RSS
Jewish LGBT+ Group Pulls Out of London Pride Parade Due to Safety Concerns
Pride flags decorate Regent Street for Pride Month. Photo: Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
A Jewish LGBT+ education and training charity in the United Kingdom announced that it will not participate in the Pride in London parade this weekend after some members expressed concerns about their safety at the upcoming event.
“Against the background of what has been a challenging and at times a complex year for many Jews in the UK, including LGBT+ Jews, some of our friends and congregants have said they do not feel safe marching in the Pride in London event as they have felt in previous years,” KeshetUK said in a joint statement with West London Synagogue of British Jews that was shared via email. “We have listened very carefully to those concerns expressed about the event. Our primary duty is to create a safe space where we can all feel joy, pride, and community.”
Their message came amid a surge in antisemitic hate crimes in both London specifically and the United Kingdom more broadly following the Hamas terrorist group’s invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.
“LGBT+ Jews need safe spaces for celebration, joy, and to feel pride in who we are,” the email added. “With this especially in mind, we have long valued our Jewish presence at Pride in London. We understand the importance of visibility.”
KeshetUK and West London Synagogue said they will instead host a Pride Picnic. They added: “Please be assured that our priority is for all of us to be together where we can celebrate happily without concern. We hope that you will join us along with those who have decided not to march.”
The theme of this year’s Pride in London parade on Saturday is “We Are Everywhere.” On June 12, organizers accused Israel of committing “genocide” in a statement released on social media.
“We abide by our core values of Visibility, Unity, and Equality throughout our work. All of us who are marginalized, oppressed, and subject to hate and violence — our liberation is bound together,” the statement read.
“That means Pride in London stands with all those suffering from the devastating war and genocide in Gaza, all the innocent civilians in both Israel and Palestine who have been subjected to terror and violence in this humanitarian crisis and all Muslims and Jews worldwide who are facing rising hate and discrimination here in London and around the world,” the statement continued.
More antisemitic incidents occurred in the United Kingdom in 2023 than any year in the history of recording such data, according to a report issued by Community Security Trust, a nonprofit that offers security services and training to the country’s Jewish community. The group’s data showed a massive uptick in antisemitic incidents immediately after the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 that continued throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The city of London saw a similar spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes following the October onslaught.
Organizers of Pride in London have not commented on KeshetUK’s decision to pull out of this year’s parade. In recent years, the Jewish charity has partnered at the parade with other groups including Gay Jews in London and Parents of Jewish Gays and Lesbians. It remains unclear of the latter two groups will still participate in the parade this weekend.
The post Jewish LGBT+ Group Pulls Out of London Pride Parade Due to Safety Concerns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
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 – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.