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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.
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Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut
Illustrative. Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon October 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
JNS.org – A massive explosion in a building in Beirut on Saturday killed 11 people and wounded dozens in what Arab media said was a failed Israeli attempt to kill Hezbollah’s head of operations, Muhammad Haydar.
Israel did not immediately claim responsibility specifically for the explosion early on Saturday in the eight-story building in the Lebanese capital’s Basta neighborhood. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said only that Israel struck an unspecified target in Beirut, the fourth strike in the city in a week.
Basta is situated in the city’s center. The bulk of Israel’s strikes in Beirut have been in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in the city’s south.
Lebanese media reported that at least 63 people were wounded in the strike.
Avihai Edraei, the head of the Arabic-language department of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a tweet on X on Saturday calling on residents of Dahiyeh to evacuate their homes. They are living near Hezbollah installations, he said, against which “the IDF will act in the near future.”
The targets of Saturday’s strikes “were located by Hezbollah in the heart of the civilian population. Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians,” the IDF wrote in a statement. A headquarters, a weapons depot, “and additional Hezbollah terror infrastructures” were attacked, the statement said.
According to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Israel has killed 2,450 terrorists in Lebanon and Syria. Lebanese health authorities said that 3,365 people have died in strikes by Israel. Those data do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. On the Israeli side, terrorists have killed 121 people, with 76 of them being soldiers.
The post Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities
Zvi Kogan. Photo: LinkedIn via i24 News
i24 News – i24NEWS learned chilling details about the disappearance of Chabad emissary Zvi Kogan, who went missing last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Kogan did not show up for scheduled meetings he had during the day. After he failed to make contact, his wife contacted the security officer of the Chabad house, who alerted the local authorities. Information about the incident was also shared with the Israeli authorities.
Kogan disappeared from a location about an hour and a half from Dubai. i24NEWS can report that complaints were made to both the Dubai Police and the Abu Dhabi Police on Thursday, yet no actions were taken by either.
i24NEWS also became privy to the information that although Kogan’s car got a speeding ticket on its way to Oman, in this case too the authorities in the Emirates and Oman did nothing.
i24NEWS can also confirm that there is tremendous anger in Israel at the Emiratis, who did not respond to the suspicious signs and did not act in time. In fact, actions were only taken after the intervention of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
The story has troubling echoes of the abduction by Iranians of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd; he was kidnapped from Dubai to Iran via Oman and was eventually executed.
The post Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Israel Stalwart Ritchie Torres Hints at Run for New York Governor
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
JNS.org – Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), one of Israel’s staunchest defenders in Congress, hinted at a run for higher office on Friday by taking aim at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The Bronx Democrat said that like U.S. President Joe Biden, Hochul could be on the path to electoral defeat.
“Kathy Hochul is the new Joe Biden,” Torres wrote. “She may be in denial about the depth of her vulnerabilities as a Democratic nominee. A Democratic incumbent who is less popular in New York than Donald Trump is in grave danger of losing to a Republican in 2026–an outcome not seen in 30 years.”
“Waiting until it’s too late gave us a Republican President in 2024 and could give us a Republican governor in 2026,” he added. “Let’s avoid repeating history and avoid sleepwalking toward impending disaster and defeat.”
Torres in recent days has said that there is a “crisis of governance” in New York State and New York City.
“I think part of the story of the election is an indictment of misgovernance in New York state and New York City,” Torres said in an interview on Monday with Spectrum News NY1. “With few exceptions, nowhere was there a greater swing toward Donald Trump than in New York, which was a vote of no confidence in the leadership of New York state.”
U.S. President Joe Biden carried more than 60% of the vote in New York state in 2020, but in November, Trump narrowed that lead, with Harris winning just 56% of the vote to Trump’s 44%.
The largest swing of any county in New York towards Trump occurred in Torres’s Bronx county, driven by the massive shift towards Republicans among Latino voters.
A poll in September showed that Hochul had just a 34% job approval rating, and in 2022 she defeated then-congressman Lee Zeldin by just 6 percentage points, the worst performance by a Democrat in a statewide race in two decades.
Since taking his seat in Congress in 2021, Torres, 36, has been widely lauded by the Jewish community for his vocal efforts to combat Jew-hatred and his support for Israel in the House.
“I see my freedom as a Black Latino from the Bronx as inextricably bound to the freedom of the Jewish people,” Torres told pro-Israel rally-goers after he was awarded the Jewish Federations of North America’s Courageous Leadership Award earlier this month.
Though Torres has not directly criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams by name in the way that he has called out Hochul, Torres could also make a run for Gracie Mansion in the 2025 election as Adams fights federal bribery charges.
A spokesman for Torres told JNS that “the congressman has yet to make a final decision regarding his future” as to whether he planned to announce a run for mayor or governor.
The post Pro-Israel Stalwart Ritchie Torres Hints at Run for New York Governor first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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