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Columbia U. student charged with hate crimes in reported attack on Israeli student
(New York Jewish Week) — A Columbia University student is facing hate crimes charges for attacking an Israeli student during a confrontation related to Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The student, Maxwell Friedman, who police said is a 19-year-old from Brooklyn, was charged with four counts for allegedly striking another student with a stick. The altercation happened after that student, who police said is 24, put up posters on campus about Israeli casualties and hostages.
Friedman was arraigned on Thursday, has pleaded not guilty on all charges and was granted supervised release ahead of the next hearing on Nov. 28. Her lawyer declined to comment to the New York Jewish Week on the case.
The incident, which took place on Wednesday night outside the main campus library, happened as student groups across the country have staged rallies and made statements backing Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel or blaming Israel for the bloodshed. As war between Hamas and Israel has continued, battles have raged online over university responses, and Jewish groups have pressed for a more forceful response to pro-Palestinian groups’ rhetoric. Some major Jewish donors have pulled funding from universities due to their perceived lackluster condemnation of the attack.
Columbia closed its campus to the public on Thursday ahead of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies.
The man who was allegedly attacked on Wednesday, whose name was not given, told the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that he and others had printed flyers with information about the number of deaths in Israel, along with a photograph of a kidnapped Israeli family, and posted the flyers in designated news bulletin areas on campus.
The alleged victim said he saw Friedman take down and rip up several of the flyers. He said Friedman told him and others, “F— you. F— all of you prick crackers.”
She also said, “I disrespected you. What are you going to do about it?” according to a complaint filed with the district attorney’s office.
Friedman then shoved the complainant and struck him in the hands with what appeared to be a broomstick, slicing and fracturing his finger, the complaint said.
A friend of the alleged victim, who is also Israeli, told the campus newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, that the suspect approached the pro-Israel students while they were putting up the flyers and asked to join them, saying she was Jewish. She remained with the group that morning, but later in the day, the Israelis noticed her with a bandana over her face tearing down the posters.
When the pro-Israel group confronted her, she shouted at them, hit the man with the stick and attempted to punch him in the face, one of the Israeli students told the Spectator.
Friedman was charged with one count each of assault in the second degree as a hate crime; assault in the third degree as a hate crime; aggravated harassment in the second degree; and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
“Our community woke this morning to the terrible news that an Israeli student was assaulted outside of Butler Library last night,” the school’s Hillel said in a statement after the attack. “To be clear: we condemn any violence against any student on campus, and we especially condemn the antisemitic targeting of Israelis or Jewish students at this time.”
Three deans from Columbia University said in a joint statement on Thursday, “We know that the atmosphere on campus is extremely charged and many are concerned for their personal safety.”
“Community members are observing and experiencing disturbing anti-semitic and islamophobic acts, including intimidation and outright violence — as was experienced on campus outside Butler Library late yesterday afternoon — with some students being targeted based on their religious identity or political speech,” the statement said. “It is paramount — in a moment where it is most difficult to be together across our differences — that we recommit ourselves to doing precisely that.”
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The post Columbia U. student charged with hate crimes in reported attack on Israeli student appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.
The post ‘Nonsense’: Huckabee Shoots Down Report Trump to Endorse Palestinian Statehood first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.