Tag: judaism

Colombia says 17 minors rescued from Jewish cult Lev Tahor amid abuse allegations

Colombian authorities said Sunday they had rescued 17 minors from Lev Tahor, an extremist ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect under investigation for alleged child sex abuse.

“We have rescued 17 boys, girls and teens,” the country’s immigration service said on X, posting pictures of some of the children with their faces blurred or shielded from view.

Five of the minors rescued were identified as missing persons whom Interpol had issued “yellow notices” to find, authorities said.

Founded in Jerusalem in the 1980s, Lev Tahor — literally, “pure heart” in Hebrew — has been dogged by allegations of child abuse for years, and Israel and others have called it a cult. Its leader is in prison for kidnapping children.

A group called Lev Tahor Survivors has estimated the sect’s membership at several hundred people and says it is led by a core cohort, with the rest being held mostly against their will.

The group adheres to an extreme, idiosyncratic interpretation of Judaism and kosher dietary laws that largely shields members from the outside world.

Women and girls above the age of 3 are required to dress in black robes that completely cover their bodies, leading some to call the group the “Jewish Taliban.” The men spend most of their days in prayer and studying specific portions of the Torah.

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Thousands of Orthodox Jews rally in New York to protest change in Israel’s military draft rules

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews packed the streets and sidewalks for blocks around the Israeli consulate in New York City on Sunday to protest issues including a potential end of an exemption for religious students from compulsory service in Israel’s military.

The protest at the consulate, a block from the United Nations campus in Manhattan, illustrated the complex relationship between Israel and segments of the large population of very religious Jews in New York and its suburbs.

The two influential, and often rival, grand rebbes of the Satmar community both called on adherents to participate in the demonstration. The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada, a consortium of Orthodox Jewish groups, said it helped organize the protest.

It comes after Israel’s Supreme Court last year ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the military. There had been a longstanding enlistment exemption – dating to the founding of Israel in 1948.

The ultra-Orthodox worry that mandatory enlistment will impact adherents’ ties to their faith. But many Jewish Israelis have argued that an exemption is unfair. Rifts over the issue have deepened since the start of the war in Gaza.

Rabbi Moishe Indig, a Satmar community leader, said he’s not sure organizers expected so many people to show up but he said he felt urgency building around the issue.

He said he was appreciative of the governments in New York and the U.S. “for giving us the freedom and liberty to be able to live free and have our children go to school and study and learn the Torah.”

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Maryland State University Student Government Excludes Jewish Students From Vote On Boycotting Israel

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, the University of Maryland (UMD) Student Government Association (SGA) passed a boycott, sanctions, and divestment resolution against the state of Israel, 29-0 with one abstention. 

Because Jews fast, pray, and abstain from work on Yom Kippur, Jewish students, who comprise 20 percent of UMD’s student body, were not able to participate in the voting process. The bill was initially scheduled for a few days prior on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Only two SGA members supported a motion that would have pushed the vote after the Jewish holidays. 

One SGA member claimed, in a statement to UMD’s student newspaper, The Diamondback, “The priority for us was to make sure that there was [sic] accommodations, and I believe SGA did provide them,” referring to proxy voting measures. 

This does not take into consideration the fact that observant Jews do not work or use electronics on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. 

“The timing denied our community the opportunity to engage in a fair and meaningful discussion,” said Meirav Solomon, a junior at UMD on the pre-law track. “This decision adds to the growing sense that Jewish students are not safe or heard on campus. SGA is meant to represent the entire student body, and that means ensuring that every community has a voice in decisions that impact them.”

The Trump administration has opened Title VI investigations into various universities, including Harvard and Columbia, for campus antisemitism. Given how Jewish students are being treated on UMD’s campus, there may very well be a case against the university, so long as leadership allows open hatred to continue unfettered.    

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In First, Ben Gvir Leads Settler Raid On Al-Aqsa Mosque Under Heavy Guard

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of settlers in storming Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on Sunday, were they loudly performed Jewish Talmudic prayer, under a heavy police guard, and attempted to antagonise Muslim worshippers.

Videos seen by Middle East Eye showed hundreds of settlers storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque where some could be seen dancing and shouting, seeking to disrupt the Muslim place of worship.

The status quo in Jerusalem has long maintained that Jewish prayer is forbidden on the raised plateau in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, where Al-Aqsa Mosque stands.

However, over the past century, Zionist groups have repeatedly violated the fragile arrangement, launching unprecedented attacks on what’s considered one of Islam’s holiest sites. 

Residents in Jerusalem’s Old City told MEE that before and after Ben Gvir’s raid, the area had come to resemble a “military base” due to the “many checkpoints” that had been set up and the “heavy Israeli security presence”.

They said that Israeli forces severely restricted Palestinians from accessing the mosque, with only a few local residents allowed to pass. Speaking to reporters after the raid, Ben Gvir said: “The Temple Mount is for the Jews, and we will remain here forever.”

Since becoming a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Ben Gvir has led at least 11 assaults on the mosque. Meanwhile, several other far-right politicians have advocated for the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the construction of a  temple where they claim Jewish temples once stood.

Among the hundreds of people to take part in Sunday’s raid was right-wing Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi, who has repeatedly advocated for Israel to destroy all water, food and energy sources in Gaza.

In June 2023, he tabled a bill that would divide Al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews, a plan that would see shared access from the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock to the end of the northern border of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Palestinians fear that the incursions at Al-Aqsa, which have intensified since Israel went to war on Gaza in October 2023, are laying the groundwork for the mosque to be divided similar to how the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron was in the 1990s.

Muslims currently have limited access to that site, and just last month, Israel transferred the authority of the mosque from the Palestinian-run Hebron municipality to a settler council.

Aouni Bazbaz, the director of international affairs at the Islamic Waqf, the organisation that administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, described Sunday’s raid as “painful and regrettable”, telling MEE that it was a threat to the “historical status quo and an incitement to violence”.

“There were terrifying numbers of people [Israeli settlers] present and some were important figures,” he said. “This was part of a project. The extreme religious right seeks to undermine the status quo and to clearly follow the example of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

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Federal security grants to US synagogues to resume after two-month Trump freeze

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted a freeze on security funding for religious institutions this week, ending a months-long pause that drew alarm from Jewish groups that had advocated for expanded federal security funding.

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program provides funding for synagogues, schools and Jewish community centers to pay for security measures to protect their buildings from attack. Congress provided $274.5 million for the program in 2025.

Reimbursement payments to participating institutions were halted in March as part of an overall funding freeze on FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. At the time, nearly 80 members of Congress from both parties signed a letter urging the Trump administration to reverse course.

Nechamia Dsatmar on October 13, 2023. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

JTA — The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted a freeze on security funding for religious institutions this week, ending a months-long pause that drew alarm from Jewish groups that had advocated for expanded federal security funding.

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program provides funding for synagogues, schools and Jewish community centers to pay for security measures to protect their buildings from attack. Congress provided $274.5 million for the program in 2025.

Reimbursement payments to participating institutions were halted in March as part of an overall funding freeze on FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. At the time, nearly 80 members of Congress from both parties signed a letter urging the Trump administration to reverse course.00:20 / 37:55

That appears to have happened this week, Jewish Insider reported on Friday, citing an email sent by Jewish Federations of North America to its member federations.

“Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds are essential to keeping our communities safe, especially amid rising antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall, the Jewish Federations of North America vice president for government relations, said in an emailed statement. “We are relieved that the government’s review process has concluded and that funds will now be released, allowing nonprofits to be reimbursed for critical security investments they’ve already made.”

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From Torah to trauma: A Satanic child abuse scandal blows up in Israel

There are crimes so profound that words fail to capture them. Last week, several survivors testified to the Israeli Knesset about just such a horror.

The story broke with an investigative report published by Israel Hayom, which unearthed a long-standing pattern of ritual sexual abuse, psychological manipulation, and spiritual desecration occurring not on the margins of society but from within its most sacred institutions. Survivors speak of torment that begins in early childhood and lasts decades, often committed under the guise of religious observance. It is not just a crime of the flesh. It is a theft of the soul.

Israeli children, some as young as infants, were subjected to methodical abuse masked in religious ritual. Survivors describe ceremonies invoking biblically-vilified deities, conducted by members of observant Jewish communities. As a survivor named Noga (all of the victims’ names are changed in the report) recalled: “The gods I remember are Baal Peor and Ashtoreth… our lord Peor and our lady Ashtoreth.” (Note: All these deities are categorically condemned in the Bible).

The culprits are not fringe radicals. These are individuals who keep kosher, celebrate the Sabbath, and adhere to the minutiae of Jewish law even as they engage in acts so depraved that they defy comprehension. Here is snippet from a survivor’s testimonies:

“I remember a pentagram on the floor, usually in red. When the ceremony was in the forest, the pentagram was marked with a hoe and surrounded by lit candles in a circle. The rabbi would bless…they would repetitively read Psalms, like ‘A Psalm of David, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’ They told me ‘you are special, you are chosen’ and they would insert… I remember a palm branch, Hanukkah candles, a shofar.”

Some of these perpetrators are qualified to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah — a high privilege among observant Jews. Family members, most of whom may have once been victims themselves, are often the ones who hand over their little ones to these monsters.

Several rabbis’ names appeared repeatedly in survivor testimonies. Multiple complaints filed at different police stations across Israel were quickly nipped in the bud. Prosecutions leading to imprisonments are rare. Much like anywhere else on this planet. Have any elite members of the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile network – itself rumored to be a Mossad operation – been charged in any court of law?  Have the victims been asked to identify the perpetrators of these wicked deeds during the trial of Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell?

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Smotrich Calls For ‘Rebuilding Temple’ During Jerusalem Day Celebrations

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the rebuilding of a Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque and for the expansion of Israel’s borders and Jewish settlements in Gaza.

In speech addressing crowds at a Jerusalem Day rally on Monday, which celebrates Israel’s occupation of the old city of Jerusalem, Smotrich also called for “complete redemption” and reconstruction of “the Temple here,” referring to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which settlers had raided earlier.

“We are conquering the Land of Israel, liberating Gaza, settling Gaza and defeating the enemy,” Smotrich said to crowds that had chanted “death to Arabs” as they marched through Jerusalem’s Old City and attacked Palestinians. 

“With God’s help, we will expand Israel’s borders, bring about complete redemption, and rebuild the Temple here,” he said.

Smotrich also reiterated his calls for Jewish settlement in Gaza, declaring that “Israel is not afraid of the word occupation”.

“Some people are afraid of victory. We are not afraid of victory,” he said. “Lets give strength to our brave and heroic fighters”.

Several attacks and brawls were caught on film during Jerusalem Day marches…

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“The masters of the universe are Jews,” former US Senator declares in Israel

Ex-GOP Senator and Republican Jewish Coalition chair Norm Coleman proclaimed with a straight face that Jews control the world during a Jerusalem conference featuring a speech by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Former US Senator Norm Coleman has raised eyebrows by declaring that “the masters of the universe are Jews” at a major Zionist lobby event in Jerusalem. In an address to a summit hosted by the Adelson-funded Jewish News Syndicate on April 27, Coleman pointed to various major technology firms founded by Jews, suggesting the shared religion of the companies’ creators should translate into a greater zeal for censoring criticism of Israel.

“And when you think about it, the Masters of the Universe are Jews! We’ve got Altman at OpenAI, we’ve got [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg, we’ve got [Google founder] Sergey Brin, we’ve got a group across the board. Jan Koum, y’know, founded WhatsApp. It’s us.”

The remarks came as Coleman lamented that pro-Israel propagandists are “losing the digital war” in battle for the hearts and minds of younger generations, and called for more stringent censorship of pro-Palestinian speech.

“A majority or Gen Z have an unfavorable impression of Israel. And, my friends, I think the reason for that is that we’re losing the digital war. They’re getting their information from TikTok, and… and we’re losing that war.”

As numerous polls show young Americans are increasingly skeptical of Israel – with a recent survey showing 71% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans under age 49 now hold an unfavorable view of Israel – establishment politicians have consistently blamed TikTok’s algorithm for the decline in enthusiasm for genocide. In February, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner, revealed that the bill forcing China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok was motivated by the visibility of pro-Palestine content on the app.

For Coleman, though, it appears this wasn’t enough. “We have to figure out a way to win the digital battle,” he told summit attendees. “We’ve got to get our digital sneakers on, so that the truth can prevail over the lies. And when we do that, the future of Israel will be stronger because a majority of all Americans will support Israel. We’ll make that happen, we have to make it happen. Thank you, Baruch hashem.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage directly after Coleman’s speech, highlighting Tel Aviv’s interest in the event, which was billed as the “Inaugural JNS Policy Summit to address Israel’s pressing strategic issues.”

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The ADL Wasn’t Founded to Fight Antisemitism. But To Do PR.

Over a hundred years ago a lawyer stopped by a Chicago vaudeville theater to see a show. The ethnic comedy on display offended him so much that he helped create the ADL.

Both the ADL and antisemites like Candace Owens like to link the organization to the Leo Frank case in which a Jewish man in the South who was lynched after being falsely accused of the murder of a young girl, to make the ADL seem more important.

But the ADL actually had its origins in the B’nai Brith’s ‘National Caricature Committee’ and preceding organizations such as the ‘Chicago Anti Stage-Jew Ridicule Committee’ whose mission was to fight ‘ethnic comedy’ featuring Jews.

Often being performed by Jews.

The ADL was not founded as a civil rights organization, let alone an anti-lynching group, but, as an anti-defamation group. Hence the name the ‘Anti-Defamation League’. Its founding charter began by complaining that “a tendency has manifested itself in American life toward the caricaturing and defaming of Jews on the stage” and declared that the “immediate object of the League is to stop…the defamation.”

In the 1900s and 1910s, vaudeville was booming, and successful ‘comedians’ could record their own phonograph records, cartoons were also taking off and silent movies added another form of entertainment. And about the easiest way to get laughs was with ethnic comedy: Germans, the Irish, blacks, Swedes, Italians and Jews were among the many stereotypes to appear on stage.

While we tend to take free speech, including offensive speech, for granted, this was an era where multiple censorship boards, local ones like those in major cities, and ‘voluntary’ national ones, along with local and federal law enforcement, not to mention church groups, could decide whether movies would be released and whether theaters would be allowed to put on a show.

Catholics, the Irish, Germans and Jews deployed pressure groups to get the theaters to stop demeaning them. The NAACP had been at it well before the B’nai Brith launched the ‘National Caricature Committee’ at the initiative of Sigmund Livingston, a member of the German Jewish lodge, who saw an offensive show in Chicago, and Adolf Kraus, a B’nai Brith leader trying to take the local Chicago efforts of the ‘Chicago Anti Stage-Jew Ridicule Committee’ nationwide.

The ‘Chicago Anti Stage-Jew Ridicule Committee’ was not even the most awkwardly worded ethnic comedy pressure group name, that honor likely went to the elongated ‘Society for the Prevention of Ridiculous and Pervasive Misrepresentation of the Irish Character’. The ‘National Caricature Committee’ streamlined the name and the ‘Anti-Defamation League’ streamlined it further. Today the ADL and the NAACP prefer their initials over their awkward full names.

But the much more awkward thing about the ADL was how much of its focus was spent on ‘shande’ politics, policing the wrong kind of Jewish people who were seen as causing antisemitism. Much of the material that the ADL and allied groups objected to was coming from Jewish comedians, theater owners and movie studios. While most of the targets are entirely (and probably deservedly) forgotten, they included future mainstream stars like Fanny Brice who was accused of contributing to “the recrudescence and continuance of the spirit of Anti-Semitism in America”.

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Massie Teases Senate Run – Jewish GOP Group Threatens ‘Unlimited’ Spending To Stop Him

Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie is teasing a potential run for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in 2026, and a Jewish Republican group is already threatening to unleash “unlimited” spending to thwart any such bid, given his frequent opposition to legislation pushed by the pro-Israel lobby. 

On Thursday, Massie posted a poll on X, asking if he should stay in the House, run for Senate in 2026, or run for governor in 2027. A Senate campaign was the choice of 67% of the respondents.

The libertarian-minded Massie opposes all foreign aid. At his own political peril, he dares to make no exception for the State of Israel, which is among the world’s richest countries. He has also voted against legislation that would infringe on free speech by, for example, punishing colleges that allow students and professors to say the wrong things about Israel.

Add it all up — and stir in the fact that he’s a member of a party whose legislators almost universally toe the pro-Israel line — and Massie is likely the House representative the pro-Israel lobby would most like to eliminate. The idea of him ascending to the Senate has pro-Israel forces racing to DEFCON1. 

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