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UK’s Liberal and Reform movements merge as Progressive Judaism
(JTA) — In a major development for British Jewry, the United Kingdom’s Liberal and Reform Jewish movements are joining to create a unified Progressive Judaism movement after working separately for more than 120 years.
The historic project, a culmination of decades of discussions and rapprochement, is to be led by the Reform movement’s newly-appointed CEO, Rabbi Josh Levy — who is leaving his role as principal rabbi of Alyth (or the North Western Reform Synagogue) in London — and Liberal Judaism CEO Rabbi Charley Baginsky.
The union was made possible in part by the decision of the U.K. Reform movement in 2015 to accept patrilineal Jews — or Jews with a Jewish father but not a Jewish mother — as full members of communities. That American model is embraced by the Liberal movement, but most European Reform organizations require patrilineal Jews to convert to become full members of their communities.
Today, the two British movements share their “welcome of mixed faith families and fully egalitarian services,” Baginsky wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “We are as one on everything from campaigning for same-sex marriage to training rabbis and educators, to offering provision for students and young people.”
“’What is the difference between Liberal and Reform Judaism’ has therefore become a question that our rabbis, cantors, lay leaders and even PR people struggle to answer,” Baginsky and Levy wrote in an op-ed in the U.K. Jewish News on Tuesday.
Paul Langsford, co-chair of the Reform movement, assured members of both groups that “no one will be asked to change their synagogue name, their Reform identity, or change their prayerbook.” He added that input from members was welcome and would help shape future policies.
The London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research reported that, as of 2021, there were 271,327 self-identified Jews living in England and Wales, up from 265,073 in 2011 and 259,927 in 2001. They make up 0.46% of the total population of both countries.
According to today’s press statement, Progressive Jews will together make up around 30% of those who are affiliated with synagogues in the U.K. There are more than 80 Progressive communities reaching all parts of the country. Rabbis for both movements are trained at the London-based Leo Baeck College.
The Reform and Liberal movements held talks about unifying as far back as the 1970s and 1980s. They formed an alliance some ten years ago on such matters as student chaplaincy and social justice.
“Our lay leadership and clergy are clear that the future for Progressive Judaism is to have one shared movement to represent all of Britain’s Progressive Jews,” Langsford and Ruth Seager, chair of Liberal Judaism, said in a joint statement. “Our movements have made a huge impact on the development of the Jewish and wider world, but there is much more to do, and we believe this can be better achieved together.”
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The post UK’s Liberal and Reform movements merge as Progressive Judaism appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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US Forces Working with Israel on Gaza Aid, Israeli Official Says
A Palestinian carries aid supplies that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
US forces are taking part in overseeing and coordinating aid transfers into the Gaza Strip together with Israel as part of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza. It cited a US official and people familiar with the matter as saying Israel was part of the process but that CMCC would decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The Israeli security official said that Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already underway.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Jerusalem told Reuters that the US was “working hard, in tandem with Israel and regional partners, on the next phases of implementing” the president’s “historic peace plan.” That includes coordinating the immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance and working through details.
The US is pleased by the “growing contributions of other donors and participating countries” in the CMCC to support humanitarian aid to Gaza, the spokesperson said.
TOO LITTLE AID GETTING IN
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed a month ago to a first phase of a peace plan presented by Trump. It paused a devastating two-year war in Gaza triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and secured a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The CMCC began operating from southern Israel in late October, tasked with helping aid flow and stabilizing security in Gaza, according to the U.S. Central Command.
While the truce was meant to unleash a torrent of aid across the tiny, crowded enclave where famine was confirmed in August and where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, humanitarian agencies said last week that far too little aid is reaching Gaza.
Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. Reuters reported on October 23 that Washington is considering new proposals for humanitarian aid delivery.
The Israeli official said that the United States will lead coordination with the international community, with restrictions still in place on the list of non-governmental organizations supplying aid and the entry of so-called dual-use items, which Israel considers to have both civilian and military use.
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Staunchly Pro-Israeli Republican Elise Stefanik Launches Bid for NY Governor
United Nations Ambassador-designate Elise Stefanik spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
i24 News – Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a vocal and steadfast ally of Israel, officially announced on Friday her bid for governor of New York in the 2026 election, on the heels of the election of anti-Israel radical Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of New York City earlier in the week.
Her campaign announcement targeted incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, branding the Democrat the “worst governor in America.”
Stefanik slammed Hochul for the endorsement of Mamdani, saying Hochul “cozied up to a defund-the-police, tax-hiking, antisemitic Communist.”
“Our campaign will unify Republicans, Democrats, and independents to fire Kathy Hochul once and for all to save New York,” Stefanik said in a statement.
Stefanik, who is not of Jewish heritage, rose to national prominence condemning antisemitism since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre and ensuing Gaza war. Her relentless grilling of university presidents about their complicity with or inaction against the climate of antisemitic intolerance on campuses was widely credited with precipitating the resignations of the top administrators at Harvard, U Penn and other Ivy League institutions.
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Revealed: Iran Planned to Assassinate Israel’s Ambassador to Mexico
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps official plotted to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, i24NEWS has learned. The existence of the plot was confirmed by a US official and acknowledged by Israel’s foreign affairs ministry.
Hasan Izadi, an Iran-based officer in the IRGC’s Quds Force, previously worked out of the Iranian embassy in Venezuela, serving as second advisor. The Quds Force, akin to the American CIA, is responsible for Iran’s extraterritorial operations, supporting its terror proxies throughout the Middle East and around the world.
Izadi, who uses the alias Masood Rahnema, engaged in activities targeting senior US and Israeli officials, and while in Venezuela maintained communication with the Iran-proxy terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The scheme to assassinate Ambassador Einat Kranz Neiger, Israel’s emissary in Mexico City, was initiated at the end of 2024 and remained active through the first half of this year, a US official said.
“The plot was contained and does not pose a current threat. This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents, and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply worry every country where there is an Iranian presence,” the official added.
Izadi has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, where he operates a network of informants, i24NEWS learned. While based in Caracas in 2021, Izadi and Col. Hossein Kiani-Mordi, Iran’s military attaché, contacted dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, to coordinate attacks throughout Latin America against senior US and Israeli officials.
Izadi is pictured in a May 24, 2024 Instagram post on the account of the Iranian embassy in Caracas, shaking hands with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as part of a series of photos taken at a tribute for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Izadi worked in tandem with Majid Dastjani Farahani and Mohammad Mahdi Khanpour Ardestani, both Iranian intelligence officers for whom the FBI is seeking information on their targeting and recruitment activities. Both are thought to have attempted to recruit US persons in their plots against American government officials, i24NEWS learned.
In a statement sent to i24NEWS, the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs said, “We thank the security and law enforcement services in Mexico for thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran that sought to attack Israel’s ambassador in Mexico.”
The ministry added that “The Israeli security and intelligence community will continue to work tirelessly, in full cooperation with security and intelligence agencies around the world, to thwart terrorist threats from Iran and its proxies against Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide.”