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Final investigation into prominent German Reform rabbi affirms abuse of power allegations
(JTA) — A long-awaited final report has arrived in the investigation of a leading German Reform rabbi and his partner after allegations of abuse of power and sexual harassment against them erupted last year.
Clocking in at 806 pages, the report by a prominent German law firm concludes that Rabbi Walter Homolka “was responsible for alleged misconduct, although he himself denies this,” and that radical “structural changes are necessary to prevent misconduct in the future.”
Those changes must cut deep, the investigators from the Cologne-based firm of Gercke Wollschläger added: It is not enough that Homolka took temporary leave from some positions, if those posts are now held by individuals who are beholden to, dependent on, or “feel ‘connected’ to him.”
They also concluded that it was not sufficient to transfer his ownership stake to other institutions — as Homolka did in January — and that it would not be appropriate to found new institutions if these “are also within the sphere of influence of the person from whom the alleged misconduct emanates.”
The report concludes an investigation commissioned in May 2022 by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the country’s main Jewish administrative organization. Investigators conducted more than 70 interviews over several months before releasing an executive summary in December that found that abuse of power and sexual harassment did occur at Germany’s liberal rabbinical seminary.
That 44-page summary drew legal challenges from Homolka, who continues to dispute the claims, and the final report reflects slight revisions based on a Frankfurt court’s decision to bar some references to possible criminal misconduct. Still, Central Council President Josef Schuster said the publication “does justice to the courage” of those who bore witness to the investigators. In all, 74 people testified to the investigators.
“In Jewish organizations and institutions, Professor Homolka has already lost most of his influence today,” Schuster said in a statement issued last week. “After the results now published, I cannot imagine that anything will change in this regard.”
Homolka was a founder and director of several German Jewish institutions when the allegations against him broke into public view in May 2022. The latest report by Gercke Wollschläger lays out numerous instances of alleged abuse of power and sexual harassment, particularly at the Abraham Geiger College, the Reform rabbinical seminary at the University of Potsdam that Homolka founded and directed. The Central Council was its largest funder.
The University of Potsdam conducted its own investigation, concluding that “many respondents stated on the record that Mr. Homolka had created a ‘climate of fear’ that had a restrictive effect on the actions of students and of staff.” The university did not investigate Homolka’s husband, who was the object of some accusations but had already been fired by then.
That report, released in October 2022, found no indications of criminality, and so Homolka retains his professorial position.
Homolka and his partner — German law bars publication of his name — have denied all allegations. In a statement last week, their attorney, at Gessner Legal, described the investigation as “a campaign” designed to “silence our client and to destroy his reputation through groundless accusations and suspicious statements.” Though some elements were removed from the final report, “diffuse, unsubstantiated accusations of abuse of power below the threshold of criminal law have remained,” Gessner wrote.
Homolka had stepped down or withdrawn from numerous posts in Jewish institutions, including the Abraham Geiger College, after the allegations came to light in May 2022. In January, he sold all shares of the Geiger College and its conservative sister school, Zacharias Frankel College, which he owned, to the Jewish Community of Berlin.
Geiger’s newly appointed leader, Rabbi Andreas Nechama, acknowledged in a pre-Rosh Hashanah mailing dated Sept. 7 “that the founding of the college has been fraught with hurt and pain” and apologized “to all who feel these hurts and injuries.”
The Reform seminary is not the only institution with ties to Homolka to come under scrutiny. Several institutions of liberal Judaism agreed to cooperate with the law firm’s investigation, according to the Central Council.
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The post Final investigation into prominent German Reform rabbi affirms abuse of power allegations appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.