Uncategorized
Taylor Swift’s rumored boyfriend, Matty Healy, once gave a Hitler salute on stage and posted a ‘List of Jews’ to Instagram
(JTA) — These have been a wild few years for Matty Healy, the outspoken lead singer of the English pop rock band The 1975.
His group has released a string of acclaimed albums that went to the top of the British charts. But at the same time, Healy has cultivated a reputation as an offensive provocateur due to a series of statements and actions that have angered Jews and other minorities.
Now he is back in the headlines as the rumored new boyfriend of pop megastar Taylor Swift, and many diehard Swift fans — known as “Swifties” — are not happy. In describing their anger about the pairing, some Swifties are calling Healy “antisemitic,” in addition to Islamophobic, racist and other negative labels.
At a concert days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January, Healy gave what appeared to be a Nazi salute, an act that quickly went viral. He made the gesture while singing the line “Thank you, Kanye, very cool” in the song “Love It If We Made It.” The gesture could have been a reference to rapper Kanye West’s series of antisemitic statements last year, which included praising Hitler.
But many fans maintained that Healy should have avoided the gesture, which could have been seen by viewers who were unfamiliar with its context. Some began calling him antisemitic.
“Satire or not, this is irresponsible and super lame to do on stage in front of a crowd of people,” one Twitter user wrote, according to The Independent.
Days later, Healy confused fans by posting an Instagram story, without context, with a screenshot of a Wikipedia article titled “Lists of Jews.” The article links to other Wikipedia articles that list famous Jews in Hollywood, politics and more.
Social media users were critical of the post, pointing to the fact that it could have been a reference to the Nazis’ policy of maintaining lists of Jews during World War II.
this goes back literal milennia and in a present day context it harkens to the antis3m3tic concepts of a “global kabal,” world domination/new world order, etc……i’m truly speechless. like why else would matty, as a non-jewish person, have posted that? to be ~rAnDoM~? no justin its a straight up d0g whistle
(Healy has also criticized U.S. Republicans for invoking Holocaust comparisons in the context of their opposition to abortion rights.)
These were far from the first controversies surrounding Healy, a fervent atheist who nonetheless admits he has a “Messiah” complex. After a 2019 interview, fans called him Islamophobic for referencing Islam and then saying “I have to get up every day and read something abhorrent that’s happened in the name of religion.” In a podcast appearance in February, he mocked Japanese people and the ethnicity of Ice Spice, an American rapper with African American and Dominican ancestry (whom he called “Inuit”). In light of her connection to Healy, Swift is now drawing scrutiny for collaborating with Ice Spice.
Healy’s charged statements about porn and his treatment of women fans — some of whom he has approached and kissed on his band’s recent tour — have also drawn condemnation.
In an open letter to the pop star last week, a group of Swift fans wrote that Healy’s past comments have hurt members of the “Jewish, Black, Chinese, Hawaiian, Inuit, LGBTQ+ communities, as well as women.”
Another thing that many Swifties point out: Healy was years ago also rumored to be dating Swift, but denied rumors by saying that being her boyfriend “would have been emasculating for me.”
—
The post Taylor Swift’s rumored boyfriend, Matty Healy, once gave a Hitler salute on stage and posted a ‘List of Jews’ to Instagram appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Alabama is forcing the Ten Commandments into my children’s classrooms. As a rabbi, I’m horrified
As of this month, many public schools in Alabama are required to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, libraries, lunchrooms and all other common spaces.
Proponents of Senate Bill 99, signed into law by Gov. Kay Iven on April 10, have claimed that these enforced displays are historical, educational and religiously neutral. As an Alabama rabbi — and a father of two future public school students — I see that defense as not just incorrect, but also deceitful, especially because the version of the Ten Commandments that the law endorses is, itself, not historically accurate.
The Ten Commandments are a sacred Jewish text. They were given to the Jewish people, written in Hebrew, and rooted in a specifically Jewish story of liberation and covenant. This law takes that text, strips it of its context, and reshapes it using a Christian lens.
The version of the Ten Commandments that will be displayed in our schools omits the text’s defining opening: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” That line grounds the commandments in the narrative of the Jewish people. To remove it is not preservation. It is distortion.
Claims of the law’s neutrality are a strategy meant to give legal and cultural cover to the fact that it clearly privileges one particular Christian worldview in public institutions meant to serve everyone.
This does not reflect the beliefs or desires of all Christians. Many Christian leaders and communities understand that faith loses its integrity when it is elevated or enforced by the state. Many of my Alabama colleagues, across religious traditions, are dismayed by this as well. They understand that this law is an ideological move that uses religion to draw boundaries around belonging, and object to that weaponization of something sacred.
In opposing Senate Bill 99, the American Historical Association made the point plainly, arguing that this law presents a distorted version of American religious history under the label of “historical truth.”
The text of the bill describes the Ten Commandments as “a key part of the Judeo-Christian religious and moral tradition” — a claim that does not reflect the consensus of historians, legal scholars or the judiciary.
The idea of a unified “Judeo-Christian” tradition is itself a misleading modern construction. It did not come from Judaism. It emerged within a Christian framework and recasts Judaism as a precursor to Christianity rather than a living, evolving tradition in its own right.
Alabama students, like students across this country, deserve an education that is accurate, intellectually honest and grounded in real scholarship. Public schools should be places where students can form identities they are proud of, develop the values that guide them, and begin to understand how they can contribute to the world around them. They should be places where students feel safe, nurtured and valued.
This law erodes those principles. Instead, it replaces real education with ideology, narrowing what students are allowed to learn and how they are taught to understand their country. It denies students exposure to the full diversity of American religious life, replacing that rich landscape with a single, imposed narrative.
When a classroom wall presents one version of a religious text as if it were foundational to civic life, it sends a message. Some students will see themselves reflected in the text. Others, like my children, will learn that they are on the outside. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists and others will be further pushed to the margins.
This law is about power: who has it, and who does not. It is about whose story is told, and whose is reshaped to fit someone else’s narrative. And it teaches something dangerous: not to think, but to conform. To get in line. To stay silent. To learn, early on, where you stand.
The United States cannot be great when it elevates one religion over others. Our students deserve better than indoctrination presented as education. They deserve a system that reflects that we are a nation shaped not by one tradition, but by many.
As a rabbi, I am angry that a sacred text from my tradition is being taken, altered and presented as something it is not.
As a Jew, I am furious that our story is being stripped of its context and repurposed in a way that marginalizes others.
And as a father of two children who will be in public school, I am deeply uneasy about what this signals to them about who belongs — and who does not.
That is why we must speak out and do everything we can to oppose and repeal this law. We must work to protect a better kind of American society — one that ensures our public institutions remain open to all, and that our children grow up in a world that reflects the dignity of difference, not the demand for conformity.
The post Alabama is forcing the Ten Commandments into my children’s classrooms. As a rabbi, I’m horrified appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Some Tankers Cross Strait of Hormuz Before Shots Fired, Ship-Tracking Data Shows
A satellite image shows the ship movement at the Strait of Hormuz on April 17, 2026, in Space. EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Handout via REUTERS
More than a dozen tankers, including three sanctioned vessels, passed through the Strait of Hormuz after a 50-day blockade was lifted on Friday, shipping data showed, before Iran reimposed restrictions on Saturday and fired at some vessels.
Reopening the strait is key for Gulf producers to resume full oil and gas supplies to the world, and end what the International Energy Agency has called the worst-ever supply disruption.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday Iran had agreed to open the strait, while Iranian officials said they wanted the US to fully lift its blockade of Iranian tankers.
Western shipping companies cautiously welcomed the announcements but said more clarity was needed, including on the presence of sea mines, before their vessels could transit.
IRAN RESUMES RESTRICTIONS
The ships that passed through the strait on Friday and Saturday via Iranian waters south of Larak island were mainly older, non-Western-owned vessels and included four sanctioned ships, according to ship-tracking data.
Iran arranged passage for a limited number of oil tankers and commercial ships following prior agreements in negotiations, a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.
Other ships have been seen approaching the strait and turning back as Iran said it would maintain strict controls as long as the US continues its blockade of Iranian ports.
The UK Navy reported on Saturday that Iranian gunboats fired at some ships attempting to cross the strait.
Some merchant vessels received radio messages from Iran’s navy saying the strait was shut again and that no ships were allowed to pass, shipping sources said on Saturday.
Ship-tracking data showed five vessels loaded with liquefied natural gas from Ras Laffan in Qatar approaching the strait on Saturday morning.
No LNG cargoes have transited the waterway since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28.
Hundreds of ships have been stuck in the Gulf since the conflict started and Tehran closed the strait, forcing Gulf oil and gas producers to sharply cut production.
Top producers such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq and Kuwait say they need steady tanker flows and unrestricted passage through the strait to resume normal export operations.
Uncategorized
Trump Greenlights Russian Oil to Ease Strain on Global Markets After War with Iran
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington, DC, US, March 27, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
i24 News – The Trump administration has authorized a 30-day emergency waiver allowing the maritime purchase of Russian oil, reversing a hardline stance in an effort to stabilize skyrocketing global energy prices.
The Treasury Department announced Friday that the license for crude and petroleum products will remain in effect until May 16, 2026, responding to intense pressure from international partners struggling with the fallout of the war with Iran.
This policy pivot comes as a surprise after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested earlier this week that no further exemptions would be granted:
“As negotiations with Iran accelerate, the administration seeks to ensure oil availability for those who need it most. We must prevent a total price collapse for consumers while the geopolitical situation remains volatile.”
Ensuring global oil availability is paramount for the US as over 80 energy facilities in the Middle East have been damaged by recent war with Iran. With the November midterm elections approaching, record-high fuel prices at the pump remain a primary vulnerability for the Republican party. By allowing Russian oil back into the maritime flow, the administration hopes to neutralize “pain at the pump” before voters head to the polls.