Pierre-Antoine Capton, Elsa Keslassy, Ellise Shafer (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
World
Is Trump the end of the international rules-based order?
After more than a year of Israeli bombing, tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths, and a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the world was largely united in saying “enough is enough”.
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 12667 in December was clear in its demand: An immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Countries as diverse as Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Colombia echoed that call.
And yet, bucking that consensus were nine “no” votes – chief among them, as is typical when it comes to resolutions calling for Israel to adhere to international law or human rights, was the United States.
The US has provided unwavering support to Israel throughout its war on Gaza, even as Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its prime minister has an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant to his name.
Gaza had made the US choose openly between adhering to the international “rules-based order” – the system of laws and norms established in the wake of World War II to avoid wars and foster democracy – it claims to uphold, or support Israel. It chose the latter.
The Democratic administration of former US President Joe Biden, which was in the last days of its tenure when it voted “no” on the UNGA resolution, repeatedly claimed to be acting in defence of the rules-based order – not least in its condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – in all matters other than those related to Israel and Palestine.
When it came to matters not related to Israel or Palestine, the Democratic administration of former US President Joe Biden – which was in its last days when it voted “no” in the UNGA – claimed to act in defence of the rules-based order, especially in repeatedly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US supported Ukraine as a country defending itself from an unjust invasion by a neighbour. In the Asia Pacific, it strengthened partnerships with allies threatened by potential Chinese expansionism, particularly Taiwan.
But the first few weeks of US President Donald Trump’s second term upended all expectations. Now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finds himself berated in the Oval Office by Trump and his Vice President JD Vance, who sent out friendly feelers to Russia.
Greenland, Panama and one of the US’s closest allies, Canada, find themselves the subject of Trump’s imperialist rhetoric.
Trump has made clear that the old rules are out of the window. His posture towards Ukraine and his push for trade tariffs against allies is part of an isolationist, “America First”, mentality – which sees the world’s issues as not the US’s business, and international cooperation as weak.
Vance’s words at the Munich Security Conference in February – insinuating that European governments are authoritarian for not working with far-right parties – highlighted that Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement doesn’t see Europeans as allies, at least not if European leadership remains liberal and internationalist in nature.
Is this a sign of things to come? Is the US moving away from its allies and abandoning the rules-based order? And was the rules-based order ever really international – or merely focused on furthering the interests of the West?
The short answer: Trump’s current trajectory could mark the final end to a world order that has long faced accusations of double standards and selective application of international law. European leaders are already saying they need to defend themselves and the US cannot be trusted. Analysts who spoke to Al Jazeera believe that the rules-based order cannot survive this onslaught in its current form – it would have to adapt and change.
The rules-based order
At its heart, what we call the rules-based order is the bedrock of much of modern international relations. In intention, it is supposed to maintain stability, cooperation and a degree of predictability in the way states deal with each other.
Emerging from World War II and the Holocaust, the rules-based order, underpinned by international law and multinational organisations like the UN, was intended to embody shared principles of sovereignty, self-determination, territorial integrity and dispute resolution through diplomacy rather than force.
Its supporters, such as the US and Europe, argued the system promotes peace, democracy, human rights and economic stability.
But it has its critics: Global South countries say its institutions are biased in favour of the West. That may be because the system emerged at a time when the US was able to cement itself as the global hegemon.
Throughout its history, the rules-based order has been supported by the US’s economic, diplomatic and military heft. That only increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991, when the US’s only real challenger for international dominance threw in the towel.
Imperial thinking
The first few weeks of the second Trump presidency feel far away from that post-Cold War high, when Francis Fukuyama argued, in The End of History and the Last Man, that liberal democracy had won in the battle of global ideologies.
Now, Trump tells Zelenskyy he does not “have the cards right now” in his country’s fight against Russian invasion, and demands a deal for Ukraine’s natural resources in return for support.
For Europe, and the US under Biden, Ukraine’s battle was about sovereignty and defending democracy against autocracy. Those arguments do not interest Trump – who portrays himself as a “peacemaker”, but a realist one, who understands that might is right.
An indifference to the principle of sovereignty can also be seen in Trump’s Gaza “plan”, which would involve the US takeover of the territory – and ethnically cleansing the Palestinians who live there.
While he recently appeared to walk back his talk of expelling Palestinians, there is little indication that the idea is fully off the table.
“Donald Trump’s willingness to betray Ukraine and his rejection of the basic principle of territorial sovereignty is consistent with simultaneously giving Israel a green light to proceed in ways that break the law and seem likely only to fuel an endless cycle of violence,” Michael Becker, a professor of international human rights law at Trinity College in Dublin, who previously worked at the ICJ, told Al Jazeera.
And as for global free trade – one of the goals of the rules-based order – Trump sees it as a fool’s game, one in which the US has been “ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth”.
Instead of a global spirit of cooperation underpinned by US leadership – however flawed that was in reality – Trump appears to see the reality of a multipolar world with spheres of influence, and little place for liberal ideals.
That brings him in line with actors like Russia, and may explain why Trump seems, on occasion, to be more friendly when talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin than he is about European Union leaders.
The Trump administration’s barely disguised contempt for traditional systems of global governance has prompted observers to suggest that the lip service paid to a rules-based order may be over and the world instead faces a return to “machtpolitik”: The pure, naked power that dominated international relations in the 19th century.
Increasingly, Professor Michael Doyle of Columbia University explained, the reasons given for aggressive unilateral actions by powerful states are as brazen as they are self-serving.
“What is new is the articulations of overwhelmingly imperial ambitions and purely acquisitive aims: Ukraine to restore the Russian empire, Greenland for minerals and sea lanes, Panama for naval control of sea lanes and to exclude China from the region,” Doyle told Al Jazeera.
“There is no credible claim to self-defence or multilateral norms,” he continued, explaining that the world is experiencing a “return to the rules of 19th-century imperialism and the foreign policy norms of Mussolini and the other 1920s and 1930s fascists”.
HA Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) agrees, but added: “It’s not inevitable, we could still redirect, but it’s still the direction of travel and has been for at least the last decade.”
Can the damage to the rules-based order be reversed?
Faced with a US untethered from international norms, what action, if any, the international community can take to check its ambitions remains uncertain.
Few mechanisms exist whereby states can directly influence the actions of others, and most still rely on economic dominance.
Typically, in trying to enforce international law, countries can use sanctions, tariffs, trade embargoes, UN condemnation or can seek an ICJ ruling or a criminal trial against an individual in the ICC.
Since the end of World War II, the US dollar has been the preferred reserve currency for many of the world’s central banks, meaning that any economic sanction that damages the dollar carries the risk of repercussions elsewhere.
There is also the scale of the US economy to consider. As of 2023, the US generated about one-seventh of global gross domestic product (GDP), with much of the world dependent on it for trade and defence – dramatically reducing the likelihood of a state bringing a case against it.
The chances of the ICC bringing a case against the US president on the grounds that Trump’s actions in the Palestinian territory amount to crimes covered by the ICC, such as war crimes or crimes against humanity, are also far from straightforward.
“Any attempt to prosecute Trump at the ICC is a legal and political minefield that has virtually no prospect of success,” said Becker, who previously worked at the ICJ.
“It could also lead to the entire unravelling of the Rome Statute system under US pressure,” he added, referring to the 1998 statute establishing the ICC, which the US signed but never ratified over concerns its citizens or military could be held to account by the court.
“International law is fragile and far from perfect,” Becker said.
“But defending some type of world public order not dictated by the whims of the most … powerful states requires other states to stand up and loudly and persistently protest the Trump administration’s actions,” he added.
A hypocritical system?
Whether the rules-based order is saved depends on what states are interested in pushing back against Trump. For Russia, China and others, an end to a system they often saw as focused in a purely non-Western direction, may be welcomed.
In its own actions, the US has repeatedly acted as if it is beyond the law – for instance, through its invasion of Iraq in 2003, as well as targeted assassinations without trial.
But Washington has always been too strong to have international punishment imposed on it, despite rulings from the European Court of Human Rights that countries like Romania, Lithuania, Poland and North Macedonia had tortured prisoners on the US’s behalf during its extraordinary rendition programme – where civilians were abuducted and forcibly questioned – in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
The US, which is not a party to the ICC, has protested the Court trying people from non-signatory states, like Israel, and has sanctioned members of the ICC after warrants were issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes committed in Gaza.
Trump said the sanctions were because the ICC “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.
There is also little doubt that Israel’s war on Gaza in full view of the world has undermined the regard given to a rules-based order.
When it comes to Israel, it is not just the US that turns a blind eye to the rules. So far, France, Hungary and Italy have said they will not enforce the ICC arrest warrants. Germany’s expected next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said he will follow suit.
“Israel has waged a war on Gaza for 16 months in complete defiance of international law,” RUSI’s Hellyer said.
“The ICJ is hearing a case on genocide and the ICC has indicted Israel’s prime minister, and the response from far too many in the West has been to find all sorts of excuses not to arrest Netanyahu, in a way that they never would with Putin, who was also indicted.
“We can’t claim to uphold a rules-based order when it comes to Ukraine, bemoaning America’s failure to stand by it, for example, but then allow for a complete abrogation of that order when it comes to Gaza,” he continued.
“To quote [Jordanian Foreign Minister] Ayman Safadi: ‘Gaza has not only become a graveyard for children. It has become a graveyard for international law, a shameful stain on the whole international order.’”
According to Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, the collapse or fundamental weakening of the “so-called liberal-based order” would at least mark an end to the hypocrisy that has characterised its rule for many.
“It has always been perceived in the Global South as highly hypocritical because allies of the United States were always shielded from attacks,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Even when they were violating human rights, violating international law, trampling on all UN resolutions. They got a free pass, whereas countries that were opposing the superpowers were often targeted.”
Risk of change
For it to carry weight, “international law has to apply to everybody”, said Hellyer. “When it isn’t, it sends a clear message worldwide… This is very dangerous and it goes way beyond Israel, Gaza and Ukraine.
“An end to multilateralism means we’re less equipped to face the next crisis, whether that’s a health crisis, or the next war,” he added.
Where that leaves small states and the Global South remains to be seen.
In the short term, at least, those who would first pay the price of the collapse in the rules-based order would be “the Palestinian people and many other small states who were the victims of proxy wars and those exposed to aggressive neighbours”, Bitar said.
Without the protection of a rules-based system, Taiwan faces far more of a threat from China, the imperfect solutions of the 1990s, such as the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War, could fall apart, and without international human rights standards, minorities like the Uyghurs in China have even less chance of justice.
Bitar believes any hope of a resurgence of any kind of a rules-based order after the war on Gaza is, at best, unlikely.
“It took World War II to see the emergence of international institutions and a world based on rule of law,” he said. “Once this has been dismantled … it will be extremely difficult to rebuild it from scratch.”
Instead, the world order may be reduced to one of competing spheres of influence, with much of the world’s politics divided between the US, Russia, China and an unmoored Europe.
What is more concerning, Bitar pointed out, is that the collapse of a global governance system is concomitant with what he sees as the collapse of democracy in its most vocal upholders in the West.
“We are witnessing the rise of what some call illiberal democracies,” said Bitar.
“And, simultaneously, the emergence of some sort of oligarchy or plutocracy, where the strongest and the richest rule without any checks and balances.”
World
Variety Toasts French Cinema With Post-Cannes Summer Dinner at Paris’ Laperouse With Thierry Fremaux, Guillaume Canet, Pierre-Antoine Capton, Rebecca Zlotowski and Anamaria Vartolomei
Variety gathered leading figures from the French film industry for its fourth dinner at Lapérouse in Paris, a post-Cannes and summer celebration bringing together Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux, Mediawan boss Pierre-Antoine Capton, MK2 Films co-CEO Nathanaël Karmitz and Pathé Films president Ardavan Safaee, as well as actors and filmmakers Anamaria Vartolomei, Rebecca Zlotowski, Guillaume Canet, Marina Foïs, Géraldine Nakache and Elsa Zylberstein, among others.
Hosted at the iconic Paris restaurant with the support of co-owners Émilie and Benjamin Patou, the evening toasted the global reach of French cinema after a Cannes edition that showcased a wide range of local and international talent. It also underscored Variety’s longstanding ties with the French movie business and its unique position as a U.S. publication with a strong international and Francophile footprint.
The event was organized by Variety’s international editor Elsa Keslassy, with support from entertainment lawyer Elsa Huisman of Cabinet 111 and awards strategist Sébastien Cauchon of Cinema Collectors. Variety’s deputy international editor Ellise Shafer traveled from London to attend.
The celebration unfolded in one of Lapérouse’s intimate salons, L’Astrolabe, where the table was dressed in a romantic, candlelit style that matched the post-Cannes mood. A pink patterned tablecloth, white candelabras, low votive candles and small bouquets of summer flowers ran down the center, while gilded mirrors, textured wallpaper, draped windows and a chandelier gave the room an old-world Parisian glow.
Guests dined on a classic Lapérouse menu featuring smoked Norwegian salmon with blinis and dill cream, duck pâté en croûte with foie gras and thyme and the restaurant’s signature truffled croque-royal with comté cheese. Main courses ranged from chicken suprême with morel cream and mashed potatoes to pearly cod with beurre blanc, followed by Lapérouse vanilla cake and a minute-cut seasonal fruit turban.
Frémaux, who just marked his 25th year at the helm of Cannes, was joined by Zlotowski, who originated the idea for “La Vénus électrique,” which played on opening night of this year’s festival; Canet, whose thriller “Karma,” starring Marion Cotillard, played out of competition; and actor-turned-director Nakache, who presented “Think Good” at Cannes Première. Also on hand were Marina Foïs, who was at the festival with Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved,” and Vartolomei, who stars in Pathé’s ambitious two-part historical epic “De Gaulle.” The first installment premiered in Cannes and has since enjoyed a strong rebound at the French box office. She was joined by Safaee, president of Pathé Films, which produced the “De Gaulle” diptych.
Elisha Karmitz, Elisabeth d’Arvieu, Elsa Huisman, Elsa Keslassy, Pierre-Antoine Capton, Thierry Fremaux, Nathanael Karmitz, Ardavan Safaee (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
The gathering also spotlighted several major French production and distribution players. Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz and Fionnuala Jamison represented the MK2 group, which had 11 films at Cannes this year and won four prizes, including the Grand Prix for Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” the Caméra d’Or and FIPRESCI prize for Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s “Ben’Imana” in Un Certain Regard, and the Grand Prix Ami Paris at Critics’ Week for Marine Atlan’s “La Gradiva.”
Capton, who celebrated Mediawan’s 10th anniversary last month, has just finalized the company’s acquisition of North Road, whose current hit “Backrooms” has grossed more than $331 million worldwide. He was accompanied by Élisabeth d’Arvieu, CEO of Mediawan Pictures. The company was behind nine films at Cannes.
Elisabeth d’Arvieu, Elsa Huisman, Elsa Zylberstein (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
Jérôme Levy, co-founder of Vuelta, was also present after the group’s labels brought more than a dozen films to Cannes, including “La Vénus électrique,” Nakache’s “Think Good” and “A Woman’s Life.”
Top producer Juliette Schrameck, whose credits include Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” attended following a strong Cannes that included Lucas Dhont’s “Coward,” which won the acting prize for its two leads, Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, as well as Leïla Marrakchi’s “Les Fraises” in Un Certain Regard.
Dimitri Rassam, Wassim Beji (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
Rassam, producer of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” also attended after producing Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cannes prizewinner “Fatherland” through his banner Chapter 2. He is currently wrapping production on Ladj Ly’s upcoming “Dumas,” which he is making with Srab Films and Pathé Films. Kim Chapiron joined the dinner as he prepares his next film, a thriller set in the clandestine world of beauty. He came with producers Gary Farkas, Olivier Muller and Clément Lepoutre, whose banner Phantasm Group has joined luxury and lifestyle powerhouse The Independents and was at Cannes with James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” and Quentin Dupieux’s “Full Phil.”
Rosa Attab, Olivier Muller, Thierry Fremaux, Rebecca Zlotowski, Frederic Jouve (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
Other guests included CNC president Gaëtan Bruel; Grégoire Chertok, a high-profile investment banker and cinephile who was awarded the Légion d’honneur; Cécile Felsenberg, co-founder of UBBA, who attended with several of the agency’s talents, including Canet and Foïs; and Melita Toscan du Plantier, president of the Marrakech Film Festival and producer of “Homebound,” which was shortlisted for the Oscars this year.
Guillaume Canet, Thierry Fremaux (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
Also present were producers Rosa Attab, whose company January Films has upcoming projects including Chris Andrews’ “Cavendish,” with Sophie Thatcher and Joe Alwyn attached to star; Sophie Mas, who runs the banner MountainA with Natalie Portman and is in post-production on Lena Dunham’s “Good Sex”; Wassim Beji, who recently delivered Yann Gozlan’s box office hit “Guru”; actor Elsa Zylberstein, who is developing several international projects as a producer, including a Simone de Beauvoir film written by Christopher Hampton and set to be directed by Anne Fontaine; and photographer Marcel Hartmann.
Anamaria Vartolomei, Gregoire Chertok, Marina Fois, Jerome Levy, Wassim Beji (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
The evening also welcomed international guests, notably Dylan Leiner, executive VP of acquisitions, production and business affairs at Sony Pictures Classics; and Ama Ampadu, senior production and development executive at the BFI Filmmaking Fund.
Owned by Patou and Antoine Arnault, Lapérouse first opened its doors in 1766 and became a favorite refuge for the Parisian intelligentsia, drawing philosophers, novelists, artists and, later, filmmakers to its salons, lushly decorated with red velvet, paintings, ornate moldings and crystal chandeliers. Tastefully revamped a few years ago by Dior Maison head Cordelia de Castellane, Lapérouse was mentioned by Marcel Proust in “In Search of Lost Time” and served as a backdrop in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”
Anamaria Vartolomei (copyright: Marcel Hartmann)
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TEL AVIV: As Israel marks 1,000 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, children — many still coping with the psychological effects of the war — are beginning their summer vacation, with some navigating the uncertainties of traveling abroad amid rising antisemitism and others grappling at home with the anxieties of living in a society shaped by nearly three years of war on multiple fronts.
Lilach, 47, of Kibbutz Eilon, jut over a mile and a half from Israel’s border with Lebanon in the Western Galilee, told Fox News Digital she hopes her children — Yuval, Amit, and Yoni — will finally be able to enjoy a normal summer.
During the war, there was always concern about leaving home. The kids were barely in school and spent most of their time indoors in front of screens,” she said.
“I hope they can now spend time with their friends and enjoy activities together. Tomorrow, Yoni is going to an amusement park. I just want them to have fun, be with their friends and enjoy being kids again,” she added.
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A woman reacts as the community of Kibbutz Kfar Aza commemorates their members who were killed, taken hostage and who died in captivity, following the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas terrorists, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel, Oct. 16, 2025. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, Lilach said, her children have had only one uninterrupted year of school.
“It was hard. They would start school, attend for a month or two, then classes would stop because of the war with Iran or fighting with Lebanon, and then resume. It was difficult to get back into a routine each time. It felt like starting a new school year over and over again,” she said.
People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Despite the repeated disruptions, Lilach said her daughter Amit graduated from high school thanks to her determination and private tutoring. Yoni, however, who has attention deficit disorder, struggled with spending weeks at home during the fighting and will move to a smaller classroom next year to receive additional support.
Evacuated with her family a day after the Oct. 7 attacks, Anat, 50, of Kibbutz Yiftah in the Upper Galilee, less than two miles from Israel’s border with Lebanon, told Fox News Digital that her children changed schools three times before the family returned home in February 2025. During Israel’s recent war with Iran, they were again out of school for about six weeks.
An Israeli school security officer watches on as students enter school (Eitan Elhadz/TPS)
“Every day, having my 10-year-old log on to Zoom for online classes was a challenge. It was very difficult to maintain a routine and continuity in her learning,” Anat said.
With the family hoping to travel abroad this summer, Anat said she has tried to shelter her children from the tidal wave of antisemitism that has emerged globally over the past three years of war.
“We don’t talk at home about people around the world who hate us. We love everyone, and we don’t talk about hate, period. For them, traveling is something wonderful that they can’t wait for,” she said. “Despite how difficult it has been, our children are strong. They have grown up quickly because of everything they’ve been through and know how to cope. We don’t feel sorry for ourselves—we’re fighters.”
EXPERTS URGE EXTREME CAUTION ON IRAN’S ‘CROWN JEWEL’ HEZBOLLAH — TERROR GROUP WITH US BLOOD ON ITS HANDS
Israeli school kids on an outing on June 30, 2026. (Gideon Markowicz/TPS-IL)
Nufar Bar Lipshatz, a developmental psychologist in the Northern District of Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest healthcare provider, said many children continue to show signs of trauma.
According to data she cited from Israel’s National Insurance Institute, 25,274 children had been officially recognized as victims of hostile acts between Oct. 7, 2023 and the end of 2025. She also referenced a joint study by the Goshen organization and the Israeli Pediatric Association showing that 84% of Israeli children exhibited signs of emotional distress by late 2023 following the cross-border terror assault from Gaza and Hezbollah’s entry into the war from Lebanon the following day.
“We see many symptoms that are connected but manifest differently in each child, whether it’s a child who can’t speak, wets their pants, or develops [nervous] tics,” Bar Lipshatz said. “Trauma is real, and children can’t always express it with words, so they act it out. They reenact running to shelters, their father being deployed, war, aggression and kidnappings during play.”
Protesters attend an anti-Israel demonstration in Leipzig, Germany Jan. 17, 2026. (Christian Mang/Reuters)
She recalled treating a girl who became unable to ride her bicycle because she constantly looked over her shoulder, checking whether someone was behind her.
While summer vacation may offer temporary relief, Bar Lipshatz warned that long breaks from routine can reinforce anxiety.
“We know from research that children need stability and routine because it helps them feel safe. During school breaks, children may feel safer because they are avoiding situations that trigger stress, but over time they are also avoiding facing their fears,” she said. “We need to give parents and children the tools to cope with stress because it will not disappear simply by staying at home.”
Bar Lipshatz, who also works with autistic children, said travel itself can be challenging because unfamiliar sounds and crowded environments may trigger traumatic memories.
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“When you go on vacation, you go to places with lots of people and noise. What we think could be fun can actually become a trigger,” she said, recalling a trip to Romania where bear-warning sirens in a national park sounded identical to Israel’s missile alerts.
She noted that one of her young patients told her she feared traveling abroad because, despite the war, Israel felt more predictable than an unfamiliar country.
In a bid to maintain a sense of routine and help students catch up on lost time, the Israeli Ministry of Education told Fox News Digital that it will continue operating throughout the summer through programs serving approximately 1.12 million students, supported by an investment of about $270 million.
Soldiers carry Oster’s coffin during his funeral on Wednesday in Tel Aviv. (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
For the first time, middle school students will participate in summer programs focused on artificial intelligence, STEM subjects, mathematics, science, and English. The ministry said the highest participation rates are in northern and southern communities affected by the war.
It also said it will continue providing emotional support through its Psychological Counseling Service, expand psychological services for students in need, and keep its “Voice for All” support hotline operating throughout the summer.
“The education system will continue to support Israeli students during the summer vacation to ensure educational, emotional and social continuity for every student who needs it,” the ministry said.
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Children affected by the war are also attending summer camps such as those led by OneFamily, an organization that supports victims of terrorism and war and their families.
More than 400 children — each of whom has lost an immediate family member to terrorism or war, most since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — will take part in OneFamily’s annual summer camp from July 8 to July 13 in the Golan Heights, where they will spend time with other children who share similar experiences of grief and loss.
A central focus of the camp is helping children build resilience while learning to cope with their grief. This year, the organization’s founding director, Chantal Belzberg, received the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Israeli children at the OneFamily summer camp, July 2025. (Meir Pavlovski)
Activities include swimming, competitions, sports, but also therapeutic group dialogue circles. On the last night, some campers share stories about their lost loved ones and their own journey to healing, followed by a big concert.
“Children who have lost a parent, both parents or siblings to terrorism or acts of war don’t always want to go to therapy. But when you bring them together with other children who have experienced the same loss, it gives them strength and creates a therapeutic environment,” Belzberg told Fox News Digital.
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“They come to have fun, and through the activities they meet other children who have gone through the same thing. That’s when they begin to talk. Traditional support services are not always places where children want to go,” she continued.
“We bring them together so they meet children who truly understand them. They realize they are not alone and can build a community where they don’t feel isolated. One of the greatest challenges after trauma is isolation,” she added.
The digital system for checking non-EU travellers’ documents is creating bottlenecks and glitches just as the peak of the holiday season approaches. As queues grow longer and passengers get more frustrated, airlines are calling for the option to suspend the checks in July and August.
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