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Park East Synagogue’s prospective rabbi withdraws from consideration after dispute with congregatnts
(New York Jewish Week) — Days after Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet gave a lecture at Park East Synagogue that led to a confrontation with a member over his views, Schochet announced that he will be staying at his synagogue in London.
Schochet, a Chabad-affiliated rabbi who has served as rabbi of London’s Mill Hill United Synagogue for three decades, released a statement on Thursday confirming that he will not be moving to Park East Synagogue, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
“I am flattered that the prestigious Park East Synagogue courted me and that the search committee and eminent rabbi offered me the job in principle, subject to community vote,” Schochet said. “But I have written to the search committee this morning to thank them and decline the offer because the amazing Mill Hill community has been and will remain home.”
A Park East Synagogue member had previously told the New York Jewish Week that no hiring decisions have yet been made.
Park East Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has been embroiled in an ongoing debate over who will replace its 92-year-old spiritual leader, Rabbi Arthur Schneier. More than a year ago, the synagogue ousted its popular assistant rabbi, Benjamin Goldschmidt, who was seen by some as Schneier’s heir.
Schochet, as a candidate for the position, delivered an hour-long lecture to a crowd of 100 people at the synagogue on Sunday, including members of the search committee. But following the talk, a member of the audience, Kalman Sporn, criticized Schochet for his past public opposition to same-sex marriage. Schochet responded by accusing Sporn of engaging in “cancel culture.” Sporn had also previously criticized Schochet on Twitter for his rhetoric regarding Palestinians and their Jewish advocates.
Schochet subsequently apologized to Sporn after facing pushback from another congregant.
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The post Park East Synagogue’s prospective rabbi withdraws from consideration after dispute with congregatnts appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel’s Netanyahu Hopes to ‘Taper’ Israel Off US Military Aid in Next Decade
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Friday that he hopes to “taper off” Israeli dependence on US military aid in the next decade.
Netanyahu has said Israel should not be reliant on foreign military aid but has stopped short of declaring a firm timeline for when Israel would be fully independent from Washington.
“I want to taper off the military within the next 10 years,” Netanyahu told The Economist. Asked if that meant a tapering “down to zero,” he said: “Yes.”
Netanyahu said he told President Donald Trump during a recent visit that Israel “very deeply” appreciates “the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacities.”
In December, Netanyahu said Israel would spend 350 billion shekels ($110 billion) on developing an independent arms industry to reduce dependency on other countries.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a memorandum of understanding for the 10 years through September 2028 that provides $38 billion in military aid, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense systems.
Israeli defense exports rose 13 percent last year, with major contracts signed for Israeli defense technology including its advanced multi-layered aerial defense systems.
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Israel supporter and close ally of Trump, said on X that “we need not wait ten years” to begin scaling back military aid to Israel.
“The billions in taxpayer dollars that would be saved by expediting the termination of military aid to Israel will and should be plowed back into the US military,” Graham said. “I will be presenting a proposal to Israel and the Trump administration to dramatically expedite the timetable.”
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In Rare Messages from Iran, Protesters ask West for Help, Speak of ‘Very High’ Death Toll
Protests in Tehran. Photo: Iran Photo from social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law, via i24 News
i24 News – Speaking to Western media from beyond the nationwide internet blackout imposed by the Islamic regime, Iranian protesters said they needed support amid a brutal crackdown.
“We’re standing up for a revolution, but we need help. Snipers have been stationed behind the Tajrish Arg area [a neighborhood in Tehran],” said a protester in Tehran speaking to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity. He added that “We saw hundreds of bodies.”
Another activist in Tehran spoke of witnessing security forces firing live ammunition at protesters resulting in a “very high” number killed.
On Friday, TIME magazine cited a Tehran doctor speaking on condition of anonymity that just six hospitals in the capital recorded at least 217 killed protesters, “most by live ammunition.”
Speaking to Reuters on Saturday, Setare Ghorbani, a French-Iranian national living in the suburbs of Paris, said that she became ill from worry for her friends inside Iran. She read out one of her friends’ last messages before losing contact: “I saw two government agents and they grabbed people, they fought so much, and I don’t know if they died or not.”
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Report: US Increasingly Regards Iran Protests as Having Potential to Overthrow Regime
United States President Donald J Trump in White House in Washington, DC, USA, on Thursday, December 18, 2025. Photo: Aaron Schwartz via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – The assessment in Washington of the strength and scope of the Iran protests has shifted after Thursday’s turnout, with US officials now inclined to grant the possibility that this could be a game changer, Axios reported on Friday.
“The protests are serious, and we will continue to monitor them,” an unnamed senior US official was quoted as saying in the report.
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after the Islamic regime blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as videos circulating on social media showed buildings ablaze in anti-government protests raging across the country.
US President Donald Trump warned the Ayatollahs of a strong response if security forces escalate violence against protesters.
“We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump told reporters when asked about the unrest in Iran.
The latest reported death toll is at 51 protesters, including nine children.