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Online Live Chat Service for Jews to Connect With Rabbis Sees 300% Increase Since Oct. 7 Attacks

A protester wrapped in an Israeli flag at a rally against antisemitism at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner

A live web service provided by Aish.com that allows users to speak directly with one of the Jewish organization’s leading rabbis has seen a 300 percent increase in usage since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

More than 5,000 chat responses (over 225 per day) are received each month, according to Aish, which added in a press release that many of the chats turn into extended conversations, sometimes on WhatsApp, in which rabbis help unaffiliated or disconnected Jewish users reconnect with their Jewish identities and form bonds with other Jews.

The Jewish organization said it believes the increase in usage of its live web chat service is due to the global rise in antisemitism and a newfound curiosity about Israel following Oct. 7, as well as a “yearning for meaning and community in the face of life’s uncertainties, and a desire for deeper meaning and spirituality in the face of a fast-paced modern culture where spiritual needs have been put on a backburner for too long.”

“We’re hearing from so many Jews who feel profoundly disconnected, whether due to living in areas with little Jewish community or lack of affiliation growing up,” said Rabbi Tzvi Broker, who oversees Aish.com‘s Live Chat. “The personal nature of these interactions, coupled with their anonymity, creates a safe space to ask questions and begin exploring. Having a live rabbi to connect and share with, has been a draw for many, and we’re seeing lives transformed as a result.”

Among their efforts, Broker and his team have helped people on the chat slowly incorporate Jewish rituals and traditions into their lives, and have connected them with peers through the organization’s new online community Aish+ so they can continue learning and engaging with other Jews.

“It’s amazing to witness lives being transformed in such profound ways,” said Broker. “Jews around the world are finding threads of connection to their heritage, and tapping into the depth and wisdom of our tradition to find meaning, community, and resilience in these challenging times.”

Bob Diener, the founder of hotels.com and the seed funder of Aish.com’s live chat, added in a statement: “The chat has been a powerful way for people to connect one-on-one with a spiritual leader and have their unique questions answered in a non-threatening and non-intimidating way. The chat’s rabbis are connecting so many people to their roots who otherwise don’t know where to go for guidance.”

“The chats have had a deep impact on many disconnected from the Jewish community,” said Aish CEO Rabbi Steven Burg. “Each of the people we connect with demonstrates a broad yearning to explore Jewish spirituality, peoplehood, and identity and that is why they have been turning to Aish for connection and guidance. We are happy to provide both while connecting them with local Jewish communities in their area, if there is one, to continue their journey.”

The post Online Live Chat Service for Jews to Connect With Rabbis Sees 300% Increase Since Oct. 7 Attacks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Exposed: CBS News Caught Deleting Hamas Propaganda on ‘Martyrs’ & ‘Israeli Aggression’ from Website

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, April 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

It was right there, on their website. For all to see. Evidence that a major American news outlet — one with prestige, resources, and supposedly rigorous editorial standards — had quietly published, almost word-for-word, what can only be described as a press release from a designated terrorist organization.

Earlier this month, CBS News ran a story about an alleged Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza. The headline set the tone: “Israeli strike on Gaza school allegedly kills 31 Palestinians, many kids, but IDF says it hit Hamas.”

Already, the usual red flags: a suspiciously specific death toll, immediate emphasis on children among the casualties, and of course, the requisite skepticism toward the IDF’s explanation — all paired with the now-standard framing of an aggressive Israel recklessly targeting civilians, rather than Hamas.

According to CBS, the death toll was sourced from the “Civil Defense rescue agency in Gaza,” which in turn cited medical records from Al-Ahli Hospital — the same hospital that, just days after CBS published its report, was revealed to contain a Hamas operations center inside the facility. That’s right: inside the hospital. Just to give you an idea of the reliability of the sources CBS deems fit to cite.

And yet, rather than question the reliability of medical records emerging from a Hamas-controlled war zone — or pause to consider the well-documented strategy of placing multiple command centers in civilian institutions — CBS instead cast doubt on the IDF. Why? Because the IDF had issued similar warnings the day before, when targeting a different Hamas site. Apparently, the editorial team at CBS finds it hard to believe that a terror group that has ruled Gaza with an iron grip for nearly two decades might operate more than one military facility embedded in civilian infrastructure.

We know. Shocking. Almost as if tunnel networks, human shields, and base duplication are all part of Hamas’ war strategy.

But the real giveaway came in a line CBS quietly scrubbed from its article after publication — with no correction, no note, no admission. The line that read: “The death toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 50,609 martyrs.” [emphasis added]

Yes, really. “Martyrs.” And “Israeli aggression.” Directly lifted from Hamas propaganda.

At some point, a CBS journalist hit Ctrl+C on that phrasing and dropped it straight into a news story — no quotation marks, no attribution, no context. Just presented as plain, unqualified fact.

This is how warped coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas has become: ideologically blinkered or just plain lazy reporters sourcing claims from the most biased actors in the region and piping them directly into American living rooms under the banner of “journalism.”

We’ve seen it before. HonestReporting has documented how outlets like UPI routinely republish Hamas talking points. The BBCThe GuardianNPR — all have quoted Hamas press officers and “health ministry” officials as if they were neutral observers rather than representatives of a proscribed terrorist organization.

This is how distortion becomes doctrine. This is how Hamas’ narrative — complete with inflated death tolls, blood-soaked victimhood, and cartoon-villain depictions of Israel — spreads far beyond Gaza’s borders.

When Western news outlets start parroting the language of groups banned in their own countries, it’s not just a lapse in editorial judgment. It’s complicity.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Exposed: CBS News Caught Deleting Hamas Propaganda on ‘Martyrs’ & ‘Israeli Aggression’ from Website first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Thrive on Palestinian Authority TV

The opening of a hall that the Palestinian Authority named for a terrorist who killed 125 people. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.

Official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV is the mouthpiece of the PA, and the PA uses it to transmit libels and lies about Israel.

One such libel claims that Israel’s fight against Hamas is just a symptom of an Israeli plot to rule the entire Muslim world:

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Speaker at anti-Israeli demonstration in Algiers: “The goal of the Zionist enterprise is not just to eliminate the central cause, which is the Palestinian cause.

Its goal is to harm the [Arab] nation, dismantle it, and tear it apart, and to establish the [Zionist] entity state (i.e., Israel) on the land of Islam, on the land of Palestine, and on all the Muslim lands.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, April 6, 2025]

The PA has repeated this libel for decades as Palestinian Media Watch has exposed, claiming that Israel harbors colonialist aspirations and dreams of ruling the entire Arab world:

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Political science lecturer Hareth Halalmeh: “Israel has an expansionist outlook. This expansionist outlook does not only include Palestine, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, but encompasses the entire Arab and Islamic entity… The Arabs are now convinced that we are facing an imperialistic, expanding, occupying, settler state that does not accept a Palestinian partner, nor an Arab partner, but rather only thinks in the language of violence and power. The Arabs are now fully convinced that if this danger will not be nipped in the bud, this danger will reach every Arab state.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals, March 6, 2025]

One speaker broadcast by official PA TV claimed that “traditional colonialism” was “just Zionist colonialism”:

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Political science lecturer Dr. Ibrahim Al-Rifa’i: “Was traditional colonialism just French and British?”

Official PA TV host: “Or Italian?”

Ibrahim Al-Rifa’i: “It was actually Zionist colonialism… They [the Jews] think that the entire world that is outside the circle of Zionism are goyim (i.e., non-Jews) and that Zionist globalization should rule, and they have been waging a world war ever since the time before traditional colonialism. Traditional colonialism was completely Zionist. This colonialism with its various names – British, English, French – was just Zionist colonialism.”

[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals – Tunis, Feb. 12, 2025]

A Lebanese Shari’ah Judge who was given a platform on PA TV packaged this in the well-known antisemitic libel that “Jews seek world dominion” and recommended that “Arabs, Muslims, and even Christians” should “re-examine” The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was exposed as a Russian antisemitic forgery over a century ago, for proof that “any decision made by the Zionist enemy contains traps and unannounced goals”:

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Lebanese Shari’ah Judge Sheikh Khaldoun Oraymet“We must understand, as Lebanese, Arabs, Muslims, and even Christians, that any decision made by the Zionist enemy (i.e., Israel) certainly contains traps and unannounced goals, which are necessarily not for the benefit of Lebanon [or] the Palestinian cause or the Arabs. For us to know for certain that this is their position, one must re-examine The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and examine – I’m not saying the Bible, but the Talmud that was written by the Jews’ rabbis.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals, March 18, 2025]

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor Al-Habbash has presented a different version of this libel, claiming that it is the US that seeks dominion over the Arab world, using Israel as “a pawn state” to reach its “colonialist goals”:

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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “There is no strategic alliance in the true political sense between the US and Israel. What actually exists is American employment of Israel. Israel is nothing more than an American interest.

It is nothing more than a pawn state or pawn entity whose goal is to serve the American and colonialist goals. The US is making sure to keep this entity and state so that it will serve its goals to keep the Arab region divided, backward, and conflict-ridden… The US is interested in continuing the situation (i.e., Israeli counter-terror operation against Hamas). It wants to pressure the Palestinian people, and to break the willpower of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation that is behind it.” [emphasis added]

[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Dec. 13, 2023]

Official PA TV has repeatedly served as a means for spreading the libel that Israel’s goal is to expand beyond “Palestine.” A Syrian commentator warned that Israel poses “a danger that will wash over the Arab and Islamic world”:

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Syrian commentator Husam Taleb: “Israel wants to expel [the residents from] the entire West Bank, so that not a single Palestinian will remain. Afterwards they will move on to the 1948 Arabs (i.e., Israeli Arabs)… Then the Golan Heights, they want to expel the [Druze] people of the Golan… This plan is being put on the table by the Israelis.”

[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals – Damascus, Jan. 26, 2025]

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.

The post The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Thrive on Palestinian Authority TV first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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18 Months Later, the BBC Still Won’t Tell the Truth About Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital

People inspect the area of Al-Ahli hospital where Palestinians were killed in a blast from an errant Islamic Palestinian Jihad rocket meant for Israel, in Gaza City, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot

Early on the morning of April 13, 2025, the BBC News website published a report by Rushdi Abualouf, who is described as a “Gaza correspondent” despite his not having been located in the Gaza Strip for well over a year.

The original version of that report was titled “Gaza hospital hit by Israeli strike, Hamas says.” That headline was subsequently amended to read “Gaza hospital hit by Israeli strike, Hamas-run health ministry says” and it was later changed again to promote a theme previously seen in BBC reporting: “Israeli air strike destroys part of last functioning hospital in Gaza City.

Later in the day, that headline was changed yet again and its messaging toned down:

The report relates to a strike conducted, following evacuation orders, on a Hamas command and control center located in a building within the al Ahli hospital compound. Earlier versions told BBC audiences that:

An Israeli air strike has destroyed part of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, the last functioning hospital in Gaza City.

Witnesses said the strike destroyed the intensive care and surgery departments of the hospital.

Video posted online appeared to show huge flames and smoke rising from the hospital after missiles hit a two-story building. People, including some patients still in hospital beds, were filmed rushing away from the site.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the hospital contained a “command and control center used by Hamas.” No casualties were reported, according to Gaza’s civil emergency service.

None of the versions of Abualouf’s report inform BBC audiences that three rockets were launched by Hamas towards Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip on the afternoon of April 12th or that, on the evening of the same day, as Israelis celebrated Passover, another rocket attack took place.

The version of the report currently available online tells readers that:

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said al Ahli Arab Hospital’s building was “completely destroyed,” leading to the “forced displacement of patients and hospital staff.”

By contrast, a statement from Israel’s MFA notes that:

This was a precise strike on a single building that was used by Hamas as a terror command and control center. There was no medical activity taking place in this building. Prior to the strike, an early warning was issued. There were no civilian casualties as a result of the strike. The strike was carried out while avoiding further damage to the hospital compound, which remained operational for continued medical treatment.

The latest version also tells readers that:

World Health Organization director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the hospital was out of service following the evacuation order and attack, according to an update he received from the hospital’s director. […]

“Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law. Attacks on health care must stop,” he stated.

Abualouf failed to clarify to audiences that “the hospital’s director” is Dr Fadl Naim who has been quoted by the BBC on previous occasions despite his links to Hamas. He also made no effort to inform his readers about the limitations on protection of hospitals when they are used to commit hostile acts.

Notably, all the versions of the report include the following:

That link takes readers to a report by David Gritten dating from October 18, 2023, which was discussed here at the time. In the eighteen months that have gone by since the explosion in a car park at the al Ahli hospital caused by a shortfall PIJ rocket, the BBC has made no effort to amend Gritten’s report in order to remove or clarify the various inaccurate claims that it promotes, including the following:

”We were operating in the hospital, there was a strong explosion, and the ceiling fell on the operating room. This is a massacre,” said Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a Médecins Sans Frontières plastic surgeon who had been helping to treat people wounded in the war.” […]

“Zaher Kuhail, a British-Palestinian civil engineering consultant and university professor who was nearby at the time, told the BBC that what he had witnessed was “beyond imagination”.

“I [saw] two rockets coming from an F-16 or an F-35 [fighter jet], shelling these people and killing them ruthlessly, without any mercy,” he said.” […]

“The health ministry in Gaza said 500 people had been killed and hundreds more were feared trapped under the rubble.”

Now, as we see, Gritten’s colleague Rushdi Abualouf not only recycles those false claims (which are still being promoted by Abu Sittah) by linking to that inaccurate report but also continues to promote the BBC’s chosen stance, according to which it “cannot yet establish as fact who was responsible for the blast” and hence refuses to tell its funding public that the incident was caused by a shortfall rocket fired from nearby by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

So much for the BBC’s long-touted claim to provide “news you can trust” and “fight against disinformation.

Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK – an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared. 

The post 18 Months Later, the BBC Still Won’t Tell the Truth About Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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