Uncategorized
Brooklyn gyms have an answer to antisemitism: teaching Jews to fight back
(New York Jewish Week) — Emanuel Landsman, a Lubavitch father of five who lives in Crown Heights, found the recent rise in antisemitic attacks to be very concerning. But instead of being afraid, he decided to learn how to fight.
Over the past three years, Landsman has become proficient in the Israeli martial art known as Krav Maga (literally, “close combat”). “I’m a visibly Jewish man,” Landsman told the New York Jewish Week. “I came to train because of all the antisemitic attacks and what was going on around us. I would get hollered at by cars driving by. My kid came home and said others were walking down the street and yelling at him.”
Recently, high-intensity self-defense classes have been popping up in Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, specifically in response to street attacks on Orthodox residents. Last week, an analysis of NYPD data by the Times of Israel showed that antisemitic incidents in New York City have doubled over the past two years.
Landsman learned to fight with a training program called Legion, which has previously held Krav Maga classes in Manhattan and Connecticut. Next month, Legion is making its first post-pandemic expansion to Brooklyn; weekly classes will take place at the Beth-El Jewish Center, a synagogue in Flatbush.
“It’s not a requirement to join our class, but the majority of our members are Jewish,” Legion’s president and former Israeli Defense Forces soldier Corey Feldman told the New York Jewish Week. “Our logo is a Jewish star. It’s pretty obvious who we are and what we stand for.”
Jews are attacked because we’re seen as vulnerable targets. Join Legion Self Defense & send a message to criminals: “you can no longer attack me & expect me not to defend myself.” I had the opportunity to participate in the program for 2.5 years, & acquired life changing skills. pic.twitter.com/bOnAbnwbPF
— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) January 8, 2023
Feldman added that he is seeing more of a demand for these classes, which include separate classes for men and women, and a mixed class as well. “We already have 40 people in New York City, with many more that wanted to join, but we didn’t have room to accommodate.” Feldman said, adding that as antisemitic attacks on Jews increase, people are “aware of the need for this.”
“We believe that the best way to confront that is deterrence,” Feldman said. “We want to make sure you’re going to think twice before you start pushing that guy on the subway who is wearing a kippah.”
In Legion classes, members work up a sweat through a mix of high-intensity workouts that include punching, kicking, grappling and other forms of martial arts.
The new Legion classes in Brooklyn will be held in City Council member Inna Vernikov’s district, which encompasses parts of Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and Midwood. She told the New York Jewish Week that she’s “very involved” with Legion; she has taken Legion classes herself and said she is working to provide discretionary funding from her district office this year, although she declined to discuss specifics.
“It’s extremely important that every single Jew, especially visibly Orthodox Jews, do this,” Vernikov said. “I’ve seen small, petite women train and gain life-changing skills. You develop an attitude and a confidence that if you walk down the street and use the skills properly, the attacker will avoid you.”
Another Krav Maga program serving Brooklyn Jews is Guardian Self Defense, which was started by Joe Richards, a Jew from Long Island. In 2019, he rented out a room in a Crown Heights yeshiva to teach members of the local community how to fight.
“Across the hall they were having a bar mitzvah,” Richards told the New York Jewish Week. “And then there was us training. We ran these 45 guys hard and pushed them.”
Since then, Richards said he now teaches hundreds of Jewish students through his program. In Crown Heights, he runs three weekly classes for the Lubavitch community in space rented at the local outpost of the gym chain Crunch. GSD also has other locations in Manhattan, Long Island and Florida.
Richards said he started his Brooklyn classes after seeing videos of attacks on people wearing the distinct dress of Orthodox Jews. “Let me bring the training to the area where this is happening,” Richards said. “There were no freaking gyms there. I went into the community and recruited them [students]. And now the people [students] are doing all the recruiting because it’s so popular.”
Members of Shomrim, a neighborhood watch organization in the Orthodox community, are using Krav Maga training to learn how to defend themselves in the field.
Crown Heights Shomrim member Ben Cousin, who trains regularly with GSD, told the New York Jewish Week that “ordinary people” are now learning how to fight in his community through these programs. “They have been victims of antisemitic attacks,” Cousin said. “Some of them have seen it, they feel it, but they are joining because they feel they have to stand up for themselves.”
A Guardian Self Defense fighting class in Crown Heights. (Courtesy)
Cousin spoke about how the GSD teaches “de-escalation” tactics, and is not just about fighting. He told a story about when he was on patrol with Shomrim and his team confronted a man after a robbery. “He pushed me,” Cousin said. “Instead of pushing him back, I said, ‘I don’t want to fight you.’ I calmed him down. I apologized. That comes from the training — I don’t want to fight, but I’m ready, just in case.”
“This is a last resort program,” he added. “If you put your hands on us, we will remind you that Jewish blood is not cheap.”
Like Legion’s Feldman, Richards is gearing up for a new group of GSD trainees this year who have heard about his Krav Maga program. Richards is the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors and compared the current rise in antisemitism to what his grandparents experienced.
“The Jews are being targeted everywhere — verbally, online, physically. From the right and left, we are now under siege,” Richards said. “If you’re visibly Jewish, you have a double target on your back. We don’t have the luxury of trying to plan what we should do. Everybody should be taking action.”
“There are plenty of people in this class who had never thrown a punch in their life,” Landsman said of his training with Legion. “I’m not asking you to join the UFC [the mixed martial arts league], but you need to be able to stand your ground and unfreeze yourself when somebody is threatening you with violence. You need to know when to run or when there is no retreat and you have to defend yourself.”
—
The post Brooklyn gyms have an answer to antisemitism: teaching Jews to fight back appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
NJ Republican gubernatorial nominee faces backlash after aide says he wouldn’t take ‘money from Jews’
(JTA) — The Republican nominee for New Jersey governor has come after one of his aides said he wasn’t “taking money from Jews” at a campaign event.
Ibrar Nadeem, the Muslim relations adviser to Jack Ciattarelli, made the remarks at a “community dinner” in Piscataway, New Jersey, on Saturday organized by a group called Muslims 4 Jack.
“People from my community, when I was blamed that somebody said, ‘You are taking money from Jews.’ I said, ‘I check my bank account every day, brother, it is not there,’” Nadeem told the crowd.
Minutes earlier, Nadeem also said that Ciattarelli’s campaign wanted to have a “ban on same-sex marriage.”
#NJ gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli is getting an endorsement so big, it might lead to victory (Lakewood Vaad). He made an appearance with Muslims4Jack too “We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage…I was blamed that somebody said you are taking money from Jews.” https://t.co/3Lz4jHXWQv pic.twitter.com/ap71tBQEX9
— Michael Matthews (@mcm1071989) October 20, 2025
Following Nadeem’s remarks, Ciattarelli took to the stage and praised Nadeem, telling the crowd that the advisor “hasn’t let me down one day” since the pair met eight months ago. He also boasted that he was the “first gubernatorial candidate in history that has a Muslim as part of his inner circle of advisors.”
Both men’s remarks swiftly drew criticism from Ciattarelli’s opponent, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is currently leading the race by single digits in most public polling.
“This blatant antisemitism is coming from a member of Jack’s inner circle,” wrote Sherrill in a post on X Monday. “Jack could have condemned it but instead sang his praises. Absolutely disgraceful.”
Hours later, she demanded that Ciattarelli denounce Nadeem’s comments, fire him and apologize for “praising him right after he made these antisemitic and homophobic statements” in another social media post.
Ciattarelli’s response to Nadeem’s comments also drew condemnation from Jewish Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who lost his gubernatorial bid to Sherrill earlier this year.
“A real friend of the Jewish community doesn’t applaud disgusting antisemitic tropes,” Gottheimer told reporters Tuesday. “They condemn them.”
In response to Sherrill’s allegations, Ciattarelli accused the Democratic candidate of being a “Mamdani supporter” — a reference to the Muslim and anti-Zionist Democratic candidate for mayor in New York City — who didn’t “have the moral courage to stand with Israel.”
“Do you ever get tired of lying @MikieSherrill? You know I support same sex marriage. You also know the full clip of Dr. Nadeem’s remarks are clear: He was talking about the grief he gets from some BECAUSE of my unwavering support for the Jewish community and Israel and his own efforts to build bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim communities,” wrote Ciattarelli in a post on X.
The Vaad, a group of Orthodox community leaders in Lakewood, New Jersey, and neighboring towns, is expected to endorse Ciattarelli in the coming days, according to the Lakewood Scoop.
Nadeem thanked Ciattarelli for his defense in a post on Facebook where he claimed he had worked to foster ties between Muslim and Jewish communities in New Jersey.
“Mikie Sherrill, your attacks are false. I’ve spent years building bridges—especially between Muslim and Jewish communities—and I’m proud of that work,” wrote Nadeem. “To my Jewish friends, thank you for standing with me and rejecting division. Truth and unity will beat political lies—every time. 🇺🇸”
The post NJ Republican gubernatorial nominee faces backlash after aide says he wouldn’t take ‘money from Jews’ appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
In Jerusalem, Vance and Netanyahu reject idea that Israel is a ‘vassal state’ of the US
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed claims that Israel is a protectorate of the United States, as U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance visited the country to monitor the fragile ceasefire with Hamas.
“One week they say that Israel controls the United States. A week later, they say the United States controls Israel. This is hogwash,” said Netanyahu beside Vance in Jerusalem. “We have a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values, common goals.”
Vance arrived in Israel Tuesday amid reports that the White House was concerned that Netanyahu would seek to resume the war in Gaza, also rejected the idea that the United States wanted Israel to become a “vassal state.”
He said the goal was to be in “partnership” with Israel in preserving the ceasefire, which he said his visit was part of an effort to monitor.
“This thing takes monitoring, and it’s going to take a lot of work,” Vance said. “It’s not about monitoring in the sense of, you know, you monitor a toddler. It’s about monitoring in the sense that there’s a lot of work, a lot of good people who are doing that work, and it’s important for the principles of the administration to keep on ensuring that our people are doing what we need them to do.”
As the ceasefire deal progresses following the release of the remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza, Vance said he hoped the deal could serve as an “opportunity to build on the Abraham Accords,” a set of deals that established diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab nations during the first Trump administration.
The leaders also discussed future governance in Gaza, which is supposed to be negotiated following the first phase of the ceasefire deal, the release of hostages and prisoners and the retraction of Israeli troops from some parts of Gaza. Netanyahu said he had “very strong opinions” about the prospect of Turkish involvement in Gaza as part of a proposed international security force, but he said Israel would be “flexible to accommodate” American interests in the region.
“A strong Israel serves America’s interest in stabilizing this very unstable region, and you can’t stabilize it without a strong Israel,” said Netanyahu. “So we make the decisions for the security of Israel, but we make common decisions for the region, which I think can service both, and that’s what we discussed today.”
The post In Jerusalem, Vance and Netanyahu reject idea that Israel is a ‘vassal state’ of the US appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Israeli pop star remakes AI music video showing war’s end with real scenes of freed hostages
(JTA) — When Israeli pop star Yoni Bloch created a music video in January depicting scenes of the Israeli hostages returning through the use of artificial intelligence, it was meant as a hopeful fantasy.
At the time, Bloch’s song, “Sof Tov” or “A Happy Ending,” went viral in Israel for offering optimism for the release of the nearly 100 hostages still held in Gaza. It also envisioned peace in the region accompanying the end of the war in Gaza.
Now, nine months later, after the remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza were finally reunited with their families in Israel, Bloch has remade the music video with real-life scenes that mirror those previously only seen through AI.
The new video features emotional clips of the hostage families rejoicing at the news of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, as well as clips of them embracing their loved ones after two years of captivity.
“Unbelievable that the clip came true❤️🎗️,” read the caption of a post of the two videos on Bloch’s Instagram account.
Praise for the new music video resounded in the comments of Bloch’s post, with one user commenting, “You are a genius. It looked so far away from us. Dreams really do come true.”
While the release of the living hostages has been met with celebration across Israel, the slow repatriation of the deceased hostages in Gaza, in part because the location of some of the bodies is unknown, has stirred frustration among the Israeli public.
“Stunning and exciting but not everyone has returned yet 💛 💛 💛,” wrote one user in the comments of Bloch’s post.
Others also shared that Bloch’s vision for regional peace in the original music video (and his aspiration of performing alongside Taylor Swift) had not yet been realized. The new video does not include visualizations of a postwar realignment in the region, in keeping with the uncertainty about the broader implications of the ceasefire.
On Wednesday, Vice President J.D. Vance met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and said that he hoped the new ceasefire deal could serve as an “opportunity to build on the Abraham Accords.”
“Only world peace and Taylor Swift is left and the clip is complete,” wrote one user in the comments of the Instagram post.
The post Israeli pop star remakes AI music video showing war’s end with real scenes of freed hostages appeared first on The Forward.