Mock execution of Israeli effigy in public carnival alarms Andorra’s tiny Jewish community
(JTA) — An annual festival in Andorra drew condemnation from the country’s small Jewish community after an effigy bearing the Israeli flag was staged in a mock trial and then hung and shot.
The incident was part of the traditional Catalan festival Carnestoltes, which occurs yearly before Lent, the 40-day period that precedes Easter. At the Feb. 16 festival in Andorra, where a mock king is typically tried and burned, organizers instead used an effigy wearing blue with the Israeli flag painted on its face.
During the festivities, the Israeli effigy was symbolically tried, hung, shot and burned, according to social media posts and a report in the Israeli outlet YNet.
The incident drew outcry from the microstate’s tiny Jewish community, which only just got its first full-time rabbi, a Chabad emissary, in the last two years.
“This is a ritual they perform every year as part of carnival, where they mock many things,” Jewish Andorra resident Esther Pujol told YNet. “This time they dressed the effigy in the colors of the Israeli flag, with a Star of David on its face. They put it on trial, sentenced it to death and carried out the sentence by shooting and burning it. It is completely unacceptable.”
Pujol told the outlet that it was the first time she had seen the festival include anti-Israel or antisemitic elements, and that she had contacted Andorran lawmakers to express her outrage. The mayor of Encamp, the city where the incident took place, and local politicians took part in the ceremony, according to YNet.
Syrians increasingly positive toward Israel, normalization, survey suggests
(JNS) — Syrians are taking friendlier attitudes toward Israel under the government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, a new YouGov survey suggests.
The survey, which the Council for a Secure America commissioned, found that 59% of Syrians think that peace with Israel is likely, compared to 14% that believes it’s unlikely.
Almost two-thirds of respondents support a security arrangement with Israel, and less than 10% disapproved. Nearly half want normalization with Israel after a resolution with the Palestinians, and 40% are undecided on that issue, per the poll.
Respondents expressed disdain for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group that long controlled Southern Lebanon and was aligned with longtime Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was deposed in December 2024.
Some 70% of Syrians describe Hezbollah as impacting their country negatively, and 52% said the terror group is harming Lebanon’s security. Just 11% took a positive view of Hezbollah.
The survey included 260 Syrians aged 18 and above and was taken in the first half of January. The Council for Secure America is a pro-American energy group and a supporter of the Abraham Accords.
A separate YouGov poll of 252 Lebanese adults conducted last month found that 63% of respondents support efforts by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, while just 9% opposed.
Vatican declines invitation to join Board of Peace
(JNS) — The Holy See, the central governing authority and diplomatic representative of the Roman Catholic Church, will decline U.S. President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, citing the body’s “particular nature,” according to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, offered a sharper critique, describing the U.S.-led body overseeing the Gaza peace plan, including the dismantling of Hamas, as “a colonialist operation—others deciding for the Palestinians,” according to a report by Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore.
Pizzaballa also derided the $1 billion fee for a permanent seat on the Trump-chaired Board of Peace. “I’ve never had a billion [dollars], but above all, this is not the Church’s task,” he stated. “It is the sacraments, the dignity of the person.”
In January, Parolin said that Pope Leo XIV, who is American-born, was reviewing Trump’s invitation and that a response would take time. He stressed at the time that any reply “will not be to participate financially,” noting that the Vatican was “not in a position to do so.”
On Feb. 16, Parolin underscored the Holy See’s view that the United Nations should remain the primary body responsible for managing global affairs.
“At the international level, it is above all the U.N. that manages these crisis situations,” Parolin stated. “This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”
US ambassador demands that Belgium drop ‘ridiculous and anti semitic’ investigation of mohels
(JTA) — The U.S. ambassador to Belgium is demanding that Belgium end an investigation into mohels who may have been using unsafe practices while circumcising Jewish babies.
Bill White made the demand, an unusual intervention into another country’s domestic affairs, in a post on social media on Feb. 16 directed toward Belgium’s minister of health.
“To the (very rude) Belgian Minister of Health FRANK VANENBROUCKE; You must make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious MOHELS to perform their duties here in Belgium. It’s done in all civilized counties as legal procedure,” White tweeted. “BELGIUM is a civilized country. Stop this unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community here in Antwerp and in Belgium. It’s 2026, you need to get into the 21st century and allow our brethren Jewish families in Belgium to legally execute their religious freedoms!”
White is a longtime advocate for veterans who became a Republican after Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016. He was confirmed as the ambassador to Belgium last fall despite criticism that he had amplified social media posts by Dries Van Langenhove, a far-right Belgian political activist had recently been sentenced to prison after being convicted of racism and Holocaust denial.
White’s post comes nearly a year after Belgian authorities raided multiple sites, including two in Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter, at the outset of an investigation into illegal circumcisions.
Report: Israel ranks first as target for hackers worldwide
(JNS) — Israel was ranked the most targeted nation for cyberattacks throughout 2025 in Radware’s 2026 Global Threat Analysis Report, released on Feb. 19.
The Jewish state registered the highest volume of claimed attacks at 12.2%, followed by the United States (9.4%) and Ukraine (8.9%), according to the report.
Government services were the primary target at 38.8% of all claimed attacks, which indicates that the hackers sought to disrupt state functions and undermine public confidence, the report states.
The next most targeted sectors were manufacturing and hospitality at eight and six percent respectively, indicating a strategic effort to inflict both political and economic damage, according to Radware.
The report further states that the pro-Russian group “NoName057(16)” was responsible for 4,692 attack claims, “making it the most prolific hacktivist actor not only in 2025, but in the history of hacktivism.”
The report’s broader remarks point to a clear surge in cyberattack activity in light of the emergence of AI technology. Radware recorded a 168% year over year increase in network-layer attacks in 2025.
In the second half of 2025, the average Radware customer experienced more than 25,351 cyberattacks, an average of 139 per day.
