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With Oct. 7 on their minds, Jewish teens head to gathering of thousands with renewed sense of priorities
When 18-year-old TJ Katz was elected last February to be international president of BBYO after four years of deep involvement with the Jewish youth organization, the New Jersey teen was exceedingly excited.
Serving as the face of a movement that reaches over 70,000 teens in 62 countries, Katz told an interviewer, put him in a unique position “to tangibly impact the lives of thousands of people.”
After graduating high school, Katz deferred admission by a year to the University of Florida to focus on his role as BBYO’s so-called Grand Aleph Godol — top leader — just as the organization was on the threshold of celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Then came Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and the ensuing surge in antisemitic and anti-Israel ferment.
“My inbox was flooded with hundreds of emails from teens genuinely ready to unite and do what they can to help,” Katz said of the response to Oct. 7. “There has never been a more monumental time to unite.”
Now BBYO is preparing for its International Convention (IC), to be held this year in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 15-19. Over 3,700 teens will come together for the largest annual Jewish teen gathering in America not only to herald the 100th year of BBYO, known years ago as the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, but to find support, strength and solidarity at a challenging time. Many teens come to IC from communities where they are among the only Jews.
This won’t be the first major national gathering of BBYO teens since Oct. 7. Thousands of BBYO teens from around the country joined the over 250,000 participants at the March for Israel on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 2023.
“As I walked into the rally, I immediately began seeing friends from around the country,” Josh Danziger, a high school senior from Houston, wrote in The Shofar, a BBYO online publication. “Jewish teens overcame differences in background, practice, and belief because of an authentic love for Am Yisrael.”
In a sign of the concerns that were occupying the minds of Jewish teens even before Hamas’s attack on Israel, Danziger launched a Jewish Security Alliance with other BBYO teens last year. The impetus was the 2022 attack at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, by a gunman who took several people hostage. The alliance trains young Jews across the country to prepare for potential antisemitic threats, anti-Israel harassment, physical violence or an active shooter situation. Danziger and some of his BBYO peers also formed an Antisemitism Response Club to bring teens together for discussions and events.
“I feel a responsibility to my people,” Danziger said. “I want my peers to know what to do. As Jews, we have a religious obligation to protect and take care of our community.”
Shortly after Oct. 7, BBYO’s CEO, Matt Grossman, embarked on a multicity listening tour to understand how Jewish teens were feeling, what resources they needed, and where they see their role in building a hopeful and secure Jewish future.
“While on the listening tour, I was particularly interested in hearing how teens’ lives have changed since the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel,” Grossman said. “This was not a political discussion but a human and emotional one.”
Among the things Grossman heard was how important it is for Jewish teens to be with Jewish peers at a time when they are feeling particularly isolated.
“Being in an environment with other BBYO teens is like a breath of fresh air,” said Denver teen Jacob Malek. “When you go into a meeting, you don’t have to worry about who you tell you’re Jewish; you can just be you. You don’t have to think about what if someone else thinks of you differently because you’re Jewish; being Jewish is the reason that you guys are together.”
BBYO put together a resource page on its website with webinars, articles, and special events to help parents and teens respond effectively to antisemitism and hate in their communities, schools, and on social media. Together with the Anti-Defamation League, BBYO also created a joint website for teens to report antisemitic incidents.
“As a teen-led organization, one of the things we always have to measure is what we talk about and think about and how we lead BBYO as a movement even in difficult times,” Grossman said. “Jewish teens will never be alone because they have BBYO. And that’s an amazing gift.”
BBYO was founded on May 3, 1924 as the Jewish teen group Aleph Zadik Aleph by a group of 14 young Jewish men in Omaha, Nebraska. Twenty years later, an assembly of young women founded B’nai B’rith Girls, and together the two organizations eventually became BBYO. It now has more than 725 chapters and an alumni network of over 400,000.
Hundreds of BBYO teens at the March for Israel rally in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14, 2023. (BBYO)
Due to unprecedented demand to attend, IC 2024 will be the largest-ever convention in BBYO’s history. Over 5,500 attendees representing 46 countries are expected, including teens, donors, parents, alumni, educators and influencers.
Over the course of five days, the convention, whose theme is “Forever Young,” aims to shape the narrative of how teens combat antisemitism, embrace democracy, and fuel their enthusiasm for making a difference in their communities and worldwide, according to organizers. The teens will hear from and meet inspiring speakers, get leadership skills training, serve the local community, learn together, celebrate Shabbat and have access to exclusive music performances.
A Museum of BBYO and the election of the 100th board of Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) and the 80th of B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG) will honor the movement’s history.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Debbie Shemony, BBYO’s senior vice president for marketing and communications. “It will impact the attendees in ways we can’t even imagine yet.”
Over the course of 2024, BBYO chapters in cities around the world will host large-scale centennial celebrations, and the movement will launch an initiative for teens to log a collective 100,000 hours of community service.
For many attendees, IC is a much-anticipated reunion with their peers. Teens who have participated in the summer leadership and travel program offered by the organization can reconnect with friends from around the country – and sometimes the globe.
Last summer, Emma Gornstein, a high school junior from Ardsley, New York, participated in both a chapter leadership training institute at BBYO’s summer home in Starlight, Pennsylvania, and a BBYO Passport travel experience to Central Europe.
“They were amazing experiences and I learned so much,” said Gornstein, who has been active in BBYO since eighth grade. “I’m looking forward to a lot of reunions at IC.”
Even if IC is one of your first experiences with BBYO, she said, “the energy there is contagious and you are bound to make at least one friend.”
Rabbi Daniel Septimus, a former BBYO international president who is now the CEO of Austin’s Jewish community center, Shalom Austin, said the movement is a terrific framework for connecting Jewish teens locally, regionally and globally, and bringing them together for leadership opportunities.
“BBYO is doing an incredible job of really teaching the value of K’lal Yisrael, of Jewish peoplehood, and that we are all bound to each other,” Septimus said.
His daughter, high school sophomore Talia Septimus, represents the third generation of the family’s involvement in BBYO.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Talia said. “I love that my grandparents and parents had their own ways of being involved in BBYO, yet I can take my own path.”
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The post With Oct. 7 on their minds, Jewish teens head to gathering of thousands with renewed sense of priorities appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Attempted Arson at Same Paris Kosher Market Which Was Attacked in 2015
Shoppers enter the Hyper Cacher in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, Jan. 7, 2019. Photo: Stephen Caillet / Reuters.
An arson attack occurred on Thursday outside a kosher shop in Paris—the same market where four Jews were murdered in 2015—amid an ongoing surge in antisemitic incidents in France.
The incident occurred around 3 a.m. outside the Hyper Cacher store after unidentified individuals set fire to nearby dumpsters.
While no injuries were reported and the interior of the shop remained unharmed, the fire damaged the exterior of the establishment, leaving a side wall covered in soot, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.
Local police have opened an investigation for “willful damage by fire” and are treating the case as an act of vandalism, but have not indicated any suspicion of an antisemitic motive.
In 2015, a jihadist terrorist murdered four Jews at the Hyper Cacher, just days after his accomplices murdered 12 people at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Since then, annual commemorations are held outside the shop — the facade of which remained undamaged in the fire — to honor the victims of the attack.
After the attack this week, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) issued a statement that did not label the incident as antisemitic, but described it as “yet another reminder of the persistent threats Jewish communities face.”
EJC is “deeply troubled by the arson attack on the Hyper Cacher supermarket in Paris, a site forever marked by the tragic 2015 hostage crisis,” the statement reads. “Authorities must ensure that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice.”
This assault comes amid a recent rise in antisemitic incidents across France. Earlier this month, a man was attacked after being insulted with antisemitic slurs, while a woman on her way to Hebrew class was also physically attacked.
Both of the incidents happened in Villeurbanne, which is home to the second-largest Jewish community in France.
In response to the rise in antisemitism, the city’s mayor, Cédric Van Styvendael of the Socialist Party, strongly condemned the attacks and expressed his support for the victims.
Both victims have filed complaints, and there are ongoing investigations into these attacks. Local police have yet to identify the person responsible for the attack on the woman. She was physically assaulted by another woman wearing a veil, who called her a “dirty Jew” while walking to her Hebrew class.
As for the attack on the man, a suspect was arrested following the release of city surveillance footage. Local police have launched an investigation into the incident for “aggravated violence” and “antisemitic comments.”
According to the victim’s report, the attack occurred after a traffic accident. The assailant physically assaulted him, hurling antisemitic insults, calling him a “zionist,” a “dirty Jew,” and blaming him for the “massacre in Gaza.”
Based on hospital records, the victim suffered a triple fracture in his arm and multiple bruises.
Antisemitism in France continued to surge to alarming levels across the country last year, with 1,570 incidents recorded, according to a report by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) – the main representative body of French Jews.
The total number of antisemitic outrages last year was a slight dip from 2023’s record total of 1,676, but it marked a striking increase from the 436 antisemitic acts recorded in 2022.
The post Attempted Arson at Same Paris Kosher Market Which Was Attacked in 2015 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez Sit Down With Social Media Personality Who Defended Hamas, Hezbollah
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are seen before a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 21, 2024. Photo: Craig Hudson/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) raised eyebrows on Thursday by agreeing to participate in an interview with controversial anti-Israel media personality Hasan Piker.
Ahead of a joint appearance at a public rally, the duo sat with the political Twitch streamer to discuss issues affecting the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States. Piker suggested that the Trump administration has stifled the free speech rights of anti-Israel advocates, pointing to the recent deportation attempt of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.
Piker has an extensive history of repudiating Israel as an “apartheid state” and defending atrocities committed against its civilians. In a 2024 livestream, Piker minimized sexual assaults committed against Israeli women at the hands of Hamas, saying “it doesn’t matter if rapes f—ing happened on Oct. 7.” He has defended violence from the Hamas and Houthi terrorist groups as legitimate “resistance.” He has also said he doesn’t “have an issue with” the Hezbollah terrorist group, which had pummelled Israel with an unremitting barrage of missiles and rockets from the southern Lebanon border in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7.
Piker accused the Trump administration of mirroring tactics by Nazi Germany through engaging in censorship of those critical of the ongoing war in Gaza. He also blasted the White House over its attempt to “take control” of Columbia University’s Department of Middle Eastern Studies by placing it under an academic receivership. He warned that the Trump administration could use the “Palestine conversation” as an “entry point” to expand censorship across the United States.
In the immediate aftermath of the October 2023 massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout southern Israel by the Hamas terrorist group, Columbia University erupted in protest. Many student organizations issued statements placing blame on Israel for the terrorist attacks. Protesters called for the US to stop providing military aid to Israel and for Columbia University to divest from Israeli interests. In addition, Jewish students reported intimidation, harassment, and isolation on campus.
In a letter issued to Columbia earlier this month, the Trump administration directed the Ivy League university to establish a formal definition of antisemitism, prohibit masks “intended to conceal identity or intimidate,” and place its departments of African Studies, South Asian, and Middle Eastern studies under “academic receivership,” which would place them under independent oversight.
Ocaio-Cortez (AOC), one of the most strident opponents of Israel in Congress, defended Khalil, arguing that his raucous protests on Columbia’s campus were an example of “free speech.” She added that there is “profound money and interest that remains dedicated on both sides of the aisle” attempting to “conflate criticism of Israel as antisemitism.”
AOC has an extensive history of using her platform to criticize Israel. In the 17 months following the Oct. 7 attacks, the firebrand progressive has accused Israel of committing a “genocide” against Palestinians and practicing “apartheid.” She has repeatedly called for the implementation of a full “arms embargo” against Israel, which would deprive the Jewish state of weapons needed to complete its military objectives in Gaza. Nonetheless, AOC has come under fire from progressive organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for supporting a House resolution which affirmed Israel’s “right to exist.”
The post Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez Sit Down With Social Media Personality Who Defended Hamas, Hezbollah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Why Deportation of Dr. Rasha Alawieh Is Justified
Demonstration in support of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, at the Rhode Island State Capitol Building. Green banner on right with white Arabic lettering reads, “From Gaza to Beirut, the Intifada Will Never Die!” Photo: Screenshot
The US Department of Homeland Security on Monday issued a simple statement of the “commonsense security” considerations that led to the deportation of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant nephrologist in Brown University’s Division of Kidney Disease.
“Last month, Rasha Alawieh traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah — a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree,” the statement read. “Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah. A visa is a privilege, not a right — glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security.”
Multiple media outlets that were given access to Alawieh’s immigration proceeding documents have elaborated on her fawning admiration of Nasrallah — the long-time leader of the Iran-backed, Lebanon-based jihad terrorist group Hezbollah who called for the annihilation of Jews — as a “spiritual leader.” Alawieh, a Shiite Muslim, reportedly declared, “If you listen to one of his [Nasrallah’s] sermons, you would know what I mean. He is a religious, spiritual person … His teachings are about spirituality and morality.”
I was a very active clinical kidney transplantation researcher who worked for almost 20 years in the Brown University Division of Kidney Disease. Moreover, as a recognized scholar of jihadism and Islamic antisemitism, I have studied Nasrallah’s alleged “spirituality and morality” and, understatedly, found it wanting.
Invoking antisemitic references from the Qur’an, Nasrallah characterized Jews as “apes and pigs” (Qur’an 5:60) and as “Allah’s most cowardly and greedy creatures” (Qur’an 2:96; 4:53; 59:13–14). He elaborated these themes into an annihilationist animus against all Jews, not merely Israelis”
Anyone who reads the Qur’an and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history … Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment … There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel … If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli … [I]f they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide [emphasis mine].
Nasrallah’s recent funeral in Beirut — which Alawieh attended, in reverence — was punctuated by the enormous throng of tens of thousands bellowing “death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
The Department of Homeland Security acted appropriately in deporting Alawieh, and I wholeheartedly endorse that decision. Particularly as a non-citizen visa holder, there is no place for Alawieh’s support of a vicious advocate of jihad terror, and mass-murdering Jew-hatred, in the US, let alone in American medicine.
I also denounce those feckless, morally blind medical “academics” who are seeking Alawieh’s return to the US and reinstatement at Brown University. A scene pathognomonic of their willful ignorance unfolded Monday evening, on the steps of Rhode Island’s State Capitol building. While Alawieh’s supporters including, sadly, former colleagues, stood enraptured facing the speaker’s location, adjacent to it, a group of women in hijabs held a green banner with white Arabic lettering that read, “From Gaza to Beirut, the Intifada Will Never Die!” The “Intifada” is synonymous with lethal jihad violence that targets non-combatant Israeli Jews, in fulfillment of Nasrallah’s “spiritual” Shiite Islamic religious ideology.
Finally, I am thoroughly disgusted with a recently retired colleague of 30 years, and former chief of the Brown Division of Kidney Disease, Dr. Douglas Shemin, who hired Alawieh and would not state categorically he would not have hired her had he known she was a disciple of Nasrallah!
Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS, is a retired Brown University academic internist and clinical epidemiologist, who is also the author of The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, Sharia versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism, and other books and essays on Islam. His non-medical research focus has been on the impact of Islamic conquest, colonization, and governance on non-Muslims.
The post Why Deportation of Dr. Rasha Alawieh Is Justified first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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