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For American Zionist LGBTQ group, Israel’s right-wing government has created an urgent crisis
(JTA) — The annual gala of A Wider Bridge, a Jewish LGBTQ group, had all the trappings of a festive event: Guests arrived in cocktail attire finery — one woman wore a tiered, ruffled rainbow dress — to enjoy salad, rice, chicken, an assortment of desserts and schmoozing — and to celebrate the achievements of four Jewish activists.
But even though it was the group’s first in-person gala since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the mood on Monday night wasn’t entirely celebratory. Throughout the speeches and sideline conversations was the sense that A Wider Bridge — which advocates for the LGBTQ community in Israel, and for Israel in the U.S. LGBTQ community — was entering a new and uncertain era.
“For Israeli LGBTQ, the ground has shifted beneath their feet,” the group’s executive director, Ethan Felson, said in a speech to the crowd of about 200 attendees. Citing LGBTQ activists in Israel, he added, “Calls to crisis hotlines are up. Incidents of emotional and physical violence are up in Israel against the LGBTQ community. … You can imagine the challenges the trans community is facing — a full assault on their rights and on their lives.”
The crisis Felson depicted has materialized under a new Israeli government that includes vocal anti-LGBTQ officials in senior positions, whose signature legislation to reform the judiciary threatens the set of LGBTQ rights that Israel has long pointed to as evidence of its open society.
That new reality has complicated the work of A Wider Bridge both in the United States and Israel, and interspersed in the night’s program — speeches celebrating four honorees, some stand up comedy from Jewish comedian Judy Gold, and even a recorded video from Vice President Kamala Harris — was an acknowledgement of the challenges facing LGBTQ rights in Israel. It has also caused the group to double its donations to Israeli LGBTQ groups this year.
“I’ve been in this work for 35 years, and through very complex times, I’ve never felt a greater sense of urgency,” Felson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the event. “The urgency of this moment overshadows everything I’ve certainly done in my career.”
The gala, which took place in an event space lined with golden pillars whose arched windows overlooked Manhattan’s Union Square, occurred at the same time that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the Hasidic community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Smotrich has called himself a “proud homophobe” and sits in Israel’s governing coalition alongside Avi Maoz, who heads the anti-LGBTQ party Noam. The coalition also includes haredi Orthodox parties that have long opposed LGBTQ rights.
Approximately 200 guests attended the gala Monday night, where executive director Ethan Felson announced a new emergency campaign for LGBTQ causes in Israel. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
Legislation the coalition is now advancing to sap the Supreme Court of much of its power and independence also endangers LGBTQ rights in Israel. While same-sex couples are not permitted to legally marry in Israel, the court ruled in 2006 that the country must recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad. A court decision in 2021 also paved the way for LGBTQ couples to have children via surrogacy.
“The conversation about the Israeli LGBTQ community has changed dramatically,” Felson said. “The Israeli LGBTQ community was always perceived as safe, secure and successful and not among the vulnerable constituencies. But that wasn’t an accurate picture. It’s always been vulnerable to conversion therapy, transphobia, violence. And there are ministers in this current government that make those situations worse, that play on those vulnerabilities.”
But Felson said that the core work of A Wider Bridge in the United States — to cultivate relationships between Israeli LGBTQ groups and those here — will not be diminished because of who is in power.
“We love Israel as much today as we did yesterday, as much as we did last year,” he said. “We hold Israel and its LGBTQ community close. And a country is more than its leaders at any time.”
He added, “We never lobbied for a government. We never were in this to support a government. And so it has been a truism of everybody involved in this conversation about Israel that there have been governments that have come and gone, with which we’ve aligned or haven’t aligned — that doesn’t change the equation of our connection to a country.”
Since the beginning of the year, A Wider Bridge has donated $180,000 to 20 different Israeli LGBTQ organizations — the same amount it has given annually in recent years. At the end of the evening, Felson announced an emergency campaign to raise another $180,000, adding that the organization received a $75,000 anonymous match to start off the campaign.
Other speakers also discussed the changing situation for LGBTQ Israelis in forthright terms. In a prerecorded video, Rotem Sorek, CEO of Ma’avarim, a transgender advocacy organization in Israel, said that since the new government coalition took over, she has noticed an increase in phone calls to her organization’s crisis call center.
“What’s happening right now is there is a shift in power, a particular new brand of transphobia,” Sorek said. “People start to believe that trans people are not regular human beings.”
Harris’ prerecorded remarks didn’t address the situation in Israel and instead focused on honoree Roselyne “Cissie” Swig, a longtime donor to the group from San Francisco who received its Tzedek Award. But Swig herself sounded a note of concern about LGBTQ rights in Israel in her acceptance speech.
“I’m old enough now to have been part of the beginning of Israel,” said Swig, who is in her early 90s. “What I think it’s going through right now, from a legal point of view, is a little unsettling for me, and I’m sure others. And I would prefer that it was more stable.”
But Felson said that although his group is facing a new set of daunting challenges, he doesn’t feel like he and his colleagues are alone.
“People are keenly aware now that there are problems that can’t be swept under the rug,” he said. “These are not debates about fine policy points. This is an existential debate.”
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Writer of sitcom airing instead of Eurovision in Ireland calls broadcaster’s boycott over Israel ‘disgraceful antisemitism’
(JTA) — Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan accused Ireland’s public broadcaster of “disgraceful antisemitism” over its decision not to air this year’s Eurovision Song Contest because of Israel’s participation — even as his work will get prime airtime as a result.
Instead of airing the annual international song contest’s finale Saturday, which Ireland and four other nations have boycotted this year over Israel’s participation, the country’s public broadcaster, RTÉ, is scheduled to air an episode of “Father Ted,” a beloved Irish sitcom that Linehan co-created.
“I am disgusted that Father Ted is being used as a fig leaf to cover RTE’s disgraceful antisemitism,” Linehan wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. He later added that the broadcaster was “turning Father Ted into an antisemitic dogwhistle.”
Linehan, who has become a prominent anti-transgender activist in recent years, also posted an online petition on Monday calling for the resignation of RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst over the broadcaster’s decision not to air the Eurovision finale because of Israel’s participation.
“I did not give my permission for Father Ted to be used as a prop in an antisemitic political gesture. I object to it in the strongest possible terms,” Linehan wrote. “This is not the Ireland I know. This is not the Ireland that gave Father Ted to the world. RTÉ’s institutional antisemitism is poisoning Irish public life, normalising Jew-hatred under the guise of solidarity, and it must be confronted.”
Linehan’s petition, which had garnered over 4,000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon, comes months after RTÉ announced plans to boycott the competition in December, writing in a statement at the time that its participation “remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there.”
On Tuesday, Israel’s Eurovision contestant Noam Bettan was met by chants of “stop the genocide” as he performed his song “Michelle” in Vienna. Bettan’s semifinal qualified him to perform in Saturday’s finale, where he will compete against entrants from 25 other countries.
Bettan told the BBC that he was shocked by the protests, and hoped that the public broadcasters of Iceland, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia would return for next year’s competition.
“It’s bad for them,” Bettan said. “They’re losing the opportunity to be in this amazing experience. So I am full of hope that next year they can sing and spread their light.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Writer of sitcom airing instead of Eurovision in Ireland calls broadcaster’s boycott over Israel ‘disgraceful antisemitism’ appeared first on The Forward.
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At Jewish Democratic event, Jacob Frey says anti-Zionism can blur into antisemitism
(JTA) — WASHINGTON — Jacob Frey, the Jewish mayor of Minneapolis, decried some criticism of Israel during a Jewish Democratic event on Wednesday.
Speaking at the national conference of the Jewish Democratic Council of America in Washington, D.C., Frey recounted visiting a local grocery store shortly after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The tiny little Jewish section, which had hummus and maybe one other product, was tagged with, ‘Why do you support genocide?’” he said. “And this was just the Jewish section, it wasn’t even the Israeli section.”
Frey continued, “So as much as people say, and have often said, ‘No we’re talking about Zionists, not Jews’ — well many of those same people are tying Zionism to Judaism. You can’t have it both ways at the same time.”
He concluded that “you can both believe in a State of Israel and support it, and simultaneously be opposed to some of the horrific acts that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has conducted.”
Frey’s comments, which came in response to a question from the audience, were some of his most extensive on Israel and his first on the topic since he took the national spotlight earlier this year for his defiant stance against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement in his city.
The fact that Frey, 44, decided to appear at JDCA’s national leadership summit itself was notable because he is a relatively young rising star in a Democratic Party where the ascendant sentiments, especially among the progressive wing and among younger voters, are critical of Israel. The JDCA promotes a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Responding to a question about anti-Israel sentiment in his party, Frey said he thought Democrats should do more to constrain fringe sentiments within the party.
“It’s easy for me, and it’s very easy for Democrats, to critique the right,” he said. “I’ve got a whole team supporting me when I said get the F out of Minneapolis. That was not a hard thing to do, that’s just what I felt. What’s harder to do is to tell your own side, sometimes your own friends that, you know what, you’ve gone too far.”
He added, “My deep concern right now is that people don’t have the guts to tell their own side what they don’t want to hear.”
Asked in an interview following the session about whether Democrats should be campaigning alongside figures like the progressive streamer Hasan Piker, who is a staunch Israel critic and has drawn accusations of antisemitism, Frey told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he was not familiar with the debate around Piker nor his positions.
But Frey said he takes issue with litmus tests and opposes the villainization that comes from people on both ends of the political spectrum.
“I am uncomfortable with, ‘Get on board, say the word, say the phrase or we’re going to tar and feather you — put out this post or say on the stage this exact term, or else we’re going to consider you to be a villain,’” he said.
While Frey has drawn support from progressives over his showdown with ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that staged weeks of raids in Minneapolis earlier this year, he has clashed with that wing before on Israel. In 2024, Frey blocked his city council’s resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it “one-sided resolution that adds more division to an already fraught situation.”
On Wednesday, the primary discussion between Frey and JDCA’s treasurer Beth Kieffer Leonard, focused on the ICE presence in Minneapolis and Frey’s response.
He also offered a Jewish reason for his determination to stop ICE “dead in their tracks” so that other cities aren’t similarly targeted, citing the value of repairing the world.
“As Jews, we have an obligation through tikkun olam to stand up for it, to make the world a better place, to heal people and to recognize that when they come for one of us, that they come for all of us,” he said.
When asked about Israel and anti-Zionism during the Q&A session, Frey expanded on his belief in the State of Israel as well as his criticisms of its government.
“You can recognize the importance of a place for peace and refuge, a place where refugees by the hundreds of thousands and millions have immigrated to Israel — from both Ashkenazi countries and also Iraq, Iran and Yemen — a very mixed ethnically and culturally place,” Frey said. “You can recognize that the history is complex. That there are areas where we collectively as Jews can improve. Where policies can be improved.”
Frey continued that he is an adamant opponent of Trump but believes in America and said the same should be possible with Netanyahu and Israel.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post At Jewish Democratic event, Jacob Frey says anti-Zionism can blur into antisemitism appeared first on The Forward.
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Saudi Warplanes Struck Militias in Iraq During War, Sources Say
F-15SA fighter jets are seen at King Faisal Air College in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 25, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
Saudi fighter jets bombed targets linked to powerful Tehran-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq during the Iran war, while retaliatory strikes were also launched from Kuwait into Iraq, multiple sources familiar with the matter said.
The strikes are part of a broader pattern of military responses around the Gulf that remained largely hidden during a conflict that began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran and has spread to the wider Middle East.
For this report, Reuters spoke to three Iraqi security and military officials, a Western official, and two people briefed on the matter, one of them in the US.
The Saudi strikes were carried out by Saudi air force fighter jets on Iran-linked militia targets near the kingdom’s northern border with Iraq, one Western official and the person briefed on the matter said. The Western official said some strikes took place around the time of the April 7 US-Iran ceasefire.
They targeted sites from which drone and missile attacks were launched at Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, the sources said.
Citing military assessments, the Iraqi sources said rocket attacks were launched on at least two occasions from Kuwaiti territory on Iraq. One set of strikes hit militia positions in southern Iraq in April, killing several fighters and destroying a facility used by Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah for communications and drone operations, they said.
Reuters could not determine whether the rockets from Kuwait were fired by the Kuwaiti armed forces or the US military, which has a large presence there. The US military declined to comment. The Kuwaiti information ministry and the Iraqi government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
SAUDI ARABIA ALSO HIT IRAN
A Saudi foreign ministry official said Saudi Arabia sought de-escalation, self-restraint and the “reduction of tensions in pursuit of the stability, security, and prosperity of the region,” but did not address the issue of strikes on Iraq. A spokesperson for Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia launched strikes directly on Iran during the war in retaliation for attacks on the kingdom, the first time Riyadh is known to have hit Iranian soil. The UAE also carried out similar strikes on Iran, three people familiar with the matter said.
But hundreds of the drones that targeted the Gulf emanated from Iraq, all the sources said.
Militia-linked Telegram channels repeatedly posted statements during the war claiming attacks on targets in Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Reuters could not independently confirm their authenticity.
Sustained attacks from a second front in Iraq prompted Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to lose patience with the militias, which collectively command tens of thousands of fighters and arsenals including missiles and drones.
Kuwait summoned Iraq’s representative in the country three times during the war to protest cross-border attacks, as well as the storming of the Kuwaiti consulate in the city of Basra on April 7. Saudi Arabia also summoned Iraq’s ambassador on April 12 to protest attacks.
IRAQ-GULF TIES DEFINED BY SUSPICION
Gulf Arab relations with Iraq have long been defined by suspicion. Ties were severely damaged in 1990 when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces invaded Kuwait and fired Scud missiles at Saudi Arabia, and they remained strained for decades.
The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq deepened Gulf concerns by empowering Shi’ite political factions and armed groups closely tied to Tehran, turning Iraq into a key node in Iran’s regional network of proxies.
Gulf states have repeatedly accused Baghdad of failing to rein in those groups, which operate with significant autonomy and have launched attacks across borders.
A China-brokered détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023 had offered hope for broader regional stabilization. But the outbreak of war has severely tested those gains, drawing Gulf states into a conflict they had sought to avoid and exposing the limits of diplomatic progress made in recent years.
In March, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had warned Baghdad via diplomatic channels to curb rocket and drone attacks by pro-Iranian groups against Gulf states, according to two Iraqi security officials and a government security adviser.
Iraqi forces say they intercepted some attempted attacks, including the seizure of a rocket launcher west of Basra intended to strike Saudi energy facilities.
But Iran-backed militias continue to fly surveillance drones along Iraq’s borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, conducting reconnaissance and feeding intelligence to Iran, according to four Iraqi security sources and a person briefed on the matter.
“They are gathering information on what has been damaged, what is still working. They are preparing for the next strike,” the person briefed on the matter said.