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Sex offender who gave high profile interview to Hasidic comedian pleads guilty to new charges

(New York Jewish Week) – A convicted sex offender who gained widespread attention for speaking publicly about his crimes with a Hasidic comedian last year has pleaded guilty to new abuse allegations that surfaced as a result of the interview.
Gershon Selinger, 41, pleaded guilty in Dutchess County Court on Wednesday to the felony of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 11, according to court records. The incident occurred in 2008. Selinger was taken into custody after the hearing and will be sentenced in March.
The plea deal will see Selinger serve five years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to public defender Seth Gallagher, his defense attorney. Gallagher declined to give any further comment.
In 2015, Selinger was convicted in a Brooklyn court of abusing a 6-year-old, also in 2008, and was sentenced to 10 years probation, according to public records.
Last July, Selinger again drew attention when he sat for an interview with Mendy Pellin, a Hasidic comedian, and spoke about his abuse in explicit terms. In the 78-minute video, which has more than 250,000 views across the social platforms X and YouTube, Selinger discusses his molestation of several children, his treatment for pedophilia and his relationship with his wife.
Pellin said he recorded the video in order to raise awareness of child sex abuse. The interview sparked a discussion about sexual abuse among some in religious communities, garnering hundreds of comments.
Pellin published subsequent video interviews with two experts in the field – Michael Salamon, a psychologist, and Pattie Fitzgerald, a child safety educator and the founder of the educational group Safely Ever After.
“My intention was to get into the mind of a child molester so that parents and educators could be better equipped to [protect] the children,” Pellin, who is based in Brooklyn, told the New York Jewish Week. “And also just to show that, ‘Hey here’s a guy with a beard and a yarmulke, and he looks like a regular guy you’d see in shul, and look what sick things he’s done.’ And also get people thinking, opening their eyes that you really have to watch out for your kids.”
Selinger said in the interview that he had grown up in a religious Jewish household, and later worked as a lifeguard as well as in Hasidic Jewish schools in Brooklyn. Both were environments where he interacted with children, though he said that he did not carry out any abuse connected with his work. He went through therapy after his 2015 conviction and remains Jewishly observant, he said. His entry on the state sex offender registry lists an address in Brooklyn.
Zvi Gluck, the CEO of Amudim, a New York City- and Jerusalem-based group that aids victims of abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community, thanked Pellin in a social media post for publishing the video, while acknowledging that he had concerns about its potential for triggering trauma in survivors of abuse. Some commenters said the video was informative and important for spreading awareness, while other social media users called the interview “highly unethical,” and traumatic to survivors.
One of the video’s viewers, according to Pellin, watched it from a different vantage point: As she heard Selinger retell his crimes, she recognized that he had abused her. Pellin says the victim contacted him, telling him she had largely repressed her memories of the abuse. But in October, less than three months after Pellin released the Selinger interview, the victim, who is not named in court records, filed charges against Selinger for the abuse — leading to Wednesday’s guilty plea.
“These flashbacks that she’s been getting for years, just trying to convince herself that they may not be real or they’re vague, just became very clear,” Pellin said. “She realized the beast that she’s been fighting all these years.”
The victim said in an impact statement in court on Wednesday that Selinger had abused her multiple times, causing her years of trauma, according to Asher Lovy, an advocate for sexual abuse victims who was in the courtroom. Judge Edward McLoughlin applauded the woman for coming forward, Lovy said, saying she had shown her strength by speaking out and seeking justice.
Lovy, the director of Za’akah, a nonprofit that combats sexual abuse in religious communities and advocates for survivors, said he had mixed feelings about the video because it had given Selinger a platform to present his side of the story. Lovy felt that Selinger showed a lack of remorse in the interview, but added that the new victim coming forward was a benefit of the video.
“I don’t want anybody getting the idea that this is generally a good idea, that if you can convince a pedophile to make a video maybe more will come forward,” Lovy said. “Once the video was made, I’m glad that it could lead to Gershon being brought to justice for more of the abuse he’s committed.”
Pellin said he feels gratified with the video’s impact.
“She’s handling this with great strength and I think it’s very inspiring,” Pellin said of the victim. “Survivors should always have the final say.”
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The post Sex offender who gave high profile interview to Hasidic comedian pleads guilty to new charges appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.