In 2025, Leo Terrell, serving as senior counsel in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, continued to be a prominent voice addressing antisemitism on college campuses following the surge in incidents reported after Oct. 7, 2023. Drawing on his background as a civil rights attorney and media commentator, Terrell has argued publicly that harassment or intimidation targeting Jewish students can constitute unlawful discrimination. In speeches and media appearances, he has called for rigorous federal enforcement and oversight of universities that receive federal funding, emphasizing their legal obligation to ensure equal protection and a safe learning environment. By framing campus antisemitism as a civil rights issue grounded in federal statute, Terrell's 2025 advocacy has reinforced the principle that protections guaranteed under US law extend fully to Jewish students.

In 2025, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama continued to stand out in Europe as a clear and consistent supporter of Israel and Jewish life at a time of mounting diplomatic pressure. Rama publicly affirmed Israel's right to defend itself following Oct. 7 and resisted efforts across parts of Europe to isolate or delegitimize the Jewish state. His leadership drew on Albania's historic record of protecting Jews during the Holocaust, reinforcing a national tradition of solidarity. In a year when moral clarity was often in short supply, Rama's stance underscored Albania's enduring alignment with Jewish security and sovereignty.

In 2025, Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, continued bringing courtroom muscle to a period when many Jewish students reported feeling unsafe on campus. A veteran civil rights attorney and founder of the Dhillon Law Group, she pushed the argument that antisemitism on campus is not a debate, but outright and unacceptable discrimination in violation of federal law. Dhillon used litigation, public advocacy, and blunt commentary to press institutions to enforce Title VI protections rather than hide behind bureaucratic caution. At a moment when Jewish communities were demanding action over statements, she helped shift the tone from moral outrage to legal accountability — insisting that equal protection applies to Jews, too.

Over the past year, Steve Witkoff transitioned from trusted presidential confidant to one of the most consequential actors shaping US–Israel coordination during wartime and the lives of Israeli hostages in Hamas dungeons. Operating with the full confidence of the Oval Office, Witkoff was dispatched repeatedly to the region to engage Israeli leadership, Gulf intermediaries, and European counterparts amid hostage negotiations and ceasefire diplomacy. He played a central role in maintaining alignment between Washington and Jerusalem during moments of operational tension — particularly as Israel expanded its campaign against Hamas and Iranian-backed militias. For Jewish communal leaders tracking real leverage rather than formal titles, Witkoff's quiet authority and repeated presence at critical moments — perhaps no larger than the negotiations to release Israeli hostages — marked him as a decisive figure for Jews around the world.

No Israeli official spent more time managing the strategic nerve center of the war than Ron Dermer. For most of 2025, Dermer led Israel's most sensitive diplomatic engagements with the United States, including coordination on arms deliveries, red-line negotiations over Rafah, and responses to mounting international legal pressure. He was instrumental in shaping Israel's pushback against the International Criminal Court's actions and in preserving US backing amid growing opposition within Western capitals. Acting simultaneously as strategist, envoy, and political firewall, Dermer became indispensable to Israel's ability to wage war without strategic isolation. He stepped down from his post in November.

Throughout the year, Marco Rubio distinguished himself as one of the most active and substantive pro-Israel voices in American government. He led efforts to block US funding to UN bodies accused of collusion with Hamas, pressed the administration to sanction Iranian oil exports financing Hezbollah, and publicly challenged intelligence agencies that downplayed Iran's role in regional escalation. Rubio also convened multiple briefings with Jewish communal and security leaders, framing the post–Oct. 7 environment as a generational test for the West. His influence lay not just in rhetoric, but in sustained legislative pressure at moments when policy direction remained contested.

Returning to office at a moment of global volatility, Donald Trump spent the past year reasserting American power in a way that profoundly reshaped Israel's strategic environment and restored confidence across much of the Jewish world. From his first months back in the Oval Office, Trump moved decisively to remove ambiguity from US policy — fast-tracking critical weapons deliveries to Israel, restoring full enforcement of sanctions on Iran, and making clear that Washington would not constrain Israel's military campaign against Hamas or Iranian proxies.

Trump publicly and repeatedly rejected efforts to criminalize Israel's leadership through international legal bodies, denouncing the International Criminal Court's actions as an assault on sovereignty and democratic self-defense. He welcomed Israeli officials and Jewish communal leaders to the White House, framed the war as a civilizational struggle between the West and jihadist terror, and reinstated a tone of moral clarity that had been absent from global discourse. For many Jews worldwide, Trump's leadership over the past year represented not merely policy alignment, but a return to unapologetic support for Jewish sovereignty, security, and power.

For Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, 2025 was nothing short of historic — and dizzying. Israel's longest-serving prime minister found himself prosecuting a multi-front war in Gaza, confronting escalating fire from Hezbollah in the north, authorizing strikes tied to Iran's regional network, and navigating relentless international scrutiny, including proceedings at the International Criminal Court. At home, he faced a fractured political landscape and ongoing debate over leadership and accountability in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Abroad, he worked to preserve US backing while resisting mounting pressure to curtail military operations. Few leaders in Israel's history have operated under comparable intensity. Whether viewed as embattled or unyielding, Netanyahu's decisions in 2025 reshaped Israel's strategic posture and left an imprint on Jewish life worldwide that will be debated for years to come.

The leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union and a former chairman of the Bundestag's transatlantic caucus, Friedrich Merz emerged over the past year as one of Israel's most principled defenders in European politics. As Germany grappled with mass protests and a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, Merz forcefully linked support for Israel to Germany's post-Holocaust responsibility, opposed efforts to restrict arms exports to Israel, condemned antisemitic rhetoric at pro-Hamas demonstrations, and pressured the governing coalition to act more decisively against Islamist networks operating inside the country.

Randy Fine, a Florida state legislator who entered the US Congress in April due to a special election, was a visible and persistent presence in public debates over antisemitism and Israel during the past year. Following the Oct. 7 attacks and their aftermath, Fine used his legislative platform and media presence to push for stronger responses to antisemitism in educational institutions and public spaces, while consistently articulating a pro-Israel position in both state-and federal-level policymaking. His sustained engagement ensured that issues of Jewish security and antisemitism remained a central part of American political discourse over the past year.

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso emerged over the past year as one of Europe's most outspoken and effective political defenders of Jewish life and the State of Israel. As antisemitic incidents surged across the continent following Oct. 7, Ayuso ordered heightened security for Jewish schools, synagogues, and communal institutions across the Madrid region, hosted public events affirming solidarity with Israel, condemned cultural and academic boycotts, and openly clashed with Spain's national government over its increasingly hostile posture toward Jerusalem — positioning Madrid as a rare European capital of moral clarity during a year of instability.

During a year of national emergency, Gideon Sa'ar played a deft and critical role in reinforcing political and institutional stability within Israel. He joined emergency decision-making frameworks, supported wartime legislation, and consistently emphasized unity and strategic discipline over partisan maneuvering. Sa'ar was also a prominent voice warning against international attempts to impose outcomes on Israel's security policy. In a period dominated by extremes, his influence lay in anchoring the political system to continuity and state responsibility.

Eyal Zamir, a retired major general and former deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces who was named Israel's next IDF chief of staff during the past year, emerged as a central figure in shaping Israel's military future amid ongoing war. As the conflict exposed gaps in readiness, manpower, and long-term force planning, Zamir became closely associated with efforts to restore deterrence, rebuild ground-force capacity, and prepare the IDF for sustained confrontation with Iranian-backed threats. His appointment signaled a turn toward operational rigor and institutional reform, making him one of the most closely watched figures in Israeli public life and among Jewish communities concerned with Israel’s long-term security.

David Barnea, the director of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, played a decisive behind-the-scenes role throughout the past year as Israel confronted war on multiple fronts. Barnea oversaw intelligence operations related to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas leadership, while also serving as a key figure in indirect hostage negotiations involving regional intermediaries. Rarely visible but widely credited within Israel's security establishment, Barnea's influence was felt in the precision of Israeli actions and the depth of intelligence cooperation with allies, reinforcing Mossad's central role in safeguarding Israeli — and Jewish — security worldwide.

Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, solidified her standing over the past year as one of Israel's most reliable allies among major European leaders. While much of Europe moved toward sharper criticism of Israel's war effort, Meloni consistently affirmed Israel's right to self-defense, visited Israel early in the post-Oct. 7 conflict, and resisted domestic and international pressure to adopt a more adversarial stance. Her government also took a firmer line against antisemitism at home, earning her credibility with Jewish communities in Italy and beyond as a leader willing to translate rhetoric into policy.

Yechiel Leiter, appointed Israel's ambassador to the United States during the past year, assumed his post at one of the most sensitive moments in the history of the bilateral relationship. A longtime policy intellectual and former senior Israeli official, Leiter was tasked with rebuilding consensus around Israel in Washington amid war, campus unrest, and growing polarization. His influence has centered on outreach — to lawmakers, Jewish communal leaders, and opinion shapers — as Israel seeks to defend its strategic aims while preserving its most critical alliance.

Yehuda Kaploun, a Jewish communal leader and businessman with close ties to President Donald Trump, became increasingly visible over the past year as a liaison between the administration and Orthodox Jewish communities. Active in policy discussions touching on religious freedom, antisemitism, and Israel, Kaploun played a role in ensuring that Jewish concerns were represented inside political spaces often distant from organized communal leadership. His influence reflected a broader trend toward informal but trusted intermediaries shaping Jewish engagement with power.

Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, continued over the past year to distinguish himself as one of Israel's most enthusiastic supporters on the global stage. An outspoken admirer of Judaism and a frequent visitor to Jewish religious sites, Milei aligned Argentina firmly with Israel diplomatically, condemned Hamas and Iranian-backed terrorism, and moved his country closer to relocating its embassy to Jerusalem. In a region where Israel often faces hostility, Milei's posture transformed Argentina into an outlier — and made him a figure of genuine symbolic and political importance to Jewish communities worldwide.

Karoline Preisler, a German lawyer and civil-rights activist, emerged over the past year as one of the most visible grassroots defenders of Israel and Jewish life in Germany. Known for repeatedly confronting and legally challenging pro-Hamas demonstrations, Preisler placed herself — often physically — between Jewish communities and hostile protest movements. Her activism, widely circulated on social media and in German press coverage, made her a polarizing figure but also a symbol of individual moral courage at a time when many institutions appeared hesitant to act.

Julie Menin, the Speaker of the New York City Council and former commissioner of consumer affairs, played an outsized role over the past year in shaping municipal responses to antisemitism in America's largest Jewish city. As Jewish New Yorkers faced harassment, protests, and threats in the wake of Oct. 7, Menin pushed for increased security funding, public condemnations of antisemitism, and sustained engagement with Jewish community organizations. Her influence underscored how local government has become a critical frontline for Jewish life in the United States.

Alex Karp, the cofounder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, exerted growing influence over the past year as Israel's war and the global security environment elevated the strategic importance of defense and intelligence technology. A vocal and unapologetic supporter of Israel following Oct. 7, Karp rejected the moral evasions common in Silicon Valley, publicly affirming Palantir's work with democratic governments confronting terrorism. His stance reflected a distinctly Jewish insistence that technological power carries ethical responsibility — and that innovation should ultimately serve human life and collective security.

Michael Eisenberg does not separate capital from conviction. A founding partner of Aleph, the Israeli venture capital firm, Eisenberg has spent years arguing that the Jewish state's startup culture is not an accident of economics but an expression of Jewish values such as responsibility, covenant, and long-term thinking. In 2025, as war tested Israel's economy and morale, he spoke and wrote with urgency about resilience, national purpose, and the moral dimension of markets. Eisenberg invested, advised founders, and articulated a case for building companies in Israel not only as financial bets but as acts of continuity. For him, innovation is not just disruption. It is destiny shaped with discipline.

David Ellison, the founder and CEO of Skydance Media, continued to expand his influence across film, television, and streaming during a year when cultural narratives carried heightened political and moral weight. As the son of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, one of Israel's most prominent supporters, Ellison occupies a rare position at the intersection of media power and Jewish continuity. His growing role in shaping global entertainment underscored how storytelling itself remains a quiet but consequential arena in which Jewish values, identity, and historical memory are contested.

Assaf Rappaport, the cofounder and CEO of cloud security firm Wiz, reinforced Israel's reputation as a global engine of innovation, even amid national trauma. A former officer in Israel's elite cyber intelligence units, Rappaport leads a company devoted to protecting digital infrastructure at a time when cyber vulnerability has real-world human consequences. Over the past year, his leadership symbolized a core aspect of Jewish peoplehood: resilience, service, and the determination to build and safeguard life even under fire.

Josh Kushner, the founder and managing partner of Thrive Capital, remained one of the most influential Jewish investors shaping the future of global technology. Through long-term investments in artificial intelligence, health care, and financial systems, Kushner has helped direct capital toward enterprises intended to improve human welfare at scale. His quiet prominence reflected a longstanding Jewish tradition of stewardship — deploying resources not merely for growth, but for enduring societal benefit.

Scott Rechler, the chairman and CEO of RXR, stood at the intersection of business leadership and civic responsibility during a challenging year for New York's Jewish community. Beyond shaping the physical landscape of the region through real estate and infrastructure, Rechler spoke openly about the obligations of leadership during moments of social strain. His influence reflected the Jewish ethic that building cities and institutions is inseparable from sustaining the communities that inhabit them.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, emerged over the past year as one of the most visible Jewish figures confronting antisemitism in popular culture. Using his expansive platform, Portnoy rejected efforts to marginalize Jewish concerns and insisted on moral clarity following Oct. 7. His influence brought unapologetic Jewish self-defense into spaces far removed from traditional communal leadership, reminding audiences that dignity need not be deferential.

Harley Finkelstein, the president of Shopify, continued to stand out as a Jewish business leader willing to speak openly about identity, values, and responsibility. While guiding one of the world's most influential commerce platforms, Finkelstein addressed antisemitism and Jewish pride directly, resisting the impulse toward corporate silence. His visibility reflected a modern expression of an old idea: that success carries an obligation to serve as an example.

Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, remained one of the most powerful Jewish executives in global business during a year of intense institutional challenge. Raised in part in Israel before building her career in the United States, Porat brings a personal familiarity with Israeli society and security concerns to her leadership at one of the world’s most influential companies. As Google navigated internal unrest, political scrutiny, and debates over technology's responsible use, her role as a steady, disciplined institutional leader underscored the quiet but consequential presence of Israeli-rooted experience at the highest levels of global corporate governance.

Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, distinguished himself over the past year by refusing the venture capital world's customary moral detachment. Speaking forcefully in defense of Israel and against antisemitism, Maguire framed Jewish self-defense as a universal moral issue rather than a parochial one. His outspokenness reflected a belief deeply rooted in Jewish tradition: that silence in the face of injustice is itself a form of complicity.

Daniel Schreiber, the cofounder and CEO of insurance technology company Lemonade, remained a leading example of the London-born entrepreneurial success in the global market. Over the past year, as Israel's tech sector grappled with war-related disruption, Schreiber was visible in discussions about resilience, innovation, and the responsibility of Israeli companies operating internationally. His leadership reflected the continued integration of Israeli entrepreneurship into global business, even amid a profound national crisis.

Robert P. George, Princeton University professor of jurisprudence and one of America's most formidable public intellectuals, brought bracing moral clarity to campuses struggling to confront antisemitism. A scholar of constitutional law and natural law theory, George refused the evasions that too often passed for leadership, arguing plainly that protecting Jewish students is not a political calculation but a moral and legal obligation rooted in equal protection and human dignity. While university presidents parsed language and hedged commitments, George spoke with conviction about courage, institutional responsibility, and the duty to defend truth over intimidation.

In 2025, Eli David, an Israeli computer scientist and entrepreneur specializing in artificial intelligence, emerged as a sharp and technically grounded defender of Israel in the global information arena. As war and online misinformation collided, David used his expertise in data science and machine learning to challenge viral falsehoods and dissect misleading claims circulating about Israel and the conflict. With a large digital following, he translated complex technical issues into accessible arguments, reminding audiences that algorithms shape perception and that truth in the digital age requires active defense. In a year when narratives moved faster than facts, David brought analytical rigor to the battle over public understanding.

Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern is a clinical psychologist and trauma researcher whose work focuses on Traumatic Invalidation in the Jewish community, the psychological harm that can occur when individuals’ experiences of trauma are dismissed or minimized. In the aftermath of October 7, she applied this framework to the Jewish experience, helping to articulate and give language to a phenomenon many Jews were struggling to describe as expressions of grief, fear, and vulnerability were often denied or politicized. Her widely circulated article on this topic helped bring the concept into broader clinical and public discourse and has been used by clinicians, educators, community organizations, and legal professionals seeking evidence-based ways to understand and respond to the psychological impact of antisemitism and identity-based trauma. In addition to her academic work, she has been active in public advocacy, including providing testimony at the state and local level on the mental health impact of antisemitism and the importance of trauma-informed responses in schools and communities. She also serves in a leadership role with Parents for Peace, where she works at the intersection of trauma, prevention, and disengagement from violent extremism, helping develop trauma-informed approaches for families, communities, and professionals.

Eugene Kandel, an economist and former chair of Israel's National Economic Council, contributed in 2025 to high-level discussions about how Israel sustains economic strength during extended conflict. Throughout the year, Kandel analyzed the interaction between military mobilization, labor shortages, government spending, and Israel's innovation-driven growth model, with particular attention to the resilience of the tech sector under wartime conditions. His work helped inform conversations among policymakers, business leaders, and philanthropic donors concerned with Israel's medium- and long-term economic capacity, offering a sober, data-driven counterweight to alarmist or purely political narratives often coming from political opponents of Israel.

Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist and military historian, was one of the most widely read and cited historical commentators in 2025 as Israel's war forced renewed attention on the realities of deterrence, asymmetric conflict, and moral judgment in war. Through a steady stream of essays and interviews, Hanson brought ancient and modern history to bear on contemporary events, explaining why democratic societies repeatedly face the same strategic dilemmas when confronting enemies who reject the laws of war. His work stood out for its clarity and reach, helping large audiences place Israel's actions within enduring patterns of conflict rather than the news cycle of the moment.

Andrew Roberts, the British historian and biographer of wartime leaders, contributed in 2025 to debates over Israel's conflict with Hamas through historically informed commentary on contemporary policy proposals. In a widely read essay defending the historical logic behind President Trump's Gaza plan, Roberts argued that past examples of unprovoked aggression followed by defeat provide important context for understanding the political and territorial consequences of the Oct. 7 attack and Israel's subsequent operations. By linking the current situation to patterns in the Boer War, World War II, and other decisive conflicts, Roberts helped audiences frame modern policy in historical precedent — a lens that resonated with donors and policymakers seeking clarity amid polarized discussion.

Niall Ferguson, a historian known for applying long historical perspective to current geopolitics, played a prominent role in 2025 clarifying how Israel's war fits into a rapidly deteriorating global order. In essays and extended conversations, including a widely read dialogue with Bari Weiss, Ferguson argued that Oct. 7 and its aftermath exposed the weakness of international institutions, the erosion of deterrence, and the reemergence of ideological conflict between liberal democracies and authoritarian or theocratic regimes. He emphasized Iran's central role in coordinating proxy warfare, the strategic vacuum left by inconsistent Western leadership, and the dangers of treating Israel's conflict as isolated rather than as part of a broader confrontation reshaping global security. His work helped donors, policymakers, and informed readers understand that Israel is not a peripheral case — but an early test of how the West responds to sustained, ideologically driven aggression.

Glenn Cohen, the former chief psychologist of the Mossad, became an unexpected but significant voice in 2025 by leading Israel's Hostage Debrief Team, following the release of hundreds of hostages taken on Oct. 7. Drafted into the effort given his expertise in trauma, psychology, and ethical practice, Cohen helped devise and implement protocols for processing, supporting, and debriefing returning hostages — balancing humanitarian care with the collection of life-saving intelligence. His approach, grounded in both ethical rigor and practical care, was covered widely in Jewish and international media and brought sustained attention to what it means to support survivors while upholding moral and legal standards in crisis response.

Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a prominent public intellectual and writer, was especially influential in 2025 for his sustained analysis of Iran's role in the war against Israel and the broader regional realignment it has accelerated. Throughout the year, Sadjadpour's writing and commentary focused on the Islamic Republic's brutal repression of its own citizens, its strategic use of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other proxies, as well as the regime's internal weaknesses and ideological rigidity. By combining close attention to Iranian political culture with real-time geopolitical analysis, his work helped policymakers, journalists, and Jewish audiences better understand not only Tehran's tactics but also the long-term nature of the threat it poses to Israel, regional stability, and its own people.

Einat Wilf, an Israeli author and former member of the Knesset, continued to be a powerful voice in 2025 for sharpening how Israel's advocates think and talk about the conflict. Building on her influential 2024 SAPIR Journal essay that exposed how propaganda twists key terms like "refugee," "return," and "genocide," Wilf spent 2025 turning ideas into action. In December, she launched a new political party called Oz (Hebrew for "strength") and announced her return to Israeli politics after more than a decade away. Her writing appeared in major outlets, and she participated in podcasts and speaking events that brought her razor-sharp analysis to audiences eager for clarity. What makes Wilf special is her journey — she came of age on the Israeli left, deeply committed to peace, but let experience change her mind about what actually drives the conflict. In 2025, she offered Israel's supporters something rare: a thoughtful framework for understanding why this isn't about territory or settlements, but about acceptance of Jewish sovereignty itself. For those searching for intellectual ammunition and moral clarity, Wilf delivered both.

Ben Sasse, who served as president of the University of Florida from early 2023 through mid-2024, brought moral clarity to the national conversation about campus disorder during the height of anti-Israel protests. As encampments spread across American universities, Sasse argued forcefully that institutions could protect free speech while still enforcing reasonable rules on time, place, and manner — and that universities must never negotiate policy with "the smallest, angriest group" simply because it shouts the loudest. His insistence that disruption and intimidation should not become the price of admission to campus debate made UF a model for those seeking principled leadership during a moment of institutional confusion. For many in the Jewish community, Sasse's activity represents a model of moral courage and decency as he defended both order and speech without allowing intimidation or chaos to become the governing principle of campus life. In December, Sasse announced that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

Van Jones, a CNN political commentator and longtime progressive activist, played an unexpected but notable role in 2025 by remaining steadfast in his support of Israel in contrast to much of the left since Oct. 7. In televised segments and social media commentary, Jones acknowledged the moral seriousness of Hamas's atrocities and criticized efforts to excuse or minimize them within activist circles. His willingness to challenge ideological conformity on the left made his interventions significant for Jewish audiences accustomed to uniform hostility in progressive media spaces.

Caroline D'Amore, entrepreneur, media personality, and founder of Pizza Girl, became an unexpectedly visible voice for Jewish solidarity in 2025. Following Oct. 7, D'Amore used her substantial social media platform to speak openly about Israel, antisemitism, and the need for moral clarity in cultural spaces often reluctant to engage. She traveled to Israel during the war, documenting what she saw and sharing it directly with audiences far beyond traditional Jewish or political circles. In industries where silence can be the safer path, D'Amore chose visibility. Her advocacy reflected a new generation of public figures unwilling to outsource Jewish defense to institutions alone, bringing the conversation into mainstream culture.

Haviv Rettig Gur, senior analyst at The Times of Israel, has become one of the most essential interpreters of the Jewish story in an age of noise and distortion. A historian by training and a journalist by craft, Rettig Gur brings deep historical knowledge to contemporary crises, situating Israel's dilemmas within the longer arc of Jewish peoplehood. Yet it is not only his command of facts that distinguishes him. He speaks with uncommon humanity, treating even the most painful subjects with empathy and moral seriousness. At a time of fury and fragmentation, Rettig Gur models something rare: intellectual rigor joined to wisdom, and analysis grounded in love for the Jewish people. He is one of our finest representatives.

Batya Ungar-Sargon, an anchor for NewsNation, was a highly visible media figure in 2025 pushing back against what she argued were elite distortions of Israel's war and the surge in antisemitism in the West. Through widely circulated columns, frequent cable-news appearances, and public debates, she argued that much of the Western discourse erased Jewish vulnerability while excusing or romanticizing violence. Ungar-Sargon consistently framed the issue not only as one of Israel, but as a broader moral failure among cultural and academic elites — an argument that brought Jewish concerns into mainstream political and cultural conversations well beyond Jewish media.

Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and CNN contributor, was a consistently visible presence in 2025 defending Israel during some of the most contentious on-air debates following Oct. 7. Appearing frequently on CNN programs such as CNN NewsNight and State of the Union, Jennings repeatedly pushed back against panelists who framed Israel's military response as disproportionate or divorced from Hamas's actions, pressing instead on the group's use of civilian infrastructure, its stated goals, and the implications of abandoning deterrence. He also challenged what he described as selective outrage in international coverage, arguing that Israel was being judged by standards not applied to other democracies confronting terrorism. While not positioning himself as a policy expert, Jennings’s role was significant precisely because of the forum: he ensured that a clear, unsparing pro-Israel case was made, repeatedly and in real time, on an international network where such arguments were often contested or marginalized.

Nadav Eyal, one of Israel’s most respected journalists and strategic commentators, was a particularly important voice in 2025 for readers seeking serious, unsentimental analysis of Israel’s war and its global implications. Writing columns, delivering lectures, and speaking to international media, Eyal focused on how Israel’s military campaign intersected with diplomatic pressure, internal political strain, and shifting attitudes in the West. He paid close attention to civil–military relations, the endurance of Israeli society under prolonged mobilization, and the risks posed by erosion of trust—both domestically and with key allies. What set Eyal apart over the past year was his ability to speak honestly to Israeli audiences while also translating Israel’s dilemmas to the outside world, offering neither slogans nor reassurance, but clear-eyed analysis rooted in democratic accountability and strategic realism.

Amit Segal, one of Israel’s most influential political analysts, was central in 2025 to explaining how wartime decisions were made inside Israel’s political system. As chief political correspondent for Channel 12, Segal broke and contextualized major developments involving the war cabinet, coalition stability, and tensions between elected officials and the security establishment. His influence extended well beyond Israeli television: through in-depth conversations on Dan Senor’s Call Me Back podcast, Segal walked international audiences through the mechanics of Israeli governance under fire, explaining not just outcomes but processes—who decides, under what constraints, and with which political tradeoffs. Heard alongside figures such as Nadav Eyal on the same platform, Segal provided the institutional and political grounding that complemented Eyal’s broader strategic and international analysis, together offering one of the clearest composite pictures of Israel at war available to non-Israeli listeners.

Sharri Markson, an Australian investigative journalist and primetime television host for Sky News Australia, was one of the most prominent English-language media voices outside the United States covering Israel’s war and its international ramifications in 2025. Through columns, television appearances on Sky News Australia, and investigative reporting, Markson focused on Hamas’s tactics, Iran’s regional strategy, and what she argued were systemic failures of international institutions tasked with addressing terrorism and civilian protection. She paid particular attention to how narratives about Gaza were constructed and disseminated globally, frequently challenging reporting she viewed as omitting Hamas’s role or sanitizing its ideology. In an Australian media environment that became sharply polarized after Oct. 7, Markson’s work helped shape public debate well beyond Australia, reaching Jewish and non-Jewish audiences across the English-speaking world seeking security-focused, fact-driven coverage of the conflict.

Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator and cofounder of The Daily Wire, remained one of the most influential Jewish media figures in 2025, devoting sustained attention to Israel’s war, rising antisemitism, and the ideological currents driving anti-Zionism. Through daily podcasts, long-form discussions, and public appearances, Shapiro examined the moral and strategic dimensions of Israel’s fight against Hamas while also addressing the fractures within the American right. Notably, he held firm against criticism and pressure from segments of the far right that opposed US support for Israel or trafficked in antisemitic tropes, making clear distinctions between conservatism, isolationism, and ethno-nationalism. His willingness to confront extremism on his own flank, while maintaining a large and ideologically diverse audience, underscored his role as a central—and stabilizing—figure in Jewish public life during a volatile year.

Elica Le Bon, an Iranian-American writer and activist, became a standout voice in 2025 for linking Israel’s war to the lived experience of Iranians who have spent decades under the Islamic Republic. Known for sharp, fast-moving commentary on social media and in interviews, Le Bon drew on her background in the Iranian diaspora to explain how the same regime that represses women, jails dissidents, and crushes protest movements at home fuels violence against Israel through Hamas and Hezbollah. She brought humor, cultural fluency, and moral clarity to a conversation often bogged down in jargon—skewering Western activists who romanticize “resistance” while ignoring the realities of life under Tehran’s rule. For many Jewish audiences, her work was refreshing not only for its substance, but for its tone: confident, unsentimental, and grounded in the shared interests of Israelis and Iranians who want the same thing from the future—freedom from the regime that menaces them both.

Eli Sharabi, an Israeli civilian kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks, has become one of the most powerful human faces of the hostage crisis across the world. While held in Gaza, advocacy on Sharabi’s behalf—led by his family and supporters—helped keep sustained international attention on the hostages as individuals rather than statistics. After his release during a hostage exchange, Sharabi’s remarkable story which he has courageously shared with thousands underscored both the brutality of Hamas’s actions and the long-term human cost borne by Israeli families. His experience, widely cited in discussions of the war’s moral stakes, reinforced for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike what was at risk beyond military or diplomatic outcomes: the lives of ordinary people caught in extraordinary violence.

As the discourse over Israel, Judaism, and antisemitism continued to grow louder—and often harsher—in 2025, Mark Penn kept returning the conversation to numbers. A veteran pollster and political strategist, Penn spent the year analyzing how American public opinion on Israel, antisemitism, and the war was actually shifting—often cutting against assumptions held by activists on both sides. Through polling, presentations, and commentary, he highlighted widening generational gaps, the outsized influence of media ecosystems, and the resilience of pro-Israel sentiment among broad swaths of the electorate despite intense campus and online pressure. His work has been closely followed by donors, policymakers, and institutional leaders looking to replace intuition with evidence, and to understand where persuasion remained possible—and where it did not—in a rapidly changing opinion landscape increasingly hostile to Israel.

When the opening notes of Hava Nagila echoed through an international figure-skating arena, it was not a mistake—and it definitely wasn’t subtle. Mark Kondratiuk, a Russian figure skater and European champion, drew global attention in 2025 by performing a competitive program set to the iconic Jewish song, explicitly framing the choice as a statement against antisemitism. At a moment when Jewish symbols were being erased or contested in many public spaces, Kondratiuk’s decision to skate—confidently and joyfully—to one of the most recognizable pieces of Jewish music landed as both unexpected and unmistakable. Widely covered in Jewish and international media, the performance resonated far beyond the rink, demonstrating how cultural expression in sports can cut through politics and speak directly to identity, solidarity, and pride.

Zach Hyman doesn’t talk about Jewish pride quietly—and in 2025, he didn’t skate quietly either. A star forward for the Edmonton Oilers and one of the NHL’s most visible Jewish players, Hyman used his platform throughout the year to speak openly about Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish identity at a time when many athletes chose silence. Following Oct. 7, he posted forcefully on social media, wore Jewish and Israeli symbols publicly, and continued a long-running commitment of donating money for every goal he scores to Jewish and Israeli causes. On the ice, he delivered one of the strongest seasons of his career; off it, he became a rare example of an elite professional athlete willing to absorb criticism rather than mute his identity. For Jewish fans and donors alike, Hyman represented something increasingly uncommon in sports culture: excellence paired with visible, unapologetic peoplehood.

Long after he stopped patrolling third base, Kevin Youkilis remained a visible and unapologetic Jewish presence in American sports culture in 2025. A former Boston Red Sox star and one of the most prominent Jewish players of his era, Youkilis used the year to speak candidly about antisemitism, Jewish identity, and Israel—often pushing back against the expectation that athletes stay silent on anything controversial. Through social media, public appearances, and Jewish communal engagement, he addressed the post–Oct. 7 climate directly, drawing on both his sports platform and his long-standing connection to Jewish and Israeli baseball, including his involvement with Team Israel in recent years. For many Jewish fans, Youkilis represented a familiar and trusted voice: someone who understood mainstream American sports culture from the inside, and who was willing to bring Jewish pride and plainspoken honesty into it when that felt increasingly rare.

After nearly 38 years as one of WFAN's longest-tenured employees, Rabbi Dov Kramer concluded 2025 by retiring from New York's flagship sports radio station, capping a career that made him one of the most prominent Orthodox Jews in American broadcasting. Known affectionately as "Davening Dov," Kramer's departure in December marked the end of an era for a figure who never compromised his Shabbat observance despite working in an industry notorious for demanding weekend availability. Throughout the past year, he continued balancing his executive producer responsibilities—overseeing Yankees broadcasts and the midday show—with his passion for Torah scholarship, publishing weekly divrei Torah in The Jewish Link focusing on geographical nuances in Torah interpretation. "I love that St. John's has principles it stands for, and I am confident that it tries to do right by its students—no matter which background they come from," he once reflected on navigating different worlds. His colleagues praised his impact as both a consummate professional and a visible, principled Orthodox Jew who inspired others in the industry. As one fellow broadcaster noted, "Dov really paved the way for me as an Orthodox Jew in the industry—and especially at WFAN."

AJ Edelman, an Olympic bobsledder who has competed for Israel, continued in 2025 to represent Jewish pride on one of the world’s coldest and least forgiving stages. Edelman has spent years building a winter sports program from scratch in a country with little snow. He recently competed on a global stage at the 2026 Italy Olympics on behalf of the Jewish State. His presence, however, is more than athletic. It is symbolic: an American-born Jew choosing to compete under the Israeli flag, expanding the image of what Israeli athletes look like and where they can excel.

Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, a scholar, educator, and public intellectual within the Orthodox community, brought rare candor and depth to Jewish conversation in 2025. As director of education for NCSY and a widely followed essayist and podcaster, Bashevkin addressed faith, doubt, grief, and identity with intellectual honesty and emotional nuance. In the wake of Oct. 7, his writing and lectures helped young Jews process trauma without flattening complexity, offering language that was both traditional and searching. At a time when communal discourse often hardened into slogans, Bashevkin modeled something braver: Torah learning that makes room for vulnerability, curiosity, and moral seriousness.

Sruly Bornstein and Eli Stefansky represent two powerful expressions of Jewish spiritual leadership in 2025, each using modern platforms to strengthen ancient continuity. Bornstein, an educator and social media figure, became an effective bridge between traditional observance and a broad, often unaffiliated audience, communicating faith, mitzvot, and Jewish pride through short-form videos marked by warmth and emotional intelligence. Jews from a variety of backgrounds across the globe have listened to Bornstein's Daf Yomi ("daily page") classes on the Talmud in record numbers. After Oct. 7, his calls for unity and resilience resonated widely, bringing religious language into digital spaces where Jewish meaning was often absent. At the same time, Jerusalem-based Torah teacher Eli Stefansky, founder of the internationally followed Daf Yomi shiur platform, offered something quieter but no less transformative: daily Talmud study delivered with clarity, accessibility, and heart. As fear and grief rippled across Jewish communities worldwide, Stefansky’s steady cadence of learning anchored tens of thousands in emunah and achdut. Together, they showed that in a year of struggle, Jewish renewal could flow not only from institutions, but from screens, voices, and the daily discipline of connection.

As Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan spoke early and plainly after Oct. 7, calling Hamas's violence what it was and refusing to soften the reality of Jewish suffering. In 2025, he made that commitment unmistakable. He wrote "The Evils of Antisemitism" for The Free Press in March, declaring that "Jew-hatred and Christianity are incompatible" and warning that hatred of Jews is "a grave sin, the work of Satan himself." In September, he organized "Stand Up Sunday" at St. Patrick's Cathedral—a Mass uniting Catholic and Jewish leaders to denounce antisemitism nearly two years after the attacks. Rabbi Joseph Potasnik called him "a great friend" and "an honorary Jew." When Pope Leo XIV accepted Dolan's retirement in December (he'd turned 75 earlier in the year), the American Jewish Committee published a tribute thanking him for always showing up—from Israel trips with hostage families in 2024 to speaking out as antisemitism exploded across New York. From the pulpit to cable news, Dolan made the bond between Jews and Christians something lived, not theoretical.

The billionaire founder and CEO of The Lightstone Group managed over $12 billion in assets across the United States throughout 2024 while simultaneously hosting one of the world's most popular Torah podcasts, "Halacha Headlines." His weekly show, which tackles contemporary halachic questions ranging from artificial intelligence in rabbinic decisors to targeted killings in warfare, featured interviews with prominent rabbanim across the Orthodox spectrum and reached approximately 20,000 regular subscribers. In November 2024, Lichtenstein's real estate firm acquired The Outlet Collection Seattle for $82 million, continuing his aggressive expansion into retail and hospitality sectors. Yet even as he orchestrated complex business deals, the Mir Yeshiva alumnus continued producing his multi-volume "Mishna Acharona" series on the Mishna Berura, earning approbations from leading poskim including Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. "In an increasingly polarized and politicized world, R' Dovid Lichtenstein's consistent coverage of the Headlines of our day from the perspective of Torah, halacha, faith, and values is not only refreshing and informative but critical," noted Rabbi Efrem Goldberg. His ability to bridge the worlds of high finance and intensive Torah learning has made him a unique figure in American Orthodox life.

The eleventh Chief Rabbi since the office was established in 1704 led British Jewry through one of its darkest years. In March 2025, he withdrew from an Israeli conference on combating antisemitism after far-right European politicians were invited, demonstrating his commitment to principled advocacy over political convenience. On October 2, just after Yom Kippur services began in Manchester, a terrorist drove into worshippers at Heaton Park Synagogue and began stabbing people, resulting in the death of two men—Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz—and injuring three others. When a massacre at a Bondi Beach Chanukah party killed 15 people in December, Mirvis flew to Sydney and addressed thousands at Central Synagogue, urging Australian Jews not to let their enemies define them. "Our hearts are broken into pieces, but we're standing tall," he said, adding that "nothing will ever stop us from occupying a public place to declare to the world that Jews are a blessing for all of humankind."

The Rosh Kehilla of Manhattan's Downtown Minyan continued her rise in 2025 as one of American Jewish life's most compelling voices. Building on the foundation established in 2024 when the Maimonides Fund named her an inaugural Scholar in Residence, Bitton spent 2025 deepening her research on "the Surge"—the phenomenon of renewed Jewish engagement sweeping North America since October 7. Her "Wondering Jews" podcast with Noam Weissman grew into a weekly destination for tens of thousands seeking conversations that blend intellectual rigor with warmth and humor, tackling everything from antisemitism to Shabbat to the emotional complexities of loving Israel while living in the diaspora. She spoke at major Jewish gatherings, continued her groundbreaking sociological research on Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in America, and through her "Committed" Substack newsletter offered weekly Torah wisdom for navigating Jewish life in this transformed moment.

In January 2025, Israeli President Isaac Herzog joined over 600 congregants to celebrate the grand opening of Manhattan's Altneu Synagogue in the historic $34.5 million Thomas Lamont mansion on East 70th Street—a stunning milestone for one of American Orthodoxy's most dynamic young leadership teams. What the couple launched informally in late 2021 had grown to more than 550 member families by early 2025, with nearly 40 percent under age 36, defying national trends of declining synagogue membership among young Jews. "Post-October 7, there are those giving towards fighting antisemitism and looking outward," Avital, a prominent journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and The Atlantic, told eJewishPhilanthropy in June 2024. "Now is also a time to focus inward... building sustainable, creative, innovative, forward-thinking communities that are not shells of themselves but real and vibrant."

Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky has become one of the most dynamic institutional leaders in global Jewish life. As executive director of Merkos 302, the umbrella organization supporting Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries worldwide, he works at the nerve center of a network that reaches Jews in more than 100 countries. In 2024, as Jewish communities faced isolation, fear, and rising antisemitism, Kotlarsky helped mobilize resources, strengthen campus outreach, and expand digital engagement to ensure no Jewish community felt alone. His leadership blends strategy with urgency, reflecting Chabad’s core conviction that every Jew matters.

The Piano Man's embrace of his Jewish identity took center stage in 2025 with the release of HBO's two-part documentary "And So It Goes," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June and aired in July. The film traced his father Helmut's escape from Nazi Germany at age 10 and revealed that his grandfather's textile factory was repurposed by the Nazis to manufacture striped concentration camp uniforms. "No matter what, I will always be a Jew," Joel declared in the documentary, addressing his decision to wear a yellow Star of David at Madison Square Garden in 2017 following Charlottesville. Though the 76-year-old artist was forced to cancel all concerts in May after being diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, he surprised fans with a brief two-song performance in Florida on January 2, 2026. The documentary sparked conversations about Jewish identity, intergenerational trauma, and standing against antisemitism in contemporary America.

The Nova festival survivor turned trauma into triumph on the world stage. After hiding for eight hours under dead bodies in a roadside bomb shelter on October 7, 2023, 24-year-old Raphael won Israel's "HaKokhav HaBa" competition and represented Israel at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. Despite facing boos, protests, and throat-slitting gestures from demonstrators, she finished second overall and won the televote with 297 points—more than any other country. "Thank you, Europe! Am Yisrael chai!" she declared after her performance. In a year when European broadcasters lobbied to ban Israel from the contest entirely, Raphael's voice couldn't be silenced. She dedicated her earlier performance of "Dancing Queen" to "all the angels" murdered at Nova. In October, she released her debut EP 22:22, described as a deeply personal project reflecting themes of inner peace and emotional recovery.

In 2025, Olivia Ostrow showed that influence does not require a podium. The Miami restaurateur used her business not only to serve meals, but to serve community at a time when many Jewish spaces felt exposed. Following Oct. 7, she was open about her support for Israel and unafraid to make her restaurant a visible gathering place for Jewish patrons seeking connection and normalcy. In a hospitality industry where neutrality can feel safer, Ostrow chose presence. Her contribution was not loud or ideological. It was practical and human: keeping the lights on, the doors open, and a sense of belonging intact when it mattered most.

The heavy metal singer with the earthshaking baritone has become one of Israel's loudest voices in the music industry. Throughout 2025, Draiman used his massive social media following to share pro-Israel content relentlessly. At a Florida concert the previous year, a young fan gave him a bracelet reading "Am Yisrael Chai"—and Draiman, who deliberately keeps politics out of his shows, broke down on stage. "I refuse to back down," he told The Jewish Chronicle. "I will not give in to these monsters and these terrorists who wish to bully us into subjugation.”

Brooklyn-based rapper Kosha Dillz—born Rami Even-Esh—kept his foot on the gas in 2025, refusing to let up on his unapologetically loud Jewish activism. In March, he curated the eighth annual Oy Vey! Showcase at SXSW in Austin, bringing together Jewish and cross-cultural artists at a moment when antisemitism was spiking across America. He released a documentary, Bring the Family Home, chronicling his visits to college campuses where he performed, debated, and engaged anti-Israel protesters with freestyle rap and street-level dialogue. The film captured him at encampments from DePaul to UC Berkeley, enduring bullhorns and pageantry while searching for common ground. He continued making multiple trips to Israel, headlining packed Tel Aviv clubs and documenting everything from Western Wall visits to anti-government protests. Wearing his signature Star of David pendant alongside a topographical map of Israel, Kosha Dillz spent 2025 proving that being loud about being Jewish isn't just activism—it's a full-time lifestyle built on beats, bravery, and an unshakeable refusal to stay quiet.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet kept hammering at American Jewish complacency in 2025. In May, he published a blistering essay in the Jewish Journal warning Jewish parents against sending their children to Ivy League schools that tolerate antisemitism, calling it "an act of sacrifice" akin to Warsaw Jews surrendering their guns. In December, writing for UnHerd around Chanukah, the 77-year-old recalled being frisked at Sydney's Great Synagogue and delivered his trademark bluntness: "Jew Hatred isn't caused by Jews...It's not a hatred of Jews, but a love of hatred." The iconoclast behind "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "The Untouchables" continued his pattern of showing up when the chips are down—having previously visited Israel during conflicts in 2002, 2014, and 2024. His message remained consistent: American Jews traded the Torah for The New York Times, and denial won't save them from those who hate them anyway.

Wendy Sachs is the director and executive producer of OCTOBER 8, a documentary about the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses, on social media and in the streets of America in the aftermath of Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The film, released theatrically across America in March of 2025, was the number one documentary at the box office in its second week and has distribution in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Latin America, Greece, Germany and Israel. Wendy is also an Emmy-award winning network news television producer (NBC, CNN, FOX), writer, author and speaker. She co-directed and produced Surge, a feature documentary about the record number of first-time female candidates who ran, won and flipped their red districts to blue in the historic 2018 midterm elections. Wendy is also a former Capitol Hill press secretary, media relations executive, and the author of two critically acclaimed books about women and careers, "Fearless and Free" and "How She Really Does It." She has appeared on dozens of radio segments, TV shows and podcasts, including CNN, CNN International, FOX, MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Dan Senor's "Call Me Back," "Donny Deutsch's "On Brand," NBC's "Today," and ABC's "Good Morning America.”

The Jerusalem-born actress cemented her status as Israeli television's breakout international star during 2024-2025, navigating both the global spotlight and geopolitical tension surrounding her flagship series Tehran. Season three of the Apple TV+ espionage thriller—featuring Hugh Laurie and delayed from its planned April 2024 release due to the Gaza war and Iran-Israel conflict—finally premiered on Kan 11 in December 2024 and globally on Apple TV+ in January 2026, with Sultan reprising her Emmy-nominated role as Mossad hacker-agent Tamar Rabinyan. The series earned the 2021 International Emmy for Best Drama, making it the first Israeli series to win the award. Sultan sparked controversy in July 2024 when she posted a winking video following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, underscoring the show's uncomfortably close mirror to reality.

The Orthodox former corporate lawyer who became an unexpected choice to lead America's largest Jewish federation announced in July 2025 he will step down June 30, 2026, after 12 transformative years. Under Goldstein's leadership, UJA distributed $336 million in grants for 2025 alone, including $134 million for Israel following October 7. In May 2025, he championed creation of the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, the first such municipal office in the nation. "In 2014, UJA did not have a single line item in its budget for confronting domestic antisemitism," he noted. "Today, UJA is leading the charge." He steered the organization through COVID-19, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and surging domestic antisemitism following Charlottesville and Pittsburgh's Tree of Life massacre. President Linda Mirels and board chair Marc Rowan called him a "once-in-a-generation leader" whose "deep understanding of Jewish tradition—his Yiddishkeit—and sensitivity to the diversity of Jewish life enabled him to lead with authenticity and clarity."

New York City's second Black mayor made combating antisemitism central to his administration during 2024-2025, defying political pressure as Jewish hate crimes surged to 62 percent of all bias incidents citywide in early 2025—the highest concentration against any community. In May 2025, Adams established the nation's first municipal Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism led by Rabbi Moshe Davis. He signed multiple executive orders recognizing the IHRA definition of antisemitism, banned city participation in BDS, and published a comprehensive December 2025 antisemitism report as his "blueprint for 2026" before leaving office in January 2026. "Antisemitism is an attack not only on Jewish New Yorkers, but on the very idea of New York City," Adams declared. The longtime friend of the Jewish community—who once moved his mayoral inauguration to avoid Shabbat—filled senior administration roles with Jewish leaders including NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Adams called NYC "the Tel Aviv of America" while navigating criticism from progressives over his Jewish Advisory Council's Orthodox composition and from prosecutors over corruption charges.

The 43-year-old Muslim fruit vendor and father of two became an international symbol of courage when he wrestled a rifle from a terrorist's hands during a December 2025 attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach, saving countless Jewish lives. Al-Ahmed was shot and wounded during the confrontation but disarmed one gunman alongside Israeli Gefen Bitton. "Ahmed knew they were Jews. He wanted to save their lives and would do it again," his lawyer Sam Issa stated. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Australian PM Anthony Albanese hailed him as a hero. At a memorial one week later, al-Ahmed sent a message: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Today, I stand with you, my brothers and sisters." The Jerusalem Post called for Israel to award him the Genesis Prize—a $1 million annual honor dubbed the "Jewish Nobel Prize" recognizing exceptional individuals who inspire through achievement, commitment to Jewish values, and contributions to humanity. His act sparked global conversation about humanity transcending religious boundaries amid rising antisemitism.

Australia's former Treasurer and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party—whose Hungarian Jewish mother survived the Holocaust—became a defining voice against Australian antisemitism in the wake of the December 2025 Bondi Beach massacre that killed 15 Jews celebrating Chanukah. His May 2024 Sky News documentary "Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism," featuring interviews with Prime Ministers across the political spectrum, had warned of exactly this trajectory: Jewish families living in fear, businesses vandalized, and Holocaust survivors seeing 1930s Germany "repeated in Australia." When two gunmen opened fire on the "Chanukah by the Sea" celebration at Bondi Beach—killing a 10-year-old, a Holocaust survivor, and Rabbi Eli Schlanger among others—Frydenberg's documentary became tragically prophetic. Now chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia/New Zealand after losing his Melbourne seat in 2022, he spoke at a February antisemitism summit declaring: "This is Australia's fight...a fight that we all must and will win."

The 48th NYPD Commissioner made history as only the second woman to lead America's largest police department when Mayor Eric Adams appointed her in November 2024, taking the helm as antisemitic hate crimes reached 62% of all bias incidents citywide. The Harvard-educated daughter of the prominent Tisch family came to the role from leading NYC's Sanitation Department. Her 17-year city career began in 2008 in the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau post-9/11, shaping security infrastructure to protect New York's Jewish community—the largest outside Israel. As Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology, she equipped every officer with smartphones and body cameras, modernized 911 dispatching, and built the Domain Awareness System crucial to protecting synagogues and Jewish institutions. Under her leadership through late 2025, NYC saw the fewest shooting incidents in recorded history while she worked closely with Mayor Adams' newly created Office to Combat Antisemitism. In November 2025, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Tisch would remain commissioner, ensuring continuity in protecting Jewish New Yorkers during an unprecedented surge in antisemitism. Her family's long history of New York Jewish philanthropy continues through her commitment to safeguarding the community.

The 25-year-old former hostage became the face of Hamas's systematic sexual violence when she gave her first public interview weeks after her January 2025 release. Kidnapped at 23 from the Nova music festival after being shot in the arm, Gonen endured 471 days of captivity including repeated sexual assaults by four different men. Hamas Gaza commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad used her and fellow hostage Emily Damari as human shields for 35 days after offering Gonen early release if she stayed silent about her abuse. She lost 22 pounds and suffered severe electrolyte depletion that put her in daily mortal danger. Gonen waited to speak publicly until all living hostages were free so they wouldn't be punished for her testimony—courageous truth-telling that Israeli President Herzog called "heartbreaking" evidence of Hamas's systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Mark Goldfeder is a law professor, communal leader, and one of the most consequential Jewish legal activists of the past year, reshaping how antisemitism is confronted in courts, on campuses, and in public institutions. As the founder and CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a professor at Touro Law Center, Goldfeder has been at the forefront of translating Jewish communal concerns into actionable legal strategy. Over the past year, his work has focused on civil rights enforcement, campus accountability, and challenging institutions that tolerate or enable antisemitic harassment under the guise of politics or speech. Goldfeder’s influence lies in his insistence that Jewish safety and dignity are not matters of public relations, but of law—rights to be asserted, defended, and enforced. In an era when many Jewish organizations have struggled to adapt to a more hostile environment, Goldfeder has helped shift the community from protest to prosecution, redefining what effective Jewish activism looks like.

Dr. Esi Sharon-Sagie, director of the Oral Rehabilitation graduate program at the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, became one of the quiet heroes of Israel’s darkest year. A longtime volunteer forensic odontologist with the Israel Police, she led efforts to identify victims of the Oct. 7 massacre when only dental records could restore their names. In October 2024, her expertise confirmed the death of Yahya Sinwar, one of Israel’s most notorious enemies, based on dental and imaging evidence even before DNA results were finalized. Through precision, discipline, and compassion, Sharon-Sagie transformed science into dignity, giving families certainty and helping close one of the war’s most consequential chapters.

The Moroccan Muslim scholar championing Jewish-Arab coexistence emerged as a distinctive voice in 2024-2025, bridging her native Morocco's centuries-old Jewish-Muslim harmony with contemporary Israeli-Arab relations. As research fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, Riboua specialized in researching Jewish identity in Morocco, Moroccan-Israeli relations, and cultural impacts of the Abraham Accords while at Georgetown University's Center for Jewish Civilization. Her Atlantic Council essay "Morocco is building bridges to connect its youth with its Moroccan Jewish cultural heritage" explained how the Abraham Accords strengthened ties between Morocco and its diaspora Jewish community, particularly the one million Jews of Moroccan origin in Israel. "Israel and Morocco share what is impossible to develop out of nothing: the link between the two states through history, culture, and people," she wrote, noting Morocco maintains the Arab world's largest Jewish community with 3,000 citizens.

The Wharton-educated former Goldman Sachs trader and tech executive emerged as one of the most viral Jewish conservative voices in 2024-2025, amassing millions of views across Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter since launching in late 2023. Her unapologetically pro-Israel content—published in Federalist, Blaze, and Tablet—gained particular traction following October 7, combating campus antisemitism and defending Israel's military response. "Fighting for Jewish independence and resisting attempts to chip away at our peoplehood—now that is the meaning of Hanukkah," she wrote in Tablet Magazine. The New York-raised influencer brought a new relatability and credibility to conservative commentary, earning reactions from Ben Shapiro and features in Vanity Fair. Her 2020 viral #JewishPrivilege thread catalogued antisemitism's millennia-long history: "It is the massacres of 1066 in Granada... It is contracts prohibiting the sale of homes... It is being told 'you don't look Jewish' and being expected to take it as a compliment."

The Free Press reporter spent 2025 doing journalism most outlets wouldn't touch. She read all 16,000 of NYC socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's tweets, profiled Jewish parents navigating dinners with their pro-Mamdani kids, and interviewed Venezuelan New Yorkers appalled by Mamdani's defense of Maduro. Her August Gaza investigation with Tanya Lukyanova dared to ask questions much of the mainstream media ignored: examining pre-existing health conditions in Gazan children to understand what portion of malnutrition predated the war—a story that challenged the dominant narrative but earned fierce pushback for its inconvenient complexity. In December, she was reporting from Tel Aviv when a rocket struck near her hotel during a Hezbollah barrage, tweeting a photo of the Iron Dome interception with characteristic deadpan: "Normal Tuesday." One of Bari Weiss's first full-time hires when Common Sense became The Free Press, the Columbia Journalism School graduate and former podcast producer brings audio storytelling instincts to written journalism and doesn't try to fit any mold.

Ella Waweya, a Muslim Arab officer who concealed her IDF service from her family for 18 months, has become one of Israel’s most powerful communicators to the Arab world. Appointed the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson in February 2026, “Captain Ella” succeeded Col. Avichay Adraee after his two-decade tenure and was promoted to lieutenant colonel—making her the highest-ranking Muslim officer in Israeli military history. Born in the Arab town of Qalansawe, the 36-year-old volunteered for service in 2013. During the Gaza and Lebanon wars of 2024–2025, Waweya emerged as a commanding digital presence—amassing more than 500,000 followers on TikTok and 170,000 on X—explaining IDF operations in fluent Arabic and Islamic terms. “Muhammad’s edict before war was not to kill a man, woman, or animal—Hamas leadership is the exact opposite,” she has said. Her mission, she explains, is to “change the image in Arab society and show the togetherness of the State of Israel.”

Mariam Wahba is a Coptic Christian activist and public commentator who emerged over the past year as a strikingly independent voice in conversations about identity, minority rights, and coexistence in Israel. Speaking from her lived experience as a Christian Coptic woman, Wahba has challenged prevailing narratives that flatten society into a single political or ideological position, insisting instead on complexity, agency, and civic responsibility. Through social media and public appearances, she has articulated a vision of shared citizenship that rejects both Islamist extremism and external romanticization of conflict, positioning herself as part of a small but growing cohort of voices willing to speak honestly across communal lines.

Noa Takahashi is an Israeli social-media influencer and fashion creator known for her unique Japanese-Israeli identity, colorful fashion aesthetic, and lifestyle content.

The Jewish educator with hundreds of thousands of social media followers did what few others dare: create genuine dialogue across Israel's explosive divides. Known as @that_semite on Instagram and TikTok, Danzig—whose family lived in Jerusalem's Old Yishuv for nine generations—served in Israel's Border Patrol in the Old City working daily with Palestinians alongside Muslim, Jewish, Druze, Christian, and Bedouin officers. This frontline experience shaped his 2024-2025 work as digital educator for Jewish Unpacked, creating content confronting Israel's hardest questions. In August 2025, he discussed settler violence and the Hilltop Youth in Unpacked's explosive podcast series on West Bank complexities. Speaking Hebrew, English, Arabic, Yiddish, and Guyanese Creole, he uses language as the ultimate bridge-building tool. His grandfather "spoke Hebrew, Palestinian Arabic and Palestinian Yiddish... I watched him move seamlessly between Jewish and Arab worlds in Jerusalem and Jaffa." Through five-day speaking tours at Jewish communities nationwide, Danzig asks what coexistence actually requires: not avoiding hard conversations, but diving into them with empathy, nuance, and unflinching honesty about Israel's remarkable—and remarkably fraught—diversity.

The voice of American Orthodoxy fell silent on October 14, 2025, when Rabbi Moshe Hauer passed away at 60 after suffering a heart attack. As executive vice president of the Orthodox Union since 2020, Rabbi Hauer shepherded the largest Orthodox Jewish organization in North America through some of its most turbulent years. Born in Montreal, Canada and raised in Baltimore, he studied at Ner Israel Rabbinical College before leading Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion in Baltimore for two decades. But it was his leadership after October 7 that defined his final chapter. Rabbi Hauer guided the OU's response to the Nova music festival massacre with moral clarity, speaking truth when others equivocated. He championed Jewish day school education, understanding it as the bedrock of Jewish continuity in an increasingly hostile world. In 2024, as antisemitism surged on college campuses, he worked tirelessly to ensure Orthodox voices weren't drowned out by those who would compromise Jewish values for acceptance. His colleagues remembered him as someone who brought "wisdom, warmth, and unwavering dedication" to every challenge. Rabbi Hauer's legacy lives in the thousands of families he counseled, the communities he strengthened.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger, of Blessed Memory, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi in Sydney, was murdered on December 14, 2025, when two gunmen opened fire on the "Chanukah by the Sea" celebration he had organized at Bondi Beach. He was 41 years old, a father of five children including a two-month-old son. Born in England and ordained at the central Lubavitch yeshiva in Crown Heights, Schlanger had served Sydney's Jewish community for 18 years. Throughout 2024, as synagogues burned and Jewish homes were vandalized across Australia, he refused to retreat. When asked how Jews should respond to rising hatred, his answer was defiant: "Be more Jewish, act more Jewish and appear more Jewish." Just weeks before his murder, he had written to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, pleading with him to stand with Israel. Approximately 2,000 people had gathered for the menorah lighting when the gunfire erupted. Fifteen people were killed, including a 10-year-old girl and Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who died shielding his wife. The day after the attack, 1,000 people put on tefillin at Bondi Beach in his honor.

Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old. The co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, Kirk had transformed his organization from a small campus group into one of the most influential conservative youth movements in America, playing a crucial role in galvanizing young voters for Donald Trump. Throughout 2024 and into 2025, Kirk positioned himself as a vocal defender of Israel and the Jewish people, even as he faced accusations of antisemitism from some quarters. During the 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protests, he urged Republican crackdowns and repeatedly stated that antisemitism was "a lie from the pit of Hell." In July 2025, he warned his followers that "Jew hate has no place in civil society. It rots the brain, reject it." Kirk had visited Jerusalem in 2019, telling an audience that he had defended Israel his whole life, and in August 2025 declared he had "a bulletproof resumé showing my defense of Israel." In his final months, Kirk had begun observing the Jewish Sabbath, turning off his phone from Friday evening to Saturday night. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him two weeks before his death to invite him to Israel, describing him after his assassination as "a lion-hearted friend of Israel" who "fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization." Israel posthumously honored Kirk with an award for combating antisemitism at a conference in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two young children.

Norman Podhoretz, one of American Jewry's most consequential public intellectuals, died on December 7, 2025, at age 95. For 35 years, he transformed Commentary magazine from a sleepy Jewish quarterly into the intellectual engine room of the conservative movement, championing Israel when it was unfashionable and defending Jewish interests without apology. The son of Jewish immigrants from Galicia, he grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and rose through Columbia and Cambridge on the strength of his formidable mind. His political evolution from 1960s liberal to Reagan-era hawk made him both lightning rod and legend. In his 1980 essay "The Abandonment of Israel," he excoriated American Jews for failing to defend the Jewish state with the passion they brought to other progressive causes. Throughout 2024, even in his final year, his writings remained prophetic as a new generation grappled with the same questions he'd asked decades earlier. He is survived by his wife, writer Midge Decter, their four children, and a body of work that will frame Jewish conservative thought for generations.

Sergeant Ran Gvili was 23 years old when Hamas terrorists murdered him as he defended Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, and abducted his body to Gaza. The kibbutz-born soldier with a warm smile and love for music was declared killed in captivity on January 8, 2024, but his body has never been returned. Throughout 2024, as other hostages were recovered—some alive, most dead—his family endured the unique agony of knowing he was gone but unable to bring him home for burial. His parents, Adi and Eitan, became fixtures at hostage square rallies, holding photos of their son and demanding that Prime Minister Netanyahu prioritize the return of all bodies. His girlfriend, Nofar, wore his dog tags and spoke about the future they'd planned—marriage, children, a life that Hamas stole. His friends remembered him as someone who brought light to every room, a soldier who believed in protecting his country but never imagined he'd need protecting himself. Until his body returns, the wound of October 7 cannot begin to heal.

The Blackstone executive made headlines in May 2025 with a historic $125 million donation to Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences—the largest gift ever to the institution. Gray and his wife Mindy, through the Gray Foundation, dedicated the funds to address Israel's physician shortage, modernize medical education, and establish the "Hope Tower" with new dormitories, classrooms, and research facilities. "On my tombstone, it won't say 'generated high net returns,'" Gray told Israeli media. "We remain committed to trying to figure out how we can have an impact and make a difference." The donation focuses on BRCA-related cancers disproportionately affecting Ashkenazi Jews, following Mindy's sister's death from ovarian cancer at 44. Gray previously gave $100 million to BRCA research. Since launching their foundation, the couple has given over $350 million supporting low-income NYC youth education, healthcare access, and Jewish causes including substantial support to UJA-Federation of New York. The gift sparked hope for a wave of post-October 7 philanthropic giving to Israel.

Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, remains one of the most consequential philanthropists shaping Jewish life and global civil society through scale, discipline, and long-term vision. Through the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Dell has committed tens of billions of dollars to improving education, healthcare access, and economic mobility, treating philanthropy not as charity but as a systems-level intervention. Over the past year, as antisemitism surged and Jewish institutions faced renewed pressure, Dell’s support for communal resilience, education, and leadership development has taken on heightened significance. His approach reflects a distinctly Jewish ethic of responsibility: building institutions strong enough to endure beyond crisis moments. Dell’s influence lies not in visibility but in capacity—strengthening the infrastructure that allows communities to flourish with dignity and self-reliance.

Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global and a central figure in American media, has long paired cultural influence with sustained philanthropic engagement in Jewish life and democratic leadership. Through the Redstone Family Foundation, she has supported Jewish education, leadership training, and initiatives confronting antisemitism and civic erosion. In a year marked by intensified cultural polarization and pressure on Jewish public figures, Redstone’s philanthropy reflected a belief that Jewish continuity depends not only on remembrance, but on confidence, moral clarity, and engagement with the broader society. Her giving consistently bridges Jewish particularism and universal democratic values, reinforcing the idea that Jewish philanthropy can—and must—operate comfortably in both spheres at once.

Shmuel and Anat Harlap are Israeli philanthropists whose work has focused on strengthening education, Jewish identity, and civic responsibility within Israel itself. Long committed to investing in learning institutions and community-based initiatives, the Harlaps have emphasized depth over breadth—supporting programs that cultivate leadership, service, and social cohesion during a period of prolonged national strain. Over the past year, as Israeli society faced war, loss, and internal tension, their philanthropy reflected a deeply Israeli conception of giving: rooted in shared fate, mutual obligation, and the belief that national resilience begins with values education. Their influence is felt less through headlines than through the durability of the institutions and people they support.

Dan Och, the founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management, has continued to exert quiet but meaningful influence through philanthropy centered on Jewish life, education, and global humanitarian engagement. Through his foundation, Och has supported Jewish learning institutions, leadership initiatives, and organizations promoting ethical responsibility and pluralism, while also contributing to international relief and development efforts. His philanthropic posture reflects a measured, long-term approach—prioritizing institutional strength and intellectual seriousness over visibility. In a moment when Jewish philanthropy is increasingly called upon to defend both communal security and moral purpose, Och’s sustained commitment underscores the role of thoughtful, values-driven giving in shaping resilient communities.