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Some Jews are taking down their mezuzahs due to antisemitism. Some non-Jews are putting them up.
(JTA) – When a man broke into the home of a Jewish family in Studio City, California, last week yelling antisemitic language and “Free Palestine,” neighbors quickly honed in on a key detail: The assailant had allegedly previously questioned the family about the mezuzah on their door.
This caused some fear among secular Jews on their block, said Menachem Silverstein, an Orthodox comedian and rabbi who is close friends with the victims. He said an Israeli neighbor told him that he was considering taking his family’s mezuzah down.
But the response from Silverstein’s non-Jewish neighbors, he said, “gave me goosebumps”: They proposed putting up their own.
“I’m tearing up. I’m like, this is the most beautiful thing anybody has ever said to me,” Silverstein recalled to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It was the inspiration I needed, personally.”
The neighbors ultimately decided that the break-in was a one-time incident and held off on following through with their offer. Still, Silverstein said, the mere gesture that they might be willing to support Jews in this way stuck with him at a time when so many Jews say they are feeling alone and unsupported by the non-Jews they know.
He compared the moment to the “I am Spartacus” scene in the 1960 movie, in which the hero’s countrymen all identify as him in order to protect his identity. It also calls to mind the myth that the king of Denmark wore a yellow Star of David to shield the country’s Jews under Nazi rule.
“If everyone has a mezuzah, no one has to take it down and you can’t identify the Jews who have a mezuzah,” he said.
And to Silverstein, the gesture invoked something even more gut-wrenching. “To me it felt like the precursor to ‘We’ll hide you when you’re in our attic.’”
Silverstein’s reaction taps into a broader conversation taking place in Jewish homes and communities around the world. As antisemitic sentiment has risen across the world in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis in a terrorist attack on Oct. 7, Jews are questioning whether their mezuzahs — small boxes containing a passage from the Torah commanding Jews to inscribe the words on the doorposts of their homes — make them vulnerable to attacks by identifying their homes as Jewish.
A man walks along a building whose facade is covered with Stars of David in the Alesia district of Paris, Oct. 31, 2023. (Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images)
In some places, as in Studio City, it seems that the fears have been justified. In Canada, an Ontario couple says they believe their mezuzah was a giveaway to vandals who spray-painted antisemitic graffiti on their garage. Jews in Paris and Berlin who have expressed concern about Jewish stars being painted on their buildings wonder whether it was their mezuzahs that tipped the vandals off.
Some are seeking ways to keep their mezuzahs up while making them inconspicuous. In Europe, some Jews have been buying up Camozuzah, a mezuzah disguised to look like a home alarm, originally developed by a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi in Ireland in 2021 for Jewish university students concerned about antisemitism there.
Others may be removing their mezuzahs altogether. Jews in London and Berlin say they’ve taken their mezuzahs down as a safeguard against unrest. Levi Wolff, the rabbi at the Modern Orthodox Central Synagogue in Sydney, Australia, posted on Instagram this week that an anonymous person had left a mezuzah at his house, which he took to mean that “someone in our community has removed his/her mezuzah and is returning it to me, out of fear of their home being recognized as a Jewish home.”
Wolff, who is affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, then implored Jews to keep their mezuzahs up and to not be afraid in the face of antisemitism, such as a pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney where participants recently chanted “Gas the Jews.” Other Chabad rabbis have emphasized that now is an ideal time to put up mezuzahs, an act that they counteracts darkness in the world, and many have taken steps to distribute mezuzahs in their communities.
The Camozuzah is designed to look like a security system but instead obscures a mezuzah that meets the requirements of Jewish law. (Camozuzah.com)
Other spiritual leaders have struck a more cautious tone. Marc Katz, a rabbi at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey, posted on Facebook Tuesday that, in light of Halloween, Jews should consider being extra cautious with how many visible signs of Jewish identity they display on their houses.
“It’s OK to take down your outward signs of support for Israel or even your outward signs of Jewish identity (like your mezuzah) if you are truly worried for your safety,” Katz wrote, in a post also shared by his synagogue. “At times that are unsafe, Jews are allowed to do the imperfect to protect themselves and their resources.”
The rabbi cautioned his congregants that they should be prepared to return to normal “when the threat goes away.”
Elsewhere, other non-Jews looking to stand in solidarity with Jews and Israel also shared plans to put up their own mezuzahs. One non-Jewish woman in Toronto went viral on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, for sharing her own mezuzah affixed to the door of her apartment building. She says she procured it inexpensively from a Judaica shop after consulting with Jewish friends who told her that it wouldn’t be insensitive.
“Some of our Toronto neighbours are facing harassment — just for being Jewish,” wrote the woman, who identified herself as Susie Movat. “As a non Jew, I’m putting a mezuzah on my door to stand in solidarity with my friends who deserve to live without fear. Never again.”
Some of our Toronto neighbours are facing harassment – just for being Jewish. As a non Jew, I’m putting a mezuzah on my door to stand in solidarity with my friends who deserve to live without fear. Never again. pic.twitter.com/grZ4lTqzqj
— susie movat (@MovatSusie) October 27, 2023
Some Jewish users applauded her. “While current events have seen so many of our neighbours rip off masks to show us the deep rot of systemic antisemitism, it has also blessed Jews by shining spotlights on those non-Jews in our midst who like Susie passed this “would you have hid Jews during the Holocaust” test,” wrote Yoni Freedhoff, an Ottawa physician who tweets frequently on Canadian Jewish issues. The British Jewish historian Simon Schama, author of “The Story of the Jews,” joined in the appreciation.
But others said they thought the gesture represented cultural appropriation, in the vein of Christian Passover seders, and questioned whether it was the strongest show of allyship. “You can donate to a synagogue’s security fund (yeah, we have those, because we have to) or education fund,” one representative user tweeted. “Appropriation is NOT the way.”
Silverstein, who comes from a Chabad family, said he didn’t interpret his neighbors’ gesture as appropriative. Instead, he said, “It was such a beautiful thing to see non-Jews acknowledge the importance of a mezuzah.”
As for whether Jews everywhere should consider taking their own down for protection, Silverstein advised, “Consult your local rabbi.” But he noted Jewish tradition teaches that the mezuzah itself is historically its own form of protection.
“Our mezuzah is the security system. Our mezuzah has the Shema in it,” he said. “Having that mezuzah up, as scary as it may seem, I truly feel that God will protect you.”
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The post Some Jews are taking down their mezuzahs due to antisemitism. Some non-Jews are putting them up. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.