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Thousands of Germans and wide range of politicians show up to pro-Israel Berlin rally
(JTA) — Several thousand Berliners joined a rally in support of Israel and against antisemitism on Sunday at the city’s famed Brandenburg Gate as incidents targeting Jews, tied to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, continue to rise across the continent.
Organizers estimated over 20,000 participants turned up for the rally, which included exhortations from politicians, Christian leaders and relatives of families held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Police did not report any disruptions but estimated a crowd closer to 10,000, which would still make the gathering likely the largest in Europe since Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
The rally came against the background of a surge in antisemitic incidents in Germany, as well as several large anti-Israel protests across the country. A subsequent crackdown on hate speech related to Israel and Jews has drawn resentment from some on the left who say German authorities are curbing their freedom to criticize Israel.
But speakers at Sunday’s rally urged Germany to take an even tougher stand against those who call for Israel’s destruction and who threaten Jews living in Germany.
Speakers, including Germany’s president, Jewish leaders and Israel’s ambassador to Germany, stood up for Israel’s so-called special relationship with Germany, as an outgrowth of the Holocaust. Pacifists and hawks alike agreed that Israel has the right to defend itself and that Jews in Germany must be protected from antisemitic acts. And several called on German and European politicians to harden their positions against Iran, which they described as an exporter of terror.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that protecting Jewish life was a “civic duty” as well as a federal mandate. “Nothing has been the same since Oct. 7th,” he said at the event, which was broadcast live.
“Never since the end of the Shoah have so many Jews been murdered in an attack. Israel has the right to defend itself against this terror,” Steinmeier said, turning to address relatives of German-Israeli hostages, who stood with him on the stage. “We Germans are suffering, we are praying, we are pleading with you.”
Many speakers referred to the suffering of Gazan civilians under Hamas and called for humanitarian corridors to be set up. Steinmeier said Hamas only “pretends” to represent the population under their control. It is left to others, like Germany, to protect them.
In Germany, Jews and their institutions must be protected from terrorist threats, said Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, noting that perpetrators tried to firebomb a synagogue in Berlin last week.
“The mobs in the streets of Germany don’t represent the Palestinian people,” Botmann said. But perpetrators and agitators who turn out not to be citizens should be deported, he said, and there should be severe punishment for those who are citizens, so that they will think it over “100 times” before trying something like this again.
“We need more than just empathy and promises of solidarity. We need action,” he said.
If Germany does not crack down on extremists in its midst, “the terror from the Gaza Strip will also reach Germany,” said Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany.
“Synagogues in Germany have become targets. Stars of David have been painted on houses where Jews live. This cannot be tolerated,” he said.
“We will be measured by deeds and not just words,” continued Prosor, whose grandparents and father fled Nazi Germany. “All of us here are on the right side of history and we are strong if we stand together.”
Much mention was made of Germany’s support for Israel and Jewish life, given the history of the Holocaust. “There is a clear line between good and evil,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour, who is Muslim. “Hamas is evil, and we have to reject it.”
“It is high time that all those who were abused and taken away, all those whose suffering … come home,” he added. “We have to do everything possible” to that end. “We stand firmly on the side of Israel and democracy.”
In Berlin “there were people who were happy, who handed out candy and celebrated” after the events of Oct. 7, said the Iranian-born politician Bijan Djir-Sarai, who is general secretary of the Free Democratic Party. “We don’t want these people here.”
But most Muslims in Germany reject such attitudes, emphasized Social Democratic Party leader Saskia Esken. “The Muslims who live with us do not deserve this hatred,” she said, warning against allowing right-wing extremists to whitewash themselves by “turning the Hamas’ terror into a fundamental hatred of Islam.”
The event included words by relatives of Israeli hostages who hold dual citizenship with Germany, musical performances, and recitations of Jewish prayers for healing and mourning, led by Yitzchak Ehrenberg, a local Orthodox rabbi.
It was organized under the motto “Stand up against terror, hatred and anti-Semitism – in solidarity and compassion with Israel,” and it included a broad alliance of political initiatives and parties, trade unions and religious groups — including the Council of the Protestant Church of Germany and the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
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The post Thousands of Germans and wide range of politicians show up to pro-Israel Berlin rally appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Anti-Israel Singer Kehlani’s NYC Concert Gets Cancelled After Mayor Faces Pressure
Kehlani walking on the red carpet during the 67th Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA on Feb. 2, 2025. Photo: Elyse Jankowski/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
An upcoming New York City concert featuring Israel-hating, American singer Kehlani was canceled late Monday after organizers faced mounting pressure from New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The webpage for the “Pride With Kehlani” benefit concert has also removed from the website of the City Parks Foundation. The privately-funded non-profit organization was hosting the performance, set for June 26 in Central Park, as part of its SummerStage festival series and in celebration of June being Pride Month. The concert was being produced and presented by Live Nation, which reportedly selected Kehlani for the performance.
SummerStage released a statement on Monday explaining its decision to call off Kehlani’s performance. According to the statement, the mayor’s office contacted concert organizers and expressed concerns about “safety and security issues” at the event, especially in light of Cornell University’s recent decision to cancel a performance by Kehlani, “as well as security demands in Central Park and throughout the City for other Pride events during that same time period.”
“We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds. However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is the utmost importance and in light of these concerns, the concert has been cancelled,” SummerStage said. “SummerStage is proud to be a platform for artists from around the world to perform and make arts accessible for all New Yorkers in their neighborhood parks. While artists may choose to express their own opinions, their views may not necessarily be representative of the festival. SummerStage events are intended to bring together all sectors of the New York City community and we look forward to welcoming more guests throughout the summer.”
Mayor Adams’ administration also threatened to pull the licenses for all SummerStage shows if Kehlani’s concert was not canceled, according to a letter sent to the City Parks Foundation that was obtained by New York Post.
Kehlani released a music video last year that opens with the message “Long live the Intifada,” a phrase that incites violence against Israel and the Jewish community. She has attended pro-Palestinian rallies, accused Israel of genocide, and shared numerous anti-Israel and anti-Zionist posts on social media. In one Instagram post, she wrote: “Dismantle Israel. Eradicate Zionism.” She also shared on social media a post that called for Israel to be removed off the map and replaced with “Palestine.” Kehlani recently claimed that she is not antisemitic.
“I am not antisemitic, nor anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide. I am anti-the-actions-of-the-Israeli-government,” she stated in a video posted on Instagram and TikTok.
Congressman Ritchie Torres, who pushed Mayor Adams to take action and have Kehlani’s Central Park concert canceled, applauded the move by SummerStage to call off the show. “Antisemitism becomes unacceptable only when we, as a society, have the courage to reject it—clearly, consistently, and without compromise,” he wrote on X.
SummerStage is the city’s largest free outdoor performing arts festival. It presents more than 80 free and benefit concerts each summer.
Kehlani has not publicly responded to the cancellation of her New York City concert.
The post Anti-Israel Singer Kehlani’s NYC Concert Gets Cancelled After Mayor Faces Pressure first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New Study Exposes Antisemitism in University Medical Centers
Illustrative Pro-Hamas protesters in Washington, DC, USA, on April 5, 2025. Photo: Robyn Stevens Brody/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect.
Antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish healthcare professionals of their civil right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate, according to a new study by the StandWithUs Data & Analytics Department.
“Academia today is increasingly cultivating an environment which is hostile to Jews, as well as members of other religious and ethnic groups,” StandWithUs director of data and analytics and study co-author, Alexandra Fishman said on Monday in a press release. “Academic institutions should be upholding the integrity of scholarship, prioritizing civil discourse, rather than allowing bias or personal agendas to guide academic culture.”
Titled “Antisemitism in American Healthcare: The Role of Workplace Environment,” the study includes survey data showing that 62.8 percent of Jewish healthcare professionals employed by campus-based medical center reported experiencing antisemitism, a far higher rate than those working in private practice and community hospitals. Fueling the rise in hate, it added, were repeated failures of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives to educate workers about antisemitism, increasing, the report said, the likelihood of antisemitic activity.
“When administrators and colleagues understand what antisemitism looks like, it clearly correlates with less antisemitism in the workplace,” co-author and Yeshiva University professor Dr. Charles Auerbach said. “Recognition is a powerful tool — institutions that foster awareness create safer, more inclusive environments for everyone.”
Monday’s study is not StandWithUs first contribution to the study of antisemitism in medicine. In December, its Data & Analytics Department published a study which found that nearly 40 percent of Jewish American health-care professionals have encountered antisemitism in the workplace, either as witnesses or victims.
The study included a survey of 645 Jewish health workers, a substantial number of whom said they were subject to “social and professional isolation.” The problem left over one quarter of the survey cohort, 26.4 percent, “feeling unsafe or threatened.”
In some schools, Jewish faculty are speaking out.
In February, the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group (JFrg) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) accused the institution in an open letter of “ignoring” antisemitism at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM),” charing that its indifference to the matter “continues to encourage more antisemitism.” JFrg added that discrimination at the Geffen medical school has caused demonstrable harm to Jewish students and faculty. Student clubs, it said, are denied recognition for arbitrary reasons; Jewish faculty whose ethnic backgrounds were previously unknown are purged from the payrolls upon being identified as Jews; and anyone who refuses to participate in anti-Zionist events is “intimidated” and pressured.
“DGSOM’s continued silence in the face of a sustained and deeply troubling rise in antisemitism within its own institution is not just complicity — it is a failure of responsibility,” the group said. “Without strong and principled leadership, this dangerous pattern will persist.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post New Study Exposes Antisemitism in University Medical Centers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Dozens of Former Eurovision Contestants Pressure Organizers to Ban Israel From 2025 Song Contest
Israel’s representative to the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, Yuval Raphael, holds an Israeli flag in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo: “The Rising Star,” Channel Keshet 12/Handout via REUTERS
More than 70 previous contestants of the Eurovision Song Contest on Monday demanded that Israel’s public broadcaster Kan should be banned from the international competition this year because of what they falsely claim is Israel’s “genocide” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Singers, songwriters, musicians, lyricists and others from across Europe signed an open letter, published by Artists for Palestine UK, that was addressed to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest. In their letter, the anti-Israel creatives urged the EBU to ban Kan, claiming that it is “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people.”
“We believe in the unifying power of music, which is why we refuse to allow music to be used as a tool to whitewash crimes against humanity,” the open letter stated. The signatories urged EBU to “act now and prevent further discredit and disruption to the festival.”
“Silence is not an option,” they added. “We therefore join together to state that the EBU’s complicity with Israel’s genocide must stop. By continuing to platform the representation of the Israeli state, the EBU is normalizing and whitewashing its crimes … Israel must be excluded from Eurovision.”
The former Eurovision contestants also said that they were “appalled” by the EBU’s decision last year to include Kan in the competition during the Israel-Hamas war.
“The result was disastrous,” they said about the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. “Rather than acknowledging the widespread criticism and reflecting on its own failures, the EBU responded by doubling down — granting total impunity to the Israeli delegation while repressing other artists and delegations, making the 2024 edition the most politicized, chaotic and unpleasant in the competition’s history.”
During last year’s competition, Israeli singer Eden Golan was booed on stage by anti-Israel audience members, faced death threats, had a anti-Israel Eurovision jury member refuse to give her points, and was forced to conceal her identity outside of the competition for her own safety.
Those who signed Monday’s open letter also accused the EBU of a “double standard” in regards to Israel. They criticized the EBU for expelling Russia’s public broadcaster from the competition in 2022, because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that year, but still allowing Israel to participate in the song contest amid the Israel-Hamas war that started after the deadly Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
“[It] can’t be one rule for Russia and a completely different rule for Israel. You bomb, you’re out,” said former Eurovision contestant Thea Garrett, who represented Malta in 2010.
“I believe that the Israeli government has been and is inflicting genocide on the people of Palestine and for that reason Israel should be barred from competing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest,” added Charlie McGettigan, who won the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland.
The open letter was signed by creatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, France, Iceland, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The national broadcasters in Iceland, Slovenia and Spain have previously expressed opposition to Israel’s participation in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
The open letter was published the same day that Israel’s Eurovision representative this year, singer Yuval Raphael, traveled to Basel, Switzerland, to compete in the song contest. Raphael, who is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, will compete in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “New Day Will Rise,” a ballad written by singer and songwriter Keren Peles. She will perform in the second semi-final on May 15 and, if she advances, will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest grand final on May 17.
The post Dozens of Former Eurovision Contestants Pressure Organizers to Ban Israel From 2025 Song Contest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.