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Final investigation into prominent German Reform rabbi affirms abuse of power allegations
(JTA) — A long-awaited final report has arrived in the investigation of a leading German Reform rabbi and his partner after allegations of abuse of power and sexual harassment against them erupted last year.
Clocking in at 806 pages, the report by a prominent German law firm concludes that Rabbi Walter Homolka “was responsible for alleged misconduct, although he himself denies this,” and that radical “structural changes are necessary to prevent misconduct in the future.”
Those changes must cut deep, the investigators from the Cologne-based firm of Gercke Wollschläger added: It is not enough that Homolka took temporary leave from some positions, if those posts are now held by individuals who are beholden to, dependent on, or “feel ‘connected’ to him.”
They also concluded that it was not sufficient to transfer his ownership stake to other institutions — as Homolka did in January — and that it would not be appropriate to found new institutions if these “are also within the sphere of influence of the person from whom the alleged misconduct emanates.”
The report concludes an investigation commissioned in May 2022 by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the country’s main Jewish administrative organization. Investigators conducted more than 70 interviews over several months before releasing an executive summary in December that found that abuse of power and sexual harassment did occur at Germany’s liberal rabbinical seminary.
That 44-page summary drew legal challenges from Homolka, who continues to dispute the claims, and the final report reflects slight revisions based on a Frankfurt court’s decision to bar some references to possible criminal misconduct. Still, Central Council President Josef Schuster said the publication “does justice to the courage” of those who bore witness to the investigators. In all, 74 people testified to the investigators.
“In Jewish organizations and institutions, Professor Homolka has already lost most of his influence today,” Schuster said in a statement issued last week. “After the results now published, I cannot imagine that anything will change in this regard.”
Homolka was a founder and director of several German Jewish institutions when the allegations against him broke into public view in May 2022. The latest report by Gercke Wollschläger lays out numerous instances of alleged abuse of power and sexual harassment, particularly at the Abraham Geiger College, the Reform rabbinical seminary at the University of Potsdam that Homolka founded and directed. The Central Council was its largest funder.
The University of Potsdam conducted its own investigation, concluding that “many respondents stated on the record that Mr. Homolka had created a ‘climate of fear’ that had a restrictive effect on the actions of students and of staff.” The university did not investigate Homolka’s husband, who was the object of some accusations but had already been fired by then.
That report, released in October 2022, found no indications of criminality, and so Homolka retains his professorial position.
Homolka and his partner — German law bars publication of his name — have denied all allegations. In a statement last week, their attorney, at Gessner Legal, described the investigation as “a campaign” designed to “silence our client and to destroy his reputation through groundless accusations and suspicious statements.” Though some elements were removed from the final report, “diffuse, unsubstantiated accusations of abuse of power below the threshold of criminal law have remained,” Gessner wrote.
Homolka had stepped down or withdrawn from numerous posts in Jewish institutions, including the Abraham Geiger College, after the allegations came to light in May 2022. In January, he sold all shares of the Geiger College and its conservative sister school, Zacharias Frankel College, which he owned, to the Jewish Community of Berlin.
Geiger’s newly appointed leader, Rabbi Andreas Nechama, acknowledged in a pre-Rosh Hashanah mailing dated Sept. 7 “that the founding of the college has been fraught with hurt and pain” and apologized “to all who feel these hurts and injuries.”
The Reform seminary is not the only institution with ties to Homolka to come under scrutiny. Several institutions of liberal Judaism agreed to cooperate with the law firm’s investigation, according to the Central Council.
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The post Final investigation into prominent German Reform rabbi affirms abuse of power allegations appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.