The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
Reports: Ukraine won’t allow annual Hasidic pilgrimage to Uman to go ahead next month
Ukraine will not allow the annual pilgrimage of tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews to Uman to go ahead next month due to security concerns caused by the ongoing war with Russia, Hebrew news outlets have reported.
The decision to prevent pilgrims from visiting the grave of Hasidic leader Rabbi Nachman of Breslov over Rosh Hashanah is due in part to a ban on mass gatherings that has been in place across Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the Maariv news outlet reports.
In previous years, Ukraine has strongly advised pilgrims against visiting the area due to safety concerns, but tens of thousands have nevertheless made the journey, entering Ukraine via its shared border with Moldova.
An unnamed Ukrainian official tells i24 that Kyiv is frustrated by Israel’s lack of support in the face of Russia’s threats, and has demanded that Jerusalem provide both financial support and a physical police presence on the ground in Uman in the event that the pilgrimage is allowed to go ahead as planned.
Separately, the news outlet reports that the Moldovan government is also demanding various assurances from Israel before it agrees to allow Hasidic pilgrims from Israel to fly into Moldova and head to Uman from there.
Among its demands are that Israel fund a temporary terminal for the additional flights ferrying pilgrims to and fro, to the tune of eight million shekels; police presence along the route and on the flights; and that it fund any necessary security and logistical equipment.
The report says that Israel has until September 3 to transfer the full funds for the operation to the Moldovan government, or it will not be allowed to proceed.
Hamas confirms death of Mohammed Sinwar, months after Israel said he was killed in a strike
The Hamas terror group confirms the death of its Gaza military chief Mohammed Sinwar, a few months after Israel said it killed him in a strike in May.
Hamas does not provide details on Sinwar’s death but publishes pictures of him along with other group leaders, describing them as “martyrs.”
Mohammad Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of the terror group, who co-masterminded the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and whom Israel had killed in combat a year later.
He became the de facto leader of the terror group following Israel’s killing of Yahya last October.
Israel targeted him in a strike in May of this year, and assessed that he had been killed some weeks later.
Hamas airs previously unseen footage of its slain leaders in new propaganda video
The Hamas terror group has published previously unseen footage of its former leaders, the architects of the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, all of whom have been killed in Israeli operations over the past 22 months.
The video, which is over three minutes in length, opens with a clip of the former head of Hamas’s military wing, Muhammad Deif, talking about Hamas’s fight against the “tyrants” of Israel, with mournful music playing in the background.
The music, a song titled “Master of Martyrs,” continues throughout, as clips of rocket fire on Israel, the October 7 invasion, military parades and various other snippets of Hamas propaganda footage play out on screen.
Among the clips is a brief snippet of what appears to be a meeting between several former Hamas leaders, including Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh; Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yayha Sinwar, and the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, Marwan Issa.
The three men were all killed in IDF operations in 2024, as was Deif.
The video also features what appears to be at least one AI generated image.
French Holocaust memorial defaced with ‘Free Gaza’
A Holocaust memorial in Lyon was defaced with a “Free Gaza” inscription, city officials told AFP yesterday, fueling concerns over an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in France.
In a photo city officials shared with AFP, the inscription appeared to have been scratched into the black marble of a plaque on the monument with a sharp object.
“The vandalism of the Holocaust Memorial in Lyon is an intolerable act. I condemn it and express my full solidarity with memory associations, survivors and their descendants,” the city’s mayor, Gregory Doucet, writes in a statement sent to AFP.
“The perpetrators will be sought and prosecuted. Lyon stands firm against hatred, antisemitism and racism,” Doucet adds.
The monument in central Lyon was inaugurated in January 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.
“The fact that this inscription was made on a Holocaust memorial clearly constitutes an antisemitic act,” a city hall official tells AFP, adding that the municipality had quickly removed the inscription to restore it.
The president of the Holocaust Memorial association, Jean-Olivier Viout, has filed a complaint, according to the city hall.
Antisemitism in France — home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world — has soared following the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught and the outbreak of war in Gaza.