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At European Parliament, Urgent Call for Action on Women’s Rights a Year After Hamas Sexual Violence
The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Global silence and inaction in the face of gender-based violence by Hamas were condemned at the European Parliament this week, where a panel of experts warned that the denial and rationalization of the rape of Israeli women during the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack last year legitimized gender-based violence as a weapon of war and enabled other regimes, such as Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government, to continue their oppression of women.
“If the world continues to turn a blind eye, we embolden these regimes and open the door to more atrocities,” said Dr. Charles Asher Small, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), which hosted the event.
“Antisemitism, as history shows, begins with Jews but never ends there. Today, the forces attacking Jewish people are the same ones oppressing women across the Middle East,” Small said.
The event, co-hosted by MEP Fulvio Martusciello and ISGAP, highlighted the deteriorating state of women’s rights in the region since the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel, and came one year after the attack, in which women were subjected to widespread sexual violence, including rape, torture, and mutilation.
Numerous eyewitness accounts, video evidence, and investigations by the United Nations confirmed that these acts were committed systematically, targeting women as part of the broader assault. Victims were found naked or partially clothed, and survivors have since provided harrowing testimonies of the brutal attacks, most recently last week, on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.
(L-R) MEP Fulvio Martusciello, Manel Mslalmi, and Dr. Charles Asher Small speaking at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Oct. 15, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of ISGAP
Dr. Small and other panelists, including Claude Moniquet and Prof. Firouzeh Nahavandi, explored how extremism and political instability have compounded the suffering of women, who are often targeted both for their gender and their identity.
“The Oct. 7 attack was not just an assault on Israel but on the core values we claim to uphold — human rights, equality, and dignity,” Small said. He criticized the international community’s tepid response, noting, “The brutal murders and abductions of Israeli women by Hamas should have sparked global outrage, yet we faced silence, or worse, justifications disguised as resistance.”
The discussion also drew attention to the wider repression of women’s rights across the Middle East, with Qatar and Afghanistan cited as examples of regimes that suppress women’s freedoms while gaining international legitimacy. “Qatar funds radical movements while suppressing women’s rights,” Small noted, adding that the ongoing silence only emboldens such regimes.
“In Afghanistan, women can no longer speak publicly, let alone access education, and the world remains silent,” he said.
Manel Msalmi, president of the European Association for the Defense of Minorities, highlighted the “gendered nature of the violence” in the Oct. 7 attacks, stressing that women were specifically targeted for their gender with “unspeakable brutality designed to dehumanize and terrorize.” She urged the global community to respond with the urgency the atrocities demand.
“Whether in Iran, Afghanistan, or Gaza, women are systematically silenced, subjugated, and stripped of their most basic rights. It is disheartening that the international community has largely failed to respond with the urgency and outrage these atrocities demand,” Msalmi said.
“We cannot claim to stand for women’s rights, equality, or human dignity if we turn a blind eye to such barbarism,” she added.
The post At European Parliament, Urgent Call for Action on Women’s Rights a Year After Hamas Sexual Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Really?
JNS.org – If I asked you to name the most famous line in the Bible, what would you answer? While Shema Yisrael (“Hear O’Israel”) might get many votes, I imagine that the winning line would be “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). Some religions refer to it as the Golden Rule, but all would agree that it is fundamental to any moral lifestyle. And it appears this week in our Torah reading, Kedoshim.
This is quite a tall order. Can we be expected to love other people as much as we love ourselves? Surely, this is an idealistic expectation. And yet, the Creator knows us better than we know ourselves. How can His Torah be so unrealistic?
The biblical commentaries offer a variety of explanations. Some, like Rambam (Maimonides), say that the focus should be on our behavior, rather than our feelings. We are expected to try our best or to treat others “as if” we genuinely love them.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in his classic text called the Tanya, argues that the actual feelings of love are, in fact, achievable provided that we focus on a person’s spirituality rather than how they present themselves physically. If we can put the soul over the body, we can do it.
Allow me to share the interpretation of the Ramban (Nachmanides), a 13th-century Torah scholar from Spain. His interpretation of the verses preceding love thy neighbor is classic and powerful, yet simple and straightforward.
“Do not hate your brother in your heart. You shall rebuke him, but do not bear a sin because of him” by embarrassing him in public. “Do not take revenge, and do not bear a grudge against your people. You shall love your fellow as yourself, I am God” (Leviticus 19:17-18).
What is the connection between these verses? Why is revenge and grudge-bearing in the same paragraph as love your fellow as yourself?
A careful reading shows that within these two verses are no less than six biblical commandments. But what is their sequence all about, and what is the connection between them?
The Ramban explains it beautifully, showing how the sequence of verses is deliberate and highlighting the Torah’s profound yet practical advice on how to maintain healthy relationships.
Someone wronged you? Don’t hate him in your heart. Speak to him. Don’t let it fester until it bursts, and makes you bitter and sick.
Instead, talk it out. Confront the person. Of course, do it respectfully. Don’t embarrass anyone in public, so that you don’t bear a sin because of them. But don’t let your hurt eat you up. Communicate!
If you approach the person who wronged you—not with hate in your heart but with respectful reproof—one of two things will happen. Either he or she will apologize and explain their perspective on the matter. Or that it was a misunderstanding and will get sorted out between you. Either way, you will feel happier and healthier.
Then you will not feel the need to take revenge or even to bear a grudge.
Here, says the Ramban, is the connection between these two verses. And if you follow this advice, only then will you be able to observe the commandment to Love Thy Neighbor. If you never tell him why you are upset, another may be completely unaware of his or her wrongdoing, and it will remain as a wound inside you and may never go away.
To sum up: Honest communication is the key to loving people.
Now, tell me the truth. Did you know that not taking revenge is a biblical commandment? In some cultures in Africa, revenge is a mitzvah! I’ve heard radio talk-show hosts invite listeners to share how they took “sweet revenge” on someone, as if it’s some kind of accomplishment.
Furthermore, did you know that bearing a grudge is forbidden by biblical law?
Here in South Africa, people refer to a grudge by its Yiddish name, a faribel. In other countries, people call it a broiges. Whatever the terminology, the Torah states explicitly: “Thou shalt not bear a grudge!” Do not keep a faribel, a broiges or resentment of any kind toward someone you believe wronged you. Talk to that person. Share your feelings honestly. If you do it respectfully and do not demean the other’s dignity, then it can be resolved. Only then will you be able to love your fellow as yourself.
May all our grudges and feelings of resentment toward others be dealt with honestly and respectfully. May all our grudges be resolved as soon as possible. Then we will all be in a much better position to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The post Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Really? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Nonsense’: Huckabee Shoots Down Report Trump to Endorse Palestinian Statehood
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday dismissed as nonsensical the report that President Donald Trump would endorse Palestinian statehood during his tour to the Persian Gulf this week.
“This report is nonsense,” Huckabee harrumphed on his X account, blasting the Jerusalem Post as needing better sourced reporting. “Israel doesn’t have a better friend than the president of the United States.”
Trump is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The leader’s first trip overseas since he took office comes as Trump seeks the Gulf countries’ support in regional conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and curbing Iran’s advancing nuclear program.
However, reports citing administration insiders claimed that Trump has also set his sights on the ambitious goal of expanding the Abraham Accords. These agreements, initially signed in 2020, normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. The accords are widely held to be among the most important achievements of the first Trump administration.
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US to Put Military Option Back on Table If No Immediate Progress in Iran Talks
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Unless significant progress is registered in Sunday’s round of nuclear talks with Iran, the US will consider putting the military option back on the table, sources close to US envoy Steve Witkoff told i24NEWS.
American and Iranian representatives voiced optimism after the previous talks that took place in Oman and Rome, saying there was a friendly atmosphere despite the two countries’ decades of enmity.
However the two sides are not believed to have thrashed out the all-important technical details, and basic questions remain.
The source has also underscored the significance of the administration’s choice of Michael Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director, as the lead representative in the nuclear talks’ technical phases.
Anton is “an Iran expert and someone who knows how to cut a deal with Iran,” the source said, saying that the choice reflected Trump’s desire to secure the deal.
The post US to Put Military Option Back on Table If No Immediate Progress in Iran Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.