RSS
Meet Abbey Levy, rising Jewish star in the brand new Professional Women’s Hockey League

(JTA) — One of Abigail Levy’s most powerful Jewish memories comes from a family Passover celebration when she was a child. In keeping with the tradition of searching for the afikomen, someone hid a broken piece of matzah and set her and the other children loose to find it.
“It got a little heated,” she recalled. “I ended up with a giant welt on my forehead.”
Levy’s competitive spirit then foreshadowed her career today, including her willingness to take lumps in pursuit of a win: She’s a professional ice hockey player, a goaltender in the brand-new Professional Women’s Hockey League, which took the ice for the first time on Jan. 1.
Levy is the backup goalie for PWHL New York, one of six teams in the new league, which like the others is named for the city where it plays. It’s an outcome that Levy, 23, could not have imagined while growing up in Congers, New York, about an hour north of the city in Rockland County.
“I never knew girls played hockey,” she said during a practice this week.
Her journey to the sport began as a spectator, watching her brother play. But by the time she was 10, Levy wanted in on the action. She asked her father Justin if she could join a team, and he said yes without hesitation.
Levy first played on boys’ teams in the New York City area. When she was 12, she met her best friend, Emma Kee, at hockey camp, and the pair made the trek to Minnesota to attend Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, a boarding school known for its hockey program.
Levy said her dad would visit on weekends, bringing his New York Jewish humor with him. “My dad is the biggest jokester on the planet,” she said. Still, being away from home didn’t come easy to Levy.
“When I was away from home in Minnesota for prep school, I realized life is not all about hockey, it’s about who’s around you, too,” she said. “I had to find a family within this group in order to play my best, and I know that everyone else around me has to do the same thing. Because all these girls are living away from home.”
Levy has carried the importance of family — real and chosen — with her ever since.
She spent her first two years of college playing for Minnesota State University, then transferred to Boston College. There, she was just a few hours away from Jewish holiday celebrations with her family, including her four siblings. The experience remains the strongest element of her Jewish identity.
“My parents definitely tried to teach me around the holidays,” she said. “But I think as a kid I was a little brat sometimes. I definitely just stuck with hockey and that was probably always on my mind. And now growing up, I’ll probably have to go back and look more into the religion.”
Levy set program records at both schools she attended. Playing for Boston College as a graduate student in 2022-2023, Levy was a semifinalist for the National Goalie of the Year award, and her .947 save percentage was the second-best in the country and set a single-season record at the school.
Levy was the third-string goalie on the U.S. Women’s National Team that won the gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s 2023 Women’s World Championship, though she did not appear in a game during the tournament.
When New York recruited Levy to join their roster ahead of the 2024 season, it was as much for for her reputation as an exemplary teammate as it was her skill on the ice.
“We like the person she is. We like the way that she takes care of herself and takes care of her teammates,” New York general manager Pascal Daoust told JTA. Levy was selected 64th overall in the 11th round of the PWHL draft in September and signed a one-year contract.
Abbey Levy is bringing a big style of play to the big city!
She’s ready to kick things off with her hometown team, @PWHL_NewYork! pic.twitter.com/7LRN40OI65
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) November 12, 2023
“There’s nothing to manage with her,” Daoust said. “We all know that goalies have their very own world or routine,” but Levy takes time to process feedback and listen as much as she talks, he added.
Daoust also hailed Levy’s consistency at the net.
“Sometimes a goalie is great one hour and not the next,” Daoust said. “You’re left to wonder, who’s going to be in the net?” But when Levy allows a goal, she recovers right away, he said.
As a teammate, Levy is known for her relaxed and supportive demeanor.
“Abbey is a very calm and chill presence in the dressing room. Nothing really fazes her,” said Lindsey Post, a fellow goaltender on the New York team. “She’s fun to be around. When we’re in the gym together, we’re always laughing. Same with on the ice, so she’s just a good goalie partner to have. We like to support each other all around along this road.”
Levy said building relationships with her teammates off the rink is critical to their success on it.
“I understand how to be friends with women, how we work, and how to push someone to do their best,” she said. “I know that will make our team so much better, because women care about things outside of the rink, as well as in the rink.”
“It’s just the little things on the ice like being valued and someone coming up to you and going out of their way and saying, ‘hey, you did great there,’” Levy continued. “And then off ice, hanging out together and inviting each other out to things.”
Playing in New York, Levy knows she’s fortunate to be close to her family. But for her teammates — many of whom hail from Canada — it can be isolating to play so far from home.
“Regardless of your age, you still need that family and support,” she said. “I get to go home every day to my family in New York. But some of these girls, they don’t. They live alone. So it’s just being that person to say, ‘how are you doing today?’ Or, ‘hey, nice shot.’ I think this is a huge part of hockey.”
Alex Carpenter, a forward who serves as the team’s alternate captain, also praised Levy for her presence on the squad.
“She’s not your stereotypical goalie,” Carpenter told JTA. “She’s pretty relaxed and chill on game days and even practice days. So it’s a lot of fun getting to interact with her more in the professional setting.”
While the PWHL is in its early days, Levy said she appreciates the role she plays as a Jewish athlete, especially as a model for young Jewish girls. There are at least two other Jewish women who play in the league: Boston’s team features defender Kaleigh Fratkin and goalie Aerin Frankel.
“For male athletes, it’s a bit different,” Levy said. “But at least for the women’s game, what I’ve noticed is hockey really is for all of us. Everyone’s very proud.”
—
The post Meet Abbey Levy, rising Jewish star in the brand new Professional Women’s Hockey League appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Sen. Rick Scott Donates Salary to US Holocaust Memorial Museum

US Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, Dec. 7, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) announced on Wednesday that he will donate a portion of his Senate salary to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, underscoring what he called the urgent need to combat antisemitism at home and abroad as threats to Jewish communities escalate.
Scott, who has given part of his congressional salary since joining the Senate in 2019, said his gift was motivated by the growing dangers facing Jewish people and the importance of ensuring younger generations understand the Holocaust.
“Ann and I are proud to support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Years ago, Ann and I brought our daughters to the Auschwitz memorial and museum in Poland because it was so important to us that they learned about the Holocaust and understood the horrors that occurred,” he said in a statement.
“It’s so important that every generation understands the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the museum does an incredible job teaching those lessons to millions of people every year. By sharing the stories of those who survived and those who were murdered, providing critical resources to educators, and reminding each of us what it means when we say ‘Never Again,’ it is a vital institution,” he added.
Scott also recounted taking his daughters years ago to Auschwitz in Poland, describing the visit as an effort to show them the catastrophic consequences of unchecked hatred against Jews.
The senator tied his donation to the approaching second anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during the onslaught.
“As we approach the second anniversary of Oct. 7, Ann and I are proud to support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s meaningful work defending the truth of the Holocaust and their important efforts to teach its relevance for today,” Scott said.
Scott’s office did not disclose the specific amount of the donation.
RSS
Texas State University Silent on Status of Professor Who Incited Violent Attack on Jews at Public Library

West Asheville Library in North Carolina. Photo: Screenshot/buncombecounty.org.
Texas State University is refusing to disclose whether it still currently employs a far-left professor who was filmed inciting a riotous assault on three pro-Israel individuals who peacefully spectated an anti-Israel presentation that was held in June 2024 at the West Asheville Library in North Carolina.
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, two of the victims, David Moritz and Monica Buckley, are Jewish, and one is cancer patient Bob Campbell, an 80-year-old military veteran. Their assailants kicked, punched, and dragged them out of the event, titled “Strategic Lessons From the Palestinian Resistance,” after Texas State University assistant professor of philosophy Idris Atsu Robinson spotted them in the audience and invited the 60-80 anti-Israel partisans in attendance to decide their fates.
At one point during harrowing footage taken of the incident, Robinson suggested that the encounter could lead to “murder.” At no point did he deescalate the situation and even seemed to find humor in igniting the passions of a mob.
Responding to an Algemeiner inquiry on Thursday, a Texas State media relations official declined to comment on Robinson’s employment status, saying the university “does not discuss personnel matters.”
The university has been asked before to account for its handling of Robinson.
In June, the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department, a pro-Israel nonprofit that seeks to combat antisemitism, notified the school of Robinson’s conduct and rhetoric. According to StandWithUs, “university sources” confirmed that he will not be teaching during the fall semester of the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the university would not comment on the matter “due to the confidential nature of personnel matters,” making it unclear whether Robinson is still employed by Texas State and will teach there in the future.
StandWithUs says Texas State should state Robinson’s employment status, share findings amassed during an internal investigation of him, and produce any previous complaints which accused him of wrongdoing.
“It is critical that universities protect Jewish and Zionist students by refusing to provide a classroom platform to faculty members unlawfully promoting antisemitic hate and violence,” Michael Scheinman, Saidoff Legal Department assistant director of campus and community affairs, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “Schools that do not act and fail to implement strong safeguards risk exposing their students to the same hatred and violence suffered by the victims of this attack.”
He added, “StandWithUS Saidoff Legal continues to support the victims of this horrendous hate incident by coordinating with law enforcement, helping to identify masked perpetrators, and urging Texas State University to condemn the antisemitic conduct that contributed to this violence.”
By his own words, Robinson took immense pride in what transpired in Asheville, North Carolina last year. Commenting on the matter the next day while being interviewed on a podcast produced by the organizers of the event, he argued for “popular riots” and “divine violence,” saying explicitly that “terrorists” reserve the right to “take the life of the oppressor.”
“My arms are chewed up,” Campbell, a Navy veteran, told The Algemeiner during an interview which followed the assault. He added that medical staff at a local US Veterans Affairs facility identified “severe contusions” on his body.
“What really upset me — I was [lying] on the floor, and this big guy was on top of me,” Campbell recalled. “The librarian came to the door, looked me right in the eye, turned around and walked back and didn’t do a damn thing. Didn’t call the police.”
The activists proved equally merciless to the other victims, putting Moritz in a headlock and heaving Buckley outside and ordering her not to free herself from their grip.
Expressions of anti-Zionism are escalating to violence more frequently, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.
Earlier this month, Eden Deckerhoff — a female student at Florida State University (FSU) — allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.” Deckerhoff has since been charged with misdemeanor battery.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Deckerhoff has denied assaulting the student when questioned by investigators, telling them, “No I did not shove him at all; I never put my hands on him.” However, law enforcement charged her with misdemeanor battery and described the incident in court documents as seen in viral footage of the incident, acknowledging that Deckerhoff “appears to touch [the man’s] left shoulder.” Despite her denial, the Democrat noted, she has offered to apologize.
In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by a major Jewish organization. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.
“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the San Francisco district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”
According to the latest data released by the FBI, antisemitic hate crimes in the US have been tallying to break all previous statistical records. In 2024, even as hate crimes decreased overall, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups have noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.
A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
RSS
Europeans Launch UN Sanctions Process Against Iran, Drawing Tehran’s Ire

Satellite image shows buildings at Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, before Israel launched an attack on Iran targeting nuclear facilities, in Isfahan, Iran, May 17, 2025. Photo: Planet Labs PBC via REUTERS
Britain, France, and Germany on Thursday launched a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.
A senior Iranian official quickly accused the three European powers of harming diplomacy and vowed that Tehran would not bow to pressure over the move by the E3 to launch the so-called “snapback mechanism.”
The three powers feared they would otherwise lose the prerogative in mid-October to restore sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the decision did not signal the end of diplomacy. His German counterpart Johann Wadephul urged Iran to now fully cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog agency and commit to direct talks with the United States over the next month.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters the decision was “illegal and regrettable” but left the door open for engagement.
“The move is an action against diplomacy, not a chance for it. Diplomacy with Europe will continue,” the official said, adding: “Iran will not concede under pressure.”
The UN Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors on Friday at the request of the E3 to discuss the snapback move against the Islamic Republic, diplomats said.
Iran and the E3 have held several rounds of talks since Israel and the US bombed its nuclear installations in mid-June, aiming to agree to defer the snapback mechanism. But the E3 deemed that talks in Geneva on Tuesday did not yield sufficient signals of readiness for a new deal from Iran.
The E3 acted on Thursday over accusations that Iran has violated the 2015 deal that aimed to prevent it developing a nuclear weapons capability in return for a lifting of international sanctions. The E3, along with Russia, China, and the United States, were party to that accord.
US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of that accord in 2018 during his first term, calling the deal one-sided in Iran‘s favor, and it unraveled in ensuing years as Iran abandoned limits set on its enrichment of uranium.
Trump’s second administration held fruitless indirect negotiations earlier this year with Tehran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the E3 move and said Washington remained available for direct engagement with Iran “in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue.”
An Iranian source said Tehran would do so only “if Washington guarantees there will be no [military] strikes during the talks.”
The E3 said they hoped Iran would engage by the end of September to allay concerns about its nuclear agenda sufficiently for them to defer concrete action.
“The E3 are committed to using every diplomatic tool available to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon,” including the snapback mechanism, they said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council and seen by Reuters.
“The E3’s commitment to a diplomatic solution nonetheless remains steadfast.”
Iran has previously warned of a “harsh response” if sanctions are reinstated, and the Iranian official said it was reviewing its options, including withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The E3 had offered to extend the snapback for as much as six months to enable serious negotiations if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors – who would also seek to account for Iran‘s large stock of enriched uranium whose status has been unknown since the June war – and engages in talks with the U.S.
Calling the E3 decision inevitable, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it was an “important step in the diplomatic campaign to counter the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions.”
GROWING FRUSTRATION IN IRAN
The UN process takes 30 days before sanctions that would hit Iran‘s financial, banking, hydrocarbons, and defense sectors are restored.
Russia and China, strategic partners of Iran, finalized a draft Security Council resolution on Thursday that would extend the 2015 nuclear deal for six months and urge all parties to immediately resume negotiations.
But they have not yet asked for a vote.
“The world is at crossroads,” Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters. “One option is peace, diplomacy, goodwill … Another option is a kind of diplomacy at the barrel of the gun.”
The specter of renewed sanctions is stirring frustration in Iran, where economic anxiety is rising and political divisions are deepening, three insiders close to the government said.
Iranian leaders are split over how to respond — with anti-Western hardliners urging defiance and confrontation, while moderates advocate diplomacy.
Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60 percent fissile purity, a short step from the roughly 90 percent of bomb-grade, and had enough material enriched to that level, if refined further, for six nuclear weapons, before the airstrikes by Israel started on June 13, according to the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog.
Actually manufacturing a weapon would take more time, however, and the IAEA has said that while it cannot guarantee Tehran‘s nuclear program is entirely peaceful, it has no credible indication of a coordinated weapons project.
The West says the advancement of Iran‘s nuclear program goes beyond civilian needs, while Tehran says it wants nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.