Uncategorized
Moscow’s former chief rabbi: ‘The best option for Russian Jews is to leave’
(JTA) — Pinchas Goldshmidt, the former chief rabbi of Moscow who fled the country earlier this year, said other Russian Jews should leave before it’s too late in an interview with the Guardian.
“When we look back over Russian history, whenever the political system was in danger you saw the government trying to redirect the anger and discontent of the masses towards the Jewish community,” Goldschmidt told the Guardian. “We saw this in tsarist times and at the end of the Stalinist regime.”
He argued that Russia’s floundering invasion of Ukraine is starting to foster a similar environment.
“We’re seeing rising antisemitism while Russia is going back to a new kind of Soviet Union, and step by step the Iron Curtain is coming down again. This is why I believe the best option for Russian Jews is to leave,” Goldschmidt said.
Goldschmidt, who was born in Switzerland but has been serving Russian Jewry since 1989, left the country in June, nearly four months after Russia began its invasion. He said that he was being pressured to support the invasion and feared the impact his refusal might have on Moscow’s Jewish community.
“Pressure was put on community leaders to support the war and I refused to do so. I resigned because to continue as chief rabbi of Moscow would be a problem for the community because of the repressive measures taken against dissidents,” he said.
However, others in Russia have denied that claim, including the director of Moscow’s Choral Synagogue which reelected him chief rabbi almost immediately after he left.
Other Jewish leaders in Russia have remained in the country, such as Berel Lazar, a rabbi affiliated with the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement who despite long being seen as close to Putin has spoken out against the war.
But Jews, like Russians of all ethnicities, have been fleeing Russia en masse since the war began in late February. In August, it was estimated that more than 20,000 of Russia’s 165,000 Jews had fled the country.
“There’s a section of Russian society called the creacle, the creative class of business and cultural leaders, intellectuals and artists,” Goldschmidt said, “and I think it’s safe to say a great percentage of those people have left Russia, which is and will be very detrimental to Russian society.”
During the interview with the Guardian, Goldschmidt, who is also the president of the Conference of European rabbis, additionally discussed other issues facing European Jewry, such as rising antisemitism around the world, and how the state of European Jewry compares to the situation for Jews in the United States.
“For many years, Jews in the U.S. believed that it was an exception, that whatever happened in Europe and other countries could never happen there,” Goldschmidt said. “But over the past three years there have been more attacks on Jews there than in Europe.
“What is changing is the political system is much more polarized but also the discourse has been upended by social media. The polarization we’re seeing has made antisemitism much more acceptable.”
During the interview, Goldschmit also praised Ukraine’s Jewish community, denying Putin’s line that it is Nazi state.
“Show me another country that is in the grip of Nazis where the Jewish community is thriving,” Goldschmidt said.
—
The post Moscow’s former chief rabbi: ‘The best option for Russian Jews is to leave’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Britain Sends Destroyer and Helicopters With Counter-Drone Tech to Cyprus
Entrance to the RAF Akrotiri, a British sovereign base in Cyprus, which was hit by an unmanned drone overnight, causing limited damage, after sirens sounded, in Cyprus, March 2, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Britain is deploying HMS Dragon, an air defense destroyer, to Cyprus after the runway of its Akrotiri base there was hit by an Iranian-made drone.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he was sending the naval vessel along with helicopters with counter–drone capabilities to the region, as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies.
France and Greece said they would also send anti-missile and anti-drone systems after the British base on the island was hit on Monday.
“The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there,” Starmer said in a post on X, adding that he had spoken with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides about the move.
“We’re continuing our defensive operations and I’ve just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region,” the British prime minister said.
HMS Dragon is a Type 45 air-defense destroyer equipped with the Sea Viper missile system and advanced radar designed to track and neutralize airborne threats, according to the Royal Navy’s website.
Uncategorized
Trump Awards Medal of Honor to ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ World War II Soldier With ‘Unsurpassed Courage’
US President Donald Trump speaks during a visit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US, Feb. 13, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
President Donald Trump bestowed the Medal of Honor to three former US Army soldiers on Monday at a White House ceremony and they included a World War II veteran who was recognized by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations.”
Trump posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Master Sgt. Roderick (Roddie) W. Edmonds, who refused to single out the Jewish servicemen he fought alongside when he was held by Germans in a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. The president said the three US soldiers receiving the Medal of Honor — only one of whom is still living – demonstrated “unsurpassed courage.”
In 1941, Edmonds enlisted in the US Army and soon became one of the youngest master sergeants in the military, Trump said. The native of South Knoxville, Tennessee, led a unit that fought in Europe during World War II and they were captured by German forces on Dec. 19, 1944. Edmonds was held with other American POWS, including Jews, at Stalag IX-B in Bad Orb, Germany. Germans tried to separate Jewish POWs and many of them were sent to Nazi extermination camps or killed. Edmonds was in charge of the American barracks in Stalag IXA, according to the US Army, but refused to help single out Jewish POWs.
“On July 26, 1945, a Nazi SS officer issued an order over the camp loudspeaker, loud and strong, he said that only American Jews were to show up to roll call. Following this morning, he added ‘all who disobey this order will be shot immediately,’” Trump explained at the Medal of Honor ceremony. “There were more than 200 Jewish American soldiers in the camp, and Roddie knew their separation from the group would mean certain death. So that night he summoned his team and devised a plan. The next morning, all 1,200 American men fell in line together, shoulder to shoulder.”
“Enraged, the Nazi commandant rushed forward, drew his Luger pistol, and pressed the barrel between Sgt. Edmond’s eyes,” the president added. “He barked at Roddie, ‘They cannot all be Jews!’ He screamed loud and again and again. And, staring straight back into the raging face of evil, Sgt. Edmonds replied fearlessly, ‘We are all Jews here.’ The Nazi officer lowered his weapon and the soldiers erupted in cheers.”
The president noted that “with total disregard for his own life, Roddie had saved over 200 of his fellow service members.” Stalag IXA was liberated two months later.
Edmonds died on Aug. 8, 1985, in Knoxville. His son, Chris, accepted his Medal of Honor on Monday at the White House ceremony. Trump also posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis and Command Sergeant Major Terry P. Richardson.
Yad Vashem recognized Edmonds as Righteous Among the Nations in 2015. A year later, a ceremony was held at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, and the Righteous medal and certificate of honor was presented to Edmond’s son.
Uncategorized
US Women’s Basketball Player Stuck in Israel During Iran Conflict Remains Optimistic She’ll Return Home Soon
Destiny Littleton, right. Photo: IMAGO/Fotostand via Reuters Connect
Professional women’s basketball player Destiny Littleton has been posting on social media in real-time while being trapped in Israel, as Iran launches missile strikes on the Jewish state in response to the US-Israel strikes on Tehran over the weekend.
The former NCAA and Team USA player – who won a gold medal for the US in the 2017 FIBA 3×3 U-18 World Cup —moved to Israel in November to play for Hapoel Jerusalem in the top women’s basketball division. Since the joint US-Israel strikes in Iran that started on Saturday, and amid Iran’s counterstrikes against Israel, the 26-year-old has been trying to return home to the United States.
“There have been exits routes opening up so I don’t doubt that one of my next videos will be me having a plan to leave Isreal [sic],” she wrote in the caption of a video posted on Instagram early Tuesday morning.
“With that being said if and when such plan arises I will NOT be posting in real time as my safety is the number 1 priority,” she added. “Please keep me and everyone else in your prayers … The goal has always been the same to remain safe and find the best way out and back home.”
In the video, she shared, “options have been opening up for us to take … We are coming very close to making a move to get out of Israel.”
On Monday, the US State Department urged Americans in several countries across the Middle East to depart as soon as possible using all available commercial transportation, citing “serious safety risks” from the war with Iran. That same day President Donald Trump said the war could last a month or longer.
“Whatever it takes,” he noted. “Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that.”
Over the weekend, Littleton posted a video on Instagram of her and others in shock and fear as drones flew over their apartment building, while explosions were heard in the background. In several other videos, she recorded herself going to a bomb shelter while sirens blared around her.
On Sunday, an Iranian missile struck the city of Beit Shemesh, which is west of Jerusalem and just 30 minutes away from Littleton, she said in an Instagram post. The missile killed nine people and injured many others.
“I think I’m so clam [sic] because I’m in so much fear. Body is in flight or fight mode,” she wrote on Sunday, in the caption of a video posted on Instagram.
Littleton is one of three former South Carolina women’s basketball players competing in Israel who have been stuck in the country since the conflict started over the weekend. She is stranded in Israel along with former WNBA player Tiffany Mitchell and former Phoenix Mercury forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan. South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday on X that she is working to bring all three athletes back to the US.
Littleton talked to Fox News about her experience living in a war zone while trying to get back home.
“It’s scary. And it’s hard not to take it to the ‘what ifs.’ You really can’t. We’re going to have to pray and hope everything will be okay and that we can leave safely,” she said. “Right now, I can’t tell you the full effect that this is going to have on me. But I do know that just with this 48+ hours of being in an active war zone, even the little noises you jump at. So, there is going to be some trauma there.”
Littleton also shared her feeling about the US and Israel joining forces to strike Iran. “The US is trying to stop a regime that’s terrible for the entire world; on the other hand, it’s the US is doing Israel’s bidding,” she said. “My opinion is that I’m against the war period. I’m against what war can do. And I don’t like how [Trump] made this decision on his own.”