RSS
Sophie Scholl and her anti-Nazi resistance movement are spotlighted in ‘White Rose: The Musical’
(New York Jewish Week) — In the summer of 1942, a group of determined students and faculty at Germany’s University of Munich banded to speak out against the Nazi regime.
Led by Sophie Scholl and her older brother, Hans, they called themselves the White Rose. The fervently Christian siblings led the resistance group in sounding the alarm about the Nazis’ atrocities and the mass murder of Jews in Europe by dispersing anti-Nazi leaflets across German cities and embarking on a graffiti campaign throughout Munich and the surrounding region.
But in February 1943, less than a year after the White Rose’s inception, the Scholl siblings were caught scattering leaflets in the university’s main atrium. They were reported to the Gestapo and, just days later, at ages 21 and 24, they were executed by guillotine. Several other founding members were also executed for treason and many of their young collaborators were imprisoned.
Despite the tragic ending of the White Rose movement, their nonviolent acts of resistance have galvanized generations of young people to speak out. And now, the story has inspired “White Rose: The Musical,” a new 90-minute show that opens off-Broadway on Thursday.
The musical, starring Jo Ellen Perlman (Netflix’s “The Prom”) as Sophie Scholl and Mark Cefalo (Broadway’s “New York, New York”) as Hans Scholl, spotlights the courage and plight of the resistance group. “To me, it is the ultimate ally story,” the show’s creator, Brian Belding, told the New York Jewish Week. “We need more of those stories of people stepping out of the comfort and privilege that they have and actually standing up for people that are oppressed.”
Belding added that he dreamed of making a show about the White Rose since he first heard their story as a college student 35 years ago — he even wrote a screenplay for a movie at the time. “It was something that grabbed me from a young age, when I was basically the age of the students in the White Rose,” he said. “It was a story that I felt I should have known, but I didn’t.”
But life, as it often does, had other plans, and Belding became a high school history teacher in the Bay Area — where every year he taught his students about the bravery of the White Rose.
Teaching students year after year is what really “kicked me into action,” Belding told the New York Jewish Week.
“The students just always responded and they were engaged in stories, not just about the White Rose, but resistors, and especially young resistors, people they could identify with,” Belding said. “Too many history lessons are these guys in powdered wigs, you know, making speeches. We can study these dates and names of battles. But these were young people who were frustrated with what was going on, who were upset and angry and were trying to figure out a way to cope and, most importantly, to see if they could change it. That’s what my students identified with.”
Belding eventually decided to take time off from teaching in 2019 to pursue the project in earnest. He first tried to write a historical novel but found the idea came to life the most when he imagined it as a musical, so he set to work on writing the book and lyrics.
Though Belding is not Jewish, he said he worked carefully with Jewish dramaturg Emily White to make the show culturally, religiously and historically sensitive. With White’s guidance, Belding developed a (fictional) Jewish character in the White Rose who is forced to hide their identity in order to stay safe.
White said that working on the show as a Jew — and the fact that it is a true story — was “deeply important” to her. “When I have the ability to utilize historical documents and research in my process, helping to guide a story, it adds both a layer of authenticity and a unique responsibility in approaching the work,” she said.
White added that, while working on the script, she kept a quote from Holocaust survivor and “Night” author Elie Wiesel at top of mind: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”
“I have always been taught this is an essential part of being Jewish, but also an essential part of being a citizen of the world,” White said. “We are all bound in each other’s oppression, and we all have a responsibility to help stop oppression from happening.”
“The incredible efforts put forth by the young people in the White Rose, who weren’t direct targets of Nazi discrimination cannot be understated,” the dramaturg added. “These people could exist today, and make an impact.”
Belding concurs with White’s sentiments, saying the main message of the musical is to “stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone” — quoting none other than Sophie Scholl.
“White Rose: The Musical” opens Thursday, Jan. 25 and runs for 12 weeks at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd St.) Tickets start at $37.50.
—
The post Sophie Scholl and her anti-Nazi resistance movement are spotlighted in ‘White Rose: The Musical’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
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.
RSS
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.
RSS
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.