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Buenos Aires to rename subway station after Jewish woman who famously stood up to sex traffickers
(JTA) – The city of Buenos Aires will rename a major subway station in honor of Raquel Liberman, the Jewish woman who played a critical role in the dismantling of an infamous Argentine sex-trafficking ring and in the move to outlaw prostitution in the country.
According to La Nación, the Callao station in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood will soon be known as Callao – Raquel Liberman with new signage that tells the story of the sex worker who stood up against the Jewish organized crime network known as Zwi Migdal.
Born in what is now Ukraine in 1900 and raised in Poland, Liberman immigrated to Buenos Aires in 1922, joining a wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe to South America. She arrived with two small children, hoping to reunite with her husband who immigrated ahead of them and start a new life. But by the time her ocean liner docked in Buenos Aires, her husband had become sick with tuberculosis. He died a few months later.
Becoming a sex worker was the only option for the 23-year-old who needed to support herself and her children. She worked in a brothel under Zwi Migdal as one of hundreds of prostitutes controlled by the group. As in much of the rest of the world, the prostitution business was legal in Argentina as long as the women participated voluntarily. But Zwi Migdal would deceive women, typically by luring them from Eastern Europe under false promises of employment or marriage and then ensnaring them in sex work once they arrived in Buenos Aires.
Eventually, Liberman saved up what she thought would be enough money to buy freedom from her pimps, but they refused to grant her independence. She faced threats, harassment and theft as she tried to establish her life anew.
In 1929, Liberman turned to the police and complained about Zwi Migdal. A crusading police chief and criminal magistrate took up her case and launched a crackdown that included arrests and deportations of hundreds of Zwi Migdal members and the confiscation of property belonging to the organization. A much-publicized trial brought an end to the criminal network in 1935, the same year that Argentina banned prostitution.
A cache of letters and documents belonging to Liberman that surfaced in 1996 helped galvanize a wave of historians, filmmakers and novelists who would explore Liberman’s story and its historical context.
“Many historical investigations have given an account of the life of Raquel Liberman who was brought to our country a victim of deception and prostitution,” said Patricia Vischi, a member of Buenos Aires legislative council, who promoted the drive to rename the station. “She courageously faced the most powerful human trafficking network in Argentina.”
In 2020, the city recognized Liberman with a plaque dedicated to her memory placed on the street close to where a brothel she worked in was located, in the Jewish neighborhood of Once.
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The post Buenos Aires to rename subway station after Jewish woman who famously stood up to sex traffickers appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.
