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Three UK Men Jailed for ‘Heinous’ Antisemitic Kidnapping, Assault of Israeli Music Producer
Itay Kashti. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Three men in the United Kingdom were each sentenced to eight years and one month in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to kidnapping and violently assaulting an Israeli Jewish music producer.
Faiz Shah, 23, from Bradford; Mohammad Comrie, 23, from Leeds; and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, from Wallington were arrested on Aug. 26, 2024, and were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court in Wales for the abduction and brutal assault of the London-based producer and composer Itay Kashti. Shah and Comrie were both sent to jail while Ogunnubi-Sime was sent to a young offender institution, according to the BBC.
Judge Catherine Richards said the kidnapping and assault in August 2024 was “motivated by events taking place elsewhere in the world,” referring to the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.
“[Kashti] was an entirely innocent, hard-working music producer that you had identified as a victim based on your understanding of his wealth and his Jewish heritage,” Richards said during the sentencing on Friday. “It seems to me that you justified your actions against the victim based on his background, as if he was less worthy of your respect and compassion. That is utterly abhorrent.”
“This is an absolutely horrific crime. It is an enormous relief that Mr. Kashti was able to escape, given that similar abductions of Jews from France to Gaza have ended in murder,” a spokesperson for the British charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a released statement. “This is what ‘globalizing the Intifada’ looks like: Jews being subjected to violence motivated by religious hatred. We are grateful to the police in Wales and to the court for taking a stand. This sentence is a message both to prospective perpetrators of such heinous crimes and also to the authorities elsewhere in Britain, who have turned too much of a blind eye to incitement to violence against Jews.”
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters also applauded Friday’s sentencing. CST said it has worked closely to support Kashti and his family in the aftermath of the incident, including providing security advice and psychological and emotional support.
“This is a shocking and deeply troubling crime that the police have confirmed also had an antisemitic element due to the victim’s identity as an Israeli Jew,” CST said in a statement on X. “The victim suffered a terrible ordeal in which he was kidnapped, handcuffed, seriously assaulted, and even threatened with death by the perpetrators. In her sentencing remarks, the judge confirmed that all three defendants were motivated by racial and religious hostility in choosing the victim.”
Kashti’s kidnappers lured him to a rented house in rural Wales by using false identities and pretending to be from a music production company that was inviting him to a music recording workshop. They planned to kidnap their victim, extort money from him, and they also tried to source ketamine to drug Kashti, said prosecutor Craig Jones, who added that there was “clear political and religious motivation” to the attack because of Kashti’s Jewish and Israeli identity. Kashti took a taxi from London to the rented house on Aug. 26, 2024, and immediately upon arrival, he and his innocent taxi driver were attacked. The taxi driver was hit in the face but managed to escape while Kashti was chained and handcuffed, and brutally assaulted.
The music producer eventually managed to free himself from the chains, located his phone, and ran to hide in nearby bushes. He called his wife, who then called the police, as did the taxi driver. With the help of a police helicopter, officers found the three suspects hiding in a nearby field. Kashti suffered swollen and bruised eyelids, a swollen nose and bruising to his back, knees and leg and a cut to the scalp, according to BBC.
Kashti said his kidnapping and assault “felt like my own personal Oct. 7,” a reference to the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attacks that took place in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which terrorists murdered 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages, many of whom remain in captivity.
“I was kicked to the head several times, handcuffed to a radiator, and forced to lie down on the floor,” he said. “I was threatened and told if I were to try and escape, I’d be killed. The awful attack of the 7th of October was flashing through my mind as I lay restrained on the floor in handcuffs. I can’t deny the strong and devastating impact this brutal and unnecessary attack has had on my life. My physical injuries lasted for weeks, and I have been suffering with anxiety, which I have never experienced before.”
DS Gareth Jones, an officer in the case, said the incident “was thoroughly planned and was sophisticated in elements.”
“Securing justice for the victim has been our priority throughout,” he noted. “This sentence today reflects the severity of this offense – and we hope it gives the victim a sense of justice. We thank him for his strength and patience whilst we carried out a thorough investigation into what was an extraordinary crime.”
The post Three UK Men Jailed for ‘Heinous’ Antisemitic Kidnapping, Assault of Israeli Music Producer first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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White House Confirms Israel Spoke to US Before Relaunching War Effort in Gaza
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, on the day he signs executive orders, at the White House in Washington, DC, March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The White House confirmed on Monday night that Israel consulted the United States before resuming military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
“The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. “As President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran – all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America – will see a price to pay: all hell will break loose.”
She added that all of “the terrorists in the Middle East” should take US President Donald Trump “very seriously when he says he is not afraid to stand for law-abiding people … and our friend and our ally Israel.”
In addition, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes defended Israel’s decision to resume its military campaign in Gaza.
“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” Hughes said in a statement.
On Monday night, Israel resumed airstrikes targeting Hamas in Gaza under the directive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office said in a statement that the military action followed “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
The Israeli military attacked “targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip in order to achieve the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased,” the statement continued. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.”
Around 400 Palestinians were killed from the Israeli airstrikes, according to data provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between terrorist combatants and civilians. Researchers have shown that casualty figures published by Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities have been inflated to defame Israel.
Hamas lambasted Israel for resuming airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to hold Netanyahu and the Jewish state “fully responsible for the repercussions of the treacherous aggression on Gaza, and for the defenseless civilians and our besieged Palestinian people, who are subjected to a brutal war and a systematic policy of starvation.”
“Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement, exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” the terrorist group continued.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz repudiated the terrorist group over its refusal to release the remaining hostages and vowed to continue the war effort until the Jewish state successfully defeats Hamas.
“If Hamas does not release all the kidnapped, the gates of hell will open in Gaza and Hamas’s murderers and rapists will meet the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] with forces they have never known before,” Katz said in a statement. “We will not stop fighting until all the kidnapped return home and all the war’s goals are achieved.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, when they invaded, southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the captives and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Fighting stopped when a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Jan. 19.
Israel subsequently presented Hamas with a proposal for an extension of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal. The proposal would have mandated that Hamas release half of the remaining Israeli hostages who were kidnapped into Gaza at the beginning of the extension. The rest of the hostages would be released at the end, if Hamas and Israel can agree on a permanent ceasefire deal. Israel would retain the right to restart the war in Gaza if negotiations are unsuccessful by the 42-day mark.
According to Jerusalem, the ceasefire extension proposal was the brainchild of Trump’s Middle East envoy, Witkoff.
However, Hamas refused to extend the first phase of the ceasefire deal, leading Israel to announce that it would block humanitarian aid transfers into Gaza to pressure the terrorist group into accepting the ceasefire extension.
Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander. It is also holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.
The post White House Confirms Israel Spoke to US Before Relaunching War Effort in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Why Some Progressives, Jews, and Others Support Mahmoud Khalil
A pro-Palestine protester holds a sign that reads: “Faculty for justice in Palestine” during a protest urging Columbia University to cut ties with Israel. November 15, 2023 in New York City. Photo: Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects free speech. But misusing the First Amendment as a defense weapon for propaganda and activities supporting illegal endeavors enabled pro-Palestinian protesters to ignite disruptive, and at times violent, protests on many university campuses, most notably on the Columbia/Barnard campus.
Progressive and left-wing activists, including some liberal Jews, expressed little or no concern for threats against Jews, and the protestors’ support for Hamas, which committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. These voices were also silent when confronted with the fact that Hamas aims to kill every single Jew in Israel.
Yet many of those same voices were outraged when Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of these protests, was arrested on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
His lawyer said that Khalil was “identified, targeted and detained” because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights, which he says constitutes protected free speech.
But Khalil is not just advocating for “Palestinian rights.” He is active in Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an organization that supports Hamas and Hezbollah. He organized an event where literature that said it was produced by the “Hamas Media Office” was distributed, according to The New York Times.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, and New York Attorney Letitia James, just to name some of Khalil’s defenders, denounced the arrest of Khalil as a serious attack on free speech — but none of them had any concerns about antisemitism, the chilling effect on free speech by disruption of certain classes and events at Columbia, and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students and faculty. All of this constitutes the denial of civil rights to Jewish students and faculty.
It should be obvious to anybody that aiding terrorist organizations is illegal. CUAD’s participation in attacks on Jews, the occupation of university buildings, and the destruction of property — along with its clear support of Hamas — makes it clear that aid is being given to Hamas. Whether or not that falls under the legal code’s definition of aid, Khalil’s CUAD leadership should be a sufficient reason for deportation.
Why Columbia tolerates CUAD’s presence and activities on its campus is inexplicable. Engulfed in chaos since October 7, Columbia had done almost nothing to stop it until Federal grants and funding were suspended.
What is perhaps even more mysterious is why Khalil is able to arouse sympathy and support among liberal and leftist activists, including Jews. Some are perhaps not aware what free speech means within the First Amendment framework. Some may support him because of strong antipathy towards Trump. It gets murkier when it comes to Jewish supporters, but many of those are Jews who have no real connection to their faith, but use it as a means to justify their (and others’) hatred of Israel.
While thinking about why Khalil’s case aroused so much support and sympathy, I reminded myself of Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of the UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione commanded and is still commanding huge support.
There are some commonalities between these groups: some supporters claim to be peaceful, but support violence (against health care CEOs or Jews); many in both camps are anti-American, at least to some degree; and many are just getting caught up in social media trends and mass hysteria.
Perhaps the case of Khalil is not so strange; perhaps some members of our tribe are strange. The “peaceful” Jewish camp for Khalil is gaining steam. A child of Holocaust survivors wrote in The Forward that she is terrified for Khalil, and is reminded of life in Romania where she grew up. I myself grew up in a communist country and I think her fears and concerns are not substantiated. Many in the media are blaming Jews for “targeting Khalil” before his arrest.
Are we back in the ghetto where we wait to be slaughtered – is it OK to be killed rather than to defend ourselves, letting Hamas to murder and rape, and Khalil and company to rave? Or is it possible that the same people, who are convinced that peace at any price should be maintained, yearn for battle ready heroes/antiheroes, be it Luigi Mangione or Mahmoud Khalil?
Dr. Jaroslava Halper has been a professor of pathology at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA for many years. She escaped from communist Prague because of antisemitism, and lack of freedom and free speech. The gradual increase of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in certain circles in her second homeland, and the devastating October 7 massacre by Hamas, led her to realize that more active engagement is necessary to combat antisemitism, including anti-Zionism.
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Yemen’s Houthis Won’t ‘Dial Down’ Under US Pressure or Iranian Appeals
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Yemen’s Houthis will not “dial down” their action against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea in response to US military pressure or appeals from the group’s allies such as Iran, the Yemeni terrorist group’s foreign minister said.
Jamal Amer spoke to Reuters late on Monday after the US launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza.
Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran had delivered a verbal message to the Houthi envoy in Tehran on Friday to cool tensions and that Iran’s foreign minister asked Oman, which has mediated with the Houthis, to convey a similar message to the group when he visited Muscat on Sunday. Both officials asked not to be named.
Iran has not made any public comment about recent outreach to the Houthis over their renewed action. Tehran says the group takes decisions independently.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthis.
“There will be no talk of any dialling down of operations before ending the aid blockade in Gaza. Iran is not interfering in our decision but what is happening is that it mediates sometimes but it cannot dictate things,” Amer said, in his first comments on the issue to a foreign news agency.
Speaking from Yemen’s capital Sanaa, which has been hit by US strikes, he said he had not been informed of any message Iran delivered to the Houthi envoy in Tehran.
There were messages from other powers to dial down, he said, but added: “Now we see that Yemen is at war with the US and that means that we have a right to defend ourselves with all possible means, so escalation is likely.”
IRANIAN CONCERNS
Iran, whose network of proxies and allies across the Middle East has taken a hammering since the war in Gaza erupted in 2023, has shown increasing concern it could be drawn deeper into conflict with the United States. Iran and Israel exchanged direct strikes for the first time last year as the Gaza war escalated.
US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and six major powers that curbed its sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief, has stepped up a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions on Iran since returning to office for a second term in January.
“[The US] is threatening Iran and hitting Yemen. Now all scenarios are possible. We will do what they will do to us. If they are hitting us from (US aircraft carrier USS Harry S.) Truman, we will retaliate by hitting Truman,” the Houthi foreign minister said.
While Iran champions the Houthis, the Yemeni group says it is aligned with Tehran and its ‘Axis of Resistance’ network without being puppets. Experts on Yemen, where the Houthis expanded control during years of civil war, say the group seems mainly motivated by domestic concerns and support base.
The Houthis said on March 12 they had resumed attacks on Israeli ships using routes that pass through the Red Sea after the group said Israel had not met a Houthi deadline for ending an aid blockade on Gaza.
Israel’s blockade began on March 2 as a standoff over a ceasefire deal in Gaza escalated. Israel launched heavy strikes on Gaza overnight into Tuesday.
WAVES OF STRIKES
The Houthis had launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping from November 2023, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas, another of Iran’s regional allies, in Gaza. It suspended operations when the Gaza ceasefire came into effect in January.
The Houthi foreign minister said the group had aimed only to target Israeli ships, but the US had escalated and the Houthis had a right to defend themselves.
The US began a wave of strikes on Saturday that have hit the capital and expanded across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, killing dozens of people.
Amer said some European Union countries had advised the Houthis not to escalate, and said the group had sought to reassure them that the target was Israeli shipping.
He also said Saudi Arabia, which backed Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthis in the civil war, had not intervened militarily so far, and nor had other Gulf states. That was something that Houthis valued, he added, while warning that Gulf states risked being caught in the crossfire if they intervened militarily.
“If any aircraft or base is used against us then we will escalate and we will defend ourselves, but if they [Gulf states] continue to be neutral we will stay away,” he said.
The Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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