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10 months into leadership crisis, fighting has renewed over German rabbinical schools’ future
BERLIN (JTA) — A plan to get Germany’s non-Orthodox rabbinical schools back on track after nearly a year of tumult has hit a snag: the country’s main Jewish organization says it can’t fund the group that took control of the schools in January.
The Jewish Community of Berlin had announced in a surprise move that it had paid 25,000 euros to buy out the ownership stake of the schools’ founder and rector Rabbi Walter Homolka, who stepped down from almost all positions amid investigations into whether he abused his power.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany, the country’s main Jewish group, had been working on a plan to overhaul the schools and initially expressed skepticism about the Berlin Jewish community’s purchase. But the Central Council’s president, Josef Schuster, said he had been persuaded to work with the new owners after getting assurance that Homolka would have no role at the revamped schools.
Now, the Central Council says its auditors have advised that it cannot legally pass along government funds to the Jewish Community of Berlin. The Central Council announced on Thursday that it would instead create a new foundation to support the Reform Abraham Geiger College and Conservative Zacharias Frankel College, and it could move to reopen the schools with new names. (Both schools are named for prominent 19th-century German rabbis.) The Central Council has supported both schools to the tune of about $530,000 a year.
“The takeover of the rabbinical training centers by the Jewish Community of Berlin was done with the best of intentions,” Schuster said in a statement. “However, it is not possible for the Central Council to support rabbinical training in the present support structure.”
Jewish Community of Berlin President Gideon Joffe attacked the plan as an “abuse of power,” saying that his organization would “not bow to the feudal fantasies of omnipotence harbored by old white men.” Joffe and Schuster have sparred intensely over the future of the two seminaries.
Joffe said the Central Council already had ceased transferring funds to the seminaries, “massively hindering rabbinical education in Germany, which it actually claims to protect.”
In fact, it is usually an entity’s owner — which since January has been Joffe’s group — that would be responsible for securing funding. The three major and longtime funders of the seminaries — the Central Council, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Brandenburg Ministry of Science — have all been aligned, declaring together in December their support for an independent liberal rabbinical seminary under a new structure.
The Central Council was in the midst of devising that new structure when Joffe’s group swooped in and purchased a leadership stake in the schools. The council had hired Gerhard Robbers, an expert in religion and law, to develop a new model for the schools, after an initial version of its commissioned investigation reported that Homolka had created a “culture of fear” there. A final report of the investigation by the law firm of Gercke Wollschläger is due out soon.
The council released Robbers’ “roadmap” for the schools on Thursday. He recommended that the Central Council establish a foundation under which two independent seminaries and a cantorial program would operate, under the auspices of the University of Potsdam. A board including the elected president and appointed executive director of the Central Council as well as representatives of both the Progressive and Masorti (Conservative) movements — appointed by themselves — would make fundamental decisions together. In general, the roadmap is designed to ensure stability and quality of education, and to prevent any one person or group from monopolizing the structure, Robbers wrote.
“If bringing in existing institutions is not possible or proves inopportune, institutions could be newly established,” Robbers’ recommendation says. “Through them, existing tasks, staff and students could be taken over. Appropriate names for the institutions should be found in agreement with the stakeholders.”
Schuster said the dramatic changes were warranted by the recent findings against Homolka. The former rector announced this week that he would resign from the leadership of another institution he had created: The Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Scholarship Foundation for talented Jewish students; he has also sought legal relief against the criticism against him, with some recent, albeit partial, success.
The Central Council aims to “offer students and employees a secure perspective, securing teaching in the long term and restoring lost credibility,” Schuster said. “With the present findings on the abuse of power, discrimination and the prevailing culture of fear at rabbinical training institutions, there can be no ‘business as usual.’ A new beginning is necessary.”
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Berlin Court Jails 4 Men in Landmark Hamas Weapons Case, First German Ruling Treating Membership as Terror Offense
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Four men were sentenced to prison in Berlin on Wednesday for operating a covert Hamas weapons-stockpiling network across Europe in preparation for potential terrorist attacks — a landmark ruling marking the first time a German court convicted members of the Palestinian terrorist group under the country’s terrorism laws.
The Berlin State Protection Senate — a special national-security chamber within the Berlin Court of Appeal — convicted the defendants of stockpiling weapons for future attacks in Europe, including possible targets in Germany, sentencing them to four and a half to six years in prison for membership in a foreign terrorist organization and related charges.
The court determined the men, aged 36 to 58, had acted as foreign operatives for Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, and had already helped establish several firearms caches across Europe.
According to official records, the defendants helped build weapons depots as part of “preparations to carry out attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in European countries,” with possible targets including the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, the US Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany, and Berlin’s former Tempelhof airport.
German authorities also found the stockpiles were meant for attacks on Israeli, Jewish, or other targets across Europe over an extended period, with sites discovered in multiple countries including Poland, Bulgaria, and Denmark.
Although all four denied being members of Hamas, the main defendant admitted to visiting an arms cache in Bulgaria, claiming the trip was part of “private arms dealing.”
Arrested in December 2023, the four men — all Lebanese-born, including an Egyptian and a Dutch citizen — have been in custody since then, with three having lived primarily in Germany and the fourth in the Netherlands.
Hamas, long supported by the Iranian regime as well as Qatar and Turkey, is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union and several other Western countries, including the United States.
However, the terrorist group has not been officially classified as such under German law, making Wednesday’s ruling especially important because it sets a legal precedent allowing membership in the group to be treated as a criminal offense.
“It’s a clear and important ruling by the Berlin Court of Appeal, even though we know that it does not in itself reduce the danger of terrorist attacks,” Stephan Weh, Berlin police union chief, said in a statement.
“As a Western metropolis, Berlin remains a focal point for radical Islamist networks, which today primarily recruit new members and supporters via social media,” he continued.
In recent months, German authorities have arrested several more suspects tied to alleged Hamas arms-procurement efforts, with the weapons said to be intended for attacks on Israeli or Jewish sites in Germany and across Europe.
In November, federal prosecutors uncovered and arrested a suspected Hamas terrorist cell with at least five members accused of plotting attacks on Israeli or Jewish targets.
Hamas has repeatedly denied any connection to these criminal networks, calling the allegations of its involvement “baseless.”
However, experts have warned that the group has expanded its terrorist operations beyond the Middle East, exploiting a well-established network of weapons caches, criminal alliances, and covert infrastructure quietly built across Europe over the years.
Last year, West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center released a study detailing how Hamas leaders in Lebanon have been directing operatives to establish “foreign operator’ cells across Europe, collaborating with organized crime networks to acquire weapons and target Jewish communities abroad.
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Iran Suggests Spain Can Have Safe Passage Through Strait of Hormuz
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference after attending a special summit of European Union leaders to discuss transatlantic relations, in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Iran indicated on Thursday that Spain would be allowed safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz if it requested access, praising the Spanish government for its hostile posture toward the US-Israeli military campaign.
“BREAKING NEWS: Iran considers Spain a country committed to international law, so it shows receptiveness to any request coming from Madrid. #StraitofHormuz,” the Iranian embassy posted on the social media platform X.
ÚLTIMA HORA: Irán considera a España un país comprometido con el derecho internacional, por lo que se muestra receptivo ante cualquier solicitud procedente de Madrid.#EstrechoDeOrmuz pic.twitter.com/WZjwCPB7CK
— Embajada de Irán en España (@IraninSpain) March 26, 2026
The post came after Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday told the United Nations that “non-hostile vessels” could transit the strait, a critical waterway for shipping through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows, if they coordinated with Iranian authorities.
Iran has effectively closed the strait amid its war with the US and Israel, causing global oil and gas prices to rise significantly. According to the Iranian regime, ships linked to the US and Israel, as well as “other participants in the aggression,” will not be granted safe passage.
However, amid ongoing indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington over potentially halting the conflict, US President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that Iran let 10 oil tankers transit the Strait of Hormuz as a goodwill gesture, elaborating on what he had described as a “present” from Iran. Meanwhile, the US military has reportedly been working on plans to reopen the waterway by force if needed.
Spain, which has a relatively small merchant fleet, is the first EU country to apparently be offered safe passage through the narrow strait off Iran’s coast.
On Thursday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he did not understand what Iran was referring to in its social media post on X, noting Madrid had consistently voted in favor of sanctions against Iran. Recently, Spain voted to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian military force primarily threatening ships seeking to transit the Strait of Horuz, as a terrorist organization.
“What we ask of Iran and all of those participating and promoting the war is de-escalation, diplomacy, and negotiation, and that Iran ceases its unjustified attacks against all the countries in the Middle East,” Albares said during a visit to Algeria.
Thursday was not the first time since Feb. 28, when the war began, that Iran praised Spain.
Earlier this month, Spain blocked US forces from using its bases for military operations against the Islamic regime, leaving Madrid as the only major EU country to have explicitly criticized the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
In response to an online news report saying that the Spanish government “denies that the US is using its bases in Spain for the war against Iran,” the Iranian embassy in Spain reshared the headline and added, “Iran fully recognizes and respects this position, which is in accordance with international law.”
While Spain has strongly condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iranian regime targets, other European countries have denounced Iran’s counterstrikes on civilian sites across the Middle East.
Trump has lambasted Spain for its stance, even threatening to cut off trade.
“I think they’re not cooperating at all. Spain. I think they’ve been very bad, very bad, not good at all. We may cut off trade with Spain,” Trump told reporters earlier this month, adding that Madrid has been “very bad to NATO” and does not want to “pay their fair share.”
Spain quickly condemned the strikes against Iran after they began, calling them “dangerous” and “outside of international law.”
Israel accused Spain of “standing with tyrants” for opposing the war.
Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel started the Gaza war, Spain has been one of Israel’s fiercest critics on the international stage.
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ADL Releases ‘Leaderboard’ Ranking Popular Video Games and Their Efforts to Combat Antisemitism
“Fortnite,” a game accessed by over 25 million users a day, being played on a mobile phone. Photo: Public Domain
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released on Wednesday an Online Gaming Leaderboard that ranks popular video games on how effectively their policies and in-game safety features curb antisemitism, hatred, and extremism in their online multiplayer games.
The video games were ranked based on their “advanced,” “moderate,” or “limited” protections. The assessment was made using criteria, assembled by the ADL, that examine policies to prevent antisemitism and hate (40 percent of the score) and in-game tooling to prevent antisemitism and hate (60 percent of the score).
Fortnite was rated the best at implementing safeguards to combat antisemitism, following by Call of Duty, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto Online, Roblox, Madden NFL, Valorent, Clash Royale, Counter-Strike 2, and PUBG: Battlegrounds.
The ADL said it has conducted the first-ever detailed public evaluation of video games and how their safety measures address the issues of antisemitism, hate, and extremism in online gaming environments. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) provides age and content guidance but does not assess what video game companies are doing to keep players safe from hate and harassment during their online gaming experience.
The Online Gaming Leaderboard was co-produced by the ADL Center for Technology and Society (CTS) and the Ratings and Assessments Institute (RAI). The former, in partnership with gaming analytics firm NewZoo, surveyed hate, harassment, and extremism in online games in the US from 2019 to 2023 and those findings provided “the foundation for the evaluation,” according to the ADL.
“When a parent wants to know if an online game is safe for their child, there has been no one-stop shop to understand how a particular game approaches online safety,” said Daniel Kelley, senior director of CTS. “This leaderboard addresses that critical gap by offering the most comprehensive evaluation of safety measures in online multiplayer games to date, with a focus on how companies manage antisemitism and extremism.”
“Without strong safeguards, these platforms can become breeding grounds for harassment and hateful activity that harms players directly, normalizes hateful ideologies and damages trust,” added Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the ADL. “This leaderboard provides the transparency that parents, gamers, and the industry need to understand where companies are succeeding and where urgent improvements are necessary.”
The ADL said it privately shared its findings with each gaming company before publicly releasing the Online Gaming Leaderboard on Wednesday. Some companies “engaged with ADL to clarify issues or make improvements to their policies and tooling, while others did not respond.” The ADL also developed a Best Practices Guide for gaming companies that provides strategies for how they can better combat antisemitism and hate.