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NY Court Rules Jewish Groups Can Continue to Call Louis Farrakhan ‘Antisemitic’
Louis Farrakhan gives the keynote speech at the Nation of Islam Saviours’ Day convention in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. February 19, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook.
A Manhattan federal court ruled that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) can continue to label comments made by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as “antisemitic” and dismissed a $4.8 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Farrakhan against the two Jewish organizations.
“We are grateful that the United States judicial system recognized and validated our First Amendment right to confront and speak out against antisemitism by dismissing Louis Farrakhan’s lawsuit and not-so-veiled attempt to silence the SWC and impede our mission,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC’s associate dean and global social action director, said on Monday.
“Unfortunately, the judicial system cannot defeat the antisemitic hate that Farrakhan has spawned and spread throughout America over the last four decades,” Rabbi Cooper added. “SWC will steadfastly uphold its commitment to pursue and to combat the racism and antisemitism that continues to target America’s Blacks and Jews.”
Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, an Islamic and Black nationalist movement, filed a lawsuit in October 2023 against the SWC, Rabbi Cooper, the ADL and its CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Farrakhan and NOI claimed that the defendants were defaming them by called their comments antisemitic.
In the past, Farrakhan has compared Jews to termites; described Judaism as a “dirty religion” and a “gutter religion”; called the Jewish people “Satan”; publicly questioned the Holocaust; shared anti-Israel conspiracy theories; and blamed Jews for pedophilia and sex trafficking. In a three-hour speech that he gave in 2020 on Fourth of July, he referred to Jews as “Satan” who should have their brains bashed by the “stone of truth.” Farrakhan is one of three Nation of Islam figures — the other two being Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad – and has denied being an antisemite.
SWC argued that it has a constitutional right to comment on what it considers antisemitic hate speech. The organization stated in its brief that the plaintiffs “seek here to rewrite decades of legal precedent and overturn the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.”
Judge Denise Cote in the US Southern District of New York sided with the Jewish groups. He ruled that “the challenged statements referring to Farrakhan as antisemitic are non-actionable statements of opinion. The communications in which they were published contain ‘a recitation of facts on which (they are) based’ – namely direct quotes from Farrakhan.”
SWC’s attorney Julie Gerchik said after winning the dismissal: “We are pleased the Court affirmed the Constitution’s First Amendment right to free speech and recognized the plaintiffs’ transparent effort to weaponize the legal system to intimidate those calling out antisemitism and hate.”
The post NY Court Rules Jewish Groups Can Continue to Call Louis Farrakhan ‘Antisemitic’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.