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Jewish LGBT+ Group Pulls Out of London Pride Parade Due to Safety Concerns
Pride flags decorate Regent Street for Pride Month. Photo: Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
A Jewish LGBT+ education and training charity in the United Kingdom announced that it will not participate in the Pride in London parade this weekend after some members expressed concerns about their safety at the upcoming event.
“Against the background of what has been a challenging and at times a complex year for many Jews in the UK, including LGBT+ Jews, some of our friends and congregants have said they do not feel safe marching in the Pride in London event as they have felt in previous years,” KeshetUK said in a joint statement with West London Synagogue of British Jews that was shared via email. “We have listened very carefully to those concerns expressed about the event. Our primary duty is to create a safe space where we can all feel joy, pride, and community.”
Their message came amid a surge in antisemitic hate crimes in both London specifically and the United Kingdom more broadly following the Hamas terrorist group’s invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.
“LGBT+ Jews need safe spaces for celebration, joy, and to feel pride in who we are,” the email added. “With this especially in mind, we have long valued our Jewish presence at Pride in London. We understand the importance of visibility.”
KeshetUK and West London Synagogue said they will instead host a Pride Picnic. They added: “Please be assured that our priority is for all of us to be together where we can celebrate happily without concern. We hope that you will join us along with those who have decided not to march.”
The theme of this year’s Pride in London parade on Saturday is “We Are Everywhere.” On June 12, organizers accused Israel of committing “genocide” in a statement released on social media.
“We abide by our core values of Visibility, Unity, and Equality throughout our work. All of us who are marginalized, oppressed, and subject to hate and violence — our liberation is bound together,” the statement read.
“That means Pride in London stands with all those suffering from the devastating war and genocide in Gaza, all the innocent civilians in both Israel and Palestine who have been subjected to terror and violence in this humanitarian crisis and all Muslims and Jews worldwide who are facing rising hate and discrimination here in London and around the world,” the statement continued.
More antisemitic incidents occurred in the United Kingdom in 2023 than any year in the history of recording such data, according to a report issued by Community Security Trust, a nonprofit that offers security services and training to the country’s Jewish community. The group’s data showed a massive uptick in antisemitic incidents immediately after the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 that continued throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The city of London saw a similar spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes following the October onslaught.
Organizers of Pride in London have not commented on KeshetUK’s decision to pull out of this year’s parade. In recent years, the Jewish charity has partnered at the parade with other groups including Gay Jews in London and Parents of Jewish Gays and Lesbians. It remains unclear of the latter two groups will still participate in the parade this weekend.
The post Jewish LGBT+ Group Pulls Out of London Pride Parade Due to Safety Concerns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations
Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was a Polish-Jewish artist whose work reflected the historic times he lived: the two world wars, the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and the birth of the State of Israel. In 1940, with the support of the British government and the Polish government-in-exile, he visited Canada to popularize the struggle against Nazism. […]
The post Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., June 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
President Joe Biden embarks on a series of fundraising events across two states on Saturday as he works to stamp out a crisis of confidence in his re-election campaign following a feeble debate performance that dismayed his fellow Democrats.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit the upscale New York beach enclave known as the Hamptons for a campaign fundraiser hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Barry Rosentein. Later in the day, he will travel to New Jersey for a fundraiser hosted by wealthy New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
Fellow hedge-fund founder Eric Mindich and his Tony Award-winning producer wife Stacey, celebrity couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and actor Michael J. Fox are all listed as members of the host committee at the New York event, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.
Biden told a rally in North Carolina on Friday he intended to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November presidential election, giving no sign he would heed calls from Democrats who want him to drop out of the race.
Biden‘s verbal stumbles and occasionally meandering responses during Thursday night’s debate heightened voter concerns that the 81-year-old might not be fit to serve another four-year term.
The Biden campaign on Saturday boasted it had raised more than $27 million between debate day through Friday evening, but questions remain about whether the debate performance will hurt fundraising, at least in the short term.
The post Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group
Mourners carry a coffin during the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
i24 News – The Arab League no longer defines Hezbollah as a proscribed terrorist group, an official said on Saturday.
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shiite militia and a proxy of the Islamic regime in Iran, boasts the world’s largest rocket arsenal of any non-state actor. It is animated by the antisemitic ideology of jihad and is committed to the destruction of Israel.
“In earlier Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization, and this designation was reflected in the resolutions,” Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, was quoted in Arab media as saying.
“The League’s member states concurred that the labeling of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed,” Zaki said, adding that the regional body “does not maintain terrorist lists and does not actively seek to designate entities in such a manner.”
Hezbollah has unleashed numerous rockets, mortars and drones on northern Israel in the past eight months starting on October 8, a day after the Jewish state suffered the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust at the hands of the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas.
The post Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.