Wedged between France and Spain, the tiny principality of Andorra is home to only 73 Jews, out of a total population of about 85,000. But it lacks something most European countries have in excess, as Larry Luxner notes:

Andorra has no history of anti-Semitism. Maybe it’s because for most of its existence, not a single Jew lived here. In fact, there’s no record of a Jewish presence in this landlocked nation until World War II, when it became a temporary haven for French Jews and others fleeing the Nazis—a historical footnote alluded to in the 2023 Netflix miniseries Transatlantic.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 French Jews and others escaped Vichy France through neutral Andorra under incredibly harsh circumstances.

In the 1960s, Moroccan Jews started coming to Andorra from Spain, and they and their descendant make up much of the community today. Andorran law forbids the establishment of non-Catholic houses of worship, but the community has a synagogue in all but name:

There are no outside markings at the entrance—not even a mezuzah—only a small label above the buzzer. Inside, however, is a space large enough for 150 people, complete with Jewish prayer books, a large memorial wall, a silver menorah, and an ark containing three donated Torah scrolls including one from Gibraltar.

Robert Clark explains why the resumption of hostilities is both just and necessary:

These latest Israeli strikes come after weeks of consistent Palestinian provocation; they have repeatedly broken the terms of the cease-fire which they claimed they were so desperate for. There have been numerous [unsuccessful] bus bombings near Tel Aviv and Palestinian-instigated clashes in the West Bank. Fifty-nine Israeli hostages are still held in captivity.

In fact, Hamas and their Palestinian supporters . . . have always known that they can sit back, parade dead Israeli hostages live on social media, and receive hundreds of their own convicted terrorists and murderers back in return. They believed they could get away with the October 7 pogrom.

One hopes Hamas’s leaders will get the message. Meanwhile, many inside and outside Israel seem to believe that, by resuming the fighting, Jerusalem has given up on rescuing the remaining hostages. But, writes Ron Ben-Yishai, this assertion misunderstands the goals of the present campaign. “Experience within the IDF and Israeli intelligence,” Ben-Yishai writes, “has shown that such pressure is the most effective way to push Hamas toward flexibility.” He outlines two other aims:

The second objective was to signal to Hamas that Israel is not only targeting its military wing—the terror army that was the focus of previous phases of the war up until the last cease-fire—but also its governance structure. This was demonstrated by the targeted elimination of five senior officials from Hamas’s political and civilian administration. . . . The strikes also served as a message to mediators, particularly Egypt, that Israel opposes Hamas remaining in any governing or military capacity in post-war Gaza.

The third objective was to create intense military pressure, coordinated with the U.S., on all remaining elements of the Shiite “axis of resistance,” including Yemen’s Houthis, Hamas, and Iran.