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The settlers’ attack on Huwara is not the Orthodox Judaism I grew up on
(JTA) — Nighttime in Huwara, a small Palestinian town in the West Bank. Jews in large skullcaps and sidelocks, prayer fringes dangling from their waists, responding loudly to the cantor: “Yehei shmei raba mevurach leolam u’leolmei olmaya” (“May His great name be blessed, forever and ever”) — the words of Kaddish, a regular daily prayer that can also be said to mourn the dead.
The gloom outside is illuminated by an enormous bonfire of cars, shops and homes belonging to the Palestinian residents of the village, which the Kaddish-reciters have set on fire, in revenge for the horrific and heartrending murders, hours before the pogrom, of brothers Hillel and Yagel Yaniv (may their memory be a blessing) and for other recent terror attacks in the area.
One Palestinian was killed during the rioting by these Jewish settlers. Dozens of wounded Palestinians were evacuated to hospitals, some from smoke inhalation, others from beatings and stabbings. A family was evacuated by IDF troops, moments before they might have perished in the flames that took their home.
This wasn’t just any Kaddish, yet another one of those said and repeated by any observant Jew multiple times a day, sometimes in mumbling fashion. This time it was a Kaddish for Judaism itself.
I grew up in a small town in central Israel, in a classic “dati leumi” or national religious community whose ideology combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. I studied in typical religious institutions: a school in the state-religious education stream, a high school yeshiva and a “hesder yeshiva,” which combines advanced religious studies with military service. I was also very active in the religious Zionist Bnei Akiva youth movement, as an educator and leader.
Even today I live in a religious community in Jerusalem, and my young children study in schools that belong to the state-religious education stream.
The Judaism that I know and by which I try to live is a Judaism that operates according to the commandment “walk in His ways” (Deuteronomy 11:22) and the Talmud: “As He is gracious you should also be gracious, as He is compassionate you should also be compassionate” (Shabbat 133b:4-6). This Judaism operates according to the verse from Leviticus, “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to Me, for you are strangers and [temporary] residents with Me.”
By contrast, the Judaism that the militant settlers imbibed — or distorted — led one of the pogromchiks, he too in skullcap and sidelocks, to speak in Hebrew words I understood but whose language I could not not comprehend. “There is something very moving here,” he told a reporter. “Jews won’t be silent. What the army can’t do, what the police will never do, simple Jews come and carry out a simple act of vengeance, setting fire to anything they can.”
The same Judaism led Davidi Ben Zion, deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, also an observant Jew, to say blithely, shortly before the pogrom, that “Huwara should be wiped off the earth — no room for mercy,” and “the [Jewish] guys in Huwara right now are behaving precisely like guys whose brothers were massacred in cold blood at point-blank. The idea that a Jew in Samaria is a diasporic Jew who will be stabbed in the heart and politely say thank you, is childish naivete.”
That same Judaism led Israel’s finance minister, Betzalel Smotrich, the de facto governor of the West Bank, to publicly support a tweet by another coalition member calling to “wipe out” the village.
In the name of this Judaism, denizens of hills and outposts abuse the Palestinians daily, with the aid or under the blind eye of the IDF. A national Jewish settlement endeavor has been taking place for two generations now, which despite the good intentions of some of its practitioners, has included land theft, institutionalized discrimination, killing and hatred. An endeavor under which the current coalition, the most observant ever, only grows and intensifies.
In ordinary times life is not black and white. The Palestinian side also has a significant part in the story. The violence comes in great force and cruelty from there as well, and its many victims and circles burn the soul and draw many good people into the cycle of vengeance. The solution, too, is complex and hard to see, even far off on the horizon. But there are moments when things are actually very clear, clarifying the gray areas, when the choices are between life and death, and good and evil.
This evil version of Judaism is a lethal drug, which through a historical twist of fate gained ascendance over our ancient tradition. Combined with nationalism and majority hegemony in the Land of Israel, it has become a conflagration, one that has long since spread beyond religious Zionism — what Americans might refer to as “Modern Orthodox” — to the haredi, or ultra-Orthodox sector, and Israeli society in general.
An entire generation of Jews has been raised on this Judaism of hate, contemptuous of anyone who is not Jewish, of any display of weakness, of compassion. To whom Judaism is not the keeping and continuation of our tradition, observing commandments or studying Torah, but a worship of “Jewish might” (“Otzma Yehudit,” the name of a far-right political party) and limitless greed. In this Judaism, traditional values like modesty, pity and charity are signs of weakness, or remnants of a pathetic and feeble Christian morality that under no circumstances are to be shown to a stranger, the other, those who are not like us.
What we need now is not accommodation, nor soft words and platitudes. Neither will an obvious and empty condemnation of the pogrom do a bit of good. What we need now — having seen the elected officials who represent this religious population, having witnessed their nationalist Judaism — is a policy rooted in a tradition they abandoned. We should treat those who distort Judaism as the Mishnah tells us to treat all evildoers: “Distance yourself from an evil neighbor, and do not cleave to a wicked person” (Ethics of the Fathers 1:7). We need to announce that we want no part in the feral growth that has sprung up here, that this is not the tradition we grew up on, this is not the Torah we studied, and this is not how we wish to live our lives and raise our children.
Let us return to tradition and start over.
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The post The settlers’ attack on Huwara is not the Orthodox Judaism I grew up on appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran Posts AI Video Showing Missile Striking Statue of Liberty
An Israeli air defense system intercepts a ballistic missile barrage launched from Iran to central Israel during the missile attack, February 27, 2026. Photo: Eli Basri / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
Iran on Tuesday released an AI-generated video depicting a missile striking the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, a global symbol of American freedom and democracy, in one of the regime’s latest propaganda efforts to influence public perception abroad.
Shared by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB as well as a Telegram channel affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the minute-long video ends with the slogan “One vengeance for all.”
IRGC Official Telegram Channel Releases AI Video Depicting Iranian Ballistic Missile Strike on United States, Hitting New York City and Toppling Statue of Liberty Shown as Idol of Baal Holding Babylonian Talmud pic.twitter.com/JhgNgHW2Zz
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 25, 2026
The video was also circulated by Russian state outlet RT, in what appears to be a stark and symbolic threat against the United States.
‘ONE VENGEANCE FOR ALL’ — Iran ‘bombs’ the Statue of Liberty WITH THE HEAD OF BAAL pic.twitter.com/6tPH15fqkZ
— RT (@RT_com) March 25, 2026
Since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, which began on Feb. 28, Iranian officials have ramped up their propaganda and disinformation efforts, trying to portray Washington and Jerusalem as responsible for decades of regional conflict while seeking to influence left-leaning Americans to mobilize domestic opposition to the war.
This latest widely circulated video presents a striking sequence portraying the United States as the world’s enemy, drawing on imagery from the dispossession of Native Americans and the atomic bombings of Japan to the Vietnam War and more recent Middle Eastern conflicts to craft a sweeping narrative of American aggression.
The clip also features footage alluding to a child on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island — a recurring theme in Iran’s messaging used to suggest that US President Donald Trump launched the current war to distract the public from the Epstein scandal, in which the late financier was convicted of running a sex-trafficking ring involving underage girls and, allegedly, various influential figures.
Later in the video, AI-generated figures of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the late Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani are shown gazing skyward. Khamenei was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28, and Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
The final sequence of the video depicts a missile in Iranian colors striking the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, whose head has been replaced with that of Baal, a false god from the Bible, while the statue holds the Talmud, a key collection of Jewish religious teachings and laws.
This video is the latest example of AI-generated propaganda released since the start of the war with Iran.
Last week, Chinese state television CCTV released a separate AI-generated clip illustrating Beijing’s perspective on the Strait of Hormuz crisis, featuring Persian cats in martial arts combat and an eagle-headed human representing the United States.
Experts note that Russian dissemination of Tehran’s video reflects a broader coordinated effort to use visual propaganda to challenge US foreign policy and influence global perceptions amid rising regional tensions.
The latest video came as the US and Iran began engaging in diplomacy over a possible resolution to the war, although Tehran has reportedly responded negatively to Washington’s proposal.
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US Sen. Bill Cassidy Demands Answers From Mamdani on Taxpayer-Funded Anti-Israel Activity
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani holds a press conference at the New York City Office of Emergency Management, as a major winter storm spreads across a large swath of the United States, in Brooklyn, New York City, US, Jan. 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Bing Guan
A senior Republican lawmaker in the US Congress is sounding the alarm over actions by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, arguing that the use of public resources to advance what he describes as a politically charged, anti-Israel agenda risks alienating Jewish residents and may conflict with federal funding requirements.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Monday expanded an investigation into whether New York City agencies have improperly incorporated geopolitical advocacy into taxpayer-funded programs. The move reflects growing scrutiny in Washington over how local governments engage with issues related to Israel amid heightened tensions and record levels of antisemitic hate crimes following the conflict in Gaza.
In a new letter to Mamdani, Cassidy said he is concerned that certain city initiatives, particularly within public health programming, may be framing Israel in a way that undermines inclusivity and raises potential civil rights concerns. He pointed to reports of internal discussions and working groups within the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that examine global conflicts, including Israel’s war against Hamas, through an “oppression” or “equity” lens.
“These taxpayer dollars are meant to improve New Yorkers’ health, not push a far-left agenda that discriminates against Jewish families,” Cassidy said in a statement announcing the letter and expanded probe. “At a time of rising antisemitism, Mamdani is failing Jewish New Yorkers.”
The senator also warned that merging political advocacy with federally supported programs could jeopardize compliance with federal guidelines, potentially putting funding streams at risk. His office has requested documentation and clarification from city officials regarding the scope and purpose of the “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” and to turn over all documents disseminated at the meeting sessions.
In February, a cohort of staffers within the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reportedly formed the group and declared its purpose is to explore how supposed “global oppression” operates and affects health equity and the wellbeing of certain communities in the city. In its initial meeting, which lasted one hour, a presenter explicitly cited the conflict in Gaza as an “ongoing genocide” and framed it along with other forms of alleged oppression as relevant to health outcomes, the New York Post reported.
“We really developed in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” one presenter said, according to video acquired by the Post. “And the working group aims to address the growing interests among the health department staff to learn about current and ongoing global oppression in its many forms and how it influences the advancement of health equity.”
Critics, including City Council leaders, say the working group crossed a line by focusing on international politics and critiques of a foreign government instead of core public health responsibilities like managing diseases, especially on city time with taxpayer-funded time and resources.
“The department’s focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the creation of an internal ‘working group’ organized around a particular ethnic or national group underscores the need to ensure that workplace initiatives are administered in a manner that does not leave other employees — in this case, Jewish employees — feeling excluded or marginalized,” Cassidy wrote in his letter.
“Additionally, the question remains as to whether the department will hold similar discussions through either this or separate working groups for other ethnic or national groups affected by global geopolitical conflicts, or whether the department’s sole interest is in denouncing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the exclusion of all others,” the senator added. “These circumstances warrant review of whether the agency’s internal activities are being structured in a manner consistent with federal nondiscrimination requirements.”
Cassidy initially announced a probe into the matter in early February but expanded his requests for documentation in this week’s letter. He also noted recent statements by the city’s new health commissioner, Dr. Alister Martin, who said in an interview that the department is “not gonna stop doing that work on equity,” even if the federal government “comes and messes with our money.”
“Statements made by Dr. Martin suggesting that the agency will continue advancing certain equity initiatives despite federal policy changes, warrant careful review of the department’s adherence to federal requirements governing programs supported by federal funds,” Cassidy wrote.
His investigation comes amid ongoing concern over Mamdani’s approach to the Jewish community and antisemitism in New York City,
Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist and anti-Zionist, is an avid supporter of boycotting all Israeli-tied entities who has been widely accused of promoting antisemitic rhetoric. He has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide”; refused to recognize the country’s right to exist as a Jewish state; and refused to explicitly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been associated with calls for violence against Jews and Israelis worldwide.
Leading members of the Jewish community in New York have expressed alarm about Mamdani’s election, fearing what may come in a city already experiencing a surge in antisemitic hate crimes.
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Mamdani voices concerns about synagogue buffer zone bill poised to pass NYC Council
The New York City Council is poised to pass legislation aimed at curbing disruptive protests outside synagogues, as officials weigh Jewish security concerns against free speech protections for pro-Palestinian and progressive activists. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not taken an official position on the legislation.
The 51-member legislative body is set to vote Thursday on two bills directing the NYPD to develop a plan for protest buffer zones around houses of worship and educational centers. It is part of Council Speaker Julie Menin’s five-point plan to combat antisemitism, as anti-Jewish incidents continue to make up a majority of reported hate crimes in New York City. In recent months, at least two protests outside synagogues featured antisemitic slogans and chants, heightening tensions and drawing condemnation. Some see Menin as a check on the mayor and a potential guardrail against his actions.
The package of bills includes $1.25 million in funding to the Museum of Jewish Heritage for Holocaust education and the creation of a hotline to report antisemitic incidents.
Mamdani allies’ opposition
The buffer zone proposal is facing pushback from allies of Mamdani, a strident Israel critic who faces scrutiny from mainstream Jewish organizations over his response to antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests. The Democratic Socialists of America and some progressive Jewish groups, as well as free speech advocates, claim the legislation unfairly targets pro-Palestinian protests and said it gives authorities too much discretion in how the rules are enforced.
Mamdani said in January that he ordered his law department and police leadership to review the proposal’s legality. Mamdani told the Forward he would veto it if he determines it’s illegal.
City Hall has not released the findings of the internal review. A Mamdani spokesperson didn’t say whether the mayor would sign the bills if they pass. But he might not need to. The bill has 35 co-sponsors, giving it the veto-proof, two-thirds majority needed to pass the legislation into law without the mayor’s signature.
Mamdani “is keenly aware of the serious concerns regarding these bills’ limiting of New Yorkers’ constitutional rights, and he will keep these concerns in mind for any bills that land on his desk,” Dora Pekec, a City Hall spokesperson, said in a statement provided to the Forward. “He wants to ensure both the right to prayer and the right to protest are protected here in New York City.”
The bills do not explicitly bar protests or codify a specific distance requirement. Its initial proposal to establish buffer zones of up to 100 feet outside synagogues and other houses of worship was omitted following reservations expressed by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who, like Menin, is Jewish, and cautioned that a one-size-fits-all rule might not withstand legal challenge and could prove unworkable across neighborhoods with vastly different street layouts. The Council agreed to revise the language of the bill, placing implementation authority squarely with the police department.
At the state level, Kathy Hochul has proposed similar legislation that would create a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship statewide. The measure is being negotiated as part of budget talks ahead of an April 1 deadline. A similar effort is also under consideration in California.
The post Mamdani voices concerns about synagogue buffer zone bill poised to pass NYC Council appeared first on The Forward.