warned Turkey against any military activity in Syria before Israel bombed an airbase that Ankara had been eyeing, while sources told Reuters that the Mossad chief discussed the issue last week with the Syrian foreign minister.

Speaking in a podcast interview a day after Israel struck a military airbase in northwest Syria, Netanyahu said that Israel will not tolerate a Turkish military buildup “that descends south because it threatens us.”

Warning Turkey against such military activity in Syria, Netanyahu simply said “Don’t,” in English.

“The message was conveyed but apparently they didn’t hear it, so we made sure they understood it more clearly,” he added.

Meanwhile, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that Mossad chief Roman Gofman held a phone call last week with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in which they discussed Turkey’s military presence in Syria.

The call, which the sources said took place on August 14, marks one of the highest-level contacts yet between Israel and the new Syrian government since the fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Both Turkey and Syria reacted angrily to the airstrike, which Damascus said caused material damage but no casualties. The strike was also condemned by US Ambassador Tom Barrack, who called it an “unnecessary escalation.”

Condemning the strike, Syria’s foreign ministry said that it “has exercised restraint and worked to consolidate stability and avoid escalation.”

For the UK Jewish Orthodox Community
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Erev Shabbos

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