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Wars in Israel and Ukraine take center stage in Israel for Jews with roots in the former Soviet Union
TEL AVIV — Valeriia Kholodova knows all too well the horrors of war. Born and raised in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, she fled to Kyiv in 2014 after fierce fighting broke out between pro-Russian separatists and government forces.
Then, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, she fled again — this time to Israel.
Now, living through her third war in less than a decade, Kholodova, 40, is no longer running.
“What happened on Oct. 7 changed everything,” said Kholodova, who heads Chabad’s charity projects in Ukraine remotely from her Israeli home in Rehovot while representing Hillel in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Azerbaijan. “I decided to stay. I’m not afraid. This is my home.”
Kholodova was among 150 Israelis with roots in the former Soviet Union who gathered Dec. 21 at a hotel in Jaffa for an evening of lectures, music and solidarity with Israel.
The event was organized by Limmud FSU, the global Jewish organization that brings together Jews with roots in the former Soviet Union to strengthen their sense of community and Jewish identity.
The event in late December originally was supposed to take place at Shefayim, the kibbutz in central Israel where evacuees from Kfar Aza, one of the communities devastated on Oct. 7, have been relocated. The plan for a big annual festival there was quickly scrapped.
“This is a difficult time,” said Limmud FSU’s founder, Chaim Chesler, noting that the war in Israel became the focus of this event. “We didn’t want to give up, so we decided to move it somewhere else on a smaller scale — and to show everybody that we are alive.”
At one session, Victor Vakhstein discussed how U.S. college campuses have become “new bastions of antisemitism.” Kiril Fefferman talked about why the Holocaust has become one of the defining themes of Israel’s war against Hamas—both for Jews and their enemies. Binyamin Minich lectured on the four fast days of the Jewish calendar
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Marat Mairovich and Nina Garbuzova offered a master class on theater. Ukrainian-born guitarist and actor Ariel Krizhopolsky put on a musical performance. Participants paid a small fee of their choice, with all money raised going to the Lone Soldiers Fund.
Participants at a Limmud FSU event in Israel amidst the war with Hamas stand for the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem. (Alexander Khanin)
David Mayofis, 24, immigrated to Israel in 2014 from the Russian city of Tomsk, in Siberia. He ascribed global protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza to antisemitism.
“It’s not because we are dealing with a terrorist organization, it’s because of the idea that Israel shouldn’t exist. That’s why they think Hamas is a resistance movement,” said Mayofis, whose pro-Israel blog in English and Hebrew has 37,000 Instagram followers. “They want to remove Israel from the map completely. Criticism of Israel is valid, but once you say, ‘From the river to the sea,’ that’s antisemitism.”
Both Raheli Baratz-Rix of the World Zionist Organization and human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky used their sessions to urge attendees to speak out forcefully against antisemitism and the crimes Hamas is committing, including against Israel’s hostages.
“Jews are being attacked only because they’re Jews or Israelis,” said Baratz-Rix, head of the WZO’s Department for Combating Antisemitism & Enhancing Resilience. “Since the war began, Hitler has become a cultural hero in the Arab world. There are protests all over the Arab world with people carrying his picture and the phrase, ‘It’s a shame you didn’t finish the job. We will continue it.’”
She added: “Our job here is not only to increase awareness about what’s going on, but also to encourage people to speak out against it. Don’t stay silent.”
Ostrovsky was born in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, grew up in Australia and has lived in Israel since 2012. He runs the International Legal Forum, a nonprofit coalition of pro-Israel lawyers from around the world.
“So much of the legal discourse we’re seeing around the world influences what’s happening on American college campuses, at the United Nations and on the streets of Europe,” he said. “But people are intentionally misapplying the law to attack and delegitimize Israel. So we must correct that while providing a passionate defense of Israel, and ensuring that the narrative stays on the real war crimes being committed by Hamas.”
Ostrovsky, who has 250,000 followers on X, said that in December alone, his posts have generated over 100 million impressions.
Limmud FSU co-founder Chaim Chesler and Raheli Baratz-Rix of the World Zionist Organization at the Limmud FSU event in Israel on Dec. 21, 2023. (Alexander Khanin)
“We’re in the age of social media, and misinformation spreads like wildfire. We’re fighting this war on multiple battlefronts, not only in the legal arena but also the digital arena—especially when we’re dealing with millennials,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle, but at the same time we’re also seeing people standing up for Israel and seeing the horrors for themselves. And they are speaking up.”
Since its creation in 2005, Limmud FSU has held nearly 90 festivals worldwide, drawing over 80,000 participants. The organization is led by chairman Matthew Bronfman, Chesler, co-founder Sandy Cahn, and executive director Natasha Chechik, and its work is supported by individuals and organizations including the WZO, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, Nativ-Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Jewish National Fund – KKL, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Wilf Family Foundation, Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund, Diane Wohl, Bill Hess and others.
Iryna Tsarenko flew to Israel in December for a 10-day volunteer program that included picking vegetables on a kibbutz, touring the damaged city of Sderot, spending Shabbat in Jerusalem and meeting with the families of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza. Originally from Kyiv, Tsarenko, 41, left soon after Russia invaded Ukraine and moved to Berlin.
“I live in Germany, but Ukraine and Israel are really my countries — and both are at war,” Tsarenko said. “Many farmworkers went back to Thailand and they had nobody to pick the crops. So this was my opportunity to help Israel.”
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The post Wars in Israel and Ukraine take center stage in Israel for Jews with roots in the former Soviet Union appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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US Rep. Nick Langworthy Introduces Bill to Deport Foreign Students Who Support Terror Groups
US Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY). Photo: Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
US Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) has introduced legislation to deport non-citizen students who support any US-designated terrorist group, arguing that these individuals have abused the “privilege” of seeking an education in America.
“It’s a privilege to come to America to learn at our institutions, NOT [sic] a right. The antisemitic actions that have threatened the safety of Jewish students must end,” Langworthy posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday. “That’s why I just reintroduced the Veto Your Visas Act, which ensures anyone here on a student visa who supports a Foreign Terrorist Organization will be deported. Whether it’s Mahmoud Kahlil or any other perpetrator of terrorist propaganda, you will be kicked out of our country.”
The legislation would mandate that colleges and universities alert the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) immediately if they learn that a student on an Exchange Visitor or Academic Student nonimmigrant visa has expressed support for an FTO. Additionally, the bill would mandate the US Secretary of State to cancel the student’s visa.
The legislation comes on the heels of the arrest of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who spearheaded raucous and destructive protests on Columbia’s campus against Israel’s defensive military operations in Gaza. Khalil’s conduct caused the Trump administration to apprehend and attempt to deport him, although his lawyers are challenging the government in court. Khalil, a Palestinian activist raised in Syria, is a green card holder and a permanent US resident.
“I commend the Trump administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on taking swift action against Khalil,” Langworthy said in a statement while announcing his legislation. “It is a privilege to come to the United States to study and learn — it is not a free pass to come here and spread hate and support terrorism. This legislation would ensure anyone here on a student visa who supports a Foreign Terrorist Organization will be deported, protecting our national security and making it clear we have zero tolerance for terrorism.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Vern Buchanan (FL), Brandon Gill (TX), Edwards (NC), Abraham Hamadeh (AZ), Paul Gosar (AZ), Pete Stauber (MN), and Daniel Webster ‘FL).
In the 17 months following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, universities across the US have experienced a surge in campus antisemitism. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Israel, hordes of students and faculty orchestrated protests and demonstrations condemning the Jewish state. Student groups at elite universities such as Harvard and Columbia issued statements blaming Israel for the attacks and expressing support for Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization.
Many of these rowdy protests have been spearheaded by foreign students and professors on Visas or green cards. The destruction and violence caused by the unsanctioned demonstrations have drawn scrutiny toward universities that accept large numbers of students from foreign countries where terrorist groups are based or operate. In addition, legislators have increasingly condemned universities for accepting money from Qatar, a backer of Hamas.
Several high-profile universities have also come under fire for allegedly showing a significant level of tolerance for anti-Jewish sentiment festering on their campuses.
The post US Rep. Nick Langworthy Introduces Bill to Deport Foreign Students Who Support Terror Groups first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Four More Sentenced to Jail for Amsterdam Attack Against Israeli Soccer Fans
Israeli soccer fans under assault, near Amsterdam Central station, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 8, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. X/iAnnet/via REUTERS
An Amsterdam court announced at a public hearing on Wednesday jail sentences, ranging from 11 days to three months, for four more perpetrators of the violent attack against Israeli soccer fans that took place in the streets of the Dutch capital last year.
The lengthiest sentence of three months, with the deduction of pre-trial detention, was given to a 27-year-old man who incited violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans on Nov. 7, 2024, with messages posted in a WhatsApp group chat that had thousands of members. He wrote “Dead Jew better than a living Jew” and messages about “Dirty cancer Jews.”
The court shared several other of his offensive messages, one of which included an image of Holocaust victim Anne Frank alongside the text “slaughter gas is for losers. I use Zyklon B,” referring to the deadly gas used in gas chambers at Nazi concentration camps. He had also shared an image of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler with the text “pull up pull up gas,” a drawing of Hitler with a swastika, and the message “Hamas Hamas all Jews on the gas.”
The 27-year-old also insulted Jews, made comments trivializing the Holocaust, and shared locations of “those Jews” so they would be attacked during the “Jew hunting” rampage that took place on Nov. 7. He even provided a time and location for attackers to gather and coordinate their assault, which took place in Amsterdam after Maccabi Tel Aviv competed against the Dutch team Ajax in a UEFA Europa League match. The court said he confessed to assisting in the violence carried out by dozens of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian gangs.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were chased by assailants carrying knives and sticks, run over by cars, physically assaulted, and some were forced by their attackers to say “Free Palestine.” Amsterdam’s mayor called the attackers “antisemitic hit-and-run squads.”
A 32-year-old man, who founded the WhatsApp group where the attack was planned and promoted, was sentenced on Wednesday to six weeks in prison, minus the 26 days because of his pre-trial detention. He told attackers on the night of the premeditated and coordinated onslaught where and how they could escape police arrest, and where they could find Israelis to victimize.
A 22-year-old man was given one month in prison, with deduction for his pre-trial detention, for assisting in the violence. He shared on the WhatsApp group chat the location of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters and urged attackers to spread out in different locations around Amsterdam. The Public Prosecutor’s Office had demanded 12 months in prison for him, but the court ruled there was not sufficient evidence that he personally assaulted Israeli soccer fans.
The fourth suspect sentenced on Wednesday, a 26-year-old, chased a Maccabi Tel Aviv supporter and physically beat the victim with his belt. He also has a criminal record with previous violent crimes. However, he does not need to do any jail time for his actions. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 30 days in prison, of which 19 days is suspended. Eleven days remain in his sentence, but because that is equivalent to his pre-trial detention, he does not need to spend any time in prison. He was also given a two-year probation period for public assault. On Tuesday night, the night before his sentencing, he was seen at an anti-Israel demonstration in Amsterdam Central Station, according to Dutch media.
Sentencing for the attack began in December 2024, when an Amsterdam court ruled five men would face penalties ranging from six months to one month in prison, and a work sentence of 100 hours. In total, nine people have now been prosecuted for the violence. Amsterdam police said they have 122 suspects in the case.
The Lawfare Project, an international Jewish civil rights organization legally representing more than 50 victims of the attack, previously lambasted the Dutch court for what they described as “light sentences” for the assailants.
The post Four More Sentenced to Jail for Amsterdam Attack Against Israeli Soccer Fans first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Calls for Global Siege on US, Israeli Embassies After Renewed Strikes in Gaza
Illustrative: Pro-Hamas demonstrators gather in the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park in New York City on Feb. 18, 2o25. Photo: Screenshot
Hamas has called for “mass demonstrations and a global siege on Israeli and American embassies around the globe,” according to Iranian state-run media, following Israel’s decision to resume military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza after negotiations to extend a ceasefire failed.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hamas urged the “Arabic and Islamic world” and “free people everywhere” to mobilize against “the Israeli regime’s resuming its US-backed war of genocide against the Palestinian territory.”
The group called for immediate pressure on both Israel and the United States “to end the ongoing military onslaught,” in Gaza, according to Iran’s Press TV.
“The fascist occupation government has resumed its barbaric aggression and genocide war against our people in Gaza, violating all human norms, values, and divine laws during the holy month of Ramadan,” the statement reads”
Iran is Hamas’s chief international backer, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.
Israel on Monday night began conducting “extensive” strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, before resuming ground operations in the coastal enclave on Wednesday.
“This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.”
In its own statement, Hamas called for mass demonstrations in cities worldwide and a coordinated siege of Israeli and American diplomatic missions “in response to the Israeli government’s resumption of its military aggression and its reversal of the ceasefire agreement, which has flouted all international and humanitarian laws and norms.”
The Palestinian Islamist group also urged demonstrators to raise Palestinian flags and mobilize resources in support of “the legitimate rights of Palestinians to freedom, independence, and an end to a simultaneous stifling blockade that the regime was enforcing against the coastal strip.”
“Let us unite all efforts at the Arab, Islamic, and international levels and be one voice against the Zionist aggression and the genocide war it is waging against more than two million Palestinians,” the statement read.
Israel recently imposed a total blockade on Gaza after the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas expired without an agreement to extend the truce.
During the first phase, which began on Jan. 19, fighting ceased for six weeks as Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages (25 alive and eight deceased) in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been serving long sentences in Israeli prisons for terrorist activities.
The second phase was meant to include a complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists from Israel. However, negotiations faltered when Hamas rejected a US proposal, supported by Israel, to release additional hostages and extend the ceasefire while continuing to discuss a permanent resolution.
The US, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying to bridge the differences between the Islamic terrorist group and Israel to restart negotiations in order to release remaining hostages held in Gaza and lift the blockade.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Jerusalem will not cease military operations against Hamas until all the hostages are returned.
“Hamas must realize that the rules of the game have changed, and if it does not immediately release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open, and it will find itself facing the full intensity of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] in the air, sea, and land, until its complete elimination,” Katz said during a visit to the Tel Nof Airbase.
“We will not stop fighting until all the hostages are returned home and all threats to the southern residents are removed,” he added.
The post Hamas Calls for Global Siege on US, Israeli Embassies After Renewed Strikes in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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