Saudi Arabia said to have launched covert strikes on Iran during war
(JNS) — Saudi Arabia launched covert retaliatory attacks against Iran during the recent Middle East war, Reuters reported on May 12, citing two Western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials.
The attacks by the Royal Saudi Air Force are reportedly the first time that Riyadh has targeted the Islamic regime militarily on its soil and are estimated by the Western officials to have taken place in late March (the recent U.S.-Israeli joint operation was active from Feb. 28 to April 8). One official said that they were “tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi (Arabia) was hit.”
During the conflict, Tehran fired missiles and drones at all six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE also carried out military strikes on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Saudi Arabia warned Iran in advance of retaliatory strikes and followed with intensive diplomacy and threats of further action, prompting both sides to reach an informal understanding to deescalate, according to the Iranian and Western officials. An Iranian official confirmed the understanding, saying it aimed to “cease hostilities, safeguard mutual interests, and prevent the escalation of tensions.” The deescalation took effect in the week before Washington and Tehran agreed to a broader ceasefire on April 7, which took effect shortly after.
20% of Australian Jewish women experienced verbal or physical abuse since Oct. 7, poll finds
(JNS) — One in every five Australian Jewish women has been targeted with physical or verbal abuse since Oct. 7, 2023, while a whopping 80 percent say they or their family members have experienced antisemitism, a survey released on May 12 found.
The striking data in a report compiled by the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (NCJWA) underscore how widespread antisemitism has become in the country where Jews make up just 0.5 percent of the country’s total population of 28 million, many of whom are now considering leaving.
Some 20 percent of Jewish women in Australia reported physical violence or verbal abuse against them, while 81% of Jewish women in Australia say either they or an immediate family member has experienced antisemitism since Oct. 7, the survey found.
According to the poll, 54% of respondents said they have made significant behavioral or lifestyle changes due to antisemitism, and 69% reported being accused of being “genocidal” because they self-identify as Jewish, Israeli or Zionist.
The survey was conducted among 668 women over eight months, from July 2025-February 2026, both before and after the Bondi massacre, which killed 15 people, in the worst terrorist attack in Australian history. About 110,000 Jews live in Australia, primarily in Melbourne and Sydney.
Toronto man arrested after allegedly shooting at Orthodox Jews outside a synagogue
(JTA) — Police in Toronto have arrested a man they say shot at “visibly identifiable members of the Jewish community” on two occasions a week apart.
Ruslan Novruzov, 18, is charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in conjunction with the shootings, which took place on April 30 and Thursday, April 7, one week later.
In both incidents, people experienced minor injuries, according to the Toronto police. The shooting on April 7 targeted three people standing outside of Congregation Chasidei Bobov, an Orthodox synagogue.
Following the shootings, the Toronto police tracked a blue Lexus to a residence in a suburb about 15 miles north of the shootings, where they said they searched both a home and a car and seized evidence including two “gel-blaster imitation firearms.”
The shootings and arrest add to a string of recent incidents targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in the Toronto area. A different 18-year-old man was charged last week in connection with two synagogue shootings that took place on March 6, but other incidents remain unsolved. No major injuries or damage has been reported, but the incidents have swelled anxiety within the city’s Jewish communities.
Dutch venue cancels Jewish singer’s concert after protests
(JNS) — The administrators of a prestigious retirement home in the Netherlands canceled a concert by Lenny Kuhr, a Dutch-Jewish singer-songwriter who won the 1969 Eurovision Song Festival, because anti-Israel activists had protested at one of her previous shows, Kuhr, who’s preparing to immigrate to Israel, said on May 11.
The Rosa Spier House in Laren near Amsterdam “has deemed it necessary to cancel our concert ‘LICHT’ on May 24 because a few people were recently waving Palestinian flags just before our performance in Huizen. In Dordrecht, a second concert has been added on May 29 at the Oude School,” Kuhr wrote on social media.
Disruptions of concerts by Kuhr, who won in the 1969 contest with the song “De troubadour” and who had performed together with French chanson legend George Bressans, began in 2024 in Waalwijk near Rotterdam. One protester called Kuhr, who has children living in Israel, “a terrorist, a Zionist” before being escorted out of the venue. Several such incidents have repeated themselves and her concerts became targets for anti-Israel activists.
The Rosa Spier retirement home, which is well known because famous performers moved to and perform there, had not replied to a request for comment at time for publication.
The cancellation follows a string of boycott actions in the Netherlands against Jewish and Israeli performers.
Writer of sitcom airing instead of Eurovision in Ireland calls broadcaster’s boycott over Israel ‘disgraceful antisemitism’
(JTA) — Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan accused Ireland’s public broadcaster of “disgraceful antisemitism” over its decision not to air this year’s Eurovision Song Contest because of Israel’s participation — even as his work will get prime airtime as a result.
Instead of airing the annual international song contest’s finale Saturday, which Ireland and four other nations have boycotted this year over Israel’s participation, the country’s public broadcaster, RTÉ, is scheduled to air an episode of “Father Ted,” a beloved Irish sitcom that Linehan co-created.
“I am disgusted that Father Ted is being used as a fig leaf to cover RTE’s disgraceful antisemitism,” Linehan wrote in a post on social media on May 12. He later added that the broadcaster was “turning Father Ted into an antisemitic dogwhistle.”
Linehan, who has become a prominent anti-transgender activist in recent years, also posted an online petition on may 11 calling for the resignation of RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst over the broadcaster’s decision not to air the Eurovision finale because of Israel’s participation.
“I did not give my permission for Father Ted to be used as a prop in an antisemitic political gesture. I object to it in the strongest possible terms,” Linehan wrote. “This is not the Ireland I know. This is not the Ireland that gave Father Ted to the world.”
